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.



By James Maher

Name: Amy Sheridan
Occupation: Owner of digital marketing company
Location: Second Street and Avenue A
Time: 4:15 on Thursday, Sept. 8

I grew up in New Jersey. I moved here seven years ago. It’s funny, when I was 17 years old, the day I got my Driver's License, I drove and parked in front of where I'd end up living on Avenue A so many years later.

I live here for a reason. Besides the banks, there are no real chains right around here. That kind of stuff is such a bummer. When I look out of my window, there’s nothing like that. That’s why I live here. It’s all local businesses. I just liked the funkiness of the neighborhood. We have pretty much have everything you could possibly need without having to go to big-box stores or one store for everything. I heard they’re building a Target on 14th. Do we really need that? There’s every single thing here. Why do people have to buy from Amazon? It’s great that we have Amazon, but I just don’t think that should be the only thing we have. There’s something so fundamental about a bookstore.

Everyone in the neighborhood is awesome. It’s a real neighborhood. I treat everybody the same. There are a lot of people who don’t have housing here. I have dogs, and I walk around the block multiple times a day with the dogs. I don’t classify whether someone is living on the street or whether they are living in an apartment. They are people and I treat them like that. It’s cool to know everybody by their first names, whether it’s the priest, the people on the street or the guys in Native Bean. You really know people and I like that. [People] should think of the way it was before us. They’ve been here for so long.

I own an Internet company. It’s our 10-year anniversary next week. I didn’t even have email when I was in college. I learned it all on the job. I started my business with $1,000 and I made the the Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Companies. I do performance-based marketing. I work with advertisers like the U.S. Air Force for the VA hospital. I staff the doctors, nurses, dentists, things like that using LinkedIn and other job sites for the VA Hospital and Hospital for Special Surgery.

I’m also a huge Grateful Dead fan. I still follow the remaining members in the Grateful Dead. The first place they played in New York City was in 1967 in Tompkins Square Park. Pretty cool, right? I’ve been trying to find that flier for many years. One day I will.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

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

City Councilmember Rosie Mendez is taking part in this month's CB3 Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, & Waterfront Committee meeting tomorrow night. The topic: A look at ideas for improving the Tompkins Square Park Playgrounds near East Seventh Street and Avenue B.

As previously noted, Mendez has allotted some $900,000 to renovate the playgrounds.

Based on previous community input, the Parks Department now has some schematic designs for the two spaces... and your thoughts are welcome at the meeting. (Or in the comments. Beer store will already be noted.)

The committee meeting starts at 6:30 at Casa Victoria, 308 E. Eighth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

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

A look at Drunken Dumpling, now open on 1st Avenue

Drunken Dumpling is now open at 137 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.

Grub Street checks out the 11-item menu and talks with owner Yuan Li.

Li’s real secret weapon, though, is his mom, Qihui Guan, a mathematics professor and amateur cook turned professional dumpling-maker. When she emigrated to the United States 15 years ago and couldn’t find work in her chosen field, Guan’s hobby became her profession, leading to a position at soup-dumpling dynasty Joe’s Shanghai.

As for the "Drunken," Li says that in this case "the term alludes to the juiciness of the dumplings." A monster soup dumpling called the XL XLB is served with a straw.

The morning line on the Gray Mare, now open in the former Dempsey's space on 2nd Avenue

On Aug. 24 we noted that the former Dempsey's space on Second Avenue had been transformed into a new bar-restaurant called the Gray Mare.

The new space debuted last week at 61 Second Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street.

DNAinfo spoke with bar (and building) owner Tom O'Byrne about the new concept ("we wanted it to be a little more upscale") ... and why he decided to close Dempsey's:

The problem, he explained, was that the appeal of the neighborhood pub had run its course — the time was right to fold the business and start over with something new and fresh, capable of casting a wider net.

“When we opened Dempsey’s, it had been current and of its time, and it had been popular and much beloved of many years, but generationally things change,” he said.

And while Dempsey’s was known for its pints of beer, trivia nights, and simple pub fare, The Gray Mare is offering a colorful menu including Short Rib Nachos with Avocado Creme Fraiche and a Ribeye Cheese Steak Hero.

