Someone stole this dog

Mona was stolen from West Fourth Street and Christopher... flyers up now in the East Village...

Photo by Bobby Williams.

The Standard East Village is leaking

And over at the Standard East Village today, workers were searching for the source of a leak...

Any ideas where it might be coming from...?

Photos by Bobby Williams.

You MAY have to wait until next spring to use a Citi Bike share

[File photo by Shawn Chittle]

Per the Post today:

The city’s stalled bike-sharing program is asking for financial help even before it begins, The Post has learned.

Alta, the company that was supposed to have put 10,000 bicycles on the street starting today, has asked the lead sponsor to accelerate payments of $3.5 million in case the program is delayed until next spring and runs out of cash, sources said.

Have you seen 'Eleanor Rigby'?

As you may have noticed, crews for "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby" have (and will be!) filming in part of the neighborhood all week, not to mention next Monday... The sign above lists where all the trucks and stuff will be...

As for the film, per IndieWire:

Slowly shaping up to be one of the more unique productions this year, “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby” has gradually acquired a talented cast fit for its two-film premise — that of a troubled marriage told, in each installment, from the husband and the wife's perspective. A few weeks back Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy were locked in as the couple, and now a slew of new names have come up just as the film heads into shooting.

Other cast members include Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt.

[Bobby Williams]

Today in photos of a fruit plate on Avenue B

At East Fourth Street this morning via EVG reader Steven...

On the August CB3/SLA docket: Pretty much every East Village storefront will soon be a bar

In August, the SLA & DCA Licensing Committee is the only Community Board 3 group to meet... on Aug. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the usual place — JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. at Bowery.

Given the number of applicants, they may need to meet twice in August... there are 45 items in total. (Last August, there were just 16.)

Everyone wants a piece of the East Village Gold Rush... there's no stopping this until every business is a bar. Doesn't it seem that way? It's beyond out of hand.

Here's a look at just some East Village-related items... we don't have much information about any of these applicants just yet... The full rundown is at the CB3 website.

Renewal with Complaint History

• Affaire (Chow Main Corp), 240 E 4th St (aka 50 Ave B) (op)

• The Delancey (ADR Restaurant Inc), 168 Delancey St (op)

• UCB East (Upright Citizens Brigade East Village LLC), 155 E 3rd St (wb)

Sidewalk Café Application

• Mary Anns's (Vargomez Corp), 300 E 5th St

• Bareburger (Bare City Two LLC), 85 2nd Ave

Applications within Resolution Areas

• To be Determined, 172 Ave B (op)

This the is the rumored BBQ place coming to the former Mercadito Cantina space...

• Urge (Prince 28 LLC), 14 Ave B (op)

Ugh. No one will give up trying this space between East Second Street and Houston. CB3 shot down applicants hoping to open various clubs and brewpubs here in the past...

• Croissanteria (Croissanteria Inc), 68 Ave A (wb)

As mentioned yesterday...

• Caffe Buon Gusto (Ave B Buon Gusto Corp), 76 Ave B (wb)

They've been touting a bring your own bottle policy since opening...

• Seiei LLC, 130 St Marks Pl (wb)

Alterations

• NY Tofu House (6 St Marks Restaurant LLC), 6 St Marks Pl (wb/convert storage to dining room)

• Goat Town (511 E 5th St LLC), 511 E 5th St (op/extend front window hours)

• Lakeside Lounge (La Ritt Inc), 162-164 Ave B (op/add bar)

New Liquor License Applications

• Hi Collar (Sobaya Restaurant Inc), 214 E 10th St (wb)

The former Rai Rai Ken space...

• Café Himalaya (Norsang Café Inc), 78 E 1st St (wb)

[Bobby Williams]

• Shanasheel Corp, 124 E 4th St (wb)

This is the former Social Tees space... they moved to East Second Street last December...

• Ramen and Gyoza House Zen 6 (Zen 6 LLC), 328 E 6th St (wb)

• To be Determined, 224 E 10th St (wb)

Merciel is the boutique that sold wedding dresses... they recently closed, and something booze-related hopes to take its place.

• To be Determined, 139 E 12th St (wb)

Something coming to the long-closed D&M Convenience store at Third Avenue.

• Alder Restaurant LLC, 157 2nd Ave (op)

Hmm... this is the address for Plum Pizzeria and Bar...

• Feast (Two Guize LLC), 102 3rd Ave (op)

The New York Central Framing Annex has moved around the corner to East 12th Street... and a restaurant-bar is in the works for the old space...

