Scenes from a walk

Haven't actually walked on Irving Place in a while. First, I was happy to see that John's Shoe Repair is still around. We all know what happens to little shops and services for people who aren't rich. Given what's going on in this neighborhood, I wonder about how much longer this gem can survive.





Meanwhile, came to the corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue. Scaffolding! And that wasn't there when I passed by Sunday. Uh-oh. This doesn't look good. Housing and a bank? [Housing? Ha! That sounds affordable. No, make this overpriced condos.]

I've seen this guy several times in front of the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. Lovely spot, of course. Just curious why he's doing a painting of Dunkin' Donuts. Maybe he just likes their coffee.

Hello ladies!

Dumpsters. An all-too-common site. There's another one just a few hundred feet away in front of another building on the other side of 10th Street. Renovating apartments. Raising rents.

Still, what a day.

Hate to see what they'd say about a place they didn't recommend

For some reason I came across this listing for Mona's on Not For Tourists:

"Depressing. Recommended."

Oh, don't let that heavy breathing bother you -- these are really nice apartments

Wow. These apartment rental videos give me the creeps. Perhaps these would seem less like a slasher movie with some, say, smooth jazz accompanying the video.

Oops! Someone's home!




Who left the toilet seat up?!


He talks!

St. Mark's and First Avenue, 1993

Meanwhile, a few doors down...12 years earlier...an old favorite that never gets old.

"...a very conspicuous display of the wealthy sucking up and devouring even more of the soul of downtown NYC"

Bob at Neither More Nor Less has posted his photos and recap of the John Varvatos protest from this past Thursday night.

He writes, in part:

No matter how well meaning Mr. Varvatos' intentions may have been , and actually be , what many local artists and musicians saw in his Thursday evening extravaganza was just another example of a very conspicuous display of the wealthy sucking up and devouring even more of the soul of downtown NYC.

As always, he took many great photos, such as this one.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

Graffiti and groceries

According to today's New York Post:

Graffiti arrests and complaints are skyrocketing as so called "taggers" treat city walls as their personal canvases, new police statistics reveal.

The NYPD recorded and unprecedented 81.5 percent surge in graffiti-related complaints from 2006 to 2007.

Unrelated, but in the Post:

NYU officials and an East Village grocer are working to settle a bitter rent dispute that's threatening the existence of one of the last affordable food stores in the neighborhood.

Negotiations between NYU and the Met Foodmarket - which occupies the ground floor of a university-owned building at 107 Second Ave. - came to an abrupt end earlier this month when the store was offered a three-year lease at triple the current rent, said owner Michael Schumacher.

City Councilwoman Rosie Menendez is mediating the dispute and yesterday, at a meeting in her First Avenue office, the two sides edged toward an agreement, Schumacher said.

"We had a very constructive meeting. Based on our conversation, they seem to want to sustain local businesses. I'm hopeful," he said.

Alicia Hurley, the NYU vice president for government and community affairs, said, "We're hopeful, as well. It is certainly our intention to keep him in the space."

[Image -- Sara Krulwich/The New York Times]

"One definitely gets the impression time stands still at Sophie's"

Bank the Nine has posted his "Sophie's photo roundup, part five," where you'll find many other black-and-white shots like this one of Johnny.

Updated: con·de·scend·ing [kon-duh-sen-ding]

From the highlights-of-the-week in the Pulse section of today's New York Post:

Yes, CBGB is now a high-end clothing store -- boohoo, it's unfair, etc., etc. -- but the spirit of Bowery rock lives on at the Morrison Hotel gallery, which now occupies the former CB's Gallery space connected to the legendary concert venue. Thursday, the gallery opens its new exhibit "Rockers," which features 280 pieces from iconic photographer Bob Gruen's collection including up-close-and-personal snapshots of John Lennon, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and the punk bands who once rocked the room next door, including Sid Vicious. Opening night runs from 7 to 10 and entry is free.

