There was a 100 percent chance of rain in the northeast section of Tompkins Square Park yesterday. Otherwise, sunny

Thanks to the EV Grieve reader who passed along these photos... from a photo (or film) shoot yesterday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park involving fake rain and the real Paul Rudd. Anyone know what this was...?





Too bad the organizers couldn't have planned this for back in June. On one of the 39 days that it rained that month.

Noted

From the Post:

A Manhattan condo is flush with amenities -- as in royal flush.

The city's newest legal underground card den is in a renovated condominium at 254 Park Ave. South, where a 1,400- square-foot poker room and lounge is being constructed in the basement of the 13-floor tower.

The developers of the condo, where the 123 units list for up to $3.28 million, are betting the poker room will attract a full house in a slow real-estate market.

"This isn't a gimmick amenity. The poker room is an extension of people's living space," said Daniel Rosen, a principal at Rosen Partners, one of the developers.

"We thought it was a good idea and then realized that no one else had done it before in Manhattan."

The poker den, pimped out with an eight-seat, green-felt poker table, a pool table and a posh bar, is already attracting residents lured by the idea of hosting their own weekly card games in style.

"The poker room and the high ceilings -- that did it for me. I knew it was the right fit," said David Stern, 30, who's moving into his two-bedroom unit in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, on Page 34 of the new issue of Rolling Stone...

P.S.

If you pause those Bud Light commercials for football fans....



Just stay off the subways.

"Your balloon needs to be all fro-yo'd up, bitches!"

The Urballoon made an appearance in Tompkins Square Park last evening as part of the Conflux Festival.





As Gothamist noted: "The Urballoon consists of a large helium balloon with a video projector and a wireless laptop that projects user-generated content onto public spaces. It floats above its tethers in parks or plazas and displays the video onto the ground, encouraging people to gather around a digital bonfire. People will be asked to address the theme 'What is New York?'"

Interesting idea, though I didn't stick around long enough to read any responses...





Slum Goddess didn't stick around too long either.

I knew if I didn't leave I would start texting offensive things to their balloon project..like "Your balloon needs to be all fro-yo'd up, bitches!" or "Let's all have a fucking crack binge tonight NYC!"..so I just wandered off. It didn't seem very exciting anyway.

Noted

Avenue B under the St. Brigid's sidewalk shed.

CB3 licensing meeting follow-up

The CB3's liquor licensing meeting from Monday night just ended about five minutes ago. Well, it was a seven-hour meeting. And Eater correspondent Gabe Ulla bravely sat through all of it.

Here's his report. A highlight:

Heather's Bar, which was under renewals with complaint histories, was by the far the most contested application of the night. The community came out in full force (signs reading "NO TO HEATHER'S BAR") to explain why they believe the owner is negligent and the space is a detriment to the neighborhood. Critics point to an overwhelming amount of noise and smoke, as well as Heather's inability to tackle any of these problems effectively. The owner of the space insisted that she has done everything to satisfy neighbors and comply with community board stipulations, but that it "doesn't seem to be enough." The fact that the establishment is on a side street only makes matters worse. The board agreed to hold off on a vote until the residents and the bar owner set up a meeting to attempt to work out their problems.

The Lo-Down was there as well at the meeting...

Previously.

Sweet Dreams

Because I have been reading a lot about ZE Records lately.

The Brooklyn Bridge as a bar code for toilet paper

We were so busy comparing brands of toilet paper earlier... we didn't even notice the bar code here... Thanks to Goggla for pointing this out...

