A visit to The Baroness

Text and photos by Stacie Joy 

I am a wee bit nervous as I approach the Baroness and her eponymous latex shop at 530 13th St. (between Avenues A and B). I’d never worn latex before and tend to go through life in jeans and tees, which is a definite no-no at the elegant, well-appointed and provocative showroom where the Baroness designs, creates, fits and sells her line of custom, bespoke, and ready-to-wear latex fashion.

It is always a challenge to step outside one’s comfort zone, but the Baroness’ no-nonsense yet encouraging and confident demeanor guided me through the process. And I saw myself differently in the mirror…speaking of which, the fitting room mirror at the atelier is kind and the dressing room space is set up to allow for best-case scenarios when trying on outfits.

Due to COVID-19, people are not dressing up that much, there are fewer parties and events, and although the Baroness wears latex on the regular, most people would be looking for something special, maybe for a holiday? In that light, I ask the proprietrix to show me what the store has for Halloween as we chat about her history in the neighborhood and her passion for latex.

Can you speak a bit about the history of the shop and how it came to be? What drew you to the East Village and what has kept you here? Are there any special challenges to living and working in the neighborhood? 

When I first started my business (almost 30 years ago) I ran it from my studio. Then the building required work on the front wall, which would mean a total disruption, so I set out to look for another workspace. I needed to keep it close-by as I had been spoiled and feared that if I had to travel too far I would not.

I was very fortunate to find more than an atelier, the ideal workspace came with a shop at street level. Prior to my moving in the space had been poorly used but that both allowed and necessitated renovations including knocking down walls, replacing flooring, establishing lighting and electrical outlets (all in the perfect locations). As our workspace is below-ground, I painted it in lighter tones of purples, pinks and greens and had work tables and closets built so everything was at hand. 

Upstairs I chose soft blues, pinks and purples forgoing the traditional red and black of other fetish shops. I wanted it to be a place that would welcome women and make them feel safe. The dressing room was huge and hung with fabric and fitted with flattering mirrors. 

What I hadn't realized is just how much help it would be for my fit and designs as I now saw more varied body shapes in my elegant latex fashions.

Being on a side street and in the East Village meant that although I had limited foot traffic (which didn’t matter much as The Baroness is a destination) my rent was also lower than in other parts of New York. After all the work involved in renovating and establishing myself on East 13th Street it was easiest to stay put as we have for the last 12 years (despite the steady yearly increase in rent).

Of course, now with COVID-19 and having the boutique closed for months, everyone has been affected and there are many empty storefronts throughout the neighborhood. My business has been particularly affected as many of my customers now have limited funds and the usual parties and events that they would wear latex for have been canceled or simply postponed until next year. I am fortunate that much of my business comes from elaborate custom creations commissioned by loyal longtime clients and that my landlady has been most understanding during this troubled time. 

Latex is both more complicated (in construction of the garments) and more simple (in cleaning and caring for the clothes) than I’d realized. What made you choose latex as a fabric, and what can you tell beginners about wearing it?

My background has always been in clothing, fabric and art, and my motto is "any occasion to dress is an occasion to overdress," so when I discovered latex my life was instantly transformed. 

Once I began to work with latex, I enjoyed learning and exploring its mysteries. The largest being how to make it! Everything is glued and when I started, I was one of only three latex designers in North America. Latex is still a niche market and now The Baroness boutique is the ONLY shop in the U.S. that makes and sells only its own latex!

What I tell latex virgins (my absolute favorite customers) is to give in, to allow their senses to take over, to inhale the vanilla milk-chocolate aroma, to savor the sensual feeling of it against your body or the touch of another latex-clad enthusiast, to marvel in the gleam, the shine, and the highlights and lowlights of this amazing material as they watch it in motion. There is no material more sensual than latex. 

On the practical side I inquire as to their budget, their intentions, and where they will wear it to help in their choice. I explain and demonstrate how to shine  and care for their latex along with assuring them of my lifetime guarantee. 

I believe wearing latex should be comfortable not only on the body. If you want discomfort, buy it super tight, our sizes range from extra-small to extra-large, along with queen size and custom for both men and women, but also to your personal style and body image. If you aren’t comfortable in what you wear you will never look the best you can and probably that garment will be relegated to the back of the drawer or closet.

