Another 'riot' in Tompkins Square Park, this time for the cameras

As mentioned here previously, filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini were recreating the Tompkins Square Park riots of 1988 last night for their low-budget adaption of the Eleanor Henderson novel "Ten Thousand Saints." (Read more about the film, due next year, right here.)

Now here's a look at some of the action, thanks to several EVG readers who sent along photos/video.

The first batch of photos are by Michael Donovan …





















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Here's a snippet of video from Gail George showing riot rehearsal before the cameras rolled…



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And from Michael Paul …









… and a few photos from Michael from the late afternoon…







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And how did it all eventually come together? Here is video from Michael Donovan's Instagram account …



Previously on EV Grieve:
Filmmakers will recreate the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988 this Thursday night

Film crew recreates 'tent city' in Tompkins Square Park

Film crew uses 'D Squat' and phone booths to recreate an 1980s East Village on 6th Street

[Updated] First Avenue subbing for Avenue D today

Planet of the Frank Ape: Q-and-A with artist Brandon Sines

Tomorrow night at Specials on C (the former corner deli on Avenue C and East 12th Street), Brandon Sines will have his work featured in a new exhibit titled "Dealing With Things Is Tricky."

You may recognize his favorite subject — Frank Ape, which Sines has wheat-pasted or painted around various spaces in the neighborhood.

Here's more about the show via the EVG inbox:

"Dealing With Things Is Tricky" is Sines' second solo show and his most ambitious work to date. The main subject of "Dealing With Things Is Tricky" will be Sines' hairy, unkempt street denizen character known as Frank Ape ... [the show] is a total immersion into the world of Frank Ape. Drawings, paintings, and mixed-media pieces [take] inspiration from contemporary pop culture, celebrity, and iconic movie and music imagery.

We're Frank Ape fans, so we thought we'd ask Sines a few quick questions on the eve of the show.

You were never interested in pursuing art, let along attending art school. So how did all this come about?

I guess I had my own ideas of what I wanted to do, which never involved "art," but always involved being my own boss... I tried a bunch of different things, which everyone has to do to figure out what they like. During that period I started playing around again with drawing and painting like I did when I was a kid, and everyone just responded to it so positively. It got to a point where I couldn't ignore it, and I had to acknowledge where my natural skill sets were and how to nurture them. It's really motivating to have an audience that responds to what you're doing.



How did the creation of Frank Ape evolve?

Just an idea I had for a painting in 2011...putting this person, who is like us, but who isn't so intellectually evolved — more emotionally, in a traumatic situation. I kept wanting to repeat the character and it organically turned into it's own thing. I don't really put Frank in many traumatic situations anymore. Now it's more about having fun and pushing the limits of how we can make Frank come to life.

There's a 1980s influence/inspiration in your work. Do you ever wish that you could have been creating art/living in that time period instead of now?

Haha, yeah part of me used to feel that way... but I think we'll be looking back at this time in 25 years and feeling the same romantic, nostalgic feeling that we do now about the 80s. So I totally embrace where I'm at.

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"Dealing With Things Is Tricky" opens tomorrow from 7-10 p.m. ... and will be on view daily, by appointment, through May 6 at 195 Ave. C at East 12th Street. Find more of Sines' work here.


[Photo from October by Stacie Joy]

More details about the new Avenue A project from Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield

[Photo from February]

As we first reported yesterday, high-profile restaurateurs Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield are hoping to open a cafe-bar concept in the former San Loco space at 151 Avenue A.

The paperwork (PDF!) filed ahead of this month's CB3/SLA committee meeting on May 12 offers a few more details on the concept. The documents at the CB3 website show a cafe/bar with five tables seating 10-12 people, and a bar with a 7-person capacity.

Here is the diagram that accompanies the paperwork…



Meanwhile, the proposed kitchen hours are 7 a.m. to 4 a.m. And here is the sample menu…


[Click on image to enlarge]

Although nothing on file at the CB3 website has Friedman and Bloomfield's name attached to it, multiple people have told us they are behind this project … perhaps they will even make an appearance tonight to discuss their plans with the North Avenue A Neighborhood Association…



Updated 10:04 a.m.

Eater offers some Friedman-Bloomfield history this morning:

It's also worth noting that in the past, they have gone through the process of applying for liquor licenses many times without actually committing to the spaces they were eyeing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield eyeing the former San Loco space on Avenue A

Tomorrow at MoRUS: Zine release party, art show and the history of 155 Avenue C.

