Speaking of Union Square South

Here's a Life magazine photo of 14th Street looking east circa 1951. Hey, where's Forever 21?



P.S.

For no reason, a DC-4 passenger plane flying over Midtown. (No date listed.) Perhaps a photo opp for the Douglas Aircraft Company?

Somewhere around Penn Station

Something to match my sweater.

More reasons why we all should LOVE the recession! (Alternative headline: Enough already with listicles telling us how we should enjoy a recession)

From the Post:

Enough already with the food recession blues. Believe it or not, there are actually some good things the econopocalypse hath wrought — the demise of water sommeliers, gold-flecked sundaes and reservation scalpers chief among them.

So let's get back to basics and toast an end to bloat. Check out our Top 10 reasons for loving the recession.

Among the reasons? An end to Velvet ropes!

While the Meatpacking District is still fueled by models and bottles, there are signs that the trend is waning. We were happy to see the uber swank of Level V recently replaced by 675 Bar. The honest-to-goodness joint is billing itself as a local's hangout ("because the Meatpacking District is a neighborhood, too") offering "a casual, no bottle, no guest list vibe."

And here's the photo the Post uses to illustrate their point on 675 Bar:

Toilet training

Found on the sidewalk on Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street...Dunno which building has the tenants who are flushing things other than waste and toilet paper down the toilet. I cropped out the footprint. Which may have been a mistake. A clue!

Seventh Street tumor watch: We have doors and windows

Or maybe two doors?



Anyway, the work continues on Seventh Street near First Avenue... on what a construction worker at the scene says is "a restaurant or another bar."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tumor exposed on Seventh Street

Noted

An actor walks on Seventh Street near First Avenue Sunday afternoon. And no one really notices. Except the paparazzi.


[Image via Bauer Griffin.]

"It has started again" — the gates of squeaky hell

This cardboard sign was up on the gate to the Village View parking lot on Second Street near First Avenue. "It has started again. The constant noise drives everyone crazy." I happened to be walking by one day when the gate was closing... And as this exclusive six-second video picks up...

Putting the ass in water gun assassination

Fliers are up in the neighborhood for the next Water Gun Assassination tournament in NYC from June 1-22.




According to the StreetWars Web site, to qualify to play:

-- You must be 18 years old or above please!
-- You must live and work in the 5 boroughs of NYC.
-- You have to be available late at night, in the cover of darkness, on either May 30th or May 31st to pick up your assignments in person.
-- You must be physically able to make at least one kill attempt per week. That means going out and actually trying to smoke someone. Just stalking and giving up does not count as an attempt. So if you need to run some business trips out of town for a few days is fine. But if you need to be going for a whole week during the game, then you would be disqualified.
-- Please, nobody who still lives with their mamas

The Times had a piece on StreetWars last fall:

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.

CB3 to Aces & Eights: Where's the food? Why so many TVs? And what's up with the beer pong?

Eater has highlights from last night's CB3 SLA Licensing Committee meeting. Among the East Village highlights: Aces & Eights, the new frathole on Avenue A in the former Mo Pitkin's space, is not making many friends.

A number of EVill oldtimers stood up to complain about noise, while the CB members questioned the lack of food in the restaurant, the 13 TVs (they were allowed to have only two), and the advertisements for drinking games. In his defense the owner said food was on the way — though we think it's safe to assume he means wings, nachos, and bar snacks — and that beer pong should not be equated with binge drinking, "It's one pitcher divided into 16 cups!" The peanut gallery had a good laugh, and the committee decided to write a letter to the SLA.

Previous Aces & Eights coverage on EV Grieve is here.

Iggy gives you three choices for his latest music video

Uncle Iggy's new record, "Préliminaire," is out on May 25...According to his YouTube page, Pop said: "One of the most moving songs of the record ... is called 'King Of The Dogs,' where Fox tells you how cool it is to be a dog, how much it beats human life.' This revolutionnary interactive video directed by Patrick Boivin lets you decide which dog you want to be between a business man, a bum and an explorer."

