If These Walls Could Talk

Aaah, the thrill of moving to New York City, the excitement, high hopes and… a dump of apartment that you share with two other newbies. Films are made of that, books are written, and urban legends made up. We remember the article in the Times about, literally, an elevated hole in the wall, where only a small mattress would fit, that somebody had put on Craigslist as a space for rent for 35 dollars (photo above, by Chang W. Lee). Or a story from a friend, about living in a Hobbit-size studio that was big enough to stretch your arms and legs, but nothing more. Or the one about all the tenants of the Lower East Side building going on rent strike, cause there was no heat or hot water for a week, in the middle of New York winter.

Haven’t had enough yet? Then head down to the Tenement Museum on Orchard street, to hear some more of the “only in New York” stories. They have an open-mic night on Wednesday there, which is led by professional storyteller H.R. Britton. Three master storytellers will share their anecdotes, then open up the floor for guests to share their own three-minute tales about the trials and tribulations of renting an apartment in the Big Apple. What better place for that, than the Tenement Museum? The night of stories begings at 6.30 PM

Senior’s Makeover

It’s definitely Spring and April showers already brought Flowers to us. Just as the city brings a not-so-extreme makeover to a senior city staple. Brooklyn Bridge, at 125 years old, is getting a little fixer-upper. According to Metro, The Department of Transportation is about to begin a series of projects to freshen up Roebling’s bridge structurally, and give it a cosmetic touch-up. Cracks on the ramps leading to and from the bridge will be repaired between 2009 and 2014 and their supports will be strengthened. The ramp from the eastern side of the bridge to the FDR will also be widened to two lanes to ease traffic. The Bridge’s block arches-weakened by salt and water-will be reinforced to make them more earthquake resistant. The bridge will also be painted a light beige coffee color, to restore the original appearance of the span.

Haring Back on Bowery

We’ve noticed something was happening on the North corner of Bowery and Houston last week. There were people scraping off old Neck Face graffiti and covering it with fluorescent, neon-like orange, yellow and green paint. “Just another advertisement” – we thought cynically (but you can’t really blame us, what with Bowery becoming a new, more expensive Broadway).

We are happy to report we were wrong!

The freestanding slab of concrete is just getting a makeover. It’s becoming what it used to be in 1982 – a Keith Haring Mural. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Haring’s birthday on May 4, the Deitch Projects gallery, which has represented the artist’s estate for more than a decade, along with the artist’s foundation, have hired painters to recreate the iconic work. According to NY Sun, it was Haring’s first major outdoor project, and it existed only for a few months before its Day-Glo colors began to fade under the sun. Haring then painted over the work, destroying his own creation before it could further decompose. Before he wiped it out, however, Haring’s friend, the photographer Tseng Kwong Chi, documented the image (notice how much busier Houston is now, above, compared to 1980-ies, below):

The mural on Houston will be up till December.

Zagat In Green

There’s a new guide book of the Big Apple hitting the stands today. It’s useful, it’s Earth-friendly, and printed on a recycled paper with soy-based ink. Green­opia, cause that’s what it’s called, is a “Zagat for the eco-conscious set”, reports Metro.

Researchers had found nearly 1,600 businesses from salons to shoe stores that were worthy of their green leaf rating system. We’re happy to say that the company lives up to what it preaches: they hired rickshaws to deliver 1,300 books to stores. Revolution Rickshaws, a bicycle cargo delivery company, that helped them with deliveries, is also featured in the guide. “We don’t just cover the organic restaurants and food co-ops. It’s all the things you spend your money on. There’s an alternative for almost anything we do.” – said Ferris Kawar, Greenopia’s VP of sustainability.

If we had any award system here at see-nyc, we’d give the highest prize to Greenopia. I lieu of that we praise them and give them six thumbs up (two from each of us). And we’re buying the book asap of course.

Earth On Our Minds

Photo: Librado Romero, NYT

Today is the Earth Day. You can celebrate it any way you want, but if you happen to live here or visit New York, there’s plenty of free (or almost free) stuff you can see.

Head on to Grand Central Station, to watch Earth-related artwork, photographs, quotes and messages that are projected on two giant pilars in the Main Concourse (between 10 AM and 8 PM). Not only that, but the most beautiful Building in the city is also going to be one of the greenest one, starting from today. Metro-North Railroad has completed the conversion from incandescent light bulbs to longer-lasting compact fluorescent bulbs, saving the Earth and some money on bills.

While we’re at it, Metro reports that Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, leading from Brooklyn to Staten Island, is also replacing conventional necklace lights with energy efficient LEDs.

Since you can’t walk on Verrazano though, go to the Metropolitan Museum and take the elevator straight up to the roof. There’s a huge, foil-wrapped Valentine’s heart, a giant balloon dog and a silhouette of Piglet there. You can see it all for whatever you want to pay (Met is one of the few museums in New York City, where the pay-as-you-wish policy is still in effect), plus an amazing view of Central Park and the beautiful buildings that surround it.

Still not enough?

How about a Rainforest then, right here, in Manhattan? Amazonia Brasil is a 13,000-square-foot exhibition, featuring tropical plants, recreated villages, shamans and photos documenting the life and death of the jungle. Entrance to the South Street Seaport is free today.

