EAST VILLAGE

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 building at 47 East 3rd Street, owned by controversial landlord Alistair Economakis, who has been trying to uproot its rent-stabilized tenants for years in order to create a sprawling manse for himself and his family.  read more »

Of all the new wine bars that have opened in Manhattan in recent months—a record 11 of them during the last Zagat survey alone—Bowery Wine Company at 13 East First Street has perhaps attracted the most vocal following.

“Die yuppie scum!” chanted protesters outside the small sipping spot last Friday night; many wielded placards: “EVICT WINE BARS SAVE THE EAST VILLAGE.”

At least some of the attention can be attributed to the venue’s location on the ground floor of the Avalon Bowery Place luxury apartment complex, one of several shiny new upscale buildings to pop up along the once downtrodden corridor.  read more »

David Kaplan, owner of embattled East Village cocktail cathedral Death & Co., is suing the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) over its refusal to renew his liquor license.

Mr. Kaplan had formally requested a reconsideration of that potentially business-killing decision this past February—a request the S.L.A. has since denied.

In court papers, Mr. Kaplan and his attorney have argued that the proprietors “never defrauded nor made misrepresentations” to the S.L.A.—despite what some critics in the neighborhood have alleged.  read more »

Long-embattled East Village nightspot Le Souk will remain open at least another week.

Proprietors of the North African-themed eatery and hookah bar at 47 Avenue B are appealing their case against the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.), which recently yanked the venue's liquor license.  read more »

The well-heeled but sleepy Sutton Place enclave does not seem particularly well-suited to Manhattan's most renowned British dandy, so perhaps it’s fitting that fashion editor Hamish Bowles has decided to take up residence in the East Village.

The European editor-at-large for U.S. Vogue has gone to contract on a $1.5 million, two-bedroom, eighth-floor co-op at 45 East 9th Street, city records show. The 1,500 square-foot, duplex apartment is outfitted with “all the bells and whistles” one would expect of a male fashionista’s residence, according to the Corcoran listing: A gracious entry foyer leading to a spacious double-height living room with domed decorative ceiling and romantic Juliet balcony overlooking the living room with a wall of windows.  read more »

The Department of City Planning is forging ahead with its plan to rezone 114 blocks of the East Village and the Lower East Side to limit the height and density of future development, despite allegations of racism from community groups in the Bowery and Chinatown, which were not included in the rezoning.  read more »

As a steady rain soaked the village this past weekend, Dean Wareham ambled down Avenue A, umbrella aloft, a slight bounce in his step, and watched the cabs race down the street. He wondered aloud whether his roof would spring a leak under the rain, and lamented his landlord’s decision to raise the rent by several hundred dollars a few months back. He and his wife have been thinking about moving to Brooklyn, he said, but they don’t know if the rents in Williamsburg will really save them any money. (Williamsburg is the new old East Village, right?) Plus his son lives close by, with his mother, and he likes being near them. “How are the rents where you live?” he asked.  read more »

Eater reports that sommelier Paul Grieco's long-awaited Terroir wine bar opens tonight, after some delay, on East 12th Street.

"There's not another wine bar that's run by such a wine figure in the city, I don't think," said Mr. Grieco's partner, chef Marco Canora.

Last week, The Observer sat down with both Mr. Grieco and Mr. Canora to discuss the project, their partnership, and wine bar economics. (Read the interview here.)

Expect "off-the-beaten-path" kinds of wines, as well as a substantial food menu.

"I have a huge advantage because I have this restaurant just down the block," said Mr. Canora, referring to the partners' Hearth restaurant at the corner of First Avenue and East 12th Street. "Somebody else who wants to open a 500-square-foot wine bar and they want to do food? Well, their hands are very tied as to what they can do... I have an entire kitchen over here."

Parker Posey has officially sold her 1845 brownstone on East 10th Street for $135,000 above the list price, according to city records. The Observer's Max Abelson broke the news last month that the fourth-floor apartment belonging to the "East Village embodiment" was up for sale for $1.175 million and that Ms. Posey was moving to a $1.35 million co-op at 30 Fifth Avenue.  read more »

Death & Co. co-owner David Kaplan contacted me to express a few concerns about today's Observer article on him and his ongoing liquor-license saga. (Read it here.)

One of his complaints involves my use of the term "bar" to describe his business.

He prefers the term "restaurant lounge," partly because it's more accurate but, perhaps more importantly, also because saying otherwise has the potential to worsen his plight.  read more »

DNR is reporting that fashion designer John Varvatos' new boutique in the former CBGB space on the Bowery will feature "a permanent stage, which will be home to a new-artist performance series."

The live music component is part of Mr. Varvatos' self-described effort "to honor what [CBGB] was, instead of seeing it turn into a deli or a bank or whatever."

Mr. Varvatos isn't so nostaglic for the old punk club to restore its famously seedy, smelly, graffiti-strewn restrooms, however.  read more »

"It's a sad day," said a tall man in shades with shaggy gray hair, brandishing two orange candlesticks and a big black magic marker.

He scrawled something indiscernible on the shuttered storefront at 315 Bowery shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

More legible: "RIP HILLY WE'LL MISS YOU," among other graffiti, was spray painted in large letters across the shutters. Flowers and lit candles were arranged along the sidewalk.

A small group of guys wielding notebooks and cameras loitered nearby, presumably awaiting comment from passers-by -- some of whom hadn't the foggiest idea what was going on.

"Who's Hilly?" asked one curious observer in a white knit cap and red soccer jersey. "Did he sing in a band or something?"  read more »

The Bowery remembers Hilly Kristal, founder of the former punk-rock mecca CBGB, in its own special way.  read more »

Perhaps not coincidentally, New Yorkers are cutting back slightly on nights out per week (2.0) and on their nightly drink intake (3.2), compared to years past, the new survey finds.

Also, meatpacking is still hot. And yet not. Read survey gurus Tim and Nina Zagat's comments on the new trends here.

More survey highlights after the jump.  read more »