"Lives" live at 98 Bowery

Marc H. Miller sends along word about the latest addition to the 98 Bowery site...

Lives: exhibition and catalogue organized by Jeffrey Deitch
The Fine Arts Building, 105 Hudson St., NYC
November 29 - December 20, 1975

Here's a little bit more about it....:

The "Lives" exhibition by Jeffrey Deitch that opened in November 1975 at the Fine Arts Building featured the experimental artists that I had admired and identified with in the early 1970s. The exhibition also marked the start of a brief period when the Fine Arts Building, a large, eleven-floor office building at 105 Hudson Street, was the center of an energetic art scene that helped rejuvenate the deserted neighborhood just south of Soho -- the now fashionable Tribeca. With its abundance of cheap live-in studios, offices and exhibition spaces, the building fostered the camaraderie and networking that helped nourish radical new directions in the 1980s. For those who were there it was a stimulating time that ended abruptly when the building went co-op in the late 1970s. The young artists and fledgling galleries that helped develop the building and neighborhood were priced out and had to seek new quarters. Most migrated to the East Village and the Lower East Side where a new phase in the evolution of the art of the period began.

[Flyer from 1978, via 98 Bowery]

Today, 105 Hudson is home to, among other things, Nobu....

For further reading on EV Grieve:
Life at 98 Bowery: 1969-1989

Revisiting Punk Art

Q-and-A with Curt Hoppe: Living on the Bowery, finding inspiration and shooting Mr. Softee

Voices from 98 Bowery's past

At 2 x 4: Another bar, another awning?

The Evolution is not dead after all!



According to the door, the bar is being renovated...



As a commenter noted last time:

My roommate and I have been going to 2 by 4 for years now, so when I saw that it shut down, we had to find out what was up. We swung by there last night and saw Eric and Heather inside, so my roommate banged on the door and they opened up. The whole place was gutted and they're doing massive renovations, but they're reopening in mid-July.

It won't be 2 by 4 anymore, but the ownership is staying the same.

Hmm, perhaps the owners needs some suggestions on a theme for the new bar? I'm sure all of you have some good ideas to share. I've always wanted to open a Patrick Swayze Theme Bar — The Swayyyyyyyyyze. Made in his likeness. With drinks like "Next of Kin" and "Red Dawn." But it seems insensitive given his health.

More about Pink Pony and Motor City Bar closing on Ludlow Street

As we first reported on Monday afternoon, the 18-year-old Motor City Bar on Ludlow Street would be closing this spring. Their current lease expires at the end of the month. It was all but a done deal, a tipster told us.

Co-owner Francesca Romeo confirmed this to The Lo-Down yesterday, noting that the bar's landlord "did not give the option of renewal."

Also on Monday, BoweryBoogie had the scoop that the Pink Pony on Ludlow had also closed for good. In a follow-up piece, Cara Buckley at The New York Times reported that the cafe closed, in part, because the landlord increased the rent from $14,000 to $20,000 a month.

The owner, Lucien Bahaj, who also runs Lucien on First Avenue, said that the landlord "had been reasonable and patient, and was merely asking for market rent." Plus: "[H]is cafe had come to seem out of step in a neighborhood sprouting condominium towers, boutique hotels, mixologists and sports bars."

Here's more from Buckley's piece:

The bar captured a fast retreating moment in the evolution – some may say devolution – of the Lower East Side, a time when patrons read those books and flocked for documentary screenings and poetry nights.

Bahaj said this to the Daily News yesterday:

"It's not a tragedy. It belonged to an era and the era changed and I changed with it. All my customers have left or changed. The neighborhood used to be full of creative types — painters, writers, filmmakers. We don’t have that anymore."

Who do we have?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Motor City Bar is closing on Ludlow Street

[Image via Tripping With Marty]

The Times reveals the Streit's-replacing condos; Ben Shaoul wordsmiths gentrification

[Streit's factory photo via BoweryBoogie]

We've been talking about "Streit’s: Matzo and the American Dream" this past week.

