[Photo on the Bowery and 1st Street by Derek Berg]
• "New York leaders faced an unanticipated crisis as the new coronavirus overwhelmed the nation’s largest city. Their response was marred by missed warning signs and policies that many health-care workers say put residents at greater risk and led to unnecessary deaths." (The Wall Street Journal, subscription may be required)
• The East Village is home to several boutique pilates studios that offer 1-1 sessions. With that in mind, there's a petition in circulation to allow these studios to reopen in Phase 2 instead of Phase 3. Find the petition here.
• There's also a petition to reopen NYC dog runs in Phase 2. Find the petition here.
• City's indie movie houses prepping to reopen later next month (Gothamist)
• And indie bookstores are trying with curbside service (B&B)
According to published reports, Nashom Wooden, a legend in the drag community who lived on the Bowery, has died. Friends say that Wooden died from COVID-19. (Update: According to the Times, he was 50.)
A NYC former drag star, Nashom Wooden (who was Mona Foot), has died of covid-19. Nashom was a treasure.
Wooden's life looks like a history lesson in fabulous downtown culture. He worked as a salesboy at Charivari, the groundbreaking designer fashion chain of stores where Marc Jacobs folded t-shirts as a teen. He later also worked at Pat Field, the eponymous boutique of "Sex & the City" stylist Patricia Field. He first performed in drag at Boy Bar, a gay bar and drag spot on St. Mark's Place famed for their gorgeous Boy Bar Beauties like Miss Guy, Connie Girl, Princess Diandra and Raven O. He did an off-Broadway show, "My Pet Homo," with RuPaul. He was cast in Joel Schumacher's 1999 film, "Flawless," and co-wrote the title song with his group, The Ones. It was a worldwide dance hit.
Since 1997, he had been working as bartender, doorman and DJ at the Cock on Second Avenue.
You can read about Wooden's drag past in this interview with Michael Musto from 2017.
• A profile of Shuho Yagi, who has been running a number of Japanese restaurants in the East Village since 1984 (City Limits)
• On Seventh Street, a co-op owner "is being accused by neighbors of having guests who shoot heroin between their toes in the lobby, have sex in the corridors — and occasionally jump out the windows." (The Post)
• Man stabbed following dispute near the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park (PIX 11)
• Citi Biker, the victim of road rage, is nearly run down on the LES; cops blame the cyclist (Streetsblog)
• Apartment dwellers, know your heat and hot water rights (Curbed)
• As The Lo-Down noted, architecture critic Michael Kimmelman praises Essex Crossing "in a piece that makes some good points, but is also loaded with factual errors and mischaracterizations of the Lower East Side mega-project" (The New York Times)
• Builders respond to the vote that gives community boards more time to review ULURP applications (The Real Deal)
• Cornell prof finds rough versions of 12 previously unreleased songs by Lou Reed (Variety)
• A look at some early 1990s NYC music venues, including Mission on Fifth between A and B (Ephemeral New York)
... and over at the Black Emperor, 197 Second Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street, The Truffleist is now working the kitchen, taking over for Jae Lee's six-month burger residency. (Lee is prepping to open his first restaurant, Nowon on Sixth Street) ...
August Laura and all the new bars and restaurants coming to this stretch of 6th Street (Wednesday)
Here's the all-new storefront at 131 1st Ave. (Tuesday)
The China Star is now Baji Baji on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)
Snapshot of the former International Center of Photography space on the Bowery (Monday)
Report: Tenant leasing alleged sex-party house on 7th Street is leading a "double or triple life" (Monday)
... and from Friday, EVG reader Laura notes the NYPD respecting the bike lane on 12th Street at Fourth Avenue. At least three cyclists had to ask him to move...
Chi Snack Shop moves into the former Trash & Vaudeville space on St. Mark's Place (Friday)
Elsewhere nearby: the flagship Dean & Deluca is closed for now on Broadway and Prince (Wednesday)
The former Social Tees space on 5th Street is for rent (Monday)
...and over at the Bowery Mural Wall... the intricate new work by Tomokazu Matsuyama, which took nearly two weeks to complete, was tagged the other day...
... and a worker was on the scene yesterday trying to clean off the graffiti...
