Summer Fridays rehash: Mars Bar regulars get in the way of a Drew Barrymore photo shoot

Hey, we're STILL digging into the EVG archives during summer Fridays... We first posted this on Oct. 19, 2009...

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Over the weekend, we had a very important post about some guy from "Gossip Girl" going to the Mars Bar for one of those "A Night Out With" features in the Times.

And the conversation turned to Drew Barrymore's recent photo shoot at Mars Bar for the new issue of Nylon. So here are the shots from that Mars Bar photo shoot in the magazine. (Dunno why the guy in the newsstand got so annoyed when I did this!)




Um, you can't even tell it's the Mars Bar. As EV Grieve reader ak commented, "still trying to decide if i believe that the background was photoshopped out of the others." And Goggla said: "I was there for the Barrymore shoot and the weird thing is they used white backdrops for the photos. If they wanted to block out all the graffiti, why go in there in the first place? (they also made sure to block out all the regulars)" And Jeremiah found some outtakes from the shoot here:






Since Goggla was there, I asked her more about the shoot...:

There were about 14 regulars in there and they just had the ones sitting at the end of the bar move out of the way. They shot back by the bathrooms and up front by the windows, but put backdrops up in both places. They didn't even hang around to drink, so I really don't know why they bothered.

Summer Fridays rehash: The Angelika turns 20

Hey, we're STILL digging into the EVG archives during summer Fridays... We first posted this on Sept. 29, 2009...

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On this date in 1989, the Angelika Film Center on Houston and Mercer opened. The theater was originally set to open earlier, on Aug. 18, but there were delays. As the Times reported on Aug. 18, 1989:

The Angelika Film Center, a new six-screen movie theater in SoHo that was to have opened today, has postponed its opening for at least a week. The opening of the $4 million center at Mercer and Houston Streets, which is to be Manhattan's only first-run, multi-screen movie theater south of Greenwich Village, has already been postponed several times because of construction delays.

"I have so much egg on my face, if I say Aug. 25, I don't want to have to eat it again," said Joseph Saleh, the president of Angelika Films, the New York-based production and distribution company that has developed the theater.

The postponement, he added, was because city inspectors had "raised objections about the plumbing and sewage-injection systems, which the contractor couldn't resolve in time."

The theater will present a mixture of "major and independent first-run feature films, retrospectives, foreign films and children's programming," including movies released by Angelika Films, Mr. Saleh said. It will open with "Let It Ride," a comedy starring Richard Dreyfuss and Teri Garr; a Disney action-adventure film called "Cheetah," and the American premieres of two Angelika releases - "Emma's Shadow," a Danish movie about a girl who orchestrates her own kidnapping to get her parents' attention, and "Shell Shock," an Israeli film about two soldiers after the 1973 Middle East war.

The center will include two theaters with 265 seats each, and one each with 210, 190, 130 and 85 seats, as well as a 7,000-square-foot lobby with an espresso bar and cafe catered by Dean & DeLuca. It occupies the basement and ground floor of the Cable Building, which was designed in 1894 by McKim, Mead & White to store Houston Street cable cars.

Tickets will cost $7, and can be reserved in advance by credit card.

As commenter King Biscuit noted at Cinema Treasures, only four of the six screens were ready on Sept. 29 (the other two opened on Oct. 4 and Oct. 13). The premiere engagements were "Shell Shock," "Emma's Shadow," "The Navigator" and "Shirley Valentine."

I haven't been to the Angelika in years. It's perfectly pleasant on a weekday afternoon, when not many people are around. Otherwise, my gripes about it are the same as everyone else's gripes: You know, those uncomfortable seats. (Did they ever replace them?) Terrible sightlines. Etc.

Some good memories, I think, through the years. I remember taking an afternoon off, and sitting in an empty auditorium watching Hal Hartley's "The Unbelievable Truth." I also recall being coerced into to seeing "The Crying Game" at the height of its hype, and standing in some crazy line for tickets. And some wisenheimer walks by and divulges an important penis-related plot point to those of us in line.

And maybe I never got over that now-commonplace concept of cafe and theater, which I always thought took the emphasis away from the film. (Nothing so bad as the decision-makers who decided it was a good idea to sell and serve nachos in a theater...)

Back to some history. As that Times article mentioned, the building was once home to McKim, Mead and White's grand Cable Building. Forgotten NY notes, this once "powered Manhattan's cable cars in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Yes, Manhattan once had an extensive system of cable cars rivaling San Francisco's. The building housed the enormous machinery that was necessary to run the cars in Manhattan as far north as 36th Street. The cable rails were converted to electricity in the early 1900s, and largely eliminated by buses by the 1940s."

