MAN ALL HANDS 410 EAST 6TH ST, FIRE ON 6TH FL,
— FDNY (@FDNY) July 19, 2015
MAN ALL HANDS 410 EAST 6TH ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 6TH FL, UNDER CONTROL
— FDNY (@FDNY) July 19, 2015
She's licking at firefighters now and moving around a bunch. pic.twitter.com/s24Ojtgzb6
— Greg Krieg (@GregJKrieg) July 19, 2015
Today from 4 to 7 pm the former Lower East Side squat Umbrella House will host an open house to inaugurate its urban farming project. At 5 pm members of Umbrella’s Rooftop Garden Committee will speak briefly about the development of the project.
EVENT RAINDATE: Sunday July 19; 4 — 7 pm.
This 820 square foot intensive green roof serves as a source of fresh produce for building residents, as a means to assist in storm water management, and as a model for other New York
The garden was initially conceived in early 2012 and construction was completed in December 2014. Now in its first growing season, the garden is producing swiss chard, broccoli, white onions, eggplant, okra, spinach, zucchini, basil, sugar snap peas, jalapeno peppers, lamb’s quarters, and several varieties of tomatoes; as well as medicinal plants: hyssop, lemon balm, chamomile, calendula, and passion flower.
Umbrella’s Rooftop Garden involved extensive construction: structural steel framing and concrete planking were required to build the raised 8” planting bed. Construction cost was $150,000. Area architect Paul Castrucci was the project architect.
Umbrella House members believe that this project is a worthy example for other co-ops and property owners to emulate.
Umbrella House Garden Committee and Co-op Board Member Parker Pracjek states: “Access to healthy food through Farmer’s Markets, Green Food Carts, and Farm to Table initiatives have made some improvements to food health literacy in New York City, but more must be done. Food justice should be expanded to urban farming to transform underused spaces into productive environments. The benefits of urban farming are far-reaching and include decreased carbon footprint, responsible use of natural and human resources and community health.”
Ray was released from his rehab facility today! His first stop, NATURALLY, was Ray's Candy Store, to get some oatmeal...and to try and help fix the air conditioner. A month after heart valve replacement surgery. Because, Ray.
The doctors and nurses FELL IN LOVE WITH RAY and were sad to see him go, but he's got a business to run and a neighborhood that needs him back where he belongs.
It may be a while before Ray is working the night shift again, but having him home means the world to us.
Longtime East Village resident Mary Bellis aka CalmX was a filmmaker, artist and writer.
She received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and funding from the National Film Board of Canada to create her experimental works. Her 1984 independent film "Agent of Paradise" shot in the New York underground art scene starred numerous downtown performance artists, including John Kelly, The Unknown Comic, Philly McAninch as well as James Oseland star of Bravo TV’s "Top Chef Masters." "Agent of Paradise" premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and screened in art house theaters worldwide.
Mary worked as an independent video game developer, animator and journalist while continuing to make and exhibit her computer-generated art. She was the originator and author of the Inventors site for the web portal about.com.
Mary loved tending her garden at 6th Street and Avenue B and dancing at the Pyramid Club. Mary was a beautiful person and dear friend and will be greatly missed by all of those she touched.
Please join us in a celebration of life for our friend at the 6th Street and Ave B Community Garden on Sunday from 4-8 p.m.
It used to be a place that sold tuxedos and formal wear. The family had several children, but one of them, a daughter, was raped and murdered in the top floor, possibly in the 1940's [note: it was actually 1974].
The killer was never found. The children (or one of them and a spouse?) still live there and refuse to renovate or change anything. The top floor is exactly the way it was when the daughter was murdered and you can still see the powder where the cops dusted for fingerprints. This man had been inside once and was witness to its originality. He said they have no intention of selling or changing or even of renting out the storefront.
The name of the family is Sopolsky.
The nude body of a 40-year-old woman propietor of a tailor shop that rents tuxedos on the Lower East Side was found bludgeoned to death. The victim was Helen Sopolsky of 84 Second Avenue, near fifth Street, whose shop is one flight up at that address. The motive of the attack was not determined immediately...."
It was a temporary home for women in 1884, open to "self-supporting homeless young women, with or without a child." Morris Kosturk, 40, was found dead there in 1921. And Aaron Schneider, who lived here in 1964, was the victim of a hit and run driver.
We're all a little nervous about #84. There are those of us who watch it and wait, anxiously, for the day when it will be sold, when a multi-millionaire will turn it into a grand mansion, or the ground floor will be converted into a trendy farm-to-table restaurant, and all the mystery will be sucked away.