The Postreports that the current tenant of 189 E. Seventh St., a recently renovated four-story townhouse between Avenue B and Avenue C, has played host to sex parties in recent months, according to claims by the landlord in a Manhattan Supreme Court filing.
Tenant Avraham Adler reportedly signed a two-year lease here on April 1. Within a month, property owner Wonwoo Chang alleges that Adler started hosting "lewd" parties where “on premises sex took place.”
To the Post:
An investigator for Chang scoped out one of Adler’s August events and found a bouncer at the door, a bar on the rooftop and naked partygoers throughout the home, the landlord claims in his filing.
On the first floor, he noted, “a naked man who sat on a swing was being spanked by two women clad in lingerie.”
Another area featured mattresses on the floor and two naked women sitting on a couch, Wang said.
Sangria was going for $8 a cup, while the marijuana cookies were $15.
And...
The parties have resulted in multiple complaints from neighbors about the noise, visits from cops and violations for garbage piled up outside, said Chang, who alleges that Adler’s illicit use of the property could damage Chang’s reputation and that of the building.
An event scheduled for Saturday night apparently didn't take place as advertised — at the orders of a Manhattan Supreme Court judge.
The Eventbrite posting described the address as "THE MOST LUXURIOUS PLAYSPACE IN THE CITY FOR NAUGHTY!"
In an email to the Post, Adler denied the allegations, writing: "Not sure what you’re trying to gain from this nonsense. I just don’t get this whole thing no parties are going on."
Upon entering this beautiful townhouse, there are 22-foot-high ceilings. Located on the first floor is a Poggenpohls custom chefs kitchen with custom Statutori marble countertops. The kitchen offers a fully marble covered island, along with a Six Burner Wolf Range, Miele Dishwasher, Viking Fridge and modernized ez-touch cabinets.
The 2nd floor is an open library and living room. The 3rd floor presents a one-of-a-kind open master suite layout with a separate standing shower on a class of its own. The vanities are a combination of top pieces from Ferguson, Kohler, and Restoration Hardware. The 4th floor presents two additional bedrooms, each personalized with their own all-marbled bathrooms and Porcelanosa vanities. At the top of the home lies a private oasis, roof decked in custom Runnen Tiles, along with a Calcutta Stone front ledge and Statutori back ledge.
Streeteasy last listed the monthly rent (in March) at $15,000.
• LES/East Village takeaways from the NYU Furman Center's annual report, The State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods (The Lo-Down)
• AG's office announces the second round of restitution funds for current and former tenants of landlord and convicted felon Steve Croman (Patch ... previously on EVG)
• Thanks to a bill via local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera, construction firms must now create a safe, alternative route for cyclists if they block a bike lane — or have their permit revoked (amNY ... Streetsblog)
• The city will create a permanent Greenwich Village monument to honor LGBTQ activists and Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR) founders Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera (Curbed)
• The casting director for "Russian Doll" explains how she put together the ensemble for the Netflix series set in the East Village (Backstage)
• Starting today at noon, the MTA says OMNY readers will go live at 16 stations along the 4, 5 and 6 lines, starting the long goodbye of the MetroCard (Gothamist ... previously on EVG)
• The 1954 version of "A Star Is Born" with Judy Garland plays Monday (June 3) at the City Cinemas Village East on Second Avenue and 12th Street (Official site)
• This series starts tonight ... cutting and pasting: "In conjunction with the Museum of Sex’s exhibition “Punk Lust: Raw Provocation, 1971-1985,” the Anthology hosts a related film program that expands on the exhibition by surveying how Punk culture used the language of sexuality – both visually and lyrically – to transgress and defy, whether in the service of political provocation, raw desire, or simply to break through the stifling gender norms and social expectations of its time." (Anthology Film Archives)
Neville Dance Theatre in the premiere of "53 Movements"
Saturday, June 1 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie St.
Tickets: $30; $18 for students
Reservations here.
Neville Dance Theatre will premiere director/choreographer Brenda Neville's 53 Movements, set to composer Terry Riley's musical masterpiece "In C," June 1. Often referred to as the founding composer of music minimalism, Terry Riley's pioneering 1963 work "In C," consists of 53 short, set musical phrases played by the musicians with improvisational choices.