Here's a shot of the cable building circa 1894:



According to Architecture NY, "the building to the left of Vogel's window (above) was demolished in the 1950s when Houston Street was widened from it's original 2 lanes to 4 lanes. Three other buildings still further left in the first view were also demolished -- around 1915 to make way for a taller office building of 12 stories. The one that was featured with some kind of 'art' bolted to the side wall that created a big stir when the owners wanted to remove it for a billboard. I believe there is Club Monaco on the ground floor still of that 12 story building."

NYC Architecture has everything else that you'd ever want to know about the Cable Building. (There's plenty more information here.)

Before this, the site was home to St. Thomas Church, which burned down in 1851. The church was rebuilt and then demolished circa 1890. Sounds familiar.

Top photo via.

Other photos via.

On the 'Blue Bloods' set: Waiting for Tom, hangin' with Donnie

As you may have noticed, crews are around to film scenes for the CBS series "Blue Bloods," which stars Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg...

[EVG via Twitter]

EVG reader Jake sent along these photos from East 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue... No Selleck, but Donnie W. made an appearance...

Somewhere in the middle there.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Inside the 21 E. First St. sidewalk shed thing. By Bobby Williams]

Star, the dog shot by the NYPD, loses an eye (DNAinfo)

Current owners of CBGB hand deliver a "Free Pussy Riot" letter to Moscow (Gothamist)

The pressure of playing Debbie Harry in a movie (Entertainment Tonight)

Tracking the Republicans in the Village (Off the Grid)

More criticism for Sheldon Silver (The Lo-Down)

People can get a little ouchy when you criticize the High Line (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Delivering pigs on Grand Street (BoweryBoogie)

... and the NYPD is looking for this guy who robbed one of the Chase branches on Second Avenue yesterday (New York Post)

Wet hot American summer with Jugger-nut

We weren't able to see Jugger-nut perform at the Pyramid on Avenue A last Wednesday. .. but we kind of feel like we were there via these photos that photographer Walter Wlodarczyk shared with us ...

And Jugger-nut plays the Grand Victory in Williamsburg tonight with a bunch of other cool bands as part of Imaginary Friends' residency. Details here.

Trucks, trucks everywhere — so please be careful

As you've probably noticed, the entire neighborhood is one big construction zone there's a lot of construction going on around the neighborhood ... (here's a look at 17 of the current projects).

All this constructions means, of course, construction trucks and equipment. A lot of it. A lot of these trucks are flying around. Everyone's in a hurry. Often, there are flag wavers keeping an eye out for pedestrians.

[Bobby Williams]

But often there aren't.

So be careful. (Don't worry — this isn't an anti-texting-while-wearing-Bose-headphones or talking-on-a-smartphone-while-walking screed.)

I watched this truck maneuvering to drop off a fresh dumpster at the former Cabrini site on Avenue B at East Fifth Street the other morning. The driver didn't have any lookouts as he was throwing it into reverse and moving quickly on Avenue B... I slowed down when he made a sudden stop and put it into reserve to back up East Fifth Street...

Then he stopped on East Fifth Street, as if he changed his mind, and zipped out going the wrong way — without stopping — and racing to the south...

A woman toting two small kids and pushing a stroller had crossed the Avenue a few moments before... and there was the oblivious guy on his phone talking about last night a little ways away.

As you may have read, Soho fixture Jessica Blue was crushed to death Monday morning after she was caught by the rear wheels of a flatbed semi turning right from Houston onto Sixth Avenue. The NYPD cited the driver for failure to yield and failure to exercise due care, according to Streetsblog.

Streetsblog noted that the truck cab was missing "the required front-mounted crossover mirrors, which give truck drivers a view of what’s directly in front of them."

When Joe's Bar starred on 'Kojak' 35 years ago

The other day we mentioned that Josie's opened in the Joe's Bar space on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... turns out Joe's was the centerpiece of an episode of "Kojak" from 1977.

The neighborhood made many appearances in the series with Telly Savalas that aired from 1973-1978 ... Most notably, the facade of the 9th Precinct on East Fifth Street served as the setting for Lt. Theo Kojak's office.

The episode featuring Joe's and East Sixth Street aired on Jan. 25, 1977 during the fourth season. A description: "A Puerto Rican cop goes undercover in his old neighborhood to find out who is trying to start a barrio gang war."

The episode also featured Miguel Piñero, the playwright-actor and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café.

And a few screengrabs...

Joe's was turned into Tres Arboles Bar & Grill...

And here is a clip of the scene...



Just the first three seasons are available at Hulu.

(Read more about East Sixth Street in our Out and About in the East Village feature yesterday.)

Little sea bass by the sea

Photo and text by East Village resident Edward Arrocha via Facebook

Fisher women on the East River... she and her husband were the nicest people... He Irish-American, She originally from uptown... they loved fishing and telling fising tales... she pulled little sea bass one after another and gently threw them back...

Reader report: Solas patrons turn sidewalk shed into after-hours hot spot

A few weeks ago, we received word that a woman was taken away in an ambulance from outside Solas, the bar/lounge on East 9th Street.

