Sunday, October 31, 2021
6 posts from October
• Southern section of East River Park to mostly close on Nov. 21 as resiliency work begins (Oct. 25)
• Reader report: Cheap-eats fave Papaya Dog looks done on 14th Street (Oct. 21)
• Barnyard Cheese Shop is closing for good (Oct. 21)
• A visit to Lovewild Design (Oct. 12)
• Remembering William John Lopez (Oct. 12)
• The latest on the great aisle changeover at Key Food on Avenue A (Oct. 8)
Week in Grieview
• Southern section of East River Park to mostly close on Nov. 21 as resiliency work begins (Monday)
• A ghost bike for Borkot Ullah on Avenue B (Wednesday)
• A campaign to co-name St. Mark's Place and 2nd Avenue 'Club 57 Way' (Wednesday)
• At the 31st Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade (Tuesday)
• Could drink and draws be the new neighborhood draw? (Thursday)
• The latest future development clue from along 250 E. Houston St. (Monday)
• Gallery Watch: 'The Marble Mouth Oracle' at Below Grand (Wednesday)
• Caravan of Dreams turns 30 (Thursday)
• A look at the menu for the incoming Sweet Village Marketplace, opening soon on 1st Avenue (Thursday)
• Vegan Grill coming soon to 58 St. Mark's Place (Thursday)
• The all-new 21-23 Avenue B comes into view with 2 extra floors (Tuesday)
• Signs of life (again) at the former Benny's Burritos on Avenue A (Tuesday)
• Blank Street debuts on the Bowery (Monday)
• 14th Street outpost of Bagel Boss likely closed through the end of the year (Wednesday)
• Taking a look at the NW corner of 14th Street and 1st Avenue (Tuesday)
• Joey Bats Café offering a sneak preview outside new Avenue B home (Monday)
• Openings: Beard Papa's on St. Mark's Place (Thursday)
• La Colombe taking over the Allegro Coffee Roasters space at Whole Foods Market® Bowery (Thursday)
• Report: Mermaid Inn to return to 2nd Avenue in 2022 (Wednesday)
... and there was a report of a car fire on Fourth Street west of Avenue D early this morning (4-5) ... EVG reader Jonathan Calvenna shared this photo... no word on how it started... the FDNY was on the scene for close to an hour, we're told...
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A march to save East River Park today
Via an email from the organizers @1000people1000trees:
Starting the week of Nov. 1, phased work operations are scheduled to begin at East River Park. The City plans to clear-cut 1,000 mature trees, destroy this 50 acre biodiverse park, and remove Lower Manhattan's only large public green space right in plain sight.
We protest big media’s refusal to state the actual facts. ESCR, (East Side Coastal Resiliency Plan) is dangerous. It's not a flood plan. It's a land grab. By tearing down our only park and its 80-year-old trees that mitigate the effects of climate change Lower Manhattan will be LESS SAFE and have LESS RESILIENCY in the future than we do now.
As previously reported, starting tomorrow below Houston Street, all but four tennis courts will close, with the remainder to shutter on Nov. 21 along with most of the southern end of East River Park.
According to the latest timeline from the city, leagues will be able to use the ballfields through Nov. 30. Permits for the BBQ areas and amphitheater will no longer be available after Nov. 30.
Our previous post (link here) has more details and background.
Also today, The Guardian takes a deep dive into the city's plan for East River Park in a story titled "The battle over a vast New York park: is this climate resilience or capitalism?"
Halloween in community gardens
Events scheduled yesterday were postponed until today to make for one action-packed Sunday.
Via the EVG inbox...
- All day: Haunted Adventure Garden and Rat Race Maze, featuring mystic fortune telling, face painting, the world-famous Rat Race of Capitalism Maze, and thrilling coffin rides — bring the kids
- 1:30 p.m.: Spooky sounds with the brass-tastical Dead Ghoultastical Eek-chestra
- 4 p.m.: Spine-tingling tunes from Pinc Louds
- 6 p.m.: Macabre dance performance with Masse dancers
- 7:30 p.m.: "Ill Angels Only" horror film fest
Sunday's opening shot
Photo on Eighth Street near Avenue B by Dave on 7th.
