Lori McLean has decided to close her East Village jewelry shop

Photo by Stacie Joy 

After several decades in business, Lori McLean will close her eponymous jewelry shop at 207 Avenue A, between 12th Street and 13th Street, this month.

"I'm ready for change," McLean told EVG after all the years running a storefront. 

McLean moved from the West Village to East 11th Street in 2015 following a rent increase. She was on the move again in 2020 when that lease was up, relocating to Avenue A. 

"My landlord is great and really saved us during the COVID shutdown," she said of 207 Avenue A, which will be available to rent in May. (The space was previously home to Obscura Antiques and Oddities.) 

This Saturday, there's a closing party at the shop from 4 to 8 p.m. — wine, cheese, and 50% off any remaining jewelry.

And after that?

"I'm taking the summer off and will then do custom work for people," she said, noting to keep an eye on her website for updates.

Another 1 Bites the crust: A French twist for the Bite space on 14th Street

The Bite outpost on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue is under new ownership, with the business transitioning to a new bite — Frenchie Bites. (Thanks to EVG regular Pinch for the photos and tip!)

Here's more about the new biz: 

Frenchie Bites has arrived, bringing a fresh, French-inspired twist to the former Bite 14 space! We're serving up a delightful daily brunch menu packed with French favorites like Croque Monsieur, crêpes, and flavorful omelets, alongside exciting new dishes. Honoring the legacy of Bite, we've also included a special "Bite's Legacy" menu showcasing their best-selling Middle Eastern and Mediterranean creations.

Current hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. 

The Bite, which opened in the sliver of a space on Lafayette at Bleecker in 2002, remains in service and offers sandwiches, paninis, salads, etc., as does the Bite on 22nd Street.

Rent a former 7-Eleven on the Bowery

A for-lease sign arrived last week at the former 7-Eleven at 351 Bowery.

The convenience store closed in November here between Third Street and Fourth Street after 13 years of serving Slurpees® and Buffalo Chicken Rollers.  

The Bowery store opened in December 2011. It was the first of four to open in the East Village, ushering in a wave of storefront suburbanization that repelled some residents. Now, they have all shuttered.

This was also the first retail tenant in the 52 E. Fourth St. condoplex. The Katz & Associates website has not yet listed it.

The former 7-Eleven on Avenue A and 11th Street, which also closed in November, isn't listed for rent and is being used as a canvas.

Yummy Hive post mortem

The abrupt closure of Yummy Hive last week drew a surprisingly robust EVG reader reaction. It was surprising for a relatively standard corner market that hadn't been open for a year. 

Here's a quick recap of what happened on the SW corner of Second Avenue and 10th Street: Yummy Hive management started closing the shop last Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday, it was shuttered, and all the appliances, groceries, snacks, etc., had been quickly removed. (The timing struck some as unusual mid-month.)

The interior's disarray led several readers-patrons to think looters had ransacked the business. In addition, someone tagged the windows late Wednesday night. (Interior photos by Steven.)

One reader via Instagram said he went in on Wednesday as workers were taking apart the shelves. The cashier did not charge him for his purchases. Another reader stopped by later on Wednesday and was told Yummy Hive was now closed. When asked what happened, a worker said they were "moving uptown."

Several "flash sale" signs were posted on the storefront, but there was no mention of a pending closure.

We heard from readers who were regulars here and are disappointed that they closed. We also heard from readers who found the place unsettling, including its name — which felt like the product of a ChatGPT prompt designed to create a vaguely suggestive business name. Another reader wondered why a standard corner market sold products like Sea Moss Gel.

Someone also previously created a fake Yummy Hive Instagram account: "Here to bring you expired, unhealthy, and nasty food, smoothies, and coffee! Hope to see you soon."

As of yesterday, Yummy Hive was still open per Google, Yelp, and the various delivery apps, where they accepted delivery and pickup orders. 

The prime corner space had been vacant for five years, with the last tenant being Capital One®. 

At one time, the corner space was home to Rectangles, which served Israeli-Yemenite cuisine.

