Horse sense

I like this shot from a newsstand on Third Avenue in the 20s for two reasons...any store that sells so many horse racing publications is good with me...and anyplace still using a collectible New York Sun paper holder....

Hudson's sign fading away on East 13th Street

Seems as if the on-again, off-again construction at 103 E. Third Ave. at 13th Street has been going on forever. I forgot now what's even going on up there. There was talk of a hotel some years back.



In any event, the new paint job on the 13th Street side is getting awfully close to the faded ad of one of the site's former occupants, Hudson's Army-Navy Store.



What are the chances the developer has an appreciation of history, and will let the old Hudson's ad stay as it has been for years...?



You can just make out a smidgen of a Hudson's street sign on the bottom left in this undated photo of the Third Avenue El by David Pirmann from nycsubway.org. (Pirmann took the shot looking south from the 14th Street station.)



The nycsubway site includes an article on the launch of the Third Avenue El from Aug. 27, 1878. A reporter asked business owners along Third Avenue about the new noise casued by the elevated train. This included the proprietors of 103 E. Third Ave.:

At Lamke Brothers', grocers, No. 103 Third avenue: "Naw, we are used to noises on this avenue."

Meanwhile, take a ride on the Third Avenue El via YouTube. You may have seen this before, but...:

'Tis the season for keeping ConEd in business: The holiday lights are up at Rolf's

One of my favorite NYC holiday traditions. The over-the-top holiday lights -- some 70,000 light bulbs in total -- and Victorian-era tchochkes went up at Rolf's last week. For the last month, a few members of the staff at the French-Bavarian eatery at 231 Third Ave. at 22nd Street have been putting up the decorations after hours...they'll be on display until the middle of January. The restaurant opened in 1958, and the lights apparently started going up a few years after that...(at times, it still feels like 1958 in here...). Anyway! The lights!









It gets horribly crowded at Rolf's during the holidays, of course...Just grab a seat at the bar (if you can during off-peak hours)...the food is too heavy for my tastes (hmmm, suckling pig), unless I'm trying to spike the LDL level in my bloodstream. In any event, if Rolf's is mobbed, Paddy Macguire's down the street -- between 19th and 20th -- is a decent alternative for drinks during the holidays. They have some lights as well -- and a much smaller carbon footprint.

Things that I missed: The bank branch switcheroo!

Well, when did this happen? The last week or two? I had read about the TD Bank-Commerce merger last year...Anyway, that sparkly old Commerce Bank on Third Avenue and 10th Street is now a TD Bank.

But will the FD be as nice as the old Commerce? As Forbes noted:

[W]ill it be good for Commerce customers, who have grown used to a decidedly "non-bank" attitude? Time will tell. TD Bank will have to navigate that slippery slope carefully so as not to damage what they just bought. Commerce is prized for its ability to generate deposits (28% growth annually) and simultaneously spend on perks that many other banks have long ago abolished in the interest of cost savings.
Those perks include things like weekend and late night hours, lollipops and free pens, free coin sorting machines for everyone (even non-customers), and wide open branch lobbies that look more like auto showrooms than bank branches.

Well, they are still dog friendly at least.

And they hired the Reg and what's-her-name as spokespeople!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Any more friendly and I would have thought that I was at the DMV

27 years, 1 dumpster

Rooftop tumor continues to grow on Third Avenue

Near 13th Street.

Noted

Third Avenue near 11th Street.

Wait, are we walking or stopping here?

On Third Avenue.

For rent and coming soon on Third Avenue

Now that's a new "store for rent" sign up at the former Grace & Hope Mission at 114-116 Third Ave. So does this mean the Mitchell Banchik (Jake's Dilemma, Down The Hatch, etc.) frat bar is off for this space?



Meanwhile, the old Tina Chinese restaurant next door gets a new sign...(And the Robin Raj corner is still on the block.)




And across the street between 13th and 12th...What was this place before? Some Japanese hipster boutique? I can't really remember. Anyway, it's now going to be a Japanese anitiques store.