The local paper for Downtown wn IT WAS HIS KIND OF TOWN < P. 12
WEEK OF NOVEMBER
10-16 2016
Performers Alex Farlow, Jeff Leatherwood and Marissa Ranalli rehearsing “Company.” Photo: Kerri Kearse
COMMUNITY THEATER IN THE BIG CITY St. Bart’s Players welcome ‘Company’ BY CHRISTOPHER MOORE
It’s community theater, but with a big-city twist. “It’s such a different thing in New York City,” says Jeff Leatherwood, who plays boyish Bobby in the St. Bart’s Players production of “Company,” opening Nov. 10. “We’re six blocks from Broadway and there are so many options for people.” And yet the St. Bart’s Players, born in 1927, are still around to call themselves New York City’s longestrunning not-for-profit community theater company. More than 100 members pay annual dues of $75 ($25 for those under age 25) to participate directly in something they love: creating theater. Many members are also congregants at St. Bartholomew’s Church, which provides significant administrative and logistical help, along with a home base for productions. Leatherwood, 36, had been a professional actor, but now he works in communications for the Ford Foundation. “Company” marks his first show in six years and his inaugural stint with St. Bart’s. So he’s seen up close how community theater compares with the professional variety. “It’s different because to me – the word community says it. Everybody is pitching in and doing everything to help. It’s ‘let’s build a set in the barn and put on a
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Maya Feero worked on her mural segment Wednesday afternoon. While some students invested 12 hours on their creations, Feero spent six hours on hers because of last week’s poor weather. Photo: Diamond Naga Siu
AT FIT, THE PAINTING IS ON THE WALL Illustration students created murals commemorating the city’s resilience after the Chelsea bombing BY DIAMOND NAGA SIU
They perched on benches, ladders and stepstools, applying vivid colors to the wall. Fashion Institute of Technology students lined 28th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues on a Wednesday afternoon to paint murals as their final project of
ience due to that bombing that happened in Chelsea [in September].” She drew faces adorned with iconic New York and Chelsea images, such as taxis for the city and flowers for the floral district. Feero said that she wanted to capture the diversity of the people in the area. Other students painted neon signs, dancers and pigeons — all symbols of what Chelsea and New York’s resilience means for them. Ian Beeck was working on an
the semester. Maya Feero, a senior studying illustration at FIT, said that drawing and painting on the outside walls of the school is a tradition for senior illustration majors. But the school plans to tear down this wall in the near future for expansion purposes. “We would do chalk drawings on this wall, but they decided this time to make murals on the wall that they’re going to be tearing down,” Feero said. “The theme is supposed to be resil-
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FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He first writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereflect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice
9-16
MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20
2015
In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS
The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits
SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS
A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311
n OurTownDowntow
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for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced
2 City Arts 3 Top 5 8 Real Estate 10 15 Minutes
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illustration of a strong, fashionable woman. He thought she captured the spirit of Seventh Avenue, whose alternate name is Fashion Avenue. “This brings in elements of the architecture and flowers, and I wanted this to be very statuesque and powerful,” Beeck said. “When I think of Chelsea, I think of models, fashion — kind of like strength — and I’m going to try getting a motion shot.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
VIOLENT CRIME RISES IN RIVERSIDE PARK Several incidents, including a rape and assaults, have happened in the last few months BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
Riverside Park has seen a spike in violent crime, including incidents of rape, robbery and assault, according to an analysis of NYPD data by a city parks advocate. Altogether, violent crime increased 25 percent within the city’s 1,500 parks in the year ending June 30, according to Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates. Riverside Park had recorded 41 total crimes in the year ending July 1, trailing only Flushing Meadow Corona Park in Queens, Croft found. Riverside had 18 violent crimes during the period, ranking it fourth citywide and first in Manhattan in that department. “I think that would surprise people,” Croft said. “It’s a very heavily used park and quite frankly the city doesn’t allocate enough resources. They allocate a fraction of the dedicated park police that that park needs.” In August, a woman reported being raped in the park near Riverside Drive
Photo: Charley Lhasa via Flickr and 70th Street, one of seven similar incidents in Riverside Park over a period of two months. Also in August, a group of teens on bicycles robbed an elderly man. Also, a woman walking her dog had to fight off a man trying to grope her. Between April 1 and June 30, four robberies, one felony assault and five
grand larcenies were reported, according to Croft’s research. Officials at the 20th Precinct declined to comment for this story, the 24th Precinct could not be reached and the department’s office of Deputy Commissioner, Public Information issued a statement saying park crime makes up 1 percent of all city crime.
“City parks represent 14 percent of New York City land mass, which makes them one of the safest places in the city and the country,” the statement said. The city’s Parks & Recreation Department issued a statement saying the safety of park visitors is “a priority.” “Thanks to NYPD, with support from Parks Enforcement Patrol, crime
in parks remains low,” the statement read. Croft suggested that adding more officers from the Parks Department to patrol the park would solve these problems. “First and foremost, we need a presence,” he said, noting the difference between Riverside Park and Central Park, which has its own police precinct. He also criticized the Parks Department and the City Council for downplaying the rise in crime. “In all these communities, everyone is saying we need dedicated park police, but I’ve yet to meet a single elected official who thinks park crime is a serious issue,” Croft said. Croft predicted that crime would fall over the winter months, as it tends to do, but advised park users to stay vigilant. By not wearing earbuds and running with a buddy, for example, people can protect themselves against potential attacks. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK
BANK EXECUTIVE GETS 4 YEARS FOR SCAMMIING INVESTORS A former executive at a New York investment bank who admitted defrauding investors of more than $38 million has been sentenced to four years in prison. Manhattan federal Judge Jed Rakoff announced the sentence for Andrew Caspersen last week, saying he was convinced Caspersen’s gambling addiction was a major factor in his crime. Caspersen had pleaded guilty to securities and wire fraud. He is the son of the late Finn M.W. Caspersen, a prominent philanthropist and former chief executive of Beneficial Corp. Prosecutors say he scammed clients of PJT Partners Inc. into investing millions of dollars in sham private equity investments. They say he invented fictional financiers, created fake email addresses and arranged misleading domain names to carry out his fraud from July 2015 through March.
Reported crimes from the 1st precinct Week to Date
Tony Webster, via flickr
SPECTACULAR HEIST A quartet of shoplifters had their eyes on some pricey eyewear. At 12:44 p.m. on Oct. 26, a foursome of 20-year-olds — two men and two women — entered the Ilori store at 138 Spring St., removed eyeglasses worth about $7,000 from a display case and fled. Employees recognized two of the suspects, who had been in the previous day inquiring about store merchandise. The specs included name brands such as Cartier Santos, PLT Cartier Tuliana Panthère, Cartier Remo and Cartier Verona C Décor.
PICKING BURBERRIES Burberry scarves never seem to lose their appeal to shoplifters. At
5:50 p.m. on Oct. 26, two women and one man entered the Burberry store at 200 Vesey St. One of the women distracted a store employee, while the other woman and the man removed 8 cashmere scarves and others worth $5,675.
HAUS LOUSE An unknown perpetrator ruined a night out for a young man. At 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 10, a 23-year-old man lost his credit card while he was inside the Haus nightclub located at 285 West Broadway. Then, at noon on August 22, he discovered that $3,700 had been charged to his card without his permission or authority.
Year to Date
2016 2015
% Change
2016
2015
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
1
-100.0
Rape
0
0
n/a
9
5
80.0
Robbery
1
2
-50.0
51
58
-12.1
Felony Assault
1
2
-50.0
69
73
-5.5
Burglary
2
2
0.0
101
107
-5.6
Grand Larceny
31
28
10.7
889
907
-2.0
Grand Larceny Auto
0
1
-100.0
42
20
110.0
SUNK IN DUNKIN’
CIG PACK ATTACK
Lay your wallet down, and thieves could go to town! At 4 p.m. on Oct. 30, a 33-year-old man bought some food at the Dunkin’ Donuts location in the Fulton Street subway station. When he paid, he placed his wallet on the counter. He then left the store and boarded a number 3 train before realizing that he had left his wallet behind. He returned to the Dunkin’ Donuts to retrieve his wallet, but it was long gone. The items in the missing wallet included $1,400 in cash, two Israel passports, a Lumi Bank credit card, and an Israel military ID.