Openings: Krave It on 2nd Avenue

The Krave It outpost debuts Thursday at 141 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. (Arrival first mentioned here.) 

This is the brand's first Manhattan location. It was founded in 2015 in Queens by husband and wife (and high school sweethearts) Vishee and Jenna Mandahar. Krave It also has several locations in the metropolitan area, including Bayside, Huntington and Astoria, with more on the way this year. 

Krave It specializes in "creative, out-of-the-box sandwich and pizza options" such as the birria pizza, ramyun pizza, Hot Cheetos pizza, Biggie Mac pizza, etc. (Find the menu here.)

Only available at the EV location: A statin-busting pastrami-topped reuben pizza with an everything bagel crust. 

The hours are Sunday to Wednesday from 11 a.m. to midnight, Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. 

The space was, until last March, Planet Taco. Recent past lives include Otto's Tacos for seven years. Before that, many things came and went here, such as Good Guys, a Subway (sandwich shop), part of a Max Brenner outpost and Burritoville.

Monday's opening shot

Photo by Steven 

Here's the short line just before McSorley's opened at 8 a.m. on this drizzle-y St. Patrick's Day.

And who was first in the door here at 15 E. Seventh St....?

 

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Houston Street flashback

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Not Half bad!

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The New York City half marathon — the United Airlines NYC Half — took place today... and with a new route that took the 28,000-plus participants across the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time. 

The marathoners then went up the FDR, skirting the EV to finish at Central Park (the route took participants along 42nd Street to Seventh Avenue). 

Stacie Joy was along the FDR route to check out the runners...

... and the supporters...

You can check out the winners of the 13.1-mile trek here.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a moon watch shot from First Avenue)... 

• Fundraiser underway for patron killed at Tom & Jerry's on March 1 (Tuesday) 

• Otto's Wednesday open mic: music and community in the tiki bar’s back room (Wednesday) 

• 9th Street condo project turns former parking garage into construction zone (Monday)

• Final orbit for the 2nd Avenue Star Watchers (Thursday) 

• Yummy Hive vanishes in the night on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street (Friday) 

• At LaMama, 'Above Ground' brings aging, improv and the art of being seen to the stage (Tuesday) 

• Work commences at the long-vacant 11 Avenue A, due for a residential conversion and 3 new floors (Wednesday) 

• Win Son Bakery set to debut East Village outpost on March 19 (Friday) 

• About Robert Sietsema's New York (Sunday) 

• Full reveal at 340 Bowery, the new home of micro hotel Now Now NoHo (Monday) 

• Construction watch: 183 Avenue B (Thursday) 

• These bars and restaurants are temporarily closed, and at least one is permanently shuttered (Thursday) 

• Zine takes a fresh look at Keith Haring's public school murals on the Lower East Side (Wednesday) 

• Partial window signage reveal for the new home of Soda Club on Avenue A (Monday) 

• CB3 to hear more about plans for the new restaurant coming to the New Museum (Monday) ... A quick look at the March CB3 SLA agenda (Monday)

• Closings: Tallgrass Burger on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

• Revisiting the art of the Avenue A/14th Street Trader Joe's (Monday)

• Signage alert: El Camino on 1st Avenue (Tuesday) 

... and NOTED on Avenue B and Second Street (photo by Stacie Joy)

Sunday's opening shot

"Art Handlers," the current group show at Bullet Space, remains on view through March 31. 

You can visit it on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m. (or by appointment—or chance). 

The urban artist collab is at 292 E. Third St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

EVG Etc.: Tracking down an Elvis bust; remembering Michael Stewart

2017 photo of Elvis at Great Jones Cafe... see link below for more 

Local stories of interest from other sources this past week include... 

