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September 30th, 2009
Weeks ago, we stumbled upon a very odd sight at Roni-Sue's Chocolates in the Essex Market. Roni-Sue Kave and two collaborators were busily dehydrating pickles (Yes- pickles!), which, we learned, would be placed on top of their delicious chocolate truffles. These odd creations were being prepared in honor of International Pickle Day, which returns to the LES for a nonth year this coming Sunday.
It's been a tough time for the pickle business on the LES. In July, The Lo-Down broke the story that neighborhood institution, Guss' Pickles, was moving to Brooklyn. A century ago, the Lower East Side boasted 100 pickle push carts – once Guss' leaves there will only be two. Pickle Day acknowledges the LES's pickle past but it also celebrates the diversity and innovation that continue to transform our community.
In addition to Roni-Sue, Sunday's multi- cultural event features vendors such as Rick's Picks, Russ & Daughters, Saxelby Cheese, Sahadi's, China Food Imports, Mama O's Premium Kimchee, Peanutbutter & Company and China Food Imports. As organizers put it, samples will be available from "around the world and around the corner." Pretty much anything goes, so long as it's pickled: radishes, tomatoes, okra, cabbage, lettuce, fish, meat, carrots, beans, onions, eggs, limes, mangos, beets – you name it.
The last couple of years the festival has boasted more than 15-thousand visitors. To accomodate the big crowds, the event has been moved to the large municipal parking lot at Broome and Ludlow. The sponsors, the NY Food Museum and the LES Business Improvement District, have been joined by the NYC Greenmarket organization. There will be cooking demonstrations, children's activities and historical walking tours. There will even be free bike valet parking, courtesy of Transportation Alternatives.
International Pickle Day takes place Sunday, October 4th between 11-4:30pm.
September 30th, 2009
Lucid NYC is hosting their latest "event"/party/presentations at Bowery Electric tonight at 7:00pm (327 Bowery at 2nd St.) Presentations will include Improv Everywhere founder Charlie Todd (Check out IE's most recent Mission which involved over 2,000
"invisible dogs" with leashes (!) for a nice Sunday Walk in Brooklyn), Digital Artist Spot Draves and Peter Joseph, director of Zeitgeist the Movie. There will also be light painting by artist Ed Hsu and interactive installation from the minds of Lucid Labs.
September 30th, 2009
John Liu and Bill deBlasio trounced their opponents in yesterday's runoff election. The Times draws a few conclusions from last night's results.
• The Working Families Party… is now the pre-eminent political force in New
York City politics, replacing a forlorn, disorganized Democratic Party.
Its candidates for City Council won by healthy margins; and it can now
claim victories in the second and third highest offices in the city,
public advocate (Mr. de Blasio) and comptroller (Mr. Liu).
• New York City voters are still unhappy with the term limits change.
City Councilmen Liu and de Blasio were impassioned (some would say
grandstanding) opponents of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s
effort to rewrite the law and seek a third term. Hours after the
Council voted to approve the change, Mr. de Blasio predicted: “The
people will long remember what we have done here today, and the people
will be unforgiving.”
• Voters are not engaged by New York City politics this year, so a
small group of motivated voters (unions, Asian-Americans, term limits
opponents) have an outsize influence at the ballot box.
• The mayor’s race will be much closer than the polls suggest. The Working Families Party
has shown it has a formidable field operation, which will now turn its
full attention to the Democratic mayoral contender, City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., another outspoken critic of the term limits extension.
• Even if Mr. Bloomberg wins, his third term will look very little like
his second. Assuming Mr. Liu and Mr. de Blasio prevail in November, the
new comptroller and public advocate will relish a fight (and a
microphone), and will be far more likely to challenge the mayor, as Mr.
de Blasio signaled Tuesday night when he took a swipe at Mr. Bloomberg
over term limits.
The victorious candidate in this month's City Council District 1 race, Margaret Chin, campaigned hard for de Blasio and Liu. She endorsed both candidates at a Chatham Square rally last week – and mobilized her supporters in Chinatown to get out the vote yesterday.
