Box Kite Coffee opening at former Tuck Shop space on St. Mark's Place?

The Tuck Shop closed its location on St. Mark's Place near Avenue A on July 7. According to the sign on the door, the shop closed for a variety of reasons, including "Gentrification ... Rent is too damn high!, Laziness/ennui, Albany/Bloomberg and Gluten-free people."

Word here is that the storefront will become home to Box Kite Coffee, a shop operated by barista Cora Lambert.

Paperwork filed ahead of last night's CB3/SLA committee meeting shows a change in ownership at 115 St. Mark's Place.



A recent issue of Imbibe magazine had an item about Box Kite Coffee opening in NYC...



We haven't heard official confirmation of this... and there's no other word on a possible opening date.

No help likely to spare Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church from demolition

Last week we reported on the ongoing prep work to demolish the former Mary Help of Christians school and rectory. The church on East 12th Street, which opened in 1917, remains free of the demolition bondage as of last night.

As previously reported, East Village community and preservation groups were hoping that the historic church that developer Douglas Steiner plans to develop can be spared... the groups learned that a large cemetery was formerly found on this site, and called for a complete archaeological evaluation of the site before any work proceeded.

And what became of that request following the press conference on May 23?

"We did hear back from the Landmark Preservation Commission that they abdicated all responsibility to even require an archeological survey," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "So Steiner may end up digging up bodies, and the public may never know."

As far as next steps with trying to preserve the church, Berman said that their options are limited.

"Thus far common sense, decency, reasonable alternatives, and appeals to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to do their job have not stopped Steiner from moving ahead with his cemetery-condos plan," he said.

Steiner bought the property last fall for an unspecified residential complex.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

Tonight's sunset

East Sixth Street this evening.

Play ball

Photo today in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams

After 65 days, Cooper Union students end occupation of president's office

[May 10]

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Joint Statement by Former Occupiers of the President’s Office, the Administration, and Board of Trustees of The Cooper Union, July 15th, 2013

The administration, Board of Trustees of The Cooper Union and those members of the Cooper Union community who have been occupying the Office of the President since early May have reached an agreement that ended the occupation on Friday.

A working group will be established promptly to undertake a good faith effort to seek an alternative to tuition that will sustain the institution’s long-term financial viability and strengthen its academic excellence.

The working group will consist of Board, faculty, alumni, students and administration representatives and will report to the administration and Board of Trustees for consideration at the December Board of Trustees Meeting.

The Board also confirmed, in accordance with the motion approved at the June Board meeting, that procedures for student representation on the Board will be established at the September meeting.

An interim room has been identified as a Community Commons that can serve as a student center or a community center for all members of the Cooper Community.

All individuals who have violated Cooper Union policies throughout the period of the occupation will be granted amnesty, and in turn, commit to complying with, and cooperating with the enforcement of, all laws and Cooper Union policies.

Here's a look at the start of Day 65 on Friday...

The sun just rose on 65 days of occupation at Cooper Union https://t.co/8lYOs7Mu8h

— Free Cooper Union (@FreeCooperUnion) July 12, 2013

Find more details here.

Previously.

The good news is the humidity is only at 36%

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Avenue B yesterday. Photo by Bobby Williams]

[Photos] Looking at Linda Simpson's "Drag Explosion" (Paper)

A Greenwich Village map from 1961 (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

An alleged assault by a Joe Doe cook yesterday on East First Street (BoweryBoogie)

Robert Sietsema on greasy spoons (Eater)

A postcard tribute to John Wanamaker’s department store on Fourth Avenue and East 9th Street (Ephemeral New York)

A commemorative plaque for the Stonewall Inn (The Villager)

Watch the Ramones play their 13th concert in the summer of 1974 (Rolling Stone)

Remembering the Astrotower at Coney Island (Amusing the Zillion)

Happy Birthday Johnny Thunders

Johnny Thunders, aka John Anthony Genzale, Jr., would have been 61 today. You was a New York Doll... and later a Heartbreaker.

In an interview with us back in March, Sylvain Sylvain of the Dolls spent some time talking about Thunders.

[He] had an apartment on Avenue A. His closet was like — everything would be pressed and dry cleaned. He had a real unique way of dressing and picking this and this and that and putting it all together.

When we were picking names for the band, he called me, well, he called Ricky Corvette, and run names by me. 'What do you think of Johnny Thunder?' I'd was like Yeah, that's pretty cool Johnny. The phone would ring five minutes later. What about Johnny Thunders?

You can listen to a Johnny Thunders birthday special hosted by Jesse Malin from last year over at East Village Radio.

The Wafels & Dinges café is now open on Avenue B

[Image via @FondaRestaurant]

The first Wafels & Dinges outpost is now open on Avenue B and East Second Street... the café is based on the same concept as the popular food trucks in circulation around the city ...