The documentary by East Village-based filmmaker Michael Levine started its week-long run Wednesday at the Film Forum. (There's also a Streit's-related exhibit happening at Art on A Gallery, 24 Avenue A between East Second Street and East Third Street.)

The last family-owned matzo bakery in America closed its four-building factory on Rivington Street last year after 90 years in that location. As you likely know, the developers who bought the property have condos planned for the site.

Today, The New York Times published the first rendering of the new residential complex (the article was online on Thursday, which is why you may have seen this already elsewhere) ...


[Volley Studios via the Times]

Per the Times, 150 Rivington will be a 7-story glass condo "that will house 45 one- and two-bedroom apartments. Sales begin in May, with one-bedrooms starting at around $975,000."

Developers said that they plan to decorate the lobby with memorabilia from the original building.

BoweryBoogie also has part of an interview with Streit's co-owner Aron Yagoda, who tells of Mayor de Blasio snubbing his offer of a tour of the factory.

Streit's now operates out of more modern facilities in Rockland County.

-----

The piece in the Times focused on small businesses on the Lower East Side that are disappearing... and how Katz's was able to continue moving into the future by selling their air rights for $17 million... so that developer Ben Shaoul could then tear down the rest of the block
for an 11-(or 12!) story condoplex with an Equinox Fitness in the retail space on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard.

Ray's Pizza, Bereket and Lobster Joint, among others — closed or moved in the process.

"I’m sorry they went out of business, but it’s part of evolution," Shaoul told the Times. "You call it gentrification, I call it 'cleaning it up.'"

[Updated] Max Fish is apparently moving to Brooklyn; eyeing August close date

Well, the EVG inbox is filling up with news that Max Fish will be moving from its Ludlow Street home to... Metropolitan Avenue, according to this online petition, first noted this evening by The Lo-Down.

Per the petition:

‘We’ll Take the Spirit and Everything Else With Us’ -Ulli
The Lower East Side institution and cultural icon Max Fish will be moving. We are seeking a 2pm - 4am liquor license for the following address:

132 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

If you've enjoyed time at The Fish please sign and share this petition. And if you live or know anyone that lives within 500 Feet of either 132 Metropolitan Ave or 99 North 1st St in Brooklyn, please contact me directly at: tmq777@gmail.com.

Several people have been sharing the petition on Facebook. No other info is immediately available, such as when Max Fish would close up on Ludlow Street... where it opened in 1989.

In December 2010, reports surfaced that the demand of rising rent costs might lead to Max Fish's closure. However, by January 2011, owner Ulli Rimkus had received a lease extension.

Updated:

The petition is also posted on the Max Fish Facebook page... word we received from the Max Fish camp is that they're eyeing an August closing date on Ludlow Street ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
The art evolution of Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish

From Tin Pan Alley to Max Fish

A talk about Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers tonight at MoRUS

A last-minute listing via the EVG inbox today...

Ben Morea is going to be onhand tonight at 7 at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) for a discussion and screening of "Armed Love," Sean Stewart's short documentary profile of his time in the Lower East Side in the late 1960s.

In the film, Morea charts the evolution of Up Against the Wall/Motherfucker — the network of action-oriented radicals, freaks and street fighters who emerged out of the group surrounding the journal Black Mask during the late 1960s in New York City.

Find more details at this link.

MoRUS is located at 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

The new East Village Trader Joe's opens on Monday

The Trader Joe's opens Monday morning at 8 here at 436 E. 14th St. just west of Avenue A... EVG regular Greg Masters snapped these shots yesterday (thanks also to Gojira for a heads up) ...



An EVG tipster told us in early November that Jan. 6 was to be the opening day.

EVG reader Mr. Baggs also shared photos... new employees are on the scene...



Industry pub Grocery Dive had a few more details about this TJ's:

It features local artwork and is headed by a "store captain" with 14 years of experience with the company. This will be Trader Joe's ninth location in New York City and its second in the East Village neighborhood.

This TJ's boasts 8,531 square feet of ground-floor space with 14,170 square feet on a lower level.

