A new name for Wall Street

Tom Robbins on the financial meltdown in this week's Voice:

Here's one small bit of payback that angry and frustrated New Yorkers could easily bestow on the grasping financial merchants behind last week's meltdown: Have the City Council — always down for a good street renaming — simply re-tag Wall Street with a new label, one more in line with its recent history: Boulevard of Greed? Gluttony Gulch? Chozzer Terrace?

For those of us prone to take the low road, these are the sort of names that instantly spring to mind, the nastier the better. And why not? How else to describe an industry that applauds nearly $500 million in bonuses for executives recklessly steering straight into the fiscal rocks, taking an entire economy down with them?

The drama of squirt guns

The Times has a piece today on people who go around town and shoot each other with squirt guns.

StreetWars was created in 2004 by Franz Aliquo, then a 28-year-old securities lawyer, as a cure for a boredom phase he was working through. Mr. Aliquo named himself Supreme Commander and, with a friend known as Mustache Commander and other helpers, has held several killing tournaments in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London and Paris. The game resembles the 1980s campus phenomenon Assassin, itself a reminder of the 1985 film “Gotcha!” starring Anthony Edwards and his paintball gun.

The contestants are mostly in their 20s or early 30s, from what could be called the kickball set; about 35 percent in the current war are women.

Reminder: Help save the Bowery tonight

BOWERY ALLIANCE OF NEIGHBORS
presents
AN EVENING TO SAVE THE BOWERY

Saturday, Sept. 27
6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
at
BOWERY POETRY CLUB
308 Bowery
(one block north of Houston)

music, poetry, film
--art auction--
--raffle--

Information via Bowery Boogie and Save the Lower East Side!

And please none of those arm thingees...

A look at East Village real estate

From this week's real-estate section in the Post:

EAST VILLAGE $430,000

311 E. Third St.

Prewar one-bedroom, one-bath co-op, 500 square feet, with dining room, windowed chef's kitchen with stainless-steel appliances and butcher block, French doors, exposed brick, high ceilings and N/S exposures. Maintenance $284, 12 percent tax-deductible. Asking price $425,000, on market one day. Broker: Anthony Cangemi, Citi Habitats

Sounds nice...on market for one day?

A toe-tapper for these tough times

Bronx native August Darnell claims to have had a vision of the band he fronted -- Kid Creole and the Coconuts -- in a nightmare while walking down Fifth Avenue. (Must have been in August...) His Kid Creole persona was inspired by Cab Calloway. Here's 1985's "Endicott," a toe-tapper for these tough times.

Starting tonight at the IFC -- Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell

In May, I wrote a post about Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, the debut feature from Brooklyn-based filmmaker Matt Wolf. Russell, who died of AIDS in 1992 at age 40, was an East Village resident who "bridged the gap between the artistic vanguard and dancefloor hits, The Kitchen and Studio 54." The film starts tonight at the IFC.

Gothamist recently interviewed Matt Wolf. An excerpt:

What do you think of the New York music scene now, as compared to back then?

I think New York is more of a hub these days then a laboratory and breeding ground for experimentation. Musicians and artists seem to pass through to perform and to hang out briefly, but they work and go into hibernation elsewhere. That’s probably because New York has become such an economically straining and competitive environment. It’s hard to be free to experiment and play in this city.

You can still get a beer for a $1 in this town

Over at Metromix, Joshua M. Bernstein finds some bars that serve beers for a $1.

(Via Grub Street)

NYC in black and white

Thanks to Alex at Flaming Pablum for posting more of the photos from his NYC archives...including two of my favorites from the neighborhood, 7B and Mars Bar.

Two EV buildings designated as city landmarks

From The Villager: "The Landmarks Preservation Commission last week designated as city landmarks two East Village buildings dating from the 1920s, the Wheatsworth Bakery, now a storage warehouse on E. 10th St., and the Public National Bank, now a residential building on Avenue C (pictured right)."

[Villager photo by Caroline Debevec]

Noted

Since last Thursday, there have been 200 price cuts on properties listed at less than $10 million on Manhattan's Upper East Side or Upper West Side -- a 17% jump from the week before. Deanna Kory, a broker with New York-based Corcoran Group who's handling nearly two-dozen properties priced between $2 million and $10 million, says her showings are down by about 40% in the last two weeks compared to the same time last year. A slew of new buildings set to open in the next year will only increase supply. (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street week in review: Monday

So, how was your week? As I've written before, I work in the Financial District, though my job has nothing to do with financials (or districts). Or Wall Street. Anyway, as you read here exclusively last week, things aren't going so well on Wall Street. But seriously, this past week was -- for a lack of a better word -- interesting. I noticed this giddy undercurrent while walking around. Especially among the tourists, who sensed they were witnessing history. And there was no shortage of activity, which is documented in subsequent posts.
On Monday, a small group (uh, four) of Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty volunteers took to the steps of Federal Hall to voice displeasure over the Fed's bajillion dollar bailout proposal.



[For the record, that is NOT my thumb with the dirty nail...]

Also! Reporters and various rubberneckers stood outside the Federal Reserve on Maiden Lane to look at some well-dressed white people in suits. They were waiting to see Hillary Clinton.





And I think we all know why there was such commotion at the Fed...the missing gold!

Wall Street week in review: Tuesday

Members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) held a small demonstration at the side of the Chase Plaza on Liberty Street late in the morning. They ask that Congress protect homeowners facing foreclosures (paraphrasing here) instead of the Wall Street fatcats who got us into this mess.






Meanwhile!

Offices are being emptied...



Streets are being ripped up...



and this guy tried to charge me $20 to take his picture.

Wall Street week in review: Wednesday

VIPs are rushed to the entrance of the NYSE. A pack of photographers wait. Tourists get as close to the action as they can. Cops and Secret Servicey-looking people stand guard. Bomb-sniffing dogs whip into a frenzy. Who is it? Brad and Angelina?! (Oh, God -- please let it be! And who started this rumor in front of so many tourists? Heh.) It's, it's...




Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark.
Oh.
Let's hit Century 21!

Wall Street week in review: Thursday

Protest!

When: 4pm – ? Thursday, September 25.
Where: Southern end of Bowling Green Park, in the plaza area
What to bring: Banners, noisemakers, signs, leaflets, etc.
Why: To say we won’t pay for the Wall Street bailout
Who: Everyone!

Angry about the government's proposed bailout. Hundreds of protestors were on Wall Street and the steps of Federal Hall.













And video:

Depressed now? Make your voice be heard on Nov. 4!

In front of Federal Hall yesterday.

Um, where's that $20 million?

Curbed reports that the back wall at St. Brigid's on Avenue B and 8th Street is coming down.

Previous St. Brigid's coverage on EV Grieve.

Meet your new neighbors

Goldenfiddle has this. Footage of aspiring gazelles from DNA Models, located at 520 Broadway.

Hope this doesn't give Dov Charney any ideas

BoingBoing brings us this news:

In certain Asian countries, Betelnut is a popular stimulant sold by scantily-clad young girls in streetside booths. A couple years ago, artist Annamarie Ho recreated a Betel nut booth as a gallery installation commenting on this "sexually provocative sales style" in which, it would seem, customers are buying interaction with the salesperson as much as they're paying for the Betelnut. For the next two weekends, Annamarie is reviving the piece, Binlang Xi Shi (Betelnut Girls), but this time in the more unpredictable location of a New York City storefront.

Here's that storefront:

west side of Cleveland Place, south of Kenmare Street
around the corner from La Esquina

Opening:
Friday, 26 September, 6-8pm

Performances:
Saturday, 27 September, 5-10pm
Sunday, 28 September, 2-7pm
Friday, 3 October 3, 5-10pm
Saturday, 4 October, 5-10pm
Sunday, 5 October, 2-7pm

Noted: New Yorkers are neurotic, though not as neurotic as people from West Virginia

Researchers identify regional personality traits across America. With interactive maps! There goes the rest of my afternoon. (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street is a mess

Really. Just look at it.