THE CHUGGER INFESTATION
Donating to charities via those young, earnest-looking people who ask to speak with you about helping children or the ACLU is a terrible idea. They’re hired guns, and middlemen take a major chunk of the money.

SUGGESTION BOX: WHOLE FOODS TRIBECA
I asked what you wished Whole Foods would do differently, and you answered—I sent over the suggestions this morning.

RESTAURANTS IN THE WORKS
If I have a hard time keeping track of all the restaurants currently in development, then it must be near impossible for anyone less obsessive. So here’s a recap of what’s coming….

JAMES FRANCO, ARTIST
Actor James Franco’s first solo art exhibit, “The Dangerous Book Four Boys,” has opened at the Clocktower Gallery. Let’s take a peek, shall we…?

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
••• OLighting: “No one is offering the designers we are,” says founder Andrew Chris.
••• FasTracKids/Enopi: “As a Wall Street person, I know what it takes to be successful,” says owner Ilysa Winick.
••• Takahachi Bakery: “I wanted provide healthy, safe food,” says owner Hiroyuki Takahashi.
••• Mauri: “We have an international customer base,” said the manager, Robert. “Musicians, rap artists, athletes.”
••• Bit’z Kids: “I wanted the neighborhood feeling, the sense of community,” says manager Masako Chiba.
••• Imagine Swimming: “When we were starting out, we used to throw folding chairs in the water,” says co-founder Casey Barrett.

FAREWELL
• TAMA Gallery closes its store.

DISPATCHES FROM WICKIWORLD
••• Film crews? Just shoot me
••• Lai Montesca’s installation of bells
••• Tumbling down memory lane with Suellen Epstein
••• She Writes grows up
••• Scouting the Red Bull Air Race

WHAT SUP?
Now available from New York Kayak Co., stand-up paddleboarding (a.k.a. SUP) is like windsurfing without the sail—you stand on a board and propel yourself with a paddle. Or not, as I learned the wet way. Photo by Asha Agnish.

BEEKMAN STREET PALACE
The film location scout who also writes the Scouting New York blog got a peek inside 5 Beekman Street: “It’s completely empty, essentially abandoned, and has been for a decade, with much of the interior shuttered since 1940… Until now.”

FIRST IMPRESSION: IL MATTO
The restaurant is an idealized vision of downtown New York: white walls, black floor, street-art-ish paintings, servers in casual black and sneakers, tableware from MoMA’s design collection.

THE CSA CHRONICLES
Jolene Howard makes something delicious out of whatever has arrived in the CSA box….
••• Week #1: A hearty salad that incorporates kale, turnip greens, radishes, and scallions,
••• Week #2: Pesto, which you can freeze now and enjoy all summer.

GAGA GOES TRIBECA
Lady Gaga popped by Duane Park restaurant to hang out and sing a little Gershwin. Photographs by Malgorzata Saniewska.

THE TCQ&A
••• Wickham Boyle: “We used to close the streets for cookouts.”
••• Meredith Gonzalez: “We had our first date at Mr. Chow.”

FILLING IN THE BLANKS
A reader recently wrote in with a list of six types of shops she’d like to see in the neighborhood. With so many interesting storefronts empty, maybe we can inspire some new action around here….

RUMMAGING THE PAST
A bunch of old real-estate brochures are now available online, and many are in Tribeca. They make for a fascinating glimpse into the way things used to be.

THE ELECTRIC PENCIL
A glimpse of artwork—currently on semi-display at 16 Jay Street—by the mental-hospital patient who called himself the Electric Pencil.

SHOPPING THE NIGHT AWAY
Lauren Messner reports on the Tribeca Retail Club’s recent Summer Love event, where she scored a tunic for $40: “It reminded me of a Tory Burch style with less prep and more tribe.”