Sunday, October 30, 2016

New Riot Gates

Four short days after taking pictures of the street vendors who set up shop at the corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, these riot gate installers installed riot gates in front of the former Chase Bank that stands there:

Installing riot gates.

Here is the new riot gate, fully installed — it blocks a lot of the graffiti!

Blocking the graffiti.

They even installed riot gates on the window:

Riot gates on the window.

These guys mean business!

#eastvillage #chasebank #riotgates #secondavenue #stmarksplace

Halloween Eve Punk Rock Show

I passed through Tompkins Square Park this afternoon, and I happened upon what surely must have been the Halloween Eve Punk Rock Show:

Halloween Eve Punk Rock Show.

I took a wide-angle picture because these things usually have no attendees, but today's show looked pretty crowded!

When I got to the stage, this band was playing:

This band.

I don't know their name, but… if The Ramones and The Clash had a baby, and in another part of town, Television created a baby clone of itself, and those two babies grew up and had a baby, it would be this band!

When they finished, this guy started vociferating:

This guy.

I've seen this guy at these punk rock shows before — he says exactly the same thing every time! I decided to walk around a bit.

This band is called Transgender Jesus. Everyone with a smart phone took either their picture, or a selfie!

"Can I take a selfie with you?"

In case you were wondering, that's the woman's costume! The guy… not a costume.

It even has a air vent in back!

Air vent.

That's East Village celebrity Chris Flash on the left — The East Village "A" List was out in force!

Finally, the next band went on. Here's a video that I like to call Ring Around The Rosie:


A good time was had by all…

Having a good time.

… at the Halloween Eve Punk Rock Show!

#eastvillage #halloweeneve #musicians #punkrockshow #television #theclash #theramones #tompkinssquarepark #transgenderjesus

Fence For Sale

As I wrote in both Vandals & Vendors and Itinerant Bookseller:
Since the closing of our local Chase Bank, the corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place has become a very popular location for vandals and itinerant street-vendors alike.
The final installment of the Itinerant Street Vendor series focusses on this blue picket fence:

Blue picket fence.

Here is a close-up of the sign:

Close-up.

The funny thing is: it's left unattended at night, and no one's stolen it!

It's hard to imagine where you would put this thing.

#eastvillage #secondavenue #stmarksplace #fences #signs

Itinerant Bookseller

As I wrote in Vandals & Vendors:
Since the closing of our local Chase Bank, the corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place has become a very popular location for vandals and itinerant street-vendors alike.
You might not have noticed from the pictures I showed (especially since I didn't call attention to it), but there is an itinerant bookseller on that corner too:

Itinerant book seller.

Most street booksellers put their books on tables, but this is a no-frills corner!

So if you're looking for something cheap to read, you could probably do worse than buying a book here.

#eastvillage #books #booksellers #chasebank #graffiti #secondavenue #stmarksplace

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Vandals & Vendors

Since the closing of our local Chase Bank, the corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place has become a very popular location for vandals and itinerant street-vendors alike!

Two Saturdays ago, I walked past and saw this scene:

Contemplating their next move.

Wait — that's wasn't it. It's the paintings in front of the graffitied wall I wanted to capture.

As I was preparing to take a picture from the front, the artist himself photobombed me!

The artist himself.

I didn't get his name, but I told him the picture would go onto this blog — ten days ago!

Oh well, better late than never, eh?!

#eastvillage #artists #graffiti #paintings #secondavenue #stmarksplace #streetvendors #photobomb

Fallen Tree Branch

I was walking through Tompkins Square Park, not this past Saturday but the one before that, when I saw this fallen tree branch:

Fallen tree branch.

Where did that thing come from? I wondered, but then I remembered the old saying "The branch doesn't fall far from the tree" — so I looked up!

Up.

Many of the trees in Tompkins Square Park are old, and on their last leg, so to speak.

One good thing: there's a nice view of the sky from this spot now!

Nice view of the sky.

Let this be a reminder: Never walk under the tree branches in Tompkins Square Park!

#eastvillage #tompkinssquarepark #trees #branches #sky

A Portuguese Thong

Once upon a time, when old East Villagers were new East Villagers, there was a restaurant on St. Mark's Place called the beloved Yaffa Cafe.

