The Lo-Down NY

11/12/2024

Carollers last night at the Seward Park tree lighting.

05/12/2024

Host Traven Rice spoke with Gary Guarinello, founder of in Essex Market, for the latest episode of The Lo-Down Culture Cast. Gary is a drummer and a music lover who is also a former butcher. He was working at The Market Line Food Hall at Ends Meat when he pitched the idea for a record store, which he opened in 2022.

When the food hall shut down in the lower level of Essex Market, he moved Catalyst Records upstairs, across from Top Hops Beer Shop, and began hosting live music events, podcasts, and other local art openings and book signings.

04/11/2024

We're excited for this guest-curated program of short films by local filmmakers at the Metrograph theater on Sunday, Nov. 10th at 4pm! The lineup is presented by local arts group and features films by Coleen Fitzgibbon, Janene Higgins, Marja Samsom, Laura Nova, Elliot Caplan, Harriet Hirshorn, and Alvin Tsang & Siyan Wong.

The event, 10002 ARTS presents: LES Films from LES Filmmakers, is part of a community-driven series put on by the , focusing on films from the neighborhood called, “Around Ludlow.”

They write:

A new platform for the exciting community around Metrograph, including filmmakers, artists, arts’ organizations, and social clubs based in our home of Ludlow Street and the surrounding area. Around Ludlow celebrates our unique community, inviting our neighbors to come in and make themselves at home, continuing with guest programming stints from 10002 ARTS, a group of artists and creatives living and working in the 10002 zip code who come together to share their work and celebrate the neighborhood’s rich history of art and culture. 10002 ARTS presents: LES Films from LES Filmmakers takes place November 10 at Metrograph In Theater.

10002 ARTS presents a unique selection of films celebrating the Lower East Side’s dynamic cultural identity through visionary documentary and experimental work by seven local filmmakers. The showcase features Coleen Fitzgibbon’s 1976 short LES, Janene Higgins’s Over Water, Marja Samsom’s From Amsterdam to New Amsterdam, and Laura Nova’s Mendy: The Laundered Soul, Elliot Caplan’s Paul Taylor Process, Harriet Hirshorn’s Greenwashed, and Painting Ecological Engineers by Alvin Tsang & Siyan Wong. Each film casts a personal, human gaze on the residents that breathe life into this corner of the city.

All of the esteemed jury members who made the final selection are film professionals who also live in 10002: Scott Macauley, Editor-in-Chief of Filmmaker magazine, Carlos A. Gutiérrez, Executive Director, Cinema Tropical, and Amanda Trokan, Senior Director, Programming at MUBI.

Q&A with filmmakers moderated by filmmaker and journalist (and Lo-Down arts editor) Traven Rice

31/10/2024

After much anticipation, Elbow Bread is open and bustling as of today. Baker Zoe Kanan has teamed up with Court Street Grocers to open the new bakery at 1 Ludlow Street. Bialys (made with barley tea), pretzels, fresh loaves of challah and knish are on the menu.

29/10/2024

We’re happy to see that fashion icon has moved her shop to 211 East Broadway. The new brick and mortar space was celebrated with a grand opening party last week. Patricia Field might be best known for styling the clothing on S*x and the City, The Devil Wears Prada and Ugly Betty, but locally, she’s known for her beloved downtown apparel shop on 8th Street, which then moved to the Bowery. It was a cultural hotspot that welcomed creatives, socialites, divas and rebels alike, for almost 50 years.

Field also lives in the neighborhood and has been in the area for decades. Since 2018, her store had been located in the Seward Park Co-ops, across the street.

Happy Clothes, A Film About Patricia Field was released last year.

03/09/2024

Leisure activity on the promenade. Photo by Arnold Plotnick. Send us your neighborhood photos: [email protected]

30/08/2024

20/08/2024

The French bistro, Les Enfants de Bohème, is struggling to survive. The restaurant has launched a GoFundMe campaign, seeking $40,000. Owner Stefan Jonot explained to the New York Post, “The past four years have been difficult — we still haven’t gotten back to our pre-Covid business even if we tried different formulas to gain back our financial health.” Actor , a partner in the restaurant, is helping to get the word out on his Instagram.

18/07/2024

You might not notice the small flyer posted outside the Metro Acres grocery on Grand Street…

The hidden camera reality show Impractical Jokers is shooting inside the store. The notice warns shoppers that, by entering, they consent to being videotaped for the show.

So beware, a trip to the neighborhood grocery could land you on a cable reality program.

