Missing the light

EVG contributor Derek Berg came across this minor collision early this afternoon on Second Avenue at East Fourth Street ... the NYPD was on the scene to sort out who did what ...

RIP Rebecca Lepkoff

Acclaimed street photographer Rebecca Lepkoff died Sunday in Vermont. She was 98.

She split time between NYC and Southern Vermont the past six decades.

Lepkoff was born on Aug. 4, 1916, in a Hester Street tenement on the Lower East Side, "the neighborhood that would become her photographic muse," according to her obituary in The Commons, a local Vermont publication.

Her husband of more than 70 years, Eugene, survives her. "She lived a long and incredible life," said Jesse Lepkoff, her son. "She was an amazing artist, mother and person."

The Lo-Down interviewed her in October 2011.

Lepkoff purchased her first camera, a Voigtlander, with money she scraped together from working as a dancer at the 1939 World’s Fair and turned her ravenous eye to street photography. Her photographs capture the bustle of the LES in the 1940s and 50s, depicting loiterers, butchers, shoemakers, mothers and especially, kids. As a modern dancer who took classes with Martha Graham, Lepkoff must have identified with the frenetic energy of the streets — a different kind of contemporary ballet.

"I went outside and at that time, people lived in the streets — everything happened in the streets," Lepkoff recalls. "People would go out and sit with baby carriages. They sat on the stoops."

As she told the authors of "Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937-1950" ...

"People ask me — how did you know what to take? I didn’t even have to think. I just went outside, and there were the streets of my mother, of me, and whatnot. Very alive, full of activity, with people."

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: Jack Sal
Occupation: Artist
Location: New York Public Library, 10th between A and B
Date: 5:45 pm Thursday July 31

I’m from Connecticut. I moved to the city about two years after graduate school. I lived in SoHo from around ’81 to ’83. People would go to the local bars like Puffy’s in Tribeca or Fanelli’s – Fanelli’s only if you were a figurative painter. I remember at Puffy’s the idea was that you’d learn how to drink whiskey, smoke Camels and show your slides. There was only one local place where you would get food, and if you didn’t make it by 6 p.m., that was it — you’d have to walk all the way to Chinatown. There were a lot of artists but it was a mix of people. There were the wives and husbands of the artists and there were still factories.

I got bought out. I was a SoHo refugee. Someone bought the building and I had to leave and then I ended up buying a building in the neighborhood. It was affordable.

On 6th Street, when I moved in, all the storefronts used to be small shops, like aluminum, metalworkers or upholsterers of furniture. You used to be able to go to Canal Street and buy surplus equipment, surplus materials, and now you can’t find a local metal cutter or welder. Then the galleries happened. Literally it was like mushrooms. People were using storefronts. The galleries went with the boom and bust of the late ‘80s.

It got pretty rough down here with crack and all of that. When I was renovating the building with my partners, two of whom were photographers, William Wegman and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. We would renovate and at night they’d come and steal the tools and you’d go back on the street in the morning and buy them off a blanket and get back to work. We had the lot line windows bricked up because they would just break through all the time. I remember if you left a pencil on your dashboard you’d find your window smashed. I had a friend who would leave his car open because he said it was easier to get a guy who was sleeping in it out than it was to buy a new window or lock, although after awhile I wouldn’t drive in his car because it was smelly.

I’m an artist. I do conceptual, installation. I began as a photographer tied up with The ICP. I’m one of the founders of the education department in the ‘80s. I often do work where I do research about the place and use that within the context of the work. I often use photographic materials or materials that change with time.

We’re actually leaving now. It has more to do with personal and building situations. I mean, there are still very interesting restaurants and places here, but it just doesn’t feel the same. Not that I’m not being nostalgic for finding crack vials, but you used to be able to discover a place, a restaurant or a store, and it would be interesting because someone was trying something, but now it feels like someone is just trying to find a formula.

New York is no longer the source place that it used to be. It’s essential to be here but it’s not essential to live here. I thought I’d never say that about New York. Now it’s very different. It’s very expensive. I don’t know how someone without a significant income, or who is not accumulating significant debt, can stay here. Anyone.

