Semi-Duff

Hadn't planned on doing anything about the "Law & Order: SVU" shoot that took place in and around Tompkins Square Park Monday...



Until! A tipster sent a link to the Just Jared celebrity Web site which had the following:

Hilary Duff shoots scenes for her guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU in New York City’s East Village on Monday afternoon (March 23).

The Duffster plays Ashlee Walker, a “rebellious, trashy, slutty, irresponsible young mother” who is suspected of murdering her baby Sierra. The script even reveals that she will be wearing a wet T-shirt and shown “drunk and partying in Cabo!”

The SVU ep is named “Selfish.”

OMG! Hilary Duff!?



Uh, who is she again? Is she an Olsen twin? Is she dating a drummer from a band? Oh, right. She's "Lizzie McGuire."

And there's this:

Duff has also been announced to play Bonnie in "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde," alongside fellow former kid star Kevin Zegers. The announcement got Duff into some hot water when the original Bonnie from the classic 1967 movie "Bonnie and Clyde," Faye Dunaway, reportedly questioned, "Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?"

[Duff photos via Just Jared via Bauergriffinonline]

Remembering the Triangle Factory Fire

Today marks the 98th anniversary of the Triangle Factory fire...

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 146 garment workers who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, occupied the top three floors of the ten-story Asch Building in New York City at the intersection of Greene Street and Washington Place, just east of Washington Square.

Someone took the time to go around the neighborhood and honor the factory workers, most of whom were young immigrant women.



I don't know who takes the time to arrange all this (I saw five of these chalk tributes today...) but I'm glad that they do it...

Here comes the fun?

From Negev Rock City:

Too bad when I get to New York the city will be a bankrupt Gerald Ford-era dystopia.

THANKS MTA.

Actually, this means the Lower East Side and the E Village might even be fun again.

[Photo: © 2008 - Don Ventura]

What I've missed on Life On Mars

Oh, right. Life On Mars is still on...Tonight at 10, in fact. A reader dropped me a note on the topic...I had stopped watching the show after the third episode:

i'm not all that crazy about the show but i like that they're finishing the series this season. anyway, i know you complained that [the lead character] never did anything fun while he was back in time, so i thought you'd like to know that on the most recent episode he had sex with his old baby-sitter, who he'd always fantasized about. i thought that was kind of cool.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Photo taken on Orchard Street by the Intern of EV Grieve.]

New ailment for the recession: saver's remorse (The New York Times)

Bigshot Condé Nast editors now take the subway (New York Post)

Stewart, Colbert, seen as alternatives to the mainstream media by young adults (Rasmussen Reports, via Media Bistro)

NYU to hold spring graduation at Yankee Stadium (Washington Square Park)

Staten Island's South Beach (Ephemeral New York)

Ethereal will be dealing out of DUMBO (Stupefaction)

UK journalist takes the East Village walking tour (The Telegraph)

Images from 2008 (NYC Taxi Photo)

A look at Bushwick's industrial zone (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Earliest known photo of NYC for sale (AP)

China 1 keeping neighbors up at night, commenter/neighbor says (Down by the Hipster)

Right — temporary construction (BoweryBoogie)

AIG issues new vehicles for executives

At the AIG HQ yesterday on Water Street in the Financial District. Not sure if the truck was making a pick up or drop off...

What do we want for Avenue B? Yogurt? Ice cream? Yoga? Pilates?

The space at 41 Avenue B has been vacant for some time...

There's now a new ad in the window giving a better description of the property, which can be split into two storefronts.



And what are some of the suggested uses? (No bars, thank you!)



Hmm...Yoga center...Pilates...Yogurt...Ice Cream...Zzzzzzzzzz...Pastry and Desserts....Spa...ZZzzzzzzz....

Poco opens on Avenue B

A place called Poco opened last night on Avenue B at Third Street...one of those locations that has seemingly been many things in recent years...




And I'm not sure exactly what a cycle of 20 drinks means....

Cemusa wastes no time in putting up the ads

The new Cemusa bus shelter on Avenue C at East Seventh Street was christened Monday...and yesterday, the ads arrived...



...as did the trash bags.



No lights yet, though, to illuminate the ads...

Signs from the recession

At Diamond Jim Brady's on Maiden Lane in the Financial District.

Wally's at Marfa

I'm just curious how long the old Waikiki Wally's banner will stay up on the rooftop at Marfa... Marfa took over the WW space last month. On East Second Street near First Avenue.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

The Circus has left town: A dive bar death (NY Barfly)

Hello again!: Esquared is back (Esquared)

TV the size of Rhode Island discarded on East Ninth Street (plus, demonic squirrels in TSP!) (Slum Goddess)

Jill visits Forest Hills while Jeremiah walks Myrtle Avenue.

