Details on the 5th annual East Village Arts Festival at the Tompkins Square Library branch

This week, the fifth annual East Village Arts Festival returns to the Tompkins Square Library branch with a handful of free in-person programs starting tomorrow afternoon. 

Highlights include (via the EVG inbox)

• Wednesday, Dec. 1, 3–5 p.m.

Join us in our main reading room as the Rocco John Quartet plays adventurous jazz standards

• Thursday, Dec. 2, 2–7 p.m.

East Village Arts Festival Bonanza!  

We are happy to have local writers and artists showing their work in our library. Featuring B Scene Zine, Carpo, Delphine Le Goff, Eve Packer, Frank New, Greg Masters, Kat Georges and Peter Carlaftes, Ron Kolm, Ruth and Valery Oisteanu, and Sara Ann Rutherford. 

• Saturday, Dec. 4, 3:30–5 p.m. 

Clayton: Godfather of Lower East Side Documentary: A Graphic Novel.  

For the first time, photographer and videographer Clayton Patterson ... is the subject of a biographical graphic novel anthology. Patterson will discuss the graphic novel with author Julian Voloj.

Visit this link for all the programs. 

The library is at 331 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Last day for Public Access on St. Mark's Place

Today is the last day for Public Access, the subterranean gallery at 8 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Leo Fitzpatrick, a local resident and former director at the now-closed Marlborough Gallery, has been running the space since September. He announced the end of Public Access at this location in an Instagram post:

[I]t hasn’t always been easy but I enjoyed it immensely and intensely so thank you ... and to all the other gallery's out there THANK YOU ... unless you've opened your own you don't realize all the blood, sweat, tears and effort that goes into making it look easy. Until next time...

Exhibits have included works by pioneering skateboarder (and artist) Mark Gonzales and underground zine maker Weirdo Dave. (We particularly liked the "Dress Up My Lindsay" show.)

The gallery opened in January 2020 as JUICE before Fitzpatrick took over in the aftermath of the COVID-19 PAUSE. 

The gallery is open today from 2-7 p.m. The final show features work by local photographer-documentarian Clayton Patterson.

EVG Etc.: Recovering from COVID-19; taking aim at third-party delivery fees

[St. Mark's Place at 3rd Avenue]

• East Village resident Majorie Ingall on the recovery from COVID-19 (Tablet)

• Remembering downtown star — and East Village resident — Nashom Wooden (Popular Publicity ... previously on EVG)

• Jimmy Webb's love for NYC and tight pants (The New Yorker ... previously on EVG)

• The fruit cart returns to First Avenue just north of 14th Street (Town & Village)



• The Department of Transportation and the NYPD not into converting roadways into public space for coronavirus-crammed New Yorkers (Streetsblog)

• Thoughts on the shuttered Starbucks on First Avenue and Third Street and what the neighborhood might look like post pandemic (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

• Amelia and Christo, the red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park, are well — AND PLEASE DON'T USE A DRONE TO TAKE PHOTOS OF THEIR NEST (Laura Goggin Photography)

• NYC rents remain high — for now (Curbed)

• New York state is facing a $13.3 billion budget shortfall (Gothamist)

• City Council is taking up a series of bills on April 29 that could introduce a stricter fee cap on third-party delivery services (Eater)

• Via the EVG inbox: Citywide music performance of "For Our Courageous Workers" planned April 29 at the 7 p.m. cheer for front-line workers (Tenth Intervention)

• Take a look around the 98 Bowery archives (Official site)

• The Hester Street Fair goes virtual (Vogue)

... and East Village-based artist-actor Robert Galinsky recently launched a 30-minute talk-variety show that streams live Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. on Facebook.com/RobertGalinsky. Upcoming guests include Tony winner Maryann Plunkett and documentarian Clayton Patterson.

Gone but not forgotten

Remembering a few of our friends and neighbors who died in 2019...

