Monday, July 20, 2020

A locksmith for this retail space on 10th Street



From the EVG tipline... a report that a locksmith opened last week at 241 E. 10th St. just west of First Avenue.

The small space was until December 2019 home to United Copy & Print.

The former Lions & Tigers & Squares space is for rent on 2nd Avenue



As noted last week, the East Village outpost of Lions & Tigers & Squares had apparently closed. Workers were spotted cleaning out the pizzeria, including scraping the restaurant's name off the front windows here on Second Avenue at 10th Street.

The signage, which some commenters thought looked fitting for a car wash, was removed... and a for-rent sign arrived late last week...



Also arriving on the front door: Legal documents from the landlord, stating that rent from April through July — at $16k per month — is past due...



The Detroit-style pizzeria from the Artichoke team debuted in this high-profile corner space back in October.

The first Lions & Tigers & Squares remains open on 23rd Street in Chelsea.

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Week in Grieview


[Tompkins Square Park this morning]

Posts this last week included...

• Body of dismembered, decapitated man found inside residence on Houston and Suffolk (Tuesday) Reports: Police arrest former personal assistant in murder of tech CEO (Friday)

• The final days at I Need More, the late Jimmy Webb's rock 'n' roll boutique on the LES (Saturday)

• Bali Kitchen closes on Aug. 1: "COVID-19 was too much for us" (Thursday)

• Gemini Rosemont buys third parcel on 2nd Avenue for future development (Friday)

• Odessa's longtime manager says the diner is closing for good; co-owner later says they're just closing for renovations (Monday)

• The Russian & Turkish Baths have NOT permanently closed on 10th Street (Monday)

• New community coalition helping keep Avenue B safe for cyclists and pedestrians (Monday)

• These East Village streets are now part of the expanded Open Restaurants initiative (Saturday)

• Veeray Da Dhaba bringing the "authentic roadside cuisine of Punjab" to 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday)

• Checking in on Pause Cafe (Thursday)

• Flashback Friday: Take a virtual tour of the Brant Foundation's Basquiat exhibit from 2019 (Friday)

• Report of a fire at 67 Avenue D (Wednesday)

• Retail space at 4 St. Mark's Place, onetime home of Trash & Vaudeville, is for rent again (Wednesday)

• Stranded Records is back open (Friday)

• INA NYC closes 13th Street outpost (Wednesday)

• On 2nd thought, C&B finishes its curbside seating with the help of the DOT (Tuesday)

• Mystery dig behind the St. Brigid School (Wednesday)

• Shell shock! Lost turtles return to La Plaza Cultural (Wednesday)

• Calling out a plant thief on 7th Street (Thursday)

• Oscar watch on 2nd Street (Monday)

• The new-look 151 Avenue A (Thursday)

• Formerly interesting new business closes on 1st Avenue and 14th Street (Monday)

• The Standard East Village sets reopening date (Monday)

... and as seen on Avenue B at East Houston...


[Photo by Vinny & O]

---

Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

The fast and the squirrious: Juvenile hawk gives chase in Tompkins Square Park



Amelia and Christo's 2020 offspring are all grown up now, and doing red-tailed-hawk things, like chasing squirrels in Tompkins Square Park.

Derek Berg got these shots the other day as one of the juveniles put the heat on a squirrel... who managed to get away...







As always, Goggla has been busy documenting the activities of the whole fam. Check out her site for updates here.

Area under heat advisory today and tomorrow



NYC is under a heat advisory starting today at noon, lasting through tomorrow at 8 p.m. Cooling centers are open across the city. To find the nearest location call 311 or visit the City’s Cooling Center Finder. This city map provides details on public spray showers as well as tree shade.

Meanwhile, @Newyorkist shared this photo from this morning on Second Avenue and 14th Street. And yes — a few people have pointed out that the man is being inconsiderate for not wearing a mask.

EVG Etc.: Inside the COVID Rent Relief Program; Update on the tech CEO murder


[Photo on 7th Street by Derek Berg]

• An explainer on New York state’s COVID Rent Relief Program (Curbed)

• Aunt says accused killer Tyrese Devon Haspil "was a quiet young man, at times annoying, but incapable of the cold-blooded murder of victim Fahim Saleh" (Daily News ... previously on EVG)

• Why gets to drink outdoors in NYC? "Nobody is drinking pouches of colorful cocktails underneath the floodlights on Avenue D." (Grub Street)

• Without jobs in bars and restaurants, what will happen to the city's creative class? (The Associated Press)

• Inside Abolition Park (The Indypendent)

• A unique season package at the New York Theatre Workshop on Fourth Street — a subscription to the artists, rather than to a roster of plays (The Washington Post)

• The online screenings and events at the Anthology Film Archives (Official site)

• Empire State Building observatory reopens Monday (USA Today)

• ICYMI: A Sonic Youth album guide (Brooklyn Vegan)

• Diversions: When the Ramones appeared on the Sha Na Na television variety show in 1979 (Boing Boing)

Saturday, July 18, 2020

The final days at I Need More, the late Jimmy Webb's rock 'n' roll boutique on the LES



Text and photos by Stacie Joy

I Need More, the rock 'n' roll boutique that Jimmy Webb owned and operated on Orchard Street, closes Monday after three-plus years. The store announced their closure in an Instagram post last month.

