EV Grieve

Monday, October 3, 2011

The photography of Bob Arihood

Bob Arihood died last week. (You can read reaction and tributes to him here.) I spent a good part of the weekend revisiting his posts at Neither More Nor Less and Nadie Se Conoce. I hope that his photos continue to inform and inspire people for years to come. His work inspired me on a daily basis.

Picking a few shots to showcase proved to be a challenging task.

Candlelight vigil for Bob Arihood Tuesday night at Ray's

[Photo by Steven Hirsch]

Shawn Chittle and Lindsay Wengler passed along this information:

We wanted to put together a candlelight vigil for Bob in front of Ray's at 8 pm Tuesday.

Please tell people to bring a candle and or flowers, photos of Bob or photos Bob took. We all think instead Bob would want people to just buy something from Ray's in his memory!

We are presenting Ray with a framed portrait of Bob to hang up so he's always watching over Ray.

BaoBQ coming to First Avenue

Well, now. This sign has appeared on First Avenue near 14th Street ... where the short-lived Select Burger most recently held forth... Not sure if this is something new from Michael "Bao" Huynh, who has opened and closed 68 several restaurants in the area in recent years... Perhaps this is the burger, fried chicken and waffles joint he was supposed to open with that Playboy Bunny, as Eater first reported...

Mr. Peanut and his Nutmobile to christen new peanut-shaped city park today

From the EV Grieve inbox...

*** UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL OCTOBER 3rd ***

MEDIA ALERT

Mr. Peanut to Open Planters Grove Urban Park in New York City!

WHAT: First look at a vibrant, unique urban park – the Planters Grove - as it opens to the public on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on the grounds of the New York City Housing Authority’s Lillian Wald Houses community.

WHO: Mr. Peanut and his new biodiesel Nutmobile
Margarita Lopez, Commissioner of New York City Housing Authority
Scott Marcus, Senior Brand Manager for Planters
Sally Prouty, CEO/President of The Corps Network
Lisbeth Shepherd, CEO of New York’s Green City Force
Ken Smith, Landscape Architect

WHEN: Monday, October 3

9:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Short remarks: 10:00AM
Community planting to immediately follow

WHERE: Lillian Wald Houses, Avenue D between East 4th and 5th Streets (near Houston St.)

WHY: Planters, America’s leading snack nut brand, and the iconic Mr. Peanut will commemorate the opening of a new green urban park – a Planters Grove – at the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) Lillian Wald Houses on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Residents of NYCHA will be joined by local officials, NYCHA representatives, community volunteers and youth service corps members for a day of planting and celebration.

With the goal of promoting healthy lifestyles and sustainable living, Kraft Foods’ Planters brand has partnered with The Corps Network – the nation’s Service and Conservation Corps – to transform underutilized land into unique, peanut-shaped parks across America. The building of Planters Groves and their ongoing programming encourages outdoor activity and community interaction, as well as provides the health, environmental, social and economic benefits that engaging green spaces provide a neighborhood and its residents.

In New York City, the Planters Grove is being built with the help of youth service corps members (also NYCHA residents) from Green City Force, an organization recently recognized by President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative for its outstanding contribution to enriching young lives. Designed by New York City landscape architect Ken Smith, the New York City Planters Grove is inspired with Lower East Side influences, as well as locally-sourced reclaimed materials and native plants and flowers.

THESE are the most popular places to eat in the 10003 zip?

The Post has this piece about the most popular eateries via 2011 credit-car transactions. Per the paper: "In an analysis of restaurant spending from 10 ZIP codes, diners popped up in six neighborhoods’ top-10 lists, said Bundle.com, miner of financial data."

According to this research, these are the favorite dining destinations in 10003:

• St. Mark's Market
• Mumbles
• The Smith

Huh? St. Mark's Market is fine, but is it really a dining destination? And Mumbles?Is it that popular?

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Today's special: pigeon

And earlier...

Today in furry creatures in Tompkins Square Park

What exactly is this? Photos by Bobby Williams.

A tribute for Michael Shenker tonight

Michael Shenker, a longtime squatter and community activist, passed away on Oct. 2, 2010.

Tonight from 7 to 11, his friends will be celebrating his life at 5C ... the flyer below has the details...

Manhattan Short Film Festival tonight in Tompkins Square Park

At 7. And it's free. And here's the website to find out more about what this is all about.