An unknown shoplifter apparently paid no attention to the Surgeon General’s warning labels. At 4 a.m. on Oct. 25, someone entered the Duane Reade store at 40 Wall Street and removed dozens of cigarette packs from the shelves behind the cash register before fleeing. The stolen smokes – Newports and Marlboros of all shapes – were worth $1,097.
lower manhattan has many landmarks. but only one hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital. Just two blocks southeast of City Hall at 170 William Street.
nyp.org/lowermanhattan
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NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
ROAD TRIP! More than 50,000 runners from 120 nations ran the marathon BY LARRY FLEISHER
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Quite a run at the New York City Marathon for Mary Keitany. Pretty swift debut for Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, too. Keitany won the race for the third straight time Sunday, pulling away with more than 10 miles to go and breezing home to the finish line in Central Park. “Alone in the streets,” the 34-year-old Kenyan said. Except for the cheering fans, of course, who packed the course to root on the record-setting 52,049 runners from 120 nations as they wound through all five of the city’s boroughs. At 20, Ghebreslassie became the youngest men’s winner in this event. Alberto Salazar (1980) and Tom Fleming (1973) won as 22-year-olds. Ghebreslassie was the first native of Eritrea to win the New York marathon. He finished his debut in 2:07:51. “I’m really proud of it,” he said. Keitany defended her title in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 26 seconds, one second behind her time last year. She beat countrywoman Sally Kipyego by nearly four minutes, and became the first woman to win this race three times in a row since Grete Waitz took five straight from 1982-86. When she exited the Queensboro Bridge and entered Manhattan, the only people near Keitany were a police escort and the fans. “I was not imagining of any time,” she said. “I just went early.” Molly Huddle of the United States was third in 2:28:13 in her marathon debut. Keitany was two seconds ahead through the 14th mile, then was 20 seconds in front through the 15-mile mark as the race crossed into Manhattan. Keitany kept up her pace running on First Avenue and after 20 miles led by more than two minutes. After heading down Fifth Avenue, she entered Central Park at Columbus Circle and coasted home, short of the women’s record of 2:22:31 by Kenya’s Margaret Okayo in 2003. Keitany crossed the finish line and hugged her two children and her family. “I was happy for them to be in New York,” she said. Huddle finished in the top three after setting an American record at the 10,000 meters in the Rio Olympics. For most of the course, the men’s field was a three-man race between Ghebreslassie, Kenya’s Lucas Rotich and Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa. By mile 20, Ghebreslassie gradually began pulling away. He beat Rotich by 62 seconds and Abdi Abdirahman was third in 2:11:23. Defending champion Stanley Biwott of Kenya withdrew at the 10-mile mark with a right calf injury. Desisa, who was the runner-up in New
The New York City Marathon field running up First Avenue in Yorkville shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday. More than 50,000 people from 120 countries participated. Photo: Rick Sayers York in 2014 and a two-time Boston Marathon winner, dropped out at the 22nd mile. Tatyana McFadden took the women’s wheelchair race, keeping up her long winning streak. The 27-year-old finished in 1:47:43 and swept the London, Boston, Chicago and New York events for the fourth straight year, giving her 17 straight victories overall in major marathons.
McFadden won six medals at the Rio Paralympic Games. Marcel Hug of Switzerland won for the second year in a row in the men’s wheelchair division. He edged Australia’s Kurt Fearnley by sixth-tenths of a second, repeating their close finish at last month’s Chicago marathon.
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
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MURALS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He spent six hours on his part of the mural and planned to spend six to 10 more on it. Beeck said he wanted to add latex-like reflections on the woman’s clothing and more definition to her hair. On the panel next to Beeck, Kara Higgens painted a pigeon perched on a 23rd Street sign. She said that it represented
how New Yorkers are just like pigeons: even a day after tragedy strikes, they still come out the next day and keep pecking. “It’s also a redo of a dove, since a pigeon is also technically a dove,” Higgens said. “It’s holding an olive branch as well to show that we as a community can do it together and grow stronger.”
Ian Beeck in front of his illustration of a strong woman wielding a weapon. He worked on his mural for about six hours. Photo: Diamond Naga Siu
Kara Higgens puts the final touches on her painting of a pigeon using a technique called color blending, where she mixes the colors a bit more to make the images look less blocky. The technique brings more depth to the painting, she said. Photo: Diamond Naga Siu
IWantToBeRecycled.org
THEATER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 show,’” he says. Where the pros and the community theaters feel familiar, he says, is in who’s involved. “The people. The people who do theater, on stage and behind the scenes,” he says. “I think that the people who do it are very much the same. They’ve very in tune, compassionate, friendly and welcoming.” He says the 1970s-set show with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim is “a hugely ambitious undertaking” for any community theater. As is his role of not-quite-grown-up Bobby, who’s wrestling with maturity. High-profile talents including Raul Esparza, Boyd Gaines and, in a concert version, Neil Patrick Harris have tackled the part. Of Bobby, Leatherwood says, “This
is a person who is not trying to cause harm to anybody, but it trying to figure out his place in life and what he really wants out of life. He has help in the ensemble piece, in which each performer gets a center-stage moment. Lauren Shakra, a 32-year-old East Sider who’s a new mom, is enjoying a very different onstage existence as April, the ditzy flight attendant who’s one of Bobby’s girlfriends. “There’s a lot you can do with that part,” Shakra says. She got involved with St. Bart’s Players during the 2013 production of “The Crucible.” The group needed communications help, her area of expertise, and she wound up on the board of directors. “I grew up doing theater in New Hampshire and then I got to New York and I took a different career path,” she says. “And you know I missed the sense
of community that the world of theater gives you. And I missed theater in general.” She’s found it again, after a decadelong absence, and is enjoying meeting cast members of all ages and seeing them perform in cabaret and holiday shows, in addition to the theatrical productions, like 2014’s “Side by Side by Sondheim.” Now there’s “Company,” featuring the same composer’s work. “We knew that we had the talent out there, even though we don’t pick shows with people in mind,” Shakra says. Then she adds what could be a community theater credo: “We’re all working really hard and we’re all having a blast.” “Compa ny” r u ns at St. Ba rtholomew’s Church from Nov. 10 to 18. For details,visit stbartsplayers.org
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
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ART OF FOOD Our Town’s
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Saturday February 4, 2017 VIP 6:30-10:00 | GA 7:30-10:00 artoffoodny.com
TICKETS ON SALE NOW USE CODE: ‘FOODIE’ FOR 15% OFF VIP $185 -1st 100 receive a signed copy of Geoffrey Zakarian’s celebrated cookbook, My Perfect Pantry GA $105 -1st 100 receive Margaret Zakarian’s Pro For Home 15-piece storage container system Join Food Network host and celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian and his wife Margaret Zakarian at Sotheby’s, the world’s art headquarters, to celebrate the very best of the Upper East Side’s fine cuisine and outstanding art. Top chefs from New York’s most storied establishments will each create picturesque dishes inspired by art curated by Sotheby’s. SAVOR UNIQUE DISHES. ADMIRE EXQUISITE ARTWORK. RELISH IN THE AMBIANCE OF A QUINTESSENTIAL NEW YORK EVENING.
Geoffrey Zakarian Star of Food Network’s Chopped, The Kitchen, Cooks vs. Cons, author of “My Perfect Pantry,” restaurateur behind The Lambs Club, The National in NYC, The National in Greenwich, The Water Club at Borgata in Atlantic City, Georgie and The Garden Bar at Montage Beverly Hills and, coming soon, Point Royal at The Diplomat Beach Resort and cocreator of Pro For Home food storage container system, Margaret Zakarian President of Zakarian Hospitality, co-author of “My Perfect Pantry” and co-creator of Pro For Home food storage container system.