[155 Avenue C circa 1940 or so]

From the EVG inbox…

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) invites you to a 'zine release party and art show on Saturday (May 3). We will be presenting a history lesson in zine form — the history of our tenement building, No. 155 Avenue C, starting from when it was first built in the 1800s and ending when it was abandoned in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Also, throughout May, MoRUS will be displaying photos from Brian Rose's book "Time and Space on the Lower East Side," a collection of photographs of the Lower East Side from 1980 and 2010, photographs that look backward and forward, that posit the idea that places are not simply “then and now,” but exist in a continuum of decay and rebirth.

Saturday's event begins at 1:55 p.m when the art show opens, featuring work by: Alyssa Tanchajja, Amy Westpfahl, Brian Rose, Diane Rohem, FLY, Konstantin Sergeyev, Lauren Denitzio, Mac McGill, Maggie Wrigley, Nico Ramirez, Peter Missing, W.D. Bickerknocker, and a collection of flyers, pamphlets and articles from Jerry the Peddler's Squatters & Riots archive.

Music starts at 5 p.m.

Vist the Facebook event page here for more details and a full listing of all the performers.

In case you were going to Lucy's this weekend…

Meant to note this earlier in the week… Lucy is on a break until next Thursday here on Avenue A.

Frowny face.

Last call for Speakeasy on Avenue C this weekend

The continued transformation of Nublu's new home at 151 Avenue C meant that the longtime tenant upstairs, Speakeasy, would eventually have to close up… and that's happening this weekend … Saturday night is it for the low-key salsa bar/club on the second floor that often feels as if you're in someone's living room. (Until the whole place is dancing anyway.)



Previously on EV Grieve:
151 Avenue C: "This prime East Village location stands out as a rare opportunity for users, investors and developers"

Nublu moving up Avenue C; restaurant in the works for new space

Report: Not everyone is happy about the pending arrival of Nublu's 2-story new home

NYC Deli Market Corp. moving into the former Wacky Wok space

The 4-year-old Wacky Wok closed on Avenue D and East Ninth Street at the start of this year.

Workers have been renovating the space … and the sign of the new tenant recently arrived — NYC Deli Market … the signage shows that they'll be offering the usual deli fare these days — sandwiches, hot and cold drinks, organic products…

East 7th Street, 9:22 p.m., May 1

Setting up for the Tompkins Square Park "riot" scene later tonight for "Ten Thousand Saints."

Also, there will be police officers on horses…

Noted

An EVG reader noted this happening at Poco on Avenue B and East Third Street...

Filmmakers prepping to film a 'riot' tonight in Tompkins Square Park

As we noted Monday, filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini are recreating the Tompkins Square Park riots of 1988 tonight for their low-budget adaption of the Eleanor Henderson novel "Ten Thousand Saints."

Here's a look at the action as of around 5:15 …





… and a few of the extras wait for their scene(s) …





The scenes of the actual "riot" are being filmed tonight… crews are expected here until 3 a.m.

We welcome any photos or videos of the filming action today/tonight … Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
Filmmakers will recreate the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988 this Thursday night

Film crew recreates 'tent city' in Tompkins Square Park

Film crew uses 'D Squat' and phone booths to recreate an 1980s East Village on 6th Street

[Updated] First Avenue subbing for Avenue D today

A Softee spot for legal battles

Hey, you remember a few weeks ago when we posted the above photo (thank you arrows!) of the Master Softee truck on East 14th Street... and there were comments about lawsuits between Mister Softee and Master Softee and all that?

Sure EV!

Well, the Daily News has a piece on all this lawsuit stuff today if you are interested...

The New Jersey-based owner of the ubiquitous ice cream trucks is suing a rogue Queens vendor, charging he opened his depot in Long Island City to peddle a knockoff version.

A mix of about two dozen nearly identical Master Softee and Mister Softee trucks are lined up inside and outside Dimitrios Tsirkos’s 11th St. garage.

The fledgling business has soured tempers throughout Mister Softee headquarters in South Jersey and its franchisees across Queens and the Bronx. Owner Jim Conway cried trademark infringement in a March lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court and demanded Tsirkos drop the Softee con.

“They want to confuse the public,” said Conway, who is no stranger to the courthouse. His 58-year-old family-owned company has spent “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in legal fees since the mid-1990s chasing down copycats in more than 10 cases.

Read the whole article here.

