BIKEAWAY 12/31/06
Looking West for the Lower East Side
by
Noah Wildman
I moved to Grand Street in the late ‘90s, following my parents’ reverse-retiring here from Staten Island. In the past couple of years, they both passed away. During my mom’s last days, I put work on hold. After she passed I realized, with sadness fermenting into renewed inspiration, that now was the time: take a break, pick up and leave home, and see some of the country…by bicycle...
BIG HUMBLE SOUNDS 12/29/06
Nels Cline Trio at The Stone
by
Nate Eckstrom
If it weren’t for this tiny crowd, I wouldn’t have had the guts to stick my head inside and see if this really was where the Nels Cline Trio was playing. The Stone is not your average insider hide-out...
ZONE OUT 12/29/06
CB3's Response to City Planning's Zoning
by
Rob Hollander
The Community Board's zoning task force responded in December to the Department of City Planning's upzoning proposal. CB3 proposes to scale back the upzoning and even downzone parts of the neighborhood. To entice DCP to accept this downzoning that will help preserve our neighborhood, CB3 offers a major upzoning of Christie Street...
LOCAL PIC 12/29/06
Lower East Side Produce Man
by
Pat Arnow
David weighs vegetables at the market on Grand St. by Clinton. It's a great place to pick up inexpensive fruit and vegetables and some compliments from the gentlemen behind the counter...
UGLY HISTORY 12/28/06
New York Was a Pro-Slavery City
by
Don Cruise
Although slavery in New York ended in 1827, the city profited from slave-grown cotton. Economic interest slanted New York politics and public opinion toward the South. White newspaper editors praised slavery as a benevolent system of labor and the only fit condition for people of African descent in America...
CZECH PUPPETS 12/27/06
Once There Was a Village
by
Jonathan Slaff
"Everyone has two villages," says Vit Horejs, founder/director of Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre (CAMT), "one in the old country and one here." That's the idea behind "Once There Was a Village," CAMT's new ethno-opera with puppets and found objects...
HO HO HO 12/27/06
Santa visits Gouverneur Healthcare
by
Maritza Cales
Viewed by all who walk down Madison Street, Gouvernuer’s lobby and windows celebrate the holidays as well as provide pertinent health information. Patients were treated to a special visit by Santa last Wednesday...
HISTORY TODAY 12/26/06
Low in the Lower East Side
by
Francis Morrone
In the 1860s, 97 Orchard Street was in "Kleindeutschland," the German immigrant neighborhood. A tailor named Lucas Glockner built the structure, which was part of the first generation of purpose-built "tenant houses" or "tenements," the multiple-family dwellings built to serve an immigrant influx that had previously had to make do with subdivided single-family houses...
BACKSIDE COMMENTARY 12/25/06
Benches
by
Yori Yanover
Some of the old benches in my little shul came from other shuls which had either upgraded to newer furniture or became defunct. Some of those benches bore distinct marks of a former use by a competing monotheistic religion. None of those old benches were in what you might term “good shape...”
POOR & POORER 12/25/06
The Biggest Threat to America: The Dollar Store!
by
Jane Stillwater
Why are people suddenly giving gift baskets instead of the usual stuff. I'll tell you why. Because suddenly there are lots of things that are available to put INTO gift baskets. Because in the last six months at least FOUR new dollar stores have opened up in my neighborhood alone...
E-FREE 12/24/06
Free Computer Classes, Free Internet
by
Tibi Z. Singer
Paul Vandeyar and Edmund Allicock are Lab Managers at the Henry Street ATTAIN Lab. “We will be starting our new classes in January,” writes Vandeyar, “The Henry Street ATTAIN Computer Labs will offer FREE computer classes in the month of January...
UNOBSERVER 12/24/06
Shul Is Not What You Might Think
by
Uzi Silber
Every Saturday morning I take my two children to a traditional orthodox synagogue, or 'shul', on the Lower East Side. But praying we're not. Sitting or standing, we gossip shamelessly, whisper about politics and women, or rehash tales of off-color elementary school mischief...
SAFE HOUSING 12/22/06
Soviet Grandeur
by
Yori Yanover
The four co-op buildings at the tail end of Grand Street are not particularly pretty. They stand like heavy, intrusive blocks of bricks and cement in a neighborhood where, over the centuries, a great deal of effort had been invested in creating lovely facades and fancy entryways...
UNILATERAL TRAFFICKING 12/21/06
This Divider Will Cost Lives
by
Yori Yanover
We had told them it would be the wrong thing to do, as cars turning into the street from the highway chart a wide arc which would, inevitably, lead one of them, late on a rainy night and at highway speed, smack into the stupid thing...
