august 21, 2014 east villager news

| May 14, 2014 1

Stuy tenants try to stave off sale....................page 5Photo great Lepkoff dead at 98....................page 10Big party for Big U anti-flood funds................page 18

The Paper of Record for East and West Villages, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown

August 21, 2014 • FREE Volume 4 • Number 20

www.EastVillagerNews.com

Boozy league kicked out of schools after Dwellers’ complaintsBY SERGEI KLEBNIKOV

The city has once again revoked the Lower East Side permits for

an adult sports league resi-dents say was using school properties to run an “alco-hol-driven” social league.

ZogSports, a co-ed league for young professionals in

cities across the U.S., had been hosting several kickball games each week at MO25 145 at Stanton St. and P.S.142, at 100 Attorney St.

Not only do these local properties belong to the Lower East Side Preparatory High School and P.S.142, kids were reportedly even getting

ZOGSPORTS, continued on p. 7

E. Eighth St. tenantstake Croman to courtover ‘harassment’BY ZACH WILLIAMS

An ivy-covered build-ing on E. Eighth St. is the latest site of

legal clashes between East Village tenants and landlord Steven Croman.

Two new lawsuits allege that Croman uses building repairs and renovations as a

means of inducing rent-regu-lated tenants to vacate 309 E. Eighth St.

A Croman representative “categorically denied” that charge, as well as other ac-cusations of building neglect and the harassment of ten-ants.

The parties will meet in CROMAN, continued on p. 4

Chico’s Robin Williams walldraws admiration, and tearsBY ZACH WILLIAMS

AND LINCOLN ANDERSON

Antonio “Chico” Gar-cia, the legendary Lower East Side

graffiti artist, was quick to put up a sidewalk mural for Robin Williams after the great comedic actor’s death on Mon., Aug. 11.

Garcia started the piece the day after Williams died, and did the finishing touch-es on the roughly 100-square foot portrait on Aug. 14. The

mural — adorning a wall outside B Cup cafe, near the corner of E. 13th St. and Ave-nue B — has stirred up affec-tion, as well as tears, among passersby and cafe clientele.

“The reason I did it, I grew up with his charac-ter,” Garcia told The Villag-er in a phone interview this Tuesday evening. “He made thousands of people laugh. I thought he was one of the funniest characters I ever saw on TV. I just thought that — from the Lower East

Side — he was a great star that we lost.”

Also, Williams made films with Latin stars, like J. Lo, Garcia noted.

And yet, in such a cruel irony, despite so much joy-ous laughter that he inspired in audiences, Williams him-self was racked by crippling depression.

“For a guy to make the world laugh and he’s sad — it’s incredible. People

WILLIAMS, continued on p. 12

PH

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BY ZAC

H W

ILLIAMS

Carlos Pastrana looking at Chico’s mural of Robin Williams on E. 13th St.

Dream Up Fest is a dream...........page 15

2 August 21, 2014 EastVillagerNews.com

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“MOSAIC MAN”’S LATEST MOVE: The East Village’s “Mosaic Man,” Jim Power, has been a whirl-wind of activity in Astor Place over the last few weeks. After posting signs all over the neighborhood urging people to support his quest of saving seven of his col-orful lampposts from removal by the Department of Transportation this fall, he started preemptively tak-ing one of them down himself at the corner of Astor Place and Third Ave. However, in an about-face, in a blatant challenge to D.O.T. and its $16 million rede-sign for the area, he has now reversed his strategy and plans to tile his remaining three poles on Astor Place in the weeks before the construction reaches them. D.O.T., after urging from the Village Alliance business improvement district, has previously pledged to store and reincorporate Power’s poles — which it admitted are “historic artifacts” — into the redesigned street-scape. But the “Mosaic Man” seemed unimpressed this Wednesday, and continue to express his fi erce op-position to the redesign plans. According to him, the city’s plan will ruin and congest Astor Place with the removal of the short street just south of “The Alamo”

(a.k.a. “The Cube”) sculpture, as well as expansion of pedestrian islands and adding of new plaza areas. “They got $16 million for this now, and yet this en-tire neighborhood, every single street and every sin-gle sidewalk, is botched,” he declared of the scheme. “None of it makes sense, What are the benefi ts of this new design? It privatizes this whole area around ‘The Cube’ in a bottleneck situation. This is the entrance-way to our f------ neighborhood!”

PEACE, LOVE AND FUNDRAISING: “We got to get ourselves back to the gaaaarden!” C.S.N.Y. and Joni Mitchell sang in the ’60s. Now you can help a local garden raise some green to keep putting on free events, and also enjoy singing some classic tunes from the hippie era. The 6th & B Garden Events Com-mittee is hosting a fundraiser in the garden, at Sixth St. and Avenue B, on Sat., Aug. 23, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Come by and enjoy some food, tie-dye a T-shirt, buy a raffl e ticket and listen to music featuring X-Tine and The City Timbres. Lyrics sheets will be provided for a ’60s sing-along from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

PH

OTO

BY YAN

NIC

RAC

K

Jim Power stands sentinel over his “Mosaic Trail” lampposts at Astor Place. Parked in the background is his mosaic tile-encrusted “Mosaic-mobile.”

August 21, 2014 3EastVillagerNews.com

THE ARTIST AND COMPUTER RENDERINGS AND EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR DECORATIONS, FINISHES, LAYOUTS, FIXTURES, APPLIANCES, FURNISHINGS, LANDSCAPING AND AMENITIES ARE PROVIDED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY. ARTIST AND COMPUTER RENDERINGS REFLECT THE PLANNED SCALE AND SPIRIT OF THE BUILDING. SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE SUBSTITUTIONS OF MATERIAL, EQUIPMENT, LAYOUTS, FIXTURES, FINISHES AND APPLIANCES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS OF THE OFFERING PLAN. SPONSOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTIES EXCEPT AS MAY BE SET FORTH IN THE OFFERING PLAN. SPONSOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE FUTURE OR CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF ANY OF THE NAMED, DESCRIBED OR PORTRAYED ESTABLISHMENTS, STRUCTURES OR FACILITIES. SPONSOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATION THAT FUTURE CONSTRUCTION IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD SURROUNDING THE CONDOMINIUM WILL NOT RESULT IN THE OBSTRUCTION OF THE VIEWS FROM ANY WINDOWS AND/OR TERRACES. FEES AND COSTS MAY BE IMPOSED FOR CERTAIN ACTIVITIES, EVENTS, SERVICES AND PROGRAMS HAPPENING WITHIN THE AMENITIES AND FACILITIES LOCATED AT THE BUILDING. ALL OF THE SERVICES AND FACILITIES DESCRIBED IN THE PLAN MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE UNTIL APPROXIMATELY 12 MONTHS AFTER THE FIRST CLOSING. THE COMPLETE OFFERING TERMS ARE IN THE OFFERING PLAN AVAILABLE FROM THE SPONSOR. FILE #CD13-0282. SPONSOR NAME: 50 WEST DEVELOPMENT LLC, 55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10003. 50 WEST STREET CONDOMINIUM, 50 WEST STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10006.

EXCLUSIVE SELLING AGENT: TIME EQUITIES INC., LICENSED REAL ESTATE BROKER.

CONDOMINIUM RESIDENCES IN THE CENTER OF THE NEW DOWNTOWN

50 WEST STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10006

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4 BEDROOMS FROM $6.815M | PENTHOUSES FROM $18.63M

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Housing Court on Aug. 26 after ne-gotiations broke down earlier in the summer. The second case has yet to be scheduled for a hearing in State Supreme Court, according to records.

The two suits aim to compel Cro-man to make needed repairs before resuming construction, as well as address outstanding building vio-lations and end what tenants, local politicians and housing activists say is an ongoing effort to dislodge the tenants.

Since buying the building in 2012, Croman has renovated vacant apart-ments in it to capitalize on the red-hot Manhattan real estate market. Howev-er, tenants allege that the construction work has filled their apartments with dust in recent months, led to multiple ceiling collapses and even drenched one apartment in raw sewage, among other grievances.

“There has to be a happy medium between [longtime tenants] and what they are trying to make it into now,” said tenant Robert Pinter, who has lived in the building for 32 years.

In interviews with The Villager, residents of 309 E. Eighth St. — one of about 150 Croman-owned properties in Manhattan — echoed complaints from tenants of his building at 346 E. 18th St., which was the subject of a recent Villager article. The relentless manner with which building man-agement pursues renovations indi-cates more nefarious goals, tenants say.

“My ceiling caved in four times, multiple leaks,” said tenant James Peterson. “They take their sweet time fixing everything, even though they have three or four construction crews running around the building fixing up the new apartments.”

He said that buyout offers of as low as $10,000 are being offered to the be-leaguered tenants to get them to va-cate their units.

Peterson and fellow tenant Shwan Dahl are the plaintiffs in the case be-fore the State Supreme Court.

Dahl returned home earlier this year only to find that an incident two days before had allowed raw sewage to seep into her apartment through the ceiling and plumbing fixtures.

“They knew what they had done and no one contacted me,” she said.

She added that building manage-ment did address the issue once she complained.

“I felt bad, [management] sent a woman to clean all the sewage” with no gloves, a rag and some cleaner, Dahl said.

About a week later, a well-known Croman employee contacted Dahl’s then-partner with a buyout offer. But this was not the first time that Antho-ny Falconite visited Dahl. The ex-po-lice officer is well known among Cro-man tenants for approaching them with buyout offers while also inves-tigating them in order to purportedly gather evidence of tenants abusing rent regulation by actually living else-where.

State Attorney General Eric Schnei-

derman slapped the Croman goon with a cease-and-desist order on July 22, barring him from continuing such activities.

In recent months, tenants have en-joyed additional help in their battles against Croman. The Cooper Square Committee and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) have advised tenants, while the Urban Justice Center pro-vides legal firepower.

Brandon Kielbasa, lead organizer for the Cooper Square Committee, said the lawsuit in Housing Court stemmed from a sense of powerless-ness among the E. Eighth St. tenants after an effort at reconciling with the landlord broke down in recent months, similar to efforts on E. 18th St.

