A look at the fire-damaged 11-13 Avenue D

Here's a look at 11-13 Avenue D one week after a two-alarm fire caused smoke and water damage in the 6-floor residential building between Second Street and Third Street. 

Windows on several of the 16 residential units are boarded up. The city also issued a full vacate order on the premises...

Per the city: 

Due to extensive fire damage at 1st-floor restaurant along with fire, water and smoke damage throughout building... fire fighting operations to vent out entire building where all windows and doors have been removed along with removal of the skylight for venting. These hazardous conditions have therefore rendered the ENTIRE premises unsafe to occupy. 

The fire has also shut down the three retail establishments at the address: Joseph's Convenience Store, New Chinatown Restaurant and Royal Fried Chicken. 

Sources said the fire started in the New Chinatown Restaurant, which was not open at the time. An EVG reader and resident of the building left a comment on the post about the fire stating that no one was injured. 

The FDNY has not released an official cause of the fire.

Longtime bar space at 68 2nd Ave. hits the rental market

A for-lease sign now hangs on the front window at 68 Second Ave. at Fourth Street, bringing an official end, for now, to a bar in the corner space. (Thanks to Steven for the photo!)

Last year, the queer-friendly English-style pub Queen Vic from the owners of Boiler Room next door became just Queen ... and more recently, Watering Hole.

Queen Vic opened in September 2010, ending the carousel of bars here, including 2x4, Ambiance and Evolution.

These rainbow photos are pure gold!

We have some late-afternoon rainbow action to share... starting with (above!) Sixth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D courtesy of DeColores Community Yard. (To be clear, the PHOTO is courtesy of DeColores Community Yard, not the actual rainbow.) 

AvenueAnd from Avenue B and 12th Street via David Marsh ...

... and from Aven ue B and 10th Street via Eric Adams's Jetski Instructor (aka @DavyWwavy)...

... and from Ninth Street near First Avenue courtesy of Steven...

Big changes are coming to the iconic skate spot in Tompkins Square Park

One of the city's most iconic skate spots will have a new look and feel by the fall of 2023. 

Next year, the Parks Department will reconstruct the multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park along Avenue A and 10th Street, adding various amenities, including a two-lane seal-coated walking loop, and new asphalt. 

City officials unveiled the plans during Community Board 3's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee virtual meeting this past Thursday (as we first reported here). Max Goodstein, a landscape architect with the Parks Department, provided a brief overview. 

The space, he said, has a lot of "asphalt structural damage," and it "needs to be replaced and repaired. And the only way to do that is to take all the asphalt down to the sub base and put new asphalt down." 

Other additions: new benches, a kickball court, a high-low fountain that kids and adults can use simultaneously, and three new basketball backstops at the eastern end, replacing the ones that always seem to be damaged. 

Workers will also remove the dugouts and backstop as the Parks Department no longer permits softball games in this space...

Here's a schematic of the reconstructed layout...

... and an overview of the amenities, which includes "1939 World's Fair benches" ...

Goodstein estimated the project would take three months to complete, but he wasn't sure when work will be ready to commence.  

"The start date hasn't been finalized yet," he said. "It's going to take three months, and we should definitely be done by next fall." 

The presentation was more of an informational session, and no vote was required by the CB3 committee. The reconstruction is moving forward.

So what does this mean for the skaters on the lot (aka TF), hallowed ground where generations have used this space dating to the 1980s? (It has been called "the last great meet-up spot for skateboarders and their friends in New York.") 

One resident commented during the meeting: "I'm really concerned that the young people in this neighborhood are being pushed out of this famous, much-loved, much-used skating space. You even opened it with pictures of skaters. What are you going to do about this?" 

Goodstein said that he skated here in his youth and has had conversations with the skaters about the pending changes. 

Another Parks rep, Steve Simon, chief of staff to the Manhattan Borough Commissioner, chimed in at this point. 

"Max and I went there, and we personally spoke to a group of them, and they were very much in support of what we intended to do," he said. "They want to have an improved surface. And what we're doing here is by no means going to displace them. [The skaters said that] they appreciate what we're doing. And the only thing they really wanted from us ... a fountain and a slightly different variation on the layout of the benches. So we're gonna accommodate them. They were pretty thrilled with what we're planning to do and with the fact that we went out there and just spoke to them." 

