Noted

EV reader Grant shared the above screengrab from Google Maps... showing that the description for Asian Taste on Avenue B and Third Street shows up as "My hot china wok balls, dipped in chilli oil, placed ..." when you type "24 hour food" into the Goggle Map search. Apparently it has showed up since at least this past weekend.

A variation of that description came up on our own search today...



From here, you could then find the full geo-tag description, which ends with the placement of those said "hot china wok balls."

Typing in Asian Taste Avenue B (or a variation of that) leads you to the usual listing on Google Maps.



Not sure why someone targeted the quick-serve restaurant with the sophomoric hack. This 2014 piece in Wired outlined how Google Map hackers have targeted small businesses in the past.

Tompkins Square Park status reinstated on Google Maps

[Back in August]

Back in August, EVG reader Mike W. noticed that Tompkins Square Park didn't show up on Google Maps for whatever reasons.

Despite not appearing on the map, it was still actually there, as we exclusively can reveal.

Anyway! Mike W. just let us know that the Park is back on Google Maps...



And a closer look...

Tompkins Square no longer a park according to Google Maps

EVG reader Mike W. noticed this ... Tompkins Square Park doesn't exist on Google Maps for whatever reasons. (A quick check shows that Washington Square Park is still on the Map...)

Anyway, maybe the mayor's office sold the land to a developer and didn't tell anyone...

Get your new city maps!

The New York City Department of City Planning has released a revised neighborhood map updated with new neighborhoods, statistics and topographical features, according to a sentence that I just lifted straight from The Wall Street Journal today.

Head over to the Department of City Planning website to download a map for free.

Also, please note the disclaimer on the bottom of the map page:

"Neighborhood names are not officially designated. Due to space constraints, this map product does not include an exhaustive list of known neighborhood names."

Which explains why the map doesn't include such locales here as Astor Place, WeAs (West of Astor), LeLa (left of Lafayette Street), SoFaBo (South of Facebook) and Stuyversy (The merger beween Stuytown and Gramercy Park).

Thanks to Giovanni for some of those fine names.

Despite what Google Maps shows, the Sunburnt Cow is still open

Although the Sunburnt Cow may be for sale, the Endless Brunch hotspot on Avenue C and East Ninth Street remains open... Per the Cow's Facebook page yesterday:

Google Maps is WRONG!! We have not closed or re-located. We have reduced our hours to Friday - Sunday. Hope to see you all back next weekend!

The Bowery 2008: waiting for Bond and Obama

I was looking for something about the Bowery on Google Street View the other day when something somewhat entertaining happens around East Fourth Street... the image date changes when you head north past East Fourth Street ... and you're in October 2008...

[Click to enlarge image]

... where, as you can see, we were waiting for the new James Bond movie ... the 2008 election (can Obama do it?) and the monstrosity of 2 Cooper Square... Things don't seem too different today... we're waiting for the new James Bond movie ... the 2012 election (can Obama do it?) ... and perhaps a new 9-story hotel on East Fourth Street...

Things that you can do today if you're really bored

Try Google Maps with Street View ... The Googlers have been updating the streetscenes, but not totally... so you can see Seventh and A in June 2011 ...

...and cross the Avenue and it's June 2009 again...

Or!

From Avenue A, the Washington Mutual is still on the corner circa June 2009...

...but the but the view from Second Street shows it as a Chase...

Thanks (I think!) to RyanAvenueA, who apparently was bored at work, for passing along this timesucker...

The Chillmaster immortalized on Google Street View

Via Shawn Chittle. For more on the Chillmaster, please visit Marty After Dark.

C'mon, people — look sharp! The Google Street View car is still around

[@jwegener]

Bob Arihood spotted the car on Wednesday on Seventh Street at Avenue A. Now, as of this morning, the car has made it all the way over to 13th Street and Second Avenue...

Smiles, everyone, smiles! The Google Street View car is in the East Village!

Bob Arihood caught the car in action yesterday. (Neither More Nor Less)

Google Maps can't quite locate the East Village

Several readers have sent me e-mails about Google Maps...

So, go to Google Maps and type in the zip 10009.

Road trip!

(And it seems as if 10003 is more accurate.)

Anyway, last Wednesday night, I contacted Google CEO Eric Schmidt about this. I said he'd better fix this ... or they'd be a shakeup at the top!

A LOT of house on East Second Street

EV Grieve reader Tad was playing around with Google Maps the other day when he came across a darn good real-estate deal on East Second Street... Unfortunately, the Googlers must have realized their mistake... so the link is dead, but the screenshot lives on! Check it out!



As he told me: "Who knew such great houses existed right on E. 2nd St.: 3 bed/3 bath, under 500k? A hidden treasure." Heh! Not to mention a driveway! Which is actually in keeping with the East Village driveway/private garage trend.

Look, no Superdive!

The last time I looked at Google's Maps of the neighborhood, I had nearly two-year-old views of late summer 2007. Now, it seems as if Google has caught up to the spring of 2009 (based on the movies being advertised at the Loews Village — "17 Again!")

Anyway, it's really amazing how much has changed just since late last spring...for instance, do you recall a kinder, gentler time along the 200 block of Avenue A...?

Spring 2009...



And...




For further reading:
Traveling the East Village streets of late summer 2007 (and who wants to go see "Mr. Bean's Holiday"?)

Google Streets (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The NYSAT project now has an interactive map

The Wooster Collective points us to the following interactive Google map that documents all the different spots around town that were part of last month's New York Street Advertising Takeover (NYSAT) project.



Visit the Public Ad Campaign site for more.

Traveling the East Village streets of late summer 2007 (and who wants to go see "Mr. Bean's Holiday"?)

I was looking for something in the East Village on Google Maps. Never realized Google's EV street views are a little dated... How dated? Well, I took a trip over to the Loews Village VII to see what was playing...

Given the films on the marquee ("Rush Hour 3!" "Mr Bean's Holiday!") this has to be late August or early September 2007. You know, it's not really all that long ago...but if you start to take a tour of the neighborhood, you see how much has changed... Momofuku didn't rule First Avenue... the former CBGB space is still for rent...there were more record stores than froyo joints on St. Mark's Place...several glassy towers were holes in the ground or just on the way up... Here are a few highlights via screenshots of the street views...:

The Toll Brothers tower at 110 Third Ave. ...



Five Roses Pizza on First Avenue...

The Kurowycky butcher shop is still in business; the International has yet to reopen on First Avenue...



Fontana shoe repair is still open on 10th Street...



Alt Coffee open next to Doc's on Avenue A...



The spacecraft had yet to land...



Cemusa bus shelter going up on Avenue A...



Buy a CBGB T-shirt...



No bank on 10th Street and Third Avenue...



The A Building rises...



Before the darkness on 13th Street...



The Sylvia del Villard Program of the Roberto Clemente Center at 13th Street and Avenue B. Now home to this.



Eddie's Tower of Toys stood...



No John Varvatos in the CBGB space...



Love still Saves the Day at Second Avenue and Seventh Street...

Take a spin on Google Maps for yourself....you may even see someone on the street that you recognize.

Many people are trying to hook up right now...and we're watching, so to speak

What happens when you mash Google maps with Craigslist Casual Encounters? Hookupmaps show where the, uh, hookups are happening right now. (Via BuzzFeed)

So who's trying to hook up right now in the East Village...?