Thursday, April 29, 2004
When Fourth Avener was the Book Row of America - part 1
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Speaking of treasure hunting sites – the Spanish doubloons from Nuestra Senora de Atocha, buried gold at Hall’s Harbor and the Money Pit on Oak Island in Nova Scotia - believe me , we have been there, and, they offer nothing that surpasses the thrill of scouting for sleepers (underpriced rare books) on the Book Row. That was how Fourth Avenue, 14th Street to Astor Place, was known in the 1950s through 70s, when the area was the American center of antiquarian book trade, right here in T&V Country. In fact, a number of ST/PCV people worked there.
It is therefore with great pleasure that I cheer the long awaited publication of Book Row, An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Book Trade, by Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador, Carrol & Graff, N.Y., 2003, $28. (deeply discounted and signed copies available at The Strand). It is a thoroughly researched and detailed history of the strange practitioners and the locale that made New York the center of a small but important universe, the antiquarian book trade.
The concentration of book dealers started in the 1890s, with young George D. Smith at 930 Broadway, next door to the present-day Strand. While still in his 20s, he began to dominate book auctions here and in London, filling the San Marino library shelves of Henry E. Huntington the railroad magnate and other millionaire collectors. A precursor of the legendary Dr A.S.W. Rosenbach, he cut a storybook figure that endeared him to his mega dollar patrons. He eventually moved uptown, leaving behind a bustling and expanding arena for book lovers, as downtown dealers moved up and new stores opened. If it were not for the overpopulation and the building boom that drove out the bookstores in the 1960s-70s, we’d be still enjoying our pleasures. Luckily, The Strand at Broadway and 11th with its eight miles of book shelves - or is it yet 16 miles - survives and thrives, and some new enterprises have opened, particularly on 18th Street.
Anyway, the Book Row grew, and by the 1950s it had expanded to cover not only Fourth Avenue from 14th Street to Astor Place but also parts of Broadway and the side streets, particularly the Bible House block, 8th to 9th Streets east of Fourth. About three dozen stores contended for the readers and collectors, not counting the 50 satellites within a two mile radius, and enthusiasts often spent whole Saturdays wandering from shop to shop. The outdoors bargain stands alone took hours to cover. The native-born book dealers were supplemented by scholarly immigrants freeing Czarist Russia, and later, Hitler’s Germany. There were nihilists, anarchists, socialists turned entrepreneurs, among them some sharp practitioners who were not above offering pennies for books worth hundreds, as Walter Goldwater might characterize them. Walter, a native New Yorker, graduate of University of Michigan and a Trotskyite, spent some time in Soviet Union, until, disenchanted with the Communist solution, he returned to open the University Place Book Shop specializing in Socialism and Africana. His wife, Eleanor Lowenstein of the Corner Bookstore, was New York’s foremost cookbook expert.
But Fourth Avenue gentrified, and the dealers had to move, or perish. This was happening, starting in my period, the 1950s. The cigar-chomping Sam Weiser, a small fast moving dapper gentlemanly deler, had a narrow store near 14th Street, and kept many calf-bound 17 and 18th Century octavos on his 35-cent stand, giving the passersby a thrill of rubbing our hands against history, while reserving the depths of the store for his main trade, the seekers of books about the weird and the occult. I still have the Addison and Steele essays, and the explorer and pirate Captain William Dampier’s Treatise on Winds, all buried somewhere, and a little disbound German folksy woodcut tome that I suspect might be a near incunabulum (pre-1500 publication)..Eventually Weiser’s moved to a huge, cavernous 845 Broadway location, the general books managed by his brother Ben, a gathering place for the after-hours book lovers .In the 1970s it relocated twice on Broadway, then to East 24th Street, but not for long. The occult branch of the firm survives, in a third generation, up North in Maine, as a mail-order publisher and dealer.
Across Broadway from Weiser’s, at 856, was the transplanted Arcadia, with the knowledgeable Milton and Dorothy Applebaum ruling over crowded ceiling-high stacks of books. When the high rents overwhelmed Broadway as well, they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and turned to mail order.
The only ex-Fourth Avenue bookstore surviving and flourishing in the city, at 828 Broadway is the Strand, founded by Ben Bass in 1929 and continued by his son Fred and now also granddaughter Nancy. Enterpreneurship, expansion, use of the Internet and ownership of the building seem to be the clues to success. Our chief author, Marvin Mondlin, their recently retired book buyer, has been associated with the store since 1951, with time off for stints as independent book dealer both here and in Belgium. It should be noted that the book, Book Row, has been in the making for decades, and, fortunately for us, Marvin has interviewed many stalwarts of the antiquarian book trade who are no longer with us. His earlier book, Appraisals, A Guide for Bookmen, is highly regarded in the trade. The other author, Roy Meador , from Ann Arbor, has written about the book trade for major periodicals as well as for collectors’ publications, including a research piece about Thomas Jefferson and the LOC that I have mislaid, to my regret.
More on the topic next week. Meanwhile, visit the Stuyvesant Square Park gardens this Spring week, and enjoy the white and purple blooming trees and the tulips.
Speaking of treasure hunting sites – the Spanish doubloons from Nuestra Senora de Atocha, buried gold at Hall’s Harbor and the Money Pit on Oak Island in Nova Scotia - believe me , we have been there, and, they offer nothing that surpasses the thrill of scouting for sleepers (underpriced rare books) on the Book Row. That was how Fourth Avenue, 14th Street to Astor Place, was known in the 1950s through 70s, when the area was the American center of antiquarian book trade, right here in T&V Country. In fact, a number of ST/PCV people worked there.
It is therefore with great pleasure that I cheer the long awaited publication of Book Row, An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Book Trade, by Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador, Carrol & Graff, N.Y., 2003, $28. (deeply discounted and signed copies available at The Strand). It is a thoroughly researched and detailed history of the strange practitioners and the locale that made New York the center of a small but important universe, the antiquarian book trade.
