RIP Walter Lure

[Image via @wlure]

Walter Lure, who was a cofounder of punk-rock pioneers the Heartbreakers, died yesterday of cancer. He was 71.

The guitarist appeared on the Heartbreakers only studio album, 1977's L.A.M.F., which featured frontman Johnny Thunders, bassist Billy Rath and drummer Jerry Nolan. All four members of the band are now deceased.

This past spring, he released the auto-biography "To Hell and Back: My Life in Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, in the Words of the Last Man Standing."

You can read more about his musical career via Rolling Stone ... Brooklyn Vegan ... and Stereogum.

Several local artists paid tribute to Lure on Instagram...

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Walter Lure to me was sort of the last of the Mohicans of the 70s New York punk rock scene. The last Heartbreaker, I really thought he was immortal. He was a classic legend and always crackin jokes. And goddamn it could he play guitar. The New York rock n roll scene took a major hit today and will never be the same. I’m really going to miss walking out my door and running over to Bowery Electric to go see him. I’m really gonna miss you man. Thank you for the music, sharing your epic stories, and always being cool. Love you Uncle Walter. Rest In Peace 🙏🏻💔💫 #WalterLure #Legend #Heartbreakers #TheWaldos

A post shared by @ _chuckbones_ on Aug 22, 2020 at 8:43pm PDT

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Rest In Peace Walter Lure . So sad to hear this today. I knew he was sick but he was. such a survivor I thought he would beat it . Now he is with the rest of the Heartbreakers in heaven . He was the last man standing. He played that same sunburst les Paul that he used on the LAMF album and the anarchy tour right till the end. He called it his “Dorian Gray “. He played on Ramones albums and Johhny thunders so alone. His Waldo’s albums are amazing and he had just put out his book “ to hell and back. “. I recommend it highly . He wrote great songs and had a wonderful interpretive voice with covering songs and making them his own He knew how to pick them. I learned a lot from Walter. He was kind enough to let me play bass in his band when I was 17 and When I wasn’t very good. It was an honor to play those songs with him. Years later we did the LAMF super group together and I had the best time going out west with him and the gang. I must have seen him play 200 times in nyc. no joke and he was always good. Even when it was loose ... please check out Heartbreakers live at Max’s ,LAMF. Waldo’s “ rent party “ And his book. I will miss you so fucking much. Rest easy my friend .

A post shared by Jesse Malin (@jesse_malin) on Aug 22, 2020 at 4:56pm PDT

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rip walter ...

A post shared by Johan Vipper (@jvipper) on Aug 23, 2020 at 6:02am PDT

Week in Grieview

[Albert's Garden on 2nd Street]

Posts from the past week included...

• Friends and neighbors come together to help Chef Lek at Lui's Thai Food (Tuesday)

• A reality check from B&H Dairy (Thursday)

• The former Gem Spa space is for lease (Monday)

• Yoga to the People won't be reopening on St. Mark's Place (Friday)

• Ravi DeRossi plans vegan Mexican restaurant for former Violet space on 5th Street (Monday)

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday)

• New building construction now in the obscure the Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery storefront phase (Friday)

• "In The Realm Of Anansi From Assisi" continues on at Le Petit Versailles (Tuesday)

• The original Juice Press has closed (Wednesday)

• Thailand Cafe will not be reopening on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday)

• Baked Cravings opening an outpost on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

• The last of the COVID-19 memorial has been removed from the corner of 10th and A (Monday)

• Clay Pot won't be returning to St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

• Sanshi Rice Noodle coming to 2nd Avenue and 7th Street (Monday)

• UPS delivering a retail outlet to 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

• SLA temporarily suspends the liquor license at St. Dymphna's on Avenue A (Monday)

• Report: Cloister Cafe owner sues state over suspended liquor license (Wednesday)

• O'Hanlon's preps for reopening (Wednesday)

• Here's Prince Tea House on 10th Street (Thursday)

• Mister Paradise is now hibernating on 1st Avenue; blames state's full-meal mandate (Friday)

• The tooth about this new Avenue A tenant (Thursday)

• Storefront surprise! A new laundromat coming soon to 31 Avenue A (Wednesday)

• The Horsebox closes on Avenue A (Monday)

... and a few scenes from the 10th annual (and much smaller) New Village Music Fest in Tompkins Square Park yesterday via Stacie Joy...




[Artist Laura Alvarez]


[@santelmofoods]










[DJ Andre Cirilo]

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Report: Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project

ICYMI: On Thursday, New York Supreme Court Judge Melissa Crane dismissed a lawsuit challenging the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, The City reported.

The lawsuit, East River Park Action et al v City of New York, originally filed in February, asked to halt the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project that is scheduled to begin this fall. It also asked to declare the City Council vote last November approving the project "null and void."

Attorney Arthur Schwartz argued in a 42-page brief filed on July 20 that the city is required to seek Alienation from the state. (Alienation is the use of parkland for non-park purposes, even for brief periods.)

"Closing the East River Park, whether completely or in phases, will disproportionately affect the health and well-being and recreational opportunities of low-income New Yorkers who live in the neighborhood around the Park," Schwartz said.