Looking back at The Minetta Tavern (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

At the Fulton Fish Market in 2002 (Scouting NY)

Graffiti truck art (City Rag)

Sales at the Ludlow Residence (BoweryBoogie)

Ex-Gawker editor Choire Sicha to write a nonfiction book on some 20-somethings trying to live and work in NYC. "If you’re fascinated by something you can get close to it — that’s always been true about New York," he told the Observer. "But I also feel like the $1.99 breakfast sort of went away, and the room for rent in the East Village went away too. The cost of entry became prohibitive with the last little boomlet we had, in a kind of extreme way." He went on: "I had a million jobs when I moved here and what I see happening among my younger friends, and among people I’m interviewing who are kind enough to give me their time, is there’s nowhere to go."

Reminder: East of Bowery at the Gershwin Hotel tonight

All the details are at East of Bowery.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the greatest article about transhumanism that you'll read today

From today's Wall Street Journal:

Arakawa and Madeline Gins's quest to make human beings immortal is at risk of dying.

That's because the couple lost their life savings with Bernard Madoff, the mastermind of a multibillion-dollar fraud.

Of all the dreams that were crushed by Mr. Madoff's crime, perhaps none was more unusual than this duo's of achieving everlasting life through architecture. Mr. Arakawa (he uses only his last name) and Ms. Gins design structures they say can enable inhabitants to "counteract the usual human destiny of having to die."

The income from their investments with Mr. Madoff helped fund their research and experimental work. Now, Mr. Arakawa, 72 years old, and Ms. Gins, 67, are strapped for cash. They closed their Manhattan office and laid off five employees.

The pair's work, based loosely on a movement known as "transhumanism," is premised on the idea that people degenerate and die in part because they live in spaces that are too comfortable. The artists' solution: construct abodes that leave people disoriented, challenged and feeling anything but comfortable.

Hmm...disoriented, challenged and feeling anything but comfortable? Sounds like my first studio apartment.

And be sure to check out the reader comments to this article on WSJ.com...like this one:

You would think someone aiming for immortality would have learned to take better care of their cash. Immortals need a sound, conservative investment strategy. Let's face it: we don't want the world filled with destitute 200 year-olds living in the streets.

Avenue C getting Cemusad

On the east side near Seventh Street. Soon, Avenue C will get a little more classy.

Isn't this a No Porking Zone?

On Avenue C near 14th Street.

Finally, the solution for people who think they want a sub but actually feel like sushi

On Park Row near City Hall.

BLT Restaurants now offer home delivery

Hmm...Seems a little over-the-top...why not just use a bicycle like everyone else? Of course, if I order from, say, BLT Fish, how well will that parmesan crusted Icelandic Halibut with truffled mushroom jus hold up?

(And what's BLT...?)

Things to do in Union Square: Stand among the palm trees and shop at Macy's

There was a piece on Asia One Travel the other day titled "48 hours in New York on a shoestring."

Straightforward enough for this type of article. I just hope people aren't disappointed in Union Square...check out the Union Square photo that accompanied the piece...

Admiring the fashion sense of "the girls that live in the East Village"

In an interview with the Guardian UK yesterday, model/designer Erin Wasson (pictured, right) was asked whose style she admired:

All the girls who are not in the pages of fashion magazines. The girls that live in the East Village in New York you see walking down St Mark's. They didn't look at a fashion magazine or go to Barneys and put something on their credit card. I like girls who are really eccentric and kooky. I love the rockabilly look -- not a rockabilly look because it's "this season", but the real deal. Believe it or not, there was a lot of that look in Dallas where I grew up.

I, too, get my fashion sense from St. Mark's Place. Hey, has anyone seen my long-sleeve mustard shirt?



[Subway Dude photo via Slum Goddess]

This ticket's for you

Cop tickets a Bud truck hogging up Avenue A at Ninth Street Saturday.

Report: During the recession, candy sales are up! (Next trends piece: We're getting fatter and our teeth are rotting)

The inevitable trends story today from the Times.

The recession seems to have a sweet tooth. As unemployment has risen and 401(k)’s have shrunk, Americans, particularly adults, have been consuming growing volumes of candy, from Mary Janes and Tootsie Rolls to Gummy Bears and cheap chocolates, say candy makers, store owners and industry experts.

Theories vary on exactly why. For many, sugar lifts spirits dragged low by the languishing economy. For others, candy also provides a nostalgic reminder of better times. And not insignificantly, it is relatively cheap.

“People may indulge themselves a little bit more when times are tough,” said Jack P. Russo, an analyst with the Edward Jones retail brokerage in St. Louis. “These are low-cost items that people can afford pretty easily.”

All this means business has been brisk at Economy Candy. Anyway, has the Times already done the piece on people drinking more during the recession and eating lunch from sidewalk vendors?

