You may have noticed the arrival of a new cube-like kiosk on Astor Place yesterday.
There were all sorts of theories about it (CorTen Steel LinkNYC kiosk, "Game of Thrones" Winds of Winter bus shelter, Amanda Burden-Christ map room, etc).
Anyway, here's the official release about what's happening here via the EVG inbox...
Coming soon, Astor Plate! A new food and beverage kiosk created by Perry Mallas serving healthy Mediterranean comfort food, coffee and beverages, all organic and locally sourced wherever possible. Astor Plate is also bringing MUD Coffee back to Astor Place.
Although the MUD Truck is now retired, MUD is delighted to once again be part of Astor Place ...
To design and create the kiosk Perry has collaborated with the same creative team at Patrick Nash Design that designed and built Flatiron Green and Benvenuto Café. Visually, the kiosk references the neighborhood’s artistic character and reflects the design profile of Tony Rosenthal’s iconic Alamo culpture, which turns 50 this year. The raw steel finishes and bold geometric forms of Astor Plate will create a natural and inviting ambiance, appropriate for this quintessentially urban environment.
Astor Plate is expected to open in March.
Very exciting. All good.
ReplyDeleteMore clutter and for that matter - how did that one person
ReplyDeleteget to open a place there ?
This "public" space is getting a lot more private everyday. Of course say coffee and everyone says okay because there is no coffee within 50 feet of this spot and walking 100 feet is just unfair.
ReplyDeletedumb & dumber (already have 400+ restaurant coffee small biz in the EV) why more? Social engineering at its finest
ReplyDeleteOh, won't the students and tourists be excited about this! Enough with the damn food options. I do not give a crap anymore. I already have thousands of food options at any given moment. Why do you planners think we need more food?
ReplyDeleteBarf. The privatization of Astor Place continues unimpeded. Yes, how did the person/people operating the food "kiosk" get the right to do that?
ReplyDeleteAnd, OF COURSE, it's going to be precious: everything organic and "locally sourced". I'm not sure what "Mediterranean comfort food" is - to me, that would be a big plate of pasta with great meatballs, which I doubt the kiosk will be offering.
Once again, our neighborhood is not involved in decisions about this visual dreck - the kiosk itself looks like an end-times bunker.
But I WILL DEFINITELY CHEER the RETURN OF THE MUD TRUCK!
Wish they'd designed it as a giant black coffee pot. Bring back kitsch.
ReplyDeleteAh, sorry, I see the MUD TRUCK will *not& be there - that would be too good an idea, apparently. But still glad to know MUD stuff will be available, even if it will be sold from Darth Vader's backyard shed.
ReplyDeleteJust one more terrible idea for Astor Place. Wasn't the idea to make a larger less crowded more open urban gathering space? So how does Citibank get to take up half of the new sidewalk space on the West side of Cooper Union? So how does this cASTORoil Plate get to be here? So how does the silly hot pink stand for Mexican drinks get to sit empty and in the way?
ReplyDeleteThis place will just add more garbage to the open pits surrounded by plumbing pipe (there must have been a going out of business sale at some plumbing supply house) that are supposed to be green areas. Of all the projects in the city over the last few years, this has to be one of the most poorly designed, poorly conceived and poorly executed projects of any of them. It is ugly, without charm or elegance, and misses on every level.
High school students in shop class used to make stuff that looks better than that crappy shack.
ReplyDeletea mimic of the cube is just incongruous and detracts significantly from that unique piece of art
ReplyDeleteSounds good to me. I like that it actually fits in and doesn't look like an obnoxious modern glass and steel bus stop or something.
ReplyDelete@10:46am: Yes, and that's what happens when design school failures try to be "contextual"!
ReplyDeleteI liked it better when the cube was on an island, by itself. It seems to be struggling where it is -- and has lost its individuality, its distinctiveness. That is sad. . And, sorry to say, it has been hijacked (culturally appropriated?), and this is not the quintessentially urban space you crow about.
ReplyDeleteThe person who designed this had "Shake Shack" on the brain.
That thing was designed? It looks like a garbage dumpster.
ReplyDeleteWe knew this was coming, it was just a matter of when. Now it's here. And like the Jim Power street sculptures, Mud Coffee is used as a Trojan Horse of sorts to appease the locals... to distract us and say well, maybe it's not so bad. At this rate by the Spring, we'll be wending our way through a village of food boxes lining the pockets of the Village Alliance and filling the coffers of Mayor DeB. This is nothing short of an act of betrayal by our local politicians: Mendez, Glick, Holyman. Several months ago, Carmen Pabon died. She was a hero to her people and a hero to the EV community. She was an activist: unofficial, unelected but passionate. Mendez, Glick, Holyman are official, elected but lack the passionate concern to place the welfare of those who elected them before the needs of the Party.