“We’ve tried every other means of negotiating with them for repairs that needed to be done,” said Kielbasa.

At a March 31 meeting, also attend-ed by Kielbasa, tenants submitted to building management a list of sug-gested construction protocols. The requested measures included 24-hour notice before utility shutdowns, the installation of industrial air filters, vermin mitigation, replacement of the front door and a rent abatement.

“They said they were open to all of it, and then we didn’t hear back from them until June 24, when all the new construction was beginning,” Pinter said.

He added that construction dust may have played a role in his recent asthma diagnosis, an ailment he nev-er experienced before.

A representative of Croman’s 9300 Realty company had a different view on the situation. Croman has im-proved the building and removed 120 violations issued to the property’s

CROMAN, continued from p. 1

E. 8th St. tenants take landlord Croman to court

James Peterson outside an apartment at 309 E. Eighth St. showing how much construction dust he could get on his hand with just one touch of an exposed surface.

PH

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BY ZAC

H W

ILLIAMS

Chin wants healthy ‘climate’ for better student learningBY ZACH WILLIAMS

One local elected representa-tive wants to make it a bit cooler to attend school in the

hot summer months.A resolution before the City Coun-

cil seeks to put heat on the state Leg-islature to make air conditioning a required amenity in public schools. Temperatures as high as 103 degrees lead to canceled programs and lots of sweaty students at East Village and Lower East Side schools, according to Councilmember Margaret Chin, who sponsored the resolution.

“We’ve been hearing from parents

and teachers about the indoor condi-tions, especially during the summer months, and it’s really common-sense,” she said. “We want to make sure that our children have the best conditions to study.”

Temperatures within the MS 131 gym surpassed 100 degrees on sev-eral occasions this summer. Air con-ditioners function in about half of the classrooms at New Design High School, while at Pace High School a cooling unit blew hot air instead, ac-cording to Chin.

Thermal controls within schools are an important element in student success, according to a 2002 Virginia

Tech study cited within the resolu-tion. The effects of overheated class-rooms on lower-income and minority students are more pronounced, the report notes.

Citing previous research, the study concludes that reading speed and comprehension decrease be-tween 74.4 and 80.6 degrees Fahren-heit.

“After the socioeconomic status of the students, the most influential building condition variable that in-fluenced student achievement was air conditioning,” states the study.

The City Council resolution recom-mends that the Legislature set indoor

climate goals between 68 to 75 de-grees in winter and 73 to 79 degrees in summer, when schools or summer sessions are in operation.

A survey of schools in Manhattan Community School Districts 1 and 2 found that, of the 26 schools that re-sponded, 19 percent lack adequate heating while half did not have air conditioning, according to the reso-lution.

“All of us when put into that sit-uation — where it’s really hot, the teachers try to pull down the shade, try to turn on fans,” said Chin, who is a former teacher. “It’s not a comfort-able situation.”

CROMAN, continued on p.18


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Y O U D O N ’ T H A V E A N O F F S W I T C H . W H Y S H O U L D W E ?

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BY SERGEI KLEBNIKOV

Amid recent tenant fears of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village being sold

to new owners, numerous New York officials, led by Mayor deBlasio, have made it clear that affordable housing for middle-class tenants will be pre-served. The mayor met with tenant leaders and local officials on July 15, to reassure them of his support.

Early last month, CWCapital, a real estate investment firm, was accused of trying to “reap an unjust windfall” and “wrongfully seize control” of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, lenders claimed in court.

CW decided to take title to the mas-sive East Side apartment complex through a deed in lieu of foreclosure, rather than holding a foreclosure auction and searching for new own-ers. Tenants claimed that the owners cheated them, since CW reportedly inflated the mortgage by $1 billion, and none of it went to lower-level lenders.

Several large developers and in-vestor groups already showed inter-est in buying the property, while the dispute between management and

tenants threatened to boil over.A tenant-led bid against CWCap-

ital called for the preservation of af-fordable housing. The plan would allow tenants the option to purchase or continue to rent existing units, but at affordable rates.

After canceling the foreclosure auc-tion, CW agreed to hold off on a sale for two months while working with local officials and representatives of Mayor de Blasio, who has come to the rescue of tenants as part of his afford-able housing program.

After local elected officials an-nounced that CWCapital would work with the Mayor’s Office last month, officials at housing lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae agreed not to finance an outside takeover until af-fordability issues were ironed out. According to Susan Steinberg, the chairperson of the complex’s tenants association, Senator Charles Schum-er and Congressmember Carolyn Maloney were responsible for work-ing to get the two mortgage giants to hold off on any potential purchase. Without federal backing, it would be difficult for any company to finance a purchase of the complex worth bil-lions of dollars.

On July 15, de Blasio met with tenant leaders and local politicians to plan a long-term solution to pro-tect affordability. Among those also in attendance were Borough Presi-dent Gale Brewer, State Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh. The midafternoon meeting lasted about 45 minutes and took place in Garodnick’s apartment.

De Blasio was “extremely recep-tive,” according to Garodnick.

“The mayor understands what we’re looking for — he’s committed to affordable housing,” Steinberg added.

The T.A. chairperson added that they are looking forward to having a seat at the table as the Mayor’s Office continues working to find common ground with the other side.

“CWCapital seems to be amenable

to working with the city,” she stated. Several meetings have reported-

ly occurred, but no specific plan has been developed.

The de Blasio administration must now find a way both to make a sale feasible and preserve housing for the middle class. Roughly 6,000 units of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village’s 11,232 apartments are con-sidered “affordable,” according to Capital New York. If de Blasio suc-ceeds here, it will be considered a significant victory for his 10-year af-fordability plan.

Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village make up a “high-profile com-munity that represents the heart and soul of middle-class housing in New York City,” Garodnick said. “We can’t allow it to slip out of our grasp.”

Stuy Town tenants are trying to stave off sale

Mayor Bill de Blasio met with tenant leaders and local elected officials last month, in Councilmember Dan Garodnick’s apartment in Stuyvesant Town.

CO

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TESY OF B

RIAN

KAVAN

AGH


BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC

Arguments were heard in court in Lower Manhattan on Fri., Aug. 15, in the on-

going battle over The Cooper Union charging incoming students tuition. Members and supporters of the Com-mittee to Save Cooper Union also held a rally outside the courthouse at 1 p.m.

State Senator Brad Hoylman, whose 27th District includes the 155-year-old elite school, spoke at the rally and thanked the students for their activ-ism. Many of the protesters held plac-ards with slogans like “Free School or Die” and “Trustees Gone Wild.”

“Somewhere Peter Cooper is look-ing down on us and smiling,” Hoyl-man said.

In a column he recently penned for City and State in support of keeping Cooper Union tuition-free, Hoylman stated, “Charging tuition at The Coo-per Union — a beacon of education-al equality in Manhattan’s rapidly changing East Village, which I repre-sent in the state Senate — is a betrayal of New York’s trust that not only jeop-ardizes the college’s reputation, but also its standing in our community.”

He emphasized that Cooper Union

has enjoyed a property-tax exemp-tion for the land it owns beneath the Chrysler Building on E. 42 St. that no other private institution has received. He cited the taxes Columbia Univer-sity paid on its Rockefeller Center land until it sold it in 1985.

“I would urge that the trustees would reconsider this plan,” Hoyl-man said. “We’ll keep fighting.”

Arguments were made before Jus-tice Nancy Bannon in State Supreme Court.

“These trustees are engaging in risky business,” said Richard Emery, a lawyer for the Committee to Save Cooper Union. “We believe we will be successful.”

“When I first heard that they would charge tuition at Cooper Union, I was shocked,” said Adrian Jovanovic, a co-founder of the committee.

An alumnus who graduated with a degree in science and engineering, Jovanovic is also one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. He slammed what he called lavish spending by the board of trustees, an expensive inaugu-ration party for President Jamshed Bharucha, and other financial mis-management that he said has led to the change.

“That’s not my Cooper Union,” he

declared. “Not Peter Cooper’s Coo-per Union. Not our Cooper Union.”

According to court documents, lawyers for the school’s board of trust-ees argue that the Committee to Save Cooper Union’s claims related to the “Board’s decision to reduce scholar-ship are based on a false premise that Cooper Union’s Deed of Trust and Charter (the ‘Founding Documents’) require the institute to be tuition free. A review of the Founding Documents reveals that no such mandate exists.”

New incoming students for the fall have already received their tuition in-voices. Claire Kleinman, 18, who will attend the School of Art, held her in-voice in her hand as she spoke to the crowd about keeping Cooper Union tuition-free.

The school will offer half-tuition scholarships for fall 2014 — around $20,000 for the full year, according to its Web site. Tuition for the 2013-2014

year was $39,600.“There are certain things that

change when money is involved,” said Benjamin Degen, 38, an alum-nus, who said he has taught drawing and painting at Cooper Union. “It is not a transactional experience. Edu-cation at Cooper Union is not to be brought or sold.”

“This is the last hurrah,” said art student Larissa Gilbert, 19. In her own case, Gilbert will not have to pay tuition. Yet, she has spent much time fighting and organizing to keep Coo-per Union from charging incoming students.

She was joined by two fellow art students who also don’t have to pay tuition but who, like her, wanted to show support: Hunter Mayton, 20, who had been in the courtroom, and Marina Daniel, 20.

“Trying to fight for the school,” Daniel said.

Cooper Union tuition fight continues in court

Protesters brandished their placards and Jamshed Bharucha puppets — which imply the school president is merely the trustees’ president — outside court last Friday.

PH

OTO

BY D

USIC

A SUE M

ALESEVIC

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Sports league kicked out of schools after complaints

displaced off of the playgrounds during the scheduled games.

Marge Feinberg, a Dept. of Educa-tion (D.O.E.) spokesperson, said in a statement to The Villager: “The per-mits for ZogSports were rescinded last month. They are a for-profit business and we provide permits to use our space to non-profit organizations.”

ZogSports had replaced a previous league, NYC Social, which also even-tually had their permit revoked. Ac-cording to local residents, NYC Social encouraged players to go to local bars afterward to drink, and one bar even had a competition for which team “showed the most spirit” at the bar, which would result in free drinks.

