Costume dramas! Halloween along Avenue B

As you may have noticed, Halloween was yesterday. As in previous years, EVG contributor Stacie Joy was stationed on Avenue B (Ben's Deli was a good spot) to check out the costumes.

Movie characters were, as always, a popular choice, from new films like "Joker" and "Midsommar" to standbys such as Jason Voorhees ("Friday the 13th" parts 1 through 678), Michael Myers ("Halloween") and Billy Loomis ("Scream") ... we even spotted one homage to "Schitt's Creek" ...

The transplant was a success? A doctor recommend Halloween procedure at Exit9

Halloween evening also included a return performance of the Exit9 Gift Emporium's window theater, in which passersby were treated to "an insane doctor’s gruesome medical malpractice" ... Stacie Joy took in the performance...





...and the cast and crew following the curtain call...

Ground control

A Halloween scene (I think) along Broadway last night via Derek Berg...

Pols call on Parks Department to save local community gardens at risk over new licensing agreement

Local elected officials, led by State Sen. Brad Hoylman and City Councilmember Carlina Rivera, are calling on the Parks Department to resolve outstanding issues in the latest proposed GreenThumb licensing agreements.

By one estimate, nearly 100 community gardens on city-owned land are in danger of closing or relocating due to the ongoing dispute over the licensing agreement from the department's GreenThumb program.

In April, community gardeners received a new four-year license agreement that they say substantially changes the relationship they've enjoyed with the city since 1978.

According to the New York City Community Garden Coalition, the 2019 Community Garden License Agreement and GreenThumb Gardeners’ Handbook contain additional requirements that are burdensome for both parties, and "which will hinder the community outreach and engagement that are hallmarks of community gardens in New York City."

There hasn't been any progress made with negotiations, and the Parks Department has told groups that they won't be permitted to continue operating without signing the new licensing agreement.

In the letter to Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver dated Oct. 10 and made public yesterday, elected officials encouraged the Parks Department to return to the negotiating table with community garden leaders and reach a fair deal for gardeners that allows them to continue operating with a neighborhood-led approach.

Per the letter:

"Under the proposed license ... GreenThumb becomes an agent of enforcement rather than a garden-friendly working partner. The 2019 Community Garden License Agreement and GreenThumb Gardeners’ Handbook contains new burdensome requirements that could hinder the community outreach and engagement that is a hallmark of community gardens in New York City."

"City Hall’s attempt to change GreenThumb licensing agreements ... threatens the ongoing operation of our community gardens," Hoylman said in a statement released yesterday. "Commissioner Silver and the Parks Department must revise this licensing agreement so we can preserve these vital community spaces for years to come."

Said Rivera: "It is critical, that as we begin to recognize and address the decades of environmental injustice and racism, our city does not turn its back on the one area of environmental independence our minority communities have grown and fostered — our community gardens."

Aside from Hoylman and Rivera, the elected officials who joined the letter were: U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, U.S. Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez, State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, State Assembly Member Deborah J. Glick, State Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, State Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, State Assembly Member Dan Quart, State Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal, City Council Member Margaret Chin, and City Council Member Helen Rosenthal.

Find a copy of the letter at this link.

Officials for the Parks Department have downplayed any garden drama.

"These renewals happen every four years and always have small changes based on experiences from the previous four year cycle — this cycle is no different," Crystal Howard, assistant commissioner for communications at the Parks Department, previously told amNY.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Concern over new GreenThumb regulations for community gardens

Community gardeners to rally at city hall over remaining issues with new license agreement

After Basquiat: the next exhibition coming to the Brant Foundation on 6th Street

Tickets for the next exhibition at the Brant Foundation will be available starting today (Nov. 1).

"Third Dimension: Works From the Brant Foundation" will run from Nov. 13 to Sept. 13, 2020 at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

There haven't been too many specifics released just yet about what to expect.

The Instagram post about the tickets features a photo of "Dan Flavin's alternate diagonals of March 2, 1964 (to Don Judd)," a colorful sculpture of light that Brant apparently owns...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by thebrantfoundation (@thebrantfoundation) on Oct 18, 2019 at 1:02pm PDT

You can check the Brant site here today for ticket info. (This is NOT a free event. Adults are $15; $10 for EV residents. Students and kids under 16 are free.)

From March to May, the Brant Foundation featured an exhibit by Jean-Michel Basquiat, some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. All 50,000 of the free tickets were apparently reserved even before the exhibition officially opened on March 6. Brant later extended the show by a few weeks.


[Basquiat on 6th Street]

The Brant Foundation features 7,000 square feet of exhibition space over four floors. Brant bought the building — a former Con Edison substation and Walter de Maria studio — for $27 million in August 2014.

Brant had said the space would host two exhibitions open to the public each year.

6 posts from October

[Photo on 1st Avenue by Carol Carol from East 5th Street]

A mini month in review...