This is the final step in the long evolution (first reported in May 2017!) of the new EV TJ's, just a few blocks from the Union Square outpost that opened in 2006.

The location is in the retail space of the newish 8-story luxury rental called EVE. This development is on the site of the onetime Peter Stuyvesant Post Office (1951-2014).

P.S.

According to Grocery Dive, Trader Joe's has not indicated any plans to reinstate the home-delivery service that it discontinued last March.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Trader Joe's finally confirms that a Trader Joe's is opening on 14th Street at Avenue A

• All about EVE, the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office-replacing rentals on 14th Street

• Claim: A Trader Joe's won't be coming to new development at 14th and A after all

• Trader Joe's: No current plans for grocery at 432-438 E. 14th St.

• Looks like there's a Trader Joe's coming to 432-438 E. 14th St. after all

Introducing Village Preservation

On Friday, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, founded in 1980 and headquartered in the East Village, introduced a new look.

Moving forward, they'll be known as Village Preservation.

Here's more via their Board President Art Levin:

To continue effectively serving our growing scope and mission, and to continue attracting new supporters to help protect the architectural and cultural character of our unique neighborhoods, we are empowering two vital words in our current name to carry our work forward.

Village Preservation is inclusive, forward-looking, and — importantly — much easier to pronounce and remember. This moniker has been designed as part of a new look which embraces our traditional name while at the same time allowing us to more effectively activate our mission.

Please join the Board and staff of GVSHP in embracing this dynamic evolution, built on the shoulders of what we have already established, with eyes looking toward preserving the wonders of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, for all its inhabitants and visitors for years to come.

In case you haven't spent every waking hour on the site seen this yet ... earlier this year, Village Preservation (GVSHP at the time!) debuted a new online tool that allows you to explore the history of every building in the neighborhood. Find East Village Building Blocks at this link.

An 'East Village Eye' mini-symposium, plus back issues and T-shirts

Ugh. Sorry for the short notice on this. My fault! This free event is tonight 6-8. Via the EVG inbox...

The East Village Eye Archive, in conjunction with Printed Matter, Inc., presents the First "Officially Sanctioned" Back Issue Selloff, in which selected copies of the East Village Eye magazine will be put on sale to the public ... as well as several fabulous t-shirt designs sporting historical East Village Eye covers.

East Village Eye was a monthly magazine that produced 72 issues from 1979 through 1987, focusing on the music, art, film, words, performance and social movements of the era, much of which was being made in the neighborhood it called home. The magazine is known today for its uncanny and prescient sense of culture´s evolution and direction, fluidly moving between the street, the avant-garde and the world at large.

To mark this big selloff event, we are presenting a mini-symposium entitled “How Hip Hop Came Downtown,” covering the process in which members of New York’s media and fine art communities brought rap music, graffiti art and breakdancing from the inner-city ghettos to a wider audience that has since spread across the world. Leading this discussion will be Eye publisher/editor Leonard Abrams, scholar Yazmin Ramirez, musician and multimedia artist Michael Holman, and Fab 5 Freddy.

Find more info here. Printed Matter is at 195 Tenth Ave. between West 21st Street and West 22nd Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-and-A with Leonard Abrams, publisher of the East Village Eye

Revisiting: Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish

[Joann Jovinelly]

This past week, we posted a two-part series by East Village-based writer Joann Jovinelly on Ulli Rimkus and the beginning of her bar, longtime LES favorite Max Fish.

In case you missed it...

The art evolution of Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish (Thursday)

From Tin Pan Alley to Max Fish (Friday)

On 6th Street, the Ukrainian Museum debuting Andy Warhol exhibit this weekend

Here's part of the announcement via the EVG inbox...

The Ukrainian Museum is delighted to announce that it will open the exhibition "Andy Warhol: Endangered Species" to the public on Sunday, Oct. 7. Commemorating the 90th anniversary of the birth of Andy Warhol (1928-1987), this is the first Warhol exhibition ever organized by a Ukrainian American organization.

"Endangered Species" is on loan from the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyo. James Warhola, an artist, writer, book illustrator and nephew of Andy Warhol, is a special contributor to the displays in the exhibition.

