Photo by Steven
It may be entertaining to us, but we feel for parents Christo and Amelia as they deal with this martial arts phase of their 2024 offspring.
Goggla has some great shots of the young hawks at play here.
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Saturday, June 29, 2024
This is not a drill! Why you need to see this new mural on 12th and C at night
NYC-based artist Tom Bob is known for incorporating urban objects into his murals.
For the newest work at the 12C Outdoor Gallery on the SW corner of 12th Street and Avenue C, Tom Bob used a light fixture on the building in a piece titled "Jack Hammer Head Lamp."
"His creations expand our imaginations and inspire us to view public spaces with a refreshed perspective and joy,” 12C curator Robert Galinsky told us.
Heads up about this tent in a tree on 9th Street
We have no idea how long this has been stuck up there... but given the high winds today and expected again tomorrow, it may not be there for much longer.
This morning on 14th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue
Depending on the weather, up to a dozen people can be selling items.
The block was empty this morning except for the longtime fruit vendor who set up near Trader Joe's.
At Immaculate Conception Church, the weekly Saturday flea market was getting underway inside the grounds. (Local elected officials have asked the Archdiocese and the church to end the flea market, though to date, they have not heeded the requests.)
We saw two NYPD officers on foot patrol. As previously mentioned, there are also the two NYPD light towers on the south side of the street.
These developments unfolded this past week after a deadly triple stabbing last Sunday just before 6 p.m. along this busy commercial corridor and across the street from Stuy Town.
Police arrested a suspect, 30-year-old Alejandro Piedra, who was later charged with murder with depraved indifference and attempted murder with depraved indifference, according to the NYPD and media accounts. Police said Piedra allegedly killed 38-year-old Clemson Cockfield and injured his wife, 52-year-old Jennifer Cockfield, as well as another man, 32-year-old Jonathan Lopez.
During a police briefing on Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said all three victims sell second-hand items along this block.
The sidewalk sales are just one of the activities that residents have cited through the years along this problematic block, quality-of-life issues that include drug trafficking, early morning prostitution, and a growing unhoused population in need of city services.
Residents here are hopeful the changes that have occurred in the past week will become permanent.
Meanwhile, someone launched a website titled Carlina From the Block, documenting what has happened since the deadly fight last Sunday ... and calling out the District 2 City Councilmember for not taking more action on 14th Street over the past seven years.
Previously on EV Grieve:
• Why 787 Coffee decided to close its 14th Street outpost (June 2023)
Emma Rogue is opening an events space on Houston Street starting this weekend
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Vintage clothing entrepreneur Emma Rogue is expanding her Lower East Side presence with an events space at 313 E. Houston St., between Clinton and Attorney.
This weekend (Saturday and Sunday, 1-7 p.m.), the storefront debuts hosting a collection by Italian designer Son Ludo. (Details on Instagram here.)
Rogue started selling clothes from her childhood bedroom on Depop and opened her first shop stocked with Y2K and 90s vintage and secondhand at 53 Stanton St. in June 2021. She recently relocated to a larger space nearby at 154 Allen St., where she also showcases other up-and-coming designers. (You can read more about her in this Teen Vogue feature.)
At 313 Houston St., she plans to have an e-commerce area and a space to host events and pop-ups. (Perhaps she'll do another collaboration with her friend and fellow East Village store owner, Bella McFadden's iGirl.)
Rogue says she's happy in the new storefront and looks forward to meeting her neighbors.
Rogue says they'll return with more events after this opening collaboration. You can follow the shops via @roguegarms.
Friday, June 28, 2024
Practical magic
"Streetwise," the new six-track EP from Pretty Sick (aka Sabrina Fuentes) dropped this week.
As Alternative Press noted, "The result is wholly different than anything she’s released, riding glitchy textures and a thwacking beat while laying down mercilessly cool lines about running around NYC ('Everyone's a gossip, everyone's trash/But I don't mind the company when I'm just blowing cash')."
The above video is for "Violet."
At the Harold Hunter Skate Jam in Tompkins Square Park
Photos by Stacie Joy
Hundreds of skateboarders descended up the TF in Tompkins Square Park for the latest Harold Hunter Skate Jam.
Hunter, a charismatic local skateboarder born and raised at Campos Plaza on 13th Street, died in 2006 at age 31.
The Harold Hunter Foundation (HHF) is an NYC nonprofit that provides support, opportunity and advocacy for skateboarders.
