Our Town - June 20, 2019

Photo courtesy of 1000 Island International Tourism Council © George Fischer Photography

The local paper for the Upper East Side

BOLDT CASTLE | ALEXANDRIA BAY

SO MUCH TO SEE! DISCOVER LAKE ONTARIO This summer explore the shore of Lake Ontario.

Take a refreshing dip at Olcutt Beach or body surf at Hamlin Beach State Park or Fair Haven Beach State Park. Enjoy the wineries on the Niagara Wine Trail. See spectacular sunsets at Golden Hill State Park where you can stay in a lighthouse or yurts along the shore. Enjoy world-class sportfishing on Lake Ontario and its tributaries with the chance to reel in steelhead, Chinook, or walleye.

GOLDEN HILL STATE PARK | BARKER

COMMEMORATE PEACE, LOVE & MUSIC

BETHEL WOODS CENTER FOR THE ARTS | BETHEL

This summer marks the 50th Anniversary of the greatest festival of all time — the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the site of the original event, will present concerts, talks and even an open-air screening of “Woodstock: The Director’s Cut” in the very field where Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and many others made history .

TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Head to where the wild things are: the Wild Center in the Adirondacks! This can’t-miss stop is designed to create new and exciting experiences in nature. The famous “Wild Walk,” lets you stroll on an elevated trail through the treetops and includes playful elements like a human-sized bird nest or an enormous hammock-like spider web. You’ll feel at one with nature in no time.

THE WILD CENTER | TUPPER LAKE

Find what you love in New York State.

Plan your summer getaway at iloveny.com/summer

SO MUCH TO LOV E! CELEBRATE PRIDE STATEWIDE This year, New York’s Pride celebrations are bigger and better than ever! For the first time, the US will host WorldPride — right here in New York City — to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic Stonewall Riots when the West Village gay community rose up against police discrimination. With monumental anniversaries and 50+ pride events throughout the state, you don’t want to miss out! .

STONEWALL INN | NEW YORK CITY

CATCH SOME SERIOUS SPRAY If you’re craving a wet-n-wild adventure, kick things up a notch with Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours. The fully guided tour starts on the lower Niagara River into the Niagara Gorge at 55 mph and right into the heart of Devil’s Hole level 5 rapids! It sounds risky, but don’t worry, these boats are specially designed to withstand the turbulence so that you can experience the awe-inspiring might of Niagara Falls.

WHIRLPOOL JET BOAT TOURS | LEWISTON

CHEER ON THE BEST Ready to try your luck? Come place your bets at the historic Saratoga Race Course, the oldest continually operating sports venue in the country. From the pounding of the horses’ hooves to the pounding of spectators’ hearts, there’s nothing like the excitement of a summer’s day at the races. Thoroughbred racing season begins July 11, so get your grandstand tickets today.

SARATOGA RACE COURSE | SARATOGA SPRINGS

Find what you love in New York State.

Plan your summer getaway at iloveny.com/summer

F I N D W H A T YO U L OV E !

CELEBRATE NEW YORK STATE Don’t let summer get away without attending The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, the first and longest-running state fair in the country. It also gets bigger every year. Expect animals, fireworks, battered and deep-fried morsels, carnival rides, competitions in everything from jam-making to storytelling, and big-name music headliners — this year’s lineup includes Ice Cube, Bad Company, the Dropkick Murphys, Gavin DeGraw, and more.

THE GREAT NEW YORK STATE FAIR | SYRACUSE

GAZE UPON THE MARVEL OF GLASS Enter a world of mind-boggling glass art at the Corning Museum of Glass. You can explore collections of glass art from the last 35 centuries, watch live glass-blowing demonstrations, and even try glassmaking for yourself with the museum’s family-friendly “Make Your Own Glass” experiences.

CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS | CORNING Photo courtesy of Finger Lakes Wine Country © Stu Gallagher

It’s not summer until you’ve spent a day lounging on one of Long Island’s world-class beaches. Cooper’s Beach in the Hamptons — rated number three in the nation by esteemed beach expert, “Dr. Beach.” — is famous for its white sandy dunes and beautiful nearby mansions. Main Beach, another Dr. Beach favorite, is beautiful, clean, and quiet. Hither Hills State Park in Montauk is open to the public and home to incredible “walking dunes.”

COOPER’S BEACH | SOUTHAMPTON

Find what you love in New York State.

Plan your summer getaway at iloveny.com/summer

Photo courtesy of Discover Albany

BASK ON A BEACH

The local paper for the Upper East Side NAUMBURG 2019: A CLASSICAL SUMMER ◄ P.12

RECLAIMING A PROUD LEGACY

JAIL PLAN: SO WHAT’S NEW? COMMUNITY

20-26 2019

INSIDE STATE LEADERS OK RENTAL PROTECTIONS FOR NYC New law is a victory for tenants and housing advocates, P. 2

Proposals to replace Rikers with smaller borough sites have been rejected before

PRIDE 2019

WEEK OF JUNE

BY STUART MARQUES

Activists opposed to the role that corporations play in NYC Pride events are staging a march of their own

BY OSCAR KIM BAUMAN

Fifty years after the Stonewall rebellion launched the modern LGBTQ rights movement, New York City is playing host to the World Pride celebrations.

As Pride has grown, it has also changed in nature. What began as a scrappy, community-based political protest has become a mammoth, rainbow-hued festival full of corporate sponsors.

The activists at the Reclaim Pride Coalition want to return Pride to its political roots. To that end they have organized their own Queer Liberation March, an alternative to the official NYC Pride March. Organizer Ann Northrop, a veteran activist, said the first Pride march in New York, in June 1970, “was a political event,” which has been left behind by the “corporate party” Pride has become.

A Dedicated Activist Northrop got her start in the anti-Vietnam War and women’s rights protest movements in the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

If you think the city’s plan to get rid of Rikers Island and replace it with smaller community jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx and Queens — and the pitched battle against it — feels like déjà vu, you’re not hallucinating.

Back in 1978, the Koch administration hatched a plan to lease Rikers to the state for $200 million for a state prison and use the money to defray the costs of building borough jails.

Many of the arguments were the same as today’s — that Rikers was dangerous, violent and inhumane.

An October 1979 report called the Rikers Island Working Project — one of many documents about the plan housed in the Municipal Archives — said Rikers, originally built in 1932, was decrepit. It estimated the city’s capital costs for the smaller jails at $351 million.

Hearings were held, at which Herb Sturz, then the city’s criminal justice coordinator, said the lease deal would allow the city to make a “fresh start” in building a modern jail system. Then-Corrections Commissioner Ben Ward testified that the smaller jails would be easier to control. But opposition from criminal justice activists, corrections officers and residents kiboshed the plan.

Fast forward to today and the city’s new plan to shutter Rikers and replace it with four smaller jails, which critics say would cost $11 billion.

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Crime Watch Voices NYC Now City Arts

THE LONG’S GOODBYE West Side bedding store to relocate to the UES, P. 16

Signs at the sometimes-raucous June 11 forum that Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer hosted at Pace University. Photo: Stuart Marques

(The city says it’s too early to put a definitive price tag on it).

One of those new ones would be a 40-story jail at 125 White Street, hard on the edge of Chinatown.

There have been several community meetings about that plan, the latest of which was a sometimes-raucous June 11 forum that Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer hosted at Pace University.

A Cut in Population Speakers in the crowd of about 200 ranged from mostly Chinatown residents who said the building was “fatally flawed” and out of character with the neighborhood to criminal reform advocates and “abolitionists” who want to shut Rikers and not build any new jails.

3 8 10 12

Restaurant Ratings 14 Business 16 Real Estate 17 15 Minutes 21

One caveat of the new plan is that the city slashes the Rikers population from the current approximately 8,000 to 5,000. Dana Kaplan, deputy director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Matters, told the crowd that several factors, like the reduced crime rate and elimination of cash bail for misdemeanors, would lower the population to closer to 4,000 by the time the new jails are finished in 2026.

Kaplan said the White Street jail would be “fairer, safer, and more efficient,” and that the city was “committed to not displacing anyone at the nearby Chung Pak apartments,” an 88-unit low-income senior hous-

PROTECTED BIKE LANE FOR CPW CB7 Committee resolution to improve cyclists’ safety, P. 18

Jewish women and girls light u the world by lighting the Shabb candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset.

Friday, June 21 – 8:12 pm.