You go all out for Halloween. What do you recommend for people who may be interested in wearing latex for a holiday event but have little experience?

Halloween is my birthday and even as a child I fantasized about watching a gathering of well-dressed people. When I moved [from the UK] to the U.S. and discovered it was a holiday where everyone dressed, my dream came true.

Halloween is (as you may imagine) one of our busiest seasons, although this year is obviously an exception. We usually do the best when it falls on a Friday or Saturday and there are many vanilla parties. The most common requests are either Catwoman or a dominatrix, although we also have made an assortment of custom creations including Britney Spears, various cosplay characters, crossdressing and regular ensembles that are so unusual for the customers life as to be considered a costume, but which I hope shall be the start of their latex addiction!

Your shop sign announces You Want Latex. As the Baroness, aside from latex, what do you want?

You missed the sign’s other side, which says "You Need Latex!" What I want currently is what everyone wants: An end and cure for the virus. That, and for a world dressed in Baroness latex!

----- 

You can keep up with the Baroness via social media @LatexBaroness, and from now through Halloween the Baroness’ popular waist-cincher (available in both black and purple) is on sale for $100 off while supplies last.

New sushi options rolling in; Rosella opening on Avenue A

You've likely noticed the activity at 137 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street of late... Rosella, an environmentally conscious sushi restaurant, is ready to open soon.

Here's more about Rosella:

Former Uchiko chefs Jeff Miller and Yoni Lang will be offering a sushi tasting menu, complemented by small plates and à la carte service, with an emphasis on locally sourced, sustainable fish and seasonal ingredients. Beverage director and co-owner TJ Provenzano, previously of Mayanoki and Rooftop Reds, has curated a selection of domestic wine, cider, and small-batch sake. The restaurant features a spanning wooden bar and fabric walls to create a warm, inviting environment, as well as outdoor seating.

The address was previously Three Seat Espresso.

Meanwhile! Via the tipline... we're told that the new business at 84 E. Second St. just west of First Avenue is called Yo! Sushi, which is now only open for delivery ... this is in the former Julie's Vintage space, as you can see... don't know anything else about this operation, such as if it's affiliated with the YO! Sushi chain (don't see any conveyor belts!) ...

 

H/T Steven!

A small business SOS

Save Our Storefronts, a coalition of East Village merchants and community members, recently launched a petition that will help lobby for fair rent relief for NYC small businesses.

We are facing the catastrophic loss of thousands of small and micro businesses, the economic and social cornerstones of our communities.

New York is on PAUSE, but the bills have not paused. The rent has not paused. NOTHING has paused except our ability to survive. Without rent relief, untold numbers of storefronts will shutter. For good. Communities will lose vast numbers of jobs, essential services, vitality and more.

We will lose the very fabric of our city.

You can learn more and sign the petition at this link.

Huminska closes on 9th Street after 27 years in business

In recent months people have asked about the status of Huminksa, the women's boutique at 315 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Owner-designer Janice Huminska has addressed the situation in a note posted to her website last week. Her shop, which first opened in 1992, is now permanently closed. She writes, in part:

A tough retail environment could not and would not thwart my addiction to fabric and making dresses for all of you! Rather this crazy retail environment has been fueling me, as other obstacles over the last 3 decades have done, to overcome!

I am not at liberty to say exactly what happened, other than that a tsunami hit my longstanding tiny little biz & thru no fault of my own my labor of love was decimated, along with my livelihood ...

You can read her full note below...

You may now book a room for October at the Moxy East Village

Reservations are now being accepted for dates this fall at the Moxy East Village, the 13-story, 286-room hotel from the Marriott brand here on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...



Oct. 6 is the first day for any availabilities ...



Here's hotel info from a recent news release:

Conceived by Rockwell Group as a vertical timeline, each floor of the hotel draws inspiration from a different era in East Village history, from the earliest settlers to the punk era to today. Moxy East Village offers 286 design-driven bedrooms, co-working spaces, tech-savvy amenities, and cultural programming that reflects the richly diverse fabric of the neighborhood.

The various rooms include walk-in rain showers, "retro" telephones and "personal screen casting technology" (aka Netflix, Pandora, etc.).

As for drinking and dining, as previously reported, Tao Group is the food and beverage operator and the Lightstone Group's partner at the Moxy East Village. Plans include a lobby bar and café, a 2,600-square-foot rooftop bar and a French-Mediterranean restaurant from chef Jason Hall.

