EV Grieve

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The ol' model starving stickers are back

Or maybe the stickers never went away? On 14th Street near Fourth Avenue. And what exactly is she doing in those rose bushes?

Graffiti artist salutes new, undiscovered talent

Fresh graffiti spotted on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

A new convenient store for First Avenue

The former Health Conscious Express at 45 First Avenue between Second Street and Third Street is becoming a convenient store...convenient for people who don't feel like walking four storefronts to the south to shop at NY Village Deli.

And the new place will deliver, the sign says.

Life goes to Times Square

Thanks to frequent EV Grieve commenter Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk, author of "Times Queer," for passing along a link to a treasure trove of photos from Life magazine showing Times Square from 1950...

...to 1986...

What's new on East Fifth Street?

Might become a popular stop before Dart League night at the Ace.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Dead end on Avenue B?

We've chronicled the empty storefronts that line Avenue B — 22 vacant spaces still by my last count. Sure, there are signs of life in a few of the empty storefronts, but... Meanwhile, this gave us pause last night: Someone inexplicably (ominously?) placed a "dead end" sign for those driving south down Avenue B to see...

The sign is supposed to be facing east on 13th Street.

Meanwhile, the Tibetan specialty shop Lhasa Boutique near Fourth Street has offically closed.

By the way, I don't want to give the impression that tumbleweeds are blowing down the Avenue... Hardly. There are still the unnamed ones that attract the weekend jackasses..... And there are plenty of highlights... a few neighborhood colorful mom-and-pop shops remain (Metropolitan TV, Raul's Candy)...and fine places such as Mona's, Bee Liquors, Lakeside Lounge, B-Side, Life Cafe, 7B, Manitoba's, Mama's Bar (and Mama's on Third Street), Zaitzeff....

Product placement

Staying on Avenue B for a moment...The folks at the overpriced Mercadito Cantina proudly display their review from Time Out. Which happened to appear in the magazine's annual Sex Issue.

Hmm...I don't think I'll be ordering the Flan De Cajeta tonight.

More signs of the recession: At the Blarney Stone

On Fulton Street in the Financial District.

For anyone who has ever wanted to spend the day with Barbara Corcoran

Yesterday, of course, was Barbara Corcoran's 60th birthday. (Hope that you remembered to buy some property!) Anyway, quite by accident, I stumbled upon a Corcoran feature in the Times from March 5, 2000, titled What Do You Do All Day?

Let's take a look, shall we!

Wednesday, Jan. 19

6:00 a.m. Lana Zinger, Russian-born personal trainer, arrives for morning workout.

6:30 Tommy, 6, watches his mother work out. Between crunches, requests reading from "Harry Potter." Request denied.

7:00 Makeup artist arrives.

7:15 Dresses (brown Christian Lacroix suit with Herms scarf).

7:45 Takes Tommy to school in cab. It is absolutely freezing.

8:10 Arrives at Tavern on the Green to give speech at her company's awards breakfast.

8:15 Talks janitor into letting her practice her speech in a broom closet.

8:55 Emerges feeling confident, but "like Aunt Clara on 'Bewitched' -- dusty and smelling of Lysol."

9:00 At podium in front of 500 sales agents, clinks glass to get attention. Glass breaks.

Boring!

1:00 Sharon Baum walks in dressed in fur-trimmed suit with faux-diamond "Sold" pin. Corcoran says, "Boy, if you're not rich you certainly look it." Departs in Baum's Rolls-Royce for lunch at the Lobster Club. Shares creamed spinach, biscuits, French fries with Baum. Discusses whether the market will survive if the dot-com companies take a hit, how even Wall Streeters with millions in cash can't find apartments.

2:45 Departs restaurant. Gets call from office saying that the seller of the nine-room Park Avenue apartment she's been wanting to buy for herself finally wants to make a deal. Phones from car. ("I'm so nervous, I have to stop thinking like a sweaty-palmed buyer and start thinking like a broker.") Strategizes with Baum about how to be the winning bidder. Baum tells her to get as much information as she can about the family. Makes the call to the Park Avenue seller. "Oh, God, I got disconnected. Does anyone else have a cell phone?" Everyone in the car has a cell phone, including the driver. Still can't get through. Is now very hyper. Stays in the car and keeps trying while Baum looks at multimillion-dollar "maisonette" on upper Fifth Avenue.

4:00 Driver drops Corcoran off at gym, where she meets Becky Wood, Tommy's nanny, and watches Tommy swim.