It's unclear just how thrilled the skaters will be with the final product next fall — after the space will likely be under construction for the prime summer months. It's also unclear what might happen with the various ramps and rails the skaters use. 

As you may recall, in September 2019, the skateboarding community came together via a petition started by Adam Zhu and signed by 33,000-plus people to show their support for keeping the multipurpose courts free of synthetic turf...  plans apparently only known to residents who attended a Community Board 3 committee meeting in May 2019. Adding artificial turf would have rendered the space useless for skateboarders and street hockey players, among other groups. 

However, less than 24 hours before a much-publicized rally was to take place, the city announced that it would no longer cover the space in turf, originally proposed to make up for the amenities lost during the years-long gutting of East River Park.

"Tompkins Square Park has served as the epicenter of NYC skateboard culture for decades. As such, we have decided to leave the area previously proposed for synthetic in the park as is and will not move forward with creating a synthetic turf area there," Parks Department spokesperson Crystal Howard said in a statement to Patch at the time. 

And the reconstructed layout of the space may make this the end of the epicenter of NYC skateboard culture.

Previously on EV Grieve:

What is the city planning for the multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park? 

Ella Funt & Club 82 looks to bring food, film and theater to storied 4th Street venue

An ambitious project is in the works for 78-82 E. Fourth St. that would bring together a restaurant, movie theater and cabaret under one roof while reviving some East Village nightlife history. 

The operators behind Ella Funt & Club 82 are on tonight's CB3 SLA & DCA Licensing Committee docket for a liquor license for the two-level space between Second Avenue and the Bowery. 

There are several elements to this proposed establishment — a French restaurant, movie theater and performance space. The questionnaire on file at the CB3 website (PDF here) provides more detail and renderings of the 150-person-capacity theater space, which already exists in the basement (see below for more history of this address).

There's also a mention of "screenings of independent and old films five days a week," The management team includes Harry Nicolaou. His family operates several indie theaters, including Cinema Village on 12th Street between University and Fifth Avenue.

On paper, the concept sounds like a good fit for a block with destinations such as La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, the Duo Multicultural Arts Center, the Kraine Theater and the New York Theatre Workshop.

Tonight's meeting starts at 6:30. You can tune in via Zoom.

And now some history of the space...

Here's background via the New-York Historical Society: 

If you were an adventurous visitor to New York City in the 1950s or 1960s, you might have found your way to Club 82. A basement nightclub at 82 East Fourth Street, it wasn't much to look at from the outside... 

But once you made it there, you'd descend the steep stairs into an elegant, transporting nightclub decked out in the height of mid-century kitsch: mirrored columns, plastic palm fronds, elaborate banquettes, and white tablecloths. On the tables would be souvenir knockers, a small wooden ball on the end of a stick emblazoned with the club's name, which patrons would tap on the table when they were pleased with a performance or wanted to call a waiter. Knockers had one benefit over clapping: You didn’t have to put down your drink to use them. 

Club 82 was a trendy place to be. If you were lucky, celebrities like Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, or Salvador Dalí might be in attendance on any given night. A club photographer would circulate among the tables, snapping keepsake photos for a $1.50 or $2 fee for audience members, who were decked out in suits and cocktail dresses and would get an 8″ by 10″ print to take home at the end of the night. There wasn't a cover to get in, but there was a drink minimum and an extensive cocktail menu to hit your required mark. 

And of course, there was the stage, which was the main reason you would've come to Club 82 in the first place. The club was known for its elaborate live shows that ran three times a night into the wee hours of the morning. 

What made Club 82 unique was that it was an early bastion of drag and gender impersonation: Almost all of the performers in the floor show where men dressed as women, and most of the wait staff were women dressed as dashing young men in tuxedos. 

In the early 1970s, Club 82 became a rock club, featuring bands like the New York Dolls, Teenage Lust, Suicide and Another Pretty Face.

   

The subsequent iterations of the space included a movie theater and an all-male strip club. Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones tried to make a go of it as a music club again in 1990 with Woody's. The basement space reopened as the Bijou Cinema around 1992, per Cinema Treasures, operating off and on through the years in different capacities until 2018. 

