This Wednesday, July 9, at 7:30, the cast from the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of “Hair” will perform numbers from the original musical. The show is free and it will be on Gansevoort St. between Hudson and Greenwich Streets.

The entire cast will be on hand to perform the 45 minute show. Set list includes “Hair,” “Aquarius,” “White Boys,” “Black Boys,” “Let The Sun Shine In” and “I got Life.”

Bijoux, located under 55 Gansevoort Street, has just had a quiet no-press opening. KyKy and Unik had leaked plans of a larger three-part party place but only opened this subterranean den so far. It has low ceilings and plays Euro dance music. Open Wed-Sun currently. Bottle service is available.

Scarpetta, located at 355 West 14th Street, is now open for business. Scott Conant, one of the city’s top Italian chefs, is the Chef and owner. The place is conceived as seasonal Italian and will feature the kind of elegant, yet elemental and assertive food Conant is known for, such as imported ricotta raviolini with chicken livers and spinach purée, and calamarata pasta with mixed seafood and sea urchin. The room, which is designed by S. Russell Groves, holds 70 seats, and has a long mahogany bar and a twenty-seat café in the front.

Florent’s window now has a different kind of “For Rent” sign in it. Check out this picture I took today. Word is that Ralph Lauren is looking at the space. We will miss you Florent!

I just stopped by Bagatelle’s to have a look inside and guess what I found? Their Saturday brunch is like a dance club. They have a live DJ spinning A-list music and the girls were going wild, dancing on top of the furniture while patrons casually ate their brunch nearby. If you want to have a good time next Saturday, stop by Bagatelle’s at about 1pm and join in on the fun.

The Meatpacking District has a new set of car traffic patterns designed to protect pedestrians and initiate a better flow of car and pedestrian traffic. Along with the new traffic patterns are new parking regulations as well. The new signs posted on Gansevoort  and Little West 12th Streets have added the following restriction, “No Standing from 11pm-6am Thurs-Fri-Sat.” Beware or it will cost you $115 and cause you to say words that begin with F, S and or MF. The sign also indicates that parking meters are on the way. I’m taking an educated guess here that parking lot rates in The District are about to spike! Do you think the Gottlieb/Bender clan will open up some of those awesome buildings of theirs and turn them into parking facilities to help relieve the parking pressure that has just been created overnight? Hey Neil Bender, help out the neighborhood.

And the rock obstructions used to divert traffic are not the best looking things either. As a matter of fact, it’s the ugliest looking rock group I have ever seen (not including the Rolling Stones.)

Also, they have made Washington Street a Two-Way street from Little West 12th Street up to 14th Street. Why didn’t they extend that down to Gansevoort Street so you can drive down Gansevoort to Washington and make a right turn up to Little West 12th or14th? It would be a tight squeeze and it would probably take out a whole additional block of parking spaces, but what the heck, they don’t want cars here anyway. Oh the powers that be.

I’m heading up to The District today to take some pictures of all of the new car lanes that have been rearranged and new parking regulation signs that apparently many drivers didn’t see last night. The fine is typically $115. It’s really getting hard to bring your car here but I guess this is all to protect the pedestrians. The new temporary structures positioned so as to redirect traffic, can be moved, removed or changed, but either way, they look as though they are here to stay. It’s a shame to cover up any of those cobble stone streets but in the name of pedestrian safety, it had to be done. Check back for my full report. - BW

The Hog Pit has confirmed it will be closing for good next January. Nine months is pretty long notice, but the owners want to give everyone fair warning so you all have time to plan your final events. In an email from owner Felisa Dell, she says, “I would like people to know that the time has finally come and we will be losing our lease on January 1, 2009. Our landlord, David Ellis and Assoc., more than tripled our rent and made it impossible for us to remain in our current location. I think they are planning a Ralph Lauren Store. Anyway, I want my regulars to have an opportunity to book their last parties before we close…the rising cost of restaurant space in NYC is becoming criminal. Can you imagine the Meatpacking District without The Hog Pit?…if anyone knows of any space that might make a good Hog Pit we would love to know. After 3 years of looking we have not been able to find affordable rents, and (this is very important) it seems the mayor and the State Liquor Authority are now only issuing Liquor Licenses until 2AM. It’s very sneaky, but in 5 years the 4AM liquor license will be a thing of the past, without any community input.”