Your face is going to hell

Lots of people are reporting on this now... I read it first at The Vulture:

MTV Games has released the first frightening images of Iggy Pop as a Lego mini-figure from November's Lego: Rock Band. At least they got the crotch right.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

RIP Galaxy Diner (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

It's Park(ing) Day NYC (Transportation Alternatives)

A tree etiquette sign (BoweryBoogie)

A gutted Bouwerie Lane Theater on the market (Curbed)

NYC unemployment rate hits 10.3 percent (Gothamist)

Devo coming to NYC (Flaming Pablum)

Matt Damon endorses Bloomy (Runnin' Scared)

A 19th Century pub crawl (The Lo-Down)

Here's the Coney Island Film Festival poster (Kinetic Carnival)

First look at "Alphaville"

Yesterday's big news was, of course, that there was some window washing happening at E2E4. Also! It was reported that Robert DeNiro and Spike Lee were teaming up to produce a TV show called "Alphaville" set in the East Village. As Reuters noted:

Set during the 1980s, the drama will re-create the neighborhood's mix of struggling artists and musicians living alongside Puerto Rican and black families. Along with its growing bohemian and celebrity population, which also included graffiti artists, break-dancers, rappers and DJs, the neighborhood was plagued by illegal drug activity and violent crime.

Perhaps it will be a little like 1984's "Alphabet City," but a little more Spike Lee-er-er.



However, based on this reel that DeNiro and Lee created to pitch the network executives — given to me exclusively — the series promises to have more of a German synthpop feel.

Is a giant praying mantis feasting on East Village apartments?

I recently came across this rather innocuous listing for an apartment on 10th Street and Fourth Avenue... I can see why someone moved out (or worse...)... LOOK ON THE BALCONY!



THEY'RE HERE! RUN!



NO!

A quick note about stuff from EV Grieve

Well, we made a few (subtle!) changes on this page... and the EV Grieve site loads much more quickly now... my apologies for any hang ups earlier. I just thought it was my crummy computer and Internet(s) connection at home...

Tough choices at Duane Reade

Hmmm.... The 5th Avenue Preferred is so tempting...

And this...

Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Well, given the previous post, might as well just post this too

On 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

At this point, I'm not even trying anymore

FANCY portapoopers were brought in for the overflow crowd at the Spin/ John Varvatos bash the other evening on the Bowery. So much for just peeing in Extra Place.

Noted

Red Dress Run XII is this Saturday afternoon...



Oh, don't know how to hash In New York City? The HashNYC Web site explains:

We r*n around the streets, alleys and parks of the NYC metro area in our never-ending quest for beer, food, good times and beer. Hashing . . . it's a mixture of athleticism and sociability, hedonism and hard work; a refreshing break from the nine-to-five routine. Hashing is an exhilaratingly fun combination of r*nning, orienteering, and partying, where bands of Harriers and Harriettes chase Hares on eight-to-ten kilometer-long trails through town, country, jungle, and desert, all in search of exercise, camaraderie, and good times.

Thanks to our old pal Esquared for this...

Howl!'s film highlights

The Howl! Festival is still going strong... East Village Howler has the complete program. There are many interesting films on the docket tonight through the weekend. Tonight, Jack Smith and the Lower East Side (as seen by Ken Jacobs).

And tomorrow night: "B/Side" and "What About Me."

I wrote a post on "What About Me" last December.

Noted

Here's how NYU Local covered the recent bust of the so-called "Spider Man" thief of the LES:

Around junior year, many NYU students make a mass exodus to the East Village, where they pay $2500/month to live in filthy, creaky 6-floor walkups, but can at least smoke weed without towling the door. Recently a rather elegant acrobat has been burgling the East Village, somersaulting through windows or lowering himself through skylights and striking fear in the hearts of those of us with windows facing the street. The police recently posted signs on all of the buildings on E. 13th street warning us of this talented thief, and I have spent the past few nights waking up every 10 minutes to make sure he’s not perched on my fire escape. Luckily ... Mr. Spiderman has been caught! Rest easy, East Villagers. Your laptops and iPods and drug money are safe… for now, at least.

Good news: Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen to reopen next week

Slum Goddess passes along good news about Peter Silvestri's Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen, which has been closed for renovations since Aug. 14:

I talked to Peter today..They should be open around the 23rd of this month..some bullcrap with his "company" name or something..he had no real health code violation problems..but I went in there today and he was in there and they really did a lot of work on the place! All freshly painted, polished and gleaming..he was stocking the shelves and they had new menu signs hung up-bigger and brighter ones..It wasn't all fro-yo'd upped and gross though..still looks like good old whole earth-just spiffed up! I told Peter we were all worried and he was flattered and eager to reopen for business next week!

