Meanwhile, a little closer to home...
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
My mind is going. I can feel it
I can't help myself. Seventh Street at First Avenue.
What the liar said earlier:
This is the last post related to a King-of-the-Hill beheading or vandalism -- unless somebody does something really clever or cruel (or more cruel)
What the liar said earlier:
This is the last post related to a King-of-the-Hill beheading or vandalism -- unless somebody does something really clever or cruel (or more cruel)
Confirmed! Robin Raj moving from corner to 114 Third Ave.
The Robin Raj bodega is preparing to move two doors down to 114 Third Ave., the site of the former Grace and Hope Mission. Their soon-to-be-former site on the corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue is up for grabs. Perhaps a nice shiny tower to keep in line with the neighborhood?
Slow news day in Kansas City?
The Kansas City Star today picked up that Times wire service article on cocktail geeks of the LES that we mentioned Dec. 3.
The Star's headline: Amateur cocktail connoisseurs form brotherhood over ice.
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition
Some news of interest from this week...in case you've been traveling...
The Times concludes its Then/Now series with shots of Times Square (New York Times)
Everything on the Coney Island boardwalk is for lease -- including Ruby's (Curbed)
Jefferson Market to live again? (Flaming Pablum)
The gas station at the end of the world (East of Bowery)
Appreciating Joe Jr.'s (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
More destruction on Ludlow Street (BoweryBoogie)
Marking the sixth anniversary of Joe Strummer's death (Stupefaction)
At the Blarney Cove! (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)
Founder of the East Village History Project can no longer afford to live in the neighborhood
The Times has a nice piece today on the East Village Trivia Night held at the Bowery Poetry Club this past Tuesday. As the paper reports:
“Who was born there? Who died there? Who was shot there?” said the organizer of the event, Eric Ferrara. “We’re interested in everything that’s notable and not so notable.”
Indeed, even before the neighborhood trivia contest began, there was much discussion over the little matter of what to call the neighborhood.
Although contemporary maps generally refer to the area of the East Side between 14th Street and Houston Street as the East Village and reserve the Lower East Side label for the neighborhood south of Houston, most older maps call the entire area the Lower East Side. Some old-timers eschew the East Village name as an aspirational invention of real estate interests trying to pump up property values.
“I use East Village professionally because it is what people know today,” Mr. Ferrara said. “But with family and comrades we still call it the Lower East Side.”
Ferrara grew up on Suffolk Street and is a fourth-generation Lower East Sider. He and some like-minded residents started the East Village History Project in 2001. (Their mission: raise the public's awareness of the East Village/Lower East Side's historic significance and influence in world history.)
The article ends on a rather sad note...it's a shame that a lifelong resident and passionate advocate for the area has to now live elsewhere...
Mr. Ferrara said that he does not reflexively oppose gentrification, but lamented that he had recently moved across the East River to Brooklyn after being evicted from a rent-stabilized apartment on East Third Street.
“I can’t even afford to live in my own neighborhood anymore,” he said.
How's the coffee at Ost Café? Dunno yet!
On Tuesday, I went to check out Ost Café, the new Eastern European coffee shop that opened Dec. 20 on the corner of 12th Street and Avenue A. See what was what. Sample the coffee. Support locally owned places. Etc.
Uh. Guess I need to go back next week...Does it seem a little weird to open for three days then close for the next six days...?
Uh. Guess I need to go back next week...Does it seem a little weird to open for three days then close for the next six days...?
More love in the media for Love Saves the Day
[Photo by Vivi via Picasa.]
Since Jeremiah broke the story Dec. 2 of Love Saves the Day's apparent demise, there has been no shortage of affection for kitsch central at Seventh Street and Second Avenue:
From Lily Koppel's feature in the Times yesterday:
It opened 42 years ago, in a time known by some as the Age of Aquarius, in a Manhattan neighborhood that was a hippie haven. It endured as a psychedelic oasis even as the hippies disappeared and the neighborhood, the East Village, was transformed into a pricier and less scruffy place by the real estate boom that washed across many parts of New York City.