Suggested rewrite:

The spirit of CBGB lives on at the Morrison Hotel gallery, which now occupies the former CB's Gallery space connected to the legendary concert venue.

Update: Check out the comments...Alex from NYC makes a good point on this item. Sid Vicious never played CBGB...

East Seventh Street between A and First Avenue, 7:45 a.m., April 20

Because nothing classes up a corner better than an ATM

Today is Record Store Day

Please support your local, independent record stores today. (More here.)

As the Times reports:

For a local music shopper with a memory of even just a few years, the East Village and the Lower East Side are quickly becoming a record-store graveyard. Across from Jammyland is the former home of Dance Tracks, a premier dance and electronic outlet, which closed late last year, as did Finyl Vinyl, on Sixth Street. Stooz on Seventh Street, Sonic Groove on Avenue B, Accidental on Avenue A, Wowsville on Second Avenue and Bate, an essential Latin store on Delancey Street — all gone, to say nothing of stores in other neighborhoods, like Midnight Records in Chelsea and NYCD on the Upper West Side.

“Rent is up, and sales are down,” Malcolm Allen of Jammyland said as he sold a few Jamaican-made 45s to a customer last weekend. “Not a good combination.”

Here's one to support.

Generations

EV Etc.: Page Six on the John Varvatos protest

With bold-faced names! That guy from the Garfield movies was there!

The revelers inside, who included Gina Gershon, Damien Fahey, Bobby Cannavale, Breckin Meyer and Jakob Dylan, ignored the demonstration, which continued for the duration of the party. The bash ended up raising $30,000 for Save the Music.

The whole piece is here.

Perhaps some credit Page Sixers for those who covered it...?

EV Grieve goes to the movies (not often, though): "If people don't like it now, they will"

I'm not one to go around recommending movies. But! There's an excellent documentary opening tonight at the Anthology Film Archives. My Name is Albert Ayler explores the free jazz saxophonist’s too-short life and legacy. It plays through Tuesday night.

I had a chance to see the film during its premiere at the Anthology Film Archives last November. It's directed by Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin, who spoke about Ayler after the November screening. This is the result of nearly seven years of work. He built the film around various audio recordings of Ayler’s voice from interviews. Collin also found archival footage from Stockholm and New York featuring some scorching live performances. All this is rounded out by talking head interviews with friends, family and musicians who knew Ayler. Their stories are just a small part of the film, which humanizes the enigmatic musician who died in 1975. He was 34.

Oh, and that headline? Ever confident, Ayler always had this to say about his rather jarring brand of jazz, “If people don’t like it now, they will.”

Here's a little background on Ayler:

Last night: "I am on the side of New York City fucking rock 'n' roll!"

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York has the first recap of the John Varvatos protest last night.

A few highlights:

Rebecca, Billy, and their posse chanted "Down with $800 pants!" Not everyone agreed. Heated exchanges ensued. Arturo Vega, Ramones artistic director and designer of their logo, got into the fray. He had just been telling the documentarian, "It's natural. Everything dies and transforms. The excitement is still here. The tourists will come. In there, you're closer than ever to rock 'n' roll."

And!

Aside from Randy Jones, the cowboy member of the Village People, Jett was my most exciting celebrity sighting--and the 12-year-old in me who once roller-skated like crazy to her anthem "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was almost, for a moment, taken in by the fairy tale being spun by Varvatos, a fairy tale that so many of the older New Yorkers on the scene wanted desperately to believe.

Cubed picks up Jeremiah's post. They take away their five favorite moments:

5) The sign that read "40-40-$40,000 dollars a mo-onth. We're gonna be evicted!"
4) Protester Reverend Billy: "Punk was an egalitarian movement, it was about low prices."
3) Ramones posse member Arturo Vega told a documentarian, "The excitement is still here. The tourists will come. In there, you're closer than ever to rock 'n' roll," and then got into a shouting match with the protesters.
2) A member of The Misfits yelled "I am on the side of New York City fucking rock 'n' roll!" and then spat on a sign.
1) The photo [below]



I'll post more highlights as they roll in...