William Shakespeare
"The Taming of the Shrew"
July 18 and 19 at 6 pm
La Plaza Cultural, Avenue C at East Ninth Street
Tale Told Productions, a nonprofit theater company based in NYC, now in its 4th season, will be presenting "The Taming of the Shrew" as part of our 7-Day Shakespeare Series! With only seven days of rehearsal Tale Told Productions strives to present performances that are visceral and authentic, capturing the actor at their most raw and honest self while maintaining the truth and core of the plot.
Admission is FREE. For more information please visit the Tale Told website.
I am writing to let you know that the LES BID (Lower East Side Business Improvement District), Community Board 3 and local elected officials have worked with public and private partners to help raise funds for local businesses impacted by the East Village gas explosion.
An application for financial assistance has been made available for eligible businesses, and the deadline to apply is Wednesday, July 22. We have been going door-to-door to notify businesses, in addition to reaching out by email and through community based partners. The application deadline has been extended to provide more businesses the opportunity to submit an application.
Following the close of the extended application period, applicants will be contacted individually to provide additional supporting information. Assistance grants are expected to be distributed at the end of the month.
Applicants can contact the LES BID at 212-226-9010 for more information or download an application at eastvillagerelief.nyc, the comprehensive community web portal established in March to share information about ongoing recovery efforts. Eligible businesses include establishments within the immediate impact zone.
Funds available for this grant program come from a variety of sources, mainly community-based donors as well as other public and institutional partners, and will be disbursed to eligible applicants who have submitted application materials based on need and availability of funding resources.
The walls are covered with paintings of dour-faced bearded men, sunsets, and lonely forests. In the back, there are racks and racks of clothing and fabrics. And all around, everywhere you look, the shelves are stacked high with tchochkes.
If you do decide to shop here, be ready to bargain. Alex is a haggler, and he's a serious man. A professional who knows his wares, he will not give you service with a smile, nor with a sneer. This is old Leningrad on 14th Street, not Bed, Bath, & Beyond where the robotic staff are programmed to utter a monotoned hello to you every five seconds.
"I went in to visit with him yesterday at about 5 PM. He was having a sandwich and we talked. He said that a rent hike is the reason he's leaving. He had me write my name and number in a notebook full of names and numbers, and he said he will call if he finds another place."
New data published in Science shows that if the planet warms by 2 degrees Celsius, sea levels will rise about 20 feet. It's pretty much a given that this will happen, it's just a matter of when — it could be by the end of the century.
In New York, it means that entire neighborhoods would be wiped out and 1.8 million people would be displaced.
Name: Maurice Whitaker and Laura K. Reich (Lulu)
Occupation: VolaVida Gallery
Location: 240 E. 4th Street (off Avenue B)
Time: 2:30 pm on Monday, July 13
Maurice: I was born and raised in Brooklyn but I’ve lived in Manhattan pretty much my entire adult life. I spent a lot of time around the neighborhood with friends who grew up around here.
I used to be a graffiti artist back in the 1980s. I started my graffiti in 1982 and I did it until ’87 or ’88. Maybe on a scale of one to 10, I was a four or five. I was just connected to a lot of bigger artists and I got around. But I’ve always been an artist. I’ve been a graphic designer, digital artists, I’ve worked in music, fashion, television, and even just doing art.
The best experience is being in a train yard though. During that time I used to go to the Bronx — not too much because back then New York was pretty divided. You couldn’t really just go to the Bronx. You’d have to stay local. But I’ve been to Queens, Jamaica Yards, the Ghostyards in the Bronx, 207 [Street Train yard], all of them. You don’t realize how big trains are until you’re in a train yard and see that the bottom of the door is right here on your face. You don’t realize it because you usually see the trains on the platform. And the trains make noises even when they’re not moving. It’s very intimidating.
Lulu: I’ve lived here in the neighborhood for about 10 years, but I’m from the Chicago suburbs. I came when I was around 24. Fashion brought me to the city. I was one of those girls who came out with the dreams of fashion and I actually did pretty well. I worked in jewelry for lots of designers, and then I decided that I needed a little break. There are a lot of interesting people in the luxury world and a lot of beautiful products, but creativity-wise it just seemed like a lot of it was very mass market and I missed art.
I fell into this. I have to say part of the influence - one of my older brothers is into street art and blogs for Street Art News in Chicago. He’s always pushing me to go to events and things like that. I had dabbled in digital advertising job and I was miserable. I was on a computer all day, no contact with people, and putting up ads. It was not for me.
