Updating: Coronavirus-related closures and suspensions in the East Village

[Sanitizer shelves at Rite Aid on 1st Avenue via Stacie Joy]

Here's the start of a list (March 13) of coronavirus-related closures or suspended activities in the East Village. We'll continue to update as more announcements are made. Send any relevant info to this email. Find the bars-restaurants listing at this link.

Updated 5 a.m. 3/16: Mayor de Blasio has announced that restaurants, bars and cafes will only be allowed to serve only take-out and delivery starting 9 a.m. on 3/17.

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• All New York Public Library events and programs are cancelled through March 31. However, the neighborhood branches — Ottendorfer, Tompkins Square and Hamilton Fish — will remain open. Updated: All public libraries will now be closed from March 14 through at least March 31.

• The Cooper Union Library is now closed through March 22.

• The the 14th Street Y is now closed for at least a week.

• The Brant Foundation, 421 E. Sixth St., is closed indefinitely. More info here.

• The Pyramid Club, 101 Avenue A, is closed until further notice.

• Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St., is closed until further notice.

• The Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave., has suspended all screenings for the rest of March, effective immediately.

• New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. Fourth St., is suspending all public programming for 31 days, effective immediately.

• All public events and performances of shows at La MaMa are suspended as of tomorrow (March 13) until further notice.

• Bowery Ballroom has is rescheduling its slate of shows through the end of the month.

• Webster Hall on 11th Street is closed until further notice.

• Mercury Lounge on East Houston is rescheduling its slate of shows though March.

• The annual Zoroastrian Fire Jumping Event, set to take place March 17 in Sarah Roosevelt Park, has been cancelled this year.

• The Swiss Institute on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place exhibitions has put a hold on all public programs and education workshops effective immediately.

• The Ukrainian Museum on Sixth Street is closing its galleries and discontinuing all programs until further notice.

• Events at the Third Street Music School are currently postponed.

• Nublu and Nublu Classic on Avenue C are closed for the weekend.

• The Bhakti Center at 25 First Ave. has suspended all public events, including weekly yoga classes and all other workshops, until March 27.

• Fun City Tattoo on St. Mark's Place is now closed through March 28.

• Alongside Abrons Arts Center, the East Village Dance Project has suspended group classes until at least March 29. They're experimenting now with holding virtual sessions.

• Academy Records at 415 12th St. closes indefinitely after 3/15. They'll still be selling records via Instagram and Discogs.

• Mast Books at 72 Avenue A is closed for now.


[Photo by Steven]

• Spark Pretty, 333 E. Ninth St.

• City Fun Shop, 45 First Ave.

• The Strand, 828 Broadway

• Exit9 Gift Emporium, 51 Avenue A

• Downtown Yarns, 45 Avenue A

• Turntable Lab, 84 E. 10th St. (You can shop online there!)

Week in Grieview

[Avenue A last evening]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

22-year-old man gunned down outside the Lillian Wald Houses (Friday)

CB3 committee to hear more about Mount Sinai Beth Israel's future plans in the neighborhood (Thursday)

Joggers pull suicidal man from the East River (Wednesday)

At the 29th annual Loisaida Festival (Sunday)

Fake Uber driver robs woman after a night in the East Village (Wednesday)

Out and About with fifth-grader Ceasar Noel Soto (Wednesday)

So long to the Yaffa Cafe mural (Sunday)

Police looking for suspect who tackled woman and stole her purse on East 10th Street (Thursday)

New residential building on Eighth Street and Avenue D called THREE99OnEIGHTH; condos start at $685k (Friday)

Getting to know Raphael Toledano (Thursday)

Vegan doughnut shop coming to St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

Report of a fire at 500 E. 12th St. (Thursday)

Checking in on the Bea Arthur Residence (Wednesday)

What might become of this vacant lot on East 14th Street? (Wednesday)

Icon Realty announces public art project for the East Village (Friday)

Charlie Parker's neighbor is for sale on Avenue B for the first time in 50 years (Tuesday)

Building no longer receiving mail (Tuesday)

Plans to convert the haunted beauty 104 E. 10th St. into a single-family home with two extra floors (Thursday)

Lab -321 is now open on St. Mark's Place (Friday)

You may now report your annoying Airbnbers directly to Airbnb (Tuesday)

The stacked townhomes of 347 Bowery are now available for purchase (Friday)

...and several readers have noted the arrival late last week of these stickers in various sizes... like this one on Avenue A and Third Street...

