Friday, October 31, 2014
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition
[Head, St. Mark's Place, via Bobby Williams]
How Katz's stays in business against the odds (Slate)
Parcel of five buildings on the Bowery sold for $45 million; more luxury on the way (BoweryBoogie)
Photo Cut-Outs: From M. Henry Jones’ animated film Soul City, 1977-79 (Gallery98)
Looking for Pussy Galore in Tompkins Square Park (Flaming Pablum)
The latest on on the plight of the Siempre Verde Community Garden (The Lo-Down)
A noon-to-midnight marathon tomorrow of 7 rarely-screened, bona-fide horror classics (Anthology Film Archives)
A fall scene in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)
More photos and video from the last concert in Tompkins Square Park for the year (Slum Goddess)
Upscale floral designer lands on Avenue B (Women's Wear Daily)
About the latest NYC graffiti crackdown (Vice)
A look at "Sometimes Overwhelming," Arlene Gottfried's black-and-white shots of the people of New York in the 1970s and 80s (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Hipster heat map? (Business Insider)
Celebrities who wear Ramones T-shirts (Dangerous Minds)
... and tomorrow is the last day to see the work of Jane Wilson at DC Moore Gallery at 535 E. 22nd St. ... in celebration of her 60-year career. The exhibition will feature a group of rarely seen 1960s cityscapes inspired by Tompkins Square Park... the Times wrote about the exhibit today here...
[Rain on Avenue B, 1965. Oil on canvas]
At the 35th anniversary of the Pyramid Club
Photos and text by EVG contributor Stacie Joy
The 35th anniversary party Tuesday night for the Pyramid Club was filled with more media and PR people than guests.
Sponsored by Stoli vodka (whose new marketing campaign is targeting East Village mainstays), there were Stoli drink specials as far as the eye could see and several famous people to gawk at, like Taye Diggs (he played Benny the landlord in the first Broadway production of "Rent," in case you wondered about the connection), Andrew W.K. (the Stoli “Professor of the Party”), and Andy Rourke from The Smiths (DJ’ing ’80s hits when I left).
Truthfully, though, I was there for Lady Bunny. She was the life of the party — singing and dancing and then secreting me away downstairs for some one-on-one time.
Lady Bunny told me that she started go-go-ing at Pyramid in 1983 by undercutting the other drag queens by $10 (they normally made $50 and she only charged $40), and quickly became a resident go-go dancer at the club at 101 Avenue A for the next 15 years.
She said the manager was a junkie and she felt he’d be happy with the extra money to put toward drugs. Of course this was before the Giuliani years when cabaret licenses were impossible to score. The East Village’s underground scene was exploding, and bringing its music, drag queens, drugs and culture to the masses.
A low-rent Studio 54, with poor but always-fabulous people is how Lady Bunny described the Pyramid Club. She informed me that we couldn’t sit around crying and bitching for what has changed, what we’ve lost; that we should acknowledge it, celebrate it, and create policies that will create change for the future.
Social media got a chunk of her blame: so many people out there documenting everything with their phones instead of being in the moment and enjoying what’s occurring in real time. We talked about how depressing the news can be and how she recommends that we log off, go out and enjoy what’s happening now in the city.
The John's of 12th Street documentary premieres next month
John's of East 12th Street, the 106-year-old East Village treasure, is the subject of a new feature documentary that premieres next month.
Here are details on the 68-minute film via Vimeo:
JOHN’S OF 12TH STREET is a portrait of a century-old Italian-American restaurant in New York City, one of the last of its kind in a rapidly changing East Village. This observational documentary loosely follows the rhythm of the restaurant’s day, which swings between boredom and frenzy as the old rooms empty and fill. No one who works at John’s is actually Italian, but some have been here for 40 years, including two pairs of brothers and a father and son. JOHN’S OF 12TH STREET catalogues the overlooked details of working life and a vanishing New York City.
The documentary is from Vanessa McDonnell, a filmmaker and editor based in Brooklyn.
The film debuts on Nov. 12 at Spectacle in Williamsburg. Details here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
About the new ownership for 105-year-old East Village institution John's of 12th Street
Report: Deal for East Village treasure John's of 12th Street is off
Out and About in the East Village with Nick Sitnycky Part 1 and Part 2
Gutting the check-cashing shop on East 5th Street
The saga continues for three small businesses on East Fifth Street just east of Second Avenue... back in July, the shopkeepers had to vacate their storefronts due to a structural issue in one of the apartments above in 300 E. Fifth St.
