Headless Duane Reade shopper slowly but surely getting a head

Last weekend at the Duane Reade on East Second Street and Avenue B!

Today!



Eventually!

[EVG file photo]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Headless Duane Reade shopper giving East 2nd Street the creeps

Headless Duane Reade shopper giving East 2nd Street the creeps

[EVG file photo]

You've seen the ubiquitous Duane Reade store signage of the smiling woman walking into traffic while proudly carrying her Duane Reade bag.

Yes. Anyway, the recently expanded Duane Reade on Avenue B is getting a new mural along the East Second Street side.

For the time being, the smiling woman with the bag does not have a head.

It is unsettling to look at, mostly.

The Duane Reade expansion is underway on Avenue B

Back in August 2012 we heard that the Duane Reade on Avenue B and East Second Street was going to expand... next door into the spaces previously occupied by Zaitzeff ... and the long-dead High Chai Tea Room.

In addition, Duane Reade would add a second level, digging into the basement space where the Dolphin Gym closed in February 2010.

Anyway, the city had previously OK'd the necessary permits ... and workers are prepping the adjacent space for expansion, as you can see in the photo above... Workers have replaced the former storefronts with plywood.

As discussed several times previously, this corner space was previously home to The Gas Station, aka Art Gallery Space 2B. Alex at Flaming Pablum wrote about the space here.

Per the Times:

For 10 years, the Gas Station, with its towering sculpture built from discards ranging from a 1970 Plymouth Valiant to department store mannequins to television sets, has been a symbol of the Lower East Side's Bohemian ways and artistic resolve.

The space was cleared out in 1996...

[Via Flaming Pablum]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Duane Reade expanding on Avenue B

Duane Readed! Time runs out on former First Avenue bank clock

On Monday, we had the post titled: Here's your new Duane Reade signage on First Avenue; plus — will they keep the clock?

That iconic clock here on First Avenue just north of East 14th Street has been providing the time for generations of New Yorkers dating back to 1786, and...

OK. That's not true. I did like the clock though. The building was (is!) really awful, though, with an out-of-place suburban look... Always surprised that no one came along and built 20 stories of condo on top...


... but I liked the clock! (it was actually 10:12 when I took this photo a few years ago...)



Anyway! By now you have likely guessed correctly that the clock is gone... as this photo from EVG reader Joe shows...

Now, for generations, we will only know that it's Duane Reade time. Again.

h/t to Pinch for mentioning that the clock was gone in the comments last night...