Street fair!

On Cooper Square today... oh, how I missed the naked mannequins and charbroiled sizzlin' chicken...






And Cooper Square Hotel guests get this street fair as an added bonus for staying here this weekend...



If you're away, then don't fret... the same vendors will be here 458 more times by summer's end...

Missing

Lost kitty found

You always take pictures of a crane

As I've said. This crew on Avenue B near Fourth Street was there to load a new AC unit for Tompkins Square Middle School...

And then, one day, it was spring

For Easter weekend

Potheads asked to put a towel under their door

The Luxury Spot brings us this instant-classic apartment etiquette sign from an East Village apartment...

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Ugh. Woodland Creature brings the news that the Department of Sanitation just painted over all of the cool graffiti on the Verizon building on the 13th Street side leading up to Second Avenue... I know I have more photos of the wall somewhere... Meanwhile, here's what brown can do for you...



And The Sarah Show got this shot before it was too late...

Solex vs. Christina Martinez and Jon Spencer

The TripWire brings us word that the first single from Boss Hog's Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez and Dutch sampling guru Solex is now out... A full record from the trio is due May 18.

Meanwhile, here's "Galaxy Man"

Cliches threaten to implode Collective Hardware

There are likely some cool things going on at the Collective Hardware at 169 Bowery, though you wouldn't know it by reading today's Post, who reduces the whole place to painful cliches.

The piece begins:

The Bowery has played host to CBGB, homeless bums and, more recently, upscale museums, hotels and bars. But now there’s an underground art scene straight out of the debauched ’60s era of Andy Warhol’s Factory.

Collective Hardware, housed in a rundown building between Broome and Delancey streets that used to be Weiss Hardware, has nothing to do with wrenches. Instead, it’s a five-floor party-studio-gallery-music space filled with a never-ending parade of pretty people, downtown artists and hangers-on.

Oh, just read the whole thing:

Last Thursday, at a launch party for the nonprofit Fund Art Now, jazz floated through the first-floor gallery from a rented Steinway. On the second floor, members of the cool set were lounging, either getting a trim from the Astor Place haircutters while sipping a no-brand cocktail from a makeshift bar or participating in a séance — there’s an oversized hand-painted Ouija board on the floor.

“I can give an unknown artist an opportunity to show in a place that consistently attracts tastemakers and patrons of the arts,” says Stuart Braunstein, a self-proclaimed “urban instigator” and deejay who launched the space with his business partner, Rony Rivellini, in 2007. The buzz about their venture has grown ever since.

“Where else can you meet MIT think-tank guys, Astor Place haircutters, beautiful models/actors and high-profile gallerists?”

Warhol’s Factory, the art studio where the pop artist made silk-screens from 1962 to 1968, drew all sorts of artists, actors and celebrities (from Dylan to Factory-made “Superstars” such as Edie Sedgwick), who made music and movies among the druggy scene.

Braunstein never met Warhol but was inspired to create a similar environment by Factory alumnus, artist and friend Ronny Cutrone.

The building’s top three floors (which house offices, artist studios and plenty of hard-partying scenesters) are off-limits unless you’re invited. Now Braunstein has a newly minted liquor license, and says he’s negotiating to open a rooftop restaurant.

Andy Warhol, welcome to 2010.

Perhaps things have changed... But, as Eater reported, the CB3 approved a full liquor license in December for Andy Yang, who is opening a Rhong Tiam on the second floor. (This news is on the Collective Hardware Web site.)
Nation’s Restaurant News, who first reported on Yang's arrival to 169 Bowery last November, also mentions that a rooftop bar is in the works.

The Post also gave Braunstein a new hairdoo...



...and the real Stuart...



Jeremiah's Vanishing New York has the history of 169 Bowery here.


[Braunstein image via; 169 image via.]

New York City in photos 1978-1985, take two or three

We posted our first set of photos by Michael Sean Edwards back on Feb. 10... Since then, Michael has been busy uploading more photos to his Flickr account from 1978-1985 (and one from 1988)... and thanks to Michael for letting us repost these...

Times Square subway station 1979:



147 Avenue A from 1984:



Cooper Square from 1980:



Avenue A near St. Mark's from 1984:



Avenue A near St. Mark's Place from 1984:



In a Seventh Street studio from 1978:



From 1988: And Michael could use some help identifying this intersection... he doesn't remember the location...



