An open door at the former Essex Card Shop on Avenue A

Several readers pointed out that something (or something?) pushed in the front door at the former Essex Card Shop at 39 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street... offering access — as of this morning — inside the very empty city-owned storefront...

The card shop moved to 47 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street in June 2020. And whatever happened to their great old sign?

A note for the tomato thief on 3rd Street

A note as seen on Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue: 

To tomato thief 

You are breaking my heart. 

Please don't do that again. 

Took me months to grow. 

Please bring it back. 

Can exchange w/$ 

Thanks to Michal Pasternak for the photo!

Fall plant & zine fling on 1st Street

A lot of people seemed to enjoy/appreciate this event last time around (June 5!) ... so, the First Street Garden between First Avenue and Second Avenue is hosting another zine and plant swap today from 1-3.

Saturday's open shot

Season's greetings from Search & Destroy on St. Mark's Place.

Friday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Exit9 owner Charles Branstool has (a very limited supply of) upstate-grown pumpkins to give away to participants in the shop's pumpkin carving contest this month. It's all taking place on Instagram... and you can read all about how to take part right here. 

Exit9 is at 51 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street if you want to stop by for any other reason.

The 'Power' and the passion

 

Johnny Marr's latest EP, Fever Dreams Pt 1, is out on Oct. 15. The video here is for a single off that release titled "Spirit Power and Soul."

A fall vintage pop-up on 12th Street tomorrow

The East Village Vintage Collective is hosting a fall vintage pop-up outside its shop on 12th Street tomorrow (Saturday!).

From 1-6 p.m., you can find a handful of merchants selling their wares here at 545 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The latest on the great aisle changeover at Key Food on Avenue A

With photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

As we've been noting, an interior transformation is underway at Key Food on Avenue A and Fourth Street. 

Boxed non-dairy milk has moved. Applesauce has moved. Cookies have moved. More varieties of canned pineapple have seemingly been introduced. A Key source with knowledge of the aisle transitions said that they are trying to change the groupings, so, for example, all the cooking oils are now in the same spot — organic, regular, all price points — so that the customer can choose what they like best.

So far, nothing seems to be off the table in this Great Aisle Overhaul. 

The latest.

As EVG contributor Stacie Joy reports, the sushi and dumplings and the cakes ("for all occasions") have swapped places near the entrance and deli ... (the cake sign was subsequently removed from the sushi and unrelated deli items)...

One question you might have: Key Food sells sushi? (Up there with: there's a mini pool in Tompkins Square Park? Yes!) 

Yes! (Ah!) The sushi is not made on the premises, which is either a good or bad thing. I've seen it delivered via cooler. The sushi looks solid enough. And I'll try it one of these days and post about it. (Has anyone tried it to save me a post? Also, I once ordered bagels from a gas station.)

Anyway! In other moves, bulk items have been combo-ed on aisle six, where you can find the bulk paper towels (RIP aisle 1) and bulk water (RIP aisle 3)...

The bulky items take over the space from the bread...

... which is now on aisle 5 along with the bread crumbs...

However, don't get used to the bulk items on 6. This is a placeholder until the new freezers arrive. Per the last report, aisle 1 will eventually be freezer-free and devoted to a larger-longer produce section.  

More changes are on the way. Lord knows where the ice cream will eventually end up, for instance. In the end, Key also plans to introduce wider aisles (not sure how that will work) and less clutter for ease of access. 

A Key source says the aisle make-over will be complete by Thanksgiving, and it won't impact the grocery's 24/7 schedule. 

So far, there hasn't — thankfully! — been any change to your Key Food shopping soundtrack, which leans into the 1980s (and isn't afraid to go deep on Mike + the Mechanics). Now, step out on aisle 4 with Joe Jackson...

 

Thursday's parting shot(s)

In honor of Hitchcocktober (OK, this wheatpaste has been up here for several weeks!) ... Grace Kelly in a telephone box on First Street and Second Avenue...

Art by @citykittystreet with @d7606art

NYPD searching for 2 suspects in Sunday evening assault on 3rd Street

The NYPD is searching for two male suspects wanted in connection with an early evening assault on Sunday outside 254 E. Third St., which is just west of Avenue C. A third suspect, a 14-year-old, was reportedly arrested on Monday for his part in the attack.

According to police sources and published reports, the three suspects chased down a 19-year-old man, stabbing him multiple times in the process. 

The NYPD released this video footage of the attack, which occurred at 5:45 p.m.

🚨WANTED for ASSAULT: On 10/3/21 at approx. 5:45PM, front of 254 E 3 St @NYPD9PCT Manhattan. The suspects punched, kicked & stabbed a 19 Y/O male victim in his shoulder. Any info call or DM NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS. Reward up to $3,500. pic.twitter.com/9O8omq7Y4m

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) October 5, 2021

The victim was treated and released for stab wounds in his back and shoulder at Bellevue, The Daily Mail reported. 

Police are offering a $3,500 reward for information on this case. Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.

'Pipe Dreams' at the Ninth Street Community Garden & Park dioramas this fall

We're now in prime Dioramas Season at the Ninth Street Community Garden & Park on the northeast corner of Avenue C... as East Village artist J. Kathleen White recently unveiled her 2021 collection. 

This year's theme: "Pipe Dreams," featuring Dog, Otter, Frog and Rabbit.

