Saturday, February 14, 2015

Dallas BBQ is for lovers



The scene on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place via Derek Berg...

Are the red-tailed hawks building a nest on the Tompkins Square Library?


[Photo from the other day in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams]

As we noted earlier this week, red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora likely won't be able to build their nest on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street this year. So, they will need a new home for a nest.

To the EVG inbox this morning…

Sadly I don't have a photo, but I spotted a hawk, hopefully Christo or Dora, flying out of Tompkins with nesting materials in his talons. He was headed toward the library on East 10th between A and B and appeared to land in that general area. Maybe a new nest location on a building in the vicinity??

I guess we'll see!

Yes!

Saint's Alp Teahouse returns after renovation



Saint's Alp Teahouse, 39 Third Ave. between East 9th Street and East 10th Street, reopened yesterday after a nearly month-long closure for renovations…

Workers have upgraded the space…


[Image via Facebook

One regular told us that they added a few new menu items as well…

Friday, February 13, 2015

The art of noise



The fourth release from A Place to Bury Strangers is out on Tuesday. Here's a single from Transfixiation called "And I'm Up."

Raymond



A familiar presence selling flowers outside Key Food on Avenue A and East Fourth Street...

Photo by Stacie Joy

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition



A look at Ash Thayer's book "Kill City: Lower East Side Squatters 1992-2000" (The Link)

Bowery Mission names new president and CEO (The Lo-Down)

Woman punched at Katz's for standing too close in line (DNAinfo)

Manny Cantor Center hosting a Survey of Working Artists on the Lower East Side (BoweryBoogie)

Art and ephemera connected to No Wave Film, 1976-1985 (98 Bowery)

Police looking for suspect in mugging on Essex and Hester (PIX 11)

An oral history of CBGB (Medium/Cuepoint)

A winter view of the Depression-era East River (Ephemeral New York)

"When you look at all the reasons why New York City has left such an indelible mark on the world, it ultimately has precious fuck-all to do with having been born here." (Flaming Pablum)

Q-and-A with John Waste of Urban Waste (Noisey/Vice)

Red Velvet Oreo Ice Cream coming to Davey's on First Avenue this weekend (Grub Street)

Update on residential conversion of 41 Great Jones (Curbed)

In case you wanted Andy Warhol-inspired Chuck Taylors (Tasting Table)

A surprising trip to Foley's on West 33rd Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Cops keeping surveillance on Washington Square Park visitors in real time (Washington Square Park Blog)

For your Valentine's Day: EVG's favorite love songs, sort of (Stupefaction)

... and "Law and Order: SVU" was back in the neighborhood filming this week, including at First Houses on East Third Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...


[Photo by Yenta Laureate]

More about Taste Wine, coming soon to 50 Third Ave.



Back in December we noted that a new wine shop was in the works for 50 Third Ave. near East 10th Street.

Gary Landsman, the proprietor of the incoming Taste Wine, shared more information with us about the shop that he hopes to have up and running this spring.

About Taste Wine:

"The store will have a relatively small selection of wines. We don't think it makes sense to overwhelm people with choice — choosing which wine to buy can be difficult enough. We also intend to have a pretty comprehensive tasting program so people can try their wines much like we try on clothing. And we will have a wine tasting room in the back of the space where we will hold nightly and maybe even twice-per-night wine education/appreciation sessions."

About his background:

"From about 1999-2002, I was a part-time NYU business school student. I was trading stocks, and felt pretty empty inside. I got out and spent some time in the restaurant world where I fell in love with wine. Finally, in 2006, I sublet my apartment and went to Israel where I worked a harvest season at a small boutique winery in the Judean Hills. After the harvest, I went to Napa where I worked at a larger 'custom crush' facility through the winter.

I came back to NYC in 2007 and … I ended up getting a job in sales with a wine distributor … then after selling wine for a couple of years I was recruited by some new wine industry friends to help out with marketing for a wine importer/distributor.

But opening a place where consumers could comfortably find wine that suits them has been my dream for several years now. So I left my job at the end of 2013 and have been working on this project ever since."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Biomed Drugs & Surgical Supply Co. closing on 3rd Avenue

Report: Deal finalized to create public-private partnership for 6 public housing developments


[File photo of Campos Plaza]

The New York City Housing Authority reportedly finalized a deal earlier this week to sell a 50-percent stake in six Section 8-subsidized developments to L+M Development Partners and BFC Partners for $360 million, plus another $100 million in additional renovation investments.

The sale comprises 10 buildings and 874 units, including Campos Plaza on Avenue C and East 12th Street and East 4th Street Rehab between Avenue B and Avenue C in the East Village.

