NY Street Art

After reading about this new art project that is being installed at the former SuperDive. I was told that it is par tof a larger project sponsored by the New Museum.

I got to thinking about vacant lots and art, and the history in the Lower East Side that took this idea and ran with it. Part of the squatter history was to install art exhibits in vacant spaces, alongside living spaces. It was an exciting way to show art, underground, subversive, raw, stripping away the financial aspect of the gallery/pimp model that is the norm.

Now we come full circle where shows like the one in SuperDive are sanctioned by a prominent museum, as well as the landlord. The future has arrived, where every work of art is squeaky clean and approved.

In contrast, I urge you to read this incredible online book from 98 Bowery's Marc Miller, "ABC No Rio Dinero," that tells the story in words and photos of how ABC No Rio came to be, opening shortly after the 1980 "Real Estate Show" was put up in a vacant building around the corner.



Credit: Real Estate poster by Rebecca Howland, from here.

Avenue D

This just in from a friend who has moved away from New York many years ago - a photo from Avenue D where he used to live. While he thinks he got it from this flickr account, this particular photo isn't there any more, so we can't exactly give credit where credit is due. He wrote this remembrance of this view:

I remember the rainy day when the back facade fell off the building behind the wreck and left a bathtub hanging in mid air 3 flights up, suspended by its plumbing. This photo was in a nice collection of 80s LES images which I thought I'd bookmarked but this photo is no longer there (!?). I saved this one because it's so pretty. The more I stare at it, the more the wreck looks like a slain minotaur in the ruins from the fall of Rome.

Gone & Done

The 100 year old Shore Hotel at Coney Island is now a pile of dust. However, the Shore Theater has been landmarked (photo above from this year's Mermaid Parade).

Why one and not the other? Maybe to create the illusion that Coney Island isn't quickly disappearing? Goodbye Coney.

Before:
After:

Photo credits:
2007 Shore Hotel, Save Coney Island
2010 Shore Hotel rubble, Amusing the Zillion

TSP

This video is a little long, badly edited and ends abruptly, but there are some good images in there if you can find the patience to stick with it. Don't forget to vote tomorrow.

Clayton Patterson

Thanks Janice for pointing out that the full film of Captured is available online. Compelling history of the LES of the past 30-plus years through the lens Clayton Patterson. Watch it.

Watch more free documentaries

Holland House

While perusing my mother's liquor cabinet this past Passover, I found, deep in the back, four bottles of mixer dating from the late '60's to early '70's. I've tried to search around to give a more precise date, but I can't find any good information on the bottles' history.

They are Holland House brand cocktail mixers for Whiskey Sour (two from different bottle eras), Daiquiri and Old Fashioned and they were manufactured in Woodside, Queens, which is where she lived when she purchased them. In essence, she was a locavore. One bottle still has the price of $1.69. Today,it sells for $4.49 and the photo on the bottle hasn't changed much.

Holland House was purchased by Mott's in the 1990's. They also make cooking wines.

According to this article, Holland House was possibly named after the hotel where a sour drink called the Widow's Kiss, was invented, the Holland House Hotel in New York in 1895.

And whose confidently sour mouth could have inspired the complex kick in the pants known as the Widow's Kiss, a pleasantly tongue-curling mix of Calvados, Benedictine, Chartreuse, lemon and Angostura bitters dreamed up in 1895 by George Kappeler of New York's Holland House Hotel?

The Holland House Hotel was on Fifth Avenue and 30th Street and still stands. It's an office building and in the ground floor has a Valley National Bank.

George Kappeler wrote a book about drink mixes in 1895 with a lot of weird ingredients. You can buy it for $29.95 here.

The first reference I find to Holland House drink mixes is in a 1949 ad in the Pittsburgh Press announcing how easy it is to make a cocktail now. The address is 126 W 22nd St. and it sold for 75 cents. By 1958 the address in the ads had changed to Woodside and was selling for 85 cents in Wisconsin.

194 Avenue A and Trolley Cars

In light of the fact that the potential new owner of the establishment that may occupy 194 Avenue A (formerly The Raven and aka 501 E 12th St.) has decided to send his application to the State Liquor Authority without first coming before the Community Board as is usual and customary, I thought I would try to find a little history and see what other nefarious activities I could uncover at this spot located on Avenue A and 12th Street.

