Photo: Summer in the city! A crowd gathers to listen to music on Orchard Street on Friday evening.
Here are some of the stories that caught our eye on the Lower East Side in the past week:
–The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Kimlau War Memorial in Chinatown. It was named for Second Lt. Benjamin Ralph Kimlau, a bomber pilot who died during World war II. In a statement, his niece said, “Thousands of Chinese Americans bravely served this country in the U.S. Armed Forces… The Kimlau War Memorial Arch will continue as a source of pride for the Chinatown community.” [The New York Times]
–The Rent Guidelines Board approved a mid-year rent increase, but some property owners are not satisfied. Chinatown landlord Irving Lee testified,“Like many small property owners in Chinatown and across New York City who provide the bulk of affordable housing in New York City we need substantial increases from the rent-stabilized tenants to maintain our property while providing safe and affordable housing for the community.” [City Limits]
–A review of a powerful new biography of Ethel Rosenberg, which traces the cold war hysteria and the “suffocating atmosphere of the US in the 1950s” that led to her execution. [The Guardian]
–“Learning to love goat kidneys and testicles;” more well deserved accolades for Dhamaka, the exciting new Indian restaurant in the Essex Market. [The New Yorker]
–Meanwhile the team behind Dhamaka plans to open a new takeout spot in the East Village. [EV Grieve]
–Joe’s Shanghai is not the best restaurant in Chinatown and it doesn’t have the best soup dumplings in town, but many dishes are very good and, so says Robert Sietsema, Joe’s seems to be enjoying a surge in popularity. [Eater]
–A look at the pioneering nonprofit art space, Participant, a Lower East Side mainstay of the avant garde movement since 2007. [Artnet News]