• LES man indicted in brutal murder of roommate (Gothamist ... DA's office)

• Three men were sentenced to prison in a murder-for-hire conspiracy among rivals on the LES (1010 WINS ... DA's office) 

• Hochul and Trump meet again to discuss congestion pricing... and maybe the once-dead Constitution Pipeline project (Gothamist) 

• NYC's nightlife mayor was hit with more than $350,000 in court judgments (The City) 

• Lawmakers and union demand NYU Langone resume offering gender-affirming care for minors (City & State) 

• The city's Open Streets program needs more funding to survive (Streetsblog) 

• A compelling read on what became of the Elvis bust at the former Great Jones Cafe (The New Yorker — you may get a freebie; otherwise, subscription required) 

• Read a passage from Elon Green's new book on Michael Stewart, "The Man Nobody Killed" (CrimeReads) ... WYNC and Hellgate have more on Green's book and the life and death of Stewart, the artist who was killed by transit cops at 14th and First in 1983. 

• The legacy of East Village artist-designer Dan Friedman 30 years after his death (artnet) 

• Photographer Bobby Grossman's Corn Flakes boxes featuring downtown luminaries are on display at the Ki Smith Gallery, 170 Forsyth St. on the LES (official site ... 

• A review of "Bunny," Ben Jacobson's East Village-set comedy that premiered at SXSW (The Hollywood Reporter ... Deadline) 

• The 2025 New Colossus Festival helped revive NYC's music scene (American Songwriter ... previously on EVG) 

• F*Bomb Productions presents a Ramones tribute at Baker Falls on March 28 (Tickets) 

• Are the scones at Mary O's on Seventh Street worth the wait in line? (BuzzFeed ... previously on EVG) ... A feature on Mary O (NBC News)

• See "Bonnie & Clyde" on a big screen this weekend (Village East by Angelika)

Saturday's opening shot

Some spring color in Tompkins Square Park on an otherwise gloomy-weather Saturday ...

Friday's parting shot

A just-finished mural of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in First Street Green Art Park by Lexi Bella... ...

'Swamp' thing

 

Everything Is Recorded (aka Richard Russell, owner of XL Recordings in the UK) is back with his third studio release (on XL Recordings!). 

The above video is for "Swamp Dream #3," featuring Mary and The Junkyard's Clari Freeman-Taylor on vocals.

Yummy Hive vanishes in the night on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street

Yummy Hive, the year-old market on the SW corner of Second Avenue and 10th Street, seemingly vanished late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. 

Someone removed all the deli and refrigeration cases, along with the products, which appears to have happened quickly. Given the state of the interior, several EVG readers speculated that the store looked as if it had been looted.

Plus, the brightly lit 24/7 deli was bombed by taggers, giving it abandoned-for-months vibes.

Thanks to EVG reader Andrew V. for these photos...   

Yummy Hive opened almost a year ago, offering an extensive menu of sandwiches, salads, smoothies, etc. The menu seemed too big for the volume of business. (Did anyone ever order the Seafood Sampler Platter, which cost $19.99 and featured chilled shrimp, tuna salad, smoked salmon, calamari rings, lemon wedges, cocktail sauce, and crackers?) 

The prime corner space had been vacant for five years, with the last tenant being Capital One®.

Win Son Bakery set to debut East Village outpost on March 19

Win Some Bakery makes its EV debut on Wednesday, March 19, at 23 Second Ave. between First Street and Second Street.

The cafe has been open for a few days, though strictly for DoorDash deliveries picked up through the side door. (Patrons are not permitted inside the space, where the windows remain covered.)

Like the popular Taiwanese-American outpost in East Williamsburg, the EV location will serve as a café, bakery and restaurant. (They were previously OK'd for a liquor license.) 

The bakery opened in September 2019 at 164 Graham Ave. at Montrose Avenue, several years after the Win Son restaurant debuted. Many of its goods have been celebrated, like the mochi millet doughnuts. The New Yorker once called its Mortadella Pancake a perfect breakfast sandwich. You can check out the Win Son Bakery menu here.

Thursday's parting shot

As seen near M363 The Neighborhood School on Third Street...

Final orbit for the 2nd Avenue Star Watchers

A dispatch from Felton Davis of the Second Avenue Star Watchers... 

There will be a late-night eclipse of the Full Moon on Thursday evening, March 13, starting around midnight and becoming total from 2:30 to 3:30 Friday morning, just above the celestial equator in the constellation Leo. 

