Sign of the Kross

Redd Kross is back... brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald are embarking on a tour, which includes a stop at the Bowery Ballroom on May 4.

The above video is for 1990's "Annie's Gone."

Noted

Possibly suspicious golf activity on Avenue A this morning... photo via ‏@Jason_Chatfield

Community meeting set to discuss lowering the playground fences in Tompkins Square Park

Via the EVG inbox...

On Monday, Feb. 27, NYC Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will hold a community meeting pertaining to the Tompkins Square Park Avenue B Children’s Playground Renovation.

Councilwoman Mendez allocated capital funds to renovate the Avenue B Children’s Playground. The Parks Department has supplemented the funding with its “Parks Without Borders” Initiative that would lower the fences from its present height of 7 feet to 4 feet.

This initiative to lowers the fences at the Avenue B Playground has raised many concerns from residents and NYC Councilwoman Mendez. Please join us at the meeting to share your concerns for the initiative.

The meeting takes place Monday night from 6:30-8 at Saint Brigid-Saint Emeric on Avenue B at Eighth Street. Use the entrance on Eighth Street.

For a little more background, here's a piece from DNAinfo earlier this month:

The Parks Department currently plans to lower the fences around the two playgrounds at the southeast corner of the park from seven feet to four feet as part of a larger reconstruction project, claiming the high fences could obscure bad behavior and actually make the playgrounds less safe.

But community representatives say lowering the fences would expose children using the playgrounds to "vagrants" and drug paraphernalia in the park.

Capt. Vincent Greany, commanding officer at the 9th Precinct, also told DNAinfo that he believes the fences should not be lowered.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Your chance to brainstorm ideas to renovate the Tompkins Square Park Playground (27 comments)

Reminders: Meeting on possible improvements to the Tompkins Square Park Playground

Join Rosie Mendez to discuss improvements to the Tompkins Square playgrounds tomorrow night

Report: 6th Street synagogue ready to hold first services since condofication

After nearly four-plus years, services will resume on March 1 at the condofied Adas Yisroel Anshe Mezritch Synagogue (or Congregation Mezritch Synagogue) at 415 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, DNAinfo reports.

Today at noon, the synagogue will celebrate its reopening by unveiling its new interior.

EVG regular Michael Hirsch got a look at the under-construction space back in November...



The synagogue — active here since 1910 — had reportedly fallen on hard times, "with a dwindling membership and few resources to maintain the building," as The New York Times noted. Previous plans called for the demolition of the building. Those plans never materialized, and a new developer, East River Partners, emerged and proposed the current arrangement calling for several luxury residences.

As part of the current agreement, the developers are providing at least $20,000 annually to the congregation for the next 198 years ... East River also gave the synagogue a $180,000 "fit-out allowance" to design and rebuild the sanctuary and other spaces, like offices or meeting rooms in the basement.

Per DNAinfo:

Rabbi Paul Ackerman, who served as the head of the congregation for more than four decades, didn't live to see the synagogue's second life — he died months after the deal was made, leaving the century-old structure in the hands of the synagogue board.

The deceased rabbi's son, Sandy Ackerman, now serves as vice president and secretary of that board, and says the historic structure’s restoration would have made his father proud.

“I’m happy for my dad — my father would have loved this,” said Sandy Ackerman.

Per the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, "Congregation Mezritch Synagogue appears to be the sole remaining operating tenement synagogue in the East Village, and thus is an important link to what was once perhaps the most significant Jewish community in America."

The three luxury residences here range in price from $2.95 million (second floor) to $4.4 million for the duplex penthouse, which has two private terraces. You can visit the official 415 site here for more details.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plan to add condos to historic East Sixth Street synagogue back on

Play spot the potential penthouse atop the East Village synagogue

A final look inside the Anshei Meseritz synagogue on East Sixth Street

Stained-glass windows removed ahead of condo conversion at Congregation Mezritch Synagogue

Condos at former East 6th Street synagogue will start at just under $3 million

Sidewalk bridge comes down as condo conversion continues at former East 6th Street synagogue

History reimagined with $4.4 million penthouse at former 6th Street synagogue

Check out the penthouse at the synagogue-turned condos on 6th Street

1st sign of Sister Jane East Side Tavern on 13th Street

As we've been reporting in recent months, East Side Tavern is coming to the former Redhead space on 13th Street just west of First Avenue.

Now the coming soon signage is up in the front windows... (it looks like the name will be Sister Jane East Side Tavern)...



Michael Stewart, a co-owner of Tavern on Jane at 31 Eighth Ave., said he plans to bring that low-key neighborhood bar/restaurant vibe to 13th Street. He hopes to be open early this spring.

Previously

14th St. Lotto & Magazine has closed

Yesterday was the last day in business for the convenient store at 430 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

An EVG reader, who shared the above photo, passed along the news. A clerk at the store said that they were moving uptown. He declined to say why they were leaving the neighborhood.

Perhaps it's due to the decrease in foot traffic along this corridor in recent years. The store is directly next door to the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office, where a residential building is in the works.

This PO branch closed almost three years ago to the date in 2014.