... and here's the most recent hotel rendering...



...and what it replaced...


[Photo from May 2016]

The foundation work got underway here in August 2017. Workers demolished the five residential buildings that stood here in the fall of 2016.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall

Paper Daisy debuts on St. Mark's Place

[Image via Paper Daisy]

Paper Daisy is now up and running (as of last Thursday) at 41 St. Mark's Place just east of Second Avenue.

The cocktail bar in the former Cafe Orlin space includes the second East Village outpost of C & B Cafe, which opened its quick-serve breakfast-and-lunch operation on Feb. 28. (The original C & B location remains in service on Seventh Street near Avenue B.)

C & B chef-owner Ali Sahin is also the executive chef for Paper Daisy, whose creative team features East Village residents Jaime Felber, Darin Rubell and Thomas Flynn. Combined, their local credits include Boulton & Watt, Drexler’s and the recently opened Mister Paradise.

Here's some info taken from the Paper Daisy opening notice via the EVG inbox...

Paper Daisy takes its name from a Beat Generation poem — "Pull My Daisy" — by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady when they were together in New York in the ‘40s.

"We thought the free form, collaborative, and tongue-in-cheek nature of the poem was a great way to anchor what we want out of this space," says Felber. "We know how beloved Orlin was. We would only ever put out a product that we care about, are proud of, and believe will add to the neighborhood. It’s our way of paying homage to what was."

Yosi Ohayon, the former owner of Cafe Orlin and the building owner of 41 St. Mark’s Place says, "When I opened this place over 36 years ago, it was so exciting to me to be a part of the fabric of New York City’s dynamic food and beverage scene. I’m ready to retire this part of my life. ... I wanted to pass the space on to someone who lived and knew the neighborhood, who would care about the space the way I did."

Owner Darin Rubell adds, "I was a regular at Orlin my entire life. I grew up just a few blocks from here and I have always admired how this space has been a real home to the diversity that is the East Village."

C & B is open at 39 St. Mark's Place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Paper Daisy has hours of 4 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Before Paper Daisy emerged, the space was expected to be Joya Loves Louie, a vegetarian cafe-market-bar combo, as New York magazine first reported.

Cafe Orlin closed in October 2017 after 36 years at the address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
C&B Cafe now part of new venture taking over the former Cafe Orlin space on St. Mark's Place

C&B Cafe debuts outpost on St. Mark's Place

A visit to Now Yoga on 4th Avenue

Photos and interview by Stacie Joy

After six years of sharing space near Union Square, Now Yoga, 61 Fourth Ave. (third floor) between Ninth Street and 10th Street, opened its very own studio this past September.

I recently stopped by to talk with studio owner Renata Di Biase as she prepped Now Yoga for the day ... I also watched instructor Edward Jones lead a morning vinyasa class.

In the following Q&A, Di Biase discusses the challenges of operating a community wellness space and making yoga accessible to more people.



How did Now Yoga come to be? What is its history, and why did you choose the East Village for its home?

The story of Now Yoga begins with Om Yoga, which was founded by Cyndi Lee in downtown Manhattan back in the 1990s. When that institution closed in 2012, a few of Om’s senior teachers (including Edward Jones, Frank Mauro and Joe Miller) founded Now Yoga.

They didn’t have a studio space of their own at the time, but Barbara Verrochi and Kristin Leigh of the Shala in Union Square graciously opened their doors to Now, inviting the guys and a small team of teachers to offer a number of classes on their schedule as a complement to their own ashtanga program.

For six years we operated out of the Shala, where Now continued to offer its own distinct brand of alignment-based vinyasa yoga, in addition to developing its own teacher training program.

When limited space in the studio and on the schedule meant that Now Yoga would have to downsize in order to continue its residence at the Shala, it was time to take the leap and move Now into its own home. It was important that the new studio continue to serve our existing community, so the search for a new space was pretty focused around the general Union Square/East Village vicinity.

Our most loyal students either live in the East Village area or are already very accustomed to traveling in and out of this area to or from work and home. This area is where we all really developed our practices and careers teaching, so it’s only natural that we transplanted ourselves just a couple of blocks from where we began.







How do you describe the community of people at Now Yoga?

