Hell's Kitchen Online 7/8/99

[kitchen]

Hell's Kitchen Online                               7/8/99
http://hellskitchen.net "All the News the Times Won't Print"
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Because New York is worth saving: http://www.RetireRudy.com
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IN THIS ISSUE...

  1. Candy Factory Update (321 W. 54th St.)
     July 14th Public Hearing postponed

  2. Judge Downs Hi-Rise Zoning (Daily News)

  3. Courtroom of the Absurd (NY Post Editorial)
     What's better for legitimacy than a NY Post Hate Editorial?     

  4. A 'New' Show World (Daily News)

  5. Miscellaneous Announcements
     - Board 6 hearing on Seaplanes
     - Robert Lederman Giuliani Artwork Exhibit
     - Town Hall: CUNY Under Attack

  6. NY Apple Tours in Hell's Kitchen? Readers Respond.

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CANDY FACTORY UPDATE

We've received late word that Bettina Equities, owner and developer of the old "Candy Factory"
site at 321 W. 54th Street may be modifying or withdrawing its application for a variance to build
an eleven-story building within the Preservation Area of the Clinton Special District.

The application has received widespread community opposition. A Community Board 4 Public Hearing
on the application was scheduled for next Wednesday, July 14 before going to the Board of
Standards and Appeals.

The Public Hearing has been indefinitely postponed. Depending on the action of the developer it
could come back and be rescheduled.

Readers are encouraged to continue to write to James Chin, Chairman of the Board of Standards and
Appeals. Bettina Equities apparently has a history of "overfiling" and coming back with changes.

Our sources also tell us that the attorney for Bettina also has a habit of making the application
a moving target -- thereby jerking around (and wearing out) the opposition.

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Judge Downs Hi-Rise Zoning 
NY Daily News, July 2, 1999

A state judge yesterday grounded a city plan that could have triggered an explosion of high-rise
development on the fringes of Manhattan's Theater District.

The city spent about two years crafting the zoning blueprint, which was intended to promote
orderly growth along Eighth Ave. while preserving Broadway theaters and the surrounding
neighborhood.

But siding with opponents, state Supreme Court Judge William McCooe said the rules didn't go far
enough to consider what a construction boom would mean for traffic, noise, air quality and the
character of the area from 42nd to 57th Sts. between Sixth and Eighth Aves.

McCooe ordered the city to undertake an extensive environmental review.

City officials said they planned to appeal.

The plan made it easier for Broadway theaters to sell their "air rights" — the valuable space
above their buildings available for development. It allowed those rights to be transferred to
building sites anywhere in the area.

Lisa Rein and Michael R. Blood
Original Publication Date: 07/02/1999 

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NY Post, July 8, 1999
Editorial
COURTROOM OF THE ABSURD 

The state Legislature isn't the only institution that has the power to impoverish and stunt New
York City. The courts have a hand in things too, and Judge William P. McCooe of the State Supreme
Court is the latest evidence.

With one fell swoop, McCooe undid the thousands of hours of negotiation and debate that went into
last year's theater-district rezoning plan.

In the version passed by the City Council, the plan would have allowed owners of theaters to sell
their air rights, the unusable space above the buildings, to developers looking to expand or build
on other sites.

Usually, air-rights can only be sold to developers of adjacent sites, but this plan created a
large area -bound by the Avenue of the Americas, Eighth Avenue, 40th Street and 57th Street -
within which owners could buy and sell air rights.

But McCooe didn't go for it. Last Thursday, the judge overturned the City Council's plan - saying
that the city needed to conduct an environmental impact statement prior to passing the rule.

The practical effect of this is to stall development. That's a victory for the Hell's Kitchen
residents who filed the suit against the city for precisely that reason: They opposed the plan on
the grounds that it would bring more people and taller buildings to their neighborhood.

Well, uh, yes. Hell's Kitchen is in Manhattan, after all.

In any event, McCooe has given them just what they wanted.

Now it's time for the city to appeal this ill-conceived ruling, and it has already signaled that
it will.