But what I found was much more interesting: Avenue A used to have a cable or trolley car running down it. I know this because two children of a saloon keeper at 194 Avenue A were killed by a speeding motorman in 1906. According to the article the car was from 14th Street and heading toward Williamsburg. The precursor to the L train!

(Side note: What I like most about that article how it calls one of the men attempting to attack the murderer "an Italian" several times throughout, sounding more like an epithet than a description.)

The Williamsburg bridge opened in 1904 and very shortly thereafter the trolley line was in place to connect commuters to and from Brooklyn.

Also in 1906 a woman died on the trolley car while it was in front of 224 Avenue A. This article also reveals that there were "car barns" at 14th Street and Avenue B, as well as a lot of fainting by the girls accompanying the grandmother. Why don't girls faint any more during stress?

There is (or was?) a group called the Village Crosstown Trolley Coalition that has proposed a plan to revive the crosstown trolley with a light rail across 8th Street, connecting east and west, basically following the path of the current M8 bus.

In this 1936 photo of First Houses housing development on 3rd Street and Avenue A, you can see the trolley tracks on Avenue A.

(Source: NYCHA)

Keepers Bakery

Keepers Self Storage on East 10th Street, has a screaming awning that blinds you from what is really important - the beautiful building. Despite its designation as an official landmark building due to being one of the last of its kind in this formerly industrial neighborhood, Keepers still insists on defacing the exterior with their hideous signage. But avert your eyes and behold the wheat bundles that adorn the facade.

Built in 1928, the Wheatsworth Bakery was the same company that invented Milk Bone dog biscuits (then they were called Malatoid)! While several articles credit F.H. Bennett with inventing the dog biscuit, in fact he bought the recipe from a British butcher who tossed out a bad tasting biscuit and found his dog liked it just fine.

And in one important piece of trivia, F.H. Bennett also built the Gingerbread Castle in New Jersey which is near Jenny Jump.The company made all things whole wheat and sold to Nabisco in 1931. The Wheatsworth cracker you find in today's supermarket is from the very same company and used to be manufactured right here, just blocks away from where you are probably sitting.

According to the Landmarks Commission report, their first factory was located at 138 Avenue D after the company was first formed in 1907. In 1903 it was listed by the fire department as a 5 story tenement building. It was then sold in 1906 by Jacob Berlin. By 1930 it was designated an unsafe building and demolished in 1945. In 1949 the Jacob Riis Houses were built there, named for the man who documented the awful tenement living and made strides to build something better. To read memories from five of the original tenants in 1999, click here.

It is across the street from the famous shark of Avenue D.

Other landmarked buildings in the East Village:

• The New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch at 310 East 10th Street (1904, built to provide the community with access to educational resources and literature)
• First Houses (1935-36, just four blocks south of the square, was the country’s earliest public, low-income housing project)
• Charlie Parker House, 151 Avenue B (home to the noted alto saxophonist and jazz composer from late 1950 through October 1954);
• Children’s Aid Society, Tompkins Square Lodging House for Boys and Industrial School, 296 East 8th Street (1886, constructed to provide for homeless young newsboys and bootblacks)
• (former) Public School 64, 605 East 9th Street (1903-04, C.B.J. Snyder, architect).

Mackerelville

Photo Source: NYPL

It has come to my attention, via Luc Sante's Low Life, that the area bounded between 11th and 13th Streets and 1st Avenue and Avenue C used to be known as Mackerelville, and was dominated by the Mackerelville Gang and Germans. It was considered the worst and hellish neighborhood in New York during the second half of the 19th Century, filled with cholera, filth, crime and densely packed families. There are many references to Mackerelville during the Civil War era, usually as a shorthand to describe the filthiest scum of the earth. As a key example of this, Robert Penn Warren, in a 1961 article for Life Magazine, used Mackerelville next to the words "gutter rat" to describe how young men from different walks of life came together in the Civil War battlefield.

So, in an effort to reclaim history, I hope all of my faithful readers will now start to call this area by its historical name, Mackerelville, instead of the North East Village, my former nomenclature for this area.

New York Shitty blog found a reference to a Mackerelville in Red Hook, Brooklyn. So there were TWO? I will stick to the Manhattan version. But honestly, in my research, I never came across this reference anywhere else.

