Sidewalk Café celebrates 20 years of live music; Antifolk Festival starts tonight

[EVG file photo via Bobby Williams]

From the EV Grieve inbox...

MANHATTAN LANDMARK TO CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF LIVE MUSIC
Winter Antifolk Festival to Launch Sidewalk Café’s Year Long Calendar of Festivities

To mark 20 years of live music at Manhattan’s Sidewalk Café, the East Village landmark will present Sidewalk LIVE, 20th Anniversary, a year-long celebration of special initiatives ... Sidewalk will kick off the festivities with the Winter 2013 edition of the bi-annual Antifolk Festival, Feb. 19 to 28.

Sidewalk LIVE, 20th Anniversary will include a series of panel discussions by Sidewalk artists, record releases, an online photographic retrospective, anniversary oriented food and beverage offerings, the introduction of new musical programming, performances by notable Sidewalk alumni and the Summer Antifolk Festival.

The ten-day Winter Antifolk Festival launch of Sidewalk LIVE will feature some 80 artists (schedule follows) representing the entire span of Sidewalk’s remarkable music timeline, including those whose careers were launched there, singer-songwriters such as: Jeffrey Lewis (performing with legendary musician Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders and the Fugs): Jason Trachtenburg; and Seth Faergolzia of Dufus (performing with John Ludington).

The Winter Antifolk Festival will take place Feb. 19 – 28 with more than 80 free evening concerts over the ten-day period at SideWalk Café, 94 Avenue A (at 6th).

For more information and schedule details of the Winter Antifolk Festival and Sidewalk LIVE, go here. You can watch a live stream of each night's show here.

Come live in John Leguizamo's former home here on 'Artists Row'

A new listing appeared Friday on Streeteasy for a home at 268 E. Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D ... Price: $3.9 million.

Curbed pointed out that John Leguizamo lived here at one point ... take a look...









Leguizamo watchers on the block figure that the actor moved away here about 10-11 years ago... the listing notes that this was a single-family home now split up into three residences — "perfect for a single user or investor."

The Sotheby's listing also notes that the "townhouse sits on 'Artists Row' in the vibrant East Village Community."



Artists Row? (Sure, Kiki Smith lives on this block, but...)

We couldn't find anyone whoever heard of this block being called Artists Row.

"That's the first I've ever heard of this term as well," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "Certainly I've known of people in the arts who have lived in houses in this row over the years, but the term may be a relatively new broker creation."

Looking at the former Polonia space, soon to be home to David Bouhadana's sushi restaurant Dojo

Just noting some recent activity at 110 First Avenue, former home of the dearly departed Polonia, the homey Polish diner that closed in December 2011.

As we noted last October, 25-year-old David Bouhadana, the onetime executive chef of the former Sushi Uo on Rivington Street, was looking to open a sushi restaurant here in the shadows of Subway's big new sign.

CB3 OK'd the liquor license in October... And Crain's reported last month that Bouhadana signed a 15-year lease to open what will be called Dojo... opening this spring...

Per the building's broker: "This is a continuance of strong chefs and entrepreneurial restaurant groups coming to the neighborhood. We've seen over the years just an influx of great concepts coming to the East Village."

Previously.

Are the rats in Tompkins Square Park now dining with plastic forks?

They're evolving! By next week, they'll be ordering in via Seamless. Photo today by Bobby Williams.

Whoa, look at what will be sprouting up at Norfolk and Delancey

OK then. This 12-story, 38-unit residence has been OK'd by the city to rise at 100 Norfolk Street, in space that was once used as the refrigeration facility for Ratner's.

The building will include a 5,000-square foot rooftop and a 2,000-square-foot roof deck, according to ArchDaily, which first reported on this yesterday.

Per ArchDaily:

Highly visible from Delancey Street and in close proximity to Williamsburg Bridge, 100 Norfolk will become an iconic addition to Lower East Side skyline, signifying the passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Do you think that this is an iconic addition to the LES skyline?

Check out The Lo-Down and BoweryBoogie for more. And here's more from Crain's on the deal from last spring.

Museum of the City of New York seeking Superstorm Sandy photos

From the EV Grieve inbox...

[East 11th Street last November. Photo by Goggla]

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – Superstorm Sandy Photography Exhibition

Museum of the City of New York

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy moved into the greater New York metropolitan area and altered the physical and psychological fabric of the region. As recovery efforts progress and the future of essential infrastructure, including waterfront repair, is considered, the Museum of the City of New York seeks contemporary photographs of the areas and people affected by the storm – photographs that portray the region before the storm, during the dramatic hours of the storm’s landfall, the immediate aftermath, and the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts of individuals, organizations, and government agencies – for consideration for inclusion in an exhibition at the Museum to open in April.