“Children need a place to play, es-pecially in this community,” Diem Boyd, founder of L.E.S. Dwellers, an active neighborhood group on the Lower East Side, said before learning of the city’s decision.

Locals endured many years of frustration, and both schools reached out to neighborhood activist groups like Dwellers and the East Village Community Coalition, which helped persuade the city D.O.E. to shut

down NYC Social. Eventually the league was removed for not having a non-profit angle — the D.O.E. only provides permits for non-profit orga-nizations.

A research report sent to the D.O.E. and provided by L.E.S. Dwellers states, “Though it is filed as a for-prof-it entity, its website says charity do-nations are made through its sister entity “Play For A Cause,” which is

registered as a not-for-profit with the New York Department of State. How-ever, drinking is emphasized as a so-cial component of the adult league, and American Honey Wild Turkey is the official liquor of ZogSports and Bud Light is the official beer of ZogSports, both official sponsors of ZogSports. We find liquor-sponsored adult leagues on D.O.E. property ob-jectionable.”

After the games, there was un-doubtedly a large focus on drinking. Besides being officially sponsored by two different alcoholic drinks, Libation, at 137 Ludlow St., is the officially sponsored bar of the sports league, and is only a few blocks from the playing fields. And beyond that, Boyd pointed out, is “Hell Square,” a neighborhood nickname for an area with numerous bars.

“They are promoting alcohol on D.O.E. property,” Boyd said of the sports league, pointing out the ad-vertising. She said residents were “concerned about the alcohol-fueled images” being presented to their chil-dren as well as the rest of the commu-nity. It is inappropriate therefore, she said, for the alcohol-driven leagues to play on D.O.E. property, since their main goal is reportedly the par-tying after the games.

A resident who asked to remain anonymous provided a recent up-date on the situation. She reported that the lights and generators have been removed at P.S.142, and that ZogSports have not played kickball at either location since last week. De-spite positive signs, residents didn’t want to get their hopes up too high.

Patron at Libation NYC.

ZOGSPORTS, continued from p. 1

PH

OTO

BY @

LIBATIO

NSN

YC (TW

ITTER)


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Targeted senior

In what may have been the lat-est instance of the sickening and cowardly “knockout game,” a man believed to be in his 20s apparently targeted a West Village senior, then suddenly sucker-punched him, leav-ing the older man with a blood clot on the brain and a bruise on his left eye.

The victim was identifi ed as Donald Lathrom, 72, a former taxi driver who lives at the Jane St. Hotel. He was walking home to the hotel, at Jane and West Sts., around 5:30 p.m. on Mon., Aug. 11, according to news reports, carrying a six-pack of Bud Light from a nearby store, while listening to Bach on his headphones.

“I had seen him coming, but didn’t pay him any mind.” Lathrom told the Daily News. “He didn’t say anything — nothing. Then I found myself on the ground near a planter.”

After the attack, Lathrom was treated and recovered at Beth Israel Medical Center.

The New York Post described Lathrom as a lung cancer survivor who is in remission.

Lathrom told The Post he doesn’t really remember the attack, which left him “stunned” and “confused.”

“I just remembered saying, ‘What happened?’” he recalled asking of a doorman who rushed to his aide. “Basically, I just walked by some-body, and he wound up punching me hard. I didn’t see him coming.”

The Post reported that, after the incident, Lathrom told police he had seen the suspects, believed to be in

their early 20s, after leaving the deli at W. 12th St. and Eighth Ave. a few minutes before the assault — lead-ing investigators to believe the men intentionally targeted him.

Lathrom believes he was the latest victim of the “knockout game” — in which an assailant tries to deck a target with one blow while a sidekick shoots video and posts it online.

“That’s what I think it is,” he told the Post. “If it was a robbery, he’d have gone through my pockets or attempted to take something. I had an iPad and a Kindle reader. There was no attempt to take anything.”

The attack was caught on surveil-lance video. No arrests have been made.

Police ask anyone with informa-tion on the assault to call the Crime Stoppers tips hotline at (800) 577-TIPS.

Filched phone

A 25-year-old man crossing the street near the southwest corner of W. Fourth St. and Sixth Ave. was the victim of a snatch and run early on the morning of Sat., Aug. 16. Police responded soon after the incident, which occurred at about 2:30 a.m., and came across Carali Ramos, 22, who admitted to police that she had an iPhone that did not belong to her, police said. The victim recog-nized the alleged perpetrator and recovered the phone, valued at $120. Police charged Ramos with felony grand larceny.

Van dog had wounds

On Fri., Aug. 8, police followed up on 13 community complaints regard-ing a mistreated dog living near the southwest corner of Greenwich and Clarkson Sts. According to police, an offi cer observed open wounds on the dog’s back, as well as insects feasting around festering wounds.

The canine’s owner, a well-known regular of the corner, could not pro-vide any documentation of recent medical care for the dog. Police noted in a report that the pooch appeared to have adequate shelter given the circumstances.

They removed the dog from the scene for its own good after consult-ing with the A.S.P.C.A. A veterinari-an will examine the animal to make a determination on whether the crea-ture suffered from neglect.

Police arrested James Tarangelo that same day and charged him with aggravated cruelty to animals, a fel-ony. Tarangelo, who grew up in the area, lives with his dogs in a van parked on the street at the location.

Socks safe cyclist

When a bicyclist fell off his ride early last Thursday after trying to avoid a collision with a pedestrian, he got a punch in the face for his efforts.

According to police, Gregory Enix also struck the 31-year-old victim in the head in the 4:20 a.m. Aug. 14 incident, causing abrasions to the cyclist’s chin and lips, as well as ten-derness to the bridge of his nose.

During the attack, the alleged per-petrator then grabbed an iPhone 5, valued at $300, from the victim’s right rear shorts pocket and took

off on foot. Police later caught up with Enix who had the now-cracked phone on his person. He was charged with felony robbery.

Slaughters windows

While walking along W. Fourth St. at about 6 a.m. on Wed., Aug. 13, a 22-year-old man observed anoth-er man smash the windows of the Slaughtered Lamb pub with his fi sts before fl eeing.

Police canvassed the area and found Hassau Powell, 49 in a cellar stairwell in front of 181 W. Fourth St. In his left shirt pocket, police reportedly discovered a small zip-lock bag containing what appeared to be marijuana. Powell was charged with felony criminal mischief.

Smashed her with pan

A woman waiting for an elevator inside of 28 E. 10 St. was struck by a frying pan at about 11:15 a.m. on Aug. 12.

According to police, video sur-veillance and a witness in an ele-vator attested that the perpetrator “aggressively” dragged the 57-year-old victim, pulled her to the fl oor and dragged her by the hair.

Police responding to a radio call arrested Jaime McKeown, 56, and charged her with felony assault. It remains unclear whether the victim and perpetrator knew each other prior to the incident, according to police.

Zach Williams

POLICE BLOTTER


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B R I N G I N G T H E A R T S T O L I F E S I N C E 1 8 9 4

In the West Village last Thursday, state Senator Brad Hoylman, above, and his staff handed out fliers his office produced to raise awareness about the apparent “knockout game” attack on West Village senior Donald Lathrom, 72, on Aug. 11, in front of 99 Jane St. The flier included a police sketch of the suspect in the cowardly assault, below.

Knock out this vicious ‘game’P

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Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in 2001, 2004 and 2005by New York Press Association

PUBLISHERJENNIFER GOODSTEIN

EDITOR IN CHIEFLINCOLN ANDERSON

ARTS EDITORSCOTT STIFFLER

CONTRIBUTORSIRA BLUTREICHTEQUILA MINSKYJEFFERSON SIEGELJERRY TALLMER

ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTORTROY MASTERS

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PUBLISHER EMERITUSJOHN W. SUTTER

The Villager (USPS 578930) ISSN 0042-6202 is published every week by NYC Community Media LLC, One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 (212) 229-1890. Periodicals Postage paid at New York, N.Y. Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $29 ($35 elsewhere). Single copy price at office and newsstands is $1. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2011 NYC Community Media LLC.

PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERRORThe Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for others errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

Published by NYC Community Media, LLC

One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201Phone: (212) 229-1890 • Fax: (212) 229-2790On-line: www.thevillager.comE-mail: [email protected]© 2012 NYC Community Media, LLC

Member of the National Newspaper Association

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LETTERS TO THE EDITORClayton calls it

To The Editor:Re “Dameht punks up the Pyramid

club Friday nights” (Clayton, Aug. 7): Again, Clayton gets it right. The

Pyramid is one of the last original ven-ues from when the East Village was the destination of the tired, huddled hipsters fleeing the conformity and crap of dead American middlebrow culture.

I’d like to add the Sidewalk Cafe and the Parkside Lounge to that list. Please support all of them!

Thanks, Clayton.

Ron Kolm

A monstrous scheme

To The Editor:Re “Fear that a developer could

plow under little farmhouse” (news article, Aug. 7):

Isn’t this the ultimate in cruel iro-nies. Here is a slapdash but cute little house, brought down from the Upper East when threatened with demoli-tion, and placed up against the wall on

a double lot purchased for $20,000. Little Suri Bieler pined over it, and

eventually bought it with her husband in 1988. And now — listing it for $20 million? Is the cost of single-family housing so high now?

Here is the irony: Now that Bieler and her husband have sat on this nest egg for 25 years — during which time many of us have pined similarly for this cute little house (and their two dogs who come out to greet us) — they will not retire to a modest home outside the city as the previous owners did, leaving it to her dream’s satisfaction.

No! Rodan has hatched! They will deny us this romantic prospect. No one will ever again live in this house! Such a little house...and such a big deal.

William Goodhart

Boulevard of death

To The Editor:Re “Speed on Houston St., Bowery,

Sixth Ave. will be slowed to 25 m.p.h.” (news article, Aug. 7):

While there may have only been

one fatality on Houston St. in the four years ending in 2012, I can remember at least five fatalities in the past nine years along this stretch.

