New plan! I’m shooting to publish newsletters on Fridays and Mondays. Feedback? Tribecacitizen@gmail.com. And if you enjoy this, please consider passing it along to at least one person.

SHOPPING TILL I DROP
I have been working the neighborhood over, looking for the creamiest gift ideas in the crop and compiling 2009 Buy-Local Gift Guide to Hudson; Lispenard, Walker, White, and Church; Broadway, Canal, Jay, and Thomas; and Greenwich. How important is it to shop locally? I was talking to Carol Faber-Adams, owner of Babylicious, about the concept and she told me how last year she and four or five other retailers banded together to promote themselves; Babylicious is the sole survivor. Come on, Tribecans! Do your duty!

COMING
••• Albert Trummer of the Chinatown bar Apotheke wants to transform 114 Franklin, the former site of Grace, into a swanky cocktail lounge showcasing a “gourmet cocktail food concept.” More here.
••• Something called Barzinho is taking over the pretty-on-the-inside space that was briefly J Marc, a Korean restaurant (225 West Broadway, bet. White and Franklin).
••• A Uno has soft-opened its annex, in what used to be Lance Lappin’s shop.

GOING
••• The Soda Shop and Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners.

UNOFFICIAL MINUTES
For the Unofficial Minutes from Wednesday’s meeting of the Tribeca Committee of Community Board 1—including more on Albert Trummer’s plans to revamp what was Grace, Biddy Early’s attempts to reform, the Port Authority’s allowing small trucks to pass eastbound through the Holland Tunnel, and Taste of Tribeca—go here.

YOU SPIN ME ROUND
“As we marched, I was moving farther from anything transcendent, and I realized I’d never be able to whirl. You have to be able to leave yourself somehow, and I was stuck in a grouchy moment; I was spiraling, but downward. No one, including me, could remember the steps or the rhythm, and trying to follow along was like listening to people clap off the beat. It hurt.” Read more on my aborted attempt at whirling like a dervish at the Sufi center on West Broadway.

THIS WEEKEND
••• Some good movies are opening in the area today, including Invictus and A Single Man. Our full rundown is here.
••• Saturday marks the start of the ARChive of Contemporary Music’s holiday record and CD sale (through Dec. 20).
••• Saturday at 1:30, The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favorites is at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center ($25); the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia’s production uses black light to create some magic.
••• The Zaba/Jade’s Toy Box pop-up shop at N. Moore and Varick is offering what might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: You can have portraits of your child taken with 20 x 24 Studio’s 20 x 24 Polaroid camera (it’s one of only six in the world, and Polaroid has discontinued making the film). Sessions run through Monday, Dec. 14. Reservations are essential: angelique@jadestoybox.com or 917-349-5107.
••• Kiva Cafe is taking donations of new toys, books, or clothing for the Harlem Children’s Zone on Saturday and Sunday; donors receive a $2 Kiva gift card.

COMING TO COLLECT
We got a tantalizing look at what’s to come at Collect Pond Park. Bordered by Lafayette, Centre, the New York City Civil Court (or what would be Franklin if it went through), and a parking lot, it’s one of the grimmest public areas in Lower Manhattan. The full renovation (and expansion), funded by the LMDC, is set to start in July, 2010, and is projected to last a year.

AROUND THE WEB
••• Food-and-wine consultant Rafael Mateo dismisses much of the Tribeca dining scene on his blog, introducing us to the horrifying term “Triburbia.”
••• The New Yorker’s legal expert, Jeffrey Toobin, drops into Edward’s for Cincinnati-style chili.
••• A new school-zoning plan seems to be making parents happier (Tribeca Trib).
••• The New York Times notices a Muslim prayer space near Ground Zero.
••• Curbed takes a look at the “maisonette” units on Truffles Tribeca’s courtyard.
••• Babesta Cribz is selling lots of a new gadget that allows people to attach a cell phone (so they can text) to a stroller (New York Daily News)
••• Village Voice critic Robert Sietsema reviews Trattoria Cinque.
••• NY Waterway is doing something about the ferry noise problem (Broadsheet Daily).
••• Tribeca Trib reports on a crackdown on 29 Canal Street vendors allegedly selling counterfeit goods.
••• For more along these lines, see Tribeca Citizen’s “News Roundups” from the past week: Dec. 7, Dec. 8, Dec. 9, and Dec. 10.

STEALS AND DEALS
Egg by Susan Lazar, a line of kidswear and maternity clothing, is holding a sample sale for the next week and a half. ••• Tribeca Spa of Tranquility’s December specials include a $99 package—with body scrub, mani/pedi, and reflexology—that’s usually $180. ••• And Euphoria Spa has put together a $125 Stress Relief Pamper Package—with Swedish massage, facial, and paraffin hand-dip—that retails for around $225.

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