Sunday, September 22, 2024

At the 18th annual Anarchist Bookfair

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The 18th annual Anarchist Bookfair took place yesterday at La Plaza Cultural, the community garden/space on the SW corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street. 

Here are a few scenes from the event...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a TSP barricade workout pic by Derek Berg) ... 

• Façade exploration underway at former P.S. 64 (Monday

• More details emerge about the new Whole Foods Market StuyTown on 14th Street (Monday

• Report: Man stabbed in the back exiting the L train at 1st Avenue stop (Saturday

• Chicago's Dark Matter Coffee is coming to the Bowery (Monday

• Dressing up Avenue A for a 1990s crime thriller (Tuesday

• Explore neighborhood community gardens during the 13th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival (Thursday

• Extra taco time: Carnitas Ramírez expands its days of service on 3rd Street (Monday

• At the 98th Feast of San Gennaro (Friday

• A place in the Sun: An installation series on St. Mark's Place celebrates the daylight (Friday

• Coming attractions: Noona's Ice Cream + Bakeshop on 5th Street (Wednesday

• Tree down on 12th Street (Friday

• A 3-day festival to celebrate Tompkins Square Park and the Tompkins Square Library (Tuesday

• The 12th annual MoRUS Film Festival coming to a community garden near you (Wednesday)

• A quick conversation about 'The Chat,' a short film by East Village resident Artie Brennan (Wednesday

• On the CB3 docket for September: An outpost of Bushwick pizzeria Ops; longer hours for Penny (Monday

• Tacombi is now closed for renovations on 12th Street and 3rd Avenue (Thursday

• The storefront at 60 2nd Ave. (the former Black Ant) is for rent (Thursday

• This week's partial lunar eclipse from 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)

This week in milling East Village avenues

Top photo by Steven 

As you likely noticed (or felt), city crews milled Second Avenue from 14th Street to Houston this past week.

Crews also milled Third Avenue between 12th Street and Houston a move that likely makes sense to someone.
These East Village avenues are not on the coming week's Milling and Resurfacing Schedule at the DOT.

As we've seen, it usually takes several weeks before the milled streets are repaved. 🙏

The Village View fall tag sale is today (Sunday!)

Photo by Stacie Joy 

For the first day of fall, the fall edition of the biennial Village View tag sale is today (Sunday!) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The rain date is Sept. 29, but the forecast looks good today.

As always, you can find the resident vendors — selling various items, including clothes, books, houseware, jewelry, bric-a-brac, and more — on the Fifth Street basketball court between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Saturday's parting shots

Photos by Stacie Joy

Just a few scenes from the annual 9th Street A-1 Block Association Block Party today between Avenue A and First Avenue (a top-two neighborhood block party along with the 10th Street Block Festival)...

Noted

Photo by Jackflashnyc 

Seeing this warning sign in Tompkins Square Park — "Lisa Cheats at Cornhole" — reminds us just how safe this neighborhood used to be, when things like this (and pickleball players taking more than 10 seconds to serve) didn't happen.😔

Endless summer in Tompkins Square Park on the brink of fall

Photos yesterday by Stacie Joy 

It's skating as usual on the recenly painted multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park ... now with a discarded couch...
As the Times noted: "It's still summer today, but fall arrives tomorrow. Take a minute to pause on the threshold."

Last night at Paul's Bar on Avenue A

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Despite the sometimes menacing undercurrent, it's a decent spot here at 14 Avenue A for cheap-ish drinks ... though we can do without MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch" on the TV and the person who kept playing every track from Celebrity Skin on the jukebox.

Anyway, as you may have noticed ... the Double Down Saloon between Houston and Second Street is currently serving as a set (Paul's Bar) for "Chelsea Honeymoon," aka the Darren Aronofsky-helmed 1990s crime thriller "Caught Stealing" starring Austin Butler ... and an impressive cast (Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Will Brill, Bad Bunny, Griffin Dunne and Vincent D’Onofrio). 

