Flight

Somewhere near East 10h Street today. Photo by Bobby Williams.

He's a Magic man

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band with "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby" circa 1972.

FREE HOT DOGS AT JAPADOG

Right now on St. Mark's Place... photo via EVG Facebook friend Bonnie DeWitt...

A one-year customer appreciation day...



Thanks to EVG Facebook friend Robert Mazze for the above photo...

Lyric Diner Coffee Shop neon survives renovation on Third Avenue

Back in August, we noted that the Lyric Diner on Third Avenue at 22nd Street had closed for renovations... Our friends at the pcvstBEE blog report that the owners reopened the space this week... it's now a Greek restaurant called Taverna.

Some good news. Despite the major renovations, the owners are keeping the cool Lyric Diner Coffee Shop neon on the East 22nd Street side, as this photo from @ThingsWendySees shows...



As for their food, you can check out their new menu here.

Study: Tweets show there are 'pockets of unhappiness in the East Village'

Per the Post:

Researchers from the University of Vermont mapped out the city’s happiest areas using a complex formula that can pinpoint tweet locations and rate their relative “happiness” and “sadness” based on certain key words.

Key words like "sun" and "yoga" (yay! happy!) and sad words such as "hate" and "hell." (How about "another fucking rent hike"?)

(Also. Tricky: A word like "Woooooo!" could be seen as happy or sad, depending on who is on the receiving end of the Woooooo!, if researchers had actually measured Woooooo!)

The data found that the largest concentration of happy tweets came from the Times Square region. (Tourists: duh)

Elsewhere?

While most of Manhattan south of Central Park had people tweeting happily, there were pockets of unhappiness in the East Village, Chelsea and the area around City Hall. There were also a large number of sad tweets coming from the area around the United Nations.

No word if researchers measured emoticons.

An East Village resident to root for during the Academy Awards on Sunday night

"How to Survive a Plague" is one of the five films nominated for Best Documentary Feature in the 2013 Academy Awards.

Here's the official synopsis:

"How to Survive a Plague" is the story of two coalitions — ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) — whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.

France is a longtime resident of East Seventh Street. He has been writing about AIDS since 1982, and as a journalist, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, and New York magazine.



"How to Survive a Plague" marks his directorial debut. He's currently working on a book about the AIDS epidemic for publication later this year. In an interview published yesterday at Time magazine, he talks about what it was like to hear the news of the nomination:

It was thrilling. I guess probably everybody would say that, but for me the thrill was that we ran this massive outreach and education campaign around it. And all of this is an effort to give the film a life of its own and to establish it in the marketplace of ideas so that people will turn to it for this history. And an Oscar nomination gives it that much more standing and makes it more probable that it will reach wide audiences for a long time.

Here are some different ways to see the film, which is now on DVD.

Also, thanks to the commenter for pointing out this interview on The Brian Lehrer Show. And Claude Peck left the URL for his review in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

H/T Dave on 7th

Reader report: Will a rent hike force out East Village Shoe Repair on St. Mark's Place?

[Via StyleBubble UK]

A tipster passes along word that the cobblers at East Village Shoe Repair on St. Mark's Place may be forced to close or relocate after the landlord hit them with a big rent hike. While nothing is final just yet, they are apparently not very optimistic. (This article from 2006 noted that their rent was $4,000 a month for the 100-square-feet of space.)

A cobbler has been in this space since 1985; Belarus natives Eugene Finkelberg and Boris Zuborev took over in 1994. (Finkelberg is the original owner's nephew.) Aside from quality repair work, the two are well-known for their custom shoe creations... the spot to get the EV creepers.


[Via StyleBubble UK]

A post from April 2010 on Style Bubble notes:

" ...characters like Boris and Eugene are diminishing in cities... that encounters in grimy holes where they gesture to their faded albums with shoe polish fingers are few and far between... I maybe over-romanticising but I did feel ever so slightly enrichened by a visit to this particular shoe repair joint..."

Not sure what kind of tenant the landlord is aiming for in such a small space ... Of course, as previously noted, with 51 Astor Place and its 12-floors of incoming office workers looming in the background ... I wonder about the future of the remaining hole-in-the-wall-type shops along the block...



Bonus Barney.

[Photo by Bob Arihood from 2010]

For further reading:
EV Creepers (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Watch a vintage Miller Lite commercial filmed at Vazac's

Hey, it's former NFL greats Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus in a Miller Lite spot from 1984 ... filmed at Vazac's/7B/Horsehoe Bar (whatever you prefer) ... Anyway! Less filling!

Thanks to @VaughnVance for finding this.