I have in the past rented some of my spaces out and there are young people who come and they work I don’t know how many hours a week and then they sort of blow off steam and then they go on vacation. That seems to be the cycle. I mean, everyone for their own, but it doesn’t seem very self-nurturing or self-generating. It’s not like a moral view but why now are brunches advertised as all you can drink? I don’t drink myself but I can imagine having one or two Bloody Mary’s at lunch, but the idea that you’d go out to get drunk on Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon is indicative of this culture of numbness.

Now there’s a bar next door to me that makes $23 dollar drinks. They have created this self-illusion of selectivity by not letting people in. They call you when they’re ready, so you feel even more like, ‘Oh I got in.’ It’s always full other than Monday night. There’s always a crowd outside waiting. As my girlfriend is saying, ‘What are these young people going to be like after years of drinking.’ What kind of effect physically and mentally is it going to have and also in terms of what their expectations are going to be, because if you’ve been numbing yourself for a long while, when you stop it’s not necessarily going to get better.

It says a lot about America. New York is and always has been a kind of experiment for the United States because unlike the rest of the country, by default it’s been a kind of forced mixed, immigrant, old, established, rich, poor, it has all the defects of American culture with all the benefits as well. So you get this kind of hotbed of both the triumph of what’s good and the hell and horror of what’s bad. You get people who are buying $1.3 million apartments in what used to be a $300 rent-stabilized place. That extreme is not healthy.

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

Reader mailbag: Where can I get my Mac fixed now?

From the EVG reader mailbag:

My MacBook Air is on its last legs and needs repair. Any sense where our neighbors are taking their machines in for repair now that Digital Society on East 10th Street has left us? They were so awesome. The folks at Tekserve can be obnoxious — a bit too much testosterone. And I'd rather take sandpaper to my [redacted] than go to an Apple store.

Sandpaper! Anyone with Mac-repair advice?

-------------

We often get reader queries ... asking for help with, say, donating clothes or books ... or finding an East Village-based caterer... If you have a question for the masses, then try the EV Grieve email...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Places to eat that have that old East Village vibe (45 comments)

Reader mailbag: What do I do about my new neighbors who smoke pot all the time? (52 comments)

Reader mailbag: Where is a good place to get a cup of coffee in the East Village before 6 a.m.? (25 comments)

Reader mailbag: What has happened to the Cooper Station Post Office? (41 comments)

Reader mailbag: Can the landlord 'drill' the lock to gain access to my apartment for simple repairs? (15 comments)

Reader mailbag: Should we receive a rent abatement for having sporadic heat and hot water?

Reader mailbag: How often does your mail get delivered?

Citi Bike makes its kiosks easier to understand, probably

Citi Bike stations around the city are getting a new, user-friendly design.



This past winter, Citi Bike served as a client for first-year SVA students in MFA Interaction Design. Their challenge: "come up with ways to make Citi Bike more user-friendly for its hundreds of thousands of new and casual riders."

As the Citi Bike Tumblr explains, the proposals were so impressive that they decided to work with two of the students "to bring their work out of the classroom and into the streets."

We spotted the revamped visuals at several East Village docking stations last evening, like this one on East Second Street and Avenue C...

How does the East Village stack up in the city's dog poop wars?

[EVG file photo from East 12th Street]

Pretty well, thanks!

DNAinfo has unleashed a handy interactive map that shows dog poop complaints by zip code in the five boroughs.

Around here, zip 10009 logged 30 complaints to 311 while 10003 tallied 10 complaints in the past two years. You have to head up to Hamilton Heights in zip 10031 to find any comparable numbers in Manhattan.

Still, the number here are dwarfed by several neighborhoods in the Bronx — Norwood, West Farms and Soundview — which led the five boroughs in complaints to the city's 311 system with 135 or more.

Not picking up after your dog is a violation of the "Pooper Scooper" law, introduced in 1978, which carries a $250 fine. But, as DNAinfo notes, a sanitation officer must witness a violation in order to issue a ticket, according to the Department of Sanitation.