Today, it is the soon-to-be-beloved Taberna Uma Tanga Portuguesa:

Taberna Uma Tanga Portuguesa, and a photographer.

I'm guessing this is going to be some kind of Greek/Portuguese fusion restaurant, because "Taberna" is Greek (and the color scheme is modern Cycladic-island) while "Uma Tanga Portuguesa" is Portuguese. It means "a Portuguese thong!*"

More evidence of its Greekiness is this array of vessels outside:

Array of vessels.

Finally, where once was the freaky mural, now there is a hearty mural:

Hearty mural.

Until now, I thought Hek Tad only pasted up photocopies of his name!

* * *

* When I look up "tanga" in translate.google.com, it says "moth", but when I look up "uma tanga" it says "a thong". It's obvious which translation I'm going to use — moths are scary!

#eastvillage #hektad #photographers #restaurants #stmarksplace #tabernaumatangaportuguesa #yaffacafe

Cementing the Cellar Doors

Round about ten days ago, I was walking down Avenue B, past the beloved Vazac's, when I saw this bit of fixer-uppery:

Cementing the cellar doors.

I wonder what happened to the bottom left part of the wall? Did some steel-toed-booted anarchist kick it, back in the 80s? Probably!

"Kick me out, will you?! Take that, beloved Vazac's!"

#eastvillage #cellardoors #cautiontape #orangecones #vazacs #cement #renovations

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Santa Con 2016

At the time of this writing, there are 45 days, 21 hours, 21 minutes and 37 seconds…


…until SantaCon

This is sort of an aggressive-looking group of Santas!

…comes to the East Village!

East Villagers love SantaCon. After the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade, it's the second most important event on the East Village social calendar!

Sadly, because the population of the East Village has grown older, the organizers of this event have seen fit to begin the festivities in a younger neighborhood, in the younger borough of Brooklyn. But fear not: they'll be here at 2:00 in the afternoon, just as East Villagers are waking up from their afternoon naps!

East Village Today will be there, as always, taking pictures of all the revellers — unless the weather is bad!

#santacon

Sunday, October 23, 2016

6th Street Dumpsters

As every East Villager knows, when a dumpster arrives on the scene, it's going to be there for a very long time. So long that you might think there was never a time when it wasn't there!

But then, one day, it just vanishes, like this one on East 6th Street, leaving nothing behind but the outline of garbage and leaves:

Outline of garbage and leaves.

Meanwhile, further down 6th Street, another dumpster appears:

Another dumpster.

It's the dumpster circle of life… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #dumpsters #trash #6thstreet

Big-Ass Pumpkin

While walking down Avenue B this past week, I couldn't help but notice this big-ass pumpkin sitting outside the beloved SOS Chefs:

Big-ass pumpkin.

There's no telling why SOS Chefs has such a big-ass pumpkin, outside of the fact that there's only eight more days until Halloween!

They even have a matching bicycle! (Hint: it's orange!)

#eastvillage #soschefs #avenueb #pumpkins #bicycles

2016 Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade

Yesterday was the 26th Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade — the most popular event on the East Village social calendar!

You may remember from here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, that East Village Today has attended this event since its inception — since East Village Today's inception, that is!

Sadly, I must report that I didn't go this year. The weather forecast was for rain, so I stayed inside and watched Archer on Netflix. I have to tell you, that is a funny show!

Anyway, here is a picture of a taco dog I found on the internet, maybe even from this year:

Taco dog.

East Villagers love tacos!

#eastvillage #archer #dogs #halloweendogparade #netflix #tacos #tompkinssquarepark

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Massive Sidewalk Takeover

I was walking across East 2nd Street recently, when I noticed a massive sidewalk takeover by the beloved Julie's Vintage:

Massive sidewalk takeover. in front.

Massive sidewalk takeover, down the block.

East Villagers belove their stores, but they also belove their sidewalk space!

Whoa! Check this out:

Vintage brassiere.

A vintage brassiere, among an otherwise odd assortment of vintagey things!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #brasssiere #juliesvintage #sidewalks #vintage

Sunday, October 16, 2016

'Merica

I was riding my Citibike across East 6th Street recently, when I noticed some new awnings — the awnings of the beloved 'Merica NYC:

Two awnings.

It has two awnings! I wonder if it will have two entrances?