*We were unable to verify if this was Halloween related.
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Saturday's parting shot
Photo on Seventh Street by Derek Berg.
EVG Etc.: Van Leeuwen's cashless ban fine; Halloween Adventure's last Halloween?
Photo on 3rd Street by Stacie Joy
• Police looking for a suspect who robbed an 80-year-old man with a box cutter in an elevator on 12th and C (ABC-7)
• Van Leeuwen fined for violating NYC's cashless ban (Eater)
• About the five potential amendments to the State Constitution that are on the ballot this election (The New York Times)
• NY Laundry service workers looking for the industry to clean up its act (The Indypendent)
• A new report from the Department of Transportation reveals that a new bike lane — whether protected or simply painted — decreases the risk of cyclist injury by 32 to 34 percent (Streetsblog)
• Bike parking shortage has remained a persistent problem in NYC; city adding 10,000 bike racks to the streets (The City)
• A last holiday look (possibly!) at Halloween Adventure on Fourth Avenue (Gothamist ... previously on EVG)
• Halloween at the Merchant’s House Museum on Fourth Street (PIX11)
• A look inside Susan Alexandra's new bead emporium on Orchard Street (Vogue)
• Verizon moving workers to space in Essex Crossing (The Real Deal)
... and the coming-soon signage is up for the Le Colombe outpost at Whole Foods Market® Bowery ...
Saturday's opening shot
Friday, October 29, 2021
2 shows set for Tompkins Square Park this Halloween weekend
The Saturday afternoon lineup features:
• Witchslap
• Perdixion
• Necrotic Society
• Vindicta
• Demencia
• Alcoholika
• Invading Species
And for now on Sunday (with more bands to be announced):
• SEWAGE NYC
• The Accute (be sure to catch this East Village duo some time)
And about tomorrow's weather... per organizer Chris Flash: "As the chance of rain diminishes by the hour, these shows are a 'rain or shine' event."
You can visit the Meta Facebook Events page for updates.
Up the down 'Staircase'
Let Siouxsie and the Banshees conjure up some Halloween spirits with this video from 1979 for "The Staircase (Mystery)."
Details on the LES Book Crawl happening tomorrow
The participants:
• Bluestockings, 116 Suffolk St.
• Book Club, 197 E. Third St.
• Housing Works, 126 Crosby St.
• McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St.
• Sweet Pickle Books, 47 Orchard St.
A map is below... along with details on specials/giveaways...
This Halloween, a celebration of Jack Terricloth's DIY art at C-Squat
The show will present "a modest selection" of the late Jack Terricloth's original cut-and-paste artwork. Terricloth, a former East Village resident and lead singer of the World/Inferno Friendship Society, died in May at age 50.
Here's more background via the EVG inbox...
Without fail for 23 years, Brooklyn circus cabaret punx The World/Inferno Friendship Society have faithfully raised The Great Pumpkin at their annual HALLOWMAS celebration. Sadly, due to the recent tragic passing of their lead singer, their version of Hallowmas will not take place this year, or ever again.We cannot try to begin to replace that event, but we can do our part to help make sure that Jack is remembered on this sacred holiday. So, in honor of Terricloth, we are setting up a small pop-up exhibit as a tribute to our fallen Halloween-obsessed friend.Starting in the late 1990s, Jack used to make postcards for his band's cultish following. The cards would advertise the Inferno's latest shows, capers and misadventures. At a time when the internet was replacing how punk rockers mainly heard about gigs, Cloth refused to give up the art of the physical mailing list. He wanted some things to remain tangible.