1633 Dionisis Liakopoulos r AMERICAN CUT Daniel Eardley r ATLANTIC GRILL Joyce Rivera r BOHEMIAN SPIRIT RESTAURANT Lukas Pohl CAFE D’ALSACE Philippe Roussel r CANDLE 79 Angel Ramos r CRAVE FISHBAR Todd Mitgang r EAST POLE Joseph CapozzI EASTFIELDS KITCHEN & BAR Joseph Capozzi r FREDS AT BARNEYS NEW YORK Mark Strausman r FLEX MUSSELS Rebecca Richards JONES WOOD FOUNDRY Jason Hicks r LUSARDI’S Claudio Meneghini r MAGNOLIA BAKERY Bobbie Lloyd MIGHTY QUINN’S BARBEQUE Hugh Mangum r ORWASHERS BAKERY Keith Cohen r PAOLA’S Stefano Marracino SANT AMBROEUS MADISON AVENUE Andrea Bucciarelli r SEAMSTRESS Jordy Lavenderos r SHAKE SHACK Mark Rosati T-BAR STEAK Benjamin Zwicker r THE MEATBALL SHOP Daniel Holzman r THE PENROSE Nick Testa r VAUCLUSE Michael White
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NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
AN ESSENTIAL THREAD New-York Historical Society exhibit documents Jews’ arrival to the New World BY VIRGINIA RANDALL
“The First Jewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World,” the new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society, details the background, contributions and history of an essential thread in the American fabric. In some 170 maps, books, paintings, devotional items and historic objects, the show offers an overview of how the history of Jews and those of Jewish descent is woven into the national tapestry. Early Jews in the New World fleeing religious persecution faced more of the same, starting with a Mexican Inquisition in the 16th century. The cause was a small, three-volume manuscript in the exhibit – the autobiography of Luis de Caravajal the Younger. Collector Leonard L. Milberg, who lent some of his personal collection to the exhibit, called it “possibly the most important Jewish document from the New World.” The manuscript detailed Caravajal’s secret efforts to keep Judaism alive but it was a death sentence for him and
his extended family. The text resurfaced years later at auction; Milberg arranged for its return to Mexico after the NYHS show ends, in honor of the Jews who perished. America’s first Jewish immigrants – 23 Spanish and Portuguese Jews – arrived in New York in 1654 (over Peter Stuyvesant’s veto). Maps show the location of their cemeteries in lower Manhattan well before the first synagogue, Shearith Israel, opened. “Settlements were often cemented by organizing burial grounds; they worshiped in their own homes,” explained Debra Schmidt Bach, a curator of decorative arts. “Jews weren’t allowed to build a freestanding public synagogue – Shearith Israel, which ultimately moved to the upper west side – until the early 18th century.” One map shows the location of the oldest existing Jewish cemetery, on Chatham Square. The walls are lined with portraits of leading Jewish New Yorkers (Alexander Hamilton may have been one), a Torah from Shearith Israel that was burned by British soldiers but saved for its historic value, prayer books, English and Hebrew grammars (Hebrew was taught at Columbia and Hamilton was fluent in it) and an early
Rebecca Gratz portrait, by Thomas Sully. Photo: courtesy of New York Historical Society
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“ Two Women Chatting by the Sea” by Camille Pissarro. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo: courtesty of New York marriage contract. A freestanding display showcases Torah filial ornaments known as “Rimonim.” They’re in silver and gilded brass. Donated by Shearith Israel, the finials are a delicate, yet intricate tour de force by Myer Myers, one of the premiere silversmiths of his time, according to Bach. Not as well known today as Paul Revere, Myers was a gifted artisan patronized by leaders in New York society, including Livingston’s and Cornell’s. Other sections of the exhibit highlight Philadelphia’s Jews. Portraits, documents and memorabilia from the Gratz brothers show their support of the Patriot cause. Niece Rebecca Gratz, delicately painted by Sully, was an early activist who founded the Hebrew Women’s Benevolent Organization, the first such organization in America. American history buffs will see Haym Solomon’s bound red leather portfolio holding the promissory note that he issued to the U.S. via Ben Franklin, to finance the Revolution. Publishing is particularly well represented, with the first English language newspaper for Jews, the first English translation of the bible, Hebrew grammar books, scientific texts, and scripts of plays that brought a Jewish New York sensibility to the stage years before Neil Simon. One work, “Gotham and the Gothamites, A Medley, ” by Samuel Judah, skewered thinly disguised New York personalities and
Associate Publishers Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Regional Sales Manager Tania Cade
sparked a libel suit. The exhibit concludes with two diametrically opposite facets of Jews in the New World: a life-size portrait of Uriah P. Levy, the first Jewish Commodore in the Navy, who helped end flogging on U.S. ships. He purchased Monticello as a gift to the nation. On the other end of the spectrum are two peaceful landscapes of his native St.Thomas, painted by Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro. The show, open until Feb. 26, is based primarily on loans from the private
collection of Leonard L. Milberg, the Princeton University Jewish American collection (a gift of Mr. Milberg), Shearith Israel, and the archives of the New York Historical Society. “The First Jewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World” brings to life a compelling, inspiring and sometimes surprising journey toward assimilation by one group of America’s earliest immigrants.
Luis de Carvajal the Younger (ca. 1567-1596). Memorias autobiographical manuscripts , ca. 1595, with devotional manuscripts. Manuscript leaves, 3 volumes, each stitched into plain wrappers. Courtesy of the Government of Mexico.
President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com Editor-In-Chief Account Executive Alexis Gelber Fred Almonte editor.ot@strausnews.com Director of Partnership Development Deputy Editor Barry Lewis Richard Khavkine editor.otdt@strausnews.com
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Block Mayors Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
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TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY BY MELITTA ANDERMAN
When I retired, I had no more excuses to use expressions like coffee breaks, lunch breaks, sick days or holidays off. My life has become one big break and routines went out the window. I do maintain certain pre-dinner breaks where i can indulge in tiny snacks while watching the ladies on QVC and HSN (America’s sales playgrounds) launch into their pitch for products to make you feel at least 15 years younger. They are perfectly groomed with every strand of hair tweaked to perfection, faces devoid of blemishes and fingernails anointed to withstand damaging workload. They all discuss their homes, kids, supermarket trips and, naturally, life-enhancing tips for the products they are promoting. How do they manage all these tasks and still be in the throes of a working mom regime? Accompanying their spiel there is usually the designer or rep of the product on display too, injecting his or her intimate personal knowledge. For instance, a cashmere/cotton sweater will be analyzed and prodded to show the ultra-superior quality and I can almost feel the garment in my
hands. So soft, pliable and I want to say, “Stop, let me try it on.” I’m as ecstatic as the presenter, especially when it’s almost sold out. I have to tear myself away from the lure of the buy to check on my stewing chicken thighs infused with my invented sauce during the last selling break. I have great admiration for these sales ladies. None are overly young or very glamorous-looking, but they all dress alike from the waist to their ankles. Above the waist they wear gorgeous tops, jackets, stoles, jewelry galore. Their footwear is spectacular; high, pencil thin heels, ankle boots, full size boots, glitzy flats and their toenails are pedicured to perfection. Between the waist and ankles they wear leggings (known as tights in olden times) in colorful shades and stretchy materials that assuredly will make you look svelte and bulgeless. I own an assortment of leggings/tights, but I don’t like how I look in them. No matter how I twist and turn, pinch, pull and close one eye, it won’t go away (meaning my body). I stare at It and the leggings manage to wrinkle in the wrong spots and I have to keep
pulling at the bottoms. In cold weather, what happens to the exposed skin between the end of the legging and footwear? No problem if you are wearing high boots. But if not, what then? Ballet dancers wear wool leg warmers to keep their muscles flexible, but what do these ladies do to look so tantalizing on the screen? From my experience, wearing knee-high socks under leggings is not attractive because the seams protrude under the material. Wearing full-length pantyhose may be a problem because skin-tight hose under skin tight leggings can be claustrophobic for the body. I’m sure every woman knows how that feels. If I purchase those glued-to-your-body leggings with a no-bulge promise, do I freeze (no pantyhose), suffocate (pantyhose) or compromise with knee-high seams showing? Tis a dilemma. I’ll just continue to observe these wellshod ladies in their seamless leggings whirl around the stage and not think about the countless pairs hanging in my closet wasting away from lack of wear.
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NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
THIS WEEK AT THE RUBIN MUSEUM
Out & About More Events. Add Your Own: Go to otdowntown.com
Photograph by Stephan Crasneanscki
EXHIBITION OPENING // FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 Sacred Spaces: Himalayan Wind Experience the high Himalayas through an immersive sound experience by Soundwalk Collective. Hear WKH ZKLVWOH RI VWURQJ ZLQGV WKH Ă DSSLQJ RI SUD\HU Ă DJV DQG WKH FKDQWLQJ RI EOHVVLQJV DW VRPH RI WKH highest Buddhist monasteries in the world.
Free K2 Friday Night 6:00â&#x20AC;&#x201C;10:00 PM Free museum admission every Friday night with happy hour from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., a special panAsian tapas menu, rotating DJs, and programs
Free Family Sunday November 13 Drop in, 1:00â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4:00 PM Ages 3 and older Visit Monumental Lhasa for a gallery scavenger hunt to discover the style of Tibetan buildings, then design your own city in the art studio. Take a family tour of the exhibition at 2:00 p.m.
Sacred Spaces: Himalayan Wind is made possible through the generous support of Christopher J. Fussner, The Hoch 2009 Charitable Lead Trust, Rasika and Girish Reddy, and Audio-Technica. Additional support has been provided by Bob and Lois Baylis, Ashwini and Anita Gupta, Preethi Krishna and Ram Sundaram, William and Pamela Michaelcheck, Tulku Tsultrim Pelgyi, Manoj and Rita Singh, Venkat and Pratima Srinivasan, the Zakaria Family Foundation, and contributors to the 2015 and 2016 Exhibitions Funds. | Family Sundays are made possible by New York Life. Additional support has been provided by Con Edison, Agnes Gund, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Yarn courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn Company.
RUBINMUSEUM.ORG
ART EXHIBITION OPENING â&#x2013;˛
UNOFFICIAL HAMILTON
Photograph by Evi Abeler
THE RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART 150 WEST 17TH STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10011
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Thu
HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave. 5-7 p.m. Free Join Polly M. Law for her paper doll exhibition opening that considers the theme â&#x20AC;&#x153;Means of Attachment.â&#x20AC;? 212-647-0202. www.here. org
FAMILY PROGRAMS Mindfulness for Families November 13 3:00â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4:00 PM Ages 2â&#x20AC;&#x201C;7 A mindful family is the foundation of a stressfree life. Join Ayman Mukerji Househam, a mindfulness teacher and researcher, to learn tools to cultivate a mindful family.