For more information visit www.chabaduppereastrside.co

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

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JUNE 20-26,2019

STATE LEADERS OK RENTAL PROTECTIONS FOR NYC HOUSING New law is a victory for tenants and housing advocates

BY DAVID KLEPPER

More than one million apartment dwellers in and around New York City are getting new protections against big rent increases under a landmark tenants’ rights bill signed into law Friday.

The measure, which passed the Democrat-controlled Senate and Assembly Friday afternoon and was immediately signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, strengthens the existing rent stabilization and rent control rules that govern rental increases and evictions in many older, multiunit apartments.

It also makes the rules permanent, eliminating the need for leaders in Albany to regularly renew the law, which was set to expire Saturday.

Lawmakers voted to extend several protections throughout the state, including one prohibiting security

Photo via Governor Andrew Cuomo’s flickr

deposits of more than one month’s rent. The law will also authorize cities throughout the state to opt into rent stabilization rules.

The law is a big victory for tenants, housing advocates and many progressive groups that say high rents in New York City are forcing out many lower and middle-class residents. It’s also a stunning defeat for the New York City real estate indus-

try, long one of the most politically powerful forces in the state Capitol.

“The tables have finally turned in favor of millions of tenants across New York state,” said Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, an Upper West Side Democrat. “For far too long, big real estate pulled the strings in Albany.”

Landlords have warned that apartments may fall into disrepair if own-

ers aren’t allowed to raise the rent high enough to cover the cost of improvements. The Partnership for New York City, a leading business advocacy organization, said the changes could backfire.

“This rent reform package will inevitably lead to the same loss of decent, middle-class housing that we experienced in the 1970s and 1980s,” the group said in a statement. “It is not enough to maintain affordability if it means tenants are living in terrible conditions.”

Tenants and advocates argue that high rents are a leading cause of income inequality in the nation’s largest city, leading to the elimination of affordable housing and turning many neighborhoods into the reserve of the well-heeled.

The rent stabilization and control laws were written decades ago to preserve affordable housing amid the postwar boom. Since then, the rules have slowly been eroded and thousands of units have been taken out of stabilization.

The changes approved Friday will eliminate a landlord’s ability to take

a unit out of the system based on a tenant’s income and further restrict landlords’ abilities to justify rent increases through improvements and upgrades.

Passage was made possible last fall when Democrats took control of the state Senate, giving them a lock on power. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Democrat from the Bronx, and Senate Leader Andrea StewartCousins worked out the deal, without much input from Cuomo, who left the negotiations to lawmakers.

“I’m confident the measure passed today is the strongest possible set of reforms that the Legislature was able to pass,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing his signature. He called the law “a major step forward for tenants across New York.”

Stewart-Cousins, who grew up in public housing and is the first African American woman to lead a legislative chamber in New York, said that after decades of siding with the landlords, Albany is now listening to the tenants.

“What we’re doing today says `we get it,’” she said.

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JUNE 20-26,2019

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct for the week ending June 2 Week to Date

Year to Date

2019 2018

% Change

2019

2018

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

0

1

-100.0

Rape

0

0

n/a

11

7

57.1

Robbery

3

5

-40.0

58

70

-17.1

Felony Assault

1

4

-75.0

58

62

-6.5

Burglary

2

9

-77.8

87

91

-4.4

Grand Larceny

33

32

3.1

642 624 2.9

Grand Larceny Auto

2

1

100.0

11

16

-31.3 Photo by Toni Webster via Flickr

POINTED EXCHANGE At 9:35 p.m. on Monday, June 10, a 34-year-old man was walking along the pathway near Carl Shurz Park at the northwest corner of East End Ave. and East 86th St. when he was approached by a man in his 20s. According to the police report, the younger man asked if the man had “any recommendations for restaurants.” The older man gave an answer and the younger man left. The

younger man later returned, police said, pointed a sharp object toward the victim and told him to hand over $40. The two men then exchanged words,and the suspect fled in an unknown direction. Nothing was taken and there were no injuries.

May 22, a man and a woman entered The RealReal store at 870 Madison Avenue and had a look around, a 31-year-old male employee told police.

He said they then took a wallet and left the store without paying for it. The stolen item was valued at $11,000.

IT COST HOW MUCH?!

DISCOMFORT STATION

The big news in this shoplifting story is probably the price of an Hermès wallet. At 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday,

At 1:30 p.m. on Monday, June 3, a 40-year-old man left his vehicle parked in the gas station on the

southwest corner of First Ave. and East 96th St. while he went to use the restroom. When he returned to his vehicle, police said, he noticed that his wallet and its contents were gone. An unauthorized transaction soon turned up on one of his cards in the amount of $486.52. The items stolen included a Guess wallet, credit cards, a New York State driver’s license and Social Security card.

EYE CARE CAPER A man entered the Duane Reade store at 1111 Third Ave. between 65th and 66th Sts. around noon on Thursday, May 30, an employee told police. According to the employee, the man removed products from a store shelf, placed them in a bag and then left the store without paying for the items.The stolen merchandise included 89 eye care products worth a total of $1,102.

NORTHERN MANHATTAN STUDY OF METABOLISM AND MIND

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POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct

153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

159 E. 85th St. 157 E. 67th St.

311 311

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311

221 E. 75th St.

311

211 E. 43rd St. #1205 244 E. 93rd St.

212-818-0580

State Sen. Jose M. Serrano State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly Member Dan Quart Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright

1916 Park Ave. #202 1850 Second Ave. 360 E. 57th St.

212-828-5829 212-490-9535 212-605-0937

1485 York Ave.

212-288-4607

COMMUNITY BOARD 8 LIBRARIES

505 Park Ave. #620

212-758-4340

Yorkville 96th Street 67th Street Webster Library

222 E. 79th St. 112 E. 96th St. 328 E. 67th St. 1465 York Ave.

212-744-5824 212-289-0908 212-734-1717 212-288-5049

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212-434-2000 212-746-5454

E. 99th St. & Madison Ave. 550 First Ave. 4 Irving Place

212-241-6500 212-263-7300 212-460-4600

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212-645-0327 212-267-1543 212-254-1390

FIRE FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13 FDNY Engine 39/ Ladder 16 FDNY Engine 53/ Ladder 43 FDNY Engine 44

CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Keith Powers Councilmember Ben Kallos

212-860-1950

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JUNE 20-26,2019

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East Midtown Welcomes the LGBTQ+ Community as We Celebrate WorldPride 2019!

Throughout June, we’ve planned a wide array of activities that will make East Midtown your destination of choice for WorldPride festivities, including:

LGBTQ+ BLOCK PARTY – FRIDAY, JUNE 21 Join us on the afternoon of Friday, June 21, on East 55th Street between Lexington Avenue and Park Avenue, when we partner with the State University of New York for an afternoon of festivities, including food, music, a Confetti Photo Booth, and drag performances!

AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT DISPLAYS 18 panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt are now on display at 9 unique locations.

EAST MIDTOWN GIVES BACK TO THE TREVOR PROJECT Throughout June, a number of of East Midtown businesses will Ņý åų ŸŞåÏĜ±ĬƋƼ ĜƋåĵŸØ ƵĜƋĘ ƖĂŢ Ņü ƋĘå ŞųŅÏååÚŸ ÚåŸĜčűƋåÚ üŅų Ęå Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth.

Visit us at www.EastMidtown.org/Pride for details

East Midtown Partnership Î 875 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Î 212-813-0030

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JUNE 20-26,2019

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RECLAIM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The Reclaim Pride Coalition objects to the role of corporations in New York’s annual Pride March. This Chipotle oat was part of the 2013 parade. Photo: brklyn is over, via Flckr

1960s and ‘70s. Out as a lesbian since 1976, she left a job at CBS to work as an AIDS educator for New York’s Hetrick-Martin Institute for Lesbian and Gay Youth, and later as an organizer at ACT UP. In the decades since, Northrop has worked at the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ-focused think tank, the Lesbian Avengers and Queer Nation activist groups, as well as “every protest group that came along.�

Since 1996, she has hosted the public access show “Gay USA� along with Andy Humm, showcasing LGBTQ issues, both domestically and internationally.

Northrop said her years on “Gay USAâ€? have made her “continually awareâ€? of the challenges faced by LGBTQ communities around the world. During an interview, she noted the struggles of activists in Bosnia and North Macedonia to hold the ďŹ rst pride marches in their nations.

She also mentioned a Pride march last year in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp by Ugandan refugees, at risk to their own lives due to the rigidly conservative environment. “That is pride to me, not TD Bank rolling down Fifth Avenue,� Northrop said.

