In op-ed, Raphael Toledano says that he wants 'to make the East Village a better place'

In an article published last week, The Villager reported that the residents living in East Fifth Street buildings newly aquired by Raphael Toledano's Brook Hill Properties had "documented more than 140 interactions, altercations and outright threats by Toledano and his camp during the two-month period from this July 8 through Sept. 8."

In a Talking Point column in this week's paper, The Villager lets the 25-year-old Toledano outline his plans for the neighborhood:

The reason I chose to grow my business in this beautiful neighborhood is simple: I believe in the East Village. I am not here to transform this community, rather I am determined to become a part of the fabric of the neighborhood that so many wonderful New Yorkers call home.

And!

My plans for these buildings are simple. We want to renovate the apartments and common areas, improve the outward appearance and take suggestions from tenants for how to make the East Village the ultimate live / work / play community.

Beyond that, we are committed to making meaningful contributions to improve the welfare of the community. I have been engaged with a number of organizations to find out what we can do to help, and I look forward to announcing new partnerships in the next few weeks. But in the meantime, what you need to know is that my company is here to make the East Village a better place.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Report: Uncle suing nephew broker Raphael Toledano over $100 million East Village deal

Report: Raphael Toledano completes purchase of 16-building East Village portfolio

Brook Hill Properties launches chocolate offensive

More about alleged harassment and landlord visits via Brook Hill Properties

Opposition to The Living Room moving to East Second Street

[Photo by Edward Arrocha]

The Living Room is on tonight's CB3/SLA committee docket. The Ludlow Street venue — dubbed "NYC's Best Acoustic Listening Room" on their Facebook page — is looking to take over the space on East Second Street that currently houses Klean & Kleaner, the laundromat that has lost its lease and is expected to close very soon.

We've covered all this before. A quick recap:

This potential Living Room move was a topic of conversation during a community meeting back in March. Co-owner Jennifer Gilson attended that meeting, and made her case on why the Living Room would be a good neighbor, such as shows for kids, use of the space for neighborhood fund-raisers and no pub crawls.

However, from the meeting, East Second Street residents said that they are "vehemently opposed to the possibility of The Living Room" in that space for a variety of reasons, including:

• East 2nd Street is a residential side street whose residents include a large number of seniors and families with young children.
• As a residential street, we already endure excessive noise due to late night crowds from the many bars and restaurants already on our block and nearby.
• While we believe The Living Room is a wonderful part of the cultural fabric of New York City, its presence at 173 East 2nd Street will severely and negatively impact our quality of life.

Ahead of tonight's meeting, someone placed these flyers along East Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B encouraging people to come out against the Living Room's plans tonight ... a reader sent this one from inside his building on that block...



We've also heard from people who very much want to see The Living Room stay in these parts ... instead of being pushed to Brooklyn. The Living Room currently has a lease on Ludlow Street through August, as BoweryBoogie has noted.

Previously.

[Updated] City makes McSorley's wipe away 100 years of history, remove Minnie McSorley

The dust busters at the DOH told McSorley's that management had to clean up the bar's famous wishbones, placed there by doughboys headed off to war...

Per Dan Barry's article at the Times:

So, with heavy heart, the proprietor, Matthew Maher, 70, climbed up a small ladder. With curatorial care, he took down the two-dozen dust-cocooned wishbones dangling on an old gas lamp above the storied bar counter. He removed the clouds of gray from each bone. Then he placed every one of the bones, save for those that crumbled at his touch, back onto the gas lamp — where, in the context of this dark and wonderful establishment, they are not merely the scrap remains of poultry, but holy relics.

And!

[T]imes have changed: old New York and new New York remain in conflict, and old New York is losing. For example, lounging cats had been a furry part of the McSorley fabric since Lincoln. But word recently came down from City Hall: no cats. A longtime regular, Minnie, has been barred as a result.

Save Minnie!



We reached out to Minnie via Facebook. She told us the following.

"I actually contacted Mr. Barry hoping he'd do a follow-up to his previous column on the wishbones. He asked about my current status, and I explained that Mr. Maher has said I'm not allowed into the bar during drinking hours...officially. Since the only heat I want coming down is from the stove, that's the fact as it must be reported and as we must maintain.

