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GREED! GREED! GREED!
Max Fish was a love or hate for me. Still, this two decade (that is twenty years, kids plus change) mainstay is on its way out…”looking for new space” but in today’s world that doesn’t add up to a hill of beans.
I mean the new Good World (well; I haven’t been but it’s hard to recreate things in life).
There is a collective tear in various beers; mostly of the hipster varietal.
The bar will shutter at the end of January because of rising costs and high rent, the owner said Wednesday.
“It’s scary for me,” Max Fish owner Ulli Rimkus told DNAinfo of her beloved bar at 178 Ludlow St., which was known for its artsy décor, cheap drinks and easygoing vibe. She chalked up the departure simply to “greed, greed, greed. Read more at DNA here.
Shame on the “tipster” who broke this story; or at least the address. See; it’s no fun anymore. Stop ratting, kids!
In grand Vice City style the hipsters of the LES can watch boxing at 72 Allen.
#1 – The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.
#2 – The second rule of Fight Club is, you DO NOT talk about Fight Club.
#3 – If someone says stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.
#4 – Two guys to a fight.
#5 – One fight at a time.
#6 – No shirts, no shoes.
#7 – Fights will go on as long as they have to.
#8 – If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.
via The Feast: ”So how can you go before increased attendance and police scrutiny renders Underground Boxing a short-lived milestone in the annals of hipster history? Obtaining an invite is tricky, but if you are one of the lucky few, expect an email somewhat like the one below to hit your inbox anywhere between a few days or hours before fists are set to fly.”
[Image via The Feast]
Urban Daddy dishes on Ignacio’s new Lower East Side digs at 86 Orchard Street. Looks cool. Drinks cool. Is cool. Go Ignacio, an old neighborhood friend doing his thing in New York City. Don’t forget Cafe Portal and make sure you sip the Mezcal.
Keeping in the spirit of LES dirty-good Mexican food, I would be wrong not to give honorary shots to The Hat (on Ludlow). I’m certain we all have a Hat story. The one that’s fuzzy and grainy and running in your mind. You can have a little meal there or sip a margarita or two or three. It’s been kicking since 1984 and locals and hipsters alike hit it. The portions are big,cheap and standard but its old school and ambience which keeps the crowds coming. Even a guy like Joey Little Italy.
(image: Flikr)
If there is one thing I love; it’s a taco. But at the house of San Loco; it’s the Gauco Loco which keeps me missing that LES location. Great party and hangover food too. Since my departure from NYC, we have authenticated our own version of the Gauco which includes a taco shell with the fixings and wrapping a whole wheat flour tortilla loaded with Gauc around the hard shell. Absolutely insane!
Long before the trendiness and the updated interiors, there were a few places in the hood. The Lotus Cafe, the Jamaican hairstylists with the concrete parking polls in full Rasta colours, a couple Latino hardware stores and Wylie Dufresne on his way. Caught between the lettered avenues and the (future) new world sat (and still sits) the Parkside Lounge.
There was a little hole on the wall on the corner of whatever and whatever. Literally, you may find someone from just about any part of the city. You are at the corner of everything. When you walk inside you have a pool table and lots of 1980s legit retro gear. But once inside, the back music room; the jewel of the crown inside the lounge. You just may be transported into another world. I would say the music runs from reggae, rock steady sca to new age jazz. Let the Jamieson flow. Definitely a place you can light up a spliff mate…even in today’s world.
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Rasta J is old New Yorker, an East Village legend, and LES spliff master.
Well my friends, now I’m leaving the wanna-Bee Max’s Kansas City folks and heading over to a bit more arty place where some trucker hats still reside. Still, I cannot help but smell the baked, warm artichoke dip and I instantly like the vibe of the place; warm lighting, a fireplace, taxidermy that doesn’t make me NOT want to eat. Ahhh….good old colonial Freemans Alley (and don’t forget their sharp little annex; Freeman’s Sporting Club where gents can get their hair cut and an old fashioned shave). Back inside, the freshly cut flowers, order me a nice toddy and perhaps Devils on Horseback.
NO RESERVATIONS people. Arrive early; stay late. Unless you know the Trucker Hat guy. That always helps.
From many memorable meals here (and the Matthew Barney chat to boot; while waiting in line for the loo). Oh well, don’t hate…Participate.
Guss Pickles rock; Nicky Fresh introduced me back in the 2000′s…salty and sour. Perfect taste. Buckets and buckets of salt!
