Bowery Boogie
Lower East Side News & Lifestyle, est. 2008
Operating as usual
It happened on the Lower East Side.
A motorcyclist driving the FDR Tuesday morning lost control of the vehicle and died after hitting the roadway, police said. The driver, identified as Brooklyn 36-year-old resident Christian Reyes, had been traveling southbound on the FDR Drive at 7:10am in the vicinity of Exit 3, when he struck the....
Big change coming to the Bowery.
A new commercial office tower is coming soon to the so-called Bowery Lighting District. Real Estate Equities Corp. submitted plans to Department of Buildings last month for an 85-foot commercial development at Bowery and Broome Street. The footprint will occupy the stretch of pre-war buildings spa.....
Preservation groups hope to save the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary building.
The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, situated in the same East Village building for over a century, is poised to relocate. In its wake is uncertainly about the fate of this hulking six-story corner property. With real estate speculation potentially queued, a collection of preservation-minded groups a...
Much ado about street signs.
Bilingual street signs in Chinatown aren’t going anywhere. Many fearful “netizens” have worked themselves into a frenzy over the New York Times article from March 11 stating that the specialty signs – the custom dates to the 1960s – were “disappearing” in fa...
Russ & Daughters Cafe is returning.
Closed since the outset of the pandemic more than two years ago, Russ & Daughters is finally reopening its branded cafe on Orchard Street. The century-old Lower East Side business announced its return on Instagram yesterday. Saying that it’ll happen sometime “in the coming weeks.R...
More than 1.5-times the legal limit.
The alleged drunk driver who fatally struck an NYU student on the Lower East Side last week was 1.5-times the legal blood-alcohol limit. Queens resident Michael de Guzman, 49, reportedly clocked blood-alcohol content of .13 after plowing his 2017 red Camaro into aspiring doctor Raife Milligan, 2...
He allegedly pulled a gun on the bouncer.
A patron at 169 Bar pulled a gun on the bouncer after closing time early Saturday morning, police said. Shortly after 4:00am, the perp headed for the exit and allegedly became involved in a dispute with the front-door security, and brandished a firearm. Cops were called at 4:25am, and the gunman the...
It’s hasn’t been easy for Saigon Social on Orchard St.
Closed for a week, Saigon Social continues to pick up the pieces from a fire onsite. “We are incredibly grateful that the fire was contained and no one got hurt,” the restaurant said in an Instagram update over the weekend. As ownership continues to assess damages from the fire at 172 Or...
That giddy feeling when scaffolding is removed after years…
Yonah Schimmel Knishes is seeing the light again after years in the literal shadows. Scaffolding from the eight-story development next door has been obscuring the beloved 112-year-old bakery since 2020, when demolition and redevelopment of the beloved Sunshine Cinema began. It was finally deposed la...
The NYU student had been crossing East Houston St. when he was hit by a drunk driver in a Camaro.
A New York University student who was hit early Monday morning by a drunk driver on East Houston Street died of his injuries, police announced yesterday. According to authorities, 21-year-old Raife Milligan, an Indiana native, was crossing East Houston at First Avenue/Allen at 2:45am, when he was st...
So long, Eisner, as we knew it.
The historic Eastern Dispensary Building on Essex Street – home of the longtime Eisner Bros. on the ground floor – is headed for redevelopment. A new vertical appendage. Owner of the hallmark, bunker-looking Building at 75 Essex filed plans this week with the Department of Buildings to r...
The Grand Street Rite-Aid is not long fit the world.
The Rite-Aid store on Grand Street, often frequented by the late Sheldon Silver, is set to close for good in two weeks. We’re told that, after decades at 408 Grand, the final day in business is May 16. Apparently, all prescription records were transferred to the Duane Reade on Delancey Street....
One family is appealing the community to pick up the pieces.
A family has taken to the internet to help raise money for major losses sustained in the five-alarm Chinatown Fire early Sunday morning. Jorge Cianca, who grew up in the building, created a $20,000 GoFundMe appeal to help his father recover and relocate in the aftermath of the inferno at 6 Chatham S...
After these messages, we’ll be right back
As you may already know, the cleaning industry has terrible practices. Companies overwork and underpay their employees, many of whom are misclassified as contractors and receive no benefits or legal protection. This kind of business model is bad for employees, bad for customers, and, ultimately, bad...
The city gives in.
The city nixed two homeless shelters n Chinatown within the last week. The Department of Social Services yesterday announced that its shelter planned for 231 Grand Street (at the Bowery) is now canceled. The announcement follows mere days after the city likewise terminated a proposal to convert 47 M...
The jail opposition.
Last month, ten activists were arrested in Chinatown during a protest action against the demolition of the Manhattan Detention Center and its rebirth as a high-rise jail. The group of community leaders, which included two candidates for public office – State Assembly hopeful Grace Lee and Stat...
Devastation.
It’s looking grim for the Dim Sum Palace. A kitchen fire shortly after midnight Sunday morning spread through all four floors of 6 Chatham Square in Chinatown. Flames appeared rather intense in the back of the building, location of the restaurant kitchen. All told, five firefighters were injur...
Major 5-alarm fire in Chinatown earlier this morning.
A five-alarm fire tore through a Chinatown building early Sunday morning. Shortly after midnight, the fire sparked in the rear of Dim Sum Palace, the restaurant in that ground level of 6 Chatham Square. The blaze quickly spread to all four floors and to the roof. Six hours later, the FDNY announced....
Some great photos of 1980s Lower East Side, including the Olympic on Delancey.
The departure of the Olympic Restaurant in July 2014 is a loss that still cuts deep. There is no such thing anymore as a no-frills luncheonette on the Lower East Side. So, it’s nice to come across images from yesteryear of the onetime staple. Back to the time when Essex Crossing was just vacan...
