Photo on 12th Street near Fourth Avenue today via Derek Berg...
Friday, March 8, 2019
Spiritualized
The Portland, Ore.-based band Y La Bamba, led by Luz Elena Mendoza, recently released its excellent sixth record — Mujeres. The live track here is for the eponymous "Mujeres" recorded live at Seattle's KEXP a few years back.
As a bonus... the audio track of "Cuatro Crazy," my favorite song from this new record...
Flowers for Moishe's Bake Shop
[Photo by Derek Berg]
Someone left these flowers outside the now-closed and under-renovation Moishe's Bake Shop on Second Avenue near Seventh Street. The bakery closed on Tuesday after 40-plus years in business.
The proprietor, Moishe Perl, who also owns the building at 115 Second Ave., said that he was retiring. Perl was later said to be searching for new management to re-open the spot as a cafe and bakery in the spring.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Claim: After 40-plus years, Moishe's Bake Shop has closed on 2nd Avenue (42 comments)
Time of 'War' for East Village artist Anton van Dalen
Longtime East Village artist Anton van Dalen is exhibiting with the P.P.O.W. Gallery at the Armory Show this weekend.
He's part of a group with five other P.P.O.W. artists. The curated theme: War.
"Included is this enormous canvas, which I painted in 1982 ... will be thrilling to see it there," he said in an email. "For me it's one of these freeing moments where intuition, 37 years later, finally flowered."
[van Dalen in 1982]
This part of the Armory Show is at Pier 94, Booth 717 (between about 50th Street and 54th Street across 12th Avenue). . Find more details on the Armory Show here.
The show continues through Sunday. Hours: Friday from noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday from noon to 7 p.m.; Sunday noon to 6 p.m.
Find of a preview of the Armory Show at Gothamist.
Fiaschetteria Pistoia returns to service after December fire
Fiaschetteria Pistoia is back open after a late-night fire on Dec. 23 put the Tuscan-style restaurant out of commission.
More than 60 firefighters battled the blaze. (A cause has not been revealed.) There weren't any reports of injuries, though parts of the kitchen and dining room at Fiaschetteria Pistoia, which debuted in 2017, were damaged.
Fiaschetteria Pistoia also opened a new outpost at 114 Christopher St., near Bedford Street, at the beginning of January.
H/T Stacie Joy!
A visit to Now Yoga on 4th Avenue
Photos and interview by Stacie Joy
After six years of sharing space near Union Square, Now Yoga, 61 Fourth Ave. (third floor) between Ninth Street and 10th Street, opened its very own studio this past September.
I recently stopped by to talk with studio owner Renata Di Biase as she prepped Now Yoga for the day ... I also watched instructor Edward Jones lead a morning vinyasa class.
In the following Q&A, Di Biase discusses the challenges of operating a community wellness space and making yoga accessible to more people.
How did Now Yoga come to be? What is its history, and why did you choose the East Village for its home?
The story of Now Yoga begins with Om Yoga, which was founded by Cyndi Lee in downtown Manhattan back in the 1990s. When that institution closed in 2012, a few of Om’s senior teachers (including Edward Jones, Frank Mauro and Joe Miller) founded Now Yoga.
They didn’t have a studio space of their own at the time, but Barbara Verrochi and Kristin Leigh of the Shala in Union Square graciously opened their doors to Now, inviting the guys and a small team of teachers to offer a number of classes on their schedule as a complement to their own ashtanga program.
For six years we operated out of the Shala, where Now continued to offer its own distinct brand of alignment-based vinyasa yoga, in addition to developing its own teacher training program.
When limited space in the studio and on the schedule meant that Now Yoga would have to downsize in order to continue its residence at the Shala, it was time to take the leap and move Now into its own home. It was important that the new studio continue to serve our existing community, so the search for a new space was pretty focused around the general Union Square/East Village vicinity.
Our most loyal students either live in the East Village area or are already very accustomed to traveling in and out of this area to or from work and home. This area is where we all really developed our practices and careers teaching, so it’s only natural that we transplanted ourselves just a couple of blocks from where we began.