The Jam also marked a collab drop for the DKG and the HHF Street Soldier Deck.
Here are some scenes from Tompkins...
From the EVG archives: Q-&-A with Susan Seidelman, director of 'Smithereens' and 'Desperately Seeking Susan'
I talked with Seidelman in 2016 when her first feature, "Smithereens," played a weeklong revival at Metrograph on Ludlow Street.
On the occasion of her book release, we're revisiting this post...
----------
Seidelman started filming "Smithereens" in late 1979 and continued on and off for the next 18 months. (Production shut down when Berman broke a leg during rehearsal.) "Smithereens," made for $40,000, was the first American indie invited to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
She went on to make several female-focused comedies, including 1985's "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Rosanna Arquette and Madonna and 1989's "She-Devil" with Roseanne Barr and Meryl Streep, among others. (She also directed the pilot for "Sex and the City.")
I spoke with Seidelman about "Smithereens" and her follow-up, "Desperately Seeking Susan," also partly filmed in the East Village, during a phone call. Here's part of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
On why she wanted to tell this story in "Smithereens":
I was living in the East Village and I was also at NYU. And at the time, NYU Film School, the graduate film school, was on Second Avenue — part of it was where the old Fillmore East used to be. So, for three years, that area around Seventh Street and Second Avenue was my stomping grounds.
I started NYU in 1974, and I was there until 1977. So it was interesting to watch the transition from the older hippie generation and hippie-style shops and people as it started transitioning into the punk and new wave kind of subculture. I was a music person, so I frequented CBGB and Max’s Kansas City at that time. And so, that world was interesting to me, and telling a story set in that world about a young woman who’s not from that world, but wants to be part of it in some way, was both semi-personal and just of interest.
On production shutting down:
There were challenges throughout the shoot because I never had all the money. The budget ended up being about $40,000, but I probably only had about $20,000 at any given moment. I was borrowing and racking up bills. I wasn’t really thinking about how I was going to pay for it. I figured I’d get to that when I needed to pay it.
Aside from those challenges, when Susan Berman fell off a fire escape and broke her leg during rehearsal, there was no getting around that. We had to quit filming. I kind of thought, oh, you know, fuck it — I’m not going to let this stop me. It made me actually more determined. I had the time to look at what was working and what wasn’t working, and I learned a lot of stuff. I started editing the footage. I could rewrite stuff and change the story a bit.
On casting Richard Hell [a longtime East Village resident]:
That was when we redefined the character of Eric, who was originally not played by Richard Hell. It was played by somebody else who was not a rock-and-roller — he was more of a downtown painter/artsy type, not a musician — and was also played by a European actor.
By recasting and redefining that role with Richard Hell in mind, it shaped the tone of the movie and changed it, I think, in a good direction. I’m not going to give names, but the other actor — the other person is a working actor, as opposed to Richard Hell, who was acting in the movie, but was more of a presence and an iconic figure even at that time. So, trying to make the character of Eric blend in with the real Richard Hell added a level of authenticity to the film.
On filming in the East Village:
In the scene when Wren is waiting out on the sidewalk, and the landlady throws her clothing out the window and then splashes her with water, all the people and all the reactions in the background were from the people living on that block who had come out to watch.
At the time, New York was coming out the bankruptcy crisis. There weren’t a lot of police on the street, there wasn’t a lot of red tape and paperwork. These days, to film on the street, you have to get a mayor’s permit — so many levels of bureaucracy. Back then, it didn’t exist … but also I was naïve to what probably needed to be done.
We just showed up with cameras and we filmed. We had some people working on the crew who were friends and they told crowds lining in the street — just don’t look in the camera. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t, but it was all very spontaneous.
That’s the advantage of doing a super low-budget movie — you can just go with the flow. For example, there’s a scene with a kid who’s doing a three-card Monte thing on the sidewalk. He was a kid we saw in Tompkins Square Park with his mother. We didn’t have to worry about SAG or unions or anything. I thought he was interesting and [we asked his mother] if they would come to this address and be in our movie.
On the lead characters:
My intention wasn’t to make likable characters. I intended to make interesting characters with some element of ambiguity. There are things that I like about Wren; on the other hand, I think she’s obviously somebody who uses people and is incredibly narcissistic. I’m aware of that. But she’s also somebody who is determined to recreate herself and to live the kind of life that she wants to live, and redefine herself from her background, which you get a little hint at, this boring suburban New Jersey life she must have run away from.