It's a sad turn of events about the bones."

Billy's big-top tent comes down this weekend; here's a last look inside

By now you probably know that Billy's Antiques on Houston at the Bowery has closed to make way for a two-story brick building... (Billy says that he will return!)

The iconic tent is coming down this weekend... Here's a last look inside the tent ...

Actually, you'll be able to take a look inside yourself starting tomorrow night at 7...

From the news release that is making the rounds...

After nearly three decades in business the infamous Tent housing Billy's Antiques and Props on Bowery and Houston will be taken down forever. Shop owner Billy Leroy, Proprietor Tony Goldman of Goldman Properties and the filmmakers behind "Dirty Old Town" a feature narrative that prefigured this moment, have come together to host a final farewell celebration. The evening will be hosted by renown New York writer and personality Anthony Haden Guest, featuring a line-up of eulogists and performers...

On the next day, Saturday, March 10th at 3pm, the tent will begin itʼs first phase of demolition. The tarps and fabric, enduring over 30 years of New York weather, both cultural and environmental, will be taken down forever. In a gothic burial ceremony, the “Flesh” of the tent will be peeled from the skeletal “Bones” of the structure and placed in a coffin. The coffin will be paraded around the block by pallbearers, while a funeral march is strummed by guitarist and tent-matriarch Lorraine Leckie. The coffin will be chained to the inside fence, and the remaining hollow structure will be painted fire-engine red in the days to follow. This theatrical end was the brain-child of landlord Tony Goldman, Leroy and filmmaker Jenner Furst...

Going out in style...

Meanwhile, you can catch Billy on the Travel Channel starting April 11...

A liquidation sale at La Sirena on 3rd Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

A liquidation sale continues at La Sirena, the longtime Mexican artisan shop at 27 E. Third St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

In an email about the in-shop-only sale, owner Dina Leor said: "Long story short, we have enough for four stores, and we want to empty. We'd rather you enjoy it than have it saved."

Here's more:

Everything is handmade by artisans from many regions of Mexico. Our mission has always been to help and support artisans and craft traditions.

We have a lot of embroidered clothes, textiles, ceramics, hand-carved wooden masks, jewelry (handmade silver earrings and others too), Talavera ceramics, Gorky Gonzales ceramics, home decor, wall art, tin art, leather and fabric wallets and purses, Halloween art, sombreros, good luck charms, statues of saints, Mexican wrestling masks and souvenirs, baskets, market bags, hand woven blankets, paper flowers and much more. 

She said the liquidation runs through Aug. 31.

Asked on Instagram if she was closing the shop, she wrote: "First liquidating storage and then we'll see. I believe in miracles."

The shop is open from noon to 7 p.m. daily. Questions? You can call La Sirena at (212) 780-9113. Check out @LaSirena_nyc here. 

The Gallery Watch Q&A: Dana Robinson on 'Ebony Reprinted'

Interview by Clare Gemima 

Photos courtesy of Dana Robinson 

Dana Robinson is part of a group show titled “Homecoming: Artist Alumni Exhibition” at Kates-Ferri Projects, 561 Grand St. (near Madison Street). I had the chance to talk with Dana about her work on display, “Ebony Reprinted.” 

How did your series “Ebony Reprinted” begin, and what inspired your initial intrigue into this particular research area? 

It started during the summer when I was between years in grad school at SVA. I was having a very lazy summer but wanted to create some sort of fast work in the studio that contrasted against the incredibly tedious work I was making previously. I wanted to make fun of myself and the process of painting. 

I became really interested in Ebony magazine because it was one of the only mass-produced publications I could think of that had a lot of Black women in it. I wanted to reflect back on my work and bring more Black people into art. I also love that Ebony is for everyone — it’s a family magazine that focuses on an ideal version of the Black family. 

How many copies of Ebony Magazine do you own, and how did you source the issues that you use in your making? 

I have maybe 30 magazines; I don’t really keep track. But I get them off of eBay mostly. 

Is there a specific time period that your series focuses on? What is the historical span of your source material? 

