Monday, November 30, 2009

Help an EV Grieve reader find a new neighbor who isn't a jackass



EV Grieve reader Andy is looking for some help. After seven years, his very cool neighbor moved out. He lives in a typical EV tenement on East Seventh Street. These apartments are small, so if you get a douchey neighbor (bellowing at his blaring flat-screen, for example), you’re fucked. So if you — or a cool, quiet, considerate adult — is looking for an apartment, contact Andy at:

andy [at] penetrationinc [dot] com

SERIOUS inquiries only.

Here’s the info from Andy:

EV APT $1,525. Jr. 1 bedroom on East Seventh Street. 2 rooms approx 11 x 12 (kitch, bed) + bath nextdoor to me (apts share a wall in both rooms). Fresh paint, newish all white bath, sunny southern skyline views, 6th floor walk-up. Quiet. Avail now. Oh, and, if you go through the broker I know, there is NO FEE!


The floorplan is up above...

That special time of year when Rolf's ConEd bill quadruples

The holiday lights are up again at Rolf's, the German eatery on Third Avenue at 22nd Street. You'll find the usual: Some 70,000 light bulbs and Victorian-era tchochkes. Despite what the photos below show, it seemed a little less over the top than in previous years.

And please do not stare at any of the photos for too long: You may suffer a seizure. Or turn into a toddler.













Anyway, definitely worth seeing once. It gets awfully crowded with the office party crowd. So pick your time...

Previously on EV Grieve (who likes to use that same ConEd joke):
'Tis the season for keeping ConEd in business: The holiday lights are up at Rolf's

Max Fish turns 20 this week; will open Miami outpost (temporarily)

Ludlow Street mainstay Max Fish opened on Dec. 2, 1989. And to mark the occasion... Slamxhype has the story:

In celebration of the legendary New York City bar’s 20 year anniversary, Aaron Bondaroff, Al Moran and Ulli Rimkus bring the downtown institution Max Fish to Miami for the week of Art Basel. Taking over a functioning bar space in downtown Miami, the team will be recreating an art installation out of the core elements of the Lower East Side location and importing it’s colorful cast of characters for the week.


And Slamxhype also included this Max Fish video from CityCapture.com.

Village Green bares its fangs

Some day soon, these menacing-looking fangs coming from our favorite eco-indulgent condo on East 11th Street...







...will help provide shelter to the citizens of VG...



Previously hereabouts.

Bravo Pizza coming to Union Square

Bravo Pizza is opening its seventh NYC location... coming soon to the Zeckendorf Towers on the northwest corner of Irving Place and 14th Street. It's at the former site of Rhyme & Reason, the card shop, which closed in September 2008.



As far as we know, a Chipotle is still going in the corner space.



Meanwhile, the folks at pizza parlor Amore's (who are always hiring cashiers) must be thrilled with the competition directly across the street.



Makes sense to have two pizza parlors so close to each other along this stretch. We have a Duane Reade and a Walgreens; a P.C. Richard and Best Buy; Trader Joe's and Whole Foods; an NYU dorm and an NYU dorm and an NYU dorm within a short few blocks.

And this means that Bravo has locations at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue; 19th Street and Fifth Avenue; and Park Avenue South at 21st Street. Is there a market that big for deep-dish pizza ...?

A krazy few days for the former Kurve!

Kurve, the favored spot for privileged teens to prowl, had a krazy few days... So for those keeping track of the komical thai eatery at Second Avenue at Fifth Street, here's a recap...

Tuesday!



Wednesday-Thursday!




Friday!



Sunday! The buffet is back! And Kurve is now known as Rhong Tiam East.



And there's now wi-fi and Butter Lane cupcakes...



Top photo via Eater.

2U (or U2) Karaoke is now open on St. Mark's Place; Hanover Cafe coming soon

All sorts of things happening at the former Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's between Third Avenue and Second Avenue...



The karaoke portion of this new B&T empire opened over the weekend...




