Tonight in car fires on Avenue A

Car on fire at E 4th and Ave A in East Village. Looks like battery caught fire. @FDNY in the scene. @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/lJdZOm2uxF

— Cecil Scheib (@cecilscheib) January 8, 2016

And there's a video clip here.

[Updated] City council members talk up new L train entrance coming to Avenue A

As we posted earlier this month, an observant EVG reader looking at the 237-page PDF of the MTA's 2015–2019 Capital Plan noticed there was money budgeted (and approved!) for a second set of entrances for the L stop at First Avenue.

Now our local City Council members have issued a joint statement about the new L train entrance coming to Avenue A:

The MTA 2015-2019 Capital Plan, which was approved by the MTA Board on October 28, includes $71.9 million for a new entrance to the overcrowded First Avenue stop on the L train. The funding is part of the MTA’s $300 million Core Capacity program, and will improve both safety and accessibility for straphangers who use this station every day.

Council Members Dan Garodnick and Rosie Mendez, who represent the area, had pushed for the MTA to allocate sufficient funds for this improvement.

The current entrance creates significant bottlenecks, which lead to safety issues and can make entering and exiting the station extremely difficult. The station has also been identified by the MTA as one of 100 “Key Stations,” which experience heavy traffic or have critical connections between train lines and neighborhoods. Because of this designation, the planned new entrance will also comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and be accessible to individuals with disabilities.

“This station has gotten crowded beyond its capacity, and straphangers need relief,” said Council Member Garodnick. “A new entrance is going to make a huge difference, and will make the station infinitely more safe.”

"I applaud the MTA and I am grateful that it will be moving forward with our request for an alternate entrance/exit at Avenue A for the First Avenue L train stop. This train stop is so overcrowded that it is unsafe. Everyday individuals arriving and departing from the 1st Avenue confront a huge crowd of people rushing from or to the bus. This new entrance is needed now more than ever since there are several nearby residential development projects that will increase the neighborhood population." – Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, District 2

Not sure where exactly this new entrance will be…



In September 2014, an EVG reader spotted a crew doing a little soil sampling at this spot on the north side of 14th Street along Stuy Town … perhaps this might be the location for the entrance/exit…


[Photo from September 2014]

Updated 6:28 p.m.

Sen. Brad Hoylman's office also released a statement earlier today. It reads in part:

With the approval of its 2015-2019 Capital Program, the MTA is finally set to begin construction on a new entrance for the L Train First Avenue stop. Construction of the new entrance at 14th Street and Avenue A is an effort by the MTA to alleviate congestion and overcrowding that has long affected riders at the First Avenue stop. Senator Hoylman's statement on construction of the new entryway is below:

“I am pleased that the MTA has included a new L Train entrance at the 14th and Avenue A stop in its 2015-2019 capital budget, setting aside $40 million for improvements on the L line and an additional $59.1 million to make the First Avenue station ADA compliant.

“The western end of the platform has become a serious safety concern as straphangers mass near the station’s only entrance, creating dangerous overcrowding at the platform’s edge and potential obstruction of egress during emergencies.

“In light of Extell Development’s planned construction on the block of 14th Street between Avenues A and B, I wrote to Extell in February 2014 urging them to contribute to the construction of a desperately needed second entrance at the First Avenue stop. The MTA’s full backing of a new point of entry and exit for this station is particularly welcome news, and I encourage the MTA and Extell to work collaboratively to ensure that the construction is completed in a timely manner."

Previously on EV Grieve:
A Davey Drill and a dream

Is an Avenue A entrance for the L train in our future?

Avenue A L train entrance closer to a reality … some day

Avenue A, now with fewer trees

Multiple EVG readers came across this scene this morning just before 9 on Avenue A between East Second Street and East Third Street… where workers were mulching up a fallen tree…



Unfortunately, no one (yet!) has passed along what happened to the tree on the west side of the street… How did it fall? Did it crack? Was it struck? Pushed? Bitten? Karate chopped?



