Occupy Tompkins Square Park this weekend

Demonstrators from Occupy Wall Street will be headed to the East Village on Saturday. John Penley is organizing this event set to start Saturday at noon and end Sunday at noon. Via Facebook:

Picnic starts at noon. General Assemblies at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Bring food, sleeping gear, drums, guitars, banners, signs and your friends. In memory of Monica aka Catherine Shay, Bob Arihood and Terry Taylor [the homeless Tompkins Square activist who died in 1994].

"I talked to about 100 people from the neighborhood at Zucotti Park [Sunday] and they were all thinking about the same thing and immediately said, 'Hell yes let's do it,'" Penley told me via Facebook.

Also, Penley said, the presence of the protestors will draw attention to the Park's legacy of activism.

“One of the reasons that we want to do this is to educate the new people living in the neighborhood about what went on in Tompkins Square Park in the '80s and the '90s, and the police response to it,” he told Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo.

Planning meetings for Occupy Wall Street were held in Tompkins Square Park in August.

More details later this week...

Facing eviction, Village Scandal holding sale to pay for legal fees

[DigitalMan@mac.com - ©2011]

Village Scandal, the vintage hat shop, is in its 16th year at 19 Seventh St. However, owner Wendy Barrett (above, right) says that she has been battling eviction ever since A.J. Clarke became the property management in 2004. After an ongoing series of legal fights, a court issued a Warrant of Eviction to the marshal on June 10.

Barrett recently shared four shopping bags of legal documents with us during a store visit. "I've become a bag lady," she says rather grimly.

It's a complicated story that involves more than $60,000 in back rent and real estate taxes that have been accruing since 2004. She claims that A.J. Clarke has been "deliberately manipulating" her to keep the store in eviction status. And she has every document related to the case. Barrett lays out the details of the ongoing legal battle in the following video filmed during the summer... (Too much to detail in a blog post, to be honest.)



An appellate court just turned down Barrett for a 60-day extension to perfect her appeal. Today, her attorney, Andrew Molbert, is refilling the request to reargue her case. Meanwhile, Barrett is trying to raise money so the issues of the case can be heard in State Supreme Court. She says that she was never able to present her side of the case in any court.

So that means the store is selling items at 50 percent off to raise money for legal fees. They'll also be a fundraiser soon at Cafe Mocha on Second Avenue. (She's also asking for people to sign a petition of support at the store to send to A.J. Clarke.)

"This is the most egregious abuse," she says of the ongoing eviction drama. "I've been tortured by this."

7-Eleven's feeble attempt at an anti-blogger shield on the Bowery

We've heard that there is at least one local "blogger" head-scratchingly interested in the daily mundane updates at the incoming 7-Eleven on the Bowery.

To ward off attempts to document the installation of the Buffalo Chicken Roller machine and Quarter Pound Big Bite® heater, workers have placed brown paper over the front windows.

Below, we point out the weaknesses in the 7-Eleven defense plan.

Uh, hey — will someone please give me a boost?

On second thought, Avenue A Mini Market not reopening

At the end of August, Avenue A Mini Market near 10th Street abruptly closed ... a few days later, someone there put up a sign saying that they'd reopen after some "reconstruction."

In any event, the business is for sale now...

Retail space for lease on Avenue A — 'no restaurants or bars'

A little further north on Avenue A near 13th Street... "for rent" signs have appeared at the showroom belonging to designer Harry Allen, which opened in the summer of 2006 ...

No bars or restaurants...

Allen reps told us that the Allen studio will remain here... "we're just renting out the front space."

The New York Dolls on TV... and DVD

From the EV Grieve inbox...

NEW YORK DOLLS "Lookin' Fine On Television" to be released on DVD on November 22, 2011

In the early 70's, Rock photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya purchased a portable video recorder. In a period of three years, they shot over 40 hours of New York Dolls footage. This footage became the critically acclaimed documentary "All Dolled Up". For "Lookin' Fine On Television" more footage has been edited to create fifteen live music video-style clips.

These fifteen clips include footage from the Dolls' early shows in NYC at clubs such as Kenny's Castaways, and Max's Kansas City as well as their West Coast tour: Whisky-A-Go-Go, the Real Don Steele Show, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, and more.

Tracklist: Jet Boy, Personality Crisis, Bad Girl, Human Being, Bad Detective, Subway Train, Trash, Vietnamese Baby, Lookin For a Kiss, Who Are The Mystery Girls, Private World, Babylon, Frankenstein, Chatterbox, Jet Boy

Bonus: Ultra rare 1976 Lisa Robinson interview with David Johansen and Johnny Thunders

Tonight

Dave on 7th heads to the roof, doesn't get called an asshole in an Urban Etiquette Sign.

Sidewalk shed up on East 10th Street at the site of Saturday night's near-miss accident

Saturday night around midnight, a third-floor window lintel fell to the sidewalk in front of 341 E. 10th St. near Avenue B... narrowly missing a pedestrian... tonight, crews showed up to erect a sidewalk shed here for the ensuing building repairs...

...which means the NYPD no longer has to have a car parked here...

Earlier today in Tompkins Square Park

By Bobby Williams.

Today in photos of people dressed like Batman in Tompkins Square Park

By Dave on 7th.

Heartbreak closed for good

Last week we heard the news that Heartbreak Cafe on Second Avenue at Second Street had closed for renovations. Diner's Journal reported this morning that the German-Swiss restaurant has closed for good. [Via Grub Street]

Flashback to this corner on Oct. 12, 2009 ... during construction...

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[13th Street the other morning]

Fighting to save the Bowery (The New York Times)

At Bob Arihood's memorial on Saturday (The Gog Log)

More on the fire on East 10th Street yesterday (Eater)

Slum Goddess at Occupy Wall Street (Slum Goddess)

The Landmarks Preservation Committee (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Calvin Trillin at the Tenement Museum (BoweryBoogie)

The photography of Vivian Maier (Ephemeral New York)

RIP Grand Street News (The Lo-Down)

And thank you to everyone who sent along photos from the skywriting yesterday... didn't get a chance to post them... had a few of my own too...

As you likely heard by now ... what it was all about, via the Daily News...

Cryptic messages written in the sky over lower Manhattan — part of a kooky art project — mystified and unnerved New Yorkers Sunday afternoon.

Just after 4 p.m. a plane wrote the words "Last Chance" in the air. The message was preceded by"Lost Our Lease" and followed by "Now Open."

The skywriting turned out to be sponsored by Friends of the High Line, the non-profit behind the wildly popular elevated park.

Artist Kim Beck, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh who lives part time in New York, chose messages from advertising billboards as cryptic comments on the faltering economy.

Are you Puddin' me on?: The latest dessert shop for the East Village

Wow. Last month, we pointed out signage for a new dessert place opening at 102 St. Mark's Place ... next door to Jane's Sweet Buns.

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Allen Semanco for the following photo that provides more detail on the type of dessert...

What's the over/under on a liquor license request? Think of the possibilities! Puddin' Bombs with a shot of Bailey's and Jameson ... Kidding! But...

Bad news for Joe's Bar

On Friday night, we walked by Joe's Bar, one of our favorite places, and the bar on East Sixth Street between Avenue B and Avenue A was closed...

The last time that we noticed Joe's was closed (in July) ... it turned out to be a false alarm... this time, though — the DOH temporarily closed them last week. The DOH hit them with 71 violation points. Some of them seemingly rinky-dink. ("Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.")

But. A well-placed tipster says that Joe's has been on a month-to-month lease ... worse, Joe's health may be an issue... The tipster thinks the bar might be done for now.

Extra:
Marty After Dark paid a visit to Joe's back in May.