As The City reported:

Crane ... ruled from the bench that the resiliency project won’t permanently alter the use of East River Park.

Closures will be staggered, and the park will be rebuilt and reopened after construction is complete. "The entire system is designed to protect the park, and to protect the neighborhood behind it," Holland said.

But Pat Arnow, a ERPA leader, said the consequences of the ruling are "dire for the park." Without the alienation process, she fears the city will not be held to account to meet their own deadlines.

"The city says the project will be done in five years. There's nothing to hold them to that schedule," Arnow said in an email. "We think there’s little chance they can complete such a big, complicated project within that time."

Tight deadlines, however, are a big part of why the project is moving ahead now. Much of the funding for the $1.45 billion project comes from post-Superstorm Sandy allocations made by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, which must be spent by 2022.

Last November, City Council signed off on the hotly contested flood-protection plan that will bury/elevate East River Park by eight feet as part of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project. Construction is expected to start this fall.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Opinion: COVID-19 + Storm Surge = Catastrophe for the Lower East Side and East Village (Feb. 7)

• More details on the city's new plan to keep East River Park partially open during flood protection construction (Oct. 3, 2019)

• At the march and rally to save East River Park (Sept. 21, 2019)

• A visit to East River Park (July 10, 2019)

'Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest' extended at Howl! Happening

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

You have one more week to see "Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest" at Howl! Happening.

The exhibit, originally set to end today, will be up through Aug. 30 now.

The group show is an outgrowth of an effort organized by Bowery artist Sono Kuwayama in June. She received permission from store owners to paint on the plywood of the boarded-up businesses along the Bowery. She then reached out to some local artists to have them create murals.

These works have been preserved and are now on display at Howl!

The gallery, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery, is open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Find more details about the artists at this link.

Howl! is limiting the number of visitors at any one time, and requires masks for everyone. Guests must also register upon entering and have their temperature taken.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• A look at 'Bringing Back Bowery' at Howl! Happening

Curlie and Poo

EVG reader Bill Buchen shares these photos from Third Street of longtime resident Curlie, a familiar presence along Avenue C who plays everything from 1960s soul and funk to salsa on his vintage boombox ...

... along with his girlfriend Poo...

An art opening on 11th Street with music from Zimbabwe

East Village-based artist Nora Balaban debuted new drawings last evening with a storefront opening on 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. (Her work remains on display for viewing outside 526 E. 11th St.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by to check out the socially distant festivities...







...which included music from Zimbabwe. Balaban ran Tribal Soundz, a community-oriented world music store, on Sixth Street for 10 years.



Stacie reports that "it was a positive and happy event."

HBD Joe Strummer

The Clash frontman would have been 68 today. The video for "Clampdown" is from 1980.

And you can check out "A Song For Joe: Celebrating the Birthday of Joe Strummer" from today right here.

A little off the top

Workers were back in Tompkins Square Park, where they removed more of the stump of the English Elm that came down at the entrance on Seventh Street and Avenue B on Aug. 3 during Tropical Storm Isaias ... (thanks to Steven for pointing this out!)

Not sure what the plans are for the rest of the stump...



... and if you want to try to figure out how old this majestic tree was...



EVG reader Bobby G. previously pointed out that this was an English Elm, not an American Elm as someone wrote, "and the only one in the park. Tons of Squirrels lived in it, and my guess is that it was one of the oldest trees in the park."

New building construction now in the obscure the Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery storefront phase

Construction is still in the foundation stage for the 9-story office building coming to East Houston between Forsyth and Eldridge at the site of the former Landmark Sunshine Theater.

Meanwhile, workers have gone ahead and put up a sidewalk bridge next door that obscures the neighboring business — the 110-year-old Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery. They’re still here at 137 E. Houston St. for your knish and Cherry Lime Ricky needs — 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: (212) 477-2858.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery

Yoga to the People won't be reopening on St. Mark's Place

Yoga to the People, the studio with the pay-what-you-can fee structure, has closed all of its NYC locations, including the flagship outpost at 12 St. Mark's Place.

A simple message now greets visitors to its website:

Yoga to the People is permanently closed and will not be reopening after Covid-19.

Yoga to the People opened its first NYC studio here on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue in 2006.

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Updated 9:45 a.m.

Thanks to readers who shared this Vice investigation from July 24 titled "Fear, Control, and Manipulation at Yoga to the People." The article interviews more than 30 people who knew or worked with founder Greg Gumucio, which "depict him as a predator with a penchant for controlling and sexually manipulating bright and often vulnerable young women."

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To date, there has been little guidance about reopening for NYC gyms and fitness boutiques such as yoga and pilates studios. Gov. Cuomo has said that gyms across the state can reopen on Monday with a 33-percent occupancy rate, but that date didn't apply in the city.

More than 1,500 gyms across New York had previously filed a class-action lawsuit against Cuomo to put legal pressure on the state to allow reopening.

Small yoga and pilates studios in the neighborhood have had to pivot to offering classes online.

Illumina East, the second-floor yoga studio at 96 Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, closed earlier this summer.