The joy of spring?

Tompkins Square Park today ... by peter radley.

On Second Avenue with the Mosaic Man this afternoon

EV Grieve reader Stephen Popkin passes along a few photos of Jim Power, aka the Mosaic Man, continuing his work this afternoon on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place...

Jim has been keeping busy of late, working on mosaics for Tompkins Square Bagels, the Bean and Porchetta.

DOH temporarily closes Nuyorican Poets Cafe

A tipster points us to the DOH website ... where records show that the city has temporarily closed the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe on East Third Street. According to the DOH, officials closed the cafe on Friday after inspectors found 79 violations points. Among the violations cited: "Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored."

No word of the closure on the Nuyorican Poets Cafe website, though we did spot this via Twitter:

If you are planning on attending one of the many events there this week, then you may just want to call in advance. Cafe info here.

Report: Historic carriage house on East 13th Street now up for auction

The long, complicated history of 128 E. 13th St. between Fourth Avenue and Third Avenue is about to get more complicated. This afternoon, The Real Deal reports that the circa-1903 carriage house that once belonged to famed sculptor Frank Stella is now up for auction.

This is believed to be the last surviving horse and carriage auction mart building in New York City, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who helped keep the structure from becoming a seven-level condo back in 2006.

The Peridance Center has a lease there now for a dance studio.

According to the Real Deal:

A state Supreme Court judge has ordered the sale of a historic East Village art studio and former horse auction house, after two new investors, Isaac Mishan and Joseph Sabbah of Ultimate Realty, failed to gain approvals for a proposed condo project and defaulted on $10.5 million in loans.

(Read the whole article here.)

While preservationists thwarted the previous condo takeover attempt, the building was never landmarked, likely making it vulnerable again for a modern glass-and-steel death.

Previously.

Verizon's ongoing war on graffiti and stuff

Nearly eight months have passed since we last looked in on the ongoing brown-paint war at the Verizon building along 13th Street (at Second Avenue)... we thought that Verizon had simply given up.

Not so!

EV Grieve reader evilnyc just passed along these shots. A new tactic — powerwashing and painting via the city's Graffiti Free NYC...

To be continued...

Previously on EV Grieve:
First tag reappears on the Verizon building

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Verizon is going to blow the budget on brown paint

Get your home with an open-air living room on East 14th Street!

[Photos via New York magazine via Curbed]

Back in September, we posted an item about the penthouse for sale at the Brownstone East Village, the rather interesting architectural wonder at 224 E. 14th St. near Third Avenue.

Now, as The Wall Street Journal notes (via Curbed), Bill Peterson, the architect behind this, is selling his second-floor unit for $2.499 million. Among the amenities: An open-air living room that looks out onto 14th Street and "a garage-door like windowed back wall between the kitchen and the backyard."

There are photos.

The front!

The back!

Per the Journal:

The condo also showcases many references to East Village culture. In the living room there is a large framed photograph of Patti Smith and in the bedroom there is a framed vintage T-shirt worn by bartenders at Fillmore East, a legendary music venue in the East Village.

Here's the listing with more photos. And there's an Open House Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. Perfect timing for your IHOP brunch.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Finally, your chance to own the 3-level penthouse at the Brownstone East Village

St. Brigid's rectory emerges from behind construction netting, sidewalk shed

We've been posting frequent updates about the renovations at St. Brigid's on Avenue B at Eighth Street. How about the progress next door?

Last week, workers removed the construction netting and sidewalk shed outside the St. Brigid's rectory on Avenue B...

Back in November 2009, Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, told us what was happening with the rectory.

"It will be fully restored and will serve several functions, one of which will be the home for the pastor. The current church I attend does not have a rectory and the priest rents an apartment [nearby]. It will be a luxury to have a rectory."

And a reader at the time said, "The interior of the rectory is a bit of a mess (as would be expected) but there are a lot of really nice details. Pressed metal ceilings, nice moldings, etc. It'll be a really nice place for the pastor once it's fixed up..."

Here's a photo of the rectory before the sidewalk shed went up in 2008...



During the time of the construction, the sidewalk shed between the rectory and the St. Brigid School often served as a makeshift shelter of sorts. Last September, police found a woman in her 50s named Liz here. Police believed that she died from a drug overdose.