The NYCHA needs $32 BILLION for repairs over the next five years (Curbed) More than 800 kids tainted by lead in NYCHA buildings, city says (Daily News)
Why Gabrielle Hamilton, chef/owner of Prune on First Street, would want to team up with an accused sex harasser (The Post)
An EVG reader shared this photo ... showing that GoLocker has set up shop at 508 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B in a building owned by the Kushner Companies.
The Brooklyn-based company, which launched in 2014, delivers parcels to lockers stored in neighborhood businesses. There was a set of GoLockers in the back of the Gentle Wash Laundromat on Avenue A, though those were recently removed.
... and EVG reader Andy Reynolds reports that an equipment truck for "The Deuce" shoot on Seventh Street this week took out a nice-sized branch near Second Avenue...
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.
Name: Holly DeRito and Tulip Occupation: Owner, Waggytail Rescue Location: Avenue B between 10th and 11th Date: Tuesday, Nov. 28
I’m originally from the sticks of Pennsylvania. I grew up with horses on a small farm next to Allentown. I came here for the music scene. One of my friends was a roadie for a band, and I started seeing shows. I just became addicted to New York. I’ve been here for 24 years. I was into hardcore punk, alternative. The first show that I drove up to myself was Bad Brains at the Wetlands.
I was bold but I probably should have been more scared than I was. I was always a little bit fearless. I’ve always been a little bit shy but then I’ve been bold. I like challenges — so one of my friends dared me to go into one of those S&M places and try out to be a dominatrix.
I was going to school and working two jobs. I just did it for shits and giggles, and they were like, ‘Oh, you’re blond, you’re hired.’ So I ended up doing that and that’s how I put myself through college with no debt. And then I did a dominatrix workout program that was on HBO and VH1 Real Sex — it was called Slaversize.
I got really sick with Lyme disease, so I didn’t start that again, but I adopted my dog Taco, and he was just magical. The day that I adopted him, two of my friends died in a murder-suicide, and I just remember he was so scared and I just clung to him. He was my soulmate dog.
Then I fostered a dog for another group, and the second that dog was adopted, Taco just looked so sad. So I road my bike up to the city pound to jailbreak him a friend. There I ran into a girl I had worked with as a dominatrix. She was running a pug rescue.
She pulled me into the back to where all of the dogs were on death row that the public didn’t see. She was like, ‘These are the ones that aren’t going to get out, who can you take? Can you help me?’ And I went home with seven dogs that night. I couldn’t leave any of them. So I went home and called my friends and said, ‘Hey can you watch a dog for a few days?’
I had no idea what I was doing — and that’s kind of how I started. It became like — I can save more. I was so passionate, and it was a challenge. I officially formed a rescue in 2004 and it’s just grown from there. The city has changed a lot in that there are almost no small dogs or family friendly dogs in the city shelters, which is great because people have started spaying and neutering. They have started taking better care of their pets. The city has become really pro-dog and dog friendly in comparison to what it used to be. Here for dogs to breed and have puppies, you almost have to make a conscious effort. They have to be in heat and find each other down the hallway and down the stairs. In Los Angeles, Dallas, and elsewhere in the south, they don’t spay/neuter and the dogs are just running in yards. They’re just completely overwhelmed with dogs.
We had a waiting list of people who wanted to adopt dogs. I went to Los Angeles to dogsit for one of my friends and saw the shelters there. I decided to form a program called One-by-One. We supply the carriers, we pay for the ticket for the dog as well as the leashes, the harnesses — everything. We drop off the dog at the airport, pick it up on the other side and a person just flies with the dog. Everybody said it couldn’t be done, and it seemed like it was impossible, but people love it. Everybody who’s done it has done it again. We’ve gotten about 500 dogs that way — one by one.
I have a little bit more faith in humanity. We get adoption donations. The dogs that are coming in tonight on American Airlines are from the highest kill shelter in Dallas, and then all the fosters are going to pick them up. I’m going to microchip them myself. I have my own little branch in Los Angeles with my system and my setup with the shelters and the veterinarians and we also partner up with a few groups. We take in dogs about every two weeks. I formed a buddy system where people who have fostered help the new [dog owners].
