How to take part in Lower East Side History Month activities this May

Flyer photo by Q. Sakamaki at Tompkins Square Park

Lower East Side History Month is underway, and more than 60 Lower East Side cultural and community groups, small businesses, and residents are hosting a variety of public events, exhibits, tours, and festivals.

There are activities planned for just about every day this May. Check out the calendar here. And find a list of this weekend's events below...

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He has risen

Top photo by Stacie Joy; second pic by Steven 

The fellow "looking for a girlfriend" is now "looking for the perfect woman." And the flyers seem to be posted about every five feet along Avenue A.

(What the &*&^%&* we are talking about here)...

D.A. Bragg: Landlord indicted for harassing rent-regulated tenants, including in the East Village

Manhattan D.A. Bragg yesterday announced the indictment of Daniel Ohebshalom, also known as Dan Shalom, who is considered one of the city's worst landlords. (He topped the list via Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in 2023.) 

The charges stem from allegations of harassment against rent-regulated tenants, including coercing them to vacate their apartments and allowing Shalom to reap substantial profits by selling the buildings. (His companies include Keystone Management, Inc.; Liberty Ventures, LLC; Highpoint Associates XII, LLC; and Belmont Ventures, LLC.) 

The California-based landlord's Manhattan properties include 331 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (Steven's Photo below was taken in November 2022.)

In 2022, 331 Tenants Association alleged the following:

Common sights at the 14th Street building (and others in the landlord’s portfolio) include: trash piled high, a broken-down elevator and intercom system, smashed mailboxes and stolen mail, graffiti across the walls, human feces, drug paraphernalia, ceiling collapses, broken doors to empty units, and more. 

Adding to the crumbling building infrastructure, unmaintained entryways have also created the difficult situation of unwanted intruders regularly breaching doors and windows to use common areas and abandoned apartments, often engaging in unaccountable and dangerous behavior like vandalism, littering, and theft of personal belongings. 

The indictment, brought forth in New York State Supreme Court, includes multiple counts of Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant in the First Degree, Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. 

According to D.A. Bragg, Shalom is accused of exploiting rent-regulated tenants across five Manhattan apartment buildings by subjecting them to perilous living conditions in a bid to force them out. "New Yorkers deserve to live in their apartments without fearing for their safety," Bragg said.

The tenants endured a range of issues, from a lack of heat and hot water during winter months to persistent leaks culminating in ceiling collapses, endangering even young occupants. His tactics allegedly included warehousing unsecured vacant apartments and ignoring repeated warnings about insufficient heating oil, among other safety hazards. 

Furthermore, Shalom purportedly obscured his ownership of the properties by employing deceptive tactics, such as having associates sign paperwork falsely certifying compliance with city agencies. By doing so, he obstructed efforts to address the neglectful conditions within his buildings, prolonging tenants' suffering and impeding their ability to seek redress.

In March, Manhattan Judge Jack Stoller issued an arrest warrant for Shalom. Two weeks later, he turned himself in to NYC authorities over the hazardous conditions at his two Washington Heights apartment buildings. As of March 25, he was reportedly serving a 60-day jail sentence on Rikers Island. 

In making the announcement yesterday, D.A. Bragg's office urged any tenant affected by similar abuses to come forward and seek assistance. For further information or to report related concerns, individuals can contact the Housing and Tenant Protection Unit at (212) 335-3300 or email Danyhousing@dany.nyc.gov.

What happened to the famous East Village (replacement) pear tree on 3rd Avenue?

An EVG reader pointed out that the pear tree on the NE corner of Third Avenue at 13th Street has been removed, likely in the past 10 days.

Per the reader: "I don't know why it was removed, but it had been leaning pretty bad, as seen in the screenshot on Google Street View from 2022."

This wasn't just any pear tree. It was a living testament to our shared history. [Sob] 

In November 2003, the city planted a new tree to commemorate a pear tree that had graced this corner for nearly 200 years ... planted in the mid-1600s by Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor of New Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, the tree met an untimely end. Per Village Preservation: "A collision of two wagons on the corner resulted in one wagon fatally striking the pear tree on February 27, 1867." (Rutherford Stuyvesant, an heir to the fam fortune, later presented a section of the tree to the New-York Historical Society. And it's still there today.)

Bill Van Winkle, president of the Holland Society of New York, told the Times in November 2003: "This pear tree is perhaps the most important symbol in the city of New York of the Dutch colonial heritage. We're very excited about getting it back.''

