Alias, which has been serving up comfort food on Clinton Street for a decade, makes a big announcement. In an email sent to regular customers this evening, the owners acknowledged the restaurant is closing soon:

It’ll soon be official – After 11 years on Clinton Street, we’ve decided to retire ... Continue reading]]>

Alias, 76 Clinton St. Photo via Facebook.

Alias, which has been serving up comfort food on Clinton Street for a decade, makes a big announcement. In an email sent to regular customers this evening, the owners acknowledged the restaurant is closing soon:

It’ll soon be official – After 11 years on Clinton Street, we’ve decided to retire Alias Restaurant and hand over the proverbial baton to the next generation of entrepreneurs.  However, before this happens and in traditional Alias fashion, we’d like to celebrate with you and thank you, our friends and neighbors, who’ve helped to make our business the success that it has become over the last decade.  So please do drop in as often as you can over the next few weeks as we pull out all the stops and celebrate all that Alias the “Fresh Friendly Neighborhood Restaurant” has become known for – our famous brunch, our incredibly great value blue plate, our amazing dinners, our great cocktails etc…… And, last but not least, our loyal team who are standing by us till the end and have helped to make this such a special place.  We can’t thank you enough for your support over the years and we’re really looking forward to seeing you a few more times over the next few weeks.

In April, Community Board 3 approved a liquor license for a new seafood tapas bar from the Wild Edibles team.

Here are a few reminders/suggestions for Memorial Day weekend on the Lower East Side:

Longtime Lower East Side performance artist and author, Jen Miller, is going public after being fired by the Tenement Museum.  On her blog, Rev. Jen recounts the events of the past week:

On Tuesday I was fired from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. I had worked there since 2001, was there ... Continue reading]]>

Tenement Museum, 97 Orchard St.

Longtime Lower East Side performance artist and author, Jen Miller, is going public after being fired by the Tenement Museum.  On her blog, Rev. Jen recounts the events of the past week:

On Tuesday I was fired from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. I had worked there since 2001, was there on the morning of 9-11 and was an incredibly dedicated employee. During my employment there, I worked part-time (approximately 30 hours a week) and never received health insurance or even a sick day.

In the past week,  Miller was on a coffee break, when she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk on Delancey Street and suffered facial injuries:

Since I was drenched in blood, I was obviously sent home from work that day. That Friday I was still in pain, but took 4 Advil and tried to come in. The manager, Jes, asked me to work in the basement, even though I was always best on the sales floor, at my register. The girl who took my place was almost half my age. Guess you have to be without facial scars and young to sell books. The next day I came in and was sent home because Jes told me I needed a “mental health day” even though my problem was obviously physical. Then, having finally gotten Sundays off (something they agreed to 2 weeks ago), a manager named Rachel called me on a Sunday and left me a message telling me I needed to take another “mental health day” on Monday. I called her and told her I didn’t need one. She said, “Don’t call me on a Sunday!” I said you just called me on a Sunday.” I felt like Alice in Wonderland trying to play croquet with a flamingo. Nothing made sense.  Then Rachel told me I had a meeting on Tuesday with Mary Kate, yet another manager. I sat down in the conference room on Tuesday with Mary Kate and Barry Roseman (who is the director of operations) and they told me I was “terminated.” I asked Barry why. He said, “I’m not giving you a reason.” I persisted and he told me I needed to leave the conference room because he had an important meeting. I refused. He finally screamed at me, “insubordination!” and stormed out.  And that’s how it went down. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise since the managers (Mary Kate, Jes and Rachel) have fired many other people in the past 2 months – all hard workers with great personality. I guess personality equals being fired there.  Please boycott the Tenement Museum. As I said before, they espouse labor reform while not practicing it. Al Smith is rolling in his grave right now.

This morning, we asked the Tenement Museum for a response.  A spokesperson replied via email, “Personnel issues are confidential, but I can tell you that there is absolutely no truth to the unsubstantiated allegations made in this article about the Museum.”