The concentration of book dealers started in the 1890s, with young George D. Smith at 930 Broadway, next door to the present-day Strand. While still in his 20s, he began to dominate book auctions here and in London, filling the San Marino library shelves of Henry E. Huntington the railroad magnate and other millionaire collectors. A precursor of the legendary Dr A.S.W. Rosenbach, he cut a storybook figure that endeared him to his mega dollar patrons. He eventually moved uptown, leaving behind a bustling and expanding arena for book lovers, as downtown dealers moved up and new stores opened. If it were not for the overpopulation and the building boom that drove out the bookstores in the 1960s-70s, we’d be still enjoying our pleasures. Luckily, The Strand at Broadway and 11th with its eight miles of book shelves - or is it yet 16 miles - survives and thrives, and some new enterprises have opened, particularly on 18th Street.
Anyway, the Book Row grew, and by the 1950s it had expanded to cover not only Fourth Avenue from 14th Street to Astor Place but also parts of Broadway and the side streets, particularly the Bible House block, 8th to 9th Streets east of Fourth. About three dozen stores contended for the readers and collectors, not counting the 50 satellites within a two mile radius, and enthusiasts often spent whole Saturdays wandering from shop to shop. The outdoors bargain stands alone took hours to cover. The native-born book dealers were supplemented by scholarly immigrants freeing Czarist Russia, and later, Hitler’s Germany. There were nihilists, anarchists, socialists turned entrepreneurs, among them some sharp practitioners who were not above offering pennies for books worth hundreds, as Walter Goldwater might characterize them. Walter, a native New Yorker, graduate of University of Michigan and a Trotskyite, spent some time in Soviet Union, until, disenchanted with the Communist solution, he returned to open the University Place Book Shop specializing in Socialism and Africana. His wife, Eleanor Lowenstein of the Corner Bookstore, was New York’s foremost cookbook expert.
But Fourth Avenue gentrified, and the dealers had to move, or perish. This was happening, starting in my period, the 1950s. The cigar-chomping Sam Weiser, a small fast moving dapper gentlemanly deler, had a narrow store near 14th Street, and kept many calf-bound 17 and 18th Century octavos on his 35-cent stand, giving the passersby a thrill of rubbing our hands against history, while reserving the depths of the store for his main trade, the seekers of books about the weird and the occult. I still have the Addison and Steele essays, and the explorer and pirate Captain William Dampier’s Treatise on Winds, all buried somewhere, and a little disbound German folksy woodcut tome that I suspect might be a near incunabulum (pre-1500 publication)..Eventually Weiser’s moved to a huge, cavernous 845 Broadway location, the general books managed by his brother Ben, a gathering place for the after-hours book lovers .In the 1970s it relocated twice on Broadway, then to East 24th Street, but not for long. The occult branch of the firm survives, in a third generation, up North in Maine, as a mail-order publisher and dealer.
Across Broadway from Weiser’s, at 856, was the transplanted Arcadia, with the knowledgeable Milton and Dorothy Applebaum ruling over crowded ceiling-high stacks of books. When the high rents overwhelmed Broadway as well, they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and turned to mail order.
The only ex-Fourth Avenue bookstore surviving and flourishing in the city, at 828 Broadway is the Strand, founded by Ben Bass in 1929 and continued by his son Fred and now also granddaughter Nancy. Enterpreneurship, expansion, use of the Internet and ownership of the building seem to be the clues to success. Our chief author, Marvin Mondlin, their recently retired book buyer, has been associated with the store since 1951, with time off for stints as independent book dealer both here and in Belgium. It should be noted that the book, Book Row, has been in the making for decades, and, fortunately for us, Marvin has interviewed many stalwarts of the antiquarian book trade who are no longer with us. His earlier book, Appraisals, A Guide for Bookmen, is highly regarded in the trade. The other author, Roy Meador , from Ann Arbor, has written about the book trade for major periodicals as well as for collectors’ publications, including a research piece about Thomas Jefferson and the LOC that I have mislaid, to my regret.
More on the topic next week. Meanwhile, visit the Stuyvesant Square Park gardens this Spring week, and enjoy the white and purple blooming trees and the tulips.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Takeout food - 19th through 22nd Streets, much of it upscale
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
You are not up to preparing a holiday dinner for a family group? Not to despair, many of the takeout restaurants and services will cater, a dinner for a couple or a crowd. .My listings show the restaurants that cater.
It just came to my attention, during the Passover week, that people who observe strict Kosher diet and are not overly mobile can order all their groceries from a specialty supermarket, Supersol Westside, at 526 Amsterdam Ave, (212) 875-1731. Supersol sends a truck once a week down our way. It’s one of New York’s best kept secrets, like Block Island, do not look for it on the internet. Thanks for the info, Mrs. B.
If you are in desperate need of a meal delivered on Shabbat (or any other time), you can call on the ever-reliable Second Ave Deli, 156 Second Ave at 10th St., (212) 677-0606. They are Kosher but not glatt (because they serve on Shabbat), and will deliver meals all the way to Stuy Town, up to 9:30 PM, $15 min.
I will try to cover other special interest food dispensaries, in future articles.
We now come more into my main topic, 19th through 22 Streets, the area of fine cooking and upscale prices. Many restaurants offer no takeouts. This is understandable; their product involves not only food, but also presentation, with proper temperature, atmosphere, service and company. You’d be wasting major bucks by taking out these dishes and microwaving them.
The major restaurants at the crossings have been described in other installments of this directory, dealing with the avenues; here we meet the equally reputable but sometimes more recherché eateries along the side streets.
East 19th Street
Tracy J’s Watering Hole Bar & Restaurant at 106 East 19th Street (212) 674-5783, owned by Art Heyman of the Knicks, offers not only bar appetizers, salads and sandwiches; you can order sirloin steak, blackened catfish and chicken breasts, with garlic mashed potatoes. Cajun cooking. Free delivery after 6 p.m.
Duke’s Restaurant at 99 East 18th Street, (212) 260-2922, welcomes y’all with barbecue, such as “fall off the bone” St. Louis ribs, also, po’boy sandwiches, jambalaya with Creole rice, buttermilk fried chicken, blackened anything. Free delivery.