An Unconventional Approach It was this desire to re-center rights advocacy as part of Pride which drew Northrop to Reclaim Pride. In 2017 and 2018, Northrop, along with other activists, took part in the city’s official Pride march. But after struggles in 2018 with Heritage of Pride, the organizers of the march, Reclaim Pride was founded.

Northrop explained that in Reclaim Pride, “nobody has official titles, we’re just organizers. Everyone’s on equal footing,â€? This unconventional approach reects Reclaim Pride’s focus on accessibility and community. Unlike the NYC Pride

parade, which requires permits to join, the Queer Liberation March welcomes participants at any point along the four-mile route, which begins at Sheridan Square at 9:30 A.M. on June 30th and concludes with a rally at Central Park’s Great Lawn.

The rally will feature a plethora of guests, “both political and entertaining.� Among them will be poets Staceyann Chin and Pamela Sneed, performance artists Justin Vivian Bond, Taylor Mac, and Alok Vaid-Menon, and activists Lydia X. Z. Brown, Edafe Okporo, and Amir Ashour, along with members of the Gay Liberation Front and ACT UP. Also featured will be nightlife personalities Jose Xtravaganza and Kevin Aviance, journalist Masha Gessen, and actor John Cameron Mitchell.

No Corporations, Campaigners or Cops in Uniform Northrop emphasized that politicians are welcome to join the rally, “just not in campaign mode.� Centering on the LGBTQ community itself over any outside figures or organizations is central to Reclaim Pride’s efforts.

As part of its political focus, Reclaim Pride also bars the presence of corporations and the NYPD, both of which are ďŹ xtures of NYC Pride.

Northrop explained that while some corporations have helped advocate for certain LGBTQ causes, they should not be the focus of Pride at the expense of the community the event is meant to celebrate. “If they want to support us, they can stand on the sidelines,� she said, “or give money to the community.�

As for the NYPD, Northrop said

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Northrop said two issues are particularly important today: transgender rights, and the ongoing attempts to include sexuality and gender identity as protected groups under federal non-discrimination laws. “Trans communities are under at-

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Rights and Safety for Transgender People

tack,� she said. “Black trans women are being murdered.� Two such women, 26-year-old Chynal Lindsey and 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker were both killed in Dallas, Texas in the last month alone, she noted.

The Human Rights Foundation documented at least 26 murders of transgender people in the United States last year. Black transgender women are particularly vulnerable to such violence, as they face the compounded issues of racism, transphobia, and misogyny.

As for the issue of non-discrimination laws, while New York includes gender identity and sexual orientation in both its employment discrimination and hate crime laws, only 20 other states do so with regard to employment, and only 18 do so for hate crimes.

Northrop and other activists seek to expand those protections nationwide, an uphill battle against the Trump administration, which Northrop described as “relentless and shameless in rolling back protections.� Just last month, she pointed out, the Department of Health and Human Services rescinded an Obama-era guideline which protected transgender people from discrimination by health care providers.

All of this — the Queer Liberation March and the ongoing struggle to create a safe and fair world for LGBTQ people — Northrop said, is all part of Reclaim Pride’s goal to “bring back that spirit of Stonewall.�

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they “make the most marginalized feel unsafe,� and pointed to the department’s history of entrapping gay men and numerous incidents of brutality. She also noted its failure to apologize for the 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn. (A few days after the interview, Police Commissioner James O’Neill finally offered that long-awaited apology. “The actions taken by the NYPD were wrong — plain and simple,� he said.)

Northrop said that she has had friends with and worked with the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) on efforts to reduce homophobia within the NYPD. She said members of GOAL, as well as any other NYPD officers, are free to participate in the Queer Liberation March, as long as they march out of uniform, representing themselves rather than the institution whose historical practices Reclaim Pride objects to.

Northrop explained that Pride should be a time for “celebrating our victories, mourning our losses,� and looking ahead to the next fronts in the continuing struggle for LGBTQ rights. The Queer Liberation March is part of what she described as “a much bigger stream of progressive values,� which seek to galvanize Pride into a community-based political event once more.

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JUNE 20-26,2019

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

GAY PRIDE, ALL YEAR LONG PRIDE 2019 A bookstore, a museum, a cafe and three other spots where you can show your support and have a good time

BY NICOLE ROSENTHAL

Pride Month has always been associated with The Stonewall Inn, from the historic Stonewall Uprising in 1969, which paved the way for the modern gay rights movement, to the parades and parties that have transformed every June since into a non-stop celebration. But members and supporters of the LGBTQ community can show their colors the other eleven months as well. Here are six locations around New York City that celebrate LGBTQ Pride 365 days a year.

Big Gay Ice Cream Multiple Location biggayicecream.com The brainchild of Manhattanites Bryan Petroff and Douglas Quint, Big Gay Ice Cream first opened in the East Village in 2011 after its whirlwind success as an ice cream truck since 2009. After opening a West Village location in 2012, the duo launched a Philadelphia satellite store as well as pint-sized tubs available in stores nationwide. The original East Village store retains the quaint mom-and-pop atmosphere of a local ice cream parlour with an added element of extravagant colors and decadent, original flavors.

Leslie-Lohman Museum of LGBTQ Art 26 Wooster Street, $9 (suggested admission) leslielohman.org/about The collective traces its roots back to 1969, when Charles Leslie and Fritz Lohman held an exhibit featuring gay artists in a Soho loft.

After collecting items throughout the 1970s and 80s, Leslie and Lohman created the Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation in 1987 to preserve LGBT history. The museum, officially accredited in 2016, boasts a collection of over 30,000 objects and hosts multiple events and exhibitions throughout the year.

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe 126 Crosby St, Free housingworks.org The downtown-based bookstore and cafe has been serving locals for over a decade, serving additionally as an event space for book sales, thrift swaps and even tarot readings. As Housing Works doubles as a non-profit organization, the establishment assists LGBT individu-

Photo: Spencer Means via Flickr

als living with HIV/AIDS with primary care, dental care and substance use treatment.

During the day, one can stop by for a range of coffee, tea, beer, wine and seltzers with a bite to eat, with partial proceeds going towards the non-profit.

Pyramid Club 101 Avenue A (Age 21+) thepyramidclub.com While bands such as Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are known to have gotten their New York City start at the famous East Village nightclub, many may be unaware of the impact “The Pyramid” had on the New York City drag scene. The downtown hot spot is where the likes of RuPaul got her start in 1982, as well as Lypsinka and Lady Bunny.

New York City AIDS Memorial St. Vincent’s Triangle Greenwich Ave & West 12th St. Free nycaidsmemorial.org While you may have passed this architectural monument on Greenwich Avenue before, the memorial debuted its new instillation “Visual Impact: On Art, AIDS, and Activism” on June 1. Located across from the Memorial Park, the new project showcases eight artistic pieces that represent the “visual identity of the AIDS resistance from the mid-1980s through today.”

Caffe Cino 31 Cordelia St. nyclgbtsites.org/site/caffe-cino/ This Greenwich Village establishment held poetry readings and theater productions in its golden years in the 1950s and 60s, hosted the likes of William M. Hoffman and Robin Miller.

In what some consider to be the birthplace of Off-Broadway theater, the quaint coffeehouse housed groundbreaking playwrights that dared to write about topics such as homosexuality, which was banned from the stage at the time.

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE US TO LOOK INTO? DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE US TO LOOK INTO? DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE US TO LOOK INTO? Email us at NEWS@STRAUSNEWS.COM

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WHY BOB DYLAN’S ROLLING THUNDER GAMBLE PAID OFF PUBLIC EYE

CONCERNED WORDS HELP THE HEALING

BY BETTE DEWING

BY JON FRIEDMAN

In the fall of 1975, Bob Dylan launched The Rolling Thunder Revue and took one of the biggest musical risks of his six-decade musical career.

It was a resounding success.

The six-week tour of New England and other locales has been captured in a new documentary from Netflix entitled “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.” (Previously, some of Dylan’s film work had such vague names as Dont Look Back — no apostrophe — Eat the Document and Masked and Anonymous, but Netflix liked having all of the principals in the title.

Membership indeed has its privileges!)

The rehearsals and concerts are beautifully presented in a 14-disc package from Sony/Legacy.

Looking back, Dylan took a big chance by charging into this tour.