The life and times of Mr. Zero

This Ain't the Summer of Love's Mr. Zero post is now live... Mr. Zero -- Urbain J. Ledoux -- was known for his charity relief kitchens on the Bowery in the 1920s and 1930s, among many other charitable acts....

Previously on EV Grieve:
More on Mr. Zero

Code name Narnia: NYU frosh have secret room where they can drink, smoke pot and have sex (reportedly)

Washington Square News has the story:

Within the walls of one freshman dorm exists a magical place, known to most first-year students only as “Narnia.” Narnia’s mythical reputation as a refuge in which students sip beer and smoke marijuana without RA interference has spread like wildfire throughout the freshman class.

Indeed, the rumors are based on truth. The party never stops in Narnia: nearly every day of every week, four suitemates invite friends and strangers alike to celebrate life with sex, music, alcohol and weed.

Narnia is actually an eight-by-four-foot room in a spacious suite. The room is clean and uncluttered with a bedsheet spread across the floor. Photographs and hand-drawn illustrations adorn the sanctuary’s walls, and lava lamps, ashtrays and a defunct popcorn maker sit near a small window. A large poster of “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” rests on the room’s center wall.

Well, it was probably fun while it lasted. And has anyone checked John Sexton's blood pressure lately?

The End of Extra Place

In February, Extra Place was paved over...in an effort to "beautify" the piss-filled alley that ran behind CBGB and turn it into a pedestrian mall...



And now...as a capper to the project, an ominous "End" sign was put up...



...to signify the "End" of an era...or to warn motorists who may not otherwise be able to see the building that is sitting there...

By the way, it has been nearly one year since the makeover plans were announced for Extra Place.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at Extra Place

The Chocolate Wars (well, not at all, but we needed something that sounds CONTROVERSIAL)

From luxury condo sales office to stylish spa (seems about right)

The former sales office for One Avenue B -- located in Red Square on Houston Street -- will become a spa...Also, the Web site for One Avenue B, the glass box at the site of the former Gaseteria at Avenue B and Houston, is no longer live.

A Bodhi Tree grows on Third Avenue

Our former little Taco Bell on Third Avenue near 11th Street is all grown up now, almost ready to become a Thai place called Bodhi Tree.



Previously on EV Grieve:
From tacos to Thai on Third Avenue

PS
One cannot mention the name Bodhi without paying tribute to the greatest Bodhi of them all, Patrick Sawyze in Point Break.

Among his wisdom:

-- "100% pure adrenaline!"
-- "Goddamn! You are one radical son of a bitch!"
-- "If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love."
-- "I know Johnny. I know you want me so bad it's like acid in your mouth. But, not this time."
-- "Life sure has a sick sense of humor, doesn't it?"
-- "Yo, Johnny! I see you in the next life!"
-- "Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true."

Robataya rises on East Ninth Street

The always-reliable Col Legno closed up last June at 231 E. Ninth Street near Second Avenue. (It was a favorite of Alex's at Flaming Pablum.)

Now, the location is getting ready to open as a Japanese robata-style restaurant...

Kevin Bacon LOVES that delicious vegan ice cream at Stogo!

In this week's edition of My New York in the New York Post (this feature isn't online..), the Bacon Brothers -- Kevin and his, uh, brother -- discuss their favorite things in the city...And on Kevin's list: The vegan ice cream at Stogo on East 10th Street near Second Avenue, the former site of the beloved A. Fontana Shoe Repair...Anyway, Kevin says it's good stuff! That vegan ice cream. Wow, what a great plug for this shop! It's nice that a big-name actor is so supportive of such a place...




Of course, Kevin doesn't mention that Stogo is owned by his brother-in-law. Or maybe he disclosed this fact and the Post didn't include it...

What's new at Subway? (Specifically the one on Second Avenue near Ninth Street...)

An ATM!



But will it dispense $5 bills for the foot-long specials?

Previous, and exclusive, Subway coverage on EV Grieve:

An important update on fast-food mascots

It's Feb. 18, and we've already exceeded our quota for stories on Subway for 2009

Nothing more festive than an opening of a new Subway

Locals will no longer have to walk a few blocks out of their way for a Subway

Does this mean there will always be a line?

Because, you know, people always stand in line waiting for brunch (for reasons that I have never understood)...Uh, anyway, Eater has the story about what's going in this space on First Avenue near Sixth Street.

A refurbished Ryan's is now open

After being closed for six weeks, Ryan's Irish Pub on Second Avenue near Ninth Street reopened on St. Patrick's Day...




The bar is longer and wider now (uh, the actual bar, not the building...) ... but they did away with the menu -- no more food...And the work in the pub isn't quite done yet...




Previously on EV Grieve.