Oct. 23, 2013 Chelsea Now

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 30

THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CHELSEA, HUDSON YARDS & HELL'S KITCHEN

OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Businesses Stake Claim, Amid Rush to Hell’s Kitchen

Photo by Sam Spokony

Perry N. Halkitis, at bottom left, joined some of the men he interviewed for “The AIDS Generation: Stories of Survival and Resilience.”

Learning From Men of The AIDS Generation

BY SAM SPOKONY In the midst of a career built on cutting-edge research and studies of the LGBT population, not to mention a personal life full of experiences from the front lines of the HIV epidemic, Dr. Perry N. Halkitis isn’t ready to write his autobiography just yet.

“Maybe when I’m 60,” he said with a laugh, in his office at New York University’s Global Institute of Public

Health, a few blocks from Union Square.

The list of his job titles alone makes it clear that Halkitis speaks with a voice of internationally recognized authority, especially for someone who’s not yet a senior citizen. Along with being associate dean of the Global Institute of Public Health, he’s the director of NYU’s Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies, and a professor of both population health and applied psychology and

public health. He has also published numerous academic articles and books that have helped to push his field forward over the past decade, all while finding time to write frequent columns for this newspaper.

And now, at 50, Halkitis will certainly tell you that he was more than ready to break new ground in HIV behavioral

Continued on page 7

BY EILEEN STUKANE “I just love the energy in Hell’s Kitchen. Right now it’s definitely the pulse of New York, and you can quote me,” says John P. Greco III, executive chef and proprietor of Posh, which he opened in 2000 on West 51st Street. Posh was the first gay restaurant/bar to establish itself in a Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood that now holds many sports bars, gay bars and numerous Thai eateries. Greco, who opened Philip Marie restaurant in the West Village in 1998, watched the Village change from a laid-back artistic community into a neighborhood of luxury condos along the river, designer shops on Bleecker Street and skyrocketing rents that triggered a migration of residents (particularly among the Village’s gay community) to Chelsea. As Chelsea became the “in” place to live, he had a sense that the next migration would be to Hell’s Kitchen.

Greco opened Posh, then West 52nd Street’s

Bamboo 52 Japanese restaurant and then 1-2-3 Burger Shot Beer ($1 burgers, $2 shots, $3 beers) sports bar (10th Avenue, between West 51st and 52nd Streets). Another Hell’s Kitchen restaurant from Greco, this one on Ninth Avenue between West 50th and 51st Streets, is due to open in January 2014. He was a pioneer in 2000 — but in 2013, he’s one of many who are staking a claim to be part of Hell’s Kitchen’s continuing evolution from gritty, dicey boulevards of prostitute-and-drug trades to police-protected, tourist-filled streets.

Currently in development, the 26-acre Hudson Yards area (West 30th to 34th Streets, 10th Avenue to the West Side Highway) is set to become an entity unto itself. The boundaries of Hell’s Kitchen’s range from about West 34th to West 59th Streets, Eight Avenue west to the Hudson River. The traditionally low-rise Hell’s Kitchen,

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Continued on page 3

2 October 23 - November 5, 2013

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You wouldn’t know it by watching the televised debates or reading the latest polls — but there are 15 candidates vying to succeed Michael Bloomberg. “If they’re on the ballot,” says Hudson Guild Neighborhood Advisory Committee president Larry Littman, “we have to invite them. That’s our philosophy.”

As Chelsea Now went to press, the big three (Bill de Blasio, Joe Lhota and Adolfo Carrión, Jr.) had yet to RSVP — although Littman notes that in years past, “We’ve always had the Democrat and Republican represented by a party club member or an elected official.”

Confirmed to be at the very long table: Randy Credico (Tax Wall Street Party), Daniel B. Fein (Socialist Worker Party), Anthony Gronowicz (Green Party), Jimmy McMillan (Rent Is 2 Damn High Party) and Erick J. Salgado (School Choice Party). Littman will moderate the audience Q&A, after each candidate is allowed to make an opening statement.

This event (co-sponsored by The Fulton Houses Tenants Association, Penn South Social Services, the Elliott-Chelsea Tenants Association and Chelsea For Peace) is free

suNDay, octobeR 27, 12-3 Pm

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Presented by

Official Program of

Photo courtesy of The NYC Metro Raging Grannies

Times Square is safe from the satirical jabs and righteous anger of The NYC Metro Raging Grannies — at least on Oct. 28, when they’ll be at Hudson Guild.

and open to the public. Mon., Oct. 28, 7pm, at the Hudson Guild-Elliott Center (441 W. 26th St., btw 9th & 10th Aves.).

Light refreshments will be served. Preforum entertainment — in the form of protest and environmental-themed songs — will be provided by The NYC Metro Raging Grannies. For info. on the Nov. 5 General Election (including poll site and ballot info), visit vote.nyc.ny.us.

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October 23 - November 5, 2013

3

Entrepreneurs Sense Opportunity in Hell’s Kitchen Continued from page 1 zoned for six-story (mostly walk-up) residential buildings, had its first stirrings of change in the 1970s when ground was broken for Manhattan Plaza — a Section 8, federally subsidized housing project on West 43rd Street that fills the block between Ninth and 10th Avenues. This 45-story residential building, largely inhabited by those in the performing arts, was the largest structure in Hell’s Kitchen until the 49-story Worldwide Plaza was built on a former Madison Square Garden site in 1989. A three-building, mixed-use commercial/residential complex, Worldwide Plaza took up a full block between West 49th and 50th Streets, from Eighth to Ninth Avenues. This was the start of the re-zoning of Hell’s Kitchen. Today, due to recent construction, Hell’s Kitchen now has 60-story residential towers on its far west end (from 10th Avenue west to the Hudson River) and the rail yards (on about West 34th Street to the mid-West 40s).

The migration from Chelsea to Hell’s Kitchen, what was considered a stillaffordable part of Manhattan, has either spawned or coincided with a glass-andsteel residential and hotel building boom.

On the street, entrepreneurs are sensing opportunity.

With commercial rents rising, the businesses that can meet expenses are more often bars that can pack in the weekend crowds. North of West 42nd Street, sports bars like Mercury or Mickey Spillane’s and bars catering to the gay community (XL Nightclub, BoxersHK, Flaming Saddles, Posh, and the newly opened Atlas Social Club) have established themselves, and appear to be thriving. But for older businesses and longtime residents, the commercial success of recent arrivals comes

Photos by Eileen Stukane

Posh owner John P. Greco III: Hell’s Kitchen is “the pulse of New York.”

with a price.

“A lot of quirky ethnic restaurants that existed in this neighborhood for years no longer exist,” says Bob Kalin, tenant organizer for the nonprofit community housing group, Housing Conservation Coordinators. “You’ve got a lot more of the sports bars and franchise restaurants,” says Kalin, who once counted 40 Starbucks in Hell’s Kitchen. The crowds attracted by these new businesses, says Kalin, means that on any given weekend, “Ninth Avenue is more like Columbus and Amsterdam, with a lot of young people going to bars. The old-timers in the neighborhood tend to avoid Ninth Avenue on Friday and Saturday nights.”

Kathleen Treat, chair of Hell’s Kitchen

Neighborhood Association and a resident of Manhattan Plaza, is organizing a neighborhood task force to advocate for adherence to the “500-foot law” that would reduce the number of bars on a street,

as she feels that the proliferation of bars north of West 42nd Street has reached a “saturation point.” She acknowledges that change has brought safer streets and a brand new building for PS51 (at 525 West 44th Street). “It was always the school that the city forgot because it was so poor,” she says. On the other hand, change has also brought the rising rents that mom and pop stores cannot afford to pay. She has seen local butchers, fishmongers, a bakery, a hardware store and even a shoe store give way to restaurants and clubs that are more about nightlife than neighborhood.

Greco says that Posh, and other new businesses in Hell’s Kitchen, are “all one community, and working together just makes business a lot better and living there a lot better. I work very closely with the community board, the block association and the police precinct. I go to every single meeting out there, and if not me, one of my team members that I employ. That’s what it takes to be successful in my business and in Hell’s Kitchen right now, respecting the residents.”

Kalin has noticed that in the transformation of the area, more services have appeared. “One very odd thing about Hell’s Kitchen was that there were no

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The 1989 development of Worldwide Plaza jump-started the rezoning of Hell’s Kitchen.

Continued on page 6

4 October 23 - November 5, 2013

Meatpacking District’s Glitz Still Has Some Beef

Villager ad

Villager ad

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BY HEATHER DUBIN The smell of meat hits you at the door. Once an omnipresent odor in the Meatpacking District, it can still be found here, at the “Co-op,” the last remnant of a bustling meat market that was once much, much larger.

The address is 832 Washington Street — home to meat wholesaler JT Jobbagy and six other meat companies.

Tucked under the High Line and next door to Hector’s, an old-school diner on the corner of Little West 12th Street, the Co-op represents a slice of New York that is long gone. Today, there is a Disneyland feel to the Meatpacking District with designer clothing shops, high-end restaurants and nightclubs, in sharp contrast to the raw market neighborhood it was.

Brothers John and Tom Jobbagy started JT Jobbagy together in 1990, having followed in their father’s footsteps, who also worked in the industry. The male-dominated world that was the old Meat Market covered a six- or seven-block area — with three major buildings on the current Co-op block — and employed a couple thousand men.