Cyclists Brandie Bailey and Andrew Ross Morgan were killed in 2005, and Derek Lake in 2006. Pedestrian Jessie Dworkin was killed only about a year ago at Houston St. and Sixth Ave., and there was a fatal motorcycle collision last summer at Houston and West Broadway.

Of these, all except the motorcy-cle collision happened at minimal speeds. So it’s highly questionable as to whether lowering the speed limit on this dangerous street will make any real difference.

Stacey Walsh Rosenstock

E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to [email protected] or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Let-ters to the Editor, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please in-clude phone number for confirmation pur-poses. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.

Famed photographer Rebecca Lepkoff, who docu-mented the Lower East Side — the neighborhood where she grew up and continued to live — died in Townshend, Vermont, Sun., Aug. 17. She was 98. Her series of photographs of the Lower East Side was taken in the 1940s and 1950s. Lepkoff lived part of the year in Vermont, where she photographed the Pikes Falls hippie community, according to an obituary in the Commons, a Vermont publication. In New York, she was a member of the Photo League, a group that strove to photograph how ordinary people lived. “She lived a long and incredible life,” her son, Jesse, told the Commons. “She was an amazing art-ist, mother and person.” Rebecca Lepkoff at a recent memorial for her friend Gloria Channon in

Ulster, County.

L.E.S. lenswoman Rebecca Lepkoff dies at 98

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Hillary has come out swinging!

BY KATE WALTER

Last September, on a perfect late summer af-ternoon, as I walked up Hudson St., I saw Larry sitting on his second-floor fire escape

reading. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and looked comfortable. I debated whether to say hello because he — always the English professor — was immersed in his book.

I hadn’t run into him in the neighborhood late-ly. Nor had I seen him on campus. Classes had just resumed at Borough of Manhattan Community Col-lege, where we both taught remedial English, but in different departments.

I decided to shout up, “Hi, Larry.” I yelled and waved. He looked down to the sidewalk and waved back “Hey, Kate.” He seemed glad to see me.

When I first met Larry in the summer of 2006, I was going through the painful breakup of my 26-year lesbian relationship. My ex had cut me off cold and I could barely function. Larry was also going through a divorce, so we were kindred spirits. We commiserated in the campus cafe over coffee.

Back then, Larry and I worked at the college as certified readers who scored the entrance essays of incoming students to determine their class place-ment. We were adjuncts, who needed the extra cash. For me, going into work to read papers was a distraction from sitting home crying and obsessing about my ex.

Even though he was straight and I’m gay, we bonded during that awful summer when we hung out together during our breaks. It felt com-forting to talk with someone else going through an inexplicable breakup. Neither of us had the answers we craved.

“Why is she doing this to me,” I asked, “when she says she still loves me?”

“Why is my wife being so difficult?” asked Larry, who struck me as a good father. At least I was not dealing with custody and alimony issues.

As years passed, our careers evolved: We were both hired full time and now had real salaries. After I stopped scoring essays (our main meeting place) we saw each other less often on campus.

But Larry was also my neighbor in the far West Vil-

lage, where he had moved after his divorce. He lived on Hudson St. above Dublin, the Irish pub, where he hung out greeting me from the bar’s open window on the street. I’d run into him Saturday mornings at the Abingdon Square Greenmarket, where we dis-cussed the merits of heirloom tomatoes. I’d see him grocery shopping in D’Ag’s on Bethune St.

Larry was tall, lanky, athletic, with close-cropped gray hair. He wore jeans and cowboy boots, played basketball and always rode his bike to work. On Rate My Professors, a student wrote, “He’s so good-looking you will be distracted.”

About two weeks after I saw Larry on the fire es-cape, the cleaning woman came into my office, ag-itated. She told me everyone on campus was upset about the professor found dead in his apartment. She didn’t know his name but he had gray hair and rode a bike. I flipped through possibilities: Who cy-

cled to work? Was it Larry? But I’d just seen him. I raced from my office to find out.

Over the next few days, I picked up pieces of the story: Larry had cancer but decided to forgo treat-ment. He’d watched his father suffer through the same illness and did not want to endure that dimin-ished quality of life. He kept his condition quiet but was clearly not well when he returned to work in September. During his last classes, he was so weak that students asked, “Professor, do you want us to call an ambulance?” He refused.

When their teacher did not show up for the next meeting, concerned students went to the department office. After administrators called Larry’s phone and got no answer, they contacted the N.Y.P.D., who gained access to his apartment.

I was stunned as I heard variations of this news unfolding. But, mostly, I was grateful I had decided to interrupt when I saw Larry reading on his fire es-cape. I thought I was saying hello, but I realize now I was saying goodbye.

A month later, I was walking up Hudson St. and I saw a carton of books on the sidewalk. An avid reader, I’ve always rummaged through piles of dis-cards left on a stoop. When I pulled out the stash, I discovered lots of new texts, literature and writing. And I thought to myself, “This person must be an English teacher.” Then it hit me: I was standing in front of Larry’s building.

I took a brand-new three-volume boxed set of world literature. I also took “The Counterculture Reader” and a book on writing research papers. The latter is in my office at the college and the literature collections are on my bookshelves in my loft.

After I rescued these books, I saw workers reno-vating Larry’s old place.

I felt sad and turned down Bank St. recalling the summer he helped rescue me.

TALKING POINT

When saying hello to a friend was saying goodbye

The magical vs. the concreteYou never know where you just might find a little magic, this stencil underfoot on W. Fourth St. seems to be saying.

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need to get personal help, one way or another,” said Garcia, who is also known as “The Messenger.” “Depres-sion is destroying so many people nowadays,” he said. “And I need to bring that message.”

Williams could have found some solace through religion and the so-cializing with others that one fi nds in church, Garcia offered.

“I think he needed to go to church and meet God,” he said.

The graffi ti great felt he wanted the image he created of Williams to be sad, to refl ect reality.

“I wanted him pretty sad because he didn’t die happy,” he explained.

For a model, Garcia looked at some photos of the actor in the Post, but they weren’t right, they were all smil-ing and happy. Then he got a hold of a copy of the Daily News, and found a shot that he was looking for.

“There was a picture that was very sad — that was it.”

Despite the pensive expression on Williams’ face, the mural also has the slogan “Keep Smiling.”

Garcia relocated to Florida a few years ago, but comes back to Loi-saida frequently, especially in the

summer, to see his mother, touch up his walls and do commissioned work. This mural, though, was not a

commission, but from the heart. He didn’t get approval from the land-lord fi rst.

“I happened to have some spray cans right here,” he said. “I went over to B Cup. I asked the guy. He said, ‘Chico, it’s not my wall.’ I said, ‘To hell with it.’ By the time you get all that permission, if I were to ask the landlord, the feeling’s not there anymore.”

Eden H., a friend of Garcia’s who declined to give her full name, helped him secure the wall for his work.

“It’s defi nitely bringing in more customers,” she said. “Some people stand there and mourn.”

The mural does justice by Wil-liams, said Carlos Pastrana, a long-time East Village resident who saw Williams perform in 1986 at the Met-ropolitan Opera.

“The man was talented, started in comedy and went into acting,” said Pastrana. “God bless him. He was a good guy. We all have our days. Robin Williams, he was defi nitely the man.”

Garcia, who just turned 51, start-ed making a name for himself in the 1980s graffi ti-art scene. He hung with Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, too, on occasion, but always retained his independence. Haring asked if he would work with him, teaming up on murals, but Garcia declined.

There isn’t a block in the Lower East Side, Garcia’s Web site boasts, that doesn’t sport at least one of his signature murals. His work has also appeared in the Bronx, East Harlem

and in Europe.However, some online comments

criticized his latest mural for lack-ing photographic perfection, includ-ing eyes much more green than the real-life Williams had. Yet, small details such as that did not affect viewers’ enthusiasm for the mural nor dampen their enthusiasm for anything new by Chico.

The Williams piece evoked plenty of emotion for two young women who viewed it on Aug. 18. After his TV breakthrough as Mork, Williams starred in family-movie classics like “Mrs. Doubtfi re,” then evolved into his Oscar-winning performance in “Good Will Hunting,” noted one of the women, who both declined to give their names.

“It’s a very classy portrait,” she said.

Graffi ti murals carry special signif-icance in the East Village and Lower East Side, where they sometimes pay homage to locals who have passed, as well as famous celebrities, accord-ing to Pastrana.

“It just signifi es the ’hood,” he said. “It’s bad that when somebody dies you gotta put somebody up on the wall. ... For me, he’s not dead. He’s alive,” he said of Williams.

Just as Williams gave to the world through his comedy, Garcia gives to the community through his graffi ti artworks.

“He always gives back to the com-munity,” Eden said. “He’s proud of where he comes from.”

WILLIAMS, continued from p. 1

Chico’s Williams wall draws admiration, and tears

Members of The Street Artists Collective used an image from the Robin Williams movie “Toys” to create a chalk artwork of the late actor in Washington Square Park.

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Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals / Adoptapalooza Union SquarePublication: City Gay NewsSize: quarter page / 4.29 x 5.69CMYK


BY SCOTT STIFFLER

What do therapists and theater companies share, besides reliance upon

people compelled to work through their issues? The common denomi-nator used to be August — that thin window of opportunity to close shop and skip town without causing too much of an outcry from patrons in search of a cathartic experience. Not so much these days, at least where the Lower East Side theater commu-nity is concerned.

A total of 18 stages, most of which would sit unoccupied as companies prep for their 2014-2015 seasons, are currently playing host to the 200-show-strong New York Interna-tional Fringe Festival. The perfor-mance spaces housed inside Theater for the New City won’t be partici-pating, although TNC’s August pro-gramming certainly shares Fring-

eNYC’s commitment to international flavor, thematic sprawl and bold ex-perimentation.

Through September 7, Dream Up is presenting 24 plays and one work-shop production. It’s the half-decade mark for this annual festival, which its organizers maintain is not in com-petition with FringeNYC.

