EV Grieve

Monday, July 12, 2010

Chipotle banner coming down on First Avenue?

Our friends at East Village Wines report that it looks as if the (ILLEGAL) Chipotle sign on First Avenue and St. Marks might be coming down. There's a big crane with some guy wobbling up top fidgeting with the sign. And there's nothing on the truck to indicate a replacement ad. (Photos anyone?)

Previously on EV Grieve:
That really big Chipotle ad on First Avenue is illegal, probably

Free screening tonight: 'Local Faith Communities of the East Village'

Tonight is the premiere of the documentary "Local Faith Communities of the East Village," a film by East Village resident Anthony Donovan, who, as the Lower East Side History Project put it, "has been selflessly bridging the neighborhood's various religious and spiritual institutions for a long time."

Monday, July 12th, 7:30 p.m.
@ Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at E. Second Street
Free (donations appreciated)

Another fire in the East Village?

An EV Grieve reader noted some smoke coming from what looks like west of First Avenue. There was also a helicopter hovering...I'm stuck at work, so if anyone has any information...

UPDATE (12:03 p.m.)

Several readers have said the fire is on Broadway near Houston... possibly Best Buy? In any event, the fire is apparently out.

UPDATE (12:06 p.m.)
NotifyNYC Emergency personnel are on the scene of a 2 alarm fire at 628 Broadway between East Houston St and Bleecker St.

[Top photo via Twitpic]

[Photo via]

Fear of Dutch Elm Disease in Tompkins Square Park

There's a big operation under way this morning in Tompkins Square Park... workers are removing one of the Park's beautiful elm trees ... A Park supervisor said that this tree and several others have been stricken with Dutch Elm Disease. Unfortunately, several of the trees can't be spared. Officials are worried that the disease from an infected tree's roots will spread to nearby healthy trees. So far, two trees have been removed. The supervisor said they will begin injecting healthy trees with some sort of solution to help keep them healthy.

The supervisor also said that he had been getting grief from several people for removing the trees. "Believe me, no one wants to remove these trees, especially not great old elms like this. But we don't have any choice."

Bagels for Avenue A?

Last week we mentioned that 165 Avenue would be turned into a restaurant/bar, former site of the Monk Thrift Shop....

Well, per a reader comment:

I heard from someone who worked on the construction of Diablo that this next door place will sell bagels.

Another tipster said that it is going to be a shop from the same people who own the Bagel World stores in Brooklyn.

Butter Lane closed until Thursday -- for a folding table and chair violation

Butter Lane, the popular cupcake emporium on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, will be closed for the next three days thanks to the city. Co-owner Maria Baugh told me it is "due to a permitting violation for having a folding table and chairs in front of the shop." A Butter Lane staffer will be posted outside during business hours to answer any questions and give out coupons. The shop reopens Thursday.

"Obviously we're not happy with the penalty, but we plan to make the most of the down time," Baugh says. "Since they can't get paid for their regular work, we're going to pay our staff to plant flowers and do other small clean up/fix up jobs on our block during the three days."

Work is getting real serious at St. Brigid's

The amount of scaffolding continues to increase at St. Brigid's, on Avenue B at Eighth Street...

Meanwhile, looking up from Eighth Street, it almost looks as if the entire northern side of the church has been removed...

That was the side with the enormous crack in the foundation...(previously!)

2 Cooper shows off its windows that open

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A grizzly discovery on First Street

Who killed Teddy? In a dumpster on First Street near Second Avenue.

World Cup humor

Spotted outside the new sushi place on 13th Street and First Avenue.

East Village on Russell Brand alert

The 'Arthur' remake (a travesty that I won't even go into) is filming around Second Avenue and 11th Street tomorrow... The remake stars Russell Brand in the Dudley Moore role... co-starring Jennifer Garner and Nick Nolte....and maybe the old Batmobile.

Flea market today in Tompkins Square Park

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Closing sale at Village Fabrics

As I noted this past Tuesday, Village Fabrics on First Avenue and 11th Street is on the way out... closing sales are going on now...

A lot of comments for Village Fabrics here. The store will be missed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The East Village continues to lose retail diversity

240 Houston fire update

This morning on Houston and Avenue A... workers had boarded up the windows on the top floors...

Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo has an update on the fire here...it's still under investigation...and tenants were allowed back in briefly yesterday to retrieve valuables, including pets. Two cats were found safe in a second-floor apartment.

Previous coverage here.

Discovery Wines back open

The four-alarm fire at 240 Houston on Thursday evening shuttered several businesses... One of them, Discovery Wines, reopened last night. EV Grieve reader BaHa said that there is a lot of ceiling damage, so the overhead lights are out. They are getting by with clip-on lights. However, the refrigeration is working...

Tim from Discovery Wines left this comment for us:

We feel so very lucky to have only water damage and smoke odor.

We must have dumped over 300 gallons of water between last night and this afternoon -- I've never been so happy about a leaking ceiling in all my life!

We've still got a lot of electrical work to straighten out, but we reopened at 5:30 tonight (Friday).

Best of luck to our displaced friends and neighbors and a big thank you to the firefighters who saved lives last night.

All fire coverage here.

No respect! Queen's historic speech interupted at the UN

Those Smurfs!

[Flashback to Wednesday.]

The other day on Seventh Street

Between Avenue B and Avenue C... quickly riding through the spray of an open fire hydrant to make a delivery...