The Bowery Poetry Club, 45 Bleecker Street Theater, St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, Millennium Film Workshop, St. Mark's Books,Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Think Coffee, Sunshine Theater, Bluestockings, Pianos, Living Room, Cake Shop, Trash and Vaudeville (upstairs),Mission Cafe, Anthology Film Archives, Sidewalk Cafe, Lakeside Lounge, Life Cafe and more...
As I noted back in late May, The Pearl Theatre Company, which has had a residency at Theatre 80 the past 15 years, was relocating to Midtown for its 2009-2010 season.
Lorcan Otway, whose parents built and operated Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place since 1964, said in an e-mail to us at the time that "we intend to keep the East Village a vibrant arts community."
Indeed, that is certainly the case. Good news, finally, for a neighborhood overrun by beer pong, keggers and chain stores. This coming Thursday (Sept. 10), Theatre 80 begins its next life as a community theater. A local theater group is mounting a production for the next month; another group is booked for another month after that... (Stay tuned for the specifics...)
In addition, Lorcan will open a nautically themed cafe in the former Pearl Theatre's concession area.
The spot will be called William Barnacle Scott, named in memory of the late Tompkins Square Park regular who passed away in May. There will be no TVs. No Internet jukebox. And the cafe will close at 6 p.m. As the sign out front promises, "A quiet cafe where people can hear each other talk, and you can hear yourself think."
The cafe will be serving coffee and tea for theatergoers in the short term. Eventually the space will be open to the public, and will likely sell beer and wine.
And what a tour. Despite the heavy workload in preparing the space for next week, Lorcan was gracious with his time, and showed me the entire theatre. In the cellar, he pointed out the foundation to the farmhouse that was in this spot dating back to the late 1600s.
And! I saw the original beer cooler that belonged to Scheib's Bar & Grill, the former speakeasy that operated in this space until Lorcan's father, Howard, and his mother, Florence, bought the building in 1964. (Lorcan's mother is 89 and still lives above the theatre.)
I had to take some photos of the beer cooler...
And Lorcan told me the story about one of the two safes they found in the basement. The safe pictured below was opened in 1964 after being sealed up since the Prohibition. When Howard Otway and Mr. Scheib, who came up from Florida for the honor, opened the safe, they were overcome by fumes and passed out. As Lorcan said, inside: Beer-soaked $100 bills that were picked up off the bar in a hurry and bundled inside the safe. The bills became moldly through the years. (Lorcan said with a chuckle that the Otways never received a finder's fee for the nearly $2 million in moldy bills that Mr. Scheib eventually were able to clean...)
The upstairs area will include a photo of Howard Otway, a Broadway actor, whose inspirational vision for an arts-oriented community lives on with Lorcan today. (Mr. Otway passed away in 1994.)
Anyway, here's Lorcan talking about the new cafe. (And, due to a technical glitch, the last 10 seconds got caught off -- apologies.)
If you're interested in rental information for Theatre 80, then please contact company manager Lori Singleton at: lori.theatre80@gmail.com.
Back on May 26, the sidewalk shed in front of St. Brigid's on Avenue B at Eighth Street came down... At the time, Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, told me that the scaffolding was interfering with testing that needed to be done inside the church.
This morning, the sidewalk shed is ready to return....
And I never had the chance to truly appreciate the weed tree thing that started growing from the foundation....
However, as much as I'll miss seeing the front of the church, the return of the sidewalk shed likely signals the beginning of the restoration process. Otherwise, it has been awfully quiet at the church this summer. Earlier in August, I asked Torres for an update. According to Torres: He was told by the site's construction manager that the city was holding them up. Several violations needed to be cleared up before they got the go ahead to start. "The work should have started Aug. 3," Torres wrote in an e-mail.
FAILURE TO MAINTAIN BUILDING. MAJOR CRACKS, BULGING, AT REAR OF BLDG. FACADE. WITH SEPARATION AT BASE
Um, isn't that why they're restoring the church, to fix these things? Issuing a complaint only holds up the renovation process...
And all this is happening when St. Brigid's supporter Matt Dillon has moved back to the East Village. (Fourth item in Scoopy's column in The Villager.) COINCIDENCE? (Which explains why I've seen him so much the last few months...)
Beautiful summer night....I am in my home, alone. I have been alone for sometime, and did not mind it at all, for some time. But I seriously miss laying with a special her, smelling her scent and kissing her so passionately everytime, that we both have soaking wet pants in minutes. Smelling her hair....rubbing my finger tips all over her back side.....
Those nights were great and should be replicated tonight. I can not sleep cause I have dreams about it and wake up dissappointed I didn't say something before. So I am saying something, reply! I am 29 from manhattan can host. Not a weirdo at all, just a nice busy guy. I am half latin and half european and look white. Baby faced, short light brown hair, dreamy light brown eyes, 5"9 with an athletic build. 150lbs.
I have picture and will not go to sleep till about 4:30. I'll have to use a sleeping pill to replace my "sleeping pill" (hint: YOU).
It's 3:00 am on a Sunday morning. I am pretty sober. i have some wine and 420. And a nice bed i can not enjoy without you. I am a perfect gentleman, and maybe this can lead to much more. i am just in a rush tonight. I have pictures, so should you. This not about sex (it could be if its right). This is about sensual kissing and not being alone when the sunrises till tomorrow evening! It's Sunday, lets worship each other, stranger.
It's Friday night, and an unruly parade of tipsy, young New Yorkers spills out from a popular Manhattan bar and onto the sidewalk, blocking foot traffic and drawing complaints from irate neighbors.
But this isn't the East Village, and the bar in question isn't Le Souk.
The year is 1965, and the new hot spot is T.G.I. Friday's -- Friday's for short -- on the northeast corner of 63rd Street and First Avenue.
The Howl! Festival could actually use a few volunteers (no pay) this year to help put up/take down the art wall around Tompkins Square park. The hours are: 5-8 pm on fri evening, 8.30 till 11 am sat. 6pm - 10 sunday -- but any minimal hours are appreciated. If interested/available please email eric(AT)east-village.com -- thanks!
A Bowery entrance to the 15-story tower at Fourth Street. Oh, from this angle it looks as if Bowery is spelled Bow ry. But the "e" is actually there...
Beef dip? Toasty bullets? The torpedo? Subtle! May I suggest some other new menu items, such as the Beef Bayonet, the Pork Sword or the Smoked Meat Log? With Winkle Doodles for dessert.
The Howl! Festival starts Friday in Tompkins Square Park. All the details are here. There are lots of other related events in the neighborhood throughout September, including a film festival, poetry reading series, performance art and more. The East Village Howler has posts on many of the upcoming events. Of particular interest to me on Sept. 19, Punk Rock, Forever!
Yes, that was really bad, that headline. Filming for "Sex and the City 2" gets under way yesterday. According to the Post: "Sarah Jessica Parker, wearing angelic white and a pair of gold Jimmy Choo heels with bright red soles, happily cavorted on the Upper East Side before jumping into a cab."