Saturday's opening shot

Balmy on the Bowery... and NYC's heat advisory has been extended through this evening (and likely Monday). 

Here is the city's Cool Options NYC website.

Trek cycles off the Bowery

Updated 9/27: A Trek employee said this location will remain open until the end of the year.

The Trek Bicycle shop at 303 Bowery between Houston and First Street has closed. (Thanks to the tipster for the news.) 

The brand arrived here in September 2019 ... one of several outposts around the city, including on First Avenue in Stuy Town. 

Before Trek arrived, this storefront in the retail base of Avalon Bowery Place sat empty for three-and-a-half years (the last tenant, Tatyana Boutique, left in January 2016). 

The retail space next door remains for rent too... Blue & Cream decamped for Greenwich Village at the end of 2022.

The Wren is temporarily closed for renovations on the Bowery

The Wren temporarily closed operations at the end of July for renovations here at 344 Bowery at Great Jones. 

According to the bar's Instagram account: "We’ll be closing for a couple of weeks to give The Wren a little love." (There's a similar message on The Wren website.)

The front windows are currently papered over... and there are new work permits for renovations...
 

The Wren, which opened here in late 2011, is part of the Sleeping Giant family, whose portfolio includes Bua on St. Mark's Place and Wilfie & Nell on West Fourth Street.

Retail options on the Bowery

For-rent signage is up now at 32 E. First St. at the Bowery... where Blue & Cream moved out to a new location (on Bleecker Street) at the end of 2022. (First reported here.)

The retailer arrived at  Avalon Bowery Place in 2007.

Not much info as the JLL listing, except that "restaurant use not permitted" and "logical divisions considered."

Meanwhile, across the Bowery, Olde Good Things is now gone (this happened on Jan. 24; we reported on this pending departure in early November).

This outpost of the architectural artifact dealer specializing in reclaimed building materials and antiques opened here in 2013.  

The listing for 302 Bowery between Bleecker and Houston mentions a "cannabis dispensary" as a potential tenant ...

Bad Brains on the Bowery with Shepard Fairey and Glen E. Friedman

Photos and reporting by Daniel Efram

Five-plus years after debuting the Blondie mural on Bleecker Street, Shepard Fairey, in collaboration with the Lisa Project NYC and Glen E. Friedman (below right), has completed a new mural in tribute to Bad Brains.

The mural, located directly across the street from CBGB at the Bowery and Bleecker, honors the D.C. band that broke new ground during the 1970s and 80s with its hard prototypical reggae-punk. 

Bad Brains also helped pay tribute to the club that championed its unique sounds by performing a trio of goodbye shows in 2006. Additionally, the location is special to Fairey as his first NYC solo art shows took place at the CBGB 313 Gallery, then curated by Jonathan Levine.

Friedman, the acclaimed East Village-based photographer known for his work with cultural icons, skaters and musicians, including some of Fairey's favorite artists, such as Public Enemy and Run-DMC, provided the photographs that Fairey compiled for the large-format piece.

"All of the photos in the collage were made at CBGB during the holidays in 1981 or 1982," Friedman says. "The Bad Brains annual Xmas matinees became a great thing for all us punks who didn't care or didn't have a place to be during the holidays. We'd all go and congregate there and see some of the best shows of our lives."

The mural's location was secured by the Lisa Project, a program dedicated to beautifying the community via mural art. Several members of the public had grown attached to the Blondie mural and wondered why it was being replaced. According to sources on the scene, the wall is supposed to be refreshed every three years but was delayed due to the COVID pandemic.

"After the Bad Brains left Washington, D.C., they moved to New York and were living here on the Lower East Side. They played CBGB a lot. In fact, their music came into its ultimate highest power when they were living and playing here," Fairey tells me about the project's roots in the East Village and Lower East Side community. 