Wichcraft at 49 East 19th Street, (212)780-0577 offers breakfast sandwiches and sweet rolls, warm and cold sandwich platters for lunch, all-day sweets. Free delivery, 8 a.m.-7 p.m., also weekends.
Pipa: tapas y mas, ay 38 East 19th Street, (212)677-2233. Would not count on them for takeout.
East 20th Street
We will start way East, with Lenz’s Deli & Pizza, at 514 East 20th Street (212) 979-2859, at practically the geographical center of ST/PCV. This is a neighborhood restaurant, also offering cold platters of meats and cheeses, 6-ft heroes, calzones, dinner entrees and salads, seven days/wk, 6 a.m.- 10 p.m., free delivery.
Crossing the arid desert of several food-deprived city blocks, we come to Morrells Restaurant, 900 Broadway at 20th Street (212) 253-0900. Alas, no takeout.
Gramercy Tavern at 42 East20th Street, (212) 477-0777, is the prime restaurant of the “good tasting area”. Elegant setting, unparalleled service (their words), upscale prices. Takeout available only exceptionally, but will wrap up your doggie bag.
Silver Swan at 41 East 20th Street, (212) 254-3611, German- American cuisine. No takeout menu, but you can order and pick up. Leftovers cheerfully packed up.
Flute at 40 East 20nd Street, (212) 529-7870. Petrossian caviar, but no takeout.
Anfu Korean 36 East 20th Street (212)674-1298. Korean style, pre-fix dinner, three courses and complimentary sake tasting, $25. Leftovers will feed a family.
Hamachi Japanese Sushi Bar 34 East 20th Street, (212) 420-8608. Nice upscale selections, lunch delivered until 2:45 p.m., dinner until 10:45..
La Pizza Fresca Ristorante, 31 East 20th Street (212) 598-0141, a Neapolitan trattoria featuring the genuine authentic ethnic, certified product. Also pasta, risotto, vino. You picka up.
Mizu Sushi at 29 East 20th Street, (212) 505-6688, huge menu. If you are really hungry, take the sushi and sashimi for two, $60.. Free delivery.
Bangkok Café 27 East 20th Street, (212) 228-7638.Thai fried rice dishes, entrees come with steamed, or sticky, or curry rice. Noodles and fried rice, red snapper and “to die for” duck selections. Free delivery.
Twenty First Street
The takeout cousin to the First Avenue Pub across the street, From First to Home, at 346 East 21st Street (212) 475-7736. Appetizers of buffalo wings, shrimps in a basket, BBQ’d or cold, with cocktail sauce; Caesar and sirloin salads, burgers, and catfish, tuna and roast beef wraps with steak fries, and then we come to the main courses. Filet mignon, $16.95. Catering, free delivery.
Twenty-Second Street
Tamarind, at 41 East 22nd Street, (212) 674-7400, a neat Indian restaurant, serves chef Raji’s noorani kabab, Calcutta fisherman stew, Rogan josh, which is goat on the bone with cardamom sauce, murgh (chicken) in various permutations. Free delivery.
You are not up to preparing a holiday dinner for a family group? Not to despair, many of the takeout restaurants and services will cater, a dinner for a couple or a crowd. .My listings show the restaurants that cater.
It just came to my attention, during the Passover week, that people who observe strict Kosher diet and are not overly mobile can order all their groceries from a specialty supermarket, Supersol Westside, at 526 Amsterdam Ave, (212) 875-1731. Supersol sends a truck once a week down our way. It’s one of New York’s best kept secrets, like Block Island, do not look for it on the internet. Thanks for the info, Mrs. B.
If you are in desperate need of a meal delivered on Shabbat (or any other time), you can call on the ever-reliable Second Ave Deli, 156 Second Ave at 10th St., (212) 677-0606. They are Kosher but not glatt (because they serve on Shabbat), and will deliver meals all the way to Stuy Town, up to 9:30 PM, $15 min.
I will try to cover other special interest food dispensaries, in future articles.
We now come more into my main topic, 19th through 22 Streets, the area of fine cooking and upscale prices. Many restaurants offer no takeouts. This is understandable; their product involves not only food, but also presentation, with proper temperature, atmosphere, service and company. You’d be wasting major bucks by taking out these dishes and microwaving them.
The major restaurants at the crossings have been described in other installments of this directory, dealing with the avenues; here we meet the equally reputable but sometimes more recherché eateries along the side streets.
East 19th Street
Tracy J’s Watering Hole Bar & Restaurant at 106 East 19th Street (212) 674-5783, owned by Art Heyman of the Knicks, offers not only bar appetizers, salads and sandwiches; you can order sirloin steak, blackened catfish and chicken breasts, with garlic mashed potatoes. Cajun cooking. Free delivery after 6 p.m.
Duke’s Restaurant at 99 East 18th Street, (212) 260-2922, welcomes y’all with barbecue, such as “fall off the bone” St. Louis ribs, also, po’boy sandwiches, jambalaya with Creole rice, buttermilk fried chicken, blackened anything. Free delivery.
Wichcraft at 49 East 19th Street, (212)780-0577 offers breakfast sandwiches and sweet rolls, warm and cold sandwich platters for lunch, all-day sweets. Free delivery, 8 a.m.-7 p.m., also weekends.
Pipa: tapas y mas, ay 38 East 19th Street, (212)677-2233. Would not count on them for takeout.
East 20th Street
We will start way East, with Lenz’s Deli & Pizza, at 514 East 20th Street (212) 979-2859, at practically the geographical center of ST/PCV. This is a neighborhood restaurant, also offering cold platters of meats and cheeses, 6-ft heroes, calzones, dinner entrees and salads, seven days/wk, 6 a.m.- 10 p.m., free delivery.
Crossing the arid desert of several food-deprived city blocks, we come to Morrells Restaurant, 900 Broadway at 20th Street (212) 253-0900. Alas, no takeout.