The Observer has more on the deal, made final on Tuesday:

The sale, which places the properties in the hands of the newly-formed Triborough Preservation Partners, a public-private partnership ... was carried out as a means of opening a variety of funding streams to address the Section 8 facilities’ decrepit condition — they are estimated to require some $113 million in maintenance and repair over the next 15 years — in the absence of federal dollars, which mostly dried up in the 1990s.

And!

Without the establishment of a public-private partnership, the new funding sources, which will supply financing for construction, operations and maintenance of reserves, would not have been available to NYCHA, which as a public entity is ineligible for the loans, tax credits and other financial instruments responsible for the fresh funds.

Shola Olatoye, the chair and CEO of NYCHA, said that her organization will retain approval and oversight rights with respect to all major decisions.

You can find more background on the story at Curbed. And The Wall Street Journal.

The Adele has a shuttle van


[Via Streeteasy]

The Adele is the new luxury 12-story residential building on East Houston and Avenue D (technically 310 E. Second St.).

Living this far east … well, you have some bus options (M9, M22 and the M14D) … or else face a short walk to the F … or maybe the 6 at Bleecker/Lafayette.

The distance from a subway line might be a deterrent for a potential tenant. Which is why, perhaps, there have been multiple sightings of an alleged Adele shuttle van in recent weeks.

Said one EVG reader, who has been keeping tabs: "I just saw the Adele subway shuttle again. Pretty sure that's what it is. The van was filled with seats but no people driving east on Bleecker. After a drop off at Broadway-Lafayette I presume. Oy vey. That's so Trump Plaza of them."

And finally Dave on 7th recently caught the Adele van in action...



A shuttle service isn't listed under the Adele's amenities on its website… and the van doesn't offer any further explanation about the Adele's puzzling marketing slogan: "In a city where everyone is always going somewhere, YOU'LL ALREADY BE HERE."

About that Bill de Blasio-tagged van on East 6th Street



The other evening we noticed this van with the Bill de Blasio tag on it parked on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Turns out the van belongs to Vit Horejs, artistic director of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre. He owns several vans, all named Molly, to transport theatrical equipment.

According to Bonnie Sue Stein, Vit's friend and director of the nonprofit organization 7 Loaves Inc/GOH Productions, the de Blasio tag arrived about two weeks ago.

"The van was not tagged for weeks when we got it, but as soon as one person started, it hasn't stopped," said Stein, a community organizer in the East Village for more than 30 years. "It's frustrating. Vit says he wishes they did a better job. It's not very well-executed. It's a mess. People have been laughing about the de Blasio tag. And one woman who saw it said we should sell the van to a museum because of the de Blasio tag."

New works from East Village artist Anton van Dalen go on display tonight in Chelsea


[Stromboli Pizzaman 2011-2012, oil on canvas, by Anton van Dalen]

Longtime East Village artist Anton van Dalen begins a month-long exhibition of new work tonight at the P.P.O.W. Gallery, 535 W. 22nd St. between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue in Chelsea. (The P.P.O.W. Gallery started its life in the East Village in 1983.)

The opening is tonight from 6-8. The work will be up through March 14. Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

And an Anton van Dalen sneak preview via his website


Thursday, February 12, 2015

Waiting for dinner at the Odessa


[Click on image to enlarge]

EVG contributor Michael Sean Edwards dines at the Odessa lunch counter…

Brooklyn will now host the Mr. Lower East Side Pageant


[Photo last year by Walter Wlodarczyk]

Funny thing happened on the way to the 16th annual Mr. Lower East Side Pageant — it's moving to the Lucky 13 Saloon in Gowanus.

Here's more from the Pageant's creator, Rev. Jen, on Facebook:

Sadly, the infamous Mr. Lower East Side Pageant, which was originally scheduled for January 31st at Cake Shop was cancelled at the last minute due to the "fun police" and fear of penile exposure. So in a bizarre turn of events it's moving to Brooklyn! This is OK, given the Lower East Side is a state of mind and frankly, the Lower East Side can suck it, as all creative activity has been exiled from the neighborhood due to greedy landlords. (Landlords recently almost exiled me from the LES in housing court!) I'm pretty sure that someday, the Mr. Lower East Side Pageant will be held in New Jersey.

You can find more details and the rest of Rev. Jen's announcement on the Facebook event page.

H/T The Lo-Down!

37 St. Mark's Place finally lands another tenant


[Yes, it's an older photo]

DF Mavens has a new upstairs neighbor on the northwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue...

Please say hello to Taiji's Body Work... the fifth Taiji location in the city...


[Yes, there's a typo]

Per the pamphlets (which also are marked Peng's Body Work), they offer Tui-na, Swedish, Deep Tissue, Reflexology and Hot Stone... among other specialties... (60 minutes = $45.)



The most recent upstairs tenant, 8-Bit and Up, the retro video shop, moved to East Third Street in the fall of 2013.