Our community is pretty diverse. Many of our students are seasoned practitioners and long-time East Village residents — creative professionals who make up the fabric of the East Village in their own ways as business owners, artists, teachers, etc. Some are college students newly settling into the neighborhood and just beginning to delve into yoga. Some are circling back to yoga after several years since Om’s closing, rediscovering the practice in this new space. Many travel from other neighborhoods because this is their second home. We’re right off of two major subway lines, so we’re on the way to or from somewhere, for most.

Our teachers and staff are a huge and important part of the community. We’re a little family and one that has grown with the move into the new studio. Our teachers are grounded, down-to-earth, regular people. I think that makes Now unique.



You say on your website that “Everyone can practice yoga, regardless of one’s level of fitness or experience.” How does Now make yoga accessible?

We’re committed to helping people adapt the practice of yoga to suit their body and their needs. We’re not trying to fit ourselves into a rigidly defined practiced. We’ve tried to build a diverse schedule of classes that offer pretty specific levels so that any student can feel welcome and serve, which may sound counter-intuitive.

What we’ve found with teaching all open-level classes in the past is that things can get pretty watered down in an attempt to deliver a one-size-fits-all practice. It’s impossible to do that. Introducing levels (basics, basics/intermediate, intermediate, intermediate/advanced, yoga for seniors, etc.) allows us to get pretty clear. With a menu full of options, you’re more likely to get what you need and want. And you’re more likely to get a teacher prepared to meet your needs.



A recent CDC study showed that yoga has continued to rise in prevalence among U.S. adults since 2012. Do you feel as if yoga is becoming less of a so-called alternative practice and more mainstream?

Back in the 1990s and early 2000s yoga was much more of a trend. That and a very different economic landscape meant that a new yoga studio had the potential to be the hot new thing.

We’re in a different age now and there’s a yoga studio on nearly every corner, which I think means that more people are doing yoga and accept it is a standard part of their fitness and wellness routines. The prevalence of yoga studios means there’s also a broader range of adaptations of yoga available — so there’s something for everyone, from the super traditionalist to the person who enjoys asana in the dark set to hip hop. (We’re somewhere in between.)





Do you find yourself competing for people's time and attention who could be swayed to try the increasingly popular (and trendy!) HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and CrossFit classes as well as the plethora of fitness apps?

Competition within the yoga marketplace and the fitness industry at large is, indeed, rather stiff. Before we moved, many people asked why we’d ever endeavor to open up a physical studio when so many yoga and fitness studios close due to market saturation and the challenges of the NYC real estate landscape. (“Can you just offer your services online? Cut out all the overhead? What about an app?”)

For what we do, having a local community space is entirely the point. And we really believe in the kind of practice we’re offering that doesn’t quite exist elsewhere. We hope it resonates with some people and that we can continue to build.

And, unlike a lot of the fitness boutiques cropping up all over Manhattan, we are competitively (and fairly reasonably) priced, plus we offer discounts to students, seniors, and veterans. Yoga, mindfulness, health and welling, while incredibly valuable, all need to be accessible and affordable.

What’s next for Now Yoga?

Community outreach has been part of long-term vision for Now Yoga from the outset; figuring out how and what Now Yoga has to offer the East Village community and beyond is on the more immediate agenda now that we’ve begun to settle into our new home.

One of our teachers and managers, Jana Hicks, is currently running the Yoga4Cancer program at Now, which makes it possible for us to offer an entirely free weekly class for cancer patients and survivors.

We hope to offer more in this vein in the coming months, including developing partnerships with certain nonprofits, like the Trevor Project, to support those in the helping professions with free or discounted classes and services.

We’re interested in partnering with local community organizations that might be interested in bringing accessible, practical yoga and meditation practices to the underserved. But let’s not forget that we’re also surrounded here at Astor Place by stressed-out corporate professionals. Many of us worked — or still work — in the corporate sphere and know the whole desk-lunch routine.

You can check out the class schedule at Now at this link... and follow them on Instagram here.



Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street

A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

A visit to Eat’s Khao Man Gai on 6th Street

A visit to Yoli Restaurant on 3rd Street

Preparing for Saturday's dinner at Il Posto Accanto on 2nd Street

A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street

A trip to the recently expanded Lancelotti Housewares on Avenue A

A visit to C&B Cafe on 7th Street

A visit to Rossy's Bakery & Café on 3rd Street

A visit to CAVAglass on 7th Street

A visit to Dumpling Man on St. Mark's Place

I Am a Rent-Controlled Tenant

East Village resident Susan Schiffman documents the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants — and for this post, rent-controlled — living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.