• The Sterling Room, 189 E 3rd St (op)

This is the Le Caire Lounge space...

• To be Determined, 179 E 3rd St (wb)

Something in the works for the string of newly remodeled storefronts between Avenue A and Avenue B...

• To be Determined, 79 St Marks Pl (op)

Something new for the former Typhoon Lounge space... which closed in March.

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)

• Flea Market (Alouette Corp), 131 Ave A (op)

We discussed this matter back here.

• Spice Cove (CNR Enterprises NY Inc), 326 E 6th St (wb)

------

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations |up=upgrades

'Goldfinger' rescheduled for Aug. 23 in Tompkins Square Park

Given the end of the world storms of last Thursday... officials canceled the free screening of "Goldfinger" in Tompkins Square Park.

However, reps for the Films in Tompkins series say that the James Bond action-adventure has been rescheduled for Aug. 23.

Mama's Food Shop closes after 15 years; 'the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished'

[Via the Mama's website]

Yesterday afternoon, Jeremiah Clancy, owner of Mama's Food Shop on East Third Street and Avenue B the last six years, sent around the following letter to various media outlets and patrons and others...

We'll run his letter in its entirety ... he pretty much nails the problems that small businesses face... and what the East Village has become...

It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce the closing of Mama’s Food Shop in the East Village, NYC as of last evening. After fifteen years in business (six being under my management) it is finally time to say goodbye. We have had many wonderful years and are forever grateful to all of you for eating with us and making our little place feel so special.

Due to increasing rents and property taxes, and the constant expenses that arise when maintaining an older building, it has become no longer possible to keep our doors open. I have no distain for the landlords in the East Village, for they are put in a precarious position of having an overhead that they too cannot afford.

Sadly, it is the small businesses that suffer from the escalation of the above market commercial rents and property taxes. I now join the ranks of Kate’s Joint, Zaitzeff, Life Café, and Lakeside Lounge; all business that have folded in a neighborhood going through a period of flux.

I look forward to seeing what the East Village becomes (Avenues A-C especially), for at this moment it is a neighborhood that is in the midst of change. Avenue B is a ghost town commercially, the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished, and it is over-run every weekend by a generation that has no vested interest in the East Village community except to visit on the weekends.

By no means is this an indictment to the new, younger generation, it is more of an admission that much of the steady business for bars and restaurants has moved to Brooklyn and the high residential rents have stripped the neighborhood of the artistic/cultured feel it used to be known for. Mama’s Food Shop has weathered these changes, including surviving the recession, but as these changes started affecting our business, I realized it was the end of an era.

I feel for those who are opening small businesses in New York City in this day and age. We live in a city where the Health Department has far too much power, the cost of the permits, inspections, and maintenance are so high it is impossible for a Mom & Pop operation to keep up with. I know the city needs to make income, yet I am afraid the ways in which they are doing this is going to cost all of our neighborhoods the character that we look for in this city. I am not against banks or chain restaurants going into neighborhoods, just nervous that this is all that will be left once the small businesses cease to exist.

I am a restaurateur and artist who has lived in and loved New York City for almost twenty years. Luckily, the city and its neighborhoods will always be going through change and I am excited for what is to come both in the East Village and beyond. I will move on, get a full time job, and continue to support the underdog small businesses in and around the city. I simply can’t run one anymore — it’s just too damn hard.

We'll be curious to see what happens to the space... we've always heard those rumors that a developer would by this corner space and put in a new apartment building...

This is what a beer distributor on East Second Street looked like on July 24, 2012

This year, we'll post photos like this of various buildings, streetscenes, etc., to capture them as they looked at this time and place... The photos may not be the most telling now, but they likely will be one day...

Ways to protect trees and flowers in the East Village

Photos by Bobby Williams.

La Isla has closed for good on East 14th Street

Since our post last Wednesday on the possible closure of La Isla on East 14th Street near Avenue B... several readers, including DJ Xerox of copycat, have confirmed that they closed due to a big rent hike...

The La Isla Cafe on Delancey near Pitt remains open...

Reader report: bakery-coffee shop in the works for 68 Avenue A

[Bobby Williams]

Here along the stretch of empty Avenue A storefronts between East Fifth Street and East Fourth Street... a reader tells us that a bakery/coffee shop is in the works for the space with the brown paper over the windows... the cafe will be taking just part of the space left vacant when East Village Pharmacy lost their lease and moved down the block...

