Thursday, August 7, 2008

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]

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)

Monday, August 4, 2008

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.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

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.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

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.]

Friday, August 1, 2008

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.