Photos and text by Susan Schiffman

Tenants: Terry (since 1975) & Charlie (since 1965)

Why did you come to the East Village?

I came to the East Village because Charlie and I met. We started dating. We met in Ty’s, which is a gay bar that still exists, much to our amazement. It is on Christopher Street. Do you know the Moth? Charlie did a story on the Moth about the first night we met. It’s called “Just One Drink.”

Charlie said he didn’t want to date. His friends said “they’re not going to come to you, so you must go out to them.” Charlie said, “all right, I will go to a bar and I will have a drink.” And then we met.

I was living on Sullivan Street at the time. There are 13 years between us. I was younger and he was more mature. He had been in this apartment already for over a decade. We dated for about six months. I had a lot of stuff here and a lot of stuff there. My lease was coming due. We started talking about moving in together. I moved in.



How did Charlie find the apartment?

He was living on the Upper West Side. He was a theater, artistic, 100-percent visual person. He had a dear, close friend who was female. They were young, it was the 1960s. They decided to get married. She knew he was gay. Unfortunately, marriage kind of killed their friendship. They decided it was a bad idea that they had gotten married and got a divorce. It was amicable.

A friend who lived across the street from this apartment told Charlie that the apartment was available. The previous tenant had lived here for over 50 years and had passed away. Charlie got the apartment. It was a mess. Nothing had been done for 50 years. The floors were bare and the walls were crummy. He was 27, a designer with an artist’s eye. He said, “I can fix this.”

There are things in this apartment that have been here since I arrived. With a little bit of work we could make that something. The dresser came out of somebody else’s apartment. He was young. He didn’t have any money. Whatever he found he found a way to use it. When he did have money, even actors make money occasionally, he would buy art.

He had a friend who didn’t know what to do with himself so Charlie said you should find something and focus on that and collect it and see what you can do. Charlie decided it was going to be owls.



If you knew Charlie he doesn’t wait for you to say yes, he just starts doing it. He started finding owl things. His friend never did take up the owl project.

[Terry gestures to some of the photos and paintings on the walls]

That is Marin County looking at San Francisco. We were waiting for the ferry into San Francisco.

This one is a friend of ours, Steve and his wife on their trip to Norway. He did this one of the fjords in Norway. He was inspired by Charlie’s panorama technique.

That we bought on Second Avenue from a guy who had a table on the street. I grew up in the country. Charlie was born and bred in Brooklyn.

That is by Buffie Johnson. That’s actually Yul Brynner at the time he was making his Broadway debut with Mary Martin. Charlie found it in a thrift shop. He contacted Ms. Johnson at one point and she said “Oh is that what happened to that? I had some work being done in the house and it just kind of disappeared.”

That’s my spirit of the swamp.

The fabric thing is because the walls are terrible and Charlie was a designer. He designed clothing and costumes. He would, we would, we did these kitchen walls three times. Charlie would find a fabric that he liked. It was orange first, then brown then black. He would sew the panels together and then we would get up on the ladder with a staple gun and start laying it around the room. It’s smooth and then you can’t see the walls behind it, which are just a disaster.





What do you love about the apartment?

What I love about this apartment is that it represents our life together. I have not changed the phone message since Charlie passed away in September. If you call you will hear “you have reached Terry and Charlie.” I’ll get to it. I’m not ready yet.

In this moment in time, this is our home. This is where we lived. I went back to college and got a new career. We did everything we needed to do to live a life together. This was our home base. This was Charlie’s sanctuary. Sometimes he had a little trouble with the world. He felt safe here.











If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.

Educator: Turning the former Church of the Nativity into luxury housing would be a 'sordid use' of the property

[EVG file photo]

I haven't heard anything the former Church of the Nativity on Second Avenue in almost a year to the date.

On Dec. 2, 2017, Friends of Nativity Church and the Cooper Square Community Land Trust held a prayer service and advocated that the property be used for low-incoming housing.

First, some background before getting to the point of bringing this up now.