H/T Eater

Previously on EV Grieve:
So what's the deal with 'Master Softee?' (20 comments)

The 1st Lower East Side (LES) History Month starts today

[Yet ANOTHER butter and eggs shop!]

From the EVG inbox…

May 2014 brings the first annual Lower East Side (LES) History Month, a month-long celebration of the rich, diverse history of New York City's Lower East Side, including the neighborhoods of the East Village, Chinatown, Little Italy and Alphabet City. With participation by more than 60 Lower East Side-based cultural and community groups, LES History Month will feature over 80 affordable and unique events, including live performances, exhibits, gallery and walking tours, talks, film screenings, festivals and more.

LES History Month opens with Chalk/LES, a weekend-long participatory project to bring LES history, art and stories onto the streets of the neighborhood. Starting Friday, May 2, numerous LES sites will be emblazoned with chalked trivia and memories of their lived histories. On Saturday, May 3, public chalking sites will be open for all, encouraging passersby to participate with their own stories and images of the LES. Game participants are also invited to join scavenger hunt teams, organized by Guerilla Haiku Movement, who will head out and cover the neighborhood with sidewalk-chalked poetry, and engage passersby in their own creative storytelling about the LES.

Chalk/LES culminates on Sunday, May 4, as artists and volunteers will chalk a pathway from various LES transit hubs toward East River Park, along the waterfront, and arriving at Pier 42 for Picnic on the Pier. As a partnership with Paths to Pier 42, LES History Month will present salsa dancing with las Dinimicas of Grand Street Settlement, gypsy swing from Sugar Hill Gypsy Jazz, songs from the young singers of Downtown Art, and an afternoon of family friendly art activities led by The Tenement Museum and the Museum of Chinese in America.

To celebrate, LES History Month will also announce the inaugural LES Heroes award, recognizing the often unsung contributions of neighborhood residents, activists and leaders.

To find out more about LES History Month, its participants and opening weekend programming, visit here.

Photo via NewYorkHistory.info

Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield eyeing the former San Loco space on Avenue A

[Photo from February]

San Loco closed on Feb. 16 after 15 years at 151 Avenue A, as we first reported here.

Word is now that high-profile restaurateurs Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield are eyeing the former San Loco location for a cafe-bar concept that would be open early for breakfast … and late night for cocktails (with lunch and dinner in between). The place would curate a specific coffee, wine and cocktail program.

This application is on the May CB3/SLA agenda released yesterday (though their names aren't on it just yet).

Friedman and Bloomfield own such places as high-profile places like The Spotted Pig, The Breslin and The John Dory Oyster Bar … while Friedman has teamed with the likes of Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter at The Monkey Bar and Taavo Somer at The Rusty Knot.

Avenue A looks to be going even more upscale in a hurry … with projects such as this, the all-new 7A and Alex Stupak's new Mexican restaurant at the former Sushi Lounge space.

The former 7A will apparently be called Miss Lily's 7A Cafe

It appears that last night's storm brought down the tarp protecting the new sign at the former 7A space... revealing that the new place will be called Miss Lily's 7A Cafe here on East Seventh Street and Avenue A ...



Various EVG tipsters told us previously that the place will be the second outpost of restauranteur Paul Salmon's Miss Lily's along with a Melvin's Juice Box.

A rep told Eater last month that the new place will "pay homage to the cafe history of 7A," but it will also have "elements of Melvin's Juice Box and Miss Lily's."

Looks pretty accurate by the look of the new signage.

7A closed after nearly 30 years on Jan. 26.

H/T @derbyon

Previously on EV Grieve:
Some part of 7A will stay in the new 7A's name

Details emerge about what's next for former the 7A, Odessa Cafe & Bar spaces

[Updated] Reader report: 7A will close at the end of the month

Renovations underway at former 7A space

[Updated] Rumors: 7A space will become a 2nd outpost of Miss Lily's and Melvin's Juice Box

A Mars Bar comeback gains more traction

[Hi! Remember me? Photo from July 2011 by Bobby Williams]

Community Board 3 released its meetings rundown for May … and a conspicuous item appears on the SLA committee docket:

Paul Mil Cafe Inc, 11-17 2nd Ave (op/alt/gut renovation) (Mars Bar)

The listing appears twice, under "alterations" and "items not heard at Committee."

Back in 2011 when Mars Bar was displaced by the impending Jupiter 21 monstrosity on Second Avenue and East First Street… the rumor was that owner Hank Penza had someone in mind to reopen a bar in the retail space. In fact, the person has the actual bar and jukebox from the Mars Bar for the next place.