These days, the remaining handful of meat businesses are clustered in one last building. The massive new Downtown Whitney Museum, currently under construction, replaced the other old meat buildings on

this same block.

John Jobbagy, who begins his day at 4:30am, recently took some time out of his afternoon to talk about the meat industry and how it has changed. His older brother Tom sat next to him, busy fielding customers’ calls and doing paperwork.

“We’ve been here in this building when it was completely a market,” John said. “It was all just meat, tons of vendors, a few of the bigger companies and wholesalers.”

Carcasses were trucked in, cut up and sold to supermarkets and other meat companies.

Now the Jobbagys have 14 employees, and the rest of the meat businesses left on the block are similar in size. They still do carcasses — fresh hanging like they did years ago — wholesale restaurants, retail markets and also supply other meat companies. But today, the bulk of their work is supplying restaurants.

While Jobbagy recalled the Meat Market as a former place of fast action with trucks roaring in and out and camaraderie, he is more pragmatic than nostalgic. With the industry changes and surrounding newly posh neighborhood, he acknowledged things could never be the same.

“Back in the day, it was an all-male

WE’VE GOT THE CORNER WE’VE GOT THEMARKET CORNER WE’VE GOT THE CORNER ON THE MEAT THE MEAT MEAT MARKET ONONTHE MARKET Photo by Jefferson Siegel

Villager ad

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John Jobbagy in his well-stocked refrigerated meat locker.

Continued on page 19

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October 23 - November 5, 2013

Meatpacking District Would Have Been Minced Meat Without Landmarking

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Defying the odds, the Gansevoort Market Historic District was designed in 2003. Four years later, the entire Meat Market was placed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

BY ANDREW BERMAN Ten years ago this September, the Gansevoort Market Historic District was designated, granting landmark protections to about two-thirds of the Meatpacking District. The neighborhood has gone through an incredible amount of change during the past decade, but the type of change might have been completely different had it not been for landmark designation. How the district’s landmarking came about is an improbable tale, about as hard to predict as the incredible transformation the neighborhood has undergone.

On August 1, 2000, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) convened the first meeting of the Save Gansevoort Market Task Force. Though it may be hard to believe now, in the summer of 2000 the Meatpacking District was still very much a backwater. The neighborhood was pretty empty during most daylight hours. But when the sun went down, the clubs opened (of both the sex and dance variety), transgendered prostitutes worked the streets and the meatpacking businesses opened their doors around 4am and started loading and unloading their

products until around noon, when the cycle started all over again. The cobblestoned streets dripped with animal blood (and some other unsavory liquids), but the neighborhood had achieved a kind of equilibrium in which not much changed, and all parts seemed to coexist in relative harmony.

But some prescient locals knew things were not likely to stay this way for long. The construction of the Hudson River Park was clearly going to increase the desirability of this and other adjacent neighborhoods. Bill Gottlieb, the eccentric “accidental preservationist” who bought scores of buildings in the Meatpacking District, the Village and Chelsea and then did nothing with them, had just died without a will, leaving the fate of his incredible portfolio of properties in limbo. And on “Sex and the City,” Samantha had just moved into a loft in the Meatpacking District, indicating that a cultural tipping point had been reached.

There were also these two crazy guys from the neighborhood talking about a plan to turn the old abandoned overhead rail line into a park,

Continued on page 18

5

HAUNTED HIGH LINE HALLOWEEN Saturday, October 26 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM On the High Line, Between West 13th and West 18th Streets Come in costume for a free day of family-friendly fun celebrating the High Line’s spooky past.

Treats · Face Painting Live Music · Spooky Characters Haunted Trains · Much More!

MetLife Foundation is a Supporting Sponsor of High Line Kids.

www.thehighline.org

6 October 23 - November 5, 2013

The New Hell’s Kitchen: More About Nightlife Than Neighborhood?

Continued from page 3

Photos by Eileen Stukane

On the endangered list? Nightlife venues are pushing out quirky ethnic restaurants, says tenant organizer Bob Kalin.

banks, no drugstores. But now there they are, on Ninth and 10th Avenues,” he says. Transformed also, is the former H&H Bagel Factory at 639 West 46th Street. Metropolitan Pavilion events space, now in Chelsea, is expanding and leasing the space to have a second venue, Metropolitan West. Where the aroma of fresh bagels once wafted through the walls, glasses will be soon clinking during corporate and other events that will be held in a remodeled 24,000 square feet on two floors and a rooftop.

Alan Boss, founder of Metropolitan Pavilion, explained: “We have so many requests for dates that we can’t accommodate all of our potential clients, and we’ve been looking for space in Chelsea, Clinton, Hell’s Kitchen, all over the city, for a long time.”

A big draw for going far west near the river, he says, is the fact that the Number 7 subway, planned to bring transportation to Hudson Yards with stops along 11th Avenue, will include a stop at West 42nd Street. The new subway line will make the far west side more accessible, a significant development for Hell’s Kitchen.

South of West 42nd Street in Hell’s

Kitchen, the changes so far seem less radical. The area appears to be drawing more businesses that have already established themselves in other parts of the city. Snack Taverna, which started as a five-table restaurant in Soho and then opened with 15 tables on the corner of Bedford and Morton Streets in the Village, will soon be opening a 15-table casual Greek dining restaurant on the corner of West 39th Street and Ninth Avenue.

Dennis Chrysanthopoulos, co-owner (with Adam Greene) of Snack Taverna, says, “I have friends who own restaurants a little north of West 42nd Street and Ninth Avenue and we have seen the area change over time. We feel that by going into the neighborhood now, we could grow with it.”

Ann Warren, co-owner (with Michael Warren) of Cupcake Café — in business on Ninth Avenue (between West 40th and 41st Streets) since 1988 — notes that singularity can also bring success. “People who are traveling to another place want to see something that’s unique to the community, unique to the city, and we are unique to both. Hell’s Kitchen suddenly has chains like Dunkin’ Donuts and Subway, but there’s only one of us.”

Transforming and staying the same, sort of — that’s the Hell’s Kitchen of today.

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Already a presence in Soho and the Village, Snack Taverna will open a 15-table casual Greek dining restaurant on the corner of West 39th Street and Ninth Avenue.

October 23 - November 5, 2013

7

New Book a ‘Landmark Effort to Engage’ Continued from page 1 studies by publishing a book that draws readers closer than ever into the hearts and minds of men infected with HIV during the early years of the epidemic.

“The AIDS Generation: Stories of Survival and Resilience” — which was published by Oxford University Press and released on October 10 — is a landmark effort to engage both academics and the general public in a powerful contemplation of what it’s really like to be an HIV-positive man living through middle age.

Halkitis defines the AIDS Generation as those gay men who came of age between the late-'70s and early '90s, who were diagnosed with HIV as young adults during that period, and for whom the diagnosis — before the introduction in 1996 of combination antiretroviral treatment — was seen as a death sentence.

The new book centers on deeply personal and compelling interviews with 15 men who have survived and continued living into middle age, and whose words are woven into and around Halkitis’s commentary and research.

It may not be an autobiography, but it is the legacy of his own generation. In the book, he calls it this country’s “bravest generation,” while presenting the stories of his peers — the witnesses of an era — as proof.

“I feel very confident in making that statement, simply because I saw what happened,” said Halkitis. “There’s something about the behavior of that generation of gay men that was extremely brave, while they were fighting this epidemic within a society that wasn’t embracing gay people, and really still isn’t.”

Readers are taken back to revisit the absurdly horrifying experience of the early epidemic, when men across the country were watching friends and lovers die nearly every day, and those who survived were forced to confront their own mortality at every turn.

“I think that, historically, we tend to forget what actually happened, and instead things tend to become more sanitized,” said Halkitis.

“If you go to the New York Historical Society’s exhibit on the AIDS epidemic, you see that it doesn’t capture the toll. It’s a very whitewashed version of AIDS, and very sweet. But when we were in the middle of this period, it wasn’t sweet. It was disgusting and awful. And so I felt that, first of all, I had to give a truly accurate portrayal of what things were like.”

We learn about those experiences directly from the men of the AIDS Generation, who in their conversations with Halkitis describe their own memories of confusion and panic as friends died, while coming to terms with their own diagnoses.

In the process of both his interviews and in the commentary he provides as an academic expert, Halkitis explores the methods by which those men were able to accept and cope with the knowledge that they were living with a deadly infection that, at the time, was not viably treatable. Some followed paths that led them to take greater and more positive control over their personal health, by habitually prac-

Photo by Sam Spokony

Perry Halkitis read from his new book "The AIDS Generation: Stories of Survival and Resilience" during a release party at New York University on Oct. 10.

ticing safer sex or overcoming drug and alcohol addiction. Some actually dove further into the dangerous terrain of unsafe sex and drugs, as a way to escape the emotional burden that comes with having a doctor explain that you probably only have a couple of years to live.

Throughout his work Halkitis shows that, regardless of the personal choices they made, these men were resilient every step of the way — and their collective, continuing legacy is one of true survival.

And although readers will of course only see the finished product, Halkitis explained that a defining element of the book was the very emotional experience he had while conducting the interviews, and then of finding the most authentic ways to piecing them together on paper.