I really like anything hands-on. My mom was a nurse and my grandmother was a lab tech. I grew up going into the lab, visiting my grandmother and being fascinated by tumors when I was 6 years old. That stuff is kind of normal to me. I grew up next to a wildlife sanctuary, and because my mom is a nurse, we used to take in all types of orphaned animals and birds with broken wings. It’s an addiction, and it’s also a little bit of a gamble because I agree to a certain amount of dogs. If I don’t find fosters, then I’m out on the street with the dog. Hasn’t happened yet but I’m at the max amount allowed in my building – so yeah, I’d be sleeping at Remedy diner.
If people want to help we have a little fostering section on Waggytailrescue.org. For support we have trainers who we work with. A lot of the fosters end up adopting. A lot of people are considering adopting a dog and they’re not sure it’s the right time, so they’ll foster for a week or two and see if they’re ready for the commitment. If they’re not ready, they’ll maybe foster again until the right time or the right dog, so it’s a good system.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
Apparently Nie's Service Center was servicing more than feet and backs at 125 E. Fourth St.
DNAinfo reports that the spa between First Avenue and Second Avenue was busted for alleged prostitution.
According to a lawsuit filed last week by the city, cops went undercover here four times last March and April.
In two of those instances, parlor workers agreed to perform massage services without the required license, and in the other two they agreed to have sex with undercover officers in exchange for cash, the suit states.
An undercover officer who visited the spa on April 20 and 25 agreed with a female employee to pay $40 for a 30-minute massage and $120 for sexual intercourse, according to an affidavit attached to the lawsuit. He left the spa before she could perform either.
And...
The lawsuit names the building's commercial space and its owner, Cashew Associates, L.P., as defendants as well as the unnamed spa operators, identified only as "John Doe" and "Jane Doe."
It accuses the defendants of creating both a public nuisance and a criminal nuisance, demanding they each pay $1,000 for every day they allowed the public nuisance to continue and for the court to shutter the space for a year.
A hearing is scheduled for today. The spa is currently closed.
There is also a lone Yelp review for Nie's. And the one-star review is everything one can hope for in a Yelp review:
This is the low rent massage place I sometime go for walk-ins because it's so convenient. There have been times the tables were a bit ripe but... it's so cheap! I tried to get in & was told I'd have a half hour wait, so I went outside again & talked to a couple neighbors. They told me a story about the place!
Neither had ever been there, but about a month ago some crazy guy had tried to leave without paying. A little Chinese lady had him in a headlock. One of my friends went to help and then another. A struggle was described. The guy took a shit on the floor! The cops came & brought him away. My friend said, "After all that, they NEVER have made eye contact and even waved, nodded or said thanks."
I went back just past the half hour I was told I'd need to wait, was ushered to a table and took off my clothes. Some guy a sheet over was moaning like a douchebag. Now... I could've really used that massage. My right shoulder and wrist are all balled up. But the lady asked him if he wanted more time and he did! She said she was sorry and I answered that I wished she'd told me before I took my clothes off.
The most annoying part was that three times I went to get my glasses and iPhone (diversion) and three times one of those bitches came in, told me to lay down (like a dog) and picked up & put down the timer like they were ready to start.
How to save locally owned small businesses (CityLab)
Department of Transportation launches a study of bicycle intersection safety, including mixing zones like at First Avenue and Ninth Street where cyclist Kelly Hurley was killed by a truck (DNAinfo ... previously)
Rubie’s Costume Company, an affiliate of New York Costumes, buys the retail condominium at 808 Broadway and 108-110 Fourth Ave. that houses the shop (The Real Deal)
About the new wave of Vietnamese restaurants in the East Village (The New Yorker)
More about the Darkstar Coffee-In Living Stereo mashup (Patch ... previously)
And check out Flatbush, the rescued juvenile red-tailed hawk, go at it with a squirrel in Tompkins Square Park via Goggla...