• At the 29th annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade (Oct. 21

• Butch Judy's pops up behind Performance Space 122 on 1st Avenue (Oct. 18)

• Three Seat Espresso will close by the end of 2019 on Avenue A; founder blames Starbucks (Oct. 18)

• "Backstage On Stage" — What a Blue Man Group classroom setting looks like (Oct. 11)

• CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development (Oct. 9)

• Chinatown murders bring renewed attention to the city’s street homeless (Oct. 7)

Halloween evening at Starbucks on Avenue A

"No candy! :(

Sorry!"

One reader said they were giving away free hot chocolate to kids earlier in the afternoon. Still, the appearance of the no-candy sign gave the appearance of a neighbor who didn't care. Other businesses along Avenue A and the side streets were distributing candy and other Halloween treats.

Photo by Steven

Squall Screaming

Squall Screaming

nothing but the ticking clock

blustering wind colliding ancient branches

she likes the sound she makes

caring nothing as the sleeping child rocks

new moon giving no light to comfort

all around dark as lonely dark can be

a book slowly slides away from brethren

hovers before falling with loud report

child's eyes wide below trembling sheet

chilled silence sweeps about the bed

just ticking of the clock for company

and the cold skeletal hand that lifts the sheet

•

peter radley

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.

Happy Halloween!

Hot Kitchen closes on 2nd Avenue

That's all for Hot Kitchen at 104 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street...



The no-frills, authentic Sichuan restaurant opened in 2011. Last year, Hot Kitchen transformed its menu and added traditional Sichuan Skewer Hotpot and BBQ to their menu.

Apparently another transformation is afoot. A worker yesterday told EVG correspondent Steven that they'd reopen in a few weeks with a new name.

Your chance to own a meat grinder and commercial juicer from the St. Mark's Market

[Photo by Steven]

St. Mark's Market closed at the beginning of the month at 19-23 St. Mark's Place.

As the top photo shows, the market, which opened in 2003 here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, is mostly cleared out.

Some remaining items will be auctioned off today (Oct. 31) ...



You can find the list of the inventory for sale right at this link.

Previously on EV Grieve:
St. Mark's Market is dead

Looking for information on a hit-and-run from Saturday night

The following information comes via the EVG inbox.

A reader is seeking information about the driver-vehicle who struck his friend on Third Street at First Avenue this past Saturday night and kept going.

The hit-and-run victim, who lives on the Lower East Side, was skateboarding on Third Street around 9:30 p.m. She was crossing the intersection at First Avenue just as the light started to change. She had time to get though the intersection.

Meanwhile, according to the reader, a slate blue Hummer H2 with New York plates heading north on First Avenue — going at what seemed like a high rate of speed — "blindsided" the skateboarder and kept going.

"It is possible the Hummer technically had the light but basically was blowing through the intersection timing the light. The driver did not even stop after they hit her. Not sure if any witnesses might have gotten a license plate or, since it is a unique car/unique color, if someone knows the owner of the car."

And his friend?

"She is home now and honestly it's a miracle she is alive. She suffered a very serious leg injury that required a bunch of stuff that night and the next day and will again require surgery down the road."

He filed a police report at the scene, but is not hopeful after reading articles like this one about hit-and-run drivers getting off scot-free.

Info? Use this email.

The photo on this post is an example of the make and color of the Hummer.

Hitchcocktober concludes with 'Psycho' tonight (Halloween!)

Hitchcocktober concludes tonight with two screenings of "Psycho," 7:30 in the big auditorium — the Jaffe Art Theatre — and 8:30 at City Cinemas Village East on Second Avenue and 12th Street.

Refresher...



Find advance ticket info at this link.

The Wild Son is on the gate

[Photo by Steven]

A quickie update to a post from earlier last week about the Wild Son... the coming soon/winter 2020 signage is now on the gate here on the southeast corner of St. Mark's Place and First Avenue.

As we first reported back on March 18, Robert Ceraso and Jason Mendenhall (The Wayland, Good Night Sonny) are opening an outpost of their Chelsea cafe the Wild Son here at 132 First Ave. And now you have the tentative opening date/season.

Wednesday's parting shot

ICYMI: The Halloween window display at The Baroness, the latex designer boutique at 530 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The Baroness enjoys creating the seasonal windows, as you may recall from Easter.

Meanwhile, you can revisit our interview with The Baroness from the EVG archives at this link.

Photo via @latexbaroness!

Police say these 4 suspects beat and robbed a man for $1 last Saturday afternoon on 3rd and C

The NYPD is searching for four suspects who they say beat and robbed a man on Avenue C near the southeast corner of Third Street this past Saturday afternoon.

Here's the narrative via the NYPD:

It was reported to police that on Saturday, October 26, 2019 at approximately 1225 hours, in front of 26 Avenue C, a 35-year-old male victim was walking when two individuals approached him and engaged him in conversation. The two individuals were soon joined by two additional individuals, who then all took turns punching the male victim until he fell to the ground.

The group of four individuals then continued to punch and kick the victim about the head and upper torso, before forcibly removing his property, consisting of his jacket, boots, sunglasses and $1 cash. The victim sustained lacerations and bruising to his head and torso and was treated and subsequently released from Bellevue Hospital.

The individuals are described as three adult females and one adult male, 20s- 30s; the three females have heavy builds, two of them carrying handbags, while the male has a medium build, facial hair and a full head of black hair. The individuals were acting in concert.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.

