Astor Place
Non aquatic trees succumb,
to generous water.
By design or lack of care,
this concrete park does suffer.
•
peter radley
[Photos from last week]
Previously
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
White out at new gelato space on Avenue A
[Photo from Sunday by Steven]
As noted on Monday, a gelato shop called Gelarto has opened at 145 Avenue A at Ninth Street. (They are still officially in soft-open mode.)
Several commenters noted what they perceived to be an "ugly brick façade" here.
Anyway, as multiple EVG readers pointed out, workers painted the storefront yesterday...
And, as we understand it, Gelarto signage will be arriving in the next 10 days to give it that finished look.
H/T Steven and Bobby Williams
Out and About in the East Village
In this ongoing feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village or Lower East Side.
By James Maher
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
By James Maher
Name: Miss Joan Marie Moossy
Occupation: Performer
Location: Clinton Street
Date: Monday, June 12 at noon
Read part 1 of this interview here.
I’ve had a lot of jobs in New York. I worked at the Limelight in the art department. I worked at the Puck building as a party manager. I worked as a casting assistant. I worked for Stripe First Generators, working on a generator on movie sets and street fairs. I’ve had a lot of interesting jobs here. I’ve been lucky in terms of hitting jobs where it was at the high point of the place. I used to do a show on WBAI and then MNN called "Let Them Talk" with a boyfriend Paul DeRienzo. I’m also now doing a detective series set on the Lower East Side on YouTube called "Miss Moossy's Neighborhood Mysteries."
I worked at the Limelight in its heyday. I was there from 1984 to 1988. And at that time I had a boyfriend who worked at the Pyramid as the lighting guy, so we had the club scene down. In the beginning, we did major installations, like every day at the Limelight. We had a big budget, and the Pyramid was more low budget. The Limelight had the celebrity scene. The Pyramid had the experimental, avant-garde scene. I knew all these people who worked at the Pyramid, so I danced on the bar sometimes. And that’s how I met Ethyl Eichelberger, who was a playwright and performer, and I worked for him for the last four years of his life. He died in 1990.
I started as his stage manager, and then he wrote parts for me in his plays. He showed me I could talk on stage, because when you dance you don’t really say anything. I sang in his plays — things I thought I could never do, but he pushed me and I did it, and it was life changing, really.
He committed suicide in 1990. He had AIDS, and I think he feared the loss of intellect, because he was a very bright individual. I’ve been working on perpetuating his legacy. And it’s not just me, it’s definitely a group effort, and we’ve been successful at it — he certainly deserves it. Twenty-seven years later his legacy is still going, and I’m proud of that because it’s a commitment of gratitude for me. He did so much for me and taught me so much. You know, I had been a dancer, which in the 1970s was not quite the same thing as being a dancer now – we were kind of scumbags. I don’t know how else to put it. We were not considered respectable members of society.
New York’s a tough town. You can’t really get around that for all the joy and inspiration it provides to people — it can be difficult. My life has the balance, and I’m incredibly grateful to have the youth I had here in this neighborhood, but yeah there were hard times. There were the things that really impacted, I don’t think just me, I think I’m talking for a generation of people. There were things that happened that deeply affected all of us, that colored our lives.
AIDS decimated this neighborhood, and it decimated my friends. It caused a portion of our youth to be spent nursing people to their death, which is a unique experience for young people. I mean unless there’s a war, most young people go through life without a lot of deaths. There’s always going to be death, but death in that magnitude and concentration, that happened here too. When you have multiple friends sick, and you’re running from apartment to apartment trying to help, this is your life. It’s a big part of it. It certainly wasn’t just me. It was a lot of people.
I never imagined I’d get old and it would be like this. When you’re young, you don’t realize, you think it’s all going to stay the same forever, you’re never going to get old. But here you are this many years later. I didn’t think I’d live, because when you watch all your friends die, you think, ‘Well, I’m going to die too.’ I’ve been taking care of these guys, they’ve thrown up on me, everything’s happened that would put you at risk, so you figure, yeah, I’ll die too. So I never envisioned myself in my 60s.
Those were the things on the hard side, and obviously on the pleasant side I’m a happy person by nature. I loved it and I still love it — I adore New York. There are a lot of things that I like about living here. I love to walk around the neighborhood. Freedom is one of my highest ideals — the freedom to be who you are and do what you want to do. There is a certain amount of anonymity compared to a smaller arena, where everybody watches everybody. You know, for a weird person it’s nice to just be able to walk the streets and people aren’t judging everything.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
Retail space with tragic past now on the market for the first time in decades
Nearly one year has passed since workers were spotted clearing out the long-empty storefront at 84 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Fourth Street.
