Upstate: Sixth Annual Lemko Vatra

The Organization for the Defense of Lemko Western Ukraine is organizing its sixth annual Lemko Vatra upstate on the campgrounds of the Ukrainian Youth Association near Ellenville.

The full schedule of events kicks off on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. with a soccer game, followed by opening ceremonies and performances by the Metelytsia Quartet, the Oros Sisters, the Budem Razom ensemble, Ina Sydorak and others, at 3:00 p.m. The pig roast starts at 4:30 p.m., followed by the lighting of the bonfire (vatra) at 6:00 p.m. with more music and dance performances by Pid Oblachkom, Ivo Bobul, Chetverta Khvyla and Vidlunya, Iskra and others. The evening continues at 9:00 p.m. with two zabavas (parties) featuring Halychany and Chetverta Khvyla.

Sunday events begin at 10:00 a.m. with a divine liturgy, followed at 2:00 p.m. by a lecture by Mgr. Katherine Mycio entitled “Ruins of the Ukrainian Ethnographic Territory Beyond the Curzon Line.” Closing ceremonies begin at 5:00 p.m.

The Organization for the Defense of Lemko Western Ukraine represents the segment of the Lemko community which considers itself to be a sub-branch of the Ukrainian nation; others (primarily represented by the Carpatho-Rusyn Society) consider themselves to be part of a separate Carpatho-Rusyn people. Nevertheless, this event should attract a broad Lemko audience, Ukrainophiles as well as Rusynophiles.

For more information, call 973-772-3344 or 203-762-5912, or email vatraUSA@aol.com; for room reservations, call 845-647-7230 or email ellenville@cym.org. Click here for directions to the campgrounds.

Clubbing in Greenpoint

Last week’s Village Voice featured Daphne Carr’s Love and Warsaw: Two thriving Greenpoint dance clubs vie for Polish nightlife supremacy, about the Polish club scene in Brooklyn.

The article focused on the rivalry between Club Europa (98-104 Meserole Avenue at Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint) and Club Exit (149 Greenpoint Avenue), long favorites of Brooklyn’s Poles and other Slavs. Now, they’re gaining more and more prominence as gentrification pushes hipsters out of Williamsburg and into Greenpoint.

Europa’s owner Zibby Chalecki told the Voice that he sees the club as a “cultural embassy of Poland: ‘It’s not just a discotheque, it’s an arts center.’” He seems to be disappointed that the local Polish community is beginning to move on, but also eager to reach out to the wider community to ensure his business continues to thrive.

Exit is also starting to reach out. Though Saturdays are still Slav-apalooza, Fridays are mostly run by outside promoters who bring in their own audiences (though Slavic bands do come by from time to time).

The Voice website also featured a slideshow, Hot Like That:Scenes from the Polish/New York party life. Check it out.

(Photos: Staci Schwartz/stacipop.com for the Village Voice)

Bosnian Grocery Shopping

Back in March, the New York Times published Alan Flippen’s The Tastes of Bosnia Follow Those Who Fled, about the arrival of foodstuffs from Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia to grocery store shelves in New York.

According to the article, products such as suho meso (smoked beef), ajvar (a sort of relish), pekmez od sljiva (a fruit spread), Travnik feta cheese and traditional Bosnian Turkish coffee started showing up in New York, primarily in Queens, along with refugees from the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s. The ensuing three-fold increase in the city’s Bosnian population has kept sales of the food products going.

Though there are numerous places around to get former Yugo ingredients, the article points to Euromarket (30-42 31st Street near 30th Avenue, Astoria) and Grand Prix Trading Corporation in Ridgewood.

Previously on Slavs of New York: Another Cevapdzinica opens in Queens

Yonkers Ukrainian Heritage Festival

The 21st Annual Yonkers Ukrainian Heritage Festival kicks off today and runs through Sunday. Ground zero is the grounds of St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church (corner of 510 North Broadway and 21 Shonnard Place).

The festival attracts large crowds of Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians from throughout the region, fulfilling the organizers’ goal of raising awareness of the Ukrainian community among the general public. Aside from the full schedule of performances, there will also be rides, vendors and classic Ukrainian food.