YES-TALGIA 12/21/06
Urban Memories: New York City, Early Eighties
by
Marianne Villanueva
I lived in New York City. It was a different city from today. It was dirty, I’ll never forget the assault on my nerves of standing on a platform and watching the subway cars roar into a station, sides screaming with graffiti. I think my son would not have been comfortable in the city I used to know...
DOG 12/20/06
Dog
by
Yori Yanover
My neighbor Felix’s chunky little fluffy dog is named Dog, which makes remembering it kind of easy. Dog is the smartest dog I’ve ever encountered, smarter than many humans. He won’t pander to anyone...
POWER MINYAN 12/20/06
Joyous Sound Gets Doubly Stronger
by
Yori Yanover
It seems that, since I’ve started telling the neighborhood about the pleasures, especially about our last Sunday morning service which was accompanied with musical instruments, a wave of curiosity and interest has washed through the community...
2 POWERFUL WOMEN 12/20/06
Maloney Named Vice Chair of Joint Economic Committee
by
Tibi Z. Singer
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district includes the LES, has been named the Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee by House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi. The appointment adds one more position of power in the House to women representing the Lower East Side, the other being Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez who will chair the Small Business Committee. Way to go, ladies!
INTER CULTURE 12/19/06
The Jews Who Wrote Christmas Songs
by
Don Cruise
Every year the American Society of Composers and Publishers publishes a list of the 25 Most Popular Holiday Songs. Among the songs picked this year, 13 to 14--were composed, co-written or performed by verifiably Jewish artists...
MOBILE TRADITION 12/18/06
Christian Mitzvah Tank
by
Nancy J. Kramer
The huge pop top van was decorated with large lit up neon crosses on the back and on either side and murals of religious symbols, icons and writings covering every square inch - then I turned off at 61st street and the Christian Mitzvah tank disappeared up the Drive...
CHRISTMAS BIZ 12/18/06
Bill Frazer Really Taking Up Essex Street
by
Nancy J. Kramer
Bill Frazer, owner of Flowers Cafe and Flowers on Essex has opened up a Holiday Store for the month. It's right next door to the Flower Shop @ 39 Essex Street...
PRESS RELEASE 12/18/06
Stringer: Make Emergency Preparedness a Top Priority Before It's Too Late
by
Maibe Gonzalez-Fuentes
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer today released a study that finds the State Department of Health (DOH) is failing to adequately prepare nursing homes for evacuation in the case of a major emergency. As a result, thousands of New York City's elderly and disabled residents are at risk...
ELECTRIC PRAISE 12/18/06
Hallel with Electric Guitar and Pushka
by
Yori Yanover
Because most of the opportunities for Hallel fall on holidays on which it is forbidden to use musical instruments, electric and acoustic alike, it’s a rare thing to have your rabbi pull out his electric guitar (mercifully pre-tuned!) and leap into a melodious and sweeping strumming of some exciting Hallel tunes...
VISUAL DRAMA 12/16/06
Shoot into the Sun
by
Yori Yanover
On a cool afternoon last week (way warmer than befits a late-December day, but still pretty cold), I was playing with pointing my digital camera in the direction of sun and seeing what happens...
THE SEASON THING 12/16/06
Frank’s Windows Are Lit Again
by
Yori Yanover
As the Rockefeller Center tree goes up - marking the official start of the December holidays for many New Yorkers - Lower East Siders turn to Frank Arroyo’s Bike Shop's dazzling, brightly lit wonder, right here on Grand Street...
GUARDED CROSSING 12/15/06
Mother and Daughter
by
Yori Yanover
Then I saw the dignity and the complete self containment of these two persons, unhurriedly, quietly pacing across the intersection, entirely together, entirely at piece with one another...
GARDEN IN TRANSIT 12/14/06
Decorate a Taxi!
by
Freda Fried
"Garden in Transit," a temporary public art project, will be displayed on New York City’s yellow taxicabs in the Fall of 2007. This privately-funded project will celebrate the 100th anniversary of New York’s first motorized taxi. Thousands of adult volunteers will paint large, colorful flowers onto self-adhesive material that will be installed on yellow taxicabs...
WHERE'S MY TIGHTS? 12/14/06
The Renaissance in Our Backyard
by
Tibi Z. Singer
"Manhattan's Lower East Side Enjoys a Renaissance," declares the Sun's Michael Stoler this morning. This while other areas may be in their rococo or neo-classicist phases. His editorial in praise of the 22-story phallic monsters rising in our midst is positively Shakespearian. But not the comedies...