H/T @Urbanmyths

[Updated] Ricky's coming to former Blockbuster space on East Houston Street

As the signage shows here along the Shoppes of Red Square, another Ricky's is on the way. (The Lo-Down noted this first yesterday.)

The space at 250 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B had its last full-time retailer here in March 2012 when the Blockbuster closed. (Soho Billiards contemplated a move here, though those plans never materialized.)

As for Ricky's, this will be the third location in the East Village … there are 22 Ricky's in Manhattan alone. Soon to be 23 places in Manhattan to buy the Pub Crawl Santa suit.

Anyway, guess this means the Halloween City pop-up shop won't be back…

Updated 6:29 a.m.

Ah! BoweryBoogie notes that this location will only serve as a Halloween pop-up shop. He has an interior shot … which looks to have a temporary grab-and-go (but pay first!) set up… Anyway! NEVER too early to start planning your Halloween costume! Will do a post on that as soon as I buy my xmas decorations…

Let's not make the Bendy Tree any easier to climb!

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Hmm. This ladder arrived the other day at the Bendy Tree, the elm next to the the Hare Krishna Tree in the center of Tompkins Square Park.

No need to give anyone an incentive to climb aboard ...


[Photo from April by Bobby Williams]

Park workers have been keeping an eye on this great tree... not that we have much confidence now when it comes to tree maintenance in the city.

2 doors down

Up for grabs early this evening outside 233 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue…

Surprise! Police Commissioner not a big fan of 'celebrating graffiti'

[East 6th Street at 1st Avenue]

Police Commissioner William Bratton responded to the Museum of the City of New York's graffiti-art exhibit "City as Canvas."

"I find it outrageous that one of the city's museums is currently celebrating graffiti and what a great impact it had on the city," Bratton said Monday during a meeting with Wall Street Journal editors.

And later...

Mr. Bratton further objected to "having New York City school kids at the impressionable age of 12 years old walking through looking at this stuff and having it advertised as 'Isn't this great?'"

And the museum's response?

Susan Henshaw Jones, City Museum's director, said the show is intended to show how graffiti became an art form, not to glorify vandalism. "We are not in the business of trying to encourage children, teenagers, grown-ups or elders to do graffiti," she said.

Read the article here. (Subscription required)

1 explanation for the seemingly random tree pruning and removal around here

[St. Mark's Place]

Through the years we've received a good number of queries about random tree pruning and, worse — tree removal.

Residents have wondered why some seemingly healthy looking trees are getting cut back or removed in the neighborhood.

This audit that landed in our inbox via NYC Comptroller Scott M. Stringer might provide some answers.

Let's take a look:

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has mismanaged the City’s street tree pruning program responsible for maintaining approximately 650,000 street trees citywide, increasing the risk of personal injury and property damage from falling branches.

“Auditors found that Borough Forestry offices in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island were paying contractors for pruning the wrong trees, for pruning that was never done and were not keeping accurate lists of trees that were properly maintained. Taxpayers deserve better management of our City’s trees,” Stringer said.

New York City’s street tree pruning program is run by the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Forestry Service, which oversees all street tree maintenance and operates an office in each borough. Private contractors that plant the street trees are responsible for maintaining them for two years. Thereafter, Parks prunes them, except for trees five inches or more in diameter, which are maintained by contractors hired by the Parks Department.

Based on a review of Parks’ operations and contracted street tree pruning services from July 1, 2012, to November 21, 2013, the Comptroller’s audit revealed weaknesses in the operations of all Borough Forestry Offices, except for Queens. The audit found that offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island had:

• Inaccurate lists, or no lists at all, of trees requiring pruning. Manhattan and Staten Island failed to give contractors specific lists of trees that needed maintenance and could not provide evidence that contractors’ work had been inspected.

• No evidence that required post-pruning inspections were performed. These inspections are meant to ensure that all contract terms are met and payments are only made for adequately pruned trees.

To read the full audit, please click here. (PDF!) And save a tree and don't print out the report...

