Showing posts with label mysteries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mysteries. Show all posts

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Mystery on St. Mark's: the new 98 Favor Taste signage is — gone


[Photo by Steven from Tuesday]

On Feb. 3, workers put up colorful signage for 98 Favor Taste, the incoming restaurant that will serve traditional Korean-style barbecue and Chinese hot pot meals on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue.

And one week later, the signage has been wiped away... this happened sometime yesterday...



To be continued...

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Mysterious blue picket fence on St. Mark's Place can now be yours (see Jeff)



A section of blue picket fence mysteriously arrived Tuesday evening on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place... outside the former Chase branch.

A reader heard a man at the scene say that he was going to erect a fence there to keep the travelers/crusties from sleeping out front. (Seems as if the fence would only encourage people to camp there....)

Anyway! There were reports that the fence moved to Second Avenue and Seventh Street. Then back to St Mark's Place. And more sections arrived.

Anyway! (Again.) The whole thing can be yours now... it is for sale...



Just look for Jeff between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Who's Jeff? He looks like this...

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Mystery ball mysteriously arrives in Washington Square Park

That ball that was spotted outside Webster Hall on Thursday...


[Photo by Nora Gala]

...was seen in Washington Square Park yesterday, as our blogging friend Roger_Paw pointed out...



Perhaps it rolled there?

Friday, January 29, 2016

Monday, December 7, 2015

What's going behind 43 St. Mark's Place?



EVG reader Danny writes in...

Something strange is going on in the backyard of 43 St Mark's Place. The concrete patio has been been removed, and dozens of orange five-gallon buckets full of dirt are stacked in its place.

Does anyone know what's going on here? Is it a police investigation of a decades-old crime scene? Have archaeologists found the location of Peter Stuyvesant's outhouse? Or maybe the owners just decided that they have more dirt back there than they need, and they're getting rid of some. There's probably no room for a wheelbarrow to maneuver through the building, so buckets are the only way out.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

The mystery of the missing section of Tompkins Square Park fencing... SOLVED (probably)


[Photo Monday by Bobby Williams]

In an important post from Monday, we noted that someone removed part of the fence along East Seventh Street near Avenue A at Tompkins Square Park. Given that there wasn't anyone around to ask what was going on, we could only assume that the Samuel S. Cox statue was being moved to the top of 100 Avenue A as a way to compete with Red Square.

Well, as a reader noted in the comments, the fence removal was more likely done to aid the removal of the tree stump near the statue...



... and this morning, workers removed said stump.


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Case closed! (Though can anyone confirm if the Cox statue is actually still there?)

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Reader mailbag: What's with the burning wood smell?

From the EVG inbox...

Has anyone written to you to say there has been a burning wood smell in the East Village since this morning? I opened the windows in the back of my apartment late this morning, and I got a big whiff of the smell. I have been out for a few hours and just got home, and now my whole apartment smells like burning wood! But I don't hear or see anything in the back of the building.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Avenue A's high-wire act



Several readers have asked in recent weeks what the story is with the wire/line that, in the right light, is very visible above Avenue A between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street (and maybe elsewhere?)… it has been up there for months now… running from the light pole on the northwest corner of Sixth Street to the southeast corner of Seventh Street… and then across to the northwest corner of Seventh Street…



Another view…



… and because of contractual obligations…



… and it also stretches from the northwest corner of Sixth Street to the southeast corner… (and it looks like some wire up at Fifth and A too...)


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Perhaps a clue on Avenue A and East Fourth Street…



Facts and theories welcome…

Updated 9:08 a.m.

That was fast! Many people had the answer... see the comments for the explanation...

Friday, July 17, 2015

A change at 84 2nd Ave.


[Photo by Jill from 2009]

There has been some activity this week at 84 Second Ave. near East Fifth St. … a building that has intrigued many of us for years

First, before any history … on Monday, workers started replacing the long-empty storefront's front windows…


[Photo by Paul Kostabi]


[PK]

The first thought among 84 watchers: The storefront is being put to use again as a… storefront… there's nothing on file with the DOB to offer any hints… for now the work has stopped…


[Photo Wednesday by Derek Berg]

As for history.

In February 2009, a man who said that he lived and worked nearby for years told Jill the following about the building:

It used to be a place that sold tuxedos and formal wear. The family had several children, but one of them, a daughter, was raped and murdered in the top floor, possibly in the 1940's [note: it was actually 1974].

The killer was never found. The children (or one of them and a spouse?) still live there and refuse to renovate or change anything. The top floor is exactly the way it was when the daughter was murdered and you can still see the powder where the cops dusted for fingerprints. This man had been inside once and was witness to its originality. He said they have no intention of selling or changing or even of renting out the storefront.

The name of the family is Sopolsky.

This is from The New York Times, dated Jan. 18, 1974:

The nude body of a 40-year-old woman propietor of a tailor shop that rents tuxedos on the Lower East Side was found bludgeoned to death. The victim was Helen Sopolsky of 84 Second Avenue, near fifth Street, whose shop is one flight up at that address. The motive of the attack was not determined immediately...."

Here's more history of 84 via Lost City from February 2012:

It was a temporary home for women in 1884, open to "self-supporting homeless young women, with or without a child." Morris Kosturk, 40, was found dead there in 1921. And Aaron Schneider, who lived here in 1964, was the victim of a hit and run driver.

For years (decades?), you could see a plastic-covered dinner jacket in the second-story window with the neon sign that reads "DRESS SUITS TO HIRE."


[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

More recently there was an ad for Jamie's now-closed check-cashing shop around the corner … as well as for a walker for $60.

