A Citizen commenter suggested that this is simply fairy dust.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Noted
Fire, jump with me
Photos by Stacie Joy
Thursday evening saw the return of a fire-jumping event in an East Village community garden, the first since 2019.
This year's edition, produced by More Gardens, took place at El Jardin del Paraiso on Fifth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.
Here's some background:
More Gardens' Chaharshanbeh Suri NYC is a festival rooted in community, sharing, equity, and reverence for the earth through ritual fire jumping, art, music, food, and culture that began in the lands of West and Central Asia.This fire celebration nourishes our spirits, strengthens our connection to each other, and affirms our belonging by embracing our diverse nationalities, languages, faiths, class, genders, races, and sexual identities. We make gathering joyful through art, music, food, culture, and intergenerational sharing. We hold each other to tend the flames of love, justice, solidarity, and goodness across the planet and right here in the community green spaces of NYC.
The fire team included Joules Magus ... with representatives from the FDNY present for safety.
An estimated 200 people took part in the jumping ceremony. EVG contributor Stacie Joy was on hand for part of the festivities ...
EVG Etc.: Veselka expanding to Brooklyn, Boris & Horton too
• NYC sheriff deputies question the legality of their pot shop busts (The City... previously on EVG)
• Chinatown 3 years after the start of the pandemic (Eater)
• 6 lessons from NYC's first nightlife mayor (The New York Times)
• Veselka is planning to open an outpost in Williamsburg and a kiosk at Grand Central (The Post)
• Boris & Horton on Avenue A expanding to Brooklyn (Greenpointers)
• An interview with Chris Spencer of the noise-rock trio Unsane, formed on the LES in the late 1980s (The Big Takeover)
• Hip-hop film classic "Wild Style" turns 40 (The Source)
• ANOHNI discusses the new photo book on the EV art gang, "Blacklips: Her Life and Her Many, Many Deaths" (DAZED)
• Check out some essential cinema from the archives of the Anthology Film Archives, including screenings for films by Robert Bresson over the next few days (Official site)
• And a very strange commercial for German sink brand Schock starring Iggy Pop (The Drum)
Friday, March 17, 2023
Friday's parting shot
Sweet 'Sixteen'
Out now (as of March 10): Love As Projection, the latest solo album from New York-based singer-songwriter Frankie Rose ... formerly of Vivian Girls/Crystal Stilts/Dum Dum Girls.
The video is for the track "Sixteen Ways."
Revisiting a transformative Sunday on Avenue A
Photos by Stacie Joy
Last weekend, Con Ed and its contractors — Bay Crane, Five Boroughs Flagging Corp. — closed off parts of Avenue A to install a new transformer at the substation between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
Meanwhile, there's word this process will happen all over again with another transformer delivery this fall.
Report: The Astor Place cube will be ready for a spin once more this summer
The Astor Place cube (aka Alamo), out of commission with structural damage since late 2021 (first noted here), will reportedly by spin-worthy again by July 17.
According to The City, there's a proposal from the Department of Transportation in the works.
The plan, which is slated to go before the city's Public Design Commission on Monday for approval, would see the 1,800-pound cube temporarily removed next month and shipped to Bethany, Conn., for restoration by Versteeg Art Fabricators — a firm that also did restorative work to the cube in 2005.Their proposal calls for fixing the spinning mechanism and reinforcing and repairing the base of the East Village piece by early July.
The barricades first arrived around the cube in December 2021, before the city removed them in late April 2022. At the time, we were told that the spinning mechanism for the cube, which manually rotates around a pole hidden in its center, was not working. A DOT spokesperson previously told us that they didn't have a timeline for repairing the spinning component.
Friday's opening shot (so to speak)
Photo by Steven
A look-in at McSorley's on Seventh Street around 8 a.m. on this St. Patrick's Day... we were told that some folks started lining up at 6 a.m.
Thursday, March 16, 2023
May the farce be with you: 'The Empire Strips Back' is next up at the Orpheum Theatre
Starting on May 10, "The Empire Strips Back" begins a limited run at the theater between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.
Per the official description: "The classic 'Star Wars' characters are dropped into the world of burlesque. Comedy and striptease, loving detail and hilarious parody… Let us deliver you to the dark side."
Originally from Australia, this "Empire" has been touring around the globe since it first opened in 2011
Tickets go on sale Tuesday at noon. Sign up for info here.
Jabba pic via the "The Empire Strips Back" site
"Stomp" ended its 29-year run at the Orpheum in early January.