Gramercy Tavern at 42 East20th Street, (212) 477-0777, is the prime restaurant of the “good tasting area”. Elegant setting, unparalleled service (their words), upscale prices. Takeout available only exceptionally, but will wrap up your doggie bag.
Silver Swan at 41 East 20th Street, (212) 254-3611, German- American cuisine. No takeout menu, but you can order and pick up. Leftovers cheerfully packed up.
Flute at 40 East 20nd Street, (212) 529-7870. Petrossian caviar, but no takeout.
Anfu Korean 36 East 20th Street (212)674-1298. Korean style, pre-fix dinner, three courses and complimentary sake tasting, $25. Leftovers will feed a family.
Hamachi Japanese Sushi Bar 34 East 20th Street, (212) 420-8608. Nice upscale selections, lunch delivered until 2:45 p.m., dinner until 10:45..
La Pizza Fresca Ristorante, 31 East 20th Street (212) 598-0141, a Neapolitan trattoria featuring the genuine authentic ethnic, certified product. Also pasta, risotto, vino. You picka up.
Mizu Sushi at 29 East 20th Street, (212) 505-6688, huge menu. If you are really hungry, take the sushi and sashimi for two, $60.. Free delivery.
Bangkok Café 27 East 20th Street, (212) 228-7638.Thai fried rice dishes, entrees come with steamed, or sticky, or curry rice. Noodles and fried rice, red snapper and “to die for” duck selections. Free delivery.
Twenty First Street
The takeout cousin to the First Avenue Pub across the street, From First to Home, at 346 East 21st Street (212) 475-7736. Appetizers of buffalo wings, shrimps in a basket, BBQ’d or cold, with cocktail sauce; Caesar and sirloin salads, burgers, and catfish, tuna and roast beef wraps with steak fries, and then we come to the main courses. Filet mignon, $16.95. Catering, free delivery.
Twenty-Second Street
Tamarind, at 41 East 22nd Street, (212) 674-7400, a neat Indian restaurant, serves chef Raji’s noorani kabab, Calcutta fisherman stew, Rogan josh, which is goat on the bone with cardamom sauce, murgh (chicken) in various permutations. Free delivery.
Friday, April 16, 2004
Call to celebrate Earth Day by recycling hazardous waste
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Most people of T&V country, if not most New Yorkers, carry heavy burdens of social consciousness with them. One of them is a concern about the protection of our environment, such as guarding against the pollution of our air, water and soil. This is one area where we can exercise some personal initiatives, such as recycling and reduction of waste, and experience a sense of satisfaction.
These thoughts were expressed by a neighbor who goes shopping with a canvas bag or two, and refuses to accept the plastic ones supplied by the supermarkets and Union Square farmers. That is one way to reduce the creation of waste. There are others, as outlined by the NYCWasteLess.org web site, maintained by the city’s Department of Sanitation (NYCDS). For example, consider writing to the Direct Marketing Association, requesting that your name be removed from national mailing lists. Consider donating away your old furniture, clothing, appliances and books. Bring a reusable bag to the supermarket, a la my neighbor. Use less products of the toxic variety, and be careful in disposing them, and do some composting of organic waste, not too practical a suggestion in a crowded city apartment. Also, consider offering those pesky polystyrene packing peanuts that surround your mail-order purchases to stores that ship goods, for reuse.
Recycling, particularly that of hazardous waste, is difficult but important. It is therefore good to see that the ST/PCV and the Lower East Side Environmental Center (LESEC) will celebrate Earth Day (April 22 )once again by offering free drop-off of unwanted electronics at their recycling bins on Saturday April 24, at 278 First Avenue, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and on the following Sunday April 25 at Union Square North Plaza, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring computers and particularly their lead- filled monitors, laptops, printers, fax machines, TVs, VCRs, cell phones and household batteries.
Household batteries were identified as the main source of mercury in the waste stream some years ago. Consequently manufacturers eliminated mercury from household batteries and nowadays you can safely dispose of your alkaline AA, C and D cells . Rechargeables are a different matter. Used in portable tools, digital cameras and cell phones, they should not be dumped. Auto batteries contain lead and acid. Other toxic household materials include pesticides, paints and cleaning materials. Buried in landfills they still produce leachage that eventually seeps into the water systems and eventually into our body systems. Closing Fresh Kills on Staten Island, the world’s largest landfill, and transporting the waste by truck and rail to other landfills in poor areas of Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina only postpones the destruction process. Don’t let me get started.
Doing ecologically sound everyday disposal of hazardous waste in NYC is a hardship. NYCDS has set up Special Waste Collection Centers in faraway places. Ours is at the NYCDS garage, 605 West 30th Street (11-12 Avenues), which accepts on Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., all automobile waste (batteries, old oil and other fluids, tires), latex paints and cleaning products, in limited quantities. One has to be truly dedicated to environment protection to make the long pilgrimage, by bus or foot, although a neighbor with a car can help.
To go back in history, until the 1980s waste in NYC apartment houses was largely incinerated. Buildings had chutes, a burner, and the ash was taken out at the end of the week. The air was filled with soot; today’s air, by comparison, is relatively clean. A 1989 law banned incinerators, giving landlords a four-year phase-out period. Waste reduction programs were imposed and a recycling program was installed, to be fully implemented by the late 1990s. Actually incinerators were banned in new buildings from 1971 on, following the guidelines of Nixon’s federal Clean Air Act of 1970, now in the process of having key provisions quietly defanged by current Washington appointees. In NYC Mayors Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani put on special efforts to get the city streets and air cleaned up, eventually succeeding.
Recycling was suspended by Mayor Bloomberg during the fiscal crisis, when 515 sanitation workers were laid off. It was reinstated with a give-back of $11 million, which opened a stream of major sales tax, state and federal funds, resulting in a package of $164 million for the NYCDS.
This is not bad progress for the city, considering that slaughterhouses were banned from within the city limits as early as 1676 , the first sewer was built in 1703, overseers of cartmen (waste collectors) and scavengers were appointed in late 1700s, a Metropolitan Board of Health was formed in 1866, soon thereafter followed by a Department of Health, and a Department of Street Cleaning (subsequently Sanitation) in 1881.