Thanks to the EVG reader for the photos!

Updated:
Per the comments, three trees on this block had to be removed...

Avenue A's high-wire act

Several readers have asked in recent weeks what the story is with the wire/line that, in the right light, is very visible above Avenue A between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street (and maybe elsewhere?)… it has been up there for months now… running from the light pole on the northwest corner of Sixth Street to the southeast corner of Seventh Street… and then across to the northwest corner of Seventh Street…



Another view…



… and because of contractual obligations…



… and it also stretches from the northwest corner of Sixth Street to the southeast corner… (and it looks like some wire up at Fifth and A too...)


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Perhaps a clue on Avenue A and East Fourth Street…



Facts and theories welcome…

Updated 9:08 a.m.

That was fast! Many people had the answer... see the comments for the explanation...

Today in flying leaps

Photo outside the Pyramid on Avenue A today by Derek Berg

And how was your Thursday Happy Hour?

From an EVG reader:

This gentleman greeted people on Avenue A yesterday with a special happy hour show. He was fairly pleased with himself. The show ended with a grand finale where the naked gentleman spread his gluteal muscles for those interested in a closer inspection.

Taking the pile driver out for a spin on this gorgeous Saturday summer

A reader shared this photo today from East 12th Street and Avenue A… Not sure which construction site it's going to or from… or if surge pricing is in effect.

A smaller Galleria J. Antonio reopens on Avenue A, 2 doors down

Earlier this year, the store closing signs arrived at Galleria J. Antonio at 47 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street.

However, Galleria J. Antonio curator Jesse Gee decided to reopen two doors down at No. 43, where he will continue to sell arts and crafts and custom jewelry and watches…

As he told us at the start of the summer: "I can't stop working because I love what I do and STILL NEED A JOB, but — I must slow down and work fewer days and hours."

And now the new, smaller Galleria J. Antonio is open, as EVG regular Peter Brownscombe reports…





As for No. 47, we hear that the owners of the Essex Card Shop at 39 Avenue A are opening a second outpost.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Galleria J. Antonio is closing on Avenue A

Avenue A storefront shuffle

All photos by Peter Brownscombe

Avenue A is for [construction] Action

Work commenced last Wednesday at the former Mary Help of Christians property along Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street.

As you've likely noticed, Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East 14th Street is becoming an now an active construction zone. Let's tally it up...

98-100 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street



Work continues on Ben Shaoul's 8-story retail-residential complex ... a project already two years in the making...



438 E. 12th St. (aka 181 Avenue A)



The new plywood and renewed construction activity arrived last week where the Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory once stood ... where there will be a 6-floor mixed-use building with ground-floor retail and 82 market-rate condos via developer Douglas Steiner.



The rendering on the plywood notes that the project will be completed in August 2017...



500 E. 14th St. at Avenue A



We're two months into the digging and pile-driving here ... the site will yield a 7-floor retail-residential building via Extell Development.

Bonus construction!



Whatever these guys have been doing at East 13th Street in recent months.

Ditto for the wall renovation at the East Side Community School on East 12th Street.

Upcoming!



Avenue A and surrounding side streets should get even more construction at the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office on East 14th Street. Plans are calling for an 8-story residential building with ground-floor retail here just west of Avenue A. In addition, there are two 6-story condos coming to East 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

So Avenue A is for...

Video: Cyclist snatches woman's phone on Avenue A; Citi Biker follows in pursuit

An EVG reader shared this Dashcam video with us from late yesterday afternoon around 5:30 … when a woman walking west on Seventh Street at Avenue A has her iPhone snatched by a cyclist (it's at the 24-second mark)… following in hot pursuit is a well-dressed man on a Citi Bike…



Sadly, we don't know the outcome… the woman is last seen stopping on A at East Fifth Street after running down the Avenue…

H/T Brian Cohen for passing along his friend's video… posted with permission…

Avenue A storefront shuffle

Back in February, Galleria J. Antonio announced that the crafts and custom jewelry shop would be closing in the months ahead at 47 Avenue A.