See his Flickr page here.

Why is this East Village resident attempting to visit all 193 (or so!) LES bars this year?

EV Grieve reader Alex Oliver has set out on an ambitious adventure: to visit the majority of bars (currently 193, but the number fluctuates) of bars in the East Village/Lower East Side by the end of this year.



He'll make brief notes on each bar while onsite. He calls it the Downtown NYC Bar Project (and there's a Web site), and he plans to continue until his OCD goes into remission or his liver explodes...or until he hits them all.

I asked Alex a few questions about this project. Such as:

WHY?

"First, I'd become pretty comfortable in my regular places. And even with a dozen of those, I'd spend my usual after-work drink time at one of those dozen places, rather than expanding my territory. With such a wealth of bars, I guess I needed some inspiration to try new ones.

Second, I work in online media, and I'm fascinated and/or obsessed with local, mobile, location-based content. I wanted to experiment with the technology to report on events or places without having to do it at a later time, on a computer. I built the blog of places initially, and mapped them all, and now am visiting each to add content to that list of places but doing it using an iPhone and a WordPress app; none of the reporting happens unless it's in the field.

Third, in a past life I wrote similar capsule reviews for the Time Out New Orleans travel guide, and wrote critical reviews (mostly music) for a monthly magazine there and for regional alternative weeklies. It always bothered me that the reviews were after the fact, and invariably you'd use other external input -- friend's opinions, other critic's reviews, press releases, etc. -- to inform what you were writing. This is an experiment in complete immediacy, with no influence other than my own observations at that time. They are not comprehensive reviews, by any means, but they are also exactly what I'm witnessing at the time of my visit."

And the goal of all this?

"Apart from proving out the above goals, I guess to provide a resource -- yet another resource -- for people looking to enjoy some of the better bars in our neighborhood, and hopefully appreciate them as community gathering places rather than places to get drunk. I think we have a great tradition of 'locals,' or neighborhood pubs here, despite the places that cater to the B&Ts, and I hope that by accurately describing the atmosphere of each people get a sense of which ones to frequent and feel welcome at."

He sets the ground rules on his site... As of Wednesday, he had been to 35 different bars since March 11... and only 3.9 bars per week to visit to reach his goal!

Anti-NYU letter of the week

From the new issue of The Villager:

Party out of bounds

To The Editor:
And now N.Y.U. states that it plans to expand by 40 percent. Obviously, most of that will have to be in the East Village, since there’s not much space left for their grand ambitions in the Village.

Why does N.Y.U. have to be bigger? What’s the point? So we can choke on their destructiveness to the local population?

God forbid they should get any part of Governors Island; do we have to kick out Bloomberg immediately to make sure that doesn’t happen? The people, the residents that is, need Governors Island for recreation! Those students can go to the Rockies or Europe or wherever they like for their time off.

The view of the Judson Church tower has been ruined by the ugly military-style dorms atop a “law school” for which N.Y.U. tore down the Poe House and allowed Washington Square to be overshadowed. East Village, watch out for buildings around Tompkins Square — soon your sun too will be overshadowed by N.Y.U. high-rises!

It’s a party school and that’s a big part of what residents have against this planned expansion. We in the East Village have seen blood on the sidewalk and students screaming at cops that their fathers are big shots. They’re here to drink themselves numb.
Martin Delarue

Heart of India opens today

Heart of India opens today at 79 Second Ave. near Fourth Street. As a commenter said, the new restaurant is owned by the folks who ran Curry Majal across the Avenue...(their rent got jacked up to $9,000 a month...)

Madras Cafe was here earlier... Not to cast a pall over 79 Second Ave....However, the address was also once home to the Binibon. As we've written before, on July 18, 1981, Jack Henry Abbott, the celebrated ex-con writer, got into a fight with the cafe owner's 22-year-old son-in-law, Richard Adon. Abbott stabbed Adon in the chest, killing him. Ephemeral NY has more on the crime here.

6th Street Kitchen now open

On Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... According to New York magazine: "After a fifteen-year run in the East Village, the Pan-Asian pioneer O.G. closed in 2008. One of its partners, Chris Genoversa, kept the space and has leisurely been replacing kitchen equipment, ripping out beams and floors, and contemplating what New Yorkers are hungry for in 2010. His conclusion ... 'very homespun, very simple,' with multiculti comfort food and a three-for-$18 assortment of small plates

A subjective pricing system

Walking by 310 Bowery last evening...