More from East Houston and Katz's circa 1986

Last week, we shared a photo from EVG reader Paul Dougherty looking at East Houston and Ludlow in 1986 before the onslaught of luxury apartments and hotels...

Flashback!



Paul found a few more from his archives showing Katz's...

...from 1981...



... and 1986...



... and the scene right before he moved from his apartment in the spring of 2007...



Meanwhile, EVG reader Corey shared a current photo that shows the obvious changes in the skyline...



A little half-assed with my Photoshopping, but maybe you get the idea...


[Click image to enlarge]

The Bruce High Quality Foundation University settles in on Avenue A

Been meaning to note this. You may have noticed the signage — BHQFU — on the third floor at 34 Avenue A near East Third Street...

The space is serving as home to The Bruce High Quality Foundation University (BHQFU), "a learning experiment where artists work together to manifest creative, productive, resistant, useless, and demanding interactions between art and the world."

Here's more via an article last fall in the GalleristNY, which describes BHQFU as "the mostly anonymous artist collective founded by a group of Cooper Union alumni." The unaccredited art school started in 2009 on West Broadway as a response to the "$200,000-debt-model of art education."


[The third-floor classroom, via Facebook]

Spring sessions on Avenue A include "You Watching Me Googling You." Find the school's website here.

And so, for now, this closes the book on 34 Avenue A, home to some angry-neighbor angst in recent years... from the closure of Mo Pitkin's ... to the opening and closing of flip-cup mecca Aces & Eights ... to CB3 rejecting all plans for a bar-restaurant-performance space here.

Today, the building is home to Ruff Club, a dog-friendly social club, a karate center and an artist collective.

Progress?

Winter Friday flashback: Price melting on 'Soho-style' igloo in Tompkins Square Park

On Fridays this winter, and probably spring and summer ... we'll post one of the 16,000-plus EVG, uh, posts from yesteryear, like this one from March 1, 2010...

-------

On Friday, we wrote about a new listing that popped up on Prudential Douglas Elliman for a "Soho-style" igloo right in the heart of East Greenwich Village in Tompkins Square Park.

On Friday, the 15-square-foot igloo was priced at $1.5 million ($100K per square foot!)


However, today, the price has been chopped down to $500K!

Here's the listing:

This fully original Soho igloo is ready to go at a stunning and spacious 15 square feet!! Located in a new igloo and facing southeast off the Park you will enjoy the setting sun, quiet nights, and all the space!! The ground has been white washed for a tasteful but artful look. There is a flat screen TV nook that has been smartly placed in the living space so the TV will flow seamlessly against the snow. Closets everywhere, bath and a half, open kitchen round out this one-of-a-kind one igloo flex two loft space. The igloo is a condo so subletting and renting are permitted. Pets are welcome!

According to Streeteasy, this property originally went on the market around this time last year, but was quickly pulled several warmer days later...

There was an open igloo this past Friday...


...where potential igloo-buyers discovered that the space may be best suited for those under say, 3 feet tall.



If you're interested, then I urge you to hurry. The temperatures are expected in the mid 40s today...

A pigeon a day keeps the...

Today in Tompkins Square Park... via Bobby Williams.

Noted

From the EV Grieve inbox...

MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG WILL DELIVER COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT THE COOPER UNION’S 154th GRADUATION CEREMONY

New York – We are proud and delighted that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has agreed to deliver the commencement address at The Cooper Union’s 154th graduation ceremony in May, said Jamshed Bharucha, President of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. At commencement, Mayor Bloomberg will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary).

Commencement 2013 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th in The Great Hall of The Cooper Union, East 7th Street at Third and Fourth Avenues, New York.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s transformational leadership to improve education, the cityscape and the built environment, as well as public health, while encouraging smart and sustainable economic growth distinguishes his administration. His persuasive advocacy for gun control and immigration reform resonates across the country. His determination for New York to thrive as a world class applied science center will draw the best and the brightest for decades to come. His record and vision provide an example for our graduates who want to contribute their talents to New York and beyond. We are honored to have him deliver the keynote address at this year’s commencement,” said President Bharucha.

Q-and-A with Fly on UnReal Estate

Fly is currently working on UnReal Estate, an archive project focused on the history of squatting on the Lower East Side. The artist and illustrator is assembling a collection of photos, flyers, drawings, graphics, video and oral histories. Fly, a longtime squatter herself dating to the 1980s, has been incorporating these elements into multimedia presentations, one of which she'll show tomorrow night at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) at 155 Avenue C. (Find more information here.)