Previously.

Photo via.

Looking at "Fear in Alphabet City"

Matt Harvey's cover story this week in NYPress -- titled "Fear in Alphabet City" -- provides a more detailed account about the murder of Eric "Taz" Pagan on Avenue A this past Aug. 23. For instance, according to the article, Louis Rodriguez, the man police have charged with the murder, had been tossed out of Forbidden City by Pagan, a former bouncer there, earlier in the evening. (Someone from Rodriguez's East Harlem neighborhood describes him as "a cold-blooded fucking idiot.")



As the article points out, the shooting shouldn't have been a surprise: "Bullets are more common in the neighborhood than most people want to believe."

Craig Lopez, one of the first people who came upon the murder scene, has lived in the East Village since the early 1990s.

Back then the moniker for the 45-square-block area south of 14th Street and east of First Avenue sent shivers down middle-class spines, conjuring up images of drug zombies and muggers. During the last decade, the term fell into disuse as wealthy new arrivals arrived, along with college bars and bistros. When the term finally ceased to register any fear, the rich claimed the Alphabets for themselves. In its 2007 Best 'Hoods issue, Time Out awarded Alphabet City the dubious honor of being the "#1 Best Hood."

Here's more from Lopez:

Despite the turnaround, Lopez says he preferred the lonely streets and coke bodegas to the loud "frat boy" parties that have invaded his neighborhood. "On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, it's really bad," he says, before breaking into an almost-apologetic smile. "I prefer the old way. I felt safer."

Lopez's crack about frat boys, however, masks darker fears. "Was I concerned that someone got killed?" he asks rhetorically, then shrugs. "Yeah. But I can’t say I was really surprised. There are shootings around here all the time."

Other highlights from the article include an interview with Bob Arihood, who has chronicled the East Village longer than anyone.

Arihood paints a perfect storm of social, economic and political factors, which combine to insure that successive waves of incoming NYU students, and upper-middle class tenants, remain ignorant of how bad things are in the 'hood — thereby continuing to splurge on tuition and "million-dollar condos."

Previously.

"East Village residents of all ages, races and classes worry that bullets are flying with increasing frequency these days"

Matt Harvey's NYPress cover story this week also talks with residents about the increase in gunshots around the neighborhood in recent months. As he notes:

East Village residents of all ages, races and classes worry that bullets are flying with increasing frequency these days.

Many have lived east of First Avenue for 10 years or more, so they know what a gunshot sounds like. Some claim that the crime statistics released from the local Ninth Precinct do not adequately tally all the shootouts. Others express fear that the uptick in violence will serve as an excuse for police to curb the civil rights of the locals.

I've heard from several readers the last six weeks regarding an increase in gunplay. In several cases, the details were rather vague -- "did you hear about a shooting somewhere along Avenue C the last few nights?" -- to do much with.

One reader said there was a shooting outside Tompkins Square Middle School on Avenue B between Fourth Street and Fifth Street early the morning of Aug. 28. The next day, the resident let two police officers into her buidling for an unrelated matter. When asked about the shooting, an officer responded, "Which one?"

The Villager later reported that a 23-year-old man was shot at 3:25 a.m. on Aug. 28 at Fifth Street and Avenue B. The victim was struck once in the leg and was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. A .38-caliber revolver was recovered at the scene.

Other incidents include the man who was shot leaving a bodega on 12th Street and Avenue C on Aug. 16.

The invaluable Bob Arihood at Neither More or Less has reported on several shootings in August. On Aug. 29 around 10:30 p.m., shots were fired in the rear yard of 507 E. 11th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

On Aug. 27, shots were fired on Sixth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

So what do we take away from a possible upturn in violence? Are things worse than a year ago? Definitely. A return to the cliched "bad old days?" Hardly. Still, I see too many seemingly clueless people bopping around by themselves wearing Bose soundproof headphones and texting at 2 a.m. They're making it a little too easy.

