Stupid infidelity survey shows that cheaters prosper at Momofuku

A website called Ashley Madison — "the most famous name in infidelity and married dating" — asked its users to name the city's most popular "cheaters restaurants" ... and tallied up the 10 most popular affair restaurants, as published by the Post today...



As you can see, Momofuku on First Avenue ended up at No. 6 on the list. Why? Who knows! Of course, Momofuku does mean "lucky peach," as their website shows.

The last interesting empty lot in the East Village

Now that The Mystery Lot on East 13th Street is officially A Luxury Lot... we're nearly out of abandoned lots that are rather mysterious around here... save for this lot... the one off Houston/East Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...







This lot still holds some surprises, such as hosting the occasional crucified bear ... We don't know much about the lot (making it all the more mysterious!) ... just that the owner isn't interested in selling off the parcel... Still, enjoy it while you can.

Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at the dwindling number of East Village lots

The May CB3-SLA docket: The Living Room back on for E. 2nd St.; more pizza for 1st Avenue

It's another action-packed CB3-SLA committee docket for May... CB3 released it early yesterday evening...

First! The time and place:

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, May 20 at 6:30pm — University Settlement Neighborhood Center
189 Allen Street (btwn Houston & Stanton Sts) (north of main entrance)

And now, a few of the highlights...

Sidewalk Cafe Application
• Heart N' Soul Restaurant (Mama's Bar LLC), 200 E 3rd St (unenclosed)

What replaced Mama's here back in March at Avenue B...

Applications within Saturated Areas

• Donostia (EV Cafe LLC), 155 Ave B (wb)

Interesting. This is the former Zee's Pet Shop next to Sheen Brother's ... asking rent had been $2,500.

• East Village Social (TDDG Inc), 122-126 St Marks Pl (op)

• Ludlow House (Soho-Ludlow Inc), 139 Ludlow St (op)

Previously.

• Papaya King (PKNY2 LLC), 3 St Marks Pl (wb)

Beer for the King?

• Zen 6 Ramen New York LLC, 186 Ave A (wb)

Looks like some ramen at the former Kamui Den ... they closed back in February.

Alterations

[Photo by esquared™]

• Affaire (Chow Main Corp), 50 Ave B (alt/op/additional stand-up bar)

Asking for an upgrade to full liquor.

New Liquor License Applications
• The Living Room (ACP Project), 173 E 2nd St (op)

Back on the agenda. Read the background here.

• Han Dynasty (Han Dynasty NYU Corp), 90 3rd Ave (wb)

• Goats (Goat Brothers Inc), 213 2nd Ave (op)

Currently Nightengale Lounge.

• Risotteria Melotti (Melotti USA LLC), 309 E 5th St (wb)

This is what is taking over the short-lived Ballaro Bakery near the 9th Precinct...

• Masombrado LLC, 432 E 13th St (op)

Someone is quickly moving into the former Masak space...

• Bruno Pizza LLC, 223 1st Ave (op)

WOW. Someone is quickly moving into the former Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery space... and this will make THREE pizza places almost right in a row here... (And maybe this is a pizzeria from Bruno di Fabio? Just throwing it out there...)

• Everyman Espresso (Everyman Espresso LLC), 136 E 13th St (wb)

Beer and wine to woo back Katie Holmes? Or at least have to serve before and after plays at the Classic Stage Company...

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)
• Fat Buddha (Lo Eng Inc), 212 Ave A (op)

• Mama's Food Shop (Mama Bar LLC), 34 Ave B (op)

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations

DOH temporarily closes Papaya Dog

Ugh. The DOH paid a visit to Papaya Dog on East 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday ... and apparently didn't like what they saw during the inspection. The report isn't yet online...

Photo via James and Karla Murray.

About the swimming pool rumor at the former Cabrini Center

Last week, some neighbors adjacent to the former Cabrini Center were hearing rumors of an outdoor pool at the incoming luxury apartments on East Fifth Street and Avenue B... perhaps what would be the end product of all that jackhammering out back.

However! A resident spoke to the construction manager at the site of the former health care facility for elderly patients ... According to the manager, they are putting in an "at grade" recreation area, with benches and a little lawn/garden.

Per the resident: "We'll see."

Previously.

Organic Avenue coming to Third Avenue

EVG regular William Klayman pointed out yesterday that there's a new tenant arriving at the former travel agency on Third Avenue and East Ninth Street... a new location of Organic Avenue, which is, according to their website:

[T]he leading provider of organic cold pressed juices, raw food cleansing programs, snacks, superfoods, truly natural beauty products, healthy lifestyle education and community building events. The company helps people learn how to transition and maintain a healthy lifestyle that is pleasurable and sustainable, while also friendly to people, animals and the environment.
Organic Avenue is controlled by Weld North, an investment company concentrating on education, health and wellness, consumer services and marketing businesses.