On the independent film scene at the time:
The definition of an independent filmmaker has changed so radically. Nowadays, being an independent filmmaker could mean you’re making a $5 million movie that’s really financed by the Weinstein Company, or it could mean you're doing a cellphone movie like “Tangerine.”
But back then, there weren’t that many independent filmmakers. I know there were some people working out of Los Angeles who were doing stuff and a small pocket of people in New York City. So either you knew them or you were friends with them or you just knew what they were doing and had mutual friends. It was truly a small community. And within that community, there were also a definite relationship between people who were musicians, filmmakers or graffiti artists.
So everyone was borrowing people, trading information or sharing resources. Also, the world wasn’t as competitive as it is today. People were eager and willing to help somebody who was a filmmaker would act in somebody else’s film or tell them about a location or a musician. It was pretty simple, like — hey, let’s make a movie, without a lot of calculation.
On her follow-up film, "Desperately Seeking Susan:"
I didn’t have anything lined up after "Smithereens." I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. I just finished the movie when it was accepted into the Cannes Film Festival.
But I did know that there were very few female film directors. And the one or two I had heard about who had made an interesting independent film ... I knew that your follow-up movie, especially if it was going to be financed by a studio, you needed to be smart about the choice. You had to make a movie that you could still be creatively in charge of, or else you could get lost in the shuffle.
For about a year and a half, I was reading scripts. And they were, for the most part, terrible. I just figured these couldn’t be my next movie. I have nothing to say about this kind of material.
So then I got this script. It was a little different than the way it ended up being, but it was called "Desperately Seeking Susan." I liked that the character, Susan, felt like she could be kind of related to Wren in "Smithereens." I thought I could bring something unique to that kind of a role. So I didn't feel like I was out of my element there.
Also, part of the film was set in the East Village, a neighborhood that I loved and knew. The other good thing was that I was so familiar with the characters that I was able to add my own spin using many people from the independent film community in small parts, like Rockets Redglare, John Lurie, and Arto Lindsay. Richard Hell has a cameo.
On working with Madonna:
At the time, Madonna was not famous when we started out. We were just filming on the streets like she was a regular semi-unknown actress. So there wasn’t a lot of hoopla around the film.
And then, you know, so much of life is about being there with the right thing and the right timing. It just so happened that the movie came out at the moment that her "Like A Virgin" album was released, and they coincided and she became a phenomenon. But since that wasn’t during the actual filming, there wasn’t the kind of pressure that one would normally feel if you were working with a big star or a super-famous person.
On the legacy of "Smithereens":
I think I was trying to document what it felt like to live in that neighborhood in that part of the city at that time. I never really considered whether the film would pass the test of time or be a time capsule.
But the fact that it ended up being pretty authentic to the environment, to the neighborhood, is maybe what enabled it to pass the test of time.
She went on to make several female-focused comedies, including 1985's "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Rosanna Arquette and Madonna and 1989's "She-Devil" with Roseanne Barr and Meryl Streep, among others. (She also directed the pilot for "Sex and the City.")
I spoke with Seidelman about "Smithereens" and her follow-up, "Desperately Seeking Susan," also partly filmed in the East Village, during a phone call. Here's part of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
I was living in the East Village and I was also at NYU. And at the time, NYU Film School, the graduate film school, was on Second Avenue — part of it was where the old Fillmore East used to be. So, for three years, that area around Seventh Street and Second Avenue was my stomping grounds.
I started NYU in 1974, and I was there until 1977. So it was interesting to watch the transition from the older hippie generation and hippie-style shops and people as it started transitioning into the punk and new wave kind of subculture. I was a music person, so I frequented CBGB and Max’s Kansas City at that time. And so, that world was interesting to me, and telling a story set in that world about a young woman who’s not from that world, but wants to be part of it in some way, was both semi-personal and just of interest.
On production shutting down:
There were challenges throughout the shoot because I never had all the money. The budget ended up being about $40,000, but I probably only had about $20,000 at any given moment. I was borrowing and racking up bills. I wasn’t really thinking about how I was going to pay for it. I figured I’d get to that when I needed to pay it.
Aside from those challenges, when Susan Berman fell off a fire escape and broke her leg during rehearsal, there was no getting around that. We had to quit filming. I kind of thought, oh, you know, fuck it — I’m not going to let this stop me. It made me actually more determined. I had the time to look at what was working and what wasn’t working, and I learned a lot of stuff. I started editing the footage. I could rewrite stuff and change the story a bit.