The festival is sponsored by St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Yonkers branch of the Ukrainian American Youth Association.

Slavs at the World Cup

We've gotten a few emails lately about where to watch the five Slavic teams compete at the World Cup, and so we figured we should blog it. Games begin on Friday, and not all bars will show all of the games so call ahead to figure out where's best to go. In no particular order, here's the list:

• Czech Republic: Bohemian Hall (29-19 24th Avenue, Astoria, 718-274-4925). You can't go wrong with this big giant beer garden behind the historic Czech cultural center in Astoria. Aside from Czech beers, they're also having BBQs.

• Croatia: Scorpio (3515 Broadway at 35th Street. Astoria, 718-956-8233). We're not 100% sure they're playing the games, but if anyone is rooting for Croatia, it's Scorpio. Be sure to try the bijela kava (like a latee), certainly the best in the city.

• Serbia and Montenegro: Serbian Club (72-65 65th Place, Glendale, 718-821-9875). The mothership for Serbian fans. We've never been, but we hear it's well worth a visit. They've got cold beer, Balkan food and a big-screen TV. Can't go wrong.
  
  Fans of Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro can also check out Zum Stammtisch (69-46 Myrtle Avenue between 69th and 70th Streets, Glendale, 718-386-3014), which of course caters to Germans, but is also frequented by the x-YU communities in the area.

• Ukraine: Ukrainian Sports Club (122 Second Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets, East Village, 212-475-1340). If you're a Ukraine fan, there's no other place to be. Aside from the full bar with Ukrainian beer, there's a five-foot projection screen TV. The game schedule is on the front door, pass by and check it out.

• Poland: Smolen Bar and Grill (708 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, 718-788-9729). There must be a stack of places rooting for Poland, but we came up with nothing. Sage, a Slavs of New York reader, came to the rescue by pointing out Smolen, a neighborhood bar frequented by Russians and Poles serving up Polish beer.

UPDATE: Croatia's games will also be shown at the Croatian Center (502 West 41st Street, 212-563-3395) in Manhattan, open to the public and free admission. Croatia v Brazil (13 June at 2:55 p.m.), Croatia v Japan (18 June at 9:00 a.m.) and Croatia v Australia (22 June at 2:55 p.m.).
And Cafe Blue Light (30th Street & 35th Avenue, Astoria) also has a live feed on a plasma TV, as well as Balkan food and $3.50 beer.

Fieldtrip: Slavs of San Francisco!

The latest in our Slavs of New York vacation reports is from San Francisco, where we just spent four glorious (though chilly) days. It’s a young city, but surprisingly vibrant and definitely full of Slavic types. Here’s the rundown:

Croats are quite well organized, thanks to the Croatian American Cultural Center (60 Onondaga Avenue), which also features events touching on other South Slavic cultures, as well as Romani culture.

Czechs have a homepage and a technological organization, as well as the Cafe Prague (584 Pacific Avenue), Bohemia Pub (1624 California Street at Polk) and Frankie's Bohemian Café (1862 Divisadero Street). There is also a bust of Thomas G. Masaryk in the Rose Garden in Golden Gate Park, and a Sokol Hall.

Poles also have a homepage, as well as the Polonia w San Francisco i Krzemowej Dolini. There is a Polish Club (3040 22nd Street), a Polish Arts and Culture Foundation and the Lowiczanie Polish Folk Dance Ensemble. If you’re hungry, try Old Krakow (385 West Portal Avenue. One of the major Polish churches is the Church of the Nativity (245 Linden Street).

Ukrainians have the Consulate General of Ukraine (530 Bush Street, suite 402) and St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church (345 7th St.). Bulgarians have a homepage. Serbian Easter in San Francisco is described here, and the situation of refugees from Bosnia is described here (.pdf).

Surprisingly, the Slovene community at least used to be quite vibrant. A brief history is here. There is a Slovenian Hall (2101 Mariposa St), and even though it’s Italian, Caffe Trieste (601 Vallejo Street and 1667 Market Street at Gough) can certainly summon a bit of nostalgia among Slovenes.

