Sub-creatures! The Traveller has come! Choose and perish!

Something about about these cloudy, rainy days of late have made the new Beekman Tower downtown seem all the more... I don't know, scary? Maybe it's the service elevator going up into the otherworld...

[Headline via 'Ghostbusters']

Babeland's Pink October

From the EV Grieve inbox

Babeland is partnering with the Young Survival Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to helping breast cancer survivors, to raise money for their programs throughout the month of October. Over a quarter of a million women under the age of 40 have breast cancer and they face higher mortality rates, fertility issues and the possibility of early menopause.

During Pink October, Babeland is dedicating 10% of the sales of a select group of products to the Young Survival Coalition. Among the toys featured are the popular Form 2 and Rabbit Pearl vibrators, the Rose G-spotter, and a Candy G-string. The makers of our most popular personal lubricant, Sliquid, created a new flavored lube, Pink Lemonade just for this fundraiser. As an added incentive, customers receive a FREE Babeland Buzz mini-vibe with the purchase of any of these toys. A full list of the toys can be seen here.

Babeland’s Come for a Cause program is our way of giving back and letting our customers help support organizations with missions that are compatible with Babeland’s mission and values. So far in 2010, Babeland raised more than $10,000 for grist.org, a “beacon in the smog” environmental news website, and more than $17,000 for SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, among other things.

A tribute for Tony Curtis on East Sixth Street

Between Avenue A and Avenue B....

And now, a daytime shot of the incoming Papa John's

Courtesy of EV Grieve First Avenue correspondent Blue Glass.

On First Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Previously.

Things to look forward to today! Seven inches of rain?!

Yikes. Per The Wall Street Journal. (Note to self: When did I start getting my weather news from the Journal?)

Also! If you're you're out and about today, then I'd welcome any photos that you might have of this apocalypse. (And this includes photos of the new Papa John's on First Avenue.)

So I'll post weather photos like this... but, uh, better. (Don't worry — it's mine, so I can be mean about it.)



Meanwhile, something to listen to while you bag the sand...

The Staple Singers - A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall Fal Found at abmp3 search engine

Tony Curtis, 85

Tony Curtis, born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, died just after midnight. Read the Times obit here.



Curtis, as press agent Sidney Falco in EV Grieve favorite "Sweet Smell of Success," at Elpine Drinks at 46th Street and Seventh Avenue. (Read more on this at Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

[Top photo via]

The photography of John Marshall Mantel

I've only recently been introduced to the work of East Village resident John Marshall Mantel, a freelance photographer who shoots for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Here is a selection of his work that I like from his photo blog...

Papa John's invades First Avenue

Well, the cabbie-favorite Medina on First Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street shuttered back in April...



...and now, a Papa John's is opening in the space at 120 First Ave.



[author unsure of what to write now]

Meet the woman selling NYU to the East Village

Capital's Sarah Laskow checks in with a profile on Alicia Hurley, NYU's vice president for government affairs and community engagement, in a piece titled "Thank you for not hating NYU."

Lots of interesting passages. Here are two from the intro:

With this latest expansion, N.Y.U. is trying harder than ever before to present a friendly face to a neighborhood that for decades has rallied against its development projects. The anger about N.Y.U.’s expansion focuses on the insistence of the university — an entity whose profile is increasingly global, and corporate — that it belongs in the Village, one of the few places in Manhattan, as long-time Villagers say, where you can still see the sky.

Hurley is N.Y.U.’s primary ambassador to its neighbors, and when she descends from the 12th floor of Bobst, she carries that chilly corporatism with her, in the form of a coterie of lawyers, sharp PowerPoint presentations, and bland, purposeful phrases to describe plans that will mean, in some cases, tearing down homes.

[Photo by Sarah Laskow]

There is some cheaper beer at Queen Vic

We noted the opening of Queen Vic on Monday... and many of the comments regarded the eatery's pricy pints of Bass and Guinness for $8.50... Maybe the owners heard us. As the chalkboard sign shows out front, they can be more thrifty....

Sludge metal band looking for drummer, vocalist

Spotted on the Bowery...




If interested, then here's the contact info:



Meanwhile, Rush! Maybe a little too early in the morning for this, but...

East Village rezoning receives key approval

This arrived in the inbox from the The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP):

The City Planning Commission voted to approve rezonings in the Far West Village (Washington and Greenwich Streets) and the East Village (3rd and 4th Avenue corridors) ...

Each of these rezonings will go a long way towards protecting and reinforcing the residential character of these neighborhoods, and preventing inappropriate development.

Please note, however, that approval of these rezonings is NOT yet final, and does not yet take effect. They must still be approved by the City Council, which will consider and vote on them in the next few weeks. Once approved at the Council, their provisions will take effect.

The 3rd/4th Avenue rezoning will never again allow buildings like the 26-story NYU dorm on East 12th Street to be built...

The Post helpfully diagrams yesterday's AC accident

Here's their story. As for the photo illustration that accompanied the piece in the paper, a little cartoony...but effective...

Protest planned for reconfigured Avenues

[Image via Neighborhodr]

The reconfigured First Avenue and Second Avenue (bike lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian islands, etc.) have been a popular topic in recent months... and now an LES resident is organizing a protest about the changes...

As you can see from the flyer above, there's a protest planned for Friday, Oct. 15... I contacted Leslie Sicklick, whose name appears on the signs. She's helping organize the event...

Her background:
I was born and raised on the Lower East Side. I am a third-generation Lower East Sider. My dad's parents came here from Russia and lived on the Lower East Side since the 1920. My mother's mother came to the Lower East Side also in the 1920s. Unlike many people, my parents did not move and raised me and my brother down on the Lower East Side. I grew up in the bad days of the 1970s, so I have seen the neighborhood change. I have also been a driver since 1995, often taking my mom, who is handicapped, shopping.

On why she's doing this:
My father raised me to get involved and, if you don't like something, take a stand, which is what I am doing. My biggest complaint is, because of the bike lanes, New York is becoming impossible for drivers. I used to go to 1st Avenue for dinner, shopping and was able to park my car. My other complaint is with how dangerous some bike riders are and how nasty they are. I was walking across the bike lane on 1st Avenue and was almost hit. I was yelled at — that I should get out of the bike lane. Who the hell are these bikers? They probably have not even been living in East Village for very long. What are my rights? I have lived here all my life.

Also, there are fewer spaces for businesses to deliver food, packages. Do bikers bring in business to the City? No they don't, and many stores are losing business because there is less space for people to park and come into the stores.



What she hopes to accomplish:
I guess what I hope to accomplish is to get the message out there to Mayor Bloomberg to change bike lanes so they are not against the sidewalks where people are trying to cross. Bikes don't stop like cars do for lights — they keep going. Bike lanes also attract people on rollerblades, skateboards, runners ... I am not saying all of them are bad.

By Mayor Bloomburg, the idiot, doing this is punishing drivers and rewarding bad behavior of bike riders. Bike riders never stay in bike lanes. Also, how many bike riders are out there compared to drivers? I'd also like to know what is going to happen in the winter when there is snow and ice. What a waste.

This is New York, not Amsterdam. I believe Mayor Bloomberg is killing New York, and changed any character it used to have. I don't miss the City being so bad, but at least it had some character.



Previously.