We will display the original cut-and-paste postcard collages in all of their wonderful disintegrating DIY scrap art glory. We will also have some original handmade punk show flyers and pages to a lyric zine that he made back in the late 1980s.
A visual cut-and-paste elegy hoping to pay respect and send a message back to him about the work that he did. Because it mattered.
You can check out the show Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at C-Squat. You can enter through the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street. Find more info here.
Also, on Sunday ... back to the EVG inbox...
After the art show, a number of World Inferno fans will gather in Tompkins Square Park to play cover songs of their music. The band was booked to play a show in the park this Halloween. Obviously, the band will not be appearing but dedicated Infernites are still gathering around 5 p.m. to make sure the songs do not go unplayed this Halloween.
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Thursday's parting shot
Oh, Henry! A live performance of 'The Lion in Winter' at Green Oasis Community Garden
The show happens at Green Oasis Community Garden, 370 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D at 8 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday at 2.)
Here's info via the EVG inbox:
An Even Queerer Rendition Than The Movie
If you know the 1968 film directed by Anthony Harvey you know the over the top performances delivered by Katharine Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Anthony Hopkins and budding stud Timothy Dalton. Director and artist par excellence tops the dark comedy in performance, and by delivery of the original script as written, historically based while hilariously anachronous.
Admission is by suggested donation of $20 with no one turned away for lack of funds. Proceeds will benefit the play's presenter Le Petit Versailles and the hosting Green Oasis Community Garden.
The performance represents the first collaboration in cultural programming between the two community gardens and the last major presentation of LPV's 2020 season. The fundraising compliments Allied Productions' celebration of its 40th year in serving the public through its support of the development of experimental art and progressive culture.Find more info, including cast and credits, at this link. Directed by Bizzy Barefoot.
Could drink and draws be the new neighborhood draw?
Sketches from Club Cumming’s “The Anatomy Lesson.” At right, an attendee sketches a model from the audience at Book Club’s “Drinking & Drawing” series.
By Kaley Roshitsh
Approaching a year in December since vaccine rollout began in the United States, businesses have been padding event calendars with higher confidence, and drink and draws may be stealing the spotlight.
The artsy-yet-affordable event is slipping back into repeat favor at two nightspots in the neighborhood. Artists or not, all are welcome with proof of vaccination, or masks, per the state guidelines.
Not new to the drink and draw scene, LGBTQ+-friendly cabaret bar Club Cumming’s “The Anatomy Lesson” has been striking a pose for four years now but since adapted for outside amid the pandemic.
The drink and draw, hosted by freelance illustrator and performer Anthony E. Kieren, happens weekly on Sunday nights from 6 to 9 at 505 E. Sixth St. For $10, attendees get their first drink and entry to the outdoor, socially distant sketch festivities, which include prizes and, of course, muscled models baring it all in thongs.
But to reduce the event to its titillating curb appeal (although many people stop by to see what’s going on) would be unfair.
Kieren’s series has been a way to platform an array of talent and “curate the people in my life,” be it past models such as singer Karen Marie, drag artist and activist Gloria Swansong or recently fitness model Will Hutcheson. Models are compensated and rewarded vigorously with applause. Even bar owner and actor Alan Cumming has shown up to pose.
Giving breezy instructions on a series of 1-minute, 5-minute and 20-minute poses, Kieren affirmed: “You can draw better when you take the pressure off,” nudging guests to pay the incredible bar staff a visit. (A drink helps).
While it’s easy to slack off as Rihanna’s “S&M” plays with model Hutcheson lounged atop a velvet banquet table or holding still in fluffy ears — the diligent artists (many of whom are professional artists) have a prize on the line.
Model’s choice wins once the time is up.
Last Sunday, as is practice, the winners were each presented with a vibrant bouquet. The floral arrangement was skillfully lassoed together in Boy Scout knots by Matt Robinson, better known as “Cookie,” and seemed to capture the idyllic hues in the rainbow that christened the chilly evening. Given Club Cumming’s safe harbor for the vibrancy of the queer community, it seemed natural to begin and end the session with a prism of color.
