Days and nights of Pride

In recent days, EVG contributor Stacie Joy attended several Pride-related events, including the Every Woman Biennial, Dyke March, PrideFest and the Queer Liberation March/Reclaim Pride. (As Gothamist reported, there were arrests in Washington Square Park following the Queer Liberation March.) 

What follows is a selection of her photos (check out her Drag March pics here)...

How you can help The Bowery Mission protect New Yorkers from summer heat

Article by Mackenna Caughron

Photos by Gabe Desanti

While residents are turning on their air conditioners and sharpening their social skills this summer, the season presents challenging circumstances for a subset of our population: New Yorkers experiencing homelessness. 

In the past year, we have gained a newfound appreciation for social interaction, yearning for in-person experiences. But we may have underappreciated another basic resource — hygiene care.

For New Yorkers living on the streets, summer represents equal or greater health risks than chilling winter, a dangerous counterpart that may come as a surprise. 

In cooler months, trips outside immediately elicit thoughts of those shivering without a proper jacket. But summer is the season where the absence of a cool space, a bathroom, a shower can chip away at a person's humanity — or even lead to a health emergency.

In New York City, public bathrooms are scarce and have limited operating hours. To address this problem affecting thousands, funding requires specific authorization. The limits and scarcity of our bathrooms represent a tangled problem experienced by thousands of New Yorkers, who face an increased risk of dehydration, heatstroke, rashes, infections, blisters and respiratory stress as temperatures rise. 

Thankfully, local organizations like The Bowery Mission serve our New York neighbors most impacted by the heat and hygiene crisis. The Bowery Mission offers hand-washing stations, cold water, public restrooms, and cool indoor seating across two campuses in lower Manhattan. 

At the Mission's Bowery Campus at 227 Bowery, a full shower and clothing program is available on Tuesdays (for men and women), Wednesdays (men) and Fridays (men), with sign-up taking place at 6:45 a.m. on the day of the program. Each person receives hygiene items and a full set of clean clothing.

The Mission and its agency partners rely on community support to provide these services. Donated hygiene care items — such as body wash, razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo, nail clippers and mouthwash — are needed in copious quantities and are often under-donated (see a full list of needed items here). 

The Mission also needs volunteers to help organize the clothing room (sign up here), which now requires new men's underwear and undershirts.

Action begins with awareness, even as New York City headlines center on re-openings and political races. Noticing the impact of scorching heat on our neighbors and the anonymity and dehumanization it may bring begins with empathy. If a person appears to be suffering, then the offer of a cool water bottle can go a long way. 

Mackenna Caughron works as a consultant, though her passions include writing, photography, and advocacy. You can find more of her writing on MackennaLee.com and reach her at shecapturesphotographs@gmail.com.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Meeting Chef Wayne from the Bowery Mission

Community Board 3 returns to in-person meetings starting in July

After nearly 15 months of virtual gatherings, Community Board 3 announced the return of in-person meetings starting in July.

Here's part of CB3's email from late last week:

The Executive Order allowing remote meetings has expired and the Governor is not renewing the order. The state Open Government law does not allow us to continue remote meetings after [June 25]. Meetings must be fully in-person; teleconferencing is not allowed. There cannot be "hybrid" meetings.

There has been and will continue to be lobbying to have the state legislature pass legislation to allow hybrid meetings, but this will not happen soon. We are working on finding locations for in-person meetings starting with the first July meeting.

You can find the list of July meetings here. The previous CB3 meetings, both full board and committee, are archived on YouTube here.  

Openings: Toasted Deli on 9th Street

Toasted Deli is now open at 105 E. Ninth St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. (As mentioned previously, like here and here.)

They're offering a pretty wide variety of sandwiches and wraps, and it looks like you can get out of there with two eggs on a roll ($2.99) and a coffee ($1.75) for less than $5. You can explore the menu options here.

TD is open daily from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

And before Toasted Deli: Yuba, the 9-year-old Japanese restaurant, closed here last summer as business dwindled during the pandemic.

Doc Holliday's serves again on Avenue A

Doc Holliday's returned to service Friday on Avenue A at Ninth Street for the first time since March 2020. (There was a "private opening" during the day with the doors to the bar opening to everyone at 10 p.m.) 

Here's part of their reopening message on Instagram:

After the shutdown ... we waited, and waited and waited. No we weren't going to do "to-go" drinks, no to those hideous sidewalk build outs, no to being the mask police, no to keeping people 6 feet apart. No to risking our health and yours. But now, we say YES!

With this, the ownership group's EV bars are all back open ... joining Milano's, the Library and d.b.a. 

Grant Shaffer's NY See — Pride edition

Here's a special Pride edition of NY See courtesy of  East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer ... 

At the 27th annual Drag March

Photos by Stacie Joy

A larger and more festive Drag March took place this past Friday evening... as participants gathered in Tompkins Square Park before making the nearly hour-long walk to Sheridan Square and then the Stonewall Inn.

Last year's edition was a much smaller, and more organic gathering during the throes of the pandemic.

The 27th annual Drag March was an aptly joyous start to Pride Weekend...

... and as the march got underway along Ninth Street ...

The Drag March got its start during the Stonewall 25th anniversary celebrations in 1994.

Here's a HuffPost piece from 2018 with more history:

Brian Griffin, aka Harmonie Moore Must Die, was a member of the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP and Women’s Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM) in the mid-1990s, an activist who saw the power of drag to confront intolerance and practice civil disobedience in a way that also celebrated queerness. But at planning meetings for the Stonewall 25th anniversary celebrations, Griffin told HuffPost, the committee made it clear that it was only interested in presenting a somewhat sanitized version of LGBTQ activism.