From Mike Brown, Citi bikes arrive at Stanton and Suffolk streets in advance of Monday’s bike ... Continue reading]]>

Suffolk and Stanton streets. Photo by Mike Brown.

From Mike Brown, Citi bikes arrive at Stanton and Suffolk streets in advance of Monday’s bike share launch.

Spider-Man takes a break from filming to play basketball with kids at P.S. 1 on Catherine Street in Chinatown last week.  Andrew Garfield did not reveal himself but the YouTube poster notes that Emma Stone, Garfield’s co-star and girlfriend, was on the side watching his dog.  Garfield and Stone were also filming in Chinatown ... Continue reading]]>

Spider-Man takes a break from filming to play basketball with kids at P.S. 1 on Catherine Street in Chinatown last week.  Andrew Garfield did not reveal himself but the YouTube poster notes that Emma Stone, Garfield’s co-star and girlfriend, was on the side watching his dog.  Garfield and Stone were also filming in Chinatown in March.

Cannes review: “The Immigrant” reflects the Lower East Side experience in the 1920′s in “quietly wrenching terms.” (Hollywood Reporter)

Special projects planned to mark the 130th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge (NY1).

On 2nd Avenue: scrap(ing) up the few traces ... Continue reading]]> The man arrested for allegedly assaulting a gay man on Avenue D will not face hate crime charges (NY1).

Cannes review: “The Immigrant” reflects the Lower East Side experience in the 1920′s in “quietly wrenching terms.” (Hollywood Reporter)

Special projects planned to mark the 130th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge (NY1).

On 2nd Avenue: scrap(ing) up the few traces of gentility amid the falafel and the fraternity crowds (NYT).

Sakamai on Ludlow Street; “A Japanese restaurant filtered through an American consciousness, respectful of tradition but not bound by it.” (NYT)

Happy Memorial Day weekend. Showers this morning – some clearing in the afternoon with a chance of thunderstorms and a high of 65. Tomorrow, more rain and a high of 54. Partly cloudy and windy Sunday with a high of 65. For Memorial Day, Monday, partly cloudy and 73. Enjoy ... Continue reading]]>

145 Ludlow St.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. Showers this morning – some clearing in the afternoon with a chance of thunderstorms and a high of 65. Tomorrow, more rain and a high of 54. Partly cloudy and windy Sunday with a high of 65. For Memorial Day, Monday, partly cloudy and 73. Enjoy the holiday!

Send us tips & photos | Subscribe via email | Like us on Facebook | Add events to our Calendar

Today’s food notes and a sign of the times at an LES music venue:

Last week the Fortune Society hosted its Third Annual Spring Soiree at the Bowery Hotel. The non-profit, which helps previously incarcerated men and women re-enter their communities, operates its program out of a castle in Harlem. Yep, a castle.  Big names in attendance included ... Continue reading]]>

Thursday evening’s event at the Bowery Hotel. Photos by Pasha Kalachev photography.

Last week the Fortune Society hosted its Third Annual Spring Soiree at the Bowery Hotel. The non-profit, which helps previously incarcerated men and women re-enter their communities, operates its program out of a castle in Harlem. Yep, a castle.  Big names in attendance included designer Charlotte Ronson, former Fugee-turned-inmate-turned-solo-artist John Forte, and Director Eugene Jarecki.

Jarecki’s 2012 Sundance hit “The House I Live In,” a film about the war on drugs and its impact on poor Americans, “particularly Americans of color,” was honored with the Foundation’s Spotlight Award. In the spirit of the movie, everyone seemed interested in keeping the spotlight on the campaign for drug law reform.

JoAnne Page, Eugene Jarecki.

“Drugs are cheaper and more widely used by young people than ever before. The people we put away are nonviolent nobodies, poor young people who get addicted, have no money, get a strike on their record, and can only work in the underground economy—then we punish them for it. That’s the disgrace here,” Jarecki said. “The Fortune Society is a long distance runner for justice. They help rebuild lives shattered by these inappropriate laws.”