The food is accompanied by craft cocktails such as the Native Dancer, featuring tequila, lime and mint, the Final Furlong, featuring bourbon, muddled strawberries and ginger beer, and The Outsider, with mezcal, cognac and sherry.

After 24 years, O'Byrne, who also owns Slainte at 304 Bowery and Cooper’s Craft and Kitchen on Second Avenue at Fifth Street, decided to close Dempsey's in April.

London-based luxury leather popping up on 9th Street

[Photo by Steven]

Signage arrived yesterday on Ninth Street for Ellesd, a London-based ready-to-wear clothing store specializing in luxury leather for women.

The store's Instagram account describes the location here between Avenue A and First Avenue as a pop-up shop. No word yet on an opening date.

The address (No. 434) was previously home to Delto-Meest, which shipped parcels to the Ukraine and surrounding areas. I have no idea what happened to the store (if it's a permanent closure). The address hosted another designer pop-up shop last month.

[Updated] The Alamo returns tomorrow (Wednesday!)

According to this community advisory anyway (via an EVG reader) ... no mention of what time, though, for this blessed event...



These bulletins have been wrong at least once, when the city said the cube would be back on June 22. The Parks Department then announced that the Alamo was "being inspected by a conservator for final preparation," and that the return would be delayed until August. And then September.

The return, if does indeed happen tomorrow, will coincide with the first Astor Alive! Festival happening this weekend.

Workers packed up and carted off the Alamo for safekeeping for the duration of the Astor Place-Cooper Square reconstruction back on Nov. 25, 2014. The cube was installed here in 1967.

Updated 9/14
AARRGH...

Cube News - The Cube's anticipated return today, by @NYCDDC has been delayed due to logistical issues. Stay tuned for news about a new date.

— Astor Place NYC (@AstorPlaceNYC) September 14, 2016

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Alamo returns to Astor Place this Halloween

Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

This is what it might be like living inside the Alamo on Astor Place

RIP Tony Rosenthal, the sculptor who created the Astor Place cube

Breaking: LinkNYC up and running on 2nd Avenue

At least the kiosk just north of Seventh Street has its Information Superhighway as of this morning... and it appears family friendly fare is playing in that YouTube video...

Photo by Derek Berg

New 6-story residential building OK'd for 7th Street

[What's left of No. 253]

The city has signed off on permits for a new 6-story residential building at 253 E. Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

As previously reported, workers demolished the former four-story residence here late last year. However, the new building plans never met with the city's approval. Then the developer, BSD Realty, filed new plans with Issac & Stern Architects designing the project.

In April, New York Yimby noted that the six residences here should average "a spacious 1,498 square feet apiece, indicative of condominiums."

There is also a penthouse unit. (Bit of a duh.)

The property also has a new owner. Public records show that an LLC going by DRK East 7th Street paid $5.7 million for the plot in a filing posted on Aug. 22.

Thanks to the EVG reader for the tip on this!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Options for this lovely East 7th Street townhouse include demolition

New building in the works for 253 E. 7th St.

The disappearing 253 E. 7th St.

253 E. 7th St. is now a pile of bricks

Property at 253 E. 7th St. now for sale; perfect for a 'dream custom mansion townhouse'

New plans for a 6-story building at 253 E. 7th St.


[Image from 2014 via Massey Knakal]

Raphael Toledano is selling 444 E. 13th St.

[Photo at No. 444 from May 2015 by Stacie Joy]

Raphael Toledano of Brookhill Properties has put another of his East Village buildings on the block.

As noted last week, Toledano is in the process of selling multiple EV properties.

Now the latest address for sale is 444 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

First, to the 444 listing at Cushman & Wakefield:

The building consists of a vacant ground floor space with 16 apartments above. Of the 16 residential units, all are subject to rent stabilization. Eight units are renovated with condo-level finishes that include wide plank wood floors, white marble bathrooms, re-finished exposed brick, gray washed stained wood cabinetry, and stainless steel appliances. The average in-place rent is approximately $70 per square foot which is below market. The newly renovated ground floor space is currently vacant.

The building is located less than a block from the 1st Avenue L train stop and within close proximity to neighborhood hot spots such as Hearth and The Redhead. Additionally, the building is less than a block from 500 East 14th Street where Extell is developing a large mixed-use condo building with over 40,000 SF of retail that will drive long term foot traffic.

