Tom Lee talks about life in the East Village and his late partner, Arthur Russell

I've been a champion of Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, the debut feature from Brooklyn-based filmmaker Matt Wolf. Russell, who died of AIDS in 1992 at age 40, was an East Village resident who "bridged the gap between the artistic vanguard and dancefloor hits, The Kitchen and Studio 54." The film plays at MoMa on Dec. 19.

On Friday, Gothamist published a Q-and-A with Russell's partner, Tom Lee. Here's an excerpt:

How have you seen the city change, both personally and through the music/social scene, from the era that was shown in the film? Of course there were many parts of the East Village that were not safe in the early ‘80’s, and you were always looking over your shoulder or had a heightened sense of awareness that I feel isn’t as necessary now. But it was also our ‘neighborhood’, and if we didn’t know where the other one was we would know to stop in at The Bar on Second Avenue, or at the St. Mark’s Bookstore. In that time before cell phones we would leave each other quick notes on the kitchen counter, such as: “I’ll be right back,” “I went for a run,” “Be back at 9:00, put the rice on.”

Given the opportunity, how would you change New York? As many people might hope for I wish that New York was an affordable place for people to live…not just artists and musicians and dancers, who enrich our lives with their work, but for anyone who might want to live here and take advantage of life in the city.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Friday, September 26, 2008
Starting tonight at the IFC -- Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell

Celebrating Arthur Russell

Noted

Just when you thought New York couldn't get any more exciting, now comes word that Josh Groban is looking to become a part-time Manhattanite.
The singer, accompanied by a very attractive young woman, was spotted touring a two-bedroom duplex penthouse at 155 Perry St. with a $3.85 million asking price.
Because of his dog, Groban was concerned with the spiral staircase leading to the private irrigated and landscaped roof deck, and discussed the possibility of adding rubber treads to the stairs.
Other features of the unit include a dining room, an open kitchen with a wine refrigerator, a woodburning fireplace, river views and 10-foot ceilings. (New York Post)

Holiday shopping at d.b.a.

This was forwarded to me...appreciate the communuity spirit here. It's happening at d.b.a. on First Avenue between Second Street and Third Street:

We are pleased to announce our fourth annual Urban Folk Arts & Craft Fair these next three Saturdays, 6th, 13th and 20th December, from 3 until 7:30, in our heated back-patio. "Drink good stuff" while doing some relaxed holiday gift shopping from local artists & crafters - beating the high street mania - shopping for eco-friendly, hand-crafted, fair-priced, original, one-of-a-kind holiday gifts. Buy a beer from one of the 18 draughts, including two hand-pulled ales, or choose from one of the 360 bottled beers, fine wines, or whiskeys, from Gina the lovely bartender, then come on back into the warm and welcoming patio. BYO bags for extra green points! And small bills are always welcome.

The 7B days of Christmas

Horseshoe Bar. 7B. Vazac's. Always looks nice during the holidays.

Reagan Youth, "USA" in Tompkins Square Park 1988

One of the many bands playing the A7 show tomorrow at the Knitting Factory.

Scene in Stogo

Blogger, seeing what has become of A. Fontana Shoe Repair at 159 Second Ave. at 10th Street and unable to resist the pull of curiosity, steps out of the cold and into the ice cream shop. The door is open. A cashier stands behind the counter while a woman, bundled into sweaters, browses the flavors. The owner, a salt-and-pepper, Pacific Northwesty kind of guy, puts up his hands.

Owner: 10 more minutes. We’ll be open in 10 more minutes.

Blogger: OK. I was just wondering, I’m a blogger. I write about new places. And I was wondering what Stogo means. Are you Swedish?

Owner: The ice cream is all organic.

Blogger: I thought maybe it was Swedish, with the name Stogo. Sounds kind of Swedish. Where is it from?

Owner: We use agave instead of sugar. But we’re not really open yet. 10 more minutes.

Blogger: Is this the only store, or are there more?

