Results tagged “houstonstreet”

Ever wonder what occupies that prime piece of real estate on the corner of West Houston and Varick streets in the West Village? Apparently a chronically overcrowded jail for "illegal immigrants, asylum-seekers and legal immigrants who face deportation because they have past criminal convictions," the Times reports.

Excuse us for not shedding a tear, but we thought the giant Sony PSP in the sky had been taken down from its Houston Street billboard last year, and even though it was just temporary, it prepared us. Now Bowery Boogie reports on the status of the ad space, and H&M has fully taken over. No more computer glitches, just a girl in a reasonably priced leather jacket. Such a much gazed upon spot should have at least gotten the controversial Calvin Klein kids draped all over it. Will you miss the gaming system?

Yesterday word went around that there was some unwanted tagging going on the Os Gemeos work-in-progress mural on Houston Street. It didn't take long for the brothers to cover it up with a dedication to their old friend Dash Snow (an old photo of the three after the jump). There are actually two dedications to the late artist (who also was known as Sace in his tagging years), and one to Iz the Wiz (you can see his tag on the subway car in the mural). And with that, the mural is finally complete!

It was just last week that the Keith Haring memorial mural was getting buffed on Houston Street. Soon after Os Gemeos showed up to begin work on their mural, which is replacing the old Haring one. So obviously the next step is for an attention-hungry tagger to come in and vandalize the work-in-progress. One blogger reports that, "Like the Haring mural before it, Os Gemos' Houston street piece has been 'souped-up' by the locals. Not sure if the Times will be able to spin this one into a feel good tale as with the Haring 'collaboration.'" While it shouldn't be too difficult to cover up, the tag reads: "Blog about it," which people are, so looks like it'll live on digitally. [via Animal]

Incase you missed the news on this PSP Fanboy site, the giant PSP that's been lording over Houston Street is gone. The site reports that the oversized gaming thingamajig has "been a landmark for years," and its dismantlement marks the end of an era...though they question if Sony will replace it with a "PSP-3000 system, which will be slimmer than the original giant PSP-1000." If that's the case, hopefully they'll be able to figure out the glitches that plagued Billboard 1.0.

The rumor mill's in motion and word is that The Knitting Factory will be moving out of its long time home on Leonard Street. The news doesn't come as a surprise as last April brought word that the building the venue is housed in would be sold.

Over the weekend, hundreds rallied for Pier 40's next transformation to be a park. This Thursday, the Hudson River Park Trust is meeting to discuss two existing bids for the pier located off Houston Street, but a more recent plan, from a group of local parents who hope their $120,000 study, has been gaining some recent momentum.

The “Beer Kir” at Marco Moreira’s 15 East is a Japanese beer-based mixed drink: Sapporo is floated on a shot of honeyed sweet potato vinegar, adding a sweet-sour edge to the dry lager. For the purposes of home experimentation, we found Benímosu ($11.35 for 4 oz.), the same artisanal vinegar used in Beer Kir at Katagiri, a Japanese food store on 59th Street. Made in Kyoto from purple potatoes and koji rice, Benímosu has clean, rounded flavor that’s meant to be added to beer in a 1:5 ratio, which means a 4 ounce bottle of the stuff won’t even last a 6 pack. For more budget beer-vinegar drinks, Katagiri has a whole shelf of (mostly) fruit-based vinegar for cocktail mixing. There’s even one made from sake lees, the unfermentable dregs collected from the bottom of sake brewing tanks.

The fate of Pier 40, located at West Houston Street on the Hudson, was much discussed and debated last year, and 2008 seems to be a year of further reflection. At one point, there was a $625 million idea for it to become an elaborate entertainment venue with a Cirque du Soleil theater, restaurants, and more, while opposing forces wanted there simply to be more green space.

As the ones who first reported on the mysterious tall bench on the median of East Houston Street, we feel some responsibility in bringing closure to the story. (fYI amNY: Link.) Contrary to some of the comments in our original post claiming that the bench was just an amateurish photoshop gag, it turns out the surreal furniture was real, quite real. And now it is quite gone.

A Gothamist tipster emailed us this photo of a prohibitively tall bench on the median of East Houston Street near Suffolk. Is this guerrilla art or city-sanctioned furniture? The new cool “Bench Club” for East Village scenesters? A lawsuit in-waiting from the city’s more vertically challenged residents? A prototype anti-homeless bench? A photoshop hoax?

At least a few buildings on or near Mercer Street lost power when a fire or an explosion occurred in a manhole at Mercer and West 3rd Street exploded this morning. The block was closed off by the Fire Department. We hear there were no injuries, but it's unclear what caused the fire. One witness saw a billowing black smoke and said it smelled "acrid, like maybe it's an electrical fire." And contributor Gideon...