Spa Week

It is definitely spring in New York. You can see it everywhere – Cherry Blossoms are starting to pop out (we’ll be in Brooklyn come May, to celebrate Sakura Matsuri, New York City’s “Rite of Spring”; we’ll keep you posted), people start to go out more, they take out summer clothes from their storages and everything seems somewhat fresher.

Not there yet? Prepare yourself for full-bloom spring with a visit to a spa. Especially that, as of Monday, we’re having a Spa Week in the city, with $50 massages, facials, manicures, pedicures and other cures. You can enjoy the discount prices (which are really attractive; you basically pay half price for most treatments) through April 20th.

Just to give you an idea of what to expect: 50-minute pedicure at The Red Door, a super-enriched detoxifying oxygen bath at La Casa Day Spa, a 60 minute hot stone massage at Green Phoenix and a 75 minute deep-pore cleansing facial at the Moonflower Spa. Almost 100 locations in Manhattan are taking part. So hurry up, before Cherry trees have a chance to look better than you.

Shame In the City

“Today is a sad day for New Yorkers and a sad day for New York City. Not only won’t we see the realization of a plan that would have cut traffic, spurred our economy, reduced pollution and improved public health, we will also lose out on nearly $500 million annually for mass transit improvements and $354 million in immediate federal funds”

We don’t always agree with mayor Bloomberg, but this time we couldn’t have put it better ourselves. Shame on you, Albany, for not agreeing on making cars coming into Manhattan below 60th Street pay a fee. We were hoping it would reduce traffic and gas emissions in the city. We were naive, thinking we won’t be scared of crossing Allen on Delancey (where all of the cars are turning to and fro Williamsburg Bridge and cause immense danger, including a recent death of Josephine, “The queen of Delancey”) any more. We were also secretly dreaming about sitting in our apartment in the peak hours and NOT feeling our building shaking cause another heavy truck passed by.

Now we, too, wave those dreams good-bye. Thanks a bunch, Albany. Special thanks to Mr. “Shame-On” Silver. He deserved every bit of the NYTimes editorial that said: “Rarely does one man have a chance to do so much harm to so many…He failed to put New Yorkers’ needs before his personal agenda. That makes him unworthy of his office.”

Punk Is… Expensive

If you are a punk-rocker these days, you have a tough life. And expensive. No clubs to go to, no cheap stores with ripped-up clothes; heck, you can’t even drink cheap wine on the stoop, cause the cops will give you a ticket before you can say “Cheers”.

But that’s nothing compared to what we’ve seen today. Our beloved CBGBs closed in October of 2006 (yes, it was a dump, and no, beer wasn’t cheap there, but at least you could have listened to some really bad/really good bands), Hilly Kristal lost another battle, to cancer, in August last year, and now this. The place that used to be a punk-rock mecca, is now an oasis for the rich. Designer John Varvatos opened his store on Bowery this weekend, taking over CBGBs space. The famous bathroom is gone, the floor already forgot the abuse by moshing army boots and beer spillage, but walls look very similar, with ripped-up posters and ads from the 70’s and 80’s and old records, some of them for sale. Clothes look similar, too. Only – they are contemporary. And cost a fortune.

Let’s play a game. We know it sounds crazy, but say you were an avid Ramones fan today and wanted to dress up like they did, in the 1970-ies. If you went to shop in the new Varvatos store, here’s how much you’d have to spend on one outfit:

1. Vintage Ramones T-shirt – $750 (plus tax)

2. Leather jacket – circa $1,600 (plus tax)

3. Converse sneakers – circa $110 (plus tax)

Plus: you’d need some underwear, socks and skinny jeans (that’d probably set you back another Grand or so). See? It would not be cheap to be apunk-rocker in 2008 in Manhattan. No wonder Punk is dead, right?

But in all seriousness: we find it ironic that stores like these make it sound as if they want to preserve the neighborhood and its past, and we give them points for trying to look cool and gritty, but at the same time they are the reason why people move out of Manhattan. It’s thanks to places like the new Varvatos store that East Village/Lower East Side residents find it hard to live here. Unless they can afford a $750 T-shirt.

Shooting in the LES

Ah-Ha! We got you on April’s Fool Day, didn’t we? Bet you read the title and thought that there was a sniper shooting in Manhattan. Nothing of the sort.

We left the city for a week, and enjoyed a much slower pace of Mid West, only to come back to New York in its best: noisy, crowded and crazier than ever. While doing laundry in the Lower East Side, we noticed a lot of people hanging around on Orchard and Broome, lots of trucks, cables, silver boxes and very serious guys with their earpieces on or talking to their walkie-talkies. And that means only one thing: they are shooting a movie.

So we hung around, too. Turns out, the movie in the making is “New York, I Love You”, which features Natalie Portman and Kevin Bacon among others. According to IMDB, it’s going to be sort of a sequel to a French feature film “Paris, je t’aime” from 2006, only filmed in the five boroughs of NYC. 12 filmmakers will direct a 5-minute film about love, among them the Coen brothers, Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuaron, Wes Craven and Tom Tykwer. Today’s “episode” was directed by Fatih Akin.

Unfortunately, we did not spot any celebrities, cause they were hidden behind the blue window frame:

They were only visible to the all-seeing eye of the camera:

We did, however, come close. If they can shoot in our neighborhood, so can we!

Oh, and if you were planning on parking in the LES tonight, you’d better think twice.