Some vacation

You should never put "vacation" and "school" in the same sentence.

Things that EV Grieve found lying on the sidewalk on Second Avenue and 3rd Street

Another note from EV Grieve

Still doing a little writing over at Curbed this week.

Looking back at the blackout of 2003

GammaBlog gets a jump on the fifth anniversary of the 2003 blackout, which occurred Aug. 14, with this video (which doesn't always seem to work here...you can hit GammaBlog's link below for the video...):


Northeast Blackout 2003 - NYC from GammaBlog on Vimeo.

Police beat

As the sign shows, the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue held an event for the community featuring games for kids, free pens and pencils from the DA's office, safety tips and cops on stilts.

Oh, I didn't ask them about this. Or this.

The black lips

I'm so easy. Deface a movie poster, and I'm going to take a picture of it.

Oh, and speaking of the Black Lips.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Seth Rogen backlash begins

Water Street, 5:11 p.m., Aug. 5

"Entire blocks were filled with little more than rubble and bricks"

[Photo by Q. Sakamaki]

The Times features photographer Q. Sakamaki today, who has a new book out on Tompkins Square Park. (I did a short piece on it for Curbed today, too, and there was quite a bit of feedback on the topic...)

Upon arriving in the city in 1986 he settled in the East Village, where he was alternately charmed and horrified by what he found. Dilapidated and abandoned buildings lined the streets. Entire blocks were filled with little more than rubble and bricks. Heroin was sold in candy stores, and gunshots sounded in the night. In the morning he sometimes spotted the bodies of people who had been killed or had died of overdoses.

Also, in this week's issue of the Voice, Lynn Yaeger goes on a walking tour of the neighborhood with Sakamaki.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the Tompkins Square Park riots in black and white

Coming soon to an egg cream near you: hazelnut and cappuccino (but not at Ray's)

[Image by rollingrck via Flickr]

Now Alison Nelson, a lifelong New Yorker and the owner of the Chocolate Bar is trying to revive the egg cream with a bit of a twist. With the opening after a relocation to the East Village, she is introducing egg creams in new flavors: hazelnut, cappuccino and another classic New York flavor, black and white (which is half black chocolate and half white chocolate, like the classic cookie). “I was hoping to reinvigorate the egg cream phenom that existed in the early 1900s maybe every diner and soda shop will have it,” Ms. Nelson said. “I wanted to reintroduce the egg cream to a whole generation of people.” (City Room)

[Updated: At 9:07 p.m., I changed the photo I had up of Gem Spa for Ray's. Much better. Was trying to show a real old-school place that had Egg Creams...]

Watching Manhattan (and other movies) in downtown Manhattan

Downtown Express has the story on Movie Nights On The Elevated Acre, which happen every Tuesday in August. Starting tonight. As the paper reports: "The Elevated Acre is a rooftop plaza offering stunning views of the East River, the Brooklyn Heights Esplanade, Red Hook, and the old Ferry Terminal. A seven-leveled concrete amphitheater with a sloping, lushly landscaped garden, the Acre, like the selection of movies screened this summer, is imaginatively conceived."

The schedule:

Tonight: On the Town

Aug. 12: Manhattan

Aug. 19: Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss

Aug. 26: Imitation of Life

An EV Grieve reminder

I'll be doing a little writing over at Curbed.com this week.

Tonight: Captured at Webster Hall

[Image by Clayton Patterson]

Clayton Patterson is the artist and documentarian who has been chronicling the changes in the Lower East Side since he first set up shop here in the early 1980s. Some of his 100,000 photos and 10,000 hours worth of footage went into Captured, which plays tonight at Webster Hall.

Here's a trailer for the film:



Also, Patterson, who grew up in Canada, was featured in yesterday's Toronto Globe and Mail.

Patterson never had much trouble gaining access to the sort of people who might normally be suspicious of a camera in their midst - drug dealers and users, gang members, others on the margins of society - in part because he shoots without judgment. But Captured shows that newcomers to the neighbourhood -- like developers putting up $3-million condos on the Bowery -- are suspicious of his camera.

Previously on EV Grieve:
“When I go out my door now, I don’t see anyone I know. I see the loss of a community.”

Wishing you a happy National Underwear Day

As the National Underwear Day Web site says:

Since its inception in 2003, National Underwear Day has been received by the media and the public with great enthusiasm. In the past, we've invaded Times Square each August with scores of gorgeous models to run what started out as a renegade sidewalk fashion show and later became one of the most highly-anticipated fashion events of the year.

This year, to commemorate the sixth anniversary, we're bringing the celebration indoors to the glamorous Espace venue, where a growing crowd of National Underwear Day loyalists, including media and international tastemakers, will enjoy an evening cocktail party atmosphere and a full-fledged fashion show.

You heard it. Full-fledged!