The church closed in July 2015 as part of a massive consolidation reportedly due to changing demographics and a shortage of priests available to say mass. The Church of the Nativity merged with the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The Friends of Nativity had previously proposed a Dorothy Day Shrine and retreat center with services for the homeless at 44 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street. (Read more about that proposal here.)

This past summer, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York desacralized the former church, clearing the way for a potential sale of the desirable property.

Last Thursday, Rebecca Amato, a professor at NYU and associate director of the school's Urban Democracy Lab, presented on the Church of the Nativity at the Pontifical Council for Culture’s international conference on cultural heritage in Rome. The topic of the conference, "Doesn’t God Dwell Here Anymore?," facilitated discussion about reusing church landholdings after they are decommissioned.

According to her presentation, the Archdiocese of New York has sold at least 19 sacred properties for luxury development since 1996. (Hello Steiner East Village!)

In an interview with the National Catholic Reporter published Monday, Amato makes her case for using the site for the needy. (H/T to The Lo-Down who linked to this article yesterday.)

An excerpt from the article:

Amato ... said former parishioners proposed to purchase the decommissioned church for $18 million to develop low-income, senior and homeless family housing.

The alternative plan is to sell the property for a reported $50 million and build a luxury residential development, which Amato said would be a "sordid use" of a once-sacred edifice.

Although not all of the residents in the area were parishioners, decommissioned churches like the Church of the Nativity continue to be an integral part of "the fabric of a neighborhood," Amato said.

"Those are the kind of things that are destroyed by global investment firms, but they shouldn't be destroyed by the archdiocese; they shouldn't be behaving the same way," Amato said.

The proposal to convert the parish into low-income housing would greatly benefit the residents near the church, Amato said. Predominantly made up of Catholics of Puerto Rican descent, residents find themselves not only "displaced by housing issues, evictions, rising land costs but now they're being displaced by their own Catholic Church, by the archdiocese."

"So, the idea of selling this property — that is so associated with the Catholic Worker [Movement] and advocacy for the poor — for $50 million is astounding on so many levels."

And the Archdiocese's take:

Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the New York Archdiocese, acknowledged that several proposals for the site were reviewed, including the proposal submitted by the church's former parishioners.

Nevertheless, he said, "the parish needs to receive fair market value for the property so that the parish and the archdiocese can continue to meet the pastoral, charitable, educational — and housing — needs of the people we serve."

Zwilling also explained that the proposed sale of the property "is by and for the parish, not the archdiocese."

He also said that proceeds from the sale of the Church of the Nativity, which was merged in 2015 with a neighboring parish — Most Holy Redeemer — would not go to the archdiocese, but the parish.

You can read another interview with Amato along with more background in this article at America Magazine.

Not mentioned in this articles: This past July, Provincial Superior Father Paul Borowski announced during a mass at the Most Holy Redeemer that the Redemptorists would be turning the parish back to the archdiocese in the summer of 2019. (Among other reasons, he cited older and fewer priests.) As I understand it, the church, which was completed in 1852, will be administered by a Diocesan priest starting next summer.

Previously on EV Grieve:
As the Church of the Nativity closes for good tonight, take a look at the original structure

Parishioners fight to save the Church of the Nativity on 2nd Avenue

Parishioners hope their prayers are answered with former Nativity space on 2nd Avenue

Preservationists: City schedules next public hearing on tech hub without any public notice

[Tech hub endering via RAL Development]

The proposed tech hub at the site of the now-former PC Richard complex on 14th Street at Irving Place is making its way through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Back on Friday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer's office released her recommendation (see more on that below).

The application now moves to the City Planning Commission before a deciding vote by City Council later this year.

As previously reported, the 21-story building would house a digital skills training center, flex-office space for startups, market-rate office space and a food hall, among other things.

To make this happen, the site/area needs to be upzoned. This zoning change is of particular concern to some area residents and preservationists, who have stressed that the fabric of the neighborhood could be lost with a large number of out-of-context new developments south of Union Square along Broadway, University Place and Fourth Avenue.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has been leading the efforts behind a rezoning of the area to enforce some height restrictions and affordable housing requirements.

Now GVSHP officials have just learned that the city scheduled the next public hearing for tomorrow afternoon — without any actual public notice.

Here's an email via the GVSHP:

Last Friday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer released her recommendation on the proposed 14th Street Tech Hub, as part of the required public approval process. Brewer initially pledged not to include the need for neighborhood protections to accompany Tech Hub as part of her recommendation, as GVSHP and many others have called for, calling them “unrelated.”

