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16 April 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

Business of the Month:
B&H Dairy

Upcoming GVSHP Programs

Latest Landmark Applications Available

Business of the Month: B&H Dairy

B&H Dairy has been a Second Avenue staple since the late 1930s. Fans have been showing their love more than ever since the tragic fire on March 26, which closed the lunch counter temporarily. Now that it’s set to open again, we’ve discovered another love story: right behind the counter! Learn about it in our article on why B&H Dairy is our Business of the Month for April.

Owners Fawzy and Ola Abdelwahed consider the neighborhood uniquely special. “You know the old movies? It’s exactly like this,” says Ola, who likes the block’s “old-fashioned” feeling. Fawzy likes that all kinds of people – poor, rich, middle-class – live and eat together. “Everybody’s friendly. Everybody knows us. It makes us happy,” he says.

And from what we hear, they make their customers very happy, too. Now tell us another independent business in the Village, East Village or NoHo that you love just as much!

With GVSHP's "Business of the Month" program, each month a local, independent business is featured on GVSHP's website and blog Off the Grid, and shared via social media and our e-bulletins, to showcase one of our neighborhoods' great and unique commercial treasures. The program underscores what makes each business so valued and distinctive. We hope it will increase support and patronage, aiding our local small businesses' health and viability.

We're asking you, the public, to nominate your favorite businesses for consideration for our "Business of the Month." To nominate a business just fill in a very brief form here. Click here for past businesses of the month.

Local businesses are the backbone of our neighborhoods, and many find themselves in an increasingly tough environment of rising rents and proliferating chain stores. GVSHP is committed to highlighting the businesses that help keep our neighborhoods unique and special, and provide a service, atmosphere, or specialty that can't be found anywhere else.

Another important way to support mom-and-pops is by backing the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, a bill in City Council that deserves consideration. Click here to urge City Council to hold a hearing.

Upcoming GVSHP Programs

To see videos of recent GVSHP programs, click here; to see photos of recent programs, click here.

Please note that space is often limited. Reservations are not confirmed until you receive a response from GVSHP regarding your reservation.

If space becomes an issue, all reservations will be honored up until the start of the program, at which point your seat may be given away to those on the wait list.

East Village: 1984 and 2014
A photo journey with Daniel Root

Thursday, May 7
6:30 - 8:00 P.M.
Free; reservations required
Sixth Street Communitty Center
638 East 6th Street, between Avenue B and Avenue C
[This venue is wheelchair accessible.]

Part of Lower East Side History Month

In 1984 Dan Root took some photographs for a book that a friend of a friend was going to write about the changing East Village. For a couple of months he took pictures, when time and money allowed, of this changing neighborhood. The book was never written (of course?) and the photographs were put away.

Last year Dan revisited those locations and photographed them again. Most were vastly different than they were 30 years ago. He embarked upon a project of framing the original photos and placing them at these sites. Residents and visitors were able to see how much the East Village has changed, and a Tumbler page brought international attention to this photographic documentation.

To register, please call (212) 475-9585 ext. 35 or email.

A Walking Tour of East Village/Lower East Side Community Gardens
Co-sponsored by L.U.N.G.S. (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens)

Saturday, May 16
11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
Free; reservations required
Meeting location provided after registration.

Join us on a tour of distinct community gardens that showcase the plants, people, and cultures that make these East Village oases such a vital part of the fabric of the neighborhood. Learn about the history, maintenance, and importance of these gardens, and also meet the gardeners who make it possible to enjoy their beauty.

Founded in 2012, Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens (L.U.N.G.S.) is a membership organization uniting the remaining 46 community gardens located in the East Village and Lower East Side. The mission is to advocate on behalf of the infrastructure needs and permanence of these gardens and to promote, protect and preserve gardening and open green spaces in New York City. L.U.N.G.S. has established several garden-based programs benefiting diverse activities of members of the community.

Part of Lower East Side History Month

To register, please call (212) 475-9585 ext. 35 or email.

Little Spain: The Spanish Community on West 14th Street
A history and slideshow with Robert Sanfiz

Wednesday, May 20
6:30 - 8:00 P.M.
Free; reservations required
Spanish Benevolent Society - La Nacional,
239 West 14th Street, between 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue
[This venue is not wheelchair accessible.]

Compared to other European groups, the Village’s immigrant community from Spain is rather small in numbers. The enclave known as "Little Spain," on 14th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, was once home to over 50 Spanish-owned businesses and social clubs. The Spanish Benevolent Society - La Nacional, founded in 1868, was always at the heart of the neighborhood, serving as an essential support system for Spaniards and acting as their home away from home in New York. It has served as a meeting ground for political dissidents and revolutionaries, and avant-garde poets and artists. It is even said that Salvador Dali stopped in for a taste of home.

Today the Society remains committed to the historical preservation of both the Spanish and local community, and still offers a variety of events, classes, a top-rated restaurant and meeting place for the entire community.

Robert Sanfiz is Exective Director of the Spanish Benevolent Society - La Nacional.

To register, please call (212) 475-9585 ext. 35 or email.

Latest Landmark Applications Available

GVSHP provides an ongoing record of all applications for changes to landmarked properties in our neighborhoods (Greenwich Village, NoHo, Gansevoort Market, the South Village, and the East Village) that require a public hearing before they can be approved. These proposals range from minor alterations to large additions, demolition, and new construction on landmarked sites.

Find out about the application, when the Community Board and NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission public hearings will take place, and how you can weigh in before decisions are made. You can also sign up for alerts to be notified of changes in the status of the application.

The new applications below are scheduled to be heard in the near future at the Community Board, the LPC, or both. Click on each for more information.