A Google ad now covers the iconic Yaffa Cafe mural on St. Mark's Place

Several readers have pointed out that this Google App ad is now up outside Yaffa Cafe, the 31-year-old restaurant at 97 St. Mark's Place...


[Photo via John A. Cecil]

A film crew was here last Friday ... and they put up and removed the banner in about 20 minutes...


[Photo from Friday by Allen Semanco]

We reached out to the folks at Yaffa to find out more about this. Unfortunately, the restaurant is currently (and temporarily) closed. The DOH closed them last Friday after failing an inspection. And Yaffa's phone is currently not in service.

Anyway, at this point, we're unsure if the ad is temporary or permanent.

Updated 5:13 p.m.

It looks pretty permanent. The ad is framed and screwed into the building, so to speak…

Updated 9/12

A little history of the mural, which went up in 1993. It is a self-portrait of Lika Ramati, (former?) co-owner with her husband, Amir, of Simone and Yaffa Cafe.

Updated 10:28 a.m.

Yaffa says the mural will be return...

Hi everyone. Yes, we are officially closed but don't worry, we will be back! And so will our mural. We are starting renovations. #3Months

— Yaffa Cafe (@YaffaCafe) September 11, 2014

Birds of a feather on St. Mark's Place

EVG reader Shaun Stewart shared this photo of a new mural that went up on the south side of St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Anyone know who the artist is? The mural went up on Monday.

And find more of Shaun's photos on his Tumblr, NYC City Graffiti Fishing.

Updated 4:38 p.m.

Thanks to Bucky Turco at Animal NY for letting us know that the artist is DALeast.

37 St. Mark's Place is cleaner, still for rent

[Photo via EVG reader Patrick Reynolds]

We recently noticed workers cleaning up the empty retail spaces at 37 St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue. Workers even removed the "for lease" signs.

Perhaps there was a new retail tenant for the storefronts that previously housed a 7-Eleven, among other businesses.

Apparently a false alarm. The signs returned on Friday. The now spiffed-up space is still for lease.



The clean look didn't last long. Overnight Friday, someone left a tribute to LES Jewels outside the former 7-Eleven…



Meanwhile, work continues on the corner space… soon to be home to DF Mavens, a dairy-free ice cream shop…



Previously on EV Grieve:

[Updated] Reader report: The 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place has closed (48 comments)

A few more details about renting the former 7-Eleven space on St. Mark's Place

Meanwhile, outside Bull McCabe's ...

Filming for the HBO television program "Girls" is underway on St. Mark's Place...

Photo by Riley McCormick

The Bao is the latest St. Mark's Place restaurant entry

Signage arrived Friday for the new restaurant coming to 13 St. Mark's Place (above Spot Dessert Bar) … The Bao, which, as you can see, will be serving xiao long bao (soup dumplings) in the space that previously housed Pan.

No word just yet who the owners are … or when the place will open.

Well, while we're on this block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue … here's a recap of other new bar/restaurant entries …

Barcade is opening one of their bar-retro video game venues at 6 St. Mark's Place.



Something called Crab Shack is in the works for 30 St. Mark's Place, the former home of Japadog.



Also! A reader told us that the 2 Bros. outpost at 36 St. Mark's Place — the one with the glitzy $1.50 SUPREME slice — is no longer part of the 2 Bros. empire…


[EVG file photo from May]

All the 2 Bros. branding has been removed … and there's just a generic PIZZA sign now… still selling $1.50 slices though.

'Crane operation' to close off part of St. Mark's Place this weekend

As the signs show, St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue will be closed off for part of the weekend … "due to a crane operation at 119 St. Mark's Place."



I didn't even know that 119 St. Mark's place was a crane hospital! (Boooooooo.)

Updated 2:06 p.m.


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Anyone happen to know what the workers are dropping off on the roof?

Funky Town now has the brightest awning on St. Mark's Place

The new signage went up this afternoon...

Please do not loiter in front of the former 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place

[EVG file photo from March 2013]

When the 7-Eleven was still open on St. Mark's Place, it was an attractive spot for camping out.