This week several readers noted that Jamie's check-cashing storefront has been gutted... as these photos via Derek Berg show...
Jamie, whose family has owned the business for 67 years, has moved his operation to a secure van outside his shop... He is understandably frustrated, but remains hopeful that he can return soon... workers are strengthening the ceiling and floor joists.
Previously on EV Grieve:
3 small businesses temporarily closed due to structural issues at 300 E. 5th St.
Empire Biscuit turns 1
On this occasion Wednesday night, the owners closed the storefront at 198 Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 13th Street for a celebration …
Previously on EV Grieve:
Incoming Empire Biscuit on Avenue A launches Kickstarter campaign (122 comments)
Report: Empire Biscuit opens today (65 comments)
A new boutique for kids and families on East 9th Street
As you can see from the above flyer, an.mé — a boutique for kids and families — has its grand opening today at 328 E. Ninth St between First Avenue and Second Avenue from noon to 7 p.m.
Business partners Melissa Scott and Annie Ju opened the shop several weeks ago ...
"We are really excited to be able to open a store in the East Village," Scott said. "We have lived her for almost 15 years and wouldn't want to be in business anywhere else."
And the store has extended a special discount to readers for 10% off their entire purchase when they mention EV Grieve today through Sunday.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
A Taylor Swift, 'Welcome to New York' mash-up courtesy of Clayton Patterson
Longtime LES documentarian Clayton Patterson has re-imagined/re-edited Taylor Swift's much-maligned "Welcome to New York" video … with archival footage from his archives circa the 1980s and early 1990s, including the Tompkins Square riots… there's also some footage of GG Allin writhing around on Avenue B for good measure.
Per Clayton's message via email:
Are there no NYC songwriters or musicians who could write a song and be a face representing the city? There is no talent in NYC? What is the message to struggling or successful artists? Where are our politicians on this corporate insult to NYC talent? Where are the agencies that represent NYC talent? What is the message to struggling or successful artists? What is the message to the average NY'er? Tell me DeBlasio is different from Bloomberg. It is one thing to make NYC into a corporate mall filled with cookie cutter corporate businesses, but now we have an individual with almost no relationship to NYC as the face and voice representing the city. It is like we have lost our mind?
November CB3/SLA highlights: The return of Lucky Cheng's
CB3 released its November calendar of meetings yesterday ... including the two nights of fun for the SLA licensing committee. Lots of items on the agenda this month, including a new home for Lucky Cheng's on Ludlow Street.
Here's a look at some of the applicants over the two nights. We'll pass along more info once it becomes available.
Monday, Nov. 17 at 6:30 pm
Community Board 3 Office, 59 E. Fourth St. (between Second Avenue and The Bowery)
Renewal with Complaint
• Percy's Tavern, 210 Ave A (op)
Applications within Saturated Areas
• Vintage B Inc, 56-58 Ave B (aka 235-237 E 4th St) (wb)
This is the former Vella Market (and Kate's Joint) space at East Fourth Street.
• To be Determined, 137 Ave C (op)
This is the new bar/restaurant going into the Sunburnt Cow quarters. The building is currently getting a head-to-toe renovation.
• To be Determined, 206 Ave A (op)
• To be Determined, 137 Ave A (op)
We went through this last month. It was a mistake then.
• Table 12 (188 Ave A Take Out Food Corp), 188 Ave A (upgrade to op)
Alterations
• Cornerstone Cafe (AO Cafe & Restaurant LLC), 17 Ave B (aka 241 E 2nd St) (alt/op/convert service counter to patron bar with 5 seats)
New Liquor License Applications
• Parmys Kabob and Grill Inc, 124-127 1st Ave (upgrade to op)
We noted this change a few weeks back.
• 41 1st Avenue Rest Corp, 41 1st Ave (op)
This is the address of d.b.a. Dennis Zentek, who opened d.b.a. in 1994 with friend Ray Deter, died on March 23 from injuries he suffered in a fall. Deter died in July 2011 from the injuries he suffered in a bicycling accident.
• To be Determined, 188 2nd Ave (wb)
Looks like there's a taker for the former Shima space at East 12th Street. We noticed that the for rent signs were down the other day.
Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 6:30 pm
University Settlement at Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery
Applications within Saturated Areas
• Lucky Cheng's (Red Room Hospitality LLC), 154 Ludlow St (op)
Lucky Cheng's, which closed its Midtown location last summer after the death of owner Hayne Suthon, looks to be making the move back downtown permanent. (They had been operating out of the DL on Delancey Street.)
The Living Room was the most recent tenant at 154 Ludlow St.
New Liquor License Applications
• Lucille (Little Rebel Inc), 134 1st Ave (op)
Hmm, this is the address of Simone Martini Bar.
Items not heard at Committee (meaning neighbors don't have any say in these items)
• The Bean (147 First Ave Bean LLC), 147 1st Ave (wb)
• G & Nishi Inc, 54-56 Third Avenue (wb)
• 4T USA Inc, 127 4th Ave (wb)
• Zund New York Inc, 84 E 10th St (wb)
b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations
When the jet ski arrived on East 5th Street
EVG regular Jose Garcia shares this...
It showed up about two weeks ago on East Fifth Street near Avenue C. It's not attached to the car in front of it.
It was the subject of a hive of activity when it first arrived. Mechanical repairs, etc.
And now it has become a seemingly permanent fixture on the street. Carefully and tenderly moved according to alternate side parking schedules.
Passersby can't seem to resist sitting on it. I guess I'm having aquatic fantasies. I think the jet ski itself might be sentient.
Veselka celebrating its 60th anniversary with FREE FOOD on Monday night
Veselka has been celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Back in the summer, the restaurant at 144 Second Ave. (at East Ninth Street) turned prices on some items back to 1954. (Surprise! There were lines!)
Now on Monday night from 6 to 11, Veselka is getting rid of its tables and serving free food. Per the invite: "Mirth and Mingling Strongly Encouraged!"
As the Veselka anniversary invite notes, in 1954, a house cost $10,000, rent was $85 and a movie ticket was 70 cents. And Wolodymyr Darmochawal and his wife Olha opened a small newsstand, candy shop and lunchonette that they named after the Ukrainian word for "rainbow."
Hitchcocktober ends tonight with 'Strangers on a Train'
Hitchcocktober wraps its month-long stay tonight at the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue and East 12th Street with "Strangers on a Train."
The films start at 8 p.m. Head to the Village East Cinema website for more info and tickets.
383 Lafayette wrapped ahead of NYU expansion
Workers have erected the sidewalk bridge and plywood around NYU's Academic Support Center (the former Tower video space) at 383 Lafayette St. at East Fourth Street.
As Curbed noted this past summer, NYU plans to expand the building, adding four new floors on the land that previously housed the Plantworks garden center these past 40 years.
[Rendering photo by Evan Bindelglass via Curbed]
Meanwhile, in other NYU expansion news on Lafayette Street, the school paid $157 million for 402-408 Lafayette Street (AKA 708 Broadway) to use as a short-term stand-in for the Coles Sports and Recreation Center. (Crunch used to be on the ground-floor before moving over to 2 Cooper Square.) NYU will use the upper floors for classrooms.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Growing soon in the former Plantworks garden center — an NYU building
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Oct. 29
Yay I win! Sure, there isn't any authentication or whatever on this lush beauty spotted on Lafayette near Astor Place.
But we can discuss when I return from the Grand Prize Trip!
The great pretender
There will never be another EV Lambo, plain and simple.
Still, others try.
East Fifth Street and Second Avenue today via Derek Berg.
Abandoned piano remains abandoned on Avenue A
[7 a.m.]
Slum Goddess spotted the piano last night on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place... and people were stopping to hit the keys throughout the night (neighbors loved that!)
Still there this morning... waiting.
Maybe someone calls George?
Bottom 2 photos by Derek Berg
Out and About in the East Village,
In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.
By James Maher
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
By James Maher
Name: Gigi Watson
Occupation: Writer, Artist, Cartoonist, Former Club Worker and Owner
Location: 3rd Street between 1st and A.
Time: 1:30 pm on Friday, Oct. 24.
I’m a native New Yorker. I grew up in Ridgewood, on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, which now they can’t decide whether it’s Brooklyn or Queens. It was basically a German, Italian and Jewish neighborhood. The first thing you asked when you met another kid was what was your nationality.
There were places that we didn’t go. Bed Stuy and Red Hook, these were not places to go. In Red Hook, they used to find a dead body every single day. My train was the L, which used to be a horrible, horrible train. The L train connected with the G train, which was murder central. If someone paid me a million dollars in cash and said, ‘Here, get on the G train’, I’d say, ‘No thank you.’