On casting Richard Hell [a longtime East Village resident]:
That was when we redefined the character of Eric, who was originally not played by Richard Hell. It was played by somebody else who was not a rock-and-roller — he was more of a downtown painter/artsy type, not a musician — and was also played by a European actor.
By recasting and redefining that role with Richard Hell in mind, it shaped the tone of the movie and changed it, I think, in a good direction. I’m not going to give names, but the other actor — the other person is a working actor, as opposed to Richard Hell, who was acting in the movie, but was more of a presence and an iconic figure even at that time. So, trying to make the character of Eric blend in with the real Richard Hell added a level of authenticity to the film.
On filming in the East Village:
In the scene when Wren is waiting out on the sidewalk, and the landlady throws her clothing out the window and then splashes her with water, all the people and all the reactions in the background were from the people living on that block who had come out to watch.
At the time, New York was coming out the bankruptcy crisis. There weren’t a lot of police on the street, there wasn’t a lot of red tape and paperwork. These days, to film on the street, you have to get a mayor’s permit — so many levels of bureaucracy. Back then, it didn’t exist … but also I was naïve to what probably needed to be done.
We just showed up with cameras and we filmed. We had some people working on the crew who were friends and they told crowds lining in the street — just don’t look in the camera. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t, but it was all very spontaneous.
That’s the advantage of doing a super low-budget movie — you can just go with the flow. For example, there’s a scene with a kid who’s doing a three-card Monte thing on the sidewalk. He was a kid we saw in Tompkins Square Park with his mother. We didn’t have to worry about SAG or unions or anything. I thought he was interesting and [we asked his mother] if they would come to this address and be in our movie.
On the lead characters:
My intention wasn’t to make likable characters. I intended to make interesting characters with some element of ambiguity. There are things that I like about Wren; on the other hand, I think she’s obviously somebody who uses people and is incredibly narcissistic. I’m aware of that. But she’s also somebody who is determined to recreate herself and to live the kind of life that she wants to live, and redefine herself from her background, which you get a little hint at, this boring suburban New Jersey life she must have run away from.
On the independent film scene at the time:
The definition of an independent filmmaker has changed so radically. Nowadays, being an independent filmmaker could mean you’re making a $5 million movie that’s really financed by the Weinstein Company, or it could mean you're doing a cellphone movie like “Tangerine.”
But back then, there weren’t that many independent filmmakers. I know there were some people working out of Los Angeles who were doing stuff and a small pocket of people in New York City. So either you knew them or you were friends with them or you just knew what they were doing and had mutual friends. It was truly a small community. And within that community, there were also a definite relationship between people who were musicians, filmmakers or graffiti artists.
So everyone was borrowing people, trading information or sharing resources. Also, the world wasn’t as competitive as it is today. People were eager and willing to help somebody who was a filmmaker would act in somebody else’s film or tell them about a location or a musician. It was pretty simple, like — hey, let’s make a movie, without a lot of calculation.
On her follow-up film, "Desperately Seeking Susan:"
I didn’t have anything lined up after "Smithereens." I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. I just finished the movie when it was accepted into the Cannes Film Festival.
But I did know that there were very few female film directors. And the one or two I had heard about who had made an interesting independent film ... I knew that your follow-up movie, especially if it was going to be financed by a studio, you needed to be smart about the choice. You had to make a movie that you could still be creatively in charge of, or else you could get lost in the shuffle.
For about a year and a half, I was reading scripts. And they were, for the most part, terrible. I just figured these couldn’t be my next movie. I have nothing to say about this kind of material.
So then I got this script. It was a little different than the way it ended up being, but it was called "Desperately Seeking Susan." I liked that the character, Susan, felt like she could be kind of related to Wren in "Smithereens." I thought I could bring something unique to that kind of a role. So I didn't feel like I was out of my element there.
Also, part of the film was set in the East Village, a neighborhood that I loved and knew. The other good thing was that I was so familiar with the characters that I was able to add my own spin using many people from the independent film community in small parts, like Rockets Redglare, John Lurie, and Arto Lindsay. Richard Hell has a cameo.
At the time, Madonna was not famous when we started out. We were just filming on the streets like she was a regular semi-unknown actress. So there wasn’t a lot of hoopla around the film.
