Still looking pretty sketchy: The corruption-and-fraud trial of fallen former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver continued in court this week. The case has been moving quickly. Word has it that closing arguments will be heard Monday. In the illustration above, Silver, third from left, is shown in court this week with his defense team, from left, Steven Molo, Joel Cohen and Justin Shur. In a side note, Vito Lopez, the disgraced former Brooklyn assemblymember, died earlier this month on Nov. 9 at age 74. Silver, of course, went to bat for Lopez, arranging for female staffers who accused Lopez of sexual harassment to be paid hush money on the taxpayers’ dime. After the secret deal, however, Lopez only went on to sexually harass more women on his staff.
L.E.S. psychic tsunami: As bizarre as it sounds, a new 15th-floor bar inside the just-opened luxury Hotel Indigo LES on Ludlow St. has been named after the late Adam Purple. The gardening icon — who shunned the sort of frills and glitz now seen in his old stomping ground, today’s “glamorous Lower East Side” — died while biking over the Williamsburg Bridge in September at age 84. The Gerber Group, moving extremely fast — faster even than Purple in his hippie heyday zipping around on his bike to collect horse manure in Central Park for his Garden of Eden — decided to appropriate the environmental legend for the bar. Scott Gerber, chief executive officer of the Gerber Group, told Women’s Wear Daily that the bar name indeed comes from Adam Purple, who was known for his preferred shade of clothing. “That’s really what inspired us,” Gerber told the fashion mag. Street artist Lee Quiñones was working on a mural for the hotel, and one of the images he was doing was of Purple, WWD reported. Purple’s image is discreetly painted on the ceiling of the 14th-floor lobby. Were Purple actually alive to process this, we’re sure it would all be quite a “psychic tsunami” for him, to quote one of his trademark sayings. Gerber, conscious of the complaints of the LES Dwellers and other neighborhood residents, about street noise from the horde of bars in Hell Square, explained that’s precisely why the lobby and Mr. Purple have been put on the 14th and 15th floors. “You’re not going to have noise on the streets because people are already up here,” he said. We noticed that the place will have burgers, plus corned beef from the 2nd Ave. Deli, on the menu. Dude, Mr. Purple — a.k.a. Adam Purple — was a vegetarian! Sheesh! Mr. Purple’s cocktails will run around $14 or $15. “So, expect more crowds and limos to carry them,” WWD warned. Oh boy…fantastic! Even the chic style publication offered, “That this rooftop hang is named for Adam Purple, and so soon after his death, does seem a tad sacrilege. Doesn’t seem like he would want that honor.” Perhaps if Mr. Purple’s patrons would have to poop in some sort of rooftop garden, instead of using a restroom — the way the real Purple used to create “night soil” in his garden — that might make it all a bit more fitting. And we say that in all respect to Adam Purple. Meanwhile, Lower East Side blogger Shawn Chittle is beside himself over it all, and he’s calling for action. “A new restaurant on the Lower East Side capitalizing on Adam Purple’s name, complete with giant bottles of champagne — boycott this place!” he declared.
Purple plaque: O.K., this sounds a bit more appropriate. We hear from Bill Di Paola, executive director of Time’s Up, that plans are afoot to place a memorial plaque, or possibly plant a tree, for Adam Purple near the legendary green thumb’s former Garden of Eden and home on Forsyth St., south of Stanton St.
C.B. 3 love connection: Community Board 3 back in the 1980s and ’90s was virtually — make that, actually — a war zone, riven by feuds between its factions, with meetings disrupted by squatters, smoke bombs, arrests, you name it. Until well into the late ’90s, police officers were posted at the front of monthly board meetings and out in the hall in front. But those days certainly have faded — hey, have you heard about the new fashionista / yuppie bar, Mr. Purple? And now we hear, from Councilmember Rosie Mendez, a story of C.B. 3 love. Board members Carlina Rivera, who is a local Democratic district leader, and James Rogers, owner of Pushcart Coffee, which has a branch at 83 Third Ave., at E. 12th St., recently tied the knot. Judge Rita Mella, a Stuyvesant Town resident, officiated. The couple honeymooned in Turks and Caicos. Congrats!
C.B. 2 musical chairs: We got a message on Facebook from Carol Feinman, a former C.B. 2 chairperson, that Arty Strickler was actually chairperson of C.B. 2 back when he created the Greenwich Village Children’s Halloween Parade, not district manager, as our article on the parade’s history in last week’s issue might have implied. Also, Maria Passannante Derr, another former C.B. 2 chairperson, resigned from the board midterm about two months ago. We did not hear it directly from Derr herself, but we’re told she was frustrated with the way businesses — namely, bars and restaurants — were being treated by the board, faced with slews of stipulations on operating hours and so forth.
