The 'old' on this East Village block would be two mainstays, both Italian, that are side-by-side near 1st Avenue: Veniero's, a pasticceria and cafe; and Russo's Mozzarella & Pasta. First let's see Veniero's, which has separate bakery and cafe areas.
As you can see, Veniero's goes back to 1894. It was started by Antonio Veniero and remains owned and run by the Veniero family.
They're well-known for having delicious pastries, which is always a good reputation for a bakery to have. You have to figure there's a reason they've been around since 1894: if the pastries weren't good, that would be kind of shady.
The bakery has a long counter to check out and survey all the goods. Here's a very small section of the counter near the front:
The top right of the photo is a strawberry shortcake pastry, which I tried, along with a vanilla cannoli. First the bag for suspense:
Then the box:
Maybe that was too much suspense. Okay it's magic time:
I don't have to tell you how good they were. Or maybe I do: they were really good. Russo's is just to the left of the Veniero's Cafe area.
It goes back to 1908. They have hanging meats inside the store which is always a classic touch. I didn't sample any of their food but reviewers seemed to generally say that it's authentic and delicious, which again is to be expected since they've been around for over a century. There are many shops on the block that would qualify as 'new,' especially compared to Veniero's and Russo's, including not one but two bakery challenges to Veniero's! That is rather bold, but perhaps there are enough sweet tooths-- sweet teeth?-- to keep everyone in business. Both of the newer bakeries are small shops. Tu-Lu's Gluten-Free Bakery is just 2 doors down from Veniero's. Bold indeed!
I have tried Tu-Lu's in the past and it is quite good.
It's nice that there's a fully gluten-free bakery for people with health issues. By the way, Veniero's can adapt with the times: they offer gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, and low-carb options.
The other bakery is Insomnia Cookies and is further up the block closer to 2nd Avenue.
I haven't tasted their products but my sister said she knew them from another of their locations and that they're really good. It's cool that they deliver until 3AM. And they are also keeping up with the times:
Next to Insomnia is this image:
This refers to the Chinese restaurant Plump Dumpling on the 2nd Avenue corner. It also seems to share an address with Mamak, which has Malaysian, Thai, and Vietnamese food.
Here are some more looks at the block close to 2nd Avenue, facing west:
And looking back east:
On the other corner at 2nd Avenue is Liquiteria, a juice shop that has several locations in the city. Here's a shot from the corner, looking down 2nd Avenue:
Across the street is St. Mark's Church-In-The-Bowery, which was featured in my post on East 10th Street between 2nd and 3rd.
I don't often drink juice but I went into the Liquiteria to see if anything looked appealing. The place was busy and felt healthy, with employees behind the counter seemingly making fresh juice on the spot. When I looked at the bottled juices in a fridge near the entrance and saw prices of $8.75, I felt it wasn't for me. I'm sure all the juice is delicious, though.
Back closer to 1st Avenue, between Veniero's and Tu-Lu's, is The Village Veterinarian, and a few doors down from that is a coffee place called Honey House.
There are several clothing stores on the block, including 2 thrift shops next to each other:
Tokyo Joe was very small but had some interesting stuff, while Buffalo Exchange was bigger and had more to choose from in many sizes. There was another thrift shop across the corner on 1st Avenue:
However I didn't go in there. I can only handle so much thrift.
There is a sad note to this block, indicated in a memorial street sign at 1st Avenue:
Jodie Lane was a 30-year-old doctoral psychology student who was killed at 11th Street and 1st Avenue, in January 2004, by stray voltage electrocution from a Con Ed junction box. She lived in the area and was walking her dogs near Veniero's.
Lane's family reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Con Ed, which led to a scholarship program and helped the Jodie S. Lane Public Safety Foundation push Con Ed and the New York State Public Service Commission to have better safety standards when it comes to stray voltage in the city. The improved safety measures are good but maybe if they had been in place before, this tragedy could have been prevented. On the side of the block opposite Veniero's and Russo's is P.S. 19.
It goes from the 1st Avenue corner until about midway up the block.
Now we come to the quirky part of the block, which is a rubber stamp store called Casey Rubber Stamps.
A rubber stamp store is quirky enough in itself, but this one has some interesting signs in the front, including the notice of keeping 'East Village artistic hours':
And a message on the table in front of the store, which notes that the stamps there are not just for free use:
Well then, I'll just take my business to another rubber stamp store, even though this is the only one I've ever seen (actually there's a shop in the West Village called The Ink Pad).
I had lunch with my sister at the place on the 1st Avenue corner called Schnitz, which serves various manner of schnitzel. Their website explains: "For those who didn't get the memo,
schnitzel is a thin cutlet, dipped in crunchy breadcrumbs and fried to
golden, delicious perfection."
We each tried a different sandwich and were happy with the results. Here's a look at mine, including separate lemon in a neat little container, and a shadow from my hand.
We ate in the small Abe Lebewohl Park just in front of the St. Mark's Church. It was a Saturday afternoon and while we were there a group started setting up for a kids' drumming performance. They turned out to be from Cobu, which describes itself "as a Live Rhythm Performing Arts
Group." It was created by a member of the show STOMP.