In addition to providing substance abuse, mental health, and HIV/AIDS treatment, career development and job retention programs, and family services to 3,000 people each year, the organization actively participates in the movement to change drug sentencing laws.  “I grew up in a white suburban community and none of my friends got arrested or spent time in prison,” said Fortune Society president and CEO JoAnne Page.

Majority opinion at the event was that the ‘drug problem’ is a public health issue and, therefore, should be dealt with through the health system. Both Page and Jarecki would like to see sentences dealt with “a little more even-handedly.”

“We’re seeing young black and Hispanic kids on Rikers Island for a joint,” she said.  Jarecki echoed her statement with his own personal convictions. “We don’t put away big-time drug dealers. We never have. Should we? Yeah, probably,” he said, adding that he’s lost family members, “particularly lately,” to addiction. “I want proper approaches to it led by treatment and compassion, not by punishment,” he finished.  According to Jarecki, who has also gained praise for his films, “Why We Fight,” “Reagan” and “The Trials of Henry Kissinger,” his new project has played a role in changing laws in several states. “What we’ve seen in Colorado, Washington, and California was echoed today in Vermont, which decriminalized marijuana,” Jarecki said. “Connecticut is planning to revisit the sentences of people incarcerated as minors for adult sentences, and we expect the governor of Oklahoma to revisit sentences of lifers.”

Jarecki and John Forte.

John Forte, who performed at last year’s Soiree, recently joined the Fortune Society’s board in order to “help spread the message.”  After living what some might consider a charmed life, he was busted with 31 pounds of liquid cocaine at Newark Airport, which he calls, “ a very unfortunate mistake.” That mistake came at a price: a 14-year prison sentence. However, that’s not what he ultimately served, because former president George W. Bush redacted seven years from his sentence.

“I am about the second chance, because people believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself,” Forte said.

Why was it important for designer Charlotte Ronson to be involved?  “John Forte is an old, old, old, old family friend of mine,” she answered. When pressed for a more specific reason to be involved with the cause, she said, “Because every little bit counts. Surely, she knows all about the Society’s work and was just being shy.

One of the event’s sponsors, Runa, a beverage company that supports roughly 2,000 indigenous farming families in Ecuador through their Guayasa leaf tea, got involved with the cause because “drug policy affects America daily and is one of the greatest injustices we face.”

“If you’re not causing harm to others, you should be able to ingest what you want,” said Dan MacCombie, co-founder of Runa. “Our criminal justice system is broken. We need a comprehensive reform of how we look at certain crimes, if they should be crimes, and how we make prisons into effective tools of solving society’s needs, instead of just locking people up and assuming the problem is solved.”

He went on to say that since the “system isn’t changing tomorrow,” the Fortune Society’s work is essential for those who have gone through it and want to get back on their feet.

Towards the end of the night, three ladies huddled together in one stall of the women’s bathroom, and were joined by two men soon after; all were escorted out of the lavatory, but not asked to leave. They apparently fit the profile of the type who never gets arrested.

On a brighter note, the event raised $100,000 for the Fortune Society—legally.

“We struggle to get restricted funds because the level of need greatly exceeds resources we have,” said Page. “This usually isn’t the type of crowd we get for our events, normally, so I’m thankful for this party!”

Sheldon Silver is very good at keeping both his Lower East Side as well as his Albany constituents happy (The Jewish Week).

An arrest ... Continue reading]]> A former State Assembly aid, who claimed she was raped, says “the most powerful man in the state Assembly (Sheldon Silver) blew her off, then his aides tried to shut her up.” (Daily News)

Sheldon Silver is very good at keeping both his Lower East Side as well as his Albany constituents happy (The Jewish Week).

An arrest is made after a gay man is attacked near Avenue D and East 4th Street (NY1).

Preservationists try to save the Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church (EV Grieve).

A street on the Lower East Side is named after Samuel Dickstein, a Soviet spy (NYT).