The 124-year-old commemorative plaque (read its history here) remains on the side of Kiehl's ... aka Pear Tree Place.

The plaque reads: 

"On this corner grew Petrus Stuyvesants' pear tree. Recalled to Holland in 1664 on his return he brought the pear tree and planted it as his memorial by which said he "my name may be remembered." The pear tree flourished and bore fruit for over two hundred years. The tablet is placed here by the Holland Society of New York, September 1890." 

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, May 1862, via New-York Historial Society

[Updated, three's company] And then there were two (porta-potties in Tompkins Square Park)

Photo by Steven 

Workers yesterday removed the three porta-potties in Tompkins Square Park and replaced them with two similar (and cleaner) models. 

The triplex (only open during the day as long as someone has a key) arrived on April 1, providing the first non-open-air makeshift toilet opp since the city carted off the previous commodes on Jan. 9. 

Perhaps the Parks Department plans on switching out the toilets every month as Tompkins is getting busier with the arrival of warm weather. The first portaloos were battered from heavy use (and/or vandalism). At the time, sources told us that the previous port-o-johns were constantly trashed and not really the most fun things to use. So, the thinking was, Why replace them with more only to meet the same fate?

As previously reported, the restrooms in the Tompkins Square Park field house are now closed as part of an 18-month renovation that's nearing the one-year mark. 

Updated 10 a.m. 

OK then! Loo No. 3 was dropped off this morning...

The Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks returning to the Hudson River for some reason

2013 photo of the fireworks on the West Side as seen from the East Village 

For the first time since 2013, you'll have to awkwardly rekindle that friendship this summer with those people you really don't like who live on the west side and have a rooftop view of the Hudson River. 

Per our friends at West Side Rag: 

Macy's, along with officials from the city and New Jersey, announced Tuesday the fireworks display would be taking place over the Hudson in 2024, with "thousands of shells and an array of effects from barges position along the Hudson River with multiple viewing opportunities in Manhattan between West 14th and West 34th Streets and in New Jersey."

While the fireworks won’t be ignited on the Upper West Side, it means that any spot along the Hudson River within Riverside South and Riverside Park, or a properly positioned neighborhood roof you might be able to get on, will provide locals with a great view of the display. 

The July 4th fireworks show typically takes place over the East River, the correct river for this, but in 2009, the display shifted to the Hudson River for a special celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the region, and it stayed there for four long years. (It also seemed like overkill: Henry Hudson already has a parkway and a double-deck steel arch toll bridge named after him. Fireworks too, now?)

Anyway, here's a view of the fireworks in 2011 from the East Village looking to the west ...

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

A gripping moment on Second Avenue and Seventh Street on this first day of May...

Today in thieving squirrels in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven 

Caught in the act...

The Ukrainian Museum revisits the early work of East Village-based photographer Peter Hujar

Peter Hujar, Young Self Portrait (IV), 1958 

Courtesy The Ukrainian Museum/©The Peter Hujar Archive

The Ukrainian Museum on Sixth Street presents 75 photographs that feature some of the earliest work of iconic East Village-based photographer Peter Hujar (1934-1987). 

Here's more via the Museum: 

He was born to an immigrant family, and his Ukrainian grandmother raised him exclusively in the Ukrainian language until he was 5 years old. His difficult and unstable upbringing in a troubled household influenced his artistry and vision significantly as Hujar turned to a career in photography. 

And... 

The life and art of Peter Hujar were synonymous with a downtown New York that no longer exists. From the 1960s through the 1980s, the East Village was an urban buffet of creativity and danger, yet always vibrant and inexpensive. Private by nature, combative in manner, well-read, and widely connected, Hujar inhabited a world of the known and unknown.

This exhibition at the Ukrainian Museum will feature 75 of Hujar’s earliest photographs — from 1955 until 1969. Portraits, country landscapes, and city life will be the focus of the exhibition. Yet, three important vectors or series that appeared in his work during this period will also be highlighted in-depth for the first time: the Southbury (1957), the Florence (1958), and the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo (1963).

"Peter Hujar: Rialto" opens tomorrow (May 2) and will be displayed through Sept. 1. 

The Ukrainian Museum, located at 226 E. Sixth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square, is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. (Several members-only events related to the exhibition are also available here.) 

Hujar died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1987. He was 53.

Hujar lived and worked above the Louis N. Jaffe Art Theater (today, the Village East by Angelika) on Second Avenue at 12th Street. Read more about the space where Jackie Curtis and David Wojnarowicz lived before and after Hujar right here.