“After I did the interviews, I kept listening to them and listening to them, because I wanted to hear their voices, and I wanted to hear where they stuttered, or paused, or cried,” he said. “And then later, by the fourth or fifth draft of the writing, it had become pretty clear to me how things were coming together. I started to see these commonalities, these groupings of ideas and feelings. So I cut out chunks and pieces of the interview transcripts, and I put them together, and then I wrote around them.

And that’s really how I wrote the book.”

Meanwhile, the actual writing process was one so powerfully affecting that, as Halkitis admitted, there were times when it seemed like it couldn’t be completed.

“I started writing in August [2012], and I was on sabbatical and just sitting at home by myself all day working on it,” he said. “But by the middle of it, in November, it became incredibly difficult, as emotions from the past were just pushing forward. And those feelings actually manifested themselves in a physical way. Parts of my body would hurt, or I would have anxiety while walking down the street. At one point in November I even stopped and put the book

aside for a couple of weeks, because I couldn’t deal with the emotions anymore. So the process was really challenging for me, and even though I’ve done a good job of intellectualizing this for so many years, I learned that I really had to sit

there inside my own emotions in order to be able to move forward with the project.”

That soul-searching experience was also deeply felt by the 15 men with whom Halkitis explored this emotionally treacherous territory.

Reading “The AIDS Generation,” it becomes clear that these men recognized that their interviews were not just the cold, hard stuff of academic research. As Halkitis bluntly — and nonjudgmentally — probes to find the inner sources of frustration, struggle and hope amid the ravages of the disease, the men often respond just as directly, not only with intense honesty, but with a sense of sharp wit and keen self-understanding that lifts their stories up off the page.

“It was really a very healing process for me,” said Lee Raines, 59, who was interviewed for the book and whose story is presented under the alias “Jackson” (which, for traditional research purposes, was the case for all 15 men). “I knew it was going to be a difficult personal journey, because I packed all of these memories away, but this was an important reminder that HIV is not a disease that you can just throw pills at. I had lulled myself into that belief, but I realized that I needed to be reminded of the social and emotional aspects of the disease that are so important to confront.”

Diagnosed in 1989, Raines believes he actually contracted the virus in the early 80s. One

Continued on page 21

8 October 23 - November 5, 2013

editorial De Blasio for Mayor Many voters could still smell the 9’11 fires 12 years ago — the last time New Yorkers were certain they would be getting a new mayor. Today, the odor is a distant memory to some, a vivid one to others. But many who will be voting for the city’s next leader November 5 were too young or too far away from New York to remember.

It underscores the point that the city is in a far different place than it was when Mike Bloomberg took over in 2002.

We think Bill de Blasio is the best candidate to succeed Bloomberg. We like his philosophical vision, and the practical approach he’s laid out to achieve it.

He plans to use some of our city pension funds to help finance 200,000 units of new affordable housing over the next 10 years. That plan will not combat the housing shortage, spur economic activity and create jobs.

De Blasio has made education the centerpiece of his campaign — committing to expanding fullday pre-K and afterschool programs. He would be the first mayor to have a child in the public school system, which would send a powerful message to parents, particularly those who have felt they have had no voice in their children’s education.

He seeks a miniscule tax rate hike on the city’s wealthiest residents to pay for his education expansion. Critics say the tax plan will be dead on arrival in Albany. But tha overlooks the fact that the idea has caught fire with voters, giving it political momentum. De Blasio’s ties to Governor Andrew Cuomo go back two decades and his plan has a realistic chance of passing.

As the city’s public advocate, de Blasio knows full well the challenges he will face when negotiating long overdue contracts with the municipal unions. His pro-labor outlook should give him a much better chance to get the unions to accept less than all of the retroactive raises as well as the health and pension benefits that they are expecting.

His main opponent, Republican Joe Lhota, the former deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, has run a misguided, lackluster campaign, which calls into question his credentials as an administrator.

We’ve heard irrelevant talk from Lhota about the Sandinistas, and suggestions that de Blasio somehow wants to take us back to the dark, crimeriddled days of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The reality is that de Blasio has made it clear that one of his top contenders to become police commissioner is Bill Bratton. The best commissioner under Giuliani, it was actually Bratton’s successors who helped feed Giuliani’s well-deserved reputation for being the most divisive mayor in recent history.

Lhota would likely be somewhat of a departure from Giuliani, but not enough for our comfort.

At last week’s debate, he said one of the most valuable lessons he learned from Giuliani was developing a “message of the day” that applied to the entire administration. The practical effect of this policy was that city agencies feared disclosing the most rudimentary information to the public or press, lest they incur the wrath of City Hall.

Chelsea Now endorses Bill de Blasio for mayor November 5.

SantaCon Needs a Plan TALKING POINT The following is an October 15, 2013 letter sent by New York State Senator Brad Hoylman to the organizers of SantaCon — the annual bar crawl in which participants dress as…well, you know. Hoylman’s letter was cc’d to Community Boards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 as well as NYPD Police Precincts 1, 6, 9, 10, 13, 17, 20, Midtown South and Midtown North.

I am writing to express my concerns regarding SantaCon and the effects it has on the communities it visits. Each year local elected officials, community boards and local precincts are besieged by complaints as SantaCon passes through their neighborhoods.

While SantaCon may be a short-term boon to a select group of local businesses, the many adverse impacts it wreaks, such as vomiting in the streets, public urination, vandalism and littering, disrupt community mem-

bers’ quality of life. I recognize that at any large event, a few bad actors may disrupt an otherwise orderly affair, but at previous SantaCons bad actors have hardly been the exception. As such, significantly more must be done to combat the neighborhood scourge SantaCon has become.

Further, no matter the behavior of the participants, the event has grown large enough to completely overwhelm sidewalks and public spaces, creating a public safety hazard for all.

I strongly urge you to work with the New York City Police Department in order to come up with a strong and effective plan to combat public intoxication and to ensure all participants are respectful of the neighborhoods they visit, as well as handling the overwhelming crowds associated with an event this size. In addition, I urge you make this plan available to the affected local Community Boards well in advance of your event so that they have time to comment and help shape it.

Sincerely, Brad Hoylman

letters to the editor Senators stymie women’s agenda

Two arms make a Bight

To The Editor: What has happened to Governor Cuomo’s 10-Point Women’s Agenda? It still seems to be languishing in our state Senate. It didn’t pass, despite a majority of Democrats, because the Independent Democratic Caucus, headed by Senator Jeff Klein teamed up with Republican Dean Skelos, who squashed women’s reproductive health.

As we all know, in the last week of the regular legislative session, the Assembly passed the omnibus 10-Point Women’s Equality Act (A 8070) and the Senate introduced the 10 points as separate bills, but passed only nine — omitting reproductive health. This means that, so far, there is no “same as” legislation that can advance to the governor’s desk and become law.

There is still time to get the Senate to pass the omnibus bill or the Assembly to pass the 10 separate bills…but the clock is running out on these bills. The deadline is December 31, 2013.

We women all need to contact our state senators and Andrea Stewart-Cousins, head of the Democratic Conference, as well as Senate Majority Coalition co-leaders Republican Dean Skelos and Democrat Senator Jeffrey Klein and urge them to return to Albany and get this done for us!

To The Editor: The New York Bight is the land that covers the south side of Long Island — from Montauk west to New York City and north from Cape May, N.J. These two arms make a right angle and have helped guide major storms to New York City, whether Northeasters or hurricanes, that have traveled north on the gulf stream from the Caribbean.

Storms have descended on NYC since the last ice age.

They have become fiercer and more frequent. NYC, located between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean is practically defenseless.

What we should have learned from this manmade climate change is not to build on the flood plain, and certainly not by the water, but inland. Much of NYC is high enough above the water level not to be affected for a very long time or possibly forever. NYC brags about having five hundred miles of waterfront, but that waterfront is extremely vulnerable. Maybe it would be smart to protect much of Manhattan, Brooklyn and parts of Queens by building a five mile storm surge barrier from the Rockaways to Sandy Hook and a much smaller one at Throgs Neck to protect from flooding and storm surges in the East River. Closing off the entryways when storm surges or flooding threaten makes a lot more sense than building endless miles of walls.

Mary L. Jenkins

Eve’s ‘Train’ is the ticket!

To The Editor: Re a painting in the listing for Hudson Guild Gallery’s “Momentum” exhibit (arts, Oct. 9): Eve LeBer’s “The Art Train” is awesome! Love it, love it!

She's very interesting. What a true artist she is. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Pat Whitaker

Bob Trentlyon

E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to scott@chelseanow.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to Chelsea Now, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. Chelsea Now reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. Chelsea Now does not publish anonymous letters.

October 23 - November 5, 2013

Community Contacts To be listed, email info to scott@chelseanow.com.

COMMUNITY BOARD 4 (CB4) CB4 serves Manhattan’s West Side neighborhoods of Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen. Its boundaries are 14th St. on the south, 59/60th St. on the north, the Hudson River on the west, 6th Ave. on the east (south of 26th St.) and 8th Ave. on the east (north of 26th St.). The board meeting, open to the public, is normally the first Wednesday of the month.

The next meeting is Wed., Nov. 6, 6:30pm, at the Hotel Trades Council Auditorium (305 W. 44th St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). Call 212-736-4536, visit nyc.gov/mcb4 or email them at info@ manhattancb4.org.