A worker said that Betty Sopolsky, the owner, had recently moved away around the same time as an LLC with a Hempstead, N.Y., address bought the building for $5.125 million, per public records. (A few EVG readers said that she was estranged from her family, and only a niece remained.)
Now, in the last few days, retail for rent signs arrived on the building (thanks to Goggla for the photos!)...
As previously noted, there have been several deaths inside this house. This is from The New York Times, dated Jan. 18, 1974:
As far as some longtime residents can remember, the storefront has remained empty since Helen's death. The perceived lack of activity inside the building along with the preserved window display on the second level was long a source of mystery.
Here's Jeremiah Moss writing about it in 2011:
[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]
For now the only mystery here will be with who arrives as the new retail tenant.
A worker said that Betty Sopolsky, the owner, had recently moved away around the same time as an LLC with a Hempstead, N.Y., address bought the building for $5.125 million, per public records. (A few EVG readers said that she was estranged from her family, and only a niece remained.)
Now, in the last few days, retail for rent signs arrived on the building (thanks to Goggla for the photos!)...
As previously noted, there have been several deaths inside this house. This is from The New York Times, dated Jan. 18, 1974:
The nude body of a 40-year-old woman propietor of a tailor shop that rents tuxedos on the Lower East Side was found bludgeoned to death. The victim was Helen Sopolsky of 84 Second Avenue, near fifth Street, whose shop is one flight up at that address. The motive of the attack was not determined immediately....
As far as some longtime residents can remember, the storefront has remained empty since Helen's death. The perceived lack of activity inside the building along with the preserved window display on the second level was long a source of mystery.
Here's Jeremiah Moss writing about it in 2011:
It seems the shop has stayed virtually frozen in time since that terrible moment. The dinner jacket, never hired out to a party, is white beneath its dusty plastic, and the shirt and tie are the orange sherbet color of baby aspirin. Above hangs a crooked neon sign announcing DRESS SUITS TO HIRE. The ITS in SUITS is broken and dangling.
[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]
For now the only mystery here will be with who arrives as the new retail tenant.
Flowers for a former Juice Press on 10th Street
This sign with the name Catherine Muller arrived at the empty storefront at 279 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. According to her website, Muller is a floral designer and teacher with outposts in Paris, London, New York and Seoul.
It's not exactly clear at the moment what will be in this storefront — a floral school or a retail shop.
You can find examples of her floral arrangements at her Instagram account.
It will be the first tenant here since Juice Press packed up and left in the spring of 2015. While JP is expanding like crazy, this was the one time they closed a location, due to, we heard, ongoing frustrations with landlord Steve Croman.
Thanks to EVG regular Daniel for the photo!
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
A new meaning for bank fishing
EVG regular Jose Garcia spotted this on Ninth Street near First Avenue... and part of our ongoing found fish-heads-on-sidewalk series (like here and here).
P.S.
What is bank fishing?
Down at 1st
EVG reader William Klayer shares these photos from this morning at East Houston and the FDR along East River Park ... showing a tree casualty from yesterday's late-afternoon/early-evening storms that passed through the city...
The tree appears to have fallen roughly where first base is on the ballfield... (looks like field 4?)
San Loco is closing its 2nd Avenue location after today
After today, San Loco will no longer have a presence in the East Village.
The quick-serve restaurant took to Instagram yesterday to announce that they are closing on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.
We are heartbroken to announce that we are closing our 2nd Ave location due to a rent increase that is unsustainable. Tomorrow, June 20th will be our last day of business. Our other #sanloco locations will remain open so please come visit us. Thank you 2nd avenue for 30+ years, we will surely miss you.
Owner Jill Hing, whose brothers opened this location in 1986, talked to Jeremiah Moss last November about their struggles to stay in business.
There are many factors that contribute to our struggle to survive — and the noose definitely keeps tightening. Our customer base has been mostly squeezed out of this neighborhood as a consequence of hyper-gentrification. Rent is a constant source of stress. In our case, as with many long-standing businesses, we are at the mercy of the landlord and live in fear of our next rent renewal.