“The first two or three years, it hurt us, because Fringe is massive,” recalls Dream Up curator and festival direc-tor Michael Scott-Price. “It’s well-es-tablished, and I have a lot of respect for how it’s run. But in the last couple of years, we’ve noticed that it’s not a negative at all. We’ve carved out our

own identity. For us, Dream Up is where people, whether they’re new or established, can try work that’s not going to break the bank. It’s also the one time of the year when TNC broadens its outreach. Our mission is to find new playwrights and work for the American stage. Dream Up’s mission is to find original work from any source.”

Having studied at the School of Physical Theatre (London, England) and the Odin Teatret (Hostelbro, Denmark), and with the Interna-tional School Theatre Anthropolo-gy (Wroclaw, Poland), Scott-Price brought his “great appreciation for

European artists” to Dream Up’s in-vite-only debut in 2010. Back then, it was pitched to TNC co-founder Crystal Field as a way to draw upon a surplus of local talent that the reg-ular season couldn’t accommodate, while welcoming international artists into the fold. From a field of roughly 200 applicants, four overseas produc-tions made it into this year’s festival.

Written by a native New Yorker who has lived in Edinburgh, Scot-land since 1988, Lee Gershuny’s “Messages from a Mental Institu-tion” chronicles a woman’s quest to discover her husband’s true identity, while attempting to rescue him from a psychiatric hospital. The American premiere of this work happens at TNC’s Community Theater on Aug. 27, 28, 30, 31 & Sept. 1.

A complex meditation on friend-ship, feminism and the differences between American and Israeli cul-tures, “Simple as Life and Death” has Efrat coming from Israel to New York, by way of an open ticket. Flee-ing pressures at home, she seeks ref-uge in the apartment of fellow artist Anne, who’s recently returned (preg-nant) from a year abroad. It’s direct-ed by Keren Tzur, a two-time Best Actress winner of Israel’s equivalent of the Academy Award. At the Com-munity Theater, on Aug. 21, 23 & 24.

Completing Dream Up’s trilogy of two-person plays from foreign shores, “In the Ring” is the En-glish language premiere of a work that earned Léonore Confino a Best Playwright nomination for the 2014 Molière Awards (the French equiva-lent of Broadway’s Tony). This explo-ration of the often combative dynam-ics between men and women places

TNC season winds down with ‘Dream Up’Annual summer fest, borne of surplus, keeps growing

DREAM, continued on p.14

THEATERTHE DREAM UP FESTIVAL

Through Sept. 7

At Theater for the New City

155 First Ave. (btw. 9th & 10th Sts.)

Tickets: $12–$20 (varies by show)

Reservations: 212-254-1109

Or dreamupfestival.org

Also visit theaterforthenewcity.net

L to R: Alexandre Thamié, Hugo Dubois-Tortosa, Clara Turcovich, Martial Dubois and Morgane Cadre are among the believably (and actually) young cast of “Tomorrow’s Dawn.”

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one of each in a boxing ring, with a fresh scenario explored during each successive three-minute round. At TNC’s Johnson Theater on Aug. 26, 28, 29, 30 & Sept. 3 & 6.

“Tomorrow’s Dawn” is your chance to see a musical about teenag-ers that hasn’t been cast with actors who look like they’re about to age out of grad school. This exceedingly rare achievement is brought to you by La Petite Famille (“The Little Family”). Founded in Souillac, in the South of France, the company (whose mem-bers range in age from 16-25) has pre-sented “Tomorrow’s Dawn” in 10 dif-ferent countries throughout Europe, performing both French and English language versions. “They started out as middle school kids seven years ago,” says Scott-Price, “and they’ve stuck together as an ensemble ever since. Now, we’re giving them their New York premiere.”

Age-appropriate casting isn’t the play’s only strong show of authen-

ticity. The script, by Jeff Gallon and Fred Larrieu, effectively conveys the urgency of youth as well as the ex-clusivity claimed by those just begin-ning to confront the nuances of love and friendship. “Here I speak of an age,” they sing, “which over of twen-ty are unable to know, an age where the present, renewed at any time, vibrates on some maybe.” Although it’s primarily a story of young love between Tom and Alice, these teens and their peers are equally audacious in their exploration of how teachers, parents and grandparents see the world. At the Johnson Theater, Aug. 21, 22, 24 & 25.

Most of the works on this year’s roster are world premieres, some from playwrights who’ve been nur-tured by TNC. Chima Chikazunga is one such example, having developed his voice (and his latest play) at the New City, New Blood reading series. “We first started working with him three years ago,” says Scott-Price of the Nigerian-American who cut his TNC teeth as a stage actor with be-

hind-the-scenes aspirations. “We’ve helped him develop his plays over the past few years, and he’s gotten better and better. That’s what TNC has always been about: opportuni-ty.”

Written, directed, designed by and co-starring Chikazunga, “For Chance” takes place in a Lower East Side living room apartment, as 25th birthday boy Chance awakens, alone and defeated, from a drug- and al-cohol-fueled binge, during which he unsuccessfully attempted to con-struct the perfect play. Two childhood friends — one just out of prison, the other a successful actress — arrive un-expectedly, bringing with them unfin-ished business that Chance has spent years hiding from.

Less of a walk down memory lane than a full throttle trip to the end of the road, the casual but ominous di-alogue crackles with in-jokes and ref-erences originating from the once-in-tense bond these friends shared. Like a whodunit without an Act I murder, hidden agendas are revealed as the

audience begins to piece together the backstory of each particular charac-ter. It’s not pretty, but it’s very com-pelling. “For Chance” plays in TNC’s Cabaret Theater on Aug. 28, 29, 30 and Sept. 2 & 3.

“Angela’s Justice” is from fre-quent TNC actor and playwright Michael A. Jones. Set in 1970, it’s an adaptation of “Antigone” that melds the rebellious and deter-mined title character of Sophocles’ 2000-year-old play with 1960s black activist Angela Davis. The justice implied in the title is the proper burial, by any means necessary, of her brother. This world premiere has performances at the Johnson Theater on Aug. 23 & 24.

Scott-Price hopes you’ll see these, and other, festival productions. But if you’re one of those vacationing trav-elers referenced in the first paragraph of this article, TNC invites you to check out the New City, New Blood reading series and the Scratch Night works-in-progress event, for a taste of Dream Up things to come.

Dream Up hits the half-decade mark

DREAM, continued from p. 13

Verbal sparring: Nathalie Bryant and Kyle Tuck, in the American premiere of “In The Ring.”

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Theater for the New City • 155 1st Avenue at E. 10th St.Reservations & Info (212) 254-1109

For more info, please visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net

TNC’s Programs are funded in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts

TNC’S AWARD-WINNING STREET THEATER COMPANY inEMERGENCY!!! or THE WORLD TAKES A “SELFIE”

A New Musical for the Street Written, Directed and Lyrics by CRYSTAL FIELD Music Composed by JOSEPH VERNON BANKS

August 23 - September 14 Saturday & Sunday, 2pm This Weekend’s Two Shows are:

Sat, August 23rd, 2pm- Sunset Park at 6th Ave. & 44th St., BrooklynSun, August 24th, 2pm- Travers Park at 6th Ave. btwn 77th & 78th Sts., Queens

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TNC’S 5th Annual DREAM UP FESTIVAL

“Dream Up: Invent, Concoct.”The festival is dedicated to new works.

August 17th - September 7th 2014 For showtimes and tickets, visit our website at www.theaterforthenewcity.net

FREE!!!FREE!!!

BY PUMA PERL

Early last fall, this guy named Bicycle Joe told me about some writer guy he thought

I should meet. “He does spoken word just like you,” said Bicycle Joe. “And he’s opening for Television in a cou-ple of months.”

“Hold on,” I replied. “He’s just like me except that he’s opening for Televi-sion? Who the *&^%& opens for Tele-vision? Who is this %$&# guy?” “Oh yeah, and they’re flying him out to San Francisco to do it,” added Bicycle Joe.

Although consumed with envy, I was rabidly curious about who this &%$# writer was and how he had pulled off getting a gig like that. Some

dude named Dennis Driscoll, I was told. I threw a few more f-bombs around in my head, then went about my business, which included prep-ping for a show at the Sidewalk Café the following week.

Saturday rolled around, and Puma Perl and Friends did a one-hour set, which included ten of my poems and two original songs from musician Joff Wilson. During the turnaround time for the next band, a pleasant, rath-er reserved gentleman who’d been watching from a front table extend-

ed his hand and introduced himself, remarking that he’d enjoyed the set, and offered me a CD of his own. Be-tween my post-performance distrac-tion and difficulty hearing in loud clubs, I never caught his name but accepted both the compliment and the CD. He seemed to totally under-stand my momentary spaciness, and I promised to give his work a listen.

The next morning, the CD fell out of my bag as I was putting my books away, and I studied the cover. It was the guy. Dennis Driscoll. That &$%*&

writer guy. I had to hear this. The al-bum is titled “Inwood Stories” and he’s definitely an Inwood boy, both in his inflections and in his ability to bring the neighborhood alive. While reminiscent of Jim Carroll in his tone and subject matters, the stories and voice are clearly his own. As far as recording goes, his use of music was distinctly designed to support him and provide atmosphere, while Jim Carroll transitioned from poet to front man of a post-punk rock band. What they share, in addition to their up-town urban roots and drug-induced experiences, is the ability to identify and engage excellent musicians who are able to tune into their sensibilities.

The first piece, “Grand Union,” re-calls the way he supported his “week-end warrior junkie routine” as a six-teen-year-old bagging up groceries, and describes his first get high bud-dy DJ, who used to mainline heroin, throw up between parked cars, and periodically yell out, “Don’t look at me! Don’t look at me while I’m puk-ing!” I was taken. By the time I was halfway through the second one, “What a Difference a Day Makes,” with its teenage glue hallucinations and a near fatal overdose, I was over my case of writer envy and too busy either listening intently or laughing to curse much.

One of his strengths is his self-dep-recating brand of humor — his con-versational tone and Inwood accent add to the effect. I sent him an email. “Don’t look at me while I’m puking!” I wrote. Not only did we become friends, we even went to see Televi-sion together several months later.

Show me the meaning of the word: Dennis Driscoll, in performance at The Scratcher Sessions.