And then, you know, so much of life is about being there with the right thing and the right timing. It just so happened that the movie came out at the moment that her "Like A Virgin" album was released, and they coincided and she became a phenomenon. But since that wasn’t during the actual filming, there wasn’t the kind of pressure that one would normally feel if you were working with a big star or a super-famous person.
On the legacy of "Smithereens":
I think I was trying to document what it felt like to live in that neighborhood in that part of the city at that time. I never really considered whether the film would pass the test of time or be a time capsule.
But the fact that it ended up being pretty authentic to the environment, to the neighborhood, is maybe what enabled it to pass the test of time.
Details about the the 3rd annual Lower East Side Pride Bookstore Crawl
Here's more info via the EVG inbox:
Celebrate the diversity and resilience of the neighborhood's indie bookshops by spending a day shopping discounts, special giveaways and curated selections of queer books.This year's crawl features seven unique indie bookstores:• Book Club Bar (197 E. 3rd Street & Avenue B)• Pillow-Cat Books (328 E. 9th S.)• Village Works (12 St Mark's Place)• Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks (28 E. 2nd St.)• Bluestockings Cooperative (116 Suffolk St.)• Yu & Me Books (44 Mulberry St.)• Sweet Pickle Books (47 Orchard St.)Each bookstore will offer discounts and perks (such as free merchandise or snacks) throughout the day. No reservations are required...
The annual Drag March is tonight, stepping off from Tompkins Square Park
Photo from 2023 by Stacie Joy
The annual Drag March departs from Tompkins Square Park at Ninth Street this evening for the trip over to the Stonewall Inn.
Participants start gathering at 7 p.m. before departing around 8.
This last weekend of June includes the Dyke March tomorrow night and the NYC Pride March and the Queer Liberation March on Pride Sunday. Gay City News has a preview here.
About the St Mark's Community Rummage Sale on Saturday
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., you'll find clothing, jewelry, antiques, household goods, etc., with all proceeds supporting the church's Welcome Center, "a place respite for our neighbors."
The Welcome Center is open on Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. and recently expanded its offerings to include haircuts.
Tomorrow's event is at the church on Second Avenue and 10th Street.
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Thursday's parting shot
Photo by Edmund John Dunn
The NYPD floodlight tower in action on the SW corner of 14th Street at Avenue A... one of two towers to arrive on the block after the fatal stabbing late Sunday afternoon.
More background here.
NYPD light tower arrives on a cleaned-up SE corner of 14th Street and 1st Avenue
Top photo via Pinch
An NYPD floodlight tower now sits outside the Immaculate Conception Church on 14th Street at First Avenue... a long-troubled stretch of the East Village. [Updated: There's a second tower outside the L stop closer to Avenue A.]
This arrival comes after a triple stabbing that left a 38-year-old man dead this past Sunday just before 6 p.m. Witnesses said the stabbing took place in the street and sidewalk in the area between Trader Joe's and the Wingstop. (Fox 5 has images of the deadly fight here.) The fight started on 13th Street just east of First Avenue before escalating a block over, witnesses have said.
Police arrested a suspect, 30-year-old Alejandro Piedra, who was later charged with murder with depraved indifference and attempted murder with depraved indifference, according to the NYPD and media accounts. Police said Piedra allegedly killed 38-year-old Clemson Cockfield and injured his wife, 52-year-old Jennifer Cockfield, as well as another man, 32-year-old Jonathan Lopez.
During a police briefing on Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said all three victims sell second-hand items along 14th Street.
Per the Daily News:
Lopez left his wife and items to go to the bathroom and when he returned, Piedra was trying to pocket some of the goods, the chief said. When confronted, Piedra pulled a knife and stabbed Lopez in the head and chest. Other vendors, including Cockfield and his wife, spotted the stabbing and came to Lopez's aid.As the brawl intensified, a vendor came up behind Piedra and broke a lamp over his head before running off. Cockfield picked up the remnants of the lamp and started to swing at Piedra, screaming, “You stabbed my friend! You stabbed my friend!” according to Kenny. Jennifer Cockfield then got involved, throwing both punches and her shoes at Piedra.The fight died down and Piedra walked away before allegedly coming back a short time later with a knife in hand.
Piedra, who's due back in court tomorrow, was reportedly charged in 2018 with assaulting two women with umbrellas. The case was sent to mental health court, which Piedra completed in 2021, per the News.
Meanwhile, residents have noted that this block has been cleaner this week than it has been in several years. These photos are from yesterday morning.
