Before Alex took off for a few days over at Flaming Pablum, he left behind "a brief, bracing blast of Missing Foundation, offering a cement fistful of vintage L.E.S. chaos." Seems like a fitting way to start this weekend.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Saturday and Sunday in the Park
[Image via Neither More Nor Less...Bob has more details on the shows there too.]
Meanwhile, here's a quick clip of APPLE from last Sunday's show.
It's not your imagination
From today's Post of New York:
A new study shows what many an old-time New Yorker has been griping about for years - chain stores appear to be taking over.
In its first-ever ranking of national retailers in the city, the Center for an Urban Future yesterday published its list of chains with the most outlets in the five boroughs.
Dunkin' Donuts took the title with 341, ahead of upscale coffee competitor Starbucks, which came in fourth at 235.
The pricey java joint did rank No. 1 in Manhattan with 186, ahead of 78 for Dunkin', which concentrates on the outer boroughs.
Jonathan Bowles, director of the center, a nonpartisan think tank, said he and his researchers conducted the study because, well, they were curious.
"We've been hearing so much talk about the proliferation of national chains in New York and how mom-and-pop stores have been pushed out of the city, but it struck me that there was so little data," he told The Post. "We wanted to provide a backdrop to this discussion."
Download a PDF of the survey here.
Oh. Oops. Sorry. I missed that everyone covered this yesterday...at Gothamist...the Observer...Crain's...
[Dunkin' Donuts photo by EV Grieve]
An evening with David Peel
Bob Arihood has the details on David Peel's post-concert birthday bash Sunday night at 8 in front of the Christodora.
On Jan. 13, 1972, Peel and company performed with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on The David Frost Show. Aron "The Pie Man" Kay has a clip of the performance on YouTube.
Meanwhile, here's a video of Peel at the July 11 "let them eat cake" protest at 47 E. 3rd St.
For further protest reading on EV Grieve, here's where to go.
On Jan. 13, 1972, Peel and company performed with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on The David Frost Show. Aron "The Pie Man" Kay has a clip of the performance on YouTube.
Meanwhile, here's a video of Peel at the July 11 "let them eat cake" protest at 47 E. 3rd St.
For further protest reading on EV Grieve, here's where to go.
The sinkhole in the middle of 7th Street and Avenue B now requires two cones
Flashback to July 22!
Previously on EV Grieve:
About that sink hole in the middle of 7th Street and Avenue B
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Looking at the Tompkins Square Park riots in black and white
As the week's issue of The Villager notes:
Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park riots, East Village photographer Q. Sakamaki is releasing a book of his dramatic black-and-white images bringing that turbulent period in neighborhood history back to life.
[Photo by Q. Sakamaki]
Also in The Villager this week: An editorial asks for "die yuppie scum" protestors to lay off Red Square developer/Christodora House resident Michael Rosen.
And:
Bobby Steele on Why "Die Yuppie Scum" must die: It’s hate speech
Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking back: Red Square and gentrification
Hair
Pipeline 29 checks in with this report on the new Freeman's Barber Shop in the West Village:
With its manly nautical theme, chalkboard, and vintage chairs, the men's hair salon is a favorite of the fashion set and any red-blooded male who wants a shave and a trim without a side of pretense. Now Westsiders won't have to travel to the Lower East Side to look sharp. On Tuesday, we got a first-hand look at the new FSC Barbershop on Horatio near 8th Avenue in the West Village. Like it's Freeman's Alley counterpart, the West Side shop oozes dude. This location, however, has a smoother, sleeker aesthetic to go with it's new, more upscale surroundings—white tile replaces beadboard, smoked-glass fixtures replace raw bulbs. Says co-owner Sam Buffa, "What we're hoping for in this location is to open up earlier in the morning 'cause all the guys in the East Village get up at like noon which is definitely different over here. There are a lot of families over here, a lot of businesses and a lot of kids. One of my favorite things that I saw when we opened up the other barbershop was when we had an eight year old and a 70 year old getting cuts right next to each other. This place isn't just for hipsters or anything like that. We'd like to think it's for everyone."
Well, if that's too downmarket for you, there's always the new salon in the Plaza. As Vanity Fair reported earlier this month:
Less than a week before the flagship Warren-Tricomi salon opened at the recently revamped Plaza Hotel, in Manhattan, hairstyling veterans Joel Warren and Edward Tricomi were sitting at a round table underneath the crystal chandlers in the hotel’s lobby. “We are in the lap of luxury here,” Warren said, the coloring yin to Tricomi’s cutting yang, “and we wanted to create a space that was geared towards our clients.”
Their loyal followers (jet-setters, boldface names, editors, you name it) tend to be a discerning bunch, so the hair pair wanted the salon environment to be—forgive the ladies-who-lunch parlance—beyond.
“We really wanted it to be the most luxurious experience possible,” Warren says.
Oh, and it's a 6,100-square-foot space with a VIP room with a special entrance.
