Thursday, June 7, 2012

Updated: Tompkins Square Park loses another tree

Ugh. Workers started removing part of this beautiful Elm in the middle of the Park yesterday... (See below — a limb fell)









Several readers said that the workers are taking out the rest today (Dutch Elm Disease?) ... Per Jean-Paul: "It's almost all gone — huge gap in the canopy right in the middle of the Park now." EVG reader Patrick said that the "branches are visibly rotted and hollow."

We'll get to the Park as soon as we can...

By my probably inaccurate count, this is the eighth tree the Park has lost since Hurricane Irene last summer. (Including this one on Avenue B.)

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Updated:

This photo is from yesterday via @guywasko who noted: "Huge limb from majestic American Elm just fell in Tompkins Square Park. No one hit or hurt. Crazy loud."



Updated: 3:54 ... Ugh... Bobby Williams just sent photos of the tree now...





Summer movies returning to Tompkins Square Park; 'Taxi Driver' first up


Over at The Villager, Scoopy reports that there will be free music-movie nights in Tompkins Square Park on Thursday evenings again this summer. As Scoopy reports: "Movies start at sundown, and the music starts an hour before. There’ll also be poetry and live art."

And the list of movies:

June 28 — Taxi Driver
July 5 — Exit Through the Gift Shop
July 12 — Fantastic Mr. Fox
July 19 — Summer of Sam
July 26 — Donnie Darko
Aug. 2 — The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Aug. 9 — The Big Lebowksi
Aug. 16 — Poltergeist

Any thoughts on the movie lineup?

You can read Scoopy's column for all the details and sponsors...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition


[East Ninth Street, by Bobby Williams]

Reps of hotel project by Merchant's House have criminal past (The Villager)

Trash life in a Magnum property (Occupy East 4th Street)

The 300,000-square-foot expansion of Chelsea Market gets more approval (Curbed)

Latest venture for 21 Essex (BoweryBoogie)

First Annual Funny Songs Fest starts tonight (The Lo-Down)

Last cut at the New Barber Shop? (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

[EVG file photo]

According to the Post today, 290 Mulberry (above) at East Houston ... was a bust as condos... the developer will make them into full-floor, three-bedroom apartments. Monthly rents will start "at over $10,000."

Supper and Lil' Frankie's turn 10; plus free tix for EVG readers

And from the EV Grieve inbox ...



Supper and Lil' Frankie's are turning 10, and to celebrate, chef/owner Frank Prisinzano is throwing a party called decaXdance.

decaXdance will take place on Sunday, June 10th at Webster Hall. The musical lineup will be presented by East Village Radio (co-founded by Frank), which guests can enjoy along with food, an open bar ...

The event is $10 for those who RSVP in advance and $20 at the door. Food and open bar included with admission. RSVP at the event website here.

And the Supper/East Village Radio folks have passed along two free sets of VIP passes for the event for EVG readers... so if you're interested (it starts at 10 pm) ... say, the first two people who email me with the date of the very first EVG post can have the passes (hint: look in the blog archives below) ... Oh, here's the EV Grieve email We have our winners, who correctly guessed March 4, 1789. For those of you who don't recall ... the first post was about all the trash that the 1st United States Congress left behind after their meeting at Federal Hall.

The last days of the Mystery Lot

Oh, lordy, that headline is a little dramatic.

Still, the Mystery Lot here between 14th Street and 13th Street east of Third Avenue won't be with us for too much longer... As you know, the space will become an 82-unit, eight-story development some day. The work permits, which are still pending city approval, say that the space will include 86,409 square feet for residential and 5,275 square feet for retail. (According to the DOB, inspectors disapproved the plans again on Tuesday.)

Anyway, all this will soon be as lifeless as any other generic apartment housing complex in, say, Murray Hill... the rocks, weeds and graffiti will give way to glassy luxury.

Before it's all a cinderblock prison with $3,800 studios, we're taking photos whenever we can... like these three shots from the past week...







And we'd like you to be part of this too... If you see something interesting along here, then please take a photo and send it our way... when the trucks, dumpsters and bendy things arrive in good time, we'll have a post sharing everyone's Mystery Lot shots... You can send them via the EV Grieve email

P.S.

