Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

Reps from PETA gathered in Tompkins Square Park today, urging the public to respect the area's pigeons. 

The appeal comes in the wake of an arrest last week tied to alleged pigeon poaching (for target practice) on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.

Closing night highlights at the Lower East Side Film Festival: 'The Big Johnson' makes NYC debut (and takes the top prize)

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The 15th edition of the Lower East Side Film Festival wrapped up on Monday evening with a closing night screening with strong local interest — the NYC premiere of "The Big Johnson." 

The documentary chronicling the life of Dean Johnson, the drag queen, rock star, and activist of the 1980s and 1990s East Village, took home the top prize for Best Feature.

   

Writer-director Lola Rock'N'Rolla's film, the closing night screening at the Village East by Angelika, is a mesmerizing, unapologetic dive into the chaotic brilliance of Johnson's world. It captures not just a person but an era — with all its danger, glamour, and defiant joy.

Here's Rock'N'Rolla with Festival directors (and East Village residents) Tony Castle and Roxy Hunt...

Downtown luminaries Michael Musto and Chi Chi Valenti (below) are both featured in the film. 

"Lola Rock'N'Rolla has done a heroic job of compiling and condensing miles and miles of interviews and archival footage into a brilliant examination of a changing city, scene and star — namely rocker/activist Dean Johnson," Musto told me. "Dean was always mischievously dangerous in a way that we needed. In fact, I always felt safer when he was around."

Elsewhere at the theater on Second Avenue at 12th Street...

Afterward, the party moved on to the Slipper Room on Orchard Street.

The entertainment included Peekaboo Pointe ...

The Festival, which included jurors Julia Fox, Rachel Dratch, and Sophie Thatcher, also featured the NYC premiere of the SXSW selection "The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick." 

With its mix of local stories and bold voices, the Festival once again proved why it remains a downtown staple 15 years in. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• About the Lower East Side Film Festival: 15 years of keeping it reel

Community Board 3 to discuss new entrance to Tompkins Square Park on 10th Street

Community Board 3's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee meeting tonight includes this agenda item: Support to create an entrance to Tompkins Square Park on 10th Street.

The meeting notice doesn't mention where the entrance might be. Given that you can enter Tompkins on 10th Street from the basketball courts near B and the multi-purpose courts/TF near A, it seems logical that the proposed entrance would be mid-block behind the recently renovated field house.

This is a topic that will likely merit further conversation. 

Tonight's meeting is at 6:30 at the BRC Senior Services Center at 30 Delancey St. (between Chrystie and Forsyth streets).

Lane change underway at Key Food

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Workers yesterday removed one of the self-checkout lanes at Key Food on Avenue A and Fourth Street...

Coming in its place: A good old-fashioned staffed register, expected to be installed by the end of the day. 

As we first noted on April 22, Key management wants to enhance the checkout experience. 

"We felt that another standard lane would help reduce some of the backup we've seen at the staffed registers," a high-level Key Foods source previously told us.

What else can you expect here? The rest of the aging self-checkout terminals will soon be getting the boot. The new models will be arranged in a single pass-through lane with upgraded technology to speed up the process and enhance security. 

The move should also provide more streamlined access to the mysteriously popular canisters of Keebler Export Sodas that line the wall along the checkout area.

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy

The sandwich signs of Sunny & Annie's on Avenue B and Sixth Street ...

Ki Smith Gallery revisits hip-hop’s 'Golden' era through rare photographs

Photos and text by Stacie Joy 

In case you haven't had a chance to check it out yet ... Ki Smith Gallery's latest exhibition, "Golden," offers a candid look at 1990s hip-hop culture through the lens of four photographers — Danny Hastings, T. Eric Monroe, Erik Elijah Brumfield, and Koi Sojer. 

Per the press notes: "...this exhibition reveals hip-hop at its most unfiltered, untamed, and unforgettable. Before the internet. Before the algorithms. When the lens was the only witness." 

I've long admired Koi Sojer's work, and seeing it here, up close, only deepened that respect. Self-taught and sharp-eyed, she captures moments that feel at once specific and iconic.

Also featured is Erik Elijah Brumfield, whose work I wasn't as familiar with. The visuals are striking: young subjects, off-stage or off-guard, rendered with a mix of vulnerability and edge.

Featured performers on the walls include luminaries such as Run-DMC, Wu-Tang Clan, Erykah Badu, Tupac, Salt-N-Pepa, and LL Cool J, among many others.

