Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Michael Duggan
Occupation: Antique Dealer, Archangel Antiques (334 East 9th).
Location: 4th Street Between 2nd and Bowery
Time: 7 pm on Saturday, July 13th

I’m from Allentown, Pennsylvania. I moved here because I was engaged at the time and the woman I was engaged to had gone to FIT and was a converter for Harvey Bernard, which was sort of a high-end woman’s line. She did all of the development for manufacturing and coincidentally that’s what my current partner does now.

I came straight to the East Village. This was the only place that made sense to me. Most of my friends lived on the Upper East Side at the time — that was where the younger middle class white people would move. It was the safe comfortable place, while this place was edgier. Our first apartment was on Rivington and Pitt Street.

I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 35 years now. When we moved here it was all empty lots. People had goats and chickens. People were camping in empty lots. It was a time when people didn’t want this real estate. I’ve lived above Raul’s Candy Store on Avenue B for 25 years now and we have such a great relationship with them.

This was also the area where you went out and everything crazy was going on. This was the place for people to come and misbehave. I was in fashion sales when I first moved here. I worked in fashion and furniture for the first 15 years I was here for Norma Kamali and then for Versace. I remember one night being out at Cave Canem, which later turned into Lucky Cheng’s, and I went in there and I’m dressed in a Zebra Versace suit since I was working for them. And someone said to me, “You know your friend is downstairs and you have to go and get her.” So I go downstairs and this woman is wearing the identical suit that I have on. They were like, “You have to take care of her, she’s a little toasted.” Here it turns out that it’s Princess Gloria. She was sort of the equivalent of Kim Kardashian of her time. Now she’s best friends with the Pope and her daughter is the editor at large for Vogue.

I work at the button shop on 9th street [Archangel Antiques]. The owners asked me to help them for a few days and I stayed for 20 years. We sell vintage buttons and antiques. We have 2.5 million vintage buttons from the 1830s through the 1950s. Gail, the woman I work for, had started buying maybe 30 years ago and now we predominantly sell our buttons for prototypes to design houses, like Ralph Lauren, J Crew, Anthropology, but also I sell to Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men since they need vintage buttons to go along with the vintage clothing. Everything is evocative of an era.

We’re going to be closing at some point next year. We actually have two storefronts and so there’s a lot of merchandise. The people I work with are in their 70s so it’s just, enough is enough.

Also, the generations have changed. Very few people are looking to buy for their homes anymore because no one has a substantial home life. Having been in and out of home furnishings, and also being a decorator, my house is filled to the brink. Everyone always asks me, “Do you live with your grandparents?” And I say, “No, I like living like this.” Cause for me, I’m kind of the person in the morning, I pull out my 19th-century silver tray and put out all my glassware and silver and have a normal breakfast and people don’t live like that anymore.

And I want to maintain my life. You want to take care of the things you have, those special things. But that also, I think, is a past lifestyle.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Alphabetical order on Avenue D and East Houston

In recent weeks, EVG reader Ray has shared some backside photos of the progress at the incoming Alphabet Plaza, the 12-story mixed-used apartment building at East Houston and East Second Street/Avenue D.

From a different angle on the corner, you can see just how massive the thing is ... with 4-5 floors to go...





This is the corner in July 2008 ...


And eventually...


[Via The Real Deal]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 12th-story 'Alphabet Plaza' in the works for Second Street and Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza ready to rise on Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza is rising on East Houston and Avenue D

Easy as...: Alphabet Plaza makes first appearance above ground

Alphabet Plaza starts to apply sun block

Stopped by Houston and Avenue D to pay my final respects

[Updated] As the Rite Aid turns (colors)

[July 7]

The Rite Aid on First Avenue at East Fifth Street continues to delight and amaze, though not really. First came the interior makeover, then the Rite Aiders turned their attention to the exterior, where workers painted it blue... before adding a garden theme.

And now!

EVG Senior First Avenue Rite Aid Correspondent Goggla reports that the East Fifth Street side is getting a design as well... too early to tell exactly what this design will be...





Any guesses before we see the final version?