However, GVSHP worked hard to persuade the Borough President that the Tech Hub without neighborhood protections would accelerate rampant overdevelopment in the University Place, Broadway, and 3rd and 4th Avenue corridors, as did thousands of neighborhood residents who wrote or called her. Following this, Brewer issued her recommendation (read the PDF here) including mention of the potential impacts upon the adjacent Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods and the need for neighborhood protections, as GVSHP has proposed and called for.

Outrageously, directly following this, the City scheduled the sole City Planning Commission public hearing on this matter for this Wednesday, May 9 with virtually no public notification (as of this morning, the city’s own Land Use Tracking System had still not shown that the City Planning Commission hearing had even been scheduled). Adding insult to injury, this item is scheduled as the LAST item on a long agenda for the day, making it virtually impossible to say how late in the day this item will be heard.

DON'T LET THE MAYOR CUT YOU OUT OF THE PROCESS FOR DETERMINING THE FATE OF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!

You can read more here.

In late February, CB3 approved a land use application to create the tech hub. In doing so, CB3 also included an amendment in their resolution calling for zoning protection.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

P.C. Richard puts up the moving signs on 14th Street; more Tech Hub debate to come

Report: CB3 OKs proposal for Union Square tech hub; calls for zoning protections

Films on the Green to play in Tompkins Square Park on 2 Friday nights in July

Films on the Green, the free outdoor French film festival produced annually by the French Embassy, FACE Foundation and NYC Parks, announced its slate of summer movies yesterday.

First, here's this year's theme:

From Parisian bistros to the vineyards of southern France, the 2018 Films on the Green lineup through a selection of 12 classic and contemporary French films explores the profound relationship between French culture and gastronomy, an integral part of France's social fabric.

Tompkins Square Park will once again play host to the series on the following Friday nights:

• July 6 — "Le Boucher." IMBD describes the 1970 thriller this way: "An unlikely friendship between a dour, working class butcher and a repressed schoolteacher coincides with a grisly series of Ripper-type murders in a provincial French town." (FWIW, this is on Roger Ebert's Great Movies list.)

• July 13 — "Romantics Anonymous" (or if you want, "Les émotifs anonymes"). Per IMDB: "Romantics Anonymous is a 2010 French-Belgian romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Améris and starring Benoît Poelvoorde and Isabelle Carré."

In keep with the culinary theme of this year's festival, maybe hit up Ray's Candy Store beforehand for some beignets.

Gothamist turns to Kickstarter to speed up its return

Back in February news broke that Gothamist was returning, thanks to WNYC and its parent company New York Public Radio — along with two anonymous donors — who had acquired the local news site's assets.

And yesterday (ICYMI), the Gothamist co-founders launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $100,000 by May 4.

Per Kickstarter:

And now it’s our priority to build out the site and bring back the Gothamist you love. We aim to get Gothamist back to full strength and make it sustainable for years to come.

With your support, Gothamist will have the resources to expand coverage of issues that are vital to the social fabric of New York City: transportation, affordable housing, gentrification, demonic landlords, immigration, and the living wage struggle. We’re proud of our past work on these topics—as well as our vibrant culture and food reporting—and we’re committed to deepening and diversifying our coverage of New York City.

Gothamist is now a part of member supported New York Public Radio, which is a registered 501c3. Your pledge is tax deductible, minus the value and/services of your selected reward and credit card processing and Kickstarter fees. At the end of the campaign, when we reach our goal and credit card transactions are completed, we will send out tax acknowledgement letters.

It’s simple: all funds raised with this Kickstarter will go to funding Gothamist. The first $100,000 will help revive the website and bring back our popular newsletter. It will also enable us to preserve the Gothamist and DNAinfo archives. But this is just the beginning. The more we raise, the better we can serve you.

As of this morning, they'd already raised more than $73,000.

And a few more details via the Observer:

It might seem strange for a site to crowdfund after being acquired by another company. But the Kickstarter funds, along with the funding for the acquisition, will help Gothamist relaunch faster than it would have otherwise.

“We were fortunate to be able to quickly shore up the support we needed to make the acquisition by connecting with funders who share our commitment to local journalism,” Jennifer Houlihan Roussel, vice president of communications for New York Public Radio, told Observer. “The Kickstarter will enable us to launch as quickly and as robustly as possible.”