City Councilmember Keith Powers, whose district starts across 14th Street at Stuy Town, sent an email to his constituents noting. Multiple EVG readers shared the email, which included:
Thank you for writing to me about 14th Street and the awful attacks that took place on Sunday. I have attached a copy of my statement from Sunday evening, which once again calls for immediate intervention from the NYPD and other agencies on 14th Street. We have been working on this since Sunday, so I wanted to give you an update.One of the challenges in dealing with the situation on 14th Street has been that despite our efforts to make progress, all it takes are a few bad actors to return to the location to undo that progress. That is why I am again calling for consistent and sustained resources on the ground until the conditions on 14th Street are back to normal.I wanted to share a few updates on the situation since Sunday:● Earlier this week, the NYPD announced that they are stationing a foot patrol on the block to address the issues. As you will see in my statement, this was my top request. As I have stated repeatedly, the need for more resources here is apparent for any of us living in the neighborhood.● I am making an updated request of the Archdiocese and Immaculate Church to end the flea market. Myself and other elected officials have made this request in the past but they have not been responsive or cooperative. While I support the church, it’s indisputable that the flea market has created huge problems in the neighborhood.● On Monday, I personally walked the block with small business owners on 14th Street to provide them with my personal information to allow them to contact us on any issue from cleanliness to illicit behavior.● The Sanitation Department confirmed to me directly today that they will begin new joint operations with the NYPD and the Department of Homeless Services. My office will stay in close contact to ensure that the efforts here are maintained and properly targeted.● I am also coordinating with my colleagues in the city and state who represent this area to set up a walkthrough of the site with all relevant agencies.We hope this will help demonstrate and reinforce the need for immediate and sustained action here. On the larger scale, there are a number of proposals in the City Council that would exacerbate the situation on 14th Street by restricting the ability of city agencies to conduct enforcement against illegal vendors. I am not supportive of these measures and I have discussed the way that they would negatively impact our neighborhood with my colleagues.As the City Council finalizes this year's budget, I am advocating for more resources for the 13th Precinct — which covers the Stuyvesant Town portion of the block (the area of 14th Street that’s in my district). I have always been proud of my good working relationship with the 13th Precinct and hope to continue coordinating with them to make our neighborhood safer.
City pools open today
Photo Sunday from outside Dry Dock Pool on 10th Street
Dozens of outdoor city pools reopen for the season TODAY ... locally, this means the Hamilton Fish Pool on Pitt and East Houston and the Dry Dock Pool on 10th Street and Avenue D.
The Tompkins Square Park mini pool — yes, Tompkins has a mini pool — is closed for the second season due to the renovations to the field house. (As far as we know, the pool is NOT getting a makeover — just the filed house.)
Outdoor hours are from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m. daily, with a break for pool cleaning between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Find more info about city pools at this link.
The City published a solid pool primer here, including a section on swim lessons.
A permanent closure for Dhom on 12th Street
A sign outside for patrons thanks them for their support (thanks to all the readers who noted this)...
Dhom opened in July 2022, serving up Laotian cuisine from owners whose credits included Tribeca's Khe-Yo. That 11-year-old restaurant also just closed.
Co-owner Nick Bradley told Eater:
He says he feels "slightly betrayed" by the hospitality industry, "that you put your life’s work into," and “all those who make 3 to 5 percent off our work is what's causing us to close."Bradley cited the percentages taken by credit card companies, point-of-service apps, rising insurance premiums, and inflation as having battered not just his restaurants, but the industry at large. "It leaves me kind of bitter," he says.He pointed out he’s articulating these reasons for closing in an attempt to get the attention of local government and others who "can help do something about it."
The 12th Street space previously housed the high-end cocktail lounge Mace.
Double Wide closed at No. 503-505 in March 2018 (much to the relief of some neighbors).
Openings: Pasta de Pasta on 1st Avenue
Photo by Lola Sáenz
Pasta de Pasta debuted at 192 First Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street earlier this month. (Previously.)
The quick-serve pasta shop offers a simple menu, starting with a base of homemade pasta and cheese for $9.90 and many add-on options. (The menu is at the bottom of the site here.)
The pasta is tossed in a Parmesan wheel before being served for one of the tables in the back or to go.
Daily hours: Noon to 11 p.m.
The space was most recently Koko Wings, which closed in early 2024 after four-plus years in service.
That's all for M & J Asian Cuisine on 14th and B
Thanks to EVG reader Patrick for the top photo!
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
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