NYC retrospective for No Wave filmmaker Amos Poe opens Jan. 3 at Metrograph

Metrograph has just put tickets on sale for "Amos Poe and No Wave Cinema," a new retrospective running Jan. 3–25. 

The program marks the first dedicated New York City retrospective for Amos Poe, often called "the first punk filmmaker" and a key figure in the No Wave Cinema movement that emerged from the Lower East Side in the late 1970s and 1980s. Many of the films are rarely shown theatrically. 

Poe collaborated with downtown icons, including Richard Hell, Debbie Harry, and Cookie Mueller, among many others, capturing a New York that no longer exists. 

Screenings include a number of his films and those of his collaborators in which he appears, among them "The Blank Generation," "Downtown 81," "Smithereens," "Subway Riders," "Unmade Beds" and "Variety." The full schedule is now live on Metrograph's site. 

Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St. between Hester and Canal on the Lower East Side.

RIP Stanislawa 'Anna' Sulkowska

We were very sorry to hear about the passing of Stanislawa "Anna" Sulkowska on Dec. 14 — one month from her 101st birthday. 

Anna was born in Branica, Poland, and lived there throughout World War 2. She arrived in the United States in the early 1970s and became a fixture in the East Village restaurant/bar scene, dating to 1977. 

She owned The Baltyk, a Polish restaurant on the corner of First Avenue and First Street. She also owned Downtown Beirut on First Avenue. Her final venture, Oasis Lounge, was located on St. Mark's Place just off Avenue A and closed in 1997.

From her obituary: 

These businesses were built and run by Stanislawa while she was well into her 50s, 60s, 70s — a reflection of her tireless work ethic and unwavering belief in herself. Her businesses were a big part of her identity. 

More importantly, she was a devoted mother and grandmother, and nothing brought her greater joy than her family. She is survived by her daughters, Bozena and Barbara; her grandchildren, John, Robert, Diana, Kim, and Daniel; and her beloved four-year-old great-granddaughter, Kaylee, who brought her endless happiness. 

Stanislawa will be remembered for her strength and determination, and for the simple truth she shared so often with our family: "life is beautiful." 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• A longtime East Village bar and restaurant owner turns 100

Remembering Joe Strummer

Photo from Dec. 14 

Joe Strummer (aka John Graham Mellor) died on this day in 2002 at age 50. 

As always, a photo of Dr. Revolt's mural — the first iteration created in 2004 — outside Niagara on Seventh Street and Avenue A.

[Updated] NYPD searching for the hit-and-run driver who killed pedestrian on Clinton and Stanton

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated: Police have arrested a 54-year-old suspect who is accused of striking the woman in the crosswalk, PIX 11 reported this morning. Streetsblog has a detailed piece here on how the NYPD made the case and the arrest.

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Police continue to look for the driver of an SUV who fatally struck a woman Thursday evening on the Lower East Side and then left the scene. 

According to the NYPD, the collision occurred around 7 p.m. as the driver was making a right turn from Clinton Street onto Stanton Street. The woman was reportedly crossing Stanton Street from south to north in the crosswalk when she was hit. 

Witnesses told police that a black SUV fled the scene immediately after the collision. 

The woman was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The investigation is ongoing. Authorities have not released the name of the victim, who was believed to be in her 60s.

The NYPD has been canvassing the area in search of leads. Yesterday, officers were seen stopping drivers nearby.

Streetsblog cited city stats showing that in the 30-square-block Lower East Side this year, there have been 478 reported crashes, injuring 235 people, including 60 cyclists and 46 pedestrians. 

Someone has left a handwritten message on the scene: 

We are so sorry about the tragic loss of our neighbor during the holiday season. Our condolences to her family and friends.

The former Rite Aid is looking more like a grocery store every day

Photos Saturday by Stacie Joy 

The grocery transformation of the former Rite Aid on First Avenue at Fifth Street continues. 

In recent days, workers have brought in refrigeration units, and a check-out of sorts is shaping up...

Unfortunately, we still haven't learned which grocery this will be... no one, including neighbors and local officials, seems to know. Even a few workers who spoke with us at the start of the renovation didn't know — they were just there to install lighting for what will be a new grocery store. 

The East Village Rite Aid closed on Aug. 24 after five weeks of going-out-of-business sales. The 63-year-old pharmacy chain filed for bankruptcy twice in two years before shutting down entirely last month. 

The EV lease for the 8,500-square-foot space was auctioned off this past summer. (The auction was just for the lease, set to expire in January 2032, not the building.)

Openings: Barryville General on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Barryville General has opened at 66 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. 

The shop carries a curated selection of home goods, apparel (officially unisex, though it is predominantly menswear), and pantry items. 

Owned and operated by a husband-and-wife team, Eric Komovoff (below left) and Sharone Komovoff, this is the store's second location, which opened upstate in Barryville before relocating to Southampton. (They are currently seeking a new space there.)

East Village resident Sean Naughton (below right) is a partner in the Avenue A store. Jordan Coronel (middle) is the manager.

