Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Wednesday's parting shot
Get ready to say so long to the Stomp sign
Photo by Steven
Workers were spotted measuring the marquee today at the Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... word is the "Stomp" sign will be coming down soon to make way for signage of a new production.
No word just yet on what might be next here in the famed theater. (There are rumors of an April start date.)
"Stomp" ended its 29-year run here in early January.
According to Cinema Treasures: "The site on which the Orpheum stands is alleged to have been a concert garden as early as the 1880s and, as such, to be one of the oldest continuously operating places of gathering for entertainment events in New York City."
In the 1980s, the Orpheum was well-known for Off-Broadway productions such as Little Shop of Horrors in 1982, Sandra Bernhard's Without You I'm Nothing in 1988, Eric Bogosian's Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll in 1990, John Leguizamo's Mambo Mouth in 1991, and David Mamet's Oleanna in 1992.
About Radhika & Saman, a pop-up shop featuring handmade clothing from India and Pakistan
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Radhika & Saman is a pop-up clothing boutique at 618 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.
Proprietor Saman Mahmood sells dresses (which can be custom-ordered), skirts, tops, and other accessories handcrafted by women in Pakistan and India.
Mahmood's business partner, Radhika Khanna, whom she met while a student at FIT in 2001, died of lupus in February 2022 at age 47. Part of the shop's proceeds goes to the Lupus and aHUS Foundation.
The storefront also includes handmade jewelry by Casey Clark ...
Radhika & Saman will be here through Sunday, though Mahood hopes they can either extend the pop-up shop or find a new space in the East Village or Lower East Side. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A corner lot awaits new development on 5th Street and Avenue D
As previously reported, a 13-story mixed-use building is slated for this now-empty property...
As NY Yimby first reported:
In recent years, several new developments, including the Adele ... Arabella 101 and NIKO East Village, have risen along this Avenue D corridor.
The proposed 125-foot-tall development will yield 62,200 square feet designated for residential space. The building will have 85 residences, with an average unit scope of 731 square feet. The concrete-based structure will also have 15 inclusionary housing units and a cellar but no accessory parking.
Public records show that Manny Ashourzadeh, via Golbar LLC, is behind this new project.
Uncle Johnny, the longtime grocery store, closed here in February 2022.
In recent years, several new developments, including the Adele ... Arabella 101 and NIKO East Village, have risen along this Avenue D corridor.
Openings: Döner Haus on 14th Street
The quick-serve establishment sells "real German kebabs" (chicken, beef or vegan) in a bread pocket... as well as fries.
Döner's website lists hours of 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, with a 3 a.m. close on Friday and Saturday.
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Stump town no more in Tompkins Square Park
Photos by Steven
Over the past two days, workers have removed several stumps from around Tompkins Square Park (using the trusty Rayco RG70X!) ...
... one of the workers said the city will be planting new trees in these spots...
The Park has lost several trees in the past few years... like this one... and this one... and this one.
[Updated] Slowing down speed merchants on 3rd Street
The city added similar bumps along this corridor, though on Second Street and Fourth Street between A and D, back in September 2021.
NYC residents can put in a request for speed reducers at this link.
RIP Tim Lomas
By Maggie Dubris
Updated: A memorial of his life is set for May 20.
Tim Lomas, artist, musician, teacher, photographer and longtime East Village resident, died suddenly at home on Feb. 17.
In many ways, Tim was the quintessential
East Villager, living in his top-floor apartment on Avenue B since the early 1980s. He
had a plot in the 6th and B Garden, played at the Pyramid Club and 8BC with his band
Mercury Mile, and walked his beloved Ginger in Tompkins Square Park.
Tim’s art and
ceramic work graces scores of apartments in the neighborhood, and the dinners he
hosted sparked lifelong friendships, creating a tribe that spans borders and generations.
Tim once said, “The greatest artwork you’ll ever make is the one you make with your
life.” His life was truly a masterpiece. In addition to his songs, painting and ceramic work, and many collaborative creative projects, Tim was a talented teacher, serving
for years as an inspiration to children at the Third Street Music School and the Ideal
School.
In 2005, he traveled to Thailand to help in the tsunami relief effort, and there the
seeds of his foundation, The Global Children’s Art Programme, were first sown. He went
on to spend nearly every summer bringing the joy of art and creativity to underserved
and traumatized children in Thailand, Greece, Turkey, and Cambodia. He worked with
artists worldwide to create a network of local programs in Africa, India, and throughout
Asia.
Tim’s death sparked an outpouring of both grief and gratitude. Grief for the sudden loss
of this precious spirit, and gratitude for his having touched and changed so many lives.
If you get a chance, walk by the 6th and B Garden, and look for the small plot filled with
sculptures and outlined in twinkling lights. It’s one of Tim’s many contributions to the East Village that he loved.
