The remains of a charred Acura on Houston

10/12 update: The city has removed the car!

--

Here are the remains of an Acura that crashed into a pole early Sunday (4:50 a.m.) at Houston and Allen. After the collision, the car caught fire. We're told no one was injured. (Thanks to everyone pointing out that this is/was an Acura.)

The car is now parked on the north side of Houston just below Houston (facing the wrong direction) ... where the shell has attracted some tagging attention...

Two people have been killed by motorists along this corridor in the early morning hours this year... Raife Milligan, 21, and Andy Gil, 21.

Vehicle catches fire after striking pole at Houston and Allen

Police are investigating an early morning crash on Houston at Allen after a vehicle reportedly struck a pole and caught fire...

There's not much information at the moment. The Citizen app put the crash at 4:55 a.m. No word on injuries. 

As of 9 a.m., the NYPD had the westbound lanes of Houston closed from Ludlow-First Street across to Allen. 

And user video from the Citizen app...

Vehicle Ablaze After Striking Pole @CitizenApp

E Houston St & Allen St 4:55:24 AM EDT

What do you do if your Aston Martin Vantage Volanté breaks down on Houston and The Bowery?

Billy Leroy, the proprietor of Billy's Antiques, passes along this anecdote from last night ... at the crossroad of the world — Bowery and Houston.

So this fellow has a $100,000 Aston Martin DBS 1984 Aston Martin Vantage Volanté that breaks down. As Billy notes, instead of calling a tow truck, the man decides to have a buddy tow him with a few feet of twine ...

As you might expect, it snapped.

So Billy was nice enough to lend the man a chain from his tool room at Billy's Antiques.

Billy notes that the man was kind enough to return the chain.

And the Ghosts of the old Bowery strike again.

Rag and Bone is tired of bad graffiti

Rag and Bone, which took over the former Cafe Colonial on Houston and Elizabeth, is now looking for a design for its outside wall on the southeast corner...





BoweryBoogie noted the wall had been tagged with the ever-present "You would" back in August...

The wall looked like this back in May when the Colonial said goodbye...



Personally, I like the spontaneity of street art ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cafe Colonial owner says Pulino's opening helped triple her rent

Future of 276 Elizabeth apparently doesn't include the Cafe Colonial

A bit of East Houston Street's history disappears

Back in December, I was pleased to see a faded sign on the side of the Mercury Lounge get exposed...




However, given the Mercury's recent paint job, the Shastone Monuments ad was likely a goner... Indeed, it has been wiped away...




The Mercury Lounge opened in 1993. Prior to that, Shastone Monuments -- part of Houston's once-thriving gravestone industry -- called this space home for nearly 60 years. You can read more about Shastone here at Mr. Beller's Neighborhood.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Some faded ad glory reappears above the Mercury Lounge

Shepard Fairey's mural tagged and cleaned and tagged again ... again

I can't even keep track of this anymore... the tags are cleaned off, only to return bigger and better...

Read the previous Shep coverage here.

Mr. Brainwash gives Shepard Fairey some love

But first... As I pointed out on Saturday, Shepard Fairey's Bowery-Houston mural got hit pretty hard ...



Now, it looks as if someone is making some progress cleaning off the mural...




...while Banksy Mr. Brainwash checks in next door....




Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic bombing on the Shepard Fairey mural

How was your weekend Shepard Fairey mural?

Just a recap...

Before!


Saturday morning!


Plus!
Paul Richard puts up a larger sign on Shepard Fairey's mural

Is the Shepard Fairey mural snatching babies now?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic bombing on the Shepard Fairey mural

Paul Richard puts up a larger sign on Shepard Fairey's mural

On Monday, we posted a video of Paul Richard hanging a sign on Shepard Fairey's Bowery/Houston mural... the sign was quickly removed...

And this past week Paul Richard put up another, larger sign, as you'll see here...



That, too, has been removed...

Historic bombing on the Shepard Fairey mural

Epic.







Jeremiah has the history of the wall here ... he also posted the first reports of the mural being defaced back in April...

Shepard Fairey's mural NAWed on

The Graffiti Friend of EV Grieve (GFOEVG) sent along this link from Animal New York... graffiti writer NAW tried to add a little something to the new mural at Houston and the Bowery... which didn't go over well with the security guard on duty...


[Photo: ANIMALNewYork]

Per GFOEVG: "I suspect this piece gets dissed and fixed many times."

A few people may know that Shepard Fairey is now working on Houston and the Bowery

On the Deitch Wall a little while ago...






For further reading:
Houston Wall (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
Graffiti Wall Primed for Shepard Fairey (BoweryBoogie)

The Os Gêmeos mural on Bowery and Houston is gone

This street mural by Brazilian street artists and identical twins Os Gêmeos went up at the Bowery and Houston last summer...



And, sometime during the weekend, it was removed...





Jeremiah has more on the history of this corner and what might be coming here next...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Last day for the Os Gêmeos mural on Bowery and Houston?

Last day for the Os Gêmeos mural on Bowery and Houston?

This street mural by Brazilian street artists and identical twins Os Gêmeos went up at the Bowery and Houston last summer... Today is apparently the last day for the mural ... (The Deitch Projects Web site confirms this.) L Magazine (via BoweryBoogie) reported that Shepard Fairey will be the next (and last?) artist to paint the billboard space at this intersection.

Bowery and Houston, 10:48 a.m., Jan. 16

A photo shoot. Should I know who these guys are? A woman with a British accent was taking their photo. She kept saying. "Amazing."

Rumors: The Blockbuster on Houston is closing

I'm not a fan of Blockbuster, but I was told by a reliable source that the store on Houston in the Red Square complex is closing...However, I spoke with a manager there who said that this was not true. (He didn't sound all that convincing, but ...)

Regardless, if this rumor was true, then it wouldn't really be a shocker. No secret that the DVD rental business is hurting. (Blockbuster shut their location on 15th Street and Third Avenue.) Plus, you can rent DVDs for a $1 at Blockbuster kiosks at Duane Reade on 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue as well as the Kmart on Astor Place...



Still, where do you do something old-fashioned like rent DVDs these days in the East Village? Two Boots has a greatly reduced video selection... Mondo Kim's is gone... Cinema Classics is gone...And there was a DVD/video store on 10th Street between Avenue C and D -- is that still open? And Intervideo Electronics on First Avenue next to McDonald's rents movies...What places am I forgetting about? Many people I know do NetFlix or check them out from the Tompkins Square library branch.

How soon before there won't be any place left to buy books or music (chain holes like Barnes & Noble, Best Buy aside...)...let alone rent DVDs...?