[Photo of Becks from the High Line via the High Line blog]

Looking across at Manhattan in 1939

The Manhattan skyline looms overs the tenements of the Red Hook housing project in the Brooklyn borough of New York in 1939. (AP Photo)

Had to go to Times Square today -- please send help

Yankee Stadium: "Priced out of the game"

Post sports radio/TV scribe Phil Mushnick wonders why Yankee Stadium will be demolished after this season:

"It's being destroyed because it, too, has been priced out of the game. It's being knocked down for a new ballpark with fewer but far more expensive seats; eliminated so it can be replaced by a stadium with more luxury boxes and costlier come-ons for corporations and the mindlessly wealthy."

The Times revisits the wind farmers of East 11th Street

The Times had a piece yesterday on the "group of young architects who, in the 70s, took over a five-story tenement that didn’t rely on the city’s electrical grid. They lived at 519 East 11th Street, and they got their power from the wind."

[Image D. Gorton/The New York Times, 1977]

A note from our publisher, EV Grieve

Good morning.

Last week, I received an invitation to serve as a guest writer at curves.com. Being a fan of women-only health clubs, I enthusiastically agreed. When I showed up for duty (in Spandex, no less), I discovered the week-long guest stint was with CURBED.com. Oh! Well, that's even better. So, during this week, I'll be doing a little writing over there. I'll also be here. And, of course, I'll continue leaving "first!!" comments at Hollywood Tuna.

A little light reading on the bus

Wigshelf

On Ludlow Street. Alongside Katz's.

Speaking of Ludlow Street

I've loved this block from day one. Sure, this has been well-documented, but it's just hard to walk down the street anymore without getting upset.

At the Christodora Sunday night (oh, tonight!)

As we (OK, I) had mentioned earlier, tonight at 8 was the date for David Peel's birthday bash next to the Christodora. I was there a little before 8, and watched the cops prepped and ready for...


nothing. The party stayed in Tompkins Square Park, I was told. I stood in front of the Christodora anyway. Around 8:45, an officer walked up and told the troops to remove the barricades. I asked a police officer if this meant nothing was going to happen there. He, quite honestly, barked (wolfed?), "unless you know something that I don't." OK! All the police officers got into their respective vehicles and left...except for two lone officers, who were told to stand guard "just in case."


Several protestors did show up later with an "Imprison Bush" banner. There was a little shouting -- did a resident throw something at a protestor?


Meanwhile, on the way to the event, I started taking photos of the Christodora for whatever reasons...







Bob Arihood has many photos from yesterday's festivities in the Park.

"The Good Guy" may tow your ass

On 7th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. Helpful, too, that someone put a "no parking" sign on a fire hydrant.

PS. And the movie's cast includes Andrew McCarthy!

To be honest, at this point, it's not seeming delicious at all

On 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Enjoying the great outdoors

This week's issue of Time Out New York has a cover story on 25 things to do outdoors in New York City before the summer ends. I didn't actually read the article. But I do like the outdoors! And lists! So I decided to make my own list of things to do outdoors before the summer ends.

1. Drink.

Feel free to add any suggestions. (Ideas more creative than "shoot a Yunnie" get bonus points!)

My beautiful Lau derette

[The dumb headline makes me what to see the movie again.]

Party like it's 1933

Before Alex took off for a few days over at Flaming Pablum, he left behind "a brief, bracing blast of Missing Foundation, offering a cement fistful of vintage L.E.S. chaos." Seems like a fitting way to start this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday in the Park

[Image via Neither More Nor Less...Bob has more details on the shows there too.]

Meanwhile, here's a quick clip of APPLE from last Sunday's show.

NYPD blew

Avenue B and Houston, early morning, July 31.

It's not your imagination

From today's Post of New York:

A new study shows what many an old-time New Yorker has been griping about for years - chain stores appear to be taking over.
In its first-ever ranking of national retailers in the city, the Center for an Urban Future yesterday published its list of chains with the most outlets in the five boroughs.
Dunkin' Donuts took the title with 341, ahead of upscale coffee competitor Starbucks, which came in fourth at 235.
The pricey java joint did rank No. 1 in Manhattan with 186, ahead of 78 for Dunkin', which concentrates on the outer boroughs.
Jonathan Bowles, director of the center, a nonpartisan think tank, said he and his researchers conducted the study because, well, they were curious.
"We've been hearing so much talk about the proliferation of national chains in New York and how mom-and-pop stores have been pushed out of the city, but it struck me that there was so little data," he told The Post. "We wanted to provide a backdrop to this discussion."



Download a PDF of the survey here.

Oh. Oops. Sorry. I missed that everyone covered this yesterday...at Gothamist...the Observer...Crain's...