Booking a weekly series
Next up, a day later and only three streets over, artists of any skill level can cozy up with wine or coffee at Book Club, 197 E. Third St.
Weekly sessions happen Monday nights at 8, and while free to attend, bar visits and donations to cover material costs are strongly encouraged.
For the two-year-old bar, bookstore and coffee hangout, the drink and draw formed quite organically, with visual artist Shani Nizan approaching Book Club with the idea upon moving to the city five months ago. Nizan’s “Drinking & Drawing” series originated in Berlin but launched formally in New York this past July with Book Club.
Armed with a dry erase marker and arms-length board, Nizan kicks the night off with a short demo for the crowd. One lesson involved gesture lines, while another measured out proportions with a thumb and pencil. Afterward, the pencil-clad crew dwindles momentarily as a volunteer from the audience takes a seat for a series of timed poses, increasing in length from a few minutes to up to 20 minutes.
“I’m not this usual artist who can just sit home all day and just paint because I can’t; I like people, I need people, I need attention… I feel like I need this community,” said Nizan, on the importance of the event.
She also, perhaps counter-intuitively, championed the event in a few words: “No new people.” Of course, Nizan wants new people to show but hopes they keep coming back to learn, grow their practice and instill a sense of community.
To that, Eviatar Slivnik, a jazz musician and Nizan’s partner, quipped: “As an artist, it makes you better.” Slivnik is often seen drifting near the back to help Nizan, or as in two sessions ago, taking a seat for a first pose to get the crowd warmed up.
The sessions were, at first, bi-weekly but moved into a weekly format due to demand. Some sessions have clocked 50 attendees, per Book Club’s count. The seating format also switched to accommodate more artists in a longer row.
Nat Esten, co-owner and manager of Book Club alongside Erin Neary, is pleased with the turnout and eager to fill out the events calendar.
“We’ve been gradually dipping our toe into events, but the response from the community has been enthusiastic and Drinking & Drawing is our first weekly event, so yes, we are very happy with the partnership,” Esten said.
With the appeal of events and in a bid for being present, the bar instituted a policy of no laptops after 7 p.m.
Book Club also boasts a monthly poetry series hosted by a local poet and playwright, Robert Galinsky, as well as a monthly reading series hosted by author Alex McElroy.
“We’re slowly adding more to our calendar,” Esten added, referring to Book Club’s participation in the upcoming Bookstore Crawl on Saturday along with McNally Jackson, Bluestockings and other local stops.
Only time will tell if more local businesses follow suit, but for now, artists can log practice in the sprawling drink and draw scene right in the East Village.
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Kaley Roshitsh is the first-ever sustainable fashion journalist at WWD. Her work appears on U.N. Women USA NY, Her Campus Media and the independent magazine she founded called ThriftEd Mag. You can find her on Instagram ranting about her latest thrift finds or the importance of knowing your neighbors at @KaleyRoshitsh.
Caravan of Dreams turns 30
Congrats to owner Angel Moreno, who opened here in October 1991, for keeping the space going through the years.
Caravan of Dreams is open Thursday-Monday from 1-10 p.m., with a 4 p.m. start Tuesday-Wednesday. (And per Instagram: "Early birds mentioning Caravan30 get 10% off from 4-6pm" this week.")
Photo via @caravanofdreamsny
A look at the menu for the incoming Sweet Village Marketplace, opening soon on 1st Avenue
EVG correspondent Steven got a look at Sweet Village's (extensive) menu yesterday.
As you can see, there are a lot of standard options for sandwiches and wraps... for breakfast (griddle originals!), lunch or dinner...
On paper, it looks solid enough, a place to get, say, an egg on a roll ($2.99) or turkey, cheese, lettuce and tomato on a roll ($7.99).
We're told that they will be opening within the next few days.
This space has been empty since the Bean left here in November 2019.
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