So this guy walks into the Mars Bar in a green shirt with a pink sweater around his shoulders...

When he walked in, I thought he was lost. I expected him to say, "Excuse me, where's the Bowery Wine Company?"

But he didn't. He ordered a drink.

Did he lose a bet? People don't usually walk into the Mars Bar wearing yellow sneakers, green shirts, and pink sweaters draped over their shoulders.

A few people stared.



Trying to get my head around it, I've told this story to several people this past week. Their first reaction has usually been, "Seriously?" Someone asked me if the guy got his ass kicked. No. We're not in high school, though I often think I'm living in one on weekends. The thing is, we're so used to seeing entitled young professionals in the neighborhood, we hardly give it a second thought. It has been happening for years. Usually it's much more intrusive than someone simply having one drink and leaving. Somewhere last Friday, Bloomberg was likely smiling. It's still the city of his dreams, built in his likeness.



Everything is so watered down that even someone dressed like a dish of sherbet can walk into the Mars Bar. Nothing is sacred. Bloomy and the gold-mining developers have beaten the city into submission. They're vampires and they've drained the remaining drops of lifeblood from what was once the most vibrant, potent city anywhere.

But is it too late?

[Bloomy photo via]

The Christodora cracks up

Seven years bad luck?

Fun at museums: Appealing to the psycho-sexual crowd

Yesterday, the Real Clear blog posted excerpts from an interview between Maxwell Anderson, director of the Indianapolis Art Museum, and Richard Armstrong, the director of the Guggenheim Museum.

Here's an excerpt I found of interest:

The Guggenheim will increase its appeal to those below 35: "the psycho-sexual center of youth is in the Lower East Side," not near the Guggenheim, "so you have to figure out a way that it's not a stretch for people to get up there." They don't take taxis, he notes, and the Guggenheim in "not close" to the subway.

(As Real Clear's Judith H. Dobrzynski noted, "Gee, the 86th St./Lex Station is, what, a half dozen blocks away?")

Here's a link the video of Anderson and Armstrong.

About those "Chico sightings"

"After announcing three months ago that he would be leaving the Lower East Side to move to Florida, 'Chico sightings' in the neighborhood made some wonder if he was going to go. He said he’ll be leaving for Florida next week." (The Villager)

Previously on EV Grieve.

Funky

Thanks to the reader who sent along this gem...

Pearl Theatre relocating; what's next for 80 St. Mark's Place?

First the Amato Opera, now this...

The Pearl Theatre Company, which has had a residency at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place the past 15 years, is relocating to Midtown for its 2009-2010 season.

Said Founding Artistic Director Shepard Sobel in a statement: "While we are disappointed the East Village is losing a theatrical venue to commercial enterprise, we are thrilled to be moving to the theatre district to usher in this exciting new era of The Pearl in this vibrant new community."

And just what is that "commercial enterprise"? And what becomes of the Theatre 80? What will become of the celebrity footprints and handprints?




Why do we have the fear? Unfortunately, we don't know yet what's replacing the Pearl at 80 St. Mark's Place. We sent an e-mail to a Pearl spokesperson. According to the spokesperson, there are several different possibilities for the space at this time. However, the Pearl isn't privy to that information.

Anyway, here are a few more details about the Pearl's future. The New York City Center Stage II will serve as the new home. The Pearl will lease the space from Manhattan Theatre Club. The final Pearl offering at Theatre 80 is Tennessee Williams' "Vieux Carré," which runs through June 14.)

The new Pearl season will launch Oct. 2 with J.M. Synge's "The Playboy of the Western" World under the direction of the Pearl's new artistic director, J.R. Sullivan.

As for the Theatre 80, Howard Otway opened the space as a playhouse in 1967. He later turned it into a revival film house. He died at age 72 in April 1994. As the Times reported, Theatre 80 patrons assumed the venue would close. However, Otway's wife, Florence, continued running the theater.

According to the Times:

In the 1960's, the Otways bought two five-story buildings at 78 and 80 St. Marks Place, site of a famous speakeasy during Prohibition . . . Mrs. Otway remembers the heyday of revivals, from 1975 to 1985, "when people lined up down to Second Avenue." Even in later years, as other revival houses failed, the business was profitable, she said. With a mailing list of 4,000, Mrs. Otway is not worried about competition from VCR's.

Mrs. Otway also lived in an apartment above the theatre. Unfortunately, her tenure was brief. The theatre showed its last double bill -- "High Noon" and "Shane" on July 21, 1994. The Pearl's first production, "King Lear," began on Sept. 8.

Mrs. Otway still owns the two buildings.

For further reading:
Plays to Replace Films at Theatre 80 (The New York Times)

Theatre 80 sign via Warsze on Flickr.
Theatre 80 sidewalk art via Forgotten New York.

Dumb question of the day

[Uh, nevermind...the M8 has been spared...see the comments...carry on...]

If the MTA is cutting the M8 route starting June 28, then why have they recently introduced new hybrid buses on the line? (Like the one seen here on 10th Street and Avenue A?)

Another big scoop by the Post!

These guys are a news-gathering machine! No need for any credit on where the story originated!

Three photos of St. Brigid's

I love St. Brigid's. I'm going to keep taking photos of it (her?) while the scaffolding is down.

Dumpster of the Day

Seventh Street near First Avenue.

"If your establishment needs to hire a guy in an orange vest to direct traffic around your club every Friday and Saturday night..."

Crap, is it Thursday already? I meant to share this entertaining and informative reader comment earlier this week. Upon hearing the news last Friday that Le Souk had its liquor license reinstated and was planning on staying in the East Village (as reported first by DBTH), WB had the following to say:

One thing that need not be guesstimated is how much that place sucks.

Jokes aside, Le Souk did go before the Community Board in December. It was "following protocol" should this very thing happen. See here.

And so here we are. Hello.

Many spoke at that meeting. The tone was generally not positive as Le Souk went. It is true that some spoke up for the club, but a fair number of the pro Le Souk comments revolved around the tenuous idea that there exists no middle ground between circuses like Le Souk and the East Village of decades past (see reference 1). On the other hand the anti Le Souk crowd made consistently reasonable points. For example, if your establishment needs to hire a guy in an orange vest to direct traffic around your club every Friday and Saturday night, it's quite possible that your establishment has outgrown its environs.

Anyway, after everyone spoke their minds, the CB ruled that it would be inappropriate for it to make a decision at that time, since the license was suspended. It seemed like an odd decision at the time, given what was said and the place's history.

Now, I am not an attorney but I'm not certain that today's ruling means that Le Souk is on the fast track back to serving $24 Jägerbombs (reference 2). It sounds as if Le Souk needs to reapply for its license, which one would *guess* involves a recommendation yay or nay from the CB. And I can't fathom the CB giving it twelve thumbs up or whatever. The only thing Le Souk has going for it is that it has been closed for months and hence hasn't racked up more violations. But I don't fully understand how this machine works.

Anyway, if you ever have free time, the Community Board meetings are very interesting. It's a good look into one of the larger factors shaping our neighborhoods.

WB

Lady Gaga is on the cover of Rolling Stone's annual Hot List

In the cover interview the GaGaster admits that she's been disappointed by her boyfriends' reaction to the fact that she's sexually attracted to women. "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it," she says. "It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you.'"

Bonus excerpt!:

Lady Gaga's devotion to being a star drove her to order bags of cocaine and spend hours perfecting her hair and makeup in a tiny Lower East Side apartment after she dropped out of NYU several years ago — well before she was actually famous. "It was quite sick," she admits.