The exhibition includes the 10 silkscreens in the "Andy Warhol: Endangered Species" series from 1983 — Bighorn Ram, Black Rhinoceros, Grevy's Zebra, Orangutan, San Francisco Silverspot, African Elephant, Bald Eagle, Siberian Tiger, Pine Barrens Tree Frog, and Giant Panda — as well as the silkscreen Sea Turtle (1985).

An important component of the show at The Ukrainian Museum will be a section dedicated to Andy Warhol's early years growing up in Pittsburgh. At the vanguard of the Pop Art movement, Warhol is recognized as one of its greatest architects. But the influences from his youth, when he was immersed in the culture of his Carpatho-Rusyn origins, impacted his evolution into a world-renowned artist.

This exhibition not only features the still relevant "Endangered Species" series, but also looks at Warhol's heritage and other inspirations from his early years that spurred him along the path toward becoming one of the most influential American artists. Augmenting the "Endangered Species" exhibition are several early drawings by Warhol, as well as a few personal artifacts and family photo prints.

You can find more details at this link.

The Ukrainian Museum is located at 222 E. Sixth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square. Museum hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"Andy Warhol: Endangered Species" will be on view through Feb. 17.

Anniversaries: 15 years ago today

The very first post arrived on this site on Dec. 21, 2007. It was an item from Page Six (!!!???) about the possible sale of Sophie's and Mona's, two longtime favorite East Village bars.

The site went by — not joking! — Sophie's Bar Blog for a brief period. (And why not Mona's Bar Blog?) After a few weeks of handwringing, it turned out that the bars would stay in the family and remain pretty much the same to this day 15 years later. (I explain the site's evolution from Sophie's Bar Blog to EVG here.)

Anyway, taking this moment to thank you for reading the site for however long it has been these past 15 years and 38,546 posts, and for sharing in the adventures of living in this neighborhood — for better or worse. And thank you for sharing tips, photos, anecdotes, observations, complaints, and perspectives on day-to-day life here, past and present.

Couldn't do any of this without all of you. 

I'm incredibly grateful to Derek Berg and Steven for their daily contributions... and to Stacie Joy for lending her photography and reporting talents in covering happenings around the neighborhood.

And now, a happy and healthy holiday season to you. (If you have a Christmas tree and need to discard it before leaving town, please place it where we can get a good photo of it!)

 Photoshopped photo from the archives courtesy of EVPinhead. And I give that business six weeks!

Hey, it's Max Fish

Happened to be walking on Orchard Street between Rivington and Delancey the other morning ... and we saw the new Max Fish signage for ourselves for the first time.

BoweryBoogie pointed this out earlier last week. BB hears from owner Ulli Rimkus that the opening date here at No. 120 is currently set for Aug. 2.

As previously noted, the new space will be on two levels ... with some possible scheduled performances as well as a small menu that includes — !!! — chili ($5) and hard-boiled eggs ($1).

Max Fish closed last July after 24 years at 178 Ludlow St. Plans to open an outpost in Williamsburg never materialized.

CB3 approved the liquor license for the space in April.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The art evolution of Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish

From Tin Pan Alley to Max Fish

First sign that Max Fish is returning to the Lower East Side

A few more details (hard-boiled eggs!) about Max Fish, which hopes to return to the LES

Report: Max Fish clears first hurdle in return to the Lower East Side

EVG Etc.: an East Village population increase; an interview with EV artist Anton van Dalen

Recent headlines of possible interest include (with a photo from Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery) ...