Deadline for entries is 12pm March 3, 2013. For full guidelines and to submit images, click here.

Scaffolding arrives at historic 330 Bowery

Workers arrived this morning to erect a sidewalk shed and scaffolding at 330 Bowery, the historic circa-1874 building that once housed the Bouwerie Lane Theater and various banks before that...



According to the DOB, workers will be painting the landmark cast-iron building here at Bond Street sea-foam green and removing all the ornate details.

KIDDING! Jeez.

Actually, according to the all-cap stylists at the DOB:

ESTERIOR [Ed note: Exterior?] REPAIRS CONSISTING OF REBUILDING PARAPET WALL & RESTORING EXISTING STAIRS AS PER PLANS FILED HEREWITH. NO CHANGE TO USE, OCCUPANCY OR EGRESS

In 2007, "self-storage king" Adam Gordon bought the building and made condos, including a penthouse that went for some $14 million.

About Alec Baldwin's 'rant'

The Post has an "exclusive" today about an alleged run-in between Alec Baldwin and a Post reporter and photographer... among other things, he reportedly used a a racial epithet about the photographer, who is black, and said to the reporter "I want you to choke to death." (Baldwin's spokesperson called the racial accusations "completely false.")

Putting aside what may or may not have happened... all the reports say that this confrontation occurred "on an East Village street." It was on East 10th Street outside his apartment building at University Place, which The New York Times refers to as Greenwich Village.

You may now continue with your Presidents' Day.

Mystery Lot no longer recognizable

As these photos by EV Grieve Former Mystery Lot Correspondent Katja show... our little graffiti- and weed-filled lot is all grown up now.. on its way to becoming an eight-story, 83-unit luxury condo building.





They can't take our memories, though.

Reader report: Someone vandalized Portal 1 on Avenue C

A local East Villager passes along these photos of Portal 1, one of 13 portals by Nicolina and Brazilian artist Perola Bonfanti... passersby can scan the QR code on each one, then "you will begin the journey to uncover their mystery."

Unfortunately, someone ripped off the QR code on the Portal located on Avenue C and East Seventh Street. According to the reader, the artists are in South America but are working on a long-distance repair.



Here's the website for the portals.

UnReal Estate Friday night at MoRUS

From the EV Grieve inbox...

A Benefit Show for UnReal Estate; A Late Twentieth Century History of Squatting in the Lower East Side

Friday Feb 22 - 7pm-11pm
@ MoRUS
Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space • 155 Ave C

Unreal Estate Squatter History slide show by Fly

War In The Neighborhood slide show
by Seth Tobocman
with Ben Barson and Eric Blitz

words from Penny Arcade!

$5-10 sliding scale NoOne turned away for lack of $$ !!

Here's the Facebook events page with more details.

We'll have more on this show later this week.

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: Alder's rustic look; First Avenue's next noodle joint; Pudgie's empty canopy

Haven't done one of these roundups in some time...

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Progress at noted LES chef Wylie Dufresne's new pub called Alder, opening on Second Avenue near East 10th Street... looking rustic or cabin-y...



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EVG regular WIlliam Klayer notes the new "tapas and noodle bar" is opening at 141 First Avenue, which has been a few ramen places since its day as a fish market...







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... and, sadly, the iconic signage for the shuttered Pudgie's-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's action-packed combo on First Avenue has been stripped off the canopy. Note on the door still says "pardon our appearance during renovation."

East Village sunset

Photos today by Bobby Williams...

Week in Grieview

[Off-road driving on Avenue A? Photo via Crazy Eddie]

Motor City Bar is closing (Monday)

Mike Bakaty talks about the early days of tattooing in the East Village (Wednesday)

Tom Cruise sells in the American Felt Building on East 13th Street (Monday)

New Jared Kushner tenants are organizing (Tuesday)

Why the East Village is like Ireland (Wednesday)

Former Whole Earth Bakery space will be an Italian restaurant (Monday)

Chloë Sevigny showed her new line at the St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery (Tuesday)

New York Health & Racquet Club headed to Avenue A? (Wednesday)

C-Town reopened on Avenue C (Monday)

Verso reopened on Avenue C (Friday)

Own the Avenue A 7-Eleven! (Thursday)

Let the First Avenue pizza war begin (Friday)

"Sexy hot bartending robots" wanted (Wednesday)

FIRE BREATHER! (Wednesday)

Verizon sucks (Thursday)

There are a lot of places around here to buy coffee (Monday)

LES hotels with special day rates (Tuesday)