Report: Golden Cadillac will reopen as Boilermaker next month on 1st Avenue

Golden Cadillac, the 1970s-themed bar that opened in the former Boca Chica space on First Avenue at East First Street, closed for good last July 3 after just eight months in business.

The owners have revamped the space for another retro creation, Grub Street reports.

Say hello to Boilermaker.

The retro cocktail list cribbed from Playboy's Host and Bar Book has been overhauled with a selection of actual boilmakers, including one combining Old Grand-Dad bourbon and Brooklyn Lager and another that teams up Ramazzotti amaro and Victory Storm King Stout. There will be four cocktails on tap, including a Zombie made with three kinds of rum ...

Boilermaker is expected to open next month.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Boca Chica apparently won't be reopening on First Avenue; and the return of Golden Cadillac

End of the road: Golden Cadillac closes tomorrow night (29 comments)

Gutting the former Silver Spurs space to make way for Teavana

Last month we noted that the Starbucks-owned Teavana was opening a location on Broadway and East Ninth Street.

We hadn't walked by this northwest corner for several weeks ... and, as the photo shows, the plywood is up and the gut renovation is on for the specialty tea and tea accessory retailer.

In December 2012, Starbucks bought the Atlanta-based Teavana for $620 million.

No word on an opening date yet for Teavana.

Last December, Silver Spurs got rent-hiked out of its 34-year-old home here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 34 years, Silver Spurs is closing on Broadway

Starbucks-owned Teavana coming to the former Silver Spurs space on Broadway

'The first and the only dance studio for Street Dance' coming to 2nd Avenue

Ever since Second on Second, the 10-year-old karaoke bar closed in January 2013, we wondered what would happen to this prime space at 27 Second Ave. near East First Street.

Maybe throw on a few extra floors on the two-level building a la Ben Shaoul's ugly gray box next door. Or maybe a CVS/Duane Reade/Walgreens/etc. The usual!

Well, the new tenant is nothing expected (BoweryBoogie first noted this yesterday) …



The space will be home to Exile Professional Gym (EXPG for short) — "the first and the only dance studio for Street Dance." Per the EXPG website, they offer vocal and dance classes encompassing a wide variety of styles (hip hop, house, lock, among others).

EXPG is expected to open Sept. 1. And the exterior will look like this…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Second on Second sets farewell party

Claim: Second on Second closing this month on Second Avenue

Yonekichi now open and serving rice burgers on East 9th Street

Yonekichi had its (soft) opening yesterday at 236 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. The tiny restaurant's specialty: the rice burger.

Here's a preview via amNY:

Yonekichi serves their crisp rice buns with a variety of made-to-order fillings: ginger mujifugi features sweet bites of pork shoulder ($8) and the saikyo salmon includes a fresh fillet marinated in miso ($9). For a more traditional burger, the tsukune, a chicken meatball patty topped with shishito peppers ($7.75), most resembles your average quarter pounder. Vegetarian options, like the Kinpira made of sautéed lotus root, carrot, sesame seeds and togarashi ($6.50), are also available.

Yonekichi's menu also includes Furi Furi, Japanese for "shake shake," which are crispy, thick-cut potatoes topped with your choice of salt, pepper, yuzu or wasabi, and served steaming hot, ready to be shaken in their thick paper bag for optimal seasoning coverage.

While amNY appeared to like the rice burgers ... the Daily News did not.

[T]he pressed white sushi-grain “buns” disappointed Daily News testers.

"This is a dough-zaster," said one member of the News’ formidable Taste Kitchen. The expert had imagined that the rice buns would be thinner, and therefore, crispier.

Instead, he found himself eating too much of the unhealthy Asian staple.

"This is just a thick layer of bland rice," he said. "And it keeps breaking up, like those mini-sandwiches from 'This is Spinal Tap.'"

And it’s not even homemade! The rice bun is made off-site then combined with Yonekichi’s made-to-order umami-bomb fillings, which are far more impressive than their container.

You can check it out yourself... they are open from noon to 10 p.m.

And here's a menu...