He wanted to return to his un-corporate roots and have fun playing rock and roll tunes, after being tied for more than a decade to the oppressive label, The Voice of a Generation. Dylan, shrewdly sizing up the pitfalls of idolatry at an early age, had flatly rejected this highly inconvenient tag. He wanted to boogie with his friends.

Dylan impulsively launched The Rolling Thunder Revue, a rather rag-tag endeavor for a musical star who had triumphantly filled North America’s biggest hockey and basketball venues just the year before.

He favored playing on college campuses. He sang out of his head, with more concern for reaching the balcony than being known for precision and artistry. He wore extensive makeup.

The risks? Dylan, for the first time, went on tour without The Band backing him up. He was coming off back-to-back hits with the albums “Planet Waves” and “Blood on the Tracks,” so he had a lot of recent success to live up to. The reviews for

Voices

Photo: Jon Friedman

his Tour ‘74 extravaganza (when tickets cost a then-astronomical $8.50 apiece) had been a critical and commercial bonanza for Dylan.

By touring in 1975, Dylan had hoped, too, to shine a light on the plight of imprisoned middleweight boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who had been convicted of murder (Dylan had read Carter’s autobiography and met him in the New Jersey prison and came away convinced of Carter’s innocence). Dylan co-wrote and recorded the song “Hurricane,” pointedly the first song on his next album, “Desire.”

Displaying a fire that the world hadn’t heard since his 1966 world tour, Dylan sang like a demon on “Hurricane.”

But a song about injustice and a black man also represented a sizable risk for Dylan’s reputation. His 1971 song “George Jackson,” about a Black Panther leader who had been shot and killed earlier that year by prison guards, had been dismissed by fans and critics as an insincere attempt to get the public off Dylan’s back. Dylan, they alleged, hoped this “return to protest” would restore his street credibility, but it didn’t.

So, why, then, did Rolling Thunder work? Dylan’s singing is the main reason. He is completely engaged in this music. In later years, critics and fans would chide Dylan for his

wildly inconsistent performances on stage to the point of mailing it in (I’ve seen these dreary performances many times).

But in 1975, he was right there — on every song, at every stop. Maybe he felt freer, without the pressure of performing with The Band in tow.

Maybe he loved singing the new songs, which would later comprise the Desire album. Maybe he loved playing to college kids on campuses.

Maybe he loved singing again with Joan Baez and on the same bill as such musicians as Mick Ronson, Joni Mitchell, Roger McGuinn, Ronee Blakley, T-Bone Burnett, Rob Stoner and Howie Wyeth.

You’ll see all of the joy and commitment on Dylan’s face and in his voice during the Scorsese film.

My one gripe: I felt there were too many cutaways, when I just wanted to hear Dylan at one of his creative peaks. I didn’t need anything else.

Sometimes he seemed like an extra in his own film.

No matter, really. This is a film worth exploring if you love Bob Dylan’s music and want to catch him at a time when he took one of his biggest creative gambles — and made it work.

Jon Friedman is the author of “Forget About Today: Bob Dylan’s Genius for Reinvention, Shunning the Naysayers, and Creating a Personal Revolution.”

Doorman Jose told me not to write this column because I’d taken a spill from a chair and hurt my right knee.

“Take care of yourself first and foremost,” he said, “the world will survive without this one column.”

But concerned words like Jose’s do help the healing, and so I feel compelled to get this message out there how concerned words help the healing. And how we need reminding to say them — enough. And this is rather a follow up on my previouos column about how apartment house staff members are often veritable lifelines to building residents, as well as everyday friends who say “Good morning,” “Good day,” “Good evening,” and really mean it.

The Need to Be More Neighborly And again, to those who don’t have them, infinitely more must be said and done about the need to organize — such an unfriendly term —to get tenants to be more neighborly, where greeting one another with a smile at least is the rule. And remember the late Loretta Ponticelli who, when she was able-bodied, made the City and Suburban Homes complex more community-minded, But this rather fell apart when she became home-bound and ironlically could have used more community support herself.

There was no Jose there to judicially spread the word when some-

one was ill. “Bette got hurt,” he told some longtime tenants, which pompted some welcome visits, food and ice bags. And mostly it’s the presence that matters, perhaps by “reach out and touch someone,” phone calls, and of course emails, though not everyone has online options. Ever wish online had not beeninvented?

Small Businesses Create Community And speaking of communty, online shopping surely undermines the health and survival of neighborhood shops and eateries which create community. For example, as the owners of Beacon Paint & Hardware said when I called about their atruggle to survive, the problem wasn’t any mammoth rent hike, but the online shopping, with bargains so hard to resist, not to mention the convenience, which was undermining the survival of this family’s nearly halfcentury old business.

And that was another reasom I needed to write this column — to stress again how these small businesses and eateries create commuity and neighborliness. And with the population aging, they are accessible by walking and, yes, by wheelchairs and rollators. They need our all-out support. It can be done, if enough of us try.

dewingbetter@aol.com

More neighborhood news? neighborhood celebrations? neighborhood opinions? neighborhood ideas? neighborhood feedback? neighborhood concerns?

Email us at news@strausnews.com

JUNE 20-26,2019

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The American Museum of Natural History held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Gilder Center expansion project June 12. Photo: AMNH/D. Finnin

GILDER CENTER BREAKS GROUND MUSUEMS AMNH commences construction on $383 million expansion project

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Four-and-a-half years after the American Museum of Natural History first announced plans for a major expansion project — and following an extensive city review process and a legal battle with a local group that sought to block the new facility — work has officially commenced on the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation.

“We made it,” Ellen Futter, the museum’s president, said to staff, donors, politicians and other dignitaries at a June 12 groundbreaking ceremony for the $383 million project.

The 230,000-square-foot Gilder Center will feature new exhibition and classroom spaces, a redesigned library, and will improve the flow of visitors throughout the museum complex. The facility is being built on the west side of the museum on a quarter-acre of what was formerly Theodore Roosevelt Park and will include a new entrance to the museum facing Columbus Avenue.

“The new Gilder Center will provide important new educational spaces and a new, more publicly accessible home for much of our col-

lections and for our library, while it also is dramatically improving circulation and facilitating a more satisfying visit to the museum both physically and intellectually,” Futter said.

In his comments at the event, Mayor Bill de Blasio briefly referenced local opposition to the Gilder Center, which resulted in an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit that claimed the city failed to adhere to land use and environmental review requirements in approving the project. The city contributed $78 million in funding to the Gilder Center.

“I like to say that I represent a city of 8.6 million highly opinionated people — so not everybody understood immediately why it was so important to foster STEM education, why it was so important to create this center,” de Blasio said. “But perseverance is a virtue and we’re all here today because we believed together that this was important for our future.”

Both the mayor and Futter stressed the role the Gilder Center will play in advancing the museum’s mission at a time when, in de Blasio’s words, “Science is under attack.”

“In this time of rampant misinformation and confusion, especially about the critical science-based issues of our century — climate change, human health and other environmental threats — this museum’s evidencebased science research and

“We made it.”

Ellen Futter, president, American Museum of Natural History education […] has never been more critical,” Futter said.

But the museum has come under scrutiny in recent years for the political activities of its patrons, including the Gilder Center’s namesake, the investor Richard Gilder.

Gilder, who was present at the groundbreaking ceremony but did not make public remarks, is a co-founder of the Club for Growth, an influential conservative political group that has opposed efforts to limit carbon emissions. In 2017, the Club for Growth applauded President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and accused “alarmist environmentalists” of engaging in “scare tactics intended to harm our economy and inhibit economic growth.”

Museum trustee and donor Rebekah Mercer has also been criticized for her political contributions to conservative groups that question the scientific consensus on climate change. More than 450 scientists have signed an open letter calling on the museum to oust Mercer from its board.

The Gilder Center is expected to open by 2021.

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Calendar NYCNOW

Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com

EDITOR’S PICK

June 20 - Sep 1 WHISTLER AS PRINTMAKER: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GERTRUDE KOSOVSKY COLLECTION The Frick 1 East 70th St 10:00 a.m. Free frick.org 212-288-0700 An exhibition highlighting fifteen prints and one pastel from the collection is now on view in the Cabinet Gallery. The collection was formed over five decades by Mrs. Kosovsky, with the support of her husband, Dr. Harry Kosovsky, and includes twenty-seven etchings, fourteen lithographs, and one pastel, which range from Whistler’s early etchings, dating from the late 1850s to lithographs of the late 1890s.

