Unhappy Lenape: The New York Post is reporting that “tribal warfare” has broken out among the local Lenape tribe — Manhattan’s original denizens — over who will get Jean-Louis Bourgeois’s $4 million building on Weehawken St. Bourgeois, the activist scion of the late sculptress Louise Bourgeois, has long said he is in the process of giving the low-rise house to Anthony Van Dunk, a former Lenape chief who plans to convert it into a padamawiikan — or “house of prayer” in Lenape lingo. Hey, this isn’t really new news, though! Scoopy’s Notebook first reported two years ago that Bourgeois was trying to do this. And we have reported on the slow but steady progress toward this goal several times since. Hey, you read it here first! Anyway, we were curious how the Post, which has had two articles on this now in the past couple of weeks — including one on Page One — got onto the story. So we called Bourgeois, who recently returned to the West Village from a several-months-long stint out at bitterly cold Standing Rock, where he stood in solidarity with the Lakota and water protectors against the Dakota Access Pipeline — and also kept them in business, providing the protest camp with truckloads of firewood and also hundreds of quirky hats imported from Harlem. The Post reported that Bourgeois’s generosity for the pipeline protesters has been to the tune of $600,000, but he said that’s actually a low-ball figure. When we called Bourgeois and asked him how the Post got onto the Weehawken house story, his friend Jim Drougas, owner of Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books, on Carmine St., who happened to be visiting him, piped up that it was him. Drougas is friends with writer Larry “Ratso” Sloman, who is best known for his work on Howard Stern’s two autobiographies, and whose wife, Christy Smith-Sloman, is a freelance writer. Drougas told them about Bourgeois’s activism around the Standing Rock pipeline fight. But Smith-Sloman instead focused on the Weehawken house fight — or maybe that’s what the Post editors wanted. Who knows? Aww, it’s all good… . Drougas also invited Bourgeois and Van Dunk to an impromptu Christmas gathering at his bookstore, where, as Scoopy source Sharon Woolums reports, Van Dunk gave Bourgeois a stuffed penguin to go with his Harlem penguin hat. As for the feud over the pending sale of the future padamawiikan, Bourgeois said there’s no way he’s going to let rival chief Dwaine Perry get his hands on the soon-to-be-holy house. “I have complete confidence in Anthony,” Bourgeois told us, “and I’m not even gonna talk to the other guy.” Van Dunk has basically been disenfranchised from the tribe after trying to institute some reforms during his recent term as chief. But, hey, once he gets that Village real estate, things could turn around fast, and — who knows? — the tribe might well ditch Perry. “Now that the building is going to be Anthony’s territory, he’s got something to offer — a padamawiikan,” Bourgeois noted. Plus, he added, things could even get a bit more involved before the ownership of the building is settled. “The Lenape are matrilineal, so it will likely be turned over to a group of women,” Bourgeois explained, adding, “That suits me fine since I’m a male feminist. It’s complicated.” Meanwhile, he’ll be heading back out to Standing Rock in North Dakota soon for a ceremony to receive an honorary Lakota name, on Jan. 11. Bourgeois had suggested “Custer Killer” — though admitting he personally didn’t want to kill Custer, and is happy that someone else did it. But the Sioux felt that any name with Custer in it is a bad idea, so he’ll be getting something else. It will be a surprise. And he’s still helping the cause. When we called the other night, he had just received a shipment of more stuff for Standing Rock. “I have just purchased $1,000 worth of night battle gear,” he told us. Payu, a Native American activist friend of Bourgeois’s, explained that this equipment — night-vision goggles and long-range binoculars — was not for doing battle, but merely seeing “the enemy,” mainly law enforcement, when they try to sneak up on the camp at night. Tribal President David Archambault II has told the protesters to vacate the camp — what is it with these tribal leaders? — by Jan. 1, but Bourgeois and his band say they won’t be leaving. “He’s a traitor,” Bourgeois spat bitterly.
May the pepperoni be with you: In honor of Carrie Fisher, Champion Pizza, on Cleveland Place in Petrosino Square in Nolita, is offering free slices through this Friday to anyone who comes in wearing “Star Wars” garb. They’re expecting to give away 10,000 slices, the Daily News reports. “Owner Hakki Akdeniz, 36, recalled serving Fisher a margherita pizza back in 2005 while he was working at a pizzeria in Times Square,” the News said. “He felt the need to recognize her death by harkening back to their lone encounter in life. … Akdeniz, a native of Turkey, recalled learning to speak English by watching Fisher in the original movie trilogy.” Fisher died Tuesday at age 60 after suffering a heart attack on a plane to Los Angeles. To any Chewbaccas, Princess Leias, Darth Vaders or Jabba the Hutts planning to partake of the free ’za, remember — Petrosino Square is a small area, be respectful! The area is already oversaturated with bars, not to mention a Citi Bike rack some don’t like very much, either. And coming soon will be a new take-out place at 62 Spring St., where Spring Street Natural used to be, whose customers will probably flood Petrosino Park. … To the Friends of Petrosino Square’s chagrin, Community Board 2 last week approved a beer-and-wine license for the new takeout place, but not before one board member sneered of the Friends, “They’re against everything.” Ouch! C’mon people, do we have to bring in Yoda — or his spirit, depending on which movie we’re talking about — to mediate here? Let’s work it out! Use The Force. Whatever!