A book written in 1886 called "Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations" describes Mackerelville as such:

The region which most engrosses the attention of the police is that conspicuously known as "Mackerelville," which for some years past has borne rather an unsavory reputation. While there are many deserving and worthy persons dwelling in the locality,quite a different type of humanity also makes its home there. The neighborhood in question is comprised in Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, and First avenue, and Avenues A, B and C. It harbors a wild gang of lawbreakers, ready and willing to commit any kind of lawless act, in which the chances of escape are many and detection slight. Notwithstanding the decimation of its ranks by frequent and well-deserved trips to the penitentiary of its members, for every crime from murder down, it appears to survive, to the terror of the respectable poor living in the neighborhood and the constant dread of the police officer. It is a locality and a gang much dreaded at night, but not nearly so much now as formerly, for when a member commits a crime of any importance now he is invariably ferreted out, arrested and punished.

This same book describes the demise of Mary Maguire, a member of the Mackerelville gang:

For the love of one of these little girls, Mary Maguire, a member of the notorious Mackerelville gang met a tragic end, at the hands of a jealous rival in City Hall park, by being stabbed to death. Little Mary was only fourteen years of age. She was afterwards sent to the House of the Good Shepherd

In July 1857 the famous gang, the Dead Rabbits, were supposedly coming to Mackerelville for a riot with the 40 Thieves and Atlantic Blues to start a fight with the Metropolitans. Some were seen crowded around 13th Street and Avenue A and there was word that gang members waited with bricks and stones on the roofs. Read more about this interesting event, and the lack of police presence here. Later that week a Letter to the Editor said that there was no riot at all, and the story was a fabrication.

In December 1858 in a letter to the NY Times, a writer laments the rowdyism in the city, and sites a long and bloody fight at Tompkins Square Park where Mackerelville gangs took over the northeast corner of the park, with no police in sight. Also, a 19 year old Mackerelville thug harassed a 14 year old girl all the way from her school on 10th Street to her Avenue B home.

In July 1864 a "desperate thief," Mackerelville gang member and army deserter was re-arrested after being on the lam after breaking out of jail. He had originally been arrested for robbing a man at the corner of Third Avenue and 8th Street. His arrest was the result of an "exciting chase" along Fourth Avenue, which ended when he ran into an oyster saloon at 12th Street and Broadway.

In August 1865 Mackerelville gang members had a fight in a liquor store at 438 2nd Avenue (near 25th Street and which has had a series of failed restaurants at this location in recent years though I'm not sure what is there now) where a man was stabbed and another had his jaw broken.

In September 1865 John McNamara, a resident of East 11th Street near First Avenue, was arrested for stabbing Michael Doherty three times in the face during a drunken brawl. In that same month, two Mackerelville cart drivers named John Mulligan and John Fagan were arrested for attempted robbery while walking near 275 Avenue A. (Note: this address was near 18th Street, when Avenue A wasn't interrupted by Stuyvesant Town)

Also in September 1865 one young man exposed the ways of the Mackerelville gang, whereby they made friends with employed young men and then coerced them into robbing their employers. The details of this complicated scheme are explained here, and have to do with making wax keys and other nefarious methods of bilkery.

In a book about the Civil War, there is a reference to Mackerelville as one of 60 telegraph lines to General Butler's headquarters, "which was supposed to contain the worst population in New York."

In January 1866 a group of Mackerelville thugs went into a bar at 160 First Avenue, had some beers and refused to pay. One of the thugs, John Dugan of 188 E 11th Street was shot in the arm by the saloon keeper after a fight ensued. The saloon keeper was arrested. You can now live at Mr. Dugan's address for $1575 per month.

In an 1873 reference in the NY Times the 17th Ward is described as "what was once known as Mackerelville" in an article about a police picnic in Excelsior Park near Yonkers for the poorest children of the "overcrowded ward." It is described as densely crowded with each house having 10 to 24 families inside. The picnic gathering place was at the precinct, located at 5th Street and 1st Avenue, at which point the children will be marched to the pier and taken aboard a barge, complete with music from the Governor's Island band.

Another 1873 article wonders what would happen if an earthquake shook up Mackerelville to reveal the countless dead bodies that must be buried beneath.

In an 1881 article about missionaries, Mackerelville was described by a minister as "the nearest place to hell in New York City" and remembers first arriving and being hooted out of town, and in one case having hot water thrown on his head.