Meanwhile, unrelated! Speaking of fairy tales...(Even though it's not Christmas...)

"I did warn him about the ghosts of the dead rockers and junkies that haunt CB’s and the Bowery"

Scoopy's Notebook in The Villager this week includes the following item:

Billy Leroy of Billy’s Antiques & Props said a man identifying himself as John Varvatos came into his E. Houston St. tent last week and purchased a $150 lamp for his new boutique at the former CBGB space on the Bowery. Saying he knows what “the street” thinks of the Varvatos shop, Leroy said he checked it out and was pretty impressed. “I am glad it is not a bank or a Starbucks and I think John did a tasteful decorating job,” Leroy said. “However, I did warn him about the ghosts of the dead rockers and junkies that haunt CB’s and the Bowery, and offered him an exorcism kit when he was buying a cool lamp.”

Meanwhile, the Varvatos shop has its official opening tonight. There will be protestors. Get the details here. (Via Jeremiah)

Meanwhile 2:

Scoopy also reports that the Manhattan borough Parks Department commissioner has signed off on a permit allowing concerts to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tompkins Square riots to occur Aug. 2 and Aug. 3.

[Image via Lionel Rogosin's On the Bowery, 1956]

"I'd like to see a city in which everybody can have a niche and survive"

That's Jeremiah Moss, the proprietor behind Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, an influential, must-read site for anyone who cares what's happening to this city. He and Lost City's Brooks of Sheffield are featured in The Villager this week in Patrick Hedlund's "Mixed Use" column. Hedlund is a good guy who wrote the nice feature on Sophie's/Mona's in January. I'm happy that he's giving these sites some press.

Anyway, read the piece here. And visit these sites.

Any more friendly and I would have thought that I was at the DMV

So I had a stack of coins that I needed to cash in. Will usually lug them over to the Coinstar machine at the Food Emporium. Easy enough.

Meanwhile, I always walk by the newish Commerce Bank branch on 10th Street and Third Avenue. Made something of a vow to never go into any of the 37 bank branches that have opened in this three-block radius. Still. The bag was heavy. Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light...Anyway, Commerce doesn't charge a fee for the coin machine. Plus, I figured I'd save a few blocks of needless exercise. And I was curious about the spiffy new branch. I was immediately greeted by a Commerce hostess/representative. She took me over to the coin machine. She asked me if I had ever used one before. I said yes. So she showed me how to use the machine anyway, and explained that there was some contest in which I could try to guess the total amount of coins. She went about all this as if she was the prom queen forced by her mother to be nice to the kid with the thick glasses and asthma. (I don't wear glasses or have asthma. But you get the idea.)

After the coin counting had ended (I missed my guess by $25!), I stood in line with my coin receipt to hand to a teller. There were three tellers working. And no line. Each teller had his or her head down, intently working on something. I stood there for a few awkward minutes before I started coughing, clearing my throat, etc., to perhaps alert the tellers that someone was standing there. Finally a teller motioned me forward. The machine didn't take a Susan B. Anthony $1 coin. I asked the young man if they were still in circulation. (Perhaps this might be worth, say, $1.15 now!) He sighed and said yes. I asked him then if I could please trade it in for a bill. "As you wish," he said. At the end, I said "thank you." He did not.

Unless it's a live-action American Apparel ad

I often see NYU students returning to the dorms after a night of what-not during my early-morning walks in the neighborhood on weekends. Kids these days! I was being a little creepy and snapped this picture a few Sundays ago. (Forgot about the photo until this morning.) I can say with some certainty that -- aside from some kind of scant undergarments -- these young women weren't wearing anything under their coats. Surprise! Surprise! Indeed.

Watching this makes me feel even more hungover

Going on a little road trip. Have the rental. Not easy driving while holding a camera.



