Friday, November 23, 2007
Star-burst Over Prince Street : The 4th of July Before Giuliani and Gentrification in "Little Italy"...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULv41b6Z0BcKhajUNSLm8SXdB2MEcRG1EDvnx2XAlOSPDwZmDS8CS6eYsRFyGHpQYa3a3iGlUtf6q76XZOCHggVhy6RRN4A_lsabclV7vHv5fZRuRnyrDw3jMPhDO-alR1a70/s400/starburst+over+mott-2jbs.jpg)
No ... on the next 4th of July DO NOT try this at home but ....
Before the Giuliani administation took charge allowing the developers to take over the neighborhoods , the people still ruled in this city and every 4th of July some of them provided the best pyro-technics display in the city ... or in any other city for that matter .
Every year in "Little Italy" right after the big Macy's show over the river a pyro-technic extravaganza took over the streets and sky of downtown NYC . You saw the same fire-works as in the Macy's show but downtown you were 25 ft. or less from them when they were launched or exploded....not across a damned river surrounded by cops .
The display downtown was perhaps not the safest of public events . Sometimes , for example , the aerial bombs didn't make it out of the mortar tube before they exploded . When this happened the immediate area was showered with hot sparks ... falling on the by-standers as well as on the near-by large mound of yet-to-be-launched bombs . There were surprisingly few injuries .
The event was entirely a neighborhood administered affair with many visitors present and consistant with a desire for a safe neighborhood display only certain experienced individuals were allowed to launch the bombs . Traditional custom and sensibility as well as the summer heat demanded wearing sensible traditional fashion such as here a "wife-beater" for instance . We recollect that tradition also dictated that the bombs be lit by cigar as often as possible .
We would show you more of this traditional event but for the problem that the images are lost somewhere in our enormous file-room here at NMNL world headquarters .
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Last Week on Avenue A
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Cooper Square Hotel : The People Protest ...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvvaaA4-dxI2oP7vKl0wzt4hyxIAkqNdy-2H5wY157P7OVxkohUTbXC1o7oWQSng4lG1rzbeznX8f6DwrmWa0e-LC0MjoTO2wEM0YnYLiOwE3lcDr0rpKHMEAbBkV7sKQ_l9b/s400/L1016334jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9e7JpxEQOv6njOul_6WEQpJ65ljkgPqAtjAoxQGtLDGu796Q8O92JMhrgX36w8l-GSt1b98HpjiFJ76RiASyHAlL0WggNhKcCPMTHxSsbtUtEm4ZhSOPAIm0m98WTK_KK4WYn/s400/L1016131jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9KvOB-DISG-gRgONNV4-H3NyOGsGv1i62WPMD2Rc-LhMqJxZ50uMNuwheXg0O8O-2YmZw-tS9Mh1hzzckGas61sG5f4wHC_CVXQYdiLmhBK6_blrUAEYl8uZrIcWGed8RXG0N/s400/L1016134jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYUgjfssEXqKi4puqoM0Jc-Y1FS17uwjOHqfvs3ZQ5NboUSZnURrEOCVQPZWznlx7yTOaTYM4L7Hn1Re9JSq8Own288lP57hcnzkH0QkpC2b_NrlzW3LvLtiRTN6zzySc7iuR/s400/L1016152jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeV3QRfVvPZTAQRmVmVciLHhuB2zScBJ_YMR-6HGOA8d1_-HRRt5uRM4ksO9GkDSjeETE_jjJghRk5VaEzJB_87UYvdGL622pSZMUUpnAR7Emfyv_Ws-3sVoXlJlUBdItFH0_-/s400/L1016168jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6TxQy7sd6M5YhJ3iGKhy040_eFgx1hsA724Np30fR5s65MHw0JpPXYyBCg8anRfwXEdx80JaBoSGRM1_1Z93tBxawoo0WQOT6CmmEBajyeShImDox0PPrySGB5OhMPfHzd2jC/s400/L1016161jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi401ASIMGDLcx_iDrHVPlw0StuvjiZPw73Bcvi8uTZ0jZSqMg9kCbqj8BB9cQtlCwu_c7Ajv73htkCo-OLyIzNsstbTi_JGN8VejYV0wq4XkqW9v6Q80PgRgcRVPKX-v7-uaP9/s400/L1016179jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje_WVPzKzKq87vTJcUE0Shw_IcNkQubsHjpijcHX7JtCJZdfViCrX1fg0brmO1co1Z-o5VKxQ8TrsGx03AzTohWMMcQxD9DQC03JXFkLhE3mxz9p7uzcOZIsDelP1HtwcSM9NW/s400/L1016208jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MlJ6TTR8erf6AfgfushKZgQWWNUnzUg_cxa9KTHSkD78xJMlcTBSoHTd3cgNRORXTLpaZp0G63cRhGeYWa6UZmneAjj1O5SrvKpO6aqrHmAi_kMj94xL3iA0l7gZAO2FB7UJ/s400/L1016214jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36cYRdOAXnuVQFy9BHXkG67jAWbREFBT7gx4f_H9fQP1ziOAmlyTVoEInmBseSMu-sGDQ_yPndzmTXaMunW3xYOhQz57tTf2YG-Lxc02f4QNrB1kjx4ipfXdpBzVuum-Mlcbr/s400/L1016229jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqrBdqdCkR2Tt4qNElfI3MIs0YEAWg7V3OWCPwfECVWrlJxsSkzlcEbPiLRD1xB5vecikcGtNkdVe5htiRiqOr4JLp6zFRaptFMtGTUsY_mKGhHYKhJG3mjO33Hmf6wj9gaChd/s400/L1016246jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd2UK5kzFGtYXUknqcfN5K9PzBl3F4sGgIVDh3h9FbCXj0w3S6cpTUo2jXNL3yFoNg-9UL_3MxbttqUiXe2df2GvmSY8ugCy9QoH0Si4e4X6n6zQanw4LrAidVH4jBpPMnscyY/s400/L1016253jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5aALOpZ1t-8EnBrKAhcZfhVg-GcQIjTftImoxzuoamABq9OHuSzmwuTlFzr15oEqLmwcC_K6-Wux2eExsP3GaTiMqOin2Kbs6vag34CPiiUjhco34bIND8JH8hk3lvsNcEaJ/s400/L1016257jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jkyGIdFkR-uU2vKt4r0o36YUDW3Ggds2lp7xCz8IRXX4wH1kDSvbr1iTSl2YcFB0sF-kz8njm_dYJjAqWwsds-QuprR8E066YbLhOExLq-O7kal6a8EnxN6Chb5pNOM5twty/s400/L1016271jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4jw4IUBSMl2UTPyGFEpL2RCvNvs8AeZdzU4QNftYY3DNuvQfqNFuEMKLU2KlwFrECKL4uguVXYTlNPKj3TfRRMCVVAZYkkZi9h7YIes7V12amMbazsLTOYXagKVqB82QsBxFB/s400/L1016325jbs.jpg)
This monster of an edifice at the corner of 5th street and Bowery , completely out of place and scale in the urban context of the neighborhood that surrounds it , was the object of a robust protest Monday night . A group of local residents , 50 t0 75 in number including some of the senior citizens living at the senior citizens home at 200 East 5th street , gathered across 5th street from the Cooper Square Hotel to protest the hotel's arrogant presence and to protest what appear as troubling plans to operate a large outdoor restaurant and bar .
This Cooper Square Hotel , and most of the other monster buildings intruding everywhere downtown for that matter , are often refered to as phallic by their critics for all the obvious reasons . In the case of this Cooper Square Hotel though ; as well as with some of the other out-of-scale buildings , to us here at NMNL at least , being that this structure is long , has a sensuosly curving taper , is so very mechanical looking and is always popping up there ... always errect ; we suggest that it is rather more dildo than phallus . Of course this is all a matter of opinion ,we know , but we suspect that at least some of those protesting on the street Monday night could on considering the matter perhaps find that they could agree with us .
