From the #FamiliesBelongTogether march today... spotted on First Avenue and 12th Street by Lola Sáenz...
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Saturday's parting shot
From the #FamiliesBelongTogether march today... spotted on First Avenue and 12th Street by Lola Sáenz...
Bus stop
The Abracadabra Field Trip Mobile music jam bus was back on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place late this afternoon... EVG reader Aaron Wilson shared these first two photos...
... and via Derek Berg...
Escape to Houston Street
[Click on image to go big]
After nearly a week of work, Tristan Eaton is wrapping up at the Bowery Mural Wall... even spraying in the rain...
And for a closer look at the mural... at least part of it is apparently inspired by the 1968 classic "The Green Slime" ...
Updated 7/3
An addition...
From the Bake News Media
Photo outside Gem Spa this morning... and the temps may hit 120 inside Zoltar's cabinet...
Friday, June 29, 2018
Pet lizard on a lease prompts 911 call
Over on Broadway and 13th Street this afternoon, the sight of a lizard on a leash prompted a 911 call.
As the Daily News reported, the caller "reported a vicious 'alligator or lizard' to authorities."
A user of the Citizen app captured some video.
"You can pet him," says the voice, presumably of the lizard’s owner.
One brave young man saunters up to the lizard to give it a little pat on the head — then promptly rubs sanitizer on his hands from a bottle conveniently placed beside the beast.
Anyway, as history shows again and again...
Forever your 'Girl'
Chromatics recently released a new single ... a Bang Bang Bar-friendly track titled "Blue Girl." The Portland, Ore.-based quartet's new record, Dear Tommy, is due out this fall.
An extra hour to swim this weekend at city pools
[Hamilton Fish Pool pic from Sunday]
The NYC Department of Parks & Rec announced today that, due to the excessive heat expected, general swim hours for outdoor pools are extended by an hour through 8 p.m. today, tomorrow and Sunday.
So around here, that means extra time at Hamilton Fish Pool on Pitt and Houston ... and the Dry Dock Pool on Avenue D and 10th Street.
City pools opened for the season back on Wednesday.
EVG Etc.: Examining the L-train shutdown plan for 14th Street; watching '2001' at Village East
[St. Mark's is bed]
City cooling centers are open (Official site)
A look at how the East Village became the city's "hippest Chinese dining destination" (Eater)
Examinging "the Soft Underbelly" of the DOT’s L Train shutdown plan for 14th Street (Streetsblog ... previously)
A review of the first exhibition at the Swiss Institute on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place (The New York Times... ARTnews ... previously)
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district includes part of the East Village, was victorious in Tuesday's primary election (The Lo-Down) Meanwhile, her challenger, Suraj Patel, reportedly handed out branded condoms before the primary (The Post)
The best seats to watch "2001: A Space Odyssey" in 70 mm at the City Cinemas Village East (Filmmaker Magazine)
A Gus Van Sant retrospective through the weekend (Metrograph)
More photos from the Drag March leaving Tompkins Square Park (Slum Goddess ... previously)
And EVG reader Brucie shared this photo earlier in the week from Avenue B near 10th Street ... sources say that it is not the first LinkNYC kiosk for Avenue B or a modified Big Belly trash can...
Rose and Basil has gone out of business
Rose and Basil, the nearly two-year-old cafe, has closed at 104 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.
There's a sign out front, noting everything must go — plates, glasses, chairs, etc.
We don't know the reason behind the closure at the moment. The Rose and Basil website and Facebook page are no longer active, and their phone has been disconnected.
The cafe, which specialized in homemade desserts, recently added dinner service offering healthy menu items. Rose and Basil was owned by Ioana Holt, who launched the business with her college friend William Wang in July 2016.
Thanks to Steven for the photos
Previously on EV Grieve:
At the grand opening of Rose and Basil
[Updated] The Continental closes this weekend
Updated June 30: Trigger, the owner, posted on Facebook that his lease was extended for three more months... and they will remain open until October.
It's the last hurrah this weekend for The Continental on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place.
As first noted way back in January, the bar with the six-shots-of-anything-for-$12 deal was closing after service on June 30. (Their sign says July 1. Their website says Saturday, July 1.)
The Continental was a live music venue from its inception in 1991 through the fall of 2006, when they became home of the five-shots-of-anything-for-$10 promotion before that changed to five-shots-of-anything-for-$12 in the spring of 2017. (Then later six shots...)
Last November, Real Estate Equities Corporation made public its plans to demolish the existing low-rise buildings at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Ave. to make way for a 7-story office building.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Continental's 5-shot deal bumped from $10 to $12
The Continental says it will close late next summer
Keeping up with the Kardashianisms
Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building
Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Thursday's parting shot(s)
Christo (left) and Amelia posing in Tompkins Square Park today...