Essex Crossing isn’t done building.
The next phase of Essex Crossing is upon us. Delancey Street Associates, the developer consortium behind the billion-dollar Lower East Side project, recently submitted an application to the state for Brownfield Cleanup at Site 9 (aka 120 Essex). This will spell the end of the decades-old Essex Stree...
Wow, it’s finally happening.
Nearly a decade on, the Jarmulowsky Bank Building is finally transformed. The fourteen-story landmark structure will soon welcome guests, not as a financial institution, but as a boutique hotel called Nine Orchard. Described as a hotel “Blending historic architecture with elevated design and c...
They’re growing like a weed.
The proliferation, and concentration, of cannabis stores on the Lower East Side is real. Overrun would be the proper descriptor. One need only look to Hell Square, the chaotic party zone encompassing the sixteen-square-block area spanning Allen to Essex and Houston to Delancey. Not including the rov...
Soft opening is tomorrow.
For Viva Birria, the time is now. One year after first announcing its plans for a new Lower East Side location, opening day is finally set. The restaurant will begin serving this weekend from its new food-truck-inspired takeout window at 153 Ludlow Street. Indeed, the storefront was built to resembl...
Some good news!
Gaia Italian Cafe will return, but not on Essex Street as previously reported. It’s headed north into Alphabet City. New signage appeared at 226 East Third Street this week marking the return of Gaia, a restaurant beloved by locals since it first began serving Italian home cooking on East Hous...
It was caught on camera.
An elderly woman crossing Kenmare Street at Mott was hit by a city Sanitation truck yesterday morning. Surveillance video taken from a nearby store appears to show the garbage truck colliding with the victim at around 11:00am in the crosswalk while she had right of way. As fortune would dictate, pol...
More luxury towers.
It’s a frenzy on the Lower East Side waterfront, where two developers are rushing to pour foundations, allegedly to take advantage of expiring 421a tax exemptions. Last week, the Department of Buildings issued permits to the Chetrit Group for excavation and foundation activities related to the...
It’s why NYPD installed new cameras at Stanton/Ludlow.
The following editorial was written by Diem Boyd, founder of the LES Dwellers block association. Hell Square pre-pandemic was unlivable, but now, “post-Covid,” it’s untenable and downright dangerous. The decline of quality-of-life and related public safety issues on the Lower East....
A word from our sponsor…
It’s time you saw The Patsy! “The singular downtown artist” (The New York Times), David Greenspan plays all eight roles in Barry Conners’ feisty drawing room comedy which initially premiered on Broadway in 1925. Filled with familial intrigue, marital sparring, lovers in pursuit, coun...
On the run, will have Katz’s?
What does a suspect do while on the run from shooting innocent straphangers on a Brooklyn subway? Exactly – he reportedly takes a breather outside Dimes, charges his phone, then eats lunch at Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side, all before before reporting himself to cops. In the thirty-o...
A violent start for Easter on Stanton Street.
A shooting early Sunday morning after the bars emptied in Hell Square left two individuals injured, one of whom an innocent bystander, cops said. Police say the shooting happened at 4:15am following a dispute outside Dubai Cannabis Supply at 105 Stanton Street, near and Ludlow. Apparently an argumen...
Time has come.
No sooner were excavation permits issued than worksite preparations began on a controversial South Street development along the Lower East Side waterfront. Indeed, Department of Buildings on Tuesday issued official approval to the Chetrit Group to begin foundation activities for its dual 70-story to...
Store owner stabs teenage shoplifter on Delancey yesterday.
In which the perpetrator becomes the victim. A sixteen-year-old shoplifter was stabbed in the chest yesterday on Delancey Street by the owner of the targeted store, police said. The stabbing transpired at 3:00pm outside the Duane Reade at 100 Delancey Street, mere moments after the teenager lifted g...
Sad news
Two people are dead, and several injured, after a fire in Chinatown early this morning. The two-alarm fire broke out at 78 Mulberry Street just before 4:00am. Roughly one hundred firefighters responded to extinguish the flames, which reportedly spread from the fifth floor. Sources tell us that a 91-...
Lenin and his flowers.
The Lenin statue atop a Lower East Side tenement continues to support Ukraine. With arm outstretched, the 13-foot bronze relief now holds a bouquet of sunflowers, presumably another message of support for Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion. It’s not the first time in recent weeks that...
Get ready for a big pit.
The controversial 70-story tower slated for the Lower East Side waterfront received a major boost this week. Department of Buildings yesterday issued permits for the gargantuan foundation at 265 South Street, thus allowing owner-developer Chetrit Group to take advantage of the 421a tax exemption whi...
The Lower East Side
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In which priests sing holiday cheer on East Houston #feliznavidad #nightmoves
Partly cloudy #divisionstreet #nightmoves #hyperlapse
El scorcho gets 'em going #weezer #boweryballroom
Bagpipes at dusk #mulberrystreet #bagpipes #littleitaly
The dreaded characters in their natural habitat #hyperlapse #timessquare #characterwitness
On the East River roller coaster #williamsburgbridge #hyperlapse #mta #onthej
Surfin safari #hyperlapse #beachbum
Handball with the boys #hyperlapse #easthouston #handball
The lunchtime rush #doyers #hyperlapse
Today is not the day to ford the river #slushrivers #allenstreet #oregontrail
Groovin' on a Saturday afternoon #allenstreet #letsdance
A quick lick in the park #saxchronicles #saradrooseveltpark #houstonstreet
In what looks like a scene straight out of a movie, the National Guard deploys to the LES. http://bwry.co/TiczSt
Earlier today we were volunteering at Seward Park co-op. Very surreal going door-to-door with only a flashlight to light the way. http://www.boweryboogie.com/2012/11/relief-efforts-for-seward-park-seniors-underway/
