Is a Koffeecake Corner coming to East 13th Street and Fourth Avenue?

We noted yesterday that Brothers Deli on Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street is closing at the end of the week... now an EVG tipster hears that the corner space is earmarked for another NYC branch of Koffeecake Corner, a bakery-coffee shop with locations in Chelsea and the UES.

Per our tipster: "Seems like lousy timing to me with Think Coffee down the block and The Bean a block away."

Anyone been to a Koffeecake Corner?

DOH temporarily closes Blue 9 Burger

The DOH paid a visit to the burger joint on Third Avenue and NYU on Wednesday... found 40 violations points (down from 50 in an Oct. 18 inspection), including for evidence of various critters...

This is what the southwest corner of Avenue A and St. Mark's Place looked like on Nov. 27, 2012

This year, we'll post photos like this of various buildings, streetscenes, etc., to capture them as they looked at this time and place... The photos may not be the most telling now, but they likely will be one day...

'Get Crazy' with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

From the EV Grieve inbox .. details on a benefit for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation ...

Come rediscover the rowdy days (and nights!) of the East Village of the Fillmore East Days as the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation screens the film Get Crazy. This campy satire — from the mind of director Alan Arkush — is packed with drugs, booze, and rock and roll.

Featuring Malcolm McDowell and Ed Begley Jr., with cameos by the likes of Lou Reed, John Densmore, and Fabian. This 90-minute screening is followed by an in-depth discussion about the film and the East Village cultural and music scene. Moderated by culture critic Jesse Kornbluth, the panel will feature actors and production staff along with Joshua White, the director of the Fillmore’s famed Joshua Light Show.

The craziness continues at Veselka Bowery, where unlimited drinks and appetizers, including famous Veselka pierogies ... are on tap.

Saturday, December 1
Screening and Discussion
Anthology Film Archives, 2nd Avenue at 2nd Street (F train to 2nd Avenue)
2 PM (doors open at 1:30 PM)

After Party at Veselka Bowery, 9 East 1st Street
Ticket includes open bar and appetizers
5:00 – 7:00 PM

Screening and Discussion Only: $35 GVSHP and Anthology Film Archives Members; $45 All Others

Screening, discussion, and After Party: $60 GVSHP and Anthology Film Archives Members; $70 All Others

To purchase tickets or for more information, visit the GVSHP website here.

Equal time: To counter all the photos of sunrises that we've posted of late

A little moon action last night. Photo by Bobby Williams.

Previously.

Updated: 'Jane Doe' found on Avenue A early this morning

Police officials are looking for help in identifying this woman found outside 145 Avenue A early this morning. According to reports, the woman was disoriented and did not know her whereabouts.

Per an account at CBS New York:

EMS responded and transported her to Beth Israel Hospital, where she underwent a medical evaluation.

The woman goes by the name of Martha or Marta. She is Hispanic, between 80 to 90 years old, is 5 foot-three-inches tall, weighs approximately 100 lbs and has short grey hair, police said.

She was wearing a green zip up fleece sweater, yellow pajama pants with multi-colored stars, a white and red wool hat and white and grey New Balance sneakers.

Information can be submitted to Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

[Photo courtesy of the NYPD via CBS]

Updated 11-30: Marta has been reunited with her family.

Report: Former 9th Precinct cop sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling guns

Nicholas Mina, the cop who reportedly stole guns from lockers at the 9th Precinct on East Fifth Street, was sentenced to 15½ years in prison today, according to the Associated Press.

The four-year veteran of the NYPD was reportedly hooked on prescription drugs, and gave four stolen guns and a bulletproof vest to his drug dealer to pay off debts, per previous reports.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Former Internet millionaire part of 9th Precinct gun heist story

[Image via New York Songlines]

A benefit for Trinity's Services & Food for the Homeless

From the EV Grieve inbox... Trinity's Services & Food for the Homeless is a 501c3 that feeds 250-300 meals per day at 9th Street and Avenue B. We do it all with two part time staff who work so hard. We lost about 10,000 pounds of food due to Sandy — so this year our fundraiser is really important. We are trying to raise $60,000. Each entry ticket covers the cost of 20 meals.

Find info about Trinity's SAFH here.

Find out more about tickets for the fundraiser here.

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly 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: Michael Feeney (and Misty)
Occupation: Electrical Contractor, Marine
Location: 6th Street between 1st and A.
Time: 2:55 pm on Monday, November 26

I'm 79 and this coming April 16, I'll have been living in this same building for 50 years. I came here with my family when I was 10; that was in 1943. I grew up on 9th Street between C and D and there were no projects around there; it was all tenements. These buildings (Village View) were tenements also. It was all together different around here. Everybody hung out on their stoops. The women sat with other women; the men sat together listening to the baseball games on the radio; the kids played stickball, kick-the-can, ringalevio. People on these blocks were not neighbors; they were all friends.

This neighborhood was Russian, Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish. It was a working-class neighborhood. You had a lot of greasy spoons back in those days; nothing like this. There were a lot of Polish and Jewish restaurants. The prices were, forget it, dirt cheap. Back in those days when summers rolled around, everybody slept with all the windows and doors opened. Some people slept on fire escapes and some slept on the roofs to get some air. Nobody had a fan or air conditioning.

I was only a kid when I got here and when I was 13 the courts put me and my brother into a home on Staten Island. I was supposed to be there until I was 18, but I was so bad and they were so angry with me that they threw me out when I was 16. I was Catholic and went to Catholic school.

They whooped you in those days when you did something wrong. They would whoop me all of the time. I said little gems like, “Jesus was not the son of God, he was the son of Joseph of Arimathea,” and they did not like that. So I got whooped for that. And then I said, “I have a brain. God gave me a brain and I like to use it. How can you in good conscience, how can any religion call her the Virgin Mary when she was married and had two kids before Jesus. How in the hell was she a virgin?” I got whooped for that one.

At 16, I was working uptown in Hell’s Kitchen, loading and unloading trailer trucks. Then, in 1950, I located my old man and got him to sign the papers so I could enlist in the Marine Corps and I made it to the Korean War. I didn’t turn 17 until two and a half weeks before we landed in Korea.

After that I just hung out for awhile and then worked for a laundry where I made $35 a week, plus tips. Then I went into the electrical business, working for contractors and my salary went up to $50 a week for 40 hours. That’s a buck and a quarter an hour. I worked in that business for 29 years.

Misty is a rescue dog. She’ll be a year old next month; I just got her about 3 months ago. They used to use her as a bait dog to train pit bulls to fight. She had three infections. They tied her up at a factory in Jersey and left her to die. For four days she didn’t have any food or water until a night watchman heard her crying and saw her laying there. He called up animal rescue, who got her and took care of the infections. Then, when I got her she was all skin and bones. She loves people; she’s so friendly, but you can’t bring her anywhere near other dogs or she’ll attack.

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

Fireworks atop Christodora House last night prompt questions about gunshots

Last night around 11:45, there was some talk on Twitter for a moment about what sounded like gunshots... before people realized the noise was probably made by fireworks...

Indeed, a reader happened to catch a brief fireworks display at 11:45 coming from the roof of the Christodora House on Avenue B...

Brothers Deli closing this week on Fourth Avenue

In April, a retail listing went live for the storefronts housing the Dryden Gallery and Brothers Deli on Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street ... (The Dryden moved to another block in August.)

Then, in October, a well-placed tipster on the block told us that that the Dryden space would soon house a pizzeria ... and the Brothers Deli was closing at the end of November. "Negotiations are ongoing but it is almost certainly to become a restaurant," the tipster said at the time.

The going-out-of-business signs went up several days ago at Brothers...

... where everything is on sale — except for cigars and cigarettes...

Meanwhile, across the street, the Hyatt Union Square is expected to open on Jan. 2.

Say it isn't so!: Daryl Hall prevents us from dining on banh mi sandwiches last night

So, last night, Goggla headed over to the always-tasty Bánh mì Zòn on East Sixth Street near Avenue A and...

Hey now.

Perhaps the greatest note explaining why a restaurant is closed that we've seen ...ever? (Probably not. But what the hell.)

Now. Everyone please feather your hair and report to the dance floor.



(And here is more about Live from Daryl's House...)

Naked Pizza now on vacation 'until after' Dec. 4

A few weeks ago we noted that Naked Pizza on East 14th Street near Third Avenue had been closed of late. Per the NP website, they were on vacation until after Nov. 20.

The gluten-free pizzeria remains closed. The latest update from their website — after Dec. 4.

Do you think they'll ever return from vacation? Do you care if they ever return...?

Owning the Pudgie's-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's is now $61k closer to reality

The Pudgie's-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's action-packed combo that opened this past summer on First Avenue has been on the block... and now, it will cost even less to own the business. The price was reduced by 24.4 percent ($61k) last week ... the asking price is now $189,000.

Per the listing at Trulia:

New Franchise restaurant ...together all in one resturant for Sale. Resturant features in low competition area. Very high traffic location. 10 year lease, low low rent. High Income. Includes all fixtures, inventory and lease. Owner is relocating. Very Motivated to sell.

Now who's motivated to buy?

That laser in the Jersey sky

EVG reader Brian Teasley sends this photo along... taken tonight around 9:15 on Broadway and Eighth Street looking west... is that a laser?

"It originates from the top of a building across from (approximately) the Chelsea Piers and the light is static in the sky. The beam is pointed south and diminishes in that direction. In the photo is appears blue-ish, but it looks like it is a very high-powered green laser. It has been on for at least 30 minutes or so ... and has not been observed on any other night."

Anyone have an idea what this is...?

Updated:

Oh, a reader just said that it's a tribute to victims of Hurricane Sandy... read more here.

One of those nights...

An empty Tompkins Square Park ... photo by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[A hint that your car's trunk needs toning up...? Via EVG reader Mike]

Why the 4 and 5 trains have sucked of late (The Post)

Short-term AirBNB listings on the rise in Stuy Town (Escape Stuy Town)

Sweet Things bakery on Avenue C gets a new temporary kitchen (DNAinfo)

Revisionist rental history on Ludlow Street (BoweryBoogie)

Arto Lindsay performing at the New Museum Friday (The Lo-Down)

Remembering the noise rock of Harry Crews (Flaming Pablum)

Wildlife extravaganza in Tompkins Square Park (The Gog Log)

A map of the oldest NYC cocktail bars (Eater)

A West 18th Street now and then (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The great Sunny's in Red Hook needs help (Grub Street)

And Gothamist posted a whole bunch of videos from the Ritz (Webster Hall) from the 1980s and 1990s... like this U2 clip from 1980 ...

[Updated] Longtime favorite Natori closing for good Friday on St. Mark's Place

[Photo via The Village Voice]

Sad news via the EVG tipline... a reader passes along word that Natori, the hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurant at 58 St. Mark's Place, will close on Friday night. The tipster understands that the owner has to return to Japan for family reasons. A Natori employee confirmed the closing as well.

Hirokazu Takaya opened Natori here in the late 1980s ... among other reasons, the place was well-known for its generous early-bird specials. Last year, The Voice named it as a "Best of" in the Japanese — Sushi category.

Updated:
Back on Nov. 26, a worker confirmed that Natori was closing. However, Natori remains open for now ... we'll see if we can get an update on what's happening here. Anyway, good news for now...

Retail space that included Soho Billiards is up for grabs on East Houston Street

Late last month, EVG regular Spike noted that 22-year-old Soho Billiards on East Houston and Mulberry had closed... workers cleared out the space two weeks ago, as BoweryBoogie reported.

And the for lease signs promptly went up...

The listing (PDF) is now online at CBRE... and it turns out that more than just the former Soho Billiards home is available – the whole block between Mulberry and Mott on the north side of East Houston is up for grabs...

Which just might signal the end for the dry cleaners and Subway that share the building... This is prime real estate, as the listing points out, adjacent to the recently unveiled Bleecker Street Subway Transfer and retail neighbors like Adidas, Rag N Bone, REI, Hollister, Whole Foods, Crate & Barrel and John Varvatos. Terms of lease aren't disclosed.

Blackbird is now Dream Baby on Avenue B

Blackbird is the new bar that opened in the former Lakeside Lounge space in August ...

Well — say goodbye to the Blackbird. But just the name!

Maria Devitt, one of the bar's partners, explained that [a restaurant group in Chicago] is giving us a hard time about [the name] and we don't have the money to fight with them."

So. They need a new name. Per Devitt: "We are now named Dream Baby in honor of two of my favorite songs — the Roy Orbison classic and also 'Dream Baby Dream' by Suicide. Nothing else has changed except the pretty new lights in the back bar."

Suicide? Dream Baby Dream? Don't mind if we do...



Previously.