A reader now notes that some Solasgoers have turned the scaffolding at the nearby parking garage into an impromptu after-hours hot spot. Says the reader:

“When the Solas crowd outside congregates, the bouncer comes out and tells them to move along. They'll then form small groups on the stoops of the neighboring buildings and businesses.

Now they have descended upon the sidewalk shed next door where they continue to scream, fight with each other, block the traffic by getting in and out of taxis, and generally live up to every negative stereotype of the drunken 20-somethings who take over the East Village on the weekends. The group of about 50 people [pictured above] didn't leave the area until 5AM.”

Looking at the boring September CB3/SLA docket

Community Board 3 released its monthly meetings docket yesterday. Not too many blockbusters. Or any. Which is just fine. Many of the items are for bars-restaurants south of Houston... and a few familiar names are back on the agenda... we'll hopefully know more as CB3 releases the applications for the, uh, applicants.

And the SLA & DCA Licensing Committee meets on Sept. 10 at the usual place — JASA/Green Residence, 200 East 5th Street at Bowery.

Renewal with Complaint History
• Nublu, 62 Ave C (wb)

• L'azzo Pizza, 107 1st Ave (wb)

Applications within Resolution Areas

[EVG reader Kat]

• Vella Market Inc, 56-58 Ave B (wb)

This is the organic market that is taking over the former Kate's Joint space at East Fourth Street.

• 106 on the LES LLC, 106 Rivington St (op)

• Gallery Bar (MMS Group LLC), 120 Orchard St (op)

• Subject (PMMR LLC), 188 Suffolk St (op)

• Caffe Buon Gusto (Ave B Caffe Buon Gusto Inc), 545 E 5th St (aka 76 Ave B) (wb)

They've been featuring a bring your own bottle policy since opening...

Alterations
• Nom Wah Tea Parlor (Nom Wah Dim Sum Parlor Inc), 13 Doyers St (alt/wb/change of hours)

• The Bowery Diner (241 Bowery Corp), 241 Bowery (alt/op/extend hours)

New Liquor License Applications

• Lobster Joint (LJ East Houston LLC), 201 E Houston St (op)

It appears that the former Lina Frey space will be home to an outpost of the Williamsburg-based Lobster Joint.

• To be Determined, 266 Broome St (op)

• To be Determined (Silkstone), 22 Orchard St (wb)

• Jujomukti Tea Lounge (Jujomukti Inc), 211 E 4th St (wb)

• Hummus Place (Edo Food LLC), 109 St Marks Pl (op)

• Mario San Inc, 36 Ludlow St (wb)

• Congee Village Inc, 100 Allen St (op)

• To be Determined, 224 E 10th St (wb)

Was originally on the August agenda. This was the address for Merciel, the boutique that sold wedding dresses... they recently closed, and something booze-related hopes to take its place.

• Paulaner Brauhaus Restaurant LLC, 265-267 Bowery (op)

• Feast (Two Guize LLC), 102 3rd Ave (op)

Also a holdover from August: The New York Central Framing Annex has moved around the corner to East 12th Street... and a restaurant-bar is in the works for the old space...

• Nevada Smith (92 Nunswalk Inc), 100 3rd Ave (op)

• Souvlaki Gr LES (Uber Caffe LLC), 116 Stanton St (op)

• To be Determined, 127 4th Ave (op)

Current home of Forum, which often seems to need a new front door after the weekend.

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)
• The Cock (Red Rooster 29 LLC), 29 2nd Ave (op)

Rumors about the new name for the former Nice Guy Eddie's space

Renovations continue at the former Nice Guy Eddie's space on Avenue A at East Houston... currently home to Chico's KISS plywood. As previously disclosed, Darin Rubell, co-owner of GalleryBar and Ella, is one of the partners opening a new restaurant here.

According to the rumor mill, the space will be a gastropub called Boulton & Watt, named for the U.K.-based business partners who made many critical improvements to the steam engine in the late 1700s.

Reader report: EarthMatters closing next month

177 Ludlow hit the market for $6.25 million last September, as BoweryBoogie first noted. The 5-story, 15-unit building has been home to EarthMatters Organic Market and Restaurant since 2001.

Last month, The Lo-Down reported that 177 Ludlow was in contract.

The future looked bleak for the organic food market, especially with the listing that appeared for the ground-floor space the market occupies (asking rent is $25,000 a month).

Indeed.

EVG regular samo heard that, now that the building has been sold, the store is closing for good on Sept. 20. Management apparently told employees last evening.

No word on the plans for the building. As BoweryBoogie wrote, "the stout property is being pitched as a perfect opportunity for either a hotel or condo conversion. Two options this battered part of the neighborhood certainly does not need."

[Photo via the EarthMatters website]

Squirrel, nuts

Two photos of the red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park courtesy of EVG regular peter radley....

...and another angle via Bobby Williams, who notes that the squirrel got away...