COMMUNITY BOARD 5 (CB5) CB5 represents the central business district of New York City. It includes midtown Manhattan, the Fashion, Flower, Flatiron and Diamond districts, as well as Bryant Park and Union Square Park. The district is at the center of New York’s tourism industry. The Theatre District, Times Square, Carnegie Hall, the Empire State Building and two of the region’s transportation hubs (Grand Central Station and Penn Station) fall within CB5. The board meeting, open to the public, happens on the second Thursday of the month. The next meeting is Thurs., Nov. 14th, 6pm, at Xavier High School (30 W. 16th St., btw. 5th & 6th Aves., 2nd fl.). Call 212465-0907, visit cb5.org or email them at office@cb5.org.

THE 300 WEST 23RD, 22ND & 21ST STREETS BLOCK ASSOCIATION Contact them at 300wb@gmail.com.

THE WEST 400 BLOCK ASSOCIATION Contact them at w400ba@gmail.com.

CHELSEA GARDEN CLUB Chelsea Garden Club cares for the bike lane tree pits in Chelsea. If you want to adopt a tree pit or join the group, please contact them at cgc.nyc@gmail.com or like them on Facebook. Also visit chelseagardenclub.blogspot.com.

LOWER CHELSEA ALLIANCE (LoCal) This group is committed to protecting the residential blocks of Chelsea from overscale development. Contact them at LowerChelseaAlliance@gmail.com.

THE GREENWICH VILLAGE-CHELSEA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Call 212-337-5912 or visit villagechelsea.com.

THE MEATPACKING DISTRICT INITIATIVE Visit meatpacking-district.com or call 212-633-0185.

PENN SOUTH The Penn South Program for Seniors provides recreation, education and social services — and welcomes volunteers. For info, call 212-2433670 or visit pennsouthlive.com.

THE BOWERY RESIDENTS’ COMMITTEE: HOMELESS HELPLINE If you know of anyone who is in need of their services, call the Homeless Helpline at 212-533-5151, and the BRC will send someone to make contact. This number is staffed by outreach team leaders 24 hours a day. Callers may remain anonymous. For more info, visit brc.org.

THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER At 208 W. 13th St. (btw. 7th & 8th Aves.). Visit gaycenter.org or call 212620-7310.

GAY MEN’S HEALTH CRISIS (GMHC) At 446 W. 33rd St. btw. 9th & 10th Aves.

Visit gmhc.org. Call 212-367-1000.

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Member of the National Newspaper Association Chelsea Now is published biweekly by NYC Community Media LLC, 515 Canal St., Unit 1C, New York, NY 10013.

(212) 229-1890. Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $75. Single copy price at office and newsstands is 50 cents. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2010 NYC Community Media LLC, Postmaster: Send address changes to Chelsea Now, 145 Sixth Ave., First Fl., New York, N.Y. 10013.

PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR

The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

HUDSON GUILD Founded in 1895, Hudson Guild is a multi-service, multi-generational community serving approximately 14,000 people annually with daycare, hot meals for senior citizens, low-cost professional counseling, community arts programs and recreational programming for teens. Visit them at hudsonguild.org. Email them at info@ hudsonguild.org. For the John Lovejoy Elliott Center (441 W. 26th St.), call 212-760-9800. For the Children’s Center (459 W. 26th St.), call 212-7609830. For the Education Center (447 W. 25th St.), call 212-760-9843. For the Fulton Center for Adult Services (119 9th Ave.), call 212-924-6710.

THE CARTER BURDEN CENTER FOR THE AGING This organization promotes the wellbeing of individuals 60 and older through direct social services and volunteer programs oriented to individual, family and community needs. Call 212-879-7400 or visit burdencenter.org.

FULTON YOUTH OF THE FUTURE Email them at fultonyouth@gmail. com or contact Miguel Acevedo, 646-671-0310.

WEST SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD ALLIANCE Visit westsidenyc.org or call 212956-2573. Email them at wsna@ hcc-nyc.org.

CHELSEA COALITION ON HOUSING Tenant assistance every Thursday night at 7pm, at Hudson Guild (119 9th Ave.). Email them at chelseacoalition.cch@gmail.com.

FRIENDS OF HUDSON RIVER PARK Visit fohrp.org or call 212-757-0981.

HUDSON RIVER PARK TRUST Visit hudsonriverpark.org or call 212627-2020.

SAVE CHELSEA Contact them at savechelseanyc@ gmail.com.

PUBLISHER Jennifer Goodstein

SR. V.P. OF SALES AND MARKETING Francesco Regini

EDITOR Scott Stiffler

RETAIL AD MANAGER Colin Gregory

REPORTERS Lincoln Anderson

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Allison Greaker

Sean Egan Maeve Gately

Andrew Regier

PUBLISHER EMERITUS John W. Sutter

Rebecca Rosenthal Julio Tumbaco

9

CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER CHRISTINE QUINN Call 212-564-7757 or visit council.nyc. gov/d3/html/members/home.shtml.

STATE SENATOR BRAD HOYLMAN Call 212-633-8052 or visit bradhoylman.com.

CHELSEA REFORM DEMOCRATIC CLUB The CRDC (the home club of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Assemblymember Richard N. Gottfried) meets monthly to exchange political ideas on protecting the rights and improving the lives of those residing in Chelsea. Visit crdcnyc.org or email them at info@crdcnyc.org.

THE SAGE CENTER New York City’s first LGBT senior center offers hot meals, counseling and a cyber-center — as well as programs on arts and culture, fitness, nutrition, health and wellness. At 305 Seventh Ave. (15th floor, btw. 27th & 28th Sts.). Call 646-576-8669 or visit sageusa.org/ thesagecenter for menus and a calendar of programs.

At 147 W. 24th St. (btw. 6th & 7th Aves.)

THE SYLVIA RIVERA LAW PROJECT

works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression without facing harassment, discrimination or violence. Visit srlp.org.

FIERCE (Fabulous Independent Educated

Radicals for Community Empowerment) builds the leadership and power of bisexual, transgender and queer youth of color in NYC. Visit fiercenyc.org.

QUEERS FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE is a progressive organization committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation. Visit q4ej.org.

THE AUDRE LORDE PROJECT is a les-

bian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, trans and gender non-conforming people of color center for community organizing. Visit alp.org.

ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Troy Masters SENIOR DESIGNER Michael Shirey GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Chris Ortiz Arnold Rozon CIRCULATION SALES MNGR. Marvin Rock

CONTRIBUTORS Jim Caruso Martin Denton Heather Dubin Sean Egan Ophira Eisenberg Duncan Osborne Paul Schindler Sam Spokony

DISTRIBUTION & CIRCULATION Cheryl Williamson

VIDEO SEGMENT PRODUCER Don Mathisen

1 0 October 23 - November 5, 2013

Police BLOTTER Criminal Possession of Stolen Property: Savvy Victim Snares Thief A bicycle thief who pinched the wheels of an Upper East Sider met his match in Chelsea — when the perp came face to face with his victim (and, much to his surprise, an officer from the 10th Precinct). The deal went down in front of 355 Eighth Ave., on the night of Mon., Oct. 14. A week prior to that, the victim discovered that his bike had been stolen from outside his residence in the East 80s. But the 44-year-old biped, suddenly bereft of his pedals, wasn’t born yesterday. Playing a hunch that the thief

might be using Craigslist, the cybersavvy sleuth found a bike identical to his, up for sale on the site. Posing as a prospective buyer, he arranged to meet the shady seller. When the victim was able to identify his bike by pointing out its telltale ripped seat, the 47-year-old thief was placed under arrest. Reunited with his ride, one assumes the clever citizen put on his helmet and made his way home via the bike lane.

Criminal Mischief: Window into crime Sure, the area had improved by leaps and bounds — but picking up passengers in Times Square is still a gamble. The driver of a luxury

Villainous Behavior, at Comic Con Some of the 130,000+ proud nerds and passionate gamers attending Oct. 10-12’s New York Comic Con event at the Jacob Javits Center (655 W. 34th St, at 11th Ave.) took their super villain personas a little too seriously. The annual destination event for fans of sci-fi, fantasy and horror — at which it’s perfectly normal to dress as your favorite comic book character — was not immune to the sort of crime found in a geek’s coveted page-turner.

• On the early evening of Thurs., Oct. 10, a 22-year-old woman reported that after several hours spent strolling through the cavernous space, she checked her book bag and noticed her wallet was missing.

Multiple fraudulent charges (for pricy action figures?) were made on her Visa credit and debit cards.

• Around an hour later (7pm), a young woman placed her bag on the ground — then picked it up, left and soon realized her communication device (an $400 Apple iPhone 5C whose capabilities put Captain Kirk’s communicator to shame) was gone. Surmising

it had fallen out while the bag was on the floor, she returned to the scene. The phone was gone, and nobody handed it in — which makes the 15-year-old a bit wiser when it comes to holding out for a hero.

• On the following day, the Javits Center’s Crystal Palace — a 15-story steel and glass structure — was revealed to be no impenetrable Fortress of Solitude.

