You've probably heard the sirens this morning... or seen the FDNY race down the Avenues... A fire broke out at 101 Orchard St. this morning. We're sending you over to BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down who have updated reports...
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Fire on Orchard Street
You've probably heard the sirens this morning... or seen the FDNY race down the Avenues... A fire broke out at 101 Orchard St. this morning. We're sending you over to BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down who have updated reports...
The casualties of wind
As we first reported, it is windy today. How windy?
It blew some sort of animal pelt or, perhaps, an Ewok, into this tree on Avenue A...
...it ravaged the 7-Eleven signage on the Bowery...
...and whipped the pants off this guest outside the Standard East Village...
Careful out there.
It blew some sort of animal pelt or, perhaps, an Ewok, into this tree on Avenue A...
...it ravaged the 7-Eleven signage on the Bowery...
...and whipped the pants off this guest outside the Standard East Village...
Careful out there.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Hawk, wind
High wind warning though 6 p.m. tomorrow. Gusts up to 60 mph! Per our sources at the Weather Channel. Careful out there. And please send us your photos of things blown over.
Meanwhile, above photo by Bobby Williams earlier today.
Sliding home! Get your penthouse duplex with a stainless steel slide!
Last March, we posted that item about the condo on East 14th Street with a slide.
These photos may jog your memory.
Oh, yeah. That East Village condo with a slide!
Anyway, turned out that Phil Galfond, a professional poker player, owned this place in the notorious A Building. And now, as The Wall Street Journal reports (via Curbed), the penthouse duplex is for sale — $3.99 million.
Can we get that slide to zip us right into the Blarney Cove?
Previously on EV Grieve:
Just your everyday penthouse combo connected by a stainless steel slide
These photos may jog your memory.
Oh, yeah. That East Village condo with a slide!
Anyway, turned out that Phil Galfond, a professional poker player, owned this place in the notorious A Building. And now, as The Wall Street Journal reports (via Curbed), the penthouse duplex is for sale — $3.99 million.
Can we get that slide to zip us right into the Blarney Cove?
Previously on EV Grieve:
Just your everyday penthouse combo connected by a stainless steel slide
EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition
Check out the lineup for the FRIGID New York Festival — happening now through March 4 (FRIGID New York)
CB2 members unanimously reject NYU's expansion plans (Gothamist)
Photos from the pre-CB2 meeting rally (GVSHP Flickr)
Thoughts on the Ninth Street of the Coen Brothers (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Here's the LES Film Festival lineup (The Lo-Down)
The future of 205 Chrystie (BoweryBoogie)
A drink at the Warwick Hotel on Sixth Avenue (Tripping With Marty)
And last night on Second Avenue and Second Street, city officials unveiled their new bike lane washing method...
Yes, all together: Boo!
Luna Lounge owner Rob Sacher on Joey Ramone, a new CBGB and what killed the Lower East Side
Rob Sacher, the former co-owner of Luna Lounge on Ludlow Street, has written "Wake Me When It's Over." The book covers his formative years growing up in Brooklyn in the 1960s, his days as a musician and songwriter and time running several clubs, including Mission (1988-1993, where the Ace Bar is now on Fifth Street) and Luna Lounge (which relocated to Williamsburg for a 16-month stint in 2007-2008). Sacher is self-publishing his book through his own DIY imprint and is raising promotion money through Kickstarter. The funding campaign ends on Wednesday. (He already reached his modest goal of $5,000.) The official release date of the book is Thursday.
Sacher talked to us via email about his first musical memories, his friend Joey Ramone and the state of the Lower East Side music scene today.
You were born and raised in Brooklyn. What was your first musical memory? How did that help set the course for your career?
Yes, born and raised in Brooklyn. My first musical memory. Well, that's a bit difficult to say for sure but my mom says that I would raise myself up in my crib at the age of one and rock back and forth to Elvis Presley's "Blue Suede Shoes" every time she played that record. I don't recall doing that but I do remember falling in love with The Shirelles when I heard "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" on the radio. I guess I was about four or five when that song was first played.
However, I had other moments a bit later on when I realized that the joy that music brought me was something that other people also felt. Two moments that are forever part of who I am came first when I was nine and I discovered a group of teenage girls singing in the handball courts near my home, and second, when I first heard an electric 12-string guitar.
Why did you decide to write this book?
I decided to write "Wake Me When It's Over" because that time is now over and is consigned to the pages of indie rock history in New York. There are no other books that have yet been written about the New York music scene that came after CBGBs, and Luna Lounge may possibly have been the most important NY club of its size in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Where else could you have come in off the street and see The Strokes, Elliott Smith, Interpol, Longwave, The National and stellastarr* for free — all possibly in the same week? And, on top of that, you could come by on Monday night and see Marc Maron, Louis C.K. and a dozen other young comedians working out their craft on the Luna Lounge stage? I guess I have a story to tell.