Filming will continue tonight, and we have more photos to post showing how the set dressers gave the immediate area a late 1990s vibe.

Updated: Man stabbed in back exiting the L train at 1st Avenue

EVG reader photo

Updated 9/23: Police have made an arrest in the case. Details here. The suspect, an East Village resident, is out on bail.

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According to the NYPD and media accounts, a 29-year-old man was stabbed in the back last night just before 9 by a stranger as he was exiting a Brooklyn-bound L train at the First Avenue stop. 

The Daily News reported the victim first thought he had been punched until he saw the blood. 

Per the News: "Police later described the possible attacker as 'an Asian man with a bag.'" 

In a follow-up story, amNY reported that when leaving the station, the victim "bumped into the suspect, who then engaged in a verbal argument with him." The suspect then stabbed the man and ran off. 

According to surveillance footage released by the NYPD, the suspect was wearing a white baseball cap, a white mask under his chin, a dark blue jacket with white lettering on the sleeves over a light blue shirt, dark pants, and blue-and-white sneakers.
EMTs took the victim to Bellevue, where he is in stable condition, ABC 7 reported.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.

The Anarchist Switchboard retrospective exhibit opens today at MoRUS

Today (Saturday) is the opening of the Anarchist Switchboard Retrospective exhibit zine release event at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) on Avenue C. 

The opening coincides with the annual Anarchist Bookfair, which will take place at La Plaza Cultural on Ninth Street and Avenue C from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

Info via the EVG inbox...
The Anarchist Switchboard was a political organizing space on the Lower East Side from late 1983 to 1989. It was located at 324 E. Ninth St. and was started by activists associated with The Libertarian Book Club, Alchemical Theatre, Freespace and The Living Theatre. 

After the 1988 Tompkins Square Park Police Riots, it was taken over by a new generation of activists. Due to several incendiary factors, the Switchboard was contentiously shut down in the summer of 1989. Some regulars decided to immediately open a new space, which they turned into an Anarchist Bookstore.

The exhibition of Switchboard-related flyers and documents specifically chronicles the years 1983 to 1987. It opens during the Anarchist Bookfair today (Sept. 21). There will be a presentation/talk/moderated group discussion featuring several people who organized at the Switchboard throughout the years. Event seats at 5 p.m.; discussion at 5:30 p.m.

 The exhibit stays up through Oct. 5. 

Additional exhibit hours: 
• Sept. 21: noon – 7 p.m.
• Sept. 22: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. 
• Sept. 28: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. 
• Sept. 29: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. 
• Oct. 5: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. 

Sales and proceeds will benefit the War Resisters League/A.J. Muste Institute.

MoRUS is at 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.  

Friday, September 20, 2024

Friday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy

On the Friday shift with Ray at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A...

Doing the things a particle can

East Village-based singer-songwriter Kid Bowery dropped a new song today. 

Per the artist, "Devolver" is "a bit of sleaze-folk psychedelia reminiscent of Elephant 6 bands like Olivia Tremor Control..." 

Check it out...

   

Find more Kid Bowery music here

Tree down on 12th Street

We received several reader reports of a downed tree this morning on the north side of 12th Street just west of Second Avenue...
Our tipsters arrived after the tree was down. It's possible that the truck neatly parked in the bike lane, and the tree just happened to uproot and fall over on its own. (Of course, we've had our share, like here and here, of truck-tree collisions. The trucks always win.) 

Here's a screen grab from a reader video...
Tree aside, there weren't any reports of injuries. According to the NYC Tree Map, this was a Callery pear

Updated 3:30 p.m.
 
William Klayer notes that 12th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue is closed to traffic... while workers remove the downed tree...

At the 98th Feast of San Gennaro

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We're on day 8 of The Feast of San Gennaro ... the 98th edition runs through Sunday along Mulberry and a few side streets in Little Italy... here are a few scenes from the other evening...
The Feast celebrates the life of San Gennaro of Naples who was Bishop of Benevento, Italy, and was martyred in 305 AD.