They have nine locations now in Manhattan, with three more on the way soon... Seems like a good fit for the office crowd/workers arriving soon at 51 Astro Place next door?

School of rock

From the EV Grieve inbox... via a parent at the Children's Workshop School on East 12th Street between Avenue B and C ...

This year's annual Schoolapalooza event for the Children's Workshop School is at the Clemente Soto Velez Center on Suffolk and Rivington tomorrow night ... and will feature Lisa Lisa (of 1980s Cult Jam fame) and the Demolition String Band. There will also be a silent auction ... find more details here.

Children's Workshop has seen more than $500K in budget cuts over the past five years, and we completely depend on this event to bridge the budget gap every year.

And in case you were curious, Lisa Lisa, born Lisa Velez, is the sister of school principal Maria Velez-Clarke.

'Newsroom' flash!

You may have sign the signs up like this one on East 12th Street... Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom" will be filming in parts of the neighborhood today and tomorrow...

Dave on 7th, who took the photo, asks, "Wonder what big news event they'll be recreating?"

Oh, and the second season starts on HBO on July 14. Guest stars this season will include Jane Fonda, Patton Oswalt and Marcia Gay Harden.

Another show that I've never seen. Anyone?

[Updated] Max Fish is apparently moving to Brooklyn; eyeing August close date

Well, the EVG inbox is filling up with news that Max Fish will be moving from its Ludlow Street home to... Metropolitan Avenue, according to this online petition, first noted this evening by The Lo-Down.

Per the petition:

‘We’ll Take the Spirit and Everything Else With Us’ -Ulli
The Lower East Side institution and cultural icon Max Fish will be moving. We are seeking a 2pm - 4am liquor license for the following address:

132 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

If you've enjoyed time at The Fish please sign and share this petition. And if you live or know anyone that lives within 500 Feet of either 132 Metropolitan Ave or 99 North 1st St in Brooklyn, please contact me directly at: tmq777@gmail.com.

Several people have been sharing the petition on Facebook. No other info is immediately available, such as when Max Fish would close up on Ludlow Street... where it opened in 1989.

In December 2010, reports surfaced that the demand of rising rent costs might lead to Max Fish's closure. However, by January 2011, owner Ulli Rimkus had received a lease extension.

Updated:

The petition is also posted on the Max Fish Facebook page... word we received from the Max Fish camp is that they're eyeing an August closing date on Ludlow Street ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
The art evolution of Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish

From Tin Pan Alley to Max Fish

Because every New York mayor needs an anthem

You may have seen this video making the rounds earlier today (Gawker, Politico) ... St. Mark's Place resident Jimmy McMillan who's running for mayor representing the "Rent is Too Damn High" party ... it comes courtesy of Animal New York...

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: Bryan Alejandro Scott
Occupation: Speech Pathologist, Dancer / Dance Teacher
Location: Matilda, 11th Street between Ave B and C
Time: 5 on Wednesday, April 17

I’ve been in the neighborhood for 29 years. I’ve lived in the same place on 12th and C the whole time. I’m a creature of habit. I was born in London and I used to live in Queens, where I went to high school. Part of my life was in London and part of it was in Queens.

We got to the city and I felt that this was one of the greatest neighborhoods. It was slightly unexplored. Most people didn’t even know that anything existed past 3rd Avenue, but we did. Plus it was affordable for us. I feel like some people made it out to be like it was so bad and dangerous, Alphabet City, but I don’t think it was unlike any other community. If you were looking for trouble you could easily find it, but if you were careful about what you did you were safe. There was a lot of respect for neighbors. People worked; people had families; people did their thing. There wasn’t a lot of activity on Avenue C. It was very quiet.

I feel like I’ve always been a jack of many trades. I’ve worked all kinds of jobs. I went to school for speech and language pathology and communication disorders and when I got out of college I worked for the International Paper Company in business as a marketing sales rep.

Now they were very conservative and I think you can tell from the Liberace vest that I’m not. I did the best I could. I was an in-style conservative, but selling paper, for me, I’m not putting it down, but I couldn’t see myself doing it for 20 or 30 years. I also worked in Paris for a year as a makeup artist, I worked for the city as a health coordinator, and eventually I got back into school at NYU and got my masters in speech pathology.

I started late with dancing. I was a gymnast when I was young but it got expensive. I was in high school and I was doing fairly well and I went to gymnastic camps where everybody was into it. But then my coach thought I might benefit if I took ballet class. So I did and from there I developed a love of dance. So I pursued it.

I did some auditions for some plays and through a play I got involved in a workshop for dance and that’s really how I became a Dunham technique, which is a type of modern technique from Katherine Dunham, and eventually got into a Dunham based dance company and performed in Theatre Row from around the 90s through around 2002. I stopped, not because I got too old, but because the director died.