An extension for 'Houses and Hotels' at O'Flaherty's on Avenue A

You have a few extra days to see a cool show at O’Flaherty's, 44 Avenue A at Third Street. 

"Houses and Hotels," featuring longtime East Village resident Donna Dennis, part of the architectural sculpture movement of the early 1970s, spotlights a selection of the early work that helped launch her career. 

Dennis created these pieces while living on St. Mark's Place (they were assembled elsewhere). She now lives in Germantown, N.Y. 

The show has been extended through Sunday.

Gallery hours are today through Friday, 11 a.m. (or so) until 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2-7 p.m.

Previously on EVG:

• Architectural sculpture digest: A look at some unique 'Houses and Hotels' at O’Flaherty's

On Avenue B, a there-goes-the-neighborhood building sells for $43 million

Photo by Stacie Joy 

The Villager, the 6-story apartment building that anchors the NW corner of Avenue B and Second Street, has a new owner. 

According to TradedNY, Skyline Developers sold the 61-unit complex at 194 E. Second St. to Benchmark Real Estate Group for $43 million. 

The building's completion in 1997 was seen by some as an (another) end-of-an-era/there-goes-the-neighborhood moment. (In reporting on the sale this week, Crain's called this a "Neighborhood-defining East Village rental.") 

Previously, this corner was home to a gas station... shooting gallery ... and then, for a 10-year run, The Gas Station, aka Art Gallery Space 2B (or Space 2B Art Yard), a freewheeling arts and events space.

Per the Times:

For 10 years, the Gas Station, with its towering sculpture built from discards ranging from a 1970 Plymouth Valiant to department store mannequins to television sets, has been a symbol of the Lower East Side's Bohemian ways and artistic resolve.

Alex at Flaming Pablum has written about the Gas Station and this part of its history:

The Gas Station is probably most notorious for being the site of the final, calamitous performance by G.G. Allin & the Murder Junkies. After the show in question ended in a riot (not an atypical situation for the Geeg), Allin tromped off into the East Village afternoon with some new friends, only to overdose on smack later that evening, undermining his oft-stated intention to kill himself onstage.

The Gas Station was cleared out in 1996.

An aerial view of 2B by LeoLondon from 1993.

Kōbo by Nai has not been open lately

Kōbo by Nai has been dark the past few weeks at 202 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street.

There isn't any notice of a temporary or permanent closure on the storefront or online. The Mediterranean restaurant no longer accepts reservations, and Kōbo has been removed from the main Nai website. 

Meanwhile, someone looks to be packing up the interior...

The restaurant opened in late 2022. This is the second establishment from Chef Ruben Rodriguez to close in the East Village in recent months, following Emilia by Nai on First Avenue.

Rodriguez still operates the original Nai at 84 Second Ave. near Fifth Street and Bad Hombre at 29 Second Ave. 

Also on the block, Borrachito Taqueria & Spirits will not reopen at 206 Avenue A. It has been dark since January. Someone painted the marquee and added Bar TBA on March 30. (Thanks to EVG reader Joe for this photo from March.)

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

Ham and friend in Tompkins today...

A new 'Prime' time for East Village burlesque host Tabby Twitch

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Earlier this month, we featured Tabby Twitch's live burlesque show "Prime," which has found a home in the back room at the Gray Mare, the pub at 61 Second Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street. 

Twitch dubs herself the "friskiest feline in burlesque." Twitch, also known as actor Jane Cortney and a longtime local resident of Ninth Street, produces and performs in "Prime."

"Prime focuses on performers at the height of their powers because I came to burlesque later in life. I want to show what it means to be 'in your prime,' with all the richness and experience that entails," Cortney told EVG's Stacie Joy. "Though I highlight burlesque performers, there is a salon feel to the evening. A vocalist performs, and I weave poetry throughout the night. My goal is for the audience to leave my show feeling relaxed and reinvigorated, in their prime regardless of their actual age."

The April 4 show was postponed... the next one is now set for this Thursday (May 2) at 8 p.m. Details here.

6 posts from April

A mini month in review (with a photo from Tompkins Square Park)... 