And Zeppelin was on the radio. I wouldn't be that much of a cliche.

Third Avenue near 12th Street, 7:41 a.m., April 13

Spring has sprung on Avenue C

People waiting in line for an outdoor table at Zum Schneider yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, activity continues at 111 Avenue C next door, home to the now-closed Bao 111. The Bao owners packed it in at the end of February and are reportedly moving to the West Village (emphasis mine) because the rents became too high on Avenue C.

Flashback!

On Oct. 16, 2005, The New York Times did a piece on how hip Avenue C had become. According to the article:

Raising the style quotient several notches is Bao 111, 111 Avenue C (between Seventh and Eighth Streets), (212) 254-7773, a slick Vietnamese restaurant that draws fashion model types.

(I saw James Iha, formerly of the Smashing Pumpkins, in there once!)

A prediction from the article:

"C will keep its edginess for five more years," predicted Melvina Goren, a partner at Porch, 115 Avenue C (Seventh and Eighth), (212) 982-4034, a candlelit bar known for its large backyard. "And then the scene will move on to Avenue D."

What do you think? We have two years left. Is C still "edgy?"

Signs of the times

Random collection of photos that I've taken in the neighborhood the past few years.

He would have loved the 37 bank branches that popped up around the corner

So someone told me that Butch Cassidy (as in Butch and the Sundance Kid, Newman and Redford!) lived briefly in the East Village. That someone was right. As the story goes, Butch Cassidy lived in a boardinghouse run by Mrs. Catherine Taylor at 234 E. 12th St. between Second and Third Avenues. This was in 1901. Butch (joined later by the Sundance Kid and his squeeze, Etta Place) hung out here for awhile, spending money, among other things, on their way to Argentina. There's no more No. 234 on the block. That building was torn down to make way for a nursing school. The building now houses a doctor's office and some nice-looking apartments.

Miracle on Pearl Street

Outside my jurisdiction again! But I do work around the corner from this project at Maiden Lane and Pearl Street. So I have the pleasure to see this concrete hell inch skyward every week day. As Curbed as reported, the developers are such preservationists that they decided to make the old facade at 211 Pearl Street a permanent part of this gaudy insult to centuries past. As the City Room reported, 211 Pearl Street WAS a five-story counting house completed in 1832 for William Colgate, the founder of Colgate-Palmolive.

Anyway, as I understand it, the lovely old Pearl Street Diner -- with that classic neon sign -- will live on. It closed for a few days when the construction began at the Rockrose stinkpit late last fall.

I'll do more on the Greek diner later. Until then, if you're in the neighbor (lord knows why), please stop in....it's a rare gem (50-plus years) in a fast-changing neighborhood. With escalating rents and things like Subway and Chipotle (where you can get a week's worth of sodium in one meal!) open now around the corner on Maiden Lane, who knows how long Pearl will/can last.

"How many rich jerks that want to be in Sex and the City can there possibly be in America?"

In a Q-and-A published at Gothamist today, singer-songwriter (and Brooklyn resident) Mike Doughty was asked: If you could change one thing about New York what would it be?

His answer (bravo!):

The forward march of the gentrification cold-front. But I keep in mind that gentrification hasn't been around forever, and is a trend, not a universal unstoppable force. How many rich jerks that want to be in Sex and the City can there possibly be in America? OK, a lot, but there's not a limitless supply. If the upcoming Sex and the City movie tanks, it will be for the societal good.

A little off point: I miss his "Dirty Sanchez" column that he wrote back in the day at NYPress. (And how I miss the sister of Sanchez!)

From an interview from 2005 with Doughty in the Black & White weekly in Birmingham, Ala., by his former NYPress colleague J.R. Taylor:

Sadly, Doughty’s less likely to return to rock criticism. I’m proud to be on record as part of a mutual admiration society, since Doughty’s post-fame stint as the pseudonymous scribe “Dirty Sanchez” was easily some of the best rock writing in the genre’s sad history. “Rock critics are just failed writers” was a typically great line—although Doughty doesn’t look back at his glory days with much compassion.