Dobkin will handle strategy and revenue at the new Gothamist, while co-founder Jen Chung will be in charge of editorial matters.

After this initial funding push, Gothamist will transition to WNYC’s fundraising model, which relies on membership, philanthropy and sponsorship. Dobkin said he hopes to garner 10,000 to 20,000 subscribers for the site and also woo new advertisers.

Publisher Joe Ricketts abruptly shut down Gothamist and DNAinfo last Nov. 2 after the newsrooms of both sites voted to join the Writers Guild of America East. DNAinfo, however, will not be returning. Its archives will remain online.

In unrelated news about local sites, prospects remain at their dimmest for a return of EV Heave, though the publisher will listen to offers in the two-figure range, we're told.

For further reading:
Gothamist's Kickstarter Raises More Questions Than It Answers (Splinter)

Reminders: CB3 committees to hear more about the Union Square tech hub tonight

[Rendering via RAL Development]

As noted back on Jan. 25, CB3's Joint Economic Development Committee and Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee will hear more about the Mayor's proposed 20-story tech hub on 14th Street during its meeting tonight. (It takes place at 6:30 at the Henry Street Settlement, Youth Services Gymnasium, 301 Henry St.)

Mayor de Blasio is proposing to turning the city-owned P.C. Richard site on 14th Street at Irving Place into a "workforce development and digital skills training center," among other things.

Here's more about the proposed 240,000 square-foot facility via Crain's:

Civic Hall, a nonprofit that promotes collaboration to solve civic problems with technology, would operate six floors of the building. Half the space would be used for co-working and meetings for the city’s philanthropy, business and tech sectors. The other half is slated to be occupied by five organizations offering tech training. General Assembly, for example, hosts intense coding courses. Per Scholas, a national nonprofit, offers its free tech training to underserved populations that, on average, make less than $20,000 per year before enrolling in and roughly double that income after graduating.

To make this happen, the site/area needs to be upzoned. This zoning change is of particular concern to some area residents and preservationists, who have stressed that the fabric of the neighborhood could be lost with a rash of new developments south of Union Square along Broadway, University Place and Fourth Avenue. (The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has been leading the efforts behind a rezoning of the area to enforce some height restrictions and affordable housing requirements. The group makes their case here.)

On Jan. 29, the Economic Development Corporation, the city agency overseeing the hub's development, presented the proposal to the Planning Commission, the first step in the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), as Curbed reported.

The tech-hub project will eventually need Planning Commission and City Council approval. The public-review process is expected to take about around seven months. Crain's lays out here why the hub faces "a thorny approval process."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

P.C. Richard puts up the moving signs on 14th Street; more Tech Hub debate to come

CB3 committees to hear update from city on proposed 14th Street tech hub

[Rendering via NYCEDC]

Tomorrow (Wednesday) night, there's a joint meeting between two Community Board 3 committees to hear an update from the city on the "proposed workforce development and digital skills training center" at 124 E. 14th St.

This is the so-called tech hub at the city-owned site that P.C. Richard currently leases on 14th Street at Irving Place.

Last February, the de Blasio administration unveiled the renderings for Civic Hall featuring "a tech-focused work and event space" that will anchor the 20-plus story building.

Per the city's news release on Civic Hall:

“This new hub will be the front-door for tech in New York City. People searching for jobs, training or the resources to start a company will have a place to come to connect and get support. No other city in the nation has anything like it. It represents this City’s commitment to a strong and inclusive tech ecosystem,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

As you may recall, this announcement prompted another push by local residents who fear that the fabric of the neighborhood will be destroyed by a host of new developments south of Union Square along Broadway, University Place and Fourth Avenue. (And not to mention the Moxy hotel coming to 11th Street.)

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has been leading the efforts behind a rezoning of the area to enforce some height restrictions and affordable housing requirements. The GVSHP lays out their case here.

The tech-hub project needs Planning Commission and City Council approval.

Tomorrow's meeting of the Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee and Economic Development Committee starts at 6:30 p.m. This is listed as the first item to be discussed. The meeting takes place at the University Settlement, Speyer Hall, 184 Eldridge St. between Rivington and Delancey.

For more background, NY1 covered the story on Saturday here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood