[UPDATED] About Whale and Crown, a new exhibition space in a former deli on Avenue C

[Photo by Mark White.]

You may have seen the transformation of the former deli on Avenue C at East 12th Street … it was turned into a gallery space late last month for Brooklyn-based artist RAE. The show opened on Oct. 26.

Turns out the space is the idea of East Village resident Jim Chu, the longtime owner of several bars at 145 E. Houston St., most recently White Rabbit, which closed in August.

"It didn't take long for me to come up with something more fun and less commercial," he said of what he's calling Whale & Crown, a space for art and exhibitions at 656 E. 12th St. at Avenue C.

We asked Chu a few questions about the space.

Were you purposefully looking for something less commercial after White Rabbit... or did this just kind of fall into place?

I didn't know what exactly I was going to do after White Rabbit, but I needed something more organic, without the pressure to be commercial. The business I left on Houston Street in 2013 was very different than the one I started on 11th street between B and C in 1992. I have never been the person to build 'coolness,' make a scene or any of that. I ran places where my neighbors came in and my neighbors were doing cool things so cool things were happening on their own.

When my rent got to $15,000, there isn't room for anything organic. About a month after I closed White Rabbit my friend approached me about the bodega around the corner from my apartment, and it encapsulated all of these ideas.

What's the thinking behind Whale & Crown?

Although the opportunity originally came to me through a neighbor, Whale & Crown is a shared opportunity. There's no way it was possible to do this on my own — so I called on a great group of designers, entrepreneurs and artists and everything came together in less than a month. We lucked into an amazing space that is in limbo, but perfect for experimentation. RAE had mentioned an idea of this installation he wanted to do in a bodega more than two years ago. I always told him it was impossible, but this was a perfect fit.

What kinds of events/exhibits do you want to see in the space?

The space is a resource. We have ideas and sometimes we'll use it for them. The rest of the time the space will be occupied by people we know, people we meet, friends of friends, strangers that reach out to us with the kind of idea that we latch onto. In many ways it's like an exquisite corpse — each contributor adds their part to the conversation.

Meanwhile, you can still catch RAE's exhibit through Saturday.

Exhibition hours:
Thursday - Saturday 2 pm-7 pm.

Updated:

The space is now called Specials on C

Idle Hands stretching out on Avenue B

[Photo via Ray LeMoine]

After three years of life below Billy Hurricane's and later Station B, Idle Hands — the "Bourbon, Beer & Rock" bar — is taking over the entire space at 25 Avenue B. (East Village Eats first caught wind of this impending change this past Friday.)

The official grand reopening is this coming Wednesday, per the Idle Hands website.

Billy Hurricane's quietly became Station B back in June.

And a lot of people pretty much hated Billy Hurricane's, like Robert Siestema, who wrote this about the place for The Village Voice in May 2011:

You look up at the street sign and realize you're in the hippest nabe in the world, the old E.V. And it dawns on you that soon the entire length of Avenue B will be lined with shit holes like this, crass dining and drinking establishments that might have been invented by Guy Fieri. Yes, now we're in the Fieri-verse, a realm of ostentatious overconsumption so abject, that nori rolls may come wrapped in bacon so as not to frighten the regulars with seaweed.

Meanwhile, East Village Eats is optimistic about this Idle Hands takeover. "Honestly, I think this is a good thing for the neighborhood," he wrote.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to simple bar names...concepts?

Billy Hurricane's looking to hire attractive, sexy, fun, loud and pushy female bartenders who are still in school — and rock

Incoming on St. Mark's Place: coffee, pizza

A quick look at two new storefronts on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. As we first reported back in July, Box Kite Coffee, a shop operated by barista Cora Lambert, is opening at 115 St. Mark's Place. Work continues on the space previously occupied by The Tuck Shop.

We haven't heard about an official opening date just yet. A look inside the under-renovation space reveals they have a little way to go before serving coffee here.



Meanwhile, across the street at 130 St. Mark's Place, there's the new Falanghina Pizza Bar.




Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen, which had been at 130 St. Mark's Place since 1991 (34 years in business total), closed for good on Dec. 29, as we first reported.

Aside from rising rents, business had been down... and, of course, Sandy didn't help matters. And it wasn't easy in recent years for owner Peter Silvestri, as he faced eviction several times. (You can read the back story in this article from The Villager from 2007, when the community rallied around Whole Earth.)

The shop faced eviction again in the fall of 2011 ... They were reportedly occupying the space under a sublet agreement. While Whole Earth Bakery was up to date on rent payments, the holder of the lease was allegedly delinquent.

As The Villager reported last December, Whole Earth Bakery's rent rose from $1,100 a month in 1991 to $5,300, an increase about three times faster than the rate of inflation.

We miss Whole Earth likely more than any other recent closing.

As for the new tenants, the restaurant partners are Riccardo Pieroni who co-owns Ton-Up, the newish Italian wine bar across the street, and Huey Cheng, who owns Kura, the Japanese restaurant next door, according to a report in The Local last February. Michele Bruni is the third partner.

Per The Local:

Mr. Bruni, who also got a degree from New York University Stern School of Business, hoped East Villagers would be able to put the Whole Earth Bakery controversy behind them and give his new restaurant a chance. "Sometimes places need some new faces," he said.

As for their food, per The Local:

The Neapolitan pies at Falanghina will be made in a brick wood-fired oven, with Italian ingredients (the pizzaiolo will also be imported). Pastas, appetizers and a Italian desserts will be made on the premises.

Your Thanksgiving — (not really) planned

As we exclusively reported, Thanksgiving is two weeks from today (and when did that happen?).

So to help make planning your day easier, we note the Thanksgiving Day "swirling hours" at PinkBerry on St. Mark's Place.

Construction watch: 211 E. 13th St., aka The Jefferson

[October 2012, via EVG reader Katja]

Hey, let's pay a visit to the North West East Village, where work continues on the Jefferson, the new condo building at 211 E. 13th St. (AKA the former Mystery Lot).

EV Grieve Former Mystery Lot Correspondent/Current Jefferson Watcher Katja passes along photos of how the place is shaping up...





Eventually:



According to Streeteasy, 12 units are currently in contract here. There are 83 units in total at The Jefferson, named for the theater that once sat on the site.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The last days of the Mystery Lot

Before it was the Mystery Lot

The Mystery Lot developers using famous dead comedians to sell condos at The Jefferson

The Jefferson reveals what '21st Century living in the heart of Olde New York' costs

Fowl play today

[Derek Berg]


[Bobby Williams]


[BW]

Late-afternoon 1936 break

Here we are looking south on First Avenue from the East 14th Street El Station circa 1936 ... via EVG Facebook friend Michael Paul

It was actually the IRT Second Avenue Line ... From Houston Street, the line went north on First Avenue, where it turned left on 23rd Street ... and ran north on Second Avenue to 129th Street, per Wikipedia.



Per Wikipedia Commons: "The Second Avenue El, looking south on First Avenue from 13th Street during its demolition in September 1942."

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Nico D Smith
Occupation: Artist, Painter
Location: 4th Street and Avenue A
Time: 4:20 on Monday, Nov. 4

I first moved here in 1961, but I only stayed then until ’71 and then I went away and I came back in ’84. I’ve been here ever since. I grew up in Westchester. I had an aunt who lived in Jackson Heights and I used to come to visit her quite often, but I grew up in Yorktown.

I’m a painter. I studied at the Art Students League and other things at the same time. I do abstract painting primarily, what some might call soft geometry. I generally don’t use hard edge. So I deal with rectangles in a field but they’re hand drawn.

I also did a bit of acting when I was young. For a year I was never unemployed with acting. I had a job on television every month for a year because I had the most powerful agent in the world at the time, called MCA. The reason I became an actor in the beginning — well, I did study acting — but I met a bigshot Broadway producer through a friend. He was the guy that put me in MCA.

All he had to do was pick up the phone, “I have this kid over here, I kind of like him, you want to talk to him?” Signed me right on. I didn’t even have to breath. And then the people from Hollywood would come and want to see me. I was up for a big movie called "All Fall Down" with Warren Beatty. I was going to play the lead opposite him, a kid, but it fell through. Brandon De Wilde, a child actor, got my part.

Then MCA was declared a monopoly by the government and they disbanded and I was out on my own. I had to choose another agent and I picked the wrong one. It didn’t work. It was a guy I personally knew from MCA but he wasn’t working for me. I found out 50 years later, my friend from college was with him too and he was getting my jobs.

At the time, 2nd Avenue was where I was hanging out mostly. I didn’t even go over to First because there was nothing over here. This was 1961. But over on 2nd Avenue was a place called Ratner’s. Ratner’s was this great big dairy restaurant and I used to called it the Downtown Sardi’s. Sardi’s was where the uptown theatre crowd went after the theatre. The nice people went there.

Anyway, there was still Yiddish theatre here — all these theaters. The theater crowd here would go to Ratner’s. It was all Jewish people, not so wealthy as the people at Sardi’s, but nice enough. The waiters padded around in those old shoes and they were old. They’d give you so much food for nothing.