[Dunkin' Donuts photo by EV Grieve]

An evening with David Peel

Bob Arihood has the details on David Peel's post-concert birthday bash Sunday night at 8 in front of the Christodora.

On Jan. 13, 1972, Peel and company performed with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on The David Frost Show. Aron "The Pie Man" Kay has a clip of the performance on YouTube.



Meanwhile, here's a video of Peel at the July 11 "let them eat cake" protest at 47 E. 3rd St.



For further protest reading on EV Grieve, here's where to go.

The sinkhole in the middle of 7th Street and Avenue B now requires two cones

Flashback to July 22!




Previously on EV Grieve:
About that sink hole in the middle of 7th Street and Avenue B

Seth Rogen backlash begins

6th Street and Avenue C.

Looking at the Tompkins Square Park riots in black and white

As the week's issue of The Villager notes:

Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park riots, East Village photographer Q. Sakamaki is releasing a book of his dramatic black-and-white images bringing that turbulent period in neighborhood history back to life.

[Photo by Q. Sakamaki]

Also in The Villager this week: An editorial asks for "die yuppie scum" protestors to lay off Red Square developer/Christodora House resident Michael Rosen.

And:
Bobby Steele on Why "Die Yuppie Scum" must die: It’s hate speech

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking back: Red Square and gentrification

Hair

Pipeline 29 checks in with this report on the new Freeman's Barber Shop in the West Village:

With its manly nautical theme, chalkboard, and vintage chairs, the men's hair salon is a favorite of the fashion set and any red-blooded male who wants a shave and a trim without a side of pretense. Now Westsiders won't have to travel to the Lower East Side to look sharp. On Tuesday, we got a first-hand look at the new FSC Barbershop on Horatio near 8th Avenue in the West Village. Like it's Freeman's Alley counterpart, the West Side shop oozes dude. This location, however, has a smoother, sleeker aesthetic to go with it's new, more upscale surroundings—white tile replaces beadboard, smoked-glass fixtures replace raw bulbs. Says co-owner Sam Buffa, "What we're hoping for in this location is to open up earlier in the morning 'cause all the guys in the East Village get up at like noon which is definitely different over here. There are a lot of families over here, a lot of businesses and a lot of kids. One of my favorite things that I saw when we opened up the other barbershop was when we had an eight year old and a 70 year old getting cuts right next to each other. This place isn't just for hipsters or anything like that. We'd like to think it's for everyone."

Well, if that's too downmarket for you, there's always the new salon in the Plaza. As Vanity Fair reported earlier this month:

Less than a week before the flagship Warren-Tricomi salon opened at the recently revamped Plaza Hotel, in Manhattan, hairstyling veterans Joel Warren and Edward Tricomi were sitting at a round table underneath the crystal chandlers in the hotel’s lobby. “We are in the lap of luxury here,” Warren said, the coloring yin to Tricomi’s cutting yang, “and we wanted to create a space that was geared towards our clients.”
Their loyal followers (jet-setters, boldface names, editors, you name it) tend to be a discerning bunch, so the hair pair wanted the salon environment to be—forgive the ladies-who-lunch parlance—beyond.
“We really wanted it to be the most luxurious experience possible,” Warren says.

Oh, and it's a 6,100-square-foot space with a VIP room with a special entrance.

I miss Mr. Yury, who used to cut my hair on 7th Street. One day he was just gone, though other barbers on his old shop.

Welcome to Lettertown!

Good thread on Gawker this afternoon on two Bushwick residents referring to their neighborhood now as "BillyWick" or "BushBurg."

Sarcasto had a funny suggestion (one that I hope some developer or real-estate baron doesn't notice!).

An EV Grieve editorial (aka, this week's sign of the Apocalypse)

According to the Times today, shorts are no longer "an office don't. These days, they are downright respectable" at the office.

EV Grieve responds:

"Shorts are no longer an office don't" -- OH YES THEY ARE.

"These days, they are downright respectable" at the office -- NO! NEVER! NEVER EVER.

That is all. Thank you.

Oh, if you must, an excerpt from the article:

The willingness of men to expand the amount of skin they are inclined to display can be gauged by the short-sleeved shirts Senator Barack Obama has lately favored; the muscle T-shirts Anderson Cooper wears on CNN assignment; and the Armani billboard in which David Beckham, the soccer star, appears nearly nude.

Not a few designers are pushing men to expose more of the bodies that they have spent so much time perfecting at the gym. “We have all these self-imposed restrictions” about our dress, said Ben Clawson, the sales director for the designer Michael Bastian. “As men’s wear continues to evolve and becomes a little more casual without becoming grungy, it’s not impossible anymore to be dressed up in shorts.”

While Mr. Bastian is a designer of what essentially amounts to updates on preppy classics, even he has pushed for greater latitude in exposing men’s bodies to view.

[Photo: Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times]