The Jersey City Independent"

Editor’s note: Welcome to The Tipsheet! In our newest column, we bring you local gossip, quick news hits and happenings around town. Send us your tips at JCITipSheet (at) gmail.com.

In this Tipsheet: New Warehouse in the Powerhouse | Business Not Booming at Boomerangs | Who’s Behind Jerseycity.com? | Baking and Eating For a Cause at 58 Gallery

New Warehouse in the Powerhouse

There was at least one new venue on the roster of the latest JC Fridays, the quarterly all-day gallery bonanza that kicked off the beginning of the city’s fall arts season last week.

The Warehouse, a café and arts space housed on the ground floor of the condo development at 140 Bay St. in the Powerhouse Arts District, opened its doors for the first time on the drizzly evening of Friday, Sept. 11, with an exhibit called “Bird Minus Fish” by local multimedia artist Egor Panchenko.

“It’s supposed to be about the end of the world because bird and fish can never mix,” said Ian Hinonangan, the venue’s co-owner, who was standing outside on the terrace around 9 pm, welcoming guests in the glow of colorful abstract animations that were being projected onto a neighboring building.

Hinonangan, a 33-year-old deportation defense attorney, and his partner, Julius Torres, also 33, who handles the culinary side of the business, moved into a loft on the building’s fifth floor on Sept. 11, 2007 — two years prior to the day — and came up with the idea for The Warehouse shortly thereafter. (The name of the venue is perhaps more suggestive of the surrounding architecture than its own cozy interior, although there was a curious industrial scent, not unlike burning plastic or mechanical toy trains, permeating the space on Friday night.)

“When we moved here, the 111 First St. artists’ colony had just been destroyed,” said Hinonangan, referring to the well-known factory building where hundreds of artists worked until losing a protracted battle with landlord Lloyd Goldman in 2005. “So there was this huge emptiness in terms of the artistic community being removed from its place. We came in feeling that emptiness, and we wanted to bring something back to the community.”

To select and oversee the venue’s exhibitions, Hinanangan and Torres have partnered with Iulian P. Moise of Atelier Production, which also books events at Hinonangan’s Lenapeeps Gallery and The Stockinette Knitting Cafe.

“The menu represents a re-invention of classical sandwiches seen through the eye of a traveler,” Moise said, “while the space and its minimal design could easily host anything from quiet nights of poetry to piano recitals [to] live music and video installations.”

The Warehouse’s next event, an exhibition and workshop of Japaneses Sumi-e paintings, followed by a piano recital by Torres, is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3 during the annual downtown artist studio tour.

There will also be free film screenings every Thursday night, starting with Amelie on Sept. 17.

Business Not Booming at Boomerangs

Meanwhile, Boomerangs, the quirky vintage consignment shop sandwiched between Carmine’s Pizza Factory and Iris Records, will close at the end of the month.

“Business was going OK,” said owner Betty Dacic, who opened Boomerangs as a physical addition to her online store just under a year ago, in November of 2008, “but not as well as I’d like it to.”

What gives?

“Part of it’s the economy, but I think the location is really what made it difficult,” she said, noting that the majority of her sales are web-based. “The foot traffic just wasn’t that good.” Boomerangs is located on the outskirts of the downtown on quiet Brunswick Street, across from the storefront that was once Another Man’s Treasure, a competing vintage shop that relocated to more bustling Grove Street digs last year.

But Dacic has a plan B for Boomerangs, which specializes in mid-century modern furniture, housewares and clothing, “anything form Art Deco to that ‘60s mod-pop look,” she said.

She said she’ll be working with John Besante of 58 Gallery to host a bi-monthly sale out of the gallery’s Coles Street garage — “basically a glorified garage sale.” The first one will be in mid-October, although they still haven’t firmed up the official date, she said.

Dacic said her landlord was letting her out of her lease a bit early. As of this past weekend, there was a “For Lease” sign in the window. Calls to inquire about the monthly rent were not returned.

Boomerangs’ last day as a retail shop will be on Sept. 30.

Who’s Behind Jerseycity.com?

Sometime back in the spring, a new hyperlocal Jersey City news website popped up.

Named simply Jerseycity.com (lowercase “c” in city), it calls itself “Jersey City’s News Source of Record” in a slogan featured at the top of the homepage in a blue, white and yellow banner resembling the Jersey City flag.

Most of the site’s content focuses on local politics and crime stories, with some food features and building reviews thrown in, and the articles seem to date back to May, although they’ve been posted rather sporadically since then.

Four stories — two about recent crime incidents, one about the pay-to-play ordinance the City Council passed on Sept. 9, and one about the downtown restaurant Soul Flavors — were published sometime on Thursday, Sept. 10 and Friday, Sept. 11; in other words, “6 days ago” and “5 days ago” as of the time of this posting. (There are no exact time stamps.) Before that, the most recent two articles — both apartment building reviews — were posted “25 days ago” from the time of this posting.

Two of Jerseycity.com’s verticals, “Local Sports” and “Upcoming Events,” are empty. There is one editorial on the site, titled, “New School Funding Formula Redistributes Aid, Not Achievement,” from “3 months ago.”