"[They were] a defining band in terms of the sound of hardcore but a unique band in that they were all Black in a white genre," Fairey continues. "It's incredible to have Bad Brains get some love here because they have such a strong connection to NYC and CBGB. They recorded their first album at 171-A in Alphabet City." 

The four-person crew — (from the left) Fairey, Rob Zagula, Praxis and Osk — installed the mural on Monday and Tuesday ...

Here's a look at the elaborate work that took place this past week...

Daniel Efram is an East Village-based photographer-curator. He is the producer of "The Steve Keene Art Book."

New on the Bowery: The Bowery Poet Tree

As seen outside the Bowery Poetry Club (inside Duane Park) at 308 Bowery at First Street...

Sunday's opening shot

On the Bowery at Rivington this morning...

Surf's up for Patagonia on the Bowery

The Patagonia outpost on the Bowery has closed.

The sustainable outdoor brand closed here at 313 Bowery at the end of October. (Other NYC locations, such as on Greene Street and West 14th Street, remain open.) No reason was cited for this closure. 

Patagonia opened here in late 2012 as the brand's first East Coast Patagonia Surf Store. They were active with sustainable causes through the years, such as supporting Surfrider, a nonprofit committed to protecting NYC's waterways and coastal communities. They'd also share information from East River Park Action. 

Previously, the space was a pop-up shop for a rock-inspired clothing line called Andrew Charles created by Andy Hilfiger and Steven Tyler ... and the Morrison Hotel Gallery. 

And a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

The space adjacent to CBGB housed the CBGB Record Canteen and, later, the 313 Gallery.

315 Bowery, the former CBGB, remains the John Varvatos outpost. 

H/T @hot_sauce_map  

Saturday's opening shot

Seasonal photo op — aka interactive "Street Artmare" — on the Bowery at Stanton... Day of The Dead Artist piece at 246 Bowery arrived last week via @planndalism. Spot curated by @lisaprojectnyc ...

Report: Police shoot at man threatening people with a knife on Houston and the Bowery

According to published reports, police shot at a man threatening people with knives during the morning rush (8:45) along the Bowery at Houston. 

Media accounts described the suspect as an "emotionally disturbed man." 

Per PIX11: "According to police, the officer fired one round but missed the man." 

The Daily News has more of the narrative:

Starting around 8:40 a.m., the unhinged man cut a bizarre path from outside the Butcher's Daughter, a cafe on Kenmare St., to the Bowery and then to the corner of Elizabeth and Grand Sts., cops said. He allegedly threatened to stab people along the way. 

Cops found the man at the corner of Houston St. and Bowery. Officers first shot the man with a Taser, but it didn't work, police said. A cop from the 9th Precinct fired off one shot as officers tried to subdue the man, but no one was hit.

The suspect was taken into custody without further incident. 

EVG reader Robert Miner, who shared these photos, reports that the Bowery is closed from Houston to Bleecker ... other parts of Houston are also said to be currently closed to traffic... 

Updated 10:46 a.m.:

And a report via CBS 2...

 

An organic grocery for the Bowery

A coming soon sign for an organic grocery is now on the window here at 352 Bowery between Fourth Street and Great Jones. 

The sign promises an assortment of "produce, beer, breakfast, lunch, convenience, fresh juice, milkshakes, smoothies." And it might give the 7-Eleven directly across the Bowery some convenience competition. 

Signage for a COVID-19 rapid-test site arrived here in December, though that never materialized. 

The Sage Kitchen restaurant space closed here last year. Their catering business is still in operation from another location.

The shirtwaist dress on the Bowery

Photos courtesy of E. Jay Sims

On Sunday, Bowery resident E. Jay Sims hung a large shirtwaist dress on the top-floor fire escape at 306 Bowery.

She mounted the dress, from a performance art piece that she did at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1984, here this week on the Bowery at First Street in honor of Women's History Month ... and in memory of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, whose 110th anniversary is tomorrow. 