The cafe looks to be called Croissanteria at 68 Avenue A... and they're on the August CB3/SLA docket for a beer-wine license ... the meeting will take place on Aug. 20. We'll have more on the August docket later...

Why the New York Marble Cemetery is throwing fancy parties

[EVG file photo]

There's a feature in The New York Times today on the New York Marble Cemetery ... and why the historic cemetery on Second Avenue between Second Street and Third Street is hosting weddings, Vogue fashion shoots and Stella McCartney fashion events...

Per the article:

The cemetery’s trustees, descendants of some of the people interred in the vaults — the last burial was in 1937 — have allowed events to be held on the grounds to help pay for badly needed repairs and restorations.

The aim, said Caroline S. DuBois, one of the trustees, was “how we could make the cemetery pay for itself.”

“That has morphed into a business.” The fee for a wedding is $2,500, she said.

Officials at the cemetery, which was established in 1830, did turn down a promotional party for a tequila company.

However, regardless of how upscale some of the events may be...

The neighborhood’s old grittiness has not disappeared entirely. [Gardener Gresham] Lang said he sometimes found hypodermic needles on the grass. A mulberry tree near the ruined wall is now “the underwear tree” because residents of a homeless shelter nearby “throw underwear, condoms, among other things” into the cemetery.

Previously.

Topless advocate Moira Johnston still making headlines this summer

[Second Avenue and East 11th Street; reader submitted]

Via Gothamist yesterday, we've learned more about East Village topless advocate Moira Johnston ... who we first wrote about back on May 18... as you probably know, she has been raising awareness that it's OK and perfectly legal for women to be topless in the city....

The Daily Beast featured Johnston in a post this past weekend... (Probably NSFW)

According to the article, her advocacy campaign started in January ... after a yoga studio banished her for taking off her top in class. "Some of the other yogis complained to the owners about her bare breasts, but Johnston thought it unfair that men be allowed to go topless in Downward Dog while women are forced to keep their mammaries in their Lululemon tanks."

Since then, she has filed legal complaints against 13 yoga studios.

Meanwhile, you've likely seen her walk around the neighborhood ... she told The Daily Beast that she has received mostly positive comments from passersby ... except for "the man who told her he’d just gotten out of prison and was going to hurt her."

"I considered carrying mace [after that encounter], but that's absolutely not a common occurrence," Johnston says, adding that she's never been groped or assaulted. "Most people are fairly respectful, at least in terms of my physical space."

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] There is a woman who has been walking around the East Village topless

Shocking revelations: People like looking at photos of topless women on the Internet

Reader report: Flood causes damage to under-renovation 315 E. 10th St.

Neighbors were buzzing about the under-renovation 315 E. 10th St. last week... Jose Garcia tells us about the following that neighbors said happened last Wednesday...

"Just as they were putting the finishing touches on 315, there was a flood that apparently did a good amount of water damage on multiple floors to several of their brand new apartments. There were all kinds of cleaning-service vans around ..."

No word from the workers on the extent of the flood damage.

As you'll recall, the city OK'd a one-floor rooftop addition here in January hours before the Landmarks Preservation Committee approved the East 10th Street Historic District.

Developer Ben Shaoul has been converting the building from nonprofit use to residential.

Previously.

[Photos by Bobby Williams]

Today in Urban Bike Etiquette Signs: 'Stop being a dick'

EVG reader Ryan spotted this sign on Seventh Street in front of Big Bar this past weekend...

"Douche bag

Your bike is in the basement of 'big bar' because they are very kind. Stop being a dick + locking your bike to our bikes."

What the rent is for the former Luca Lounge space on Avenue B

I can't tell you exactly when the Luca Lounge closed on Avenue B between 13th Street and 14th Street... I'm guessing it was in April?

In any event, the space is for rent...

Happened to spot the listing at the Croman 9300 site... and it refers to the Luca Lounge as "legendary" ... which must explain why the asking rent is $19,995 dollars per month...

Meanwhile, the Luca Bar remains open on St. Mark's Place...

521-523 E. 12th St. sells for $10.9 million

On Friday, Eastern Consolidated reported that it "represented the seller and procured the purchaser in the sale of this 5-story, 40 unit walk-up apartment building" at 521-523 E. 12th St. The building between Avenue A and Avenue B was sold for $10.9 million.

