Downtown Alliance President Elizabeth Berger at the opening of the Anne Frank Center USA in Lower Manhattan.

The Downtown Alliance’s Kelly Rush fills us in on what’s opening and closing

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, one of my favorite days of the year, an Irish blessing for you: May the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may your teenagers stay busy, may the road rise up to meet you and may you always find parking when you reach your destination. As usual, if you see any new retailers or spot changes to a longtime friend, please email me at tre@downtownny.com and I’ll check them out.

7eventytwo, 72 Warren St. (betw. W. Broadway & Greenwich St.), www.7eventytwo.org

Teenagers are known for a few things, and boredom is one of them. The Church Street School for Music and Art is taking that untapped energy and channeling it into creative endeavors that promise to enrich and enliven teens’ free hours. 7eventytwo is a drug- and alcohol-free zone that offers a variety of activities that promote learning and creative expression in a fun, safe environment. Events include battles of the bands, film screenings, figure drawing and open-studio Saturdays. Workshops provide instruction on everything from digital cameras and music video production to fiber sculpture.

Woodrow’s, 43 Murray St. (betw. W. Broadway & Church Sts.), www.woodrowsnyc.com

Glenn Garmont has got a good thing going. He and his wife Erin, who own Woodrow’s, are exactly where they want to be: in the middle of a neighborhood poised for growth with a bar whose popularity is already exceeding their hopes. “We haven’t been open even two weeks and things are better than expected,” Garmont said. Woodrow’s fills a void in the area for a casual, homey watering hole that offers great food without being too expensive. The owners have completed extensive renovations on the space to include a downstairs whiskey bar with comfortable couches and decorative touches that make you feel like you’ve come home‑except nicer and with the option of your own personal bartender. Come for an after-work drink or make it your home for St. Patrick’s Day; on offer is an Irish breakfast with black and white pudding, Irish bacon, eggs and toast, or enjoy an entrée like corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie, Guinness beef stew or a corned beef sandwich.

Europan Diner Café, 125 Fulton St. (betw. Nassau & Williams Sts.), www.europandiner.com

Europan has several locations throughout the city, but now we only have to travel to Fulton to get a taste of variety on a budget. The selection here is huge, but don’t be daunted by all your choices. To ease navigation, the choices at Europan Diner Café are split into several (OK, more than several) categories: egg platters, omelet options, breads and bagels, appetizers, salads, sandwiches, vegetarian wraps, regular wraps, paninis, sauté dishes, risotto dishes, “quesadilla corner” and cakes, pies and pastries. If those choices aren’t enough, a few other options are available, such as shakes, smoothies and gourmet coffees.

Quik Park, 95 Wall St. (betw. Water & Front Sts.), www.quikparkgarages.com

Finding a parking space in Lower Manhattan‑ really, in any part of the city‑can be a quest even Odysseus would find challenging. This lot is open 24 hours a day and conveniently located at Wall and Water, within easy walking distance of the South Street Seaport, Staten Island Ferry, Battery Park and the shopping and commercial centers around Wall Street.

Anne Frank Center USA, 44 Park Pl. (at Church St.), www.annefrank.com

The museum honoring one of the most recognizable and influential Holocaust victims, Anne Frank, officially opened its doors and held an opening celebration March 15. The center promotes a message of tolerance and respect and uses Anne Frank’s diary and life to share her legacy with the world.

Closings:

Icon Parking, 95 Wall St.

Digi Prints Inc. 176 Broadway

The Bread Factory Café, 125 Fulton St.

Sunny’s Deli, 11 Park Pl.

New York Family Magazine’s Highlight Reel For What To Do This Weekend

Contributor: Meghan Gearino

Scattered with a few St. Patrick’s Day picks (just be sure to don some green duds) between here and Brooklyn—plus, a ducky musical debuting at the New Victory—this weekend is sure to lucky. It’s choosing that’s the hardest part of all!  