OK, now look to your right...
Photos by Steven
I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant
East Village resident Susan Schiffman documents the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenant: Judy, since 1978
Why did you move to the East Village?
To be near to my dad. I was finishing college and I needed a place to live in 1978. My dad lived on Fifth Street and First Avenue. I wanted to live near to him. This was the first apartment that I ever looked at. We came into this apartment. I walked to the front and I walked to the back. It was May and the trees were in bloom out back. It was like a country apartment. There were things still left in the apartment. It was $150.
I got the apartment cleaned up. I wanted two things before I moved in. I wanted a dog and I wanted a telephone. The telephone was put in and I was supposed to move in the next day. I walked down the block. I was leaving to go to where I was staying and there was somebody at Theater 80 who said “does anybody want this dog?” And there was Johnny. I brought him back into the house and left planning to move in the next day.
My father was a parole officer at the time. He came in to look at the apartment. He said “oh my g-d? What is this dog?” He pulled out his gun. He almost shot the dog. He was not a very big animal lover. My father got his wits back about him.
How did you find your apartment?
We went to a broker. He was over on Sixth Street. They were Ukrainian brokers. The owner of this building was a Ukrainian man. He just passed away at 95 years old or so, this past September. He had the same birthday as I do. He has three daughters who took over ownership of the building.
What do you love about your apartment?
One of the things I love about my apartment is the cross ventilation, especially at this time of year. For many years I didn't have an air conditioning. The comfort of this apartment and the elegance and the old fashioned-ness and modern-ness at the same time. And the amount of ease that it allows me to work with it. I can have as many things as I need to have in it. It offers me enough space.
I really love the moldings and the fact that the bathroom is now in the apartment. The bathroom actually doesn’t belong to the apartment. The molding that is around the bathroom gives a very strong suggestion that the bathroom initially was accessed from the hallway and at a later time a doorway was opened up into the apartment so that it could be used in the apartment. Which changes a lot about the apartment.
My neighbor next door needs to use her bathroom outside her apartment and she lives differently than I do, it creates a different kind of set up. I like the fact that I have a built-in hutch. I would have liked to have a closet — that was taken out.
[The apartment] has served me well. In the 20 apartments, there are about five tenants who have been here as long as I have. A number have been here a fair amount of time like 10 or 15 years. The building just next door to the west has people turning over all the time. It gives a very different character to the building. Ours is very neighborhoody.
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenant: Judy, since 1978
Why did you move to the East Village?
To be near to my dad. I was finishing college and I needed a place to live in 1978. My dad lived on Fifth Street and First Avenue. I wanted to live near to him. This was the first apartment that I ever looked at. We came into this apartment. I walked to the front and I walked to the back. It was May and the trees were in bloom out back. It was like a country apartment. There were things still left in the apartment. It was $150.
I got the apartment cleaned up. I wanted two things before I moved in. I wanted a dog and I wanted a telephone. The telephone was put in and I was supposed to move in the next day. I walked down the block. I was leaving to go to where I was staying and there was somebody at Theater 80 who said “does anybody want this dog?” And there was Johnny. I brought him back into the house and left planning to move in the next day.
My father was a parole officer at the time. He came in to look at the apartment. He said “oh my g-d? What is this dog?” He pulled out his gun. He almost shot the dog. He was not a very big animal lover. My father got his wits back about him.
How did you find your apartment?
We went to a broker. He was over on Sixth Street. They were Ukrainian brokers. The owner of this building was a Ukrainian man. He just passed away at 95 years old or so, this past September. He had the same birthday as I do. He has three daughters who took over ownership of the building.
What do you love about your apartment?
One of the things I love about my apartment is the cross ventilation, especially at this time of year. For many years I didn't have an air conditioning. The comfort of this apartment and the elegance and the old fashioned-ness and modern-ness at the same time. And the amount of ease that it allows me to work with it. I can have as many things as I need to have in it. It offers me enough space.
I really love the moldings and the fact that the bathroom is now in the apartment. The bathroom actually doesn’t belong to the apartment. The molding that is around the bathroom gives a very strong suggestion that the bathroom initially was accessed from the hallway and at a later time a doorway was opened up into the apartment so that it could be used in the apartment. Which changes a lot about the apartment.
My neighbor next door needs to use her bathroom outside her apartment and she lives differently than I do, it creates a different kind of set up. I like the fact that I have a built-in hutch. I would have liked to have a closet — that was taken out.
[The apartment] has served me well. In the 20 apartments, there are about five tenants who have been here as long as I have. A number have been here a fair amount of time like 10 or 15 years. The building just next door to the west has people turning over all the time. It gives a very different character to the building. Ours is very neighborhoody.
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.