Scenes from last night's accident on 12th Street via Twitter

Last evening, an EV Grieve reader passed along an e-mail saying there had been an accident on 12th Street near First Avenue: "5 folks hit according to cops nobody seriously injured." (I was busy at the time looking for models on Avenue A.)

East Village resident Chris O'Leary (who also blogs, blogs about beer and tweets) tracked down what happened via Twitter....: "According to the cop outside, it was a drunk driver who fled on foot. Happened around 6pm."

And Chris tracked down these photos at the scene from Twitter users....



Via @Jromanceonline

...and this one...



Via @marianocarranza

Meet your new neighbor! What an East Village townhouse builder wants removed

An EV Grieve reader passed along this gem of a discussion from StreetEasy...

Hello, I'm hoping that someone here knows about street renovation work. Specifically, how does one go about getting a large smooth stone removed from in front of a building? I'm referring to the type of tan stone, possibly granite, that you see in front of older buildings. They are potentially very dangerous, especially when wet or icy. The reason I ask is that we're considering building a townhouse in an historic neighborhood like the East Village and one of the properties has this type of slippery stone in front of it on the sidewalk. From what I understand, property owners can be held liable if a resident or passerby slips and falls. We hope to add a few extra storeys to the top of our home as rental apartments and don't want our residents nor our children getting hurt. Is there a city agency that deals with this sort of thing or can we have a contractors dig up the sidewalk? We have yet to decide on the exact lot, but have looked at different locations and if this is a complicated process it would add to our costs which could already be high if they include removing an old automotive shop or entrenched rental occupants. Also, how does one deal with patches of old cobblestones? There is potentially the same problem with them on the street and I've heard of instances of them being removed by the city for the safety of residents.

Given the date, we'd almost say this was a hoax....except that she posted this two weeks ago....

Q-and-A with 'East Fifth Bliss' author Douglas Light

"East Fifth Bliss," the first novel by former East Village resident Douglas Light, is being adapted into an independent film by Michael Knowles. The filming starts this month in the East Village. "Dexter"/"Six Feet Under" star Michael C. Hall plays the title character of this darkly comic tale. Per the description: "At age 35, Morris Bliss is clamped in the jaws of New York City inertia: he wants to travel but has no money; he needs a job but has no prospects; he still shares a walk-up apartment with his father. Enter Stefani, an 18-year-old girl in a catholic school uniform, and Morris’s once static life quickly unravels... 'East Fifth Bliss' follows Morris as he confronts the intricate and often confusing aspects of relationships, family and identity."

Douglas shared some thoughts on the East Village and the film with me via e-mail.


Did the idea for the character of Morris Bliss specifically come out of your experience of living in the East Village?

It did. The building I lived in from 1995 to 2004 was a shabby, walk-up tenement on Fifth Street off of First Avenue. About half of tenants there where people who’d entrenched themselves in their places for 25-plus years. They paid ridiculously cheap rent, a few hundred dollars a month. The other tenants were more transient. A year, maybe two tops. Their rent tapped over $2,000 a month, which the landlord would kick up every time someone new moved in.

While some of the 25-plus year tenants truly struggled to cover their rent and get by, the majority seemed to have simply locked themselves into their places, and lifestyles, out of apathy. Beyond exerting the minimal amount of effort to stay aloft, they had no goals, only vague long-term plans they never acted on.

Morris was launched with this type of person in mind.



You lived in the East Village for nearly 13 years. Why did you decide to move to a different part of NYC? Was there a defining moment -- a point that you know that you had to leave?

The things I once found endearing about the East Village started to irritate me. Nothing specific, no one incident or event. It’s probably true of everything. You just get to a point where you say, “All right, I’m ready for the next thing.” For me, Washington Heights was that next thing.

Do you ever miss the East Village?

Definitely. I have to say, though, I’d be hard pressed to find the EV I miss. A lot of the old haunts have closed, the people have moved on. But that’s what makes the EV, and NYC in general, so vibrant. It’s always evolving, reinventing itself — not always for the best, of course.

I really fight the urge to say, “Oh, I remember back when…” It makes a person sound old. Nostalgia isn’t so much a pining for the way the city once was, but a pining for the way we once were.