According to public records, an entity called JMS Village LLC purchased the property from EL-LOU Holding Company. The JMS contact on the documents is Jack Avid, whose name came up in two Village Voice articles about SROs being converted to tourist-class buildings back in the late 1990s. You can find those articles here ... and here.

More noticeble progress at the incoming Ludlow Hotel

Back in the spring, work resumed at 180 Ludlow, a four-plus-years-in-the-making eyesore that will one day be the 20-story, 170-room Hotel Ludlow...

And there's noticeable progress at the site...

[Via @mCase513]

In October, Curbed reported that BD Hotels — the team involved with the Maritime, Chambers, Greenwich, Jane and Bowery hotels — bought the stalled site for $25 million.

We'll find out soon enough if the Lower East Side can absorb yet another hotel... another hotel that figures to be a nightlife destination ... and what impact the double-whammy of luxury with the Ludlow next door will have on surrounding businesses...

Anyway, for more on the drama background here, you can check out BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down.

Week in Grieview

[East Fourth Street. Photo by Bobby Williams]

'Heavy construction' promised for any remaining tenants of 50-58 E. Third St. (Thursday)

Dining at the IHOP at 4:15 a.m. (Monday)

Construction starts at the Mystery Lot! (Monday)

St. Mark's Bookshop crowdsourcing funds to move (Wednesday)

DOT removing bike racks on Astor Place (Tuesday)

Looking at short-term rentals on St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

170-174 E. Second St. hits the market for $16.5 million (Tuesday)

Demolition starts at the former Charles Theater on Avenue B (Thursday)

Looking at the East Village Brownstone on East 12th Street (Wednesday)

Two new restaurants open on Extra Place (Tuesday)

And photos galore from the derecho of the century.... here and here and here...

[Bobby Williams]

The poor, potential geyser got overlooked by the derecho! (Thursday)

[Updated] Perhaps the greatest missing bike flyer ever

[Click to enlarge image]

East 10th Street and Third Avenue last night via the Bagel Guy.

Per the sign, possibly a fake but still entertaining — "no reward."

"I don't even want this bike back. I just made these flyers to tell you that I hate you, bike thief. I hope you ride my bike without a helmet and get hit by a monster truck. I hope my bike takes you straight to Hell."

Updated:

Ah, so the sign is old... but apparently people are still putting them up... perhaps to help sell these T-shirts. Per the comments, the flyer is the work of David Shrigley.

When the shoe repair shop is closed

Drop-off service? Avenue C near Seventh Street.

(Just another) Saturday night on Avenue A...

At East Ninth Street... photo by Shawn Chittle.

Hieroglyphs on Avenue B

A photo via Dave on 7th showing Sixth Street and Avenue B... now that Avenue B has been repaved, it's time to tear it up again...

Last weekend for Magic Fingers, Old Good Things on East 10th Street

This is the last weekend for Magic Fingers, Old Good Things, at 220 E. 10th St. (Between First Avenue and Second Avenue.) Earlier this summer, we reported that longtime East Village resident Susan Leelike was closing her 20-plus year-old shop ... she has sales on her vintage jewelry and collectibles.

She'll be open from 3-7 p.m.today and tomorrow.

Noted

Crazy Eddie notes that the testing truck is back on Avenue A this morning...

Brunch for preservation tomorrow

From the EV Grieve inbox...from the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative...

[Click image to enlarge]

Organizers say the benefit event is mostly for the meal and conversation ... though they will touch on some strategizing on preservation and landmarking in the East Village and Lower East Side moving forward... More details here.

Free today in Tompkins Square Park: 6th Annual New Village Music Festival

Check out the event website for more information...

'Garbage' time

The Cramps circa 1980... with "Garbage Man."

Are you missing a bird?

From a reader just now in Tompkins Square Park:

I saw a smallish, grey and blue (maybe some purple) budgie or parakeet or little parrot looking bird flying around tompkins square park at about 12:30 today. He was on the fence on the west/north side of the center lawn. When I stuck my hand out he flew away (he can fly pretty well) to the rail on the lawn just west of the center lawn. I tried to get close to him but he wouldn't let me. He was hanging with the wild birds and they weren't attacking him so maybe he'll be ok, but he must belong to someone.

Unfortunately, the reader didn't get a photo... but if you are missing a bird...

Earlier this morning on East Second Street and First Avenue

Photo by Shawn Chittle ... and a continuation of today's stuffed animal theme...

One more photo of the derecho of the millenium

7:30 last night looking south from the East Village ... Photo by c ring.