The Dunham technique is a combination of ballet, African and Caribbean movement. It’s a modern technique usually done to drums. Katherine Dunham was the first black female to have a dance company in the United States and she was a person that led the way for many others. People like Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe and Eartha Kitt took classes at the Dunham School.

I’ve parlayed my career from being a dancer to a more of a choreographer and mentor. I started teaching dance out of the lobby of my building. Those kids are probably 25 years old now. I started teaching straight out of college and I progressed to the school system. I now work at the Children’s Workshop School on East 12th street as a speech and language therapist during the day and one day I went to the principal and I said, “Hey I have this idea, I would like to start a dance company.”

It started as a small experiment, working with special-ed kids. I thought that the kids who had emotional or behavioral problems, if they learned dance and found something that they liked, then their academics would approve. And it did. I do think the arts needs to be back in the schools. I think it will help many children embrace the educational process.

Now we’ve got an after-school program and we meet once a week for two and a half hours and we are ready. The kids are ages 7 to 11. I teach them the Dunham technique, jazz, and other modern techniques. They have to do reports on different people. I want them to know a little bit of everything. We’re called the Experimental Dance Group, EDG.

This year, I’m doing my first fundraiser, which is going to be [tonight, April 24] here at Matilda. It’s a really good family restaurant and the owner’s daughter is actually part of my dance company. This affair is to raise money for costumes and the cost that’s involved with doing what I do because I’m not funded by the school. And it’s a way of giving young people something positive to feel about themselves.

The fundraiser is a disco theme. I love disco; disco was a great time. People don’t realize that disco brought a lot of people together. All races, sexuality, all levels of income. It was a fun, fun period. I don’t know why people got into hating disco. That’s not for this interview, but if you ever want to go into that with me, I can talk to you about that.

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

Note: Matilda Restaurant hosts Disco With EDG, a disco-themed fundraiser for the Experimental Dance Group tonight at 5. Matilda is located at 647 E. 11th Street at Avenue C. With a $20 donation, guests will receive two drinks and samples of the restaurant's Tuscan-Mexican menu.

Proposed dorm for former 35 Cooper Square looks to be 4 floors taller

[December 2012]

Nearly two years ago, the historic, circa-1825 building at 35 Cooper Square was quickly demolished.

As we first reported last Aug. 21, developer Arun Bhatia filed paperwork for a 9-story dorm for an unspecified school in this space.

The proposed plans called for a 9-story dormitory with 43 rooms ... plus retail on the ground floor. In total, the building would be nearly 35,000 square feet (at a height of 117 feet).

And that was that. The plans continued to be "pending" with the DOB.

Until this week, when subsequent paperwork filed with the DOB yesterday show a 13-story dorm in this space instead...



Perhaps if they wait a little longer they can get it up to 18 floors.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Here's what's coming to 35 Cooper Square: 9-story dormitory

Straight to hell: Keeping a watchful eye on the Joe Strummer mural

Workers continued putting up the scaffolding and construction netting at 112 Avenue A and East Seventh Street yesterday ...


[Bobby Williams]

DOB permits point to "facade repair" on the building.

As long as that doesn't turn into "oh, we accidentally painted over the Joe Strummer mural."



And we're off to a fine start... Per Dave on 7th, the workers "ran the conduit for the scaffold lights uncaringly across Joe's face. Prophetic?"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Joe Strummer gets a splash of Niagara

Joe Strummer gets a new look, skyline

[Updated] Joe Strummer would have been 60 today

There's a 'No 7-Eleven' planning meeting tonight

[Bobby Williams]

From the EV Grieve inbox...

NO 7-Eleven, a grassroots movement resisting the spread of chains and franchises, is holding a neighborhood-wide meeting tonight. Their goal is to require that all corporate clone stores, including banks, be required to obtain approval before opening a new location so the community can have a say in the number and location of corporate chains and franchises. Details below. Please spread the word.

Limit corporate clone stores before they limit our food, our commerce, our labor, our streets and our New York City character

7-Eleven is opening a new location on the corner of 11th Street and Ave. A in June.

7-Eleven already opened 32 locations in Manhattan and has an additional 100 stores on the way!

Their plan is to over saturate the neighborhood with locations and remove any and all competition.

If you are as concerned about protecting the East Village and future of the city, please attend:

Next 'No 7-Eleven' Meeting
6:30-8:00pm
93 St. Marks Place
Between First Avenue and Avenue A

More details:

The No 7-Eleven blog ... Facebook ... Twitter...