I miss Mr. Yury, who used to cut my hair on 7th Street. One day he was just gone, though other barbers on his old shop.
Welcome to Lettertown!
Good thread on Gawker this afternoon on two Bushwick residents referring to their neighborhood now as "BillyWick" or "BushBurg."
Sarcasto had a funny suggestion (one that I hope some developer or real-estate baron doesn't notice!).
Sarcasto had a funny suggestion (one that I hope some developer or real-estate baron doesn't notice!).
An EV Grieve editorial (aka, this week's sign of the Apocalypse)
According to the Times today, shorts are no longer "an office don't. These days, they are downright respectable" at the office.
EV Grieve responds:
"Shorts are no longer an office don't" -- OH YES THEY ARE.
"These days, they are downright respectable" at the office -- NO! NEVER! NEVER EVER.
That is all. Thank you.
Oh, if you must, an excerpt from the article:
The willingness of men to expand the amount of skin they are inclined to display can be gauged by the short-sleeved shirts Senator Barack Obama has lately favored; the muscle T-shirts Anderson Cooper wears on CNN assignment; and the Armani billboard in which David Beckham, the soccer star, appears nearly nude.
Not a few designers are pushing men to expose more of the bodies that they have spent so much time perfecting at the gym. “We have all these self-imposed restrictions” about our dress, said Ben Clawson, the sales director for the designer Michael Bastian. “As men’s wear continues to evolve and becomes a little more casual without becoming grungy, it’s not impossible anymore to be dressed up in shorts.”
While Mr. Bastian is a designer of what essentially amounts to updates on preppy classics, even he has pushed for greater latitude in exposing men’s bodies to view.
[Photo: Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times]
The New York Post on John Penley: "quite possibly New York City's cuddliest anarchist"
The New York Post profiles John Penley today.
And we begin:
AS the unofficial leader of what is known as the East Village "slacktivist" movement, John Penley routinely protests: real estate developers, wine bars, wine bars owned by Bruce Willis, landlords, Republicans and the evergreen that is yuppie scum. "Frat boys throwin' up or takin' a p - - s on your building," he says. "Drunk, blockin' sidewalks, not lettin' baby carriages pass . . ." The 56-year-old Penley also enjoys shouting down obnoxious NYU students, inserting himself into neighbors' landlord disputes and making daily calls to newspapers and networks about area goings-on.
Penley is also, quite possibly, New York City's cuddliest anarchist: a burly 56-year-old Vietnam-era military man and ex-felon with two gold front teeth, lots of tattoos and a deep affinity for children, animals and the writings of Thomas Wolfe. He was married once, briefly, but doesn't like to talk about it.
One of his roommates was rock star Cat Power, who moved out and on long ago, but still pays her third of the share on Penley's $600-a-month apartment on Avenue B, where he has lived the bulk of his 25 years in the city. (His other roommate is a graphic artist.) Penley is something of a local on-call baby sitter, and is quick to dispense loose change or cigarettes to anyone who asks.
Read the whole article here.
Here's a quick video clip of Penley from the protest at 47 E. 3rd St. from July 11.
For further protest reading on EV Grieve, here's where to go.
Remembering Petrella's Point
For 30 years, Adam Petrella ran the funky newstand with the directions at Bowery and Canal called Petrella's Point. (You might remember his portraits of Bruce Lee and Marilyn Monroe that adorned his stand.)
As the Times reported, on May 16, 1997, "Giuliani signed into law new rules governing sidewalk newsstands, increasing the annual fee charged the city's 330 vendors from $538 to as much as $5,000, depending on the location. The law also provides for 100 more stands to be put out for competitive bids. Current renters will have five years before the city decides whether to continue renting the stands or to seek bids. The law is part of the initiative to replace current street furniture (newsstands and bus shelters) with new streamlined versions that will be built by the company that wins a 20-year city contract. The new items and 30 public toilets will be financed by selling advertising space on them, generating hundreds of millions for whoever gets the contract.
Mr. Petrella wonders when he'll become a victim of design and progress."
The newstand was removed in 2004 to make room for a bank. Petrella died in 2006 at the age of 85. According to his obiturary in The Villager:
"His is the story of a proud New Yorker who persevered and documented three decades of change on the Bowery. He is a true and significant source of inspiration for our own small museum,” said Dave Herman, president of the City Reliquary Museum in Williamsburg, Brooklyn."
Speaking of the City Reliquary Museum, Herman has some of Petrella's old newstand on display, along with the original 2nd Avenue Deli sign construction workers tossed when the restaurant shuttered in 2006. The Museum is holding a summer benefit tonight.
Appreciating what's left of the Bowery while it's still there
The gloom and doom about further development on the Bowery has been well documented. (Jeremiah took in the Lighting District in a post yesterday.) I recently paid a visit too, walking from Hester to Houston, careful to pay attention to every detail. Which might explain the 500 photos of doorways that I ended up taking...