Grant Shaffer's NY See
[Click on image to go big]
Here's this week's NY See, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's comic series — an observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.
Breaking the bank on St. Mark's Place
Thanks to EVG reader Chris Rowland for sharing these photos this morning from St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... where it appears someone closed out their account...
Korilla BBQ has closed on 3rd Avenue
Korilla BBQ is the latest business to close on the northeast corner of St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue.
They shut down last evening, making the announcement on Instagram...
As the post states, Korilla's other locations will remain open... and their food trucks will stay in circulation.
Korilla opened here in October 2014, taking over the space from the throwback diner Archie & Sons.
Before opening that fall, the building was decked out in a building-high tiger-striped mural (reaction here) ...
Korilla joins the other now-former tenants on this corner to shut down — McDonald's and Papaya King. The Continental closes this weekend. The E Smoke Shop on the corner is moving down the block.
As previously reported, a seven-story, 66,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail is slated for this corner. Permits were filed on March 15 to demolish the low-rise buildings here at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Avenue.
REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the properties for some $150 million, per The Real Deal last November. There still aren't any new building permits filed for the property, owned by the Gabay family.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Shake Shack effect? McDonald's on 3rd Avenue at St. Mark's Place has closed after 20 years
Report: Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Ave. fetching $50 million for development site
Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building
Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place
23 Third Ave. getting its stripes
City Planning Commission OKs tech hub for Union Square
[Tech hub endering via RAL Development]
The City Planning Commission unanimously voted yesterday in favor of the City's proposal to create a tech hub on 14th Street.
This was the latest stop in the approval process tour — the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). In March, CB3 voted in favor of a resolution supporting site specific rezoning and a special permit to allow the development, which, as Curbed noted yesterday, is now officially known as the Union Square Tech Training Center.
The project next heads to City Council for a vote that would allow for the 21-floor building to rise on the current site of the now-former PC Richard complex on 14th Street at Irving Place.
Plans for the 240,000-square-foot Tech Training Center include educational facilities, with scholarships "to make the tech industry more accessible to a wide range of New Yorkers." The building would also include space for fledgling companies as well as market-rate offices "to attract established, industry-leading corporations to the ecosystem," per a release from the city's Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which is lobbying for the tech hub. (Read more from them here.)
And the EDC released this new video on the Tech Training Center yesterday...
This zoning change concerns some area residents and preservationists, who fear a massive overdevelopment south of Union Square along Broadway, University Place and Fourth Avenue. While CB3 did vote for the tech hub, they also included an amendment in their resolution calling for zoning protection.
And as Patch noted yesterday:
[I]t is worth noting that newly elected Councilwoman Carlina Rivera expressed support for the tech hub during her campaign – only if the city agrees to the rezoning.
As the local councilmember, Rivera has a large say in the outcome of the project.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC
Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood
P.C. Richard puts up the moving signs on 14th Street; more Tech Hub debate to come
Preservationists: City schedules next public hearing on tech hub without any public notice
Citi Bike will expand ahead of L-mageddon time
We joined @NYC_DOT this morning to make a BIG announcement about our plans for the upcoming L train disruption.
— Citi Bike (@CitiBikeNYC) June 27, 2018
We’re adding not only more bikes and stations, but special pedal-assist bikes to travel over the Williamsburg bridge ⚡️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/Ym0VDJJyjb
Citi Bike will add more than 1,200 new bikes and 2,500 docking stations next spring ahead of the L-train shutdown.
Here are more details about the increased Citi Bike presence via a news release from the Mayor's office:
More Citi Bikes, denser coverage: In Citi Bike’s busiest areas, cycling is expected to expand dramatically with the L train’s disruption next year. The first stage of the City’s plan to increase capacity in Citi Bike’s existing service area will focus in Manhattan between Canal Street and 59th Street and the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, where Citi Bike will offer denser coverage with 2,500 new docks and 1,250 new bicycles.
The process of providing denser coverage is known as “infill,” and will involve both new docking stations and enlarging current stations. DOT and Citi Bike will coordinate a robust community engagement process. working closely with local elected officials, community groups as well as the affected community boards – Brooklyn Community Board 1 and Manhattan Community Boards 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
And...
More Citi Bike valet stations: In anticipation of the L train disruption, Citi Bike expects to add as many as ten new valet stations, located in areas heavily affected by the L train disruption, including Williamsburg, the Lower East Side, along the 14th Street corridor and adjacent to East River ferry stops in both Brooklyn and Manhattan.
And...
Citi Bike pedal-assist “Shuttle Service”: Citi Bike announced that it would add a temporary, additional 1,000 pedal-assist bicycle “Shuttle Service” to its fleet during the L train closure, which would designate four conveniently-located pedal-assist docking stations — two in Williamsburg and two in lower Manhattan for their exclusive use. “Shuttle Service” bicycles could only be rented and returned to these stations.