Stillwater Bar & Grill was a ground-floor tenant, shutting down in the spring of 2019 after 15 years in service.

On tonight's CB3 SLA committee docket: Balkan cuisine for the former Starbucks on 2nd Avenue

Here are several more applicants seeking new liquor licenses during tonight's CB3-SLA docket... the virtual meeting starts at 6:30. This is the Zoom link.

• Sugar Mouse LLC, 101 E 10th St (op) 

Sugar Mouse is the name of the concept proposed for the NE corner of Third Avenue at 10th Street, in space (pic above) that TD Bank previously used before downsizing. 

The bar, offering pizza and snacks, will feature a variety of table games (foosball, billiards, shuffleboard, etc.). The hours are daily from 2 p.m. to, depending on the night of the week, 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Read more on the application here. 

Ownership also operates Sour Mouse on Delancey, billed as "the Hottest underground social club in the LES." 

We've heard from several residents who live nearby with concerns about the business,  particularly the late-night closing times. Flyers on the block noted (in all caps): "Nothing less than the quality of life on these streets is at stake."

• Lava Ground LLC, 4 St Marks Pl (wb) 

There's not a lot of information about the bar concept proposed for the lower level of 4 St. Mark's Place near Third Avenue. 

The unnamed establishment will offer bar food such as wings and beef patties with daily hours of 10 a.m. to 4 a.m. According to the questionnaire, which you can read here, the owner previously worked as a security guard and now owns a beverage company.

The space was previously (and briefly) an outpost of the Wanyoo Cyber Cafe. 

• Balkan Streat (Wolf of 3rd Ave LLC), 145 2nd Ave (wb) 

A fast-casual restaurant called Balkan Streat is in the works for the NW corner of Second Avenue and Ninth Street (the former Starbucks).

As the name implies, owners William Djuric and Jason Correa plan to provide a menu with food from the Balkans. (The questionnaire here includes a sample menu.) According to his bio, Djuric, who worked at Gramercy Tavern and Momofuku Ssam Bar, decided to "pursue his dream of opening a Balkan restaurant that would be inspired by his [late] father's Serbian heritage and childhood summers spent in Yugoslavia." 

The restaurant has proposed daily hours from noon to 11 p.m., with a 2 a.m. close on Friday and Saturday. 

There's also a Balkan Streat set for Sixth Avenue.

This storefront has remained empty since Starbucks closed in April 2019.

• El Primo Red Tacos (El Primo Red Tacos NYC LLC), 151 Ave A (wb) 

The Miami-based taco shop is back on the agenda this month without the full-liquor ask.

There are still concerns from neighbors about the use of the backyard space here.

• Corp to be formed by Ronan Downs, 210 Ave A (op) (Public input occurred on this item in August and in September will only have committee discussion)

Also returning: The bar-tavern concept from a management team led by Ronan Downs, whose numerous credits include Becketts Bar & Grill down on Pearl Street.

You can read the questionnaire here. 

Several applicants have looked at this space on the northeast corner of Avenue A and 13th Street since Percy's Tavern closed in 2017. 

1 guess on what is coming to this empty storefront on Avenue A and 13th Street

Activity, including the installation of glass cigar cases, continues inside the storefront on the SE corner of Avenue A and 13th Street... a worker on the scene said it will be a — SMOKE SHOP. 

The business is expected to be open in the next few weeks. Until then, you can try one of the other two dozen smoke shops in the neighborhood.

Back in May, the owners of Keybar on 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue were looking to relocate here, but the application didn't make it past Community Board 3.

Caffè Bene closed here in December after nearly six years in business... until 2014, the space was Kim's Laundromat & Cleaners for some 30 years. 

Thank you to EVG reader Erika for the photo and tip!

Good Beer has closed

As a follow-up to last Monday's post... Good Beer has closed at 422 E. Ninth St., wrapping up nearly 12 years between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

As Chris O'Leary wrote in his Brew New York newsletter: 

The shop-and-bar was a craft beer pioneer when it opened, and was the first beer-focused bottle shop with on-premise drinking in Manhattan, paving the way for others throughout the borough that continue to operate to this day.