Here's a quote from Bob in the NYPress piece: "NYU students and yuppies don't know what’s going on. They're only here to party."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Post notes a "90 PERCENT SURGE IN BURGLARIES" in the East Village

Window washing at E2E4

Thus proving that I will pretty much take a photo of anything outside the 15-story E2E4 tower on Bowery between Third Street and Fourth Street....






I hope that they have a different system for reaching the upper floors.




Previously.

Robot lawn mower works OT at City Hall

Or so it seems! I've walked by City Hall several times of late. And each time, this damn robot lawn mower is out tooling around. How often does this grass really need to be cut? It's already like a putting green...






At least the tourists seem to enjoy the machine.

OK, who put up the 50,000 "Fight smack in the orphanage" posters?

Jesus, they're everywhere! Like this one one Seventh Street... for the spoof "Black Dynamite."

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

A bland-looking boutique for the former Howdy Do space (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Save the date for Lost New York (Flaming Pablum ... Patell and Waterman's History of New York)

"You Are Here" is a new public art project by David Freeland (Gotham Lost and Found)

The sad state of Zito Bakery (Lost City)

The gentrification of Chinatown (City Room)

The classic Louis Zuflacht on the LES (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

A report from the John Varvatos/Spin show (BoweryBoogie)

The Astor Place riots of 1849 (Ephemeral New York)

Poolside atop the Bowery (Curbed)

Richard Hell party review (Stupefaction)

From the September issue of The Real Deal:

The developers of 184 Kent, the high-end rental building about to open in Williamsburg, will be hitting the streets of the Lower East Side in a van, looking to take well-to-do hipsters to the Brooklyn waterfront. They won't actually be driving them there. But the idea is to troll for arty, young Lower East Side-type professionals where they live and hang out, parking the van -- plastered in ads based on the quirky "WilliamsburgLove" mock dating site -- in front of popular clubs. "We're looking at the Avalon Bowery project on Chrystie Street in the Lower East Side as comparables," says Jason Halpern, managing partner of the building's owner, JMH Development.

Meet the Wise One at Crystal Readings on Avenue A (Cat Sitter in the City)

Benefit Thursday night for Eric "Taz" Pagan's family

The folks at Destination passed along this information...

Tomorrow night, the 3rd Annual Lesser Known Characters Circle Up fundraiser ... "Come on by to find new music, win raffle prizes, and most important let these young adults that they still have tons of love and support."

Featuring:
Seth Weinstein
Josh Weinstein of decibel.
Ali Eskandarian
Jodie Manross
Harold Barnard

Thursday, Sept. 17
7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Mehanata
113 Ludlow St. (between Rivington and Delancey)

Info. via Facebook.

Previously.

The Post notes "a 90 PERCENT SURGE IN BURGLARIES" in the East Village

The Post reports today that a "Spider-Man"-like thief was busted after allegedly breaking into 10 LES/East Village residences in recent months. He apparently hit one East 10th Street building six times. According to the paper, the man "was busted on Saturday after he took a nap in an empty apartment in that building and was discovered by the super. He fled, leaving behind his cellphone and a T-shirt."

And tacked on in an oh-by-the-way manner at the end of the article:

Seven of the incidents were in the Ninth Precinct, which has seen nearly a 90 percent surge in burglaries in the month ending Sept. 13, compared to the same period last year.

Burglaries are up about 32 percent in the precinct for the year.

Well, it's always dangerous to toss around crime stats out of context. Yes, there is an increase, but take a look at the numbers for yourself... Plus, um, the man the police arrested for this crime spree was responsible for SEVEN of the burglaries, presumably in that time period. (Click image for a better look. Or read the PDF here yourself.)



And look at the numbers compared to 1990...