Rabbit Books and Bar ready for its grand opening on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Rabbit Books and Bar is set for its grand opening Saturday (tomorrow!) at 8 a.m. at 170 Avenue A on the southeast corner of 11th Street. 

The mother-daughter-owned bookstore and bar comes from Marianna Vaidman Stone and her daughter, Emily Samara Stone, who previously told us they envisioned the space as a neighborhood gathering place inspired in part by Parisian book cafes.

We stopped by for a sneak peek as the team was putting the finishing touches on the space — installing signage, setting up the bar, unpacking boxes, and even doing a dry run of the ribbon-cutting.

The finished space is inviting, with an elegant palette of jewel tones and plenty of tucked-away nooks with tufted banquette seating where you can settle in with a book. (You'll forget this was previously a 7-Eleven.)

The shelves include the expected categories — sci-fi, international fiction and romance among them — alongside some less conventional ones: "books too big to fit on our other shelves," "not for kids" kids' books, "blind date with a book" and "cats of Tokyo."

There are literary touches throughout, including a bathroom hidden behind a bookshelf door and all-gender restrooms wallpapered with pages from books.

The bar will serve wine, beer, frozen rosé, coffee, tea, sodas and sparkling waters. There's also an option to assemble a mix-and-match plate with items such as olives, dried fruit, chips and dips. 

And for kids (or the kid in all of us?), there are Lunchables and Uncrustables. Pastries and other selections will also be available.

Rabbit will be open from 8 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, with grand-opening activities throughout the day. (Find updates on Instagram.) 

The owners are also launching their Founding Readers program. Anyone who visits on Saturday can sign up to become a Founding Reader, which will include access to exclusive offers in the years ahead. 

Holy Ride meets its maker in Tompkins Square Park

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Written by EVG 

Holy Ride's time among us lasted all of one day. 

On Wednesday, a group of skaters installed the three-ramp creation featuring Jesus on a skateboard at the Tompkins Square Park TF. 

By yesterday, NYC Parks had arrived and told the group that Holy Ride, the heavenly successor to Hell Ride, had to come down. 

But this wasn't quite the end. The skaters repurposed the panels to create a pyramid in the center of the TF. (Jesus was a carpenter, after all.)

Franco The Thirteenth, the artist behind Holy Ride — as well as its predecessor, Hell Ride — was confident about the pyramid's future. 

"Parks can't do anything about the pyramid," he said. "It's here to stay."

Meanwhile, a fundraiser titled "Hell Ride III" continues to help support whatever comes next. 

So Holy Ride may be gone, but apparently there will be a resurrection...

Art and ecology meet in this East Village community garden

A new outdoor exhibition that brings together contemporary art and urban ecology opens tomorrow (Saturday!) at the Clyde Romero Community Garden, 213 E. Seventh St., between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

Presented by the Lower East Side Ecology Center and Make Meadows, Green Between will turn the community garden into a "living gallery," featuring works exploring native plants, urban wildlife, and the ecological relationships throughout the city. 

The installations include sculpture, furniture, textiles, and other outdoor works that respond to the garden and to themes of biodiversity, seasonal change, and environmental processes. 

Participating artists are Abby Kamagate, Ana Ratner, Anahit Pogosian, Kalen Kaminski, Kathleen McCarthy, Kevin Woon, Qian Liao, True Bend Studio and V Walton. 

"Community gardens are spaces where nature and neighborhood life intersect every day," LES Ecology Center Deputy Director Renee Crowley said in a statement. "This exhibition creates an opportunity to explore those connections through art while drawing attention to the native plants and ecological processes that support our urban environments." 

An opening reception takes place tomorrow from 4-6 p.m. 

Green Between runs through Nov. 1 and is free to visit during the garden's public hours on Fridays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Romero, a longtime East Village resident, was co-founder of the LES Ecology Center. He died in January 2022 at age 84.

Going, going, gone on 11th Street

An EVG reader shared these photos from early this morning of a branch down on 11th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

The reader had been keeping an eye on the tree, particularly a lower limb that extended well over the street. There was enough growth that branches at the end reportedly reached the sapling on the opposite side of the street. 

At first, it appeared crews might simply be removing the large limb. 

Then came the update: "Looks like the whole thing is coming down." 

And it did. By later today, only a stump remained.

The reader noted that the exposed cuts appeared to show solid wood, though we don't know what prompted the removal or whether there were other issues with the tree.

