Something weird is coming to the EV where a bodega used to be at 2nd Ave and 11th St. -- looks like a Mexican restaurant outside, with Moroccan-style lamps inside, but filled with many wooden cubicles, each with a computer terminal and an office phone. Hmm, DIY phone-sex biz?
[Photo courtesy of Jeremiah Moss]
Then! Shortly after its July opening, it was tagged.
Then it was tagged again in late winter...
...but someone had a change of heart a few weeks back. Just say no to the anarchy!
And now, it sits empty...
...with a new tenant forced to deal with the worst color scheme ever!
A readers reports hearing gunshots Saturday afternoon around 2 on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. According to the reader, the police blocked off Fourth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C for several hours. Does anyone have further information?
"I was there on Saturday night for about fifteen minutes getting change...it was a total shitshow. People couldn't figure out who worked there and who didn't. The mixed drink area was packed but no one could figure out how they were being charged for drinks. At one point I saw two pitchers of the same beer go for totally different prices. It was impressively chaotic."
NYC Food Guy reports that Tuck Shop is opening a second EV outpost at 115 St. Mark's Place. He reports:
"Late night eaters are in for a treat, the new location, like Tuck Shop’s original location at 68 East 1st Street b/t 1st and 2nd Avenues, will be open until 5AM Friday and Saturday (an hour later than Crif Dogs) and 2AM Sunday through Thursday."
ConEd has been doing some work on First Avenue near St. Mark's Place.
With the metal plate and uneven surface, you can't help but think someone could take a nasty fall on this...
Well, unfortunately, such an accident happened early Friday evening. A woman tripped on the plate and plopped down. She was not injured. However, a woman walking directly behind her tried to stop, but got tangled up and fell. She smashed her face on the sidewalk.
Several people stopped to help. A chair was produced for her. She leaned back in the chair with a handkerchief covering her bloodied nose. Someone called for an ambulance. Someone called the woman's husband. Photos were taken of the uneven surface. Business cards were exchanged. Someone also called 311 and ConEd to complain.
The ambulance arrived and the dazed woman was treated for her injuries.
As of Sunday afternoon, the sidewalk remained as it did at the time of the accident.
Someone ripped open the store's trash bags and dumped the contents, well, everywhere. Random tomfoolery? Or a message from unhappy locals fed up with crap like FroYo shops opening every 12 feet?
The store also received a $300 tickets for the mess.
... for $13,500 a month. As the rental ad says, "the property also includes 1,000 square-feet of outdoor space along with a fire pit and a rotisserie grill -- perfect for entertaining friends and family in the upcoming summer months!"
Back in May, we noted some graffiti left behind by someone who, perhaps, didn't care much for the new ramen place coming to the former Love Saves the Day location at Second Avenue and Seventh Street.
Brandweek: What's wrong with the influencer model?
Duncan Watts: The claim that influencer matter or are important or influencers drive brand awareness, when you scrutinize them carefully, they turn out to not really be very meaningful. Or to put it another way, everyone thinks they know what an influencer is and everyone thinks they know why they matter, but everybody thinks something different. Is an influencer the hipsters in the East Village or Oprah Winfrey? What makes Oprah influential is very different from what makes the hipster in the East Village influential. And so by failing to differentiate carefully between all these different types of influencers you really undermine the ability of the theory to say anything predictive.
Two weeks ago, The Villager did a nice piece on the passing of Pretty Boy, the cat dubbed "The Mayor of Seventh Street." The Times yesterday had a nice piece on Pretty Boy titled "Mourning the Mayor of Seventh Street." They also have a slideshow.
One of those store with band T-shirts, thumb rings, water pipes, etc. Big with the kids and tourists. But you knew that. (And how long was this here? I can't remember...)
The Post has the story today about Redrum, the clipped-wing red lorikeet that belongs to Lucky Cheng's owner Hayne Suthon. According to the paper, Suthon was standing on the deck of her apartment above the First Avenue club. The bird got spooked and fell three stories to a tree below around 6:30. Luckily, this occurred before the stretch limos and bachelorette parties rolled in...
About an hour later, the bird fell into the busy street. That's when waiter Christopher Kelly, 33, sprung into action.
"I ran out and put my arms out to slow the traffic down and, luckily, I was able to jump on it," he said.
Redrum was safe and sound last night, and Suthon thanked the bird's savior.
"That was so brave," she said.
Which reminds me that I haven't seen "The Shining" in a long time.
"The place is dingy as all hell. First thought upon entry: how to leave. One of the great con-job sell-jobs of our time." Phrases also used to describe it: "disgusting" and "should be condemned."
"Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch and Marc Jacobs have applied their creative savvy to a new kind of line: Local 138's summer cocktail menu. Fashionistas will be flocking to the LES bar this summer to sip Lauren’s Ralph Raspberry Rum Punch, made with crushed raspberries, rum, lemon and lime juice, and Tory Burch’s Tory Tikki Tini, made with grapefruit, mango, strawberry and pineapple. Jacobs — ever the classic — created a modern spin on the timeless mint julep: the Marc Mint Martini." (Gatecrasher via The Cut)
As V.A. Musetto wrote in the Post yesterday: Stanley Kubrick was an upstart kid from The Bronx when, in 1955, he borrowed $40,000 from an uncle and directed, wrote, edited and photographed a movie thriller called "Killer's Kiss."
