WIP: A new sign for Ray's Candy Store

[Photo by John Cline]

Work started today on a new sign for Ray's Candy Story over at 113 Avenue A near Seventh Street...


[Photo by Steven]

Peach and Will expect to have the sign finished tomorrow...


[Photo by Steven]

This version — with a small 's on Ray — replaces the well-weathered facade that Chico created in July 2016. Chico's previous sign here was in part a tribute to neighborhood photographer Bob Arihood, who died in September 2011.


[Photo by Eden]

Week in Grieview

[Sign painting at Van Leeuwen on 7th Street via Derek Berg]

• Garbage truck parking situation on 10th Street still stinks, residents say (Thursday)

• RIP Joe Overstreet (Tuesday)

• Photo exclusive: Take a look inside the former Hells Angels clubhouse on 3rd Street (Monday)

• A visit to St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (Wednesday)

• Explosion-site condoplex reaches the top (Friday)

• The Gem Spa Zoltar is alive and well and telling fortunes an L-train ride away in Bushwick (Wednesday) "Gem Spa is open" (Tuesday)

• Raphael Toledano to pay $3 million, faces possible lifetime real-estate ban, for harassing EV tenants (Friday)

• Report: 18 years to life for man who murdered Elizabeth Lee on Cooper Square (Friday)

• What happened to the DeRobertis neon sign on 1st Avenue? (Monday)

• Grant Shaffer's NY See (Thursday)


[The 6 & B Community Garden via riachung00]

• The Richard Morrison and Bill Rice exhibit at SHFAP (Monday)

• East Village merchant pride (Monday)

• Report: LPC approves transfer of air rights across St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

• St. Mark's Vegan Food Court debuts at 12 St. Mark's Place (Monday)

• The MTA wonders if you'll shop at this CVS machine in Union Square (Friday)

• The 411 on the 101 Condominium (Wednesday)

• So long to 238 E. 3rd St. (Tuesday)

• 2 storefronts shaping up on 2nd Avenue for Calexico and Brasserie Saint Marc (Wednesday)

• Report: Ricky's will be down to 2 NYC locations (Wednesday)

• Anything to lose sleep over? That empty Raymour & Flanigan space on 14th Street (Monday)

• A reminder that First Lamb Shabu is coming soon to 14th Street (Monday)

... and it will feel more like summer when workers put away the snowblower in Tompkins Square Park...



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At the Queer Faith celebration at Middle Collegiate Church

All photos by Angie Dykshorn

Here's a quick recap from the Queer Faith event this past Wednesday at Middle Collegiate Church, 122 Second Ave. ... where the church celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and Juneteenth, the anniversary of when the news that slavery had been abolished reached Texas in 1865.

The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minster of Middle Collegiate Church, honored civil rights icon Ruby Sales and the late Gary Ranker, a longtime East Village resident who marched with Harvey Milk.

At the event, Lewis announced the Ruby Sales/Gary Ranker Fund for Racial and LGBTQIA+ Fund at Middle Church for justice initiatives that speak to the legacy of their activism.


[Ruby Sales with a photo of Gary Ranker]


[Jacqui Lewis with members of the Ranker family]

The evening included the opening of the Queer Faith art exhibit ...



... as well as musical guests BETTY, Alex Bertrand and Madge Dietrich ...


[Alex Bertrand]


[BETTY]

Now on lower 2nd Avenue: The Lower 2nd Avenue Summer Festival

The Lower Second Avenue Summer Festival is underway... until 6 p.m. on Second Avenue between 14th Street and Ninth Street.

EVG Lower Second Avenue Summer Festival correspondent Steven notes a fairly generic assemblage of street festival vendors and food...



Not to mention the Jerk Off the Grill station...

A Summer Solstice celebration at the Green Oasis Community Garden

Today (Sunday, June 23) is the annual Green Oasis Garden Solstice Celebration from 1-5 p.m.

Per the invite: 'We'll be doing tie-dye t-shirts, twig totems and a potluck grill."

The Green Oasis Community Garden is on Eighth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

A talk about Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers tonight at MoRUS

A last-minute listing via the EVG inbox today...

Ben Morea is going to be onhand tonight at 7 at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) for a discussion and screening of "Armed Love," Sean Stewart's short documentary profile of his time in the Lower East Side in the late 1960s.

In the film, Morea charts the evolution of Up Against the Wall/Motherfucker — the network of action-oriented radicals, freaks and street fighters who emerged out of the group surrounding the journal Black Mask during the late 1960s in New York City.

Find more details at this link.

MoRUS is located at 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

EV Pride

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Have you stopped by and grabbed your free #eastvillagepride swag at participating businesses around the East Village? Make sure when you do you ask for a limited edition EV pint glass as well! Grab em’ while ya can! Participating merchants: @evvintagecollective @shopexit9 @luckyonb @downtownyarns @eastvillageacupuncture @randomaccessoriesny @pageant_print_shop @lancelottinyc @janes_exchange Galleria J. Antonio (43 Ave A) 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

A post shared by EVIMA (@evimanyc) on Jun 20, 2019 at 1:52pm PDT

Friday's parting shot

Sunset from Sixth Street and Avenue A this first day of summer...

Debt sounds

The Gotobeds released their third LP, Debt Begins at 30 (via Sub Pop), back on May 31. The video here is for "Twin Cities."

