The 'merch' world of Arturo Vega and the Ramones

On Friday evening, Howl! Happening presents a new exhibit titled "Arturo Vega: the merch master," a deep dive into the branding world of the logo designer, spokesperson and lighting director for the Ramones. 

Per the show description: "This is Ramones-centric, showcasing the incredible range of items designed by, or licensed by Arturo and exclusively from Arturo's collections and archive." 

To attend the Friday evening opening, you need to RSVP (due to demand) here. 

On Saturday at 5p.m., Sandra Schulman gives a talk about Vega and the "logo heard around the world." 

Vega died in 2013 at age 65. He lived for years around the corner on Second Street. 

The exhibit is up through May 24 at Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Images via Howl! Happening

Veselka will once again be open around the clock on Friday and Saturdays

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

It's official — Veselka is returning to an overnight schedule on weekends at Second Avenue and Ninth Street. 

Starting April 17, the East Village mainstay will be open around the clock again, starting with just Fridays and Saturdays for now.

Owner Jason Birchard (above) shared the news with us yesterday.

Before the pandemic, Veselka served customers 24/7 for nearly 30 years. When indoor dining resumed, the restaurant scaled back hours, with Birchard previously citing staffing challenges for all the shifts. 

Now, overnight service is making a comeback — at least at the Second Avenue location (not Brooklyn) — as staffing continues to come together. 

So what is the power order during those late-night hours?

"Fried pierogies, borscht, potato pancakes — good starters," Birchard said.

Birchard will be on hand for the reopening night, along with VP of Operations Vitalii Desiatnychenko, a featured staff member whose journey we followed in the "Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World" documentary.

Now, late-night pierogies and early-morning borscht are back on the schedule, at least for part of the week.

A look at Cô Lạc, now open at 234 E. Fourth St.

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Cô Lạc recently debuted at 234 E. Fourth St., between Avenue A and Avenue B, following a "super soft opening." 

Owner-chef Helen Nguyen (also of Saigon Social) has rebranded the restaurant, opting not to continue under the former tenant's name, Van Đa. 

Instead, she chose Cô Lạc in honor of her mother.

In Vietnamese, "Cô" means auntie, and Lac is her mother's name — a familiar figure to many of Nguyen's friends growing up. 

Nguyen said she initially planned to build on what her friend Yen created with Van Đa, but ultimately wanted something more personal. 

The new menu reflects that shift, drawing on family recipes and dishes tied to her childhood. 

Cô Lạc is open Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m. 

Earlier this year, we stopped by as Nguyen was hosting a friends-and-family dinner... we got a look at the back and front of the house...

Signs of the times (and more signs) at 9 Bleecker

The storefront at 9 Bleecker St. has long been a magnet for tags and wheatpaste — even when Overthrow occupied the space.

Since the boxing gym closed in November 2024, the facade has become a near-constant canvas for flyers and ads. 

The new landlord has taken notice, posting warnings against posting — along with a few other messages, including: "I have an owner who loves me very much!" and "I'm a HISTORICAL building, NOT your CANVAS!"

As usual, the notices haven't slowed the layering of wheatpaste. (Do people really stop and read these before slapping up ads for Hello whipped toothpaste?)

An undisclosed buyer purchased the historic building just west of the Bowery last summer for $5.7 million. So far, there are no permits on file with the Department of Buildings for any renovations. 

The address has a long history — most notably as the 41-year home of the Yippies, founded by Abbie Hoffman and Paul Krassner. The space closed in 2014 after a lengthy legal battle. 

A lot has passed through those doors — and across those walls.

Wednesday's parting shot

Late this afternoon at El Jardin del Paraiso on Fifth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D...

3 music-related books this spring for East Village readers

A shelf view at Book Club Bar on Third Street

Three new books out this spring have strong East Village ties — and all are music-related. 

Let's take a look...

• "Almost Grown" 

East Village-based singer-songwriter Jesse Malin's memoir details how this "hyperactive kid from Queens made his dreams come true." 

Malin, a partner in several East Village establishments, including Niagara, 96 Tears and the Bowery Palace, launched his music career at 12, fronting the hardcore band Heart Attack. He was later the lead vocalist of D Generation during the 1990s. 

Malin has become a prolific artist with nine studio albums and collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, and Billie Joe Armstrong. 

In May 2023, Malin suffered a rare spinal stroke that left him paralyzed from the waist down. 

Book details here.

• "No New York: A Memoir of No Wave and the Women Who Shaped the Scene" 

Per the description:

Adele Bertei didn’t just witness the No Wave explosion — she ignited it. As acetone organist for the Contortions and Brian Eno’s assistant, she was at the epicenter when punk collided with post-punk, when Lydia Lunch screamed her first songs, when Kathy Acker was penning her transgressive novels, when Kathryn Bigelow was making her first films. No New York reveals the untold story of the boundary-pushing women who made No Wave possible...

