That Turkish fast-food place is now open on East Ninth Street

We pointed this out on East Ninth Street... just west of Avenue A a few weeks ago.

Cigkoftem, a Turkish vegetarian fast-food chain founded in 1993, opened this past weekend... And we have no idea why the photo looks as if we were falling when we took it...

Anyway, they were handing out free samples... Anyone try it?

Previously.

[UPDATED] Happening now: Occupy Wall Street march winding its way through the East Village

We're getting all sorts of reports about an Occupy Wall Street march currently in the East Village — part of #SolidaritySunday ... We have some reader reports... and are currently following @ChristRobbins from Gothamist who is on the scene...

Here are marchers outside the old P.S. 64 on East Ninth Street...

After someone tries scaling the plywood, Robbins reports that the NYPD makes an arrest...

All photos by @ChristRobbins

UPDATED:

@ChristRobbins figures there are 50 cops for 120 people in protest...

UPDATED 10:25

Sources say the remaining protestors are now lying down in Tompkins Square Park...

Via @Newyorkist ...

UPDATED 6 a.m.

Colin Moynihan at The New York Times reports that the NYPD arrested 12 people in total during the march that started in Washington Square Park and made its way to the East Village. The march was held to show support for protestors in Oakland, who were involved in a melee with police Saturday night.

Per the article:

By 10:30 p.m., most of the marchers had moved to Tompkins Square. One man strummed a mandolin. Another tapped on a drum. Several others stretched out on an asphalt pathway, using backpacks as pillows and gazing at the sky as a line of police officers stood at a nearby entrance to the park.

UPDATED 8:01 a.m.

Spotted on Seventh Street near First Avenue...

UPDATED 10:11 a.m.

Gothamist has more on what transpired last night... Christopher Robbins also posted video, including this one shot on Second Avenue at 13th Street...

Occupy Wall Street Arrest at #J29 from Gothamist on Vimeo.

Occupy Wall Street at Washington Square Park today

Part of #SolidaritySunday

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Hanging up the skates for the winter?

Ninth Street and Avenue C.

Photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Avenue C.

Week in Grieview

[13th Street and Third Avenue]

7-Eleven coming to St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Looking at the demolition of 9 Second Ave. (Tuesday)

Another look at the theater inside East Village Farms (Wednesday)

CBGB redux? (Wednesday)

RIP Mike Hamm (Friday)

Campaign to be vigilant about the construction at 315 E. 10th St. (Friday)

Marketing the Mystery Lot (Saturday)

Justine Joli helps Ray celebrate No. 79 (Monday)

Last night at the Holiday

The current incarnation of the Holiday Cocktail Lounge closed for business after last night... Matt LES_Miserable sent along a few photos taken in the early evening... We heard that the place was packed for a good part of the night...

And now, the speculation begins as to what is taking over the space...

The Blockbuster on East Houston is closing

Several readers emailed us this weekend with news that the Blockbuster on East Houston (part of the Red Square strip) is closing. Well, we've heard this before as far back as December 2009. BoweryBoogie heard the rumors too.

Plus, the store has been on the block for a year now, via JDF Realty... (And it appears Sleepy's is part any lease deal here...)

"All uses considered" according to the listing.

However, a Blockbuster employee confirmed the closure. The employee said that this Blockbuster has ended its rental service. (Yesterday people could only pick up one-day rentals.) The location will stay open through February for a liquidation sale, the employee said.

On Jan. 12, Dish Network Corp CEO Joe Clayton told Reuters that the company will be closing more U.S. Blockbuster stores across than it had originally planned, and will turn the remaining outlets partly into Dish customer-service points.

Dish bought Blockbuster last May in a bankruptcy auction for about $320 million, per Reuters.

And so, the DVD rental business is just about dead. Two Boots on Avenue A seems to be the only place left in the neighborhood to rent DVDs. Even the Blockbuster kiosk inside Duane Reade on 14th Street near First Avenue is gone.

Mondo Kim's is long gone... Cinema Classics is long gone... Intervideo Electronics on First Avenue will become a Subway (sandwich shop).

Of course, you can check out DVDs from the Ottendorfer and Tompkins Square Park branches of the New York Public Library.

A tribute to Louisa May Alcott on Avenue B

Heidi Klum's shitty week continues

Spotted on Third Avenue and Ninth Street.

Stolen bicycle

Spotted on 14th Street and Third Avenue.

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Today in Tompkins Square Park. Photos by Bobby Williams.

h/t Jim Kerr.

Last call at the Holiday Cocktail Lounge tonight

As we first reported Thursday, the iconic Holiday Cocktail Lounge is closing tonight. The building at 75 St. Mark's Place has been sold, and the people who have been running the bar since Stefan died in February 2009 are out.

And while the place had started creeping into sports bar territory (featuring the Jagerettes!) at times, we'll still really miss the Holiday.

There are all sorts of silly/absurd/funny rumors making the rounds. We'll hold off on those for now.

If you happen to go tonight, then please let us know how it was... (You have photos too?) Perhaps they'll even be another bar brawl out front, as Eater noted Thursday night.