Hanging out at the Christodora House in 1929

Dec. 25 came early for a lot of NYC history buffs and other assorted bloggers... As you probably heard, the Museum of the City of New York has added like 50,000 archival photos to its, uh, archives... Shawn Chittle was the first to pass along the news to me Wednesday...Since then, I'm been ransacking looking through the photos, searchable by borough, era, etc.

So... some of my early favorites are the shots of Avenue B's Christodora House circa February 1929....Not much has changed from the exteriors....





Dunno about the interiors... never been inside ... so, here's the "music auditorium" (Did Iggy play here when he lived at the Christodora?)



the "Christadora medical clinic"



"fireplace in lounge"



My favorite: "Miss Kupkey's bedroom, D-4"



a "general view of the dining room"



And lastly... the fabled Christodora House pool!



The Christodora was built in 1928. Read more history here.

See more of the old-timey NYC photos at Curbed and Eater... and Jeremiah's Vanishing New York...

Photos by Samuel H. Gottscho
All photos from the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

PS
Two photos I took last month of the Christodora House that I didn't know what to do with...

The EV Grieve Last-Minute Gift Guide

aka, Random EV-related Gifts that We'd Like to See!






















Sadly (or not!), none of these item are actually available for sale... but we can dream about the possibilities while goofing around at Cafe Press.

As pit bull fear grips the East Village.... free dog park etiquette class tomorrow

From The Villager this week:

On Sat., Dec. 18, at 11 a.m., Drayton Michaels, who specializes in training pit bulls, will give a talk and demonstration at the Tompkins Square dog run on how to handle the dogs. He will discuss dog park etiquette, how to referee dogs in large groups, how to defuse potentially dangerous situations and how to break up dogfights. He will also discuss pit bull traits and “why your dog may be too much for the other dogs.”

“Dogs sometimes get into situations they can’t handle,” said Rosso, who is himself a dog trainer. “There’s little awareness among new dog owners about this. It’s a hot-button issue.”

And leave your weapons at home.

[Photo via]

A balls-out challenge to EV Lambo

Thanks to the EV Grieve reader who captured this oh-so-brief glimpse of a silver Lambo zipppppppping down a Lower East Side street last night ... Through the magic of YouTubing, we were able to preserve this obvs challenge to our EV Lambo....

Channel 7 joins the pit bull media clusterfuck

Our friend Melanie at East Village Corner passes along word (and this photo!) that Channel 7 was on the scene in Tompkins Square Park today to interview dog owners about... dog owners who may carry weapons to protect themselves from pit bulls...



CBS 2 and WPIX 11 have already filed stories on this nonstory last night... Where in the hell is NBC?

And look — a pit bull in a pink sweater!

Feeling Seven-Ups

We've always liked this ride usually parked on 13th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue (photographed here in October 2008)...

We particularly like Bagnostian's take on it via his Tumblr...




Seems like it could have been an extra in The Seven-Ups.

[Updated] Fire on First Street

EV Grieve reader Bread Butter Cheese passed along word of fire trucks on First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue early this morning.. it looked as if firefighters were walking on the rooftop of the building that housed the recently shuttered Elephant....



A reader originally thought it may be a false alarm... However, per a commenter:

Not a false alarm! I live the building and there was a fire on the first floor. It filled the entire stairwell with smoke and everyone had to use the fire escapes. I heard everyone got out of the building safely.

A corner that has remained nearly the same

And so we continue with another now and then shot...

Avenue B at 14th Street, East side to Southeast, dated Oct. 23, 1939, via the NYPL Digital Archives...



... and a few weeks back... almost lined up...



Updated: OOPS. Apologies... I forgot that Jeremiah Moss did this very same post back in October... I even commented on it!

An intersection that hasn't really remained nearly the same

Well, this one isn't exactly the perfect now and then... close enough... First, the south end of Cooper Square looking south on Bowery from 1900....



... and a shot from this past spring...



I recognize a few things, I think... You?

1900 photo by Robert L. Bracklow
From the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York

Third Avenue add-on has violet fever

The once-dormant site at 100 Third Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street is showing significant growth of late...




We last checked in on the progress here in November 2009 .... and May...

Still some mystery here... I haven't heard anything different since A Fine Blog reported that: "The building is zoned commercial, and a permit was filed to amend the building height to 90' , contain 3 units, and be re-categorized as F-1B - Assembly (Churches, Concert Halls). Will it be a church or an assembly hall?"

It was originally a four-story building built in 1880. From the look of it, 100 Third Avenue is getting a five-story addition.

As A Fine Blog has mentioned, this address was home to The Lyric Theatre starting in 1910... This photo from the NYPL Digital Archives is dated April 24, 1936...

End of the world avoided — for now

Some good news via Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo... let's pick up the action starting in the third-to-the-last paragraph:

"I hope this is a false rumor," wrote commenter Stedman on local blog EV Grieve. "We don't need another Starbucks in the neighborhood."

Another commenter on the site, Glamma, simply stated: "GASP. NO. OH. MY. GOD...."

But a company spokesperson was quick to dismiss the scuttlebutt, saying that Starbucks has no planned store openings on either First Avenue or Avenue A.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Today's sign of the apocalypse: a Starbucks on Avenue A?