People had mixed reactions when news surfaced of a possible resurrected CBGB. You wrote for PBS, "Don’t burden yourself with a tether to some idea or concept of a bygone age." Do you think the city/Lower East Side will ever have a time and place like that again?
No. The creative people who lived there were allowed to be driven out by real-estate interests and that includes anyone and everyone who stood by and did nothing to stop that from happening. I'm talking about the Community Board, the City Council members who represent lower Manhattan, the developers, the real-estate agents, the landlords, the co-op and condo owners, the mayor, and especially the people who were willing to allow the commercial transformation of this once glorious neighborhood into the cultural travesty it has become so that their apartments would increase in value.
Well, you get what you deserve in this life, I believe. And, because few people were standing up for places like Collective:Unconscious, Tonic, CBGB and Luna Lounge, the Lower East Side must now live with obnoxious bistros that cater to people with little interest or understanding of the former importance of this neighborhood.
Perhaps, it's time for a TAKE BACK THE LOWER EAST SIDE movement. I would love to see that happen. Of course, I can hear the vested interests and the people who live here now who couldn't care less remind me of my recent words, "Don’t burden yourself with a tether to some idea or concept of a bygone age." Of course, the difference between CBGB and Luna Lounge is that Hilly Kristal is dead and I am still around, available, and would love to resurrect Luna Lounge under the right conditions if such conditions could be created.
You and Joey Ramone once talked about opening a club. What did you envision for the venue?
Joey always wanted to open a club and we talked about it on many occasions. He liked a club that I co-owned before Luna Lounge called the Mission. He and I went around the neighborhood in the early 1990s and looked at different possible locations.
Joey's brother, Mickey, is now trying to find a location to open up a club called Joey Ramone Place, and Mickey and I have had long conversations about what Joey would have envisioned for this kind of bar. In the end, it really just has to be Joey in any and every way possible. Joey Ramone was very smart, irreverent, had a great appreciation for the absurd, a great sense of humor, and had awesome taste in music. Any club that either Joey would have opened or Mickey will open will be all of those things all wrapped up in one.
And, by the way, we've been looking at locations for more than year and all we keep hearing is that the Community Board will never support our request for approval of a liquor license because there are too many bars in the neighborhood now.
Can you imagine that? The Lower East Side and the East Village Community Board can tolerate what my grandfather would have called the mishigas and meshugine but have no place for a proven cultural icon like Luna Lounge and a possible club connected to the most important New York rock musician who ever lived — yeah, that's right, the most important New York rock musician ever!
A lot of up-and-coming bands came in and out of your doors at the Luna Lounge, which closed in June 2005 when the landlord sold the building to a developer. Which band made the most immediate impact on you?
That's a tough question to answer because, in so many ways, I feel like so many of those artists were like my children. I never had any of my own so those bands were like my kids. Here's a short list. Of course, The Strokes, Interpol and The National are now three of the biggest bands in the world and those three are, without doubt, the three biggest New York bands of the last decade. All three of these bands did their very first shows at Luna Lounge and I am grateful to have helped in some way to nurture the start of their careers.
Beyond that, I still have a close friendship with Michael Jurin of stellastarr* and Steve Schiltz and Shannon Ferguson of Longwave. I feel like I had a lot of influence in helping both of those bands get started. Steve and I talk all the time and I am so honored to have him in my life. I think Steve Schiltz is the most underrated musician I know. I just love the music he creates. And last, I was fortunate to know the brilliant Elliott Smith for the short time he was with us in New York and the short time that he gave to us on this Earth.
How would you describe the state of the Lower East Side live music scene today?
Bands might come in from Brooklyn and might still play in a handful of clubs that offer sub-par basement spaces or play as one band on a bill of a baker's dozen on any given night but that is hardly an excuse for the idea of a scene.
With the exception of The Living Room, a worthy acoustic room, there is no club on the Lower East Side doing anything of any value in nurturing a scene — how can they with the fratboy, baseball cap, yuppie types that dominate the sidewalks? They are a cancer on any artistic scene on which they come in contact. And, that cancer is what killed the Lower East Side.
You can find an excerpt of the book here.
7-Eleven to give its regards to Broadway
So there was the story this week about 7-Eleven opening 20,000 new locations in New York in the next few days or something... Actually, it was 14 new locations in the city in 2012.
A reader tipped us off to one of the locations — 813 Broadway near 12th Street, where, most recently, the cheap-o DVD shop lived. The DOB paperwork confirms the arrival.
Also according to the DOB paperwork, Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group owns the building.
How about this for a new 51 Astor Place?