This also marks the end of Felton's role as the unofficial official leader of the Second Avenue Star Watchers.

He explained in an email. 

Unfortunately, over the course of 12 years of wrestling with my bulky telescope, I have developed a chronic stiff neck and cannot continue to be the sidewalk astronomer of Second Avenue. 

I have no regrets about this project and the enthusiasm that people brought to it, including the eclipse of the Sun last April, but the repetitive motion of turning my head and reaching over to twist the adjustment knobs took a gradually increasing toll.

If another person wants to continue this project, I would advise them to: a) get a smaller and more manageable telescope b) always work with another person c) dress warmly in cold weather d) try to become aware of potential stress. 

Profound thanks to all who came and shared the challenge and the joy! 

Thank you, Felton, for being on the NE corner of Second Avenue and Third Street during key celestial events.

... and giving everyone a chance to capture the cosmos — and level up their Instagram feeds with stunning celestial shots...

And a few Star Watchers photo sets from:

• 2024

• The August 2017 total solar eclipse

• 2022

Construction watch: 183 Avenue B

Here's a look at the in-progress, all-new 183 Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street.

As we've noted, this 8-floor, 12-unit residential building is going as the Village Garden Condominium.

The Village Garden website states that "all units are flooded by natural light. Lower floors provide views of the beautiful historic buildings of the Lower East Side; upper floors afford sweeping views of the neighborhood and Tompkins Square Park ... The two full-floor penthouse units include two terraces, perfect for inviting friends or a romantic evening. The delight of your private outdoor space can be appreciated during the morning sunrise or in the evening with a glass of wine." 

Amenities include a fitness room and the opportunity to buy one of six individual garden spaces in the back of the building. Pricing has not been announced. 

Here's the plywood rendering...

In January 2017, Corcoran listed the property at an asking price of $4.75 million. According to public records, the building—with intact air rights—sold for that exact amount in April 2017. The DOB permit lists Richard Pino as the owner via Tompkins 183 LLC. 

The existing four-story building was later demolished on this lot in early 2020. 

A December 2024 completion date remains on the plywood rendering.

These bars and restaurants are temporarily closed, and at least one is permanently shuttered

In recent weeks and months, we've received several reader queries about a handful of bars and restaurants that have not been open during advertised business hours. 

Among them: 

• Taverna East Village 

Taverna East Village has been closed since at least early December at 228 First Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street. 

According to a patron in December, the Greek restaurant was closed without any notice to the public until a sign later arrived noting the closure due to a "required Con Edison" inspection. The rolldown gates have been down lately. 

The restaurant's website still notes: "We are currently closed due to a Kitchen Renovation project. We are working very hard to reopen as soon as possible." 

The outpost of Astoria's favorite Taverna Kyclades opened in the fall of 2013. However, ownership changed hands, and the name change to Taverna East Village was made public last June.

• The Cabin 

The bar-restaurant remains closed at 205 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

An Instagram post from Dec. 26 states the bar-restaurant is temporarily closed due to "building maintenance." 

Yelp states that the Cabin will reopen on March 31.

• Grillify-NYC 

The bar and grill specializing in burgers has been closed in recent weeks at 540 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

A Feb. 26 Instagram post states, "Sorry we are temporarily closed." 

Estefanie and Luis Cuahutle, a brother-and-sister team, took over ownership of the former Le Burger space last summer. People seem to like this low-key spot, so hopefully, they will return.

• Down & Out NYC 

The bar at 503 E. Sixth St., between Avenue A and Avenue B, has been dark for months, and we have been waiting for an official notice about its closure. (Google lists the business as permanently closed, but we have not received a reply to our messages about its status.) 

The top photo, from Jan. 12, showed legal documents affixed to the front door. 

The cocktail and oyster bar opened in late 2022. 

The address was previously Cholo Noir, the Chicano-inspired bar-restaurant that closed in August 2018 after 13 months. No. 503 was also home for five weeks to Long Bay, a Vietnamese restaurant that closed in the spring of 2015. 

Several years earlier, the space housed Gladiators Gym.