(The sandals billboard was recently replaced by a Coors Light ad.)
At least there's some good news relating to the Sunshine.
Meanwhile, there are a few more photos on my new fancy Flickr page. Jeremiah has more photos here.
(The sandals billboard was recently replaced by a Coors Light ad.)
At least there's some good news relating to the Sunshine.
Meanwhile, there are a few more photos on my new fancy Flickr page. Jeremiah has more photos here.
THIS is the Bowery that I miss!
A CLASSIC! (And it's APPROVED by Bela Lugosi's estate!)
Here's how allmovie descibes this 1942 CLASSIC:
Bowery at Midnight casts Bela Lugosi as Professor Brenner, a psychology instructor at New York University (which looks a lot like Berkeley in the exterior shots!). When not enlightening his students — most of them buxom Monogram starlets — Brenner is engaged in charitable work, running a mission in the Bowery. In truth, however, the kindly professor is a fiend in human form, who uses his mission as a front for a vast criminal empire. When Judy (Wanda McKay), one of Brenner's students, stumbles onto the truth, she's targeted for extermination by the Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde prof.
Can't wait for the remake, in which the kindly NYU instructor is a fiend in human form who uses his mission as a front for a vast condo/hotel development! (I shouldn't joke...)
Anyway, someone on YouTube was nice enough to upload the entire 60-minute movie, though they disabled the embed function. So you'll need to go here to watch some of it. I highly recommend that you do.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
I challenge them to work in "Octopussy"
Sean Connery continues to squabble with his neighbor on 71st Street. I only follow the story to see how the Post can work in a James Bond reference. For instance:
007 IN A FIX OVER TOWNHOUSE
By DAREH GREGORIAN
July 30, 2008
Sean Connery's downstairs neighbors are proving to be a bigger headache for the former James Bond than Dr. No, Blofeld and Goldfinger combined.
'HOUSE ARREST' AT THE CONNERYS'
By MELISSA JANE KRONFELD and CHUCK BENNETT
July 26, 2008
Sean Connery's family nemesis - his neighbor "Dr. No" - was at it again yesterday.
JUDGE POINTS 'SCOLD' FINGER
CONNERY & FOE SPANKED
By DAREH GREGORIAN
MOLD FINGER:Dr. Burton Sultan (left) accuses Sean Connery of causing water leaks and other mayhem at their East Side condo.
December 27, 2007
A Manhattan judge has had enough of a court feud between Sir Sean Connery and his neighbor, and is urging the James Bond star and his arch-enemy Dr. Sultan to make peace.
JUDGE SAYS DR. NO TO 'BOND' SUIT
By DAREH GREGORIAN
December 30, 2006 -- Even at 76, the original James Bond can still take down his archenemies.
Bonus!
James Bond billboards in Times Square:
Unrelated but, c'mon, it's funny...What a crew: Dick Van Dyke and Connery in a hep stache meet Queen Elizabeth II at the You Only Live Twice premiere.
East Village 1988: "A Neighborhood of Vigorous Opinions"
[Photo by dmax3270 via Flickr]
Gertrude Briggs, 77, has been selling used art, dance, and literary books at her store, Books 'n' Things, for 41 years, most recently from a stuffy little shop on East Seventh street that has books stacked to the ceiling or in boxes.
''Most of the creative people have been displaced,'' she said, as she closed a sale with a customer from the Bronx. ''Of course it still attracts a lot of freaks, because it's still a place you can be free. For a lot kids, coming here is a way to get away from the choking atmosphere of suburbia.''
''It's almost like geographical determinism -- he gravitates here because he has no choice,'' offered the customer, who identified himself only as Carlos. ''That's what attracted me in the first place when I was going through my Marxist phase. The flyers, the posters, the cracking peeling walls -- it's a glimpse of Old Amsterdam, of Old New York.''
''Most of the creative people have been displaced,'' she said, as she closed a sale with a customer from the Bronx. ''Of course it still attracts a lot of freaks, because it's still a place you can be free. For a lot kids, coming here is a way to get away from the choking atmosphere of suburbia.''
''It's almost like geographical determinism -- he gravitates here because he has no choice,'' offered the customer, who identified himself only as Carlos. ''That's what attracted me in the first place when I was going through my Marxist phase. The flyers, the posters, the cracking peeling walls -- it's a glimpse of Old Amsterdam, of Old New York.''
(From an Aug. 13, 1988, New York Times article titled The Talk of the East Village; A Neighborhood of Vigorous Opinions)
"every time i look at this photograph, i want to cry..."
That headline is part of the caption to this photo from 1987: "Astor Place looking west towards the subway and restaurant...every time i look at this photograph, i want to cry..." The photo was taken by dmax3270. Check out his other black-and-white photos from NYC in the 1980s and early 1990s on his Flickr page. You can see another one of his photos in the above post.
Commoners have nerve to use dumpster in front of new building that will be reserved for wealthier people
On East Seventh Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.
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