I am a painter and I’ll probably be painting till the day I die. It’s so ingrained in me. I started off working in a studio painting on Broadway and 3rd. Then in 1964 I was living on 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd, 75, next door to what would be the Hells Angels. I had one of the first galleries in the East Village called Hard Knocks. I lived in the back in a loft and I showed art and had children’s workshop and things like that. We had some people but not many.

I used to cover the gallery scene. I have been going to openings and opening reception, ever since 1960. I went to the School of Visual Arts in ’60 and met friends and they would take me to the galleries that existed at that time. There was nothing in SoHo, nothing in Chelsea, nothing anywhere except on 57th Street and up on Madison Avenue.

But there was a gallery on 10th Street between 3rd and 4th. The director there was Ivan Karp, the same guy that started O K Harris. After that gallery he became the director of the Leo Castelli Gallery. He directed Leo Castelli before he opened his own. He had a falling out with Castelli because he didn’t really like Roy Lichtenstein. So he wasn’t really a pop guy and if you went to his gallery after that you’d notice that.

But I never had any success at all. No one’s ever liked my work. I mean, yes there have been people, but nobody who was somebody ever liked my work. Plenty of nobody’s like my work. I always say I’m the biggest nobody in the world. Although, I’m really quite well known in the art scene. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve advanced my cause, not in the least. The only thing that matters is if somebody loves you, then you are somebody.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Here's more about the renovations underway at HiFi on Avenue A

You may have noticed some work happening over at HiFi, one of our favorite bars around (long live EL DJ!).

Proprietor Mike Stuto explained all in a blog post yesterday at the HiFi website. For starters, workers will be renovating the interior and exterior of the bar at 169 Avenue A near East 11th Street... which means HiFi will be closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and maybe a few Wednesdays in the coming weeks.

"We’re going to do this long-awaited redesign in little pieces so we don’t have to close down on the weekends," Stuto wrote.

And what about the redesign?

[T]he idea is to NOT change the vibe, appeal, and personality of HiFi. We hope that will all stay pretty much the same as it has always been ... The short description is that we will be redesigning the entrance and storefront, changing the furniture and the colors, and adding in a 40-ish capacity room with its own separate bar that will have a myriad of uses; from private parties to trivia nights, comedy nights, readings, and even some live music. For those of you who still pine for the days when I ran a rock club in this space, this is NOT a return to the golden era of Brownies ... there will be no drum sets played inside HiFi."

You can see the transformation for yourself when the bar is open.

"So for the next few weeks please join us for a strangely-fun, sometimes-truncated, surely-temporary version of the bar while we jump through the hoops of framing, painting, bathroom-relocating, new-room-building, furniture acquiring and re-upholstering, and many other re-workings ..."

[Updated] After 18 years, Jill Anderson closing shop on East 9th Street

Several EVG readers passed along word that the Jill Anderson boutique at 331 E. Ninth St. is closing for good Sunday after 18 years in business. There isn't any reason given for the closure on the store's blog, which first announced the news.

So far, some 60 people have left comments about the closure on the Anderson store blog.

A little about Anderson via the store website:

Jill’s loyal clientele are hardworking, intelligent, and fashionable women who know they can rely on her clothes to feel their best no matter the season or occasion. They also believe in thinking globally by buying their finery locally, and supporting independent, woman-owned businesses!

Jill Anderson debuted her collection in 1989 in Athens, Greece, and six years later opened the Jill Anderson boutique at 331 E. Ninth Street in New York’s East Village. Her uniquely tailored designs have garnered praise from Elle, Marie Claire, Brazilian Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, and more. In addition to managing a thriving business, Jill has collaborated on costume design with dance companies such as the Wally Cardona Quartet and the Philippa Kaye Dance Group.

Most recently, Jill Anderson designed and created the dress for writer/director Debra Granik, whose film Winter’s Bone was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Updated 10:13 a.m.

Serena Solomon at DNAinfo spoke with Anderson about the closing.

Anderson said a combination of bad luck, high rent and the day-to-day difficulties of running a business recently made her decide to close the shop.

"This was like the heart here — this beautiful store," said Anderson, in between hugging a stream of well-wishing customers who came into the store as much to see the designer as to buy her wares. "I loved making people happy. I loved to sew."

Apartment listing photos of the day

There's a new listing for an apartment at 264 E. Second St. Per Streeteasy:

Newly gut renovated 3 bedroom apartment on East 2nd street, right off of Avenue C. Apartment features include hardwood floors, high ceilings, large bedrooms and separate kitchen.

The "high ceilings" part is accurate... Ceilings go any higher this might be a duplex...





Maybe the brokers will post new photos once workers finish the ceiling. Price: $3,400.

A quick word from the Dept. of Well Being

Shawn Chittle spotted this yesterday along St. Mark's Place near First Avenue... via the Dept. of Well Being.

... and on Second Avenue near East Ninth Street...

Tonight's sunset from First Avenue

At St. Mark's Place...

Why there were 20 women having fake orgasms at Katz's

For comedy, of course ... via Improv Everywhere:

For our latest mission we recreated the famous fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally with 20 women in Katz’s Deli. This was staged without the knowledge of the restaurant, though thankfully they all seemed to love it.

This project is part of our new series, Movies in Real Life. Every Tuesday, we’re releasing a new video that brings an iconic movie moment to life in the real world.

As you may recall, the so-called "prank collective" had some 100 people camp out in front of the 99-cent store on First Avenue next to the Rite Aid last Black Friday. Hijinks ensued, sort of.

H/T Gothamist

Typhoon Haiyan fundraiser tonight at Ugly Kitchen

In addition to the Typhoon Haiyan fundraiser tonight at Jeepney, there's a relief event at Ugly Kitchen at 103 First Ave from 5-11.

According to the Facebook event page, all profits from the bar-restaurant tonight will go to The Philippine Red Cross. There will also be Red Cross donation boxes in the restaurant, according to the organizers.

Mid-afternoon red-tailed hawk break

In Tompkins Square Park, where some pigeons got a good fright. Photo by EVG regular peter radley.

Typhoon Haiyan donations drive tonight at Jeepney on First Avenue

From the EVG inbox...

Join us tonight for our Typhoon Donations Drive w/ Jose Antonio Vargas, 6-9p! Sponsored by Tiger Beer, we'll be donating all beer sales to The Philippine Red Cross. Please come out and support the relief effort with canned food and monetary donations. Help heal our Philippine nation.

Jeepney, a self-described Filipino Gastropub, is at 201 First Ave. near East 12th Street.

A quick look at the first snowfall (well, sort of) of the season

Thanks to @TravisHuggett for this photo on East 14th Street near Avenue C... and how much longer before the 12 Days of Con Ed?

A bad sign at the Yippie Museum

A "for rent" sign now hangs above the 40-year-old home of the Yippie Museum at 9 Bleecker St. near the Bowery.

Tough times here of late at the headquarters of the counterculture group … Back on June 10, Colin Moynihan at The New York Times reported that Yippie leaders have been locked in an ongoing legal battle … fighting an attempt by a lender to foreclose on their home.

In addition, the Harmony Kitchen, the food vendor at the Yippie Museum Cafe, closed at the end of June. The space was closed during July for a "re-calculating" … eventually reopening at the end of the month.

This past Friday, the Yippie Museum Facebook page offered up the latest on the legal wrangling here:

The October court action fended off a summary eviction of Dana and Co. and Atty Noah Potter has arranged a court date for January where he will present documents in his possession that will help save #9. If justice may be had in today's courts...

Yippie leader and activist Dana Beal is currently serving a four-to-six year prison sentence after being caught hauling 150 pounds of pot in a van in Ashland, Neb., in 2009.

Back to Facebook:

Even a win there won't fully save #9, though. What is really needed is more people to come to #9 for meetings and events to raise funds and consciousness. This space is NOT a relic of the past but a living historical site for today's activist generation. USE IT OR LOSE IT has never had a better object lesson than at #9!!

For now, events continue to take place in the space…



Meanwhile, the building is on the market. According to the Corcoran listing:

Exceptional opportunity to rent an entire building in prime Greenwich Village / NoHo. The bottom two floors feature bars that are built out already. But these could also work well for retail. And the top two floors can be used for either residential or office space. Each of the 4 floors is approximately 1600 square feet.

This is truly an unbeatable Greenwich Village / NoHo location, on a block with high and brilliant visibility for business. Original details still in tact - including exposed brick, and a cast iron honey comb curved skylight which graces the ground floor, with 13' 6" ceilings. Old world charm ready for a new world establishment…

Asking price: $25,000

As the Yippie Museum Facebook page says: "time to save the yippie museum from the crapitalist wrecking ball..don't let 9 bleecker street turn into a gentrified yuppie boutique."

H/T @JonSpiegler

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Yippie Museum Cafe is in financial trouble

The Yippie Museum Cafe will reopen next Wednesday

With move to East 7th Street, Oaxaca Taqueria closes Extra Place location

With the new location at 125 E. Seventh St., Oaxaca Taqueria has closed its Extra Place location, as this photo via EVG reader xomars shows.

So until Momofuko Ko opens in its new home, Extra Place is currently restaurant free…

And the East Seventh Street space between Avenue A and First Avenue was previously home to the Butter Lane cupcakes classroom.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Oaxaca Taqueria opening a new location on East Seventh Street