Copyright Polly M. Law
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SAT/SUN
11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;5:00 PM CLOSED 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;9:00 PM 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;5:00 PM 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;10:00 PM 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;6:00 PM
Museum of American Finance, 16 Fulton St. 12:30 p.m.-midnight. $15 Enjoy a lunchtime talk with author Bryan Barreras about the history behind the Broadway show â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hamilton: An American Musical.â&#x20AC;? 212-908-4110. www.moaf. org
Fri
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WORKSHOP IN ZEN LITURGY â&#x2013;ş Village Zendo, 588 Broadway 5:30-7 p.m. Suggested donation, $10
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Learn how to emotionally yourself and others while staying in the moment at this Zen workshop. 212-340-4656. www. villagezendo.org WINGS-GIVING
Sat
RECENT TRAGEDY DISCUSSION Community Access, 2 Washington St. 2-5 p.m. Free Discuss how the community can respond to situations such as the recent shooting of NYPD member Deborah Danner. 212-780-1400. www. communityaccess.org
Mudville 9, 126 Chambers St. 12-8 p.m. Free entry Eat chicken wings, test your taste buds and win prizes while fundraising for prostate cancer. 212-964-9464. www. wingsgiving.com
THE MAKING OF SOUR, SWEET, BITTER, SPICY Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St.
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
By David Leo Veksler via Flickr
6:30-8:30 p.m. Free for members, $7 for seniors and students, $12 for adults Figure out why food is so important to Chinese in America and hear from curators Audra Ang, Kian Lam Kho, Andrew Rebatta and Herb Tam. 855-955-6622. www. mocanyc.org
Sun
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OLYMPIC PRIDE Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place 2 p.m.-midnight. Free Watch a film screening of how 18 African-Americans fought Jim Crow laws by representing the country during the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. 646-437-4202. www. mjhnyc.org
STREETSGIVING Transportation Alternatives, 111 John St. 2-5 p.m. Free Join Transportation Alternatives Manhattan to celebrate its success in enacting safer street designs to Chrystie Street, Sixth Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue. 212-629-8080. www. transalt.org
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Mon
BOOKWORM ROCKS New York Public Library, 9 Murray St. 3:30-5 p.m. Free Bring children to an afternoon of interactive reading and songs at the Tribeca branch. 212-732-8186. www.nypl.org
BUMP PHOTOSHOOT▲ British American Household Staffing, 77 Mercer St. 6-8 p.m. Free Get free portraits of your baby bump taken by Glow Portraits NYC during this pregnancy celebration. 212-966-2247. www. babydoesnyc.com
Tue
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ICONS AND INNOVATORS The Greene Space, 44 Charlton St. 7-8:30 p.m. $25 Join WNYC for a talk with internationally known dancer Judith Jamison and dance theater artistic director Robert Battle. 646-829-4400. www. thegreenespace.org
The local paper for Downtown
Advertise with Our Town Downtown today! Call Vincent Gardino at 212-868-0190
16
Wed
COOKING CLASS Coco-Mat USA, 49 Mercer St. 5:30-8:30 p.m. $95 Learn how to cook winter Greek food and how to pair the Mediterranean flavors with wine. 212-431-2626. www. calliopesfood.com
CONNECT THE DOTS OF MINDFUL CHATTER YOUR LIFE Twisted Trunk Yoga, 580 Connected Spine, 580 Broadway 11 a.m.-noon. Free Learn more about the tensions and tones within your spine and how they correlate to your life during this workshop. 212-334-3395. www. connectedspine.com
Broadway 8-11 p.m. $25 Enjoy some time disengaging from the mind and focus on existing instead during this discussion-based and meditation-driven class. 212-334-9960. www. twistedtrunkyoga.com
otdowntown.com
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
IT WAS HIS KIND OF TOWN Max Beckmann’s New York paintings at The Met Fifth Avenue BY VAL CASTRONOVO
Max Beckmann (1884-1950), the famous German Expressionist artist, loved New York. He arrived in September 1949, by way of St. Louis, where he taught for two years at Washington University. Beckmann dubbed the city “a prewar Berlin, multiplied a hundredfold.” He was enthralled by the buzz, “fantastic ... utterly fantastic ... Babylon was a kindergarten by comparison, and here the Tower of Babylon is transformed into the mass erection of a gigantic (and perhaps senseless) will. My kind of thing.” So it seems ironic that Beckmann almost never painted cityscapes in the 16 months he lived here. He walked the streets endlessly, but he painted interior landscapes, especially bars,
Max Beckmann. “Self-Portrait in Blue Jacket,” 1950. Oil on canvas. 55 1/8 × 36 in. Framed: 66 15/16 in. × 48 in. × 3 3/16 in. Saint Louis Art Museum, Bequest of Morton D. May. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
restaurants and hotel lobbies. He craved the nightlife and was a patron of vaudeville and cabarets. Per curator Sabine Rewald in the catalog, he frequented “places where he could observe the spectacle of life passing by. He regarded the world as Welttheater (world theater).” However, his favorite subject, we learn from this thrilling new show, was himself. “Max Beckmann in New York,” an exhibit of 39 works produced in the city or now in New York collections, opens with seven colorful self-portraits created between 1923 and 1950, the year Beckmann died. The organizers remind us this modern artist, so revered today, was proclaimed a “degenerate” by the Nazis in 1937 and had his works confiscated from German museums. In the first gallery, the cosmopolitan painter appears confident and well dressed. He favored jacket and tie — tuxedos, too — and cigarettes.
Max Beckmann. “Quappi in Gray,” 1948. Oil on canvas. 42 1/2 × 31 1/8 in. Frame: 55 × 44 in. Private Collection, New York. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Max Beckmann (German, Leipzig 1884–1950 New York). “Departure,” 1932, 1933-35. Oil on canvas. Central panel: 84 3/4 × 45 3/8 in. Left Panel: 84 3/4 × 39 1/4 in. Right Panel: 84 3/4 × 39 1/4 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously (by exchange), 1942. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn An early image, “Self-Portrait on Yellow Ground with a Cigarette” (1923), shows Beckmann suited up, with high collar and matching red tie and lapel pin. “[H]e might be mistaken for a successful businessman,” Rewald writes, noting that he typically omitted the symbols of his trade, painter’s brush and palette, in the 80 selfies he executed in his lifetime. One artsy flourish: the yellow shawl draped across his lap, matching the picture’s yellow background and lighting. The other self-portraits employ interesting props, especially headgear — a sailor’s hat, a derby, a visor and, in the year after he was vilified by the Nazis, no hat but a bugle. “Self-Portrait with Horn” (1938) was described by one writer as, “one of the most earnest, most philosophical of his paintings.” The colors, black, red and yellow, echo the colors of the German flag before the Nazis changed it in 1933. A blackened mirror frames Beckmann’s head. In 1925, he married Mathilde von Kaulbach (“Quappi”), the daughter of a prominent artist. A violinist and singer, she was 20 years younger than Beckmann and the subject of some of the most beautiful portraits here. The couple sought voluntary exile in Amsterdam after the Nazis denounced Beckmann and remained there for the duration of the war. Many dining and drinking establishments were shut-
IF YOU GO WHAT: “Max Beckmann in New York” WHERE: The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street. WHEN: Through Feb. 20 www.metmuseum.org tered during the occupation, so the painter had to imagine them in his art. The third gallery is a showcase for the Amsterdam years and Quappi’s style and sophistication. “Quappi with White Fur” (1937) depicts the artist’s wife in a veiled hat standing in what appears to be a luxe hotel foyer. The adjacent canvas, “The Oyster Eaters” (1943), pictures her diving into an oyster in a fish restaurant, flanked by her daughter-in-law, Tutti. Both of the women are fashionably decked out — Quappi, once again, sports a hat with a veil, Tutti wears one with a feather. As the curator writes, “Beckmann took great pleasure in the good things in life.” He relished fine food, drink, clothing and all things posh. The post-exile years in St. Louis and New York follow, introduced by the elegant “Quappi in Gray” (1948), the last portrait the artist painted of his wife, who was 44. She wears a chic gray coat and toque and looks perfectly serene.
The bohemian artist’s enchantment with haute hotels is wonderfully expressed in the side-by-side scenes of the Palm Court at the Plaza (“Plaza [Hotel Lobby],” 1950) and the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis (“Café Interior with Mirror-Play,” 1949, though it’s an image of the bar’s interior). Beckmann regularly headed to the Plaza after work for “recovery cocktails” and people watching. Other rooms feature his wildly inventive allegorical works and two of his nine triptychs, including the famous “Departure” (1932, 1933-35). New Yorkers will appreciate the city notation. The Beckmanns moved to Manhattan in the fall of 1949 after the painter was offered a teaching post at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. They lived on the third floor of a townhouse at 234 East 19th St., before relocating to a first-floor apartment uptown, at 38 West 69th St. On Dec. 27, 1950, Beckmann left the apartment to see an exhibit at The Met featuring his recently completed “Self-Portrait in Blue Jacket” (1950). He never made it to the museum. He was stricken with a heart attack on Central Park West and 69th Street, a sad fact that gave impetus to the current retrospective — 66 years after he died on a street corner at age 66.