Book info here.

• "Found Time"

Caroline Goldstein's "second-chance romance" questions whether a whirlwind, week-long love story can still stir something three decades later. (We're also told that "it's also secretly a history of the East Village 1993-2023.") 

Per the description: 

In 1993, Lili and Reid locked eyes after a Jeff Buckley show at Sin-é in New York's East Village. Their connection is immediate and intense—kicking off a steamy summer romance that cracks something open for both of them — but then Reid heads off to pursue his career. And it's the '90s, so stalking isn't the same... 

Thirty years later, they’re both navigating midlife as single parents of teen girls when they cross paths once more. (Literally, the teens get in a fight in the bathroom line at a concert.) Can they find their way to each other through the complexities of adulthood better than they could during the relative simplicity of their youth? 

Book info here. 

Vogue published an excerpt at this link.

The fruit vendor of 1st Avenue (and 6th Street) is back

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Another sign of spring: the fruit-and-vegetable stand returned yesterday on the SE corner of First Avenue and Sixth Street... after a late-December departure. 

Here's to your 3-for-$5 pints of blueberries

Noona's Ice Cream & Bakeshop has closed on 5th Street

After nearly 16 months, Noona's Ice Cream & Bakeshop has closed at 304 E. Fifth St.

This was the first storefront for entrepreneur Hannah Bae, a Queens native who launched her brand of Asian American ice cream flavors eight years ago. Her products are sold in several NYC businesses, including H Mart. 

Bae shared this message on the brand's website, highlighting the challenges of a small food operation in NYC: 

After 9 years of Noona's and a year and a half of operating our East Village ice cream-bakeshop , I've decided to close the storefront. Our first run at it was a hard and amazing experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. As y'all know, NYC food establishment turnover is a thing and although we're all paying a leg and an arm and then some for food on top of everything else, food business owners based in NYC operate on some of the slimmest margins. 

With that said, I'll be rebooting Noona's (just without a NYC-based brick & mortar). I can't give more details than that at the moment, but Noona's will see y'all soon again. 

The shop opened in December 2024 and featured scoops of ice cream, mini sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream cakes, regular cakes (baked on-site), and other baked goods. 

Locals enjoyed the desserts... though this block between First Avenue and Second doesn't have robust foot traffic.

Signage alert: Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen NYC on 2nd Avenue

Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen NYC continues to take shape on the SW corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street.

This is a sibling to Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen in Dallas, which has earned two Michelin Bib Gourmands for serving Vietnamese food rooted in Hanoi. (You can check out the Dallas menu here.) 

You can follow Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen NYC on Instagram for updates on openings. 

This two-level corner space with the flowering vines was most recently home to Viva Cucina and, before that, Nai Tapas Bar.

Thank you to EVG readers Danielle, Garth and Steven for sending along tips about this!

It’s wisteria time on Stuyvesant Street

A dispatch from a Stuyvesant Street resident: 

After a long, seemingly endless winter, we have our first blooms on the Stuyvesant Street wisteria this morning. We hope its sister plant on 10th St blooms later this week! 

The purple paradise of flowering beauty® resides outside 35 Stuyvesant St. at 10th Street... and it inspires both Instagram users and jigsaw-puzzle makers. 

The five-story townhouse at No. 35 is also on the sales market. Lee B. Anderson, called the godfather of the Gothic revival in America, was the long-time owner. He died in 2010, and his caretaker had been living there.

One of the Bowery’s most unique storefronts moves to a less-unique space

We were sorry to see that Globe Slicers has moved from its longtime home at 266 Bowery between Houston and Prince. (H/T to our friend Alex, who first noted this on Instagram.)

In true Globe Slicers style, there's a painted handwritten message on the sign noting a move down the Bowery to No. 184 — alongside some more standard signage.

The business dates to 1947, though it's not clear how long it had been at No. 266. 

The building also carried some music history. Known as "The Blondie Loft," it's where the band worked on its first record in the mid-1970s. In a 2022 EVG Instagram comment, Chris Stein recalled the retail space as "a very ancient liquor store" around 1975-76 — and said the building was "totally haunted."

Back in 2022, EVG's Stacie Joy documented the delightfully cluttered shop. 

Flashback!

Slowly but surely, many of these old storefronts are being replaced, and we can see, say, a hot sculpt workout place here offering infrared technology. 

Another one of those storefronts that felt like it had always been there ... soon to be something else.

Previously on EVG: 

• A look inside Globe Slicers, one of the most unique storefronts on the Bowery

Proletariat is closing for now on 7th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Proletariat, the craft beer bar via Overthrow Hospitality, ends its 14-year East Village tenure on Saturday. 