 • "So what Manhattan neighborhoods are the hottest in our new, post-pandemic normal? At the top of the list is the Upper West Side, which saw a 30% increase in residents between November 2019 and October 2022. Next up are the East Village/Gramercy and the area around City Hall, all hovering around 25% during that same span of time." (The Post) 

• On Jan. 25, homeless outreach workers will fan out across the city and into the subway system to count the number of New Yorkers who call the streets and subways home (Gothamist) 

• Remembering Patrick Briggs, frontman for Psychotica, who died on Dec. 27 at age 58 (Legacy.com) 

• An interview with longtime East Village artist Anton van Dalen (artnet ... previously on EVG) 

• Personal essay about the East Village squatters' standoff of 1995, and how Dan Kois made it the center of his new novel, "Vintage Contemporaries" (Curbed) 

• Catching up with red-tailed hawks Christo and Amelia in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography) 

• What to know about Lunar New Year 2023 (6sqft) 

• Al Diaz on the evolution of NYC graffiti (huck ... previously on EVG) 

• About the fried mashed potato sandwich at Rowdy Rooster on First Avenue (Tasting Table) 

• A Fred Ward retrospective, including "Tremors," "The Right Stuff" and "Henry & June" (Anthology Film Archives) 

• The ashes of actor Robbie Coltrane were scattered around his favorite New York haunts — including Katz's (The Daily Mail) 

• Paddy Reilly's, the 36-year-old Irish saloon with live music on Second Avenue at 29th Street, is closing. The landlord won't renew their lease. (Gramercy Local) 

• At Cooper Union on Jan. 25: A panel exploring issues of mental health, addiction and social justice. Hip hop/theater artist Baba Israel, sound artist Fay Victor, and NY Phil Director of Media Production Mark Travis discuss the nuanced impact that the criminalization of addiction and drug use has had on music and other creative arts. (Official site)

The Brant Foundation debuts its next show, Julian Schnabel's 'Self-Portraits of Others'

Starting tomorrow, the Brant Foundation debuts its next show, "Self-Portraits of Others," a solo exhibition of new works by Julian Schnabel. 

Per the Brant website:

Created between 2018 – 2020, this series explores the evolution of Schnabel's artistic practice while making "At Eternity's Gate," a film about the life of Vincent van Gogh. The exhibition features 25 plate paintings that examine the theme of portraiture throughout art history.

Some details... the exhibit is open to visitors, free of charge. Advance tickets will not be required and walk-ins are welcome during open hours:

Wednesday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Thursday: 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Friday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Proof of a COVID-19 vaccination is required to enter.

"Self-Portraits of Others," up through December, is the third exhibition to be held at the Brant Foundation 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

In its first, from March to May 2019, the Brant Foundation featured an exhibit by Jean-Michel Basquiat, some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. Brant later extended the show by a few weeks.

The Brant Foundation features 7,000 square feet of exhibition space over four floors. Brant bought the building — a former Con Edison substation and Walter de Maria studio — for $27 million in August 2014.

Brant had said the space would host two exhibitions open to the public each year. 

The NYPL's archive of the legendary East Village Eye now available to the public

Images from the NYPL

The New York Public Library's extensive archive of the East Village Eye is now processed and available to researchers. 

In February 2023, the NYPL acquired the East Village Eye archive from founder and editor Leonard Abrams. The collection consists of documents, manuscripts, artworks, videos, ephemera, and a complete run of the original printed publication (72 issues in total), which was published from 1979 to 1987 and covered the neighborhood's arts, politics, and social currents during a transformative decade. 

The collection also documents the daily workings of a small publication – advertising, correspondence, datebooks, financial records, and more. Contributors included resident advice columnist Cookie Mueller, Richard Hell, and David Wojnarowicz, and the newspaper featured images from dozens of acclaimed photographers early in their careers.

"The Library's acquisition of the East Village Eye archive is the perfect outcome of our years-long search for the best home for these materials," Abrams said upon the purchase last year. 

"We are looking forward to seeing the creative ways that the collection will be used by scholars, students, educators, artists, activists, and anyone passionate about the history and culture of downtown New York City,"  said Julie Golia, associate director, manuscripts, archives, and rare books and Charles J. Liebman curator of manuscripts, in a statement.