Owner: This is the beginning of a business. Please. We’ll be open soon. 10 more minutes. Please. Please.

Blogger exits back into the cold, wondering who would open an ice cream shop in December, around the corner from a dozen other fro-yo and ice cream shops, and wishing for the perk of a free sample.

Make mine a double?

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, the grueling ban on alcohol that lasted from 1920 to 1933.

I'll be having a Stock Market Crash.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Bargains!: Buy one used CD, get one free at Etherea on Avenue A (Stupefaction)

Mr. Moss checks out Mr. Hoch (Jeremiah'sVanishing NY)

Top-10 beer bars in NYC (Black Book)

No one wants to live in Heath Ledger's old apartment (Page Six)

Meet Jimmy and Philly (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Sooooooooo deserving: A bank gets the nicest view in downtown Manhattan (City Room)

Welcome to New Wild Boar Village (Esquared)

The flaming tips

Hunter-Gatherer found a dandy bartenders wanted ad for that place on Second Avenue and Fourth Street that has been named like 75 different things of late. Oh, are you good with flames and fire shows? Very helpful!

I miss the simple times when bartenders didn't need flames to be a good bartender.

"I am not looking forward to another flip, but here's the thing"

Wanted to share a comment from a resident who lives in one of the 17 walk-up apartment buildings in the East Village that are now for sale:

I live in one of these buildings, and Westbrook has been hell, to say the least (Extell pretty much left us rent stabilized people alone, at least in my building). Now, I am not looking forward to another flip, but here's the thing:

1. The 17 buildings can now be purchased separately, which may mean improved landlord-tenant relations in some cases, instead of the current collective of tenants dealing only with the shadowy PVE Associates and the repulsive Josh.
2. In some buildings, up to 40% of the rent-regulated tenants have already been forced out, meaning the ones who remain are: in possession of solid leases; good tenants who pay rent on time and do not sublet illegally, etc.; and have been through this fight for the past several years and know their rights.

Adding to this, I assume new landlords will want to avoid the terrible recent press Westbrook has received.

Finally "renting for as low as 20% of market" is deceiving. The individual listings linked to at Curbed show that there are far more stabilized units left than controlled ones. I am stabilized and my rent is only about 10% below market. In NYC's uncertain future, it may be better to have rent-stabilized people adding to the rent rolls than vacant apartments contributing zero.

Or I am being a completely naive optimist, and more unforeseeable hell awaits.

Entire East Village practically for sale

Jill mentioned this Wednesday at Blah Blog Blah. Now Curbed has all the gory details:

Brokerage giant Massey Knakal has announced, in an e-mailed press release and on its blog, that the firm has been retained to arrange the sale of 17 walk-up apartment buildings in the East Village. But not just any 17! The mix of buildings—sprinkled throughout the 'hood in many shapes and sizes and with widely varying numbers of rent-stabilized apartments per building—make up the "East Village Portfolio," purchased by megadeveloper Extell for $72 million in 2006 before the company spun if off to former cohort Westbrook Partners for $97.5 million in the summer of '07

The portfolio is going for $120 million.

According to Massey Knakal, "The rent regulated units are renting for as low as 20% of market creating a tremendous opportunity to increase revenue in the future. All of the free market units have been recently renovated featuring new hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops."

Curbed has photos of the 17 properties on the block.

Stogo is a go

Well, now! Stogo, which took over the former A. Fontana Shoe Repair at 159 Second Ave. and 10th Street, is now apparently ready for action! A tipster writes:

It wasn't open when I went by, but all the paper was down and everything looked ready for business. The signs inside say it's an organic, gourmet, dairy-free ice cream place. It looks like every other boring fro-yo joint, with space-age white stools and blonde wood. Very swedish -- like Ikea.

Previous Stogo coverage on EV Grieve here.

