Because We Need More Sneakers in Union Square

A reminder that the co-op’s annual meeting takes place on Tuesday June 9 at 7PM.

The location is the Seafarer’s International House at 123 East 15th St. on the second floor. It is right near Irving Place.

Spacious,

the co-working space, has opened a large new facility at 34 Union Square East, former home of TGI Fridays.

Exciting new for the neighborhood that proves that the 14th St. shareholders live in an important building: our neighbor at number 22, namely the Duane Reade building, has been landmarked by the city for its historical significance. This action protects it in perpetuity. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation gives us this historical background:

“The Baumann Brothers Furniture and Carpets Store was built in 1880-81 for James McCreery (1826- 1903), a well-known textiles merchant of Scottish descent. It was designed by the architectural firm of D. & J. Jardine, whose principals, David and John Jardine, were brothers also of Scottish birth. One of the more prominent, prolific, and versatile New York firms in the late-nineteenth century, D. & J. Jardine executed designs for a wide variety of building types, including a number of notable cast-iron fronts, in contemporary styles. The wide cast-iron front facade of the Baumann Brothers store is one of the firm’s and one of the city’s most inventive, unusual, and ornamental. Built toward the end of the heyday of cast-iron fronts in New York and the flourishing creativity in that material, the Baumann Brothers store is also a signal achievement of Aesthetic Movement design. An amalgam of ornamental influences, including neo-Classical, neo-Grec, and Queen Anne styles, is embraced to achieve a decorative overall composition. Another designed, though simpler, facade on 13th Street is clad in brick and stone with a cast-iron ground story. The building’s prime location was in the midst of Manhattan’s primary retail shopping district, which included 14th Street, Union Square, and Ladies’ Mile. From 1881 to 1897, it housed Baumann Brothers, a furniture-manufacturing company established c. 1870 by Albert and Ludwig Baumann, Bohemian Jewish immigrants. By 1884, the firm occupied the entire structure and billed itself as “the largest and most complete furnishing establishment in America.” A painted sign advertising Baumann Brothers is still visible on the building’s western wall. For eight decades, the ground story contained 5-10-and-25-cent stores, beginning with the fourth Woolworth store in Manhattan (1900-28), acclaimed at its opening “the largest ten-cent store in the world.” This space was later a store for F. & W. Grand, H.L. Green, and McCrory. The upper stories were leased for over eight decades for show rooms and manufacturing by various firms related to the textile and sporting goods industries, as well as a gymnasium and classrooms for the Delehanty Institute (1930-63), which trained candidates of the Police and Fire Departments. The building currently contains a drugstore, while the upper stories are used as an annex to the Parsons School of Design.”

This holiday season, here are some of Union Square’s best bets for a delicious ending to your Thanksgiving meal. ‘wichcraft (11 East 20th Street, 212 780-0577) is offering apple crumb, pumpkin with graham cracker crust, and pecan pies. Don’t forget a pint of their vanilla ice cream for a scrumptious a la mode option. Starting November 1st, Whole Foods Market (4 Union Square South, 212 673-5388) will be offering 9-inch holiday pies with either an all-butter pâte brisée or equally divine dairy-free crust. Choices include apple, blueberry, cherry, vegan pumpkin, vegan apple-cranberry-currant, traditional pumpkin and pecan. If that’s still not enough to fill your dessert cravings, visit City Bakery (3 West 18th Street, 212 366-1414) for their unforgettable homemade deep dish pumpkin pie.

The Union Square Business Improvement District is considering expanding its boundaries. If you have an opinion about that, take this survey.

Adding them all up:

–Blue Bottle

–NewsBar

–Joe

–La Maison de Croque Monsieur

–Unnamed Japanese Bakery not yet open

–Blue Stripes Cacao Shop

–Baked by Melissa

–Le Café Coffee

–Nutella Café

–Grey Dog

–Pret a Manger

–Maison Keyser