Side Streets of the East Village

(The following is not a paid advertisement.)

East Villagers love side streets! On the Upper East Side, it's all about the avenues: Park, Madison, Fifth; down here, not so much.

Here's a picture of an East Village side street, East 7th Street:

Making movies, on location.

But the side streets can be unsettling for some. Luckily, there's a web site called Manhattan Sideways, and they have information about side street ventures all over Manhattan, including… you guess it: the East Village!

In fact, there are three categories for the East Village: Date Night; Cozy Day Out; and Craft Beer. Something for everyone! Except kids. But really, kids shouldn't be out on their own, they should be with their parents.

So, come check out the East Village side streets — maybe you'll even get to be an extra in a movie!

#eastvillage #manhattansideways #7thstreet #movies

Bedlam

The definition of "bedlam" on the dictionary on my computer is: "a scene of uproar and confusion". Exactly the kind of atmosphere you expect when you come to the East Village!

Then why does this place on Avenue C, named Bedlam, ask their customers to be respectful, and keep outside noise to a minimum? Is the bedlam inside only?

Shhh! Bedlam inside.

What kind of bedlam is that? Contained bedlam? That's no bedlam at all!

At least they have an A. In what though, bedlam control?

Bring on the bedlam… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuec #bedlam

Metro Newspaper Box Now Secure

I was walking down Avenue C the other day, when I saw this:

Metro newspaper box bound in duct tape.

The Metro newspaper box was bound in duct tape! My guess is that this box was having a rough time remaining upright during the recent snowpocalypse, so the delivery man attached it to the lamppost with the roll of duct tape that he just happened to have on hand.

Smart thinking… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuec #metro #ducttape #lampposts

Whatever

I was walking down St. Mark's Place the other day, when I noticed these whacked-out signs:

Whacked-out signs.

The A in the ATM sign has only three lights lit, the same for the T. Only the M has enough lights on to know what letter it is. If I were at the end of the block and wanted a tattoo and didn't have any cash, I would have to remain tattooless!

Of course, this is St. Mark's Place, home of numerous tattoo and other body-mutilation venues, not to mention drug paraphernalia parlors! I wouldn't have to walk far before I found a place to scar myself, in my drug-induced state.

Whatever… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #whatever #tattoo #stmarksplace #atms

Photographers and Models

As you know, there are many photographers in the East Village. Sometimes though, there are models too!

I spotted this photographer/model combination on St. Mark's Place yesterday afternoon:

Say "Cheese"!

As you can see, there wasn't a lot of room on the sidewalk, so I had to squeeze between the tripod and the fence. I was tempted to call 311, since tripods are required to be half the width of the sidewalk, or eight feet, from the edge of the building, whichever is greater, but I decided to cut them some slack, because… (hold on to your hats for this one): Do you know what the background is for their shot?

It's the cool old pickup truck!

Funny, I never thought of putting a person into the shot…

It just goes to show you: East Village photographers are on the cutting edge of cool!

#eastvillage #cool #cars #models #photographers #pickup #trucks #stmarksplace

Manitoba's Reopens

Great news for beer drinkers and hell raisers: Manitoba's, on Avenue B, has reopened!

With no fanfare, they just raised their gates and are back in business.

Back in business.

According to their Facebook page, they have ten days left to raise the money they need.

Oddly enough, anyone can access their Facebook page, but you need to be approved before receiving their notices from Twitter. I clicked the Follow button but they never responded. I guess they're pretty busy these days.

So what happens after lawsuits like this? They pay the money, but do they become ADA-compliant? Time will tell… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #manitobas #avenueb #twitter #facebook

9th Street Post Revisited

One of my first-ever blog posts was about a post, this one:

Post.

This post is outside the 9th Street Haberdashery, on East 9th Street. You can read what I wrote here.

Today, I want to take this time to point out something this post needs, namely: connections.

If you take a look at this close-up, you will see that there is nothing connecting the post to its bottom support:

Lack of support.

Seeing how so many East Villagers have been responding to my call to tidy things up, I expect 2015 will be the year of The Great East Village Fix‑'Em‑Upper, where the East Village will be restored to its former pristine glory!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #9thstreethaberdashery #deterioration

Cool Old Pickup Truck Set to Move

It looks like we're not going to get any significant accumulation of snow today or tonight, so tomorrow the owner of the cool old pickup truck is going to have to move it to a Monday/Thursday spot. It's my guess he'll move it back over to East 9th Street at that time.

Cool old pickup truck on February 7.

As with anything that stays for too long in one place, this pickup started to accumulate trash:

Inverted mint julep glass?

It looks like a mint julep glass, but who drinks those in the Winter?!

Well, it's been fun keeping track of the cool old pickup truck over on St. Mark's Place, but all good things must come to an end… even in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #cool #cars #pickup #trucks #stmarksplace

The Human Statue

I came around the corner from St. Mark's Place onto Avenue A yesterday, when I saw this:

The human statue.

She was completely immobile! I took a picture from the corner and kept walking but she never moved, so I took another picture, which is the one above.

Even as I passed her, she didn't move. I'm pretty sure it was a performance-art piece!

Art is everywhere… in the East Village!

#eastvillage #performanceart avenuea #stmarksplace

New York Sports Club Opens March 2

East Villagers are really excited about the New York Sports Club opening March 2nd on Avenue A! Here is a picture of it:

Can you believe those clouds… I mean, that price?! I signed up this afternoon!

This is what the building looked like before it was fixed up:

Freaky weather we've been having!

This might be the first local gym to be above-ground! Others, like Dolphin Fitness on East 4th Street, and Iron & Silk on East 3rd Street, are underground.

This is what it looks like going up their stairs:

Upstairs to New York Sports Club.

They say the view from the top floor is great — I can't wait to see it!

East Villagers love to be above ground!

#eastvillage #newyorksportsclub #avenuea #clouds