This performance in the park was to raise money for earthquake relief. They handed out these papers:
And here's a look at the performance:
The kids were really good, not only drumming together in rhythm but also occasionally doing coordinated moves and spins. I captured some of it on video:
It was nice to have a cool performance like that pop up in front of us, and especially for a good cause.
I think that's about all for this post, although here's one bonus piece of street art: just a couple of blocks away, on 8th Street and 3rd Avenue, is a work by Keith Haring that's worth stopping by to check out:
Any block with a great bakery and iconic rock roots is okay with me. And I also like rock songs about sweets. "Savoy Truffle" by The Beatles comes to mind. It was a George song on the White Album.
We're in the East Village and the bakery is called Moishe's Bake Shop.
That isn't a street running through the bakery, it's the reflection of 2nd Avenue in the window.
The bakery is near the 7th Street corner, which is across the street from the corner that had a gas explosion in 2015. I wrote about that block last month, here's a link if you're interested.
Moishe's has many cookies, pastries and breads. Here's another look in the window:
The baking is done on site, according to an article from The Villager. The article also profiles the owner, Moishe Perl, and discusses how his father survived a Nazi concentration camp and then moved to America and became involved in baking. Here is a link to the article:
http://thevillager.com/villager_248/thekingofkosher.html In my online research I found varying dates of the bakery's origins. Even its own website says 'since 1978' and also 'For over 40 years...' Maybe all the discrepancies are due to possible prior locations. Either way, it has been in this neighborhood for several decades. Here are some of their tasty treats that were sampled:
Three flavors of hamantaschen:
And jelly roll cake:
No, those weren't all just for me. How dare you. Okay, most of them were just for me. Now that we're all high on sugar, let's get into some rock n roll history.
A few doors down on the same side of the street was the Fillmore East, which existed from 1968-1971 and held shows featuring some of the biggest names in music. Here is the building today, which houses... a bank.
The site of the Fillmore West in San Francisco is now a car dealership. Things change, I suppose.
Just inside the bank, a couple of walls feature photos and articles about the building's history. Here are some of those photos, showing the Fillmore East days:
I recognize Jerry Garcia on stage so I assume that's the Grateful Dead playing. There is also a plaque on the outside of the building: The plaque mentions the venue's acoustics, and in fact all or part of many live albums were recorded here by such artists as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Miles Davis, Derek and the Dominos, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and many more.
Here are some more looks at the tribute inside the bank to the building's history:
Whoever wrote that last line at the bottom, about the bank inheriting the history, either had a great sense of humor or none at all.
At least the current bank here has a nice tribute to the past, I suppose. That tribute also includes other establishments mentioned above besides the Fillmore East, such as various types of theaters.
Probably the best tribute on the block to the Fillmore East is actually outside, on the nearby corner lamppost.
It was decorated by Jim Power, the Mosaic Man, who was also mentioned in my post on the neighboring block. The lamppost features many artists who performed at the Fillmore East, along with promoter Bill Graham's name and the venue's opening and closing dates. Here's the opening month of March 1968:
And the closing in June 1971:
Along the right side above, next to The Who and Led Zeppelin, it seems to say www.themosaicman.com. There's a cool blog dedicated to him at mosaicmannyc.com.
Here's The Allman Brothers Band:
From top to bottom, this one reads, Procol Harum, Country Joe and the Fish, and The Doors.
I didn't know the name Procol Harum but I recognized parts of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" when I listened to it later. The Doors played here in March 1968 and afterwards ate with Bill Graham at Ratner's, which was a kosher restaurant next door. I would imagine that many artists ate there since it was so close to the theater. That space is now a market and part of an NYU building:
Here are some more looks at the lamppost. It's amazing that Jim Power fit so much on just one post. I don't know what the top name is here but the bottom is Cream.
In the background is a restaurant on the corner called Mighty Quinn's BBQ.
Here's B.B. King, Frank Zappa, and T. Rex:
I like the crown for Chuck Berry, acknowledging his place in music history. You can see Joni Mitchell below that, and then Jethro Tull as well in this shot:
Here's the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana:
And we can't leave out Jimi Hendrix and Janis:
I'd say that lamppost is as cool as anything you can see in a museum. And it's right there on the street, for everyone. A fitting tribute to that era of music. By the way, there's also a happy birthday message on the lamppost, which I don't know the story behind. But here it is:
On the other side of the street is Middle Collegiate Church:
There's a plaque on the church near the entrance:
Anything associated with New Netherland is quite old. At least by America's standards. Less so in other parts of the world, or for those who were here before the Europeans, for that matter. Peter Minuit was Director of New Netherland from 1626-1631. He is also considered to be behind the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Lenape Native Americans. It would become New Amsterdam and eventually New York City. As the plaque notes, this church building was constructed in 1891, which is not as old but again still old for America. The stained glass windows are Tiffany glass.
I liked this light and its leafy design, just right of the church entrance:
The building just to the right of the church had a nice quaint look to it:
And to the left of the church was a pleasant-looking cafe/restaurant on the corner:
I think that's all for this block. It's a fun one to check out, right down to a colorful fire hydrant:
Safety doesn't have to be dull!
Anyway, there's certainly a lot of history here, and different kinds of history at that. And afterwards you can have some tasty pastries as a souvenir, which is way more delicious than a plastic I Heart NY keychain.