Highlights of the collection include: 

• A full print run of all 72 issues of the East Village Eye in pristine condition (no other public institution possesses a complete print run of the periodical)
• Extensive administrative records and founding business documents for the magazine, including correspondence with staff, contributors, advertisers, and readers throughout the Eye's eight-year run
• Abrams' handwritten pocket planners showing his relationship with artists, musicians, businesses, and writers across the neighborhood and beyond
• Promotional materials created by the Eye, including maps and guides of the East Village and invitations and flyers for Eye-affiliated parties, openings, and events
• A collection of photography of the downtown scene by a roster of acclaimed photographers employed or engaged by the Eye, including Marcia Resnick, Eric Kroll, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, and others
• Candid and behind-the-scenes snapshots of Abrams and the Eye staff and contributors at work and as participants in the neighborhood's vibrant nightlife

Per the NYPL: "The records of the Eye will be essential to researchers studying the evolution of the punk movement, the growth of hip-hop, the rise of HIV/AIDS, and the early careers of artists like Basquiat, Mapplethorpe and Fab Five Freddy."

Researchers can access the East Village Eye records in the Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room for Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 476 Fifth Ave. at 42nd St. (Find more info here.)

You can learn more about the East Village Eye records from the collection guide and this blog post by the NYPL's Golia.

Sadly, Abrams (above left with Fab Five Freddy) died suddenly last April, only a few months after the collection came to the NYPL. He was 68. 

The NYPL "is proud to provide access to the archive that represents Abrams' important cultural and journalistic legacy."

Previously on EVG:

• Q-and-A with Leonard Abrams, publisher of the East Village Eye

A visit to Turntable Lab on 10th Street

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

The older I get the less new music I am exposed to, which is why I am always particularly interested in EV Grieve’s Fridays at Five and curated musical selections. It’s turned me on to local rocker Liza Colby, Princess Nokia’s “Tomboy” and THICK’s “Green Eyes,” among others.

In this A Visit To ... I get the opportunity to explore new-to-me music at Turntable Lab with owner Pete Hahn and his Turntable staff.


[Pete Hahn]

Pete arrives — on skateboard — from his nearby East Village home to meet me at the Lab’s storefront at 84 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue, and walks me though the store pointing out both beginner record players (now made with USB port) and advanced DJ setups. I even get a mini lesson on the ones and twos on the in-house DJ booth from sales associate Paul Bennett!





Aside from a tour and DJ lesson, Hahn talked about the evolution of Turntable Lab, which had its humble beginnings as an NYU side hustle, to its first shop on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. Turntable is now in its 20th year of business.

Turntable Lab got its start while you were at NYU. What experiences led to this launch?

My decision to go to NYU had a lot to do with the city’s DJ/record shop scene. There were lots of record shops, but if I wanted to get equipment, I had to go to a Canal Street electronics stores. I would walk in knowing the market price of an item, get into an intense haggling session, and still walk away paying above market price.

This gave us the idea to create a website that would sell DJ equipment with more transparency — no “call for price,” which was the norm back then. We started in my apartment on 12th Street with a Macintosh G3, a 56K modem, and a fax machine to take orders.

At what point did you realize that this was going to be a full-time business and not a side hustle?

In the first year of the business I was working during the day for a Soho advertising agency. I specialized in internet boom sites (1999) and was assigned to an early beauty ecommerce site. They were paying the agency hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a site that was barely functional. During a meeting I found out that my archaic hand-coded HTML site was grossing more than the beauty site — that’s when I decided to go full time.





Why did you decide to relocate from Seventh Street in 2016 to the current shop on 10th Street? At the time, did you consider moving to another neighborhood?

After being on Seventh Street for 15-plus years, the store needed a major renovation. It was cramped. The basement always flooded. The fixtures were wearing down. Rather than renovate the old space, we decided to start fresh. We never looked at any other areas — we knew we were staying in the East Village.



On that note: Why have you continued to base the TTL storefront in the East Village?

Personally, I think the East Village is still one of the top three record-shopping neighborhoods in the world. You can walk around, eat delicious things, check out Tompkins, find a stoop sale, people watch, and visit other quality record shops.

The East Village — along with many other neighborhoods — have suffered the loss of record/music shops in recent years. What has helped you survive? Twenty years in any business, especially one related to trends in music and music consumption, is impressive.