In early January 2013, Billy Gray at the Commercial Observer reported that the J21 retail lease includes "a second retail space that could assume the notorious Mars Bar's trade name and liquor license."

Per that report:

The development company BFC Partners reached an agreement with the Mars Bar crew that would allow the next commercial tenant to occupy a 4,456 basement and ground floor space under the proud, stubborn and – who knew? – business-minded Mars Bar auspices.

The TD Bank appears to be taking most of the retail space… so where would a bar fit?



Well, there is also retail space on the East First Street side … and the aforementioned basement…



So… is it such a good thing to do a Mars Bar redux? Would it be like making a TV series out of "Casablanca" with David Soul in the Bogart role?

Or something.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The former Mars Bar is becoming a fucking bank branch

So where's that fucking bank branch that's taking the former Mars Bar space?

Rumors: Mars Bar owner Hank Penza ready to open a new space in the next few months

That's it: The Mars Bar is closed for good

Gentrification, Steve Croman targets of this East Village tenant parade

Via the EVG inbox…

You are invited to attend a press conference at Tompkins Square Park and join an East Village Parade to resist gentrification in NYC communities. The loss of affordable regulated housing in the East Village and the displacement of tenants have been caused by landlords like Steven and Harriet Croman of 9300 Realty.

This landlord currently owns about 70 buildings in the East Village alone and hundreds throughout the city. He has been exploiting the vacancy decontrol laws for over 20 years using abusive tactics to force tenants out of rent-regulated apartments.

After the press conference the parade will go to Croman’s 9300 Realty buildings in the area to reach out to his tenants. Many of Croman’s tenants have the same problems and need to know how to protect their rights.

Paradise Alley
The parade will stop at Paradise Alley to dramatize the difficulty of being an artist in NYC today. On Avenue A and East 11th St. the building known as Paradise Alley was located before being replaced by the current building in 1987. While this little-known location is famous for the beat artists, musicians and writers from the 1950s and 1960s, there is a lesser-known association with East Village artists during the depression.

In 1938, Paradise Alley was known as a bohemian artists’ colony. The landlord raised rents so high that the residents refused to pay it. The landlord got evictions but when the artists still refused to leave, the landlord got the police to brake down the doors and evicted the artists at gunpoint. This event in 1938 mirrors what artists are experiencing today in NYC.

Rent Freeze
The goal of the Parade action is also to alert the East Village tenant community about the need to support the Rent Freeze. Mayor de Blasio is asking the RGB to impose a rent freeze this year to put a brake on rising rents. NYC tenants have to demand the same with feet on the street.

Come to the East Village Tenant Parade and Paradise Alley remembrance. The parade will move through the East Village starting at noon at the corner of East Seventh Street and Avenue A.

Sponsored by The Stop Croman Coalition and The Good Old Lower East Side

Here is an article about Croman from a May 2000 issue of The Village Voice.

The fat lady sings: Chubby Mary's has apparently closed on East 14th Street

Multiple readers have pointed out that Chubby Mary's, the hero shop run by the Artichoke guys next door on East 14th Street, has closed.

There isn't a closed sign on the door… though MenuPages notes that Chubby Mary's has closed.



The shop opened here at 328 E. 14th St. in November 2012… this took over for another Team Artichoke concept — Led Zeppole, the fried-dessert homage to Coney Island.

With this closure (unless it's a temporary renovation), this would make the second Artichoke-related venture to close of late… joining This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef.

The closure would also mark the third quick-serve sandwich shop to close of late in the East Village … joining (yes) This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef and JoeDough.

'All uses considered' for new retail space at 165 Avenue B

[EVG file photo from January]

The building at 165 Avenue B just north of East 10th Street is undergoing a head-to-toe renovation.

Meanwhile, there's a new listing for the retail space that will be (re)carved out of the ground-floor unit...



Per the RKF listing:

NEIGHBORS
Back Forty, Discovery Wines, Eleven B, Mercadito, Ninth Street Espresso, Waffles [sic] & Dinges

COMMENTS
Newly created retail space
New storefront, HVAC, bathroom and mechanicals
Non-contiguous Basement space can be made available
Situated at the base of a luxury residential building
Steps from Thompkins (sic) Square Park
Venting is possible
All uses considered

(An aside: Nothing against Discovery Wines and Wafels & Dinges, but aren't there businesses not 8 blocks away to highlight?)