Summer of Love '67 slideshow in Tompkins Square Park (The New York Times)
Details on a City Council District 2 Candidate Forum on Monday on Sixth Street (The Lo-Down)
Inside Kushner Companies’ murky relationship with rent stabilization (The Real Deal)
A revival of "Farrebique," Georges Rouquier's acclaimed 1940s documentary on farm life in France (Film Anthology Archives)
A wide-ranging interview with Jim Jarmusch, whose band has released a new EP (The Village Voice)
STIK’s 7-Story mural on Allen Street raised $12,500 for the Tenement Museum (BoweryBoogie)
The owners of Babeland, the sex-toy shop with several locations, including on Rivington, have sold the business to rivals Good Vibrations (DNAinfo)
French Roast closed after 24 years on Sixth Avenue and 11th Street (Grub Street)
Updated with a statement from Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO/founder of Goldman Global Arts, landlord of the mural wall.
That's it for David Choe's mural on East Houston and the Bowery. The mural was painted over in the last 24 hours.
It's not immediately known who was responsible for the white out. The mural had been defaced multiple times since it was completed early on June 5. (The work was scheduled to be on view through October.)
Choe's work on the high-profile wall caused a stir, bringing back the story from 2014 in which he bragged about a sexual assault before later saying that he made the whole thing up. However, that wasn't an isolated incident. As Caroline Caldwell detailed at Hyperallergic, "The artist has an impressive history of making public statements that attempt to normalize or make a joke out of rape." An anti-rape protest and performance art piece titled "NO MEANS NO" is scheduled here today at 5 p.m. (Updated: Find a video clip here.)
Meanwhile, Choe issued an apology on his Instagram account yesterday ... complete with a blank image...
Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO/founder of Goldman Global Arts, landlord of the mural wall, posted a lengthy response about the Choe mural on her Instagram account...
There were activities across the city yesterday related to the International Women's Strike ... more than 1,000 people (per media estimates) gathered in Washington Square Park late in the afternoon for a rally and march to Zuccotti Park ...
Thousands of women and their allies gathered in Washington Square Park late Wednesday afternoon to demand equality and justice for all women, particularly those who are most at risk to the Trump agenda — immigrant women were joined by trans women, queer women, sex workers, nurses, and labor and Black Lives Matter organizers.
The rally, which capped off the Day Without A Woman strike, demanded justice for all, regardless of economic status. At one point the crowd closest to the Washington Square Arch chanted, "Feminism for the masses, not just the ruling classes!"
EVG contributor Derek Berg was at the start of the march, and shared these photos...
• NO congregating in Santa costumes
• NO throwing up on the sides of buildings
• NO public sex acts
• NO excessive drunkenness
A member of NYCR, the group who posted the flyers, told Gothamist yesterday that they reached out to SantaCon organizers to call off the event.
"Our country feels so divided right now that we are all searching for things that unify us," their spokesperson said. "The one thing that I have found that we all have in common is our disdain for SantaCon. Over the past few years myself and others have witnessed several horrible acts ..."
"We have reached out to organizers and asked them to cancel but have not heard back," they continued. "We hope they will come to their senses. We hope the organizers hear us loud and clear and are aware that we will be out in force tomorrow to stop SantaCon if they don't cancel."
They add that anyone interested in spending their Saturday aiding their crusade should meet up at noon Saturday at Bar 13. "We want to make it clear to the young people out there that this is not just a bunch of 40 and 50 year olds and we have several people under the age of 35 planning on participating."
Other media outlets reported on the story as well.
Gary Egan, general manager of Pete’s Tavern on Irving Place told CBS 2 that he would be cool with seeing SantaCon go.
“I really wish it would be canceled,” Egan said. “It’s turned into an abomination of drunk Santa Clauses fighting; vomiting all over the city. and it sends a terrible message to children.”
CBS 2 also talked with one SantaCon fan.
“SantaCon canceled – what? What?” said Zavier Dahlbenza of East New York, Brooklyn. “The drunkenness, the Santa costumes — I love all of it! I don’t think it should be canceled at all. I think it should keep going.”
There is also a Boycott SantaCon Twitter account (not sure if this is affiliated with the group who created the posters. This account started in 2014.)
SantaCon is an alt-right convention with red hats instead of white. Dial 311 and report people to the naughty list.
Extra officers are working tomorrow for @santacon to ensure everyone a good & safe time while being respectful of our neighbors pic.twitter.com/d7LGqg1OUn
"Smithereens" starts a weeklong revival today at the Metrograph, the newish theater complex down on Ludlow Street.