An ex-boxer finds love in the arms of a Times Square taxi dancer, but her boss just won’t let them be. Strikingly shot on NYC locations, a film noir featuring several notable set pieces, including an unforgettable battle among mannequins.
Someone also chopped it into parts and placed it on YouTube.... Here's the first 10 minutes...
From the Zagat Nightlife survey press release: Hot Blocks: Voted NYC's hottest nightlife neighborhood, the Lower East Side had a banner year, with the most buzz-worthy newcomers. Exclusivity came downtown with the opening of Eldridge, and Thompson LES Hotel introduced Above Allen, a rooftop bar with a retractable roof and chic furniture. Further downtown, Santos Party House opened its double-decker dance floors to throngs of partygoers and a rotating list of celeb-DJs. (PR Newswire)
"Yeah, I thought being anorexic would be hot" (Esquared)
Lots of people buy second homes in Manhattan. Why? "[R]ecent developments have made New York even more tempting. Once-marginal neighborhoods such as the Meatpacking District and Times Square are not just gentrified but leading hot spots. The 10-year-old Hudson River Park has transformed the entire West Side shoreline, once full of rail yards and crumbling piers, into a sports, recreation and relaxation zone." (USA Today)
10 ten ways to get drunk on the cheap. Notable quotes: "I like my bars how I like my men: grungy and cheap" and "The roof is wonderfully enchanting for a spot on the less-attractive edge of the LES" and "Promoter Ruben Araneta told me the real secret: Go on a Monday, say his name at the door, then find him inside to cop a free vodka cran from his bottle — especially if you are female (duh!) and attractive (double duh!)" (Black Book)
Woody Allen: "New York itself is very inspiring. If I take a walk in the morning on Madison Avenue and I look at people going to work and kids going to school, I'm full of ideas about wanting to do stories about the city." (USA Today)
On May 9, Bob Arihood reported that a young woman died, possibly from a wilding incident that occurred the night before in Tompkins Square Park. (Bob has had several follow-ups to this incident. If you haven't already, you may read the posts here... and here.)
In a cover story in this week's issue of The Villager, Lincoln Anderson further explores the case in the death of Lesia Pupshaw, who was 26. (That's Lesia in the photo.) There was speculation that she may have died from a drug overdose.
First, according to the article, the cause of her death has yet to be determined. Test results are pending.
An excerpt from Anderson's article:
[C]iting indications police received early on from the M.E., the Ninth Precinct’s commanding officer said police don’t believe Pupshaw’s death was a murder, and are proceeding accordingly.
"There is no evidence to support" that Pupshaw was killed, said Deputy Inspector Dennis De Quatro. "At this point, it’s not being investigated as a homicide, but as an assault."
But some of the Tompkins Square Park "crusties" . . . say Pupshaw’s head was badly injured in the attack and that police aren’t investigating as thoroughly as if the victim had been a "yuppie."
De Quatro, however, said making things more difficult, witnesses aren’t cooperating.
"There seems to be a reluctance on the part of those in the park to talk to us," the deputy inspector said. "They can come into the precinct” and tell police what they know," he said.
Anderson also interviews Melissa Bishop, who says that at one point she was a suspect in Pupshaw's death.
According to the article:
May 8 was Bishop’s birthday. She and Pupshaw weren’t on good terms because Bishop’s ex-boyfriend, Greg, had broken up with her to go out with Pupshaw. Bishop had been pregnant by Greg, but miscarried. Bishop has a tattoo on her forearm in memory of her lost baby.
"She didn’t like me because I was carrying [Greg’s child]," Bishop said of Pupshaw.
Bishop, 29, already has two children, 15 years old and 11 years old.
Pupshaw’s presence in the park on Bishop’s birthday was not welcome. The two had words.
Bishop said she cursed out Pupshaw, then turned on her heel and started to walk off. Immediately afterward, she said, she heard glass breaking. Turning back around, she said she saw Pupshaw getting up off the ground and heard her say, "Look at my eye. Look at my eye."
She also said that police weren't taking "Pupshaw’s death as seriously as if she was some yuppie-ass rich woman."
"Absurd" was De Quatro’s response to that accusation. "It’s our duty to investigate the assault. If you are assaulted today and you die in an automobile crash in New Jersey tomorrow, we still investigate. One’s got nothing to do with the other."
De Quatro also disputed accounts that a roving gang of local teens is responsible for the recent attacks in the neighborhood. "As for documented incidents, we have that one weekend back in the beginning of May involving this group," De Quatro told Anderson.
Thanks to reader Mick for passing along this link to 12oz. Prophet that features shots from photographer Paul Binzen's book "Tenth Street." The book, published in 1968, documents life on the street from the east side to the west side.
