With the CBGB movie premiering tonight and the CBGB Festival kicking off this week, nostalgia for the East Village and Lower East Side of yore is ripe as ever. You’ll forgive us for indulging along with everyone else: This Friday, join two consummate chroniclers of downtown music and nightlife at the B+B Newsroom as they read from their recent memoirs and tell it like it really was (no Savannah stage sets here).
More →
It happened. Sorry, dudes. On the bright side, free donut samples. Get em now at, yes, North 7th and Bedford.
Since last we checked in, Bread for the Eater has quietly opened in Greenpoint. The new venture from the team behind Lower East Side spot Cheeky Sandwiches is still very much in its early stages, with construction still underway on a separate, backroom dining area. “We still have a bit of work to do with the space,” says owner Din Yates, “so the opening is very soft.”
More →
The CBGB Festival is back for its second year and includes performances and panels from punk legends and CBs alumni like Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys), Syl Sylvain (New York Dolls), Glen Matlock (original Sex Pistols bassist) and some other not-so-punk rock performers like Lisa Loeb and the Wallflowers.
More →
Demolition of the Domino Factory is just about underway, and Two Trees has every permit and rezoning it needs to move forward with construction of its waterfront apartments. But on Friday afternoon, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development held a hearing about a rule change proposed by Two Trees that would affect the tax breaks for developers who create affordable housing. This has agitated activists who oppose the “poor door” measures that some recent developments are accused of taking, from The Edge to Northside Piers to the impending Greenpoint Landing.
More →
“I’m a fire dancer,” said Susannah Pryce, who was lurking about the front stairs of the Sixth Street Community Center on Saturday night, dressed as the Goddess of Death. For her role as a macabre guide to the finale of the 13 Portals, she wore glowing face paint, a black cloak, and six-inch fingernails made of curling brown beans. After explaining how she regularly performs at bars with an on-fire instrument that looks like “the bones of a giant geisha fan,” Pryce told us: “Tonight’s portal is about rebirth. And that’s why I’m here. Because everybody has to die to be reborn.”
More →
(Photo: beau-dog)
New Banksy pieces went up in Bushwick, LES and Williamsburg but some have already been buffed away. [Street Art News]
Former Top Chef-testant Ilan Hall is planning to open that outpost of his LA restaurant in… the Urban Outfitters. [Eater]
More →
(Photo: Sara Afzal)
Greenpoint’s Park Luncheonette on Driggs Avenue, right across from McCarren Park, had a history of being the classic American food spot before it closed down four years ago. Now the team behind Matchless and No Name is reopening the place as of this Saturday. It will maintain the traditional diner feel with some twists: open 24 hours, bar service, and a pizza slice window on the Lorimer Street side.
More →
(Photo: Patrick Hogan)
La Goulette is the name of the main port in Tunis, Tunisia, and it’s also the name of a North African cafe headed for Grand Street, right next to the B+B Newsroom, in Williamsburg.
Husband-and-wife owners Millie and Karim Khemiri plan to serve “comfort Tunisian food” inspired by the cuisine Karim ate growing up in Tunisia. The menu is still being developed, but Karim says you can expect North African/Mediterranean staples, such as falafel and shawarma as well as Tunisian dishes such as a merguez lamb sausage. Plus coffee, of course.
More →
If you saw Macauley Culkin movies in the early ’90s you probably owned a Nintendo Entertainment System, and if you owned an NES you probably went to see movies with Macauley Culkin in them.
That spells synergy for Le Poisson Rouge, which is holding a Nintendo-themed Halloween party (three weeks before Halloween) hosted by Culkin. Apparently when he’s not being floated for a part in Adam Green’s Aladdin remake, Culkin does semi-regular DJ duty at LPR for the “Mac’s iPod” series.
More →