Models Inc.

Crucial article today in the Post on booking models for clubs. Here's Danny Kane, a former promoter who now co-owns The Gates.

Kane lays out the math behind the models.

“If they’re 5-foot-10 or 5-foot-11, that’s one story. If they’re borderline OK, it’s harder.”

He calculates that a promoter who brings 10 or so girls measuring “5-foot-5 or 5-foot-6” to a Manhattan club or restaurant might command $500 for a night. A promoter who brings in the tall girls can get up to $2,500. In both cases, the models drink for free — the idea being that dudes wishing to party near them will book a table, which typically requires a $1,500 drink minimum per foursome.

Today in Tompkins Square Park

Thanks to The Shadow.

The (Penn Station) eagle has landed

Nice preservation piece in the City Room on one of the old Penn Station eagles. Its new perch: The eighth floor at the new Cooper Union building.


[Photo by Claire Michie]

After all this talk about the "L.A. vibe" Bowery today ....

Sham 69 at CBGB circa 1988.

Plenty more Howl!

The Howl! Festival continues this month... East Village Howler has the complete program, of course. I'm particularly interested in the film series.

Making it official at St. Brigid's: "The construction and restoration has begun!"

Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, posted a brief note today ... the lead:

The construction and restoration has begun!

He notes that not much happened at the church in recent months. "Most of the summer was spent correcting minor conditions the City of New York insisted be corrected before work could begin." He said the city approved the plans for the restoration on June 28; work officially began at the site on Avenue B at Eighth Street this past Tuesday.

Previously.

Page Six Magazine says the Bowery calls to mind "an L.A. vibe"

Page Six Magazine never disappoints! And the now-a-quarterly (still free!) insert in the Post is back to highlight all the loathesome things in the neighborhood. Like in its look at "three hot hoods" yesterday. Hey, it's the Bowery!




"Once littered with punks and drunks, the Bowery (thanks to hotels Bowery and Cooper Square) now brims with lounge lizards and sun-kissed girls in bright rompers and frocks, calling to mind an L.A. vibe."

(This piece isn't online just yet...)

Previously.

Gee, I don't understand why the Post said that the Bowery has "an L.A. vibe" (And now: A scene featuring backflips and Tyson Beckford!)

The nice celebrity-style transporters were lined up along the Bowery last evening...outside the Bowery Hotel, of course...Like usual.



But let's back up for a moment. Earlier in the day, at Bowery and Bond. A pop-up shop! (Uh, a pop-up RV?)





What was this all about? According to the press release!

On September 10th at 6 p.m., Tyson Beckford will ride in loud and fast on his motorcycle to open Fashion's Night Out Bond Street's Mini-Block Party. Bowery designers and retailers will be out in full force to celebrate a crazy night of shopping and rocking-out to live music.

Crazy! Anyway, there were cheerleaders — volunteers from the nonprofit Cheer New York — on the Bowery at Bond. (BoweryBoogie caught them in action on Bowery and Houston.)




About two hours after Beckford was scheduled to arrive, he arrived. (Note: I didn't stand around for two hours: I happened to be by at the time he showed up...) And the big moment! It was just like the press release promised! Loud and fast! Like a real-life Kid Rock video! (Cheerleaders! Outlaw motorcyclists leaving skid marks on historical cobblestone streets!)



And here's Tyson...




And the aftermath of the entrance... a little rubber left on the Bowery...




And later...

Looking at Joe Jr's

Walked by the former home of Joe Jr's the other day at Sixth Avenue and 12th Street...not much doing...



...the space next door is also now available....



Previously on EV Grieve:
Joe Jr's has closed

Lucy's is back from a holiday break

Lovely...



Previously.

See you Hea

Sorry, that headline is a little flip...But Hea, the newish Japanese place that spent a fortune renovating the former bodega/nail salon on Third Avenue and 13th Street, has closed...





It seemed doomed, really, since closing in April for "renovations" just seven months after opening.

Doomed intersection? Cafe DeVille across the street has also closed.

Thanks to our friend Hunter-Gatherer for confirming this closure for us...

Bad (Mid-Atlantic) News

The Mid-Atlantic Newsstand at Third Avenue and NYU has closed...

Sidewalk reappears in front of E2E4 on the Bowery

The sidewalk shed has been taken away between Third Street and Fourth Street...



We'll miss you sidewalk shed!



Previously.

Page Six Magazine keeps it assy

Hey! Page Six Magazine has returned for an issue! And their online version features the following photo of the issue's cover model, a branded Heidi Klum...



Previously.