Pageviews also seem rather sparse. One of the site’s oldest articles, “Mixed Election Results in Low Voter Turnout,” had gotten 327 views as of this posting, according to the article url’s pageview counter. Its most recent story, the one about the pay-to-play ordinance, had gotten 19.

Nor is there much to speak of under the “About Us” section, which directs users to the “Contact Us” page, which directs users to an online form for reaching the editorial department, and a link to an advertising rate sheet. The rates are pretty steep at this point, considering the lack of traffic: $450 for the 728- by 92-pixel “leaderboard” slot; $250 for a 300- by 250-pixel square on the right-hand side of the homepage. The rate sheet indicates that advertising inquiries should be sent to editorinchief@jerseycity.com.

That same email address was listed as the contact on a series of Craigslist job postings from April seeking freelancers. One reads: “NEEDED: Freelance writers to submit articles covering City Politics in Jersey City for a new news portal site. Requirements: -Strong writing skills a must -Submission of up to 1 article/week. Articles should be 100-300 words -Submission of up to 1 photo/week -Ability to attend and report on City Council Meetings in Jersey City Compensation: -.25 cents/word…Articles should be from 100 to 300 words (max). -$10 for a photo (up to 1 photo).” The site does not list contact information for the several writers who were apparently hired.

All of which raises a very obvious question: Who is behind Jerseycity.com?

Domain name records presently conceal information about the domain’s current owner, although they do indicate that it was created on January 26, 1996 and last updated on March 30, 2009.

But a source told JCI that when he attempted to purchase the domain back in December of 2008, it was registered at the time to someone listed at the address of the Rego Park headquarters of The LeFrak Organization, developers of (among other things) the massive mixed-use Jersey City waterfront neighborhood Newport.

“It was 100 percent theirs in the winter; that’s for sure,” said our tipster, who also noted that the banner ad at the top of the homepage — the only one on the site that is local — is for Newport’s in-house real estate agency.

E-mails and phone calls to the press offices of LeFrak and Newport were not returned. Nor were emails sent to editorinchief@jerseycity.com asking about the goals and impetus of the site.

So for the time being, Jerseycity.com remains a mystery to us. (Tips, however, are always welcome!)

Baking and Eating For a Cause at 58 Gallery

“The smell of truffle oil in here is overwhelming!” remarked one young woman who was among the few hundred people snaking through 58 Gallery with forks and tasting cups in hand on Sunday afternoon during the first-ever Jersey City Macaroni & Cheese Bake-Off.

Indeed, truffle oil seemed to be a prominent ingredient in several of the 11 mac ’n’ cheese recipes — five concocted by downtown eateries LITM, Amelia’s Bistro, White Star, The Iron Monkey and The Lamp Post; six homemade by local residents — that were on the tasting block.

But what else does it take to make a killer mac ’n’ cheese?

“I added lobster, which you don’t see very often,” said Todd Villani, executive chef of LITM, who was sipping a bottle of Czechvar as tasters sampled the four-cheese blend he had whipped up for the event.

Mac ’n’ cheese, Villani said, is not currently on LITM’s menu, but, “If we win, maybe we’ll put it on there!” (Alas, in the end, it was not LITM, but The Lamp Post, arguably the most declasse of the five competing restaurants, that wowed the judges with its cheesy blend of Danish fontina, Gruyere, smoked gouda and — the secret weapon — potato chip crumbles. The people’s choice award went to The Iron Monkey for its four-cheese blend with bacon, Shitake mushroom and, of course, truffle oil.)

About an hour into the competition, judges Anthony “Dancing Tony” Susco, Ward E councilman Steven Fulop and Star-Ledger food writer Peter Genovese were finishing up their tastings for the restaurant category.

“At the end of the day, I’m not gonna want to eat it unless it has a solid noodle and is heavy on the cheese,” said Fulop, adding he was a bit disappointed that a few of the mac ’n’ cheese dishes weren’t all that, well, cheesy.

Susco concurred.

“What I like is a nice crisp top and a good strong cheese,” he said. “I’ve always done crazy shit with my own mac ’n’ cheese. Added all sorts of things, even canned fish. It’s all about taking something basic and giving it some spice and flavor.”

The bakeoff was a a co-benefit for the annual 4th Street Arts & Music Festival and Mission Remission, a local cancer charity run by Jersey City resident Jesse Caldwell. Marc Caterina, who helped organize the event, said he noticed when he moved to Jersey City five years ago that a lot of local restaurants had mac ’n’ cheese as an actual dish on their menus.

“I kind of felt like everywhere you went it was like, ‘WE have the BEST mac ‘n’ cheese!’” said Caterina, who got involved with 4th Street Arts in 2006.

“So my roommate and I decided we should have a mac ’n’ cheese bakeoff some day,” Caterina continued. “We’re trying to come up with new, inventive ways to raise money for the festival.”

This year’s 4th Street Arts & Music Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3. Funds Caldwell raised selling portions of his own mac ‘n’ cheese, as well from a separate fundraiser he’s doing on Oct. 3, will be donated to various cancer foundations.

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