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
ART OF FOOD Our Town’s
AT SOTHEBY’S
Saturday, February 4, 2017
BUY TICKETS NOW! artoffoodny.com
Presented by
MEET THE CHEF started working when I was 13, just bussing tables and doing dishes, whatever they would let me do.
Tell me about your work in the culinary world. I’m a corporate chef for LDV Hospitality—we have 23 brands and almost 40 stores up and down the east coast—from Puerto Rico and Miami to New York. I help open these restaurants, and write the menus in conjunction with the chefs. Rock musician and actor Carrie Brownstein, center, and short story author George Saunders, right, spoke of their mutual admiration during an appearance at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side. At left is actor and director Josh Radnor, who read a Saunders story and conducted the interview. Photo: Rahav ‘Iggy’ Segev
‘PUNCHED WITH A FEATHER’ Carrie Brownstein, sharing Symphony Space stage with George Saunders, sings author’s praise BY HILLEL ITALIE
It’s not hard to understand why author George Saunders and rock star-actress-author Carrie Brownstein admire each other. Co-hosting a reading last week at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, they each showed a sly, self-deprecating humor and a belief in the redemptive power of art. Saunders, one of the country’s most acclaimed and popular short story writers, told a capacity audience that the “raw energy” of Brownstein’s music re-energized him at weary moments and made him “fall in love with art again.” Brownstein, known for her work with the indie band Sleater-Kinney and as the star of “Portlandia,” praised Saunders for transforming “absurdism into a language of love.” Reading Saunders was like being “tickled with a fist or
punched with a feather,” she said. The two-hour event was billed, simply enough, “An Evening With Carrie Brownstein and George Saunders.” It was the latest presentation of Selected Shorts, the popular and nationally aired Symphony Space series that brings together actors, authors and musicians. The guests were actors Greta Gerwig, Josh Radnor and BD Wong, reading fiction by Saunders and excerpts from Brownstein’s memoir “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl.” Brownstein herself read a passage from the book about the time Sleater-Kinney opened for Pearl Jam and found itself on a stage larger than the entire space of the clubs they were used to playing. During a brief question and answer session during the latter part of the program, Brownstein and Saunders shared stories about the pain and the virtue of insecurity. Saunders spoke of the inevitable moments while writing when he’s sure the story is no good, and neither is he.
“You beat yourself up,” he said. But he then reminds himself that “This is the part where I think I suck” and gets back to work. Saunders described the moment when he discovered his literary voice, the dark and unpredictable humor found in such collections as ``Tenth of December.’’ He had been toiling for years on fiction his wife politely described as “interesting.” Then one day she observed that the cartoons he used to doodle while writing were closer to his spirit than the prose. Saunders realized he had been “suppressing” his best qualities, his wit and his love for popular culture, “all the stuff” he had thought unworthy of literature. Brownstein said she has brief sparks, feelings of “crystallization,” that are “followed almost immediately by very intense doubt.” But doubt is what keeps creativity alive. “The choreography of sameness is very dangerous,” she warned. “When there’s a new step to take, hopefully it’s progress.”
I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in ’97, and have been working in Manhattan ever since.
What is your cooking style? I worked in French restaurants JASON KALLERT We’re expanding pretty quickly: all of my life. The basics of Chef at American Cut we’ve opened 12 and a half 109 E 56th St., cooking, I believe, come from New York, NY 10022 stores in the last year. French cooking. It provides How did you interest in food begin? this great base of knowledge, and from I’ve been cooking since I was really young. there, you can move into any genre. I grew up with my grandparents in New Jersey, just on the other side of the Hudson, Any signature dishes? American cut is all about the steak, but we and while my grandfather worked, I cooked take a lot of pride in every single component with my grandmother every day. She of the dish—a lot of restaurants end up definitely inspired me. with bland potatoes and vegetables as their My jobs have always been in restaurants. I sides. We’re not like that.
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Bill McKibben on The Fate of the Earth
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH, 7PM The New School | 55 W. 13th St. | 212-229-5108 | newschool.edu Environmentalist Bill McKibben (a founder of 350.org) gives the inaugural lecture in a series that honors Jonathan Schell and his book The Fate of the Earth, which gave an intense look at disarmament. (Free)
Generation to Generation Festival
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH, 12PM Museum at Eldridge St. | 12 Eldridge St. | 212-219-0888 | eldridgestreet.org Look back at Lower East Side life when the synagogue was first built circa 1886. Take a citizenship test from that era, learn recipes from a 1901 cookbook, bring the family to a photo booth, and hear early synagogue music in concert, all on Sunday afternoon. (Free)
Just Announced | Pedro Almodóvar in Conversation + Q&A
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3RD, 8PM Museum of Modern Art | 11 W. 53rd St. | 212-708-9400 | moma.org
VISIT OUR WEBSITE! at OTDOWNTOWN.COM
From November 29 to December 17, the MoMA will be showing a complete retrospective of Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s 20 feature films. Catch Almodóvar in person with the series’ co-organizer, Rajendra Roy, toward the beginning of the run. ($12)
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
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NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS OCT 28-NOV 04 2016 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/restaurant-grades.page Spinelli’s Pizza/Gyro Ii
425 7 Avenue
Grade Pending (25) Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Casa Apicii
62 W 9Th St
Not Yet Graded (32) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
Ancolie
58 W 8Th St
Not Yet Graded (2)
Fika
155 7Th Ave
A
Eleni’s New York
75 9 Avenue
Grade Pending (2)
Le Pain Quotidien
52 9 Avenue
A
Pizza Italia
307 W 17Th St
Grade Pending (7) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
Barn Joo 35
34 W 35Th St
A
Stage Door Deli
360 9Th Ave
A
Old Homestead
56 9 Avenue
Little Sip Ny
125 W 30Th St
Grade Pending (61) Toilet facility not provided for employees or for patrons when required. No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Grade Pending (32) Food prepared from ingredients at ambient temperature not cooled to 41º F or below within 4 hours. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Wrapido
104 8 Avenue
Gourmet Deli
341 7Th Ave
A
Osamil
5 W 31St St
Not Yet Graded (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
Grade Pending (22) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Hot Sichuan
130 9Th Ave
Grade Pending (26) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
North Village Deli
78 8Th Ave
Grade Pending (31) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
99 Miles To Philly
94 3 Avenue
Grade Pending (21) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
Village Taverna Greek Grill
81 University Place
A
Gramercy Park Bar
322 2 Avenue
A
Bagel Bob’s
51 University Place
A
Three Of Cups
83 1 Avenue
A
La Pizza Fresca
31 East 20 Street
A
Au Bon Pain
151 West 34 Street
A
Via Trenta Pizzoteca
536 W 30Th St
A
Blue Bottle Coffee
450 W 15Th St
A
Megu
355 W 16Th St
A
Dunkin Donuts
225 7Th Ave
A
Sports Center At Chelsea Piers (Sushi Bar)
Pier 60 West Side Highway
A
Stella’s Pizza
110 9 Avenue
A
Barracuda Bar
275 West 22 Street
A
One 7 Karaoke
29 West 17 Street
A
Fonda Of Chelsea
189 9Th Ave
A
Caffe Bene
300 W 17Th St
A
Mi-Ne Sushi Totoya
496 6Th Ave
A
Spice Grill
199 8Th Ave
Not Yet Graded (2)
The Green Table(Chelsea Market)
428 West 16 Street
A
Sala One Nine
35 West 19 Street
A
Cafe Rakka
81 St Marks Place
A
Greenwich Treehouse
46 Greenwich Avenue
A
Chipotle Mexican Grill
19 St Marks Place
A
Golden Crepes
262A West 15 Street
A
Wichcraft
11 East 20 Street
A
Num Pang Sandwich Shop
75 9 Ave
A
2 Bros Pizza
32 St Marks Place
A
Umami Shoppu
513 Avenue Of The Americas
Grade Pending (27) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Lillie’s Restaurant
13 East 17 Street
A
White Oak Tavern
21 Waverly Pl
A
Bocca
39 East 19 Street
A
Barry’s Bootcamp Noho
419 Lafayette St
A
Sweetgreen
8 E 18Th St
Grade Pending (26) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Lasagna Restaurant
196 8 Avenue
A
City Cakes
251 West 18 Street
A
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
A WEST SIDE STORY A century ago, San Juan Hill, aka Lincoln Square, was home to a significant AfricanAmerican population BY RAANAN GEBERER
Most Americans know that Harlem is the most influential African-American community in New York, and possibly the United States. But before World War I, the largest black community in New York lived in San Juan Hill. San Juan Hill’s formal name was Lincoln Square, and its boundaries were roughly 59th Street, 65th Street, Amsterdam Avenue and West End Avenue. African-Americans began moving here in the late 19th century from Greenwich Village, where an earlier black community existed, and also, of course, from the South. The name San Juan Hill refers to a battle in the SpanishAmerican War of 1898. Some say the neighborhood was called San Juan Hill because many African-American veterans of that war lived in the area. But others say the name came from the constant battles between African-American gangs from the neighborhood and Irish-American gangs from nearby. The neighborhood also had another name: the Jungles. Indeed, an early jazz club in the area was called the Jungles Café. White jazz clarinetist Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, who embraced the black aesthetic and moved to Harlem in the early 1930s, used the term in his autobiography, “Really the Blues.” Mezzrow befriended two elderly men who lived in his Harlem tenement. “The only sport they remembered from when they were growing up in the Jungles was dropping bricks on cops’ heads from their windows,” he recalled. On another occasion, he was playing records by jazz pianists, when one of them displayed a record by James P. Johnson, put it on the turntable, and exclaimed, “Here’s a boy from the Jungles who makes all the other [piano players] look sick!” According to historian Marcy Sacks’ “Before Harlem,” many black churches moved into the area in the 1880s and 1890s, among them St. Mark’s Methodist Episcopal, Mt. Olivet Bap-
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tist and St. Benedict the Moore. San Juan Hill also boasted numerous fraternal organizations, such as the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, the Colored Freemasons and the Negro Elks. Perhaps the most lasting legacy of San Juan Hill was its jazz musicians. The best-known were the aforementioned James P. Johnson and Thelonious Monk. Johnson, who first became active in the 1910s, pioneered the stride style of piano and wrote many famous jazz songs in the 1920s, such as the original “Charleston” and “If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight.”