Yes. The 1950s to 1970s. Any older than that, and the magazines disintegrate. The historical span of my source material shows an interesting transition in print, from including ads for skin lightening cream to making ads about how Black is beautiful and showing women with afros. 

Can you explain the process behind each of your paintings, from start to finish? 

I put down an image from the magazine and place a piece of flexible clear plastic on it. I then paint the image and place the painted piece of plastic onto the wooden panel, making a monoprint. It’s as though I am inking a stamp. 

Does each image you choose to work with hold any personal or sentimental value? What makes you want to interact with specific pages in the magazine? 

Each image shows a version of life that I can relate to. They are not images from my life, but they are familiar. And through reproducing them in this way, I feel like I understand them more, and I start to understand life more. 

What work has achieved the best effect or finish out of the series? What piece would you mind never selling? 

I’m never selling “With a Little Help from Fashion Fair Cosmetics” (2020, below) because it was the first time I figured out that I could scale up, and I was really onto something interesting. It has also been featured in so many articles, and it feels special.

Conceptually speaking, does your process aim to rewrite, reclaim or renavigate the use, purpose or exoticization of Black or African American people/models in editorials? What can a viewer learn from your series? 

I’m giving myself the ability to reproduce images that I’m reflected in on my own terms. I’m looking in at myself and Black people and recognizing our humanity, dimension, and flaws. I am taking the time to love all of us. 

What other painters, writers, performers or entertainers do you feel most aligned with artistically? 

I love my friends’ work, especially Joselia Rebekah Hughes, Carlos Rosales-Silva, Alison Kuo, Destiny Belgrave, Stina Puotinen and Jia Sung. I love all of the work for their colors and humor. In the way they put their work together, an intense generosity and care to others carry through. I think this is really special and something I’m always working towards. 

Do you explore other mediums besides acrylic paint? 

Yes, I’ve been working with fabric a lot. Most recently, I have been using found-fabrics to make quilt-like works that I plan to stretch. I also make silk paintings, some of which were recently on display at the Wassaic Project, and I will soon have a different series at Fuller Rosen Gallery in Portland in a few weeks. I also make watercolor/ gouache paintings, collages, and do some leatherworking. 

How did you get involved with Kates-Ferri Projects, and do you feel as though your practice has expanded or become different in any way since this relationship began? 

Haha. I met Natalie Kates at the Untitled art fair in 2019. I had recently graduated, and I had worked in the SVA booth. Natalie loved my work, bought a piece and the rest was history. It truly spoke volumes that she was willing to invest in me that way. She asked me to be the first artist in residence and, of course, I said yes. My practice has grown, yes. I feel more confident about doing what feels right and making mistakes. 

What’s in store for your studio practice in the future? Any shows in the pipeline? 

So many shows! BAITBALL — a group show at Palazzo San Giuseppe in Italy. One at 92nd Street YMCA in New York — a two-person show with Maya Varadaraj through the gallery, Medium Tings. There are three solo shows: one at A.I.R Gallery, one at Haul Gallery, both in Brooklyn, and then one at Fuller Rosen Gallery in Portland, Ore. 

What co-exhibitors from “Homecoming: Artist Alumni Exhibition” excite you the most, either with their work or overall studio approach? 

I love Eric Manuel Santoscoy Mckillip’s work, especially the way it references architecture and its colors and stucco textures. It feels like you’re getting these special memories — maybe they are daydreams. 

I also grew up in Florida, so that texture is so special to me because most houses had stucco. For me, it’s literally the texture of home. I also love Ryan Brown’s sand-filled dogs, and those are works that I’d want to pick up and hug forever.

