East Village
Photoessay: At twilight, with a sudden surge of power, an alternate downtown universe flickers out
The days without power had drawn on long enough that, for some, new rituals, not entirely unpleasant, were suddenly about to disappear (until the next time?) More
FUN Gallery's Patti Astor, '70s Soho fixture and '80s graffiti-art champion, celebrates a book
Fab 5 Freddy ended up introducing a host of fellow graffiti artists to Astor, who welcomed them with open arms. Then, in 1981, Astor and co-founder Bill Stelling opened the gallery on a whim. He had a space. She had her friends who were artists. Together, they had a gallery. FUN became known for graffiti art. The uptown boys like Fab and Futura, as well as admirers like Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat all had shows there. B-boys from the Bronx became fixtures in the scene. More
Cooper Union's identity crisis: What would it mean for the famously free school to charge tuition?
"As I have sought to learn about the history of Cooper Union," said school president Jamshed Bharucha, who was appointed president of the school in July, "there has not been a sustainable budget or financial model for at least forty years, and probably going back further."
Bharucha described a $20 million per annum shortfall. The school is expected to decide in the spring how to best get back on firm financial footing.
Fueling this fight are fundamental differences of belief among students, alumni, board members and faculty at the Cooper Union about the significance of its free education to its mission. Bharucha has described it as "a feature"; school administrators talk in terms of access. But others see the free-for-all mantra as the very reason for Cooper Union's existence. More
(5)Michael Moore rallies East Villagers, signs books at St. Mark's Bookshop
St. Mark’s Bookshop was packed last night at around 6:30 p.m. with people awaiting their hero—or, a guy they hoped would become their hero in a very specific local matter—Michael Moore.
Moore has a book to promote (he told the crowd at the bookstore last night that he had no interest in doing signings at big chain stores), and St. Mark's Bookshop is itself in trouble, and has asked its landlord, Cooper Union, the private engineering, architecture and art college, to reduce its $20,000 monthly rent (with backup from a local petition and a community board resolution). More
(1)The St. Mark's Bookshop bestseller list, annotated (for the last time?)
"It's not just a couple of guys who own a bookstore and want to keep their job," co-owner and co-founder Terry McCoy told the Daily News. "It's an important book store in keeping the identity of the East Village what it is."
We find that to be important justification for our periodic portraits of neighborhoods based on the bestsellers at their local (and, usually, independent) bookstores. So what, in these troubled times, is selling at the shop? More
For violin-star Hilary Hahn, getting from Carnegie Hall to Alphabet City is all about practice
At 9:30 a.m. on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, she was on the West Coast for a friend's 30th birthday celebration, her last bit of summer before the fall season starts. And one of her first stops is a concert at John Zorn's Alphabet City arts space, The Stone.
There, she'll play from her forthcoming album on Deutsche Grammophon: A new C.D. of all four sonatas for violin and piano composed by the American maverick Charles Ives. "I was kind of just trying to hang in there at first. Just trying to put everything together," she said of making the album. "There’s so much going on in his music, and in these sonatas." More
One horrifying crime story bumps another; plus, Susan Lucci is *not* fat
Each day, the New York tabloids vie to sell readers at the newsstands on outrageous headlines, dramatic photography, and, occasionally, great reporting. Who is today's winner? More
Fast times on Avenue A: The life and death of Superdive
There will be no more keg service at this address, and the promise that patrons could pour their own drinks withered long ago. Once, private parties commandeered space for revelries that lasted well into the night, featuring epic beer pong sessions and monster keg stands. It seemed like the good times at Superdive would never end; in fact, its proprietor promised the readers of Eater.com, more than a year ago, “SUPERDIVE will live forever… SUPERDIVE will never close… LONG LIVE SUPERDIVE!” More
(2)A plan to spare the village from N.Y.U.'s next monster-dorm
Seven people testified at the City Planning Commission’s public hearing on a proposed rezoning of an area being called the “Third Avenue Corridor,” and not one of them was against it. All but one were representing someone else, which may have been because this particular issue was taken up two-and-a-half hours into the session, after an incredibly passionate debate about a proposed halfway house somewhere in Brooklyn, or because some of the bosses felt the issue was not controversial enough to require them to make an appearance. More
Hedda Gabler at home: she's a little too comfortable
Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler, about an unhappily married woman in a 19th-century Norwegian town, is set, we are told in the opening stage direction, in "a large drawing-room, well furnished, in good taste."
And, indeed, it's not in a theater, but in a room that meets all of these qualifications—the second-floor living room of a townhouse in the East Village—that a brilliantly crafted but ultimately disappointing production of the play opened on Tuesday night. More
Politicians, musicians, journalists, chefs and actors: A Capital week in review
This week we spent some time with gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo and congressional candidate Reshma Saujani; some East Village bloggers and their counterparts at the Times; composer Gabriel Prokofiev, chef Jim Lahey, and actor Angelina Jolie. Some Sunday reading for you! More
(1)Is the East Village getting noisier or just grumpier?
Since the beginning of 2010, the 10009 zip code has racked up more of the types of noise complaints linked to nightlife than any other area in the city, according to the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, which collects data from 311 calls. (A second East Village zip code, which extends west from 1st Avenue to 5th Avenue, ranks fourth in that category.) More
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