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Meanwhile, EV Grieve Correspondent Blue Glass noted the crowd waiting here on First Avenue and Ninth Street for This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef... (In the background, the usual sidewalk shed denizens....)
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Preston Krupin, 71, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with neck and back injuries after the out-of-control cab mowed him down as he sat in The Bean on First Avenue and Third Street around 1:20 a.m.
Krupin, who lives near the shop, was in serious but stable condition yesterday morning, but hours later, doctors performed a lengthy operation. He was said to be in recovery last night.
The accident occurred as cabby Syed Nazir, 49, was driving up First Avenue with a passenger, Kristin Kunkel, in the back seat.
He collided with a Jeep Cherokee driven by Robert Batista, 19, who was trying to turn onto the avenue from East Third Street.
Nazir swerved, but hit the Jeep anyway, and then jumped a bike lane and curb.
He hit two men riding bicycles, and finally stopped after smashing through The Bean's front window.
"All I remember is that he was swerving," said Kunkel, 30, who lives in Midtown. "I put my hands in front of my face, and the next thing I knew, I was in the coffee shop.
The young woman lost two front teeth in the crash.
The two bicyclists were in stable condition. Nazir suffered back and neck injuries.
Batista kept going after the accident, but then pulled over and stepped out, looking dazed, one witness said.
Police administered blood-alcohol tests to the drivers, and the results for both were negative.
Jordyn Thiessen, who lives across the street from the site, called it a "devastating scene."
"I was helping hold one of the bicyclists. He was on his side bleeding profusely from his head," she said. "I was saying prayers that everyone would be OK."
Thiessen added that First Avenue has had at least three accidents in the last month since a concrete barrier had been installed to create a separate lane for bicyclists.
"I think a lot of people are really thrown off," by the changes, she said.
One of the incidents she described involved a pedestrian getting struck by a cyclist.
"The bicyclists are not following the rules," she said. "They are going through red lights. They are just speeding along the way."
Police were not able to immediately confirm the incidents she cited.
The taxi was heading north on First Ave. when it collided with the Jeep, which was turning onto the avenue from E. 3rd St., police said. The taxi jumped the curb, hitting and injuring two bicyclists before smashing into the coffee shop.
It’s a typical Saturday night on the Lower East Side, and the streets are packed with partygoers consulting GPS systems for bars and clubs. Skillfully dodging the bridge-and-tunnel types that crowd the neighborhood on weekends, Fatima Siad makes her way to Ridge Street.
“It’s not as fun to go out on weekends in the Lower East Side,” says Siad, a 24-year-old downtown stunner who once appeared on “America’s Next Top Model.”
Surely, a hip person such as Siad is headed to a hot new boite with a velvet rope, or a fancy rooftop bar? Not even close.
Her destination is a tenement building that has the front door propped open with a brick. Inside, a staircase leads to an abandoned second-floor unit, which was reportedly a drug den three years ago. Tonight, this newly cleaned-up spot is the place to be for roughly 40 tastemakers, who are part of the city’s burgeoning pop-up party scene. Fed up with commercialized, overpriced nightclubs, creative young New Yorkers are taking night life back, according to 27-year-old artist Adam Aleksander, who organizes pop-up parties like the one that happened here two Saturdays ago.
Curly bleached blonde ‘do — sides buzzed…
Skin-tight, distressed boatneck top, with a low enough scoop to show off some of that tasty —- and Manly™ —- burger meat…
Obligatory skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors…
Without a moment’s hesitation, confidently, like he’s done a hundred times before:
“Three PBR’s.”
Bartender:
“We don’t have it.”
Hipster:
[Look of utter disappointment and confusion. Noticeably rattled. You can see the immediate calculation going on in his head…“Dare I be caught drinking something as bourgie as…a Budweiser?” He regroups, poised just enough to mumble…]
“Bud is, fine.”
His order placed, he shrugs off this initial misstep and falls back into the comfort of his group while the drinks are prepared.
The bartender returns.
Our hipster whips out the plastic.
Bartender:
“Cash only.”
Hipster:
“Uh, oh…okay.”
Back to the pack. Hands struggle down deep into tight, practically vacuum-sealed front pockets for some crumpled up greenbacks.
Just enough.
Phew.
Our hipster takes a cool sip from the unfamiliar bottle, his hand shaking a little, a bead of sweat emerging from his forehead. He turns back into the pack and starts to bop his head to what he’s pretty sure is The Stooges playing on the jukebox.
East Fifth Street resident Stuart Zamsky has gotten so fed up with the noise and violence stemming from the nearby nightclub Sin Sin/Leopard Lounge that he’s taken to patrolling the sidewalk with a baseball bat to keep the crowds from disturbing his family.
Visitors to the popular nightspot will often gather outside the window of his two young sons’ room, screaming obscenities and even fighting on busy weekend nights, he said.
“There have been altercations on the street. It’s a very busy intersection,” said Sin Sin/Leopard Lounge owner Philip Quilter, who supplied the police with surveillance footage of the suspects from the night of the shooting.
“It has been mentioned that we’re responsible entirely [for the noise and violence], and that’s not the case,” he added. “We are responsible for some noise, but we’re the only place to police the streets until 5 o’clock in the morning.”