Another bar felled by large yellow sticker

At Duke's on Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. ONLY temporary. The DOH sign was posted March 7; renovations were behind done behind the closed door. Had not reopened yet as of last night.

No racino for now at Aqueduct

"Plans to build a casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens have collapsed, the latest victim of the financial turmoil that has tightened the credit markets. Delaware North, the Buffalo company that was contracted to build and operate the casino, has not been able to get the financing to raise the $370 million it was to pay the state upfront, officials said. That leaves the state with yet another hole to plug in its ever-leakier budget." (The New York Times)

Previously on EV Grieve:

Thanksgiving at Aqueduct

Thanksgiving at the Aqueduct, Part 2

Noted

At the uptown F at 14th Street.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Noted

"In just the seven months since the stock market began to plummet, the recession has aimed its death ray not just at the credit market, the Dow and Detroit, but at the very ethos of conspicuous consumption. Even those with a regular income are reassessing their spending habits, perhaps for the long term. They are shopping their closets, downscaling their vacations and holding off on trading in their cars. If the race to have the latest fashions and gadgets was like an endless, ever-faster video game, then someone has pushed the reset button." (The New York Times)

New York commercial radio to somehow manage to become even suckier

Ben Sisario has the story at the Times:

Making its third identity change since Howard Stern left for satellite radio three years ago, WXRK in New York, better known as K-Rock, will switch to a Top 40 format, the station’s parent company, CBS Radio, announced on Monday.

Instead of the “active rock” K-Rock has been playing — mostly classic rock, with some harder-edged current rock in light rotation — the station, to be known as Now FM (92.3), will play music from acts like “Kanye West, Beyoncé, Pink, Flo Rida, Akon, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake,” according to the announcement. The change will be made at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

Looking at Avenue C between Sixth Street and Seventh Street (and coming soon: brick-oven pizza)

Plenty of change has come to Avenue C in recent years, of course...Let's just take a look at one small section of it...There are six storefronts along Avenue C between Sixth Street and Seventh Street on the east side. There's the nice Alphabet City Wine Co. that opened in 2007...as well as the NE Salon. And the Alphabet Lounge, which was revamped in 2006 (doesn't seem the same anymore, though the owners do at least appreciate the neighborhood's history). And there are two storefronts for rent.

I'm told the sixth space on the block (pictured below) is going to be a brick-oven pizza place. (A beer and wine liquor license is pending.) A beleaguered acquaintance of mine from across the street said, "It least it won't be another bar." Here's what the spot at 102 Avenue C looks like now...No word on an opening date.

The revamping of this block saw the relocation of two longtime businesses, CHP Hardware (which moved north one block) and Joselito's Restaurant, a delicious and inexpensive Dominican spot that moved to Avenue D between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. (And what became of the tenants who lived above the businesses...?) By the way, the upstairs units at 94 Avenue C are currently serving as "New York City Vacation Homes," in which "suites" are available for up to $395 a night ("sleeps eight persons!").

And here's Joselito today on Avenue D...

Previously on EV Grieve:
More changes coming to Avenue C: "The possibilities are endless!"

[Top photo of Joselito Restaurant via]

Ode to mung beans...in this town without pity

While we're on Avenue C....this poem was hanging on the side of a building on East Seventh Street.

A movie poster that won't inspire me to go see the movie

The premise of the film via IMDB: "A hate crime on the campus of a New England college puts the school's dean (Parker) in a position where she has to examine her own feelings about race and prejudice, while maintaining her administration's politically correct policies." The film is based on the acclaimed play.

Poster spotted on Houston and Avenue B.

Right by this one:

“The Bowery told what was going on — what happened here happened later everywhere else”

The Times takes a trip to a dying breed of a shop: Faerman's cash register store, a father-son operation on the Bowery between Broome and Delancey Streets.

Once the Bowery was cash register heaven. Beneath the old Third Avenue el, among the restaurant supply stores and the flophouses and the down-and-outers who lived in them, stores trafficked in cash registers.

What happened to the others?

The father says the Bowery has always been a barometer. The son says, “The Bowery told what was going on — what happened here happened later everywhere else.”

It is tempting to say, glibly, that what happened is that the others cashed in, that they made a big profit from the real estate boom that remade skid row when there was mortgage money to be borrowed. Maybe they did, maybe they did not.

The Faermans’ neighbors now include a bank turned catering hall, the scene of benefits running $500 a person and up. Or, walk a few blocks to a Whole Foods store. It’s a pricey neighborhood these days. Bernard Faerman says stores rent for $15,000 a month. Brian Faerman says it is more than that. They own their building, and the son says it is not for sale.