Out and About in the East Village, Part 2

By James Maher

Name: Rafael Hines
Occupation: Sales Director, Morningstar, Writer
Location: Café Mogador, St. Mark's Place
Time: 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9

In part 1, Hines talked about growing up with his mother on Avenue D and East Third Street starting in 1961. "We were there until 1968. Our upstairs neighbor was trying to date my mom. She said no, so he set our apartment on fire." They eventually moved to St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Being part of the community has been fantastic. On the positive, the artist culture and the music — one of the things that kind of pushed me to be a writer, is all the creativity, which is still here. I see so many of the same people, who were quote-on-quote citizens like myself.

Back then, you were a citizen or involved in this whole other life. Those people I still see, and many of them are still on the block. My wife says, ‘Oh you’re going to the store, so you’re going to be back in two hours,’ because I have conversations every step of the way. All these people moved here, created a healthy economy in the neighborhood, and have been that fabric outside of this other stuff that’s been going on, which kind of comes and goes. There are just so many good people in this neighborhood.

I want to give Mogador a plug, because this place right here is magic. It’s been around for about 30 years. The hostess would carry each of our kids around when they would seat people. My kids eat here three times a week for dinner, and I come here for breakfast.

There was this guy Steven, who lived upstairs, and for year and years he would print out the Good News Newspaper, from newspapers all around the world. It was all articles about people helping other people, and he would staple it together and hand it out here in the morning. There was me and probably six other regulars and we would read our own newspaper and have this morning dialogue about people helping other people. He passed away about six months ago now. He was a really interesting guy.

I remember, the Boys Club and the 14th Street Y for me was just like home. I’m on the board there now. I went there as a kid and now I’m on the board and I’m part of the scholarship committee. The way people impacted my life and mentored me, I try to do the same thing. My mother was on the board there for years. My mother was such a part of this community as well.

That Y does such amazing things. I could talk about that for two hours. It’s a community center. They have a theatre, and then there’s the early childhood program ... a nursery school, a community center for the elderly and yoga classes — all under one roof. They also have a special-needs program, where no one is turned away, where the whole family can be involved. There’s basketball, soccer. All the counselors and everyone involved are deeply committed to caring about this community and the people who it serves.

My mother also had a bridal store on East 9th Street, until she got really sick last year. At one time, I actually had three bridal stores. I was going to be the gown king. It was a total side project. I had three stores on 9th Street between 1st and 2nd, which started out as a little side gig and then grew and grew, until they all kind of imploded.

Now I work for the company Morningstar, which does the ratings for mutual funds and everything else. I’m on the energy side. They acquired the company I worked for in 2009. We were a family-run businesses for commodities and energy.

I’m also a writer. In the past, I used to fly all over the place for work, and I would always pick up the latest thriller and the latest bestseller. I kept thinking, ‘You’ve got a story in you.’ And then during 9/11, my office was in the south tower. Obviously the whole tragedy was overwhelming. At the time, I think a lot of people thought there would be follow-up attacks, although it never happened.

That was my thought and from there that was the genesis of my book that’s coming out this week. I started by just putting small stories together that I thought were funny and then characters started showing up and dialogue started appearing out of nowhere and now I’ve got a full suspense thriller, "Bishop’s War."

It’s an action thriller about a guy who stops a terrorist attack in Union Square Park. The terrorists come after him and his family, but his family is a crime family on the Lower East Side, so it comes full circle. The characters are based on all the people who I grew up with, basically the cops and gangsters. I did a ton of research and I have friends who are over in Afghanistan, who I was sending chapters to.

It’s funny. The first agent I went to said, ‘You know, the dialogue doesn’t ring true.’ I said, ‘That’s funny, because that is word for word what that guy said.’ I didn’t even make that up. I was just using someone’s lines.

Read Part 1 here.

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

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo by Steven of the LUNGS Spring Awakening Parade in Tompkins Square Park yesterday)... 

• Report: East Village gallery a no-show on opening night, leaving artists without their work (Wednesday) ... After group-show ghosting, the EVAC space is for lease on 1st Avenue (Thursday) 

• Help for A&C Kitchen, which remains closed after a late-February fire (Thursday) 

• A look at Poetica Coffee, opening soon on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Monday) 

• The farce awakens at the Orpheum Theatre (Saturday) 

• Downtown Bakery preparing to reopen after being sidelined with an expired license (Friday) 

• A visit to East Village Buyers, now in soft-open mode in new Avenue A home (Friday) 

• A new home on an avenue for East Village gallery-bookstore Ed. Varie (Tuesday) 

• A great new song and video from cumgirl8 (Friday) 

• Collapsed portion of sidewalk whole again on 7th Street (Monday) 

• Openings: Honey Crepes on 13th Street (Tuesday) 

• Aura Bar & Kitchen is back on 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Sushi on Jones departs The Bowery Market, where several new concepts are on the way (Thursday) 

• Signage alert: Deli Convenience on 1st Avenue; Partea on 14th Street (Monday) 

• On the April CB3-SLA docket: A Pig & Butter sibling on Avenue B (Monday)

• Happy trails to the Shake Shack curbside dining structure on 3rd Avenue (Thursday) 

... and Bob's Bar has reopened for the season on 12th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue (photo by Stacie Joy) ...