According to Cinema Treasures: "The site on which the Orpheum stands is alleged to have been a concert garden as early as the 1880s and, as such, to be one of the oldest continuously operating places of gathering for entertainment events in New York City."
In the 1980s, the Orpheum was well-known for Off-Broadway productions such as "Little Shop of Horrors" in 1982, Sandra Bernhard's "Without You I'm Nothing" in 1988, Eric Bogosian's "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll" in 1990, John Leguizamo's "Mambo Mouth" in 1991, and David Mamet's "Oleanna" in 1992.
First sign of Raising Cane's on Astor Place
Photo by Steven
As reported in April 2022, the Louisiana-based company signed a 20-year lease for 4,300 square feet of space on the ground floor.
The quick-serve Raising Cane's has more than 600 restaurants in 32 states.
No. 10 was, until August 2020, a Walgreens.
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Ghost signage on 7th Street
Photo by Steven
A crew today removed the signage and added a new rolldown gate on the western storefront at 120 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, where the barber shop the Cut had been... in the process, the workers uncovered some ghost signage for piljo, which I'm sure some people on the block will recall. (Please tell!)
The barber shop has been here since around 2012, and it had been Medusa Tattoo before...
CM Rivera addresses 'operations improvements' for Tompkins Square Park
In addition, the public restrooms had been shuttered for four months due to a malfunctioning boiler and a broken pipe in the basement of the field house. To some surprise, the restrooms reopened in early March ... only to close and reopen in the following days.
Reconstruction of the Tompkins Square Park field house is expected to start soon. During the 18-month project, parkgoers are instructed to use restrooms at the McKinley Playground on Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue adjacent to P.S. 63/the Neighborhood School. (Tomorrow night, March 16, CB3's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee will hear an update on the renovation project. Join via Zoom here.)
Our public spaces are precious to New Yorkers. They are a respite from the busy life of the city, a meeting place for friends, an adventure for children, and beloved by all. It takes a village to care for them, and District 2 is full of beautiful, active spaces that inspire neighbors and bring the community together.
Over the past several months, my office has been working to improve our parks by building a coalition with community members, service providers, local police precincts, community boards, colleagues in elected office, and other stakeholders to address public safety, park maintenance, and sanitation concerns at all our parks, with an operational model tailored specifically for Tompkins Square Park. With spring around the corner, this is a great time to value these neighborhood gems and maintain them together.Our work at Tompkins is part of a greater, funded revitalization effort that I have been working on throughout my tenure. Construction on a number of capital projects in Tompkins Square Park will start this year beginning with reconstruction of the Field House and its public restrooms that will see these structures finally meet standards for accessibility. The end of the year we will see the renovation of the multi-purpose court replacing the existing asphalt, basketball backstops, benches, drinking fountains, and other improvements.For our daily uses at Tompkins, I have secured resources and allocated $20,000 in additional funding to bring on more dedicated staff members to improve maintenance and increase cleanup in the park, with a priority on playgrounds and pathways. I have also allocated more funding to ACE Programs to provide additional sanitation services around the perimeter of the park and the surrounding blocks on weekend mornings. ACE is a job training and employment services organization that works with homeless and formerly homeless individuals to get good jobs and help improve neighborhoods.There are specific mental health and substance use-related challenges at Tompkins that require community-based engagement and we are addressing these concerns with pioneering organizations Goddard Riverside and Housing Works, doing in-person engagement, and needle pickup and needle disposal kiosk maintenance, respectively.
With all nonprofits we call partners, information and connections housing and social services are available. Along with the 9th Precinct, appropriate local concerns are responded to by NYPD's Special Enforcement Unit, and the park is closed every night in accordance with posted hours.To see our coalition in action, please check out our video below. And as always, I encourage neighbors to stay in touch with my office with concerns and conditions of the park. I am grateful to community members for their sustained advocacy and for working to make our neighborhood a better place to live and work.
3rd & B'zaar's new market will feature the work of women-owned businesses
Photo by Stacie Joy
After two-and-a-half years of hosting seasonal markets, art shows and other special events, the folks at 3rd & B'zaar are introducing a more long-term concept.
Based on customer feedback, organizers Maegan Hayward, Sara Ann Rutherford and Delphine Le Goff will host — starting today — the next market for an entire year at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Here's more:
Everyone loves our vintage and locally designed clothing options, along with our funky art and accessories. We've hand-selected some of our favorite vendors to keep us stocked with all these goodies year-round. And guess what? All of our vendors are women-owned businesses. What a great way to kick off the year and celebrate Women's History Month.