In August 1904 a gang of Mackerelville thugs lured a 19 year old Irish girl onto a boat in the East River, robbed and beat her and left her on some rocks to die. According to the report, because she was allegedly drunk at the time of the assault, they locked her up and made no attempt to find the culprits.

That's where the references seem to end, though I am sure more research would reveal a lot of crime ridden history during those years. What is missing from this record is the history of the large German population that lived here, and what they were doing at that time.

Burger Klein

Most of the East Village bloggers and photographers of note have written and photographed the Burger Klein sign on Avenue A between 2nd & 3rd Street. But there still are no good answers about this building, or the furniture store that it used to be. If you think I have answers, you are wrong. But I did find some interesting tidbits about this plot of land.

There are no names on the door, and it always looks locked up, but somebody must be using those upper floors. But who? And if not, may I?

In 1922 the building had a CofO to use the building for a store on the first floor, and the rest for storage. Then a new COO (new building?) was issued in 1960/61 for use as a store and showroom. It is currently classified as a loft building. There are records for this address going back to 1901. It was designated an unsafe building in 1912, 1925, 1940 and 1959. I suspect that the current building was built or extensively renovated in 1960 after the last unsafe notice. Recent violations against the building appear to revolve around their elevator. But who is using the elevator if nobody occupies those upper floors?

Here are some very brief and inconclusive findings about 28-30 Avenue A.

In 1870, John Surratt, a conspirator who wanted to kidnap Lincoln and was thought to be involved with his assasination, made a speech at Concordia Hall, but few people showed up.

Approximately 1872 - 1882 it was Concordia Hall, headquarters of Tenth Assembly District Republican Association, which was embroiled in a scandal of stealing money from the party, according to a series of reports by the NY Times. There were also social functions held here as well as cigar-maker meetings and boxing matches.

My favorite clip on Concordia Hall might be this one from 1885's Annual Register.

A fierce fight occurred at Concordia Hall New York where a Socialist meeting attended by 2,000 persons was being held A quarrel broke out between the dynamite and anti dynamite factions which ended in the police having to storm the hall and after much resistance many of the rioters were arrested

Apparently, "dynamite" means "gun."

1902 - 1903 - 1911 - Progress Assembly Rooms were located here.

Most famously, in 1911 a 48-page speech was made here by labor leader Big Bill Haywood called "The General Strike" for the benefit of the Buccafori defense. Buccafori was in jail (surrounded by "human wolves") and Haywood was making a case to strike on his behalf. I can't tell what Buccafori was in jail for, other than being a labor leader. If someone feels like reading it and telling me what it's about, that would be nice. I have no patience for such loquaciousness. You can download the speech and read it on your Kindle.

In 1910, the Progress Assembly Rooms was a popular place for dancing, during the dance craze of 1910.

1917-1918 - Shaarei Groda Lodge was located here.

1960?-1989 Burger Klein furniture store

1989 or 1995-2000 - A theater space called "Context" was located here. There are several references to performances here through 2000 but none before 1995 (pre-internet?). I found a phone number and got an answering machine that said, among other items of interest that "Context Studios phone number is a misprint; please make a note of it and pass it on." So I have. If you know of anybody associated with Context, you might want to tell them that Amazon owes them some money. According to Time Out, Burger Klein moved out in 1989 and Context moved in. According to their Facebook page, Context's digs that they moved to in 2000 in Brooklyn will be closing at the end of this month.

2000-present - Gracefully, the deli that I think of first when I recall the striking deli workers who were paid less than minimum wage. I would have sworn that was in the 1990's but according to Time Out, Gracefully didn't move in until 2000. From what I can gather, the building might be owned by Singh Realty, which might be connected to Gracefully. Hard to tell without making a lot of phone calls that I'm not inclined to make.

One more interesting thing: there used to be an alley that ran behind this building called Mechanic's Place or Merchant's Place. There is no sign of it on Google maps other than trees behind the building, which presumably was once a small thoroughfare.

Not My Irish Roots

Last week a package arrived in the mail from my mother-in-law containing one of the most amazing documents I could have hoped to receive from her. A check for millions you think? Yes, that would be amazing, but alas, it was then actually the second most amazing document I could have received. It was a copy of a self-published memory book made for my husband's great great grandparents (Susanna & William), produced in 1910 just after their death, by their 2nd son George, elder brother of his great grandmother.

In it George describes his parents and the love they had for them (along with his description of their good looks), but the best part of the booklet was where he typed up several letters written to him by Susanna & William after he asked them to put down information about their Irish heritage.