Kates-Ferri Projects is open from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. “Homecoming: Artist Alumni Exhibition” is on display through April 2.

~~~~~~

Clare Gemima is a visual artist and arts writer from New Zealand, now based in the East Village of New York. You can find her work here: claregemima.com

At the Moxy hotel protest on 11th Street last evening

[Photo by Derek Berg]

A group of residents, preservationists, local elected officials and union reps came out early last evening to protest the incoming hotel by Marriott's Moxy brand slated to replace a row of buildings at 112-120 E. 11th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

The speakers blasted Mayor de Blasio's administration, who despite the purported dedication to affordable housing, is allowing the 300-room hotel aimed at millennials to move forward.

The Lightstone Group paid Pan Am Equities $127 million for the portfolio.

In July 2015, Mayor de Blasio appointed Lightstone Chairman and CEO David Lichtenstein to the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Board of Directors.

According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who helped organize the rally, the five buildings were ruled "landmark-eligible" by the city in 2008. However, when the buildings faced the threat of demolition this past summer, the city said that they no longer qualified for landmark status, per GVSHP.


[DB]


[DB]


[Photo by Peter Brownscombe]


[Photo by PB]

Here are a collection of comments distributed to the media following last evening's rally..

"Community groups, preservationists, affordable housing advocates, and labor all agree that this development stinks. Something is wrong when a Mayor who claims to care about neighborhoods, average New Yorkers, affordable housing, and organized labor allows his campaign contributor and political ally to avoid landmark protections so he can demolish historic buildings with affordable housing to put up a high-end hotel with non-union labor. Preserving these buildings and the housing they provided represents everything New Yorkers and residents of this neighborhood want; the hotel plan represents everything they do not want." — Andrew Berman, GVSHP Executive Director

“It is disappointing, but sadly not surprising, that a project like Lightstone Development’s Moxy Hotel on 11th Street has been approved by the City of New York. Disappointing because it will eliminate desperately needed neighborhood affordable housing, provide no decent career pathways for New Yorkers, and is being driven by a developer known to use contractors with a history of safety violations and worker exploitation ... Not surprising because Mayor de Blasio’s appointment of Lightstone’s CEO David Lichtenstein to the EDC raises serious concerns about who is watching out for the public good of the city’s economic driver plans." — John Skinner, President/Political Director Metallic Lathers Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 46


[Photo of Rosie Mendez by PB]

"I stand by my original statement and my continued disappointment that we are losing five buildings in my district that contained several dozen affordable rent regulated units, as well as the fact that these were architecturally and historically significant buildings built in the late 1800s. Instead we will have a hotel that will be architecturally out of character and out of scale with our neighborhood. I am extremely disappointed that this mayoral administration has not come forward with any legislative/zoning solutions to prevent these types of 'as of right developments' from reoccurring. — Council Member Rosie Mendez


[Photo of Brad Hoylman by PB]

"It’s wrong that units of affordable housing on an historic East Village block are slated to be demolished and replaced forever by expensive hotel rooms by a developer who has a poor safety record in protecting workers. This case is a glaring example of the work we need to do to protect the historic fabric and character of our neighborhoods and ensure we use union labor for new construction." — State Senator Brad Hoylman

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

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

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 (58 comments)

Out and About in the East Village

In this ongoing feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village or Lower East Side.



By James Maher

Name: Ronald Rayford
Occupation: Actor, Writer
Location: 4th Street and Avenue A
Time: Monday, Nov. 13

I’m from Buffalo. I was living in Chicago when I was 23. I didn’t like it right then, so I said, hey, I’m looking for a job, I can find a job in New York. I started out in Brooklyn, around Nostrand Avenue, but I knew somebody in the neighborhood, and eventually I got an apartment on Avenue C and 10th Street. That was about 1967.

I got a job at a haberdashery, a tailor shop on 125th Street. I worked for him for awhile and I was going back and forth from there to the Lower East Side, down to Orchard Street to pick up the fabric. It was bigger then, much more stuff was going on back then.

There were some good spots and some bad spots, but as I look back on it there were a lot of bad spots. The area on Seventh Street was kind of rundown but so was 10th Street. My friend who encouraged me to come to New York died on 10th Street. Aww man, it was a bad scene.

