So true. Funny how it seems.

At the Seventh Street block party yesterday between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Cindy Adams takes on the inconveniences and unpleasantries of having to ride in elevators with commoners

What a hassle!

Take residential buildings where tenants have no in-house washer and dryer. Residents must schlep laundry to the basement washroom or nearest Laundromat. I understand they don't wish to be dirty neighbors but can't they cover their menfolks' unwashed BVDs? Tuck their own bra straps inside the basket? Under the box of Ivory? Those who are big-busted or cosmetically enhanced could invest in Ivory's economy-size box.

Food delivery is another thing. The pizza guy coming up. The Chinese-food delivery boy. Always nice to have the aroma of subgum wafting to the roof. And can we talk about the sweaty bicycle rider who gets in with his helmet, leg clamps, wheel chain -- and does NOT look like Lance Armstrong?

In buildings minus a service elevator, one must occasionally cool one's designer heels as deliverymen load cartons of toilet paper, Pampers and oranges that always roll out of their brown-paper bags into the lift. Everyone stares into the bags thinking, "Hmmm, chuck steak instead of T-bone. Apartment 46K's having money trouble."

Previously.

Noted

Been so busy eating sausage-biscuits-and-gravy pizza and deep-fried mac-and-cheese, I forgot to note this Times trends piece from Thursday.

In truth this get-up was pretty much the unvarying male uniform last summer also, but this year an unexpected element has been added to the look, and that is a burgeoning potbelly one might term the Ralph Kramden.

Too pronounced to be blamed on the slouchy cut of a T-shirt, too modest in size to be termed a proper beer gut, developed too young to come under the heading of a paunch, the Ralph Kramden is everywhere to be seen lately, or at least it is in the vicinity of the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, the McCarren Park Greenmarket and pretty much any place one is apt to encounter fans of Grizzly Bear.

What the trucker cap and wallet chain were to hipsters of a moment ago, the Kramden is to what my colleague Mike Albo refers to as the “coolios” of now. Leading with a belly is a male privilege of long standing, of course, a symbol of prosperity in most cultures and of freedom from anxieties about body image that have plagued women since Eve

.

"Bad Lieutenant" screening tonight to benefit Cinema Nolita

BoweryBoogie has been all over the sad story of Cinema Nolita on Elizabeth Street. [Oops! That's Mulberry!]

As Bryan Waterman notes:

Cinema Nolita is one of the last of a dying breed: a video store that not only still stocks plenty of VHS tapes (much to the delight of my 13-year-old daughter, who has a huge case of technological nostalgia) but has a large and varied DVD collection that leans toward classics and foreign while still covering all the requisite new release bases. Perhaps even more importantly, it's the kind of store where knowledgable employees remember your name and call up your membership before you get to the counter, and where they remember your rental history and taste and may even warn you away from a turkey...

Bryan says they need about $8,000 to cover expenses to keep going.

To help!

Anthology Film Archives is hosting a benefit screening, TONIGHT at 10 of EV Grieve favorite -- Abel Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant" starring Harvey Keitel. Ferrara will be there for a Q-and-A and discussion after the movie.

Maybe you can ask about this scene!

The Lieutenant: [to Jesus Christ] Mutt! You got something that you want to say to me? You fuck! You ratfuck, you ratfuck! Here's your... What? Say something, I know you're just standing there. What am I gonna do? You gotta say something! Something! You fuck, you fucking stand there and you want me to do every fucking thing! Where were you? Where the fuck are you? Where were you? Where the hell were you? I... I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I did so many bad things. I'm sorry. I tried to do... I try to do the right thing, but I'm weak, I'm too fucking weak. I need you to help me! Help me! I need you to help me! Forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me, please! Forgive me, father!

Anyway! On Monday night, there's a musical benefit, featuring the Beets, the Virgins and an Animal Collective DJ at Santos Party House. More details over at Patell and Waterman's History of New York.

I'd like to find that weasel who threw in the dime

The last "Note from EV Grieve" that EV Grieve will leave (today anyway)

The guest-blogging stint at Curbed winds down today....and so, a few of the things that I contributed this past week...



Sign of the Times, Bowery Edition (per Curbed commenters, the above flier is a stupid contest for Daffy's...)

Arrested Development: Weeds Sprouting Near Seaport

Downtown Bargain Hunter

Fringe spots

Noho #2: 25 Great Jones Hotel & Spa Grows, Gradually

East Village Noise Wars Update: Heroin Chic!

Construction Watch: 38 Delancey Grasps Towards the Light

Dining in the Dark

Cooper Union Scrubbed Anew

Scarano-on-the-Bowery Gets Its Gilded (Parking) Gates

As CHARAS Turns: Rebranded PS64 Up For Grabs on Ave. B

2 Fifth Follow-Up, Novgratz'd on E. 4th!

Meanwhile in the East Village

Many thanks to Lockhart Steele and Curbed for the invitation...

Mid-1980s East Village via Flickr

I came across the photography of Cactusbones on Flickr. She has plenty of LES/East Village urban landscape photos from her time here in the mid-1980s.

Her photos include:


Life Cafe



An abandoned lot on Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C



Looking north on Avenue C at Seventh Street



And for grins, I tried to line up the same shot today



Thanks to Cactusbones for permission to post these photos. She has more here.

This is just cruel

Who could discard this big lug? Those eyes! I swear they were filled with tears when I walked by and exploited him/her by taking photos.



On 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

P.S.

Did you ever see "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla"?



It really sucks.

New shrubs for the Cooper Square Hotel

To help block out the noise? (Ha.) Or protect partygoers from the commoners on the street?

Governors Island ad campaign based on gang film?

On Avenue C.

No, but the slogan reminded me of something! Come out and play....? So close to come out to play....

Fashion shoot in TSP

Yesterday afternoon. And I have nothing else to add.

Another note from EV Grieve

Just to say that I'm still over at Curbed doing a little guest-writing/blogging.

Observations from last night's noisy bars meeting

A few quick observations from last night's noisy bars meeting on 13th Street:

-- CB3 district manager Susan Stetzer distributed and read from the interview that she did at Jeremiah's Vanishing NY on How to Complain.

-- Looked like anywhere from 40-50 people were there.

-- The people are not happy with the quality of life near the glut of newish bars.

-- Someone asked what benefits residents get from having these bars in the neighborhood. A resident said that no one from the neighborhood goes to these bars.

-- Keith Okada, the manager of Superdive was there.

-- Mason Reese, an owner of Destination, was there.

-- Both seemed a little defensive. Okada seemed more defensive, though he didn't speak until 3/4 through the meeting.

-- Both seemed willing to do what it took to be better neighbors.

-- One resident complained about the open windows at Destination. Closing them would eliminate half the noise problems.

-- Mason said the windows are closed around 10:30 on weeknights and midnight on weekends.

-- One resident said that this was not true.

-- In response to a resident complaining about the trash that bargoers leave behind on the streets, Okada said that he takes great care to clean up in front his bar as well as the buildings on either side.

-- Okada said that he has called police twice because of loud people who wouldn't be quiet outside the bar.

-- Okada said some people just don't listen, and ignore requests to keep their voices down.

-- Upon hearing this, a resident said, Don't you sell kegs? Aren't you encouraging this type of behavior?

-- Okada said that everyone in his bar is 21 and of legal age to drink.

-- He offered to give out his phone number to anyone who wanted to talk about the bar.

-- One longtime resident said that this isn't a neighborhood that "sits on its ass" and looked at the Destination and Superdive reps and said that they are officially "put on notice."

-- A Sixth Street resident talked about the ongoing saga of Death & Company and wondered how they got a liquor license.

-- One of the organizers said that Superdive has agreed to a meeting with neighbors, and that CB3 and 9th Precinct officials may attend as well. No date was mentioned.

This is just a snapshot of the 90--plus minutes. If you were at the meeting, please feel free to add to the conversation in the comments. If you weren't at the meeting, please feel free to add to the conversation in the comments.

For further reading:
Stop the SuperNoise - Community Meeting (Blah Blog Blah)

Belgian place now Latin

I've lost track of the changes that took place in the conversion from Hop Devil Grill to Hop Devil Lounge last December. Also affected in all this: The companion bar
next door, the Belgian Room.

Anyway, the Belgian Room is now the Latin Bar Lounge.



On St. Mark's near Avenue A.

At the Mars Bar: "It's a weird portal to Hell"

Matt Harvey checks in on the latest art exhibit -- Hell Purgatory or Paradise -- at Mars Bar. As he wrote in NYPress.

Lucille Bignon, who rocks a 1960s-era soul-girl look, complete with beehive hairdo, said: “Everyone here is crazy, you don’t know when they’re going to snap,” Her eyes widening beneath heavily shadowed black lids, she added, “It’s a weird portal to Hell.” A regular sitting on a barstool countered that, “there are no frat boys, so its heaven.”

So, all is well.

Dumpster of the day

From the signature collection? Fifth Street near Second Avenue.

One way to drink free and watch reality TV

Some information from a reader about the filming of "Bartender Wars" on Avenue B:

Rehab on B and 3rd. I was roped into the Monday afternoon filming with the lure of free drinks while walking by on my day off. They practically begged us to come in because the crowd was so thin. Not a bad way to kill a few hours. And it really was "all you can drink." Filming again today and Friday 2pm to 1am.

Reminder: Noisy bar meeting tonight

As mentioned...



And is the person who wrote on the flier pro or con regarding noisy bars?

A note from EV Grieve

Hello. I'm doing a little guest-blogging over at Curbed. I'll be back here with one of the greatest posts ever abou.......

Noted: What has replaced dim sum

Trends piece on the Post today titled "AFTERNOON DELIGHT:
HOMEBOUND HIPSTERS TURN SUNDAY INTO SLACK SABBATH"

It's 2 o'clock, champagne is pouring and party people are queueing behind velvet ropes at Manhattan's hottest hotel bars. Did we mention it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon?

For New Yorkers, going out has always been a shell game in which they try to wine and dine where tourists and suburbanites aren't. Sometimes that means new, undiscovered venues and sometimes it means ever-changing weeknight parties. Now, for the time being anyway, New York's hippest are hiding in plain sight, smack-dab in the middle of Sunday afternoon, while the amateur set is hung over wherever it is they live.

"Sunday parties are taking the place of dim sum," says ballroom dancer Katherine Tarbox.

And THE No. 1 dim-sum replacement party spot?

The Penthouse at the Hotel on Rivington. "After church, hot models come here for bubbly in the hot tub."

For further reading:
Another backside (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)