The folks behind Hanover Cafe are also part of the World's Fare Market at Citi Field.





Previously hereabouts.

Bluebird Coffee Shop now open



The Bluebird Coffee Shop opened Saturday on East First Street just west of First Avenue. (Simon Sips was in this spot until earlier this fall.) Pretty simple: coffee and espresso drinks, with a few things like coffee cake and Irish soda bread. I always give a new place a whirl. And, for what this is worth, the coffee at the Bluebird is better than at any of the other new cafes that have opened in recent months...

Subway painfully reminds us that they're coming to the Bowery

At the former Downtown Music...



...so it wasn't really a bad dream. (Fork in the Road broke the story.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
And this pretty much sums it up: City's 45,679th Subway taking over former Downtown Music space on the Bowery

A Daydream doesn't come true, and a new hair salon debuts

With the help of a Grub Street reader who named the joint, Daydream opened last December to plenty of fanfare...(it was originally going to be called Double Fraiche)...The reader's prize: winner of free fro-yo for life at Daydream.






But the Daydream was shortlived. It closed in late October. And now, a new hair salon has opened in the space.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Oh, Christmas trees!

The trees have arrived on Second Avenue in front of the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery...




I have my eye on the one on the left.



Previously on EV Grieve:
First sign of Christmas trees

Zines, which never really went away, are making a comeback


There's a trends piece in the Post today on zines making a comeback. (I never thought that they went away, but, you know, with stupid blogs and stuff....)

Anyway! To the story!

Jenna Freedman, the zine librarian at Barnard, thinks that part of the allure is a reaction to our digital age. "People are overwhelmed by the online world, and retreating to something more manageable and tangible like print feels soothing."

Ayun Halliday started her zine, "The East Village Inky," in 1998 and resisted the pressure to switch to a blog. "I'm a paper fetishist," says the 44-year-old mom of two who lives in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. "I like to think of someone discovering an issue in an attic or a dusty bookstore 20, 50 or 100 years from now." Her latest project is a Zinester’s Guide to NYC.

New York's zine scene is a mix of Gen X veterans, like Halliday, who never stopped publishing, and younger enthusiasts. Freedman has had prospective students who have no memory of life before blogs request tours of the zine library during campus visits.


First, I was always a Generation X fan.



(Try embedding a video in a zine, suckers!)

But seriously, I love zines. And I've kicked around the idea of creating a zine. Jeremiah has had similar thoughts. In fact, I may have stolen the idea from him!

For further reading:
Zine fest (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Archiving a collection of LES protest fliers



Missed this piece in the Times yesterday about Time's Up! founder Bill DiPaola. His collection of fliers and artwork from nearly two decade's worth of Lower East Side protests is becoming part of an archive at NYU.

[Photo: Kirsten Luce for The New York Times]

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Bloomberg spent nearly $183 per vote



From the City Room:

To eke out a narrow re-election victory over the city’s understated comptroller, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spent $102 million of his own money, or about $183 per vote, according to data released on Friday, making his bid for a third term the most expensive campaign in municipal history.

And the $102 million tab is likely to rise: the mayor has not yet doled out his storied bonuses to campaign workers, which can top $100,000 a person. That spending will not be reported until after his inauguration.

Books that we found on a bench in Tompkins Square Park yesterday




Say, who's the school reporter there interviewing Betty. Is that Big Ethel Muggs?

Friday, November 27, 2009

Me too

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition



Excellent new exhibit at Bullet Space (Blah Blog Blah) Jill also published an East Third Street photo essay.

Pizza at Ray's? (Neither More Nor Less)

An idea for your leftovers (With Leftovers)

Why it should be Black Sabbath Day today (Flaming Pablum)

One reason to go to the Time Warner Center (Stupefaction)

Legendary New York Yankees PA announcer Bob Sheppard officially retires (The Sporting News)

Thanksgiving at HoJo's (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

How those lights get up on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree (Lost City)

East River String Band's new CD "Drunken Barrel House Blues" is now available (Slum Goddess)