[February 2011]

And in February 2011, Tompkins Square Park regular Grace Farrell, 35, froze to death while sleeping here.

[Saturday morning outside the rectory]

Looking for an explanation about those bloodcurdling screams

A reader sends along the following:

I live on Second Avenue, between Fifth and Sixth Street, and this is the second night since last week that I've heard bloodcurdling screams around 12:30 a.m. outside of my window toward Sixth Street. I've reported it to the 9th precinct, but was just curious if anyone else in the neighborhood has heard this or has any info on what's going on.

The reader lives facing a courtyard, not Second Avenue.

This was a few days ago. There is a follow-up note:

I heard it last night. It woke up both myself and my roommate around 3 a.m. I'm really curious to know if anyone else heard it and what theories they may have on what it was. Our first thought was of course an animal, but this was extremely human-like — scary.

Anyone with theories?

Hey, let's name the new froyo machine at 16 Handles

So, there's this. Via the 16 Handles Facebook page...

Some suggestions via Facebook so far include: The Mixerater ... Green Supreme... Blendzie...

Meh. A few names to get everyone warmed up:

• Here Today, Lying in Front of the St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery 10 Minutes Later

• Does this Machine Make Me Look Fat?

• FroYuckinator

Isn't this fun?

Signs of life at former Heartbreak space

Heartbreak, the Swiss-German eatery, closed last October after short run on Second Avenue and Second Street ... As Scoopy first noted at The Villager, owner Christos (Pylos) Valtzoglou is planning on opening a place called Boukies that will specialize in small plates of Greek food — mostly meze...

There's some progress to report. The Heartbreak sign is gone.

And there's a menu for Boukies up now...

Diner's Journal reported that Boukies will open in March.

'Smash' vs. Schwimmer* today on East Sixth Street

The incoming NBC series "Smash" is back filming in the neighborhood ... today, they'll be on East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

As an exasperated resident of the block said, "Because living on East Sixth Street between First and Second Avenues isn't torture enough already." The resident points to "the insanely noisy construction of Maybe-Schwimmer's mansion" at 331 E. Sixth St. as the culprit. The resident noted that two cement-mixing trucks groaned away in front of the soon-to-be six-story home all day this past Friday.

So will the construction crew take a breather during the filming (Spielberg is involved! He has connections!)? Or, per the resident, did the location crew accidentally scout this location on a weekend or a rare quiet day, thereby failing to note the construction racket that is guaranteed to ruin any shoot?

Anyway! We'll find out today! Woo!

* Maybe!

7-Eleven on the Bowery now selling 'new Buffalo wings'

And they make it easy on you: The wings have already been digested!

Bleecker Bob's is NOT becoming a Starbucks

Starbucks taking over the Bleecker Bob's space made the rounds starting on Thursday... hysteria quickly (and understandably) set in... While we understand that the longtime record store will still be moving, a Starbucks won't be taking its place.

We didn't notice this correction dated today in the Times story on the matter ...

Correction: January 30, 2012
An article in some editions on Friday about the closings of two of New York’s musical mainstays — the performance space Southpaw in Brooklyn and Bleecker Bob’s Golden Oldies in Greenwich Village — misstated the plans for the Bleecker Bob’s property. It will not become a Starbucks, according to the company.

Starbucks also just sent out a tweet about it here.

So. Dunkin' Donuts then? Subway?

Andre Balazs really wants to be a good neighbor

[June 2009]

In The Wall Street Journal today, Andre Balazs shares more insights about his plans for the Cooper Square Hotel The Standard East Village.

To an excerpt!

You said the previous owners "miscalculated." What do you consider their biggest mistakes?

The way it was developed and built was completely misconceived in terms of its use as a public space and in terms of its relation to the neighborhood. It's a very residential community and they managed to make a design that pissed off the neighbors immediately. That's a mistake. That's not what we're going to be about.

We're going to reorient in a different direction. By mid-fall it'll be open differently, with an emphasis on public spaces. Good hotels are a center of their community, and you can't be the center of a community if the person next door to you can't sleep.