Updated 7-17

A better view this morning via Goggla...

Tonight: Union Square's first nighttime farmers market

From the EVG inbox...

Union Square Night Market and Birthday Party!
Union Square Greenmarket — 17th Street & Union Square West
Tonight, 4-8

Join us for this very special one-time event!

On Wednesday, July 17th, the Union Square Greenmarket turns 37 years old, and to celebrate we will have farmers selling their farm fresh produce, meats, and cheeses, while sharing a space with a curated roster of restaurants serving prepared foods.

Along with all of the delicious food served that evening, there will be programming for families, live music by The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn and Jude Roberts, as well as a Brooklyn Beer Bar Featuring Brooklyn Greenmarket Wheat served in the pavilion.

All of your favorite Wednesday Greenmarket farmers will be in attendance, along with these restaurants selling individual dishes, desserts and beverages:

Back Forty/Back Forty West
Brooklyn Brewery serving Greenmarket Wheat Beer
Chop't Salad
Craft/Craftbar
Hearth/Terroir
Monument Lane
P&H Soda
Rouge Tomate
Telepan
The Fourth
Tocqueville Restaurant
Union Square Cafe
'Wichcraft

And you can go here to register for a pass where you get $1 off each dish or something.

On a sunny day

Tompkins Square Park today. Photo by Bobby Williams.

Your chance to bitch about Citi Bikes tonight

Back in May, before the launch of the Citi Bikes program, Community Board 3 announced that it would be holding a public meeting in July to hear any concerns ... Anyway, that meeting is tonight.

Here is the original message that we posted on May 10:

Bike Share will launch May 27. Issues that must be dealt with immediately, such as a blocked driveway or loading zone, should be emailed to the community board office (info@cb3manhattan.org) and we will work with DOT to have these sites inspected immediately.

There are other concerns regarding placement of installations or size of installations, or the number of installations in close proximity to each other. We are asking people to wait until bike share is in operation for a month to see what works and what doesn’t. What installations are not being used to capacity? What installations do not accommodate the number of bikes needed?

The Community Board 3 Transportation Committee will meet on Tuesday, July 16 to hear concerns. DOT will attend the meeting to note these concerns and address or inspect and follow up.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at I.S. 131, 100 Hester St.

And sorry about the short notice on the reminder... we just remembered ourselves via The Lo-Down's reminder this morning ...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Enjoying a cheese sandwich on 10th and C, photo by Bobby Williams]

Former Ms. Wheelchair America can't access the many East Village shops and restaurants that have a single step or two at the entrance (DNAinfo)

Q-and-A with Mitch Broder, who covers the "classic old haunts" of Manhattan (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Russian Orthodox Cathedral's road to landmark designation on East Second Street (Off the Grid)

A few highlights from last night's CB3/SLA committee meeting (BoweryBoogie)

East Village resident selected as the starting pitcher for the National League in tonight's All-Star game (USA Today)

What Manhattan would look like inside the Grand Canyon (Gothamist)

Eating at the great Joe Jr. on Third Avenue and East 16th (Eater)

City taking possession of former firehouse near SPURA (The Lo-Down)

Vintage Rolling Stones jigsaw puzzle confuses (Dangerous Minds)

Poll: What is the Best Ramones Song? (Rolling Stone)

More about S'MAC's decision to leave First Park

[January 2012]

News came down last week that S'MAC had closed its satellite operation at First Park after nearly 18 months at the location off of East Houston and East First Street. S'MAC took over for Veselka at the kiosk in January 2012.

We reached out to Caesar Ekya, who owns and operates S'MAC with his wife Sarita, for more details about the decision and the future at First Park.

On running the kiosk:

"We had high hopes for it. It is such a lovely park and neighborhood, and we felt that it would be great to be part of it and help develop it into something better.

But the sales didn't materialize and we ended up losing money there every week that we were open. We tried different formats, timings, product mix, even started delivering, but were not able to raise sales to a break-even number.

We still have more ideas for it and more things on our list to try but then, in the past few months, two things happened that made us decide to give it up. One was the opening of the Murray Hill location and the other was the Health Department mandated closure of the East Village original.