Mike Bloomberg brought breakfast for seniors in Chinatown yesterday. NY1 was there, as protesters greeted the mayor. Here's how the event was summed up on the web site of the Civic Center Residents Coalition:
Mayor Bloomberg slithered his way into
and out of a dark and dirty back staircase entrance of Jing Fong
restaurant at 20 Elizabeth Street, to avoid the chanting protesters at
the main entrance shouting "Dump Bloomberg" and "Chinatown – Not For
Sale". Their placards read everything from "Buying Breakfast = Buying Votes" to "Eight is Enough" and "King Bloomberg.
Continue reading Runoff Results, Bloomberg Protests, Downtown Dumplings
September 29th, 2009
Any restaurant owner will tell you location is everything. In the case of Sushi Hana, which opened this week on Rivington Street, a great location is both a blessing and a curse. Right next to the Hotel on Rivington, poised to benefit from heavy foot traffic, the restaurant would appear to be sitting pretty. There is, however, a problem. When we stopped by yesterday afternoon, an appealing sake and wine menu was placed on our table. But when we tried to order a drink, the host informed us their alcohol license hadn't come through just yet.
Restaurants in New York are accustomed to waiting many months for the State Liquor Authority (SLA) to approve their licenses to sell alcohol (a story for another day). In Sushi Hana's case, there's an additional complication. Earlier this month, Community Board 3 voted not to support Sushi Hana's application before the SLA on the grounds that it's in a "resolution area."
Continue reading Location, Location, Location: Sushi Hana’s Predicament
September 29th, 2009
Here's our first look at the bars & restaurants that will be going before Community Board 3's SLA committee next month. The list is unusually slim, especially in the "new licenses" category:
Fuzhou Xiao Chi, 68 Forsyth (new license, beer only)- Spur Tree, 76 Orchard (renewal with complaint history, wine only)
- Le Souk, 47 Avenue B (renewal with complaint history, full liquor)
- Corp to be formed, 180 Orchard (application in resolution area, wine only)
Caffe Buon Gusto, 76 Avenue B (application in resolution area, wine only)- Freemans, end of Freeman Ally (expanding to 2nd floor)
- Inoteca, 133 Ludlow (upgrading to full liquor)
- 12 1st Avenue Restaurant Corp., 76 East 1st Ave. (transfer full liquor)
- Allen & Delancey, 115 Allen (alterations, extend hours)
- Uncle Charlie's LES, 87 Ludlow (transfer full liquor)
- B Clinton, 6 Clinton Street (transfer license, wine only)
- Sonia Rose, 74 Orchard (upgrade to full liquor)
The meeting takes place Monday, October 19th, 630pm, at the JASA/Green Residence, 200 East 5th Street (Bowery). For the complete agenda, visit the Community Board's web site.
September 29th, 2009
Tickets won't last but you may still be able to catch Bebel Gilberto tonight at The Box (189 Chrystie St.) Ovationtix has the fleeting tickets. Bossa Nova anyone?
September 29th, 2009
The Daily News has more on the "BB gun thug terrorizing" the area near Avenue D and 3rd Street. According to the story at least 8 people have been hit and several car windows have been blown out. Police, who suspect the shooter is stationed in an upper floor of the Lilian Wald Houses, have stepped up patrols:
One construction worker said he was shot on Friday – and doctors later found a pair of pellets lodged next to his skull. "I put my hand up there and felt the blood," said Edward Gilyard, 49, who was standing at his job site when he felt a sharp pain on his right temple."I figured the only thing it could be was some sort of shot," said Gilyard, of Flatbush, Brooklyn. "All of a sudden, I had a little hole in my head." Gilyard,
who saw the rear window of a taxi get shattered minutes after he was
shot, returned to work yesterday, but said he was staying behind a tree
when he had to venture outside the walled-off work site… Edwin Rivera, 47, was hit twice on Thursday, each time as he stood on the corner of E. Third St. chatting with friends, he said. "I
was thinking something had shot me then I saw I was bleeding," said
Rivera, who displayed the large red welt left by a pellet on his left
bicep.