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Renovations in order for Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-A-Place?

Plywood has gone up at 14th Street and Avenue A... where the stores were lost to a three-alarm fire in May...




The only work permit on file states: ALTERATION TYPE 3 - CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT - FENCE
ERECT AND DISMANTLE 8 FOOT HIGH WOOD CONSTRUCTION FENCE AS PER PLANS FILED HEREWITH.

The permit is issued to All City Remodeling in Long Island City....



Perhaps a good sign... Remodeling and not, say, Demolition. So maybe this prime real estate won't become a condo or dorm. In any event, we're still collecting information here on the status...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Conspiracies: What next for 14th Street and Avenue A?

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included ... (with a Midtown view from Friday)...

• After deadly shooting, fearful residents speak out about the drug activity on Avenue D & 3rd Street (Wednesday) 

• First look at the new residential building for 280 E. Houston St. (Tuesday) 

• New storefront and interior reveal at the fire-damaged Essex Card Shop on Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• A special night for Julia Cumming and Sunflower Bean at Webster Hall (Friday) ... Hello Mary takes the stage at Webster Hall (Tuesday) 

• The Alamo is free on Astor Place (though it's not ready to spin) (Tuesday) 

• Houston Village Farm has closed, the cats have been adopted, and here's what's next (Thursday) 

• A terrible way to try to kill rats (Tuesday) 

• Stuy Town ownership nixes plans for 2 heat and power plants (Monday) 

• Your chance to make your home feel a little like Key Food on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Davey's Ice Cream will reopen on 9th Street (Monday) 

• 'Townhouse-style duplexes' now for sale at the all-new 118 E. 1st St. (Thursday) 

• Calexico team trying Asian-Latin fusion with Big Cat on 2nd Avenue; a move for Keybar (Monday) 

• Moving day for the old Papaya Dog signage on 14th Street & 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Can you Dig it? A new concept for a fast-casual chain on 4th Avenue & 13th Street (Wednesday) 

• Another smoke shop (Monday) 

Thank you to everyone who shared photos from this festive weekend, including D.R. Grimes for this DanceFest photo from yesterday...

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

Firefighter chases down alleged phone thief

Firefighter Kevin Ruiz of Engine 28 on East Second Street busted an alleged phone thief today.

WABC 7 has the story:

"She had her bag completely open and a gentleman snuck up behind her and he went into her bag and he took her phone," Ruiz said.

"At first we thought it was a joke," said Commissioner Sandy Guzman, FDNY.

But the woman wasn't laughing.

"That's when Firefighter Ruiz started screaming at the guy and tells him, 'Hey give the phone back,'" Guzman said.

Possibly stunned at being caught in the act, the suspect quickly gave the phone back, but then took off.

Ruiz was not letting him get away so fast, and chased the man two avenues and about six blocks, where his fire truck caught up with him.

The story doesn't mention where the theft took place ... but Ruiz, who was food shopping with his fellow firefighters, caught up with the unnamed suspect on East 13th Street near Avenue B.

Updated 5-19

CBS New York reports that the incident occurred on First Avenue between East 13th Street and East 14th Street.

What is going on with the corner of 14th Street and Avenue A?

EV Grieve reader Tom passed this along yesterday... we'll let him report the story...

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As you know, ever since May 12, 2010 when the fire destroyed the stores on the southeast corner of 14th Street and Avenue A, there has been no reconstruction whatsoever at the site. The only thing open at that corner has been the Middle Eastern food cart that appeared there a few months ago:

Then in late May, I noticed that some workers removed one plywood sheet, entered the site and did a little work. Here's a pic of a worker taking measurements; and given the length of the tape measure, he clearly wasn't measuring for drapes:

Then yesterday, they started building a sidewalk construction shed around the site:

I checked the land records online, and there's no new deed on record yet. But something's up. Whatever it is, I just hope that Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-A-Place will be able to return.

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We walked by the site ourselves last evening. The posted permits expired on April 1. According to the DOB, there aren't any other permits on file or pending.