I could go deep into this, but here’s a quick version:
1) Don’t get stuck in old ways.
2) Respect each other’s tastes in music.
3) Be kind to customers.
4) Make it interesting for customers to visit often.
5) Keep it organized.
6) Know your margins.

The TTL website is robust. Why is a physical storefront still important to you?

Online commerce is inherently soulless. The store helps us maintain our soul by linking us in a different way to our customers, the DJ community, and the neighborhood. Plus, if you can successfully run a storefront these days, you know you are doing something right (and maybe even universally correct).



The storefront spans many genres of music. In one visit, I can pick up the new Diiv, Bat for Lashes and the re-release Rupa Biswas’ 1982 disco jazz LP. How do you decide what to carry?

There’s three people in the company that buy most of the vinyl; but we also get input from everyone who works here. Nearly everyone in the company is a collector. For example, one person is our go-to for decisions on Japanese vinyl and anime soundtracks. If it’s emo, I’ll ask someone else in the company. Distributors also know that we’re super-selective, so they’ll only recommend the top titles to us. I still have that broke college-kid mentality when I’m picking records: they have to be worth it.






[Lauren Jefferson, sales associate]

Looking back to 1999, did you envision that you might be doing this in 20 years?

Hell no! I still can’t believe it. My business partner and I always joke that we can pass it along to our kids, but I think in our minds, we’re mostly serious about the idea. People have tried to buy the Lab a couple times, but in retrospect, I’m glad those deals never went through.

What’s next for TTL?

We’re very focused on continuing to expand our range of exclusives. We’ve been teaming up with audio-equipment manufacturers, brands and labels to create special items. I’m especially excited about this boxset with Stones Throw Records. It will be available at the end of the year and it features our favorite releases from their catalog in a box we designed. Lastly, we’ll continue to develop our in-house audio furniture line: Line Phono.

---

Turntable Lab is open every day from noon to 8 p.m. You can find them on Instagram here.

The Post discovers that the area around Bowery and Bond is pretty nice these days — and getting nicer!

The cover story of the Post's real-estate section this week features the area around Bond and Bowery, which, from here on out, we'll refer to as BowBo to see if it foolishly catches on...
Give me a B!.... Gimme an O....



Seriously, though, we first meet Adam Gordon, who says, “As a developer, I really have a passion for reclaiming historic properties."



Anyway, let's just keep on reading!

“This corridor [of Bowery] has the most excitement in all of Manhattan — if you’re talking about the space between the New Museum and Cooper Square,” says Gordon.
“I think the Bowery — more than any neighborhood in Manhattan over the last five years — has become the most evolved,” says Core CEO Shaun Osher. “It’s become one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the city, but what’s really great about the Bowery is it’s multi-dimensional in its evolution.”
The term “multi-dimensional” makes sense not just in terms of the architecture, but also in terms of everything else that’s come to the neighborhood.
“I used to have a restaurant around here 10 years ago,” says celebrity chef Scott Conant, referring to City Eatery, his Italian spot on Bleecker and Bowery. “I was a little spooked by the neighborhood . . . I was never going to do another restaurant around here.”

The features includes the handiest of handy-dandy maps...



How soon before this how map is just a cluster of red circles with numbers?

After 20-plus years in the East Village, Obscura Antiques and Oddities is closing

Obscura Antiques and Oddities, a wholly unique and one-of-a-kind shop on Avenue A where you can find an array of curiosities, will by packing up its storefront in the weeks ahead.

"Our lease is up at the end of February and we are a bit burned out," co-owner Mike Zohn recently told me. "The business has changed as has the neighborhood, plus the expense and overhead are high."

Yesterday, EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the shop and talked with Zohn about the decision to close ... and tracked Obscura's East Village evolution.

-----------------

My first experience with Obscura Antiques and Oddities was in the early 1990s, when it was called Wandering Dragon Trading Company, co-owned by Adrian Gilboe, Mike Zohn and Evan Michelson, in a storefront at 263 E. 10th St.

A few years later it moved across the street to 280 E. 10th St. and became Obscura Antiques and Oddities (incorporating the name 18 years ago last month) before finding its most recent home in 2012 a few blocks away at 207 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street.