Last week, the 51 Astor Place People released new renderings of 51 Astor Place ... and not everyone is so keen on the look of the Fumihiko Maki-designed office building.
Our friends at Curbed asked their readers to redesign 51 Astor Place.
And here is the winner.
The winner, Dustin Tobias, received a $100 gift certificate to St. Mark's Bookshop.
Tobias explained his rendering to Curbed:
"The proposed building would be composed of fragments of lost East Village landmarks. An unfinished work, the building would be continuously assembled, growing taller and more visible as the neighborhood continues to vanish."
Check out some of the other submissions here.
On second thought, the Standard East Village didn't open a new restaurant this week (ping-pong — yes)
On Wednesday, we posted that bit from UrbanDaddy about the Standard East Village debuting its new restaurant (The Restaurant at the Standard East Village) ... not to mention the outdoor ping-pong table.
Well, a reader left us this comment:
The hotel manager claims that the urbandaddy story is totally false; the standard has not finalized its plans for it's restaurant (ie he denies the ping pong concept.) certainly the standard's neighbors would not be happy with outdoor ping pong noise and hopefully the standard gets it.
We did a little checking ... while there is a ping-pong table for now (confirmed via this tweet) ... a newly rebranded restaurant has not opened.
In a blog post yesterday, "Stan D’Arde ... the perennial voice of The Standard Hotels" explained that UrbanDaddy's story was, well, wrong.
To Stan!
Listen…there is nothing more that I love than a game of ping pong coupled with a BLT Turkey Club or Pappardelle with Ragu Bolognese, Peas & Parmesan or a Pan Roasted Half Chicken with Rosemary Smashed Potatoes & Brussel Sprouts or Tomato Soup with Basil Oil and Cheddar Croutons.
BUT…painting the walls and dropping a ping pong table in for a little bit of fun doesn’t necessarily make for a grand opening ... if you revisit our original announcement when we took over the hotel, you’ll see that The Standard, East Village is a slow work in progress which will be completed over the next year. It will be quiet and intimate with food that not only is comforting but hopefully food coma inducing (I haven’t finalized the menu just yet).
I think that, when we’re officially ready to launch something, you’ll want to hear it first hand from me…and not your daddy, n’est-ce pas?
The Delancey Underground's Kickstarter campaign
On Wednesday night, the fellows behind the plan to build a park in an abandoned trolley station below Delancey Street (the Low Line or the Delancey Underground) launched a Kickstarter campaign.
Their goal is to raise to raise $100,000 to fund a large-scale demo of technology they developed to transport sunlight underground, as The Lo-Down noted. (You can find the Kickstarter page here.)
There's a video explaining all the particulars on the Kickstarter page...
Several people have pointed out one moment in the video... at the 25-second mark ... the line about the Lower East Side being "full of culture and history ..." is set to an image of the now-demolished Mars Bar...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Day trippers: Picture yourself in a park under Delancey
Their goal is to raise to raise $100,000 to fund a large-scale demo of technology they developed to transport sunlight underground, as The Lo-Down noted. (You can find the Kickstarter page here.)
There's a video explaining all the particulars on the Kickstarter page...
Several people have pointed out one moment in the video... at the 25-second mark ... the line about the Lower East Side being "full of culture and history ..." is set to an image of the now-demolished Mars Bar...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Day trippers: Picture yourself in a park under Delancey
This is what the northwest corner of Avenue B and East Houston looked like on Feb. 20, 2012
This year, we'll post photos like this of various buildings, streetscenes, etc., to capture them as they looked at this time and place... The photos may not be the most telling now, but they likely will be one day...
Thursday, February 23, 2012
A nice day for a sack lunch in the cemetery
At the New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street today.
Photo by Bobby Williams.
So how many new 7-Eleven stores does this mean for the East Village?
You may have seen this in Crain's yesterday ... Basically, 7-Eleven is taking over the place. There will be 14 new 7-Elevens in the city this year. Then!
Beginning next year, 7-Eleven plans to ramp things up, adding 20 locations —ranging in size from 1,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet — every year until 2017.
They aren't ramped up already?
One more thing!
The company, which boasts 7,200 locations across the U.S. and a whopping 44,000 worldwide, is working toward converting many of its corporate-owned outposts to franchised outlets. In New York that also means working with existing bodega owners to persuade them to transform their businesses into 7-Elevens. Three such conversions will open here this year, Mr. Porter said. Typically it costs between $200,000 and $1 million to open a 7-Eleven franchise.
No! Don't fall for the 7-Eleven Mind Warp!
So... we have the new one on the Bowery... then, as we first reported, there's the one coming to St. Mark's Place near Second Avenue.