When we called Florent tonight, March 31st, an employee who answered the phone told us that the last night that they will be open will “probably be the end of June.”

According to the Villager’s resident news-cat Scoopy, restauranteur Florent Morellet is not looking for another space, but is excited to pursue other projects, including writing his memoir and devoting more time to his art: drawing maps of imaginary cities.

Florent is planning a five-week going-away bash, from Memorial Day to Gay Pride on June 29. In a final display of irreverence, he’s theming each week around one of the five stages of grieving: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

Sounds sort of like my first year in college.

Scott Conant is back. One of the city’s top Italian chefs, Conant last year gave up both of his restaurants, L’Impero and Alto, to pursue a mystery project. He will be the Chef-owner of Scarpetta, which will open in the Meatpacking District this spring at 355 West 14th Street. The place is conceived as seasonal Italian and will feature the kind of elegant, yet elemental and assertive food Conant is known for, such as imported ricotta raviolini with chicken livers and spinach purée, and calamarata pasta with mixed seafood and sea urchin. The room, which is designed by S. Russell Groves, will hold 70 seats, have a long mahogany bar and a twenty-seat café in the front. –Grub Street

Scoop MEN and Scoop STREET have sustained water damage from an as yet undisclosed source and are temporarily closed. Scoop KIDS and Scoop NYC remain open at this time.

Leo Kesting Gallery located at 812 Washington Street(corner Gansevoort.) Featuring the works of emerging and mid-career artists. Founded in October 2007 by David Kesting and John Leo, Leo Kesting Gallery seeks to expose their artists and those of their sister gallery Capla Kesting Fine Art located at 121 Roebling Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Leo Kesting constantly seeks new undiscovered artists with a cutting edge to their craft that would be otherwise missed by the contemporary art scene.  Phone(917)292-8865. http://www.leokesting.com

As reported in New York magazine’s Grub Street column, “We had heard that New York was to have its own version of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival (minus the sunshine, ocean, flowing sea breeze, and so on, of course). But only in paging through the Sunday Times at Jerry’s Deli on Collins Avenue did we find this tidbit, from the big SOBE style section: “A version of the festival will soon be headed north. Last week Mr. Schrager came to an agreement with New York officials to run a two-day food festival in the Meatpacking District on Columbus Day weekend.”We’re going to close Ninth Avenue, he said.” Now that is good news. It’s high time that Ninth Avenue was closed.”

According to Eater.com, it is rumored by a tipster who was in Florent recently, that the landlord may not boot them out at the end of March when their lease expires. Eater.com reports, “A tip from someone eavesdropping at a recent visit to the doomed Florent: “Just overheard a waiter telling a regular customer who’d just been gone awhile that yes they are closing. They are supposed to close in March but, and here he put his fingers to his lips and whispered shhhhh, the landlord isn’t going to kick them out. but, he advised, ‘we’ll have to be quiet about it.” The real verdict isn’t in yet. Only time will tell.

It finally looks like the granddaddy of the Meatpacking District, and the man partly responsible for having the entire Meatpacking District designated a Historic District, will be forced out of his place of business at 69 Gansevoort Street after 23 years. It’s not 100% certain that Mr. Florent Morellet, a 54 year old native of France, will have to leave his famed restaurant space but… more…

Merkato 55 is open for business. Marcus Samuelsson’s African themed restaurant on Gansevoort Street has finally opened to the public. I stopped in the other day to take a look at the interior and was pleasantly surprised. Menno Schmitz, the Dutch architect who designed the restaurant, did a wonderful job. The place was very busy and the hostess, well she was just so friendly. I can’t wait to eat there! I suggest you all stop in and try some of those specialty African drinks at the bar.