Members only

EV Grieve reader Marjorie passes along this ad for Sir Richard's Condom Company spotted on the Bowery.... As she notes, "I'm not sure how well-targeted to the East Village it is. Even post-gentrification we don't send a lot of kids to Collegiate."

Not yet anyway!

Noted

As always, Craigslist

To the guy jerking off in his apt.. - w4m - 23 (East Village)

Date: 2010-12-16, 3:14AM EST

You should have invited me inside! Lol.. From what I could see you were nicely hung and I could have had some fun with that ;). I'll be looking in your window next time I walk by for sure!!

Baby, it's cold inside

In case you were planning on seeing either of these two movies at the Loews Village 7 on Third Avenue at 11th Street... bring a blanket or a flask or something...

Why some dog owners are now carrying knives in Tompkins Square Park

Via CBS 2 ... The Villager had a detailed letter to the editor about the pit bull incidents in last week's issue... DNAinfo had the article this morning...

Today in Max Fish tributes

The New York Times takes a look back at the soon-to-be-departed Max Fish, which opened in 1989:

Back then, there were no gastropubs, trattorias or herds of tiara-wearing bachelorettes on the Lower East Side. This was where stolen cars were dumped, stripped, inhabited and torched to charred exoskeletons. But it was also where an abandoned gas station could become an art studio and an urban farmer might grow strawberries in horse manure carted down from Central Park.

On Max Fish’s first night, a benefit was held for a squatter building on Avenue C and two kittens were born in a bathroom.

The article mentions what will happen on the bar's last night on Jan. 31:

" ... the bar’s staff plans to cover the walls ... in pitch black paint."

[Image via]

More Heartbreak for lower Second Avenue

EV Grieve reader Mike sends along a shot of the Heartbreak Cafe sign going up at Second Street and Second Avenue...

Per New York magazine:

"Ingrid Roettele, late of Roettele AG, returns to the East Village to partner with her former neighbor, the owner of Pylos. No Greek here, though: strictly rösti, fricadellen sliders, and creamy sauerkraut soup."

A Select bus showdown on Second Avenue

Speaking of the M15 Select .... An East Village resident heading home passed along this story from yesterday evening... Two women walked up to an M15 Select bus yesterday in the 60s on Second Avenue. The two hadn't even been to the ticket kiosk when the bus departed ... to keep on schedule and all. Well, the women were pissed that the driver didn't wait for them while they bought their tickets.

So, rationally, they ran after the bus. Per the EV resident: "When he stopped the bus at the light, they stood in front of it."



"Lady in the hat stood there for 15 minutes. Bus driver did not budge because 'he gets paid to sit here.' Driver finally let us out the back door. For all I know they're still there. Are they heroes? Villains? I hope she doesn't try this with a subway train. Or do I?"

This Saturday night: Tompkins Square Everywhere/Save Charas Projection

This Saturday night, John Penley and filmmaker Vlad Teichberg (right) are holding an event at the former P.S. 64/Charas space on East Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C... This is a makeup date from the Halloween night protest/fiesta that organizers cancelled after Penley was maced the night before... Teichberg will be projecting some of his work on the Charas wall... Later on, they'll be a holiday party at Kate's Joint on Avenue B... The Charas event starts at 10 p.m.

[Photo courtesy of Bob Arihood]

Gonna be a long winter: The Penistrator strikes first snow

As I first reported, we had just a dusting of snow Monday night hereabouts — a dusting ... but that didn't stop you know who from making his or her first appearance of the young 2010-11 winter season...



Thanks to a tipster for this photo, taken on Bleecker and Jane Street in Marc JacobsVille. Uh-oh ... a little off the beaten path for this icy pork sword, don't you think? ... During the first snowfall of the 2009-10 season, the Snow Shaft Bandit stuck to his or her usual East Village confines. Now a migration to the West Village? Or — shudder — has the penistrator spawned copycats in other neighborhoods?

Oh, boy... it's gonna be a long winter with this "snowfitti" vandal on the loose... Eyes open, people. Eyes open.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An EV Grieve investigative report: In search of the Penistrator

A stunning development: Is Haley Joel Osment the Penistrator?

Snow is in the forecast tonight, which means....

Willow wood

Last Friday, a local East Village hyperlocal blogger became a bit hysterical, nearly causing his readers to storm city offices to demand why workers savagely hacked cut back the willow tree on East Eighth Street near Avenue C ...



Well! Since then, several readers have told me, er, the blogger, that — despite the appearances — this is actually just fine for the tree. So, in the sober light of day... Several readers passed along links to willow pruning forums and self-help groups... As one willow tree forum member said, "willows are very tolerant of massive pruning (you could cut it back to a stump and it will still re-sprout)."

Meanwhile, during the weekend, I took a walk by to see the tree for myself... there was a stack of firewood for the taking... (not to mention some random mail — oh look, Discover Card!)



...and workers hacked down the other tree on the lot...



We'll come back for a look in the spring

A Building sidewalk shed sits and waits

Late last summer, workers erected a sidewalk shed outside the World Famous A Building on 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue... Per the DOB, there's a permit for the shed "for emergency repair to balconies."

Can't be that much of an emergency... we have yet to see any work take place on the balconies... as a walk by the other morning suggests...



Previously.