“I wrote all that angry shit just about when I first got clean,” Doughty says. “What a dumb thing to do. I was really mad about rock critics being mean to people, so I set out to be really mean to them. It was pretty much the ultimate in pointless, hypocritical behavior.”

"We want to show our opposition to right-wing Republicans opening yuppie wine bars in our neighborhood"

From today's Page Six:

BRUCE Willis is not being warmly welcomed by the anarchists, Marxists and counter-culture riffraff of the Lower East Side now that he's opened the Bowery Wine Company on East First Street. "We want to show our opposition to right-wing Republicans opening yuppie wine bars in our neighborhood," activist John Penley told Page Six. Penley, who is organizing the August celebration of the 20th anniversary of the riots in Tompkins Square Park, said, "We're getting a pig and we're naming it Bruce." The whole, roasted pig from Chinatown will be served while folk singer David Peel serenades with his anthem, "Die Yuppie Scum!"

East Village Podcasts recently paid a visit to BWC and filed this report:

BWC feels like an upper west side transplant with its wide-open, gymnasium-like space and track lighting. I’d say loft-like.. but the whole Avalon Place structure reminds me of a new development from the suburbs - spotless and well-fireproofed. Surely, there must be a few doctor’s offices nearby.

[Image Weber Anita/SIPA]

EV etc.: 40 years and 196 cultural works

This week's New York magazine looks at 196 cultural works "that best defined the city since this magazine began." Which was 1968. Haven't had time to dig through it at all, but I did see the list of movies they have. Pretty much what you'd expect.

In any event, the list reminded me again that it has been too long since I've seen The French Connection. I thought about the film last week when Jeremiah was disucussing the history of Ratner's. I remembered that scene where Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Cloudy Russo (Roy Schieder) do a stakeout at the now-defunct Ratner's on Delancey.

The bowery boys had some nice observations on this classic when it played last summer at the Film Forum.

What's new at 315 Bowery?

The New York Post has a piece today on the new John Varvatos boutique, which opened over the weekend at the site of the former CBGB on the Bowery.

According to the Post article, written by Serena French: "[P]unk preservationists will be glad to hear that the Bowery site - which once hosted such pioneers as the Ramones and Blondie - hasn't been sanitized beyond recognition.
The stage is gone, replaced by a tailoring shop, but it's encased with gold Alice Cooper records.
And those who remember the walls encrusted with posters and stickers will be relieved to find them intact and preserved behind glass."

Hmm.

So Varvatos has reportedly made the shop equal parts museum and retail space. "I wanted to combine music, fashion, memorabilia and really make it like a cultural space," he told The Post. He's planning on holding monthly concerts there too.

What do some old-timers think?

"I like it. I'm relieved," Arturo Vega, creative director for the Ramones, who has lived around the corner from the club since 1973, told the Post. "We were expecting a drug store in the space," he said. "So when I found out it was Varvatos moving in, it was a relief."

Yesterday, in the Post's Page Six Magazine, Dana Kristal, son of CBGB founder Hilly Kristal, was asked whether he thought his father would approve of eight high-profile new ventures on the Bowery. Interestingly enough, he wasn't asked about this shop.

Meanwhile, I'll have to check out this space for myself. I've been following the progress via Jeremiah.

[Photos: Victoria Will/New York Post]

What would Hilly think? Let's ask his son

Page Six Magazine, which is FREE every Sunday in the New York Post (even though you pay $1 for the paper), has a feature this week titled "New kids on the Bowery." As the sub-head says, it's "a look at the next generation of gentrifiers descending on what was once Manhattan's seediest strip." The Post highlights eight of the new people and places taking over the Bowery, and gets Dana Kristal, son of CBGB founder Hilly Kristal, who died last August, to say whether he thinks his father would approve of the new venture/person.

