Derived from a true story, the film "Desperate Endeavors" revolves around the misadventures of newly arrived immigrant Ram Patel to NYC in 1973. Attempting to extricate himself from a self-dug hole, 'Ram' encounters more obstacles than he can count, and ultimately finds a remedy to his numerous problems by encountering a spiritual adviser, legendary 'Dada Bhagwan' played by Bollywood star Gulshan Grover. Also stars Michael Madsen, Robert Clohessy, Ismail Bashey & Samrat Chakrabarti.
Alphabet City has capitalized. Recently, it has become the go-to neighborhood for franchise extensions from fancier parts of town — the West Village's Westville, Park Slope's Fonda and Chelsea's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre — rendering it a kind of Epcot version of the city's coolness.
Perhaps the most telltale sign of the brighter days for Alphabet City came last year, when Tompkins Square Park, which for decades was a seedy, drug-addled tent city for the homeless, installed permanent ping-pong tables, a nod to the changing demographics swinging toward both affluent hipsters and young families.
"We're seeing a lot more young women come to the neighborhood, I'd say a 70/30 split," said Arik Lipshitz, president of DSA Realty, a local firm started by his father in 1986. New residents work in fashion, tech and media. "Not so much finance," he said. But also not just waiters and bartenders and that kind of thing. These are proper professionals now."
Greenmarket proudly presents Tompkins Square Greenmarket Iron Chef: Veselka Bowery versus Hearth Restaurant/Terroir Wine Bar.
Come see two culinary cornerstones of the East Village in the hot seat as Veselka Bowery and Hearth Restaurant/Terroir Wine Bar face off to claim the title of Tompkins Square Iron Chef.
Each chef has just an hour to transform a "mystery basket" of market ingredients into a delicious dish. Traven Rice of The Lo-Down and our esteemed panel of judges will crown a winner, and limited samples will be available to the public.
Sunday, Sept 9
1-4pm
Tompkins Square Greenmarket
7th St by Avenue A
In less than two months since The Dermot Company announced the launch of leasing at Arabella 101, the 12-story building is 50% leased. The Alphabet City residence has also introduced its landscaped roof deck complete with a working grill, plentiful seating and year-round plantings. Designed by Cutsogeourge Tooman & Allen Architects, Arabella 101 is on track to receive LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
With rents rising, the fact that many Manhattan walk-up buildings have tenants with rent-regulated apartments offers landlords the possibility of a very large increase in profits when these units are deregulated and shift to market rates. There is also upside potential to raise rents in the market rate units if landlords renovate a walk-up building, many of which have not been modernized in decades.
They are marvelously delicate and savory, nothing like the sturdy, gummy dumplings that are more common. And the bigos is fabulous, fragrant with spices and full of smoky sweet-and-sour flavor.
"I’ve lived in this building since 1971. I’m retired. Half the time here I was a waiter and then I went to school and I became a nurse at a hospital in Brooklyn. I came here at the time because it was cheap… then.
This block, up until the middle of Koch’s administration, was a very bad block — mostly drug addicts and welfare recipients. It was not a safe block. I didn’t really feel like I had to watch out myself because I was young and young people don’t care, but it was bad for women sometimes.
At one time the cemetery across the street was a forest. It was so unkempt. You couldn’t see inside. People used to throw garbage in there. Why, I don’t know, and it used to have a lot of cats. No more. Also, a man once was burglarizing the top floor of this building and he fell off and another time a drug addict was injecting himself up on the roof and badaboom. Both dead.
It started to get better in the early '80s, although whether it’s better at worse I don’t know. It was an improvement, but it has become too expensive. We still have reasonable rents but the stores are just so expensive now. Key Food was once so cheap. Cheap. Now you can’t go in there; they think they’re Whole Foods.
I miss the old timers; I hardly know anyone in my building. All the landlords are turning their apartments into little hotels, which is illegal, or they only rent to NYU students. They get a big turnover that way. There are a lot of tourists that stay here. The landlords make money and I guess it’s cheaper for the tourists."
