While there has been a taker for the former Luca Bar, the spaces that housed its neighbors on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue remain empty.
Back in April, the State of New York seized sister bars the Belgian Room and Hop Devil Grill. The Ton-Up space at No. 127 has been empty since May 2014.
We looked inside the other day and noticed that someone removed the wall that separated the Ton-Up space...
... and the Belgian Room... to perhaps make for a larger bar-restaurant concept some day...
We haven't spotted any for rent signs on either the Belgian Room or Hop Devil Grill. And there aren't any work permits on file with the DOB to suggest any incoming new business.
And some equal time to the ex-Hop Devil Grill ...
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Belgian Room and Hop Devil Grill closed for nonpayment of taxes
Selling off the former Hop Devil Grill
In spite of three bars in the same location being closed down, it's nice to see that the roar from the other bars on the block has more than made up for the noise that used to come out of these noisy little hellholes. Good job, EV bars, I'm sure airline pilots and rock band roadies feel right at home with the noise levels you manage to effortlessly create. The only question is when will they get those permits to build more rooftop bars like in Murray Hill, and full service bars inside TSP and East River Park? The West Side has bars in the parks and piers from the Battery to 79th St. Isn't it about time we made it easier for people to drink in our parks and rooftops too?
ReplyDeleteThe city has made a complete flip in regards to alcohol consumption and regulating it inside and out. Hanging outside drunk (and disorderly) is no longer something ticket and fine worthy for the police. Residential neighborhoods like the EV are about nightlife the way Times Square used to be.
ReplyDeletewaaaaaaaaaaa.
ReplyDeleteseriously people, get a grip. the EV has been a nightlife center for decades, this isn't news to anyone. i hear east bushwick is pretty empty, you might like it.
@10:57
ReplyDeleteYou must have been living in a parallel universe East Village, been here since 81 and sure there were clubs, but noise and fun was kept inside and not on the streets and there were a fraction of what is here now. I'm so tired or new comers justifying asshole behavior on the "city that never sleeps" cliche. Nightclubs were in commercial areas as in at the time, far west Chelsea, Flat Iron district, theatre district, far east and mostly abandoned Aves C and D. I know this because I went out most nights then and coming home was empty streets and quiet.
It has to be said a million times until people get it: The E Vil is for hard-drinking free spirits, not dullards sitting at home wishing for peace and quiet.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how much resentment people who came in to NY late in the game seem to have against people who came before them, most of whom have rent stabilized apartments or bought in when prices were lower. Maybe it's because they know they are vastly overpaying for what little they get in return. Yet they show no resentment against the landowners who are relentlessly jacking up prices precisely because all these transplants want to live here now, in crowded high-density student infested neighborhoods and midget sized micro-apartments.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should be interested in quality of life. The noise levels are crazy now. The EV was much less crowded and much quieter before these woo-hooing transplants came in. The newbies act like that guy who is the last one to arrive to the party; everyone already had their fun and moved on. Sorry Mr. Newbie but there is no free food or drink left for you. I guess that's why they're so angry.
"It has to be said a million times until people get it: The E Vil is for hard-drinking free spirits, not dullards sitting at home wishing for peace and quiet."
ReplyDeleteYou mean people with children? Where you a kid once that had to get up for school? There once was something call urban planning where residents did not have to live in close proximately to nightlife, now we are swallowed up by nightlife because bars generate lots of money in tax revenue and for the bar owners. We all pay the price with the loss of quality of life. Maybe someday if you reach 30 years of age you will become a "dullard" like me and even have responsibility beyond going to Ricky's before all the Santa Con costumes are sold out.
Giovanni, they don't resent the landlords, they WANT TO BE THEM. They're angry because they are getting called out, and one thing bullies hate is being called out.
ReplyDeleteThe next time one of these real estate wannabes tells you that this high rent is somehow good for the economy, show them this article on Bloomberg.com that says exactly the opposite:
ReplyDeleteFor all the alarm about the “rise of the robots,” or “software eating the world” or the peril of climate change, one of the most pressing economic dangers of the future is getting short shrift: Landlords are eating the world.