My first apartment in Manhattan was a sublet on Christopher Street in the West Village. I moved in 1979. I then moved to the East Village in 1982, on 2nd Street between A and B. You had to have two or three jobs at the same time just to survive. That’s being a real New Yorker. My rent was so expensive. If I didn’t have two jobs, there would be no way I could cut that rent.
The first club I worked at was Bonds International Casino on Broadway and 45th Street. I was working behind the scenes in the office with guest lists, counting money. We had Blondie, The Clash, Blue Oyster Cult, Motley Crue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who sucked. We had all kinds of punk rock bands. That’s where I developed a fear of crowds because the owner, John Addison, sold double the amount of tickets. We had 2,500-seat capacity and he sold 5,000 tickets per performance, and everybody showed up and was hammering on the door, ‘We want the show, we want the show.’ That place was fabulous.
[After Bonds] I worked at an after hours, where I worked the door. Cocaine was fantastic in the 1980s. That went right along with being at the front door. ‘Here, thanks a lot for letting me in,’ and I’d get a gram in my hand. That meant thank you. The stars I met — Nick Nolte, Grace Jones, Robin Williams, Paul McCartney. The list goes on and goes. Cause they would want to party late too.
I first worked in the cashier booth in Crisco [Disco], which is a famous haunt. We must have taken in at least between $8,000 and $10,000 on a Saturday night. It was a lucrative place.
After that I worked at Page 6. I was working the VIP room one month. Liza Minnelli was there snorting her brains out. Rick James comes in and puts a pile of coke on the table. All of a sudden you hear, ‘Freeze.’ So Rick James gets up, ‘Oh, I ain’t going to be arrested, I gotta get out of here, how do I get out?’ I said, ‘Mr. James there’s only one way out and that’s the way you came in.’ He walked out without a problem. It was the people that worked there that got busted because they didn’t have a liquor license.
After that I opened up my club, Trash. I was working at the time at Club 82, which was another after hours on 4th, and the manager there, John Matos said said to me, ‘Gi, why don’t you start your own club? How much do you need?’ We went shopping for furniture and I got all the stuff. I wanted neat 1960s furniture that was gaudy and cool looking. I wanted to do all the murals inside the club. I made the VIP room. I painted a big huge spider web so when you walked in, it was spinning. They would look up and sway from side to side. It was a cool place to be.
But that didn’t last very long because all the people who were great to look at had no money. Punk rockers do not have any money. Nobody had fucking money. Nobody had money for rent, forget about anything else.
Then one day a Hells Angel — this big Angel came in and went up to somebody at the bar and said, ‘Hey faggot’ and pushed him on the shoulder. The guy was a really cool looking punk rock guy and he was intimidated. Once the Angels come in, then it’s their club, and then it’s no longer my club or Trash. One brought many. Nobody would go there anymore. They were too afraid to go through the door. So that’s how Trash ended. That was about the time that punk rock itself was sort of waning.
Punk rock to me means anti-establishment. Punks saw that people conformed all over the place. It’s somebody with real talent to be unique and wild and out there. People used to come and sketch what I was wearing. The more beat up it is the better. They now have distressed leather. What fucking distressed? If you keep it on long enough, believe me it’ll become distressed. I always wanted to look different. I don’t want to look like anybody else. I want to look like me.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
Reactions to the landmarking of Town & Village Synagogue on East 14th Street
[Image via Manhattan Sideways]
Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted to give the Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue at 334 E. 14th St. landmark status.
The LPC excluded from the landmark designation a rear structure here between First Avenue and Second Avenue that had originally been considered as part of the landmark designation.
Here's reaction to the decision... first from Marianna Mott Newirth, president of the Town & Village Synagogue:
Town & Village Synagogue is a community and a building.
We are an active, egalitarian Conservative Jewish congregation serving Lower Manhattan with pride. We recognize the LPC’s designation of our building and honor the work that has been done by both the Bloomberg and the DiBlasio administrations to carefully review and deliberate on our status. Their decision is a testament to our building’s rich immigrant history in NYC.
Our commitment remains: to serve the 400 families who are the core of T&V and to support the greater community of which we are a part. We look to the men and women who championed Landmark designation to continue their loving support of Town & Village Synagogue. May we work together to strengthen this building so that it will be a beacon of spirituality, a center of Jewish learning and a jewel on 14th Street for current and future generations of New Yorkers.