The 1982 dark comedy, which marked Susan Seidelman's directorial debut, is set in the East Village (and other downtown locales). Wren (Susan Berman), a suburban New Jersey escapee, is eager for downtown fame, plastering "missing" posters of herself on the subway and elsewhere. She sees a meal ticket in Eric (Richard Hell), the hot guy with a short attention span in a band. And there's the too-nice Paul (Brad Rijn), who pursues the uninterested Wren. Hustling ensues.
Seidelman started filming in late 1979, and continued on and off for the next 18 months. (Production shut down when Berman broke a leg during rehearsal.) "Smithereens," made for $40,000, was the first American indie invited to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
She went on to make several female-focused comedies, including 1985's "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Rosanna Arquette and Madonna and 1989's "She-Devil" with Roseanne Barr and Meryl Streep, among others. (She also directed the pilot for "Sex and the City.")
I spoke with Seidelman about "Smithereens" and her follow-up, "Desperately Seeking Susan," also partly filmed in the East Village, during a phone call last week. Here's part of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
On why she wanted to tell this story in "Smithereens":
I was living in the East Village and I was also at NYU. And at the time, NYU Film School, the graduate film school, was on Second Avenue — part of it was where the old Fillmore East used to be. So for three years, that area around Seventh Street and Second Avenue was my stomping grounds.
I started NYU in 1974, and I was there until 1977. So it was interesting to watch the transition from the older hippie generation and hippie-style shops and people as it started transitioning into the punk and new wave kind of subculture. I was a music person, so I frequented CBGB and Max’s Kansas City at that time. And so, that world was interesting to me, and telling a story set in that world about a young woman who’s not from that world, but wants to be part of it in some way, was both semi-personal and just of interest.
On production shutting down:
There were challenges throughout the shoot because I never had all the money. The budget ended up being about $40,000, but I probably only had about $20,000 at any given moment. I was borrowing and racking up bills. I wasn’t really thinking about how I was going to pay it. I figured I’d get to that when I needed to pay it.
Aside from those challenges, when Susan Berman fell off a fire escape and broke her leg during rehearsal, there was no getting around that. We had to quit filming. I kind of thought, oh, you know, fuck it — I’m not going to let this stop me. It made me actually more determined. I had the time to look at what was working and what wasn’t working, and I learned a lot of stuff. I started editing the footage. I could rewrite stuff and change the story a bit.
On casting Richard Hell:
That was when we redefined the character of Eric, who was originally not played by Richard Hell. It was played by somebody else who was not a rock-and-roller — he was more of a downtown painter/artsy type, not a musician — and was also played by a European actor.
By recasting and redefining that role with Richard Hell in mind, it shaped the tone of the movie and changed it, I think, in a good direction. I’m not going to give names, but the other actor — the other person is a working actor, as opposed to Richard Hell, who was acting in the movie, but was more of a presence and an iconic figure even at that time. So trying to make the character of Eric blend in with the real Richard Hell added a level of authenticity to the film.
On filming in the East Village:
In the scene when Wren is waiting out on the sidewalk and the landlady throws her clothing out the window and then splashes her with water, all the people and all the reactions in the background were from the people living on that block who had come out to watch.
At the time, New York was coming out the bankruptcy crisis. There weren’t a lot of police on the street, there wasn’t a lot of red tape and paperwork. These days to film on the street, you have to get a mayor’s permit — so many levels of bureaucracy. Back then, either it didn’t exist … but also I was naïve to what probably needed to be done.
We just showed up with cameras and we filmed. We had some people working on the crew who were friends and they told crowds lining in the street — just don’t look in the camera. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t, but it was all very spontaneous.
That’s the advantage of doing a super low-budget movie — you can just go with the flow. For example, there’s a scene with a kid who’s doing a three-card Monte thing on the sidewalk. He was a kid we saw in Tompkins Square Park with his mother. We didn’t have to worry about SAG or unions or anything. I thought he was interesting and [we asked his mother] if they come to this address at this time and be in our movie.
On the lead characters:
My intention wasn’t to make likable characters. My intention was to make interesting characters and who had some element of ambiguity. There are things that I like about Wren; on the other hand, I think she’s obviously somebody who uses people and is incredibly narcissistic. I’m aware of that. But she’s also somebody who is determined to recreate herself and to live the kind of life that she wants to live, and redefine herself from her background, which you get a little hint at, this boring suburban New Jersey life she must have run away from.