[Photo: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times]

Was it real or part of the filming?

I have no idea what was going on here...First, there was more filming yesterday for the low-budget feature “The Imperialists Are Still Alive!” (or "The Impearlist" as the sign notes) around Tompkins Square Park. (They had also set up camp on Avenue B from 10th Street to Seventh Street one day last week.)

For some reason I stopped to watch for a few minutes yesterday. Everyone on the crew seemed to be looking south on Avenue A toward Ninth Street.

A scooter was lying in the Avenue. No one seemed to be hurt. Several people standing watching thought this was part of the film.

Didn't seem worth standing around for any longer...

Monday, March 9, 2009

New Yorkers really like the new Cemusa bus shelters and newsstands, survey by Cemusa says

We get news releases!:

New Yorkers Show Overwhelming Support for City's New Bus Shelters and Newsstands

93% feel structures improve city's appearance

NEW YORK, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Survey results released today by Cemusa, Inc. indicate that a vast majority of New Yorkers are pleased with the new bus shelters and newsstands installed throughout New York City. Ninety-three percent of respondents feel that the new design of newsstands and bus shelters improve the city's appearance and 88 percent like the new designs. Furthermore, of the respondents that indicated the new design influenced their opinion of New York City Government, 89 percent said the change was positive.

"We are very pleased by the overwhelming response to our street furniture installations in New York City, and that our work has contributed to an improved opinion of our partner, the City of New York, as well," said Susan Baron, chief executive officer, Cemusa North America. "Our new bus shelters, newsstands and automatic public toilets were designed exclusively for the city and the people of New York, which makes it all the more rewarding that they have been so well received."

Cemusa's coordinated street furniture program for the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) is part of a 20 year contract that began in 2006. The contract calls for 3,300 new bus stop shelters, 20 new automatic public toilets (APT) and the replacement of 330 newsstands. To date, 1,586 shelters, 130 newsstands and two APTs have been installed. Additionally, Cemusa has fulfilled its payments to the City through 2010.

Newsstand and Bus Shelter Results
When asked about the city's new newsstands, New Yorkers surveyed responded that the upgraded newsstands sometimes result in higher purchase levels. Twelve percent of the respondents said that they purchase more from the new newsstands than they used to, citing greater appeal and cleanliness among reasons for increased purchases.

Survey results also indicated a majority of NYC pedestrians and commuters feel the new bus shelters are cleaner (62 percent) and more pleasant (61 percent) than the old shelters. Additionally, 47 percent described the shelters as better lit and 35 percent feel they are safer.

Advertisement Results
The survey results also reinforced that advertisers who appear on Cemusa bus shelters and newsstands in NYC can expect a significant return on that investment, with 65 percent of respondents indicating that they notice the advertising on newsstands/bus shelters. More than half (52 percent) of those individuals responded that the advertisements at newsstands and bus shelters make them want to buy the products they see.

[Cemusa image via BoweryBoogie]

Aces & Eights signage up at former Mo Pitkin's space

As I mentioned last Monday, a new bar has opened in the former Mo Pitkin's space at 34 Avenue A. I was told that the building was purchased by the folks behind the fratty Yorkville saloon Aces & Eights. Now, rather temporary-looking signage is up...

No indication yet how the performance space upstairs will be utilized. (Beer pong tourneys?) Something tells me that you won't be seeing, say, Kiki & Herb or Murray Hill headlining anytime soon...The 2-for-1 happy hour is in keeping with the four other bars on the next block -- Double Down, Kelly's, Nice Guy Eddie's and The Library -- that have the same deal.

Meanwhile, add futurist to the skills of former Mo's regular Ben Lerman. The ukulele-playing comedian had this to say to New York magazine in September 2007 upon hearing the news that Mo's was for sale:

“Like Brownies, Fez, Sin-é, Tonic, and many others before, Mo’s will be just another arts venue replaced by yet another bland, chic meat-market with delicious mojitos. The people moving into the town don’t want live entertainment. They just want to get hammered and drag someone home to their luxury condo. Which, when you put it that way, actually doesn’t sound so bad.”

Looking at some of the (temporary?) restaurant closings in the East Village

Tahini on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place was closed for a few days...

Grub Street noted last week that the Bamn! Automat on St. Mark's was closed...the sign on the door simply reads "closed today." It was still shuttered as of yesterday...

Ryan's is still closed on Second Avenue...

And there is a "temporarily closed for remodeling" sign up at Ray's on Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street...(As I recall, this space was previously Papa D's Pizza. Never tried their pizza...)