She went on to tell us that that the building was taken off the market early this year. "We are not selling. We are not moving."
And here's a comment via Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation:
"It's wonderful that after nearly half a century, this venerable piece of our city and our neighborhood’s history will finally receive the recognition and protection it deserves and which we fought so hard for.
"We are disappointed that the Landmarks Preservation Commission excluded [the rear structure] from the designation and believe that their doing so was unnecessary. The Commission could have landmarked the entire site and still allowed construction in the rear, but with designation of the entire site they would have ensured that any new construction did not detract from the valuable historic character of this 150 year old religious edifice."
DNAinfo has coverage of the landmarking here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] East 14th St. synagogue on the market for conversion to residential, commercial use
48 years later, East 14th Street synagogue to be considered for landmark designation
[Updated] Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue faces landmark designation today
2 years after Sandy
And the temporary boilers remained parked outside the NYCHA building along East Sixth Street at Avenue C … looking more like a permanent part of the streetscape with every passing day…
Previously on EV Grieve:
Sandy on Avenue C
The inside story of Con Ed and Superstorm Sandy
Rock of ages: Commemorating the Fillmore East on 2nd Avenue
Via the EVG inbox...
Please join the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Two Boots and Apple Bank to unveil a historic plaque marking the site of the Fillmore East, the beloved concert hall that filled the corner of Second Avenue and East Sixth Street with music from 1968-1971. The event will include appearances by guitarist Lenny Kaye and Joshua White, founder of the Joshua Light Show, which splashed the concert hall with psychedelic color.
Despite its brief life, the Fillmore East is remembered with tremendous affection by both the artists who played there and the concertgoers who enjoyed it, as a place of warmth, spirit, innovation and the finest popular music. The great impresario Bill Graham opened the hall as a sibling to his Fillmore West in San Francisco, and brought in performers including The Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, The Byrds, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Joan Baez, Jeff Beck, the Staple Singers, and many more.
The building was a destination for entertainment both before and after the Fillmore East. It opened in 1926 as a Yiddish theater, soon becoming the Loew’s Commodore movie house, followed by the Village Theater. In the 1980s it was the trendsetting gay nightclub The Saint, becoming Emigrant Bank in 1995, and Apple Bank in 2013. While the façade retains much of its original Medieval Revival style, the rear of the building, which housed the auditorium, was demolished and replaced by the Fillmore apartment building in 1997.
The plaque unveiling is tonight at 5. Find more details here.
All photos courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild
Previously on EV Grieve:
Bank branch becomes bank branch at former site of the Fillmore East
The Loew's Commodore Theatre
The Doctor will be in(sane) Friday at Exit 9
Here’s a spooky Halloween missive from the folks at Exit 9:
This Halloween, Exit 9 is going insane! Gore-hungry East Village tricksters (and their parents) can feast their eyes on spine-tingling scenes of medical malpractice. Exit 9 will transform its front windows into a grisly operating theater. See actual surgery performed on unwilling victims! You're going to be sick. Bring your own barf bag and get special treats.
From 6:30 to 8:30 pm, whether they want to or not, pedestrians passing the store (located at 51 Avenue A between 3rd and 4th Streets) will bear witness as a demented doctor loses his patience as he loses his patients.
Photos via EVG contributor Stacie Joy
The Little Laptop Shop ending retail service
Here's the message on their website:
The repair industry has changed a lot over the last few years and having the storefront no longer makes sense. We want to thank our customers and neighbors for the years of friendship and support. We enjoyed every minute.
We are no longer accepting computers for repair in the shop. The last day the shop will be open is October 31st, 2014. Any in-process repairs will be completed, all service warranties will be honored.
If you have a computer in the shop, it must be picked up by October 31st, 2014. We will not be able to store computers beyond that date.
Mac repair specialists Digital Society closed back in late July.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Where can I get my Mac fixed now?
Mac specialists Digital Society has closed on East 10th Street
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Citi Bike is expanding, upping price of annual memberships
[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]
Via the Citi Bike blog...
Today, we and the NYC Department of Transportation announced some big changes. Our parent company has new owners, and they have named Jay Walder, a leader with a deep passion for urban transportation, as the new CEO of Alta Bicycle Share.