08/07/2024

Lower East Side residents and community leaders converged at Corlears Hook Park Sunday afternoon for a prayer vigil in memory of three people who were killed the evening of July 4 when the driver of a pickup truck came barreling through the park.

Thanks to Ritu Saheb for these photos from the vigil, led by Pastor Marc Rivera of Primitive Christian Church and organized by district leaders Daisy Paez, Mariami James and Ron Thomas.

Police say the driver, Daniel Hyden, was coming down Water Street at a high rate of speed Thursday evening just before 9 pm and that he sped through the stop sign at Jackson Street, jumped onto the sidewalk and crashed into the park.

Lower East Side residents Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son, Hernan Pinkney, 38 were killed, along with 43-year-old Ana Morel. Eight others were injured.

Hyden was taken to the 7th Precinct and charged with vehicular homicide, eight counts of assault, three counts of driving while intoxicated and one count related to driving with a suspended or revoked license. He’s being held without bail.

According to Channel 7, “Police traced Hyden’s steps to find his whereabouts prior to the crash to a boat party on Pier 36. He was apparently denied entry for being too drunk. Hyden then got into a heated dispute with a bouncer before being refunded and leaving the location.” The Post reported that Hyden once lived in New Jersey but now is a Bronx resident. He is supposedly a substance abuse counselor who wrote a book called, “The Sober Addict.”

The Post also spoke with Herman Pinkney’s brother, Desmond, who described him as a, “class clown kind of guy” who could bring out smiles. And Desmond called his mom the, “definition of hard work.” On July 4th, he had hoped she would take some time to relax and enjoy a day off at home.

05/07/2024

Thanks to Roger Bultot for this photo of Seward Park in bloom. Summer has definitely arrived! Share your neighborhood photos with us at: [email protected]

14/06/2024

Co-founder Traven Rice has a special project close to her heart that she's crowdfunding for here: www.layleftydown.com It's a comedic short film about breast cancer that opens a door to talking about hard things. If you know anyone who's been through breast cancer treatment, please share this with them!

In this short comedy, a woman who’s just had a mastectomy walks into a surprise memorial for her left breast. This is a story about the importance of talking about hard things, and especially laughing about hard things.

05/06/2024

Last night’s sunset was a whopper. From Susan Levinson. Send your neighborhood photos to [email protected] or tag us here!

05/06/2024

Great piece by J. Scott Orr of B Scene Zine on artist Jason McLean's latest show, which just opened at Van der Plas Gallery

https://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2024/06/the-exhilarating-and-exhausting-art-of-jason-mclean-in-the-les.html

02/06/2024

On this week's Lo-Down Culture Cast, host Traven Rice spoke with Alexandra Aron, Founder and Artistic Director of The Remote Theater Project , about the upcoming production that will take place in Sara D. Roosevelt Park on Saturday, June 8th at 2pm and 4pm.

The show, titled “Thank You For Listening,” written by Carmen Rivera, is a community engagement project that’s been in the works for over a year.

It’s based on conversations and workshops with three different communities that intersect in the park; the unhoused community, Chinese seniors and more recently, migrant workers who are temporarily living in hotels near the park.

Learn more and listen to, or watch, the episode here:
https://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2024/06/the-lo-down-culture-cast-episode-22-remote-theater-projects-thank-you-for-listening.html

28/05/2024

Early morning (6:30am!) on Centre Street, in front of the court house. Even busier than usual today 🙃

25/05/2024

This week’s episode of The Lo-Down Culture Cast features pioneering Lower East Side gallery owner James Fuentes

Host Traven Rice spoke with Fuentes about how growing up in the neighborhood influenced his creative aesthetics and the intention behind the gallery, which he opened in a live/work space on St. James Place in 2007. Those were the early days when the Lower East Side was just beginning to be recognized as an art gallery neighborhood…he’s now heading to Tribeca and expanding to LA. listen or watch at the links👆

13/05/2024

For this edition of The Lo-Down Culture Cast, host Traven Rice speaks with photographer Alain Levitt. Alain is well known in the neighborhood as an artist and the co-owner of the beloved restaurant . Alain recently celebrated the publication of his first official photo book, “Alain Levitt, NYC 2000-2005,” edited by Tim Barber. It features a series of photos of the downtown “creative class” in New York during the early 2000s and serves as a celebratory time capsule from this time period. Along with the book, Alain has a solo show at the gallery .whaam (15 Elizabeth St.) on view through May 25.