Meanwhile, the book portion of UnReal Estate will focus on an oral history of squatting on the Lower East Side, concentrating on the 1980s and 1990s – up until 2002, when 11 buildings made a deal through the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) to become legal low-income co-ops. The book will include a prologue to cover the earlier homesteading movements and brief history of housing issues in the neighborhood.

Fly answered a few questions for us about the project and her feelings about the neighborhood today.

UnReal Estate is such an ambitious project. How is the oral history book portion of it shaping up?

I am getting some great stories — and a lot of conflicting information. A lot of people have a hard time remembering specific dates. So much was happening so fast back in the 80s and 90s. This neighborhood was a bit like a powder keg, and it was hard to keep track of dates and times. There are so many people who I want to interview. The more that I do the longer the list seems to get.

How have audiences been responding to the previous slideshows/multimedia presentations?

I have been getting very encouraging responses. People who were around back in the day are encouraged to remember their own history, so then I get more input into the squatter timeline. People who were not there have told me that they have a whole new view of the idea of squatting. I have done some UnReal Estate slideshows in Oakland, Calif., to the East Bay Squat Scene. They get so inspired by seeing what we did and how we continue to survive. The squatter scene out there is very different and not so organized or cohesive. They seemed to get some good ideas for strategy from seeing our history

Why do you think telling the story of the East Village/Lower East Side squatter history is so important?

I think that the squatter movement here came out of real community activism, so it is very ingrained in the larger history of the Lower East Side. It was in the 1970s when landlords were torching their buildings for insurance money and the City was going broke and abandoning the more undesirable neighborhoods that residents in the Lower East Side really started organizing and taking back the buildings – sometimes with homesteading programs and sometimes just with community support. A lot of housing activism was going on and the squatter movement was a more direct-action approach that grew from that.

There were so many buildings squatted in this neighborhood in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was a real political force and many squatters were involved in so many other community and citywide struggles — especially the struggle for affordable housing, which has been a defining characteristic of the Lower East Side. The fact that we were successful in taking 11 buildings to legal status speaks to our legitimate place in the official history of the Lower East Side

The neighborhood continues to develop and grow, of course. How do you feel about what has been taking place? Do you still feel a sense of community here? Does it still feel like home?

I do feel a sense of community here, although it now seems so spread out and diffused. Suddenly there are so many bars and stores that make an attempt to look like they have been here for a long time so that the tourists think they are getting a Real Experience. (I could go on a long complaining rant but I’m sure you have heard it all before and I try to be positive these days.)

It makes it all the more important to try to preserve and proliferate our radical roots – to encourage the kids to continue to live Actively not Passively. There are still places in the Lower East Side like ABC No Rio, Bullet Space, Bluestockings, MoRUS and all of the gardens – we still have some great places left. After so many years of struggle I am very grateful to have my home.

What was your reaction to being named one of the "Amazing Women of the Lower East Side" this year by The Lower Eastside Girls Club?

Oh! I was very honored that they chose me. It is one of my favorite places and one of my favorite things to do is teach art classes or zine-making classes to the younger generations. I get to do this once in awhile at the Girls Club, hopefully more often in future, and the girls never fail to amaze me with their enthusiasm and their creativity.



[For more information, contact Fly here]

David Schwimmer's unfinished mansion makes celebrity homes map for 2nd straight year

In other important news today, Rentenna updated its giant map of where celebrities live in the City.

Let's see how the East Village fared... For the second straight year, David Schwimmer leads the pack... even though he still doesn't live here (yet).



Who else ... Tom Cruise is listed on East 13th Street, where he recently sold his home ... Cynthia Nixon on East Sixth Street, though she bought a house on Bleecker... No Daniel Craig? No Zoltar? Lame!

H/T Curbed

Renovations set to begin at PS 122

A tipster passes along word that all the tenants of the PS 122 Community Center at 150 First Ave. are out of the building now, and construction on the DCA-funded interior code renovations will start any day now. Yesterday, PS 122 officials turned over the keys to the contractor. The building at East Ninth Street will undergo a three-year renovation.

Per the tipster: "The project is exciting, and will be a great asset to the neighborhood. This isn't some private developer coming in and taking a piece of East Village history away."

PS 122 will use space in Greenpoint for its office, and employ venues around the city for its various productions. (Read more about all this in a recent article at TheaterMania.)

Among other things, the renovated space, first put to use by PS 122 in 1980, will have an elevator, new stairwells and full ADA compliance.

Find a sneak peek of one of the new floor layouts here. Find more updates and the performance schedule at the PS 122 website here.