PH

OTO

BY PAU

L QU

INN

Storytelling at Scratcher

Inwood boy Dennis Driscoll brings the neighborhood alive

SPOKENWORDTHE SCRATCHER SESSIONS

Sunday nights

7:30 p.m.

At The Scratcher Cafe

209 E. Fifth St. (btw. Second & Third

Aves.)

Sessions resume Sept. 14 with Steve

Bartolemoi, followed by John Rush on

Sept. 21. The events usually start at

7:30 p.m.

Visit facebook.com/pages/The-

Scratcher-Sessions/185847498886

SPOKEN WORD, continued on p.16


Turned out, he was joking with his old friend Fred Smith about opening for them and it morphed into reality. I started polishing up a few routines for Keith Richards, just in case we happen to be chatting.

On the last Sunday in June, Dennis played a set at Scratcher, a bar locat-ed at 209 E. Fifth St. (btw. Second and Third Aves.). It was the first time I’d heard him do a full set, as well as the first time I was visiting the venue. The Scratcher Sessions are a weekly Sun-day event primarily featuring mu-sicians, and this was the final show before summer hiatus. The Sessions began in 2008, and are run by Bren-dan O’Shea and Pete Olshansky. One of the bar’s owners, Karl Geary, was previously at Sin-e, and they are dedi-cated to continuing the legacy of great live music in the East Village and sup-porting a community of music lovers. Olshansky described Dennis as a dear friend of the Sessions and stated that they love his stories.

Dennis performed with one of his musical partners and friends, Mark Sewall, who not only played on the album, but also recorded the first five tracks on a digital recorder in his apartment. At Scratcher, Sewall played guitar and utilized a drum kit that produced a rolling bass line, cre-ating a fullness of sound, but remain-ing unobtrusive. Adding to the subtle-ty of the work was the anonymity of the musician’s appearance and body language—he positioned himself in the darker corner of the stage and of-ten had his back to the audience while adjusting the equipment. Rather than alienating the crowd, it served to keep

the spotlight on the storyteller.The ease and shared sensibility be-

tween the two artists in this blending of words and music was clearly ap-parent. As Dennis said, “I don’t re-hearse or tell anyone anything but ‘go with the feelings.’ We get up there and do it. There are no mistakes. I think of the musicians who accompany me as company on the stage.”

On a beautiful summer Sunday evening, it’s hard to draw a large crowd but there was a warm feeling and a good vibe in the room. The audience seemed to consist mainly of regulars and pals of Dennis’, who appeared relaxed and able to main-tain the same familiar, conversational tone he had presented on the album, whether talking about “The Wrong Bum” being arrested on the subway, or relating more of his near-death her-

oin tales, which often involve dubious guys with names like Sully, random bullets, and/or dancing chickens. A new one is titled “Junkie Jews with German Guns.” One of the things I most appreciate is his ability to end a story. There is always a snappy punch line, and he turns away with a con-spiratorial smile before going on to the next.

The following Sunday, I met up with Dennis at Otto’s Shrunken Head over a couple of club sodas. Although he is a lifelong Inwood resident, he has been present on the downtown scene for decades, starting out as a musician and eventually opening a neighborhood restaurant. He started playing bass at the age of nineteen because “before I ever even played bass, I was into the bass. It fits my personality. Some people don’t even hear the instruments individually, but if you’ve got the music in you, you lis-ten differently.”

His first of many bands was Pop Decay. He went on to play with mu-sicians including Richard Lloyd of Television, and formed the Lowrid-ers with Dee Pop and Deer France, a friend from early childhood. He has continued to play with a wide vari-ety of musicians, both in bands and while performing his stories. Recent-ly, he travelled to Joshua Tree and performed at a festival in the desert, backed up by Chris Goss and Dave Catching of Masters of Reality. He’s also become fairly well-known in

Ireland, where he often works with songwriter/actor Glen Hansard of The Frames.

I had previously asked him about his collection of stories and how that started, and he’d told me that he’d been taking inventory and talking about his life. I misunderstood and thought he was speaking twelve-step lingo, but he was actually being very literal.

From 1994 until 2008, he owned and operated a popular East Village restaurant called Old Devil Moon. To pass the time while taking weekly inventory with his partner, he started telling stories. It was suggested that he write them down, and he decided to try telling them onstage. Involving some of his musician friends in the project was a natural progression.

The reader may note that I have used the word “friend” throughout this piece even more often than the ubiquitous &$%. Dennis is a truly likable guy who, in his low-key way, has developed friendships and col-laborations in all facets of his life, and these qualities come through in per-formance.

Before he left to catch the subway Uptown, I asked him if there was any-thing else he wanted people to know about him. “A guy from the Irish band Hothouse Flowers once said that I should keep doing what I’m doing because it’s important. If I’m really doing something important to people, that makes it all worthwhile. It makes me feel valid.” Refreshing to hear, since humility can be hard to come by — but I guess that’s anoth-er reason the &$^% guy has so many friends.

Dennis Driscoll’s CD, Inwood Stories, can be purchased through his website, dennisdriscoll.com. He is currently pre-paring to record a new album. Puma Perl is a widely published poet and writer, as well as a performer and producer. She is the author of two chapbooks and two full-length poetry collections: “knuckle tat-toos” and the recently published “Retro-grade” (great weather for MEDIA press). “Puma Perl’s Pandemonium,” a quar-terly event, brings spoken word together with rock and roll. As “Puma Perl and Friends,” she performs regularly with a group of excellent musicians. Perl’s video links and event updates can be found at pumaperl.blogspot.com.

A good storyteller makes listening easy

A passerby stops to listen, at a Scratcher Sessions performance from spoken word artist Dennis Driscoll and musician Mark Sewall.

PH

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BY P

UM

A PER

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SPOKEN WORD, continued from p. 15


BY YANNIC RACK

The plot is simple enough: seven New Yorkers get stuck on the C train. Six

of them have somewhere to be, but they all have the same concern:

“How many minutes left, how many moments lost?”

On the New York City subway system, who hasn’t asked them-selves this question? That line, from the opening number of “Held Momentarily,” sets an appropriate tone of urgency and frustration. Over the next hour, the script, lyr-ics and music (all by the incredi-bly talented and promising Oliver Houser, with additional material by James Zebooker) — along with spot-on acting from a talented cast — manage to avoid making it all look too cliché (after all, this is not the most original situation). There is a twist, though: a pregnant woman is about to give birth. Sam, played with brute force and emo-tion by Yael Rizowy, is on her way to the hospital because her abusive boyfriend is too cheap to spring for a cab.

When the subway car gets stuck, the group is understandably an-

noyed. But that quickly gives way to panic when Sam’s water breaks and she goes into labor. The re-maining 40 minutes are musical comedy at its best, as seven strang-ers “realize it’s not just the train that’s stuck,” as the play’s summa-ry puts it.

Houser plays Cal, the very busy, very impatient businessman, who has no time for hyperventilat-ing pregnant women. Zebooker is Greg, the endearing and quirky nerd who, earlier, found himself on an OKCupid date with Geena Quintos’ health-obsessed, driven and independent Mindy (the two end up on the train together by chance after Mindy storms off). We learn this through one of several well-placed flashbacks, which man-age to construct deep and profound character stories without straying too far from the present action.

Mindy, who “knows exactly where she’s going” (a nod to the play’s overall theme) left Greg stranded, not impressed by his laissez-faire lifestyle and selective honesty on his dating profile. He, on the other hand, is sure “the In-ternet brought real romance.”

Elliot Greer’s Liam adds anoth-er layer to the story. He’s a med

student under mounting pres-sure from his dad (also played by Houser), college professor (Jordan Barrow) and supervising doctor (Zebooker) who must overcome his insecurities and rise to the oc-casion to deliver the baby. Greer, outstanding among a very good (and very young) cast, portrays the familiar struggle of finding oneself with heart-felt emotion.

Barrow is funny as Stan, who’s dealing with his own set of prob-lems — namely, a cheating boy-friend. Many of the actors, includ-ing Houser, seem to know each other from LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, and their chemistry shows on stage.

Andrea Nevil, who filled in for India Carney in the role of Lilith, gave the evening’s best vocal per-formance, as a homeless woman who suddenly appears from un-der a rug. Wonderfully weird, she prompts Greg to admit that “sub-way performers are getting REAL-LY good.” Not taken seriously at first by the others, Lilith eventual-ly inspires the group to recognize the importance of demonstrating compassion in their daily lives.

The music is upbeat and catchy. Hunter Bird’s direction is smooth

and balanced, the sound and lighting are unobtrusive and work very well to set the pace for the back and forth of present story and flashbacks. The choreogra-phy by Katie Palmer makes very clever use of the subway setting, through routines that incorporate MetroCards and manage to bring the shaking subway to life on a static stage.

But the most appealing thing about “Held Momentarily” is the well-observed inside jokes, which include jabs at the MTA (fearing that Sam will die in childbirth, Lilith exclaims, “Oh no, she is going to become a statistic!”), the mayor (“Bill de Blasio was on board last week, he closed the in-come gap!”), the social conscious-ness (the homeless woman as the most generous and compassionate of the group) and Internet dating (which seems almost nostalgic in the age of Tinder).

“If you see something, say some-thing,” Lilith sings at the end, the only one left in the subway after everyone else has left. She, in turn, leaves us with not only a spin on the MTA motto, but also a pro-found and admittedly unexpected moral.

L to R: Geena Quintos, India Carney, Jordan Barrow, Yael Rizowy (laying down) and James Zebooker.

PH

OTO

BY D

IXIE SHER

IDAN

A long wait that’s worth the trip

‘Held Momentarily’ has catchy music and an unexpected moral

HELDMOMENTARILYA FringeNYCPresentation

Written by Oliver Houser

Additional Material by James Zebooker

Directed by Hunter Bird

Music Director, Jeremy Robin Lyons

Runtime: 1h

Visit heldmomentarily.com

Sat., Aug. 23 at 3 p.m.

At the Sheen Center – The Loretto

18 Bleecker St. (at Elizabeth St.)

For tickets ($18), purchase at FringeNYC.

org | By Smartphone: FringeOnTheFly.

com | By credit card at the Box Office |

By cash at FringeCentral (114 Norfolk

St., btw. Rivington & Delancey Sts.)