If you can, take a look at these in person... otherwise, here are some poorly framed photos ... 

White started creating and sharing the dioramas in 2005. Here's her work from 2020 ... 2019 ... 2018 ... 2017 ... 2016 ... 2015 ... 2014 ... 2013 ... 2012 ... and 2011...

Beyond Sushi has not been open lately on 14th Street

The gate has been down of late at the Beyond Sushi outpost at 229 E. 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (Thanks to Pinch for the photo!) 

This location is no longer on the Beyond Sushi website, and Seamless lists them as closed. They did not return a message seeking comment about their East Village store. 

Beyond Sushi, part of a chainlet of plant-based quick-serve restaurants, opened here in July 2012. Four other Beyond Sushi locations remain open in NYC, including at 215 Mulberry St. near Spring.

Mad for Chicken to roost on 14th Street

Renovations have been going on inside the vacant storefront at 230 E. 14th St. According to the @TradedNY account, a Mad for Chicken outpost is opening here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

MFC, which got it starts in Flushing in 2005, serves "soy garlic fried chicken and unique Korean inspired dishes," per its website. 

The expanding company now has five NYC locations and two in Texas. 

The address here was previously home to the Nugget Spot, which closed during the pandemic after a seven-year nugs run. 

H/T Upper West Sider!

[Updated] Today in notes about a kitten stuck in your car's engine

An EVG reader shared this photo... of a note left on a car parked along 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Alert! Please know that there is a kitten stuck in your engine. 

I heard it crying last night and it couldn't come out.

Updated 10/7 

A reader shared this photo from last night... the NYPD responded to a call about the kitten ... they were spotted searching for the kitten under the hood...

Hello again, old friend: Sinkhole reforming in Tompkins Square Park

A sinkhole is starting to form again in Tompkins Square Park ... just inside the entrance at Eighth Street and Avenue B, as EVG regular Salim notes with these photos... it has been in the making now for a few weeks, getting larger, hungrier... 

This is at the site of a trashcan-swallowing sinkhole that enthralled the community a few of us during the summer of 2017. That particular in-progress sinkhole kept this entrance closed for nearly two months during that Summer of the Sinkhole.

Report: Police make arrest in connection to July murder on 1st Avenue

Top photo by MP from July 14

The NYPD has arrested a suspect connected to an early morning murder on First Avenue near Sixth Street this past July 14. 

According to police and published reports, 42-year-old Bronx resident Oneil Brown was brought into custody on Monday. NYPD officials called the East Village case "an apparent prostitution/drug deal gone bad." 

Per amNY: 

"Sources familiar with the investigation said Brown, who had been identified as the prime suspect in the case, was picked up within the confines of the 13th Precinct in Chelsea on Oct. 4. Following questioning, he was booked on one count of murder."

On July 14, 37-year-old Marvin Bellamy, who lived in the Frederick Douglass Houses on the Upper West Side, was found with a puncture wound to his chest on First Avenue near the McDonald's between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. He reportedly died later at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. 

On July 20, police identified a person of interest in the murder investigation. 

Previously

Souen is on the mend after late-September kitchen fire on 6th Street

Damage from a small kitchen fire on Sept. 26 has temporarily shuttered Souen, the longtime macrobiotic restaurant (and EVG favorite!) on Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Ownership shared the top photo on Instagram yesterday, noting, "we're working hard to get our kitchen back in tip-top shape!" No word just yet on an opening date. Updates will be posted to Instagram.

There's also a GoFundMe campaign underway to help Souen with expenses.

Souen's original location, which dates to 1971, closed in early 2019 at 210 Sixth Ave., between Prince and King. The co-op board reportedly struck a deal for a new tenant with a higher rent.  

Sidewalk usage available again on the NE corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

In recent months, we've been noting (here and here) the pedestrian passageway on the north side of St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue. There is/was an ongoing game of barrier accordion that saw the corridor shrink-expand anywhere from 18 inches to, say, an inch (see above).

However, in a rather unexpected development, pedestrians now have FULL access to the sidewalk again. 

As @unitof documented for us yesterday, the project manager at the development site on the corner had the plywood moved back... revealing the sidewalk again on St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue...

And for a moment, on Monday night, there was sidewalk access and a superwide pedestrian barrier...

Now, if someone could only permanently push back the construction of the 10-story office building expected here!

Like a bat out of hell, a Halloween shop pops up on Avenue A

A pop-up shop for the Halloween season is now open at 70 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street (in the vacant storefront between Cafe Social 68 and Mast). 

We're told that two locals, Angel and C.J., are behind this temporary venture. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos from opening day back on Sunday...

This storefront was most recently Appolodine, a nail salon.

Must be the season: Hitchcocktober returns to 2nd Avenue and 12th Street

After a year off, Hitchcocktober is back for October at the Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue at 12th Street. 

And the Village East is screening some of Hitchcock's most famous films on Wednesday evenings at 7 ... with a Halloween night showing of "Psycho" in the big auditorium — the Jaffe Art Theater. 

The lineup: 

• "Rear Window" — Oct. 6 
• "North by Northwest" — Oct. 13
• "Vertigo" — Oct. 20 
• "Strangers on a Train" — Oct. 27 
• "Psycho" — Oct. 31 

Find advance ticket info here. 

Village East by Angelika took over from City Cinemas Village East during the pandemic here at the landmarked theater.