Jeremiah bravely ventured into the belly of the SATC beast yesterday to see what the real people who live in the fake Carrie Bradshaw house think of the constant stream of tourists who simply must get their photo taken on the stoop.
And?
Who could blame them.
Still, sign or not, the fans will not be denied!
(The caption with this photo on Flickr reads, "In front of Carrie Bradshaw's stoop. & yes, there is a sign that says "PRIVATE PROPERTY, TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED". Fuh real!)
Meanwhile, back to the kitchen for me. So much more baking to do!
Anyway, the article caused quite a stir! How do we know? Because Phil Donahue tackled the topic, in an episode featuring the author, Peter Blauner, and members of Youth of Today, Murphy's Law, Agnostic Front and the Cro-Mags, among others.
What did Blauner have to say about all this later?
Alistair Economakis, owner of 47 E. 3rd St, has his own Web site called the other side of the story.
Here's what he has to say about his building and his family's plans for it.
In April 2007 my family and I moved into the space available to us and have made 47 East 3rd Street our home. Unfortunately, however, due to tenants remaining in apartments, our living space is not contiguous and we are required to go through the public hallway to get from one part of our home to the other. Despite the awkward set up of our living space, we are thrilled to finally be living in our building and we love our neighborhood.
For the rest of the other side of the story, go to his site.
No, you're not just extra hungover this morning. The New York Post is green today...As the cover line says, the Post "is greener with less paper and fewer ads. Enjoy." It's part of a promo for planet green, the first all green tv network that debuts tonight at 6. (Reminder to self: be sure to turn on my huge, electricity-sucking plasma-screen TV at 6 to watch!)
Uh, meanwhile, the environmentalists at the Post included in this issue a 50-plus page glitzy Home & Design ad supplement touting "Living at its Best!" The lavish supplement includes all the luxury developments that you will never be able to afford...there's Ariel...The Brompton...The Harrison...Sky House...and on Pages 28 and 29 -- something called AZURE. Hmm, haven't I read about that place recently?
As I've mentioned before, there's not much -- if any -- street left on Fulton Street. So somebody recently had the idea to brighten up the pedestrian crossings on Fulton Street with these cheap-looking, flowery screens. As if these will make us not notice this:
Along Nassau Street. There's probably a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why the shopkeeper decided to let his or her valued customers know that it was a cousin who passed and not an aunt or uncle or someone else. (And does this inclusion feel like an afterthought?)
Rent-stabilized tenants can't stop a wealthy couple from turning their East Village apartment building into their dream mansion, the state's highest court ruled yesterday. The Court of Appeals found that Alistair and Catherine Economakis can go ahead with eviction proceedings against their low-income tenants at 47 E. 3rd St., as long as they plan to use their apartments for themselves. The Economakis' lawyer, Jeffrey Turkel, said that's exactly what his clients are trying to do - and said they've already converted 40 percent of the five-story building into a super-apartment for themselves and their two kids. "They want to expand the home they already have in the building," Turkel said. That also means evicting the rent-stabilized residents living in the rest of the building's six apartments, a move the tenants are vowing to fight.
"We're all working people, your typical, moderate-income working people. For them to want to kick us out so they can have a luxury mansion - it's ethically and morally unconscionable. I don't know what other word to use," said David Pultz, 56, who's lived in the building for the past 30 years.
Got my copy of The New Yorker in the office today. I was curious to see Adrian Tomine's cover after reading about it last night at Flaming Pablum. As Alex says in his post: Look well, for it's this very scenario that's forcing independent mom'n'pops out of business.
A friend of mine likes to take his young sons fishing near the Con Ed plant off the eastern end of 14th Street. (They toss back what they catch, though he claims the fish are just fine to eat.) It's a simple pleasure, away from the TV, video games, computer, etc. So I went to check out this not-so-secret spot along the East River Sunday. (Not to fish, just to watch. Maybe another day.) There were just a few men in their late 50s/early 60s fishing this day. Not much action in the water. It didn't matter, though -- it was a relaxing way to spend some time. And before the area possibly becomes someplace that we'd rather not be.
[Updated: Told my above-mentioned friend about this post. He basically said that I'm a jackass. Uh, yes! First, he told me that I would need to obtain a "sporting license" from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to legally fish here -- or anywhere in the state that is a public body of water. Or something. OK, Mr. By the Book! Also, he said that I need a geography lesson. The area in which I was sitting isn't exactly behind the Con Ed plant. (Well, it's near it.) I was in Stuyvesant Cove, a very popular spot. Something about piling bases. Whatever! And "toss back" sounds horrible. It's catch and release, man. Landlubbers, jeez.]
Shoot! Someone was on guard last evening to watch and protect the fresh patch of sidewalk against initial-engraving vandals. I was hoping to engrave "free the lobsters" and "lobster killers" into the sidewalk! (By the way, I have no idea whether they even serve lobster.) Or, at the very least, "EV Grieve11!!!11"
On June 2, 1981, the Clash were on show No. 5 of the 17 concerts they eventually played at Bond's International Casino in Times Square -- 1530 Broadway, between 44th and 45th. (A few nitpickers have mentioned that Bonds often went without the apostrophe. Noted!) Bad Brains and the Slits opened show No. 5.