Most people of T&V country, if not most New Yorkers, carry heavy burdens of social consciousness with them. One of them is a concern about the protection of our environment, such as guarding against the pollution of our air, water and soil. This is one area where we can exercise some personal initiatives, such as recycling and reduction of waste, and experience a sense of satisfaction.
These thoughts were expressed by a neighbor who goes shopping with a canvas bag or two, and refuses to accept the plastic ones supplied by the supermarkets and Union Square farmers. That is one way to reduce the creation of waste. There are others, as outlined by the NYCWasteLess.org web site, maintained by the city’s Department of Sanitation (NYCDS). For example, consider writing to the Direct Marketing Association, requesting that your name be removed from national mailing lists. Consider donating away your old furniture, clothing, appliances and books. Bring a reusable bag to the supermarket, a la my neighbor. Use less products of the toxic variety, and be careful in disposing them, and do some composting of organic waste, not too practical a suggestion in a crowded city apartment. Also, consider offering those pesky polystyrene packing peanuts that surround your mail-order purchases to stores that ship goods, for reuse.
Recycling, particularly that of hazardous waste, is difficult but important. It is therefore good to see that the ST/PCV and the Lower East Side Environmental Center (LESEC) will celebrate Earth Day (April 22 )once again by offering free drop-off of unwanted electronics at their recycling bins on Saturday April 24, at 278 First Avenue, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and on the following Sunday April 25 at Union Square North Plaza, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring computers and particularly their lead- filled monitors, laptops, printers, fax machines, TVs, VCRs, cell phones and household batteries.
Household batteries were identified as the main source of mercury in the waste stream some years ago. Consequently manufacturers eliminated mercury from household batteries and nowadays you can safely dispose of your alkaline AA, C and D cells . Rechargeables are a different matter. Used in portable tools, digital cameras and cell phones, they should not be dumped. Auto batteries contain lead and acid. Other toxic household materials include pesticides, paints and cleaning materials. Buried in landfills they still produce leachage that eventually seeps into the water systems and eventually into our body systems. Closing Fresh Kills on Staten Island, the world’s largest landfill, and transporting the waste by truck and rail to other landfills in poor areas of Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina only postpones the destruction process. Don’t let me get started.
Doing ecologically sound everyday disposal of hazardous waste in NYC is a hardship. NYCDS has set up Special Waste Collection Centers in faraway places. Ours is at the NYCDS garage, 605 West 30th Street (11-12 Avenues), which accepts on Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., all automobile waste (batteries, old oil and other fluids, tires), latex paints and cleaning products, in limited quantities. One has to be truly dedicated to environment protection to make the long pilgrimage, by bus or foot, although a neighbor with a car can help.
To go back in history, until the 1980s waste in NYC apartment houses was largely incinerated. Buildings had chutes, a burner, and the ash was taken out at the end of the week. The air was filled with soot; today’s air, by comparison, is relatively clean. A 1989 law banned incinerators, giving landlords a four-year phase-out period. Waste reduction programs were imposed and a recycling program was installed, to be fully implemented by the late 1990s. Actually incinerators were banned in new buildings from 1971 on, following the guidelines of Nixon’s federal Clean Air Act of 1970, now in the process of having key provisions quietly defanged by current Washington appointees. In NYC Mayors Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani put on special efforts to get the city streets and air cleaned up, eventually succeeding.
Recycling was suspended by Mayor Bloomberg during the fiscal crisis, when 515 sanitation workers were laid off. It was reinstated with a give-back of $11 million, which opened a stream of major sales tax, state and federal funds, resulting in a package of $164 million for the NYCDS.
This is not bad progress for the city, considering that slaughterhouses were banned from within the city limits as early as 1676 , the first sewer was built in 1703, overseers of cartmen (waste collectors) and scavengers were appointed in late 1700s, a Metropolitan Board of Health was formed in 1866, soon thereafter followed by a Department of Health, and a Department of Street Cleaning (subsequently Sanitation) in 1881.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Takeouts, restaurants, bars, and Indians - 15th through 18th Streets
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
In the course of my indefatigable restaurant research, I met two members of the storied group that is said to be robbing American computer programmers, including some of T&V people, of their well-paid jobs – Indian programmers on H1B visas, working for low rates, though presumably not substandard. These personable young men were, surprisingly, willing to talk – I‘m told that I have the mien of a retired cop, and foreigners often look at me with suspicion, as though expecting me to check their green cards. (Once, briskly walking on 17th Street with another laddie, aka Doomsday in these paragraphs, we inadvertently broke up and sent on the run a session of crooks doing forged gold stamp punching at the back entrance of Barnes and Noble.)
The current annual available H1B visas are limited to 65,000, down from 128,000, for Indians, Chinese, Russians, Philippines and other foreign techies, for two three-year terms, renewable when employer requests and visa maximum permits. The outsourcing is done through Indian consulting firms, who also run immense offshore programming shops of 5,000-15,000 programmers in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai (Bombay). They are the intermediaries, obtaining the contracts, importing the programmers, providing living quarters and paying the salaries. For tasks outsourced offshore, communication is by phone (6 a.m. call will reach a late-working contact in India), and by e-mail strings, each carrying the history of previous communications on the topic, very effective.
Ajab has been here in the 1990s, before the bubble burst, an d has returned recently. He lives in Jersey City, sharing an apartment with two other singles. He cannot save any real money, nor send it home, NYC is too expensive. Previously, in Milwaukee, he did better. He will go back to India, marry and settle down when he can be sure of continuation of employment offshore. Meanwhile, he’ll stay and learn. Married workers who come here, particularly with children, find it almost impossible to survive. The spouses may not work, under the terms of their H4 visas. It was implied that taking an off-the-books job endangers the visa. Nasim lives in a group apartment in Brooklyn. Both think well of USA and the opportunities. Any hate encountered? “I’d rather not talk” is the comment.