The asking price is $9.9 million. Toledano bought the building for $6.1 million in January 2015, per public records.

And this was the address where many people first heard about the 26-year-old Toledano. In the spring of 2015, rent-regulated tenants at No. 444 accused Toledano, and a management company he reportedly hired (then later fired), of harassment and intimidation.

There are tape recorded conversations where a rep for Goldmark Property Management reportedly said, among other things to a rent-stabilized tenant: "I'm here, really, to help you. Because if it were up to the owners, they would just drop dynamite on the whole building and everyone would figure it out."

(The Times published the audio recordings here... Gothamist posted them here.)

Back in May, Toledano agreed to pay a little more than $1 million to settle claims that he harassed the tenants, according to The Real Deal. The Times reported that most of the the tenants are "low-wage workers of Mexican descent who pay modest rents for the neighborhood and have lived in their building for decades."

In the past year, Toledano purchased 28 buildings in two separate portfolios from the Tabak family for a total of $140 million.

The Brookhill Properties website shows that the company owns 21 buildings in the East Village. Of those, 9 are now for sale:

• 27 St. Mark's Place — $16.5 million
• 66 E. Seventh St. — $12 million
• 253 E. 10th St. — $11 million
• 510 and 514 E. 12th St. — $24.5 million (must be purchased together)
• 97 Second Ave. (bids now being accepted)
• 221 E. 10th St. and 58 St. Mark’s Place (part of a four-building portfolio with 2 Kips Bay addresses asking $36 million)
• 444 E. 13th St. — $9.9 million

Experienced real-estate players have raised red flags about Toledano's heavy reliance on debt, per The Real Deal.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Cleaning up 444 E. 13th St.

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Scaffolding erected at soon-to-be-demolished 112-120 E. 11th St.

Workers yesterday finished wrapping up 112-120 E. 11th St. ahead of the demolition here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

As you know, the five buildings recently purchased by the Lightstone Group are giving way to a 300-room hotel with Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels serving as the brand.

No sign just yet of any new building permits for the address. The Real Deal originally reported that the property will encompass 85,000 square feet.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

Former Tower Records on Broadway will become a studio for AOL

Signage arrived late last week for @BUILDseriesNYC on Broadway at Fourth Street. The former Tower Records space (the part that Blink Fitness doesn't have on the second level) will house a studio for the AOL-backed BUILD.

Here's a description:

BUILD is a live interview series like no other — a chance for fans to sit inches away from some of today’s biggest names in entertainment, tech, fashion and business as they share the stories behind their projects and passions. Every conversation yields insights, inspiration and plenty of surprises as moderators and audience members ask questions.

These interviews have been held at the AOL HQ on Astor Place.

In recent years the space had served as the MLB Fan Cave. That closed after four seasons in 2015.

Tower closed in 2006.

Nail salons on 14th Street: 1 up, 1 down

The nail salon (not store) has opened at 248 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Part of the awning remains up for the previous tenant, C & B Convenience Store (as well as the ad for Vita Coco Coconut Water).

Meanwhile! Closer to Third Avenue, Gigi Nail Spa has closed...



The space is for rent. The listing at Winick doesn't mention the asking rent.

A 'Store Front II' discussion with James and Karla Murray

East Village residents James and Karla Murray (frequent EVG contributors) will be discussing their latest book, "Store Front II," Wednesday evening at the MOSCOT Gallery & Music Space... Here are details via the EVG inbox...

The evening will feature "Store Front II" photography, with a focus on the Lower East Side, and a Q&A session, followed by a book signing and reception.

Light bites and dim sum generously provided by Nom Wah Tea Parlor.

"Store Front II" chronicles their continued efforts to document a little-known but vitally important cross-section of New York's "Mom and Pop" economy. From MOSCOT to Sammy's Roumanian Steak House, and Economy Candy to Parisi Bakery, the Murrays reveal how New York's long-standing mom and pop businesses stand in sharp contrast to the city's rapidly evolving corporate facade.

The MOSCOT Gallery & Music Space
108 Orchard Street
Wednesday, September 14
7-9 pm

Noted

An EVG reader found some amusement in the fact that crews are filming scenes for the TV shows "Friends From College" and "Elementary"on the Bowery this week...