Sunflowers beam

Annual appreciation to the community gardeners (and Tile Bar regulars) who keep this pedestrian safety island garden looking so good here on First Avenue at Seventh Street...

Feeling 'Blue'

 

The local band Homade released its first music video this past week... check out the punky twang of "Blue Fish" above... and follow @homade.nyc for updates about live shows, etc.

Saturday in the Park

A four-band bill is slated for tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon in Tompkins Square Park... via Show Brain and starting at 2 p.m. 

The lineup features:

• Skortz (we wrote about them here) 

• Consumables — "Angular post-punk" 

• Aux Blood — "Brooklyn-based post-hardcore noize" 

• Clone — Their new album "embodies a raw and energetic punk ethos." 

Updated: Suburban Speed has been added to the bill. They lead off at 2 p.m.

Up next: Puke Island Part 12 from Iconicide on Sunday... and the 36th annual Tompkins Square Riot Reunion via The Shadow on Aug. 3-4.

Who wants to live in the East Village (of Downingtown, Pa.)?

As a follow-up to yesterday's post about the East Village NYC t-shirts at a Forever 21 in San Diego... an EVG reader ups the stakes with this entire community development named East Village in bucolic Downingtown, Pa. 

The East Village Home Collection includes The Tompkins. (This is a carriage home?...)

There is no mention of amenities that might include a dog run, out-of-order restrooms, a hidden mini pool, and intermittent police presence. 

And a map... (Not sure how they pronounce their Houston Street)...

Said the reader, who, like Miles Teller, originally hails from Downingtown: "Because nothing evokes EV history like a two-car garage carriage home."

Here's what's coming next to the Orpheum Theatre on 2nd Avenue

"The Big Gay Jamboree," described as "a new comedy trapped inside of a musical," is up next at the classic Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. (H/T Steven!)

Tickets have been on sale since the spring... the marquee just hasn't been changed yet. Previews start Sept. 14 ... with an Oct. 1 opening day and a Jan. 19 close.

The synopsis!

Stacey wakes up after a night of heavy drinking and finds herself trapped in an Off-Broadway Golden Age musical. Forced to put her musical theatre degree in action, Stacey has to figure out how to escape this singing and dancing prison in front of a live audience. 

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"Stomp" ended its 29-year reign at the Orpheum in January 2023. The most recent shows by Rachel Bloom and Eddie Izzard saw the Orpheum return to its roots in the 1980s and early 1990s when it hosted Off-Broadway productions like Sandra Bernhard's "Without You I'm Nothing," Eric Bogosian's "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll" and John Leguizamo's "Mambo Mouth."

Indian restaurant up next for 202 Avenue A

202 Avenue A photo from May 

The East Village will soon be home to another Indian dining option.

The owners of Gazab on Essex Street (just south of Houston) are opening a new venture called Jhakaas at 202 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

According to the Commercial Observer, Gazab Executive Chef and founder Vamshi Adi will also be running Jhakaas. 

The 3,000-square-foot space hadn't been on the market for very long: Kōbo by Nai quietly closed in the spring after arriving in late 2022. 

The address, 202 Avenue A, which has a tragic past, received a horizontal and vertical enlargement several years back, adding two floors to the building.

Hottie Lash checks into 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Hottie Lash is the new tenant for the second-level retail space on the northwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue (133 Second Ave., aka 37 St. Mark's Place). 

While it sounds like a solid roller derby name, this is a salon for eyelash extensions, which takes over the address from Taiji Body Work. 

Previously, 8-Bit and Up, the retro video shop, was upstairs before moving to Third Street in the fall of 2013. 

And as we've posted before... this 1990s upstairs-downstairs combo...

The above photo is by Barry Joseph and was published in Ada Calhoun's book "St. Marks Is Dead."

P.S. 

The Gap was on the ground floor from 1988 to 2001.

Openings: Saperavi on 14th Street

There's a recent name change at 245 E. 14th St., where Mealz is now going as Saperavi here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (Thanks to the EVG readers who shared this.) 

The new signage better showcases what's available — a "Georgian eatery and wine bar." (From the outside, Mealz had more of a generic cafe vibe, and the quality took some people by surprise.) 

Like Mealz, Saperavi has an all-day cafe menu featuring several Georgian entrees. Hours: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. 

Mealz debuted in October 2022.

Meanwhile, at a Forever 21 in San Diego

Thanks to the EVG San Diego Bureau Chief for this photo...

A postponement for tonight's screening of 'Little Fugitive' in Tompkins Square Park

ICYMI: Given the chance of rain tonight, the free screening of "Little Fugitive" in Tompkins Square Park has been rescheduled... to Aug. 5 at 8 p.m.

RESCHEDULED! Due to inclement weather, we have rescheduled our showing of the Little Fugitive for August 5th at 8:00 PM. See you there! pic.twitter.com/3FDXvMQONE

— Harvey Epstein (@HarveyforNY) July 23, 2024

Read more about the film series here.

'Make Me Famous,' a documentary on 1980s-era East Village-based painter Edward Brezinski, finally gets an East Village screening

After screenings in NYC and elsewhere over the past year, "Make Me Famous" is finally playing in the neighborhood where the documentary is set — the East Village.

Starting on Saturday, Village East by Angelika will screen the film three times at the theater on Second Avenue and 12th Street.