Bari bad news on the Bowery

Patrick Hedlund at The Villager reports this week that the Bari family is selling a massive, eight-building portfolio on the Bowery. The parcel of land across the street from the New Museum has nearly 67,000 square feet of buildable space -- six lots on the Bowery at Prince Street. As Hedlund writes, "The Bari family has owned the property since the 1940s, using it for restaurant-equipment supply operations, and stand to cash in on the neighborhood's emergence as a destination for art galleries and luxury development." (Patrick's story wasn't online just yet....)

According to the Bari Web site:

Bari Equipment is a family-owned business with roots that go back generations. The company was started by my grandfather when he came over from Italy more than 75 years ago. Located in New York’s fabled Bowery District, the business is still in the very same neighborhood. It has also remained in the family. Through the years, my father, uncles, and I – along with our amazing staff – have all upheld the traditions of excellence started way back when.

Of course, it’s tradition that sets us apart. Our pizza ovens, crafted with an eye for detail and quality, have withstood the test of time. In fact, the very same ovens purchased half a century ago can still be found in pizzerias across NYC and beyond!

Ciao!

Jeanie

Here's a passage on the Bari family, who once owned the Sunshine Hotel, from the July 2004 Times:

Watching all of these developments carefully is the family that owns Bari Restaurant and Pizzeria Equipment, a business that takes up 10 storefronts at Prince Street and the Bowery. As owners of one of the district's oldest shops, the Baris seem to know what's coming.

"I'm trying to envision it five, ten years from now," said Anton Bari as he sat on one of the restaurant chairs offered for sale in the Bari Gallery, one of the family's many enterprises. "I don't see the restaurant suppliers. I don't know if the reputation will still be here."

Mr. Bari, his brothers Mike and Nick and a cousin also named Nick run a company established in the 1940's by their grandfather, Nicola Bari, a radio repairman and purveyor of cheese graters. Besides selling an encyclopedic variety of restaurant supplies, the Baris manufacture pizza ovens and refrigeration units that are used in kitchens from Brooklyn to Russia.

On occasion, the Bari brothers are greeted by acquaintances who encourage them to turn their shops into trendy bars. But unlike many other suppliers on the Bowery, the Baris don't rent their stores -- they own them. They can sit back and watch the changes on the street without the pressure of a landlord or a lease.

Across from the Baris' main showroom at 240 Bowery, the family owns another building, but this one is not all mixers and ovens. Through a set of red doors marked "No Loitering" and up the stairs, an entirely different Bowery staple is still in operation.

"I can't stand the stink in here," said Mike Bari, squinting his eyes and turning toward the exit. He was standing in the hallway of the Sunshine Hotel, an S.R.O. above one of the Baris' warehouse units that the family inherited when it bought the building 15 years ago.

Once home to 200 residents, the hotel now houses just 40, with each man paying (or not paying) about $10 a day for the privilege of inhabiting one of its cell-like rooms. In the lobby, where a clerk collects rent and a painting of the main characters from "The Sopranos" hangs on the wall, the Baris greet nearly every resident with a warm familiarity.

"We're not looking to throw anybody out," said Anton Bari, when asked why he doesn't simply convert the Sunshine into $4,000-a-month apartments. "If they had to leave here, they'd be lost."

Here's a clip from the documentary Sunshine Hotel:




[Photo via Forgotten New York Sunshine photo via Tom Warren.]

Here's to Walter's

Walter's on Eighth Avenue between 29th Street and 30th Street celebrates their 20th anniversary today. (Sure, there will be drink specials starting at 8 a.m., but don't expect a buyback with such cheapo prices.) A fine dump this is. Here's to 20 more. Please.

P.S.
Love the copy on the their Web site:

THE WALTERS FAMILY
Walters is your place for a peace of mind (well, sometimes you get a piece of our mind). The ambiance will remind you of a place long forgotten or finally found (they don't make 'em like they used to).
You see, you may walk into Walter's Bar a stranger, but you'll leave a regular. Walter's is like a home and the people are like family to anyone that walks in.

Okay, enough politeness, WE ARE A PLACE TO GET DRUNK!!!.