Pay was not discussed, but the workers have health insurance. Vacation of a month, seemingly without pay, is available, but no one can afford a visit to the family. Upon return, the programmer is fairly assured of a middle- or upper-middle-class status, although we did not mention the caste system. Information technology journals imply that the Indian universities, where IT training and discipline is at a very high level, use merit and IQ as admission standards.
As to work discipline, the areas in the office where Indian IT workers are silent, you hear no conversation or phone calls. At lunch they sit together and chitchat, cheerfully. As you enter the elevator, they will often change the conversation to English, to be polite. As to food, I learned little. They like all NYC Indian food, paneer (spinach) dishes, and dosa (flatbread). And pizza - oh yeah!
This review will cover the side streets of T&V Country, east of Union Square/Fifth Ave.
East 15th Street
Do not expect full dinner service at the popular bars, serving the patrons of four theatres and one rock concert hall. – the sports-oriented Revival at 129,the Irving Plaza, favored by punks and rockers, The 119, a dark door below the Polish War Veterans plaque, and the in-crowd’s Belmont Lounge at 117, also offering appetizers, salads and sandwiches. But there are some restaurants.
Shades of Green at 125 East 15th Street (212) 674-1394, once a rock and Irish band paradise, now offers a set menu plus eight daily specials, classic shepherd’s pie, Irish bangers with mash and chicken pot-pie. You pick up.
Link Restaurant and Lounge, 120 East 15 Street (212) 995-1010, “amuse” appetizers, spinach strudel and lobster bisque. For entrées, Kobe beef ($27), salmon tornado, free range chicken. Delivery though the restaurant’s companion diner, 3Square (same address & phone, order also online), a purveyor of breakfasts, lunches and anytime courses, paninis, noodles and sandwiches. Create your own salad.
East 16th and 17th Streets were covered by the reviews of the avenues that cross them.
One omission - Natural Green Market, Wholesome Gourmet Health Food Store at 16th Street and Third Ave (212) 780-0263, has a substantial salad bar, available half-price after 8 p.m. Ask for free delivery.
East 18th Street
Paul & Jimmy’s at 123 East 18th Street (212) 475-9540, the 50-plus year old veteran Italian favorite originally on Irving Place , offers a well-tested menu of antipasti, insalata, zuppa, farinacci (pasta), pollo, pesce and carne, with side orders of legume. Free delivery, min $25.
Los Dos Melinos at 119 East 18th Street, (212) 505-1574, has burros, tacos and tostadas, and relleno and enchiladas dinners, flautas, chimichnga, red or green chili plates. Sip tequila, Dos Eques or Sangre de Toro in the cantina. Delivered.
Crossing Park Ave South ,there’s the Old Town Bar and Restaurant at 45 East 18th Street (2121) 529-6732. A sentimental favorite, I and the Old Curmudgeon misspent a lot of our youth there. Its upstairs restaurant, open ‘till 11:30 p.m., features American tavern food, chicken pot-pie, salads and burgers. No takeout.
Lucy, Mexican bistro, 35 East 18th Street (212) 475-5829. Oaxaca style, Margarita and Veracruzana ceviche, octopus with parsley, antojitos (little bites), picaditas (corn masa boots) filled with shrimp or duck confit, and then we get serious, with barbacoa, wood-roasted lamb wrapped in banana skins, bisteca and chicharrones (ribs). No delivery.
City Crepe, 28 East 18th Street (212) 228-1840. Evokes dreams of sybaritic breakfasts in bed, scrambled eggs with salmon, and twenty varieties of crepes, toppings galore, and frozen sundaes. Free delivery, check hours.
America, at 9-13 East 18th Street (212) 505-2110, a huge space where conversation reverberates, offers a gorgeous mosaic of a multi-faceted menu that crosses the continent, from Vermont to Mexico. Takeout, but you must pick up your order.
In the course of my indefatigable restaurant research, I met two members of the storied group that is said to be robbing American computer programmers, including some of T&V people, of their well-paid jobs – Indian programmers on H1B visas, working for low rates, though presumably not substandard. These personable young men were, surprisingly, willing to talk – I‘m told that I have the mien of a retired cop, and foreigners often look at me with suspicion, as though expecting me to check their green cards. (Once, briskly walking on 17th Street with another laddie, aka Doomsday in these paragraphs, we inadvertently broke up and sent on the run a session of crooks doing forged gold stamp punching at the back entrance of Barnes and Noble.)
The current annual available H1B visas are limited to 65,000, down from 128,000, for Indians, Chinese, Russians, Philippines and other foreign techies, for two three-year terms, renewable when employer requests and visa maximum permits. The outsourcing is done through Indian consulting firms, who also run immense offshore programming shops of 5,000-15,000 programmers in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai (Bombay). They are the intermediaries, obtaining the contracts, importing the programmers, providing living quarters and paying the salaries. For tasks outsourced offshore, communication is by phone (6 a.m. call will reach a late-working contact in India), and by e-mail strings, each carrying the history of previous communications on the topic, very effective.
Ajab has been here in the 1990s, before the bubble burst, an d has returned recently. He lives in Jersey City, sharing an apartment with two other singles. He cannot save any real money, nor send it home, NYC is too expensive. Previously, in Milwaukee, he did better. He will go back to India, marry and settle down when he can be sure of continuation of employment offshore. Meanwhile, he’ll stay and learn. Married workers who come here, particularly with children, find it almost impossible to survive. The spouses may not work, under the terms of their H4 visas. It was implied that taking an off-the-books job endangers the visa. Nasim lives in a group apartment in Brooklyn. Both think well of USA and the opportunities. Any hate encountered? “I’d rather not talk” is the comment.
Pay was not discussed, but the workers have health insurance. Vacation of a month, seemingly without pay, is available, but no one can afford a visit to the family. Upon return, the programmer is fairly assured of a middle- or upper-middle-class status, although we did not mention the caste system. Information technology journals imply that the Indian universities, where IT training and discipline is at a very high level, use merit and IQ as admission standards.