Actual uniformed officers of the NYPD (not conventioneers dressed in JeanClaude Van Damme “Timecop” regalia) put the cuffs on a 17-year-old who made his way into a roped off section of the Palace’s registration area. The cheeky changeling slipped on a Comic Con Staff Event T-Shirt. He was caught before he could use his new identity as a trustworthy staff member to unleash a super villain crime spree. The young man faces charges of petty larceny (for theft of the $25 shirt) — and the distinct possibility of a lecture from his mother, followed by banishment to his basement apartment and the temporary loss of his Xbox privileges.

charter coach en route to Atlantic City didn’t exactly hit the jackpot, when he got into an argument with a would-be rider at 10pm on Fri., Oct. 11. As the bus was parked on the southwest corner of 9th Ave. & W. 41st St., the coachman got into a dispute with a passenger, over payment for the ride. The verbal disagreement escalated, until the rider turned into a runner (after breaking the vehicle’s front window and fleeing into the night).

Grand Larceny: Hallway pickup turned purp Talk about morning-after regrets. A 26-yearold man told police that upon returning from a night of socializing (at 2am on Sat., Oct. 12), he encountered a comely young woman in the hallway of his W. 30’s apartment building. The two struck up a friendly conversation. Soon, the man invited her into his apartment, where they spent the night together. Upon awakening shortly after the crack of noon, he noticed two things: his new friend was gone, and so were some of his belongings. The ill-advised early morning hallway hookup cost the victim his Apple iPhone 5C (valued at $600), an EliteBook laptop (worth $2,000) and a Bank of America MasterCard.

Grand Larceny: Hungry for more At just before 7pm on Fri., Oct. 11, a 72-year-old West Chelsea resident was shopping at Gristedes (225 9th Ave., btw. 23rd St & 24th Sts.). He was approached by a man, approximately 30 years of age — who said he was hungry, and asked for some money. The man gave him two dollars. A few minutes later, he felt a tug at his back pocket. Turning, the good Samaritan saw the “hungry” man removing money from his wallet. The victim grabbed his wallet, which then fell. The perp, with $120 more of the kind man’s cash in hand, ran from the store. Police canvassed the area, with negative results.

—Scott Stiffler

THE 10th PRECINCT Located at 230 W. 20th St. (btw. 7th & 8th Aves.). Commander: Captain David S. Miller. Main number: 212-741-8211.

Community Affairs: 212-741-8226. Crime Prevention: 212-741-8226. Domestic Violence: 212-741-8216. Youth Officer: 212-741-8211. Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-741-8210. Detective Squad: 212741-8245. The Community Council meeting, open to the public, takes place at 7pm on the last Wed. of the month.

THE 13th PRECINCT Located at 230 E. 21st St. (btw. 2nd & 3rd Aves.). Deputy Inspector: Ted Bernsted. Call 212-477-7411. Community Affairs: 212-477-7427. Crime Prevention: 212-477-7427. Domestic Violence: 212477-3863. Youth Officer: 212-477-7411.

Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-477-4380.

Detective Squad: 212-477-7444. The Community Council meeting takes place at 6:30pm on the third Tues. of the month.

CASH FOR GUNS $100 cash will be given (no questions asked) for each handgun, assault weapon or sawed-off shotgun, up to a maximum payment of $300. Guns are accepted at any Police Precinct, PSA or Transit District.

CRIME STOPPERS If you have info regarding a crime committed or a wanted person, call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, text “TIP577” (plus your message) to “CRIMES” (274637) or submit a tip online at nypdcrimestoppers.com.

October 23 - November 5, 2013

11

Hit the Road, Jack

Photo by Dottie Francoeur

Jack (second from right) on a park bench, with friends, waiting to become compost.

Photo by Pat Cooke

Dottie Francoeur manages Chelsea properties…and Chelsea pumpkins!

The second day of November may be too soon for all things Santa, but one thing’s for sure: Jack (as in O-Lantern) has overstayed his welcome. But why consign him to the trash heap of history, when yesterday’s carefully carved pumpkin still has a legitimate contribution to make? This year, give your favorite October gourd a second life — with a starring role in the PS11 and 300 West 23rd, 22nd & 21st Street Block

sound bar @ the live gallery café FREE Music at 7pm Drink Specials from 6 – 9pmm The Brothers Balliett – Nov 4 Aaron Irwin Trio – Nov 18 Sandbox Percussion Quartet – Nov 25 Manhattan School of Music – Dec 9 New York Live Arts in association with LE TRAIN BLEU present the perfect kick off to the week with Sound Bar. Join us at the Live Gallery Café in our lobby for live music and happy hour specials on Mondays starting in November.

newyorklivearts.org

Association’s annual production of “The Jack-O-Lantern Composting Project.”

From 10am-2pm on Sun., Nov. 2, they’ll be collecting pumpkins at two locations: the PS11 playground (21st St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.) and Clement Clark Moore Park (22nd St. & 10th Ave.). Reps from the NYC Compost Project in Manhattan will be on hand to provide compost education and outreach.

A Street Tree Cleanup effort also runs concurrent to the composting shindig. On 22nd St. (btw. 8th & 9th Aves.), join with other volunteers, the Chelsea Garden Club and Trees New York experts. They’ll supply compost, bulbs, tools and instructions. You supply the kind of elbow grease that gave last week’s Jack-O-Lantern his toothy grin.

—Scott Stiffler

1 2 October 23 - November 5, 2013

chelsea: arts & ENTERTAINMENT Go Ape, with Karloff, Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. The good, the bad, the downright hairy: 1932-1954

Image courtesy of Monogram Pictures Corp.

This 1940 low-grade cheapie is Boris Karloff’s low-water mark.

BY TRAV S.D. (travsd.wordpress.com) If you’re at all like me, this Halloween season you’ll be asking the question: What are the best ape-related classic studio era horror films for me to watch, not including “King Kong” or its sequels “Son of Kong” and “Mighty Joe Young” — which are GIANT ape movies, a different species of horror film altogether?

Not to worry! I got your answer right here!

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932)

Yes, It’s “based on the Poe story” but, on the other hand, no, not really. The only thing the film shares in common with the original story is the event of a body being stuffed up a chimney by an ape. The movie version concerns Bela Lugosi as one “Dr. Mirakle,” who appalls the people of Paris by exhibiting a “gorilla” — which is alter-

nately portrayed by an actual chimpanzee and a guy in a gorilla suit, often in different angles during the same scene. Even worse, Dr. Mirakle preaches the heinous doctrine of evolution! And did you notice how he happens to resemble an ape? Worse than all of this, he is performing an evil experiment, kidnapping maidens and injecting them with ape blood, which kills them. Then he very shockingly dumps them into the river.

The crimes are eventually solved by a medical student with a microscope. The next victim, in an amazing coincidence, was to have been his girlfriend. The movie is as beautiful to look at as the other Universal horror films of the time, if you can forgive the absolutely daffy element of how the ape itself is represented.

THE GORILLA (1939)

This one is more of a comedy/horror film/murder mystery. Seems largely a parody of the old dark house mystery,

Image courtesy of 20Th Century Fox

Comedy, mystery and an all-star cast jazz up this 1939 dark house parody.

“The Bat.” The all-star cast features the Ritz Brothers (as detectives), Bela Lugosi, Patsy Kelly (as a perpetually fretting maid) and the omnipresent Lionel Atwill. And a guy in a gorilla suit.

THE APE (1940)

A low-grade cheapie — one of the very few times that Boris Karloff sank as low as Lugosi was capable of falling. In this one, Karloff plays a doctor who disguises himself as an ape — the better to kill people and take their spinal fluid in order to create a cure for “paralysis.” Oh, there is a set-up. He has been working on this cure for 25 years, after failing to cure his own wife. Now he lives next door to a young girl he would like to cure. And an ape has conveniently escaped from a nearby circus. Karloff kills him and apparently makes a costume of its dead body. Anything for science! Just generally tedious and bad.

THE APE MAN (1943)

Directed by the wonderful William Beaudine, this is merely the penultimate level of badness — Ed Wood being the gold standard. We begin in medias res: a sister (who happens to be a ghost hunter) finds her long missing brother (Bela Lugosi), whose research has caused him to become an ape creature. He is now searching for the antidote. We next proceed to watch the half-man/half-ape Lugosi, who, with the aid of a supernaturally well-behaved full ape assistant, must steal the “spinal fluid” from still living victims for his antidote — a process fatal to the victim. The other characters are the requisite policemen and reporters, Lugosi’s colleague and his wife. The movie is surprisingly dull for such a delicious set-up. And, truth to tell, what would be so bad about

Continued on page 13

October 23 - November 5, 2013

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The Golden Age of Ape-Related Horror Films Continued from page 12 being a half-man/half-ape, anyway? So bad you’d kill for the antidote? Why not just come out in the open, gaining fame for your discovery in the process, and get the entire scientific community to work on the antidote while you accept lucrative banana endorsements? Ah, but this is the world of fantasy. There is also a funny coda. This mysterious man who periodically pops up through the story tells us in the end, that he is the screenwriter!

RETURN OF THE APE MAN (1944)

Was the first one such a smash hit they needed a sequel? This movie has nothing to do with the original, however. Bela Lugosi and John Carradine are scientists working on the problem of suspended animation. They get it to work on a homeless man they have frozen. Realizing that it works, they launch an arctic expedition to find intact frozen cavemen — and, astoundingly, they find one! They bring the caveman back to the lab and thaw him out. But the caveman can’t talk to relay what he knows.