• Tim Schellenbaum



• Steven Cannon


[Image via Facebook]

• Unkle Waltie


[Photo by Steven]

• Ron Edgecombe


[Photo via Facebook]

• Susan Leelike



• Purushottam Goyal


[Photo by Steven]

• Gigi Watson


[Photo by James Maher]

• Felicia Mahmood



• Lucien Bahaj


[Photo courtesy of Clayton Patterson]

• Jonas Mekas


[Image via Facebook]

• Joe Overstreet


[Image via legacy.com]

• Leslie Sternbergh Alexander


[Leslie Sternbergh Alexander and Adam Alexander]

• Brendan Cregan


[Image via Facebook]

• Chaim Joseph



• Brian Butterick/Hattie Hathaway


[Photo by Stacie Joy]

--

Others with ties to the neighborhood who died this past year include Robert Frank ... John Giorno ... Paul Krassner... and Robert Ogden.

A memorial for Lucien Bahaj

Lucien is hosting a memorial for its beloved founder, Lucien Bahaj, next Thursday (Oct. 17) at the bistro at 14 First Ave.

Patrons are asked to stop by between noon and 7 p.m. here between First Street and Second Street...



Bahaj, who opened Lucien in 1998, died in Florida on July 29. He was 74. A cause of death was not revealed.

His son Zac has been running Lucien in recent years. In writing about Bahaj's passing, Clayton Patterson remarked that Zac has "the learned etiquette and special magic required to make Lucien hum along without his father."

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Lucien Bahaj

RIP Lucien Bahaj

[Photo courtesy of Clayton Patterson]

Several EVG readers shared the sad news in recent days that Lucien Bahaj, the restaurateur behind Lucien on First Avenue, died last Monday in Florida. He was 74. A cause of death was not revealed.

Bahaj opened the French bistro at 14 First Ave. between First Street and Second Street in 1998.


[EVG photo from June]

Clayton Patterson wrote a feature obituary published at Document Journal:

Lucien was born in Morocco in 1945, and grew up in the South of France. By working at luxurious hotels and restaurants, he learned the etiquette, dress, and social mannerisms of their elite clientele. He refined his social skills in New York, becoming a player in the city’s ’70s and ’80’s nightlife scene by working at places like Indochine. It was always his New York dream to open a French-style restaurant, one that served quality food with sophisticated service, in his own idealized image.

And...

Lucien’s eatery was his art form and his performance space. Every day, he worked to perfect his art; tasting the food and wines, changing the spices and the mixtures, trying out different seating arrangements, and curating a selection of avant-garde reading material. To give the impression of an old-school establishment that had survived the test of time, the walls were given a distressed paint job, on top of which were hand-scripted poems painted by Rene Ricard. If Lucien wasn’t sitting inside, he would often be found by the entrance, always the gracious host who made sure his customers felt welcome.

Bahaj also operated the Pink Pony on Ludlow Street from 2001 to 2013, closing it after the landlord wanted a $6,000-per-month rent increase. Rent hike aside, as the Times noted then: "[H]is cafe had come to seem out of step in a neighborhood sprouting condominium towers, boutique hotels, mixologists and sports bars."

Lucien, whose walls are adorned with a variety of framed photos of artists, actors and filmmakers who have dined here, remains a timeless classic. Per a 2014 revisit at Serious Eats:

Lucien runs off an old, seemingly forgotten, formula from a time when nasturtium and nettles were just weeds. The food is reliable, seasoned well, and portioned with hunger in mind. It isn't necessarily progressive or trendy or challenging, but that's exactly why eating there is so great.

[EVG photo from June]

Patterson writes that Bahaj's son Zac has "the learned etiquette and special magic required to make Lucien hum along without his father."


[Lucien and Zac by Clayton Patterson]

The Tompkins Square Library hosts 'A Look Back on the East Village of the 1980s' starting Friday

[Via the Tompkins Square Library branch]

On Friday, the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is opening an exhibit titled “A Look Back on the East Village of the 1980s.”

Some details via the EVG inbox:

This vigorous and enthusiastically researched show will focus on the creative counter-culture of the surrounding neighborhood in the 1980's. It will present important, vital highlights from the night club scene, along with the music, theater, and art activity of that period — a period in which the East Village was recognized nationally and internationally for its sometimes famous and sometimes infamous personalities and places.

In conjunction with the show, the Tompkins Square library has been working with material from the New York Public Library special collections, and with the Fales NYU Downtown archive. Of significant interest are the many photographs and fascinating ephemera and reproductions from the East Village in the 1980s.