As we understood it, the proprietors were retiring from the business that has been here between East Third Street and East Fourth Street since 2000. (The shop opened on Madison and 68th Street in 1970 before relocating to Christopher Street … before the move to A some years later.)

However, it turned out to be a short-lived retirement. Galleria J. Antonio is downsizing and moving into the former eyeglass shop a storefront away.



Galleria J. Antonio curator Jesse Gee told us this in a Facebook message: "The eyeglass store will be my retirement store. Isn't that a stitch? I can't stop working because I love what I do and STILL NEED A JOB, but — I must slow down and work fewer days and hours."

Meanwhile, from the rumor mill comes word that the Essex Card Shop at 39 Avenue A is going to open a second outpost in the former Galleria J. Antonio space … the person who passed along the tip used the words "Avenue A department store." We shall see.

[Updated] Avenue A is getting part of its sidewalk back

City Crews look as if they're finally finishing up their work outside 28 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Second Street, as this photo by EVG reader Carl Bentsen shows. (Apparently workers needed to remove an abandoned oil tank beneath the sidewalk outside New York Sports Club, per the club's GM.)

The orange barricades have been blocking much of this sidewalk in recent months, prompting at least one person to write signs asking for the return of this part of Avenue A.

Updated

A reader noted that the sidewalk is open … and Manny seems to be fully restocked.

[Updated] Reader report: The city dumps Manny the Peddler's wares on Avenue A

A City sanitation crew stopped by Avenue A between East Second Street and East Third Street around noon today and dumped all of the items Manny the Peddler has been selling along here.

Said one witness:

It appears the manager of the New York Sports Club called the city rather than ask Manny to move his things to another spot along the block, which most other business owners on this block do. Manny is happy to oblige.

Considering the eyesore and highly illegal-looking construction that's been taking up the sidewalk for MONTHS now outside the sports club, it seems like a real douchey move.

Manny is a sweetheart and favorite of many locals in the neighborhood.

This isn't the first time that the city tossed Manny's sale items.

Manny, aka Emmanuel Howard, has been selling second-hand items on Avenue A and East Second Street for more than 35 years.

Updated 5/27

NYSC General Manager Anthony Testai responded with this comment:

I just wanted to say — as the General Manager of the NYSC on Ave A that I am shocked to see how badly my company is getting dragged thru the mud with this. Manny and I have personally chatted multiple times and I was disappointed to see the city throw away his things again.

Just so most of you are aware this is the third time that I know of that this has happened and as all of you know..(weve only been here for 3 months). I can assure you that NYSC myself and my staff included had NOTHING to do with the fact that he had his things thrown away. The first time this happened before we were even open I immediately ran down to Manny and apologized for his belongings being thrown away.

Manny sells his things in front of the methadone clinic and he's not near our storefront, which is why we have no problem with him doing his business, he knows that because we have spoken and I say hello to him almost everyday.

On behalf of NYSC I apologize for this happening but it did not come from us, I even spoke to the construction team and they had nothing to do with it.

Now for the real issue the SIDEWALK! This is killing everyone's business and is a huge problem with the community and me. Just so everyone is aware the sidewalk has been the city not giving us to remove an oil tank that was abandoned beneath the old sidewalk. And so everyone is updated it will be completed by the end of this month if not sooner.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to stop by, tour the gym and see that we are not some "big business" or call me...

Down On Avenue A, 1922

Anton van Dalen shared the following with us this week...

Ever since my settling on Avenue A in 1971, I have been collecting the neighborhood's history. That gathering is of diverse interest with ephemera and artifacts of all kinds. It includes vintage press photos, flyers, maps, architectural salvage, street signs, etcetera.

One of my favorite finds is this sheet music of 1922 titled "Down On Avenue A." The great cover image in style, fashion and attitude still looks contemporary, timeless.

As now with impending summer the down on Avenue A sidewalk parade has started anew.

You can find more details about the music here.

