DBGB soft launches its new sidewalk cafe

A remnant of the pre Bowery 2.0...

Verizon's Second Avenue parking monopoly

Second Avenue at 13th Street. At least they're not parking in the bike lanes....

Blondie bemoans the scene; talks haunted Bowery homes

The Post features Blondie in its latest "My New York" feature.

One way or another, new wave icon Blondie has retained their punk aesthetic since banding together 35 years ago. Founders (and former lovers) Deborah Harry, 65, and Chris Stein, 60, bemoan the demise of grass-roots stomping grounds such as CBGB and Mother. “The whole nature of culture in New York has really taken a nose dive, basically,” says Harry, a longtime Chelsea resident. “It’s much harder for musicians and artists to do what they do without really having to scuffle.”

The two also talk about one of their early homes...

266 Bowery, between Prince and Houston streets
Stein: “We lived there for three years [in the 1970s].”
Harry: “We always thought it was haunted.”
Stein: “It definitely had poltergeists. There would be knocking on the walls, things falling down that weren’t related to any activity. It’s subtle stuff, but all the standard poltergeist nonsense went on there.”

The area around 266 is still haunted, though for different reasons....

Blondie plays the Nokia Theatre Tuesday night.



[266 Bowery via Flickr]

Live Team Coverage of NYU Move-In Day continues

Traffic is fucked (can I say that on the air?) on Third Avenue, basically. The avenue is ripped off on the south lanes from 13th Street down to 11th Street. Our advice: AVOID THIS AREA AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT.



Otherwise! Orderly enough....



Not a big fan of the Move-In Day catchphrase....



If you follow this, then you may amend it to: Stop. Drop. Go. File Police Report.

And, in case you were thinking of going, for some reason, to BB&B today...



AVOID THIS AREA AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Live team coverage of NYU Move-In Day starts NOW

"In many ways, we can see a reflection of ourselves in them — though many people wouldn’t say that"

I spend a lot of time over at Crustypunks ... which I wrote about earlier this summer... The site is the work of Steven Hirsh, a photographer and East Village resident who teaches at Pratt ... In The Villager this week, Lincoln Anderson pens an in-depth look at Hirsch's site...

As well as sympathizing with the crusties, Hirsch ardently opposes gentrification.

“My opinion — the grungier, the better,” he said. “I don’t want the neighborhood to be yuppiefied like Carroll Gardens. When the place is like a movie set, where it’s so pristine, so sterile — it makes me want to puke.

“I’m an old-timer. People like me, we like this,” he said. “The park is funky. The park is cool. Does it offend yuppies? Maybe. I don’t know, I don’t care. They offend me. They caused rents to go up here to $2,500 or $3,000.”

Hirsch continues to add to his “Crusty Punks” blog, regularly posting new photos and profiles. In the end, the blog offers a window into a little-understood subculture, humanizing a group that many would choose to otherwise ignore or avoid.

“My opinion of them changed during the project,” he said. “I have a lot more respect for them. They have a lot to say, a lot of strength in their belief and doing what they do.

“They really show the humanity everybody has,” he said. “A lot of them are troubled, and that’s indicative of many people in society. In many ways, we can see a reflection of ourselves in them — though many people wouldn’t say that.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at Crustypunks

[Photo by Steven Hirsch via Crustypunks]

Live team coverage of NYU Move-in day starts NOW

Here on Third Avenue and NYU earlier today, the Big Move In begins.... relatively calm so far...





...regardless, NYU officials are prepared for the worst .... with an all-terrain golf cart vehicle thing on stand-by.




Adding some stress to the day... workers have a chunk of Third Avenue shut down right in front of several key move-in zones...Great planning!



...and a smash-up at 14th Street and Third Avenue.... clogging up another key corrider....






My advice: Start drinking heavily.

I think it's also Move-In Day at the Cooper Square Hotel

Branching out at Lucky Cheng's

A large branch now rests in front of Lucky Cheng's on First Avenue near Second Street....






Not sure if it simply fell... or was torn... or was clipped by the M15... but here's where it came from... just a few feet away...

Sure would be a lot easier with a permanent bandshell

Workers setting up a stage this morning in Tompkins Square Park for the Charlie Parker Festival this afternoon.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tompkins Square Park is way past due for a new bandshell

Tropical weather

A rather tropical feel in Tompkins Square Park early this morning while workers watered some plants and what not....





All being down under the watchful eye of the NYPD...

Avenue A and 11th Street, 8:51 a.m., Aug. 29

Week-end self-serve

I'm not one for weeks in review and what not ... but it did seem to be a busy week... As always,thank you for your comments... and news tips

So! A quick recap of a few of the posts....

• We looked at Allen Ginsberg's former apartment

• We called for a new bandshell for Tompkins Square Park.

• We watched Ray featured on CNNmoney.com.

• We discovered that "Party Girls" who like to be victim's of "sexy humor" were needed.

• We looked at night-time photos of the Copper Building (31 comments)

• We watched a video of the "underground" grilled cheese peddler (18 comments)

• We looked back at Shepard Fairey's mural on Houston and the Bowery

• We helped The East Side Community School compete for $500,000

• We learned that Red Mango closed

• We took pity on a sick Barney

• We met the former East Village "hipster" who may or may not owe the IRS big bucks

Blog mafia vs. Mafia Wars

Our friends in the local blogging community have been busy posting on the viral/littering ad campaign on our streets by Zygna, a San Francisco game developer based with investment from the locally owned Union Square Ventures. I'm sure you've seen those fake dollar bills plastered on sidewalks and other surfaces, particularly on Second Avenue

East Village Feed has been contacting Zygna and Union Square Ventures... Also, NYC the Blog has contacted the city about this. Per NYC the Tumblr:

Just got off the phone with the Sanitation department. They were not pleased to hear about the latest advertising campaign in Manhattan for Mafia Wars, by Union Square Venture backed Zygna.

In addition to requesting the locations of the illegal ads, (I gave them two I was sure of) Sanitation wanted the name and number of the company responsible.

Anyway, East Village Feed reports now that Zynga’s agency, Davis Elen, has responded and has committed to clean up the Mafia Wars campaign within a week.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Behind the East Village "blog mafia" joke

[Photo via East Village Feed]

Stupid limo sighting of the day (so far!)

On Cooper Square. The baby was moving too.

Why Sunday might be a nice day to finally take that trip to, say, anywhere

The NYU residence halls open for move-in tomorrow.

Avenue A, 8:44 a.m., Aug. 28

Today in Tompkins Square Park

More info. here.

Just got lucky

Concern for Barney on St. Mark's Place

As this photo from Bob Arihood shows, Barney isn't looking so good now on St. Mark's Place. Gone is that friendly, optimistic attitude that we've all seen. He will still dance, though only for change.

At Ray's: 'A 77-year-old runs the night shift' (And Jesus is f'ing metal — woo!)

On Wednesday, via Bob Arihood, we told that Ray would be featured on CNNmoney.com...



Well, the clip is now online (and there's no embed — WTF CNN?)

(Oops! Stupid Grieve. Thanks Matt!)



You can watch it here. The segment is titled, "A 77-year-old runs the night shift."

And I'm sure some CNN viewers will love this customer's hoodie!



Ha! Awesome! FU CNN censors!