On Friday, our friend Doug Quint at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop stopped by the Village Farms on Avenue A ... workers there told him that the grocery is closing Jan. 31.
Meanwhile, in far more disturbing developments, a tipster passed along the following this past weekend. A Village Farms employee told the tipster that the landlord is "wrecking the building.' Not a good sign."
Indeed. Not surprising, though if this is true.
Still, as of now, there still aren't any permits on file with the DOB.
Finally, last night, we received the following message:
This is a message written on behalf of the current business tenants, Monica and her husband, written by their daughter: "We are so thankful to have gotten to know many of you and to have been a part of this neighborhood. We are sorry for not always doing a great job and being responsible for any bad shopping experiences some of you may have had. We are indebted to our loyal customers and their friendships. The new location is a friend's store, who we will be working alongside. As we are in the process of scouting a store ourselves, we hope to maybe meet in the future if we come back to Avenue A. God Bless, everyone! As the store closes, we will be having a special clearance sale sometime in the last week of January. Hope to see many of you there! With Love, the Songs"
Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A
22 comments:
oh no
I'm going to miss that place. I call it the "Deli that Has Everything." I once bought a hacksaw and a ham sandwich at the same time. I hope they don't build more apartments...
I will miss the Songs. They are very nice people.
And here I naively thought that someone would restore the old theater and open it as a movie theater (I have to think the neighborhood could support one again as an alternative to Sunshine and that multi-thing on 11th), or maybe even an incredibly cool club on the order of the old World on 1st.
My brain is obviously in the wrong century.
This is insane. INSANE. What has happened to this city that we no longer value old, perfectly viable buildings? Even if this does turn into condos or an H&M, why not repurpose the building, as we have been doing in New York for hundreds of years? This isn't an ugly building or a decaying tenement, it is a beautiful old theater and should be considered a treasure. Who ARE these people hell bent on destroying everything from the past with their glass-and-steel shitshows? Because you know that's what's coming. I feel like I am taking crazy pills!!
Well I know it used to be a grande olde theatre and all but let's face it in 2012 this building looks rather shitty and who knows what shape it's really in.
How do we get the Landmarks Commission involved? We've lost too many neighborhood theaters already (The Anderson, The Fillmore, The Jefferson, The Lyric, Variety Photoplays) to allow this one (The Hollywood) to go.
Any ideas anyone???
Is there a national group that restores theaters? This just seems too important to lose and there must be someone out there who values this building for what it was/is/can be again.
Is Robert Moses's ghost haunting the city?!? This makes me furious.
sure hope itis not a micky d's or a star bucks
Great people there. This stings. In a million different places.
This structure takes up alot of space on the block, so if they're going to tear it down, expect condo development with douchie commercial space at street level.
As much as I would like to see this landmarked, I doubt it will happen as this has not been a functioning theatre for many decades.
I have previously read, maybe on cinematreasures, that many of the details of the theater are intact inside. MAYBE if all else fails to save it someone can organize a group quick look inside just to see it?
OMG no!! This is the only bodega/grocery store I shop at in the EV! I love the service and the Korean woman always gives me free candy. I can't believe this place is closing and the building is coming down! Another one bites the dust.
Everyone behind the counters -- from the family to Jimmy the breakfast guy -- has always been really kind. And they really do have everything. I once went to places all over Chinatown and Little Italy and Whole Foods looking for an obscure ingredient they ended up having. If only I'd gone to the great deli first. Lesson learned that time. Plus, they have an incredible selection of beer and keep prices for some things far more modest than most.
Very nice family. Very sad news.
oh jesus
I remember standing in line when it was a Pioneer grocery store when my wife let out a shriek. Turns out some junky who was standing behind her took a nod on her back. Those were the days.....Sad to see it go. I did know some older residence who went there when it was theatre.
The theatre is somewhat intact, being used for storage area.
Here are photos from a previous EV Grieve post:
http://evgrieve.com/2009/09/little-bit-of-hollywood-on-avenue.html
I would imagine that this will be coming down. If Landmarks didn't save St. Ann's on 12th Street, or the Variety Photoplays on Third Avenue, or so many others, I don't see why this would be spared.
Very sad.
A neighbor
It would be great to properly photograph it when they moved out and it is empty.
This is indeed very sad if they just tear this building down. They threatened to do that with the Sunshine for years and then someone renovated it and started it up as a cinema again.
Also it would be so terrible to have another condo building there and the construction would be terrible for all of us living on the block.
I would like to ask everyone here to write to all the media outlets you can and then sit back and watch the lack of interest and coverage on this.
Lesson: the city is owned by the real estate industry.
But still, worthy a try.
@Profjoe223
Actually, there has been a lot of media interest in this... Gothamist, Gawker, the Huffington Post and The New Year Times had this last week. WABC-7 is doing a feature this week.
How depressing, the loss of the bodega, the friendly staff and owners, and the building as well. One of the best parts of the EV is wandering around admiring the architecture and wondering about the history and current state of mysterious old buildings like this one. No one has ever been fascinated by, or compelled to research, the history of an all-glass condo building.
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