How do you describe the community of people at Now Yoga?
Our community is pretty diverse. Many of our students are seasoned practitioners and long-time East Village residents — creative professionals who make up the fabric of the East Village in their own ways as business owners, artists, teachers, etc. Some are college students newly settling into the neighborhood and just beginning to delve into yoga. Some are circling back to yoga after several years since Om’s closing, rediscovering the practice in this new space. Many travel from other neighborhoods because this is their second home. We’re right off of two major subway lines, so we’re on the way to or from somewhere, for most.
Our teachers and staff are a huge and important part of the community. We’re a little family and one that has grown with the move into the new studio. Our teachers are grounded, down-to-earth, regular people. I think that makes Now unique.
You say on your website that “Everyone can practice yoga, regardless of one’s level of fitness or experience.” How does Now make yoga accessible?
We’re committed to helping people adapt the practice of yoga to suit their body and their needs. We’re not trying to fit ourselves into a rigidly defined practiced. We’ve tried to build a diverse schedule of classes that offer pretty specific levels so that any student can feel welcome and serve, which may sound counter-intuitive.
What we’ve found with teaching all open-level classes in the past is that things can get pretty watered down in an attempt to deliver a one-size-fits-all practice. It’s impossible to do that. Introducing levels (basics, basics/intermediate, intermediate, intermediate/advanced, yoga for seniors, etc.) allows us to get pretty clear. With a menu full of options, you’re more likely to get what you need and want. And you’re more likely to get a teacher prepared to meet your needs.
A recent CDC study showed that yoga has continued to rise in prevalence among U.S. adults since 2012. Do you feel as if yoga is becoming less of a so-called alternative practice and more mainstream?
Back in the 1990s and early 2000s yoga was much more of a trend. That and a very different economic landscape meant that a new yoga studio had the potential to be the hot new thing.
We’re in a different age now and there’s a yoga studio on nearly every corner, which I think means that more people are doing yoga and accept it is a standard part of their fitness and wellness routines. The prevalence of yoga studios means there’s also a broader range of adaptations of yoga available — so there’s something for everyone, from the super traditionalist to the person who enjoys asana in the dark set to hip hop. (We’re somewhere in between.)
Do you find yourself competing for people's time and attention who could be swayed to try the increasingly popular (and trendy!) HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and CrossFit classes as well as the plethora of fitness apps?
Competition within the yoga marketplace and the fitness industry at large is, indeed, rather stiff. Before we moved, many people asked why we’d ever endeavor to open up a physical studio when so many yoga and fitness studios close due to market saturation and the challenges of the NYC real estate landscape. (“Can you just offer your services online? Cut out all the overhead? What about an app?”)
For what we do, having a local community space is entirely the point. And we really believe in the kind of practice we’re offering that doesn’t quite exist elsewhere. We hope it resonates with some people and that we can continue to build.
And, unlike a lot of the fitness boutiques cropping up all over Manhattan, we are competitively (and fairly reasonably) priced, plus we offer discounts to students, seniors, and veterans. Yoga, mindfulness, health and welling, while incredibly valuable, all need to be accessible and affordable.
What’s next for Now Yoga?
Community outreach has been part of long-term vision for Now Yoga from the outset; figuring out how and what Now Yoga has to offer the East Village community and beyond is on the more immediate agenda now that we’ve begun to settle into our new home.
One of our teachers and managers, Jana Hicks, is currently running the Yoga4Cancer program at Now, which makes it possible for us to offer an entirely free weekly class for cancer patients and survivors.
We hope to offer more in this vein in the coming months, including developing partnerships with certain nonprofits, like the Trevor Project, to support those in the helping professions with free or discounted classes and services.
We’re interested in partnering with local community organizations that might be interested in bringing accessible, practical yoga and meditation practices to the underserved. But let’s not forget that we’re also surrounded here at Astor Place by stressed-out corporate professionals. Many of us worked — or still work — in the corporate sphere and know the whole desk-lunch routine.