Truth be told, I got into some drug situations for a time back then — I’ve got to tell the truth. Eventually I got busted with some drugs on me. I was in the Tombs — they were overcrowded. They were putting so many people in there. There was a riot while I was in there in 1969. They were rioting against the way they were treated. I was in there for about 90 days but then I got sentenced and they sent me up to Dannemora from there.

After that I got out. My mind was clear of the drugs. I started acting with Woodie King down here at the Henry Street Settlement, and they gave me a little money too. That was part of some program in the neighborhood.

Then I had a woman that I knew, she came down here to be with me and we had a child. From there, I started acting seriously in plays and stuff like that. I got into a play that Woodie and Joe Papp produced at Lincoln Center, so I got a break there. It was called "What the Wine-Sellers Buy." Then another break came in "Saturday Night Live," and I was on there for a little while. I was studying with the Strasberg institute, studying acting

Then I broke up with the wife and I went back to the drug thing like a fool. I stayed in that drug thing for a couple of decades. Then from there I had another son and that cleared my mind up even more. Since then, I’ve been pretty much on the straight and narrow.

People get a bad deal with the issue on drugs. In Norway, Denmark, and other countries, they stopped their war on drugs because war on drugs translates to a war on Black folks. Because of this war on drugs, people are incarcerated at a massive rate — it’s incredible. They are not helping the people at all, but now seeing that it’s moved into other communities other than this particular community, now it ain’t just junkies, dope dealers – they are opiate addicted. They put a whole new name on it, you dig? They knew that in the 1970s, Oliver North and others were bringing that stuff into communities all over this country, and they incarcerated all these people. How they could not see this stuff is insane? This is not a policy to help the people. It’s a genocidal policy on the people.

And now with the aid of Mr. Sessions and Mr. Trump, they want to reinstitute this policy that the previous president had tried to break down a little bit. It’s just another name for slavery, because it’s free labor, and it goes deeper than that, because with unpaid internships, that’s another form of slavery. Anytime you’re talking about free labor, you’re talking about slavery. It’s basically because the working class has collapsed, so something’s got to change.

These days I’m doing very little acting. I would like to do it when I can. I did a few things, something I started over at the Theatre for New City. And I’m doing a little writing now too. But now I would say my focus is on activism. I met some very interesting people, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Amy Goodman, Van Jones, and Jacqui Lewis, who is head pastor of the Middle Collegiate Church on Seventh Street and Second Avenue.

Right now, what I’m doing is I am part of this group in the church called the Butterflies. They carry the food, and sometimes I help them make the food, put them in sandwich bags and lunch bags, and take them out to Tompkins Square Park and to Sara Roosevelt Park. That’s activism.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

You may need some boots for this walk

As you know, there's a public hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday in Vanderbilt Hall at NYU's School of Law to discuss the 141-block rezoning of the East Village and Lower East Side.

Ramping up to that, the Daily News went on a walking tour of the neighborhood with Amanda Burden, who chairs the city planning commission and will lead Wednesday's meeting.

Here are a few excerpts from the article:

She looks at each neighborhood block by block, lot by lot. To her, the city is a jewel that needs constant care and safekeeping.

"Each neighborhood has its own personal DNA," says Burden, who had an immediate impact on the city when she took her position in 2002 by allowing restaurants, bars and cafes additional sidewalk space for outdoor dining. "It's my job to find it and save it."

To understand communities, Burden walks miles of city streets. Armed with a tape measure, sunglasses and comfortable yet stylish shoes (she is, after all, a former socialite), the planning commissioner eyes building heights, studies the flow of people and contemplates how an area's past relates to its present and future.

"It's my job to affect the process for the betterment of the people who live here, shop here and own businesses here," says Burden, pointing to the row of iron fire escapes that give a sculptural frame to the brown brick tenement buildings of the lower East Side.

"I picture myself part of the community. Here, there is a vibrant commercial and residential history. We want to keep ground-floor retail and ensure nothing can be built that will take away from the symmetry of these historic buildings. The magic here is in the density of people using these streets and living together."