Stunning 2007 Marilyn Cooperman Fire Opal & Diamond Gold Ear Clips at Kenneth James Collection, Gallery #47

1050 2nd Ave b/t 55th St & 56th St. New York | NY 10022 | 212.355.4400 info@the-maac.com

They glitter & glow with a cascade of Mexican fire opals & diamonds set in 18K gold.

THE-MAAC.COM

Thu 20

▲

FILM - THREE ON A MATCH (1932)

GMA SUMMER CONCERT SERIES: BASTILLE

96th St Library 112 East 96th St 2:00 p.m. Free A successful, married woman throws everything away and descends into a life of debauchery and drugs.

With Joan Blondell, Bette Davis, Ann Dvorak and Lyle Talbot. nypl.org 212-289-0908

Fri 21

Central Park Rumsey Playfield 7:00 a.m. Free World famous British band Bastille takes the stage at the 2019 GMA Summer Concert Series. centralpark.com 212-310-6600

Sat 22 NON-STICK NOSTALGIA Y2K RETROFUTURISM IN CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY Museum of Art and Design 2 Columbus Circle 10:00 a.m. $16 Today, we grapple with image oversaturation, URL/IRL hybridity, device dependency, oversharing, a glittery kind of narcissism.

Self-actualization has become open source; individuality, user-generated. This event will explore these feelings and more. madmuseum.org 212-299-7777

JUNE 20-26,2019

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Sun 23 ▼ RSC LIVE: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Symphony Space 2537 Broadway 1:00 p.m. $24 In a reimagined 1590, England is a matriarchy. Baptista Minola is seeking to sell off her son Katherine to the highest bidder. Cue an explosive battle of the sexes in this electrically charged love story. Justin Audibert (“Snow in Midsummer,” “The Jew of Malta”) turns Shakespeare’s fierce, energetic comedy of gender and materialism on its head to offer a fresh perspective on its portrayal of hierarchy and power. symphonyspace.org 212-864-5400

HONORING LIVES WITH

extraordinary celebrations.

Mon 24

Tue 25

FIFTY SHADES OF JONÉE

SUMMER OF KNOW: YVE LARIS COHEN AND ALEXES HAZEN

Library for the Performing Arts 40 Lincoln Center Plaza 6:00 p.m. Free Jacqueline Jonée returns with a sparkling, brand new presentation of two farewell Gay Pride performances in “Fifty Shades of Jonée,” with the JouJou Jacquettes Philharmonic Orchestra. nypl.org 917-275-6975

The Guggenheim 1071 Fifth Ave 7:00 p.m.$25 This program features artist Yve Laris Cohen and surgeon Alexes Hazen, in a discussion about the health and care of bodies in transition, moderated by Christina Yang, director of public programs at the Guggenheim Museum. guggenheim.org 212-423-3500

There are times when nothing short of the best will do. A funeral service is one of them. It is a final expression, the culmination of a lifetime orchestrated into a singular event. What leaves a lasting impression? A ceremony that is as unique as the individual.

By planning in advance, you can design your own brilliant Celebration of Life. Contact us today to speak with a Premier Planning Professional.

Wed 26 ► DETOX YOUR HOME 92Y 1395 Lexington Ave 7:00 $29 Join health and wellness speaker, advocate and Good Home Company Founder, Christine Dimmick, as she takes a deep dive into the toxins found in our very own homes, and how you can limit your exposure to take control of your own health.

92y.org

FRANK E. CAMPBELL the funeral chapel

1076 Madison Avenue | New York, NY 10028 212-288-3500 | FrankECampbell.com

New York state law mandates that all contracts for prearranged funeral agreements executed by applicants for or recipients of supplemental social security income or medical assistance be irrevocable.

Frank E. Campbell – The Funeral Chapel is owned and operated by a subsidiary of Service Corporation International, 1929 Allen Parkway, Houston, Texas 77019. 713-522-5141.

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NAUMBURG 2019: A CLASSICAL SUMMER The celebrated and beloved concert series is moving indoors this season, but the music will soar as always

BY MARY GREGORY

Elkan Naumburg (1835–1924) was a contemporary of J. P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Carnegie.

Like them, he made a fortune in the early years of the 20th century, and like them, he was a major philanthropist. Unlike them, he was born to a Jewish family that immigrated to the United States to escape the burgeoning anti-Semitic wave spreading through Bavaria, their homeland. Naumburg was 15 years old when he arrived in Baltimore. A lover of classical music, but unable to afford tickets to concerts, he later turned his passion to a gift to others, specifically New Yorkers.

Horse-drawn buggies carried men sporting straw boaters and women in long skirts with bustles to the first Naumburg Orchestral Concerts in 1905, which were lit by gaslight. 114 years later, they’re still a highlight of the New York summer season. Over the years, Irving Berlin, the Grateful Dead, and Fidel Castro have appeared on the Naumburg stage, but the main focus has always been on classical orchestral music. Billed as “the oldest continuous free outdoor western classical music concert series in the world,” it’s a beloved part of the city’s cultural heritage.

The Perfect Temporary Home The Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park was completed in 1923, about the same time another jewel of New York was being built. Temple Emanu-El, at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street, also funded by Jewish philanthropists, is an architectural

IF YOU GO WHAT: Naumburg Orchestral Concerts 2019 WHERE: Temple Emanu-El, the Streicker Center, 1 East 65th St. WHEN: June 18 — August 6 naumburgconcerts.org/concerts/ (212) 744-1400

This summer’s Naumburg Orchestral Concerts will be performed at Temple Emanu-El. Photo: Courtesy of Temple Emanu-El

and acoustic wonder. Its soaring 103-foot high ceiling and more than 60 stained glass windows are filled with spiritual symbols. This year, as the Naumburg Bandshell undergoes repairs, the summer concert series will be held in Temple Emanu-El. When this season’s musicians take the stage, they and the audiences will, in many ways, be touching history.

A Fabulous Lineup The Knights, a New York based orchestra, opened the season on June 18th with a program broadcast on WQXR, including works by Felix Mendelssohn, Benjamin Britten, Lisa Bielawa, and poetry by Walt Whitman set to music. Upcoming concerts include the Venice Baroque Orchestra, joining the Naumburg series for the first time on July 10th.

They’ll perform a mostly Italian program with works by Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Tomaso Albinoni, Benedetto Marcello, and Francesco Geminiani.

Boston-based, Grammy awardnominated A Far Cry performs July 18th, bringing a contemporary spin with two works composed within the last decade, along with Georg Muffat’s “Concerto Grosso No. 12” and Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade in C

The Naumburg Orchestral Concerts have been a part of New York summers since 1905. Photo: Courtesy of Naumburg Orchestral Concerts

Major, Op. 48.”

On July 30th, New York’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s will focus on 20th and 21st century music, giving equal billing to male and female composers. Works by Anna Clyne, Florence Price, Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland will be performed, with soprano Jasmine Muhammad. The finale of the season will be on August 6th, when Orpheus Chamber

Orchestra, also based in New York, presents “Pasión: A Concert of Spanish and South American Music.”

An Ongoing Treat for New Yorkers All the concerts are free, but all require tickets, (available online).

If there are seats still available, it might be possible to score a lastminute ticket at the door. Temple Emanu-El opens at 6:15 for each of

the 7 p.m. concerts, and suggests allowing extra time for security checks. These renowned musicians and sumptuous programs are, as was inscribed by Elkan Naumburg on the Central Park bandshell, “presented to the City Of New York and its music lovers” from a kindred spirit, almost a century gone, but still reaching and enriching lives in the city.

JUNE 20-26,2019

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BEYOND BROADWAY - EAST SIDE The #1 online community for NYC theater:

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Based on Carl Reiner’s novel, this comic musical careens through the misadventures of a star-struck and stagestruck teenager in 1930s New York.

This 90-minute one-woman show tells the story of 1930s icon Bette Davis on the night of the 1939 Academy Awards.

An autobiographical story of perseverance and hope from a woman who found her marriage, family, and values tested by the unthinkable.

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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS JUNE 5 - 11, 2019

Pic Up Stix

1372 Lexington Ave

A

Le Viet Cafe

1750 2nd Ave

Not Graded Yet (48) Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

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/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

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 www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml.

Juice Press @ Equinox

1429 2nd Ave

A

Bella Blu

967 Lexington Avenue

A

Bocado Cafe

1297 Lexington Avenue

A

Ooki Sushi

1575 3 Avenue

Grade Pending (24) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

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.