Here's the set list from the June 2 show:
London Calling Safe European Home The Leader Somebody Got Murdered White Man In Ham Palais The Guns Of Brixton This Is Radio Clash The Call Up Complete Control Junco Partner Lightning Strikes Ivan Meets GI Joe Charlie Don't Surf Bankrobber The Magnificent Seven Wrong 'Em Boyo Train In Vain Career Opportunities Clampdown One More Time Brand New Cadillac Washington Bullets Janie Jones Police and Thieves Armagideon Time New Yorks Burning
For pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about the show (and everything related to the Clash), go here.
A little background on all this for people who may to new to this, via Wikipedia:
The site of the concerts was formerly Bonds department store which had been converted into a large second-floor hall. Promoters kept the name because there was a large Bonds sign on the outside of the building. As The Clash had not yet broken out into mass popularity, eight shows were originally scheduled: May 28, 29, 30, 31 and June 1,2, 3, and 5, 1981. However, given the venue's legal capacity limit of 3,500, the series was blatantly oversold right from the first night, leading fire marshals for the New York Fire Department to cancel the Saturday, May 30 performance. In response, the band condemned the brazen greed of the promoters while demonstrating unprecedented integrity to each and every ticketholder by doubling the original booking with a total of 17 dates extending through June.
Meanwhile, here's how Channel 7 covered the event:
The next year, the band was back in town promoting Clash On Broadway...and look who Sue Simmons had on at "Live at 5":
As you probably read, Oscar-winning actress Tatum O'Neal was arrested last night on the Lower East Side, charged with buying crack and cocaine, according to reports. This happened just a few blocks from where she lived in the luxury condo building the Forward on East Broadway.
Hate to use O'Neal's sad arrest as a jumping off point...But! The Forward is one of the most unique buildings on the LES. In July 1998, the Times looked at the fascinating history of the building and its namesake newspaper, The Forward.
First published in 1897, the Yiddish-language Forward was born as Jewish immigration swelled the New York sweatshops and labor unions. It had close ties to the Socialist Party, taking the name of the successful Socialist paper in Berlin. The first editor, Abraham Cahan, had to leave Russia after revolutionary activities, and it was he who molded the paper into more than just a broadside of ideology.
Designed by George Boehm, the midblock Forward Building still towers over the three- to five-story houses and tenements in the area. A common story is that it was built in reaction to the capitalist symbolism of the 12-story Jarmulowsky Bank building, two blocks away at the southwest corner of Orchard and Canal Streets, but that building was begun a year after The Forward's.
In 1963 The Forward began an English supplement, and in 1974 it sold 175 East Broadway and moved to 49 East 33d Street, where it remains. The building was purchased by the Lau family, and for many years a Chinese church has occupied part of the space. The building was designated a landmark just as the owners proposed converting it to a hotel, but the conversion did not go ahead.
Now the building is covered with scaffolding, and the conversion will be to 39 loft-style condominiums, in an alteration designed by Alfred Wen that will include a restoration of the facade. Stephen Lau, acting as agent for his family's company, Chinese Center L.L.C., said that work would take about a year. ''We thought now is the right time,'' he said. ''We hope to have people from SoHo or Wall Street, not just Asians -- it's a bit out of Chinatown.''
[The excellent photo is on Flickr via Wally Gobetz]
(Forgot to add this with the original post.) Part of the Sex and the City tours includes a stop at this Perry Street townhouse in the West Village. Yes, this is the stoop that the Carrie Bradshaw character sits on in the show. (Actually, five different stoops were used; this one most frequently, I'm told by someone who really likes and knows the show.) According to Forbes: The show, which made a fifth character out of New York City, attracts fans to the Big Apple in droves, and locals cash in. Location Tours offers a three-hour bus tour that stops at shops and bars that have appeared on the show. The tour costs $40 a head, and its owners say it attracts as many as 1,000 people a week. Destination on Location Travel offers "set-jetting" weekends in New York, where groups of up to twelve women are shuttled around town and given the fantasy that they're one of the four Sex characters. The price: a hefty $15,000 per person.
New York Post columnist and Turtle Bay resident Linda Stasi has had it with the construction and the cranes. She lets loose in a piece today:
Turtle Bay is just one neighborhood under siege by foreign real-estate moguls building artless, tacky buildings with Chinese money to sell to Europeans, Chinese, Russians and Middle Easterners - the only ones, with the exception of Michael Bloomberg, who can still afford to buy in Manhattan. Yes, kids, the Russians and Chinese are coming - but they're coming with checkbooks, not bombs - even though the effect is the same: destruction of neighborhoods by big-bucks bullies.
Meanwhile, a graphic from the Daily News (March 2008):