"This wasn't here two weeks ago," Burden says, sneering at a vacant lot. "There was a building. Once you lose a building, you lose character and history. The Bloomberg administration is about growth and preservation. This is why we have to act fast to change the zoning, so developers aren't allowed to come in here and build whatever they chose. I don't mind a building that is in context with the others, meaning the same height with architectural guidelines, but small streets shouldn't have large development."

Orchard St. bustles on a Sunday afternoon. People shop, eat outside and ride bikes on narrow streets. Some construction sites show tall buildings made of concrete with no ground-floor retail.

"I'm biased toward skyscrapers," says Henry Brown, a physics student at City College who moved to the neighborhood from St. Louis. "I like them. I don't like ugly buildings. But even if they rezone, won't all these modern stores still look different than the old ones?"

"The essence of the East Village is tree-lined cool streets, small boutiques and community gardens," Burden says, walking along Avenue B toward Tompkins Square Park. "That's its DNA. Once you break it down to that fabric, you can act. Here, we want five- to seven-story buildings and small retail on the first and second floors. And we have to ensure these gardens stay put. No other community has this asset."

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

A journey into the COZMOS on 10th Street

Photos and interview by Stacie Joy 

Since debuting last August, COZMOS has hosted an array of eclectic events from its retail storefront space at 280 E. 10th St. just west of Avenue A... starting with a conversation with longtime East Village photographer-artist Steven Hirsch.

Aside from more traditional art exhibits (such as the current showing of East Village photographer Daniel Root's "The Bars We've Lost series), there have been sessions on the art of dream interpretation and a musical event with improvisational dance and an oboe recital.

The retail side of the business is just as eclectic, with a particular emphasis on perfume and scented products. 

I recently met with co-owners Anton Relin (left below) and Vlad Makarkin to learn more about COZMOS.

Anton: Vlad and I met at college. I'm originally from Florida, and he is from Siberia. We connected in a class about Chekhov and ended up having a variety of projects, including bringing Russian opposition members to Philadelphia. 

We came up with the name because we wanted to capture the hopefulness of the moon landing — a moment when everyone came together and was hopeful for the future of humanity. The space age impacted me because I grew up just a few hours outside Cape Canaveral and would stand outside and see every rocket launch there. 

The COZMOS is also the universe, and there is so much that we want to encapsulate. I'd like for us to be hopeful for the future again. Perhaps it's a bit naive, but I think that we can regain hope if we enjoy more moments together in person.

For me, this space is my personal vendetta against the digital world we live in — for the brands in the space, I want to build an alternative to marketing online. Through that, I want to sponsor the arts we have in the neighborhood. 

I've lived in the East Village for a short while now and can say that I love this neighborhood. Like so many other neighborhoods in NYC, we are losing, piece by piece, what makes it special. Lucy's was a big piece of what made the neighborhood special. Ludwika represents the fabric of the immigrant community of the LES, a stalwart immigrant business owner who has contributed to the culture and nature of the neighborhood for over 40 years. 

We celebrated the opening of one of our last exhibits, "Connected COZMOS," at Lucy's. Now, during our current exhibit, we eulogize it and the other bars our neighborhood has lost. 

As the cultural landscape gets erased, we lose what makes neighborhoods special, but perhaps, with a little trying, we can preserve and even grow what we have left. 

Do we want to expand? I want the model to expand — in my perfect world, there would be at least one space in every neighborhood that works to preserve that neighborhood's history and culture. And then, perhaps we can help save what makes every community unique.

Vlad: My aspirations and dreams for COZMOS are very similar to Anton's. 

Anton and I have been friends for almost 10 years, and last summer, we finally launched COZMOS together. Previously, we spent a lot of time working with digital companies, and we both got scared by the trends we were observing. 

Personally, I've never been a fan of digital. I never really used social media. I got my first-ever smartphone in college. I went on a scholarship to spend my last two years of high school at an alternative boarding school in the middle of a Canadian forest, with no phones allowed — and those were some of the best years of my life.

With increasingly more resources going towards digital, I hope there is still room and desire to explore the real world. This is what COZMOS is for me — a place to explore real life, an anti-metaverse, the universe. We make this possible by helping companies tell their stories in real life inside our space, and these companies provide us with resources to run events that celebrate real life. 

As for my relationship with the East Village, COZMOS is the primary reason I moved here. Before, Anton and I spent a lot of time discussing the best place for COZMOS, and while Anton was always rooting for the EV, I was initially hesitant. 