Juan Hill, which often had only one bathroom per floor and didn’t offer heat or hot water. (The Phipps Houses on West 63rd Street where Monk lived, built by philanthropist Henry Phipps as “model tenements,” were an exception.) Soon, new arrivals from the South headed directly to Harlem, not San Juan Hill. By the 1950s, San Juan Hill’s black population had dwindled and many Puerto Rican families moved in. The neighborhood was the “turf” of the fictional Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang, in “West Side Story,” and indeed, parts of the movie were shot there.
The bebop pianist Thelonious Monk is among the jazz musicians who lived in San Juan Hill. Photo: William P. Gottlieb Monk, who grew up in the area in the 1920s and ‘30s, was an integral part of the bebop revolution of the 1940s, playing with such artists as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis. He’s credited with originating the bebop “uniform” of a beret, glasses and a goatee. The movement of AfricanAmericans from San Juan Hill into Harlem started in the first decade of the 20th century and continued into the 1910s and 1920s. The relatively newer tenements of Harlem, most of them built for middle-class whites, had more light and air and more spacious rooms than the older tenements of San
In 1940, the New York City Housing Authority called it “the worst slum district in New York City,” setting the stage for urban renewal. Part of the neighborhood was destroyed in 1947-48 to build the Housing Authority’s own Amsterdam Houses. Then, in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, more than 1,500 families, mainly black and Puerto Rican, were displaced in order to make room for Lincoln Center. The “West Side Story” scenes were shot after the old buildings had already been condemned. And by the mid-1960s, except for a few scattered buildings — including the Phipps Houes — San Juan Hill was history.
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MEET THE CHEF How did you get started in the schmear, I want something new, culinary world? something different, and in I was actually a musician, cooking you can do that. Not I played viola, but I had a only with the food and the friend who was working flavors, but with the look of in a fine dining restaurant the plates. in Baltimore, who told me Favorite dish to prepare? there was an open position Making pastas. I grew up in for a pantry cook. I was 18 at my grandmother’s kitchen. the time, and just out of high I was never allowed to JOYCE RIVERA school trying to find my way Chef at Atlantic Grill touch anything, but I always 1341 Third Ave. at 77th St. in the world. I had always New York, NY 10021 watched. She’s very traditional, been working in the culinary Northern Italian, and it was industry, doing odd jobs as a always about the pasta, never the sauce. hostess, dishwasher, carry out girl—but The guys here always try to show me how I had never gotten the chance to be a line to use a pasta maker. I’ve never been able to cook. So I was like sure, I’ll give that a shot. use one, I still have to just make it by hand I fell completely in love with it: the push of with a rolling pin. It’s how she showed me. the line, the comradery, everything. Within a few months I had dropped out of music What’s your cooking style? school and went to culinary school. I actually have a huge Mexican culinary background that I just fell into. I came That’s a big change. here from Dos Caminos, where I was My music theory teacher said: “If it’s the executive sous chef, and before that something that you want to do for the rest I was one of the executive chefs at Rosa of your life, you’re going to want to learn Mexicano. everything about it. You’re never going to want to stop learning.” And those words But from that experience, I developed this just kind of stuck with me. concept. In world cuisine, everything is Within a week, I switched gears and went to culinary school at Baltimore International College. I was there for about a semester until I realized I was actually learning way more on the job than I was in culinary school, and basically just decided that I was going to learn everything through working in restaurants, so I left culinary school and embarked on this new journey. I was a sous chef within a year, and learned so many techniques from so many different people, way more than I would have sitting in a classroom. I wanted to physically just do it. Are you into art at all? There’s a huge art scene out in Baltimore— my sister is an artist—so I’m very much into it. Salvadore Dali is a favorite of mine. Anything abstract. When we’re designing plates in the back, I’m always telling the guys: “Make it a mess! Take the sauce and throw it on there.” I don’t want to do the day-to-day
everything: a dumpling is a perogie is an empanada. It’s all just called something different. With that, you can construct it, deconstruct it, and call it different things however you turn it around. I’ve always had such a hard time just naming things. You can create something and make it look any which way you want it to. But what do you call it at the end of the day? I feel like everyone just has this need to name it, type it into something, put it into a box, so they can relate to it and put it in their mouth and understand it more. But I don’t like that. I want to bend those rules. And we do that with our dishes— sometimes you don’t really know what it is that you’re eating, but it tastes amazing and looks great too. Our style here is very eclectic, but there’s still something for everyone. How long have you been in New York? About 14 years now. Something as a kid always told me that I belonged in New York, and that I just needed to be here.
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COOKING UP SUCCESS Specialty bookstores welcome visitors to literature of food BY GENIA GOULD
Cookbooks enjoy a heaping boost in sales before the holiday season. People like to give them — or keep them and explore recipes, upgrade cooking and baking skills, and add to the cookbook collection. In Manhattan, three small independent bookshops that specialize in cookbooks are getting ready for the big season. Each store is different, but they all offer visitors from a digital age the chance to experience the sensory pleasures of a good bookstore. Kitchen Arts & Letters on Lexington Avenue between 93rd and 94th Streets, stocks the most contemporary books. Many of their clientele make a living cooking. They’re in the restaurant business as private chefs, caterers and restaurant owners, says Matt Sartwell, a managing partner of the shop. It’s been in business since 1983. “Just as many customers are beginners at cooking, who might want to make their first cake,” he adds. Sartwell says that books doing well include “Simple” by British food writer Diane Henry, “who has a terrific sense of flavor.” Another popular book: Anthony Bourdain’s newly released “Appetites” — much anticipated from an author who hadn’t published in a decade. The shop stocks
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
Business
titles that they’ve also imported, such as one about food of the Jews of India. The book they’ve sold the most of is Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking” — about the chemistry and physics of how food and ingredients behave, and how cooking affects them. In addition to selling books, Kitchen Arts & Letters hosts lectures at the 92nd Street Y, featuring professionals in the food world. “Some are for fun, some more scholarly,” Sartwell says. Coming up before the end of the year is one about Scandinavian comfort food. kitchenartsandletters.com 1435 Lexington Ave. Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, on the Lower East Side, is another world of books. The store’s been in business since 1997. Her collection includes out-of-print and antiquarian books. Slotnick carefully chooses what goes into her shop. A myriad of vintage books on Italian and French foods and surprising books from all over the world line the shelves and dazzle the memory. She carries what she calls “mother books,” — books that people’s mothers had. They’re classics like the Betty Crockers, the Fanny Farmers and the Better Homes and Gardens. They’re “standard American books,” she says. Most of the books here range in price from $10 to $20. But occasionally
Bonnie Slotnick in her world of books. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva something like a signed copy of Julia Childs cookbook will appear and can go for hundreds of dollars. The cozy shop, dotted with decorative kitchen utensils, encourages browsing and people “sort of disappear into the back of the store,” Slotnick says. “They don’t even know that they’re there. They just go off into
a trance or a peaceful place in their brain.” Going into a store is a completely different experience than a digital search, she argues. “You never know what’s going to hit your eye,” she says. “You may want something in particular and something else will hit your eye and you go home with that.” The relationship with customers is a real thing to Slotnick. “There’s synergy,” she says. “It’s not just something you pick and acquire, with no contact with the seller. And I obviously have opinions about what I sell.” bonnieslotnickcookbooks.com 28 East Second St.