The Russian community has the deepest roots. Its history is briefly described here, and the situation of recent immigrants is explored here (.pdf). Thanks to the discovery of Cyrillic-inscribed tombstones, one district is called Russian Hill, though most Russians live in the Richmond district.



The focal point of the community is the Russian Center (2450 Sutter Street), home to a number of institutions, including the Congress of Russian-Americans, the Museum of Russian Culture, the Russian Life Daily Newspaper, the Slavyanka Russian Male Chorus and the Russian Library. Other landmarks include the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in San Francisco (2790 Green Street), St John of San Francisco Academy and Sts. Cyril & Methodius High School.

Restaurants include Katia's Russian Tea Room (600 Fifth Avenue), Russian Renaissance Restaurant (5241 Geary Boulevard at 17th Avenue) and the Samovar Tea Room (498 Sanchez Street).

Shops include Globus Slavic Bookstore (332 Balboa Street) and Archangel Bookstore (1352-A Ninth Avenue between Judah and Irving Avenues), and the music store Rasputin (69 Powell Street).

The community has also produced one of the few North American Russian Orthodox saints, Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco. And so it is no surprise that there are numerous Russian churches in town.

There is the Moscow Patriarchate’s St. Nicholas Cathedral (2005 15th Street at Church Street) and the OCA Christ the Saviour (2040 Anza Street) and Holy Trinity (1520 Green Street at Van Ness Avenue), but the largest number seem to belong to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia: the Church of the Resurrection (109 Sixth Avenue), the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh (1346 12th Avenue), the Chapel of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (598 15th Avenue between Geary and Anza), the Church of the Mother of God of Kazan (5717 California Street), the Holy Virgin Cathedral (6210 Geary Boulevard at 26th Avenue) the Old Cathedral of the Holy Virgin (864 Fulton Street between Webster and Fillmore) and the Russian Convent of Our Lady of Vladimir (3365 19th Street). There’s also a Russian Byzantine Catholic church, Our Lady of Fatima (101 20th Avenue near Lake).

Outside of San Francisco, there’s a homepage for Russian Berkley and the Russian colonial Fort Ross, now a state park.

Mehanata’s BACK!

After a brief pause, Mehanata is on its way back! The fab Bulgarian bar will reopen on Friday, 9 June, at its new digs at 113 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side. And headlining the evening? Gogol Bordello!


By the way, the name-change scare is over: they’ve settled on retaining the old name, Mehanata, with the tag line “House of Gyspy.” Very nice.

Fieldtrip: Slavs of Las Vegas!

Vegas is one of those places where it’s a bit difficult to imagine people actually living, but Sin City is a real city, and has its very own Slavs. Who knew?

Local Bulgarians have their own homepage, and a restaurant called Magura (1305 Vegas Valley Dr.). Croats also have a homepage, and featured in the book The Peoples of Las Vegas: One City Many Faces. Apparently Croats have been in Vegas since the 1920s, and many can trace their lineage back to the Pinjuv brothers, who owned a gas station and motel at Fremont and 10th Street in the 1930s.

Poles have also contributed to Vegas’s history by lending the city one of their own: Wladziu Valentino Liberace. The local Polish community also supports the Polonez Polish Restaurant Bar & Deli (1243 E Sahara Ave, Las Vegas) and the Polish American Social Club of Las Vegas.

Pseudo-Russian Vegas attractions include the bar Red Square (Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S. at Tropicana Ave.) and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian, as well as the Men of Russia spectacular.

A bit more authentic are the Eliseevsky Restaurant (4825 W. Flamingo Road) the Russian Tea Room (3743 Las Vegas Blvd S). Other landmarks include St. Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church (OCA; 5400 Annie Oakley Drive) and the Life-Giving Spring Retreat Center (in near-by Boulder City). There’s also a Russian Vegas homepage.

The city also boasts a Serbian church, St. Simeon Serbian Orthodox Church (3950 South Janes Boulevard), and a Rusyn one, St. Gabriel the Archangel Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic Church (2250 East Maule Ave).

And if you can’t make it out West, Slavic Las Vegas is featured in the novel Blood of Montenegro, by Bajram Angelo Koljenovic and James Nathan Post.