“i’m home on maternity leave and have been spending more time in the neighborhood… i’ve been nosing around some of the construction sites…. some gossip for you…

MEET is becoming a high-end Mexican restaurant.

Indeed, Sue Torres of Suenos has partnered with the boys from Lotus (David Rabin & Will Regan) to open Los Dados.

Sacha is becoming an “African” restaurant. (I lived in South Africa during the ratification of the new constitution–when I asked the construction workers what kind of African restaurant, they said “African.” Frankly, Africa is a big place. Ethiopian food? Sub-Saharan? Vegetarian? The fact that they don’t know the difference worries me…)

Word on the street is that not only is this an African restaurant, but it will also incorporate elements from Brazil and the Caribbean. Is this a Sushi Samba inspired identity crisis? Marcus Samuelsson (the executive chef of Aquavit and author of The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discover of the Foods and Flavors of Africa) will be the chef.

Now, who has the goods on what is due to arrive in the old Rhone space?

Four of us random New Yorkers climbed into a Whitehall gig (they look like elongated row boats) with an experienced coxswain to steer and give us directions, and off we set into the Hudson. Pretty much, we stayed in the basin area, although we did row out a bit further into the Hudson. Pretty much, it was amazing.

In fact, I had so much fun, that the next day I made my way down to the other FLOATING THE APPLE, at Pier 40 (at west houston) where I spent the entire day learning to be a coxswain. So, I’m now a coxswain-in-training.

The community boathouse is great, but don’t take my word for it – go check out Pier 84, FLOATING THE APPLE. Just walk on in and let them know you are interested in going rowing. Once they have four rowers, they’ll send you out with one of their experienced coxswains for a row on the river. Floating the Apple operates at Pier 84 Thursday through Sunday from 3pm (I think?) until Sunset.

So, stop waiting for your rich friends to take you out on your yacht and go for a fun free row at your community boathouse. Who knows, maybe your coxswain will be this coxswain-in-training!

A massive marketing campaign, The Campaign for Little Britain, which is at least partially financed by Virgin Atlantic has been launched to support the proposal. The campaign compares the naming of the street to the naming of areas such as Little Italy, Little Brazil and Chinatown or Koreatown.

But is their contention correct that this area is already a hub for things British, like Little Italy and Chinatown were before they were named? Just because Tea & Sympathy is a hub for British culture doesn’t mean the entire block is. The block contains three British storefronts. Two restaurants, Tea & Sympathy and A Salt & Battery are both owned by the same couple, the third, Showroom 64 is a baby and children’s store that stocks British designs. How many non-British storefronts are on that block?

At the meeting, the owners also made an impassioned plea regarding greedy landlords and high rents, ending with the conclusion that a vote for ‘Little Britain’ was a vote for small business. They lost me a little bit with that reasoning.

I’m all for small businesses (and I love eating in Tea & Sympathy), however, I don’t think a small business in trouble is a good justification for granting a request to co-name a street as part of a marketing campaign to help save their business. If that was normal practice, we’d end up with an even more over-commercialized city in which street co-namings, what I always thought were meant to be permanent symbols of honor, and significance, would become yet another marketing assault on us. Must businesses advertise on our very street signs? Is nothing sacred? Aren’t the prolific billboards available to them enough? The naming of streets must not be put up for the highest bidder with the most aggressive marketing campaign. Agreeing to this campaign would set a dangerous precedent. What about that block across town that has two sushi restaurants? Can they mount a petition to make it Sushi way? Or, that block in Soho that has 4 bars – should be it be ‘Drinking Alley’?

Last night the committee (of which I’m a public member) voted unanimously against the proposal, and their proposed resolution against the request will be put to vote at the full Community Board meeting, then I believe the proposal goes forward to the City Council for a decision. (Or, at least, that’s how I think it works).

The campaign meanwhile continues to maintain an online petition and boasts letters from some local businesses and residents regarding this issue. If you don’t agree, add your voice below to contrast with the 3,000 odd NY’ers who signed a petition in favor. If you do agree, that’s cool – make your plea here too.

Hop on board with foodie Calvin Trillan as he explores “Fat People’s Row” on Bleeker Street (home to Faicco’s Pork Store and Amy’s Bread) and more…

1925 Actor Walter Huston searches for The Fountain at the Greenwich Village Theatre. This Eugene O’Neill drama directed by Robert Edmond Jones deals with Ponce de Leon’s search for the Fountain of Youth. It will run for 28 performances.

In any case, we are certainly overflowing with wonderful used bookstores as in this charming article from Pace Press.

Please call 212.475.9585 x 34 for reservations and meeting place.

The Ghosts of Greenwich Village: An Enlighteningly Creepy Walking Tour with Marilyn Stults

Sunday, October 30 @ 2:00 pm – Tour is approximately 2 1/2 hours

GVSHP members $10; All others $15

Space is limited. Reservations Required.

Celebrate Halloween with some of the finest ghosts you’ll ever meet.
Visit the haunts of such departed New Yorkers as Aaron Burr, Mark Twain, Edgar
Allan Poe, Clement Clarke Moore and Dylan Thomas, along with haunted taverns, restaurants, houses, and even a haunted church. Stroll down narrow and mysterious Charles Lane, learn the Village’s connection to the Titanic disaster, and walk the block where you just might meet the ghost of Alexander Hamilton. The tour ends at a historic Greenwich Village tavern.

Marilyn Stults of Street Smarts N.Y. Walking Tours is a preservationist and member of GVSHP. She is delighted to be conducting this tour for the benefit of the Society.

Many of her memories revolve around Horatio street, where she had her first apartment in the West Village. Most shocking (striking?) to me was the following description of Horatio Street:

When I lived on Horatio, crazy, obese Lucille, “the mayor of Horatio St.” who was murdered in the 1990s, would go through the garbage and read out loud, with commentary, in a sort of street theater performance the letters, bank statements, bills and warning notices of whichever neighbors she was fighting with at the time. Horatio St. in those days was a cesspool; the stench of blood, spilled offal and rotting meat from the Meat Market was so overpowering, not only did you not want to sit on your stoop, you also often didn’t want to open your window.

Does anyone else remember these days, either fondly or otherwise?

The Chocolate Bar has launched a campaign to save CBGB’s, a classic New York rock institution in danger of closing. How can you help? By eating chocolate, of course.
They offer a limited edition line of CBGB chocolates, including the Punk Rock Box (a 16 piece truffle collection embossed with iconic imagery of CBGBs) and Retro Bars (Peanut Butter & Jelly, Key Lime Pie, Caramel Apple and more). Omigod, my stomach is rumbling. Where can you find these decadences? Why, just up the street on 8th Ave between Horatio and Jane.