With those two events we realized that we needed to bring our focus back to the two locations that we know work and are profitable, and so the decision to close became inevitable."

On the future at First Park:

"We still feel very sad having to close the kiosk. We feel it has a lot of potential for the right vendor and are working with the Parks Department to find someone who can turn into the neighbor it can be.

If we terminate our lease and walk away, then it will go back to a bidding process and will remain closed for the next 6-9 months. So our preference is to try and find someone to assign the lease to. We have talked to a lot of the neighborhood businesses already, especially coffee shops, and there are some potentials in the pipeline. Hopefully, we will know for sure in the next 2-3 weeks."

The S'MAC locations on East 12th Street and in Murray Hill remain open.

Here's the new-look 205 Avenue A with 2 additional floors

[January]

We've been noting that 205 Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 13th Street was getting a two-floor extension courtesy of developer Terrence Lowenberg and architect Ramy Issac.

And yesterday, workers removed the construction netting and scaffolding to reveal... a very Lowenberg-Issac-like building...



It's quite similar to the look of another recent joint venture — 326-328 E. Fourth St.

There aren't any listings yet for 205... so it's not clear yet whether they will be dormy side, like the apartments at 326-328 E. Fourth St. where there was a six-bedroom apartment listed for $8,000.

Previously on EV Grieve:
2 additional floors coming to 205 Avenue A; another Lowenberg-Issac production

205 Avenue A primed for 2 new floors

Is the under-renovation 205 Avenue A already too tall?

Native Bean space apparently back on the market

Back in September 2011, a "for rent" sign went up above Native Bean at 50 Avenue A... Per the listing, it was a 10-year lease at $10,000 per month.

Then, in March, workers removed the "for rent" sign. And we understood that the cafe was staying put... until we spotted the recent arrival of another "for lease" sign on the building to the left of the front entrance...



The listing at the Heller Organization puts the rent at $9,500... and that the space is available "immediately."

Box Kite Coffee opening at former Tuck Shop space on St. Mark's Place?

The Tuck Shop closed its location on St. Mark's Place near Avenue A on July 7. According to the sign on the door, the shop closed for a variety of reasons, including "Gentrification ... Rent is too damn high!, Laziness/ennui, Albany/Bloomberg and Gluten-free people."

Word here is that the storefront will become home to Box Kite Coffee, a shop operated by barista Cora Lambert.

Paperwork filed ahead of last night's CB3/SLA committee meeting shows a change in ownership at 115 St. Mark's Place.



A recent issue of Imbibe magazine had an item about Box Kite Coffee opening in NYC...



We haven't heard official confirmation of this... and there's no other word on a possible opening date.

No help likely to spare Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church from demolition

Last week we reported on the ongoing prep work to demolish the former Mary Help of Christians school and rectory. The church on East 12th Street, which opened in 1917, remains free of the demolition bondage as of last night.

As previously reported, East Village community and preservation groups were hoping that the historic church that developer Douglas Steiner plans to develop can be spared... the groups learned that a large cemetery was formerly found on this site, and called for a complete archaeological evaluation of the site before any work proceeded.

And what became of that request following the press conference on May 23?

"We did hear back from the Landmark Preservation Commission that they abdicated all responsibility to even require an archeological survey," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "So Steiner may end up digging up bodies, and the public may never know."

As far as next steps with trying to preserve the church, Berman said that their options are limited.

"Thus far common sense, decency, reasonable alternatives, and appeals to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to do their job have not stopped Steiner from moving ahead with his cemetery-condos plan," he said.

Steiner bought the property last fall for an unspecified residential complex.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

Tonight's sunset

East Sixth Street this evening.

Play ball

Photo today in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams

After 65 days, Cooper Union students end occupation of president's office

[May 10]

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Joint Statement by Former Occupiers of the President’s Office, the Administration, and Board of Trustees of The Cooper Union, July 15th, 2013

The administration, Board of Trustees of The Cooper Union and those members of the Cooper Union community who have been occupying the Office of the President since early May have reached an agreement that ended the occupation on Friday.