Meanwhile, in The Villager this week, Dottie Wilson has an essay on the store:
LSD, located on the same block of Second Ave. as Gem Spa, B&H Dairy, The Orpheum, Stage Deli and Toy Tokyo, now has a new sign on its door, and it isn’t amusing. It’s an ugly announcement about the departure of yet another special facet of the East Village.
And!
But how ironic and horrible that this unique “real estate” will most likely end up symbolizing a really bad acid trip when a Duane Reade or the equivalent no doubt occupies the space.
Cemusa finally runs a relevant ad
Avenue C near Sixth Street. The ads are usually something ingenious like...
Meanwhile. Heh. That looks like it might hurt! Avenue A near St. Mark's.
Some post-holiday cheer from the U.S. Army War College
Post business columnist John Crudele had this item the other day:
ARE you afraid that the economic downturn could get out of hand? I mean, really out of hand?
Well, don't worry.
The US Army War College is on the case -- ready to handle "unforeseen economic collapse" and the "rapid dissolution of public order in all or significant parts of the US."
And you thought we were just dealing with a recession!
In a report published Nov. 4 -- just in time for the holiday season -- the War College's Strategic Studies Institute posited a number of shocks that the country should be prepared for, including unrest caused by the economy's failure.
The report has a snappy title, "Known Unknowns: Unconventional 'Strategic Shocks' in Defense Strategy Development," and was written by Nathan Freier, a visiting professor at the college. The foreword was written by Col. John A. Kardos, director of the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute.
Freier lists a number of possible things we should worry about - because we probably don't have enough of our own -- including run-of-the-mill terrorism and the fact that China and Russia could align against us politically and economically.
"Some of the most plausible defense-relevant strategic shocks remain low-probability events," Freier soft-pedals before going on to scare the hell out of us.
The War College says "widespread civil violence inside the US would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security."
Among things Freier wants us to worry about are "deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction. . . unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency and catastrophic natural and human disasters."
Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
I should really give old Jane Gallagher a buzz
"The Catcher in the Rye" Christmas tour. This is an AP story from last December. Just remebered it for some reason. Good thing for entertaining visitors. Visitors who like the book. Have fun, folks. I'll be at a bar.
"The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger, was published in 1951. But nearly all the landmarks Holden mentions as he wanders around Manhattan at Christmastime — the Rockefeller Center skating rink, Radio City and the Rockettes, the zoo and carousel in Central Park, Grand Central, the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art — are still drawing holiday visitors more than a half-century later.
"The things that he chose tend be crowd-pleasers," said Matthew Postal, a researcher with the Landmarks Preservation Commission. "In a city where so much changes, there is a tendency, especially with institutions, to protect the crowd-pleasers."
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Need a tree?
Just took a quick inventory of some of the remaining Christmas tree lots around the neighborhood...In previous years, it seemed as if too many trees were left as of Dec. 24...And this year?
At Rite Aid on First Avenue at Fifth Street this morning:
At a stand on First Avenue and 19th Street last night:
At Stuyvesant Farms on 14th Street and Avenue A last night:
Or, if fake is your thing, there are trees left at the East Side 99 cent shop on 14th Street near Avenue B:
Meanwhile, Christmas is apparently over for this Ninth Street resident:
At Rite Aid on First Avenue at Fifth Street this morning:
At a stand on First Avenue and 19th Street last night:
At Stuyvesant Farms on 14th Street and Avenue A last night:
Or, if fake is your thing, there are trees left at the East Side 99 cent shop on 14th Street near Avenue B:
Meanwhile, Christmas is apparently over for this Ninth Street resident:
Noted
From the Times today:
Martha Stewart was among the many who were saddened a year and half ago by the closing of Kurowycky, the Ukrainian butcher in the East Village, and the loss of its legendary hams. Ms. Stewart, whose heritage is Polish, has decided to try to recapture the Old World style.
