Sunday, January 27, 2013

St. Brigid's opening act


This afternoon... photo by EVG reader Jolene... More photos tonight...

Sunday brunch



Tompkins Square Park this afternoon... via East Village resident Shelley Whiddon ...

Week in Grieview

[East 13th Street near Avenue A yesterday]

RIP M15 Select bus flashing blue lights (Tuesday)

Third Rail Coffee opening soon on East 10th Street (Thursday)

The Immigrant is expanding, but Mermaid Inn isn't (Wednesday)

The latest on the No 7-11 campaign (Wednesday ... Thursday ... Friday)

More FroFuckingYo (Tuesday)

There are a lot of Yorkies named Max around here, apparently (Thursday)

... and Kita the Wonder Dag of East 10th Street responds (Friday)

Mystery Lot replacement rises (Tuesday)

Olde Good Things opening on the Bowery (Friday)

Here's the trailer for the new Coen Brothers movie, filmed in part in the East Village (Thursday)

Barney got his ass kicked on East 13th Street (Tuesday)

Jane has worked with NYU students, gypsies and dogs (Wednesday)

Another East Village record store closes (Tuesday)

The Amazing Spider-Man in action on East 12th Street (Sunday)

This alleged shoplifter bit people after stealing Jimmy Choo boots (Thursday)

It was cold (Wednesday)

St. Brigid's reopens: 'We are very blessed to have the church restored'


As you know, St. Brigid's reopens today at 5 with a special invite-only mass for parishioners presided by Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan. We asked Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, if he ever thought he'd see this day after the church on Avenue B and East Eighth Street closed in 2001:

I must admit there were times when I felt very low and discouraged. But this is the way the Lord works to test your faith. He will bring you almost to the edge and how one respond defines who you are. Although I was very discouraged, I never lost faith and I never got angry. A trap many fell into. The Lord put many people in my path. All served a purpose, different talents and skills came togather to achive this goal ... We are very blessed to have the church restored.

Previously on EV Grieve:
13 keys dates in the 165-year history of St. Brigid's, reopening on Sunday

4 year old debuts East Village snowffiti


East Seventh Street.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

[Updated] Window smashed at the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place

Not sure at this time what happened here at the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place... EVG friend Bonnie DeWitt sent these along this evening...



The window here was also smashed last April...

Anyone know what happened here tonight?

Updated 1-27
A clerk said that a "crazy street person" tossed what looked like a small weight or chunk of metal at the window. (The store has the object in its possession now.) No word on what led to the window attack.

Today's hawk




Tompkins Square Park via Bobby Williams

RIP Alan Shenker aka Yossarian

[East Side Book Store, Saint Mark's Place 1972. Photo by Patrick Rosenkranz]

Several readers have passed along word that Alan Shenker, aka Yossarian/Yo, a legendary figure in the underground comics world in the late 1960s and beyond, died on Jan. 14. He was 67.

Among many other endeavors, he created illustrations and comics for the East Village Other, Gothic Blimp Works, The Rat, Kiss and the New York Ace.

He lived on St. Mark's Place the past 35 years.

There are features on his life here at The Comics Journal ... and at The Paris Review.

There is also a new Facebook page for him. Per the description:

A Page dedicated to the spirit of Alan Shenker/Yossarian: Son of Levittown, Revolutionary, Mordant Wit, Illustrator Par Excellence, Imbiber of Spirits, Flâneur, Haircutter, East Villager, Crank, Soul Man & Friend.

You can find an array of his artwork here at Babylon Falling.

[Via Babylon Journal]

From The Comics Journal yesterday:

His friends described his lifestyle as a “flaneur” or a “downtown habituĂ©.” “He did what all New Yorkers do,” said [longtime friend] Maryann. “He complained about everything. He sat around drinking coffee at cafes. He talked to everyone. He was totally righteous and he never sold out.”

Woo-en Commission Report: Snow penis outbreak reaching epidemic proportions in the East Village

All sorts of reports coming in this morning about last night's light snowfall.

Per one reader:

Dicks.. dicks.. every...everywhere.... I can't...Hel...