[Click on image to enlarge]

Yonekichi is part of Bon Yagi's East Village stable of restaurants.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Yonekichi bringing rice burgers to East 9th Street

The time the FDNY rescued the dog who got his head stuck under a fence at Tompkins Square Park

There was some doggy drama early this evening in Tompkins Square Park. Per witnesses, this Siberian Husky named Winter chased after a tennis ball — and got his head stuck under a fence.

FDNY Engine 28/Ladder 11 from East Second Street arrived to help.

All was well afterwards.

@evgrieve they used the jaws of life and the crowd cheered when it got free. So crazy!

— Eden Brower (@edenbrower) August 18, 2014

Thanks to EVG reader Alta Tseng for the photos.

City approves dorm conversion plans for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

It appears that the 15-plus years of stalled development at the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center might be nearing an end.

On Friday, the city (partially) approved developer Gregg Singer's controversial dorm-conversion plan for the landmarked building at 605 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C, per DOB records.



Per previous reports, both The Joffrey Ballet School and Cooper Union have signed on to house its students at what will be called University House.

Here's a breakdown on the leasing, according to the University House website:

Ground Floor — 50 Beds leased to Joffrey Ballet School
First Floor — 82 Beds leased to Joffrey Ballet School
Second Floor — 98 Beds leased to Cooper Union
Third Floor — 98 Beds leased to Cooper Union
Fourth Floor — 98 Beds available for lease
Fifth Floor with Mezzanine — 109 Beds available for lease

Here's more on the dorm from the website:

University House is an exciting new state of the art college living experience with a grand opening for the 2016/17 school year in the heart of the East Village. The redevelopment and historic restoration of this century old landmark, former New York City elementary school, will be transformed into a modern, amenity-rich home designed, built and managed for 535 students for New York's participating colleges and universities. Ideal for all students with safety and amenities as the top priorities.

According to DOB documents, the cost of the renovation/conversion of the landmarked building is $16 million.



The site has long been a community focal point, in which residents fought against Singer's various development plans, which included a megadorm that would have dwarfed its Christodora House neighbor.

And just last week this banner arrived on the East 10th Street side of the building…



Preservation groups and some local residents wanted to see the building returned for community use.

Singer bought the building from the city in 1998.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

[Updated] At the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY'

Landmarks Preservation Commission asks to see modified plans for former PS 64

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

Asbestos abatement to begin at former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

Signs arrived Friday at the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office noting the start of asbestos removal from the building at 432-438 E. 14th St.



This Post Office branch just west of Avenue A closed for good in February. (The USPS is leasing the former Duane Reade at 333 E. 14th St. for retail services.)

Initially, word was that the USPS was unable to come to terms on a new lease with the building's owner. However, a rep for the owner, Benenson Capital Partners, told the Town & Village blog and the Save the Post Office blog that it was actually the USPS's decision to leave because of a desire to downsize.

Last fall, the Stuyvesant Stationery shop next door to the post office lost its lease and closed. In July, the 99-Cent Discount Center to the east closed, making for three consecutive, single-level storefronts sitting vacant.

To date, there's nothing on file with the DOB to suggest any demolition or new development here.


[EVG file photo]

Asbestos abatement is often the first step before a demolition. Or, perhaps this is just for a conversion of the space to suit a retailer. Or, perhaps the landlord just wants to be proactive and clean up the place. Or, as several EVG readers believe, the three buildings will be taken down to make way for a retail-residential complex similar to what's coming to 500 and 538 E. 14th St.

Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

First sign of more development on East 14th Street?

Esperanto has opened a juice bar

Well, we missed this one. In late June, Esperanto on Avenue C and East Ninth Street (quietly) opened a small juice shop called Jugo adjacent to the restaurant … you enter on the East Ninth Street side…





They'll be expanding the to-go options here in the coming weeks.

Thanks to @galadarling for the tip!

The 'stop the rooftop noise' signs return on East 10th Street

The signs returned here along East 10th Street between Fourth Avenue and Third Avenue this past weekend ... in several shapes and sizes...





We last spotted this flyer/sticker campaign in April (read that post here) ... as far as we know, the signs date back to June 2010 ... so we can celebrate four years of rooftop noise here then.