You can check out the class schedule at Now at this link... and follow them on Instagram here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street
A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street
A visit to Eat’s Khao Man Gai on 6th Street
A visit to Yoli Restaurant on 3rd Street
Preparing for Saturday's dinner at Il Posto Accanto on 2nd Street
A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street
A trip to the recently expanded Lancelotti Housewares on Avenue A
A visit to C&B Cafe on 7th Street
A visit to Rossy's Bakery & Café on 3rd Street
A visit to CAVAglass on 7th Street
A visit to Dumpling Man on St. Mark's Place
The Ottendorfer Library branch reopens Monday
[Photos by Steven]
The Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, is back in circulation on Monday morning at 11 (H/T EVG reader Terry!)...
The branch closed for upgrades this past Aug. 6.
According to a message to patrons from branch manager Kristin Kuehl at the time, workers were to install a new fire alarm and life-safety system. Given the building's age and landmark status, the project was expected to take six months. (An updated sign on the library's front door in January noted a closure through "late winter.")
And as always, leaving you with some history of the branch, cut-n-pasted from the LAST TWO Ottendorfer posts...
The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library opened in 1884 as New York City's first free public library. Designed by German-born architect William Schickel, this landmark building combines Queen Anne and neo-Italian Renaissance styles with an exterior ornamented by innovative terracotta putti. The branch was a gift of Oswald Ottendorfer, owner of the New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung newspaper.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system
A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street
Buffalo Exchange headed to Broadway
Buffalo Exchange is opening an outpost of its resale thrift shop at 714 Broadway a little south of Astor Place at Washington Place. (Thanks to Majorie Ingall for the photo and tip!)
The retailer, based in Tucson, Ariz., has nearly 50 locations (including one on 11th Street between first Avenue and Second Avenue) in 17 states ... and 2019 makes their 45th anniversary.
Kati Roll Company cuts back on their hours
There are now much more limited hours of operation over at the Kati Roll Company at 128 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... Steven noticed that they are just open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the week, and closed on weekends...
...other nearby Kati Roll outposts are open much later... no word on why they cut back their hours in the East Village.
What's striking is that Kati's original hours were 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday-Thursday, until 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The Kati Roll Company, specializing in Indian street food, opened here in November 2016.
The longtime previous tenant here, The Stage, the 35-year-old lunch counter, closed on March 30, 2015. Stage owner Roman Diakun had been involved in an ongoing legal/eviction battle with landlord Icon Realty. (You can read that background here.)
With a H/T to EV Grieve Tikka Roll Correspondent NOTORIOUS!
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Thursday's parting shot
Borrowing this shot from the I Need More Instagram feed... Here's Jimmy Webb, owner of the rock 'n' roll boutique at 75A Orchard St. between Broome and Grand, with a new life-sized photo of Lou Reed in the shop.
The photo of Reed is by Michael Zagaris.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Jimmy Webb will make dreams come true with new rock 'n' roll boutique I Need More
Saturday night at Bullet Space: The Clothesline Benefit Art Sale
Via the EVG inbox...
The Clothesline Benefit Art Sale
SATURDAY MARCH 9
7-10 p.m.
Affordable works on paper: $25 + $50
Our Clothesline Benefit Art Sales are always lots of fun, with plenty of surprising things hanging on the line. Proceeds benefit ABC No Rio in Exile.
Bullet Space/292 Gallery
292 E. Third St. between Avenue C and Avenue D
ABC No Rio is currently in exile while waiting for their new HQ to be built on Rivington Street. (Previously)
I Am a Rent-Controlled Tenant
East Village resident Susan Schiffman documents the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants — and for this post, rent-controlled — living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenants: Terry (since 1975) & Charlie (since 1965)
Why did you come to the East Village?
I came to the East Village because Charlie and I met. We started dating. We met in Ty’s, which is a gay bar that still exists, much to our amazement. It is on Christopher Street. Do you know the Moth? Charlie did a story on the Moth about the first night we met. It’s called “Just One Drink.”
