Even sitting on a sunny porch in Maine yesterday, reading the Boston Globe, we could not escape from the LES—or Rick Ocasek.


Ric Ocasek at 71 Clinton Fresh Food on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. "Ocasek has traveled to his favorite restaurant on the Lower East Side to talk about the newest chapter in his musical life."

Well, of course he has.
· In The Driver's Seat [boston.com]

God bless the New York Times for its incisive piece on online dating yesterday. The paper proclaims, in a front page headline no less, that the act "sheds its stigma as Losers.com." Then the Times goes ahead and illustrates the story with a photo of a couple that, to be charitable, probably weren't getting picked first for the co-ed volleyball team. The twosome "met each other through the online dating service provided by Nerve.com." That sound you hear? Rufus Griscom throwing up in his mouth.
· Online Dating Sheds its Stigma as Losers.com [nytimes.com]

We've returned, oh yes, we've returned. Waiting for us in our inbox—along with 400 virus emails (no, we will not see the attached zip file for details)—is some genuine reader mail that cries out for a response. From reader JH:

RE: Surface Hotel

Have you been up in it?

Do you have a summary of what's going on there?

We're stealing a three-day weekend. Hate us for that.

In the wake of Jayson Blair, we're glad to see today's cub reporters ("This is a weblog about my work as an intern at the New York Daily News and my life in New York") getting their facts right:

I walked around the neighborhood a little bit to see what I have here. Most of the residents here are African Americans. People say that Harlem, especially East Harlem, is dangerous. International House is at the west side, and since it is near the Columbia University, it is much better.

As proponents of the great state of Maine, we find the news that "most of the sources for Poland Spring are either surrounded by asphalt parking lots or potentially dangerous contamination" deeply troubling. We're sure the company will be cleared of these malicious charges. As Poland Spring spokeswoman Jane Lazgin points out, "Poland Spring is exactly what we say it is—natural spring water—and there are many criteria for that."
· Nestle Sued Over Bottled Water Claims [yahoo news via FC]

Our favorite week of the year. Blessed be.

Please turn to page 13 of today's issue to view our print photography debut.

We are in no way associated with this.
· Lockathon June 30-23 [craigslist via jcn]

Ken emails: "I think you need cutting edge reader polls, such as the one currently on cnn.com"...

In a melee between the Hulk and the Terminator, who would win?

Hulk
Terminator

Virtually spinning around the hood's blogscene, we're pleased to find...
1) A super-snazzy redesign at Catherine's Pita
2) Continued compelling Lower East Side coverage from Ian and Cintra at ebway.org, including a link to a good Villager piece [ed—a phrase previously thought oxymoronic] about the downside of gentrification on Clinton Street
3) That Nathalie, author of the excellent Cup of Chica weblog, has taken up residence on Ludlow Street for the summer (an interesting change from Iowa)
4) That infamous blogzine The Black Table is produced from Bowery and Spring, thus sealing the LES domination of the real and virtual realms....

Wow... email today from an old college acquaintance:

A little over two years ago, you had this party on the rooftop of your (then new, I think) place on the Lower East Side. JG and AB brought me along. While there, I met an unbelievably wonderful woman named A—, the sort you always fantasize about meeting at a party so that when at parties you no longer have to fantasize about meeting a woman like this. We began dating, then moved to Moscow together, then to London, and we're going to get married next summer.

I just stumbled across your blog via Gawker today (which I read when I'm feeling particularly homesick) and wanted to send a great big thank you.

Rivington @ Ludlow, LES, NYC, Monday, June 16, 7:32pm

Changing your primary photo from one you holding a garden hoe to one of you wearing sunglasses will increase your "chances." Good luck!

A friend reports a recent call to his dealer went awry. "He told me he's out of the business. Now he's in real estate."

As an addendum to the previous post, Hamptons real estate hub HREO (which aggregates listings from all brokers) shows a total of 8,288 unrented places. Most of them, it must be said, are not suitable for those looking to make the archetypal "splash" this summer. Narrowing our search to $100,000 and up, we find 636 properties for the taking this summer, including the "Absolute Ultimate Rental" ($600,000 for the summer) or a shaker style traditional (for reconnecting with your roots) for $400k.
· Hamptons Real Estate Online [hreo.com]

Introducing a new LS.com feature. As some of you are doubtless aware—because we repeat most everything in this space like a broken record—we follow the Hamptons for our job with the same love and affection we lavish on the LES here. (Last summer, we even shut down this show and moved east for three months, an undertaking that cost LS.com 7 of its 14 regular readers at the time.) This summer, we're rooted in Manhattan but visiting the Hamptons regularly. Hence: Hamptons Marginalia, the first in a series of occasional dispatches from the anti-LES...

[Dramatic Drop Cap] It seems the chickens may finally be coming home to roost on the Playing Fields of the Lords out East. Though not a feud to rival photobloggers v. cam girls—yet—the the cosmic tension in the Hamptons these days between homeowners desperate to rent their empty houses and homeowners committed to making sure no one ever rents a house again is heating up. Naturally, we're watching with glee.


Consider: though the Hamptons housing market peaked in 2000, it boomed right on through last summer. Even now, most everything priced below $3 million that's got three of its four walls intact remains hot (though the media prefers the sexier high end places aren't selling story). Relying on the hyperconventional wisdom that real estate remains a safe place to park excess capital, buyers have snapped up Hamptons homes with abandon. But now, with another weak summer rental season well underway, some of those unrented houses are starting to look more like albatrosses to strapped owners. Editorializes the East Hampton Star this week:

Most anyone who drives, bikes, or otherwise meanders almost anywhere on the South Fork cannot help but be struck by the conspicuous number of "for rent" signs still on view....

Last week we reported that some landlords have resorted to short-term rentals as a way to partially salvage the season. Some property owners are getting desperate as the money they counted on to help cover debt payments and other costs of homeownership has not materialized. And the sense of urgency is not limited to individuals. A surprising development this year has been the appearance of glossy brochures advertising rentals. Normally, expensive fliers have been reserved for properties for sale. And it's not just on the periphery of the market: Unrented houses range from modest cottages to oceanfront mansions.

Let's start the day with some more Yankee fan introspection, shall we? The good folks over at nyyfans.com have stepped up to the plate, creating an entire forum for fans to reflect on the delightful Astros no-hitter of the Yanks at the Stadium last night. Sample posts:
· So this is what rock-bottom looks like? [nyyfans.com]
· Rick Down: Report To The Guillotine [nyyfans.com]
· Pete Munroe cheated! [nyyfans.com]

In a rare uptown foray, we were there too, enjoying what the inimtable AAP calls "the transformational effects of drinking wine like it is water." Uurp.
· Opera in the Park [601am.com]

SuperfutureCity promises "urban cartography for global shopping experts"—and delivers. Besides frequent updates about doings in NYC, Sydney and Tokyo (ex: "Dean und Deluca opens tonight in marunouchi Tokyo"), it's got great neighborhood maps. Here's their March 2003 take on What Matters on the LES:



It's even more fun when you compare and contrast with their estimation of the number of noteworthy things going on in the West Village:



Ahhh. So true.
· Superfuture New York [superfuture.com]
· Superfuture City [superfuture.com]

Technorati adds keyword search of its massive (360,000 strong) weblog database, a nice alternative to the excellent (if frisky) Daypop.
· Technorati Weblog Keyword Search [technorati.com]
· Announcing Technorati Keword Search [sifry.com]

A touching tale as old as the hills...
· An Interview with a Young Manhattanite Who Just Purchased a 1975 Dodge Dart to Fulfill an Old Dream [lasagnafarm.com]

Googling "William O'Shea" turns up one of the weirdest Google text ads we've seen to date. Come and find out! (Reload as necessary to display.)
· Google Search: "william o'shea" [google.com]

Hey, is that EndBoom-era cover boy William O'Shea, of the late lamented RedFilter, writing about Friendster for the very same publication that once enshrined him on its cover? Touching. Checking in at Redfilter.com for the first time in 24 months, we note that the site has morphed into... a directory of camera products. Further proof that you can't stop the joy.
· Six Degrees of Sexual Frustration [villagevoice.com]
· Photography Resources [redfilter.com]

As a Sox fan, there are few things more enjoyable in life than watching Yankee fans melt down.
· It's about time to start being realistic [nyyfans.com]
· Not giving up on Matsui, but... [nyyfans.com]
· Is Torre close to being fired? [nyyfans.com]

Dear God, Raines and Boyd resign, and, as the clock rings 11:16am, Sullivan and Kaus are not at their keyboards! Here at LS.com, we take small satisfaction that our stealth campaign to oust the Times hierarchy has at long last found success. UPDATE: MK, 2:45PM; AS, 3:16PM. Veeerry disappointing. MEANWHILE: Something scary to ponder [via Instapundit]
· The Howell-o-Meter [kausfiles.com]
· The Daily Dish [andrewsullivan.com]

Speaking of JCN, he kindly offered to let us purloin a photo from his site. The view, from the 20-something floor of an Astor Place-area apartment, looks towards the Lower East Side, flipping the script on our Surface Hotel perspective.

· Surface Hotel View [pith.org]
· East Village at Sunset [pith.org]

It has come to our attention that our pal JCN, he of the esteemed web presence pith.org, has launched a daily photo blog at jessechannorris.com (check out his archive). In other photoblog news, we've learned a happy secret about Eliot of Slower.net fame. (See this photo for a hint.)
· JesseChanNorris.com [jcn.com]
· Slower.net [slower.net]

Hey, as long as we're hanging around newyorkmetro.com, we'll read some other stories! For instance, an amusing take on the current club scene on the East End. After all, “You can’t have Nicky Hilton in the Hamptons wondering where to go out at night.” Also: If we get spammed one more time by Haven or the MTV Beach House, we're going to hurt somebody.
· The Boys of Summer [newyorkmetro.com]

Hilarious Simon Dumenco read in this week's New York on the bloggy art of almost reading:

In fact, I first became conscious of the faking-it phenomenon in regards to my own “content.” As a writer for this and other magazines, I find my stuff often gets linked to by assorted bloggers. Over the past year in particular, I’ve noticed more and more of my friends and colleagues saying things along the lines of “I saw you on Gawker” (Gawker.com, the Manhattan-centric and media-crazed white-hot blog du jour). There is, increasingly, no pretense of actually having read what I’ve written, or even having the intention to read what I’ve written. This is a qualitatively different declaration from the pre-blog-era “I saw your piece in New York”—which, if the person hadn’t read it yet, was always tinged with a mixture of guilt and faux anticipation, as expressed in a follow-up statement (“Haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but . . . ” or “Can’t wait to read it”).

Spent the weekend in Maine, where it mostly poured. "Won't be enough to help the drought," I was informed. Drought? After a spring in which the skies did nothing but proclaim their dream of a liquid world? Sure enough, as this cool animation makes clear, it's dry as day in the great New England northland.
· 12 Week U.S. Drought Monitor [via drudge]