Oh just watching a worker clean graffiti off the Cooper Union Academic Building…
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Graffiti on, graffiti off
Oh just watching a worker clean graffiti off the Cooper Union Academic Building…
Report: The 2 Boots on Bleecker Street has closed
The 2 Boots location on Bleecker between Crosby and Broadway has closed, Eater reported yesterday.
Apparently "a landlord dispute" is to blame.
As you can see, the for rent signs are up in the pizzeria's windows…
According to the Acadia listing:
The recently renovated 640 Broadway stretches a full city block on Bleecker Street between Broadway and Crosby Street and is located in Manhattan’s densely populated NoHo neighborhood. Organic Avenue and Swatch occupy the corner retail spaces. The building is located within three blocks of seven subway lines and benefits from strong demographics, heavy tourism and significant foot traffic from shoppers on Broadway. The main campus of New York University is located one block from 640 Broadway and provides a large base of millennial shoppers and diners.
There isn't any mention of rent.
Meanwhile, Eater notes that the Avenue A Two Boots is making deliveries to this area to make up for the closure.
That Halloween spirit at Exit9
As noted, the gift shop at 51 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street transformed its front windows into a "grisly operating theater" where "a demented doctor loses his patience as he loses his patients."
Well, we're sorry that we missed it because we heard from several people who really liked it… EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by
Per Stacie: "People seemed to love it and be grossed out."
East Village Halloween 2014
EVG contributor Stacie Joy was out early on Avenue A and Avenue B last evening … and captured a little of the color and pageantry of Halloween (in most cases!)…
Meanwhile, in the West Village...
And EVG contributor Derek Berg apparently got lost and ended up in a different neighborhood… and went to the 41st Village Halloween Parade… here are just a few photos…
Friday, October 31, 2014
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition
[Head, St. Mark's Place, via Bobby Williams]
How Katz's stays in business against the odds (Slate)
Parcel of five buildings on the Bowery sold for $45 million; more luxury on the way (BoweryBoogie)
Photo Cut-Outs: From M. Henry Jones’ animated film Soul City, 1977-79 (Gallery98)
Looking for Pussy Galore in Tompkins Square Park (Flaming Pablum)
The latest on on the plight of the Siempre Verde Community Garden (The Lo-Down)
A noon-to-midnight marathon tomorrow of 7 rarely-screened, bona-fide horror classics (Anthology Film Archives)
A fall scene in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)
More photos and video from the last concert in Tompkins Square Park for the year (Slum Goddess)
Upscale floral designer lands on Avenue B (Women's Wear Daily)
About the latest NYC graffiti crackdown (Vice)
A look at "Sometimes Overwhelming," Arlene Gottfried's black-and-white shots of the people of New York in the 1970s and 80s (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Hipster heat map? (Business Insider)
Celebrities who wear Ramones T-shirts (Dangerous Minds)
... and tomorrow is the last day to see the work of Jane Wilson at DC Moore Gallery at 535 E. 22nd St. ... in celebration of her 60-year career. The exhibition will feature a group of rarely seen 1960s cityscapes inspired by Tompkins Square Park... the Times wrote about the exhibit today here...
[Rain on Avenue B, 1965. Oil on canvas]
At the 35th anniversary of the Pyramid Club
Photos and text by EVG contributor Stacie Joy
The 35th anniversary party Tuesday night for the Pyramid Club was filled with more media and PR people than guests.
Sponsored by Stoli vodka (whose new marketing campaign is targeting East Village mainstays), there were Stoli drink specials as far as the eye could see and several famous people to gawk at, like Taye Diggs (he played Benny the landlord in the first Broadway production of "Rent," in case you wondered about the connection), Andrew W.K. (the Stoli “Professor of the Party”), and Andy Rourke from The Smiths (DJ’ing ’80s hits when I left).
Truthfully, though, I was there for Lady Bunny. She was the life of the party — singing and dancing and then secreting me away downstairs for some one-on-one time.
Lady Bunny told me that she started go-go-ing at Pyramid in 1983 by undercutting the other drag queens by $10 (they normally made $50 and she only charged $40), and quickly became a resident go-go dancer at the club at 101 Avenue A for the next 15 years.
She said the manager was a junkie and she felt he’d be happy with the extra money to put toward drugs. Of course this was before the Giuliani years when cabaret licenses were impossible to score. The East Village’s underground scene was exploding, and bringing its music, drag queens, drugs and culture to the masses.
A low-rent Studio 54, with poor but always-fabulous people is how Lady Bunny described the Pyramid Club. She informed me that we couldn’t sit around crying and bitching for what has changed, what we’ve lost; that we should acknowledge it, celebrate it, and create policies that will create change for the future.
Social media got a chunk of her blame: so many people out there documenting everything with their phones instead of being in the moment and enjoying what’s occurring in real time. We talked about how depressing the news can be and how she recommends that we log off, go out and enjoy what’s happening now in the city.
The John's of 12th Street documentary premieres next month
John's of East 12th Street, the 106-year-old East Village treasure, is the subject of a new feature documentary that premieres next month.
Here are details on the 68-minute film via Vimeo:
JOHN’S OF 12TH STREET is a portrait of a century-old Italian-American restaurant in New York City, one of the last of its kind in a rapidly changing East Village. This observational documentary loosely follows the rhythm of the restaurant’s day, which swings between boredom and frenzy as the old rooms empty and fill. No one who works at John’s is actually Italian, but some have been here for 40 years, including two pairs of brothers and a father and son. JOHN’S OF 12TH STREET catalogues the overlooked details of working life and a vanishing New York City.
The documentary is from Vanessa McDonnell, a filmmaker and editor based in Brooklyn.
The film debuts on Nov. 12 at Spectacle in Williamsburg. Details here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
About the new ownership for 105-year-old East Village institution John's of 12th Street
Report: Deal for East Village treasure John's of 12th Street is off
Out and About in the East Village with Nick Sitnycky Part 1 and Part 2
Gutting the check-cashing shop on East 5th Street
The saga continues for three small businesses on East Fifth Street just east of Second Avenue... back in July, the shopkeepers had to vacate their storefronts due to a structural issue in one of the apartments above in 300 E. Fifth St.
This week several readers noted that Jamie's check-cashing storefront has been gutted... as these photos via Derek Berg show...
Jamie, whose family has owned the business for 67 years, has moved his operation to a secure van outside his shop... He is understandably frustrated, but remains hopeful that he can return soon... workers are strengthening the ceiling and floor joists.
Previously on EV Grieve:
3 small businesses temporarily closed due to structural issues at 300 E. 5th St.
Empire Biscuit turns 1
On this occasion Wednesday night, the owners closed the storefront at 198 Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 13th Street for a celebration …
Previously on EV Grieve:
Incoming Empire Biscuit on Avenue A launches Kickstarter campaign (122 comments)
Report: Empire Biscuit opens today (65 comments)
A new boutique for kids and families on East 9th Street
As you can see from the above flyer, an.mé — a boutique for kids and families — has its grand opening today at 328 E. Ninth St between First Avenue and Second Avenue from noon to 7 p.m.
Business partners Melissa Scott and Annie Ju opened the shop several weeks ago ...
"We are really excited to be able to open a store in the East Village," Scott said. "We have lived her for almost 15 years and wouldn't want to be in business anywhere else."
And the store has extended a special discount to readers for 10% off their entire purchase when they mention EV Grieve today through Sunday.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
A Taylor Swift, 'Welcome to New York' mash-up courtesy of Clayton Patterson
Longtime LES documentarian Clayton Patterson has re-imagined/re-edited Taylor Swift's much-maligned "Welcome to New York" video … with archival footage from his archives circa the 1980s and early 1990s, including the Tompkins Square riots… there's also some footage of GG Allin writhing around on Avenue B for good measure.
Per Clayton's message via email:
Are there no NYC songwriters or musicians who could write a song and be a face representing the city? There is no talent in NYC? What is the message to struggling or successful artists? Where are our politicians on this corporate insult to NYC talent? Where are the agencies that represent NYC talent? What is the message to struggling or successful artists? What is the message to the average NY'er? Tell me DeBlasio is different from Bloomberg. It is one thing to make NYC into a corporate mall filled with cookie cutter corporate businesses, but now we have an individual with almost no relationship to NYC as the face and voice representing the city. It is like we have lost our mind?
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