The street I live on, Ninth Street in Manhattan’s East Village, is lined with lots of little store fronts, clothiers, record shops, mom-and-pop restaurants. They’re nearly all cute as hell, but two of them have caught my eye lately. A. Cheng designs retro-modernist fashions for women, and Elaine Arsenault (whose in-progress Web site needs a little help — hint, hint) hand-makes remarkably attractive bags.