Kitchen Arts & Letters on Lexington Avenue. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva
Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks on Greenwich Street near Canal Street is a vintage and antique cookbook collector’s paradise. It’s located in an original Early American brick Federal-style structure, designed with salvaged windows and doors collected around New England. Hendricks has been in business since 1995. This bookshop is primarily for collectors and prices range from $30 to thousands of dollars. The collection includes many early 18thcentury through 20th-century books,
and a wonderful collection of British cookery and cocktail books. High up above the book shelves are designer teapots, and tableware. In cabinets there are unexpected objects, like a decades-old can of Campbell’s soup signed by Andy Warhol. “It’s amazing what people want to buy,” she says, adding that people make special trips from all over the world to her shop. She says cocktail books are a big seller. She says the special books Hendricks likes to keep stocked on her shelves include: “Tiffany Table Manners”; and a book called “Grace Before Meals.” The latter contains a little prayer for every day of the year. She has an early edition from 1933 of that one. When it comes to cooking, she has a much-used copy of Fanny Farmer Cookbook. It’s held together with rubber bands, she says. A pie maker herself, Hendricks sound passionate about cooking, whether it’s buying chestnuts and walnuts by the bushel or seeing the emotional impact of a meal. “I enjoy cooking,” she says. “I enjoy seeing a happy family.” joannehendrickscookbooks.com 488 Greenwich St.
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
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NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
GETTING LOST ON THE WAY TO LOWER MANHATTAN SCHOOLS CB 1’s youth and education committee meeting highlighted a lack of communication about transportation issues BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
A few weeks ago, Stacey Vasseur’s fourth-grader boarded a school bus on his way to The Peck Slip School near the Brooklyn Bridge, but he didn’t arrive there until nearly two hours later. The bus driver, unfamiliar with Lower Manhattan, accidentally drove the students to the Upper West Side before realizing his mistake and delivering them to the correct location. Vasseur didn’t find out what had happened until the end of the school day. “They eventually got to Peck Slip and the bus parked, and my son came off and said hello to the security guard, went inside, and I was never informed that he was lost,” she said. The tangled bureaucracy of New York City schools makes even an ontime bus departure difficult for parents, much less a guarantee that their kids are delivered to the right place. Downtown schools have become drastically overcrowded as the area’s population has doubled since 2001, forcing families to commute farther than they would like to wherever there is an open space. Vasseur’s family lives in Battery Park City which, though less than two miles from Peck Slip, can be
Photo: Chris Sampson, via flickr more than an hour’s bus drive due to traffic congestion and convoluted routes. At a meeting of the Community Board 1 youth and education committee on Monday night, co-chair Paul Hovitz expressed his frustration about fixing issues such as the ones that Vasseur has experienced. “This has been ridiculous,” he said at the meeting. “I had to talk to [Deputy Chancellor] Elizabeth Rose in order to get a response from someone from the Department of Education, including the high school superintendent, who never returned any calls, including the principals, who never returned any calls.” Hovitz said he also reached out to the Department of Education’s Offices of Pupil Transportation and Family and Community Engagement with little success.
However, Sydney Renwick, the DOE’s Manhattan liaison for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, did show up to Monday’s meeting and promised to follow up with the Office of Pupil Transportation. Vasseur said that Peck Slip was not her family’s first choice to send their two kids, but they decided to stay there instead of splitting the children up because they were not aware there was another option. “It shouldn’t be that hard to opt for a school that’s more convenient,” Vasseur said. “Over the last three years we were offered a spot two times [at P.S. 276 in Battery Park City] but it was too much disruption. It would be helpful if, when somebody moves into the district, the word could be out … so parents aren’t going through what I went through for three years.”
Committee co-chair Tricia Joyce narrowed Lower Manhattan’s issues to three main categories: busing, overcrowding and safety. Plaguing all three categories, the committee determined, is a lack of communication between the community and the relevant city agencies that lands families at schools they would not have preferred. “Tackling these one agency at a time has been not as productive as we hoped,” Joyce said. Renwick said that what Vasseur should have done when her family moved to the city was go to the education department’s Family Welcome Center—which none of the committee members had ever heard of. Committee members offered several suggestions to improve communication on this subject: handing out packets to new residents, opening up a designated hotline for school complaints and giving principals more power independently from the Office of Pupil Transportation. The rest of the meeting revolved around the same theme. In a discussion of sorely needed upgrades to Millennial High School’s malfunctioning telecom and security camera systems, the committee ran up against a rule that no capital improvements can be made to buildings with fewer than five years left on their lease. Despite assurances from the School Construction Authority that the city will renew the school’s lease, the security upgrades
as well as the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s offer to partition the library to accommodate its growing population must wait. The PTA president at Spruce Street School brought up similar frustrations while trying to secure crossing guards for Spruce students’ safe dismissal each afternoon. Spruce Street is situated in both the first and fifth precinct’s territories, causing uncertainty as to who should be responsible for patrolling the area. This has become a particular concern ever since a student at the nearby Murry Bergtraum High School was recently found in possession of a gun and another was accused of beating the principal. Three NYPD officers from the school unit of fifth precinct who were present at the meeting promised to address the issue with officers from the first precinct. After six weeks of collaborating with other parents, Vasseur’s bus problems have finally been resolved, with a new group of bus drivers in place who are familiar with the area. “It took a lot of time on bus stop corners waiting for everything to get smoothed over,” she said. Vasseur was complimentary of the new drivers, who she said are caring and attentive. But plenty of other outstanding problems remain unsolved. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
OLD-SCHOOL COMMERCE GETS CREATIVE At 5th Dimension Video, you can rent DVDs, learn to dance, send a fax and play chess BY MICKEY KRAMER
Surviving 28 years strictly as a video rental outlet would’ve been mission impossible, so the owners of 5th Dimension Video, on York Avenue just below 76th Street, got creative. Over the years, husband and wife Allen Sun and Diana Tang added FedEx/UPS services, TV/DVD/VCR repair, snacks, drinks, and copy and fax machines. Still, it was not enough to boost store traffic. So about a year ago, Sun and Tang converted 300 square feet — almost half the store — into a music and dance school. “A couple years ago, business really started to go down, so the choice was to close it or change it. We decided to change it,” said Sun, 69, who said he works 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week. “We have a very good reputation for the business and with our customers and didn’t want to give it up.” The music and dance school idea came from Tang, 61, who has a mas-
ter’s degree from Columbia University in musical education. “I already taught, and still teach piano at our apartment, and thought we could make better use of our space,” she said. Tang teaches piano to about 10 children at the storefront studio. Parents, she said, are very pleased. Sun teaches violin and David Koch, who has been getting his videos and DVDs from 5th Dimension since the store opened, gives guitar lessons to between three to six students a week. On a recent morning, toddlers were wrapping up their weekly ballet class with “high fives” from instructor Jennifer Smith for their good “tippy toes” and “big kicks.” Smith lives two blocks from the store and has been teaching since July, first tap and now ballet. “My husband gets his packages delivered to 5th Dimension and early this summer, Allen and Diana asked if he knows a dance teacher,” she said. “He said, ‘my wife!’ and it’s worked out great. My daughter gets to do the class with me ... a great way to start the morning.”
Along with music, vocal and dance classes, Sun and Tang rent out the space for other endeavors, such as chess and self-defense classes. Tim Mobley, who also lives nearby, has been a full-time chess instructor for eight years and taught daily sessions in the summer. He pays $60 to rent store space for a few hours each Monday afternoon. Helana Natt, executive director of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, commended Sun and Tang for their unique survival skills within the city’s competitive retail environment, and as rents skyrocket. “Major retailers have taken over from many small businesses because they can afford it, so [small businesses] need to be creative with branding and marketing, whether online or walk-in,” she said. “Businesses like that really need to reach out to their neighborhood community.” Twenty-five years ago, Sun and Tang were paying $3,000 a month in rent for their store. It’s now $6,000. There’s also the burden of paying 25 percent, or $2,000, of the property tax due on the building.
Diana Tang and Allen Sun in 5th Dimension Video on York Avenue, the now nearly allpurpose business they have owned and run for 28 years. Photo: Austin Bailey Even with the additional income from the studio, surviving is “still tough,” Sun said. Sun and Tang came from China about 30 years ago, have been married 33 years and have one son, a Cornell graduate with a successful business career. “We came here for him and
made our American dream,” Sun said. In fact, their son has offered to take care of his parents if they want to retire. Sun isn’t ready for that. “We still love our customers and if the next lease is OK, we want to work,” he said. “It keeps us healthy.”
NOVEMBER 10-16,2016
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Nothing beats newspapers as the most reliable source of local news in print and online Recent studies show:
‘‘
Newspapers led online consumption for local news” Coda Ventures Survey August 18, 2016
‘‘
Local media users named newspapers as their “most relied on” source for deals across a range of goods and services.” Coda Ventures Survey August 18, 2016
‘‘
What accounts for print’s superiority? Print - particularly the newspaper - is an amazingly sophisticated technology for showing you a lot of it.”
