Now at 51 University Place:
“The Hemp Philosophy was founded in New York City by Jack Scaba. Like many of our customers, his team came across hemp while looking for alternative solutions to ailments. What they found was a need for quality hemp that was more accessible. Thus, The Hemp Philosophy was born. Since then, this philosophy has defined the new standard for premium quality hemp products.”
Karaoke Boho, on 13th past University, is hosting an open house from 1 to 7 on Saturday June 4. Free food provided. Stop by to see how they’ve transformed the former Crunch gym into a karaoke palace.
Here’s what local folks are saying:
Early rumors suggest that Union Square will become the center of Occupy-related protests on May 1.
This report from Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservaation notes that 64 University Place, the non-descript building currently housing Agata and Valentina, may be scheduled to meet its destiny with the wrecking ball. In its place, a 12-story building.
Village Preservation has learned that a developer has filed plans to demolish 64-66 University Place (10th/11th Street) within our proposed South of Union Square Historic District we have been fighting to get landmarked.
No permits have yet been filed for a new building, though we understand a 12-story building is being contemplated. The zoning for the site allows a roughly 42,000 square foot building here, of residential, commercial, and community facility uses, with about 6-7,000 square feet of additional air rights purchased from neighboring 70 University Place. By comparison, neighboring 21 East 10th Street is approximately 56,000 square feet.
Village Preservation has been campaigning for landmark designation for this area, and our research and documentation submitted to the City shows that this building, in spite of its utilitarian looks, actually has an incredibly important history worthy of recognition and protection. While we have made some progress recently advancing our landmarking proposal, the City has nevertheless resisted landmarking the full proposed district, and Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who represents this area, has not endorsed the historic district landmarking proposal.
As Chris Cannon, formerly a partner in Convivio and Alto, prepares to return to Manhattan this fall with a new restaurant called All’onda, In a market crowded with salumi boards, how will this new venture fit in or stand out? To get some perspective, Eater.com asked Chris:
What’s the difference between All’onda and every other Italian restaurant in New York? I think we’re taking…effectively, what we’re trying to do is take Venetian cuisine that’s always been a cuisine that is a meeting point of a number of different cultures — as most cuisine actually in Italy is — and Venetian cuisine has always been a meeting point with Eastern cuisine and culture. I think that what we are trying to do is basically take Venetian cuisine and a lot of seafood cuisine in Venice and take a very sophisticated Japanese lens and apply it to traditional Italian cuisine. So, I would say that you take a traditional dish and really not changing the basic components of traditional Italian cuisine, but changing in the sense that you’re taking the same ingredients and treating them a little bit differently and making them more modern, more interesting.
Curbed reports: The curvy low-rise building at 61 Fifth Avenue, devastated by fire in 2006, has been marked for death ever since the structure—a former Scrafft’s luncheonette (see photo at top left circa 1940)—was sold to a developer in early 2008. An architect was quickly enlisted to draw up plans for a 10-story building with apartments and ground-floor retail, and it was made clear that the current 61 Fifth Avenue was too far gone to be preserved in any manner. Has the economy put a pause on those plans? Perhaps, but broker-blogger Andrew Fine reports that demolition permit was issued for the property in December, so the wrecking ball could come calling any day now.