And thanks to owner-founder Ki Smith (below) for a recent look after the gallery had closed for the day...

"Golden" is on view through May 25. The gallery, 170 Forsyth St. between Stanton and Rivington on the Lower East Side, is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

Today in overthinking discarded objects

EVG reader Chris Rowland shared this photo today from Stuyvesant Street. 

This is, obviously, a commentary on consumer culture or waste. The odd, decaying form of the object sitting atop a discarded or secondhand chair may be intended to critique how we discard objects and ideas that don't fit mainstream aesthetics.

The texture, embedded objects (like beads or buttons), and exaggerated form also point toward commentary on material excess or bodily abstraction.

Rite Aid is closing its remaining New York stores, including on 1st Avenue in the East Village

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

As part of another Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, Rite Aid is reportedly closing (or selling) all 184 outposts in New York State, including 81 First Ave. at Fifth Street. 

A spokesperson told ABC 7 in Buffalo that "the company is still in the process of selling its stores and assets and all locations will not necessarily close next month. The company says the sale process is fluid, and some stores could be acquired by another company that would allow them to remain open."

Employees at the East Village location learned the news on Monday. 

"Your prescriptions will be transferred to a chain pharmacy nearby, probably either CVS or Duane Reade, whichever company buys the prescriptions from us," a store employee told us.

Also, currently: "We may not be able to get stock, so you should think about transferring your prescriptions soon." 

As for closing signage, there weren't any as of early yesterday afternoon.

"We just found out, so we haven't made any signs yet, but they should start going up," the employee said. "Rite Aid is closing all up the seaboard, not just here."

Here is some background on how Rite Aid got here via The Associated Press: 

Philadelphia-based Rite Aid had been closing stores and struggling with losses for years before its first bankruptcy filing in 2023. The company says its "only viable path forward" is a return to Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. 

The company said in letter to vendors that it has been hit with several financial challenges that have grown more intense. Rite Aid and its competitors have been dealing with tighter profits on their prescriptions, increased theft, court settlements over opioid prescriptions and customers who are drifting to online shopping and discount retailers.

No word on an official closing date. 

Back to the AP: 

Stores will remain open for now, but the company isn't buying new inventory so bare shelves are likely become more common. 

"I think what we'll progressively see is the stores will become more and more spartan," said retail analyst Neil Saunders. 

The shelves at the First Avenue Rite Aid have been mostly barren for over a year, though this store made it through the previous company turmoil.

The one-story First Avenue location sits on a prime East Village corner, and developers would likely pay top dollar for another sliver of luxury housing. However, we're not sure what air rights remain after the construction of the 8-story cantilever condominium next door.

H/T EVG reader Elissa

Tuesday's parting shot

From early this morning down on Pike Street (at Monroe) headed toward the East River with a Manhattan Bridge view...

May 6 (as first spotted on May 5)

An EVG reader spotted this last evening (Happy Cinco de Mayo!) on the SW corner of Second Avenue and 10th Street...

When someone dumps an industrial-size fridge on Avenue C

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

On Monday, someone left a large industrial refrigerator near the southbound M9 stop on Avenue C between Second Street and Third Street.

It was not an item to be easily discarded. The appliance, left outside the former storefront of "Store on Ave C" — a now-shuttered smoke shop and florist — was reportedly dumped after the business closed. 

This morning, a city Sanitation crew temporarily halted traffic on this stretch of Avenue C to remove the item. 

"We gotta do this quick," a Sanitation worker said.

After some careful maneuvering, the crew managed to lift and load the fridge onto a truck. Bus riders and passersby applauded as the street was cleared. 

As for the storefront, it's now empty...

Stripped to the studs: former church on 4th Street sees full gutting

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The gutting of the former Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel at 256 E. Fourth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C appears complete.

We peeked at the interior the other day and didn't see much left. 

"It's all gone, all the windows, everything on the inside, it's completely empty," a worker on the scene said.

As we previously reported, the city has a partial demolition permit on file. A few parts of the existing building will remain in place, as the four-story structure will receive two additional floors to accommodate six condos. 

Project architect Stephen Conte told the Post in March that the original facade could not be saved, as decades of water damage rendered the already-thin front walls unsafe. Other elements of the previous houses of worship here were also deemed unsalvageable. 

The plywood rendering lists a spring 2026 completion date.