And here they are:

Bullet Space is the first of the former LES squats to take over ownership of building from city

Bullet Space, an artists' collective and gallery on Third Street between Avenue C and Avenue D, is the first of the 11 former LES squats to be turned over to its residents. A source at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), the nonprofit that has acted as a liaison between the tenants and the city throughout the renovation process of the former LES squats, confirmed the transfer yesterday afternoon.

According to the UHAB source: Bullet Space "has officially had its permanent loan closed, and transferred into the name of Bullet Space H.D.F.C."

As the UHAB source explained, "Bullet Space officially owns the building." For the time being, UHAB executives will remain on their board. However, as soon as Bullet Space residents hold their first shareholder meeting and vote in replacement members, they will be the operating owners of their building. "It's at that first vote when we distribute shares, and it's expected they will do that in a week or two," according to the UHAB source.

The Umbrella House on Avenue C is the next former squat expected to be converted to a co-op for the residents in the coming weeks.

The Villager provides some background on what has taken place in recent years with the former squats. In the Dec. 31-Jan. 6, 2009 issue, several residents of the former LES squats expressed their unhappiness over how long it has taken the city to finalize the plans to bring the buildings up to code and turn the units into affordable housing. Some homesteaders are upset that the renovations were financed with what they call unfair loans that have saddled them with debt. According to the article, titled "Former squats are worth lots, but residents can’t cash in":

“We should have closed this three years ago,” the Bullet Space resident said. “So much red tape, so much mismanagement. … Our building regrets cutting a deal with UHAB. We feel we’re being used and abused. We feel we could have done it for one-third the cost.”

For example, he said, UHAB hired a construction manager at a salary of $70,000, but the squatters wound up doing “90 percent of his job.”

Harry Kresky, an attorney representing Bullet Space, declined comment on whether the squat will sue the city and UHAB.

In that same article, Andy Reicher, UHAB’s executive director, said "the former squatters’ complaints about the renovations’ slowness and the mounting debt are 'not totally incorrect.'"

Said Reicher: "It’s been frustrating. … But in the end, what’s going to result is affordable, limited-equity co-ops."

Also, the article noted that under what is known as Article XI, the former squats will not pay property taxes for 40 years. That exemption was always part of the plan, and will save the residents thousands of dollars in taxes, Reicher said.

According to the East Village History Project, squatters moved into the condemned building, which previously housed a baptist church, at 292 E. Third St., in 1985. (I've seen other sources list 1982 and 1986 for the takeover date.) It was originally known as 6 o'clock. The building was once owned by noted slumlord Henry J. Shapolsky, who had the building seized by the city for nonpayment of taxes.

The Bullet Space Web site provides more on the various projects created by the collective through the years...foremost on the list, "The Your House Is Mine" collaboration -- a 19 x 25, 16-pound book.

The following photos and captions are from the Bullet Space site as well:

Photo by Andrew Castrucci, 1990 • 292 East 3rd Street, NYC • "Your House Is Mine" Book and Street Project


Photo by Sebastian Schroder, 1986 • 292 East 3rd Street, NYC • Bullet Space (A.K.A. - 6 o'clock Squat)


Photo from "Hans Haacke: Unfinished Business" • Shapolsky Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, 1971 • 292 East 3rd Street, known as Bullet Space


For further reading on the former LES squats:
What's happening at the Umbrella House? (EV Grieve)

Fire Brings Out "Barn-Raising" Spirit, and Concerns (The New York Times)

In Images, the Lower East Side of Starker Days (The New York Times)

Squatters' rights (City Limits)

A brief history of New York City's Squats (City Limits)

Sweat Equity Pays Off (The Brooklyn Rail)

Squat the world! (Not Bored)

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" filming today on Sixth Avenue: What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

Lots of film equipment parked around the Boobs Barf & Beyond store on Sixth Avenue. Run, Chelsea, run!