FURRY MUSIC 12/13/06
Shtreiml at Stanton Street
by
Tibi Z. Singer
Founded by harmonica innovator Jason Rosenblatt and named for the traditional fur hat worn by Chassidic Jews, Shtreiml blends elements of klezmer, gypsy music and jazz to create a vibrant sound that is at once Eastern European Folk Music and Down-Home Blues...
ROUND 1 12/12/06
Velázquez Kicks-off Discussion on NYC’s Housing Crisis
by
Kate Davis
We need to start addressing this issue by first preserving the affordable housing that already exists in our City. Today’s event will give us an opportunity to look at a variety of ways to preserve reasonable options by coordinating efforts at the city, state and federal level...
LOCAL ENT 12/12/06
This Week at the Abrons Arts Center
by
Julie Muller Stahl
Tonic presents The Naughty And Nice Holiday Concert... Dancer/Choreographer, Megan V. Sprenger presents No Where... Night Kitchen Radio Theater presents Christmas in July/The Flying Latke... New Federal Theatre presents Ed Bullins' classic play, The Taking Of Miss Janie...
WEB CITE 12/12/06
Wikipedia Does LoHo
by
Juda S. Engelmayer
LoHo (an acronym for "Lower Houston Street") is the name of a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It encompasses a section of the Lower East Side south of Houston Street, from Christie Street on the at the western point, to the FDR Drive at the Eastern point stretching to the East River line at South Street...
MESS HOLE 12/11/06
New Study: State Division Of Parole In Complete Dissaray
by
Eric Pugatch
A new study finds that Parole Officers are handling caseloads that are too high and that they lack sufficient training and resources. As a result, Parole Officers are unable to adequately supervise and provide services for people on parole as they re-enter society...
AUTHOR ON ROCKS 12/11/06
This Sat 8:30 Laurie Hosting Downtown Rock Event
by
Laurie Gwen Shapiro
I weighed yet another mass email, but frankly this may be the only time ever I share a stage with the fabulous folks from Luna! See me try and pass myself
off as a funny with-it type of gal...
JAUNDICED ON ZONING 12/09/06
What Was Wrong with BP Stringer's Town Hall Meeting
by
Rob Hollander
Rather than present himself before a level playing field of community voices in the audience, he chose to allow select community voices sit on the dais with him. By having the Community Board and GOLES appear as his co-presenters and partners, he tilted the playing field, effectively marginalizing all the other community voices...
ANGRY STAGE 12/08/06
They're Coming Back, Angrier than Ever
by
Jonathan Slaff
Theater for the New City presents Angry Young Women in Low-Rise Jeans with High-Class Issues, written and directed by Matt Morillo, a raunchy look at the psychology of nervous urban goddesses...
CRAZY STAGE 12/08/06
Dario D'ambrosi Directs his ''A Crazy Sound'' at La Mama
by
Jonathan Slaff
Dario D'Ambrosi, the Italian actor/playwright and founder of "Pathological Theater," has, for 26 years, held a mirror up to our nature with plays about society's treatment of the insane. His next New York production will be "A Crazy Sound" in which six patients in an asylum create a symphony using the materials of their beds as instruments...
TRANS TRANSPORTATION 12/08/06
Bike Lanes Are Here to Stay, Live with It: DOT
by
Yori Yanover
CB3 Transportation Chairman David Crane betrayed his own bitterness at DOT’s penchant for unilateral action when he introduced the department’s presentation of the new Grand Street bike lanes, stretching from the FDR to Sixth Avenue...
CRISIS SOLVER 12/08/06
Velázquez to Host Roundtable Discussion on City's Housing Crisis
by
Susan E. Graham
With the recent changes in Congress, Representative Nydia M. Velázquez will host a roundtable discussion with local elected officials, scholars and policy experts on developing new priorities for dealing with New York's increasing housing problems...
SAY CHEESE 12/07/06
In Praise of Essex Beauty
by
Pat Arnow
Among the venders and shoppers the NY Times reporter interviewed for yesterday's piece on the Essex Street market was Anne Saxelby, who has opened an artisanal American cheese shop...
SLAP IN THE FACE 12/07/06
Nadler Blasts EPA Sham WTC Testing & Cleanup Program
by
John Doty
"This new EPA plan is another slap in the face to the residents and workers of Lower Manhattan," said Rep. Nadler. "Even though this has been going on for five years, it is still shocking how callously the EPA ignores its own experts, and turns a blind eye to the victims of 9/11."
RESTLESS CO-OP 12/07/06
Stormy Night at East River Housing
by
Nancy J. Kramer
It was the most contentious meeting in recent memory, with a huge turnout—standing room only, with a couple of hundred people packed against the wall at the Lipman Auditorium, and every folding chair in the house taken...
