Veselka Bowery now has ... stationery!

Tomorrow, we compare the toilet paper to the Veselka mothership. Plus, OK — they likely had the stationery for awhile now... just not on display in the front window.

Papa John's enters the $1 slice fray

Let me know when it gets down to 25 cents.

Who is destroying the East Village monsters?

The other day, EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams spotted this dinosaur-monster thing outside La Plaza Cultural Armando Perez on Avenue C at Ninth Street...

Then, a few days later...

Flashback to the Mystery Lot...

[Via James and Karla Murray]

And, after "a storm," which is what the authorities what you to believe.

Then it disappeared.

What happens to fallen road signs

Crazy Eddie sent me this fallen "Bump" sign on the East River greenway by the ConEd plant awhile ago...

Now looked what happened to it! Red Hook isn't enough for them?

A balls-out challenge to EV Lambo

Thanks to the EV Grieve reader who captured this oh-so-brief glimpse of a silver Lambo zipppppppping down a Lower East Side street last night ... Through the magic of YouTubing, we were able to preserve this obvs challenge to our EV Lambo....

'Gossip Girl' guys try to act natural walking by Doc Holliday's

Thanks to the readers for pointing out that Dan and Nate (or is it Nate and Dan?) were shown in last night's episode of "Gossip Girl" walking by Doc Holliday's on Avenue A and Ninth Street...





I wonder where they were headed. San Loco?

Previously on EV Grieve:
'Gossip Girl' returns to the East Village, a headline that may score me some awesome SEO!

The Times goes to the Mars Bar with one of those guys who's in "Gossip Girl"

Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Taylor Momsen

A reader request: "WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE SIDEWALK SEATING AT DBGB???”

Well! I do take requests! And! It just so happened that I walked by last evening.... and the DBGB sidewalk cafe was up!





Read the previous 10, 11 posts on this topic here.

Katie Holmes dines at 'Northern Sea Food Co.'

This image and copy came in over the transom from some media outlet:

Katie Holmes and her companion stop off for lunch at Northern Sea Food Co. in the East Village. Katie was flanked by security at all times which left autograph hunters frustrated. The pair were on their way home from the Calvin Klein fashion show in NYC.

Mmmm! Must check out this Northern Sea Food Co. place!

Meanwhile, Katie may want to try Northern Spy at the same location.

Branching out at Lucky Cheng's

A large branch now rests in front of Lucky Cheng's on First Avenue near Second Street....






Not sure if it simply fell... or was torn... or was clipped by the M15... but here's where it came from... just a few feet away...

Union Square Walgreens not being intimidated by world's largest Duane Reade

Just typing out loud here...

--Walgreens buys Duane Reade...

--Duane Reade opens humongous new store on Union Square

--The Walgreens about 200 feet away on 14th Street and Fourth Avenue is now being remodeled...





There's probably some logic here, which no one really has time to get into... anyway, as you were.

A blue tarp compromise

Should the the blue tarp remain up ... or down along the 14th Street side of the Mystery Lot...

Well! Here's a solution:



Previously on EV Grieve:
Blue tarp down! [Repeat] Blue tarp down!

Gratuitous bikini photo alert: Sports Illustrated swimsuit model buys East Second Street pad

According to a post yesterday on BlockShopper Manhattan, Australian swimsuit model Pania Rose and her beau bought an East Second Street condo for $712,000.

We look forward to seeing her at Hamilton Fish Park this summer.


[Image via SI]

Speaking of the Bowery...

DBGB has a canopy!

A quick word on the cup holders at the new Yankee Stadium

They don't work all that well.... at least the ones in the cheaper ($20!) 400-level seats... When I arrived at my seat Tuesday night, the ground was wet...which was a little odd given that the seats were covered by the roof. Anyway, the guys next to me were drinking beer. They seemed decent enough. Like, not the type to dump beer on each other. Anyway, I put my full beer ($10 for 20 ounces of Miller Lite — plus the souvenir cup!; or, 12-ounce drafts were available for $6) in the cup holder in front of me.

And now I figured it out.



The cup holders are at a slight angle. And by placing a full beer in the holder, the first, oh, four ounces will slowly start trickling onto the ground. "We did the same thing," the guys next to me said. At these prices, they said it would be like throwing away gold. Or something.