‘‘
Local newspapers are still the top source of news about readers’ communities, including their branded Web sites and social media channels.” Publisher’s Daily - August 30, 2016
‘‘
Residents are eager for news about their own communities, which, increasingly, only local news organizations can provide” Editor & Publisher - June 1, 2016
Politico - September 10, 2016
STRAUSMEDIA your neighborhood news source 212-868-0190 | nypress.com
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
THEATER BY THE PEOPLE Joanne Lessner on New York City’s longstanding all-volunteer performances BY ANGELA BARBUTI
In the Blue Hill Troupe, everyone from opera singers to MTA engineers to lawyers join together not only to sing and act, but to construct sets, design costumes, sell tickets and even serve wine at intermission. This volunteer theater group started in the city in 1924. Every year, it puts on two performances, and proceeds always go to a city-based charity. From Nov. 11 to Nov. 19, the troupe will be performing “The Pirates of Penzance” at the Theater at St. Jean’s, inside St. Jean’s Baptiste Catholic Church, on East 76th Street. The charity of choice for this production is Rocking the Boat, in the South Bronx, which teaches young people how to build and sail boats. Joanne Lessner has always had a special connection to Blue Hill: Her mother used to take her to its shows as a small child. Now nearing her 20th year with the group, Lessner spoke about Blue Hill’s tight-knit community. “What’s really wonderful is the friendships that form across age boundaries and out side job interests. The people who become friends in the Blue Hill Troupe become friends for l i f e . We also average a married couple a y e a r. I think we’ve hit a hundred people who met in the g roup a nd have gotten married.” A professional performer, Lessner was in “Cyrano” on Broadway, and her accom-
Photo: Bluface Photography
plished resume also includes penning mystery novels, contributing to “Opera News” and writing plays with her husband.
How did you get involved with Blue Hill? I have kind of an unusual story. You know they’ve been in the city for 93 years. My mother grew up seeing their shows. She brought me to see them, so I’ve been an audience member at the Blue Hill Troupe since 1972. I was a small child. And then I joined the group as a front stage performing member in 1997. I have done 11 shows with the troupe, and I’ve also been on the board and run multiple committees. The members run the organization, so there are a lot of ways to be involved. It would be misleading to just say I’ve done 11 shows, because we all do a lot of heavy lifting backstage.
Who are some of its members? It’s really an incredible span of people. You’ve got professional performers like me. We have a front stage performing member who has sung principal at the Met. We have
quite a few Broadway people, people who had careers and are not pursuing it so much anymore. We’ve got a lot of younger members who are at the beginning of trying to pursue professional careers. We don’t like to encourage people to come in, grab a few roles on their resume and leave, because we really are a community and looking for long-term members. But we love having people with professional experience. We’ve got lawyers, people in the financial services industry, people from just about every kind of job you could think of. Not-forprofits, people who work in libraries. I think we have the Brooklyn and Queens Library both represented. We have a couple of engineers who work for the MTA. And then the really cool thing is also our age demographic. You have to be 21 because as some of us like to say, we’re a drinking group that does theater together. [Laughs] And our oldest active member, I believe he’s 92.
Tell us about your theatrical mystery series. I actually launched my fifth book yesterday. My detective, Isobel Spice, is an aspiring actress who goes from temp job to temp job, stumbling over dead bodies and solving mysteries, as one does. It’s very loosely based on my early days in New York, without the dead bodies, of course. My new one is called “Offed Stage Left.” It’s a backstage mystery and various troupers contributed ideas for the book.
You also wrote a novel about a half-amillion-dollar bottle of wine. What’s the true story behind it? It happened at the Four Seasons in 1989. It was a wine appreciation dinner of old Bordeaux. And a wine dealer named William Sokolin had a bottle of Bordeaux that he was trying to sell on spec for half a million dollars. And there are many versions of what happened, but somehow or other, it landed on the floor and the
Joanne Lessner as Charlotte in the Blue Hill Troupe’s production of “A Little Night Music” from November 2015. Photo: Douglas Kiddie. bottle broke. And the story goes that the assembled wine aficionados threw themselves to the floor and started licking the 250-year old wine off the carpet. I don’t know if that’s true, but when I heard that, I thought that was the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard. And was like, “Who are these people?” So my book [“Pandora’s Bottle”] is about a man who buys a half-amillion-dollar bottle of wine that was purportedly once owned by Thomas Jefferson. I actually consulted with a wine maker to find out what somebody could have done in 1787 to make a wine still drinkable today. And so the tragedy in my book is that the wine was drinkable and a waiter serving the wine drops it. So it’s really about what happens to the man, the girl he’s trying to impress, the poor waiter and the woman who owns the restaurant who was using it as publicity event. So it’s really about how these four people come together over this bottle of wine and then everything goes absolutely wrong for every single one of them.
What are your future plans? “Offed Stage Left” is out right now, so I’m doing promotion for that. I’m going to be working on the next book in the Isobel Spice mystery series. I have another book that’s a non-mys-
tery book. And my husband and I were commissioned by London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama to write a musical for their master’s program. We have the rights to adapt Kaufman and Ferber’s classic play “Stage Door,” so we’re working on that for them.
What’s in store for the Blue Hill Troupe? Our next big thing is in the spring we’re doing “City of Angels,” which has not really had many big productions in New York City since the Broadway run 25 years ago. This is going to be the biggest production of a non-Gilbert and Sullivan musical that we’ve ever done. And that will be at El Teatro of El Museo del Barrio at the end of April. To learn more about Joanne, visit joannesydneylessner.com For more about Blue Hill Troupe, visit bht.org
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“I WISH SOMEONE WOULD HELP THAT HOMELESS MAN.”
BE THE SOMEONE. Sam New York Cares Volunteer
Every day, we think to ourselves that someone should really help make this city a better place. Visit newyorkcares.org to learn about the countless ways you can volunteer and make a difference in your community.
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DON’T BE FOOLED BY AIRBNB’S CHICKEN LITTLE ACT: THE SKY ISN’T FALLING |NYS Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal Let’s set a few things straight. The sky is not falling here in New York. Even though Airbnb is putting on this Chicken Little act trying to convince its hosts that the law I sponsored to protect tenants and affordable housing spells an end to the sharing economy here in New York, nothing could be further from the truth.
Airbnb doesn’t want New Yorkers to know they can legally rent a spare room because most of their revenue comes from illegal listings and commercial operators.
80% come from illegal listings 40%
of Airbnb’s listings in NYC are controlled by commercial operators
First, this law bans only illegal hotel advertising, and makes no change to the law that has been in place for years, prohibiting short-term apartment rentals when the tenant of record is not at home. When Mike Bloomberg was Mayor, his administration championed this law. Second, if you live in a one- or two-family home, this new law does not apply to you (just make sure to check your local zoning laws first). For apartment dwellers, you can still legally rent out a spare bedroom or even your couch while you are at home. We’ve seen Manhattan hosts make upwards of $16,000 a year doing just that. Airbnb won’t tell you this because the company has shown that it doesn’t give a damn whether you get evicted, but you should check the terms of your lease: many landlords are now expressly prohibiting their tenants from using Airbnb.
The same goes for snowbirds who spend the winter in Florida or Costa Rica. It is legal to rent out your home for more than 30 days, just make sure to check your lease, coop or condo board rules and applicable building codes first. Airbnb won’t tell New Yorkers that between 55% and as many as 75% of its New York listings violate existing law that has been in place for years to protect tenants and affordable housing. Airbnb also won’t tell you that might get evicted if you use the site. Airbnb doesn’t like to mention that commercial hosts, who illegally warehouse thousands of housing units and control more than 40% of all listings on the site, generated more than $300 million last year alone. Airbnb won’t tell you these things because it needs to protect its bottom line, a bottom line that is built on breaking our laws and stealing affordable housing. It will stop at nothing to protect its profits and those of its biggest moneymakers so it perpetrates the lie that it cares about you and your family. Across Airbnb’s top 20 neighborhoods, the average host My colleagues and I who championed this law was able to rent a spare room for $105/night, earning $10,800/year have been working together for years to
create and maintain affordable and livable communities. Illegal hotels, promoted by Airbnb or otherwise, make New York more, not less expensive, and lead to more rapid gentrification.
Ȋ Midtown: $138/night, $16,000/year Ȋ SoHo: $136/night, $15,500/year Ȋ Upper East Side: $112/night, $12,400/year Ȋ UWS: $116/night, $12,000/year Ȋ East/West/Greenwich Village: $120/night, $10,800/year
The fight to prevent the spread of illegal hotels is nothing new, and it’s not limited to New York. Cities across the world, like San Francisco and New Orleans, Berlin and Paris, are both contending with the tech giant displacing tenants and stealing affordable housing. But Airbnb has changed the way the battle is being waged. Notwithstanding the web of lies that Airbnb’s PR machine has woven, it’s quite clear that the company does not care about middle class New Yorkers. Airbnb cares about its own profits, and not the people paying the price every time another housing unit is lost or the rent is increased on an already struggling family. Don’t be fooled by Airbnb’s Chicken Little act, when really, the company is the devious fox that is manipulating the affordable housing crisis for its own benefit.
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