Then the transmission broke off.

East 13th Street.


East Seventh Street


There are even McSorley's branded snow peepees.


East First Street


East Second Street. Where things just got...ugly.


There are more. But you get the idea.

At some point over the next few months of winter, all of us will entertain our worst fears and concerns. But I can also promise you this. Life will go on. We will prevail.

Otherwise, what a beautiful East Village morning...



...and noted on the EV Grieve Twitter account...



Friday, January 25, 2013

Trench warfare in Tompkins Square Park


Photo today before the snow via Bobby Williams.

The wrath of Khan on East Fifth Street!


Sophie's in the light snow... on East Fifth Street... where it all began. Photo by Dave on 7th.

And is this snowfall part of Khan? And how many "Wrath of Khan" headlines will this spawn? (Aside from this one...)

Here is the Eyewitness News report on the 'No 7-Eleven' campaign

A Touch of greatness



Magazine with "Touch and Go" circa 1978.

We won't have Michael 'Bao' Huynh to blog about anymore

Via Eater, we learn that Michael 'Bao' Huynh is leaving town...

Per Gael Greene:

Serial restaurant dabbler and assassinator Michael “Bao” Huynh has given up on trying to make money after countless diehard efforts and is leaving tonight for Vietnam, the land of opportunity. Bao III, Obao, Mickey’s Burger, Bia, BaoBQ, Bar Bao, Pho Sure. Nothing really worked for Hunyh, at least not for long...

He left behind quite a trail in the East Village. Such as!

• Baoguette Cafe closed for a few hours back in September and never reopened...


• BaoBQ on First Avenue, which closed in August


• The infamous Barbao-DOB 111 whirlwind on St. Mark's Place back in 2010-11...


Then there was always the promise of something new... like the "Old School Style Philly" cheesesteak place called Mikey's Cheese Steak that never materialized at 23 Third Ave. ... or, better, Bao & Buny, the burger, fried chicken and waffles concept for 125 St. Mark's Place with former Playboy bunny Nicole Van Croft ...

And he probably had more fun with all this than we did.

Eyewitness News airing 'No 7-Eleven' segment today



And I imagine the story will be posted online WABC-7 at some point...

Previously.

Rolling out the barrel, or taps, at Zum Schneider

Zum Schneider is back open today after being closed for a few days for "renovation and mechanical repairs" ... that must include some new taps... spotted by Dave on 7th here on Avenue C and East Seventh Street...


Or maybe it's a new self-serve sidewalk bar...? Ha.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Outside the Stage yesterday morning on Second Avenue]

75-year-old woman critically injured after cab strikes her on East Sixth near Avenue C (Daily News)

More on St. Brigid's reopening (NY1)

The Cannon Co. restaurant supplier on the Bowery prepped for the luxury Karl Fischer condo afterlife (BoweryBoogie)

... and price-chopping on the condos across the Bowery (Curbed)

Bowery peep show circa 2013 (The Gog Log)

When New Yorkers walked across a frozen East River (Gothamist)

When a lot of NYC burned down (Ephemeral New York)

More discussion for the Pier 42 park (The Lo-Down)

On renovating the Main Branch of the NYPL (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Montauk gets its first tattoo parlor (Curbed Hamptons)

...and just 11 months to Christmas!

[Stuy Town this week via EVG reader Mike]

... and tonight at the Pyramid on Avenue A... via the EV Grieve inbox...

Celebrate the sixth installment of LAST UNICORN, a blacklight phantasy dance & performance night brought to you by life curators Jacquelyn Gallo & Rosalie Knox.

*DJ SETS (this month enjoy a hot MĂ©nage Ă  Mike dj pileup)

• Dj Dubious Luxury - Mike Doughty delivers large beats & twisted cut ups you wouldn’t expect but will enjoy! https://soundcloud.com/dubiousluxury

• Dj Mike Bill$ - straight up ninja bringing your favorite ‘heroes of the Obama generation’ to the dance floor

• Dj Nuke Iran - Mike C serves pure dance magic, we just can’t get enough

SPECIAL PERFORMANCES:

- Super Bad Brad - legendary NYC street performer, Brad Prowly, stops by to bless us with his voice from beyond



*PLUS+++
Go-Go Gonzo dancing by REVE; special visual projection experience; free blacklight manicures & $5 house vodka drinks until midnight!