BY ZACH WILLIAMS

In the Lower East Side partying and emergency preparedness can go hand-in-hand.

A DJ presided over an Aug. 8 soi-ree held in East River Park as a col-lective “thank you” to local residents for their input in the Big U project — the proposed storm protections for the U-shaped section of southern Manhattan starting with most of the East Side.

Local dancers and spoken word artists performed as residents watched and mingled with represen-tatives ranging from the Red Cross to Good Old Lower East Side [GOLES], which helped Rebuild by Design or-ganize the approximately three-hour event.

“It’s really important to have you operating with us on the design for the Big U, which is a plan that will receive federal money to connect the waterfront back to the community and to also protect you from future storms,” said Tara Eisenberg, a re-search coordinator at Rebuild by De-sign, which formed after Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the city two years ago.

The $335 million project will con-struct a “living barrier” integrating berms from 10- to 20-feet tall into the park from Montgomery St. to E. 23rd St. Federal funds will pay for the project which is just one out of 157 projects in a $3.7 billion city effort to mitigate climate change in low lying areas such as the Lower East Side and East Village. Planners anticipate that within four years the Big U will stretch from W. 57 St., south to the Battery, all the way to E. 42nd St.

Residents were at first skeptical about the idea of changing the be-loved park, but gradually began to trust the Big U team, offering sug-gestions as to how the project could increase accessibility to the riverfront by increasing pathways across F.D.R. Drive, according to Lilah Mejia, di-saster relief coordinator for GOLES.

“They literally took those ideas and incorporated them into the berm,” she said.

Fears remain however, that a rein-vigorated park, protected by the Big U, might invite increased attention from real estate developers in the coming years at the expense of public housing residents, she added.

“I’m still kind of hesitant. I’m still kind of scared because I don’t know what that means,” she said. “We all know this community became gen-trified rather quickly.”

Such concerns though did not play prominently within the event. Chil-

dren perused disaster preparedness guides helped along by the narrat-ing Mickey Mouse. Another table had children design their own ideal version of public space through im-plements such as re-purposed plastic Easter Eggs and plastic pipes. Volun-tary emergency works with the city Office of Emergency Management sought fresh recruits for free training as Community Emergency Response Team members.

Next to them was Pedro Barry, who deployed a table and clipboard for Operation Hope, which helps people prepare for the financial implications of natural disasters, he said. He got more than 20 people at the event to sign up for more information about the FEMA-affiliated program.

“The piece that people tend to lack on is the financial piece,” he said. “They go into the hole, they go into debt. We help them navigate the pro-cess a little bit faster.”

Native fauna will figure promi-nently within the park once construc-tion on the project begins. A nurs-ery in Staten Island is busy raising salt-resistant species which will also absorb a significant amount of storm water once they are planted in the park, said Steven Handel, an ecolo-gist for the project who attended the event.

Despite the visibility of the Big U team about 15 feet away, some resi-dents still had yet to hear that their beloved park would be the site of construction in the near future.

Baruch Houses resident Miriam Capo said she heard about the event through her Tai Qi class which per-formed at the event. She and her friend Dora Morreno had no idea the event concerned flood mitigation ef-forts. However, she welcomed efforts

to address the vulnerable situation residents such as herself faced when the full wrath of Sandy caught the community unprepared in 2012.

“By doing these events, it’s per-fect,” she said. “But they need to dis-tribute the information a lot more.”

Storm protections are coming, so group says let’s dance

Dancers from Grand Street Settlement quickly got all ages dancing at the event which also feature spoken word poetry and a traditional Chinese fan dance.

PH

OTO

BY ZAC

H W

ILLIAMS

prior owner by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Devel-opment, according to the representa-tive’s statement. Electrical and inter-com systems have been upgraded, plus lighting and stairways have been repaired, according to 9300 Realty.

“The renovations to the building were permitted by the city and com-pleted by licensed professionals,” reads the statement. “The tenants be-hind the recent suit have a long his-tory of litigation with the prior land-lord, and we will vigorously defend ourselves against what we consider to be unfounded accusations by these individuals.”

Building management addressed the tenant-suggested protocols and has exceeded its legal obligation in agreeing to a “majority of their re-quests,” 9300 Realty added in a sep-arate statement.

The new legal efforts arose as an

investigation by Attorney Gener-al Schneidermen continues probing Croman’s business practices. In-vestigators have gathered evidence from 309 E. Eighth St. as part of the fact-finding process, The Villager has learned.

Croman, meanwhile, also remains the target of local politicians, who praised Schneiderman last month for joining the fight against the landlord. State Senator Brad Hoylman told The Villager that Croman, in fact, ranks as the top landlord of concern in his dis-trict, which has, in part, inspired a new push to pass a bill, long stalled within committee, that would tighten over-sight over New York City landlords.

“It’s ironic that the reason places like the East Village are attractive to developers is because of the commu-nity created by these tenants who have lived there for decades,” Hoyl-man said. “And now they are being faced by harassment and eviction in many cases.”

CROMAN, continued from p. 4

E. 8th St. tenants take landlord Croman to court


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BY ZACH WILLIAMS

Amobile legal advice unit will pull into the Lower East Side and Chinatown this month to help residents facing tenant is-

sues and beyond.Community members can access the fully

equipped and staffed vehicle on Fri., Aug. 22, at Seward Park Library and at the Chinese Consol-idated Benevolent Association on Mon., Aug. 25.

From 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on both these days, ad-vice on a wide range of legal topics will be avail-able under the service, which is jointly run by the New York Legal Assistance Group and the New York State Courts Access to Justice Program. Span-ish and Chinese interpreters will be at the ready.

“You can see the scope of this is vast. Whatev-er your needs are, tell us,” said C.C.B.A. President Eric Ng, speaking in Mandarin at an Aug. 19 press conference announcing the upcoming events.

The two neighborhoods have long been magnets for new immigrants, both those with and without legal status. However, at the same time, real estate development has been fueling conflict between longtime rent-regulated tenants and landlords.

Legal advice on public benefits, disability ben-efits, consumer credit, custody, employment and identity theft will also be available.

Councilmember Margaret Chin secured $5,000 through the City Council to fund the two events.

“Access to legal services is a fundamental com-munity need,” Chin said. “But too many China-town and Lower East Side residents struggle to afford necessary legal help, especially on difficult

housing issues.”Known as the Mobile Legal Help Center, the

41-foot-long vehicle has powered a mission to pro-vide legal services to low-income individuals ever since it was first commissioned in 2012, according to the NYLAG Web site. Appointments are recom-mended through the vehicle’s complicated handle: mobilelegalhelpcenter.acuityscheduling.com.

The imposing vehicle can accommodate 17 peo-ple at once, with interview rooms and all the fix-ings of a modern office. High-tech gadgetry can virtually connect with judges in order to secure

legal action in emergencies such as unlawful evic-tions and domestic violence protection.

Once the paperwork travels back and forth, and a judge interviews the litigant, an order arrives via fax machine. The litigants can walk away with a copy of the order, according to NYLAG.

If the expert attorneys in the field are stumped, there is plenty of reserve legal power, according to Amy Hozer, NYLAG supervising attorney.

“We guarantee everybody advice and counsel when they come on board, as long as it is an area that NYLAG covers and that there is no conflict in giving you that advice,” she said.

These two stops are part of the mobile pro-gram’s goal of serving 2,000 New Yorkers annually arose after Ng saw the unit operating in Flushing, Queens, he said. Soon he got in touch with Chin, who took up the cause, he added.

The need for legal advice extends to relatively mundane issues for recent immigrants, said Karlin Chan, a member of Community Board 3. For ex-ample, acquiring a peddler’s license can be diffi-cult when the applicant does not speak English or understand the regulations.

The cost of private legal counsel also precludes many new immigrants from accessing the right in-formation, according to Chan.

“This is free legal advice, or if there is a case they’ll take the case pro bono,” he said. “You go see a shyster lawyer, the guy will charge you $250, $300 for consultation, and then they’ll hit you with, ‘Yeah, we’ll take care of that.’ Then, boom — a year later, two years later, you’re back to square one. Nothing’s been done.”

Legal help rollout for the L.E.S. and Chinatown

The mobile legal advice vehicle.

CO

UR

TESY NYLAG


On September 18 & 25 NYC Community Media will present it’s Fall Real-Estate Preview Section, written by Lauren Price.

REAL ESTATE Preview

Fall

September 18th

September 25th September 25th

September 18thSeptember 18th

For Advertising Opportunities Contact: Bill Fink [email protected] | 646-452-2467

Reservation closing date is Wed. Sept 10 / Creative Materials due Sept 12

BY LAUREN PRICE

Intertwined neighborhoods stretching from Gansevoort St. to 34th and from Broadway to the

Hudson River, the Meatpacking Dis-trict, the High Line and Chelsea are among Manhattan’s most sought-af-ter residential locales.

The Meatpacking District runs roughly from Horatio St. west of Eighth Ave. north to W. 16th St. With-in that cluster of blocks, the High Line park begins at Gansevoort St. and tracks north to 30th St. (between 10th and 12th Aves.).

The elevated park’s final phase, close to completion, winds around the western edge of the Hudson Yards project and up to 34th St.

Chelsea, whose boundaries encom-pass nearly all of the High Line, runs from about 14th to 30th Sts., between the Hudson River and Broadway.

Before its gentrification, the Meat-packing District was just that — a working meat market. By the late 19th century, this cobblestoned his-toric district was filled with as many as 250 meat businesses and slaughter-houses. Currently, less than a dozen remain in operation.

A neighborhood where Florent Mo-rellet’s eponymous French bistro was

for decades a 24/7 pioneer is now home to hot designer shops, like Al-exander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Tory Burch and Diane von Fursten-berg. The streetscape also includes art galleries, tony clubs and hard-to-get-a-table-at restaurants.