I stopped by Friday evening for a quick look as they were prepping the store for a Saturday debut...

Opening hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Keep tabs on them via Instagram. No. 66 was previously Café Social 68/Viva! Café.

Openings: Burgerhead on 2nd Avenue

Burgerhead debuted over the weekend at 145 Second Ave. on the NW corner of Ninth Street. 

This is the second NYC outpost for the quick-serve joint serving charbroiled burgers and beef tallow fries. The menu includes hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, shakes and Mexican Coca-Cola. (There is a meatless "impossible charburger" available, too.) 

Current posted hours are 5-11 p.m., with a 1 a.m. close on Fridays and Saturdays. 

Signage arrived here on Dec. 2, 2024, and there wasn't much activity here earlier in the year. 

A fast-casual restaurant, Balkan StrEAT, was in the works for the corner space. However, the owners closed their Sixth Avenue outpost and pivoted to the burger biz. (Burgerhead took over the former Balkan StrEAT space at 353 Sixth Ave.)

This Second Avenue address was also home to a Starbucks until April 2019. 

And as some long-time residents will recall ... for 37 years the space was the Orchidia, a Ukrainian-Italian restaurant that closed in 1984 after the landlord raised the rent from $950 to $5,000. 

The restaurant's closing was a flashpoint in the early 1980s gentrification of the East Village. 

"Gentrify, they say that's a good thing," [Orchidia owner] Maria Pidhorodecky told the Times in a December 1983 article titled New Prosperity Brings Discord to the East Village. "To me, 'gentrify' means losing the neighborhood, the restaurant, and the feeling we have of being like family."

Signage alert: Matcha and coffee for 68 Avenue A

A sign is up on the papered-over storefront at 68 Avenue A, noting "Meet Your New Favorite Coffee & Matcha." 

This will be the latest establishment in the block-long Untitled building between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. (Other new retail tenants here are Barryville General and B&H Barber Shop.)

The new cafe is the first tenant in this storefront since Ink closed in July 2023 after 30-plus years in business. Owner Ben "Benny" Dahud had been in a legal tussle (some of this was his own fault, he admitted) with the private equity firm that bought the building in the fall of 2022 for $64 million.

In the end, Benny decided to retire and close the newsstand. 

Sunday's parting shot (MulchFest Edition)

Photo by Steven 

MulchFest signage has arrived in Tompkins Square Park four days before Christmas for anyone who wants to drag their tree here between now and Jan. 11. 

Chipping Weekend is Jan. 10-11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ... and the fastest way to turn holiday cheer into neighborhood mulch. 

More on this (oh yes) in the days ahead.

Quiz show: NYC Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions taking place at the Brindle Room

Back in the summer, we posted about a resident who cobbled together a Jeopardy! game with a web-app he coded... and so began the Jeopardy! nights at the Brindle Room, 647 E. 11th Street at Avenue C. 

John Tobin provided us with an update: 

We had a nice run this year, and now we're having our first Tournament of Champions on Monday [TOMORROW]. The tournament will feature nine of the best Jeopardy! players we've seen this year, a few of whom are actually EV Grieve readers. There will be three semi-finals from 6:30-8, and then a championship at 8. Hopefully, it will be an exciting night.

You can head to the Brindle Room if you want to support any of the contestants... or follow on Instagram.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a post-Sunday-snowfall pic in Tompkins by Stacie Joy)

Never miss an EVG post with the weekly EVG newsletter. Free right here. 

• Timeline for reopening northern section of East River Park pushed to end of 2027 (Dec. 16) 

• SantaCon 2025 recap: A quieter crawl through the East Village? (Dec. 15) 

• Mark Bittman’s Community Kitchen wraps up Lower East Side pilot (Dec. 17) 

• Scenes from the 34th annual Tompkins Square Park tree lighting (Dec. 14) 

• Marky Ramone visits ¡Adios Amigos! for Bowery Beat coffee launch (Dec. 15) 

• Afterword Bookshop debuts on 6th Street (Dec. 13) 

• Art where you can find it (Dec. 19) 

• The final Saturdays of Bluestockings (Dec. 19) 

• The secret life of Key Food’s holiday decorations (Dec. 17) 

• PureGym officially takes over Blink Fitness (Dec. 15) 

• Signage alert: Justin’s Salt Bread on 2nd Avenue (Dec. 16) 

• A coffee shop percolating for 22 St. Mark’s Place (Dec. 17) 

• UZ Grill House, in grand-opening mode, has not been opening lately (Dec. 17) 

• The former Spice Brothers space is for rent on St. Mark’s Place (Dec. 19) 

• EVG turns 18 (Dec. 21)

Santa delivers again at the 9th Precinct’s annual holiday visit

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Santa (Claus) made his annual visit with the 9th Precinct yesterday, setting up shop inside the Manhattan School for Career Development on Fourth Street.