In conjunction with the show on Friday night (at 6), the library is hosting a discussion, The East Village in the 1980s, featuring Penny Arcade, Clayton Patterson and Chris Rael. Andy McCarthy, a reference librarian at the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy at NYPL, is the moderator.

"A Look Back on the East Village of the 1980s" will be at the library until Nov. 1. This link has more details on branch hours, etc.

East Village history at the Tompkins Square Library branch this month

There are several local history programs of interest on the schedule this month at the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B

Here's an overview via the EVG inbox...

• Wednesday, Oct. 3, 6 p.m.: 16mm Film Screening: La Dolce Festa (1977; 28 mins.) Dir: Kathleen Dowdey. A documentary on the traditions, preparation and rituals of the San Gennaro Festival. 16mm film from the special collections of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

• Wednesday, Oct. 10, 5 p.m.: Author Talk: Alice Sparberg Alexiou and Kerri Culhane. Culhane, an architectural historian who wrote the report that led to the designation of the Bowery as a historic district in 2011, will engage Alice Sparberg Alexiou (author of "Devil’s Mile: The Rich, Gritty History of the Bowery") in conversation about the Bowery’s past, present, and future, followed by time for questions and answers. The program is presented in partnership with the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors.

• Friday, Oct. 19, 6 p.m.: The East Village in the 1980s: a conversation with: Penny Arcade, Clayton Patterson, Chris Rael. Moderator: Andy McCarthy, a reference librarian at the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy at NYPL, and a former NYC doubledecker bus tour guide.

• Exhibition: From Oct. 19 through Nov. 1 the Tompkins Square Library will present “A Look Back on the East Village of the 1980s.”

This vigorous and enthusiastically researched show will focus on the creative counter-culture of the surrounding neighborhood in the 1980's. It will present important, vital highlights from the night club scene, along with the music, theater, and art activity of that period — a period in which the East Village was recognized nationally and internationally for its sometimes famous and sometimes infamous personalities and places.

In conjunction with the show, the Tompkins Square library has been working with material from the New York Public Library special collections, and with the Fales NYU Downtown archive. Of significant interest are the many photographs and fascinating ephemera and reproductions from the East Village in the 1980s.

Find the branch's full rundown of October activities here.

EV Grieve Etc.: Fatal assault at Project Renewal Men's Shelter; new work from Peter Missing

[Smartphone falls off billboard on the Bowery? Photo by Derek Berg]

Felony assault arrest in fatal fight at Project Renewal Men's Shelter on East Third Street (PIX 11)

AEG Live buying Bowery Presents (Billboard)

Kitchen tub in East 11th Street apartment marketed as "vintage detail" (Curbed)

A talk with Cochise and Clayton Patterson, co-authors of "The Street Gangs of the Lower East Side" (Bedford + Bowery)

Prince at the Roxy in 1981 (Dangerous Minds)

About the first show at the International Center of Photography, opening soon on the Bowery (The Lo-Down)

Hunting with Christo in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)

A move for the Pickle Guys (BoweryBoogie)

On Sunday: The romantic-comedy "The Square Root of Zero" (1963) "pits a pair of Village beatniks against a clan of moneyed squares vacationing on the Maine coast." (Anthology Film Archives)

Some presidential history of the Church of the Ascension, on Fifth Avenue and 10th Street (Ephemeral New York)

...and Peter Missing has put up new work this past week at First Street Green Art Park ... Find more on it at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York ...

#missingfoundation on Houston and 2nd ave park. pic.twitter.com/qwNye2EZHH

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) April 20, 2016

Arturo Vega exhibition opens new Howl!-backed gallery on East 1st Street

Via the EVG inbox…

Howl! is pleased to announce the opening of a new gallery and performance space — Howl! Happening — with the exhibition "Arturo Vega American Treasure" on Sunday, March 29, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibition runs through April 25. Howl! Happening is located at 6 E. First St. (between Second Avenue and the Bowery).

Arturo Vega (Oct. 3, 1947 – June 8, 2013) was a Mexican-born artist who lived and worked in New York City from 1971 until his death in 2013. As a young artist, he fled the violent government repression of the student movement of the late 1960s in Mexico and became widely known for graphic visual imagery that defined punk music and fashion.