Photo by Steven 

Sunday's parting shot

Photo on St. Mark's Place today by Derek Berg...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo of Ruckus Interruptus playing the excellent Ninth Street block party yesterday... photo by Derek Berg)...

• Report of a 2-alarm fire at 11-13 Avenue D (Tuesday) 

• Remembering East Village artist M. Henry Jones (Wednesday)

• Astor Wines & Spirits has new owners — its employees (Tuesday) 

• City unveils Adela Fargas Way in honor of Casa Adela's legendary founder (Friday ... Saturday)

• Green days: 6&B Garden program teaching East Village kids how to garden and cook (Thursday) 

• Good Beer is closing (Monday) 

• What is the city planning for the multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park? (Wednesday)

• Compilation Coffee debuts on St. Mark's Place (Thursday) 

• Jo's Tacos coming to 14th Street (Monday) 

• The state of this Stuyvesant Street retail space (Thursday) 

• A full reveal at Zero Irving on 14th Street (Monday) 

• These cats need a home (Thursday) 

• The pre-dawn Moon in Taurus (Thursday) 

• A new broker for 44 Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• J. Crew signage official a day before its grand opening on the Bowery (Monday) 

• Signs of fall: the Feast of San Gennaro is underway (Thursday) 

• Thursday's parting SERVE (Thursday) 

• Full reveal at 15 Avenue A (Wednesday) 

• City removes the outdoor dining structure from Pardon My French on Avenue B (Friday) 

...  and after nearly seven weeks of rent-free business while parked on Sixth Street at Avenue A, the Mo' Eats truck disappeared on Wednesday...

... though it was spotted again Saturday morning not too far away...

---

Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Sign up to sing with the Most Holy Redeemer Church youth choir

Via the EVG inbox... 

Calling all children and youth ages 7-16 to join the Youth Choir at Most Holy Redeemer Church! Tuition-free and open to all backgrounds, creeds and experience levels. Come and make new friends, find your unique voice, and learn to make music together as a team. 

Instructor Clara Gerdes Bartz is an experienced organist, pianist and choir director, a recent graduate of Yale University School of Music, and has worked with children's and youth choirs since 2015. Please text her at (704) 928-6280 if interested! 

The church is on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Sunday's opening shot

Last weekend of the summer! Photo from Tompkins Square Park by Steven... 

P.S.

Yes, Tompkins Square Park has a pool.

Saturday's parting shots

Photos by Derek Berg

The Loisaida Open Streets this afternoon welcomed the Bindlestiff Flatbed Follies to Avenue B between Eighth Street and Ninth Street...

Adela Fargas Way

Adela Fargas Way is now official on the corner of Fifth Street and Avenue C. 

During a noontime ceremony today, friends, family and local elected officials gathered on this NE corner to pay tribute to the restaurateur who ran Casa Adela at 66 Avenue C for decades.

Today we witnessed the renaming of East 5 street to Adela Fargas way. Adela was a woman of great substance who embodied what this community is all about. pic.twitter.com/2T98GSO4UQ

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) September 17, 2022

Couldn’t have picked a more beautiful day to celebrate the legacy of Adela Fargas 🇵🇷❤️ Casa Adela is more than a restaurant to us; it’s long been and always will be the heart of our Loisaida community. I’m so proud to honor Adela and her family with this street co-naming. pic.twitter.com/frniQG92Mm

— Carlina Rivera 利華娜 (@CarlinaRivera) September 17, 2022

Today we are at the co-naming of Adela Fargas Way, who was the late & famed proprietor of the cultural anchor & eatery, Casa Adela. Adela was a proud Afro-Puerto Rican woman, an artist in her own right who created authentic sancocho and community alike. pic.twitter.com/BabpaFEACS

— The Clemente (@the_clemente) September 17, 2022

   

Fargas died in January 2018. She was 81.

As we reported in May, District Leader Aura Olavarria drafted the petition ... and worked with Adela's son Luis Rivera and other community members-groups. They collected hundreds of signatures and presented the petition to Community Board 3's Transportation, Public Safety, Sanitation & Environment Committee, who overwhelmingly approved the petition ... and the entire Board passed a resolution in support on May 24. 

On July 14, the New York City Council Committee passed Councilmember Carlina Rivera's bill for the co-naming.