The holidays are upon us, which means that it's busy season, and you probably have little time to do the grocery shopping, let alone cook yourself a hot dinner. Gothamist opted for one solution at the Whole Foods Market on Bowery, the megalith of a grocery store that you either love for its fromagerie, Ciao Bella gelateria, and free wi-fi upstairs--or hate for being so enormous you find it impossible to find anything--which offers...

It's time to start polishing up your leaving-work-early excuses, because CMJ is just around the corner. This means day shows, night shows, after parties and nearly every space downtown turning into a venue for the week.

Ok, so we understand the knocks on Gossip Girl. It's an awful, vapid, shallow show...which would be all fine and good if it wasn't for the poor writing, empty characters and boring, predictable plotlines. YET, what trumps all is that it is filmed on location in New York City. The shows shortcomings aside, it is a genuine local show with some great city scenes. So we trudge on...

We've already announced the lineups for days one, two and three at Gothamist House, and here comes day four (the final day). As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now, without further ado:

We've already announced day one and day two for Gothamist House, and here comes number three. As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now, without further ado:

Last week we announced the lineup for day one at Gothamist House, and here comes day two. As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now, without further ado:

With just over a week to go before the CMJ music marathon takes over the venues and random spaces in this city...we're finally ready to announce the Gothamist House lineups for this year. One day at a time. As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now without further ado, here is the lineup for day one:

Yesterday morning, around 7AM, Queens resident Hope Miller was fatally hit by a truck turning right onto Houston Street from 6th Avenue. The driver, Roger Smiley, was fleeing the scene of an accident at Prince and 6th Avenue.

CMJ is coming up next month, and as we've mentioned we'll be opening the doors to Gothamist House again this year. We've got a big announcement to share, along with some little details of interest if you plan to attend any of the shows:

. Attendees will rock to the sounds of Terry Diabolik and DJ Never Forget of Finger on the Pulse while they taste hot, spicy, and sultry foods from Chocolove, Rick’s Picks, 5 Boroughs Ice Cream, Coffee Lab Roasters and many more. Plus there's a raffle, scavenger hunt and much mingling!

Does your summer seem to be winding down without a fling? Stop by the Whole Foods Market Bowery for Whole Foods Market & Gothamist's , a singles event on August 28th. The event will offer plenty of mingling time, as well as activities, raffles, music and refreshments (we'll be updating with more details later). It's also free, and you can register here:

The countdown prompted us to start working on our own CMJ-week event a bit early this year. So we'd like to announce that Gothamist House will be back! Since we had a great time there last year it will be at White Rabbit on East Houston Street again from October 17th to 20th (running from 2pm to around 8:30pm). Last year we had some great bands play, including Loney, Dear, Apples in Stereo, Charles Bissell of the Wrens, Bound Stems, Land of Talk, Pela and a whole lot more.

Yesterday, a five people were injured on Queens Boulevard at 47th Street when a Jeep Cherokee slammed into a Honda. The Jeep, which witnesses describe as trying to beat a red light, lost control and hit the Honda. The Honda, which had been making a turn onto Queens Boulevard, was crushed from the impact and then "plowed up onto the crowded sidewalk, pinning a 16-year-old boy against a lamppost."

With brick and mortar sales declining, and the future of the music industry uncertain - at least live shows are always dependable. Sure, there are a lot of venues closing, but how about the ones thriving? The NY Times reports on some of the big players in the New York venue scene.

SoHo, Lower East Side, Nolita, and other residents and workers, you'll want to make sure you have your library card, because today at 3PM, the New York Public Library opens its 87th branch in SoHo. The Mulberry Street library, located at Mulberry and Jersey Streets just south of Houston Street, is 12,000 square feet of books, DVDs, computers, WiFi access and more.

It seems a week doesn't go by without more news of venues closing. This week The Real Deal reports that the 27,000-square-foot building that houses the roughly 11,000 square foot Knitting Factory, is up for sale. The sale, which includes the venue and 18 decontrolled residential loft apartments, is expected to go for $15 million or more.

A Ghost, by Squid Ink.

And today is the last day to apply for Gothamist's Weekend Editor gig-- "Responsibilities include writing 10 posts per day on Saturday and Sunday and organizing the flow of contributions from other writers. The pay is competitive with blog-writing gigs for other NYC media companies. Requirements: real blogging experience, a serious appetite for NYC-related content, and a genuine love for the city. This job can be done from anywhere within the five boroughs, but you may be called downtown to meet with us once or twice a month. If you're interested, email Jake (at) Gothamist-- no attachments please-- just a short paragraph about you and a few links to relevant work on the web."