Starting tonight at Theatre 80: "The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side"

Theatre 80's next life gets under way tonight with an extended run of "The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side." The Amoralists recently held a successful run of the play at PS122. Performances are set through Oct. 5.

Via Broadway World.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Theatre 80 to remain a community theater; new cafe to open in memory of William Barnacle Scott

Delta Phi offers an apology; but are they sincere? "If not, the wrath of 12th Street will be a good college lesson for any young man"

Jill has an update on the story she has been covering at Blah Blog Blah. She spoke with members of the Delta Phi fraternity on 12th Street. According to her post just now:

[T]he fraternity has said that they've made attempts to reach out to as many of their neighbors as they could to apologize for the disturbance their party caused.

In response to an email that I sent to both them and NYU, they have assured me that they will take great pains in the future to ensure that their parties will not attract as many people by limiting the number of invites distributed. They said that the turnout was unprecedented and unexpected, unlike any of the previous parties they had on Avenue C and that they do not have big parties every week, and plan only one more next semester, but they say it will definitely not be as big a party, and they will post notices around the block so that we will have advance warning.

Currently four people are living full time in the frathouse apartment. I recommended that they volunteer their services in the garden across the street from their house, which might go a long way toward a mutual understanding and respect for the community, the block and the East Village. I also think they will learn a thing or two about drinking.

Some other blogs have picked up this story and it is making the rounds around NYU also, so either they are on notice to be on their best possible behavior, or the news will make them more popular than ever and cater to that pent up frathouse demand that NYU's been missing all these years. Only time will tell if they are sincere about making amends. I for one certainly hope they are and keep to their word, as I will be holding them to it personally and I have their phone number. If not, the wrath of 12th Street will be a good college lesson for any young man.

Previously.

Those guys playing beer pong in 1E may be the next J.P. Morgan Jr. or John Jacob Astor III some day

Just following up on Jill's post yesterday that NYU's Delta Phi fraternity is now calling 531 E. 12th St. home. Since we're going to be neighbors, I thought we should get to know the brothers (bros?) of Delta Phi ... Some history!

Delta Phi has remained an exclusive fraternity. Rather than engaging in the wholesale expansion policies that have marked the operation of other greek letter fraternities, the brothers of Delta Phi choose to establish chapters only at the finest schools and usually with proximity to other chapters. It grants its chapters a substantial degree of local autonomy - allowing them to develop their own traditions and policies within the scope of a larger institution.

Members of Delta Phi have come from every walk of life; social and economic. It’s members have reached the pinnacles of business, politics, education and service. Our fraternity is an organization where names such as J.P. Morgan, Jr., John Jacob Astor and James Roosevelt and are but the start of a long and distinguished list.

And at NYU:

The Gamma chapter was established on Tuesday, June 1, 1841 and is the second oldest social fraternity at New York University and the oldest continuous chapter of our National Fraternity. Among Gamma chapter’s alumni are many distinguished men and the namesakes of several buildings at NYU. The men of Gamma greatly value the traditions of brotherhood in Delta Phi and continue to preserve fraternal life as an integral part of the college experience in a large metropolitan area.

Distinguished Alumni

Howard Crosby - Initiated 1841
William H. Nichols - Initiated 1869
Ernest Howard Crosby - Initiated 1872
Henry Pomeroy Davison - Initiated 1901

Notable former Delta Phi members from other university's include John Jacob Astor III, Charles Scribner and George Will.

Astor photo via.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 12th Street now home to "THE ONLY REAL FRAT HOUSE AT NYU!"

Flashback: When the Christodora House became a Greek house

Jill's post yesterday on the 12th Street NYU frathouse reminded me of a post I did almost one year ago to date...Here it is again...from Sept. 9, 2008...

[Photos by Charlie Kerman]

In 1983, when the Christodora House on Avenue B was still abandoned, members of the Tau Delta Phi, Delta Eta Chapter at Cooper Union, placed their Greek letters on the west side atop the 17-floor building. Don't have a lot of details, such as how long the letters remained there. Long enough for a photo opp, of course. Photos of the letters crew are below. (Note the condition of the Christodora...)

Buck Floomberg returns

On Avenue B near Eighth Street.



Earlier!



And before that!

The Bhakti Center is opening a cafe in their First Avenue yoga HQ

The Hare Krishnas’ Sanctuary vegetarian eatery on First Avenue between First Street and Second Street has sat empty for several years...



...until now. The Bhakti Center, which has yoga classes and other events on the upper floors here at 25 First Avenue, is opening a cafe on the ground level.



For further reading:
Hare Krishnas clash as eviction effort divides First Ave. building (The Villager)