Look for the Pittsburgh-based quartet will be out at Union Pool on July 17.

Explosion-site condoplex reaches the top

Workers have hoisted the American flag atop 119-121 Second Ave. (aka 45 E. Seventh St.), marking that they have officially topped off the Morris Adjmi-designed building that will feature 21 condo units and ground-floor retail.

As we've been noting, work is moving at a brisk pace here at Seventh Street. The plywood only arrived in late January ... with the excavation starting several weeks later.


[Rendering via Morris Adjmi]

Shaky Cohen's Nexus Building Development Group, Inc., paid $9.15 million in June 2017 for the lots at 119 and 121 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

We haven't spotted a website yet with any details about the residences, which will range from one to three bedrooms. The Tavivian Team from Douglas Elliman is doing the sales and marketing.

This corner was the site of the deadly gas explosion on March 26, 2015 that leveled three buildings, 119, 121 and 123 Second Ave.

The new building will include a commemorative plaque that honors the two men who died that day — Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locón.

The previous owner of 119 and 121 Second Ave., Maria Hrynenko, and two other defendants, are due back in New York County Criminal Court today. To date, the outcome of the previous 25-plus appearances has been the same since the first appearance in February 2016 — "adjourned/bail continued."

The defendants were part of a scheme that saw an illegally tampered gas line at 121 Second Ave., according to the Manhattan District Attorney.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Remembering Nicholas and Moises: the Figueroa family marks the 4-year anniversary of the 2nd Avenue gas explosion

LPC OKs condoplex for gas explosion site on 2nd Avenue and 7th Street

Raphael Toledano to pay $3 million, faces possible lifetime real-estate ban, for harassing EV tenants

New York AG Letitia James yesterday announced a settlement with notorious East Village landlord Raphael Toledano to put an end to his harassment of tenants and to prevent him from engaging in speculative real-estate deals.

Let's go right to the news release via the AG's office...

Under the terms of the Consent Order (stipulation and judgement) being submitted to the Court, Toledano’s real estate business will be supervised by an Independent Monitor, who will ensure that Toledano ceases to engage in fraud and tenant harassment. Toledano will not be allowed to have any direct contact with tenants, and will be required to hire an independent management company for any of his properties.

In addition, Toledano has agreed to pay $3 million in damages and penalties. If Toledano violates the terms of his agreement, then Attorney General James will seek a lifetime bar against any further participation in the real estate industry, as well as a suspended judgment of $10 million.

Attorney General James and Governor Cuomo’s Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) within New York State Homes and Community Renewal began investigating Toledano after receiving complaints from tenants and community advocates about his use of harassment, unsafe construction, and other illegal conduct to push tenants out of their rent-stabilized homes.

As set forth in the Complaint filed in New York Supreme Court, Attorney General James’ investigation established that Toledano engaged in a pattern of fraudulent and illegal conduct throughout his work as a landlord and real-estate developer.

He harassed tenants through coercive buyouts, illegal construction practices and failed to provide his rent-regulated tenants with utilities, repairs, and other necessary services. Toledano also engaged in deceptive business practices in his real-estate transactions, including repeatedly and persistently misrepresenting himself as a lawyer and advertising apartments with 3 or 4 bedrooms, when legally the apartment could only have 1 or 2 bedrooms.

It's not immediately clear how many properties Toledano still owns. (His Brookhill Properties website is no longer active.) Toledano, who bought up dozens of East Village properties only to foreclose on many of them later, is still the owner — via an LLC — of 444 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

In March, he reportedly filed for bankruptcy on the building, and was attempting to reject the rent-stabilized leases for a number of residents in the building, per NBC 4. However, AG James and several housing officials from the city and state intervened to help the tenants.

In previous years, Toledano purchased 28 buildings in two separate portfolios from the Tabak family for a total of $140 million. Experienced real-estate players raised red flags about Toledano's heavy reliance on debt.

In an interview with The Real Deal in June 2016, Toledano, then 26, made "frat-tastic boasts about his wealth," including: "I’m worth a fuckload of money, bro."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Cleaning up 444 E. 13th St.

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Report: 18 years to life for man who murdered Elizabeth Lee on Cooper Square

[Photo from March 2018]

Vincent Verdi, a former federal intelligence officer, received a sentence of 18 years to life yesterday after pleading guilty to gunning down Elizabeth Lee on Cooper Square as she arrived for work on Nov. 1, 2017.

As the Daily News reported, Verdi, 63, "offered a self-pitying apology that drew jeers and groans from his victim’s loved ones" at a hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday.

“I can only hope one day the New York State criminal justice system will allow me to rejoin my family,” Verdi said.

“Never!” one critic said behind him.

“You’re the devil!” another chimed in.

Lee, who was 56 and a mother of two grown children, lived on the Upper East Side. She had just docked a Citi Bike when Verdi approached her and shot her twice. He then shot himself in the head.

According to previous reports in the Daily News, Verdi spent four months stalking and harassing Lee. Police had arrested him previously for stalking. She had an order of protection barring him from contacting her, which was in place the morning he killed her.

The DA's office originally charged him with murder, weapons possession, aggravated criminal contempt and stalking.

Lee was a longtime administrator at the nearby Grace Church School. She was remembered as a devoted mother and a friend to many.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Memorial for Elizabeth Lee on Cooper Square