The High Line represents a remark-able transformation of an abandoned strip of a freight rail line — which operated from the 1930s to the ’80s — into a beautifully landscaped public park, the world’s second major ele-

vated park (thehighline.org) — the first being Paris’s Promenade Plantée, a three-mile stretch from Avenue Daumesnil to the Bois de Vincennes on the city’s eastern edge (tinyurl.com/phkc96h).

The High Line was saved from likely demolition when a communi-ty-based nonprofit — Friends of the High Line — stepped up in 1999 to push for its preservation and rede-sign. By 2002, the city was on board, and three years later CSX Transpor-tation began a series of donations of portions of the rail viaduct, ensuring the project would blossom. By 2011, the converted park’s first two phases were completed, taking the park north to 30th St.

A magnet for strolling locals and tourists alike, the High Line has be-come a huge hit — and convinced the Whitney Museum of American Art to relocate to the rail line’s south termi-nus by mid-2015 (whitney.org).

It was in the mid-18th century when Thomas Clarke, a retired Brit-ish Army major, purchased almost 100 acres of land and named it after a London veterans’ hospital. On a hilltop, he built a country estate over-looking the Hudson River, where London Terrace sits today.

Chelsea played an important role in the early days of the motion pic-ture business, with Mary Pickford, the Canadian Oscar winner who be-came “America’s sweetheart,” shoot-ing some of her earliest movies there. By 1912, however, filmmakers had al-ready started their migration to Cal-ifornia.

Through much of the 20th centu-ry, Chelsea was a down-at-the-heels neighborhood with a large number of factories and warehouses. But by the early 1970s, a stream of gay men, many priced out of the West Village, began moving to the neighborhood, though not always without tensions.

The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project grew up there out of informal gay street patrols.

The 2010 Census found a popula-tion of 35,000 in the neighborhood, which by then had for some years been a world-class art district. The High Line Park, the eclectic Chelsea Market (chelseamarket.com), the Chelsea Hotel (a bohemian redoubt for generations (chelseahotels.com), and celebrity-filled eateries like Del Posto (delposto.com) and the Breslin Bar (thebreslin.com) have upped the ante in a district now full of blue-chip real estate.

WHAT’S ON THE MARKET

A neighborhood once dominated by 19th-century brownstones and row houses has seen an explosion of mid-rise and high-rise rentals, con-dos and co-ops, one that amped up considerably in the last decade as the High Line park took shape. Big build-ings, however, are not new to the neighborhood. Pre-wars have long been a feature here, and none is more famous than London Terrace, which occupies a full city block between Ninth and 10th Aves. and 23rd and 24th Sts., enclosing an interior private garden. The complex’s four corner towers are co-ops, with the remaining 10 buildings rentals.

According to several real estate in-dustry professionals, current median sale prices in the neighborhood hover around $1.9 million. Average month-ly rentals range from $3,600 for a studio to about $4,500 for a two-bed-room unit.

Only minutes from the High Line, Halstead Property is currently listing a light-filled one-bedroom duplex with a south-facing terrace inside a gut-renovated Federal-style town-house built in the 1800s. Located two flights up at 443 W. 24th St. (between Ninth and 10th Aves.), the residence is priced at $1.155 million. It features a washer and dryer, hardwood floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, recessed lighting, custom closets, and motor-ized shades throughout. The recon-figured open kitchen was designed by the Italian firm Molteni & C Dada of Soho, is outfitted with appliances by Smeg, Bosch and Liebherr, and has light elm wood cabinetry. The upper-level bedroom, which access-es the landscaped terrace, has an en suite bathroom dressed in slate tiles (visit halstead.com/sale/ny/manhattan/chelsea/443-west-24th-street/coop/10325145).

A lovely three-bedroom loft is now

Lower West Side among fastest changing neighborhoods

The living room of a three-bedroom loft at 520 W. 19th St.

CO

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TESY OF W

ARB

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G R

EALTY

WEST SIDE STORY, continued on p. 22


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listed for $4.285 million with War-burg Realty at 520 W. 19th St. (be-tween 10th and 11th Aves). Recently renovated, it offers more than 2,000 square feet of living space. Sunny to the max, this home’s south and north views provide excellent eyefuls of both the Hudson River and Manhat-tan skyline. Features include 10-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, walk-in closets and custom-built cabinetry in the living and dining room. The new kitchen’s light wood cabinetry is topped with stone and appliances by Miele, Sub-Zero and Gaggenau, with an adjacent washer/dryer area. The marbled en suite mas-ter bathroom has a double-sink van-ity, as well as a separate glass-door shower and soaking tub with marble surrounds. A luxury condominium, the building offers round-the-clock doorman/concierge services and private storage (visit warburgrealty.com/property/47440620140711).

A one-bedroom co-op at 160 Ninth Ave. (between 19th and 20th Sts.) is now listed with TOWN Residential. Inside a 1920 pre-war building, it boasts high ceilings, exposed brick walls, hardwood floors and a decora-tive fireplace. Facing southeast, it pro-

vides lovely garden views and lots of light. The open kitchen and bathroom were renovated a year ago. The kitch-en has stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. Built-in, through-wall air conditioning and ample over-head storage can be found in the bed-room. Priced at $669,000, the monthly maintenance is low (visit townreales-tate.com/sale/id-234637/160-ninth-avenue-2r-chelsea).

With full city views on a quiet tree-lined cobblestone street around the corner from the High Line, Hudson River Park, Abingdon Square and the Meatpacking District, a triple-mint studio at 354 W. 12th St. (between Greenwich and Washington Sts.) is the very definition of location, loca-tion, location! It has 10-foot ceilings, exposed brick, tall arched windows, beautiful woodwork, a decorative fireplace, refinished hardwood floors and terrific closet space. The kitchen features solid cherry cabinetry with extra storage, honed granite coun-tertops and appliances from Viking and Sub-Zero. The bathroom is out-fitted with glass mosaic tile, a unique bronze vessel sink and Philippe Starck-designed Hansgrohe fixtures. The building features a large land-scaped common garden and has a live-in super. This co-op is priced at

$430,000 (visit corcoran.com/nyc/listings/display/3229859).

No-fee rentals are available at the new Abington House at 500 W. 30th St. (between 10th and 11th Aves.), which is leasing studios to two-bed-room units with open plans, a select number of which have private out-door space. South- and west-facing units offer breathtaking views of the High Line, the Hudson River and

Manhattan skyline, and all the res-idences feature large windows, oak floors and washer/dryers. The build-ing has three communal terraces (in-cluding one dedicated to barbequing), along with party rooms, indoor/out-door screening rooms, lounge areas (one with five iMacs) and Dog City for walking, play date, grooming and training services. Rents start at $3,600 per month (visit related.com)

WEST SIDE STORY, continued from p. 20

Lower West Side among fastest changing neighborhoods

The private terrace in a one-bedroom duplex at 443 W. 24th St.

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BUYING GOLD 2 DAYS ONLY!GET THE MOST

CASHFOR YOUR

GOLD, SILVER &

DIAMONDS!

STARTS

WEDNES

DAY! STARTS

WEDNESDAY!BUYING GOLD 2 DAYS ONLY!ONE DAY ONLY AT EACH LOCATION!

THIS WEDNESDAY, JULY 9TH THRU THURSDAY, JULY 10TH!

Gold Jewelry, Gold & Silver Bars, Watches, Coins, Precious Metals,Sterling Silver and Gem Stones conveniently located at Marriott Brooklyn Bridge and the Hilton New York.

GET THE MOST

CASHFOR YOUR

GOLD, SILVER &

DIAMONDS!

1836 to 1839 ............Up To ................... $5,500

1840 to 1873 ............Up To ................... $5,500

Trade Dollars.............Up To ................... $3,000

1921 to 1935 ............Up To ................... $5,500

Necklaces .............$26,000

Rings ....................$16,000

Bracelets ..............$13,000

Earrings ................$10,500

Charm Bracelets .......$5,500

Cocktail Rings .........$15,500

Tea Sets ......................... Up To .....$5,500

Punch Bowls & Sets ...... Up To ..... $5,000

HURRY! 2 DAYS ONLY AT EACH LOCATION!

2 day

s

only!

2 days only!

Gold Jewelry, Gold & Silver Bars, Watches, Coins, Precious Metals, Sterling Silver and Gem Stones.

Why noW is a good time to sell your gold!The economic downturn of the last few years has caused the price of gold, silver and many commodities to their highest levels in over 30 years.

This is the best time in decades to sell your unused gold, silver, platinum and diamond jewelry at the highest prices ever.

HILTON NEW YORK 1335 Avenue of the Americas, NY NY 10019This Wednesday & Thursday, August 27th, 28th

MARRIOTT BROOKLYN BRIDGE333 Adams Street, Brooklyn NY 11201

This Wednesday & Thursday, August 27th, 28th

1/2 Carats.........Up To.........$1,750 1 Carat..............Up To.........$6,500 2 Carats............Up To.........$17,500 3 Carats............Up To.........$37,500 4 Carats............Up To.........$47,000 5 Carats............Up To.........$65,000 6 Carats............Up To.........$90,000

We Need Larger Diamonds!We buy all shapes, sizes & style of cuts, also diamonds with or

without GIA certificates as well as old miners and European cuts.Bring Your Items in for a FREE EVALUATION!

Brooches ................... $15,500

Pendants ..................... $8,000

Cameos .......................... $750

Victorian ..................... $10,500

Art Deco .................... $13,000

Cuff Links .................... $1,000

Pins .............................. $5,500

Pearls ........................... $5,500

Art Nouveau ............... $12,500

Lavalieres..................... $8,000

Garnets Jewelry........... $1,000

Bakelite Rings ................. $750

Floral Design ............. $10,500

Hilton new york1335 Avenue of The Americas

New York, NY 10019(6th Ave between 53rd & 54th) Concourse E

This Wednesday, august 27th: 11am–6pmThursday, august 28th: 11am–6pm

Marriott Brooklyn Bridge333 Adams Street Brooklyn NY 11201

(Between Tillary & Willoughby St) 3rd Floor

This Wednesday, august 27th: 11am–6pmThursday, august 28th: 11am–6pm

august 21, 2014 east villager news

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