Little Italy Pizza

217 E 86th St

A

Paris Baguette

1270 Lexington Ave

A

Tiramisu Restaurant

1410 3 Avenue

A

Tal Bagels

1228 Lexington Avenue

A

La Pulperia

1626 2nd Ave

A

Grade Pending (20) 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.

San Matteo Pizzeria E Cucina

1559 2nd Ave

A

Little Frog Francois Latapie

322 E 86th St

A

Prince Tea House

1521 York 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.

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. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Taco Bell

1614 2nd Ave

A

E.A.T. Cafe

1064 Madison Avenue

A

Larustica Pizza

1424 Lexington Ave

Luigi Pizzeria & Ristorante

1701 1 Avenue

Grade Pending (27) 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. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. 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/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Bonjour Crepes & Wine

1442 Lexington Ave

A

Wok 88

1570 3rd Ave

Grade Pending (23) 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/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Suki Ichiro Sushi

1694 2nd Ave

Grade Pending (47) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. 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.

Mole Cantina Mexicana

1735 2 Avenue

A

Table D’Hote

44 East 92 Street

A

Butterfield Catering

346 East 92 Street

A

Pho Shop

1716 1st Ave

Grade Pending (24) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

2) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

3) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Metropolitan Museum 1000 5 Avenue Roof Top Garden Cafe

A

Sushi Suki

1577 York Ave

A

Chickpea, Red Mango

1413 Madison Avenue

A

One Up Bistro

1404 Madison Ave

A

La Isla Restaurant

1883 Third Avenue

A

Cafe On 5Th/Sterling Affair

1216 5 Avenue

A

Sprinkle Splash Bakery

1590 Park Ave

A

Subway

1885 3 Avenue

A

Your neighborhood news source

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NEIGHBORHOOD’S BEST To place an ad in this directory, Call Douglas at 212-868-0190 ext. 352.

SPORTS As the U.S. women’s soccer team tries for another World Cup, the players inspire fans with their skill and their values

ART

GADGETS

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BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

Manhattan’s foremost soccer bar, Smithfield Hall in Chelsea, was packed with fans Sunday who came to watch the U.S. Women’s National Team take on Chile in their second game of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

The crowd, many decked out in players’ jerseys, applauded each of the three goals the team scored to cruise past the Chilean side.

It was a convincing follow up to the USWNT’s first showing in Reims, in which they beat an outmatched Thailand side 13 to zero.

But it’s more than decades of dominance in the sport that draws fan to this team. Many of the women on hand at Smithfield Hall on Sunday cited Mia Hamm and the 1999 squad, who beat China in penalty kicks to win the World Cup here at home, as women they could emulate growing up. From the current roster, they cite Megan Rapinoe; not only does she provide the best service into the box, but she provides visibility as an out member of the LGBTQ community. To them, Alex Morgan is not just one of the best strikers in the world; she, as well as many other high profile team members, used her platform to sue U.S. Soccer for pay equity with the men’s team, whose members make more money despite having much less success.

MON-SAT 10:30AM-6PM | SUN 12PM-6PM

In the crowded Smithfield Hall in Chelsea, Katie Mathews, right, watches the U.S. Women’s National Team in their 3-0 victory over Chile.

Photo: Emily Higginbotham

year, the players filed a federal lawsuit, citing “institutional gender discrimination.” They say they are looking forward to a trial after this summer’s World Cup is over.

Skiba and Mathews share respect for Megan Rapinoe, a player known for her dynamic style on the pitch and activism. Rapinoe took a knee during the national anthem before two of the team’s games, in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and his protests.

“She’s really inspirational because a lot of people struggle with this balance,” Mathews said.

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To many fans, the team possesses the values the U.S. should represent on the world stage.

While some 45,000 people came to Paris to watch the women’s second World Cup game, less than two weeks earlier nearly twice that number, by some estimates, marched in London to protest President Trump’s state visit.

“It’s probably super contradictory for other countries to kind of witness,” said Rita Skiba, 30, who came to watch the game at Smithfield Hall with her fiancé, Katie Mathews. “I really appreciate that the team shows their values on and off the field and is able to represent something that’s not being shown on the political scene right now.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever really felt that the U.S. government has represented women, and I feel like that’s really relatable no matter what country you’re in,” Mathews added. “I think other teams respect them for that right now.”

Fighting for Equal Pay The players have put these values in action over the years. In 2016, a year after winning their third World Cup, five members of the teams filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission against U.S. Soccer, in which they alleged they were paid considerably less than the men’s team.

They won more compensation in their next bargaining agreement. But in March of this

Following their victory over Thailand in their opening match, a debate ensued online about whether the U.S. should have racked up so many goals against an inferior side, and especially, whether the players should have celebrated each one with so much gusto.

Laura Reilley, a lifelong soccer player who was watching at Smithfield Hall, said playing to the best of your ability is about showing respect your opponent. The way teams advance in the World Cup, it matters how many goals a team scores. Tactically, Reilley said, it was smart to get as many goals as possible.

As for the celebrations, she thinks the debate stems from sexism. “In general it’s not good to smash a racquet on a tennis court, but when Serena Williams does it, it’s headline news everywhere. And when a man does it, it’s not,” Reilley said. “I think there’s a level of moral outrage around the U.S. team being really, really competitive that doesn’t exist for men.”

Annie Hadley, another fan, said the lopsided score line shouldn’t affect how the world views what the team is doing on and off the field.

“I think that the World Cup is really interesting in terms of global diplomacy,” said Hadley.

“The fact that they are out there being proudly feminist, a lot of them are proudly out lesbians, I think that says a lot about what the U.S. can be, and what it should be. I think that’s important for the world to see.”

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Business

FAIRWAY LAUNCHES A COOKING SCHOOL FOOD The iconic NYC grocer takes the next logical step and offers classes for food lovers

BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

At Long’s Bedding on West 72nd St. (from left to right): Bob Tunison, Joel Spector, Terri Long, Bob Long and Judie Long. Photo courtesy of Terri Long

THE LONG’S GOODBYE STORES West Side bedding store to relocate to the UES in 2020

BY JASON COHEN

After more than a century as a fixture in the Upper West Side, Long’s Bedding will be closing at the end of the year and relocating to the east side.

In April, the store put a sign out front saying it will remain at 121 West 72nd Street through the end of 2019, and move to 1220 Third Avenue off the corner of East 70th Street next year.

This four generation family business began in 1911 as a small factory in Harlem by Max Long. The first retail store opened at 153 West 72nd in 1936 by Harry Long. Harry moved the store down the block to 121 in 1962, where it is today. Bob (third) generation is still on his first job since 1963. Bob’s wife, Judie, started in 1983. Their daughter, Terri (fourth generation), came into the business in 1997. Terri operates the store today, with her parents in active supporting roles.

Terri Long told the West Side Spirit

that moving from the west to the east side was one of the toughest choices she ever had to make.

“We had wanted to stay and we tried to stay” she said. “We just couldn’t come to terms with our current landlord. It wasn’t a decision that we took lightly.”

With high rent and online retail, remaining open on the West Side simply wasn’t sustainable anymore, she said. Long noted that she and her family came to this realization about a year ago.

According to Long, finding a new space was a challenge. They needed a place that was accessible, close to their clientele and large enough for all of their beds. The East Side location is all of that and it is 1,000 feet bigger.

“We wanted to stay as close to our customer base as we could,” she said. “We have always prided ourselves on showing a wide selection of beds. The East Side I hope will be a space that will be inviting and accepting to all.”

Reflecting back on the 108 years of being in business, Long credited their success to the service to the customers and accessibility. Someone from her family is always there to help customers and this has led to the majority of their sales being

done by word of mouth.

Long noted that they do not advertise or carry the three big “S” brands, Sealey’s, Serta and Simmons. Instead, Long’s Bedding offers a wide selection of beds from boutique mattress companies from throughout the country.

Over the years, Long’s has become a hotspot for celebrities as well. The wall of the store is filled with photos of famous people, including Mandy Patinkin, Paul Simon and John Lennon.

“We’ve worked hard to provide a level of service, selection and quality that I think is unmatchable in this industry,” Long remarked.

Long recalled how she used to love coming to work with her dad as a child. She wrote fake invoices and adored seeing him do his job.

She worked briefly for a couple years at a few different places, but then came home to work with her family.

“I’ve been here longer than I’ve not been here,” Long said.

While the move is eight months away, she is filled with mixed emotions.