Webb, who opened I Need More in October 2017, died on April 14 of cancer. He was 62.

I stopped by to speak with Eddy, the manager, about Jimmy, the store's last days and the future.



"We want people to come by, reminisce and talk about Jimmy: laugh, cry, dance ... to be happy," he said. "Even though Jimmy's gone and the store will soon be gone, he will live on in the spirit. The rock 'n' roll spirit. Jimmy lived his life to the fullest, living out his dream. He was a fighter and would say that he had a great life. Whenever I am lost I ask myself, WWJD? What would Jimmy do? He would say, 'Keep your pants tight. If the clothes aren't tight, it's not rock-n-roll!'"










[A look in the now-closed basement]

One much-requested item that sold out immediately online is the original I Need More T-shirt design. Eddy's says it will be back in stock and available only for in-person purchase and pick up at the store, starting today (Saturday!) at around 1 p.m. Sizes available include unisex or men's cut from sizes xs to xxl and women's cut from xs to large.





All other merchandise is discounted steeply right now and Eddy hopes to sell much of it prior to Monday’s closing.

Curious about what will happen to the cement footprints, handprints and autographs? Eddy says there are currently no plans in place to sell them or remove them, that the store needs to "pack up and leave ASAP, that the autographs will stay and the next tenants will be very lucky."

He says if anyone in interested in purchasing these items, or the Slash drawing on the bar, they should contact him and he'll put them in touch with Jimmy's estate. (Slash, the guitarist for Guns N' Roses, was a longtime friend and supporter.)







In early 2020, the shop hosted a "Footprints in February" celebration, in which Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop put their handprints, footprints and autographs in concrete on the floor of I Need More...











While I was there drummer and tattoo artist Bob Nelson of Five Points Tattoo dropped by to talk about Jimmy and pick up some remaining bullet belts.



Store hours are extended, currently through Monday's closing date, noon until 6 p.m., possibly 7 p.m. if there's a need. I Need More is at 75A Orchard St. between Broome and Grand.



A pop-up breakfast service on Avenue A


[Image via @MilkMoneyKitchens]

Milk Money Kitchens is hosting a pop-up breakfast service at 50 Avenue A (the former Villa Cemita space) between Third Street and Fourth Street today from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (They did this last Saturday as well.)

Today's menu: gluten free lemon-ricotta pancakes with blackberry compote and maple syrup with crispy bacon sprinkles (optional!) ... and chia seed pudding with blackberries and natural dates. And there's coffee by The Bungalow.

Milk Money Kitchens, which provides commercial kitchen rentals and consulting services for food businesses, is opening soon right next door on Avenue A. Nancy Preston, the company's founder and CEO, is a 10-year Army veteran, and served as a Brigade Engineer building bases in Iraq.

These East Village streets are now part of the expanded Open Restaurants initiative


[Photo via @astorplacenyc]

As you may have seen, Mayor de Blasio yesterday extended the Open Restaurants program until the end of October, giving NYC restaurants two extra months to serve sidewalk and curbside meals.

Also! The mayor announced that the city was providing a weekend expansion for outdoor dining options — a combo of Open Streets and Open Restaurants.

Per the city's release:

The program expands restaurant seating options onto car-free streets for select corridors throughout the five boroughs. Restaurants on these corridors will go farther away from the curb than other Open Restaurants participants, and the rest of the streets will be open to pedestrian traffic and emergency vehicles. Selected corridors will be operational on Friday from 5-11 P.M., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 11 P.M. The 26 new locations bring the citywide total to 47 participating streets.

And around here, the new street dining — weekends only — will happen on:

• St Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue
• Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street
• Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue
• Bleecker Street between Mott Street and the Bowery

As the top photo shows, the outdoor dining on St. Mark's Place already has branding — Street Feast.

Friday, July 17, 2020

Friday's parting shot



Dog-window action on 12th Street today via Vinny & O...

Lover's rock



Local synth-pop group Hennessey have released a new single — a cover of "We Will Not Be Lovers" by the Waterboys (from that band's 1988 album Fisherman's Blues). Read more about that track at Paste.

"We Will Not Be Lovers" is the second single off Hennessey's forthcoming debut EP on Velvet Elk.

Hennessey is performing tonight at the Bowery Electric as part of the venue's ongoing livestream series. Learn more about that here.

Noted



From the EVG inbox: A reader shares that someone tagged the statue of Samuel S. Cox at the Seventh Street and Avenue A entrance to Tompkins Square Park.

Cox (1824–1889) was a longtime member of Congress who "spearheaded legislation that led to paid benefits and a 40-hour workweek for postal employees."

However, according to the History News Network: "Cox fancied himself a champion of the United States Constitution but somehow his interpretation of the Constitution always seemed to deny rights to Blacks. On June 2, 1862, a year after the Civil War had begun but six months before the Emancipation Proclamation, Cox argued in Congress that the United States was made for white men only."