For sale: 171 1st Ave., home of Momofuku and the only cast-iron building in the East Village
Here are the details via Avison Young:
171 First Avenue, the only cast-iron property in the East Village, spans 10,674 gross square feet and consists of five total units across five stories. The ground floor space (and lower level) is occupied by Momofuku Noodle Bar, which is owned and operated by notorious restaurateur David Chang. There are four FM loft-style residential units across floors 2-5.
Asking price: $10.59 million.
Chang opened Noodle Bar here in 2004.
In 2019, a Miami real-estate investor bought both 169 and 171 First Ave. for $14 million, per the Post.
Image via Avison Young
Storefront reveal: Raf's at the former Parisi Bakery on Elizabeth Street
Raf's "aims to evoke the grand cafés of Europe and create an intimate space for café culture downtown," per Forbes. The new space will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Raf's will also be making use of Parisi's "immaculately preserved built-in bread ovens."
Eater has a preview here.
Reservations for Raf's start this week.
ICYMI: Parisi Bakery, a sibling of the famed Mott Street institution, closed in the summer of 2021. The Elizabeth Street outpost had produced all of its bread for restaurants and groceries since 1974.
Monday, March 6, 2023
Check out emerging bands this week at the New Colossus Festival
This celebration of independent music takes (March 8-12) at East Village and LES venues — Pianos, Mercury Lounge, Berlin, Heaven Can Wait, Bowery Electric and Arlene's Grocery. (There's also a special show with A Place to Bury Strangers at the Bowery Ballroom on Sunday.)
As we've said in previous years, it's a great (and inexpensive way) to check out a lot of new/emerging bands. (Find badge info at this link.)
The New Colossus Festival started in 2019.
The historic 137 2nd Ave. — the former Stuyvesant Polyclinic — is now for sale
The landmarked building constructed in the 1880s at 137 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street can now be yours for just over $22.5 million.
In 2019, the three-level (plus) space became the headquarters of the female-focused co-working club The Wing. Per reports at the time, "the HQ is intended to riff off the building's original details, such as existing terracotta tile floors, decorative pillars, moldings and skylights."
According to Curbed, who first reported on this availability, "The Wing's furniture is still in the building and can be included in the sale."
Here's what you get via the Cushman & Wakefield listing:
The Property features 50’ of frontage along 2nd Avenue and is located steps from New York's most iconic destinations and landmarks. The Property is currently configured as a state-of-the-art, turnkey, elevator commercial building that will be delivered vacant, making it a rare blank canvas opportunity for future purchasers.Its previous tenant retrofitted every inch of the space into pristine, Class A office space with excellent ceiling heights, abundant light and air, ample outdoor space, and flexible floor layouts. The Property also benefits from its flexible zoning allowing residential, commercial, mixed-use, recreational or community facilities.
This wide array of potential uses makes this a perfect opportunity for a future townhouse or residential redevelopment, or a future headquarters for an office user as well as a wide array of other users including religious organizations, governments, family offices, foundations, doctors ...
A future townhouse!
Here's more about the building from 2008 New York Times feature:
Like the branch library next door, the Second Avenue building of the German Dispensary was the gift of Anna and Oswald Ottendorfer, who ran the German newspaper New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung. That journal had great influence in Little Germany, on the Lower East Side around First and Second Avenues below 14th Street. The 1886 edition of Appleton's Dictionary of New York described an area in which "lager-beer shops are numerous, and nearly all the signs are of German names."
And...
In more recent years — until its sale [in 2008] — the old dispensary building was part of Cabrini Medical Center. Although hospitals are notoriously hard on historic architecture, the interior of the Schickel building was remarkably intact, if run-down, with intricate stairway ironwork and door enframements, red marble wainscoting and a highly colored tile floor.
In 2008, a British consulting firm bought the building for $13 million. Following the sale, the firm hired architects David Mayerfield Associates to restore both the interior and exterior.
Per a feature at Daytonian in Manhattan:
When dropped ceilings in the main hall were removed, the 1884 skylights, blacked out in World War II, were rediscovered. Similarly, stained-glass panels in the ceiling of the staircase were uncovered. The colorful encaustic tile floors had been covered over with concrete which was meticulously scraped away.
The building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1976. Learn more about No. 137's history and architecture at Off the Grid here.
City and state officials continue cracking down on illegal smoke shops
Top 2 photos by Stacie Joy; others by EVG
Law enforcement officials returned to two East Village shops to slap them with restraining orders to prohibit them from selling unlicensed cannabis.
A restraining order now hangs on the storefront at Saint Marks Convenience & Smoke Shop, 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. The retaining order notes that the "unlicensed sale of cannabis" is prohibited...
The shop remains in business, selling smoking accessories and exotic flavors of snacks.
The shop appears to be permanently shuttered. (And it had been challenging for Runtz. Armed robbers reportedly took them for $5,400 shortly after opening this past August.)