Her bone-in applewood-smoked holiday ham is made by Kirkland Signature and sold, either half or whole, at Costco stores.
It has a fine texture and a haunting, smoky taste, though it would be better with a wider rim of creamy fat, a detail that might not bother most people. It is fully cooked, ready to slice, and can also be heated with a glaze.
Now Martha can go to the old Kurowycky spot on First Avenue and get a DVD or CD.
Noted ("high-end horn-dogs" edition)
From Page Six today:
THE world of ecdysiasts -- a coinage of H.L. Mencken from the Greek "to peel" -- is changing fast with the closings of Scores West last February and Scores East this month. Now, Las Vegas strip club Sapphire has opened its first New York outpost on West 23rd Street. The busty beauties there, with hearts of gold, have been collecting Barbie dolls to send to poor girls in Brazil. Word is Sapphire will also soon be taking over the much larger Scores East space on East 60th in an attempt to lure back the high-end horn-dogs who now patronize Rick's Cabaret on West 33rd.
Up on the Parkside reindeer pause...Out jumps good old Santa Claus...Down thru the chimney with lots of booze
Houston and Attorney on the Lower East Side.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Yankees now handing out money faster than the US Government
By giving Mark Teixeira $180 million, the Yankees now have the four highest-paid players in baseball. Well, guess that means beers will be $40 next season at the new Yankee Stadium.
Breaking! Firetrucks (and firefighters!) in action at the corner where Keith McNally will somehow probably ruin
Just after 3, the corner of Bowery and Houston was the scene of chaos! Enough equipment to put out the inferno at the Towering Inferno! Fire trucks! Ladders! Firefighters! Drivers trying to turn right onto Bowery and honking their horns!
Everyone stood around for a little bit then left. No report of actual flames from the people standing around -- the people standing around who weren't firefighters. Tourists took pictures. Someone had a video camera. Anyway, good thing there wasn't a real fire -- the firefighters would not have been able to penetrate the quadruple plywood protecting McNally's new pizza joint.
Everyone stood around for a little bit then left. No report of actual flames from the people standing around -- the people standing around who weren't firefighters. Tourists took pictures. Someone had a video camera. Anyway, good thing there wasn't a real fire -- the firefighters would not have been able to penetrate the quadruple plywood protecting McNally's new pizza joint.
Let me get all Metropolitan Diary on you
I was walking in the 30s today for some reason...I got stuck behind a slow-moving tourist dad and his young son (7? 8?)...They were taking their time looking here and there. I wasn't paying too much attention. But it was clear they couldn't find what they were looking for.
The boy said, "But I thought you knew the city."
The dad shook his head sadly, "Not anymore I don't."
Turned out he used to live here.
The Christmas tree at Washington Square Park could likely use a hug or something
The Christmas tree at Washington Square Park looks lovely....well, from a distance, anyway....Get a little closer....
and it starts to look a little more, well, straggly.
Closer still! And there's branch cracked off...A whole section looks somehow dented. Someone miss the light and plow into it? Or maybe just a hungry rat?
and it starts to look a little more, well, straggly.
Closer still! And there's branch cracked off...A whole section looks somehow dented. Someone miss the light and plow into it? Or maybe just a hungry rat?
I'm not waiting on a lady...say, what the hell is Mick wearing anyway?
Yeah, we've all seen the video for "Waiting on a Friend" enough times...
However, we've never seen these photos taken by schillid when the Stones were shooting the video on St. Mark's Place in July 1981. (I found the photos at the It's Only Rock'n Roll Stones fan site.) Here, the boys hang out at the old St. Mark's Bar & Grill on the corner of First Avenue.
Here's what the corner looks like now.
For more on the St. Mark's Bar & Grill, go here.
However, we've never seen these photos taken by schillid when the Stones were shooting the video on St. Mark's Place in July 1981. (I found the photos at the It's Only Rock'n Roll Stones fan site.) Here, the boys hang out at the old St. Mark's Bar & Grill on the corner of First Avenue.