Given the number of new locations spawning ... expect more hereabouts. We're still speculating that one will open in the Red Square strip mall... And how about at a newly renovated 100 Avenue A?
EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition
RIP Barney Rosset, the owner of Grove Press (The New York Times)
An interview with Rosset in his East Village home (The Paris Review)
Richard Edson revisits the East Village (The Villager)
Remembering Ira Cohen (BoweryBoogie)
The "red-soled, toddling vampires" continue to take over the Far West Village (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Celebrating local bookstores (Off the Grid)
For everyone who got shut out of buying Kraftwerk tickets at MoMa (Stupefaction)
Savoy reopening at Back Forty West (Grub Street)
First public meeting on Pier 42's future (The Lo-Down)
And Bobby Williams notes that Jim Power continues to work on a new mosaic outside the Bean on Second Avenue...
RIP Markand Thakar
The folks at Sophie's and Mona's passed along the sad news that Markand Thakar, a longtime regular at the bars, died this week. He was 82. We don't have a lot of details at the moment about a service or any possible celebrations of his life.
His artwork adorns the walls at both bars. He was a regular at the popular Tuesday night jazz sessions at Mona's. You've probably seen him there. And you'd remember having a conversation with him.
You can read about his life and work and view his art at his website, The Skunk Museum & Library. (We particularly like his oil paintings of bar scenes from the 1970s and 1980s.)
Part of his life, in his own words:
I've been asked, on numerous occasions, to explain the origins of my name and of my antecedents - and, just how did my parents, being of such different backgrounds, manage to meet? It has become obvious, that in this day of the American hyphenate, merely stating that I was born in New York City, on the 4th of July, in the fateful year, 1929 — and being the sixth child of a father born in India, and a mother born in Belgium, makes for an insufficient life history...
-------
After the drafting, during WWII, of my three older brothers, I began working as a gofer at a haberdashery that furnished the uniforms for Columbia's Navy ninety-day-wonders, then worked as a soda jerk — during which time I dropped out of High School. On July 18, 1946, shortly after I turned seventeen, I enlisted in the Regular Army and served for about a year in the post-WWII occupation of Japan. As a result, I joined my three older brothers as WWII veterans (all of us having served during WWII's emergency years).
-------
After my discharge, and over the years, I used up my GI Bill schooling allowance — during which time I worked at numerous jobs: soda jerk, bank page, RR dock worker, apprentice machinist, model maker — all the while, and from then on, I was more or less involved in the making of art. Then, from late 1953, before selling my business in 1974, I supported my wife, Betty Huber (a German Baptist, born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1926, who was in the process of obtaining a Ph.D.) and our three children as a licensed customhouse broker and registered foreign freight forwarder. My wife of over half a century (now deceased), after obtaining her PhD. carried much of the burden of supporting the family — from 1974 on.
-------
We featured Thakar in a post this past Dec. 22.
Report: 9th Precinct adding more cops to crack down on nightlife-related problems
Capt. John Cappelmann, the 9th precinct's new commanding officer, told residents that eight to 10 officers would join his ranks next month to help crack down on nightlife-related problems, DNAinfo reported.
During a Community Council meeting Tuesday night, "Cappelmann said he was responding to concerns he has heard from East Village residents since taking over the command about a month ago. Many residents turned out for Tuesday night's meeting to complain about noise and unruly crowds emanating from the neighborhood's densely packed bars."
He said that he'd assign the extra officers to the midnight conditions and midnight anticrime teams. (And how about a Sunday Brunch conditions team?)
During a Community Council meeting Tuesday night, "Cappelmann said he was responding to concerns he has heard from East Village residents since taking over the command about a month ago. Many residents turned out for Tuesday night's meeting to complain about noise and unruly crowds emanating from the neighborhood's densely packed bars."
He said that he'd assign the extra officers to the midnight conditions and midnight anticrime teams. (And how about a Sunday Brunch conditions team?)
Blockbuster closes on March 18
On Jan. 29, we noted that the Blockbuster on East Houston in the Red Square strip was going out of business ... At the time, a Blockbuster employee said that they'd close on Feb. 29.
However, we just heard that the Blockbusterers pushed the date back to March 18 (confirmed by a Blockbuster employee) ... so in case that you are in the market for any previously viewed DVDs or DVD display cases...
Now.
Two questions.
1) Has anyone checked out the sale items? Worth a look? We've never had a Blockbuster membership. Do you need to be a member to buy any of the crap?
2) The store has been on the block for a year now ... looks as if Sleepy's is part of the deal too ... the listing has it going for $75 a square foot... What would you like to see in the space? (Shoe store! Egg shop! Zine store! Heh.) What do you think will end up in the space? (And please be more specific than, say, "something shitty.")
Sorry — that was four questions.
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