Both businesses were the target of a multi-agency sweep on Feb. 9, a show of force after Mayor Adams and Manhattan DA Bragg announced that they had joined forces, cracking down on illegal storefront operations by targeting the landlords.
In other cannabis-related news, the storefront for the cannabis lifestyle brand CannaCulture NYC has been closed for the past month at 118 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. Someone covered the windows and painted over the façade at the shop, which opened last July...
Last Thursday, the Cannabis Control Board doubled the number of social equity licenses but didn't have an update on a timeline for opening up the broader licensing process for general retail outlets, Gothamist reported.
Per Gothamist: "It could be several months before general business owners who don't qualify for a CAURD license get a chance to set up shop in the new legal cannabis market."
Avant Garden is on the move
Avant Garden, considered the crown jewel of the Overthrow Hospitality plant-based portfolio, will be relocating from 130 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue in the months ahead.
"After eight years in business, Avant Garden is still one of our busiest restaurants at Overthrow Hospitality," Ravi DeRossi, the owner of Overthrow Hospitality, told us in an email. "The 28-seat space with its tiny electric kitchen just isn't able to meet the demand anymore so we will be moving into a new and bigger space."
No details just yet where the new Avant Garden will live ... or the exact timing.
"We do not expect there to be any lapse at all between the closure of the current location and the opening of the new location," he said.
The listing (PDF here) at Meridian Capital Group notes a June 1 possession date. The asking rent is $8,500 a month.
Michelin named Avant Garden one of NYC's five-best vegetarian restaurants, a list that includes Overthrow's Cadence and Soda Club.
During the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Avant Garden provided free plant-based meals to anyone in need.
CJ Tattoo relocates from St. Mark's Place to Avenue C
Photos by Stacie Joy
CJ Tattoo has a new home at 55 Avenue C at Fourth Street.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these photos this past Thursday as workers were prepping the space...
The shop was up and running (with temp signage for now) on Saturday.
CJ was previously at 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue these past nearly six years. No. 55 was last home to O'Flaherty's, the art gallery-performance space now at 44 Avenue A.
Oh my: Oh K-Dog & Egg Toast the latest concept to close at 36 St. Mark's Place
Workers cleared out the storefront late last week, and an employee confirmed the closure to EVG correspondent Steven.
The quick-serve establishment sold Korean-style snacks such as stuffed hot dogs and egg toast ... the space included a K-pop shop, selling music, books, calendars, stickers, etc., for a variety of South Korean bands.
The Texas-based chain still has locations in the NYC metropolitan area, including on Ludlow Street.
This address has seen several concepts come and go without much success... the last business was Joe's Steam Rice Roll ... others included Cheers Cut, the Taiwanese mini-chain of fried foods ... Friterie Belgian Fries ... Fasta ("Pasta Your Way") ... and the $1.50 branch of 2 Bros. Pizza.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Farewell to the barricaded chair of 5th street
Top photo from last month by Steven
For weeks, an office chair sat unused, surrounded by NYPD barricades on the NE corner of Fifth Street and Second Avenue (outside the still-closed Eros-Kitchen Sink).
The chair, which may or may not have been part of a statement on artistic freedom and its importance in developing vibrant democratic societies (or simply just a chair someone rolled in here as a gag), is no longer here...
Week in Grieview
• D.A. announces indictment in assault outside Ray's Candy Store (Thursday)
• Report of a fire at 136 Avenue C (Monday) ... After the fire at 136 Avenue C; A&C Kitchen damaged (Wednesday)
• Anyway Cafe is closing; staff hopes to open new establishment (Monday) ... At the last night of Anyway Cafe (Wednesday)
• Seasoned Vegan coming to the East Village (Thursday)
• On 1st Avenue, New Double Dragon is closing and maybe reopening (Tuesday) ... Serenity Spa remains open on corner rumored for new development (Wednesday)
• A community art project honors the resilience of Ukrainians; it will be on display at Veselka (Thursday)
• The return of B-Side (Friday)
• Potty on! Restrooms randomly back open in Tompkins Square Park after a 4-month closure (Sunday)
• Closing the book for now at Short Stories on the Bowery (Wednesday)
• Night market concept looks to be the life of the Partea on 14th Street (Thursday)
• Virginia's eyes a March debut in new 3rd Street home (Tuesday)
• Hello Dolly: Incoming dessert shop on 1st Avenue has a memorable name (Tuesday)
• A notice to remove the sidewalk dining room at the now-closed Bait & Hook (Monday)
• A look at 'Vital Impetus' at Azure Arts (Friday)
• From Brix to Brick on Clinton (Monday)
• Smoke shop! (Monday)
... and is Saquon Barkley of the NY Giants enjoying his off-season in the neighborhood? As seen in a dry cleaners on Avenue A...
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