BP ON LES 12/07/06
Town Hall Meeting Focuses on Public Service, Housing
by
Linda C. Jones
BP Scott Stringer, who emphasized that he was holding town meetings throughout Manhattan, said that he wanted to hear what community members had to say. Most questions from the audience focused on issues of affordable housing and the proposed rezoning of the Lower East Side...
ESSEX MARKET HITS THE BIGTIME 12/06/06
A Market Grows on the Lower East Side
by
Don Cruise
Some months ago, a friend told me about the Essex Street Market, the 15,000-square-foot enclosed food hall on the lower East Side of Manhattan, and I felt as if I were a soprano hearing the name Donizetti for the first time. Five years ago the market was only 60 percent full, but 26 vendors now occupy every square foot of selling space...
IN THE ZONE 12/05/06
Zoning Forum and Disinformation
by
Rob Hollander
The CB3 Zoning Task Force will meet Mon. Dec. 18, 6:30PM, 51 Astor Place, (Cooper Union, Engineering Building). False information is being distributed about the LESRRD position on Inclusionary Zoning...
IN THE ZONE 12/05/06
Everything You Wanted to Know about the New East Village & Lower East Side Zoning Plan
by
Jennifer Torres, DCP
The Department of City Planning has presented a draft proposal, for public discussion, to rezone approximately 114 blocks in the East Village and Lower East Side neighborhoods in Manhattan Community District 3. The proposed zoning map and text amendments would allow for the continued development of residential buildings and neighborhood-oriented retail, at densities and heights consistent with the existing scale of a neighborhood where most buildings are four to seven stories. It would also offer an incentive for the creation and preservation of affordable housing...
JOIN THE NUTSY PARTY! 12/05/06
Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us
by
Don Cruise
Join author Allen Salkin and special guests for the raising of the Festivus Pole, The Airing of Grievances and The Feats of Strength, and free Festivus wine and Festivus food this Thursday, Dec. 7 from 7 to 10 PM at The Pink Pony, 178 Ludlow Street, bet. Houston and Stanton. Free! All are welcome.
SERIOUSLY 12/05/06
Author Thoroughly Examines the Jewish Roots of Punk Rock
by
Don Cruise
"Punk is Jewish." In this history of the jarring music that rose from New York's battered Lower East Side in the 1970s, that opening line comes across, at first, as overreaching, even absurd. Yet by the end of this agile, well-researched book, author Steven Lee Beeber's proclamation seems not only obvious, but something of an understatement...
DEPT. OF CUT TO THE CHASE 12/04/06
NY Times Got it Right on First Try
by
Don Cruise
While our own representatives are falling over themselves to tell us how lucky we are to have the new zoning in place real soon, the NY Times has finally come up with it: "At a packed community board meeting last month, the Department of City Planning unveiled a plan that would basically allow taller buildings on wider streets but ban them on narrower ones." How much taller? Well, you know the Empire State Building? Not as tall as that...
Rabbi Joseph Singer
A memorial service for the late Rabbi Singer will be held today, Dec. 4, 7:30 PM, at the Young Israel of the Lower East Side, 225 E. Broadway, 212.732.0966. Everyone is invited.
AIDS DAY 12/03/06
Ford & Fitzroy at Sin-E
by
Joe Emerald
Sin-E is both a sign of the times and a signifier of the future. The club used to be located on St. Mark’s in the early 90’s, when Jeff Buckley played there...
AIDS DAY 12/03/06
Eve Reaches Out to Lower East Side Teens
by
Henry Street Settlement
Hip Hop artist and M·A·C Viva Glam spokeswoman Eve paid a visit to Boys & Girls Republic (BGR), a program of Henry Street Settlement, in anticipation of World AIDS Day. She participated in an HIV education and prevention workshop with Lower East Side high school students and distributed safe sex kits in the neighborhood to teens and young adults...
LOCAL THEATER 12/01/06
Dario D'Ambrosi Directs A Crazy Sound at La Mama
by
Jonathan Slaff
In "A Crazy Sound," there are six women with different types of mental pathologies (e.g. schizophrenia, paranoia, catatonic depression). All the patients are controlled by an evil nun...
MIDWIFE'S LESSON 12/01/06
On Lateral and Unilateral Thinking
by
Chana Frydman
Many years ago in a small village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter...
PARK AT LAST 12/01/06
So, You Say You Want to Park Here?
by
Yori Yanover
The Dept. of Transportation keeps some of its equipment there, but that accounts for about 10 percent of the space. Why not turn it into a money-making venture for the city, and a much needed relief for the local motorists?
Rabbi Joseph Singer