Creating an environmental-impact statement would soak up plenty of taxpayer dollars. And the
statements can't possibly tell anyone much of anything - because the air rights are to be
transferred to allow further development in areas that have already been developed.

Most of what would go up would be built on top of existing structures. No one wants to tear down a
forest to put up a factory.

It's unclear whether McCooe's ruling is merely misguided or another pernicious example of the
activism for which the Manhattan bench is notorious.

But he is wrong.

We wish the city well in any appeal that it undertakes - and we have little doubt that it will be
successful.

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A New 'Show World'
By DOUGLAS FEIDEN 
Daily News Staff Writer
July 8, 1999

Three actors who made ends meet by waiting tables and tending bar have just changed the face of
Times Square.

Contributing $5,000 apiece, Vincent LoRusso and his partners have rented and renovated part of
Show World, one of the granddaddies of city porn palaces. These days, the notorious spot at Eighth
Ave. and 42nd St. is still hot, but now it's because of edgy, offbeat and audacious plays being
presented right in Broadway's backyard.

"Manic, energetic, gonzo theater is what we're all about," LoRusso says, as he stands inside the
Triple Treat Theatre, where topless and bottomless dancers once cavorted. The room's "strip stage"
has become the nerve center of the trio's Pantheon Productions, a fledgling Off-Off-Broadway
theater company.

Disney may have tamed and sanitized Times Square from its child-friendly base at the New Amsterdam
Theater, but a block away in its second-floor digs, Pantheon — operating on a shoestring — is
trying to make the district wild and woolly again.

"Not everybody wants to see 'The Lion King,' 'Phantom' or a deep, dark love story," says Carl
Tarcangeli, a co-founder of Pantheon. "For those who don't, we offer wild, electric, high-energy
theater."

Brendan Sexton, president of the Times Square Business Improvement District, has spotted the
trend, too. "Times Square was always a place for big-budget theater," he says. "But it's also a
home for tiny entertainment venues with oddball, quirky products, and that's now starting to come
back."

The proof: Black-clad hipsters and downtown types are paying $15-$20 at the old peep-show parlor
to see Pantheon's "The Persecution of Arnold Petch," a six-character, two-act comedy that's in the
midst of a five-week run. Also playing upstairs are the works of Collapsable Giraffe, an
experimental theater group, and Firewater Films, a year-round film festival.

The stage and screen companies have been gradually moving into the building over the last year as
Show World's owners slowly cut back on their sex biz — renting the freed-up space to
performing-arts groups — in the face of City Hall's anti-porn crusade. A recent court order
temporarily closed the XXX portions of the building, and its owners now say it will go "100%
legit."

Three urban pioneers paved the way: LoRusso, who says he "casts" between 25 and 33 but won't give
his exact age; Tarcangeli, who casts 28 to 31, and Sergio Cacciotti, 25. The actors met at the Lee
Strasberg Theater Institute in 1994. In August 1996, they decided to start their own company and
began scouring midtown for a gritty, affordable space to host experimental theater.

Cleaning Up the Triple Treat

Two months later, they zeroed in on the porn emporium, which was under fire from Mayor Giuliani;
it agreed to rent them 6,000 square feet with a five-year lease and a five-year option to renew.

There were just two problems: The three men had almost no money, and the 90-seat Triple Treat
Theatre was a disaster area.

So they sold $10 raffle tickets, begged construction firms run by fellow Italian-Americans to
donate Sheetrock, worked double shifts tending bar at the Harley Davidson Cafe, took small loans
from family members and cobbled together their life savings, a total of $15,000.

They also saved money on food and rent: Breakfast meant the 85-cent coffee-and-doughnut special
from the Trolley Deli on 42nd St. Lunch didn't happen. As for dinner, Cacciotti ate rice and
beans, while LoRusso and Tarcangeli chowed down on gnocchi. They often slept on cots in the
theater or crashed onstage or "stayed with rich girlfriends," one of the actors explained.