If you have any information that might help, call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
Family and friends on the LES are in mourning for 20-year old Christopher Gutierrez. He was stabbed and killed yesterday outside the main Post Office in Midtown. Gutierrez grew up in the Jacob Riis Houses. More from the Daily News on the search for the suspect:
Detectives released photos that they say show the killer walking along Eighth Ave. moments before the savage stabbing. He is described as a 5-foot-10 African-American, between 25 and 35
years old, weighing about 160 pounds. He was wearing a black T-shirt
and blue jeans and was carrying a camouflage backpack, police said.
Photo of suspect in Midtown shooting. If you have information about this crime, call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
The Tenement Museum answers the question: when was Orchard Street paved.
The LES's favorite cranky cook Kenny Shopsin gets some more attention (he hates that, you know) from Serious Eats.
September 29th, 2009
The latest clothing line to "pop-up" in a shop on Orchard Street is Kai D, launching a line today that will be available at the shop through November (at 75 Orchard between Broome and Grand). Operating under the credo "a pocket must be available when needed,
accessories are designed with a purpose", D's initial Fall line seeks
to "serve the needs of modern day artisans". For more details and images, visit the thinctank blog and thrillist here.
September 29th, 2009
Eric Ferrara, author of Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side, will be doing a presentation/book signing at The Tenement Museum as part of their Tenement Talks series this evening at 6:30pm (108 Orchard St. in the museum Shop). Eric is also the Executive Director of the Lower East Side History Project and the East Village Visitor Center.
The book traces the steps of "gangster legends like Charles "Lucky"
Luciano, Mery Lansky and "Bugsy Siegel — who all grew up and earned
their criminal stripes on these streets". You can also take the
walking tour that inspired the book, this Saturday at 2:00pm. (Meet at
308 Bowery btwn E. Houston & Bleecker).
September 29th, 2009
Today we begin a new weekly feature: LES Market Watch. We'll take a look at what's new in both the residential and commercial real estate markets, what's selling, whether prices are headed up or down, etc.
AVERAGE LES HOME PRICE (Trulia; based on 2 sales in the past week): 896,362
NUMBER OF LES HOMES FOR SALE (Street Easy): 145
NUMBER OF LES HOMES FOR RENT (Street Easy): 210
LEAST EXPENSIVE LES APARTMENT: $170,000
157 Broome Street, #3E, Price reduced $10,000 (3/27). Studio, 311 square feet. Broker: Matthew Pope, Real Estate.com. From the listing: "HDFC building. You must meet income requirements, 1 person can earn up to $59,520."
MOST EXPENSIVE APARTMENT: $5,995,000
259 Bowery, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3700 square feet duplex loft condo. Broker: Susan Goldman, Halstead. From the listing: "The kitchen is open to the dining room and both lead to a lovely
660sf terrace overlooking a protected park area. This floor also
features a full bath, wide-plank flooring and ceilings nearly 11.5'
high. Downstairs you will find a huge master bedroom suite with another
WBFP. The master bath features 2 sink areas, large Jacuzzi tub,
separate shower and private WC."
MOST INTRIGUING COMMERCIAL LISTING: Blue Moon Hotel, $35 million
The Blue Moon Hotel, 100 Orchard Street is still/back (?) on the market. Before it even opened in 2006, Curbed reported the hotel, in a spiffed up tenement building, was for sale (back then for $20 million). Broker: Kevin Vales, Halstead. From the listing:
A 26ft wide 8-story elevator hotel building that
has been renovated. The building has 22 suites with all the original
details in place. The property is fully sprinkler with a state of the
art fire alarm system. The property lies in the heart of the Lower East
Side, it is located near the tenement museum and is on Orchard Street,
which is the retail capital of the area. This is a prime opportunity
for a hotel user they can also use it for selling time-shares, or turn
it into a condo hotel. The property would also make a great bed and
breakfast opportunity.
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