It’s been a neighborhood staple for more than a quarter of a century, which is one of the reasons it’s so hard to come to grips with the fact that the shop is shutting its doors. The store will close at the end of this year, with a possibility of limited hours in January to liquidate remaining items before the lease expires in February. Zohn talked with me about the store’s history, why they are closing and what’s next.

The store’s rent, back in the day, was $250 a month, and it was always a party, Zohn says. Cheap rent, parties every night, music, artists, drinking and smoking — a good time. Gilboe eventually moved to Brooklyn and Michelson and Zohn took over the shop, renamed it, and began working in earnest on the business.


[Mike Zohn]



The store and its two owners became the subject of a popular Discovery Channel TV series in 2010 called "Oddities" and possibly a victim of its own success.

Oddity-type shops popped up all over, the business changed, and more folks were buying and selling the merchandise. Overhead grew, taxes and regulations went up, and as Zohn points out, the neighborhood changed. Rents increased exponentially and parking became impossible. (Zohn lives in Easton, Pa., and Michelson in Plainfield, N.J., and both need a vehicle to transport goods and commute.)

Even though the store’s East Village front is closing, the shop will still be in existence online, and Zohn will continue to produce his Oddities Market and plans to look into the possibility of pop-up Oddites shops, maybe even the East Village one day.

I spoke by phone to Michelson — home sick, recovering from a recent work trip — about her plans for the future. She says there are a million things that interest her, but she won’t settle on anything until after the closure of Obscura.

She’s a founding member of Morbid Anatomy Museum and a scholar-in-residence at its library, and says she’s comfortable with the decision to close the shop. Although sad, she says that it’s organically time to go, that the world, the East Village and NYC are different now. Michelson saw Obscura as an outgrowth of the East Village performance and underground art scene and is eager to begin her next chapter of life, something experiential, not commercial.

Neither Michelson nor Zohn feel rushed into making this decision and both seem conformable with timing and the process. Zohn notes that if you have always wanted something special from Obscura, like, say, the two-headed cow or genuine human skull or a Freemasons book written in code, now is the time to come by.

In addition, fixtures from the shop will be available for sale. Shop hours are flexible, most likely every day from 12:30 to 8 p.m.



Look for more photos from inside the shop in an upcoming A Visit To ... feature on EVG.

With a new menu, Little Tong dropping the Noodle Shop on 1st Avenue

[Photo Monday by Steven]

After a little more than two years on First Avenue at 11th Street, the well-regarded Little Tong Noodle Shop is undergoing a concept shift highlighted by a new menu and name, now officially going as Little Tong.

For the past two years, chef-owner Simone Tong specialized in mixian — a long, round rice noodle from China's Yunnan province.

And now, via the EVG inbox...

With the new menu (as of May 9) and concept, Chef Tong hopes to bring together traditional flavors with modern techniques and local ingredients to create dishes that continue to usher in the new era of regional Chinese cuisine in New York City ...

The new menu [has] a greater emphasis on shared plates and composed dishes showcasing market ingredients. Highlights from the first iteration of the menu include:

• Stir-Fried Fiddlehead Ferns and Guoba with pickled ramps, dan dan pork and crispy rice

• Macao Night Market Clams with Canto sausage, enoki, zucchini, and mala douban (fermented chili-bean sauce)

• Tieban Miyazaki A5 Wagyu with Yunnan salsa verde, alderwood sabayon and crispy herbs

• Tea-Smoked Duck Breast with XO fried rice, salted duck yolk and apricot sauce

As part of this evolution, the restaurant will drop "Noodle Shop" from its name (the Midtown East outpost, which opened last summer, will remain known as Little Tong Noodle Shop), but a handful of fan-favorite mixian dishes – including the Grandma Chicken and Chef’s Beef Shank versions – will remain on the menu.

Tong will also open Silver Apricot, an upscale Chinese-inspired restaurant in the West Village, later this summer.

Previously on EVG:
Little Tong Noodle Shop taking the former Schnitz space on 1st Avenue