Lugosi decides to transplant part of a modern brain into his head. Carradine refuses to participate — it will be murder to do so. Lugosi tricks him (with an electric floor plate that paralyzes him but somehow allows him to talk) and takes his brain. The caveman runs amok in the city and commits some murders. Authorities chase him back to lab.

Caveman kills Lugosi, but then dies in fire. He should have stayed in bed!

BRIDE OF THE GORILLA (1952)

Despite the unprepossessing title, which we used to make fun of when we were kids, this is, I have to say, objectively the BEST of all the ape horror movies. It was written and directed by Curt Siodmak, who wrote the classic “The Wolf Man” and numerous other major horror titles. It’s a pretty solid story; only the title is unfortunate.

Siodmak’s original title was “The Face in the Water” — which is unmemorable, but at least doesn’t cheapen the story.

The same sexual themes at the back of most horror films (nearly all of them, now that I think of it) are foregrounded in this film. Raymond Burr is a fairly brutish plantation overseer in South America. He bemoans the fact that he doesn’t have slaves to do his work. He is indifferent to the death of one of his workers. He knocks up a native girl and ignores the situation. Then he kills the boss so he can take his wife. The mother of the pregnant girl puts a spell on him to turn him into a creature, the titular gorilla. Much like Jekyll & Hyde or The Wolfman, he begins to transform, and he keeps hearing “the call of the wild.”

By the end of the film, he is ready to abandon his bride and take to the jungle completely. But the misguided girl follows him. In the end, the local sheriff (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and a doctor shoot Burr as he is carrying the bride through the treetops. The film is marred by its low budget. The gorilla outfit is just yet another Halloween party grade costume.

But the spine of this story is quite good.

I’m waiting for the re-make starring Benecio Del Toro!

BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA (1952)

Dare I say, William Beaudine’s masterpiece? I’m guessing the inspiration was the runaway smash hit, “Bride of the Gorilla.” Jerry Lewis impersonator Sammy Petrillo and his partner Duke Mitchell are stranded on a desert island with a bunch of natives and Bela Lugosi, who plans to turn them into gorillas.

At one point, Mitchell does transform.

Petrillo is able to recognize him when he manages to sing his signature song (“Indeed I Do.”). Anyway, it’s all okay.

It turns out to have all been a dream.

When last we leave the boys (a comedy team that never made another film), they are doing their act in a junglethemed nightclub.

Image courtesy of Monogram Pictures Corp.

Image courtesy of Realart Pictures, Inc.

A reanimated caveman dominates the proceedings of this 1944 sequel to “The Ape Man.”

Just a bad dream, this 1952 stinker put the brakes on the celluloid presence of comedy team Mitchell & Petrillo (NOT to be confused with Martin & Lewis).

Dishonorable Mention: GORILLA AT LARGE (1954)

Featuring what is undoubtedly the most prestigious cast ever assembled for a gorilla movie, “Gorilla At Large” boasts Lee J. Cobb, Ann Bancroft, Cameron Mitchell, Raymond Burr and Lee Marvin. It’s also the first, last and only one in 3-D. But don’t expect a lot of thrills and chills. This is one of those movies that makes you sit through seeming hours of boring melodrama about a love triangle (and an equally dull murder mystery) before giving you the good stuff. Only at the film’s climax are we finally rewarded with the spectacle of Goliath the Gorilla climbing to the top of the roller coaster with the screaming Ann Bancroft slung over his shoulder.

When Goliath falls to his death, so too apparently does this minor subgenre. The next time we get a whiff of scary apes in the movies, about 15 years later, they will vastly outnumber the humans — and the costumes will be considerably better.

Trav S.D. has been producing the American Vaudeville Theatre since 1995, and periodically trots it out in new incarnations. Stay in the loop at travsd.wordpress.com, and also catch up with him at Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, et al. His books include “No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous” and “Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and its Legacies from Nickelodeons to YouTube.”

Genuine Halloween Costumes

37 WEST 8th STREET (212) 674-2222 armynavydeals.com

1 4 October 23 - November 5, 2013

Painting Lower Manhattan, ‘Just Ahead of the Wrecking Ball’ Baumann’s storefronts are lovingly rendered time capsules ART RICHARD BAUMANN: SHOP FRONT PAINTINGS

Through October 31 In the window of 14th Street Framing Gallery 225 W. 14th St., btw.

Seventh & Eighth Aves.

Visit rbaumannstudio.com

BY SCOTT STIFFLER “Someone once said,” observes artist Richard Baumann, “that landscape painting is all about loss and memory.”

A project that began in 1993, it took only two decades for many of the West Village and Lower Manhattan shops depicted in Baumann’s oil paintings to go from neighborhood anchors to relics of a bygone era.

These days, visiting Joe’s Candy Store can only be accomplished by peering into the front window of the 14th Street Framing Gallery. That’s where Baumann’s work is on display, through October 31.

Be warned, though. The artist’s moody, time capsule take on his subject matter is awash in longing for a New York that lies just beyond our grasp — and the fact that the exhibit’s shelf life will soon expire puts an additional coat of melancholy on the experience.

This is just one of the sad ironies resonating throughout Baumann’s thought-provoking collection of establishments that — were it not for unmistakable cues like urban stoops — might be found on the main drag of any small town in the early decades of the previous century. What’s more, the framed paintings of storefronts you’re mulling over happen to be hanging in the front window of…a store that specializes in framing things.

Some works on display were created on the very same block as the host venue, in a room with floor-to-ceiling windows that served as a painters’ studio since the 1950s.

Baumann occupied it for 25 years, until “the lease went very high and I moved to a studio in Long Island City.”

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Most of the six stores featured in his cur- to look up to, the corporate kudzu of today rent exhibit aren’t around anymore — casu- could very well become tomorrow’s nostalalties of changing tastes, migrating popula- gia. Of course, they’d have to go away in tions and the same skyrocketing rents that order to be missed — but if a Duane Reade chased Baumann out of Manhattan. were replaced by a mom and pop shop, one It’s not as if he didn’t see it coming. hopes Baumann would be there, brush in “When I had my first solo show in SoHo,” hand, to document it. he recalls, “an art critic said that I was painting just ahead of the wrecking ball.”

Like Harry Chong Laundry (which opened for business on Charles Street and Waverly Place in 1945 and closed in 2006), Joe’s Candy Store only exists in the memories of its customers, the vapor trails of a Google search and, thankfully, in a Baumann painting. Prince Street’s Vesuvio Bakery (whose iconic storefront is still there) closed in 2009, a mere decade short of its century mark.

It’s hard to imagine anyone mounting a similar exhibit 20 years from now, in which lovingly rendered Citibank branches and 7-Eleven franchises evoke the same affectionate sense of belonging that Baumann brings to paintings like “Lower East Side Printshop.” But for 2013 “Mulberry Street” (14x16 inches) — on view through toddlers who have little else Oct. 31.

October 23 - November 5, 2013

15

Just Do Art

Photo courtesy of the filmmakers

An Oct. 27 screening of “Nairobi Half Life” closes the Chelsea Film Festival.

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

OCTOBER 24-27: THE CHELSEA FILM FESTIVAL

Through the screening of 16 shorts, documentaries and feature-length narratives, this year’s edition of the Chelsea Film Festival puts its focus on emerging independent filmmakers committed to the theme of “Global Issues.”

Opening the festival is “Titus” — the modern-day story of a displaced African American jazz musician trying to come to terms with his troubled past. Closing night, it’s an entry from Kenya. “Nairobi Half Life” finds an aspiring young actor making his way from upcountry to the big city, in pursuit of success. Other films include the L.A.-set “Licks,” in which a man returns to his Oakland neighborhood after serving two years for a botched robbery. In “Halima’s Path,” a grieving Muslim woman tries to find the remains of her son, who was killed in the Bosnian War and buried in a mass grave. “A Cool Dark Place” is slang for the Depressionera NYC supper club eyed by a powerful gangster, but owned by faded showgirl Vivienne St. Germain and her former politician husband. Several films have postscreening Q&A sessions with the director.

Thurs., Oct., 24 through Sun., Oct. 27. At the SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). For a schedule of events and to purchase tickets ($8-$25 depending on the film; student/senior discounts and VIP packages available), visit chelseafilm.org.

DANCE: KEIGWIN + COMPANY

Artistic Director Larry Keigwin’s NYCbased contemporary dance company, now celebrating its 10th season, returns to the Joyce with a mix of old and new material — and a special Opening Night performance of “Canvas.” The piece, which premiered this summer at the Vail International

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Something in the air: Larry Keigwin + Company return to The Joyce, Oct. 29-Nov. 3.

Dance Festival, combines classical ballet and modern dance. Fittingly, it will be presented by seven dancers from Keigwin and four from the NYC Ballet). The run also includes reprisals of Keigwin’s signature work “Mattress Suite.” The Nov. 3 matinee is part of The Joyce Theater’s annual “Family Matinees” series, and will include repertory pieces “Love Songs” and “Triptych.”

Oct. 29-Nov. 3, at The Joyce Theater (175 8th Ave., at 19th St.). At 7:30pm on Oct. 29 & 30. Oct. 31-Nov. 2, at 8pm. Nov. 2 & 3 matinees, at 2pm.