As to work discipline, the areas in the office where Indian IT workers are silent, you hear no conversation or phone calls. At lunch they sit together and chitchat, cheerfully. As you enter the elevator, they will often change the conversation to English, to be polite. As to food, I learned little. They like all NYC Indian food, paneer (spinach) dishes, and dosa (flatbread). And pizza - oh yeah!
This review will cover the side streets of T&V Country, east of Union Square/Fifth Ave.
East 15th Street
Do not expect full dinner service at the popular bars, serving the patrons of four theatres and one rock concert hall. – the sports-oriented Revival at 129,the Irving Plaza, favored by punks and rockers, The 119, a dark door below the Polish War Veterans plaque, and the in-crowd’s Belmont Lounge at 117, also offering appetizers, salads and sandwiches. But there are some restaurants.
Shades of Green at 125 East 15th Street (212) 674-1394, once a rock and Irish band paradise, now offers a set menu plus eight daily specials, classic shepherd’s pie, Irish bangers with mash and chicken pot-pie. You pick up.
Link Restaurant and Lounge, 120 East 15 Street (212) 995-1010, “amuse” appetizers, spinach strudel and lobster bisque. For entrées, Kobe beef ($27), salmon tornado, free range chicken. Delivery though the restaurant’s companion diner, 3Square (same address & phone, order also online), a purveyor of breakfasts, lunches and anytime courses, paninis, noodles and sandwiches. Create your own salad.
East 16th and 17th Streets were covered by the reviews of the avenues that cross them.
One omission - Natural Green Market, Wholesome Gourmet Health Food Store at 16th Street and Third Ave (212) 780-0263, has a substantial salad bar, available half-price after 8 p.m. Ask for free delivery.
East 18th Street
Paul & Jimmy’s at 123 East 18th Street (212) 475-9540, the 50-plus year old veteran Italian favorite originally on Irving Place , offers a well-tested menu of antipasti, insalata, zuppa, farinacci (pasta), pollo, pesce and carne, with side orders of legume. Free delivery, min $25.
Los Dos Melinos at 119 East 18th Street, (212) 505-1574, has burros, tacos and tostadas, and relleno and enchiladas dinners, flautas, chimichnga, red or green chili plates. Sip tequila, Dos Eques or Sangre de Toro in the cantina. Delivered.
Crossing Park Ave South ,there’s the Old Town Bar and Restaurant at 45 East 18th Street (2121) 529-6732. A sentimental favorite, I and the Old Curmudgeon misspent a lot of our youth there. Its upstairs restaurant, open ‘till 11:30 p.m., features American tavern food, chicken pot-pie, salads and burgers. No takeout.
Lucy, Mexican bistro, 35 East 18th Street (212) 475-5829. Oaxaca style, Margarita and Veracruzana ceviche, octopus with parsley, antojitos (little bites), picaditas (corn masa boots) filled with shrimp or duck confit, and then we get serious, with barbacoa, wood-roasted lamb wrapped in banana skins, bisteca and chicharrones (ribs). No delivery.
City Crepe, 28 East 18th Street (212) 228-1840. Evokes dreams of sybaritic breakfasts in bed, scrambled eggs with salmon, and twenty varieties of crepes, toppings galore, and frozen sundaes. Free delivery, check hours.
America, at 9-13 East 18th Street (212) 505-2110, a huge space where conversation reverberates, offers a gorgeous mosaic of a multi-faceted menu that crosses the continent, from Vermont to Mexico. Takeout, but you must pick up your order.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Stuyvesant Park residents object to proposed takeout food facilities
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Not all food takeout facilities meet with the neighborhood’s approval. On Wednesday March 23rd the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation invited three potential vendors to inspect and bid on a contract to open a food concession in a kiosk converted from a toilet facility in Stuyvesant Square Park’s Eastern half, against the regulations and the local residents’ wishes. The park is landmarked, being part of the Stuyvesant Square Historic District, meaning that any modifications need approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Department has not sought such approval. This was the third effort on their part in four years to solicit vendors before seeking agreement from the preservationists and neighborhood activists. At least this time they acknowledged the the regulations, and specified, in a revised RFP, that the accepted vendor will have to seek approval for building and landscape modifications from the Arts Commission and the LPC.
Members of the community, spearheaded by the SPNA, the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, brought a dozen protesters, among them representatives of local elected officials and associations, to greet the Parks officials and potential bidders.
There were also dog enthusiasts, since the area has been used as a dog run in the mornings.
The Stuyvesant Park community has for years sought to stem any encroachments on this relic of Old New York, an 1836 gift to the neighborhood by Petrus Gerardus Stuyvesant, great-great grandson of the peg-legged Governor General. Even then, it took NYS Governor Hamilton Fish, a Stuyvesant in-law, until 1848 to persuade the city to allocate funds for fencing in and maintaining this green refuge for local inhabitants, displacing the pigs and squatters who had taken possession of the neglected property.
SPNA, established in the 1970s for the purpose of protecting and maintaining its heritage, had been active, along with other concerned citizens and NYC officials, in securing ISTEA (Intermodal surface Transportation Efficiency Act, pronounced as ice tea) funds for recasting of the West Park’s half of its unique free-standing fences, starting in 1989. The name of Rex Wasserman, a landscape architect of the Parks and Recreation Department who put a huge personal effort into the renovation, is remembered and revered by the local activists. The East Park’s fence, alas, still needs funding, although partial funds are held for it by the Borough President’s office. Two million dollars plus will be needed, due to inflation. If you care, have ideas, and/or access to the moneyed classes, join in. SPNA membership dues are low, inquire at POBox 1320, Cooper Station 10276, or send a check for about $20
SPNA does raise several thousand dollars every year for maintenance of the park and its gardens, to support the meager Department of Parks funds, and to aid other neighborhood activist institutions around the park. It has also paid some $50,000 into an endowment fund to maintain the statue of its famous inhabitant, Antonin Dvorak. The monies were raised jointly with the Dvorak American Heritage Association. The composer lived at 327 East 17th Street (now the Beth Israel’s Maplethorpe facility) , while working at the National Conservatory of Music (now the site of Washington Irving High School) in 1892-95. The New World Symphony was composed here.Go look at the statue, by Ivan Mestrovic, our neighborhood’s pride, equivalent to a a Rodin or Picasso (and don’t forget the Stuyvesant statue by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1936) looking southwards to check out his estates, from the West Park.)