With the presence of this new hotel , the several others that already exist and the several new hotels to come in the near future in downtown NYC can it be long before we will see a NYC version of Las Vegas , a sort of " Las Vegas , Las Vegas " , grow under our feet displacing the East Village , at least as we know it , of necessity to fill these hotels with tourists , corporate traveler-partiers and week-end revelers ... so-called "market forces" ( greed abetted by indfferent and/ or corrupt city and state agencies ) at work have already changed our community radically...there should be no surprise here . We already have the original "Coyote Ugly " and "Rays Candy Store " too ; we just need an Eiffel Tower , a giant pyramid and a few other sundry mega-fantasies to reify this bastard of a night-mare .
Finally we allow that the faces and words of the protestors tell the evening's story very well ... so no more rants from us .
Sunday, November 18, 2007
1991 : Saturday Afternoon Protest on Avenue A ...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKFfq-RZOQvEeq1ljmOS5YTng0bz4myE4xiLQQU9-72IY9RoS2DW2jIyWor_e02l9XRV9Wjwp2O63qCyg-yCWP9xgSq0Gd_gdJ5ClqDjFkGMCyDAFQbJ33YZ8tx3a7aeFpLAl/s400/sat+afternoon+protest-1991-4jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkUE1lprPklnsWCszckGSXrmfKH2k9gvwNbga0nYGayOOwVNSVn1PxxQor1aReKMChDGOHsLS0RskJ0T53awEeLG8Wh61K-2Gd2e4eFGGeQx_Ky99-VFD1Fyc6kozjRY1HQse/s400/Untitled-1sat+afternoon+protest-1991-5jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinL-8-1Fqty0__L_ymd808U6gzu8ZsOC4dT6TbtsLAlw9eIUglBoQ7Po2SnMLp-V6D7bq-JzUL1nyBfgkAAMPkcjF8lmloXGRCiRZJg7BBaoqKh0pEQlf_50VvjiXB1l98pJZ3/s400/sat+afternoon+protest+-1991jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDWsZ4KnTIOMPdkFpGmJpgIPPurs9i5nz9j1Jm_3lQxK3oQ0oZDO7R7C8JUvP1FftAvSRnoMGJQ24nWqsFjQJc6cIK6MIxtHIfrY96-WIXeq1RHog5xNtPWlDTDJlYUPrCx2WC/s400/sat+afternoon+protest+-1991-3jbs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgylN6xsE3HIQyCTP7h-qLM3QD-EkDpc1i3ZOsGfHbSUFlYioeri1GFoPLnyK7k7tZsVP5khEk5qee-Gkv7jmwkXF29PySBOQOH3-uf_DxM7P1LYFiKcWuA0K7cWdJ_IAybFh-a/s400/sat+afternoon+protest+-1991-2jbs.jpg)
This was just one of a series of many , many weekly protests that occurred for several months ...until it turned cold ... protesting the closing of Tomkins Square Park . TSP had just been closed and fenced in because of 3 years worth of riots in and around the park , the last one being the Memorial Day Riot which can be seen here at NMNL using the "Blogger" search window above .
Once Upon a Time at 6th Street and Avenue A ...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPL5oY3wQxxXT0SMmgVttPL_N4bopzekDaHOgPbC2LKpiskNnx8BK9FfoQOZCzBgvNXK3AKX146ruarPeEC0lvUspnOZTQwVzVIFyqQRsmBnDQFPi88keJC6n-oq8qwBmM-w-u/s400/ave+A+and+second+street-2jbs.jpg)
Such scenes of protest were common on warm nights in the late 80 s and early 90 s around Tompkins Square Park , especially on avenue A .
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]