Tickets start at $19, with a limited number for $10. To purchase, visit joyce.org.

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All on Bard Fall brings multiple takes on Shakespeare

BY SCOTT STIFFLER It happens every fall. As leaves turn, the NYC theater community’s cozy little cottage industry of Bard-based fare goes from Shakespeare in the Park to Shakespeare Everywhere You Look.

A repertory presentation of “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III” (whose TV ad blitz plays up the humor) is in previews, opening Nov. 10 on Broadway for a 16-week run. Also on the big time boards, across-the-board reviews for “Romeo And Juliet” brand it a production bogged down by tepid sparks from Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad as the quintessential passionate lovers.

From Nov. 10-12, at Theatre 80 (at 80 St. Marks Place), Chicago’s Improvised Shakespeare Company takes audience suggestions and creates a fully improvised play in Elizabethan style. Over in Brooklyn (at the newly reopened St. Ann’s Warehouse), a crackling, topcaliber, all-female “Julius Caesar” has been extended through Nov. 9.

“OTHELLO”

New York Shakespeare Exchange’s fourth season is dedicated to brushing

the dust off Shakespeare and presenting him “freshly painted, with equal coats of admiration and irreverence.” This “Othello” brings the Moor of Venice to a stop–and-frisk society where innocents are targeted because of their skin color.

At Hudson Guild Theater (441 W. 26th St., btw. 9th & 10th Aves.) through Oct. 27. For tickets, call 800-838-3006 or visit brownpapertickets.com. For info: shakespeareexchange.org.

“HAMLET HALLUCINATIONS”

“Hamlet Hallucinations” is a radical interpretation of the melancholy (and possibly mad) Dane. It’s the latest from former Italian soccer star Dario D’Ambrosi — whose Pathological Theater teaches acting and stagecraft to those with mental illness (and whose productions address their perspectives).

Performed entirely in English, with a script that includes selections of the Bard’s soliloquies, this “Hamlet” is set in the graveyard — with D’Ambrosio as the gravedigger/storyteller. Giacomo Rocchini plays Hamlet as an obsessive, phobic, Oedipal young man who hears voices and processes thought as a schizoPhoto by Daniel Winters Photography

New York Shakespeare Exchange’s stop-and-frisk “Othello” — at Hudson Guild Theater through Oct. 27.

phrenic would. Mauro F. Cardinali plays Ophelia and Hamlet’s father, mother and uncle — keeping the audience guessing as to who’s doing the hallucinating, and which character (if any of them) has a true grip on reality.

Thurs.-Sat at 7:30pm and Sun. at 2:30pm. Through Nov. 3, at La MaMa’s First Floor Theater (74 E. Fourth St., btw. Bowery & Second Ave.). For tickets ($18, $13 for students/seniors) and info, call 212-475-77710 or visit lamama.org.

“HAMLET”

Uptown, the Frog and Peach Theater’s meticulously costumed, paranoid thriller version of “Hamlet” is staged as a high-stakes face-off between two opposite temperaments — with bloodthirsty, old Scandinavia confronting its sleek, modern counterpart. But it’s not all violence and vengeance. The play is being presented in repertory with a series designed with young audiences in mind. “Tinkerbell Theater” adapts Fairy Tales to theater, with a “Rocky and Bullwinkle” touch.

Through Nov. 10, at The West End Theater (263 W. 86th St. btw. Broadway & W. End Ave.). “Hamlet” is performed Thurs.-Sat. at 7:30pm and Sun. at 3pm. Tickets are $18, $12 for stu-

Photo by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation

Get a grip — on reality. “Hamlet Hallucinations” cradles the grave, at La MaMa, through Nov. 3.

dent/seniors. To order: 212-868-4444 or smarttix.com. For “Tinkerbell” info, visit frogandpeachtheatre.org.

October 23 - November 5, 2013

Photo by Cheryl Williamson

L o R: Lincoln Anderson and Jennifer Goodstein accept a cleverly written proclamation from New York State Senator Brad Hoylman.

Happy 80th Birthday, Villager!

We’ve never been prouder of our big sister. Joined by dozens of friends, elected officials, past publishers and talented writers (including this paper’s former Blotter reporter, Al Amateau), the NYC Community Media family gathered at Houston Hall to celebrate 80 years of The Villager.

Publisher Jennifer Goodstein and editor Lincoln Anderson introduced the paper’s new look (created in collaboration with

senior designer Michael Shirey, who also gives Chelsea Now its visual spark). Brad Hoylman, Corey Johnson, Gale Brewer, Jerrold Nadler, Sheldon Silver and Scott Stringer were the electeds in attendance.

After raising their glasses and downing some cake, our guests walked into the night with a primo bag of swag, the Villager’s anniversary issue and the possibility of a mention in Scoopy’s Notebook.

Photo by Michael Shirey

The Villager: Good enough to eat, but more fun to read.

17

1 8 October 23 - November 5, 2013

Meatpacking District Reflects Evolution of Commerce Continued from page 5 but nobody really paid much attention to that.

GVSHP had been researching and documenting the history of the Meatpacking District since the late 1980s, when the organization’s first executive director, Regina Kellerman, published “The Architecture of the Greenwich Village Waterfront.” Kellerman’s seminal work surveyed the history of every building between 14th and Houston Streets west of the thenexisting Greenwich Village Historic District, including all of the Meatpacking District.

GVSHP had for years been calling attention to the plight of this historic area, and the rest of the Greenwich Village waterfront, and the need to preserve it before it could be consumed by out-of-control development.

Into this mix came Jo Hamilton, a local resident with a strong interest in preserving the Meatpacking District who had recently joined the board of GVSHP, and restaurateur Florent Morellet, a member of the GVSHP board of advisers and eventually board of directors, who owned a popular eponymous diner on Gansevoort Street. Hamilton and Morellet became co-chairpersons of GVSHP’s Save Gansevoort Market Task Force, which was a coalition of local businesses, nearby residents and preservationists who sought to do what seemed like an impossible task at the time — secure landmark designation to preserve the quirky architecture of the Meatpacking District.

All things considered, the effort made incredible progress in what was, by New York City standards for a preservation effort, a relatively short period of time. In 2000 and 2001 GVSHP’s Save Gansevoort Market Task Force published a walking tour and a case study showcasing the area’s historic significance, along with a formal proposal for landmark designation that was submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. In 2002, Save Gansevoort Market secured a determination from the New York State Historic Preservation Office that the neighborhood was eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places, as well as a “Seven To Save” designation from the Preservation League of New

A Meat Market worker back during the district’s heyday as a working market. As its peak, in the mid-20th century, there were several hundred meat companies packed into the district’s several blocks.

York State, naming Gansevoort Market one of the seven most significant and endangered historic sites in New York State.

By the end of 2002, the city agreed to formally consider, or calendar, GVSHP’s proposal for landmark designation for the district, which was in and of itself an incredible victory.

The Meatpacking District’s unconventional history and highly altered architecture was not the kind of stuff that landmark designation had ever been applied to in New York City before. But between the time of the calendaring and designation of the district in September 2003, there were successes and setbacks. GVSHP spearheaded a successful campaign to torpedo a zoning variance for a 500-foot-tall residential condo tower proposed for the corner of 13th and Washington Streets. But a developer moved ahead with plans to build a new hotel on what had long

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been a parking lot bounded by Ninth Avenue, 13th, Hudson and Gansevoort Streets, which became the Hotel Gansevoort.

When the city did vote to designate the Gansevoort Market Historic District in September, it also pulled back the district boundaries somewhat, after having already cut out some areas we had proposed when they calendared. Nevertheless, this was an enormous victory, and no matter what one says about what the Meatpacking District has become in the 10 intervening years, without landmark protections, it would likely today be a sea of Hotel Gansevoorts.

After the landmark designation was secured, GVSHP continued preservation work in the Meatpacking District. In 2004, we defeated a second attempt to build the 500-foot-tall tower on 13th and Washington Streets, just outside the new historic dis-

trict’s boundaries. In 2007, we got the entire Meatpacking District placed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, not just the part the city was willing to landmark. And due to landmark designation, we have been able to review and effect changes to literally dozens of applications for alterations to buildings in the neighborhood.

For better or worse, the clubs from the old days have been replaced by high-end restaurants and lounges, and there are not many prostitutes or meatpackers left in the Meatpacking District today. But there is a rich array of buildings reflecting more than 150 years of the evolution of commerce in New York City — some of it more colorful than others.

Berman is executive director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

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Where’s the Beef? Washington Street!

Continued from page 4 world,” he said. “There were four to five women as bookkeepers — it wasn’t a universe without women — but it was without women in the meat lockers.”

Jobbagy described the men as a bunch of blue-collar guys who cursed a lot and worked in extreme temperatures yearround.

“Everyone knew each other. It was a community and it was an interesting sort of meat world,” he said. “Any group of 2,000 blue-collar workers who knew each other — it was a cast of characters.” These same men may have also frequented the nearby Frank’s Restaurant or a local diner that is now Hogs & Heifers bar, or strip clubs and the three or four topless clubs that used to exist in the vicinity.

According to Jobbagy, when Pastis, Keith McNally’s French bistro, opened up at Ninth Ave. and Little West 12th Street in 1999, everything changed. The area rapidly became fashionable, more restaurants popped up, and “Sex and the City” filmed there along with “Law & Order” and movies.