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

Great for young birds4 to 8 years old—the New Victory Theater’s premiere of the musical Lucky Duck brims with themes of self-confidence and acceptance. (Tip: Don’t miss the ticket giveaway!)

The fourth annual Focus 2012 exhibition on the Upper West Side spotlights a wide array of children’s artwork, through mediums like animation and photography.

Check out the ha-ha-hilarious family clown show, That Beautiful Laugh, at La MaMa featuring comedy and live music.

To read the full weekend calendar check out our Family Calendar.

HOSPITAL APPOINTS LGBT HEALTH LEADER
Beth Israel Medical Center announced this week the appointment of nationally recognized LGBT health expert Barbara E.Warren, PsyD, as director of its newly established LGBT Health Services program.
Warren will work to develop partnerships between the hospital and local LGBT organizations and continue to advance Beth Israel’s nationally recognized efforts to meet the health care needs of New York’s LGBT community in a respectful and compassionate environment.
“Beth Israel Medical Center has embraced a unique opportunity to lead the way in establishing and sustaining LGBT affirmative hospital-based and outpatient care,” Warren said in a statement.
Warren served most recently for two years as director of the Center for LGBT Social Services and Public Policy at Hunter College. Prior to that she served for almost 20 years in progressively responsible positions at the LGBT Community Center in the West Village, the last seven as director of government relations, planning and research. She also consults on a number of federal, state and citywide initiatives to eliminate LGBT health disparities and to establish health equity throughout the health care system.
One of Warren’s principal assignments in her new position at Beth Israel will be to develop and implement ongoing, in-house educational programs to ensure that the hospital staff is attuned to the particular health care needs of the LGBT community.

UES RAPIST SENTENCED TO 22 YEARS IN PRISON
Kentrel Whitaker, 33, was sentenced this week for the assault and attempted rape of a 73-year-old woman on the Upper East Side. Whitaker attacked the victim last summer as she was walking on the East River promenade near East 111th Street at 6:40 a.m. He approached her from behind, threw her to the ground and hit her repeatedly before attempting to rape her. A passerby helped tear Whitaker away from his victim, but police were still able to collect DNA evidence they used to achieve a conviction. Whitaker was sentenced to 22 years in prison, followed by 15 years of post-release supervision.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY AT CARNEGIE HALL
This Saturday, March 17, Carnegie Hall will host a St. Patrick’s Day concert featuring Irish band The Chieftains with Paddy Moloney accompanied by folk-rock band The Low Anthem. The six-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble will be performing as part of their Voices of the Ages 50th anniversary tour. As Ireland’s musical ambassadors, The Chieftans are credited with bringing traditional Irish music to the world’s attention. The event will take place in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at 8 p.m. Tickets are from $29 to $88, and are available by calling 212-247-7800 or visiting carnegiehall.org or the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 W. 57th St.

SENIOR ROUNDTABLE ON CARETAKING
The next session of State Sen. Liz Krueger’s senior roundtable discussions will be held Thursday, March 22 from 8-10 a.m. at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. The topic, “Beginning the Conversation: Redefining Aging and How We Care for our Elders,” will cover how seniors can begin asking questions about their future care and planning who might be able to help care for them if the time arises when they need assistance.

Ahigial Lee Zhou plays chess at the P.S. 6 Chess Tournament 2012 on March 11.

Alice Fisher, Krueger’s community outreach director, and Frederic Riccardi, director of programs and outreach at the Medicare Rights Center, will be on hand to lead the discussion and answer questions. A light breakfast will be served. 331 E. 70th St. RSVP required at 212-490-9535 or by emailing doremann@gmail.com.

GROCERY STORE AIDS TORNADO VICTIMS
All Fairway locations are continuing a donation and matching drive through this Sunday, March 18 to aid those affected by recent violent storms in the Midwest. At any Fairway in the city (the Upper East Side store is at 240 E. 86th St.), customers can make cash donations of $1, $3 or $5 or purchase a case of water to aid families devastated by the tornadoes that ripped through Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Nebraska and Missouri. Fairway will match all money donated up to $25,000 and coordinate shipping truckloads of water, canned goods and other nonperishable items to distribution centers in the affected states.

