Noted

The Post's "the recession can be fun" story also noted the following about EV Grieve favorite Donohue's Steak House:

This Upper East Side dining room, a one-time neighborhood joint for Bernie Madoff, hasn't changed its mood since it opened in the '50s.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The timeless appeal of Donohue's Steak House

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Highlights from elsewhere in the NYC blogosphere (Patell and Waterman's History of New York)

The REAL reason Valerie Solanas wanted to waste Warhol (Page Six)

Graffiti artists vs. the cops who used the hunt them (The New York Times)

John Penley is going somewhere -- Erie, Pa.? Newark, N.J.? (Scoopy's Notebook, last item)

Faded signs on the LES (Ephemeral New York)

Thought this was a bear market? Twelve years of beekeeping on NYC rooftops (Lancaster Farming, and no snickering)

Annoyed Parisians can blame NYC for L’Experimental Cocktail Club (The New York Times)

Meanwhile, George Clooney in talks to play Bukowski (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Got limos? (BoweryBoogie)

Finding the beauty at the South Street Seaport (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Action at the long-delayed Fulton transit hub (A Fine Blog)

Lionel Ziprin, 84: "A brilliant, baffling, beguiling voice of the Lower East Side and the East Village"

The Times has the obituary today for Lionel Ziprin, who died this past Sunday. He was 84.

Mr. Ziprin, a brilliant, baffling, beguiling voice of the Lower East Side and the East Village in all its phases — Jewish, hipster and hippie — died last Sunday in Manhattan. He was 84. The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his daughter Zia Ziprin said.

For decades, Mr. Ziprin, a self-created planet, exerted a powerful gravitational attraction for poets, artists, experimental filmmakers, would-be philosophers and spiritual seekers.

He ran his apartment, on Seventh Street in the East Village, as a bohemian salon, attracting a loose collective that included the ethnomusicologist Harry Smith, the photographer Robert Frank and the jazz musician Thelonious Monk, who would drop by for meals between sets at the Five Spot. Bob Dylan paid the occasional visit.

And now: Songs for Schizoid Siblings by Lionel Ziprin and Leyna d'Ancona...

Saluting some heroes from Forest Hills

Peter Parker and the Ramones.

Avenue B fire damage

Here's a look at some of the exterior damage from yesterday's fire at 30 Avenue B...

A little something to go with the Christmas decorations that are still up at Nino's

Another fire in the East Village

There was a fire yesterday afternoon at 30 Avenue B in a top-floor apartment between Second Street and Third Street. Reader/blogger Suzy at The byrds are singing blue sent along the following video...



No report just yet on the cause of fire. A Curbed tipster wrote, "It appears that no one was hurt in the 4 alarm blaze thanks to the Fire Department's speedy response (they were on the scene within 4 minutes)."

This comes on the heels of a nearby fire on March 12...this blaze occurred at 215 E. Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. Bob Arihood was on the scene and filed a report. (Be sure to read the comments to his post.) There are some other photos from this fire here at Flickr.

Looking back at another Avenue B fire

Yesterday's fire on Avenue B brought back memories of a major blaze...this one at 42 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street happened on Jan. 30, 2004. It reportedly left tenants from 16 apartments in two buildings without homes. Click here for coverage from The Villager.



[Villager photo by Bob Arihood]

Unzipping the mystery at Zips (trying to, anyway)

There's no shortage of chitchat among a few neighbors [that I happen to know] of the former Zips Deli on Avenue B at Fifth Street. Rumors abound that this space will become an upscale diner-type place, though I never report on unconfirmed facts, unsubstantiated rumors or other un-words. Oh, oops. Anyway! Something is happening here...



Yesterday, a worker was removing the graffiti from the front doors.



And there has been plenty of hammering and nailing kind of thing happening behind the brown-papered doors. An EV Grieve tipster who caught a look inside said the interior is shaping up to look like an upscale diner-type place, though you likely already knew that by now.




The EV Grieve tipster frets that what goes in this spot could have a negative impact on the neighborhood...if it's something obnoxious that attracts the let's-be-loud-and-pee/barf-in-the-streets-real-late-and-yell-for-a-cab crowd from outside the neighborhood. The people who are already going to a few places just south of here on Avenue B.

Related:
Check out this shot of Zips on Flickr...

Houston and Avenue B in 1997....and 2007

Two weeks back, we mentioned the new mural by Chico and Tats Cru on Houston and Avenue B.

Here's a quick look at some recent history of the corner...

May 2007:



September 1997:



Someone wasn't a big fan of the Royal Family....hence the "die" mustache for the late Diana, Princess of Wales.



[The 2007 photo via the Associated Press; the 1997 photo via the Grieve family camera]

Michael Rosen discusses Formula Retail Zoning

This week's issue of The Villager includes an op-ed written by Michael Rosen titled Fighting on many fronts to protect our neighborhood. In the article, Rosen, a founder of the East Village Community Coalition, discusses Formula Retail Zoning ... and this video made by Nicholas Whitaker for the East Village Community Coalition.


Formula Retail Zoning from Nicholas Whitaker on Vimeo.

Rhyming and dating

I was reminded it that it's Spring Break for some colleges...a time when students go to warm places and drink and act dumber more than usual. Here's a clip featuring the Beastie Boys from MTV's Spring Break 1987 coverage of the wackiness in Daytona Beach. Back before the Beastie Boys became sensitive and stuff. Try not to cringe.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Spend an evening with Drew Hubner and Jim Coleman -- next Tuesday (East of Bowery)

Biker Bill has words for Biker Billy the chef (Slum Goddess)

The LES bartender who tried to kill Teddy Roosevelt (Ephemeral New York)

On 64 years living in the West Village (Washington Square Park)

A curious closed-up shop on Court Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Say goodbye to a big chunk of Delancey (Curbed)

Alex can't help but keep looking at the former Cedar Tavern space (Flaming Pablum)

No dinner for this Red Tailed Hawk tonight (Neither More Nor Less)

A night out at the Village Barn (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Where the Sun still shines (BoweryBoogie)

What the fuck is A-rod doing in these photos? (The Superficial)

Starbucks to run expensive ad campaign to show that its coffee isn't expensive

AdAge.com has it:

Distressed that Starbucks has become the "poster child for excess," CEO Howard Schultz said the coffee company plans to run an ad campaign proving its coffee isn't expensive.

"There's a myth out there that there's this $4 cup of coffee at Starbucks," Mr. Schultz told shareholders at the company's annual investor meeting earlier today. "For whatever reason, Starbucks Coffee Co. has become the poster child for excess, and if you want to be really smart, you should cut out that $4 cup of coffee."

Next, perhaps Mr. Schultz could create a campaign that improved the taste of their coffee, something that doesn't taste like, oh, dusty tar.

Of course the people we really want to leave just won't

From the Times today: "New York City lost less population to other states in the 12 months ending July 1, 2008, than during any year in decades, according to census figures released Thursday. If that trend continues, the city’s population will top 8.4 million in 2010."

However, these figures don't represent all the job losses that hit in the latter stages of last year. Still, we can make it a trends piece!

“This is new, a real deviation from the average,” said New York City’s chief demographer, Joseph J. Salvo. “Whether it’s a trend is another thing.”

The latest census estimate did not reflect the decline in private-sector jobs in the city late last year.

Dr. Salvo, the director of the Department of City Planning’s population division, said, “When you take a look at the conditions in the rest of the country and what has happened to the housing and economic market in a lot of places our migrants have gone to, it’s very tempting to conclude that perhaps people are staying put more because the opportunities that were afforded there are not there any longer or are no longer attractive.”

In any event! Shall we start a list of people we wish would leave the city? I'll start with the guy on the bus talking on his cellphone about the lack of good golf courses in the city.

Is it safe to venture out again?

I've come out of hiding...Is St. Patrick's Day over yet? And thanks to the jokester who sent me the info on the St. Patrick's Day bash at Turtle Bay on 52nd and Second Avenue...

Noted

Engineers have discovered dangerous cracks in 200-year-old wooden beams right above Mayor Bloomberg's desk in City Hall, leading to an emergency $5.5 million contract to stop the roof from falling in. (New York Post)

An excellent body of work

Last August, I did a post on artist Dan Witz. He uses some of the uglier new buildings in Brooklyn and the LES as the backdrops for the photo-based, heavily re-painted stickers that he mounts on plastic and glues to the walls. Anyway! His work came to mind after reading about an upcoming exhibit of his work in Amsterdam April 9-20.

This is one of his newer works that I wasn't familiar with... from somewhere in Brooklyn.



You can find more on his Flickr page.

Noted

"George W. Bush is getting $7 million for his memoir, tentatively titled "Decision Points," scheduled for a 2010 release by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group." (Page Six)

Reverend Billy investigates how the downturn is having an impact on local businesses ("Stay out of the national chains!")

Thanks to the tipster who passed along this link...

Mayoral candidate Reverend Billy talks with business owners on East Ninth Street on how they're coping with the recession. This was filmed as part of the Uncommon Economic Indicator project with the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.