"The committee for Stonewall 25 had actually asked — and it still seems quite unbelievable — that they didn't want anyone to show up in leather or drag. It still, 25 years later, blows my mind," Griffin said. "They wanted to normalize the image of gay America for a mass audience. They wanted to present a palatable image of gay men and women, men and women who were normal."

Week in Grieview

Posts this last week included (with a photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg) ... 

• RIP Art Guerra (Tuesday) 

• Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel decides against plans to relocate and downsize (Monday) 

• A Visit to Brix Wines and Barnyard Cheese Shop on Avenue B (Thursday) 

• Owners of the Masalawala said to be opening to-go spot for Indian street food on 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Who is Savannah Guthrie? This Jeopardy! guest host helped raise $105K for the Bowery Mission (Monday) 

• 6 a.m. on the fire escape (Friday) 

• A petition to fund Public Land schoolyards for community use (Thursday) 

• Last few days for Spring Into Pride at 3rd & B’Zaar (Friday) 

• Avenues is a real-estate office-espresso bar opening on 10th Street (Monday) 

• Do you have what it takes to Stomp? (Wednesday)

• Sushi next for the former Fresco space on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday) 

• City pools reopen (Friday) 

• Reopenings on Avenue A: the Library, Sing Sing (Monday) 

• A residential conversion for the former storefront at 111 St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• Al Horno Lean Mexican Kitchen looks to have closed on 1st Avenue (Monday) 

• Notes for Apt. #2 (Wednesday) 

• A quick turnover at 328 E. 6th St. (Wednesday) 

 ... and congratulations to S'MAC owners Sarita and Caesar Ekya, who celebrated 15 years in the East Village on Thursday... (photos by Lola Sáenz)...

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Savannah Guthrie raised $217k for the Bowery Mission while guest host of 'Jeopardy!'

On Monday, we mentioned that Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of the "Today" show on NBC, served as guest host on "Jeopardy!" 

In honor of the late Alex Trebek, the show matches contestant winnings with a donation to the charity of the guest host's choice. 

Guthrie's choice was The Bowery Mission. After her first week, she raised more than $105,000. 

And upon completion of her second week, she totaled $217,985 ...

A total of $217,985 goes to The @BoweryMission as part of @SavannahGuthrie’s two-week stint as guest host! pic.twitter.com/Nn1g2fYTG8

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) June 25, 2021

Young red-tailed hawks are off to a flying start in Tompkins Square Park

The two young red-tailed hawks continue to be quite active in Tompkins Square Park, honing their hunting and flying skills. (Check out Goggla's site for more photos and commentary.) 

These photos by Steven from earlier this past week show one of Amelia and Christo's offspring heading out of the Park and onto a building on Seventh Street...

... and a rare photo of the siblings together...

... and with Papa Christo...

...and some bonus footage via Greg Masters of one of the juveniles with his very first pigeon...

 

Celebrating the work of Jillian Jonas, who captured 'a golden age of LGBTQ+ nightlife and performance'

Village Preservation has added a new set of photos to its historic image archive: Jillian Jonas Collection — Downtown Drag+Performance in the 1990s. 

 Per the description:

Jillian Jonas was the house photographer at the legendary Boy Bar on St. Mark's Place in the early 1990s, where she captured thousands of images of drag performers who mixed gender-bending and illusion with downtown in-your-face attitude. This collection includes images not only from Boy Bar, but the Pyramid Club, Wigstock, the Gay Pride Festival, and dozens of other downtown nightlife and performance venues of the early-to-mid 1990s. 

Her pictures capture a golden age of LGBTQ+ nightlife and performance, as well as an edgy slice of life when drag and blurred boundaries of gender were just beginning to make inroads into the broader public consciousness, largely through this vibrant local scene. 

You can check out the collection here.  

An art collective today at First Street Green Art Park

The organizers behind the Nexus Flea are hosting an art collective today at First Street Green Art Park. 

The free event includes some (unplugged) musicians: 

Momentum 1 p.m. (Jazz) 

Dave Scott 2 p.m. (solo) 

Aliens 3 p.m. (art duo) 

Lün Badi 4 p.m. (solo) 

The show takes place from noon to 6 p.m. at First Park, 33 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

[EVERYTHINGISM] on 9th Street this weekend

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A post shared by Avery js. (@jaysav)

NYC-based photographer/multidisciplinary artist Avery J. Savage is hosting [EVERYTHINGISM], a solo exhibit of his work today and tomorrow at Chiro-fit, 432 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

You can check out his work today from noon to 7 p.m. and tomorrow from noon to 4 p.m. (You can book a time slot here.)

Friday's parting shot

At the start of the Drag March this evening in Tompkins Square Park... thanks to Greg Masters for the photo... more pics on the way...

Hold the phone

 

The debut full-length record from the Brooklyn-based Pom Pom Squad — a Friday at 5 favorite of late — is out today. 

The audio clip here is for "Drunk Voicemail." 

You can read an interview with lead singer/lyricist Mia Berrin at NPR.

Free vaccinations tomorrow at Middle Collegiate Church

Various elected officials, community groups and city agencies have organized a free vaccination pop-up event tomorrow at Middle Collegiate Church, outside the office-rectory space at 50 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The event takes place 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.