In the photo above (from the left): Selina Gladys (Everything's Fine Vintage), Stephanie Fleck (Grandmother Goods), Rutherford, Marie Suchan (Miss Frizz Dazzle Vintage), Hayward (East Village Vintage Collective), Le Goff (Display by Delphine) and Jaclyn Snook (Rat Resale Clothing).
And the complete list of participating vendors/businesses (in alphabetical order):
• Autumn's Fun House @autumnsfunhouse
• The Champagne Diet @thechampagnediet
• Cira Vintage Finds @ciravintagefinds
• Delphine Le Goff @displaybydelphine
• East Village Vintage Collective @evvintagecollective
• Everything's Fine Vintage @everythingsfinevintage
• Grandmother Goods @grandmothergoods
• Greenwell Goods @greenwellgoods
• Lui & Lui @luiandluinyc
• Messy Jessy Vintage @messyjessyvtg
• Miss Frizz Dazzle Vintage @missfrizzdazzlevintage
• New Lines @newlinesny
• Rat Resale @ratresaleclothing
• Star 666tyseven @star666tyseven
• Taracotta Vintage @taracottavintage
The market is open Wednesday-Friday from 1-7 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. Keep up to date via Instagram.
3rd & B'Zaar debuted in late 2020 with a month-long Holiday Market.
On the rental market: 118 St. Mark's Place
The shop, which opened last July, was dark in recent weeks... though there was some thought this was a temporary closure.
This outfit had not been a target of Mayor Adams and Manhattan DA Bragg, who earlier this year announced that they had joined forces, cracking down on illegal storefront operations by going after the landlords.
One of those businesses, Runtz at 14 First Ave. between First Street and Second Street, looks officially closed.
Other recent cannabis-related closures include The Main Event at 42 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street on New Year's Eve. That shop, open for 15 months, also sold vinyl, clothing, art and music ephemera. It's not known why they shuttered.
As for 118 St. Mark's Place, this space was previously home to St. Dymphna's, which closed in October 2018 after 24 years in business. The tavern later reopened at 117 Avenue A.
The new listing for the storefront is not yet online.
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Tuesday's parting shots
Reminders: A rally at City Hall for the former Charas/El Bohio Community Center
Per the invite, attendees will "demand the city right the wrongs of the past and return our community center."
The crowd will deliver a letter from local elected officials, including Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Congressman Dan Goldman, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, and State Sen, Brian Kavanagh to City Hall requesting a meeting as soon as possible.
The rally starts at 11 a.m. on the south plaza outside City Hall.
The action comes before the landmarked building heads to a foreclosure auction next Wednesday, March 22, at the Hilton New York Midtown Fifth Avenue. (There is a Facebook invite to "Stop the Auction.")
The property that developer Gregg Singer purchased during a city auction in 1998 for $3.15 million fell into foreclosure last year. Through the years, Singer wanted to turn the one-time P.S. 64 into a dorm (more here), though those plans never materialized. Some residents want to see the space used again as a community center, as it was during its time as Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Singer evicted the group on Dec. 27, 2001.
Meanwhile, there's a petition in circulation titled, "Save Charas Community Center! Stop the Private Auction!" Per the petition, which states, "Demand Mayor Adams use eminent domain to return the center to the people!" You can find the petition here.
There's also a very detailed Charas model by Tom Manco on display in the window of the UltraViolet Visual Studio on Avenue B at 13th Street... (thanks to @jushotei for the photo)...
A new era for the old Bad Pussies wall on 3rd Street and Avenue B
Photos by Stacie Joy
On Saturday, Italian muralists Jorit and Tukios started a new project on the SW corner of Third Street and Avenue B — outside Mama's Bar...
Here's a look yesterday at the final mural of Talib Kweli and Mos Def (Yasiin Bey) — aka Black Star...
While visiting NYC, Jorit and Tukios have kept busy, creating murals of KRS-One on Second Street at First Avenue and Malcolm X in First Street Green Art Park ... as well as Muhammad Ali on Sixth Street at First Avenue...
Openings: The York on Avenue B
The bar-restaurant from hospitality vets James Hurst and Hayden Tobin is open daily from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., with a Monday-Friday happy hour that features a smash burger, fries and a beer for $12 (among other deals).
You can find updates on the York's Instagram account.
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