There is growing concern that wealth inequality has skyrocketed, and that capital income accounts for a growing share of the economic pie. This was the theme of Thomas Piketty’s "Capital in the Twenty-First Century." But although we usually think of “capitalists” as they were defined by Karl Marx -- i.e., owners of corporations -- we forget that land also is a form of capital, which means landlords (and homeowners) are capitalists, too. Furthermore, according to Matt Rognlie, an economics Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it is land, not corporate capital, that has been responsible for the lion’s share of the increase in capital's share of income.
This increase is happening worldwide. A great report by the Economist showed that the share of residential property value as a percentage of gross domestic product has skyrocketed in European countries since 1950.
This is bad for the economy.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-09/the-threat-coming-by-land
Turning the storefronts from three to one may need a permit else everyone would be knocking down walls and enjoying bigger apartments.
ReplyDeleteAnd Anon 11:26 what you write is true. Yes there was nightlife and clubbing but INSIDE not out on the streets with music blasting from inside the establishment. And the on the down low what was made it even more special as an experience which is true even today. Those party noisemaker bars closed down (and Luca was even a destination bar) while Please Dont Tell thrives. The noise that comes from their patrons are from people waiting on the sidewalk clamoring to get in and are waiting on their reservations. Proletariat also is a money making machine and yes, they prove you can do it without live music.
Highlights:
BUA is a place to be seen on the porch and destination bar. Sorry dont see too many locals going there.
EVS has decided that blasting music is the ONLY way to get customers but based on the owner who was outside on the sidewalk screaming on his cellphone one time, what can you expect?
Dymphnas has seemingly ignored its own reviewers on Yelp who point out that the noise level inside the bar is too loud from the cranked up music.
August Well who just went for a full liquor license (and I guess promised to be good neighbor) also hosts nights that will have you believe that yes! the trumpets of the Second Coming have roared.
Ten Degrees has hosted hen parties at such decibel levels that bats could probably hear them.
...
So what can you expect?
Residents who are sick of it do not call 311. Log number of calls and go to Community Board keeping an eye on when the establishment has its SLA license renewed (which establishments have to do every two years).
So who bears the blame for Saint Marks being "Hell Block"? The bar owners who go home to their quiet neighborhoods and get a well earned sleep? or the residents who refuse to stand up for their sanity and for the neighborhood? Cuz everyone knows can't put your faith the tourists giving a hoot!
For easy sleeping fitful sleep may I suggest the White Noise trifecta:
ReplyDelete(my favorite cocktail to beat even the stubbornest of noises or drunken voices esp. laughter (yeah drunk gal laughter is what I am talking about here)
1. air purifier (everyone knows that NJ is trying to kill all NYers via drifting currents from the industrial parks [who's laughing now bitch?]}
2. air conditioner to be replaced by white noise maker in cooler times (yes increased electrical costs and yes, NO SOLAR power involved but then again these kids will finally know that payback is a bitch)
3. fan can be used in all seasons (yes surprisingly fans do create "white noise")
And yes, you too can sleep through the night to wake up refreshed because although it sounds like mechanical turbines are blasting in your apt. they will shhhhhh any and all noises coming in through your windows. Yes, the windows are the culprit and until this genius discovers kickstarter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv6sBuwzLhk and becomes richer than all the people in the whole world ever (cause you know every single window pane will have one of these) the only alternative is noise canceling paint?
http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/coat-of-silence/coat-of-silence.html
noise reducing window treatments?
https://www.google.com/search?q=noise+reducing+window+curtains&biw=1696&bih=782&tbm=isch&imgil=MM3bozLi7qc2KM%253A%253B42Twzjtfksq7PM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Facousticsfreq.com%25252Fblog%25252F%25253Fp%2525253D275&source=iu&pf=m&fir=MM3bozLi7qc2KM%253A%252C42Twzjtfksq7PM%252C_&usg=__SubKa6HjSj5WC0AYyHrlss6V4BI%3D&ved=0CJkBEMo3ahUKEwjlraXi6e3HAhUGFj4KHS9dC_Q&ei=3C3yVeXPHIas-AGvuq2gDw#imgrc=MM3bozLi7qc2KM%3A&usg=__SubKa6HjSj5WC0AYyHrlss6V4BI%3D
OMG if this place turns into Cracker Barrel I will pee on myself! I have heard of Cracker Barrel but have never sampled its goodness or maybe Olive Garden (keep seeing their damn commercials). Denny's (have sampled when I have forced myself to travel out of the EV). Red Robin? Outhouse (must mention their onion blooms)? or even dare I say it TARGET!!!!