The result is an incredible insight into the minds of his 19th century ancestors that is unheard of in my family, as no such records exist of anybody beyond some very old photos of my great grandparents. Ah, the joys of being married to a WASP.

In a nutshell, what we found out were several salient facts:

- His great great great grandfather was a terrible drunk (in Ireland, how scarce that must have been) and an architect/builder. While she grew up during the potato famine, there was nary a mention of it, though when she was a young teenager her (drunken) father moved them to a small farm that they worked as a family. No mention was made of what crops they grew (or didn't grow?)

- Susanna remembers her grandmother (I think that would make it 5 greats) meeting and being influenced by Charles Wesley (founder of the Methodist church who toured Ireland quite a bit), thus setting the stage for the next few generations to produce some very serious Methodist preachers.

- Susanna had a set of twins, her 8th & 9th children, who died after one day. Her 10th and last child, also a boy, born a year after the twins, died at 10 months of age. Her descriptions of her grief, written 25 years after their death was so raw and powerful, her desire to die from her profound sadness so strong, it jumped off the page.

- There are several sets of twins in every generation, and his grandmother was half a set (which of course we already knew). What we didn't know was that his grandmother (and her twin) had a second set of younger twin brothers.

- One of Susanna's sisters died on a ship on her way to Quebec as a young woman. Susanna blamed the mishap on a drunken captain (see the theme here?) who ran the ship aground. She reported that they tried to put 80 people on a single lifeboat, thus drowning them all.

- Some speculation that their family wasn't always from Ireland, but that a few generations earlier had come from England along with William The Orange to invade (circa 1696).

- His great great grandfather (also named William) came to the US in 1870 as a Methodist preacher, and was assigned to several places in Wisconsin, moving every 2 years. There is a Methodist church in Wisconsin that recently celebrated its 125th anniversary with a tribute to William. They finally settled in North Dakota, where it seems that cousins still live.

- William & Susanna grew up in neighboring towns but met at the Methodist Church that was between them. Today, one of the towns is in Ireland and the other is in Northern Ireland.

- William & Susanna were married in Skibberreen in 1863, near where William was preaching at the time. That church burned down in 2006, though it had been turned into a restaurant. The replacement church doesn't look that interesting, so Ireland also has succumbed to bad architecture.

- I like very much that this particular family line came down the pike in the form of a lot of Williams, my son's middle name.

- If you ever meet someone with the first name Blaney, I'll bet he's a cousin.

Urban Housing & George F. Pelham

While trying to find an alternate resource to the incorrect dates that the Department of Buildings designates as the construction date of my apartment building, I found an interesting website from the Office of Metropolitan History that shows indeed that it was built in 1904, a date that makes so much more sense.





A more interesting note is the architect, George F. Pelham, who was one of the largest housing developers at the turn of the century. According to this website, he utilized something called the "dumbbell" design of tenements in a new way, which I thought so presciently referred to landlords, but in fact refers to the design where there is an airshaft so that apartment buildings comply with the 1879 housing code whereby every room has to have ventilation (ie a window).

George Pelham built a series of nine connected buildings on East 14th Street that was "an experiment in in large-scale housing development for immigrants." Many buildings in the city have a similar look to these Pelham buildings on East 14th Street, including mine.

What I like about the Pelham buildings that I have found, is that they include the level of architectural detail that contributed to New York's unique look. Even though he was building places for immigrants to live, he still included exterior artwork that is quickly disappearing. Every new building completed recently has zero detail on the outside, these soulless boxes with fake brick facades (that we know fall down pretty quickly) and no attention to any kind of style. They are as though designed by children.

Look at these photos of Pelham's 81 Irving Place.

Pelham was also a significant architect in Morningside Heights, (long with 2 other firms) another neighborhood with lovely buildings designed for the working classes. He also built Hudson View Gardens in Washington Heights, another development for the middle class that has retained its architectural integrity over the years.

More... I can't resist

Christadora House is 5 Years Old and Avenue B residents had been suspicious of it. It has a debt of $6,000 in 1902, down from $12,000 in just 5 years.

Settlement Houses challenge each other in track and field, including Christadora House, Hartley House, Maxwell House and more, in 1905.

Amazing hats from Salt Lake City, in 1898

A flock of passenger pigeons, which were almost extinct for 20 years, are reported seen in Falls City (Nebraska?) in 1897.