A tricky gift, they say…”We ship gallon size or a five gallon pail. Both with handles and leak proof. We ship on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.” A bit of Wiki history: Guss’ Pickles was founded by a Polish immigrant, Isidor Guss. Guss arrived in New York in 1910, and like hundreds of thousands of other Jewish immigrants, settled in the Lower East Side. Clustered in the “pickle district” of Essex and Ludlow streets, early 20th century pickle vendors gave birth to what would be known as “New York style” pickles.
and Jauretsi’s Polaroids…two very good things. I chose (the above) for their content post 9.11. I recall having dinner on september 10, 2001 before the sky fell and the world changed forever–at Cafe Habana— with Jauretsi before heading over to meet another friend, Scott at The Time is Always Now Gallery (the irony is thick). J’s always inspired me, she’s vintage New York, a downtown Bowery girl, fiercely independent, a DJ with mad collection of tracks. Most notably, she made the impossible POSSIBLE, a documentary (with fellow filmmaker Emilia Menocal) entitled East of Havana (2006).
My posting barely scratches the surface of J’s work. There is more to see here (although a note “a few peeks at the monster collection”). Although Dash Snow worked a more shock and awe method with twisted Polaroid documentation a la Vice style, personally, Jauresti’s work always made more sense to me.
I also dig her travel Polaroids, from her sojourns around the world. There’s water, fashion, beach, music and deep appreciation for underground culture, J has a lot to show for and more to come. Many acts, many layers.
Polaroids by Jauretsi.
On this cold rainy day (pre-Hallows)… I recall Clinton Street’s amazingly bizarre + all-around fun Freakatorium (i.e., el museo loco). Of course, it shuttered in 2005 but not before my friend Nicholas and I paid the $5.00 entrance fee (steep for the times) and checked out the taxidermy, little brains, freak pictures and apparently…Sammy Davis’ glass eye. I didn’t get down the long spiral stairs to the basement, which was roped off, and “not open to the public.” My fragile X File mind made me consider someone or something was tied up down yonder.The New York Times wrote a great piece; here. Embedded in the text: His two-headed turtle lives downstairs in the basement with a sleepy boa constrictor. Out in the garage – forgotten – are Tom Thumb’s vest and Sammy Davis Jr.’s glass eye. “I’d love for this stuff to be in New York,” said Mr. Fox, a sinewy and black-haired man of 52. “New York needs this kind of stuff, but who supports it anymore?”
Could the truth be anymore clear? Thank you, Johnny Fox. If you want to see what Johnny Fox, the proprietor, idea man and swordswallower Johnny Fox; check him here. (image: Douglas Healey)
Years back, I lived across the street from SSUR. Remember, the Spring Street block party (straight off the Bowery) was still legal and not the insanity it was circa 2005 (see snap below)? Permits ; no matter. The cops shut it down and it’s relocated in the Old St Patrick’s Cathedral gymnasium. You think the one resident in the old invetors buidling wants to put up with that kind of crowd.
Point here is NOT the block party but the work behind aNYthing, SSUR and now Off Bowery Productions which has done some cool stuff in the past, and now is not so cool. Come 2009, Aaron Bondaroff’s Off Bowery Productions teamed up with Altamont, check the site and wear here. I sit here (without coffee) and try to think of the breakup between the Range Rover driving Kiernan + A-Ron. It helps to read this: Complex’s Blog (from 2007).”Although the beef had been broiling between trustafarian Kiernan Costello and aNYthing founder and mouthpiece A-Ron Bondaroff for months over sorted issues’ like how aggressive the company should grow once it got such widespread exposure and sales hit the million dollar mark’ sources close to the “Downtown Don’s” version of events claim it was this year’s new look book that ultimately made A-Ron walk and go so far as to start a whole new brand production company: “Off Bowery” (which btw is a horrible name, but as long as Simon is still designing, who cares right?).” -excerpt from Complex.To refresh your memory on the entire LES drama and unfoldings, check Rob Walker’s New York Times Magazine piece, Brand Underground (2006). Completely brilliant.
Regardless: I wish I purchased one of those Bowery T-Shirts; they also had great hoodies. aNYone have one for me? I’ll buy it STAT.
Long before the days of Freemans Alley and other taxidermy havens along Rivington sat a gallery which launched an artist of many. Mirabelle Marden and Melissa Bent helped re-establish the Lower East Side as a desirable place beyond the glossy West Chelsea Galleries and what we all know uptown.
i liked this:
