Important questions on East 12th Street

A lone Christmas holiday tree stand sits, seemingly discarded, on East 12th Street near First Avenue. Is it from last year? Or in place for this coming Christmas holiday?

Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week include ... (and photo on Avenue A by Derek Berg)...

• The Bowery Mission's 141st Thanksgiving (Wednesday) 

• Bluestockings hosting limited-capacity opening this holiday season in new LES storefront (Monday)

• A visit to Van Da on 4th Street (Thursday)

• A visit to Raul's Barber Shop (Tuesday)

• The Bean reopens on Second Avenue (Tuesday) 

• Here's a look at the final RBG mural on 1st Avenue and 11th Street (Friday) 

• The East Village Holiday Crawl is underway (Friday) 

• This week's Gallery Watch column (Wednesday) 

• Reader reports: E. 10th St. Finest Deli will close next month (Wednesday) 

• San Loco's liquor license has arrived on Avenue C (Friday) 

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday) 

• Tile Bar returns (Monday)

• Two-plus years after devastating fire, Yakiniku West reopens next week on 9th Street (Thursday) 

• AO Bowl softly opens on St. Mark's Place (Thursday) 

• A glimpse of the 10-story condoplex to come to 14 2nd Ave. (Monday)

• High winds damage outdoor dining spaces on St. Mark's Place (Monday) 

• A full reveal at 639 E. 9th St. (Wedensday) 

• Former psychic medium hits the rental market on 2nd Avenue (Monday) 

• Former Mace space for rent on 12th Street (Thursday)

And as seen on First Avenue...... be open, be free! 

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Lucy's is on a holiday break

Oh! Stopped by Lucy's the other late afternoon only to discover… she is on holiday until next Friday. And these signs really do need a smiley face.

City workers remove holiday lights before Easter comes calling

City workers have arrived at Tompkins Square Park this morning to remove the holiday lights... really.

Previously on EV Grieve:
On St. Patrick's Day, a Christmas miracle in Tompkins Square Park

A groovy kind of love: 3rd and B'zaar back with a Valentine's Market this weekend

Like Air Supply, if you're lost in love, then you may want to check out the next pop-up market at 3rd and B'Zaar.

The mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B will host a variety of local designers, artists, merchants and vintage sellers for this Valentine's weekend.

The Valentine's Market runs Friday-Sunday from noon to 7 p.m.

In a photoshoot with Stacie Joy, organizers (from left) Maegan Hayward, Sara Ann Rutherford and Delphine Le Goff paid homage to some 1980s excess and indulgence ...

3rd & B'Zaar debuted in late 2020 with a month-long Holiday Market followed by Sex, Love & Vintage in February ... Spring Into Pride in May and June ... Summer in the City in the summer and another holiday-themed pop-up late last year. 

You can follow them on Instagram for more info about vendors.

Holiday tree hovel welcomed to the neighborhood

An addition to the holiday tree hovel a day after it arrived here outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery...

...and still no trees...

Reminders: The 26th annual Tree Lighting at Tompkins Square Park is Sunday

[Photo by Steven]

It happens from 4 to 5 p.m. on Sunday ... once again featuring the holiday stylings of the Carolers of Olde New York (via the Theatre for the New City) and the Mandel & Lydon Trio (every year someone makes the John Lydon joke) ... with refreshments provided by Veselka and C&B Cafe over on Seventh Street. (Go here for info about post-tree-lighting specials at a few local businesses.)

Meanwhile, two different crews have been spotted working on the tree... From yesterday...


[Photo by Ronnie]

And Sunday...


[Photo by Steven]

Not sure exactly what they were doing. Hooking up the power? Some Park regulars thought that the lights were kept on the tree year round...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: A call to keep the lights on the holiday tree in Tompkins Square Park

The 6th Annual Wendigo Holiday Group Art Show opens tomorrow night

The work of a few dozen local artists will be on display at the 6th Annual Wendigo Holiday Group Art Show, which opens tomorrow night (7-9) at Art on A Gallery.

The show will be up through Jan. 17 at the Gallery, 24 Avenue A near Second Street.

Check out this link for a list of artists.

Today: Holiday Gift Fair at the LES Girls Club; ceramics sale at the Sirovich Senior Center

Via the EVG inbox...from the Lower Eastside Girls Club

Join us from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for our Fair Trade & Girl-Made Holiday Gift Fair

Items for everyone on your list: Featuring hand made products from the Lower Eastside Girls Club and our sister partners around the globe.

Potholders, aprons, handcrafted soaps, jewelry, ornaments, dog and cat beds, cards, art, baby gifts and more, more, more…shop with us! And all for a good cause: girls and women worldwide.

Address: 402 E. Eighth St. at Avenue D.

Meanwhile, a reader shared this... Day 2 of the ceramics sale over at the Sirovich Senior Center on 12th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Week in Grieview

[Photo on Avenue B by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Affordable housing planned for city-owned buildings at 204 Avenue A and 535 E. 12th St. (Wednesday)

The makeshift memorials at the 2nd Avenue gas explosion site have been removed (Thursday)

Nicoletta Pizzeria closes 2nd Avenue dining room, plans move to a new delivery-only location (Friday)

You'll be back: Look at the renovated Hamilton-Holly House on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

City continues 14th Street prep work ahead of the L-train closure (Thursday)

More about Treetops, the name of the condoplex coming to 14 2nd Ave. (Monday)

Hardware store-replacing hardware store now open on 4th Avenue (Thursday)

Korean food coming to the former Dinah Hookah Lounge space on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)

Christmas miracle on the Bowery (Saturday)

Signs of new businesses on 3rd Avenue, and an H Mart update (Wednesday)

New signage arrives for Paquito's on 1st Avenue (Friday)

Scrooged: Tompkins Square Park holiday tree remains dark (Saturday)

A sushi counter for 4th Street (Thursday)

JR's neglected 'Gun Chronicles' on the Bowery Mural Wall (Friday)

Ravagh Persian Grill currently closed for renovations (Monday)

The 6th Annual Wendigo Holiday Group Art Show opens (Wednesday)

Fashion Pickle has closed (Friday)

Full FULL reveal at 287 E. Houston St. (Monday)

Report: Thirteen East + West on the auction block (Thursday)

1 more post about this corner of Avenue B and 3rd Street (Monday)

For these 14th Street buildings, there's now renovations inside to match the noise outside (Tuesday)

Hanoi Soup Shop's on for 115 St. Mark's Place (Friday)

... and EVG reader OrangeHOWELL shared this from yesterday... Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels was doing a photo opp on 12th Street at Avenue A ... under the Run DMC mural...



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Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo on 1st Avenue by Grant Shaffer) ... 

• A visit with Moxie, a nearly 8-year-old East Village photographer with an eye for nature (Wednesday)

• A visit to Azaleas, celebrating 20 years in the East Village (Tuesday) 

• EV Loves NYC preparing for its 3rd annual Thanksgiving event for New Yorkers in need (Friday)

• The tree lighting ceremony in Tompkins Square Park takes place on Dec. 11 (Monday) 

• This morning's community meeting in Tompkins Square Park (Thursday) ... Why is this area of Tompkins Square Park now closed to the public? (Thursday) 

• About 'Bomb Pop 2,' an 'ongoing conversation' at Bullet Space (Friday) 

• The Gallery Watch Q&A: Sneha S. on 'Portraits of the Revolution' (Saturday) 

• Bowery building once owned by Andy Warhol is up for auction (Tuesday) 

• City removes curbside dining structure at Amor Y Amargo on 6th and A (Saturday) 

• While we're waiting for the full reveal at 14 2nd Ave. (Monday) 

• Let there be sidewalk here on Avenue C! (Wednesday) 

• Gratin, a new gallery, debuts on 5th Street and Avenue B (Thursday) 

• That's all for the short-lived Luna Cafe Lounge on 2nd Avenue (Thursday)

• The Union Square Holiday Market is now open on Union Square this holiday season (Friday) 

• Heathily Deli has not been open lately (Monday) 

• Noted, good-God-not-another-one edition (Wednesday) ... Hey, what might be opening in this empty 1st Avenue storefront? (Monday) 

... and an attempt at humor for fans of the Citizen app...

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Jimmy's holiday party is today at La Plaza Cultural

And if you're around today without any plans ... Jimmy's annual holiday party is today from noon to ??? at La Plaza Cultural, on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street...



Per the Facebook invite: "There will be food and music and it is potluck. Bring firewood for the bonfire and grill if you can. Bring your musical instruments. It is rain or shine."

And not to be a jerk, but these elves working the mail room at La Plaza totally lost my packages ...

Holiday Fair at the Neighborhood School TODAY

The Neighborhood School's annual holiday fair is today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 121 E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... highlights include a rummage sale and book fair via McNally Jackson (and BOX MAZE!)...

Happy Holidays from all of us here at EV Grieve!

TWO readers have now asked why we haven't mentioned that the holiday tree is still illuminated in Tompkins Square Park. Given that we discussed this in recent years, why have we been silent? ... Well, this is the latest that the lights have stayed on since we've been doing this site. (For instance, in 2009, someone turned off the lights on Feb. 6.)

Anyway, we didn't want to say anything in hopes that they stayed on until July 4. (Shhh... will be our secret.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
On St. Patrick's Day, a Christmas miracle in Tompkins Square Park

City workers remove holiday lights before Easter comes calling

The Beat goes on at the Holiday today

A crew was on-hand today to film scenes for "Kill Your Darlings" at the dearly departed Holiday Cocktail Lounge on St. Mark's Place... set in 1944, the drama involves writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs and Lucien Carr's murder of David Kammerer...

Michael C. Hall, pictured here, plays Kammerer...

The Times has a lot of the backstory about the murder here; the version of the story for this film can be found in "And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks," the 1945 novel by Kerouac and Burroughs.

I'm sorry, I'm too distracted by the photo of the crew member ready to eat that slice to keep going...

Photos by Bobby Williams.

O Christmas trees!

The Tree Riders wrapped up their 10th season of selling Christmas trees outside St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery on Second Avenue yesterday afternoon. 

As noted yesterday morning, they only had 16 trees left... and they went quickly. 

One Tree Rider said that they sold more trees in 2020 than in previous years... citing fewer tree stands this year and a demand for live trees from homebound residents who were celebrating the holiday sooner in such an awful year.  

As Fortune reported earlier this month:

Christmas trees — along with wreaths, lights and other decor — are in high demand this year as many Americans embrace holiday festivity in the face of rising coronavirus cases and bleak predictions for the winter months.

Key Food on Avenue A at Fourth Street also sold out yesterday... ditto for the Bueno East Mart down the block at Third Street...

The stand on 14th Street at First Avenue allegedly sold out last weekend ... while Greg's on East Houston at Essex has two rather spindly trees left as of 8:30 a.m. today ...

Yuletide procrastinators may still be able to nab a free tree that has already been discarded... Vinny & O spotted this one yesterday on First Avenue at Second Street... perhaps left behind by someone who is traveling for the holidays...

A tradition like no other returns this holiday season on 9th Street

OK, maybe that headline is overselling it a bit. 

The Christmas holiday lights went up today on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, as Steven points out... 

As we've said, it's always festive on this block during the holidays. This year shall be no different.

And new stores joining your familiar faves on the block in 2021 include A Sustainable Village... Art+Ray ... Pillow-Cat Books... Spooksvilla ...  and a new home for Duo NYC.

And for those keeping tabs of such things, the lights are not early — they arrived on Nov. 1 last year.

Updated: 

A few evening-time photos here by Steven...

Not ready for any of this

The Holiday Market at Union Square was being set up yesterday...

Duane Reade had their shit out in October.



Food Emporium had their stuff up the day after Halloween.




The holiday lights went up on 10th Street sometime this past week.



And 57th and Fifth?

I'm still trying to enjoy my Labor Day.

Why the lights are out on the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree

Now... (Well, the other night... not now now)

Yesterday, we wondered why the lights weren't illuminated on the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree.

So we asked Robert McLean, parks and recreation manager, Manhattan District Three, what was wrong. He said that Park officials were aware of the problem.

"The tree lights worked one night and were off the next morning. We tried to fix the electrical hook up yesterday, but we could not get the lights to stay on," he said via email. "We have contacted the electricians and they should come out right away."

And soon!

[Bobby Williams]

Holiday movies: 'Blast of Silence'

Reposting this repost this from Dec. 23, 2011…

I know that I've written about "Blast of Silence," Alan Baron's New York (slightly hokey) indie noir from 1961.

Will repeat some of it now... the movie is about a contract killer in New York for a job during the Dec. 25 holiday season ... well, the trailer will tell you what you need to know...



Of interest hereabouts... the main character, "Baby Boy" Frankie Bono, stays at the Valencia on St. Mark's Place... which is the St. Mark's Hotel today, of course...

[Via]

In the background, you can see the former Saint Marks Russian and Turkish Baths ... which became the New St. Marks Baths ... and, eventually, Mondo Kim's ... and now the NYC Tofu House…