Maybe the previous tenant, the junk shop Waldorf Hysteria, can return. Heh. We know!


Previously on EV Grieve:
165 Avenue B back on the market

165 Avenue B has been sold, and 2 apartments are on the market

Find 'Looking for Johnny' Monday at Anthology Film Archives

Via the EVG inbox…

Directed by Danny Garcia ("The Rise and Fall of The Clash"), "Looking For Johnny" is the definitive documentary on New York legendary guitar player Johnny Thunders.

In 90 minutes, this film covers Johnny Thunders career from his beginning in the early 70's to his demise in New Orleans, where he died under mysterious circumstances in 1991.

Here's an earlier trailer for the film …



You can find the new trailer and more info at the film's Facebook page.

And "Looking For Johnny" has its NYC premiere Monday at the Anthology Film Archives. Find those details here.

Finally, here's an anecdote that New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain shared with us about Thunders back in March 2013:

Johnny Thunders 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?

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: Karen Fleisch
Occupation: Clothing Designers, Artist, Door Girl at Delancey
Location: 14th Street and 1st Avenue
Time: 3:30pm on Thursday, April 24

I’m originally from North Jersey, so I used to take the bus over from the time I was a teenager. I would go shopping and go to CBGB on the weekends. I moved to the Lower East Side around 1997.

I design clothing and I also design for theatre, I do styling, and I’m an artist. I work with film and often end up often doing set design and background acting. Throw me in and I’ll do it. For my art, I do illustration and I to create these mirror collages that are kind of fairly land based. That I do for me. I’ve never really shown my art.

Originally, I lived down on Grand and I’ve lived in the same area of the Lower East Side ever since. I remember coming to my friends up here on 10th Street and hanging out, getting drunk, going home, and as soon as I would get to Houston Street, I’d have my keys through my fingers. I was suddenly aware of everything and no longer as drunk as I was. There were no beat cops and hardly any streetlights. You still had the shops on Orchard Street, but they were the stores that had been there forever.

Within around five years it changed immensely. Now it’s designer shops and chic restaurants and there are now beat cops. There are cops out on their horses at night. I find it funny, walking down the Bowery late at night, how you have all these kids running around and these girls in their six-inch heels running around, ready to fall over. Granted, I used to do the same thing, but the Bowery was different. We’d go to CBGB and the whole vibe was different. You were on the Bowery and you were aware that you were on the Bowery. Now the Bowery still has a lot of that element there, but no one pays attention to it in the same way.

It’s going to be like the Meatpacking District. On one hand, it’s New York City and it’s supposed to change. It’s supposed to keep moving forward. I’m all for that. My only problem is that you don’t really have these funky neighborhoods anymore with people that have been there forever. Fifteen years ago there were a lot more artists and musicians. I have artist friends who’ve all moved out because they can’t afford the rent anymore.

That’s the whole reason that most people come here, I think, because there is this creative energy. You can be a misfit. I’ve always called it the island of misfit artists. You can be a misfit here and it’s okay, no matter what you’re into or what your sexual preferences are. No matter what, you will find your niche here. I find that most people that do get messed with here are getting messed with by people who don’t live here. It’s like they come in to go to the zoo and they’re looking for misfits to make fun of. Which, again, is something that’s always happened, but I’ve noticed it more. There’s more of a dividing line now, whereas before it was not as much.

I’m also the door girl at the Delancey on Friday and Saturday nights, which are the nights where it’s more of a dance party kind of thing. I’ve been there for a year, you know, just a way to make some extra money for groceries and things. I’ve had more jobs than… everything and anything.

Funny thing, doing one of my art projects six weeks ago, I recently sliced the top of my thumb off with an Exacto knife. It was hardcore. I went to the emergency room and they wanted me to do all this follow-up stuff, and at the time I had no kind of insurance. So I’m like, ‘How the hell am I going to do this?’ I can’t afford to go to all of these specialist doctors. Of course, as I’m working the door, everybody that’s coming in is asking what happened to my thumb, and then, all of a sudden this one guy comes up to me and he’s like, ‘Oh do you need to see an orthopedic doctor?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah as a matter of fact I do.’ He was one, so he gave me an appointment immediately to go to Columbia Presbyterian. It’s a walk-in clinic, but he told me to just mention his name, no problem. So I did and they took care of me. It was totally awesome. The perks of being a door girl. You never know.

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