In 1997, they began a nine-month renovation of Triple Treat. Down came mirrored walls, twinkling
lights, strippers' dressing rooms and brass "shimmy poles." Out went piles of condoms, crack
pipes, G-strings, high-heeled shoes and sex paraphernalia.

"Everybody thought the guys who worked at Show World were crazy. But they'd look at us, covered
from head to toe with concrete dust and dripping blood, and these guys thought we were crazy!"
said Tarcangeli. "At 4 a.m., we'd be pulling plywood and 2-by-4's out of Times Square dumpsters
because we couldn't afford to buy any supplies."

Finally, the curtain went up on Pantheon's first show: Jeffrey Sweet's "Responsible Parties."
During the rest of 1998-99 season, the company made its mark with a series of short-run dramas,
farces and dark comedies.

Meanwhile, the actors started to rent the theater to other Off-Off Broadway groups. With a
shortage of performance space and a glut of theatrical companies, there was great demand for the
Triple Treat, and a little extra money finally started to trickle in.

Smack in the middle of Show World, landmark symbol of the old Times Square's sleaze, a creative
business had taken root — and so Pantheon's founders figured they could afford to pay themselves a
salary. It had been a rough three-year struggle, but two months ago they cut the first checks.

"We're very proud," LoRusso said. "We're now making $75 a week. It's a big moment for us."

Ch-Ch-Changes

The conversion of Show World, one of the last porn palaces in Times Square, to the home of
Pantheon, a new theater company, is one of a series of such unusual transformations in recent
years.

Just a block away, at 43rd St. and Eighth Ave., Second Stage, the Off-Broadway theater company
that began life on the roof of a decrepit West Side hotel, hired an internationally renowned Dutch
architect to turn an art-deco bank into its new home, whose inaugural production was a revival of
"That Championship Season."

A year ago, a bank on Union Square at 15th St. became the Daryl Roth Theater. While the renovation
was taking place, the producers of "De La Guarda," a free-form spectacle requiring a theater with
no seats, approached Roth about using the space. "De La Guarda" has been running ever since.

Roth has still not decided whether she will eventually install permanent seats.

Just off Union Square at 17th St., the Union Square Theater occupies what was the auditorium of
the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. It was first used as a theater by the Roundabout,
one of the pioneers in converting unusual spaces.

The Roundabout began life in the mid-'60s in the basement of a supermarket at Eighth Ave. and 26th
St. — now the home of the American Jewish Theatre. Before taking over the ILGWU auditorium, it
made its home in a movie theater on 23rd St. between Eighth and Ninth Aves.

It is now leaving what was the Criterion movie theater in Times Square for a home on 42nd St. in
another former movie theater, the Selwyn. Until that theater is ready, the Roundabout is renting
the Gramercy, a former movie theater at 23rd St. and Lexington Ave.

On With the Shows

Now playing at Show World: "The Persecution of Arnold Petch," a dark comedy starring two of
Pantheon's three co-founders.

The play is set in a tenement inhabited by society's outcasts. Petch is a cab driver who believes
that every aspect of his life is being monitored by an American secret police force, which may be
setting him up as a patsy in a presidential assassination attempt.

Carl Tarcangeli plays the title role, while Vincent LoRusso plays Sergio, a Bob Dylan wanna-be
whose incessant harmonica playing convinces Petch that the musician is trying to drive him insane.

The six-character, two-act play is having a five-week run at the Show World's old "strip stage" on
the second floor of 303 W. 42nd St.

Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. till July 17. Tickets are $20. For
reservations, call (212) 582-5856.

Original Publication Date: 07/07/1999

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Seaplanes

Community Board 6 is holding a public hearing on sightseeing seaplanes on Wednesday, July 14, 1999
at the NYU Medical Center, 550 First Avenue at 30th St. in Classroom A at 7 p.m. Remarks can be
sent to Martin J. Barrett, Chairperson, Community Board 6, 330 E. 26th St., NYC 10010.

That evening, Community Board 6 will also vote on a resolution urging the city the ban tour
seaplanes from the East 23rd St. marina and that these flights be stopped in NYC.