"Make Me Famous" is: 

... a madcap romp through the 1980s NYC art scene amid the colorful career of painter, Edward Brezinski, hell-bent on making it. What begins as an investigation into Brezinski's legacy and mysterious disappearance becomes a sharp, witty portrait of NYC’s 1980s downtown art scene resulting in an irresistible snapshot of an unknown artist who captures the spirit of an iconic era. 

Director Brian Vincent and Producer Heather Spore will be at the following screenings with these special guests: 

• July 27, 5 p.m. 

Photographer Marcia Resnick, photographer Josef Astor, archival cinematographer Jim C 

• July 31, 7 p.m. Filmmaker and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and curator and archivist Sur Rodney (Sur)

• Aug. 1, 7 p.m. Artist Peter McGough and Basquiat's first gallerist Annina Nosei 

Find ticket information here.

Brezinski and CLICK models for NY TALK Magazine, 1984, photo by Jonathan Postal

From 543 E. Sixth St.: B-Side Gallery Opening, 1984, photo by Gary Azon 

In the past year, I've been in touch with Spore and Vincent (past posts here). I asked them both to comment on the film's EV premiere. 

Heather 

Our dream was to open in the neighborhood, but when you do your own theatrical run with no help from a distributor, you have to roll with the punches. Our indie documentary has had an incredible yet unprecedented run in theaters going now for over a year.

Back in the 1980s, indie cinemas were more likely to take chances on local filmmakers, and films often had long runs. Does anybody remember "Basket Case"? First-time director Frank Henenlotter shot it locally in 1982 and ran for several years at the Waverly Cinema (now IFC). 

"Make Me Famous" has defied the odds in this current film landscape and maintained a presence in New York City for over a year. We might very well be the most successful film you have never heard of! I can't believe it took us a whole year to screen in the neighborhood we dreamed of starting at! 

The major New York press turned their backs on us because we had an unconventional run. This was surprising to us, considering this really is a love letter to the creativity that burst out of the Lower East Side in the 1980s. Although it would have been nice to be in The New York Times — we made it without them.

I feel like our journey of DIY distribution has been very apropos, considering the artists of 1980s East Village followed the same path, really. They did it themselves, and look at what they accomplished!

Brian

I am a Juilliard-trained actor who was too young to experience the 1980s scene. I discovered it through books like Cynthia Carr's "Fire in the Belly" about David Wojnarowicz. So, I looked for a story that explores this era, when young people made their own scene after being rejected by the mainstream.

In the 1980s, NYC was broke, rent was dirt cheap, and anyone could act out their bohemian fantasies — and they did by the hundreds! As actor Eric Bogosian recalls, "The premium was on who could do the most creative things."

In "Make Me Famous," thanks to the artists and gallerists who lived it, we return to "the scene of the crime," as the artists like to call it. And thanks to their fantastic video/artwork and photographs, the audience is immersed in the gritty action. Only we take an unusual path. Instead of documenting the famous artists for the millionth time, our story revolves around an obscure, mysterious, and charismatic painter from the scene, Edward Brezinski, whose career, in many ways, parallels the rise and fall of the scene. 

The doc is not intended to be a promo but rather an opportunity to experience what it was like to be a striving artist back then. It was a NYC moment that captured the world's attention, produced some of its biggest stars, and then exploded into history like a supernova. 

 And the official trailer...

Openings: Crepe City on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Crepe City debuted at 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street earlier this month.

I stopped by for a friends and family soft opening, and met owner Abdulnaser Alzokari (pictured below in the tie with staff). 

Specialties here include crepes, waffles (creatively spelled whaffles!), ice cream and bubble tea.

Crepe City is open daily from noon to 4 a.m. You can follow them on Instagram here. 

After operating most recently as an unlicensed weed shop, this storefront was home to the first outpost of Mikey Likes It Ice Cream from 2013 to 2022. 

We spotted Mikey here this past Sunday handing out free scoops for National Ice Cream Day.

Amid pending litigation, Memphis Seoul closes its outpost on 1st Avenue

Photos last Thursday by Steven

Memphis Seoul has closed its East Village location at 123 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place after 11 months.

An Instagram post from last week alleges the "gross negligence" of co-landlord J&M Realty Services for the loss of gas service (which has yet to be restored) two days into the shop's renovation last year. 

The post says that Memphis Seoul has pending litigation against the landlord.

In April, Memphis Seoul (founded by former New York Post sportswriter Bart Hubbuch) filed a $500,000 lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court for alleged breach of contract, tenant harassment, fraud and misrepresentation against the building's landlord, Lunar Estates, LLC d/b/a Lunar Estates. 

Public records show that Lunar Estates, LLC, bought the property in early 2022 for $4.3 million. (Public records show that the listed owner of Lunar Estates LLC is Won Moon, an orthodontist based in Orange County, California.) 

Meanwhile, this past Thursday, a marshal also posted a notice on the storefront stating that the landlord has legal possession of the premises.

The quick-serve establishment serves "Southern cookin' with a Korean kick!" ... offering the comfort food of the South with the spices and sauces familiar to Korean food. 

The original Memphis Seoul remains in service in Crown Heights. According to the Instagram post from last week, a new Lower East Side outpost is in the works.

Tuesday's parting shot

A reader-submitted photo from Sixth Street and Avenue B today... Art project? Social commentary? We don't know exactly the intentions of the mystery flagger...