Keep on truckin': Van Leeuwen opening dessert shop on Seventh Street

A reader sent along a link to a post on The Feast from last Friday reporting that popular food truckers Van Leeuwen will be opening their third cafe in the city — this one "at Second Avenue near 7th Street."

Per The Feast:

"[T]his first Manhattan branch will focus on locally-made ice cream, Intelligentsia coffee, and house-made pastries, but will be much larger.

"Expect the space to resemble the newest shop, which the young owners designed themselves with reclaimed wood and custom wallpaper."

So, this explains what will be going in here...

As we noted last month, workers at the former City Copies on Seventh Street just east of Second Avenue would be home to "coffee and ice cream."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming soon to Seventh Street: coffee and ice cream

NYC 1983

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Crazy Eddie for sending this link along... Andrew Sullivan posted this yesterday at the Atlantic (via The Daily What)... a stop-action tour of NYC circa 1983... (and look — no cellphones!)



Here's the description:

A five minute film by Rick Liss.
A portrait of New York City circa early 1980s.
Which was an extremely fertile time creatively in New York City. This is a record of the city at that time.
Music principally by Laurie Anderson

[Oops! I didn't realize that Alex had this over at Flaming Pablum on March 15!]

Uh-oh: Someone didn't get the memo about the sign coming down

March 23

Spotted by EV Grieve reader David Goodwin, a Third Street resident, last night on Second Avenue next to Heart of India.

Despite the lack of a newspaper cover for authentication purposes, the International Coalition of Tree Tossing in the Spring (ICTTS) will allow this tree to enter this year's competition. Why? According to one ICTTS official: "Anyone who stopped in last night's weather to take a photo deserves to be in the running to become America's next last Christmas tree thrown away for the year."

East 10th Street, 5 a.m. March 24

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Kind of looked like spring today, except for the snow and ice

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

One more like last Friday please

More on the East Fifth Street water main break

A follow-up on our previous post... There was a water main break this morning on East Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...

Several residents said they have been without water since 11 a.m. There's no word on when the DEP will restore service... signs on doors to the buildings say it will be off for "approximately 8 hours" ... Uh, so that would make it 7 p.m.

A few places are closed... (including Goat Town) If you have plans along here tonight at a drinking or dining establishment, then you may want to call ahead... There will likely be some delays in opening...

Water main break shutters Goat Town for tonight

Earlier this afternoon, we heard reports of a water main break on East Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... (One resident noted some brown yucky tap water...)

Anyway, here are a few shots of workers at the scene... (photos courtesy of Jaime Darrow)

According to its website and Twitter account, Goat Town is closed tonight because of the break...

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Landmarks Preservation Commission still rejecting 35 Cooper Square (The Lo-Down)

A Q-and-A with LES resident and photo restoration expert Sebastian Wintermute (BoweryBoogie)

In the afternoon sun (Nadie Se Conoce)

NYC gets blowed up again real good by aliens (Curbed)

Standings named the best sports bar in NYC (New York)

Photographer Erica Simone creates series of nude self-portraits, so maybe not SFSW (Animal NY)

The creepiest hospital grounds in Manhattan (Scouting New York)

Remembering the Doll of Times Square (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Some NC-17 signage (Slum Goddess)

And from Page Six ... a place I've been to a few times but only in the winter:

Another piece of old Montauk is up for sale: the Shagwong Restaurant & Bar, on the market for $6.5 million. Owner Jimmy Hewitt is ready to sell the place, built in 1927, which has attracted stars in cluding the Rolling Stones, Elizabeth Taylor, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and photographer and artist Peter Beard, whose work hangs on its walls. The whole building is on the block.

And speaking ELizabeth Taylor, RIP ... will watch "BUtterfield 8" again soon...

Unknown white male

Alan P. Miller, the senior director of the real estate investment firm Eastern Consolidated ... said that although parts of the market remained sluggish, investors were eager to get a piece of the Bowery. “All of the Bowery is gold,” he said. — The New York Times, March 19, 2011

That quote has stuck with me all week. It prompted me to revisit "The Bowery," a chronicle of life along this thoroughfare in the early 1970s by Michael D. Zettler. The book, now out of print, was published in 1975. When I read the book, I think "yellow," not gold.

The book ends with police discovering a man lying face up on the Bowery at Houston. (You'd have a good view of him from the outdoor seats at Pulino's.)



"Is he all right officer?"

"He's better off than the rest of 'em ... Sure is yellow, ain't he?"

"Yeah ... is he dead?"

"Stiff."

"Where does he go from here?"

"Why? You want him? The wagon'll be along in a moment they take 'em up to the morgue at Bellvue ... The kids who're going to be doctors get to cut 'em up ... there probably ain't much left to look at inside of him though."





He's eventually taken to Potter's Field on Hart Island, where he's buried in an unmarked grave with the rest of the John Does.



[Thanks to our friend Bryan at This Ain't the Summer of Love for bringing this book to our attention.]

Fish Bar Film Nights

In recent months, Fish Bar on East Fifth Street has been playing some fine motion pictures Wednesdays during the Fish Bar Film Night.

Bartender Becca Brennan Chiappone selects the films. "I try to pick ones that are going to appeal to a big audience, but not a douchey audience," she said via email. "The NYU crowd will always come and go, but I want to keep the regulars happy. They've been coming to the bar for years now and they're all fascinating and intelligent people, so I try to show films that reflect the personality of the bar and the East Village."

In recent months, she has shown "Blue Velvet," "The Road Warrior" and "Lolita."

Tonight! It's "The Hunger," starring David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon's nipples.

A little taste.



The Fish Bar is at 237 E. Fifth St., west of Second Avenue. The movies start at 8:30 p.m. There's a Fish Bar Film Night Facebook page here.