Beginning in 1972 and over the course of his lifetime, he produced close to 100 silver-dollar paintings of the open palm of a hand holding a 1972 silver dollar. As Arturo Vega lived on the Bowery from the early 1970s until his death, the paintings can be viewed as depicting a beggar’s outstretched palm or as a means of co-opting the power of the symbols of the United States. In a disillusioned post-Vietnam America, the symbols of American power could be reimagined as corporate imperial logos.

Upcoming at Happening

April 30–May 3
Vangeline Theatre: Japanese Butoh dance company firmly rooted in tradition while carrying the art form into the 21st century.

May 8–June 5
Lydia Lunch: So Real It Hurts. Exhibition, installation, ephemera, performances by the artist and friends. In association with Some Serious Business, Inc.

June 11–14
Quintan Ana Wikswo: The Hope of Floating Has Carried Us This Far. Performance, exhibition, book-signing in honor of her first novel, published by Coffee House Press. In association with Some Serious Business, Inc.

June 19–August 14
Clayton Patterson: The exhibition surveys of his work, focusing on the art, life, and times of the Lower East Side.

Updated: Gone but not forgotten

Remembering a few of our friends and neighbors who died in 2014...

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

Lisa Julian (aka Spike or Lucretia), Tompkins Square Park regular


[Photo by Lori Der Hagopian]

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

Rebecca Lepkoff, acclaimed street photographer


[Image via]

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

Erdelyi Tamas, aka Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of the Ramones


[Via Brooklyn Vegan]

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

Michael Brody, longtime East Village resident, mysterious neighbor


[Courtesy of Lili Barsha]

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

Mike Bakaty, owner of the city's longest-running tattoo parlor

[Photo by James Maher]

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

Hayne Suthon, owner and operator of Lucky Cheng's


[Photo by Biljana Ustic via Facebook]

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

Derek Lloyd, popular figure in the local theater community


[Image via PS 122]

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

Dennis Zentek, co-founder of d.b.a.


[Photo by KM Keller via Facebook]

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

Akkas Ali, florist at East Village Farm and Grocery



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

Marty Thau, music producer-manager-entrepreneur


[Thau, right, with David Johansen and Muddy Waters in the early '80s. Photo via Facebook]

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

Will Connell, saxophonist/composer



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

Don Holley, father, champion of East Village schools

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

Evelyn Dahab, author, bar owner


[Image via Facebook]

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

Maggie Estep, writer-poet-performance artist and all-around cool person


[Photo from October 2013 by Marissa Molnar via Facebook]

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

Several readers reminded us about Anne Ardolino, aka Anntelope, aka 1st Avenue rooftop pigeon lady, poet, animal rescuer, neighbor, friend …


[Photo by Clayton Patterson]

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

Karen Kristal, matriarch of CBGB


[Photo via CBGB on Facebook]

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

Wen Hui Ruan, father, retired garment worker


[Photo from 2006 via CBS 2]

Week in Grieview

Talking with Lady Bunny at the Pyramid Club (Friday)

NYC's 1st bar for pregnant women goes belly up on Avenue A (Monday)

"Cocaine was fantastic in the 1980s." (Wednesday)

Clayton Patterson responds to Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" (Thursday)

TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken coming to Avenue A (Monday)

Two years after Sandy (Wednesday)

The return of Lucky Cheng's (Thursday)

Attorney General takes down notorious "tenant relocator" (Monday)

Reactions to the landmarking of Town & Village Synagogue on East 14th Street (Wednesday)

Signs of life at East Village Radio, but what does it mean? (Monday)

The John's of 12th Street documentary premieres soon (Friday)

Caratoes creates a mural on East 12th Street and Avenue C (Tuesday)

A look at 331 E. Houston St., with a rooftop deck for outdoor showers and "Live Free or Die Hard" (Tuesday)

The East Fifth Street jet ski (Thursday)

383 Lafayette wrapped ahead of NYU expansion (Thursday)

First sign of Rosie's Mexican, coming soon to Second Avenue (Monday)

Empire Biscuit turns 1 (Friday)

...and one last look at Halloween weekend... with photos from Union Square by James and Karla Murray...