A few examples of Mystery Lot shots from the EVG Archives ...



[Via James and Karla Murray]

Two 7-year-old East Village students on loving books and hating Starbucks

Earlier in the spring, word spread that The Neighborhood School on East Third Street was in danger of losing its library. (You can read our post on it here.)

With the help of several local businesses, parents raised funds to save the job of the librarian, Cheryl Wolf, and the library for at least another school year. However, the fund shortage continues in other areas of the school... and parents are concerned about supplementing the library after next school year. You can read all the background at the school's website.

Anyway! There's a Save the Library Day today at the Bean on Second Avenue and East Third Street ...



On this occasion, with the help of Neighborhood School parent Marjorie Ingall, we asked two students at the school about why their class hates Starbucks and why they're doing a fundraiser at the Bean. Here are Annika (left) and Max.



Why do students/your classmates not like Starbucks?

M: They kicked out The Bean. We all love The Bean. We were all sad.

A: And The Bean is a small company and a monster business kicked them out. They're like [waves arm], "You're gettin' out."

M: It was a small company taking over a big company.

A: Just because you have more money and are more popular it doesn't seem fair that money can kick out a place.

M: If The Bean got there first, it's not fair that someone who got there second can have it just because they are richer. Also The Bean is better. Once at Starbucks I got a sandwich and there was mold on it. I shoved it at my dad and said, "You can have it."

A: We made little cards for the Bean. We gave them to The Bean and they said, "Thank you and we'll have a party for you and we'll give you cupcakes."

M: Here's how it worked. One day when Aza and Zoe were walking by they gave The Bean their sign — a Starbucks with a circle around it and crossed out and The Bean instead. They spelled it "b-e-e-n." They're in first grade.

A: And they said, "The Bean rules, Starbucks drools!"

M: And then we all said, "Two four six eight, The Bean is really great!"

What will you be selling today during the fundraiser?

A: Lemonade. Stationery. Plants. Bracelets. Neighborhood School tote bags if Amy says it's OK.

What is your favorite thing about the school library?

M: Kids learn from it! For our nonfiction research projects we borrowed every single nonfiction book.

A: Devion and Osiris did sharks.

M: Me and Aza did horses.

A: Me and Zairah and Isa did telephones and technology.

M: Kiran, Mira and Deanna and someone else did space.

A: Kyle and Charlie did football.

M: Boys did crazy boy stuff.

Why do schools need libraries?

M. The library has computers so we learn from the computers.

A. It's very peaceful.

M: We couldn't get by without it. Books pass the time. Period.

Some people say librarians don't need a librarian.

M. We need a librarian! She helps us find things.

A. Cheryl is very clear when she reads to us and when she explains things. If we come to a word one of us don't know she explains it.

M: Once we were really stumped! There was a word we just didn't know! I forget what word. It might have been "however." Whatever it was, she explained it.

A: She also helped us do research when we were studying transportation.

M: But the best thing is the books. Books can do almost anything.

The walls come tumbling down at 154 Second Avenue

We continue to keep tabs on 154 Second Ave., the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street ... where workers will be adding several new floors for "luxury rental apartments" ...

[Image from last summer via Off the Grid]

... we recently looked in the door and spotted some interior demolition... but what's going on out back?

EVG reader Terry Howell notes that workers started serious demolition this week. First, it took four guys and a scaffold to get rid of the chimney in the corner...



Per Terry: "Then a jackhammer arrived and the walls came tumblin' down..."









Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants

Bite Me Best looks awfully closed on Avenue C

This past weekend, Bobby Williams took photos of work/renovation happening at Bite Me Best pizza on Avenue C near East Ninth Street...





...and yesterday, things at the always-reliable pizzeria looked more ominous, as this photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C shows... the signs are gone, and it looks rather stripped...



The phone number has been disconnected. Perhaps this was inevitable with the new (seemingly always crowded) 99-cent pizza place opening up across the way in January ...

Honoring Harry Greenberg in Tompkins Square Park

Back in 2010, Harry Greenberg retired after 23 years as the supervisor of Tompkins Square Park. (Lincoln Anderson did a nice feature on Harry in The Villager here.)

