So to help make planning your day easier, we note the Thanksgiving Day "swirling hours" at PinkBerry on St. Mark's Place.
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Name: Nico D Smith
Occupation: Artist, Painter
Location: 4th Street and Avenue A
Time: 4:20 on Monday, Nov. 4
I first moved here in 1961, but I only stayed then until ’71 and then I went away and I came back in ’84. I’ve been here ever since. I grew up in Westchester. I had an aunt who lived in Jackson Heights and I used to come to visit her quite often, but I grew up in Yorktown.
I’m a painter. I studied at the Art Students League and other things at the same time. I do abstract painting primarily, what some might call soft geometry. I generally don’t use hard edge. So I deal with rectangles in a field but they’re hand drawn.
I also did a bit of acting when I was young. For a year I was never unemployed with acting. I had a job on television every month for a year because I had the most powerful agent in the world at the time, called MCA. The reason I became an actor in the beginning — well, I did study acting — but I met a bigshot Broadway producer through a friend. He was the guy that put me in MCA.
All he had to do was pick up the phone, “I have this kid over here, I kind of like him, you want to talk to him?” Signed me right on. I didn’t even have to breath. And then the people from Hollywood would come and want to see me. I was up for a big movie called "All Fall Down" with Warren Beatty. I was going to play the lead opposite him, a kid, but it fell through. Brandon De Wilde, a child actor, got my part.
Then MCA was declared a monopoly by the government and they disbanded and I was out on my own. I had to choose another agent and I picked the wrong one. It didn’t work. It was a guy I personally knew from MCA but he wasn’t working for me. I found out 50 years later, my friend from college was with him too and he was getting my jobs.
At the time, 2nd Avenue was where I was hanging out mostly. I didn’t even go over to First because there was nothing over here. This was 1961. But over on 2nd Avenue was a place called Ratner’s. Ratner’s was this great big dairy restaurant and I used to called it the Downtown Sardi’s. Sardi’s was where the uptown theatre crowd went after the theatre. The nice people went there.
Anyway, there was still Yiddish theatre here — all these theaters. The theater crowd here would go to Ratner’s. It was all Jewish people, not so wealthy as the people at Sardi’s, but nice enough. The waiters padded around in those old shoes and they were old. They’d give you so much food for nothing.
I am a painter and I’ll probably be painting till the day I die. It’s so ingrained in me. I started off working in a studio painting on Broadway and 3rd. Then in 1964 I was living on 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd, 75, next door to what would be the Hells Angels. I had one of the first galleries in the East Village called Hard Knocks. I lived in the back in a loft and I showed art and had children’s workshop and things like that. We had some people but not many.
I used to cover the gallery scene. I have been going to openings and opening reception, ever since 1960. I went to the School of Visual Arts in ’60 and met friends and they would take me to the galleries that existed at that time. There was nothing in SoHo, nothing in Chelsea, nothing anywhere except on 57th Street and up on Madison Avenue.
But there was a gallery on 10th Street between 3rd and 4th. The director there was Ivan Karp, the same guy that started O K Harris. After that gallery he became the director of the Leo Castelli Gallery. He directed Leo Castelli before he opened his own. He had a falling out with Castelli because he didn’t really like Roy Lichtenstein. So he wasn’t really a pop guy and if you went to his gallery after that you’d notice that.
But I never had any success at all. No one’s ever liked my work. I mean, yes there have been people, but nobody who was somebody ever liked my work. Plenty of nobody’s like my work. I always say I’m the biggest nobody in the world. Although, I’m really quite well known in the art scene. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve advanced my cause, not in the least. The only thing that matters is if somebody loves you, then you are somebody.
[T]he idea is to NOT change the vibe, appeal, and personality of HiFi. We hope that will all stay pretty much the same as it has always been ... The short description is that we will be redesigning the entrance and storefront, changing the furniture and the colors, and adding in a 40-ish capacity room with its own separate bar that will have a myriad of uses; from private parties to trivia nights, comedy nights, readings, and even some live music. For those of you who still pine for the days when I ran a rock club in this space, this is NOT a return to the golden era of Brownies ... there will be no drum sets played inside HiFi."
Jill’s loyal clientele are hardworking, intelligent, and fashionable women who know they can rely on her clothes to feel their best no matter the season or occasion. They also believe in thinking globally by buying their finery locally, and supporting independent, woman-owned businesses!
Jill Anderson debuted her collection in 1989 in Athens, Greece, and six years later opened the Jill Anderson boutique at 331 E. Ninth Street in New York’s East Village. Her uniquely tailored designs have garnered praise from Elle, Marie Claire, Brazilian Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, and more. In addition to managing a thriving business, Jill has collaborated on costume design with dance companies such as the Wally Cardona Quartet and the Philippa Kaye Dance Group.
Most recently, Jill Anderson designed and created the dress for writer/director Debra Granik, whose film Winter’s Bone was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Anderson said a combination of bad luck, high rent and the day-to-day difficulties of running a business recently made her decide to close the shop.
"This was like the heart here — this beautiful store," said Anderson, in between hugging a stream of well-wishing customers who came into the store as much to see the designer as to buy her wares. "I loved making people happy. I loved to sew."
Newly gut renovated 3 bedroom apartment on East 2nd street, right off of Avenue C. Apartment features include hardwood floors, high ceilings, large bedrooms and separate kitchen.
For our latest mission we recreated the famous fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally with 20 women in Katz’s Deli. This was staged without the knowledge of the restaurant, though thankfully they all seemed to love it.
This project is part of our new series, Movies in Real Life. Every Tuesday, we’re releasing a new video that brings an iconic movie moment to life in the real world.
Join us tonight for our Typhoon Donations Drive w/ Jose Antonio Vargas, 6-9p! Sponsored by Tiger Beer, we'll be donating all beer sales to The Philippine Red Cross. Please come out and support the relief effort with canned food and monetary donations. Help heal our Philippine nation.
The October court action fended off a summary eviction of Dana and Co. and Atty Noah Potter has arranged a court date for January where he will present documents in his possession that will help save #9. If justice may be had in today's courts...
Even a win there won't fully save #9, though. What is really needed is more people to come to #9 for meetings and events to raise funds and consciousness. This space is NOT a relic of the past but a living historical site for today's activist generation. USE IT OR LOSE IT has never had a better object lesson than at #9!!
Exceptional opportunity to rent an entire building in prime Greenwich Village / NoHo. The bottom two floors feature bars that are built out already. But these could also work well for retail. And the top two floors can be used for either residential or office space. Each of the 4 floors is approximately 1600 square feet.
This is truly an unbeatable Greenwich Village / NoHo location, on a block with high and brilliant visibility for business. Original details still in tact - including exposed brick, and a cast iron honey comb curved skylight which graces the ground floor, with 13' 6" ceilings. Old world charm ready for a new world establishment…