Today in flyers looking for a lost snake

Holy crap! On 13th Street and Avenue B... via EV Grieve reader Molly, a frightened resident.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Tribute at Ray's for Bob Arihood

Previously.

[Updated] RIP Bob Arihood

[Photo by Melanie via East Village Corner]

Word is spreading through the neighborhood with the shocking news that Bob Arihood has died. Several of Bob's friends have confirmed this. He apparently suffered a heart attack in his East Fourth Street apartment. We'll have more information when it becomes available.

For the past five years, Bob chronicled the comings and goings of the East Village on Neither More Nor Less. His site was essential viewing every day. He seemed to deem himself a social scientist more than a journalist at times. His work was invaluable for showing the changes in the East Village, starting with the eviction of Jim Power and others from 120 St. Marks's Place.

The neighborhood was better off with his reporting, because no one else did what he did. Documenting 3 a.m. fistfights on Avenue A. Police searches in Tompkins Square Park. Comings and goings on Crusty Row. He captured the absurd, the ugly, the every day that makes the vanishing East Village unique.

The Times featured Bob's short-term retirement from Neither More Nor Less back in June 2010:

His style of reporting was of the old-fashioned shoe-leather sort and his main subjects were the itinerant travelers, street drinkers, punks, poets and sidewalk sleepers that once proliferated in the East Village but these days make up a vanishing tribe.

L.E.S. Jewels, Cowboy Stan, Drunkenstein, Bobby Apocalypse, Swami, the Groper, Outlaw, Loan Shark Bob, Barnacle Bill and the Mosaic Man, among others, all appeared in Mr. Arihood’s blog. Some of those subjects are now dead. Others are in jail. A few have survived and moved on.

While I didn't know Bob personally, we often exchanged emails. He always had a few hunches, theories. He knew that things weren't what they seemed on the surface. He took the time to speculate, investigate. We recently talked about the NYPD scooter patrol that swept through Tompkins Square Park a few Friday evenings ago ... From an email with his unmistakable writing style.

the friday patrol in TSP was a bit strange . The cops had white-shirts going thru the bushes and ground cover .Were they looking for cached weapons ?The officers that I talked to seemed to be instructed on how to present what they were doing .Basically they lied .

In his last email to me, on Sept. 19, we talked about his new-look NMNL, and the video component that he added.

I had to change the template to fit video image window. Screwed up my counter doing that , had to reinstall that . I would have preferred the old look but the video window protruded over the archive . Its always something .

Yeah I know I have to get a smart phone don't I ? Everyone tells me that they can't get hold of me right when they have a whim to talk to me and insist that I get a cell phone at least . .I don't even have a cell phone Grieve ..and I don't want one either but some folks are really pissed so...Perhaps I'll join Jewels on the SNAP program and get my free government phone!

If I can get the video thing so that it doesn't take forever to load I'll do it regularly .I once ran big film cameras and did editing with a moveola or what ever device was available .Built some sound studios and movie theaters and screaning rooms too. I have some old film from 1972 of the EV and especially avenue A.Haven't looked at it in many years .The moving image isn't new to me .Still pictures and moving images are quite different though. It will be a return to something that completely occupied me in my youth here in NYC.

Whole Earth Bakery facing eviction on St. Mark's Place

From the EV Grieve inbox via Clayton Patterson...

The Whole Earth Bakery has been providing delicious, healthy, vegan and vegetarian food for 33 years, 20 of them at its current location at 130 St. Mark’s Place. This valued community resource is in danger of eviction, and needs your support.

Like all small businesses, Whole Earth Bakery has struggled to stay afloat during the recent recession. Occupying the space under a sublet agreement, the Whole Earth Bakery is up to date on rent payments, but the holder of the lease is delinquent, placing the business in imminent danger of eviction.

While there are other vegetarian and vegan bakeries in New York City, few can demonstrate the long-term commitment to quality cruelty-free, sustainable and delicious food that is the hallmark of the Whole Earth Bakery.

We need concerned community members to stop by the store and sign our petition, and volunteers to help organize events or coordinate email communications among our supporters. Please help us continue serving the East Village community, as we meet our commitment to provide healthy, nutritious food for all.

Check our Facebook Wall for updates.

Ugh. Whole Earth Bakery has faced eviction several times before. You can read the back story in this article from The Villager from 2007. Whole Earth has been a neighborhood institution since 1991... we need to hold on to what is left of this neighborhood.