Anyway, you may have seen this new plaque in the Park along the Ninth Street pedestrian walkway...




[Bobby Williams]

Howl! leaders made the presentation to Greenberg during the Howl! Festival this past weekend...


[Stacie Joy]

Cops temporarily close Amona Deli & Grocery on East Houston

EV Grieve contributor Stacie Joy passes along word that the NYPD has temporarily closed Amona Deli & Grocery on East Houston near Avenue B in the Red Square shops...





... the signs say for the "illegal sale of alcoholic beverages."

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The parking apocalypse

Brooklyn-based photographer Nick Laham took this photo last night of that really scary parking garage on East Ninth Street between Second And Third Avenues... and, given the clouds, the lot is looking a little more apocalyptic...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Since cleaned at Tompkins Square Park]

More CB3 support for the Delancey Underground (The Lo-Down ... Curbed)

A cleaner-looking Trash & Vaudeville? (Flaming Pablum)

B-Side owner looking to open new spot on East Broadway (BoweryBoogie)

Inside the new restaurant at the Public Theater (Eater)

Sietsema dines at Boukies on Second Avenue (Fork in the Road)

A vanishing block along Ninth Avenue (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Remembering Dee Dee Ramone (BlackBook)

That Little Shoe Store on East Seventh Street finds a new home (DNAinfo)

[Updated] First sign of future construction About the outside of 100 Avenue A

A Davey Drill arrived yesterday near 100 Avenue A at Seventh Street...


[Bobby Williams]

But it apparently has nothing to do with 100 Avenue A as we previously suggested. (Has to do with with Niagara and Black Market.) Our apologies.

It's the first sign of any work activity related to the future of the former East Village Farms, which closed back in February. The city disapproved the first round of plans to renovate the space, including adding a "dwelling unit" and roof garden on the upper floors.

Workers bring in the drill before a construction/demolition job to test water levels and gauge the composition of the soil and stuff beneath the street. (H/t, BoweryBoogie.) This doesn't mean work will be starting tomorrow. But it's on the way.

So! Let's move right into this then.

Meanwhile, as you've probably noticed... the space in front of the former grocery has turned into a makeshift shelter at times... (We first noted this back on April 6.)


[Bobby Williams]


[Bobby Williams]

In recent weeks, it appears an effort has been made to clean up the space.


[Dave on 7th]

As the signs show, Anthony is trying to keep it tidy.


[Dave on 7th]


[Dave on 7th]

On numerous occasions, we've watched the NYPD move people along...





Typically they head to the Park or congregate on the corner of St. Mark's and Avenue A. Or they simply move around the corner...



Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished

East Third Street lot in contract; city OKs Karl Fischer-designed apartment building

[File photo]

Back in January, we noted that the lot at 321 E. Third St., just west of Avenue D, was on the market for $6 million. According to Streeteasy, the 5,770 square-foot lot is in contract. Stay tuned for details on what will be coming here.

Meanwhile, across the street, the Karl Fischer-designed, 33-unit apartment building will be shooting up soon enough where 316-318 E. Third St. used to be... workers finished demolishing the circa-1835 house back in March.

The lot is empty now, though not for long.


The city OK'd the plans for the new building on May 11.

Previously on EV Grieve:


Another parcel of East Village land ready for development

33-unit, Karl Fischer-designed building rising at former home of Community Board 3 member

Landmarks Preservation Commission rejects hearing for 316 E. Third St., paving way for 7-floor condo

Lovely townhouse with bucolic gardens on East Third Street ready for "creative expansion"

The sound of storage on East Sixth Street

Yesterday, EVG reader Bill Stepp noticed some activity at the long dormant storefront at 340 E. Sixth St. ...



... most recently the home of Tribal Soundz, the world music shop that closed in the fall of 2008.



Since then, the storefront has sat empty. Bill saw three men "unloading and moving what looked like kitchen equipment."

New business?

"One told me it will be used as storage."



Perhaps it will be a storage unit for the Schwimmers across the way.

Anyway, there aren't any new work permits on file with the DOB to provide any further clues here. Meanwhile, for a little more history, Jeremiah wrote about Tribal Soundz back in the fall of 2008 here.