Village Preservation continues to call for expanded landmark protections in the East Village, including swaths of Avenue B and Avenue C (more info here). Despite similar designations in other neighborhoods, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission has ignored the proposal. 

Our post from Feb. 10 has more info on this building's history.

Almost a full reveal at the all-new Barrier Free Living building on 2nd Street

We nearly have a full reveal at the new state-of-the-art facility for Barrier Free Living at 270 E. Second St. between Avenue C and Avenue D...

The 12-story new building with a twisting façade will be known as "Freedom Village." 

Barrier Free Living works with survivors of domestic violence with disabilities. The new complex will include 75 affordable and supportive apartments for homeless adults needing services and seniors transitioning out of nursing homes. 

Gov. Hochul's office funded $6.9 million for the project in July 2022. Funding for related services and rent support will come from the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative. 

Foundation work for the 65,000-square-foot facility started on the site in the summer of 2023. 

Workers demolished BFL's previous structure here in 2020.

The hit Hulu series 'Rafael's Interiors' (nudge, nudge) is filming in the East Village on Friday

Filming notices are up around Tompkins Square Park and Fourth Street between Avenues A and C for the Hulu series "Rafael's Interiors." 

The shoot will take place sometime on Friday...

Like when "Russian Doll" filmed around here as "Black Gumball" in 2021 ... "Rafael's Interiors" is code for a hit Hulu series that rhymes with "Only Birders in the Quilting." 

This will be season 5 for the show that stars Slate Marvin, Bartin Snort and Elena Fauxmez.

Book readings: Artist-activist Ben Morea reflects on 'A Life of Rebellion'

There's a new memoir from Ben Morea, a central figure in the 1960s Lower East Side anarchist guerilla-theater collective.

His bio includes the following: 

"As the unseen hand of the 1960s revolutionary underground, Morea is infamous for shutting down MoMA, forcibly entering the Pentagon, occupying the Fillmore East and Columbia University, and dumping the neglected garbage of the Lower East Side into the fountains of Lincoln Square. He was the force behind the 1960s art/anarchist collective Up Against the Wall Motherfucker and the legendary anarchist zine/broadside Black Mask." 

On Thursday evening at Printed Matter in Chelsea, Morea is in conversation with political theorist and anticapitalist activist Sabu Kosho to launch "Full Circle: A Life in Rebellion." 

The evening includes an informal jazz performance from Marc Mommaas and Kenny Wessel. 

Thursday, May 8

6-8 p.m. 

Printed Matter, 231 11th Ave. (at 26th Street) 

More details here.

Today in LinkNYC factoids

As seen today along First Avenue. 

And for anyone invested in yesterday's pigeon kidnapping post.

More details emerge on Corner Bistro's proposed East Village location

Photo by Stacie Joy 

As we reported this past Friday, NYC classic Corner Bistro is eyeing an expansion to the East Village. 

There is more information about what to expect at its new outpost, 94 Avenue A at Sixth Street, via the questionnaire now online at the Community Board 3 website. 

The EV Corner Bistro would have daily hours of 11 a.m. to 4 a.m., with 17 tables seating 50 diners. The proposal also shows a 31-foot bar with 15 stools.

Unlike the previous tenants, Corner Bistro only plans to use the ground floor for customers, with the basement reserved for storage and food prep. 

Corner Bistro opened in 1961 on West Fourth Street in the West Village. Elizabeth McGrath — daughter of Corner Bistro's original owners, Bill and Lorraine O'Donnell — took over the business in 2015.

 

This wouldn't be the burger institution's first time branching out. Corner Bistro opened a location in Long Island City in 2012, which shuttered in 2020 due to pandemic-related pressures. An outpost at the Gotham West Market food hall in Hell's Kitchen also closed in 2020. 

The most recent tenant at 94 Avenue A, the sports bar Offside Tavern, closed late last year. Before that, August Laura had a brief run beginning in October 2019 but faced a stop-start schedule during the pandemic and finally closed in December 2021. 

The address is best known as the longtime home of Sidewalk — the restaurant, bar, and live music venue (and host of the Antifolk Festival) that closed in February 2019 after a 34-year run. 

And as we noted in Friday's post, an application doesn't guarantee a concept will move forward — as we saw in December 2023 with the Paulie Gee's outpost that never materialized at 107 First Ave., now home to Adda Indian Canteen (among other examples).

CB3's SLA committee meets next on May 19 at 6:30 p.m.