W&D founder Thomas DeGeest, an East Village resident, told us back in January that the store was "progressing at turtle speed." He also noted that it "will be as much a good coffee place as a waffle and ice cream place."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Wafels & Dinges opening a café on Second Street and Avenue B?

Wafels & Dinges hoping for a spring opening on Avenue B

Reader report: Klean and Kleaner has closed

[File photo]

As we reported last September, Klean & Kleaner, the laundromat at 173 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, was on the market for use as a bar or restaurant.

Off and on during the last few months, we heard that the laundromat was closing very soon... On April 30, we thought the end was here. "They were loading trucks all afternoon. Wouldn't let me drop off clothes unless I was ok picking up in '2-3 days' at an undefined location," said one neighbor.

However, they remained open through this past weekend. Staff was there yesterday for customers to pick up their laundry. There was a sign noting that the washers were out of service. (Someone had removed the doors to the washers.)

Meanwhile, EVG Facebook friend Edward Arrocha took these photos in late April. "They are devastated," he said of the staff. "I will miss them."









Word is the landlord is now asking $18,000 a month in rent. As previously reported, the owners of the Living Room on Ludlow Street were hoping to take over this space, though the CB3/SLA committee turned down that proposal in May.

Also, this marks the third East Village laundromat to close in the last few months. (East 10th Street and East 13rd Street.)


[Yesterday]

Previously.

Alphabets opens new outpost on Avenue A

As you may have noticed, a new outpost of Alphabets opened Saturday on Avenue A between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street... the gift shop, which has been around since 1985, is located at 115 Avenue A near East Seventh Street... However, as we understand it, this location will be closing in the coming months...



According to public records, the building at 115 Avenue A was sold last August for $3 million. The LLC that bought the building shares the address as the notorious 9300 Realty (owned by Croman Realty). A tipster told us that Alphabets could not negotiate a new lease. Thankfully, they found a nearby space.

'This prominent corner retail space' still available on Avenue A

On the topic of Avenue A between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street ... 72 Avenue A at East Fifth Street has been on the market since the East Village Pharmacy moved to East Third Street and Avenue A in 2011.

Massey Knakal now has the listing, which reads:

This prominent corner retail space features frontage on both Avenue A and East 5th Street. The landlord would consider food in this location, however vented cooking is not possible. The soaring ceilings add tremendous appeal, while the wraparound glass frontage provides excellent visibility to a future tenant.

Rent is available upon request.

Meanwhile, there is a rumor that some kind of FroYo operation is moving into the space next door (the other half of the storefront that housed the pharmacy). We haven't heard anything else about this in the past week...

Rat battle on East Second Street

We've heard from several residents who live on East Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... These residents say that there is a rat problem at 188 E. Second St, a single-level structure that's home to the beverage distribution company.



Said one resident: "It's full of rats that run and in out all night. Dozens of them. People walk their dogs here. There are little kids. A restaurant next door. It's a real mess."

The residents don't think that the operators here are doing enough to curb the rat population. Calls to 311 haven't done much, the residents say. And now a sign campaign has started.



However, the Beverage folks have responded... providing their side of the story...

Marshal seizes former LaVie space on East First Street

La Vie on East First Street shut for good last month following an ongoing battle with neighbors over a variety of quality-of-life issues... Neighbors had long complained that La Vie was operating as a club under the guise of a restaurant.

As we first reported on June 11, the 1st Department of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the revocation of La Vie's liquor license. Although that decision was handed down on June 6, the club remained open until at least June 15.

For several days after that, workers cleaned out the space... and last week, the marshal seized the storefront ...turning the space over to the landlord...



Just a formality, but one that made several neighbors happy.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] La Vie closed for now on East First Street

New York Supreme Court upholds revocation of La Vie's liquor license

La Vie has closed; neighbors rejoice

L'asso EV has closed

[July 10 via @davidsokol]

L'asso EV has closed... there's no sign on the gate or announcement about the closure on its website on social media properties... the pizzeria on First Avenue between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street opened in late 2011...

We had talked with Greg Barris, a partner at L'asso EV, in the past. (He gave us the info on L'asso EV's hardcore/punk cassette art exhibit last summer.) When we reached out to him over the weekend, we learned that Barris left L'asso about six months ago and was not aware of the current situation. However: "It is disappointing. I spent almost every day for a year working on building that place and getting it going — it's a shame," he said via email.

The original L'asso outpost on Mott Street remains open.

In August 2011, when news of L'asso's expansion arrived, Rebecca Marx asked a reasonable question when she was writing for Fork in the Road: How much more pizza does the East Village really need?

At that time, there were 44 pizza places in the East Village.

Per Marx:

"[W]hile we appreciate the plenitude and variety, the whole thing is getting a bit rote: fancy pizzeria announces intentions to open/expand into the neighborhood, promises to forever alter the pizza landscape, opens, gets blogged about, and settles into comfortable mundanity. If you want to worry people, open a slaughterhouse."