I’m also like an insomniac, so I would go and walk around at night and all I saw was the art and it meant a lot to me. Then I started going to these shows. It turned out to be the warmest community. It was so diverse and welcoming and it had been at a time when my family had moved out of the country. I felt so alone and these people were so amazing and talented that I wanted to go to every one of their shows. I wanted to help them any way that I could. So when people started asking if I could work with them, I was like ‘Ah, I don’t know, I have this corporate job and I’m not sure if I’d have the time to dedicate to you. I’m not sure.’ And then Mo approached me and it just fell into place and it’s been really gratifying.
I’m a street art nerd. I also have to say that I waited for my apartment for five years, not because of the size of the apartment but because I have a teeny tiny yard but there’s a Chico mural there. That’s the best part of the apartment.
M: VolaVida started in August of last year as a popup gallery. For years a friend of mine was working in a gallery in Chelsea and I just liked it; I liked the idea of selling art. I believe in art. I believe in what it can do for people and I decided to just roll with it. We did a couple shows in Chelsea and then I started doing it at the Cherry Tavern. No one feels intimidated in a dive bar. You come in and have a $3 beer and maybe buy some art. It turned out that we were actually successful. I didn’t expect it to be. The first show we did there we sold three pieces. I was like, ‘Whoa.’
I met Lulu and we just connected and we had the opportunity to get this space and we took it. Doing only the popups is just too much pressure to sell something in one night. If you have a one-day show, not everyone can show up on a Thursday or Friday night. But if you have seven days or 14 days to run a show, and actually having a brick and mortar place to go to everyday and have people walk in, you have the opportunity to sell more.
L: And you can develop a clientele and meet the whole neighborhood. This neighborhood has been really friendly and supportive. People look in and they recognize an artist that they see on the street and we’re able to educate them about these elements that are within their environment everyday that they wonder about. We have that information behind it. We’re also always looking for the next show or thing that we’re working on to setup within other spaces, which we’ll still do. We want to do bigger events and spread VolaVida’s artists beyond here, but to have this space has been extremely productive.
We have an extensive collection of art and artists that we’re working with. We have FLOOD, who did the anti-Bill Cosby campaign. And there's Wane, who I was so excited about. He does the graffiti on the trucks. He actually just walked in here one day and I couldn’t believe it. Christian Hooker also did a piece here. The title of it is The Paramount of Global Destruction Will Be Televised. He actually worked on a found oil painting and reworked it and created a whole frame and all of the detail was handmade. He does amazing things with wood and canvas. He actually made these benches for us — the actual nice furniture in here.
We’re also showing the debut of DEBT, who’s a local graffiti artist. I think that’s another important part of our gallery. We are getting people in who are aspiring to be in the galleries but do not feel comfortable going into these places. We want people to come and know they can hang out. Look around and talk — ask us questions about the artists.
M: We also have a Bansky and a Space Invader now. The Banksy was part of his installation on Ludlow Street and the Space Invader is from 176 Delancey from a building that was going to be knocked down. Those items were salvaged by two people. The Space Invader was anonymous and the Banksy was taken by ClockWork Cros, who does the face clocks — the clocks in Mikey Likes It. He lives down the block. A portion of the proceeds of the sale will go to GOLES. Technically it isn’t our stuff or the people who took it. It was put there for the public display of art. But we feel like people should benefit from it because it’s worth a lot of money. It’s my belief about sharing.
L: It’s very generous of the people who provided the pieces to us. They could definitely sell them on their own but they are giving us the opportunity to support our cause of supporting street artists. GOLES supports low-income families. They are helping maintain the culture of the neighborhood.
M: The street art community is an entire world. When the lights go off and these guys come out. There’s a whole world and a whole mindset behind it. They have their own social scene. We’re just spreading the word in terms of de-stigmatising street art and graffiti. I like to use the word urban expressionism, because it’s really just what it is. Street art is just a part of urban expressionism. There are definitely some vandals ruining property but there are also a lot of people who we’re working with who want to beautify the city. There are so many walls that are empty – why not make them look better? We’re going around the neighborhood asking people if they want their gates or their walls painted because they can make some really awesome murals, so if anyone’s interested send them our way.
L: We have pieces from $25 and up. We try to have something that everyone can afford. We just meet more and more artists and friends and street art nerds like myself. It just shows how much the art around us makes a difference in where we live. These artists put their heart in it. They do it for the love of art and people.