ReplyDeleteFor me these are exotic locations like Zanzibar or Patagonia as none of these and more places have ever landed in the EV. To this day I get a thrill out of buying 7 Eleven salads and finding all the new (limited edition) potato chips. If you live your whole life in the "mix" then being just the same as everyone else and feeling connected to the Heratland (from which most of you are escaping), can be a warm fuzzy puppy.
(Yep all of it was a Colbert tie-in) (why you think he went to Union Sq. for selfie?)
Although the street is residential, the saturation of locations selling alcohol is intense and there are even places near the middle of the block with full liquor licenses (which CB 3 approved though it habitually denies these type of licenses elsewhere in mid block locations on residential streets.) Combined with just disrespectful management has caused the perfect storm. Saint Marks between 2 Ave and 3rd used to be the loud vocal block with music, people etc. but as witnessed by the moving out of Trash and Vaudeville (the block simply is not the same meaning it is now been silenced.) Guess it was the changes around Astor Place which has now pushed the noisemakers east and this has happened over past 10 years. On the part of the customers it seems that they believe that they are in a NYC version of Bourbon Street and it really does not seem to even enter into their consciousness that they are not. This belief is supported by the police who do not come cruising around or even hang out to keep people from acting like fools. And yes, people do come here to have a good time. And as anyone who has dealt with children knows, if you allow them total freedom they will enjoy it. And the good, kind, apathetic, sympathetic, unorganized residents of the block allow both the business owners and the customers laxity (with the exception of a few voices who have spoken out against the acoustic abuse.)
ReplyDeleteCBGB should reopen in all three spaces and have shows in the last space with the stage, but they won't cuz the people who own the company suck ass.
ReplyDeleteSt.Mark's Place needs a live music venue and the music fans who would go to it. Once the street has art on it again it will attract artists and people who support them and those people will outnumber the woohooers and other LODs (Loud Obnoxious Drunkards.) Until then it is what it is.
Why can't NYC have a protest against these wannabe Mardi Gras assholes? Even a hundred people who were around say 1975-95 getting together via Facebook would do. But everyone has disappeared.
EV may need a live music venue but I sincerely hope you are not suggesting one on St Marks between Ave A and 1st as the noise levels from bars keeping their windows open with live music is horrific enough, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it may not seem that way St Marks Place is a RESIDENTIAL block except for the locales intersecting with the avenues. A live music venue would be an acoustical nightmare for the surrounding neighbors especially with these old tenement buildings. A better option would be bring back the bandshell in Tompkins Sq Park. There is a reason why Limelight worked well in a converted church being not so close to neighbors on all sides, Electric Circus worked well in the now present location of Apple Bank, etc.
7:02pm I am suggesting a live music venue on St.Mark's Place in these three empty spaces between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, not between 1st and Avenue A as I realize St.Mark's between 1st and A is mostly residential. I agree with no live music venue between 1st and A.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd REALLY like to see which will most likely never happen is a live music venue open in the old Coney Island High space and a record store opened in the old Venus Records space with the three empty bar spaces featured in this article being a good ol' dive in one space, a good ol' alcohol-free cafe in another, and a small live music venue with big video and projector screens for films and shorts (a satellitte of the CIH space venue) in the space with the stage.
If this happened, one could theoretically check out and buy some records at the record store, grab a coffee and a dessert at the cafe, go see a live music show at the live music venue, grab some drinks in the dive, and maybe catch a live band or two or some open mic, poetry reading, comedian, or free movie in the little stage space after the live music show ALL ONE ON PART OF ONE STREET.
Live music venue huh. Gonna need a government subsidy to open something like that in 2015 East Village.
ReplyDeleteTO DEAR ANON WHO WROTE the following "I am suggesting a live music venue on St.Mark's Place in these three empty spaces between 2nd and 3rd Avenues"
ReplyDeleteJust a friendly FYI THESE THREE EMPTY PLACES ARE LOCATED ON ST MARKS BETWEEN AVE A AND 1ST AVE. So even you agree ---- NO LIVE MUSIC s you wrote in your post --- "as I realize St.Mark's between 1st and A is mostly residential. I agree with no live music venue between 1st and A."