A working group will be established promptly to undertake a good faith effort to seek an alternative to tuition that will sustain the institution’s long-term financial viability and strengthen its academic excellence.

The working group will consist of Board, faculty, alumni, students and administration representatives and will report to the administration and Board of Trustees for consideration at the December Board of Trustees Meeting.

The Board also confirmed, in accordance with the motion approved at the June Board meeting, that procedures for student representation on the Board will be established at the September meeting.

An interim room has been identified as a Community Commons that can serve as a student center or a community center for all members of the Cooper Community.

All individuals who have violated Cooper Union policies throughout the period of the occupation will be granted amnesty, and in turn, commit to complying with, and cooperating with the enforcement of, all laws and Cooper Union policies.

Here's a look at the start of Day 65 on Friday...

The sun just rose on 65 days of occupation at Cooper Union https://t.co/8lYOs7Mu8h

— Free Cooper Union (@FreeCooperUnion) July 12, 2013

Find more details here.

Previously.

The good news is the humidity is only at 36%

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Avenue B yesterday. Photo by Bobby Williams]

[Photos] Looking at Linda Simpson's "Drag Explosion" (Paper)

A Greenwich Village map from 1961 (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

An alleged assault by a Joe Doe cook yesterday on East First Street (BoweryBoogie)

Robert Sietsema on greasy spoons (Eater)

A postcard tribute to John Wanamaker’s department store on Fourth Avenue and East 9th Street (Ephemeral New York)

A commemorative plaque for the Stonewall Inn (The Villager)

Watch the Ramones play their 13th concert in the summer of 1974 (Rolling Stone)

Remembering the Astrotower at Coney Island (Amusing the Zillion)

Happy Birthday Johnny Thunders

Johnny Thunders, aka John Anthony Genzale, Jr., would have been 61 today. You was a New York Doll... and later a Heartbreaker.

In an interview with us back in March, Sylvain Sylvain of the Dolls spent some time talking about Thunders.

[He] had an apartment on Avenue A. His closet was like — everything would be pressed and dry cleaned. He had a real unique way of dressing and picking this and this and that and putting it all together.

When we were picking names for the band, he called me, well, he called Ricky Corvette, and run names by me. 'What do you think of Johnny Thunder?' I'd was like Yeah, that's pretty cool Johnny. The phone would ring five minutes later. What about Johnny Thunders?

You can listen to a Johnny Thunders birthday special hosted by Jesse Malin from last year over at East Village Radio.

The Wafels & Dinges café is now open on Avenue B

[Image via @FondaRestaurant]

The first Wafels & Dinges outpost is now open on Avenue B and East Second Street... the café is based on the same concept as the popular food trucks in circulation around the city ...

W&D founder Thomas DeGeest, an East Village resident, told us back in January that the store was "progressing at turtle speed." He also noted that it "will be as much a good coffee place as a waffle and ice cream place."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Wafels & Dinges opening a café on Second Street and Avenue B?

Wafels & Dinges hoping for a spring opening on Avenue B

Reader report: Klean and Kleaner has closed

[File photo]

As we reported last September, Klean & Kleaner, the laundromat at 173 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, was on the market for use as a bar or restaurant.

Off and on during the last few months, we heard that the laundromat was closing very soon... On April 30, we thought the end was here. "They were loading trucks all afternoon. Wouldn't let me drop off clothes unless I was ok picking up in '2-3 days' at an undefined location," said one neighbor.

However, they remained open through this past weekend. Staff was there yesterday for customers to pick up their laundry. There was a sign noting that the washers were out of service. (Someone had removed the doors to the washers.)

Meanwhile, EVG Facebook friend Edward Arrocha took these photos in late April. "They are devastated," he said of the staff. "I will miss them."









Word is the landlord is now asking $18,000 a month in rent. As previously reported, the owners of the Living Room on Ludlow Street were hoping to take over this space, though the CB3/SLA committee turned down that proposal in May.

Also, this marks the third East Village laundromat to close in the last few months. (East 10th Street and East 13rd Street.)


[Yesterday]

Previously.