Entertainment

By Barbara Hoffman

“I was sort of born in the East Village,” says Harvey Fierstein, who actually hails from Brooklyn but came of age at La MaMa and other East Village haunts in the ’70s. Now, after 30 years writing and/or performing on Broadway (“La Cage aux Folles,” Hairspray,” “Newsies,” “Kinky Boots”), the 62-year-old is back where he started: in the East Village, where he stars in “Gently Down the Stream” at the Public Theater. He tells BARBARA HOFFMAN where he takes “the kids” — co-stars Gabriel Ebert and Christopher Sears — between weekend shows.

The sun came out the other day, so Gabe and I went for a walk down to Tompkins [Square] Park and around. Some of the old sites are still there, like the Russian & Turkish Baths. We stood outside, saying, “Are we brave enough to go in?” But we didn’t have that much time, and I didn’t know if I wanted to be beaten and steamed before a performance.

One of my favorite stores in New York is Obscura. It’s an antiques store that sells everything from wax figures from old wax museums to strange old medical instruments and photographs. Gabe bought a bunch of postcards with images from Mexican comic books. I think I bought a marionette there once: It was Mary Martin in “South Pacific,” and it actually does a trick, pulling the American flag out of its pocket.

There’s this small Greek restaurant [Ayios Greek Rotisserie] right next to the St. Marks Hotel, which used to be a gay bathhouse. I’m still on the no-carby thing so I eat a lot of salads there. They do a salad with chicken gyro or moussaka. They also have a wonderful spanikopita — spinach pie.

[One day] I grabbed the kids and threw them in a cab and we went over to Katz’s [Delicatessen]. We had ourselves pastrami and corned beef and the two of them had egg creams for the first time in their [lives]. Gabe had the matzo ball soup and Christopher had the split pea soup, which is thick enough to set bricks. They still have signs there, like “Send a salami to your boy in the Army.” There’s two ways to do Katz’s: If you stand to the right, you just go from station to station and get your own food, or if you stand to the left, you’ll be seated at a table and they’ll send a waiter over. As we came out, we ran into Shaun Cassidy, because you run into everybody at Katz’s.

At Bleecker and Lafayette, there’s City Hats, and I bought the boys each a hat. One got a porkpie hat, the other got what looks like an old straw hat. I don’t really look good in hats. In the deep depths of winter, I have this horrible Elmer Fudd thing. They do these aviator [hats] that look like you’re going to fly a plane. They’re lambskin and supposed to be warm, but they looked a little steampunk to me. If I make it to next winter, I’ll think about it.

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