The fire killed 146 garment workers — mostly young women, many of whom lived on the Lower East Side.

Sims, a longtime visual arts teacher, also dedicated this memorial to her grandmother, Rose Kruger, a Hungarian immigrant/seamstress who arrived in New York in 1913 and used her sewing skills to raise her family in America.

Weather permitting, the dress will be up through the weekend...

Noted

As seen this afternoon on the Bowery at Bleecker... photo by Robert Miner...

Noted

Spotted on the Bowery this morning... Good morning!

Hi, who does this random curbside dining space belong to on the Bowery?

You've likely seen this red curbside dining structure over on the west side of the Bowery between Fourth Street and Great Jones... it's probably been there about a month... enough people (two!) have mentioned this now, so... who does it belong to?

There isn't any restaurant on that side of the Bowery now... Hecho en Dumbo was the last place in business at No 354, closing in June 2018... and Sage Kitchen next door has been closed for a few months. And there aren't any tables or chairs or anything helpful for dining out.

Anyway, it's there if you need some outdoor space...

'Public Art as Protest' debuts at Howl! Happening

Howl! Happening reopens today with a special exhibit titled "Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest."

The group show is an outgrowth of an effort organized by Bowery artist Sono Kuwayama in June. (Read more about it here.)

She received permission from store owners to paint on the plywood of the boarded-up businesses along the Bowery. She then reached out to some local artists to have them create murals, such as Love Power between Great Jones and Fourth Street...



... created by East Village-based artist Scooter LaForge along with Hitomi Nakamura and James Rubio.

The murals, which were started to feel the effects of the summer heat, will now find a second life at Howl! Here's more about the show:

After the tragic death of George Floyd, impassioned citizens in cities around the world rose up together in a call for justice. The streets became the backdrop for our collective mourning, our outrage, and our plea for change. Opportunistic agitators took advantage of peaceful demonstrations and forced many businesses to board up storefronts all over New York. On the Bowery ... the plywood barriers became windows into the hearts of the neighborhood’s artists.

"Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest" is a re-presentation of public artworks made in solidarity with the protest movement fighting for racial equality and police reform.

Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery, is open Thursday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The show ends on Aug. 23.

The gallery is limiting the number of visitors at any one time, and will require masks for everyone. Guests must also register upon entering and have their temperature taken. Find more details at this link.

Scooter LaForge's Love Power on the Bowery

East Village-based artist Scooter LaForge, working with Hitomi Nakamura and James Rubio, created this Love Power mural on the Bowery between Great Jones and Fourth Street earlier this week.

This was part of a larger effort organized by Bowery artist Sono Kuwayama. (Read about it here.) She received permission from store owners to paint on the plywood of the boarded-up businesses along this stretch of the Bowery. She then reached out to some local artists to have them create murals ...







And what will happen to the plywood when the businesses reopen?

Per Reuters: "When the boards eventually come down, Kuwayama’s plan is to store the art in a gallery, and later sell it, donating the proceeds to local homeless shelters."

As a P.S.

While we're on the Bowery and Fourth Street... Phebe's reopened yesterday for to-go food... they are open from 4-9 p.m. during the week and 2-9 p.m. today...

Thursday's parting shot

On the Bowery this afternoon... a view of Avalon Bowery Place between Houston and First Street...

The aftermath of looting on the Bowery last night

Multiple businesses along the Bowery were vandalized and looted last night ...this is the aftermath from the group who had started fires and broken windows earlier on Third Avenue...

EVG contributor Stacie Joy looked at the damage at the 7-Eleven between Third Street and Fourth Street. The convenient store was looted...









Windows were smashed at the Sweetgreen right next door... it's unknown if anything was taken...



... Gemma was hit next door to the Bowery Hotel...



... there appeared to be looting at the Trek Bicycle Shop between First Street and Houston...



Other broken windows were spotted at the Crunch on Fourth Street...



... and the Whole Foods Bowery at East Houston...