So that means — shocker! — the work yesterday was done illegally... Meanwhile, we await the fate of this corner.

And a photo from DJ Xerox...

Boardwalk empire on 14th Street

We don't have any new news about 14th Street and Avenue A, where a fire destroyed the stores on the southeast corner in May 2010...

However, EV Grieve reader Tom has been keeping tabs on the space, and he got an aerial view of the sidewalk shed... that looks pretty hardcore...

Only new DOB permits point to an installation of a sidewalk shed...

One last look tonight at 14th Street and Avenue A

A little after 9, I was surprised to see the sidewalks had already reopened at 14th Street and Avenue A after the three-alarm fire that started after 10:15 this morning ... If you didn't know any better, then you might just think that these stores here were simply closed for the night... (never mind the lingering smell of smoke...) A few workers from ConEd and Verizon remained on the scene...




Many thanks again to EV Grieve reader Sergey for all his photos today... and thanks to everyone who left comments and shared their thoughts...

Previously.

Report: Roof-hopping robber busted on Christmas eve on East 12th Street

On Christmas Eve morning, Dec. 24, Jill told us about some "Spiderman" robbers apparently busted by the NYPD on East 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B ...

Yesterday, DNAinfo had more information on the incident, reporting that police arrested 19-year-old Reginald Qualls at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 24.

Police reportedly found Qualls with bags filled with three laptops, two fur coats, an iPod, two digital cameras, among other items. As DNA noted, "Multiple residents told cops they spotted Qualls on fire escapes and rooftops of buildings on East 12th Street that night."

Police are eyeing Qualls and another man for a string of similar robberies in the West Village.

Also according to DNA, the NYPD arrested Qualls on Dec. 14 after allegedly striking a 76-year-old man with a metal pole on East 14th Street near Union Square. The man suffered a fractured rib and needed 12 stitches on a leg.

Fresh paint for the rolldown gates at Stuyvesant Grocery

The rolldown gates at the fire-damaged Stuyvesant Grocery at 14th Street and Avenue A received a fresh coat of paint late last week...



...and, as the Graffiti Friend of EV Grieve (GFOEVG) noted, the gate was quickly tagged...



More from the GFOEVG: "Meanwhile, if you put your face to that opening, you get a nasty whiff of the rotting goods inside. Flies, and I'm certain rats, abound."

We're still awaiting word on what is happening to this corner...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Conspiracies: What next for 14th Street and Avenue A?

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Photo in front of the Ottendorfer Library on Second Avenue this morning by John Marshall Mantel

The building housing the incoming IHOP on East 14th Street once was a notorious house of smut (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Attorney Street next for more luxification? (BoweryBoogie)

NYU donates furniture (and trash) to new Cooper Square tenant (Runnin' Scared)

Remembering the The Tompkins Square Communist Rally of 1877 (Off the Grid)

A bed-bug infested mattress spotted on Orchard Street (The Lo-Down)

MTA's new $1 MetroCard fee coming soon (Gothamist)

Fire at Yorkville's old-school Hungarian Meat Market (Lost City)

With the Shake Shack Monster coming, will this mean bad news for the Oyster Bar? (Grub Street)

EVG Etc.: Gay East Village couple say they were verbally and physically assaulted by Uber driver

Gay couple who live in the East Village say they were subject to hate-filled tirade by Uber driver; one passenger dragged along Fourth Street by car (NBC 4 ... New York Post ... Daily Mail)

Three top NYCHA executives lied about elevator inspections (Daily News)

Alleged shoplifter waves box cutter at Target employee on 14th and A (Town & Village)


[The Bowery Boys on Great Jones]

Spike Lee retrospective coming to the Metrograph on Ludlow (Gothamist)

A preview of Ravi DeRossi’s new vegan outpost on Seventh Street, Fire & Water (Grub Street)

Architects offer their opinions on the NYC of Amazon, "and it’s terrifying" (Fast Company)

Updated 9 p.m.

Robert Plotnik, the owner of Bleecker Bob’s, the Village record shop that was forced to close in 2013 after 46 tears in business, has died. He was 75.

The owner of Academy Records on 12th Street posted this remembrance...

View this post on Instagram

RIP to Bleecker Bob, a true legend on the NYC record store scene and probably the most singular character among that very idiosyncratic bunch. I first got to know Bob and his wise cracking sarcasm as a teenager in the late 70s as I soiled my fingers flipping through his grimy reused record sleeves. I also quickly learned that he loved an equal dose of sarcasm in return and our interactions were some of my first tastes of what it meant to be a real New Yorker. When I first opened my store in 2001 it was a real badge of honor when he came to check it out and told me it didn't suck too bad. Catch ya on the B side Postscript: Around 1990 I went into Bob's with copies of my band's demo tape. Bob: "Who's gonna buy this shit?" Me: (pointing to $1000 Stones record on the wall) "I dunno, who's gonna buy that shit?" Bob: Ok I'll take five

A post shared by Academy Records NYC (@academyrecords) on Nov 29, 2018 at 2:21pm PST

Previously on EV Grieve:
[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

Bleecker Bob's is for rent

Bleecker Bob's won't be moving to the East Village — or anywhere else, for that matter

Bleecker Bob's have a bid on space in the East Village

Fat Buddha reopens after early spring fire upstairs

Fat Buddha is back in business (soft open was on Oct. 18) over at 212 Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street.



The bar-lounge had been closed since March 29 when a fire tore through an apartment on the third floor of 505 E. 13th St. at Avenue A.

The fire caused extensive damage to this retail space, as the owners documented on Instagram.

The breaker pop heard 'round the neighborhood

[Photo from Feb. 16]

We talked with several people about the noise/bang/pop/explosion at the Con Ed power plant and subsequent flicker in the power on Saturday night... it didn't go unnoticed (as is usually the case) ...

@fnytv @ConEdison sure was and I saw a flash of blue light towards the east

— M. Dunn-Srimuangboon (@BuckLikeBronco) February 22, 2015

The Villager talked with Con Ed spokesperson Sidney Alvarez to see what happened at the plant on East 14th Street and Avenue C.

“Basically, in a nutshell, we had some equipment malfunction within our facility. In a nutshell, a breaker popped — and the cause was freezing rain.”

The Fire Department responded but there was no fire, and there were no injuries, Alvarez reported.

The spokesperson didn’t disagree that East Villagers had likely heard a thunderous bang.

“I’m sure they would have heard something,” he said.

As for a white flash in the sky, he said, there was no information regarding that in an internal report he was reading from, but he didn’t deny that it could have happened.

“But there was no fire, no spark,” he noted.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village residents ask: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT NOISE LAST NIGHT?

Con Ed making strides so that the East 13th Street substation doesn't explode again

This week in film-TV shoots

There's a busy week ahead for filming around the East Village ... tomorrow sees "Big Indie Smith" shooting along Avenue A and Tompkins Square Park (and 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B).

"Big Indie Smith" is code for a TV series remake of the 2005 Brad-and-Angelina vehicle "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." Donald Glover and Maya Erskine (taking over for Phoebe Waller-Bridge) are the leads in this series for Amazon Prime. 

Also!

Notices are up along Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery for "Brass Tactics" ... code for the upcoming Apple+ series "City on Fire" based on the 2015 book by Garth Risk Hallberg. (We wrote about this production here.) Both BT pics by Derek Berg. 

Crews were prepping Rivington Guitar (Pawn Shop!) today for tomorrow's shoot ...

LAST BUT NOT LEAST. 

The "Gossip Girl" reboot for HBO Max will be filming along Avenue A and some side streets (like Fourth) on Thursday and Friday... pic by Stacie Joy...

Live team coverage TK.

Updated 6/7 

A reader shared this from First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... where there's a TV commercial filming over the next few days...

Missing the Stuyvesant Grocery; plus Permacut relocates

This weekend, the fire-ravaged buildings remained shuttered on 14th Street and Avenue A after the three-alarm fire last week ... I didn't see any activity...



...though a fan of the grocery left a note...



Meanwhile, the folks at Permacut quickly relocated...good news. (Jeremiah had a great post on the Permacut sign last Thursday.)





Also, well, I don't know much about gut renovations... but this looks rather hopeless to me... fueling more speculation that this block will be razed.




Again, this is only speculation made by a few longtime residents... We all hope the business owners are able to rebuild here.

All fire coverage here.

Inside Otto's Shrunken Head after the fire

As you know, an early-morning fire broke out at Otto's Shrunken Head on Sunday... Everyone I've talked with has said the same thing: It could have been a lot worse...

Still, it's pretty bad... Thanks to DJ Xerox, who plays at Otto's and lives in the same building on 14th Street, for passing along these photos of the damage. Co-owner Nell Mellon told me Sunday night via e-mail that the showroom was the hardest hit in the bar.












There is good news to report: If all goes as expected, the front room at Otto's will reopen tomorrow night. (Check their Twitter feed to make sure they are open.) No timetable just yet for the back room.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Assessing the damage at Otto's Shrunken Head

Breaking: Early-morning fire at Otto's Shrunken Head