“When I think about the actual physical move it’s overwhelming,” she said. “The East Side space will be a fresh, new, mindful, well thought out experience and space. I hope that the West Side follows us to and decides to take the journey with us.”

With the June 15 opening of The Cooking Place, Upper West Siders can now hone their culinary skills at their neighborhood grocer, Fairway Market. The West Side institution is offering over 100 classes designed

by Chef Laura Licona, accessible to both experienced and novice cooks.

“At The Cooking Place, we bring more to the table than just food. We bring the same passion, dedication and philosophy about fooding that fills every aisle in our stores,” Licona said. “We believe that food draws people together, creating memories and friendships that will last long after the last bite of dessert is gone.”

The Cooking Place will host a daily schedule of classes in the renovated second floor of the chain’s flagship store at 74th Street and Broadway.

Guests can learn the basics of baking, how to sharpen their knife skills, how to make homemade pasta. They can also try their hand

Ready for students. Photo: Mark Whitaker

at a variety of global cuisines such as Chinese takeout, Spanish tapas, Japanese sushi, Korean BBQ and Parisian Steakhouse. The school offers date-night specials and afternoon lessons for children and teens.

Prices vary between $75 and $90 per class.

Courses will be taught by Licona, the executive chef of the adjoining café. A New Mexico native, Licona has traveled the world as a food anthropologist and chef. She studied environmental and food anthropology in a doctorate program at the University of Washington and subsequently attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Seattle.

“My food journey started at a very young age growing, raising and cooking food in a land steeped in heritage and rooted in culture and tradition,” Licona said. “I’ve had the honor of learning from culinary pioneers on both coasts, working with chefs who helped hone my passion and art, owning my own restaurant and eventually working as the executive chef at Giorgio’s of Gramercy here in New York City.”

Customers can book their classes online at TheCookingPlace.com.

Available courses are currently scheduled through July.

JUNE 20-26,2019

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PROTECTED BIKE LANE APPROVED FOR CENTRAL PARK WEST STREETS CB7 Transportation Committee passes resolution to improve safety for northbound cyclists

BY JASON COHEN

Cyclists on the Upper West Side may soon feel safer near Central Park. Last week the Community Board 7 Transportation Committee passed a resolution that will create a northbound protected bike lane on Central Park West.

On June 11, the Department of Transportation presented the community with a proposal outlining how there will be dedicated space for cyclists, safer pedestrian and cyclist crossings and dedicated turn lanes, all of which will reduce weaving in and out of traffic.

Members of the Transportation Committee praised the DOT for their plan.

“I think this is a great start,” said Committee Member Ken Coughlin.

“It’s really a shame we did not have this

Graphic: New York City Department of Transportation

a year ago.”

“I think this is something that is substantial for us,” added Committeewoman Elizabeth Caputo. “I’m in support of making this happen.”

While their colleague Richard Robbins commended the DOT, he still saw a couple of troubling issues with the plan.

“They’ve done a great job with really difficult conditions,” Robbins said.

“I’m still concerned because cyclists will be going southbound and they’re at risk.”

The discussions to improve safety for cyclists on Central Park West began last year when an Australian tourist, Madison Lyden, was killed while riding her bike.

As Lyden rode north on Aug. 10, a livery vehicle blocked the painted bike lane on Central Park West, forcing her to pull into the adjacent traffic lane, where she was struck and killed by a private sanitation truck.

Lyden’s death prompted renewed calls from bike activists and local politicians for the city’s Department of Transportation to replace the painted bike lane on Central Park West with a protected lane, a step supporters say would almost certainly have prevented the collision.

In addition to Lyden’s death, the DOT found that 22 people have been severely injured on Central Park West from 2013 to 2017. On streets where protected bike lanes were installed, such as West 59th St. to West 110th St, there has been a 15 percent decrease in all crashes with injuries and a 21 per-

Cyclists on Central Park West on Aug. 17, 2018 for a memorial ride in honor of Madison Jane Lyden, a 23-year-old Australian tourist who was struck and killed by a truck as she biked on the avenue. Photo: Michael Garofalo

cent drop in pedestrian injuries from 2007 to 2017.

Issues that have plagued cyclists near the park include bicycle fatalities, cyclists traveling alongside vehicles, double parking in bike lane, curb access, bus routes and traffic patterns and volumes.

The majority of the residents who attended the meeting were in favor of the proposal. Mitchell Loring, who lives on 86th and Columbus, is a frequent rider in the park. In fact, he was about 15 minutes or so behind Lyden when she was killed.

“I support some kind of protection at Central Park West,” he said. “I would have loved to have seen a two-way proposal on the street, but this is a good step. Right now it’s so dangerous.”

Chelsea Yamada, the Manhattan organizer with the bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, told the West Side Spirit that the proposal will not only benefit cyclists, but all New Yorkers. Having a buffered bike lane, where cyclists are separate from traffic, is vital to safety, she stressed.

“Not only were there a lot of safety components, which will enhance cyclists experience along the side of the park in one direction, but also huge calls for continued traffic safety,” Yamada said. “We will see a huge tremendous increase of cyclists flowing through the neighborhood.”

The proposal will go before the full Community Board at its next meeting on July 2.

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JAILS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 We live two blocks from here. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crazy to spend $11 billion for new jails.

For $11 billion, they could fix every NYCHA apartment.

Neighborhood resident Lauren Gee, of the proposed White Street jail ing building at 96 Baxter St. Three Manhattan community boards have rejected the proposal and at least two in the outer boroughs have done the same. A Bronx community board has sued to try to stop the plan, which is winding its way through a long approval process that will culminate in votes in the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

Patricia Tsai, of the Ling Sing Association on Mott St., said the city has not adequately measured impacts of such â&#x20AC;&#x153;mammoth construc-

tion projects,â&#x20AC;? and she accused officials of demonizing opponents of the plan which, she said, amounts to just â&#x20AC;&#x153;shuffling detainees aroundâ&#x20AC;? and putting four mini-Rikers Islands across the city.

Neighborhood resident Lauren Gee called the proposed White Street jail â&#x20AC;&#x153;a monstrous high-rise building,â&#x20AC;? that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t belong near Chinatown. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to be for a big new jail if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t live here,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We live two blocks from here. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crazy to spend $11 billion for new jails.

For $11 billion, they could ďŹ x every NYCHA apartment.â&#x20AC;?

Opposition from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Abolitionistsâ&#x20AC;?

Jonathan Hollander, who lives on White Street, said the proposed new jail â&#x20AC;&#x153;is not what New York City needs.â&#x20AC;?

He said it would too close to Columbus Park at Mulberry and Baxter Streets, â&#x20AC;&#x153;where people do tai chi in the morning and where children play in the afternoons.â&#x20AC;?

Many of the speakers were

criminal reform advocates and â&#x20AC;&#x153;abolitionists,â&#x20AC;? who said Rikers should close and not be replaced because jails symbolize â&#x20AC;&#x153;the mass incarceration ... that targets black and brown people.â&#x20AC;?

King Downing, a lawyer and founder of the Human Rights Justice Center, said â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am an abolitionist. Shut Rikers and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t build any new jails.â&#x20AC;? He and other speakers noted the death of inmate Layleen Polcano, whose lifeless body was found in her cell on June 7.

After the forum, Nancy Kong of Neighbors United Bellow Canal, told Our Town the plan was â&#x20AC;&#x153;fatally flawed and ill-conceivedâ&#x20AC;? and would destroy Chinatownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s character.

Noting the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s failed attempt to get rid of Rikers some 40 years ago, she said she hopes community opposition will once again â&#x20AC;&#x153;be able to successfully ďŹ ght this ... Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just such a bad idea.â&#x20AC;?

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WALT WHITMAN WOULD BE PLEASED CULTURE Award-winning poets, poetry lovers and actor Bill Murray gather to celebrate New York City and the work of Poet’s House

BY JADEN SATENSTEIN

Due to unfortunate weather circumstances, the Poet’s House 24th annual Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge featured a lot less walking than usual, but still treated guests to a wealth of powerful, New York-inspired poetry on Monday, June 10.

The Poetry Walk is an annual benefit for the non-profit organization Poet’s House, which serves the New York community through it’s free, extensive poetry library downtown at 10 River Terrace. The event typically features a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, during which renowned poets read famous works about New York City, many of which center on the bridge itself.

Though the poems and the poets reading them change every year, the walk always concludes with a reading of Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” in front of Jane’s Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park, followed by a celebratory dinner in Brooklyn, during which participating poets read their own work.