The devil in the details: 'Satanic Panic' at the Anthology Film Archives

If you're looking for some more legit Halloween-related movie fare, then look no further than this upcoming series at the Anthology Film Archives.

Here's more about The Devil Probably: A Century of Satanic Panic:

With so many treating Halloween as nothing more meaningful than an excuse to party till dawn in a half-assed superhero costume, it’s safe to say the holiday has drifted far from its historical roots.

Nevertheless, by virtue of its relationship to various traditions honoring the dead – as well as to ancient festivals marking the onset of the “darker half” of the year, a transitional moment when the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead were thought to become porous – Halloween also conjures up images of the underworld, and by association, notions of Satan, witchcraft, and other dark forces.

Films include Roger Corman's "The Masque of Red Death," Mario Bava's "Black Sunday" and George Miller's "The Witches of Eastwick." The series runs tonight through Nov. 8 at the Anthology on Second Avenue and Second Street. Find more details at this link.

After 10 days, Bertie is found alive and well on St. Mark's Place

On Oct. 19, author Ada Calhoun's parents, longtime residents of 53 St. Mark's Place, were displaced by a fire in their apartment here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Her parents, Peter Schjeldahl and Brooke Alderson, escaped in their pajamas and bare feet at 2 a.m. A firefighter found their cat Theo. However, their other cat Bertie was missing.

They feared that he was dead. Many friends and neighbors kept an eye out for him on the block and nearby streets.

Then yesterday, Bertie turned up in a neighbor's closet downstairs.

"Apparently, he had been hiding expertly in the building and living on toilet water and mice," Ada wrote in an email. "He is skinny, but otherwise healthy and in good spirits."

As for the apartment, the unit is uninhabitable and will be for at least six months, Ada said. They were able to secure a furnished sublet in the East Village.

"It was important to them to stay in the neighborhood. They moved to that apartment 46 years ago, and have never wanted to live anywhere else!"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bertie is missing after early morning fire on St. Marks Place

RIP Susan Leelike

[Susan Leelike from back in the day]

I was very sorry to hear about the sudden passing of Susan Leelike, a longtime East Village resident and activist. She was a regular reader of this site, posting under the name Blueglass. She sent me tips and observations about things happening around the neighborhood.

She was admitted into the hospital last Thursday with cardiac issues. She died on Saturday. Susan was 81.

Gojira, another EVG regular and longtime East Village resident, shared this about her friend...

Her name was Susan Leelike, and she was a city and neighborhood treasure. She was born in 1938, into a very different New York City, to parents of Russian Jewish extraction. Both of her parents were Communists, and she was a true Red Diaper baby who lived for the vast majority of her 81 years in either the West or the East Villages, the last 50 of them on our side of the island.

She co-founded GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side) in 1977 with her friend Floyd Feldman, with the objectives of providing tenant advocacy and shining an early spotlight on neighborhood preservation.

Among other thing, they envisioned the transformation of an underutilized Department of Sanitation facility, in one of Mayor LaGuardia's old former city markets, as a perfect spot for a theater; without their creativity and tireless efforts, Theater for the New City would not today be calling East 10th Street and First Avenue home.

In the 1990s, Susan and her neighbors on 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue took on the 24/7 drug dealers that infested so many streets of the East Village back then and won; this on top of helping to gut-rehab an abandoned, fire-ravaged tenement building that she had called home since 1982.

Now a fully-functioning HDFC, it survived and thrived in no small part to her unceasing labors, and the success of her undertakings helped to turn that block into the destination hotspot that it is today.

She was a founding member of the Democratic Action Club, formed to take on and eradicate the issue of the homeless encampment in Tompkins Square Park, another city-ignored situation which turned one of the only green areas in the neighborhood into a filthy, drug-ridden haven for the homeless, while putting it off-limits to neighborhood residents.

Anyone who utilizes the park today — its playgrounds, asphalt, dog run or lawns – can thank, among many others, Susan. She tried to fight for the preservation and renovation of the now-closed-and-awaiting-demolition Essex Street Market, one of only two instances I can recall of a battle in which she was vanquished.

I called her the East Village Jane Jacobs — her love of New York and its historical significance, her knowledge of the neighborhood and its architectural and personal history, her memories of the things that used to be here that have vanished in the mists of time, were encyclopedic, and the loss of the memories she carried in her head is incalculable.

She labored in obscurity and has passed into the shadows with no fanfare save for that given to her by those of us who loved her, her sense of humor, her stubbornness, her sharp laugh, her crankiness, her belief that a city's history and the everyday people who made it mattered, and above all her fierceness in fighting for the things she believed were right, deeply.

Susan was my friend for 30 years, and on Oct. 26, I was holding her hand as she lost that second battle, surrounded by the family and friends who cherished her, and whom she loved so much in return.

Her passing has ripped another hole in the every-evolving quilt that makes up New York; while to some it may seem tiny, to those of us who knew, put up with and adored her, it is a massive, gaping one that will never be filled. There aren't many like her left today, and we have just lost one of the good ones.