There is also big news for Citi Bike. Our system will double in size by 2017. New neighborhoods will be added to our system beginning in 2015. By the end of 2017 we will have 6,000 additional bikes and over 375 new stations. The first new stations will be installed in northern Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Long Island City and further into Bedford-Stuyvesant, all neighborhoods originally planned to be part of Citi Bike’s initial deployment. If you would like to suggest a new location for Citi Bike stations, visit the Department of Transportations’s “Suggest A Station” siting portal here.
NYC Bike Share will use this winter season to overhaul the entire fleet of bikes and service docks and kiosks, ensuring that Citi Bike is ready to roll come spring. We will work closely with the team at Alta Bicycle Share to improve our operations and the technology that powers bike share.
Finally, we will be changing Citi Bike’s membership plans. Our Annual Membership rate will change to $149/year. This means a full year of unlimited Citi Bike rides will cost just a bit more than one monthly MetroCard.
At this time, you may still sign up for a new membership or renew an existing subscription at the current $95 rate. We will let you know in the coming days when the rates will increase.
H/T Stephen Popkin
A look at 331 E. Houston St., with a rooftop deck for outdoor showers and 'Live Free or Die Hard'
Here's a look at the new 13-floor residential building with 78 units going up at East Houston and Ridge Street.
It just seems ... massive.
[The view from East 2nd Street]
The website of project architect Stephen B. Jacobs offers a few more details on the building at 331 E. Houston St./163 Ridge St.
The ground floor includes the residential lobby, a lounge, and apartments in the rear of the building which have access to outdoor space. A large skylight brings natural light to the gym in the cellar, and stairs provide access to recreational outdoor space in the rear yard. A mix of studios, one, and two-bedroom apartments make up the bulk of the building. The top floor includes a three-bedroom apartment with a balcony. The rooftop is designed as an amenity space for the building, complete with deck seating, projector screen, bar, and outdoor shower.
The interior design was inspired by the raw nature of materials in the Lower East Side, such as exposed concrete and blackened steel, and includes touches of color such as the graffiti tiled accent wall in the lobby.
His firm's East Village work includes the Copper Building on Avenue B and the Village Green on East 11th Street.
Oh, and here are some renderings ...
... and notice the rooftop theater is inexplicably projecting an ad for "Live Free or Die Hard" (aka "Die Hard 4")
The building will reportedly include 20 percent affordable housing.
The L-shape parcel here sat empty for years, the property of reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb.
And it's just the latest project in the changing East Houston corridor... including the new 10-story residential building at Suffolk Street ... the 12-story Adele ... and the 9-floor building planned for the former Mobil station lot at Avenue C.
Previously on EV Grieve:
An L-Shaped footprint ready to make its impression on East Houston Street
An abandoned car in an empty lot that will soon yield a 13-floor residential building
On East Houston, work begins on a new 13-floor residential building
What 331 E. Houston St. will look like one day
[Updated] Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue faces landmark designation today
[EVG file photo]
The Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue at 334 E. 14th St. is scheduled for a vote before The Landmarks Preservation Commission on proposed landmark designation today at 9:45 a.m.
Here's background via a press advisory sent out yesterday by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP)...
The synagogue was first built in 1866 as the First German Baptist Church; in 1926 it became the Ukrainian Autocephalic Church of St. Volodymyr; and in 1962 it became the Town & Village Synagogue, reflecting the successive waves of immigration and ethnic change that have swept over the East Village.
Shortly after New York's landmarks law was adopted in 1965, Tifereth Israel was formally heard and considered for landmark designation, but never received a vote. However, it did remain officially "calendared" by the LPC, or formally under consideration for landmark designation, making it perhaps the longest time any building in New York has remained in "landmarks limbo."
At today's meeting (which the public can attend but at which it cannot speak), the LPC could vote to landmark the historic structure, vote not to landmark, vote to landmark part of the structure (a rear section of the synagogue was built somewhat later, which some have proposed excluding from landmark designation), or could defer again on voting.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing about the designation this past March 25.
During that hearing, synagogue members downplayed the importance of the building's architecture, as The East Villager reported.
"Synagogue members stressed that landmarking would raise costs just as a plan is underway to modify the structure to better serve community needs through a daycare center, disabled access and L.G.B.T.Q. services," according to The East Villager.
Updated 1:53 p.m.
The LPC voted to landmark the synagouge, with landmark designation taking immediate effect.