A fashionable way to share your feelings about those Supreme-branded Metrocards

In response to the Supreme-branded Metrocards that were unveiled on Monday, especially the hype around them (the $5.50 cards are hitting $1,000 on eBay) ...

These fools out there at Union Square waiting in line for a Supreme MetroCard 😂😂😂. #MTA pic.twitter.com/r4yEAWk6hw

— Icculus The Brave (@FirenzeMike) February 21, 2017

...one Lower East Side resident has created a T-shirt.

Via the EVG inbox...

We figured you've seen all the hype around the Supreme metrocards this week, and thought you might be interested in our new Fuck Supreme Metrocard T-shirts that we developed in response. The custom printed, hand embroidered, tongue-in-cheek shirts are now available through our instagram @fuckmalkam.

📸 by @sozi.nyc

A post shared by Fuck Malkam (@fuckmalkam) on Feb 23, 2017 at 11:28am PST

Honeybee ready to read your past, present and future on Avenue A

[Photo from March 2014]

There's apparently a new psychic in town... in this exclusive report, workers this morning hoisted the new awning at 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street...



As the sign shows, Honeybee is now doing readings here, which include the past, present and future...



Any thoughts on the punctuation in the sign? Readings By: Honeybee. As opposed to, say — Readings By Honeybee.

Anyway! This space went under renovation in March 2014, setting a local record with a two-day overhaul. (Read that post here.)

We'll check back later on the status of the guardian lions here...




[Photos from Saturday]

If you can stand another post about the no-seat Japanese steakhouse, which opens today

Ikinari Steak officially debuts today at 90 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

As previously noted, this is the first U.S. location (there are more than 100 worldwide) for the popular Tokyo-based restaurant. The concept: Diners, particularly in-a-rush office workers, stand and basically eat quickly.

The restaurant is getting the full-court press treatment. There are previews galore. Here's more via Eater:

Besides the standing portion of the meal, dining at the restaurant is intended to be an interactive experience. Patrons choose their cut of meat by the gram, and a butcher cuts and weighs it right in front of them. They cook it only one way, rare. The steak then arrives at the table on a sizzling cast-iron platter, where people can choose from a dizzying array of sauces, dressings, and other additives to top their meal.

It’s just the beginning of the chain’s presence in New York. Ambitious founder Kunio Ichinose and his stateside operations manager Takashi Tsuchiyama want to open 20 more locations in Manhattan in the next five years.

And Gothamist:

There are only a few things you need to decide about your steak. First, the cut, choosing between decadent Japan Cut Ribeye, meatier Sirloin or tender Filet. Next: size. Steaks are cut and priced to order, ranging anywhere from 300 grams (10.6 ounces) of Ribeye for $27 at 9 cents a gram, up to 1,000 grams (35.3 ounces) of Filet for $110 at 11 cents a gram.

At each station wait a bevy of different sauces and condiments, though steaks are already garnished with a garlic paste and fried garlic chips. Thermoses of J-Sauce, a soy sauced-based umami bomb, are table-side—you'll understand why they provide you with paper aprons once you've drizzled it all over the meat. There are also tubs of wasabi (very good on steak), salt/pepper, garlic and a sweet Ikinari steak sauce.

And the Daily News:

Come for the meat, but don’t underestimate side dishes like a sublime, steaming hot plate of garlic white rice sizzling with corn, pepper and chunks of beef. Even the salad dressings, like a sweet onion variety, are tasty.

In our road test this week, standing while eating steak wasn’t much of a challenge, though at $30 or so for a regular-sized sirloin or filet mignon, prices are only a little less than restaurants with a little more comfort.

The lack of pretensions - and the no-tipping policy - were a definite plus, though.

There were congratulatory flowers out front yesterday...





... and a spy pic inside the other evening...



The restaurant does include 10 seats, if you want to stand out and sit while dining here.

Find the menu here. Ikinari Steak is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
1st sign of Ikinari Steak, the quick-serve, no-seat steakhouse coming to 10th Street (29 comments)

On 10th Street, Prime & Beyond has closed; popular Japanese steakhouse coming

The campaign to save the TV series 'Uncle Buck' is underway on Avenue C

This flyer, spotted last evening on Avenue C at Eighth Street, is asking fans of "Uncle Buck" – based on the 1989 film starring John Candy — to sign a petition in an effort to bring the canceled ABC series with Mike Epps back for a second season.

News of that the show's demise was first reported last July.

The petition, also created last year, currently has 264 signatures.

Meanwhile, maybe ABC will bring back "Blood & Oil" starring Don Johnson.

H/T @david_reyer

A good idea

EVG reader 8E shares the above photo... someone created a "Make me a Park" sign on the fence that surrounds the empty DEP lot on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Lafayette... anyone know what the purpose of this lot is for?

Mob scene on 10th Street as 'Gotti' crew and John Travolta hold forth

Crews and classic Cadillacs were out today on 10th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A to film scenes for "The Life and Death of John Gotti," a biopic on the crime boss and his son. EVG regular Daniel shared these photos...



John Travolta, seen below, is in the title role... the cast includes Kelly Preston and Stacy Keach... "Entourage" star Kevin Connolly directs the film that Lionsgate is releasing later this year...



If this helps...




Some more cast members ... or some employees of landlords...