There was a line of families waiting for a visit, but no shortage of holiday cheer — or toys. Kids 12 and under were greeted with tables full of gifts, with many leaving happily clutching more than one, thanks to the generous supply.

Members of the NYPD's auxiliary program helped distribute toys and refreshments and kept the event running smoothly.

Despite the wait, spirits stayed high, with plenty of smiles, photo ops and seasonal good vibes all around.

Check out some photos from the event...

EVG at 18

Top pic of the old Odessa from 2013

Dec. 21 (TODAY) marks the 18th anniversary of this site. (Origin story of sorts.) 

Eighteen years is a long time for anything on the internet, especially something fueled by reader tips, neighborhood curiosity, favorite storefronts, cool signage and fonts, and, obviously, late-in-the-year Christmas tree discards.

This milestone belongs to the community that keeps EV Grieve going every day, for better or worse.

A heartfelt thank-you to contributor Stacie Joy for her steady stream of stories and interviews, photos, and sharp eyes on the street. And an extra shout-out to Derek Berg and Steven for their ongoing contributions. 

And to you, the readers and residents, thank you for reading, checking in, sending tips, sharing your thoughts, and trusting this space as a record of neighborhood life. 

We've mourned losses together. We've celebrated small wins. We've watched blocks change, sometimes overnight.

Here’s to year 18 ... and whatever it brings... and until the day this sign hangs on the site...

Headline H/T

Friday's parting shot

Rob Reiner tribute at the Village East by Angelika on 2nd Avenue and 12th Street ... where they are now screening "When Harry Met Sally."

A very Banshee Christmas

 

A Christmas classic to share... here is Siouxsie and the Banshees, featuring Robert Smith looking as if he's in a Lost World on the cymbals, covering a traditional French Christmas carol called "I'l Est Né Divin Enfant" ("He is born, the divine child.") 

The cover was a B-side released in 1982.

The final Saturdays of Bluestockings

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Bluestockings Cooperative is down to its last days in operation.

As we noted, Bluestockings is inviting the neighborhood to stop by for a series of final closing sales to both offset the shop's remaining debts and raise funds for a prisoner-solidarity organization. 

The sale continues tomorrow and Dec. 27 from noon to 5 p.m., at 116 Suffolk St. between Rivington and Delancey. (Masks are required for entrance.)

Organizers describe the events as a chance to "celebrate and grieve" the closing of the long-running, community-minded space. And nearly everything is up for grabs: books, appliances, merchandise, furniture — it's all gotta go, per their announcement.

We stopped by last Saturday and found an array of books and periodicals — many half off... and many for as low as $1. A variety of fixtures are available, too. There's also a shelf of freebies.

Here's a look.

As we first reported on Nov. 28, the storefront is now for rent.

The listing at the Meridian Capital Group website notes that all uses will be considered for the 2,500-square-foot space, "perfect for comedy club, wine bar, gallery, vintage clothing, or fitness." Asking rent: $13,950 

Bluestockings announced on Sept. 22 that it would be closing as a business at the end of 2025, marking the end of a 26-year run as an independent feminist bookstore, café, and radical community space. The retail space closed in September, while the online shop remained in operation. 

In a statement, the worker-owners and staff said daily operations were no longer sustainable, citing health, financial and structural challenges. There was pushback to that narrative, as reported here. 

Whatever the circumstances, it was tough to see such a longstanding cultural hub reduced to a going-out-of-business sale.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Worker-stewards push back after Bluestockings' abrupt closure

Art where you can find it

Photos by Stacie Joy

It was another one-night-only pop-up group show, Bring Your Own Art, highlighting work that exists outside the city's traditional gallery system. 

For a few hours the other evening, this East Village space filled with paintings, drawings, and mixed-media pieces that were immediate and personal — art meant to be seen, shared, and talked about among friends.

While it's fun to just happen upon a show like this, the organizer did invite us... and everyone here gave explicit consent to be photographed...

The show drew a crowd of young artists and friends. There was an easy, communal energy to the night, with people swapping stories, trading feedback and taking in a wide range of styles and ideas. 

It was less about the setting and more about the moment — a reminder that the city's art scene still thrives in temporary, DIY spaces that exist for a night and then disappear. 

Final day of Howliday shop at Howl! Arts

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A post shared by Howl! Arts (@_howlarts)

We stopped by here last weekend, and they have a nice selection of books (and other items) of interest to a downtown NYC audience.

Today (Friday!) from noon to 6 p.m. at 1 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

The former Spice Brothers space is for rent on St. Mark's Place

Photo by Steven 

A for-lease sign now hangs on the storefront at 110 St. Mark's Place, officially marking the end of the Spice Brothers here. 

The quick-serve restaurant offering Eastern Mediterranean street food had been closed all this month, prompting concerns about its future. 

Spice Brothers opened here between Avenue A and First Avenue in September 2023, and earned positive notices, including a rave from Pete Wells at the Times in July 2024. 

There is no mention of the closure on SB's Instagram account or website.

For 20 years, Crooked Tree served up crêpes and other cafe fare here until February 2019.