Here's Jeremiah Moss writing about the building in July 2011:

We're all a little nervous about #84. There are those of us who watch it and wait, anxiously, for the day when it will be sold, when a multi-millionaire will turn it into a grand mansion, or the ground floor will be converted into a trendy farm-to-table restaurant, and all the mystery will be sucked away.

Friday, December 5, 2014

What was that?



We went to bed early… and woke up to a whole lot of emails/tweets about an explosion/boom last night after 11 that most everyone from Avenue D to Third Avenue seemed to hear… at this point, we haven't heard any plausible explanations.

And we have power. And not the first time there have been unexplained booms/explosions/jet landings.

Updated 10:04 a.m.

An EVG Facebook friend points us to this Newsweek article ... which notes: "Protesters on Twitter claimed police deployed LRAD 'sound cannons' to control crowds" during last night's Eric Garner rallies.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Solving the woman with the jellyfish mystery that wasn't really all that mysterious after all



Several people have been asking what that mural/ad/banner thing is at the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 10th Street.

Turns out the answer is right up Fourth Avenue … It's a public art installation that coincides with an exhibit from model-photographer Amber Arbucci in the former Dryden Gallery Space at 129 Fourth Ave. near East 13th Street…



There are nude self-portraits … showing Arbucci swimming with five million jellyfish …



Here's an interview with Arbucci about what this is all about …

The exhibit opened yesterday … not sure how long it will be here…

Sunday, April 20, 2014

[Updated] Today in maybe-strange things hovering in the sky



EVG Roving Photographer Bobby Williams happened to have his camera pointed down Tribeca way… when THIS appeared…



Non-plausible theories welcome.

Updated 2:37 p.m.

Thanks to the several readers who sent along this alert from the NYPD…

A private architecture firm will conduct height surveys of buildings in Manhattan today, Sunday, April 20th, and tomorrow, Monday, April 21st. The architectural height surveys will consist of a large balloon aloft approximately 800 feet today from 11 a.m. until 8:15 p.m. in the vicinity of Chrystie and Stanton Streets, and tomorrow from 7 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of East 58th Street and Sutton Place.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Reader mailbag: What was that rooftop concert about last night on East 13th Street?

We've heard now from a few readers who want to know:

Any intel on what that concert was last night around 11:30? I'm on 13th between A and B and it sounded like it was coming from everywhere. Louder than anything I typically hear from Tompkins Square.

Another resident said that it was a band playing atop a building on East 13th Street.

"Heard blaring music start at like 1130ish and on for easily 20-30 mins. I heard several other people from other buildings yelling shit at them but the band played on...

Not that it was all bad.

"Good music but I was super surprised the cops didn't show up...or if they did it took em a while."

Anyone know what this was all about?

Friday, October 4, 2013

Today in mutant plants of the East Village



EVG reader Zenon Marko shares these photos... with some background. And questions!

This mutant tree plant grew at astounding speed from a minuscule sprout to its current 3-meter height in the back common yard of our East Village residence. What is this exotic species? A Brazilian transplant? A prop bred for the rain forest scene in the film remake of "The Illustrated Man"? An experimental hybrid grown for the sequel of "Avatar" or a new "Doctor Who" episode? A Triffid? Consider this: the plant is growing from a hole in the concrete wall, with no apparent soil or water for nutrients.





Anyone?

Friday, September 27, 2013

Headless giraffe makes another baffling appearance around 5th and B


As we understand it, there have been numerous recent sightings of this headless stuffed giraffe around the vicinity of East Fifth Street and Avenue B... the creature, who desperately needs a nickname, a branding campaign and more social media exposure (for starters, at the least), was spotted last night outside Bloom 62, Ben Shaoul's nursing home-turned upscale rental.

The headless stuffed giraffe likely represents the duality of man, though, as of our press time, that hadn't been confirmed.

[Thanks to @melissa_dilger for the photo]

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

This open, airy, East Village studio seeks $2,600 a month



Unit has bright floor-to-ceiling fencing throughout. The hard floors and stainless steel finishes complete this great unit. Have a summer move-in with spring pricing! Call the leasing office today. Close to restaurants, shopping, subway. Students OK.

Sooooo. Thanks to EVG reader juan TRED for the description and photo... this thing arrived on East 14th Street near First Avenue last Friday. Probably some kind of construction storage thingy. Or is it? Anyone?

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

What the hell was that?



We waited to post these photos until we spoke with NASA, NORAD, the U.S. Military and the World Weekly News.

Bobby Williams took these photos from his East Village apartment last night. Here is his description via email: "This flew by about 9:38 pm. Heading north then turning east."

Aside from anything related to the Hoboken Hoof or Amanda Bynes (just getting those guesses out of the way!), any ideas what this is/was?

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Please explain



Spotted this morning on East 10th Street near Fourth Avenue.



Saturday, December 1, 2012

What's with all the cabs parked on Avenue A?

That's what a reader asked yesterday after seeing cabs lined up on Avenue A the past few days... EVG regular Creature noted this too with the following three photos...




[From Thursday via Bobby Williams]

I didn't see all this myself... and really have no idea. Anyone know?

Updated: Thanks. Answer in the comments.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

That laser in the Jersey sky


EVG reader Brian Teasley sends this photo along... taken tonight around 9:15 on Broadway and Eighth Street looking west... is that a laser?

"It originates from the top of a building across from (approximately) the Chelsea Piers and the light is static in the sky. The beam is pointed south and diminishes in that direction. In the photo is appears blue-ish, but it looks like it is a very high-powered green laser. It has been on for at least 30 minutes or so ... and has not been observed on any other night."

Anyone have an idea what this is...?

Updated:

Oh, a reader just said that it's a tribute to victims of Hurricane Sandy... read more here.