“It’s really noticeable in this area — without a doubt, the transformation is really vivid,” Jobbagy said.

As for the meat industry, older build-

ings, mostly from the 1900s, were no longer able to meet United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) codes. Wooden beams in buildings had rotted from the moisture over the years and needed to be replaced.

Also, the USDA grew stricter concerning drains, walls and floors.

Additionally, beef and pork were now not only being produced, but also carved and packed, in the Midwest.

“They had slaughterhouses back in the Midwest, and then got smart and built packing plants,” Jobbagy said. And finally, the meatpacking owners were in their 60s, and Jobbagy noted, there was “no more succession.”

These factors and economics prompted the meat industry to go elsewhere, with many relocating to newer, modern facilities in Hunts Point in the Bronx or New Jersey.

But the brothers are not going anywhere, and they are successfully doing what other meat companies do, though on a smaller scale.

“Beef is our biggest thing,” Jobbagy said.

“We also do veal, lamb, pork and poultry — we do all the species.”

When asked if he was headed out for a vegetarian lunch at the close of the interview, Jobbagy laughed and exclaimed, “No, I’m going to Hector’s to have a Jobbagy burger!”

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The Resilience of ‘The Bravest Generation’ Continued from page 7 of the New York activists who sought to push HIV awareness into the public sphere (as a member of ACT UP and Broadway Cares), he also taught HIV-related seminars, but acknowledges having stopped doing that a number of years ago.

Now, though, Raines explained that the experience of telling his story to Halkitis, as a representative member of the AIDS Generation, has inspired him to once again begin that outreach through teaching seminars.

“I don’t think I would’ve done that again if it hadn’t been for [Halkitis’] book,” said Raines.

In addition to unpacking the memories of these men within the scope of both their young adult years and with regard to their own survival and aging, “The AIDS Generation” also explores dynamics and conflicts that exist between today’s older and younger generations of gay men.

Halkitis noted that, in this regard, he actually had to work towards changing the perspectives of some of his interviewees, who, like many HIV-positive men of their generation, can tend to feel only frustrated or angry when young gay men disregard warnings about unsafe sex — even when they come from men who already learned the hard way — and end

up continuing the cycle of infection.

“The last thing we need these days, as a community, is older gay men pointing their fingers at younger gay men, because the younger men really need those older men to be there for them when it comes to fighting this disease,” said Halkitis. “And I want both older and younger people to question their biases and the belief systems. I want young people to feel like they have access to an older generation of men who might be able to teach them something.”

Regarding today’s generation, Halkitis’ commentary within the book also includes a notable mention, albeit a brief one, of the potentially big impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) — a daily pill regimen for HIVnegative people that many believe will reduce infection rates over the next decade. Last year, the PrEP drug Truvada became the first-ever government-approved HIV-prevention pill.

But Halkitis pointed out that one of his primary reasons for introducing the topic of PrEP into a book like this was to further stress a holistic perspective that he has been writing about throughout his career.

“I think PrEP is an amazing thing, and I think we shouldn’t dismiss it,” he said. “But the thing is, if we continue to think of HIV as a biomedical condition, rather than a condition with biological, psychological and social aspects, even these amazing advances are not going to

Image courtesy of Oxford University Press

Halkitis’ new book is a landmark effort to engage.

work. So I felt the need to talk about [PrEP] because I was trying to illuminate the point that, even in an age of new medical advances,

we have to consider the whole person.”

When it comes to HIV, Halkitis is keenly aware of “the whole person,” and he embeds the spirit of that message in everything he writes, and in every nuanced explanation he gives.

Halkitis should know. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1988. He, like the men of this book, sincerely thought he would die a young man. There was, in his mind, no conceivable hope that he could go on to build a professional career of any kind — especially not one in which he would climb to the highest peaks of academia and affect the lives of men and women everywhere who struggle to fight against or live with HIV and AIDS. But he survived.

And while the only thing Halkitis has yet decided about his autobiography is the title — “The Pet Shop Boys Wrote the Soundtrack of My Life,” he said, laughing — he’s certainly never stopped creating his own story, his own legacy of influence and education. With his new book, he has done so by providing a powerful outlet for the words of men who would have otherwise been kept silent in our country’s collective history.

Halkitis has never stopped feeling proud to be a member of the AIDS Generation — the bravest generation, as he says — and now he reminds us, once again, that we all have something to learn from them.

2 2 October 23 - November 5, 2013

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Ha llo wee n c o s r H o o pe s Aries Forcefully decline that eccentric billionaire’s dare to spend the night in his haunted mansion. There’s no such thing as easy money!

Taurus Your attempt to coax an act of bravery out of a large breed dog will fail, unless you accept his demand for three delicious biscuit snacks. The ghost you fear is just a guy in a mask, flying on wires!

Gemini Friends are tired of seeing you in drag every Halloween.

Expand your horizons!

Cancer A dear friend’s seasonal depression stems from consumer guilt over spurning pumpkin-flavored products. Help them resist — and come December, be prepared for a candy cane crisis of the same stripe.

Dear Aunt Chelsea:

My almost-teenage daughter wants to go as Miley Cyrus for Halloween — and not the “Hannah Montana” version. Actually, her idea for the costume isn’t any more risqué than what you’d see on the beach — but I’m worried that giving my approval would be like approving of everything Miley’s been up to lately (which I most certainly don’t). What happened to the nice, innocent girl who went every year as a Disney princess?

Worried, on West 18th Street

Dear Worried:

You simply must accept that fact that your little angel has gone the way of Disney cell animation — which is to say, mom’s little pixie has grown into her “Pixar” era, and yearns for a more sophisticated way of presenting herself. The good news is, she’s still asking your permission to be rebellious.

Enjoy it while it lasts. If her costume is beach-appropriate, let her do as she pleases.

But please, put a “No Twerking” clause in your verbal contract, before letting her out the door and into that brave new, post-tween world.

A NOTE FROM AUNT CHELSEA Oh, my. Has it really been a year since I started writing this column? It certainly

has. With that in mind, my tough but fair editor says we can occasionally dip into the archives and bring you an “Aunt Chelsea Classic.” Here’s a timely (and timeless!) one, from October 2012.

Dear Aunt Chelsea:

This year, it’s our turn to host the Halloween party for families in our building. We’ve always seen ourselves as hip and fun parents, but can’t decide whether to give the kids candy or healthy treats.

Confused in Chelsea

Dear Confused:

Letting the little ones dress up like bloody zombies only to reward them with sugar-free organic snacks is a mixed signal guaranteed to inspire disillusionment and mistrust. Hand out apples instead of jumbo Kit Kats, and you might as well include an engraved invitation for the juicebox set to leave burning doggy stuff on your doorstep.

You see yourselves as hip and fun parents?

Then see this holiday for what it is: an annual get out of jail free card for mischievous behavior and eating inappropriate amounts of junk food. You can’t spell “kid” without “id” — so let them run wild, and make sure there are plenty of pillows on the floor (to act as shock absorbers once they start bouncing off the walls). When they wake up on November 1st with a tummy ache, hand them an orange and tell them the party’s over.

Leo That pop-up shop employee’s gushing appraisal of your costume choice is actually a pick-up line. A mischievous wink lets them know it’s message received.

Virgo Mystico’s warning from a few weeks ago remains. Forego countryside apple picking, and stick with Union Square greenmarket cider for the remainder of the season — or suffer a gruesome fate.

Libra On November 1st, kind words of encouragement handily trump guilt trips, when attempting to prevent a diabetic friend from binging on discounted Halloween candy.

Scorpio Fishing for compliments is like bobbing for apples — by the time you come up for air, you’re all wet.

Sagittarius Your lecture about the fundamental inferiority of that

“Carrie” remake dates you — back to the stone age! Stop expecting people born after you graduated college to start living in the past.

Capricorn Handfuls of name brand candy treats dissuade delinquent tweens from egging your door. Employ this strategy in late December — when again they come, this time a-wassailing.

Aquarius With loud barks and subtle nonverbal signals, your pet begs for a scrap of dignity. Doggie trick-or-treat costumes are degrading!

Pisces You will bond with an Aires over a mutual love of old school Halloween candy. Atomic Fireballs rule! Candy cigs are fun, but only blow smoke once.

2 4 October 23 - November 5, 2013

Private banquettes, overstuffed handmade furniture, and ornate tin ceilings envelope you as the DJ spins.

Great for private parties: 20-600 people

“One of the world’s best bars.”

Photos by Laila Miroku

— BESTBARS.COM

Available for Private Parties, Holiday Events, and Corporate Meetings The World Famous Gaslight is open 7 days a week, 365 days a year DJ nightly - Never a cover 1 p.m. - 4 a.m. Never closes early

G2

Gaslight • 400 West 14th St. @ 9th Ave. / G2 • 39 9th Ave. @ West 14th St. • (212) 807-8444 Free party planning service for all events and bookings email matt@gaslightnyc.com or call Matt at 917.449.9400

“Voted one of the best Pizzeria’s in NYC” — By The Villager & Chelsea Now

Outdoor Cafe!

Open 7 days a week starting at 11am We Deliver!

Gaslight Pizzeria

• (212) 807-8555 • West Village/Corner of Meatpacking District