Sun Dance
The Sun Building’s iconic clock may soon have another chime to compete with: the pitter-patter of dancers from the Dance Space Center, which is slated to relocate to the historic building this August. Construction on 20,000 sq. ft. leased space – a small theater and rehearsal space — in the Broadway and Chambers St. building is expected to begin this month. Dance Space has bid farewell to its Broadway and Grand St. digs.
Political Lester
Attorney Jack Lester is heading to City Hall, if he has his way. Lustrous Lester represented the Tribeca Community Association in several lawsuits over the years along with some Lower Manhattan tenant groups after 9/11 and is now a City Council candidate on the Upper East Side looking to replace Manhattan borough prez hopeful Eva Moskowitz. In Lester’s latest mailing, he quotes news clips from several publications including Downtown Express circa 1998 – the earliest press citation in the letter. Soho gallery owner Carl Rosenstein is listed as a Friend of Jack Lester.
G.I. Ginsberg
A Japanese company is reportedly in discussions with the Federation of East Village Artists — the organization that puts on the annual HOWL! festival — about developing an “Allen Ginsberg action figure.” Phil Hartman, FEVA’s executive director, reportedly says techno rocker Moby’s company may be interested in the project. We’re not sure exactly what kind of action an action figure of the Beat guru would do — read poetry, play a zither, smoke pot, have sex? Hey, if the Ginsberg doll flies, maybe Kerouac and Cassidy will be next.
Stealing signs?
“Talk of the Town” takes awhile to drift up to the hallowed halls of the New Yorker. Dara Lehon wrote a Downtown Express column last April about new oversized street signs on Houston St. — comparing them to Rodeo Drive in L.A. The signs have continued to spread and have caught the eye of Adam Gopnik, who wrote a Talk of the Town column last month comparing them to ones in L.A. Coincidence? We think not. Of course, we’re talking about the same ahead-of-the-curve glossy that finally got around this week to a cover illustration of Adam and Eve banished from the garden that is Manhattan to Brooklyn.
Post tries Tribeca Arts
The New York Post is taking a swing at the train wreck that is the Tribeca Arts Festival in an upcoming Sunday edition, UnderCover has learned. The rag plans to write its own exposé of the Downtown festival that never materializes Downtown, following in the spirit of the expose that first appeared in these pages last year. The Post’s made-for-T.V. half, Fox 5 News, reported the story as well, in January.
B.P.C. ladies get funky
It’s ladies night and the feeling’s right… Battery Park City ladies will be getting down and funky next Wednesday at Coast on Liberty St. at 7 p.m. For a mere $5 ladies can guzzle discounted liquor and munch on appetizers all night long. Call Joan Cappellano at 212-488-8201 or jcappellano1@nyc.rr.com for more information.
Giovanni’s Turns 31
Giovanni and Suzan Natalucci, co-owners of Giovanni’s Atrium at 100 Washington St., celebrated the restaurant’s 31st anniversary with friends, family and longtime customers last Thursday. The Nataluccis have been able to keep the business going in a tough post-9/11 locale, four blocks south of the World Trade Center site.
WWW Downtown Express