Here are closer shots of the awnings:

Taste the freedom!

Taste the liberty!

East 6th Street used to be filled with cheap Indian restaurants, but they mostly all left.

This new restaurant is not Indian, however — it's 'Merican!

#eastvillage #mericanyc #6thstreet #restaurants #awnings

The Very Small Balcony

East Villagers love balconies, no matter how small.

Here is a picture of a very small balcony, that I saw on East 4th Street:

Very small balcony.

It looks like it would be difficult to get onto, and wouldn't hold more than two people comfortably, but what a view!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Forklift in a Dumpster

You see a lot of things in the dumpsters of the East Village, a lot of it gets pulled out and taken home by freegans!

What you don't usually see, however, is someone throwing away a forklift, like this one that I saw on East 6th Street:

Forklift in a dumpster.

By tonight, the bottom of this dumpster will be covered with the debris that East Villagers throw in as they pass by!

Every empty container is a trash can, especially when they're already trash cans!

#eastvillage #dumpsters #freegans #6thstreet #forklifts

Filming and Filming

Hot on the heels of filming Jonathan on East 3rd Street, more filmmakers are filming more films in the East Village!

Except this is not a movie, it's a TV show — and it's not called Jonathan, it's called The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel sign.

This next picture will come as a surprise to East Villagers, because it's a bar scene being filmed not at the beloved Vazac's!

The bar beneath the black tarp is the beloved Josie's Bar, on East 6th Street, famous for having a statue of a bear in front of it, that you can't see because of the black tarp!

Tarp-hidden bear statue.

But fear not, Vazac's has not been ignored! It's just been rebranded as Milston's Tavern:

Milston's Tavern.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

And for added effect, they built a subway entrance right outside!

Subway entrance.

In real life, there couldn't be a subway station there — the East Village was built on a swamp!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #avenueb #filmmakers #josiesbar #subway #themarvelousmrsmaisel #vazacs #swamp

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Jonathan

I was walking across East 3rd Street this past Sunday, when I saw the signs of another exciting film shooting:

The signs.

The working title of this film is Jonathan, as can be seen here:

Jonathan.

There were no shortage of signs!


The only thing more exciting than watching a film or TV show shot in the East Village is… watching them shoot it!

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #orangecones #signs #filmmakers

Ripple Effect

When Citibikes first arrived on the scene, East Villagers knew it wouldn't be long before the ripple effect was felt!

Walking past the beloved The Bowery Hotel, on The Bowery, I saw one of these ripples!

Bowery Bikes.

Guests of The Bowery Hotel have use of their own bikes!

East Villagers hope this doesn't hurt our local Citibike!

#eastvillage #bicycles #boweryhotel #rippleeffect #thebowery

Leany Chair

It's a chilly day in the East Village today, so I before I don me now my Fall apparel and head out, I'm going to post this picture from warmer times:

Warmer times.

Woah — it just struck me: it's another abandoned chair!

#eastvillage #abandoned #chairs #firstavenue #payphones

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Optical vs. Metrics

When setting automatic kerning, sometimes you use Metrics and other times you use Optical. When setting automatic kerning for numbers in Futura, however, you must always use Optical!

Numbers in Futura are particularly wonky, especially the number 1. This is what happened when the creators of the "90210 The Musical" sign, at the beloved Theatre 80 St. Marks, on St. Marks Place, used Metrics:

Bad kerning, especially around the "1".

But that's the least of it! In the notice board is a sign advertising the musical that uses an entirely different font!

Entirely different font.

I like Futura Bold as much as the next East Villager, but I like consistency more!

Also, they should have adjusted the kerning manually on this sign, eh?!

#eastvillage #90210themusical #fonts #kerning #metrics #optical #signs #stmarksplace #theatre80stmarks

Monday, October 3, 2016

Festive Yellow Chain

East Villagers are very clever at disguising building disrepair!

Walking across East 2nd Street yesterday, I saw this yellow chain blocking the entrance to this building:

Blocking the entrance.

At first glance, I thought it was just a festive, yellow chain, but on closer inspection I saw that there were no supports for the handrails!

No support on the right side.

No support on the left side.

I wonder if anyone tried to get out, saw the chain, and went back inside? They might still be there!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #chains #disrepair #steps #yellow