Noted

An Urban Etiquette Sign on Avenue A... "Listen up, this roof is under 24/7 video surveillance and we have many 'eyes and ears' in the building looking at for you guys."

At the Trayvon Martin rally in Union Square this evening

(Stencils by @artofandres)



Photos by Shannon O'Toole. (The photos are from the second of the two rallies in Union Square today to protest George Zimmerman's acquittal ... and show support for the slain teen Trayvon Martin.)

Goggla has photos here from Union Square.

Updated.

union square rally #TrayvonMartin pic.twitter.com/NMtIWHD4UT

— Macey J. Foronda (@maceyjforonda) July 14, 2013

After the Union Square rally, those in attendance marched down Broadway... and worked their way though the East Village... one estimate on Twitter put the march at three-to-four blocks long...

Longest sustained chant: "Trayvon is dead. Zimmerman is free. That's what we call democracy." #TrayvonMartin pic.twitter.com/Ih0jgoziZK

— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) July 14, 2013

... the protestors eventually headed north up First Avenue... where they amassed in Times Square.

Gothamist has more on the rallies here.

Week in Grieview

[Outside Jules Bistro on St. Mark's Place]

Eviction inspires East Village resident to create this one-woman play (Thursday)

Estranged husband slashes wife on Avenue D (Wednesday)

Two men snatch $100,000 in East Ninth Street robbery (Tuesday)

A fish market for First Avenue? (Friday, 45 comments)

Tuck Shop closes St. Mark's Place location (Monday)

Burlesque is back on the Lower East Side (Friday)

An abandoned car on a lot that will one day be home to a 13-floor residential building (Monday)

S'MAC closes kiosk in First Park (Friday)

The Citi Bike stationary workout (Friday)

Goloka Juice Bar & Health Shop opens on East Fifth Street (Tuesday)

The Smell (Wednesday)

About the 2Bn2C sculpture garden (Tuesday)

Empire Biscuit launches a Kickstarter campaign (Tuesday, 105 comments)

2013 recap: Out and About in the East Village (Wednesday)

Look at Rite Aid now! (Monday)

Shiti Bikes (Tuesday)

1-5 now for Thursday night screenings in Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)

Update on 185 Avenue B (Tuesday)

Topless Diner Week in Review [NSFW]

Here's a little background about how a photo taken at an East Village restaurant apparently became "the topless shot heard 'round the world."

On Monday morning, Verso owner Labinot Baraliu told us about a woman who removed her top after walking into the Italian bistro on Avenue C and East Eighth Street the previous evening.

The folks at Verso asked the woman to put her shirt back on ... and after a brief protest, she and her dining companion, who was photographing the entire episode, left. For his part, Baraliu thought it was a funny little story that locals might like.

Probably so. Eater linked to the story on Monday morning. On Tuesday, Gothamist and Jezebel both linked to the post.

On Wednesday morning, we heard from a responsible party — East Village-based photographer Allen Henson. He recently moved here from Los Angeles. He had been out with model Cheyenne Lutek. He offered this background. "It was an impromptu photoshoot. We did two that night," he said. "The first establishment loved it and interacted, the other, well — we weren't there long."

Meanwhile on Wednesday, news of the topless diner had made it into the Daily News, MSN and The UK Daily Mail. The item was also seemingly syndicated to various FM radio station websites across the country... such as 94.5 "the Buzz — Houston's New Rock Alternative" and Dave and Chuck the Freak at 101 WRIF in Detroit. (Please keep in mind that we weren't sending this around to anyone to feature.)

Then a story on what happened appeared in The Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan. Someone told us that it was the paper's most-viewed article for the day.

On Thursday, the Daily News had a feature titled "EXCLUSIVE: Sexy Cheyenne Lutek goes topless at East Village restaurants."


[Allen Henson via the Daily News]

Then the UK Daily Mail picked up the story again with this breathless headline: 'I'm not ashamed of my body': Model who was kicked out of New York restaurant for exposing her breasts speaks out

There was, apparently, even more coverage. Per the Daily Mail:

It's the topless shot heard 'round the world. A picture of a comely blonde who took off her shirt at a trendy New York restaurant has become an internet sensation - picked up by publications from Italy to Russia to China.

Closer to home, the Daily News really liked this story, as it was the basis for a political cartoon on Friday.


[Via Crazy Eddie]

By last night, Lutek was posing with the NYPD on Avenue C.


[Allen Henson via Twitter]

In the end, that post from Monday became the second most-viewed in EVG history, far behind another post about a topless woman. All this maybe provides some insights about how the media works. Or maybe what's wrong with the media. (Or humanity?) And it's probably too late to put up a paywall ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Female diner decides to go topless last night at Verso

The start of a summer day at Tompkins Square Park