What did they think of the upcoming Brooklyn Bridge in 1880? They predicted nobody would use it.

Widow with 2 children commits suicide by jumping off the roof of 145 1st Ave. (9th Street)

The finest subway in the world opens October 1904

Dr. Otterbourg Specialty Private Diseases of Men including seminal weakness, gleet, hydrocele and more. No mercury used.

Old Newspapers 1880-1910 courtesy Libarary of Congress

So John Dickerson twittered about this website that you can search all these newspapers at once. It is really amazing. Here are some tidbits that I found:

St. Paul Daily Globe (Saint Paul, Minn) Dec 16, 1889
The Thumb Ring in New York
It has taken a long time for the thumb ring to make any headway in New York, but it is very slowly gaining ground. Mr. Dixey was the first man to wear a ring upon his thumb, and he has clung to it tenaciously for two years.

NY Tribune, Feb 17, 1906
Try To Wreck Train
Two attempts were made last night to wreck an eastbound Pennsylvania passenger train at Tiffin. Both failed through mere chance and lack of knowledge of the train schedules. About a mile east of the village a cross tie was wedged into a frog.

NY Tribune, June 17, 1909
Three Alleged Burglars Taken
Three men were arrested yesterday at 16th Street and 1st Avenue by Headquarters detectives, the police charging that goods valued at more than $1,000 were found in their possession.... Salvatore Pazza of No. 209 East 12th Street, Angelo Leprinc of No. 432 East 12th Street and John Lopresti of No. 399 East 12th Street... their pictures were already in the Rogues Gallery

NY Tribune, June 30, 1908
This is pretty much an entire page of suicides, murder, death, mayhem and a musician's hands were blown off.

PLUS on the SAME PAGE:

Cooking Asparagus
Dieticians say that asparagus contains much nutriment, is very digestible and easily assimilated, even by invalids, though it is not good for persons with a gouty tendency.

And so on. Search for yourself. It's a hoot.

Ode to Grandad and the Malted Milk Shake

So I'm browsing around the interwebs, looking at this and that, and I come along this incredible tidbit from Lost City: Malted Milk Shakes were invented by Walgreens. Who knew? Who even knew that Walgreens has been around that long? Not me, that is certain. And what's with the Wal prefix? Walmart was invented in the 1940's and presumably named after Walton, the founder. How did this happen?

Firstly, I never knew Walgreens had an early history in New York. While they started out in Chicago, they quickly expanded to New York by the late 1920's. They must have disappeared from the city during my formative years because I do not remember ever seeing one, but in recent years that one appeared in Union Square, making me think that they were an expansion act from somewhere else. But no, they have history here.

Malted milk shakes make me think of my late and beloved father-in-law. I'd never had a malted milk shake until he insisted on driving us far away from his Montana home, to neighboring town (35 miles "down the road") Big Timber, specifically to have a malted milk shake at Cole Drug. Cole Drug is so old fashioned they don't even have a website. We went there a couple more times over the years. Big Timber is a backwater town that is reputed to be swarming with celebrities, though I've never seen one at Cole Drug. In fact, I don't think I ever even saw another human being in Big Timber, it is one sleepy town. But not sleepy enough to not have its own website.

Grandad, New Years Even 2003/4 at Chico Hot Springs - He probably liked a Margarita more than a Malted Milk Shake, but not by much

And I can't resist putting in this photo of dogsledding at Chico.

And finally, you think Montana is so different from New York? They don't want new people moving, complaining and opening Starbucks either.

Lamppost on Fire

What excitement! As I was sitting here typing about Nellie Bly and the murdered woman of Second Ave. my son jumped up and said, "What was that??" as though something loud and explosive had happened. I heard nothing, even though I was sitting 2 feet away from him. Am I deaf, old, engrossed, or all three?

He ran to the window, and sure enough, a lamppost was on fire. Being on the top floor, we have an aerial view and saw flames shooting up from the head of the lamp. They quickly went out, maybe because of the rain, but it was still smoking. Imagining fire coursing through the wires, setting somebody on fire, I called 911 and Rescue Me arrived within a few minutes. I couldn't hear them calling their money "cabbage" or each other "asshole" which was disappointing. They fiddled around, did something or other, and then left. No more smoke.

On that note, my favorite sex scene, ever. Thank you Gina Gershon.

