Friday, August 8, 2008

Hawaiian Nights in Midtown

A taste of Hawaii in New York in the 1950s and 1960s...


And today...






[1950s ads via Arkiva Tropika, where a lot more like these came from]

Hmm...was this filmed in the East Village?

At Ninth Street and First Avenue.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Things that I never thought I'd do

Wait in line for expensive pizza.



Doesn't look like much, to be honest. But it was really good.

EV Grieve continues to leave notes from EV Grieve



Well, I'll be on Day Four of the guest stint at Curbed. Here's some of the posts from there the past three days...

The Awful Tooth About This Corner of Chinatown

Future Thoughts: Remember When There Was a Gas Station in the East Village? One That Only Charged $4.35 a Gallon?

Beyond Gentrification

Long, Hot Summer At the Christodora

Development Plans on Pearl Street Now Short Term

Also, the Seller Needs Your Help to Transfer What Remains of a Total Contract Sum of $283,600,000 Out of Nigeria

Jumping on the BLT Bandwagon on St. Mark's Place

Gross Out Tuesdays: A Sign for Every Secretion

Auto Parts Store Fighting More Than One Battle

Recalling a Pre-Gentrified East Village in Black & White

Proposed New East Village Synagogue Looks Suspiciously Like Apartment Building

Well Zippity Doo Da, Tribeca: You're No. 1!

BREAKING WORLDWIDE EXCLUSIVE: Sinkhole filled on Avenue B and 7th Street





EV Grieve's complete sinkhole coverage here.

When will it be time for Pussy Galore in the headline?


As I've mentioned, I only follow the Sean Connery/neighbor-on-71st-Street fued to see how the Post can work in a James Bond reference. So today!:

SON OF 007 FOILS NEMESIS 'DR. NO'
By DAREH GREGORIAN
August 7, 2008

Previously in the Post:

007 IN A FIX OVER TOWNHOUSE
By DAREH GREGORIAN

July 30, 2008
Sean Connery's downstairs neighbors are proving to be a bigger headache for the former James Bond than Dr. No, Blofeld and Goldfinger combined.


'HOUSE ARREST' AT THE CONNERYS'
By MELISSA JANE KRONFELD and CHUCK BENNETT
July 26, 2008
Sean Connery's family nemesis - his neighbor "Dr. No" - was at it again yesterday.

JUDGE POINTS 'SCOLD' FINGER
CONNERY & FOE SPANKED
By DAREH GREGORIAN
MOLD FINGER:Dr. Burton Sultan (left) accuses Sean Connery of causing water leaks and other mayhem at their East Side condo.
December 27, 2007
A Manhattan judge has had enough of a court feud between Sir Sean Connery and his neighbor, and is urging the James Bond star and his arch-enemy Dr. Sultan to make peace.

Remembering the Sic F*cks


Girl About Town has the story on Tish and Snooky, "the legendary ladies of St. Mark's Place." "[F]or a short time in New York City in the late 70s, the sisters were part of local band Sic F*cks, who played their trashy style of glam punk at CBGBs and ruled the East Village."


[UPDATED: Sorry, I had Sick F*cks earlier...not Sic F*cks!]

Tish and Snooky at the Limelight, 1986.


[Video by Nelson Sullivan]

Some vacation



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

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

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

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

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


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]