Jeremiah has the tally from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" so far.... And here's BoweryBoogie's coverage of the Nic Cage pic.

100 years of LES subway ridership

Over at Reuters yesterday, Felix Salmon had details on the following chart that uses spark lines to explore 100 years of New York City subway ridership on a station-by-station basis. Salmon focused on the Lower East Side.

As he writes:

"It’s well known that the Lower East Side has been resurgent of late — and so the increased traffic at the 2nd Avenue F stop comes as little surprise. (To give you an example of the timescale here, the grey box covers the years from 1952 to 1977.)

"What fascinates me about this map is how four stations all of which are quite close to each other can have such very different ridership experiences — a true demonstration of how New York really is made up of very small microneighborhoods."

"Without the fancy job or the big nut, it gets harder to hang around"

In The New Yorker this week, Nick Paumgarten writes a piece titled "The Death of Kings -- Notes from a meltdown." The story is online, though you need to be a registered New Yorker user for access.

An excerpt:

"As for the co-op classes, the Wall Street set, it can seem that the loss they fear most is the loss of face. No one seems to want anyone to know. In one sense, there is less shame in failure now, because it is widespread and undiscerning. Still, it smarts. There are successful circles in which success (to say nothing of money) isn't everything, but without it you'd better bring something else. Charm, wit, talent, kindness and generosity certainly help, but only if they complement characteristics that could be more readily converted into social or professional capital. Without the fancy job or the big nut, it gets harder to hang around."

Information on recent TSP attacks

Bob Arihood has detailed reporting on several recent attacks in Tompkins Square Park — one of which may have resulted in the death of a young woman. Meanwhile, something seems a little different this year around the Park— more menacing, perhaps. As a commenter noted on Neither More Nor Less, "I've been somewhat worried about this summer in TSP. There are a lot more people hanging out already than there was this time last year."

Reminders: The Ukrainian Festival starts Friday

How the recession may change New York City

New York magazine's cover story this week is titled "Recession Culture." And it begins:

It’s a truism now that money was an engulfing, distorting force of the boom years, particularly in New York. At the level of urban development, it skewed our economy; at the level of culture, it misshaped values; at the level of individual behavior, it corrupted habits and discolored thoughts: This is your brain on money.

Come, let us dance like children of the night

In Tompkins Square Park Friday evening. A bit of a Wes Anderson moment, someone said. And, yes, the fellow is playing "Wish you Were Here" on the guitar.

Meanwhile, Slum Goddess has more from the weekend, including photos of the Bodies of Pyongyang performance at TSP.

Like a Virgin Megastore going-out-of-business sale (groan)

As you may have heard, the Virgin Megastore is closing on Union Square. I was finally lured in Saturday like a sucker with the "up to 40 percent" off signs... Also, I wanted to make a bid on the Lady GaGa banner in the window. (Unfortunately, my offer of "You pay for the can of gas and I'll rip it down and set it on fire on 14th Street" wasn't accepted.)



Well, as for the rest of the store. The new CDs that are usually marked for sale with a $13.99 sticker over the $18.99 sticker...were all $18.99 again. And they were 25 percent off. Ditto for the DVDs. Most new DVDs were $24.99. So with the 25 percent off -- you're pretty much paying what you were paying before the store was going out of business. I'm sure there were bargains elsewhere. Or not. I didn't stick along long enough to dig. Oh, one thing I saw for 40% off? Stationery! Which was all sold out. And the Blondie pocketbooks were also 40% off.

Another cupcake choice in the East Village

There's a new cafe/bakery called Pinisi on First Avenue between First Street and Second Street. Located where the Edwin Travel Agency II used to be. (The agency moved to Allen Street.)




We're sort of assuming this is an outpost of the Pinisi around the corner of Fourth Street.