Haunted House of Second Ave.

This little house on Second Avenue has attracted my attention for a long time, mostly due to its lack of restoration. If you focus just on this one building you can travel back in time. The mannequin in the window seems to move around every now and then, and once, not long ago, I saw two elderly people lackadaisically scraping molding and tiles in front.

This weekend, I stopped to snap a photo and a man stopped and told us that he's lived here for 51 years and knew the story of the house. Here is what he told us: It used to be a place that sold tuxedos and formal wear. The family had several children, but one of them, a daughter, was raped and murdered in the top floor, possibly in the 1940's (note: it was actually 1974). The killer was never found. The children (or one of them and a spouse?) still live there and refuse to renovate or change anything. The top floor is exactly the way it was when the daughter was murdered and you can still see the powder where the cops dusted for fingerprints. This man had been inside once and was witness to its originality. He said they have no intention of selling or changing or even of renting out the storefront.

The name of the family is Sopolsky, and the building was built in 1915.

Then, our historian, ran back into the store where he works, the Indian fabric store that faces the haunted house.


Historical notes: I found this on a flickr page with a photo of the building;

In the late 19th century, irene stenard's temporary home for women stood at this address.

here's a pic of the building in the late 19th century: digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/11.gif

the address was made famous in a book written byNellie Bly
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

Nellie Bly was an investigative reporter, and took an assignment for the new york world newspaper Blackwell Island (roosevelt island).

Under the pseudonym "nellie brown" she checked herself into the boarding house at 84 second avenue, and began feigning insanity in order to get herself locked up at Bellevue, and hopefully transported to the insane asylum at Blackwell Island. Here's an account of her story, in a book "ten days in a mad-house" digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/ madhouse.html

According to nyc dob records, there was a demolition permit for this building in 1909 so the current building was built sometime after that.

Google books has one mention that this address once was the headquarters of the united cloak and suit designers mutual aid association.

NYC dof records indicate the building has been owned by the sopolsky family since 1970.

New York Times archives indicate a bunch of real estate leases, some minor tidbits associated with that address including a murder of one of the Sopolskys there in 1974.

i pulled this one up
"Metropolitan Briefs
Jan 18, 1974, New York Times
From the Police Blotter:
The nude body of a 40-year-old woman propietor of a tailor shop that rents tuxedos on the Lower East Side was found bludgeoned to death. The victim was Helen Sopolsky of 84 Second Avenue, near fifth Street, whose shop is one flight up at that address. The motive of the attack was not determined immediately...."

How Nellie Bly became an amusement park, I have no idea but I used to pass it on the way to a soccer field that was just beyond it. I don't know if it is still operating.

Operation Pressure Point

In the mid-1980's the police swarmed the East Village one block at a time arresting a massive number of drug dealers, users, buyers, dozens at a time. They drove convoys down the street, entering buildings, pulling people out, very publicly. These actions were the first in a series that completely changed the character of the neighborhood and opened the door for businesses to move in that could attract a level of clientele with cash in pocket. Turns out those businesses are mostly bars, restaurants and frozen yogurt stores. Getting rid of the squats, covering up graffiti and other techniques to "clean" the neighborhood were consistent over many years, and largely successful.

Operation Pressure Point was followed by Operation TNT that focused more on the crack trade, and the concept of making buys and busting the dealers. This operation was less visible and outwardly scary than its previous mode.

Koch, and the chief of police, ward, were said to drive along with the raids, hiding in the vans, to oversee the project.

Operation Pressure Point in action. I love that the photo has that heap of garbage that cannot contain itself in the empty lot in the lower left of the photo. That lot is today a fancy rental unit.

Photos of that pile of rubble, then and now:

Reading: NY Times, 1989, Drugs in America, 1998, The Villager, 2009

The Photos Keep On Coming

Rivington Street
8th Street, far east... possibly?
10th St & Ave. B. And how it looks now.
12th Street & Ave. B. They are mentioned in an article in 1989 in the New York Times and we think this is what it looks like now. The photos just don't quite match up, but it's the only place on the block that makes sense.

Tom McGlynn...saw him just this past New Years Day
2nd Street & Ave. A, Look at the wall now via google.
Not sure which block ... past Ave. D toward East River.

More Photos from the 80's

Third Street - Hell's Angels
Bandshell in East River Park
11th Street & Avenue A