   Helicopter Noise Coalition
   414 E. 65th St. #6J
   New York, NY 10021-7144
   212-628-3126

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"Giuliani-as-Hitler" paintings by Robert Lederman.

Lederman, who is known as one of the Mayor's most persistent critics, has
been arrested 38 times for his anti-Giuliani paintings, demonstrations and
essays. The artist is also the President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response
To Illegal State Tactics) and was the main plaintiff in a lawsuit ultimately
decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which gave street artists the same First
Amendment rights as newspaper publishers and book vendors. These extremely
controversial Giuliani paintings are made with acrylic paint on corrugated
cardboard recycled from the street and have been seen many times in
newspapers and on television during protests against the Mayor's policies.
Mayor Giuliani has made more than 15 public statements angrily denouncing
these images which often turn up unexpectledly at his fundraisers, political
speeches and at public hearings.

Opening: 7 pm, Thursday 8 July 1999 at:
Blackout Books, 50 Ave B, Manhattan. 212 777-1967.

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CUNY Under Attack Town Hall

Friends of CUNY and the New York Forum
Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields
Former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger
U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler
State Senators Tom Duane & Eric Schneiderman
Former State Senator Franz S. Leichter
Assemblymembers Deborah Glick, Dick Gottfried & Scott Stringer
Councilmembers Kathryn Freed, Margarita Lopez & Chris Quinn

Invite You To A
Town Hall Meeting

"CUNY Under Attack:
Open Admissions or Closed Door to Opportunity"

The Mayor and Governor are determined to "downsize" CUNY and deprive
those who need CUNY the most of their opportunity for a college
education and a chance for a future.

Wednesday, July 14, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
At Fashion Institute of Technology, Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Building
D, Main Floor, Seventh Avenue & 27th Street

Find out what we can do to fight back. Learn the truth about:
   The Proposal To End Remediation
   Standards and Graduation Rates
   Budget Cuts, Tuition Hikes & Their Impact on New Yorkers
   The Report of the Mayor's Task Force on CUNY

For More Information, call Bill Zwart at 212-582-5020

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Tour Busses -- reader responses

In our last issue we presented an email we received from an employee of New York Apple Tours,
suggesting that Clinton/Hell's Kitchen be included on the bus tours' itinerary. We invited your
responses.

A.E writes:

I'm sure that many have already raised this issue and that you probably 
agree, but aren't these folks among the last we need/want in our 
neighborhood? The tourists are the ones who provide our mayor and his 
cronies excuses to hurt our neighborhood. Who wants to live on a tourist 
attraction, obviously not those who are riding those horrible busses, they 
return to their nice quiet neighborhoods after they are finished polluting 
and masquerading around ours. No thanks New York Apple Tours. By the way, a 
friend of mine took some relatives on one of their tour busses recently (much 
to my dismay) and reported to me that their tour operators are completely 
historically ignorant. At one point on the tour, the guide 
pointed out a particular place where George Washington had stayed during the 
Civil War (yes, that's right, they said George Washington and Civil War). I 
don't think that these people should be teaching anyone about our history, 
God only knows what their version of it might be.

K.M. writes:

I'm sure the employee of Big Apple Tours was unaware of the fact that his/her company represents a
blight on the neighborhood particularly for those of us who live nearby. I, for one, live around
the corner on 47th St. and since they've opened their new location I've had to wade through a wall
of bodies, both tourists and workers, in order to walk north along Eighth and to return home
walking south.  Apparently they have permission to usurp the sidewalk as if it belonged to them.
As for adding the neighborhood to the tour, WOW. Just what we want: Big Apple Tour busses
barreling down the side streets. Their renovating the building and commanding the use of the block
is disaster enough.

R.S writes:

An emphatic no. Bus fumes aside,  Hell's Kitchen is not a touristy 
kind of place...

D. T. writes:

Maybe it would be possible to contact the tour company and see if it a 
legitimate offer.  Hells Kitchen has just as much history as the rest of NYC 
so why not? Have a good weekend!