When we almost lost St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery to a fire

[Photo via]

On July 27, 1978, a fire nearly destroyed the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, long a focal point of the community. At the time of the blaze, workers were nearly done with a $500,000 restoration of the historic church on Second Avenue and East 10th Street.

According to an account by Tom Sotor in the East Side Express:

The fire began when a workman's welding instrument ignited a section of the timber cornice, and from there the blaze spread rapidly. "Smoke was pouring out of the hell tower when we arrived," recalls one of the first firefighters on the scene. "I said to myself, 'This ceiling's going to go.' And sure as hell, there was a partial collapse." The rear section of the 50-foot high peaked roof collapsed a half-hour after the fire began.

The 75 firefighters involved with the three-alarm blaze Were faced with many other problems as well. A six-foot iron fence that surrounded the church and a graveyard on one side prevented the companies from utilizing anything but portable equipment. Consequently, a tower ladder had to be employed to spray the front and rear, while the sides of the church remained practically unassailable.

There was also danger of the 150-foot steeple collapsing. "We kept an eye on the steeple'supports," explains John J. Moffatt, the commander in charge of the fire. "If it fell, we would have had a lot of injuries."

There weren't any reported injuries... though the fire caused major damage to the church, including the loss of the roof and nine of the 23 stained-glass windows.

[Via East Side Express]

The Citizens to Save St Mark's was founded to raise funds for its reconstruction ... supervised by architect Harold Edelman. The restoration was completed in 1986, with new stained-glass windows designed by Edelman, who personally supervised the entire project, according to his obit in the Times from 1999.

And a little snippet of the history via the Church website:

The St. Mark’s Church and its yards are just a few reminders of the once vast “bouwerie,” or Dutch plantation, which Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Amsterdam purchased in 1651 from the Dutch West India Company. When Stuyvesant died in 1672, his body was interred in a vault under the family chapel he’d had built in 1660. In 1793, Stuyvesant’s great-grandson, Petrus Stuyvesant, donated the chapel property to the Episcopal Church with the stipulation that a new chapel be erected and on April 25, 1795, the cornerstone of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery was laid.

Bike rentals at Busy Bee

[Bobby Williams]

We've been writing about the upcoming Smurf Bike Citi Bikes share ... we meant to note that Busy Bee on East Sixth between First Avenue and Avenue A offers one of the above bikes — $30 for 24 hours...

60 hours of Conrad Schnitzler on East First Street this weekend

[Via AVA]

Via a post at Gallerist, we learn the following: Audio Visual Arts on East First Street (just east of Second Avenue) is presenting a nonstop marathon of the audio work of the late German artist and musician Conrad Schnitzler outside its storefront. Per AVA — Nothing will be repeated.

The Schnitzler starts at 6 tonight and runs through to 6 a.m. on Monday.

Some Schnitzler background via AVA:

Conrad Schnitzler (1937 – 2011) is legendary in the German electronic and avant-garde music scene as a founding member of Tangerine Dream and of Kluster, but his intermedia work from the 60s, 70s and 80s is far less known. On the anniversary of his passing, New Yorkers will have a rare opportunity to see and hear many of his seminal multi-channel concerts and film/video works, most of which have never been screened or performed in the US until now.

First of the Tompkins Square Park Riot Reunion shows this Sunday

From the EV Grieve inbox...

THE TOMPKINS SQUARE REBELLION IS ON!!

24th ANNUAL TSP RIOT REUNION!! Commemorate the anniversary of the mini police riot of July 30, 1988, followed a week later by the infamous 6 hour riot inside and outside of Tompkins Square Park on August 6, 1988, in which hundreds of "New York's Finest" from all over the city descended on our neighborhood, indiscriminately clubbing anyone in their sights in furtherance of a non-existent midnight park curfew.

Where: Tompkins Square Park: When: July 29 + August 4 + 5, 2012

These shows celebrate the vitality of the counter cultural scene that has survived on the Lower East Side, despite the rampant gentrification, soaring rents and lost venues that have contributed to the cultural genocide sweeping New York City.

Sunday, July 29:
Blest Mess
Dust Angel
Gas NYC
Nihilistics
Rejuvenate
Iconicide

We'll post the lineups for the shows on Aug. 4 and 5 later next week...

A Mystery Lot slice of life

From last evening... via EVG reader Katja... featuring an NY1 crew... an NYPD cruiser ... and more ...

Posts featuring stuffed animals that we never got around to posting