However, there's a glimmer of hope for Proletariat's fans. Per the closing announcement on Instagram:  

Your three favorite bartenders can't let 14 years of amazing community end, SO we are working to acquire and keep Prol alive & thriving! We're still unsure whether we'll be able to stay here or have to find a new spot, but wanted to at least give everyone the heads up. 

For now, in its current iteration, April 11 is the last day. 

Overthrow Hospitality's Ravi DeRossi told us that they are expanding nationally, starting with Denver and Austin, and are scaling back in NYC.

The bar got its start in the back of Jane's Sweet Buns (blast from the past!) on St. Mark's Place in May 2012 before taking over the whole space. They moved to this larger storefront on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square in June 2022. 

Meanwhile, next door, Overthrow Hospitality's mushroom-centric Third Kingdom closed on March 29.

"Third Kingdom was my favorite restaurant I ever opened, but it never did well enough to justify keeping it," DeRossi said.

You can find updates on the Overthrow Hospitality Instagram account here.

A Sunday shutter for Dim Sum Palace on 2nd Avenue

On Sunday, Dim Sum Palace will wrap up its seven-plus years in the East Village. (Thanks to EVG reader Garth for the photo below and tip.) 

A sign here at 59 Second Ave., between Third and Fourth Streets (once again under a sidewalk bridge), thanks patrons for their "support, trust and kindness over the years."

The restaurant's website lists five other Dim Sum Palace locations in NYC. 

The EV outpost opened in December 2018.

A bad sign at Chef Tan

Chef Tan closed in mid-February at 37 St. Mark's Place just west of Second Avenue. 

A sign for patrons cited a temporary closure "due to exhaust duct maintenance and repair work." 

However, a tipster told us a Chef Tan staffer described it as a "goodbye," not a short-term closure. 

The tipster is looking right. We haven't noticed any activity (such as exhaust duct maintenance) in the past 2.5 months. And the other day, a demand-for-rent notice arrived on the front door...

... totaling $45K and change for three months of rent.

Still, Google lists this as a temporary closure. 

The outpost opened in 2022 as the first NYC location of the Jersey City-based restaurant serving Szechuan and Hunan cuisine. 

Regulars here have enjoyed the reasonable prices and generous portions. Still, that's a lot of Chongqing Fried Chicken to sell to make up the back rent.

'Angels of Light' at the Boiler Room

Photos by Stacie Joy

You have until Wednesday to check out "Angels of Light," an exhibit featuring the photography of artist-activist Steven Love Menendez at the Boiler Room.

The show includes a portrait of the late Agosto Machado...

You can read a Q&A at Gay City News with Menendez here. 

"Angels of Light," which opened this past Thursday, will be on display through Wednesday. The Boiler Room is at 45 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street.

Community meeting set on proposed intake relocation to East Village

Local elected officials are hosting a community meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) evening to discuss the mayor's plan to relocate Bellevue's adult men's homeless intake operation. 

As previously reported, the proposal would move intake to the men's shelter at 8 E. Third St., while converting Project Renewal's facility at 333 Bowery into an intake center for homeless families. 

The plan has raised questions among some residents about logistics and community impact. Tuesday's meeting is expected to provide more details and offer neighbors an opportunity to ask questions and share feedback. 

On-hand: City Councilmember Harvey Epstein, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Congressman Dan Goldman, Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, State Sen. Brian Kavanagh and leaders from Community Board 3.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Sirovich Senior Center, 331 E. 12th S. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Previously on EV Grieve: • Bellevue Shelter closing; intake shifting to East 3rd Street and the Bowery

Paulie Gee's East Village Slice Shop update: ovens arriving, May opening eyed

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Work continues at Paulie Gee's East Village Slice Shop at First Avenue and Sixth Street, with a spring opening in sight. 

George Linn, the owner and operator of the outpost, invited EVG in for an update. (Linn has worked with Paulie Gee, aka Paul Giannone, and was the one who wanted to open a location of the pizzeria here, as we first reported.)

Linn said the dual PizzaMaster ovens are expected to arrive this coming week, following completion of the hood installation. After that: the black-and-white tile floor. 

The shop will run on an all-electric kitchen setup — no gas line (or ConEd approval) required. 

On the beverage side, expect Coca-Cola products, cold orange juice, and (pending approval) beer on tap. 

"We don't want to take customers away from [the International Bar] next door, we just want to have beer for our customers with their pizza," Linn said.

The space is taking shape with a 1970s rec-room feel — think wood paneling, avocado-green chairs and orange laminate — paired with updated lighting and sound. 

Seating will include three front booths, a handful of small tables and counter spots.

Linn also said they plan to display a vintage photo of the building, possibly from the 1930s... about 80 years before the previous tenant, Dunkin', moved in...

As for timing, they're aiming for a May opening, possibly sooner. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Paulie Gee tells us more about his slice shop opening on 1st Avenue in the East Village