$6/ FREE BEFORE MIDNIGHT - MUST say ‘Last Unicorn’ at the door

13 keys dates in the 165-year history of St. Brigid's, reopening on Sunday

[May 2012]

As we first noted on Jan. 14, St. Brigid's will reopen with an invite-only mass Sunday at 5 presided over by Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Nearly 11 years have passed since the last mass in the main church (there were services in the school basement next door until 2004).

This piece in the Times from 2006 provides a quick summation of the drama involving the near-demolition of the historic church ... and the work of the parishioners and neighbors who never gave up hope that they could save the church. (The Villager thoroughly covered this story through the years. Check out the paper's archives. And we've noted even the most mundane construction detail through the years here.)

Here then are a few key dates in the church's history:

1848 — Workers place the church's cornerstone

1858 — St. Brigid's School opens on East Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C

1861 — Church holds a Requiem Mass for the men of the 69th New York State Militia who had been killed during the Civil War

[1869]

[1880s]

1889 — Church finally consecrated

1890 — the first Greek Catholic Mass in New York City was celebrated in the basement by Rev. Alexander Dzubay

[1928]

[1935]

1954 — New St. Brigid's School opens on Avenue B and East Seventh Street, where it remains today

1962 — Church spires removed because of safety concerns

1988 — Church allows homeless advocates and protesters of the police action to mobilize under its roof during the Tompkins Square Park Riots

[EVG, circa 2008]

1992 — East wall begins separating from the building

2001 — Cardinal Edward M. Egan closes the church

2006 — Demolition begins; parishioners file suit against the Archdiocese, temporarily halting work

2008 — Anonymous "angel" donates $20 million to restore church

2013 — Church reopens

Sources: Wikipedia and Dayton in Manhattan. Oh, and Wikipedia

Photos via the NYPL Digital Gallery.

For further reading:
Dry Dock, shipyards, and St. Brigid's (EV Transitions)

Here's to the next 165 years...

[This morning]

Bob Arihood and Crow's omen at St. Brigid's

No one has chronicled the neighborhood better than Bob Arihood. Here is a repost from Neither More Nor Less dated July 28, 2006 and titled Crow's omen.



As men washed themselves of the filth of a night and day of demolishing the interior of St. Brigid's , a crow sat cawing and harried by small but agitated and persistant birds atop the Gaelic cross at the peak of the facade of the 1848 landmark church of " Mary of Gael ", St. Brigid , the mother church of the Irish immigrants of the middle 19th century .

I am not a soothsayer and thus can not say what the presence of a crow cawing on a cross at a time like this does presage . Is there some dark fate and certain final loss with this church that we must without choice come to know and if so, should we not protest such fate extremely ? Shall this landmark and icon ,our connection with our past , just perish ? Today , the demolishers punched a hole in a stained glass window for fresh air as they demolished the precious interior and then punched a hole in the back wall of the church to defecate the brutally demolished interior of the church into the lot behind the church .Tommorow all will return to court to decide finally whether this demolishing shall stop .

The community wants this church to be saved ...preserved . But it seems there are now powerful forces dead set against saving this church ; powerful forces , the archdiocese , the bishops and the Cardinal , it seems , want St Brigids reduced to ruble . I do not truly understand why . Some say offers to purchase the church at a fair market price and then return St. Brigid's to the community have been made . It is said that the Cardinal has said no to such offers ,thus , can it be that there is more than just the money value of St. Brigid's demolished that is of concern to the archdiocese . The civil courts and the Landmarks Preservation Committee so far seem to be powerless to save this church . Finally ,why has some one not sought in canon law a path to the good grace and aid of His Holiness the Pope and the mother Church when the community now needs them most ?



Find more of Bob's St. Brigid's-related posts here.