The Stuyvesant Square activists feel that the Parks Department is once more encroaching, with inappropriate changes, to alter a historic landmark. It is an effort of commercialization, in direct contravention of the restrictive deed given to the city by the Stuyvesant family, specifying that this should be a “sitting park.” “ Passive” and “contemplative” are some of the terms used in discoursing the park’s purposes. There have been earlier attempts to convert and commercialize the park that have been successfully defeated in court. In 1936 Commissioner Robert Moses installed a children’s playground facility, the noise of which disturbed the neighborhood, particularly the sick in the hospitals. It was defeated, and the playground had to vacate. In anger Moses paved over the East Park area with cobblestones, dubbed “Moses’s revenge” by some of the local history fans.
The support for the residents’ protest comes from various sources. There are letters from the Historic Districts Council, Community Board Six, State Senator Thomas K. Duane, State Assemblyman Steven Sanders, City Councilwoman Margarita Lopez and Borough President C. Virginia Fields. This is not just political reachout for the constituents; a lot of people feel that a peaceful undisturbed oasis in the big city should be left alone.
One should explain the mixed use of terms of Stuyvesant Park and Square in the various descriptions. In 1975 the area was given the Stuyvesant Square Historic District designation, as a more historically correct name. However, the Stuyvesant Park designation predates it, as in the name of the SPNA, founded in 1971. Your pick.
Wally Dobelis thanks Carol Schachter and Jack Taylor of the SPNA.
..
Not all food takeout facilities meet with the neighborhood’s approval. On Wednesday March 23rd the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation invited three potential vendors to inspect and bid on a contract to open a food concession in a kiosk converted from a toilet facility in Stuyvesant Square Park’s Eastern half, against the regulations and the local residents’ wishes. The park is landmarked, being part of the Stuyvesant Square Historic District, meaning that any modifications need approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Department has not sought such approval. This was the third effort on their part in four years to solicit vendors before seeking agreement from the preservationists and neighborhood activists. At least this time they acknowledged the the regulations, and specified, in a revised RFP, that the accepted vendor will have to seek approval for building and landscape modifications from the Arts Commission and the LPC.
Members of the community, spearheaded by the SPNA, the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, brought a dozen protesters, among them representatives of local elected officials and associations, to greet the Parks officials and potential bidders.
There were also dog enthusiasts, since the area has been used as a dog run in the mornings.
The Stuyvesant Park community has for years sought to stem any encroachments on this relic of Old New York, an 1836 gift to the neighborhood by Petrus Gerardus Stuyvesant, great-great grandson of the peg-legged Governor General. Even then, it took NYS Governor Hamilton Fish, a Stuyvesant in-law, until 1848 to persuade the city to allocate funds for fencing in and maintaining this green refuge for local inhabitants, displacing the pigs and squatters who had taken possession of the neglected property.
SPNA, established in the 1970s for the purpose of protecting and maintaining its heritage, had been active, along with other concerned citizens and NYC officials, in securing ISTEA (Intermodal surface Transportation Efficiency Act, pronounced as ice tea) funds for recasting of the West Park’s half of its unique free-standing fences, starting in 1989. The name of Rex Wasserman, a landscape architect of the Parks and Recreation Department who put a huge personal effort into the renovation, is remembered and revered by the local activists. The East Park’s fence, alas, still needs funding, although partial funds are held for it by the Borough President’s office. Two million dollars plus will be needed, due to inflation. If you care, have ideas, and/or access to the moneyed classes, join in. SPNA membership dues are low, inquire at POBox 1320, Cooper Station 10276, or send a check for about $20
SPNA does raise several thousand dollars every year for maintenance of the park and its gardens, to support the meager Department of Parks funds, and to aid other neighborhood activist institutions around the park. It has also paid some $50,000 into an endowment fund to maintain the statue of its famous inhabitant, Antonin Dvorak. The monies were raised jointly with the Dvorak American Heritage Association. The composer lived at 327 East 17th Street (now the Beth Israel’s Maplethorpe facility) , while working at the National Conservatory of Music (now the site of Washington Irving High School) in 1892-95. The New World Symphony was composed here.Go look at the statue, by Ivan Mestrovic, our neighborhood’s pride, equivalent to a a Rodin or Picasso (and don’t forget the Stuyvesant statue by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1936) looking southwards to check out his estates, from the West Park.)
The Stuyvesant Square activists feel that the Parks Department is once more encroaching, with inappropriate changes, to alter a historic landmark. It is an effort of commercialization, in direct contravention of the restrictive deed given to the city by the Stuyvesant family, specifying that this should be a “sitting park.” “ Passive” and “contemplative” are some of the terms used in discoursing the park’s purposes. There have been earlier attempts to convert and commercialize the park that have been successfully defeated in court. In 1936 Commissioner Robert Moses installed a children’s playground facility, the noise of which disturbed the neighborhood, particularly the sick in the hospitals. It was defeated, and the playground had to vacate. In anger Moses paved over the East Park area with cobblestones, dubbed “Moses’s revenge” by some of the local history fans.
The support for the residents’ protest comes from various sources. There are letters from the Historic Districts Council, Community Board Six, State Senator Thomas K. Duane, State Assemblyman Steven Sanders, City Councilwoman Margarita Lopez and Borough President C. Virginia Fields. This is not just political reachout for the constituents; a lot of people feel that a peaceful undisturbed oasis in the big city should be left alone.
One should explain the mixed use of terms of Stuyvesant Park and Square in the various descriptions. In 1975 the area was given the Stuyvesant Square Historic District designation, as a more historically correct name. However, the Stuyvesant Park designation predates it, as in the name of the SPNA, founded in 1971. Your pick.
Wally Dobelis thanks Carol Schachter and Jack Taylor of the SPNA.
..