On the independent film scene at the time:
The definition of an independent filmmaker has changed so radically. Nowadays, being an independent filmmaker could mean you’re making a $5 million movie that’s really financed by the Weinstein Company, or it could mean you're doing a cellphone movie like “Tangerine.”
But back then, there weren’t that many independent filmmakers. I know there were some people working out of Los Angeles who were doing stuff and a small pocket of people in New York City. So either you knew them or you were friends with them or you just knew what they were doing and had mutual friends. It was truly a small community. And within that community, there were also a definite relationship between people who were musicians, filmmakers or graffiti artists.
So everyone was borrowing people, trading information or sharing resources. Also, the world wasn’t as competitive as it is today. People were eager and willing to help somebody who was a filmmaker would act in somebody else’s film or tell them about a location or a musician. It was pretty simple, like — hey, let’s make a movie, without a lot of calculation.
On her follow-up film, "Desperately Seeking Susan:"
I didn’t have anything lined up after "Smithereens." I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. I just finished the movie when it was accepted into the Cannes Film Festival.
But I did know that there were very few female film directors. And the one or two I had heard about who had made an interesting independent film ... I knew that your follow-up movie, especially if it was going to be financed by a studio, you needed to be smart about the choice. You had to make a movie that you could still be creatively in charge of, or else you could get lost in the shuffle.
For about a year and a half, I was reading scripts. And they were, for the most part, terrible. I just figured these couldn’t be my next movie. I have nothing to say about this kind of material.
So then I got this script. It was a little different than the way it ended up being, but it was called "Desperately Seeking Susan." I liked that the character, Susan, felt like she could be kind of related to Wren in "Smithereens." I thought I could bring something unique to that kind of a role. So I didn't feel like I was out of my element there.
And also, part of the film was set in the East Village, a neighborhood that I loved and knew. The other good thing was I was so familiar with the characters and able to add my own spin using a lot of people from the independent film community in small parts, like Rockets Redglare, John Lurie and Arto Lindsay. Richard Hell has a cameo.
On working with Madonna:
At the time, Madonna was not famous when we started out. We were just filming on the streets like she was a regular semi-unknown actress. So there wasn’t a lot of hoopla around the film.
And then, you know, so much of life is about being there with the right thing and the right timing. It just so happened that the movie came out at the moment that her "Like A Virgin" album was released and they coincided and she became a phenomenon. But since that wasn’t during the actual filming, there wasn’t the kind of pressure that one would normally feel if you were working with a big star or a a super-famous person.
On the legacy of "Smithereens":
I think I was trying to document what it felt like to live in that neighborhood in that part of the city at that time. I never really thought about it in terms of whether the film would pass the test of time or be a time capsule or anything.
But the fact that it ended up being pretty authentic to the environment, to the neighborhood, is maybe what enabled it to pass the test of time.
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The Metrograph is showing "Smithereens," which features a score by The Feelies, on a new 35-millimeter print courtesy of Shout Factory LLC. Seidelman will be attending tonight's 7 screening. Details here.
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.
Name: Leslie McEachern Occupation: Owner, Angelica Kitchen Location: East 12th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave Time: 2 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 25
I was born and raised in Greenville, S.C. … nothing could be finer. I came to New York numerous times in the 1970s for visits, for fun. I was in college from 1967-71 and I was at a large school — the University of Tennessee — that had a lot of fringe people from Miami and New York City.
So I met all of these great, outrageous folks and got very much into an alternative lifestyle — meaning sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. I had a great time and was introduced to the alternative lifestyle, the vegetarian way of doing things. The back-to-the-earth movement was becoming strong at that point and it interested me a lot. I started working in a warehouse in Raleigh, N.C., for a company called Laurel Brook Foods and they were a wholesaler of natural foods. I also helped start a co-op there called Noah’s, which at that time had three families and now I’ve heard it has over 5,000 — still up and strong running.