Now that it is closed, the vacant storefront at the corner of Second Avenue remains an attractive spot for camping out.

Which might be why there are now some homemade "no loitering" signs taped along the empty property...





The space remains for rent.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Reader report: The 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place has closed (48 comments)

Meanwhile on St. Mark's Place in 1968….

[Click on image to enlarge]

Here's a photo that EVG reader George Cohen took in 1968 "of the hippie scene on St. Mark's Place between Third and Second Avenues, looking east."

How did these people survive without $1 pizza along that corridor?

Fight Night on St. Mark's Place

Someone posted this to YouTube today … it's a brawl of sorts on St. Marks's Place near Second Avenue … the YouTube description: "Held It Down: Man From NYC Is Outnumbered In A Fight But Comes Back & Stands His Ground!"

The video is not too recent. The 7-Eleven is still open across the way … and the sidewalk shed remains outside No. 32 and 34 …

So it you want to watch some testosterone in action …

Now, for real, final pieces of 6-year-old sidewalk bridge come down on St. Mark's Place

[April 23]

Oh boy were we faked out back on April 23 … when, after six-plus years, workers began taking down the sidewalk bridge outside 32 and 34 St. Mark's Place.

But! A chunk of the bridge/scaffolding remained up outside No. 34.

Until Wednesday night, when crews returned …



And it was a job that stretched into yesterday morning…



And by late afternoon! Sidewalk! Oh sidewalk!



And Khyber Pass!



Oh sidewalk!



According to the DOB, the city issued the permit for the sidewalk bridge in February 2008. As far as anyone can recall, no work had ever been done on the buildings at 32 or 34 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue during this time.

Previously on EV Grieve:
St. Mark's sidewalk shed celebrates fourth anniversary

Happy 5th Birthday to the sidewalk shed of St. Mark's Place!

Miracle on St. Mark's! Sidewalk bridge comes down 6-plus years later!

Please mind the new tree on St. Mark's Place

[Photo from May 2013 by EVG reader Ann]

Just about one year ago, plenty of people were pissed after the city chopped down a seemingly healthy ornamental Callery pear tree on St Mark's Place … on the south side of the street near No. 12.

A resident let his/her feelings known — arborcide!


[Photo by Chloe Sweeney McGlade via Facebook]

In November, someone used discarded cooktops, and many other items, to decorate the tree well…


[EVG photo from November 2013]

On Monday, the city planted a new tree in the spot, as part of the MillionTreesNYC program…



And by yesterday, there was a friendly reminder on the tree…



Previously on EV Grieve:
'Arborcide' — People are pissed that this tree was chopped down on St. Mark's Place

[Updated] Behold the cooktop sidewalk garden on St. Mark's Place

Kung Fu Tea announces itself on St. Mark's Place

The Kung Fu Tea location at 241 E. 10th St. at First Avenue closed for business at the end of February. And as we first noted on March 3, Kung Fu Tea was moving over to 32 St. Mark's Place … formerly the home of 8 Crown Trade, the family run T-shirt and souvenir shop at No. 28 that was ousted by a rent hike last June…

As you can see in the photos, workers installed the new Kung Fu signage yesterday. No word on an opening date.


[Photo via @NFLtipster]

And here are your bubble tea choices within a very short distance… TKettle is directly next door while CoCo Fresh Juice & Tea is directly across the street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Kung Fu Tea closes on East 10th St.; move to St. Mark's Place apparently in the works

On St. Mark's Place, 400 years of 'There goes the neighborhood'

[South side of St. Mark's Place between 3rd Ave and 2nd Ave circa 1975]

Tomorrow afternoon (March 6), author-journalist Ada Calhoun will discuss her forthcoming book about the street she was born and raised on (uh, St. Mark's Place) at the New York Public Library.

Per the announcement:

Those who appreciate the street for its essential role in the beatnik, hippie, punk, hardcore, and hip-hop scenes of the past sixty years insist that St. Marks Place — now home to some of the priciest rental apartments in the city — is dead. But Calhoun notes that people have been saying that about this particular piece of land at least since the seventeenth century. She will argue that the street is only as dead as it ever was.

The talk is from 1:15 - 2:30 p.m. Find the building info here.