ReplyDeleteTie and time again our local politicians have betrayed us in favor of supporting the Party. You would think we would learn by now what they are capable of doing to us and our vote. Oh, they say the right progressive/liberal things. The cant is alive and well with these snake salesmen. But all politics is local and the locals don't really care that much about national issues and whatever "ism" they support. WE WANT HELP! WE WILL NOT HAVE OUR COMMUNITY MONETIZED FOR A DO-NOTHING PARTY. We need open elections. We need new representatives. We NEED TO SAVE THE EAST VILLAGE. Oh, I'm not talking about the old EV - that's gone. I'm taking about the here and now and the future. I'm talking about a decent place to live in and play in, work and raise children and enjoy a day in a park. LET'S CHANGE THE WORLD! Ok, that's a bit carried away.... But you get he idea.
It's ok with me so long as the kiosk spins like the cube. But seriously, why do we need a reference to the cube when the cube is right there? Strikes me as bizarre, but maybe I will be wowed when I see it in person.
ReplyDeleteWait, that can't be what it actually looks like. That must be the back of the shack. Will someone please spin it so we can see what the front looks like?
ReplyDeleteWhy? It's standing next to the beautiful old Subway Station canopy in Hot Pink with a wall of, what appears to be a collage of cartoons. Definitely takes away from the Cube. Too bad!
ReplyDeletePassed by it an hour ago - it looks even worse up close and in person.
ReplyDeleteThe garden named after Pabon, fyi, is NEVER open to the public. That was the original intention, and the plaque is to make transients moving into the adjacent and nearby dormiciles more connected.
ReplyDeleteThis, too, is another form of the same cultural appropriation.
The description alone of this shack/dumpster place is so fucking pretentious--it could be a satire. Who knew we needed "comfort Mediterranean" food? There are enough food trucks around that spot anyway if you must eat/drink on the go. The cluttering up of this ugly concrete oasis with more precious overpriced shitholes is truly ridiculous. Whose pockets are getting lined here?
ReplyDeleteAt this point I just miss the days of crossing the grubby parking lot and just making my way home.
I know Anon 10.09 that in the era of Trump facts don't matter--but the bank is a Chase branch not Citi. When I walked from 12th Street to Astor Place along Fourth Avenue this morning and caught sight of the bunker--I thought how sad that it is blocking the glass wall. One's hope is that if no one comes / patronizes these places perhaps they will disappear as most small businesses dealing in food seem to within a year.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell are you talking about 9:32pm? Cozy Soup 'N' Burger on Broadway right off Astor Place sells coffee. And ever heard of Starbucks in Astor Place?
ReplyDeleteWere you last in the East Village when "Singles" came out?
Walking 100 feet is unfair? You need to get some exercise as well as get out more.
Also is Amanda Burden-Christ related to Jesus? Change the last name you pretentious bi tch and spare me it's "Burden-Christ" when no one' last name is seriously "Christ."
@3:28pm: Totally agree with you!
ReplyDelete@ 3:11 p.m. I agree the pictures don't do it justice. It is big and ugly. It detracts from the cube. I am no longer optimistic about this space. The designers are either geniuses or clowns. Time will tell. Send your complaints to Village Alliance.
ReplyDelete"Designed by" is a misnomer. The late, great Garden Bar in Brooklyn Bridge Park built a similar kiosk 5 years ago. Patrick Nash Design clearly stole this idea.
ReplyDelete@3:58 PM
ReplyDelete"What the hell are you talking about 9:32pm? Cozy Soup 'N' Burger on Broadway right off Astor Place sells coffee. And ever heard of Starbucks in Astor Place? "
That was my point which unfortunately you may have missed, you can't spit without hitting a cafe or coffee kiosk in the EV these days.
"Walking 100 feet is unfair? You need to get some exercise as well as get out more."
I was speaking as a pampered newbie that is used to driving everywhere as in to the mall or the end of their driveway to check the mail box.
This plaza is becomes quite the ode to Saturn. In occult symbolism, Saturn is represented by a black cube.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I never liked the Cube and was happy when it gone was for awhile. Now it's back. Bad 60's urban art. Can't we do better?
ReplyDelete