I had started a small business representing certain natural foods, but I was going to different health-food stores around the country and trade shows and demonstrating their products. One day in 1981, I was at Greenberg’s. It was a very old school natural food store on First Avenue, between Seventh and St. Mark's Place. I was in there doing a miso demonstration and handing out samples and Frank Simons, the guy who had just bought Angelica Kitchen, walked in. I didn’t know him at the time but I had been a fan of Angelica. He and I caught each other’s eyes, to say it mildly. We got engaged and I moved from the mountains of North Carolina to New York to be with him. That was what got me here – falling in love and doing the right turn so many of us know about.
Angelica was at 42 St. Marks Place at that time. It was a small place and we had very few seats, so we had an open policy about seating. People came in and sat in any empty chair in the restaurant, whether it was a two top or a four top, so lots of connections were made that way. That was very fun. It was very community spirited. Organic wasn’t as much of an issue at that time but there were a lot of products available. That became my mission once I was in charge of the restaurant after Frank died. I really believed in the small, independent organic farmer as stewards of the land, so I was able to get on my soapbox through having Angelica Kitchen and really support the farmers.
There was this great couple called George and Tilly who were on Fifth Street between Second and Third and they would come in on Friday and Saturday from their farm in New Jersey. They would bring truckloads of fabulous produce and apple cider. You’d see everybody there from John McEnroe to the people who lived down the street. Everybody in town who ate clean knew about George and Tilly. I would be running back and forth with a hand truck with cases and cases of kale and collards and turnips and apples.
After Frank died, I moved over to Seventh Street between B and C. The great thing about the East Village is always the people, and I really felt deeper into the heart of the neighborhood. In those days it was so convivial and neighborly. It was very community driven. I loved it. There is a reason the East Village has the reputation that it does, historically, because it was a wild and crazy place, and yes it was sometimes scary. I had amazing things happen, including people stealing from me. It had kind of an outlaw feeling. In the moment it was frustrating, but you just kept going.
I built the 12th Street location in 1987, so it’s still the new place. It used to be the Café Royal when it was Jewish Broadway and all kind of characters were in here, including Bugsy Siegel and George and Gracie, and just on and on. I loved the fact that it was a gathering spot back in the day and now since 1987 it has been too.
Before the city made recycling law, I was already doing it, and not only recycling with recyclable goods, but also of compost, which of course made the weight on our garbage go down because we weren’t putting all of the refuse in the garbage bags. We were saving it in five gallon buckets to be used in a composting operation that Christina had set up on my block on 7th Street.
You know who didn’t like that? The garbage carters. You know who ran the garbage carters? It was an organized group called The Family. Things started happening to Christina. I think her truck got blown up. I’m pretty sure that’s the right story. I’m not sure if it was those people, but it was some kind of a competition issue.
Then one day right after I had opened on 12th Street, a group of shall we say gentlemen — four rather stocky men in suits — came to the front door to talk to me. So I called this guy, Carl Hultberg, who was handling the recycling for NYU, to come over and sit with us. These guys had come to intimidate me to stop my composting and recycling. They were at that time charging by the weight, and the weight wasn’t what it should have been according to them. So Carl, who was a strong activist and informed recycling man, started laying out information for them. They were claiming that they were recycling, these four men, and Carl said, "We would like to see your recycling operation. Can we go there?"
You could just see them think, "Who do these kids think they are?" But Carl was asking them very pointed questions to prove they weren’t recycling. It was a funny meeting. They walked out and they got nothing from us. We were cheering and high fiving. That was a great moment for not only Angelica Kitchen, but also a big moment in the changes that were coming. I don’t know if it influenced those four men or not, but now that recycling is a law and composting is encouraged, it’s kind of interesting to look at the progress we made.
Now things have changed drastically. From being, I guess they say farm-to-table, long before it had a terminology. Now a lot of people say that’s what they do, but there’s no way to verify. So I feel for the consumers because people who are really looking to support that movement are just kind of up to the whim of the people who are doing the branding of any particular location.
Some people are doing a very good job and some people are taking advantage of the trend — local, regional, artisan. That’s always just been how we do things here. But I don’t want it to be negative — I want it to be positive. We’re the real deal. We’re doing what other people say they’re doing. You can always count on Angelica to be completely plant-based and organic. We’re here seven days a week, lunch and dinner.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