They can raise your rent exponentially to just force you out, or they can charge you above market because they know moving is not a viable option. For example, one of our location's lease is up in the spring, we have been tenants there for 20 years, but still they are asking about 15-20% above the comps around us because they know moving is expensive, disruptive, and can cost us our liquor license (although San Loco obtained the liquor license it stays with the address). And regardless of our good standing with the community board, we could be denied a new license, or most likely, be given one with limitations. There are moratoriums on most blocks now because of the over saturation of restaurants/bars in the neighborhood.
Rent aside, there's also more competition, with Otto's Tacos and Taqueria Diana opening nearby in recent years.
The Avenue A San Loco closed in 2014 after 15 years in business.
More about plans to add 2 levels to this possibly haunted 10th Street beauty
Plans to add a two-level extension to the long-empty townhouse at 104 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Second Avenue are moving forward.
Tonight, CB3's Landmarks Committee is hearing a proposal on the partial rooftop addition, which is "set back 14 feet at the first level and 18 feet at the second level," per the paperwork...
Here's a look at a rendering ...
... and some detailed plans (find more here)...
As previously reported, the townhouse, built in 1879, will be converted into a single-family home. The address, once the property of reclusive real-estate baron William Gottleib, sold in 2013 for $3.5 million to an entity going by North Sydney LLC.
No. 104 is within the St. Mark's Historic District and needs the proper approvals before moving forward with any vertical extensions. (The work permits were last disapproved in November.)
The building has been vacant for years. The last (and lone) tenant was playwright, poet and performance artist Edgar Oliver.
This article from 1998 in The New York Times suggests that the place could possibly be haunted. But as Oliver said at the time, "The house I do believe is haunted. Alas, it is only with memories."
Previously on EV Grieve:
Plans to convert the haunted beauty 104 E. 10th St. into a single-family home with 2 extra floors
The charmingly shabby interiors of 104 E. 10th St
Recognizing 27 Cooper Square's role in local history
When developers of the Cooper Square Hotel (now the Standard East Village) were buying up properties to demolish to make way for their 21-floor building, two residents of 27 Cooper Square declined to leave their longtime home (the two had secured artists' loft status in the 1980s, and weren't legally required to move) ... and so the circa-1845 tenement became fused together with the new structure.
Today, No. 27 houses part of the hotel, including administrative offices and the front desk. (The residences remain upstairs.)
And tonight at 6, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is unveiling a plaque at the building between Fifth Street and Sixth Street to note its importance in neighborhood history.
Via the EVG inbox...
GVSHP and the Two Boots Foundation will commemorate the role of 27 Cooper Square as an important nexus for artistic and cultural movements that continue to reverberate today with the unveiling of a historic plaque.
In the 1960s, this 1845 former rooming house became a laboratory for artistic, literary and political currents. Writers LeRoi and Hettie Jones, their Yugen magazine and Totem Press, musician Archie Shepp and painter Elizabeth Murray all had homes here. The vacant building was transformed into a vital hub of cultural life, attracting leading figures including those from the Beats and the world of jazz. It was also the childhood home of a second generation of East Village artists and thinkers.
GVSHP and Two Boots Foundation will install a plaque on the building at 27 Cooper Square to mark the significance of the site in the artistic legacy of the East Village. Speakers will include, Accra Shepp, photographer and son of world-renowned saxophonist Archie Shepp who lived in the building beginning in the 1960s, and writer and poet Hettie Jones, who still lives at 27 Cooper Square will speak about the importance of this building as a hub of creativity.
Unfortunately, neighboring 35 Cooper Square didn't fare as well in subsequent years.
Updated:
250 E. Houston is officially no longer Red Square
Just noting that the Red Square signage was recently removed from 250 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B...
The 13-floor building changed hands for a reported $100 million last fall... The Dermot Company has stated they are "creating a more updated style and fit for the cool East Village neighborhood" with the renovations at the retail-residential complex.
Red Square opened for occupancy in June 1989. Workers removed the building's statue of Lenin from the roof last September. It's now standing on a nearby rooftop on Norfolk Street.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Rumors: Red Square has been sold
New ownership makes it official at the former Red Square on East Houston
Apartment listings at 250 E. Houston look to offer glimpse of former Red Square's future
Long-vacant retail space hits the rental market at 250 E. Houston St.
Monday, June 19, 2017
Monday's parting shot
[Click to go big]
Thanks to EVG reader R. P. Tanaka for this excellent double rainbow shot from this evening...
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