Top photo by @the_clemente

The latest headlines from the Riis Houses water scandal

Photo via @THECITYNY 

 • NYCHA CEO steps down in wake of the arsenic crisis at the Riis Houses on Avenue D (1010 WINS) ... hefty pay left intact (The City) 

• Arsenic alarm still a drain on Riis residents' routines and resources (City Limits)

• Residents file lawsuit against NYCHA over arsenic water scare (NBC New York) 

 • City officials to testify under oath on NYCHA arsenic readings (The City) 

• City Council to launch two investigations into NYCHA water quality (NY1) 

In other headlines...

 • A suspect has been arrested for fatally shooting a gang rival outside Haven Plaza (Daily News ... previously on EVG) 

• City Hall says major crimes up, but NYPD response times slower (Gothamist) 

• Some thoughts on the Bowery (Flaming Pablum) 

• Take the M14a for these downtown dining spots (Eater) 

• History of the Sixth Street Industrial School (Ephemeral New York)

• Model Ivy Getty provides this "Cool Girl’s Guide to the East Village" (Elle) 

• On Henry Street, several galleries have enjoyed low rent from multi-year leases signed in 2020. What happens when those expire? (Artnet News) 

• The owners of LES party venue the Bowery Savings Bank filed for Chapter 11 protection to stave off a forced sale after defaulting on their $12 million loan (Commercial Observer)

• The possibility of a 23% taxi fare hike, base fare increase (The Post) 

• Dimes Square, post-shark-jump (The New Yorker) 

• Halloween with some early David Cronenberg (Film Anthology Archives)

Saturday's opening shot

A recent arrival outside the Second Avenue F stop — "There's no crying in street art" ... a take on the Tom Hanks' quote from "A League of Their Own" — "There’s no crying in baseball." 

Mural by @sacsix

Friday's parting shot

This clown (Coco!) was entertaining motorists on Houston at Avenue A/Essex late this afternoon...

Booted in the bus lane — day 8

The Subaru with the missing plates enjoyed its eighth day booted in the bus lane here on Avenue A between Third Street and Second Street... (thanks to EVG reader Carl Bentsen for the pics!)...

And there is an addition of a windshield note today... with a phone number (not to the mayor's office!) for the Subaru owner to call if he/she can't afford to have the boot removed...

A reader said the city towed the car here from Third Street on Sept. 8 ahead of the milling.

Freaks to the front

 

Australian punks Amyl and the Sniffers released this live video clip this week from a recent show... a good preview of what to expect when they play Terminal 5 on West 56th Street next Friday night... in support of their most recent release, Comfort to Me.

City removes the outdoor dining structure from Pardon My French on Avenue B

This morning, workers from the Department of Sanitation and Department of Transportation swooped in on Pardon My French, and removed the restaurant's curbside dining structure on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. (The block was shut down to through traffic during this time.) 

An EVG reader shared these photos...

A resident who lives nearby told us that the structure had been used for storing chairs and tables for the sidewalk cafe. And we don't know if the city had fined the restaurant for the space or asked them to remove it.

The city recently began cracking down on abandoned curbside-dining structures through the Open Restaurants program. 

Per the city: 

Having removed the initial 24 abandoned sheds, the task force has begun identifying and removing additional sheds, investigating another 37 sheds identified as egregious violators of Open Restaurants program guidelines, and reviewing complaints and summons data to identify and remove other abandoned sheds throughout the five boroughs. Sheds reported to be abandoned will be verified as abandoned two separate times before receiving a termination letter, followed by removal and disposal of the shed. 

The task force will also review sheds that, while potentially active, are particularly egregious violators of Open Restaurants program guidelines. In these cases, sheds will be inspected three separate times before action is taken. 

After each of the first two failed inspections, DOT will issue notices instructing the restaurant owner to correct the outstanding issues; after the third visit, DOT will issue a termination letter and allow 48 hours before issuing a removal notice. DOT will then remove the structure and store it for 90 days — if the owner does not reclaim it in that period, DOT will dispose of the structure.

Recent East Village removals include Poco,  Dia, the Ainsworth and Baker's Pizza. Of those four, only Poco remains in business. 

Thank you to Concerned Citizen and Salim as well!