According to the NYC Tree Map, this was a thornless honey locust that was last pruned in August 2021.

The wisteria house sells for $3.65 million on Stuyvesant Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

The landmarked wisteria-covered townhouse at 35 Stuyvesant St. has new owners. 

The four-bedroom home sold for $3.65 million in a transaction posted in late June, according to property records. 

A couple with children who currently live in Soho are the buyers. The 3,584-square-foot, five-story house had most recently been listed at $3.895 million. The property entered contract in March. 

The architecturally significant townhouse, built in 1861 by James Renwick Jr., has long been one of the East Village's most photographed homes ... in part of the enclave often called the Renwick Triangle, a cluster of mid-19th-century homes shaped by the unusual meeting of Stuyvesant Street and 10th Street.

The listing made clear that the new owners would be taking on a project, opening with: "Bring your architect."

That said, the usual broker babble was more sensitive than usual in this case:

Myriad details convey the house's historic significance: five fireplaces and their marble mantles; intricate tin ceilings; exposed brick; decorative wood paneling. Above, an unfinished roof presents the opportunity to create a bright and impressive private outdoor space with striking views of the neighborhood. 

In a Curbed article from March titled "The Stunning Little Money Pit on Stuyvesant Street," a real-estate agent suggested the buyer would be a well-off creative type — "Someone who is going to have to have really deep pockets and a lot of time on their hands."

And it appears that work is getting underway. Permits for townhouse-wide renovations were issued on July 13.

And yes, we'll be checking on the wisteria next spring.

A come-to-Jesus moment on the TF at Tompkins Square Park

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Written by EVG 

A month after Hell Ride departed the Tompkins Square Park TF, its successor has arrived from a higher authority. 

Last month, the Hell Ride ramp disappeared from the Tompkins Square Park skateboard area after a relatively brief run. We were told that the Sunday field hockey players had lodged a complaint about the installation. 

At the time, an EVG reader suggested that perhaps the ramp would have been OK without the "Hell." 

And so yesterday, a group of skaters unveiled something bigger: Holy Ride.

The new three-ramp installation features Jesus, arms outstretched, riding a skateboard, flanked by the words "Holy" and "Ride."

Franco The Thirteenth created the artwork and, we're told, was also the artist behind Hell Ride.

The installation on this hot August afternoon required plenty of 2x4s, drill bits, teamwork and some impressive acrobatics as the crew maneuvered the oversized pieces into place.

A local artist even stopped by to sketch the proceedings.

The new addition was already getting plenty of attention — and reviews — before the work was finished. 

"These guys have no respect for Christ," one resident told us. 

Another observer had a different take: He thought Jesus would approve. 

Meanwhile, one woman had a more practical question: Why doesn't Jesus have a neck? 

We don't have an answer for that one. 

By late afternoon, Holy Ride was in place, and skaters were already putting it to use.

How long Holy Ride remains with us is in the hands of a higher power.

At Ecce, come for the pizza, stay for the Herman Melville tribute

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Ecce entered soft-open mode on Monday at 77 Second Ave., between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. 

So we stopped by for a look. (Previously) 

Aside from the square slices of spicy pepperoni and Margherita, one of the first things you'll notice is the handwritten wall created by owner Kyle Downey (below).

Downey painted the whole thing himself, freehand, using a paint marker — a process that took about 40 hours. 

The wall pays tribute to three people who inspired him: author Herman Melville, French composer Georges Bizet and Ferdinand Cheval, the French postal worker who spent decades building the Palais Idéal.

The text includes reviews of Bizet's "Carmen," inscriptions from Cheval's creation and reviews of Melville's work. 

Also pictured is front-of-house staffer Ashlee Powell, who was handling the musical programming during our visit, with some solid 1980s selections in the mix. (We expect as much from someone in a vintage Stevie Nicks T-shirt!)

We didn't sample any slices on this hot and muggy afternoon, though one customer who stopped in while we were there for a grandma slice and seemed quite pleased with his selection. There are also cinnamon knots for dessert ... cans of soda and bottles of water for hydration.

For now, opening hours are noon to 9 p.m. No website yet... and there's a placeholder Instagram account here.

Wednesday Parting Shots, partially eclipsed

Photos by Stacie Joy 

A few scenes from Ninth Street and Avenue A this afternoon as New Yorkers looked skyward for today's partial solar eclipse, which peaked around 1:54 p.m., with the moon blocking about 10% of the sun...