• The untold story of Snack Dragon's attempted East Village comeback (April 23) 

• D.A. Bragg announces indictment of suspect in 2 March shootings In Tompkins Square Park (April 16) 

• East Village native Anna Colombia on pursuing photography and growing up in the neighborhood (April 11) 

• Essex Card Shop robbed on Avenue A (April 6) 

• The solar eclipse with the Second Avenue Star Watchers (April 8) 

• Turn it up: East Village Radio returns this spring (April 1)

On the CB3-SLA docket: New operators for East Village classic Lucy's on Avenue A

With reporting by Stacie Joy 

Updated: 5/6 — the applicant has withdrawn the application for the May CB3-SLA committee meeting.

The owners of Golden Age Hospitality, whose portfolio includes buzzy establishments like Le Dive, The Nines and Deux Chats, seek to take over Lucy's, the decades-old East Village favorite that has been closed since late November. 

According to public records, Golden Age reps are on Community Board 3's SLA committee meeting docket for May. To date, only the application is online. The questionnaire, which includes more details about the method of operation, has yet to be posted. 

Multiple tipsters have told us that Golden Age Hospitality's Jon Neidich was a big fan of Lucy's and was interested in buying the bar. (We're told Neidich once lived in the apartments above the bar at 135 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.)

During several conversations in February, Ludwika "Lucy" Mickevicius told EVG contributor Stacie Joy that she had many potential suitors for the bar and may have a role in the new incarnation. 

Neidich did not respond to previous emails about taking over Lucy's. We also contacted Golden Hospitality partner Craig Atlas, whose name appears on the CB3 application. We also have not reached Lucy, who has owned her namesake bar since 1987, this spring. (Her home phone does not have an answering machine, and we have not seen her at the bar in more than six weeks.) 

Meanwhile, there has been some activity inside the bar... in recent weeks someone has been stacking boxes and cleaning...

As we first reported, attorneys for the building's new landlord served her with a 30-day Notice of Termination in early February with a demand to vacate the space by the end of the month. 

Her lease expired in May 2015, and she was on a month-to-month arrangement with the previous landlord. Lucy told us that her last rent was $8,000 per month, and the new landlord, as of late December (West Lake 135-139 Avenue A LLC), is asking for $25,000, though there might be some willingness to negotiate. 

The bar (aka Blanche's Lucy's Tavern) has been closed since November when some paperwork issues forced what was to be a temporary closure.

From February: Lucy with Avenue A bookseller Jen Fisher. (Photo by Stacie Joy) 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Exclusive: Lucy discusses the future of her iconic East Village bar

A ceremony to honor acclaimed photographer Saul Leiter on 10th Street

Tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at 6, Village Preservation will unveil a plaque honoring acclaimed American photographer and painter Saul Leiter at 111 E. 10th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, where he lived and worked from 1952 to his death in 2013.

Per Village Preservation:

We will hear about Leiter’s approach to street photography, much of which took place in the East Village, and about the painterly quality of his color work and the features that made him one of the key figures in the New York school of photography. 

This marks Village Preservation's 24th plaque unveiling ... including markers on the homes of notable figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Allen Ginsberg and Charles Mingus.

Learn more about the Leiter ceremony and program here. The event is free, though Village Preservation asks folks to register in advance.

A Luscious new market option on 2nd Avenue

Top photo by Stacie Joy

Luscious Market Deli has debuted at 68 Second Ave. on the SE corner of Fourth Street.

Signage for the market promises freshly prepared items for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

EVG reader Danimal, who shared the following two photos, offered a quick assessment: "It looks like a nice selection of hot food and pantry staples and NOT A SMOKE SHOP!" (Ed note: Woo.)

As we noted on Feb. 28, this arrival marks the end of the storefront's usage as a bar, often without success.

In 2021, the English-style pub Queen Vic became just Queen ... before evolving into Watering Hole. The for-rent sign showed up in September 2022. 

Queen Vic had a decent run, opening in September 2010. This ended the revolving door of bars here with awnings, including 2x4, Ambiance and Evolution. 

We don't know the etymology behind Luscious, a name not often associated with Boar's Head sandwiches. Maybe it's an homage to Luscious Jackson, whose members lived in the East Village back in the day.

Monday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

A moment on Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place today... tentatively titled You Should Be Dancing.

Today in makeshift fire pits by the Hare Krishna tree in Tompkins Square Park

Top two photos by Joe; FDNY pic by Steven 

We were told some "kids" (teens) decided to start a campfire of sorts by the Hare Krishna tree in the center of Tompkins Square Park (and just as the rain started around 5:15 p.m.) 

The FDNY was there in minutes to extinguish the small blaze...

EVG reader Joe did get yelled at for taking the top photo instead of putting out the fire (even as the FDNY was already in the Park)...