Her book for W.W. Norton & Company is titled "St. Marks Is Dead."

We spoke with Calhoun about the in-progress book last March. Seems like a good time to revisit part of that interview.

Any common themes emerging so far?

"The thing that I kept running into [were] people saying that there was this golden moment on the street when St Mark's was really itself and reached its full promise on this date and for these five years there was no better place in the entire world. It was the heart of culture — the center for music, art and poetry," she said. "People would describe passionately how it was so vibrant and they were so alive, then it died this horrible death."

For instance, Jack Kerouac biographer Joyce Johnson said that St. Mark's was all over in 1974 when someone flipped a cigarette into her son's stroller.

Another person Calhoun interviewed said that the scene died in 1974. Someone else said that all started in 1974. She also heard that the block reached its peak in 1978. Not to mention 1980. And so on.

"I'm really curious what's going on now. Basically my theory right now, based on doing this book, is that everyone was wrong. Everyone who thought it was dead was wrong," she said. "So people who think it's dead now are probably wrong too. My theory is that people coming out of karaoke bars or yogurt shops ... this is going to be some new wave of culture that we don't know about and won't even know about until it's over."

Previously on EV Grieve:
St. Mark's Place is dead! Long live St. Mark's Place!

Weekend recap: Japadog has closed

As we first reported Friday, Japadog has closed on St. Mark's Place.

The Japanese-inspired hot dog restaurant by way of Vancouver opened the first U.S. outlet at 30 St. Mark's Place to great fanfare in January 2012.

And we were completely wrong about this place… predicting long lines and the end of humanity, pretty much. (We weren't alone in this feeling!) But the place never quite seemed to catch on. (Remember when they tried a breakfast service for a day or two?)

What do you think? Too much food competition on St. Mark's Place with $1 pizza, sliders, ramen, Chipotle, etc., etc.? Not to mention an already established hot-dog specialist down St. Mark's in Crif Dogs. The arrival of Papaya King back in May could not have helped…



We haven't heard an official reason for the closure. An employee told Eater yesterday that Japadog closed due to "problems with management." There hasn't been a mention of the closure on Japadog's various social media platforms.

As for what's next here… the space is fully vented for a restaurant… we spotted the listing on Craigslist back on Thursday … still, you have to figure ramen, $1 pizza, bubble tea, FroYo or vaping products as possible candidates here…

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cue the long lines: Japadog opening first New York City location on St. Mark's Place

Breaking: Japadog is closing for good after tonight on St. Mark's Place

Japadog construction starts; plus, the end of an era for 'the doorshitter'?

Kung Fu Tea closes on East 10th St.; move to St. Mark's Place apparently in the works

The Kung Fu Tea location at 241 E. 10th St. at First Avenue closed for business after Friday… there is a note on the door…



While there isn't any mention of this on the sign or elsewhere … word from St. Mark's Place neighbor Jordy Trachtenberg is that Kung Fu Tea will move over to 32 St. Mark's Place … formerly the home of 8 Crown Trade, the family run T-shirt and souvenir shop at No. 28 that was ousted by a rent hike last June…



After this move occurs, you will have plenty of bubble tea choices right here… TKettle is directly next door while CoCo Fresh Juice & Tea is directly across the street.

Noted

Someone taped a handful of the above flyers to various trees and light poles along St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and First Avenue … we blocked out the photos of the woman accused of being a home wrecker …

In any event, someone has ripped down the flyers, which look homemade legit and not some kind of wacky marketing campaign…

The snow is too damn high

St. Mark's Place this morning. [Via @evgrieve]

From FroYo to piercings on St. Mark's Place

[High FroYo Season]

Over on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, the Yogurt Station covered up their windows with trash bags for months at a time … giving us the impression that they had closed for business. But they always came back for the FroYo Season.

We thought the same thing when they closed earlier in the fall. Then the sign came down… and we waited and waited to see what would take the Station's place...



… the sign for the new business arrived last Friday. (Or maybe Thursday.)

Act like you've smoked pot before; act like you will smoke pot again some day

Catching up with New York magazine this week… from the Neighborhood News section.