CATHEDRAL HIGH STUDENT VIES FOR POETRY PRIZE
Cathedral High School student Dionne Muyalde is among the top 10 finalists in the Poetry for Peace contest, a competition that has used the power of social media to gauge the power of student poetry. The contest asked students to respond to the stories of atomic bomb survivors from Japan, known as hibakusha, by writing verse poems. In the monthlong competition, 741 poems were submitted and people voted for their favorites on social media sites.
Muyalde’s poem, entitled “Hiroshima Hibakusha,” was selected as a finalist based on criteria, including the poem’s connection to a hibakusha testimony, its relaying a message of peace, the structure of the verse, the overall impact of the poem and the number of “likes” the poem received.

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*As the Go-To Mom, Kimberley Clayton Blaine has popularized “emotion coaching,” which favors empathy and relationship-building to address classic childhood challenges like tantrums and going to sleep. Learn how you can better help your child manage their emotions and take advantage of some local guidance in our interview with Blaine: “Peaceful Parenting.” Also, you have a chance to win Blaine’s book as part of this special giveaway!

*Theatergoers, rejoice! Broadway is expected to score big with adults and kids alike this spring. Whether your child is athletic (check out Magic/Bird) or a fairytale fanatic (try Peter and the Starcatcher), here’s a taste of what’s about to hit the stage, plus tips on where to buy discount tix.

Mad River Bar & Grille
1442 3rd Ave. (betw. 81st & 82nd Sts.), 212-988-1832
Mad River Bar & Grille will begin the festivities at 9 a.m., serving “Kegs and Eggs,” which includes bacon, eggs, bagels and beer! After noon, the real party starts; Bushmills whiskey shots will be $3 and green St. Patty’s Day shots will cost $5. The day will also be complimented by waitresses serving jello shots.

A shamrock sculpted into the foam of a Guinness pint

Swig Bar
1629 2nd Ave. (betw. 84th & 85th Sts.), 212-628-2364
Swig Bar is a down-to-earth pub and restaurant on the Upper East Side where soccer games on TV and good cooking are the norm. Besides a massive selection of Irish beers, Swig caters to those looking to enjoy delicacies such as homemade shepherd’s pie, $12, or the restaurant’s own Swig ale-battered cod and chips.

McKeown’s
1303 3rd Ave. (betw. 74th & 75th Sts.), 212-452-2011
McKeown’s on the Upper East Side is the place to be if you’re looking for a night of great Irish cooking. The dishes range from Gaelic steak, a 12-oz. sirloin coated in peppercorns, pan-seared with mushrooms and onions in a Jameson Irish whiskey sauce and served with a choice of potatoes or rice and steamed vegetables, to Irish-style chicken curry, chicken breast and fresh veggies cooked in an Irish curry sauce served over white rice. McKeown’s is definitely the place to check out if you’re looking for a taste of true Irish culture.

The Parlour
250 W. 86th St. (betw. Broadway & West End Ave.), 212-580-8923
This traditional Irish pub and restaurant is hosting St. Patrick’s Day Week. Thursday, March 15 is “St. Paddy’s Beer Pong Mania,” with 10 full tables of beer pong and a $10 burger and beer special. Friday will have a corned beef sandwich and beer special for $12, coupled with a U2 tribute band warm up later that night. On Saturday, The Parlour’s kitchen will open up at 8 a.m. to serve up a traditional Irish breakfast. Following that will be a live rugby game at 1 p.m., Ireland vs. England, sure to heighten the fighting Irish spirit. At 3 p.m. will be Thirsty Paddy’s Irish Rebel band, followed by Ultra Violet. Saturday night, the U2 tribute band will play for all you drunken Irishfolk ’til the wee hours, then on Sunday morning you can nurse your hangover with another round of Irish breakfast at 8 a.m. during the Paddy’s Sendoff. At 10 a.m. that day will be the Scottish Communities Cup Final, Celtic vs. Kilmarnock. Right after the game will be a live stream of The Druids, a four-piece Irish rebel band, performing in Ireland.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade that takes over Fifth Avenue has been around longer than the United States itself; it began 251 years ago, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through Lower Manhattan.