But the moment I set foot inside Tompkins Square Park, I knew COZMOS had to start here — the people and energy felt very fitting for what we ventured to build. We were lucky enough to find a small storefront for rent right by the park at the corner of 10th and Avenue A. 

Living and running COZMOS in the East Village has exceeded my expectations. We've met many wonderful people who just walked into our store and became part of COZMOS through the artistic projects we put together in our space. Outside COZMOS, I have experienced, seen, and felt so much just by walking around the neighborhood. 

COZMOS is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Check out their future events here. (The Daniel Root photography is up through Sunday.) Use this link to follow them on Instagram.

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher
Names: Kathy Kemp (left) and Kimberle Vogan
Occupations: Clothing designer/owner, employee at Anna
Location: Anna, 11th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave.
Time: Friday, May 2 at 4:30 pm

Kathy: I’m from outside of Reading, Pennsylvania. It was a pretty small town. I usually just tell people I’m from Philadelphia. I was 23 when I moved to Philadelphia. I went to college there and studied cultural anthropology and then I didn’t know what I was doing, so I moved here with a friend.

I never was drawn to New York City or the East Village but I was always interested. Somehow I landed here. I knew I wanted to do something in fashion but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had friends who were stylists and then someone said to me, ‘You should just do something that you love. Think about what you love and what you are good at.’ I thought, ‘Well, I’ve always made clothing and I know how to sew really well. I love shopping. I’ll open a store!’

What a great idea, because I didn’t have any money at all, but I looked around and found a place on East 3rd Street in 1995. Then it was definitely doable; there were people doing it all over. It was stupid and easy if you wanted to take the chance. If you just wanted to, you could blow the $3,000 that you had, go have fun, and meet a lot of new people and connections. Now you can’t even do that. I feel really sorry for people today who want to do this, because it’s almost impossible to do it these days.

I had less than $5,000 dollars and my rent was $600 to start but the catch was that my store used to be a drug-dealing place that sold cocaine and pot. The place had just been busted; it was broken apart. It used to be called Village Bikes — a bike shop that wasn’t really a bike shop. I walked in there and the police must have smashed everything, including the electrical box. We went back to the bathroom area and the toilet was completely smashed down to the sewer line. The only other thing that was in the space, besides smashed-up stuff and graffiti and old, smashed up florescent lights, was this huge mound of bikes in the middle, to make it a convincing bike store to be in. I had to clear those away and underneath all of the bikes was a giant hole in the floor that you could see the basement through. That was why it was $600 a month.

Then after I opened my store, for like 10 years afterwards, people used to come in and ask, ‘Is this the bike shop?’ I’d have to say, ‘No, this is a clothing shop.’ And then they’d ask, ‘Oh, well… do you sell bike parts?’ Ironically enough, the bike people had moved to the tire shop down the street. There was a tire shop where the Snack Dragon is now.

Kimberle: If your friend came into town and they got their car broken into you could just go to the tire shop and be like, ‘Yo, can we at least have the luggage back? Can you just keep what’s in it?’ And they’d be like, ‘Well, if you go down to Avenue D on the corner and look in the garbage can, it might be there.’ So you could go there to pick up your lost stolen belongings.

Kathy: People would get meth around the corner and some people would sell it on 3rd Street right out front. They’d go into the phone booths and leave the drugs in a paper bag. They all knew that nobody normal was going into a phone booth these days. Then the next person would come along and pick up the paper bag.

Kimberle: Every Monday and Friday were Meth Monday and Friday. I would go outside and just start sweeping really big and they’d plead me to stop.

Kathy: When I think about it, I was really stupid when I opened up the store, but I was also very, very lucky. I never would have done it knowing everything that I learned the hard way for 20 years. I was lucky because I landed in this spot. It was the 1990s in the East Village. Everyone was so supportive. It seemed like I landed in freelance central, where I was surrounded by writers, so people wrote about me, and stylists, who were walking home from pulling for their jobs and got stuff from my store. Even makeup and hair people would kidnap me and do makeovers on me. It was like a dream.

The first day that I opened my store so many great and amazing people came in that I left thinking it was too good to be true. I left thinking the store was going to burn down because this couldn’t be happening. It was the opposite vibe of now, where everyone walks around seeing what’s closed. It was, what’s new, what’s going on, what’s that going to be?