However, Poet’s House had to break from tradition this year due to heavy rain, cancelling the walk itself and hosting the event in its entirety at an indoor space in DUMBO.

A Change in the Weather “This is one of the few times we’ve had to move to the rain plan,” Poet’s House executive director Lee Briccetti said, “We’ve had really good luck in almost 25 years.”

Still, poets and attendees alike agreed that the event derives its magic from the poetry itself, which was read throughout the dinner. In addition to Whitman’s piece, which was read by all five participating poets, each reading a section, much of the poetry evoked the spirit of the Brooklyn Bridge, even though it could not be read whilst walking across it.

In addition to reading his own poem, “Shirt,” former Poet Laureate of the United States Robert Pinsky decided to share early 20th century poet Hart Crane’s “To Brooklyn Bridge.”

“It was my first time participating,” Pinsky said. “I’ve heard a lot about it over the years. I know it’s been a wonderful occasion. And, though I was

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

over, economic backgrounds, people with or without education that can be offered this space.”

Poetry and the People All five poets praised the work of Poet’s House, which strives to provide the public with opportunities to experience the world of poetry through programs such as workshops, fellowships and free readings. “A lot of people are maybe afraid and they don’t think they are going to like poetry, but once they experience it they are expanded and they find something that they can take for their life’s journey,” Briccetti said. “If you make it possible for people to bump into it and have pleasure, they really do like it.

So a lot of our work is about trying to create initiatives that will help people bump into poetry with pleasure and understanding.”

A Star-Studded Evening

Bill Murray. Photo: Jaden Satenstein

disappointed we couldn’t walk over the bridge, it was great to celebrate Hart Crane and Walt Whitman.”

Sounds of the City Briccetti noted the importance of the poetry being inspired by New York, as it attracts a wide range of people who appreciate the sentiments of the work even if they don’t always connect to poetry.

“The bridge walk has just grown in size,” Briccetti said. “It’s an event that people know because it’s so city centric. I think people who may not self-identify as being poetry lovers love this event because it’s the places of New York that they love and the words that celebrate them.”

The 2017 Walt Whitman Awardwinning poet and Brooklyn resident Jenny Xie knew exactly what poems she wanted to share when she was invited to participate in the event.

In addition to Audre Lorde’s “Bridge Through My Window,” Xie read her original piece “Chinatown Diptych,” which is about the neighborhood she first lived in when she moved to New York City. Xie was excited to read the poem due to the influence that the city itself has had on her work and because she actually wrote it at Poet’s House.

“I love the diversity and the energy of the city,” Xie said. “Just walking the sidewalk any time of day you just soak in so many sounds and voices and languages. And as a poet, because language and sound and rhythm figure so heavily into my work, that’s something that really energizes me and inspires me as a

writer.”

The inspiration Xie takes from the “sounds and voices and languages” of New York was evident when she read “Chinatown Diptych,” which includes the line, “Perched above these streets with whom I share verbs and adjectives.”

A Poetry Sanctuary Poet and Brooklyn College professor Rosamond S. King, who also read at the event, emphasized the impact that the variety of cultures and experiences in New York has had on her poetry. “New York City affects my work in part because it’s a city of immigrants,” King said. “I’m a child of immigrants, and so I experience New York both as an American but also as someone who has connections to other places and who can have connections to places that I’ve never even been ... It’s as though you can travel a bit and learn about so many different cultures while you’re in the city, and I think that that inflects your work.”

This exposure to culture is something that Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gregory Pardlo, who read work

by James Schuyler at the dinner, said is embodied by Poet’s House’s library.

He expressed gratitude to the organization for providing him the opportunity to explore different types of writing from around the world.

“Poet’s House is a community,” Pardlo said. “We heard the word ‘sanctuary’ over and over again tonight, and I think it’s a sanctuary in the sense that, it’s been said already too, so many different kinds of poetry can coexist in one place… There is no sense of priori-

tizing any kind of poetry over another.

I think that was a really important condition in my own development as a poet.”

Honoring Service Acclaimed poet Anne Waldman, who co-founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics along with famous beat-poet Allen Ginsberg, received the Elizabeth Kray Award. Poet’s House bestows the award, named for the late co-founder of the organization, biennially to poets who embody her spirit and service to poetry.

“It means a lot,” Waldman said about receiving the award, expressing her appreciation for Poet’s House and other organizations that “...build community and create these spaces that are available for poets of all kinds from all

The evening concluded with a surprise visit from Golden Globe-winning actor and longtime Poet’s House patron Bill Murray, who has participated in the walk in years past. Murray read a variety of works, including Ted Berrigan’s “Whitman in Black,” which offered a satisfying ending to an evening that opened with a reading of Whitman’s work.

To Briccetti, who has served as Poet’s House Executive Director for 30 years and overseen every Poetry Walk, the power of poets reading Whitman’s words every year transcends time and, especially this year due to the last minute location change, space.

“It’s really about poets communicating and generations communicating through time and space,” Briccetti said. “That’s where the mysterious, mystical center of the bridge walk is.

Hearing Walt Whitman say, ‘People of the future I am with you,’ and feeling that you have traveled through time and you’re meeting him in some way.

That is the thing that stays the same.”

Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Photo: Jaden Satenstein

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G O 25

P

S

E

I L

C

N

A

C

L

S

I

I

S

R O

P

18 12 1

2

R E

L 3

O 4

D

39

E

O U

B

N

27

R

T

E

22

L

H

E

13

S

6

A

N 7

G

E

E

E E

A

P A

28

E

S

50

S

46

E K

29

C T E

30

H A R

31

N K

U

D 45

E

A I

20

Y O

16 5

I

I

L

44

P

34

S

49

D 37

N

33

19

I

36

I

26

21 15

T

O O

43

38 35

N

48

I

42

E W R

L

L E

E

14 8

D

T

A

17

9

H

I L A

10

D S L

11

S L D O D D W C H O L L O W O

U P O T H O L E Y W F I B E F

B V S P F Z U F P B O U P X G

T T N V B D M N T U N N E L C

E Y M A Z D X F G D G F E A E

R S T N X E T L E Z I P R C M

R S K S Q N W R Z S G V H F D

A G N N J S G Q S R I O J A A

N C A V E R N U O N I T R L X

E U Q V O G R T G N H K B O A

A E W U C E T S G P N N U C J

N H N I V O G K L E I F E R U

C D C A V I T Y S G S X C Z D

K D X R R I X S J U V U W O V

Z F Z Q S H E L T E R O W F M

6 2

5 9

4

8 2 3 7 1 6 4

9 1 5 8 3 7

7 1 3 8 4 6 9 5 2

1 4 9 5 8 3 2 7 6

8 6 5 7 2 1 3 4 9

2 3 7 4 6 9 5 8 1

4 5 1 6 9 8 7 2 3

9 8 2 3 7 4 6 1 5

3 7 6 1 5 2 4 9 8

50. Tailor

ANSWERS I

48. “What ___ the odds?”

T

51. Confused 52. Knotted weave 53. Galway country 54. Pennsylvania founder Sir William __ 55. Printers’ widths 56. Slow-cook Down 1. Pressure meas.

2. Microprocessor type 3. Stewpot 4. Person of action 5. More modest 6. Ancient God of the winds 7. Antelope 8. Hero home 9. Make well 10. Dismounted 11. Chicago street, for short 19. Georgia capital 20. Leg protector 22. Holiday, as one 23. Turkish title of rank 24. Proposal to buy 25. Time period 26. Bamboozle 28. Curious George, e.g.

45

1

E

43

3 7

2 4

47

Across 1. Jab 5. Droop 8. Lentil sauce 12. Weapon storer 13. Adult female bird 14. Electric and conger 15. Cape Breton is one 16. “She loves __” Beatles 17. Wagered 18. Syndicate 20. Pleated garment 21. UCLA supporter 23. Old time addition machines 27. Sports shoe 32. Male escort 34. Catmint 35. Fundamental compound of DNA 37. Fuzzy food 38. Dark brown 40. Wise three 43. Scads 47. “The ___ of the Ancient Mariner” 48. Small insect 49. Midmonth time

9

S

42

1

37 39

1

53

38 41

5

34 36

40

31

5

56

35

30

5 8

A

33

29

6

3

Y

32

28

2

8

E M S

27

8

1

R

26

6

52

25

4

55

24

22

Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.

A

21 23

11

N

19

10

E

18

9

N

7

E

6

S

5

P

4

A

3

SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

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51

2

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