Expect to see Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place through Mayor Bloomberg's last term in office

[Via Jerry's Newsstand on Facebook]

You know the story of Jerry Delakas, who has been running the newsstand at Astor Place since 1987. As the Daily News put it in April 2011: "The city is booting Jerry Delakas, 62, .... because he's not the legal license holder. That decision contradicts the dying wish of the woman who held the license, happily allowed him to operate the stand and designated him as heir."

In the eyes of the city, this is an illegal arrangement. Last fall, the city retained — for free — the services of powerhouse international law firm Proskauer Rose for the eviction process. Previously, the city used a Law Department attorney. "The lawyer handling the matter worked on it while part of the city’s Public Service Program for young attorneys before she left to go into private practice," a city spokesperson told the Post last September. "It made complete sense for her to continue on the case given that she’d worked on it since its inception."

From the Daily News in 2011:

Outraged neighbors say the chain-smoking character with a thick Greek accent and heart of gold has become a neighborhood institution. "Jerry's here rain, snow, sleet, blistering heat," said Larry Schulz, 68, who lives across the street. "He's just a real important part of our community. We think the world of him."

We haven't heard much since then about the situation. In the comments the other day, EVG reader BT mentioned that Delakas suffered a serious hand injury last fall.

Here's the latest on the situation with the city, based on information passed along by director Nicole Cimino at a Feb. 9 screening of "The Paperhouse Report," a 25-minute documentary about Delakas.

In short: He was denied his license again by the State courts. They granted him the right to remain at the newsstand until the end of this mayoral administration. He and his lawyer are planning on contacting the next mayor's administration to see if they have any desire to see Jerry keep his newsstand.

So Bloomberg is out at the end of the year... so you can expect to see Delakas here for perhaps the next 12 months at the very least... And he is on his third physical newsstand now... the one that he had starting in 1987 (his brother Aris is pictured in the photo directly below...)





The one that he upgraded per city requests in 1993 ... (which he says cost him $55,000)



And his current home, which the city Cemusa'd in 2007...

[Photo by James Maher from January 2012. Find more photos here]

Read more about Jerry's situation at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York. You can watch the documentary at Vimeo here. Like Jerry's Newsstand on Facebook here.

[Archival newsstand photos via "The Paper House" website]

3-story swingers club now open on the Bowery

Well, we missed the Grand Opening of Bowery Bliss last Friday. From what we understand, it's a three-story, 4,000-square-foot, "European-style" swingers club near Delancey. It's only open Friday and Saturday nights, 10 p.m. - 4 a.m.

Here are some details via a notice on Craigslist:

New York City's newest and largest on premise swinger club

4000 sq ft on 3 floors with something for everyone
-First floor: The Renaissance Lounge (1,400 sq. ft.) offering guests a place to mingle and get to know each other:
-Second Floor: Group Play Area (900 sq. ft.) curtained and open play areas...open to all
-Third Floor: Couples ONLY Playroom (700 sq ft) ...the club within the club

-Locker room (use one of our locks or bring your own) and secure Coat Check
-Complimentary sodas and mixers served all night, located in the Renaissance Lounge
Please note we do NOT sell alcohol however we do have a BYOB policy.
-Complimentary snacks and desserts, served all night. Located in the Renaissance Lounge
-Complimentary condoms
-Complementary self serve lockers (bring a lock or use one of ours)

There is an official Bowery Bliss website with all the rules, like, you need to be a member of the club. There's also a page with fee information (single females, $20; single males, $120; couples, $100) ... and FAQs. For example: "Are 2 men and a woman allowed to attend as a threesome on couples ONLY nights?" NO. "On couples only nights each male must be accompanied with a female guest."

There was also a write-up in this at UrbanDaddy last week, who pointed out that, "There’s no liquor license as of yet. And let’s face it — probably not one forthcoming."

That would be one Community Board 3 meeting that we'd never miss.

The 'No 7-Eleven' chalk campaign expands its reach; plus, drip art

The No 7-Eleveneers were at it again last night ...



... expanding their protest beyond the construction site at the corner of East 11th Street and Avenue A to the 7-Eleven at St. Mark's Place ...



...where a security guard sought to dissolve the protest with some water, creating the first piece of "No 7-Eleven" drip-art.

Scaffolding still going up at 330 Bowery

On Monday morning, we happened to be on Bowery and Bond when workers started erecting scaffolding at the historic 330 Bowery... late yesterday afternoon, they were still going at it... been awhile since we've seen such intricate scaffolding with so many walkways, ladders, etc. So much of scaffolding seems so homemade around here these days. Not this.







Workers will eventually be repairing portions of the exterior and stuff, per the DOB.