At today's vote, the Commission excluded from the landmark designation a rear structure which had originally been considered as part of the landmark designation. GVSHP and fellow preservation and East Village groups had called for landmark designation of the entire building, including the rear structure.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] East 14th St. synagogue on the market for conversion to residential, commercial use
48 years later, East 14th Street synagogue to be considered for landmark designation
Rent hike forcing Sunrise Cleaners to close on East 3rd Street
Sunrise Cleaners at 60 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue will be closing soon.
An EVG reader and Sunrise customer reports that the landlord (Tomar Equities) offered Susan the owner a 5-year-lease renewal with a 66-percent rent increase. Which is insane and the reality around here.
A listing shows an asking rent of $4,500 for 525 square feet.
Caratoes on 12th and C
EVG reader Robert Galinsky reports that the mural wall on East 12th Street at Avenue C (aka The 12C Canvas for Positivity) has a new addition.
The artist is CaraToes, who's from Belgium-born street artist now living in Hong Kong. She has been in NYC for a month, completing six murals throughout the five boroughs ...
Monday, October 27, 2014
[Updated] Things that you might be able to briefly see streak across the sky this evening
On the East Coast? You might see the #Antares launch to @Space_Station tonight at 6:45pm ET http://t.co/mOT13ggfmS pic.twitter.com/1fTczDdfYY
— NASA (@NASA) October 27, 2014And despite the rumors, it is NOT a promo for "Interstellar."
Updated
Ah, NASA aborted the launch... "due to a boat downrange in the hazard area."
We'll attempt to launch #Antares tomorrow at 6:22pm ET.
Learn more about #Cygnus: http://t.co/6Bo6KBRWnG pic.twitter.com/jDLpmZ9rgN
— NASA (@NASA) October 27, 2014Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at NASA's Minotaur Rocket streaking across the East Village sky
H/T EVG reader Steven
Report: Attorney General takes down notorious 'tenant relocator'
Through the years, tenants of rent-controlled apartments say that Michel Pimienta has threatened them with eviction or accused them of illegal sub-letting — "anything to get them out so the landlord can start collecting hefty market rate rent in gentrifying neighborhoods," the Daily News reported.
Fielding dozens of complaints from frightened tenants, Schneiderman last week got Pimienta to agree to pay a $40,000 fine and give up his "relocation" efforts.
“This agreement will help ensure that lawful tenants are not harassed or pressured into giving up their homes by an unlicensed and unscrupulous tenant relocater,” Schneiderman said.
The article doesn't mention which landlords hired Pimienta through the years.
He was well-known on the Lower East Side and in the East Village.
As far back as 2005, Pimienta was red-flagged by state regulators after harassing a tenant in the East Village by accusing him of running a brothel.
To settle that complaint, the tenants' landlord agreed to terminate Pimienta.
But he didn't go away.
"We're surprised at how brazen this guy is," said Brandon Kielbasa, tenant organizer with the nonprofit Cooper Square Committee.
The article notes that the AG's case against another tenant relocator, Steve Croman heavy Anthony Falconite, is pending.
Photo of Michel Pimienta via the Daily News
FREE TO A GOOD HOME
A reader let us know that ... this green thing is sitting outside Theatre 80 at 80 St. Mark's Place ... and it is free right now — 11:14 a.m. ... looks like it could hold up to four roommates, so there may be some income potential.
Signs of life at East Village Radio, but what does it mean?
There's been some activity around East Village Radio, which signed off after 11 years on May 23.
First, someone changed the station's Facebook profile picture on Friday… and the EVR website now has this message…
… and on Saturday, we noticed a worker making some sort of repair at the tiny storefront studio at 19 First Ave.
We don't know what, if anything, these three things might mean… we reached out to the EVR folks to see what's what.
As we first reported, EVR CEO Frank Prisinzano said that he could no longer afford the increasing licensing costs for the Internet radio station … and made the difficult decision to shut down operations.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: East Village Radio is signing off after 11 years; final day of broadcasting is May 23 (53 comments)
Something new to take home on Avenue A
An EVG reader noted that the sign went up Saturday for the new restaurant taking over the former San Loco space at 151 Avenue A — TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken.
Word here is "chicken, green beens, roasted potatoes, etc. to go. … nothing like we have ever had before. Very fresh."
The San Loco closed here between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street back in February. The CB3/SLA Liquor Licensing Committee voted to deny high-profile restaurateurs Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield a license to open a
No word on an opening date for TakeMeHome just yet.