To combat this, you need to buy the 16-ounce plastic bottles of beer for $9. Or just hold your cup until your taken a few swallows.

What's new at Subway? (Specifically the one on Second Avenue near Ninth Street...)

An ATM!



But will it dispense $5 bills for the foot-long specials?

Previous, and exclusive, Subway coverage on EV Grieve:

An important update on fast-food mascots

It's Feb. 18, and we've already exceeded our quota for stories on Subway for 2009

Nothing more festive than an opening of a new Subway

Locals will no longer have to walk a few blocks out of their way for a Subway

New promo shots for Madonna

According to The Superficial: "It's like she walked on set and asked to look like Marilyn Manson, but less appealing to the eye. That said, this can't be selling CDs. Unless they come with razor blades, in which case, I'll take two."

Speaking of the former East Village resident...in case you missed this over the weekend... back in 1979, when Madonna was a struggling artist or dancer or something in NYC, she posed nude for $25. Now that photographer, Lee Friedlander, has the shot up for grabs at Christie's. It's expected to fetch $10,000 to $15,000, unless A-rod gets in on the bidding. (Christie's; maybe NSFW depending on where you work)

Who knew?

The reigning Miss Pakistan lives in the East Village.

Breaking: Model booty at the Cooper Square Hotel

Curbed has the first peeping-tom photo from a scantily clad photo shoot at the just-open Cooper Square Hotel. I'd post the photo here, except that this is a decent family-owned and operated site that wouldn't stoop to gratuitous butt shots to drive up our page views.

Per-man, per-hour moving war takes strange, hunky twist.

My fascination continues. Spotted on Fourth Avenue:



Meanwhile, thanks to the anonymous commenter Friday for some inside information:

Anonymous said...
Back in the 80s and early 90s I was part of an moving/trucking/van outfit based in the EV. We charged $25-$35/hr for 1 guy and a van, $55-$65 for 2 guys and a van/truck. All other expenses such as flights of stairs, boxes, reasonable mileage around town, tape, blankets etc. were included in the price. We also did a huge number of band jobs--$50/round trip to and from your gig in the city.

We were always busy and had a great crew of people and a really good rep. We also advertised exactly as these companies still do-those flyers bring back memories *sniff*.

Back then we heard plenty of horror stories from people who had made use of these $16/hr outfits because first of all, there were extra charges for EVERYTHING. Even as 1 guy with a van, you make NO MONEY charging $16/hr in this town. That isn't even going to cover insurance for the van and all of the expenses incurred, like parking/moving tickets, supplies, gas, phone, advertising, and the aggravation factor.

[Examples of the aggravation factor--showing up to move someone and finding out they live on the top floor of a 6th floor walk-up and have packed all of their belongings, including their 3 full sets of encyclopedias, into Hefty bags. Or that the person you are trying to squeeze in between 2 other jobs lied about how much crap they have and there is no way you will make it to your next job remotely on time.]

I have a million stories of stuff you can't even imagine from those years.

If you consider that the people who come to move you will be handling all of your personal stuff, it's not always a good idea to go for the cheapest deal. And moving is usually a stressful adventure so unless you count a futon, a hotplate and an autographed poster of Zeppo Marx as your only belongings, set some dough aside and don't forget to tip if they do a good job. Over the course of my time in the biz, we moved some people repeatedly and a great way to develop a relationship is to show that safe transport of you and your most important belongings to a new location is worth more than a couple bucks.

Brazen entry in the per-man, per-hour moving wars

This past summer, I -- exclusively -- was on the front lines covering the ugliest battle this neighborhood has seen since the 10 (or so) FroYo places opened within 50 yards of each other. Yes, of course I'm talking about the per-man, per-hour moving wars.

Just to freshen your memory:







And now! A new player has entered the market, brazenly slapping up these fliers along First Avenue:



Whoa. $22 an hour!? What, does Lindsay Lohan show up or something? These guys been working in, say, Dubai or someplace where they're not in a repression (recession-depression, you know)? Given that gas prices have plummeted and money is tight all around, you'd think people would be charging less, not more. Why wouldn't someone just go to the guy charging $16 an hour? What am I missing?