Here's what the corner looks like now.
For more on the St. Mark's Bar & Grill, go here.
"Back then this whole area was just people who were into art and you know…"
Speaking of the St. Mark's Bar & Grill, Matt Harvey profiles author Michael Largo — the man who owned the bar — in the latest Chelsea Now. Largo (pictured right from the old days) recently saw the publication of his latest book, "Genius and Heroin." To mark the occasion Harvey and Largo went on a mini walking tour of the East Village:
Largo, a compact man with a gray-flecked auburn goatee, spent the 1980s owning and operating the legendary St. Marks Grill, which sat on the corner of St. Marks and First Ave. Since then, the generic black canopy façade of the lounge Tribe has erased all evidence of his bar; it served as a louche retreat for Joni Mitchell, pop art “godfather” Larry Rivers and — for a short time — Keith Richards. (The Rolling Stones used the Grill as the setting for their video of “Waiting on a Friend,” their jazzy portrayal of coolly anticipating the drug connection.)
“The first thing Keith asked me when he came into the bar was ‘Where can I cop?’” Largo said, perfunctorily tossing off a worn over anecdote. “My liquor license is right above my head and cops and producers are around.” A smile crept to his lips, as he continued. “I said, ‘Here’s a bottle of Jack, that’s all I can help you with.” His barroom charm managed to infuse his name-dropping with some life.
Twenty-five years, and several layers of gentrification later, Largo — who moved to Miami in 1990 and stayed there — couldn’t find his bearings in his old neighborhood. His usual wry grin turned slack and he said; “Back then this whole area was just people who were into art and you know…” His soft, Staten Island-accented voice broke up into a slightly sinister laughter.
Previously.
EV Grieve's last-minute gift guide
For someone you really don't like....
Being sold by a street vendor on Sixth Avenue near 22nd Street.
Or! She's the perfect accompaniment for the next time you watch The Village of the Damned.
Being sold by a street vendor on Sixth Avenue near 22nd Street.
Or! She's the perfect accompaniment for the next time you watch The Village of the Damned.
Stocking stuffers for St. Brigid's?
Hmm, is that big enough to hold $20 million? On Avenue B and Eighth Street at the entrance to the St. Brigid's renovation.
Actually, we're still infuriated
Daily Candy checks in today with their take on the new Cooper Square Hotel (aka, "Dildo of Darkness"):
Cooped Up
The Cooper Square Hotel Opens
You can hate your neighbors only until you realize you love them.
So it was with The Cooper Square Hotel, which infuriated the testy East Village. Then came the post-construction reveal: Damn, this is one fine-looking, well-mannered new kid on the block.
An intriguing, modern glass tower, The Cooper has enough outdoor garden space to make you think the 6 train added a stop in L.A. The beautiful library off the lobby has a fireplace, bookshelves filled with eclectic volumes from Housing Works, and an honor bar for everyone. (Yes, even off-the-street riffraff like us.) Govind Armstrong’s long-awaited Table 8 outpost will open in February.
Overnight guests (yippee, no more fleabag St. Mark’s hotels!) won’t want to leave, what with the indie movies in the minibar, Red Flower amenities, three bathrobes, and insane city views.
It’s enough to inspire a block party.
Happy holidays from the state comptroller! (And MTA!)
The Post reports today:
It keeps getting worse.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned yesterday that the city faces budget gaps of $3.5 billion and $8 billion in the next two fiscal years -- far higher than previous forecasts.
That's a sharp increase from the $1.3 billion and $5 billion deficits Mayor Bloomberg projected last month in his budget plan for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years. It even surpasses the state Financial Control Board's dire figures that came out just five days ago and put the city's budget gaps at $2.3 billion and $6.4 billion.
Meanwhile, subway and bus fare will probably increase to $3 next year!
Now let's go out and spend some money!
Good seats still available! Cheap!
Spotted on the subway platform on 14th Street and Eighth Avenue several weeks after the play closed. (And only after eight performances....)
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