A private party in a public Tompkins Square Park

Several residents have told us that part of Tompkins Square Park was closed off this afternoon for a private party of some kind... in an area between East Eighth Street and East Ninth Street along Avenue B... the residents said that they were unaware that a section of a public park could be shut down for some private gathering... the partygoers were flashing permits to people who were put out by what was transpiring ... even the men who are part of the drum circle along here were told that they needed to vacate the area. And, from what we were told, they were quite unhappy about it...

Updated:
One reader said that this event was a birthday party for a chihuahua.

Updated:
Here is information from the Parks & Recreation website with information on requesting a special event permit.

"From the smallest birthday party to the largest concert, special events take place every day in New York City parks. If you want to have any activity in a City park with more than 20 people, or where you would like to reserve a specific area within a park, you need to apply for a special event permit."

At Drag March Madness

The annual Drag March took last evening... and the marchers gathered at Tompkins Square Park for the trek over to the Stonewall Inn... and our friend editrrix shared some of her fantastic photos from the Park...

















Find her full set of photos (51!) from last night here.

And be sure to check out Goggla's photos from last night here.

Noted

Spotted this morning on Second Avenue... in front of the Starbucks at East Ninth Street... Someone wrote "Kill him" in chalk with an arrow pointing toward the sidewalk space outside the 13th Step...



Anyone know what this is about?

I can't really think of a headline for this

EVG reader John came across this mini photo shoot this morning on East Sixth Street at Avenue B...

Now I wanna sniff some glue

Chico is working on a new mural at the newly reopened Croxley Ales on Avenue B ...

... and a better shot via @salim ...

Tompkins Square Park, 8:07 a.m., June 29

Meanwhile, on the Bowery...

Photos by Bobby Williams

Start to move

Wire with "Ahead" from 1987...

Downed limb in Tompkins Square Park

A few readers sent along photos from Tompkins Square Park this morning... noting a downed limb in the southeast corner of the Park... we didn't see it ourselves, so we're not sure how extensive the damage is...

Drag March Madness starts tonight in Tompkins Square Park

Marchers will start gathering at 7 p.m...

From the Drag March Madness Facebook event page...

Once more the time has come to clutch our pearls and put on our marching pumps and make Manhattan a place worth being in again.

The Drag March in New York City emerged 20 years ago at the Stonewall 25 commemoration when the organizing committee for that event asked that drag and leather folk to leave their wardrobes at home. Instead of buying into this attempt at "normalizing", the Drag March celebrated Gay Spirit in all of its' manifestations and became the most authentic celebration of all that Stonewall truly was and is.

And a few Park photos from last year ... via @emmsape ...

Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken signage arrives

A sign has arrived to mark the impending arrival of Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken on Second Avenue and East First Street, as this photo via @superterrific shows... this is the latest outpost from chefs/restaurateurs Eric and Bruce Bromberg of the Blue Ribbon empire...

CB3 signed off on a beer-wine license for the place back in November.

This corner of of the Avalon Bowery Mall Place was once home to XOXO, Julius Klein's performance space and gallery ...

A case against using the term 'crusty'

[At a recent Thursday night PBJ Dinner in Tompkins Square Park]

Andréa Stella, executive director and co-founder of The Space at Tompkins, submitted the following post.

With the summer in full swing, a lot of our clients are coming back to New York, and we wanted to take a moment to give an explanation for a term that has been and will inevitably be thrown around while they're here.

Three reasons why we don't call our clients "crusties"

1) The term "crusty" is derived from "Crust Punk," a punk movement started in the 1980s out of England with followers who referred to themselves as "crust punkers." Being a "crusty" is like calling someone a Deadhead. 99% of our clients do not refer to themselves as crusties, so we don't either. The term gets thrown around a lot in the East Village because it's a quick way to define a group of folks who look a certain way, but that doesn't make it accurate.

2) When asked, "What do you consider yourself?" — almost everyone told us their name. The first time I asked someone that question, I felt like an idiot because I know that personally, I don't walk around introducing myself as, "Hi, I identify as a white female and my name is Andréa." I start with my name.

3) Our clients are individuals, and most of them are trying to transition out of their current situation. It may not always look like it to outsiders, but there are many complex issues right under the surface that each person copes with in their own way. Tagging someone as "crusty" deepens the stigma and does not promote positive change.

We're The Space at Tompkins, a harm reduction organization whose mission is to help homeless travelers move towards improved health and self-sufficiency. We've been doing this since 2009.

Learn more about The Space at Tompkins here.

[Updated] The Yippie Museum Cafe is closing

[Photo by Donna Rae]

EVG reader Stephen Popkin spotted this sign outside the Yippie Museum Cafe yesterday... both employees on duty at the Harmony Kitchen and Cafe, the space's vendor, confirmed the closure for this weekend.

At this point it's unclear what will happen with 9 Bleecker Street, the longtime headquarters of the counterculture group and home to the cafe just a few storefronts west of the Bowery.

On June 10, Colin Moynihan at The New York Times, reported that Yippie leaders have been fighting an attempt by a lender to foreclose on their three-story home. Things took a turn for the worse last month "when a judge appointed a receiver to manage the building and collect rent."

Per the article:

In court documents, Steven L. Einig, a lawyer for a company called Centech, which holds the building’s mortgage, stated that Yippie Holdings, which bought Number 9 along with a nonprofit called the National AIDS Brigade, had failed for more than five years to make payments on the $1.4 million mortgage.

A lawyer for Yippie Holdings, John Diffley, said in an e-mail that his clients “were compelled into foreclosure with payments being rejected” by Centech as part of a scheme or plan to take over the building.

Said Popkin: "Sad, but it seems over."

Updated 8:51 a.m.
We checked in with Rachel Kay, a member of the board of directors at the Yippie Museum ... she confirmed the cafe's closure. As for the rest of No. 9?

"At this point: we have no idea. I hope that possibly the building will remain and then maybe another cafe will take its spot. I just hope that it doesn't become what everything else in the neighborhood has," said Kay, whose father is The Pieman, Aron Kay. "It's one of the last remaining foundations of the East Village."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Yippie Museum Cafe is in financial trouble

Reader report: 8 Crown Trade closing Sunday on St. Mark's Place

[Photo by Chloe Sweeney McGlade via Facebook]

8 Crown Trade, the family run T-shirt and souvenir shop at 28 St. Mark's Place, is closing on Sunday. Word is that they have been forced out by a large rent hike. Several of our Facebook friends who live nearby are quite upset by this impending departure...having watched the family raise their children and put them through college...

Now it will be interesting to see what takes the space... something of the $1 pizza-bubble tea-tattoo variety... or something that will cater to the incoming working crowd at 51 Astor Place in Midtown South ...

From 1967-1971, the address was home to the Underground Uplift Unlimited, who made the Make Love, Not War buttons, per Songlines NYC...

H/t Rhonda Hager Ryan