Avenue A wants its sidewalk back

The New York Sports Club opened at 28 Avenue A back in early March... and the space outside here between East Second Street and East Third Street ...



... remains a work in progress... drawing the ire of at least one person (or more) asking for the release of the sidewalk...



H/T to @fnytv for alerting us to the signs on Saturday.

Noted

[Photo by Maria]

Ah, just taking in the three-wheeled Polaris Slingshot on Avenue A near East Seventh Street late this afternoon...


[Photo by Bill the Libertarian Anarchist]

Reader report: Pit bull attack on Avenue A

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

We don't have all the details on this incident this afternoon on Avenue A and East Third Street (we heard about it from several people) … Here's one version:

[There was] a pit bull attack on Avenue A, on a small black-and-white dog. Despite people throwing garbage and a garbage can at it, the bull would not release its grip. Multiple cops came, dog's owners appeared to not give a fuck, and the little dog's owner went into shock and an ambulance was called for her.

Anyone else witness this?

Updated 9:08 p.m.: We heard from the owner of the dog that was attacked… the puppy is doing OK

Updated 4/13

The owner of Dante, a 1-year-old Yorkipoo, shared her version of the incident:

We were walking on Avenue A when a pit bull on a leash on the other side of the sidewalk made a beeline for Dante. He grabbed Dante's neck, and with a locked jaw kept thrashing him about and would not let go. My husband and I just tried to pull the dog off — a crowd was forming and the dog's walker said he was sorry but he couldn't do anything — it wasn't his dog.

People kept yelling for him to kick his dog, to do something — I don't know what he should have done ... but standing around saying he couldn't do anything probably wasn't it. Then at one point he said something like, "oh gosh, the dog is dead" or "it just killed a dog." That's when I had to turn away ... it didn't seem like we were going to be able to get the dog to let go and it looked as if Dante's neck was about to be ripped apart.

Then, somehow Dante gets free and everyone thinks he's dead. My husband felt a very faint heartbeat but he was lifeless in my arms — not moving for a few minutes. I start to run to the Lower East Side Animal Hospital but some amazing people from the Ruff Club [at 34 Avenue A] ushered me inside. That's when Dante started to move a bit, pick his head up. Poor thing was shaking and in shock. He ended up having a bite and needs to be in a cone, receive some medicine, etc., but the vet said Dante is very lucky. The people at the Ruff Club were beyond awesome — they stayed with us, checked on Dante, gave us advice and clearly cared a lot.

My husband got a small cut and I got bit, though it isn't too deep. We found out that the pit bull did not have his rabies shots and now my husband and I need to go through a series of rabies shots over the next month.

5 car collision on Avenue A this morning

Happened just before 11:30 a.m. at East Second Street... with the cab apparently colliding with the back of one car, which caused a chain reaction of fender bending... no word about any injuries... thanks to EVG reader Mayra Diaz for the photo...

Former space housing 1st bar for pregnant women returns to market on Avenue A

[EVG photo from September]

The corner retail space on Avenue A and East Fifth Street served as an advertising repository last October for some bar-finding app disguised as Gestations — "NYC's first bar for pregnant women."

The storefront has sat empty since East Village Pharmacy moved from here to 41 Avenue A in early 2011.

And now there's a new broker for the space…





So far, we haven't spotted the listing online at the Tower Brokerage website. And is the space next door that housed Twist for lease as well?

In any event, this is a good block for independent retail here between East Fifth Street and East Fourth Street … you have a coffee shop/cafe (Croissanteria), a housewares shop (Lancelotti), a used bookstore (Mast), a magazine shop (Ink on A), a gift shop (Alphabets), a dry cleaners … not to mention the lottery place and the liquor store.

Previously on EV Grieve:
No, 'NYC's first bar for pregnant women' isn't opening on Avenue A

People behind Gestations still pretending to be opening a bar for pregnant women on Avenue A

A cloud over A

Photo the other day on Avenue A by Grant Shaffer