In the book, Morris drinks at the Homestead (called the Homeplate in the novel) on First Avenue, which, of course, is now closed. Will the film have a look more of, say, 1995 East Village rather than the present day?



I envision the film set in NYC circa 1995. I’ve spoken with the director, Michael Knowles, about it and his thinking is the same. I don’t see him loading the streets with ’93 Ford Tauruses or anything, but the overall look and feel will be more mid-nineties than 2010.

What would you like people to take away from the book/movie?

I hope people come away thinking, “Wow, this Douglas Light knows how to tell a great story.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
About the building that inspired the novel "East Fifth Bliss"

[Bowery image via 1996 from Alex at Flaming Pablum]

Plans for a fishmonger and seafood restaurant in the works for Avenue A

In recent years, 171 Avenue A near 11th Street has been home to a series of restaurants, none of which seemed all that remarkable... the space has been dormant the last few years...



However, 171 Avenue A appears on the April 19 CB3/SLA docket. A Keith Masco is listed on the docket for 171 Avenue A. I contacted the only Keith Masco who I could think of -- the one who is president of Radical Records. Same person, it turns out. So I asked him what his plans are.

"I am planning on opening a seafood market/restaurant/high-end cocktail bar in that space... We certainly need a place to buy fish around here."

Seafood market? As in a fishmonger?

"Yeah, yeah -- fishmonger. There will be a display case when you first walk in about 6 feet by 3 feet with approximately 20-25 different types of fresh seafood. Most of it will be kept in the basement and brought up as we run out of things in the case. This way we can do the volume of a bigger store with a fraction of dedicated space."

Meanwhile, Jill recently posted a comprehensive history of 171 Avenue A...

Baoguette continues to keep the Bamn! memories alive

Wow, it has been a little more than one year since Bamn!, the garish automat on St. Mark's Place closed... The location is now a Baoguette ... and we just want to salute Michael Hunynh's gang for keeping the Bamn! spirit alive by never covering up its old sign...




And quickly, yet another salute to the EV eateries who continue to honor those restaurants that came before them...

Such as Hea to Friend House on Third Avenue...



... and Wally's Pacific Catch to Marfa on East Second Street...

East Villagers form non-Yelp-like community on Facebook

There's a newish Facebook group called "I know a great little place in the East Village NYC."

Here's the description:

A group for all things great in the East Village, if you know of a great place to shop, eat or do anything in your spare time, share it with people from your neighborhood. The East Village was formerly known for its sense of community, so share what you love whether popular or obscure.

This is not a forum to slag off places though, only places you enjoy.

This is an attempt at a community that isn't Yelp. A community that is actually driven by sharing and experiencing the hidden gems in the East Village. This is for people to discuss all things East Village for each other.

There are a ton of awesome people running small businesses trying to survive in this expensive NYC environment. Through people exposing these great little gems, we're helping to keep cool places in and awful chains/franchises out.

Dinosaur Jr.? When a studio apartment is considered "gigantosaurus"

The following studio has been on Craigslist the past week...

Just look at this beautiful studio apartment! It has great sunlight, lots of space, and AMAZING Hardwood Floors and Walls. This place will make a great showcase for your art and style. In addition to that, the alcove kitchen contains a dishwasher, and there is a full-sized bathroom.

This very safe low-rise elevator building contains a video intercom system and there are laundry facilities internal to the building. Pets are acceptable in this building as well. Call me right away to see this apartment and others like it!

Which means this one isn't actually available! So, all we know is it's on East Fourth Street and costs $2,100 a month, a gigantosaurus rate if you ask us.

A model day on Avenue A

Following up on that previous post about models invading Key Food on Avenue A... apparently the model crew has been camped out here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street....



...Atlas Productions was working on a photo shoot for Sisley, a clothing line for skinny people and people who want to think they're skinny...



Anyway, quite an itinerary! Aside from posing on the street (where are the photos?!), the models took to Key Food, Odessa and 7B for the shoots...




...and, for some reason, catering was on hand. Probably for the crew.

Breaking: Models invade Key Food, hold melons

From an EV Grieve reader:

major fashion photo shoot right now in the produce aisle at key food on ave. a.
i counted 25 models, photographers, make-up artists, security, etc.
they just walked in and started shooting. looks like key food management had no idea.
saw model holding up 2 melons- is this for american apparel? sheesh!