During a City Council hearing yesterday, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said alternative subway routes would carry 70 percent to 80 percent of the displaced riders entering Manhattan, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Fifteen percent of commuters are expected to use buses, 5 percent additional ferry service and 3 percent to 5 percent bikes, per Trottenberg.
The shutdown of the L — between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue to repair the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel — is expected to last 15 months with a start date of April 2019.
The new Westside Market on 3rd Avenue (finally) opens today
EVG reader Harry Weiner shares these photos from outside the new Westside Market on Third Avenue between 16th Street and 17th Street... the signage says that they are "finally" opening today... at 11:30 a.m.
The original coming-soon signage pointed to a late spring debut.
The retail space had been a Met Foods, which closed three-plus years ago. The East Village Westside, five blocks to the south, opened in October 2014.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Westside Market opening in the former Met Foods space on 3rd Avenue and 17th Street
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
'NYC Out of USA' on Avenue A
East Village-based artists Ori Carino and Leah Tinari are hosting a pop-up exhibit on Avenue A at Third Street in the former Landmark Bicycles space.
The exhibit is called "NYC Out of USA," and it opens tonight at 6 (until 9). EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by for a quick look ... she shared these photos showing a few of Tinari's paintings...
Another EVG reader shared these shots of Carino at work in the space...
The pop-up is expected to be open through Friday.
RIP George Cameron
[Photo from August 2015 by James Maher]
George Cameron, a longtime East Village resident and member of the baroque pop band the Left Banke, died on Sunday. He was 70.
According to a Facebook post from the band's manager, Cameron had lung cancer.
In 1966, the Left Banke scored a top-5 hit with “Walk Away Renée.” Cameron, a drummer, continued to stay active with Left Banke and other music projects through the years.
We featured Cameron in an Out and About in the East Village post from August 2015.
Cameron, who was born in the city, talked about his childhood with James Maher:
I’m originally from Manhattan, but I’ve been around the world and stuff. I grew up in Hell’s Kitchen. That’s why I’m such a bad kid. It was OK and then I was raised in Brooklyn because we bought a house out there.
I lived on the Upper West Side, but moved down here seven years ago. The Upper West Side was getting a little you know… not that loose, so I said let me try something else. So I came down here, man. I love it down here. I like the diversity. I love the small parks. All the people are really nice. You say hello, they say hello back.
He also talked about his start in music:
Me and mom had an up-and-down relationship. I guess you could call it like that, so I left kind of early, at 16 and I got involved in singing in the Village. My friend and I hooked up and we just started singing in the streets like crazy. The music scene was basically the Village — the West Village and some of the East Village. Everybody was around. It was all about the music. Mostly everybody was into music it seemed like. People were a little tighter with each other.
Somebody came up to us on the street, ‘Do you want to [be in a band?]’ And we went up to the studio. We had a recording studio to ourselves, day and night. Nobody has that anymore. I can’t get used to that part. We were dedicated and we did good. We didn’t realize it, but we did pretty good.
We’d tour for months at a time. We’d be on the road. We played with The Beach Boys, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, The Mamas & The Papas — all those people. It was fun. When you’re 17 years old and you’ve got all this money, you’re really not thinking about much. When you’re 17, you think about girls; that’s all you think about. It was really wild and we really didn’t have any person behind us who was sort of an authority figure. Everybody around us was like, ‘Oh, we saw these young guys. They really just want to play. We can take their money now.’ And they’re still trying to do it today.
This link has details on his calling hours tomorrow and graveside service on Friday.
Life aquatic: City Pools open today for the summer
[Photo at Hamilton Fish Pool from Sunday]
The Parks Department opens the city's 50-plus outdoor public pools for the summer today.
Nearby choices include Hamilton Fish Pool on Pitt and East Houston ... the Dry Dock Pool on Avenue D and East 10th Street ... and the Tompkins Square Pool (mini pool for kids!) ...
Outdoor pools are open daily from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m., with a break for pool cleaning between 3-4 p.m. The pools close for the season on Sunday, Sept. 9. The Tompkins Square Park mini pool closes on Labor Day.
[Photo at Dry Dock from Sunday]
The Hamilton Fish Pool has a Lap Swim program, which takes place July 5 through Sept. 7. This link has more details.
And a quick reminder about the RULES for the POOLS. Namely, per the Parks Department website:
You’ll need to have a swimsuit to enter the pool area. We may choose to check men’s shorts for a lining if we can’t tell if they are wearing a bathing suit. Feel the need to cover up from the sun? Throw on a plain white shirt or white hat and you’re set. We don’t allow shirts with colors on them on the deck.