Lower East Side | The New York Observer

Bitter End! Lower East Side Bars Bemoan Dearth of an Essential

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:18:08 -0500

Sandee Wright is down to her last bottle of Angostura bitters. This wouldn't trouble most New Yorkers, but the owner of Whiskey Ward on the Lower East Side sells cocktails for a living, and to her and the other bartenders who have made their name in the craft cocktails movement of the last decade, bitters matter. Dozens of drinks new and old call for Angostura, and without a few drops, a Manhattan is flatter...

The Grande Dame of New York City Land Use

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:52:35 -0400

The way Doris Diether tells it, she was the last holdout in her Waverly Place building a few years back, when the landlord moved in someone new to intimidate her.

“Every time he’d go by me, he growled. Then one night he banged on my door and said, ‘If you think you’re getting any money, forget it,’” recalled Ms. Diether, 80, who moved into her basement apartment in 1958 and, thanks to rent control,...

'09 To Bring Green Apartments, Girls Clubhouse to Avenue D

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:16:20 -0500

The landscape will look different in 2009, but girls will still be girls, and the Lower Eastside Girls Club, with development partner Dermot Company, is still moving forward with its plans to build a clubhouse/apartment building on the Lower East Side.

On Dec. 16, the 13-year-old girls club and Dermot filed plans with the Buildings Department for a stylish, 12-story, 90,000-square-foot building on Avenue D, between East 7th and 8th streets. The club has been...

So Long, Lower East Side Skyscrapers: Council OKs Area Rezoning

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:57:19 -0500

The City Council approved today a proposed rezoning of the Lower East Side, putting in height limits for new buildings throughout the area.

The Bloomberg administration has pushed the rezoning as necessary to both boost the amount of below-market-rate housing in the neighborhood and to scale back the incidences of skinny skyscrapers that have popped up. The rezoning, which covered 111 blocks, generally keeps densities similar to those that exist...

Lower East Side, Late In the Day: No Lines! Lots of Obama Votes

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:22:49 -0500

By late afternoon on Essex Street, the line to vote at Public School 20 was non-existent, and voters trickled out at five-minute intervals.

Which is not to say voting here was entirely seamless.

"The machines were weird," said neighborhood resident Nikki, 30, emerging from the gymnasium in a black puffy jacket after voting for Obama. (She asked that her last name not be used). "I've voted before, but I had to ask...

Apples and Light Bulbs on the Lower East Side: The way to a more eco-friendly New York City

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:25:45 -0400

We like to think greening is more than a passing style, and that the idea of sustainability is taking root in our values and becoming a real presence in our communities. One of the neighborhoods that is working hard to re-brand itself green is the lower east side of Manhattan. In fact, the environment will be big in that community this Sunday, when a street festival will feature everything from chocolate apple truffles to...

Lower East Side Apartment Buildings Trade for $170.8 M.

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:36:54 -0400

A firm called Endland LLC has purchased two 26-story apartment buildings at 251 Cherry Street on the Lower East Side for $170.8 million, according to city records.

Endland LLC, an entity affiliated with Pembroke Companies, bought the buildings from Helen Drew on Sept. 24.

On its Web site, Pembroke describes itself as "a privately held real estate investment, development and management firm. Pembroke makes significant, usually lead investments in both public and private...

Restaurant of the Week: Broadway East

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:52:39 -0400

Top 10 Newcomer Restaurants Beyond the Hype, #9

In the shadow of the old Jewish Forward building, Broadway East seeks to point the way toward the future of dining. The menu is vegetarian-focused, with organic fish and poultry slipped in among seasonal, sustainable, locally sourced ingredients. Water is filtered and carbonated in-house. The cooking oils live on as biodiesel. The sleek redwood ceiling, tabletops, and main bar are recycled from a neighborhood water tower....

Stringer Conditionally Green Lights Lower East Side Rezoning

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:18:36 -0400

Borough President Scott Stringer has endorsed the city's proposed rezoning of the Lower East Side, giving a boost to a plan that would allow for more residential development while adding restrictions to other types, including dorms.

His endorsement of the plan, issued today, comes as the City Planning Commission gears up for a mega-hearing Wednesday, with throngs of community members expected to deliver testimony on proposed rezonings of the Lower East Side, the...

An Evening of Mourning for the Lower East Side

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:53:43 -0400

On Tuesday, in the waning daylight, a small line formed outside Webster Hall in the East Village. The crowd, as likely to sport zebra-striped jeans and Mohawks as flannel shirts and grizzled beards, had come for a special screening of Captured--a film that examines the life and work of Canadian street photographer and artist Clayton Patterson as he followed the Lower East Side's transition from junkie-town to condo-city--to mark the twentieth anniversary...

Die Yuppie Scum! Not You, Pizza Guy

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:02:05 -0400

Folk singer David Peel was leading a crowd of protesters in a singalong of his charming ditty “Die Yuppie Scum” on Friday evening, when suddenly the rebellious crooner experienced a moment of clarity.

“What are we doing over here?” Mr. Peel asked. “Where are the apartments?”

A few doors down, it turned out.

Demonstrators had intended to gather outside an apartment...

Economakis-East Village Fight Gets Nastier

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:41:27 -0400

The aggrieved rent-stabilized tenants of 47 East 3rd Street are not giving up their fight against landlord Alistair Economakis, whose efforts since 2003 to convert his East Village building into a grand mansion for his family continue to be stymied by nine pesky renters who won't budge.

Earlier this month, in the third appeal since Mr. Economakis first began mass eviction proceedings five-a-half-years ago, the state's highest court sent the case back to housing court...

Re-Crossing Delancey

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:14:09 -0400

In a signed editorial by Francis X. Clines in today's New York Times, we learn that gentrification is changing the Lower East Side. While Mr. Clines concedes that this is an old story—"Hasn’t that been the case ever since this sliver of Manhattan was laid bare more than a century ago as the crammed tenement haven for immigrants?" he asks—he does seem to feel that the changes in the neighborhood are once again a...

Lower East Side Coney Island

Wed, 21 May 2008 16:14:13 -0400

For those of you who have always wanted to go see the Coney Island Circus Side Show or the Mermaid Parade but are too lazy to trek out to Brooklyn, tonight is your night.

The amusment park's motley crew of underbelly performance artists is coming to the Lower East Side from 7 to 11 p.m. for Coney Island USA’s annual Spring Gala at the Angel Orensanz Foundation....

Group to Try One More Time to Derail East Village Downzoning

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:47:38 -0400

At 6 tonight, the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side plans to rally against what now appears to be the inevitable rezoning of the East Village just to the north.

The group has labeled the rezoning a "racist" plan to limit building heights and essentially abolish the community benefits incentive in 110 blocks of the East Village and Lower East Side. Last week, the Department of City Planning certified the proposal,...