Oh, none of the content from the magazine is ever online, oddly enough. And I don't have a scanner...so just a few highlights:

Designer Rogan Gregory, who's opening a shop at the old Bouwerie Lane Theatre space this spring. Would Hilly approve? "It's an insult to have upper-crust stores next to shelters," Dana told the Post. So. No.

Extra Place, the incoming pedestrian mall in the old alley behind CBGB. Would Hilly approve? "My father was planning to take CBGB to Vegas before he died," Dana said. "He'd braced himself for this kind of change."

The new rock-type bar Bowery Electric. Would Hilly approve? Yes! "A place like this improves the area. These musicians can rebel against the rich people."

That socialite guy who calls himself Izzy Gold, aka Francesco Civetta. (The Post describes him an "artist-DJ-designer" who has become "one of the 'new' Bowery's most vocal self-appointed representatives.")
Dana? "People with money are making all these changes without asking for a consensus from the majority."

Daniel Boulud's new upscale burger joint coming to 299 Bowery. Would Hilly approve? "Opening up a fancy restaurant right where hungry people live is callous," Dana said. "But one more won't make a difference."

The Morrison Hotel Gallery. Would Hilly approve? "Artists can still be pretentious, but a gallery is more authentic to the vibe of the neighborhood," Dana said.

If you want the rest, get your FREE copy of Page Six Magazine today in the New York Post for only $1!

P.S.
I missed the news that Nicole Richie and that guy she's with from some band bought a "simple" 1,000-square-foot pied-à-terre at 199 Bowery (NoLita Place) for $1 million.

P.S.S. (for no reason, CBGB)




[Top photo: Ting-Li Wang/The New York Times; bottom photo: Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times]

Tompkins Square Park, 7:42 a.m., April 6

Forgotten NY's tour of the East Village

Forgotten NY toured the East Village and took some excellent photos that capture the spirit of the neighborhood. There's Avenue B. Also, some photos taken in June 2006. And the secrets of Tompkins Square Park.

Just steps from Avenue Sea

From an open house sign:

East Ninth Street between A and First Avenue, 7:45 a.m., April 5

Coming soon....something else we don't want or need?

This place was Rice Bar, 158 Avenue C at 10th Street, a pan-Asian-fusion something-or-another joint that opened in the fall of 2004. I can't remember when it closed. It was never full when I'd pass by. At one time it was the Futurama Cleaners. Thankfully, that place got priced out of the neighborhood. Who needs things like laundromats and cobblers when you can pay $19.95 for some rice with two shrimp in it?

Anyway, sarcasm aside, there has been activity in here. Looks like another restuarant-type place. I would have asked a worker, but no one was around. And I even stood there for a bit. Could have gotten away with a wheelbarrow and some sawhorses.

EV etc.: Bowery Electric opens, and the owners at least understand and appreciate the area's history

Bowery Electric officially opened last week at the site of the former Remote Lounge (never went) at 327 Bowery near Second Street.

Grub Street ran this quote from the press release on the bar opening from Mike Stuto, also owner of HiFi:

“Being located adjacent to Joey Ramone Place and the former CBGB location we feel a sense of responsibility, especially as so much of that era of New York rock is gone.… We are looking forward more than backward, but a true respect of history is a key part of looking forward correctly.”

(Grub Street's response to this? "Whoa, easy, Barack, it’s just a bar!" Ha.)

Maybe I'll swing by one of these days, though it looks a little nice and fancy for my tastes. And it's so close to Avalon Place, that soul-sucking eyesore that has taken over the neighborhood. Still. Perhaps BE will have an affordable happy hour. HiFi does a 2-1 till 8 p.m. that's nice (crowd depending, though you can almost say that about any place).

[Image via Grub Street by Melissa Hom]

By the way, whatever happened to the ethereal duo Bowery Electric? Portishead killed that sound for many people, but I also thought this Manhattan-based duo was better than the rest.

Well, in their honor: