LIQUOR-LICENSE UPGRADE: DUANE STREET HOTEL

LIQUOR-LICENSE APPLICATION: 92 LAIGHT
The applicant requested a layover.

LIQUOR-LICENSE APPLICATION: 106 DUANE
New owners of the deli on Duane between Broadway and Church would like to sell beer—or maybe the deli already does and they just want patrons to be able to drink it in the upstairs seating area; it was hard to tell. The request had been approved in September but someone messed up and missed a deadline, so the SLA made the deli refile. With a closing time of 9 p.m., no one objected. Vote: 6-0, 4-0.

SIDEWALK-CAFÉ PERMIT: INDUSTRIA ARGENTINA
No one from the restaurant showed, so it’ll have to wait a month. Oops.

STREET-PERMIT APPLICATIONS: CERCLE ROUGE AND CITY KIDS FOUNDATION
The restaurant on West Broadway between Beach and White would like to have its Bastille party again—on Wednesday, July 14—and while one board member refuses to forgive the restaurant for its “runaround” maneuver vis-à-vis a sidewalk café permit, the majority found little reason to object, perhaps because the committee chair kicked off the discussion with “My friends at Cercle Rouge! That was the best party in the neighborhood! Great party!” Anyway, it’s just for a few hours. The committee voted 5-0 with one abstainee, and the public members voted 2-0-2. (What is the point of abstaining if you’re not recusing yourself?) As for City Kids, it got unanimous permission to host its block party—on Leonard between Church and West Broadway—on Sunday, May 2, for a celebration of young people’s art.

THE MAIN EVENT: 20/20 VS. BRICK VS. WARREN AND MURRAY STREET RESIDENTS
I don’t have the emotional energy to relive the bout. Basically, 20/20 has been trying to be better about the noise, and achieving some success. Brick’s owner (top right, standing) seems to have gotten the message that he can’t just let any promoter in town throw a party (he admitted that when times got tough, he had no choice). Local residents didn’t exactly show up in droves, which was too bad, because with each owner blaming the other, no one could really say with authority what was what. Brick’s liquor license comes up for renewal in July, and one committee member stated very clearly that the SLA has empowered community boards in recent years and Brick’s owner would be wise to respect its neighbors. Several public members seemed to believe what the SLA told me back in February, which is that a restaurant’s private room must abide by the same restrictions as the main room (I was also told that if the private room is open the main room must be, too). Moreover, the restaurant’s liquor license allows for background music, and when asked what kind of music was being played, the owner said his neighbor and he had worked something out, which is not quite answering the question. But no one knew for sure. (Just a thought: If the SLA is going to empower community boards, perhaps it should make its rules crystal clear or have a representative attend the meetings.)

PARKING-REGULATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE
A committee member proposed creating a subcommittee to review the parking regulations in the neighborhood, in an effort to get out in front of the Department of Transportation; CB2 evidently has done this with some success. He is suggesting a combination of alternate-side parking, loading and unloading zones for trucks, and metered parking. Everyone agreed that the governmental agencies take up too much space. The unanswerable question was whether anything CB1 could do would make them—one of which is the Department of Transportation—change their behavior.

••• Grown & Sewn’s pants are now being sold at Barneys. Congrats are in order!

••• Warren 77 delivers (it may have before, but I only just discovered it, so I’m passing it on). The delivery zone is Vesey to Beach, Broadway to the river (note to Warren 77: it’s Greenwich, not Greenwish).

••• Moomah will now be open till 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Plus: Spring class sign-up is on; classes start Apr. 12.

••• The next Tribeca Meet & Greet is Monday, Mar. 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Tribeca Community School.

••• Torly Kid’s relaunch party is tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: “The evening will include a raffle where we will give away a $100 gift certificate at Torly Kid, photo shoots or photos with Ana Schecter, and a book written by Alycea Ungaro at Real Pilates!”

Interested in advertising? Email tribecacitizen@gmail.com

••• Blue Coyote Theater Group is getting great notices for Glee Club: ”Jokes and wisecracks ricochet throughout Glee Club with such rapid-fire force that audiences risk mental whiplash.” —Time Out New York

••• In 2010, Open House New York will be Oct. 9 and 10. “We encourage you to recommend a space, place or an interior of architectural, design or historical interest that the public can visit for free during OHNY Weekend.” Staple Street bridge! Email: info@ohny.org.

••• As per a comment from the festival’s founder, anyone interested in attending LuckyRice’s Morimoto karaoke-andsake event (which I wrote about a few days ago) should sign up for the festival’s newsletters, which is how ticket info will be released.

••• “Synagogue for the Arts is pleased to offer a group second seder for Tuesday night March 30th. The dinner will be catered and will be offered for a fee of $75 for adults and $35 for children 5-13, under 5 are for free. Services that evening will begin at 7:00pm and the seder will get underway by 8:00pm. We need your reservations by Wednesday March 24th!”

Got news? Email it to tribecacitizen@gmail.com

If you’re thinking of doing some spring cleaning—and you might as well, what with rain forecast from Friday to Monday—consider getting rid of some of that fabulous clothing that you never wear anymore. No, don’t just get rid of it: Put it to work.

Yesterday, I watched as Tania Anthony (right), founder of the online consignment shop Resale-Riches, met with a potential client. (She visits the homes of people with a lot of good stuff to sell, but to make life easier, she has begun holding “office hours” for people with only an item or two at locations around Tribeca. Yesterday’s was at Cass Lilien’s jewelry shop at 24 Harrison.) The item in question was a Louis Vuitton garment bag. Its owner had done her homework: She researched when it was probably made (late 70s, maybe early 80s), what similar items go for on eBay ($850), and what a new model costs ($2,300).

They pored over the bag, admiring its details and discussing whether it could be a sophisticated fake. Anthony will do more research when she gets home—to verify its authenticity, and also to determine what an appropriate price would be. Anthony’s commission depends on what the item ends up selling for: Anything under $249 earns the seller 60 percent of the price; $250–$499 earns 65 percent; $500–$999 earns 70 percent; and anything $1,000 and up gets the seller 80 percent. (The bag’s owner said she’s hoping to sell it for $1,000, which Anthony later told me seemed about right, at least from her first impression.) The seller must agree to leave it online for 120 days, after which he or she can take it back at any time.

Eight hundred bucks for a bag you never use? With that kind of money, you can hire someone to do the rest of your spring cleaning.

Tania Anthony is at Cass Lilien’s on Tuesdays and Alycea Ungaro’s Real Pilates on Mondays and Fridays; consultations are by appointment only. If your closet is a trove of amazing merch, get in touch with her via resale-riches.com and she’ll arrange a time to swing by.

••• The New York Times looks at the city’s coffee revolution, citing Kaffe 1668, La Colombe Torrefaction, Moomah in its top 30. RBC gets mentioned in the online map: Known for its Slayer machine, it “should be known for its Vietnamese coffee.”

••• Also in the NYT: Food writer Melissa Clark—love her column—tweaks Karen DeMasco’s recipe for milk chocolate panna cotta.

••• When opportunity knocks: “Senator Daniel Squadron said he would introduce a new bill today that would force the Department of Education to give community leaders more information before they sit down to draw new zoning lines.” (GothamSchools)

••• According to the Niles Daily Star—I don’t know either—at one point in her life, Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow “lived in a tough Tribeca neighborhood and made money fixing loft spaces with Philip Glass, who drove cabs by day and performed by night.”

••• “City funding for the free after-school program that serves 200 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students at I.S. 89 has been eliminated, effective September of this year. If nothing changes, the program, which is operated by Manhattan Youth, will shut down this June and not re-open.” (Broadsheet Daily)

••• “Penthouse A at Tribeca’s 62 Beach Street wanted $12.1 million for its 5BR, 4BA, two-terrace duplexity when it first came on the market in June 2007, but there were no takers. When it left the market in August ‘08, the price had been chopped all the way down to $8.95 million. The property returned just last month with a more photogenic listing and a 6 percent cut to $7.95 million, about 34 percent lower than the initial asking price. And somewhere out there was a buyer with the magic number, because the property is now listed as in contract.” (Curbed)

••• “Sebastian Ceria and Alicia Zorrilla Ceria bought a three-bedroom, 2.5-bath condo at 92 Warren St. from Thomas Laffont for $3.4 million on Feb. 2. The 2,845-square-foot Unit #6 (5E) is in the 92 Warren St. development, which was built in 1920. Dr. Ceria is the chief executive officer of Axioma Inc., a company that provides solutions to financial engineering problems, creating tools to help portfolio managers implement their investment strategies. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on optimization.” (Blockshopper)

In 1984, Jeff Tabak saw an Orville Redenbacher commercial with the slogan, “Do one thing…. Do it best.” So, in launching his real-estate brokerage, he decided to focus on Tribeca—and what’s more, he named his company Tabak Is Tribeca. “My dream was for everyone in Tribeca to know about my company,” he says. If watching him greet by name every other person who walks by his Reade Street office is any indication, he’s well on his way.

How long have you lived in Tribeca?
I lived here in 1980 for one year, and moved back in 1994.

Which restaurant do you frequent most often?
Max, Edward’s, Gee Whiz, Roc, and Walker’s.

Which restaurant do you tend to go to for special occasions?
Nobu and Tribeca Grill.

Where do you order in (or get takeout) from? Are there dishes you always order?
I take out from Gigino (left), Roc, and Gee Whiz. Yes, salad, chicken, and pasta are my favorites.

Which shop do you find it hard to resist popping into when you pass by?
I always like to stop into Cheryl Hazan Gallery on North Moore, and until they closed, Tribbles and Times 3.

What was the last non-essential item you bought in Tribeca?
The last non-essential item was frames, from Steven Amedee, for watercolors I bought from a street vendor in Soho.

Where do you always take out-of-towners?
We tour the neighborhood and look at the architecture, and of course the Hudson River Park in nice weather.

Which neighborhood building do you wish you lived in and/or owned?
I wish I lived in the Woolworth Building, but it’s not residential.

What’s your favorite part of Tribeca (street, park, whatever)?
I love Duane Park, Bogardus Park, Washington Market Park, and the Esplanade.

Your most memorable Tribeca celebrity sighting?
My most memorable Tribeca sighting was Jackie Kennedy Onassis, around 20 years ago. She shook my hand and was very gracious.

If you could change one thing about the neighborhood, what would it be?
I’d put the sawdust back on the floor of Morgan’s Market.

What’s changed in Tribeca that you like? That you don’t?
It’s great to have the services and the growth has been wonderful, but sometimes I miss the days of vacant warehouses, deserted streets and store fronts, empty lots, and open fields.

Why Tribeca?
I worked on a conversion of an office building on Warren Street in 1980, fell in love with the physical spaces, and said someday I’m going to live in Tribeca in a loft—and 14 years later, I did. ”

Previous TCQ&A’s:
• Kimberly Reed: “My Puppy Would Not Stop Sniffing Ed Burns”
• Hanne Larsen and Melanie Zrihen: “We Wrote Our Business Plan at Kaffe 1668”
• Christy Frank: “I Wish Tribeca Had a Really Great Cheese Shop”
• Carrie Loewenthal: “I Order the Kid-Size Pastas at Max”
• Cate Bruce-Low: “I Grilled Liev Schrieber”

Know someone who should be next? Email tribecacitizen@gmail.com!

From left: Donna Marotta, with her grandmother, Marie Moretti, and mother, Eleanor Marotta

“My grandmother was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma last April,” says Tribeca resident Donna Marotta. “No one in my family had had cancer before—particularly one we’d never heard of. My grandmother had eleven children, and it was devastating for everybody.” Marotta became the advocate for her grandmother, talking to doctors on her behalf. As she learned about Multiple Myeloma—a painful cancer of the bone, it has no cure but it is treatable—she discovered the International Myeloma Foundation. And that’s when she realized that the only way to work toward a cure was to raise money. With two friends, Nicole Bennett and Melanie Lawley, she started Tribecans for the Fight Against Myeloma and began organizing a benefit, “A Night of Wellness and Beauty.” Marotta, whose background is in the beauty industry, got in touch with people about donating time and products: Skincare expert Yona Gonen, Urban Nutrients‘ Marie Dulev, and celebrity manicurist Elisa Ferri will speak at the event; SkinCeuticals, Arbonne, Estée Lauder, Equinox, and Lisa Stewart Jewelry are among the companies that have made donations for the auction and the goodie bags. The benefit, which will be held March 16 at 7 p.m. at 50 Murray, requires a $25 donation and is limited to 30 people. “We’re starting small,” says Marotta.

For more information on ”A Night of Wellness and Beauty,” see online.myeloma.org/netcommunity/tribecansforthefightagainstmyeloma.

Poking around on  the Internet, I found that Lion D’Or retails for about $13, the Tsantali Athiri is about $7, the Tsantali Rapsani is about $10, and I couldn’t find the Lazaridis Merlot 2006 anywhere. As discounts go, it’s not nothing, but it’s not 30 percent off your meal (as is often the case on Blackboard Eats). To get the deal, you have to sign up at Blackboard Eats.

I SAW A SIGN
Franklin Café is getting closer to opening in the old Franklin Station Café space. According to the sign, it’ll serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

TONIGHT AND BEYOND
••• Tonight is book night in Tribeca: Pen Parentis’s monthly salon is tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., featuring Austin Ratner (The Jump Artist) and Julie Metz (Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal). Meanwhile, at 6:30 p.m., David Gordon will read from The Serialist at Mysterious Bookshop. And over at Barnes & Noble Tribeca, Danielle Trussoni reads from Angelology at 7 p.m.
••• “An amazing action movie shot on the sly for $55,000,” Die Bad (2000) screens tonight at Tribeca Cinemas, presented by the Korean Cultural Service.
••• Maslow 6 hosts “Pairing Food and and Wine like a Sommelier” tonight at 6:30 p.m. ($45). And tomorrow at City Winery, Maslow 6’s Mollie Battenhouse leads a “Women in Wine World Wine Tour.”
••• Later in the week: Evan Mandery, author of First Contact, or, It’s Later Than You Think, reads at Barnes & Noble Tribeca (Wednesday, Mar. 10, 7 p.m.); and tomorrow at 6:30 p.m., Thomas Kaufman reads from Drink the Tea at Mysterious Bookshop.

A FAVOR
If you’re a fan of Tribeca Citizen on Facebook—and if you’re not, why not?—please log on to Facebook right now, go to Tribeca Citizen’s page, look for “Suggest to Friends” (that capital F is very Quaker!) on the left, and click on it. You can then choose whom you’ll recommend Tribeca Citizen to. I need to get the word out to Tribecans, and your doing this will really help. ¡Gracias!

IN THE NEWS
••• Two local Corcoran brokers try to help P.S. 234 and get slapped down by the PTA. (Curbed)
••• Unsurprisingly, Tribeca fares well in the Kids section of New York magazine’s “Best of New York” issue: Moomah (left) wins for top playspace, while Tribeca Cinemas Kids Club wins best movie series. (I haven’t made it through the rest of the issue yet, but I did spot SoulCycle’s name….)
••• A new hotel is proud to be right next to the WTC site. (NPR, via Broadsheet Daily)

When Carol Adams launched Babylicious in 2004, the shop carried clothing for kids up to 24 months old. As her customers—or rather, their kids—grew up, Babylicious began stocking up to size 4, then size 6, and then a year and a half ago, size 8. Consequently, the name Babylicious no longer seemed appropriate. “We grew out of it,” she says. “Twice a day, I would hear people walk by and say to their kids, ‘That store is for babies, we’re not going in.’”

So it was time for a change. First, the shop needed a new name—looking homeward for inspiration, Adams combined her daughters’ names, Tori and Carly, into one word: Torly. And because by fall she’ll be stocking up to size 10 for boys and 14 for girls, she added a subtitle: The store’s new full name is Torly Kid—Tot to Tween. (But you can call it Torly Kid.)

Given that she was changing the name and expanding the inventory, Adams figured she might as well reinvent the store entirely. Her kids are “animal fanatics,” she says, so she chose a safari theme, decorating the walls with lion and tiger artwork and installing a giraffe-print curtain—it’s almost as tall as an actual giraffe—to function as a changing room. A Tribeca resident for 10 years now, she made a point of using a lot of local businesses, including Sign Expo and Tribeca Upholstery (for that giraffe-print curtain); friend and neighbor Alycea Ungaro helped with the designing the space and recommending a web designer.

The store looks great, and richer with merchandise (not to mention the toys, infants’ clothing, gift baskets, and party favors that Babylicious was known for). Adams, too, seems invigorated by all the change. “When I first opened, everything was a little cut-and-paste,” she says. “Now it’s a real enterprise, with a real focus.” She’s even been thinking about designing a line of clothing. “I’ve been working with an L.A.-based company called Lunchbox, selling its stuff and learning about M&D.”

But first, there’s a relaunch party to attend to. It’ll be tomorrow—Wednesday, March 10—from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and you’re invited. (Thalassa, over on Franklin, will be catering it.) And even though it’s Torly Kid’s party, you’re the one getting the gift: From now through the end of March, anyone who mentions Tribeca Citizen gets 10 percent off.

Torly Kid—Tot to Tween is at 51 Hudson (bet. Thomas and Duane), 212-406-7440, torlykid.com.

All photos but the last one are by Ana Schecter, who also shoots portraits of children—one she did of Adams’s daughters posing on Chambers Street is hanging above Torly Kid’s cash register.

About the author: “Buzzer 22″ is a new column by Ghislaine van Loosbroek Viñas, who was born in the Netherlands, schooled in South Africa, and has called Tribeca home for 20 years. Her firm, Ghislaine Viñas Interior Design, has been designing residential and commercial spaces—half of them in Tribeca—since 2000; it’s located at the corner of Vestry and West. (Want to guess which buzzer is hers?) She also blogs for Interior Design.