Gulp Friction
Angry East Villagers spurn cheap shiraz; Bruce Willis stars in absurd wine bar dramedy
MORE
Tales of Retail
Of all the new wine bars that have opened in Manhattan in recent months—a record 11 of them during the last Zagat survey alone—Bowery Wine Company at 13 East First Street has perhaps attracted the most vocal following.
“Die yuppie scum!” chanted protesters outside the small sipping spot last Friday night; many wielded placards: “EVICT WINE BARS SAVE THE EAST VILLAGE.”
At least some of the attention can be attributed to the venue’s location on the ground floor of the Avalon Bowery Place luxury apartment complex, one of several shiny new upscale buildings to pop up along the once downtrodden corridor.
But much of the buzz is because of the wine bar’s purported celebrity proprietor, the actor Bruce Willis.
Ever since the bald-headed star of Pulp Fiction and Die Hard reportedly hopped behind the bar one night this past April, the sleekly designed, roughly 1,700-square-foot venue has become a political lightning rod, with supporters and detractors repeatedly trading shots in the pages of the New York Post.
“We want to show our opposition to right-wing Republicans opening yuppie wine bars in our neighborhood,” spewed local lefty gadfly John Penley, who has even threatened to roast Mr. Willis in effigy in the form of a pig on a spit named Bruce.
Meanwhile, the New York Young Republican Club rushed to embrace the place, booking the wine bar for its monthly get-together; one member even threatened a full-scale yuppie invasion of the neighborhood: “We’re coming with briefcases and BlackBerrys in hand to stake our claim.”
Mr. Willis has publicly backed a number of GOP candidates over the years, most recently fellow actor Fred Thompson. He has, however, renounced his “Hollywood Republican” label,
So, how did the Emmy-winning star of Moonlighting wind up in the middle of the epic struggle over East Village gentrification?
Acting!
“Basically, he’s not really a partner,” confessed Bowery Wine Company co-owner Chris Sileo, one of two people whose names actually appear on the controversial wine bar’s liquor license (Mr. Willis not included).
“We’re old friends,” Mr. Sileo said of the famous action-film hero. “He lets me attach his name to the place to do me a favor because he knew it would help me. We just say he’s involved in the project.”
Given all the fuss stirred up by Mr. Willis’ supposed involvement in the place, however, Mr. Sileo might want to rethink his celebrity endorsement deal.
“I could do without it,” he said of all the recent hubbub. “I think most of it was because Bruce’s name was attached, and they saw an opportunity to get in the paper.
“I have no problem with activists,” he added. “But it is totally misdirected.”
Echoing the sentiments of fellow Bowery retailer John Varvatos—whose splashy opening of a trendy clothing store on the site of the hallowed CBGB rock club sparked similar demonstrations this past spring—Mr. Sileo said his small business is not responsible for the overall upscaling of the neighborhood.
Blame the landlords, he said; not the tenants: “If you want to direct it at Avalon, fine. But don’t direct it at some New York guy who happens to open a place in the Avalon. We could’ve easily opened down the block; we just opened there because it was a decent location and we got a decent rent.”
Mr. Sileo, 44, is perhaps most perturbed at being pegged as something he’s not, telling The New York Times amid last week’s brouhaha, “I’m more of a hippie than a Republican.”
Like many of his detractors, Mr. Sileo, too, yearns for Old New York: “What happened to the city that never sleeps?” he lamented to The Observer on Monday. “You know, I don’t understand these people putting so many restrictions on nightlife. New York is so based on nightlife. And nightlife is such an integral part of the economy. I understand if the nightclubs have shootings and stabbings. But other than that, I just don’t get it.”
The veteran restaurateur also ratcheted up his rhetoric toward his rivals: “I’m more of a New Yorker than any of these moron protesters.”
“My family’s ingrained in the bar business and in this city forever,” said Mr. Sileo, a Greenwich Village native whose father and grandfather once ran an old neighborhood watering hole called Luigi’s. Next Page >
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP-XA3_tfMA&feature=related
By unanimous vote, the Daniel D. Tompkins Society -- he's the Scarsdale native whose name adorns the park -- has decided to take up a collection to offer free baths to all members of Mr. Penley's group.
Many of us have noticed that several members of the angry group are, let us say, quite aromatic. We are also willing to offer free bars of soap to all those who agree to participate in the free bath program.
If this effort proves successful, we are also thinking of offering free dental work.
But first things first.
P.S. -- Bruce Willis is not a member of DDTS.
I must say this, and I say it as a former Lower East Side resident, back when it was funky as all get out but cool and cheap and wonderful.
Bruce Willis may have backed that douche bag Fred Thompson, been a partner in the unctuous Planet Hollywood chain, and made those really stoopid Die Hard movies... but when it comes to bars, he has my support.
He was the bartender who 86'd me from Cafe Central on Amsterdam Ave (the original) one night in the early '80s in the coolest way possible after I had a little run in with a guy I learned, from Bruce behind the bar, was the owner.
"Just finish your drink and go," he said with a friendly smile. "Come back next weekend and he won't even remember you."
And both before and after that night, he was the epitome of the cool, attentive and jovial bartender. I only later realized that the bartender was also the star Bruce Willis when a mutual friend said, "Hey, you must know Bruce. He used to bartend at Cafe Central...." Oh yeah... that was Bruce Willis.
So the "Die Yuppie Scum" protesters should be aware that Bruce was a part of NYC back when NYC was cool.
The first post says it all......First comes the bath so everyone can smell fresh, clean and identical. Secondly, the teeth all need to be evened and whitened about 3 shades too white so that EVERYONE will look the same and smell the same. That's what's SO wrong about this budding, materialistic society we've been told to embrace. It's happening and it ain't going away! The 21st century "Gilded Age" is upon us. Pretty soon, people who aren't perfect will be completely shunned like lepers used to be. It's a sad state, really.
Die Hard Yupppie Scum Coalition sez:
ON 11 August at 8pm at 47 E. 3rd we will be sponsoring a "Let Them Eat Cake" protest against devil landlord Economakis who wants to evict all his tenants and clear the building for his own personal luxury tenement-mansion. Economakis sez "let them eat cake," LES sez "Let Him Eat Shit." Since Mr. Sileo has offered us free pizza next time we come back to his establishment, we plan to take him up on his kind offer. Let them eat pizza. We suggest he make a lotta pies, 'cuz we expect a huge turnout.