I opened up at 12 or 1 at the time. I was a workaholic when I first opened. I love the city so much I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t leave for three years at all until I met my husband. I’d wake up and work, do all my fabric sourcing and stuff and I’d go to work and a lot of people from the neighborhood would roll out of bed right as I was opening my gates. People would come in and have their coffee with me. It was really, really cool. A lot of the same people have shopped here since then.

Kimberle: It was like a therapist’s office. Lots of neighborhood people would come in to talk. I’ve worked with Kathy off and on for 17 years, but I shopped here every day for 3 years before I started working here. I was one of the crazies. Every day I shopped here because she got things in all of the time and for a lot of the pieces there are only one or two or three of them, so you want to know what she’s doing and you want that piece. I would come in everyday after work to look for what to wear to work the next day.

Kathy: I design all the clothes now but when I first opened up I was a vintage shop. I immediately realized that if you have a vintage shop, then everyone wants the same thing, so I just started changing everything to look like that one thing. For instance, one of the items that we did was dyed slips. We started dying slips in crazy colors. We dyed them day-glow colors. People were just crazy then. People would come in and would be going out to clubs at night and would want to wear something that was crazy. When I design something, I usually buy the fabric and make the sample on a mannequin or myself and then I give it to my sample maker who I’ve been working with for 17 years. I design everything except the jewelry.

Kimberle: I remember back in the day, it wasn’t always about going home to get ready to go out and planned out like that. You either worked or you didn’t work in the daytime, and if you did or didn’t, you just went over to a coffee shop like Café Limbo and hung out. Sometimes they’d have a sale, and then you might go down and have some Sushi at Avenue A Sushi. You’d go there and get sushi and then you’d go to Anna and somewhere else and you’d pick your outfit.

Kathy: Everyone was trying to outdo everyone, but not in a competitive way — just because it was fun.

We moved to 11th Street nearly two years ago. I loved 3rd Street and I missed my neighbors. It’s hard for me to change. I’m someone who resists change.

Kimberle: Moving to this street seems like a big upgrade to a lot of people. “Wow, you’re on shopping alley and you have all this space.” On 3rd Street we didn’t have a bathroom or a dressing room but it was home. It was the people who came there that made it home. We used to have people just walk around the store in their bras. There would be like 5 people just in their bras. They were comfortable. Those people come here now and it feels like being in a mansion. They want to take their clothes off in the middle of the store and we’re like, ‘there’s a dressing room now.’

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

A coalition of community groups and preservationists hosted a rally last evening titled "Don't Turn Our Neighborhood Into Silicon Alley" on on Third Avenue outside 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star ... and across the street from where a 7-story office building is in the works for the northeast corner of the Avenue at St. Mark's Place...



An estimated 50-75 residents turned out... as well as several elected local officials, such as State Sen. Brad Hoylman.
EVG contributor Peter Brownscombe shared these photos... Curbed has a recap of the rally here, which the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) organized ...

It’s the latest new development that’s destroying the fabric of these neighborhoods, local residents argued at the rally on Wednesday. While Greenwich and East Villagers, along with their outgoing City Council member, Rosie Mendez, have been demanding protections for this area for years, this latest push for rezoning was prompted by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement of a new tech hub at the old P.C. Richard & Son on East 14th Street.

And...

GVSHP is encouraging the mayor to create height restrictions in the area, that would limit building heights to between 80 to 145 feet, and would have incentives for creating affordable housing. [GVSHP Executive Director Andrew] Berman said he wasn’t opposed to the tech hub per se, but was unable to get behind it without all the other neighborhood protections in place. The tech hub can only be approved through a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), and will ultimately come before the City Council for final approval. The incoming City Council member from the area, Carlina Rivera, also backs the zoning protections, so it remains to be seen how the Mayor’s project will fare.

Bedford + Bowery has coverage here.

State Assembly member Deborah Glick said preserving the residential, mixed-use character of the neighborhood was important to maintaining the vibrancy of the East Village and that she was disappointed in the proposed developments. “Seeing New York homogenized during the Bloomberg administration – we thought it would come to an end but it’s only getting worse,” she said. “I want to say to Bill de Blasio: Don’t turn yourself into Bloomberg 2.0. We deserve to keep our open skies, air and light – don’t suffocate us just for a quick buck from developer.”