“The massive parades started after the Civil War,” said William Hurley, the library and archive curator at the American Irish Historical Society. “If you look at [the] period, that was really when the people who had been oppressed came to more power. The Irish became a cohesive voting bloc.” Political dissidents in Ireland like Daniel O’Connell, who fought for Irish independence from Great Britain in the early 19th century, also spurred increased interest in Irish heritage across the pond and made parades more popular in America.

While the grand parade is run by a Catholic organization, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, other elements of an American St. Patrick’s Day have evolved far beyond religious roots.

“There’s always been a battle between the religious and the secular. It is a saint’s day, but it’s become a much bigger thing, really,” said Ray O’Hanlon, editor of the Irish Echo. “By all means, have a party, but I think the basis of that holiday is spiritual in origin.”

And what of the daylong drinking fests that seem to engulf the city streets? Many Irish people shudder at the representation of their history in slurred speech and sloppy antics, and point out that it’s Americans who have infused the day with special alcoholic meaning.

“When I was growing up in Dublin, we had a day off school. If you were Catholic, you went to Mass. It was a very low-key day, in fact,” said O’Hanlon. “In a way, Ireland is oddly mimicking America now; the celebration has become much more American in that regard.”

Copious drinking and the promotion of concoctions like the “Irish car bomb” are largely generated by bars to make money and don’t really tie in to any Irish traditions. Car bombs, legend has it, were invented by a bartender in Connecticut in the 1970s who noticed that when he dropped a shot made up of half Jameson whiskey and half Bailey’s Irish Cream into a half-finished pint of Guinness, the result fizzed up like an IRA bomb. What started as a slightly dark joke took off as a favorite drink of frat boys, but many Irish take offense to the name that conjures images of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

Some, in fact, are opting to forgo drinking of any kind this year.

“What we’re doing is introducing a whole new event for St. Patrick’s Day that really focuses on the culture and heritage and not the alcoholic element,” said Maura Kelly, one of the organizers of the first annual Sober St. Patrick’s Day on the Upper East Side. They’re selling $12 tickets to a day of food, music, dancing and visits by Irish celebs and dignitaries.

“We’re presenting it both ways. It’s for the recovery community, for people who have abandoned the holiday,” said Kelly. “I like a glass of wine, but for me it was sort of more about combating the negative stereotype of the day, the public drunkenness. I know there’s more than that.”

“There’s no cultural aspect to it that demands that you have to drink on St. Patrick’s Day at all,” said O’Hanlon. He said he continually runs stories in the Echo debunking the harmful stereotypes of the drunken Irish and calling out retailers like Urban Outfitters who sell cheeky T-shirts with slogans like “Irish I Were Drunk.”

“Irish Americans who take their holiday seriously and believe it’s a holiday for everybody tend to sort of get their hackles raised—and rightly so, because you’re parading and pushing a stereotype for profit,” O’Hanlon said.

Jeff Cleary, the executive director of the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, said he has sensed a shift in recent years away from the inebriated revelry and toward a keener interest in Irish heritage.

“People want to learn more about their heritage and they want to celebrate more,” Cleary said. “You’re seeing less and les of the old crappy plastic bowler caps and the ‘Kiss me I’m Irish’ shirts.”

Cleary said he hopes New Yorkers will use the day to remember and celebrate the contributions of Irish Americans to the city and taking advantage of events like parades, lunches and ceremonies honoring Irish heritage.

“There’s so much more than just sitting in the Irish bar and listening to ‘Danny Boy,’” he said.