Charlie said he didn’t want to date. His friends said “they’re not going to come to you, so you must go out to them.” Charlie said, “all right, I will go to a bar and I will have a drink.” And then we met.
I was living on Sullivan Street at the time. There are 13 years between us. I was younger and he was more mature. He had been in this apartment already for over a decade. We dated for about six months. I had a lot of stuff here and a lot of stuff there. My lease was coming due. We started talking about moving in together. I moved in.
How did Charlie find the apartment?
He was living on the Upper West Side. He was a theater, artistic, 100-percent visual person. He had a dear, close friend who was female. They were young, it was the 1960s. They decided to get married. She knew he was gay. Unfortunately, marriage kind of killed their friendship. They decided it was a bad idea that they had gotten married and got a divorce. It was amicable.
A friend who lived across the street from this apartment told Charlie that the apartment was available. The previous tenant had lived here for over 50 years and had passed away. Charlie got the apartment. It was a mess. Nothing had been done for 50 years. The floors were bare and the walls were crummy. He was 27, a designer with an artist’s eye. He said, “I can fix this.”
There are things in this apartment that have been here since I arrived. With a little bit of work we could make that something. The dresser came out of somebody else’s apartment. He was young. He didn’t have any money. Whatever he found he found a way to use it. When he did have money, even actors make money occasionally, he would buy art.
He had a friend who didn’t know what to do with himself so Charlie said you should find something and focus on that and collect it and see what you can do. Charlie decided it was going to be owls.
If you knew Charlie he doesn’t wait for you to say yes, he just starts doing it. He started finding owl things. His friend never did take up the owl project.
[Terry gestures to some of the photos and paintings on the walls]
That is Marin County looking at San Francisco. We were waiting for the ferry into San Francisco.
This one is a friend of ours, Steve and his wife on their trip to Norway. He did this one of the fjords in Norway. He was inspired by Charlie’s panorama technique.
That we bought on Second Avenue from a guy who had a table on the street. I grew up in the country. Charlie was born and bred in Brooklyn.
That is by Buffie Johnson. That’s actually Yul Brynner at the time he was making his Broadway debut with Mary Martin. Charlie found it in a thrift shop. He contacted Ms. Johnson at one point and she said “Oh is that what happened to that? I had some work being done in the house and it just kind of disappeared.”
That’s my spirit of the swamp.
The fabric thing is because the walls are terrible and Charlie was a designer. He designed clothing and costumes. He would, we would, we did these kitchen walls three times. Charlie would find a fabric that he liked. It was orange first, then brown then black. He would sew the panels together and then we would get up on the ladder with a staple gun and start laying it around the room. It’s smooth and then you can’t see the walls behind it, which are just a disaster.
What do you love about the apartment?
What I love about this apartment is that it represents our life together. I have not changed the phone message since Charlie passed away in September. If you call you will hear “you have reached Terry and Charlie.” I’ll get to it. I’m not ready yet.
In this moment in time, this is our home. This is where we lived. I went back to college and got a new career. We did everything we needed to do to live a life together. This was our home base. This was Charlie’s sanctuary. Sometimes he had a little trouble with the world. He felt safe here.
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenants: Terry (since 1975) & Charlie (since 1965)
Why did you come to the East Village?
I came to the East Village because Charlie and I met. We started dating. We met in Ty’s, which is a gay bar that still exists, much to our amazement. It is on Christopher Street. Do you know the Moth? Charlie did a story on the Moth about the first night we met. It’s called “Just One Drink.”
Charlie said he didn’t want to date. His friends said “they’re not going to come to you, so you must go out to them.” Charlie said, “all right, I will go to a bar and I will have a drink.” And then we met.
I was living on Sullivan Street at the time. There are 13 years between us. I was younger and he was more mature. He had been in this apartment already for over a decade. We dated for about six months. I had a lot of stuff here and a lot of stuff there. My lease was coming due. We started talking about moving in together. I moved in.
How did Charlie find the apartment?
He was living on the Upper West Side. He was a theater, artistic, 100-percent visual person. He had a dear, close friend who was female. They were young, it was the 1960s. They decided to get married. She knew he was gay. Unfortunately, marriage kind of killed their friendship. They decided it was a bad idea that they had gotten married and got a divorce. It was amicable.
A friend who lived across the street from this apartment told Charlie that the apartment was available. The previous tenant had lived here for over 50 years and had passed away. Charlie got the apartment. It was a mess. Nothing had been done for 50 years. The floors were bare and the walls were crummy. He was 27, a designer with an artist’s eye. He said, “I can fix this.”
There are things in this apartment that have been here since I arrived. With a little bit of work we could make that something. The dresser came out of somebody else’s apartment. He was young. He didn’t have any money. Whatever he found he found a way to use it. When he did have money, even actors make money occasionally, he would buy art.
He had a friend who didn’t know what to do with himself so Charlie said you should find something and focus on that and collect it and see what you can do. Charlie decided it was going to be owls.
If you knew Charlie he doesn’t wait for you to say yes, he just starts doing it. He started finding owl things. His friend never did take up the owl project.
[Terry gestures to some of the photos and paintings on the walls]
That is Marin County looking at San Francisco. We were waiting for the ferry into San Francisco.
This one is a friend of ours, Steve and his wife on their trip to Norway. He did this one of the fjords in Norway. He was inspired by Charlie’s panorama technique.
That we bought on Second Avenue from a guy who had a table on the street. I grew up in the country. Charlie was born and bred in Brooklyn.
That is by Buffie Johnson. That’s actually Yul Brynner at the time he was making his Broadway debut with Mary Martin. Charlie found it in a thrift shop. He contacted Ms. Johnson at one point and she said “Oh is that what happened to that? I had some work being done in the house and it just kind of disappeared.”
That’s my spirit of the swamp.
The fabric thing is because the walls are terrible and Charlie was a designer. He designed clothing and costumes. He would, we would, we did these kitchen walls three times. Charlie would find a fabric that he liked. It was orange first, then brown then black. He would sew the panels together and then we would get up on the ladder with a staple gun and start laying it around the room. It’s smooth and then you can’t see the walls behind it, which are just a disaster.
What do you love about the apartment?
What I love about this apartment is that it represents our life together. I have not changed the phone message since Charlie passed away in September. If you call you will hear “you have reached Terry and Charlie.” I’ll get to it. I’m not ready yet.
In this moment in time, this is our home. This is where we lived. I went back to college and got a new career. We did everything we needed to do to live a life together. This was our home base. This was Charlie’s sanctuary. Sometimes he had a little trouble with the world. He felt safe here.
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.
A 9th Street block event this weekend
Business owners along Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue are hosting a block event this weekend (Friday through Sunday) ... per the above flyer, patrons will receive a 10-percent discount ("or a special treat") at participating shops.
As of now, the businesses taking part are:
Meg
Dinosaur Hill
Cobblestones
Headdress
Elliot Mann
DL Cerney
Cloak & Dagger
Local Clothing
an.mé
9th St. Vintage
Heights Kenchi
Still House
Huminska
Vera Meat
Ibiza
The Source
Spark Pretty
Duo
Azaleas
Vintage Grannies
East Village Postal
Tailors Atelier
Thanks to Steven!
Renovations taking place in the fire-ravaged former home of Yakiniku West on 9th Street
Renovations are underway in the burned-out storefront at 218 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
A two-alarm fire broke out in the building in April 2018. Fire officials reportedly deemed the blaze an accident due to wiring on the ceiling of the first level.
The Yakiniku West restaurant on the first floor and three apartments above were damaged, CBS 2 reported, noting that five adults and one child were displaced. Fire officials called the residential units "unlivable."
Posted work permits show that workers are renovating the restaurant space on the ground floor and cellar. The DOB states that the
estimated cost of repairs is a little more than $400,000.
No word if Yakiniku West — which offered table grills for cook-it-yourself Japanese barbeque — might be returning... or if the landlord is renovating the space for a new restaurant tenant.
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