Other news items from the No 7-Eleven group include:
1. 'NO 7-Eleven' just won a grant from Citizens Committee. "One important concern for them is the low quality of food offered to low-income neighborhoods. We share that concern and hope we can make a difference with our effort to have all corporate 'formula' stores (including banks, btw) throughout our fair city go to the local community board for approval before opening."

2. 7-Eleven Corp. has delayed its opening on 11th Street and Avenue A by a month, from May 13 to June 13. And it still has no franchisee.

3. NO 7-Eleven will be featured at the New Museum's Ideas City Festival, May 4 on the Bowery. "We'll have our Community Wheel of Fortune and our NO 7-Eleven Players there to perform."

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] More from the anti-7-Eleven front on Avenue A and East 11th Street

Avenue A's anti-7-Eleven campaign now includes arsenal of 20,000 stickers

'No 7-Eleven' movement goes global with BBC report

Meanwhile in Paris, Vélib’ — a large-scale public bicycle sharing system

Given all the discussion about Citi Bikes coming here soon, Dave on 7th shared a few photos on Monday of the Barclays Cycle Hire from a recent trip to London.

And now! Another reader passes along some photos, this time from a trip to Paris... Here's Vélib’ — the city's large-scale public bicycle sharing system that launched in July 2007. The system encompasses around 18,000 bicycles and 1,200 bicycle stations, as I lazily borrowed from Wikipedia.









More from Wikipedia: "Vélib’ is operated as a concession by the French advertising corporation JCDecaux. As of 2012, Vélib' is the world's second-largest bikesharing program, after the 61,000-bicycle system in Hangzhou, China."

Here, the bike-share program will feature, at the outset in a few weeks, 6,000 bikes at 330 stations. (Go here for the East Village docking stations.)

As for Paris, the EVG reader helpfully noted that the bikes are very popular and that "French women look sexy on them." There you have it.

Revisiting the Electric Circus, thanks to 'Mad Men'

I don't watch the TV program "Mad Men." However, I read that the show's characters have been visiting the 1967-68 East Village in various plotlines. (The Times wrote about this a few weeks ago.)

The latest episode apparently included a trip to the Electric Circus on St. Mark's Place... @ShaneEvanDavis reminded me of this EVG post on the Electric Circus from April 15, 2011 titled If the Electric Circus were to open today ... cut-and-paste here again below... Repost! Repost!

------

At first, this was meant as nothing more than an appreciation of some photos (via Getty Images) of the Electric Circus from 1968 ... with the original photo captions on the first three...

"Patrons at Electric Circus, 23 St. Marks Place, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City. stops for check. Girls not wearing bras are admitted free on Sundays."

"UNITED STATES - JUNE 27: Transparent plastic bra strap, virtually invisible around back, gives a topless look to formal mini at the Electric Circus at 23 St. Marks Place, New York City. (Photo by William Quinn/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)"

"Fashionable crowd mill about outside the Electric Circus 23 St. Marks Place, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City."

Then I started thinking about the reaction if this very same venue would open here today... A hot club promoter (in this case, Jerry Brandt) ... celebrities... crowds from everywhere showing up on St. Mark's Place... how would the community respond? No bra night?! Sounds like some stunt Superdive would have pulled. And look at that mob on the sidewalk! Call 311! (And what would those local bloggers write!) Has the influx of bars and jackasses and woo-wooing in recent years made us intolerant of any nightlife? Or maybe just some nightlife? Or a certain type of nightlife? (I can keep going with the vague rhetorical questions!) Regardless, I would have liked to seen this concept go before today's CB3/SLA committee...

Anyway, here are several more photos from the Getty archives... the Electric Circus closed in 1971... the address now houses a Supercuts and Chipotle ... as well as $17,000 apartments...

By the way, this wasn't meant as a history of the space... plenty has been written about it, including, but not limited to:

Jack Newfield Catches the Electric Circus Opening on St. Marks (The Village Voice)

FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER: The Electric Circus (The Bowery Boys)

Streetscapes / 19-25 St. Marks Place; The Eclectic Life of a Row of East Village Houses (The Times)

Live on St. Mark's Place for only $17,000 per month! (EV Grieve)

Cooper Union students protest school's decision to start charging tuition

Earlier today, Cooper Union officials announced that, for the first time, the school would start charging tuition, effective the fall of 2014.

As a result, several hundred students and faculty members staged a walk-out this afternoon.

Per The Nation:

Using similar theatrical tools that activists have employed in previous demonstrations, Cooper art and architecture students ran around the building hugging the walls in a human chain while chanting “Free as air and water...Save Cooper Union.”

The students also held an “Irish wake,” setting a hat ablaze on the pavement and singing satirically in front of the same building students occupied some months ago. While some students seem disillusioned by the school’s decision, many more are angered that the Board of Trustees met secretly in the morning while students were in class to avoid any disruption of their meeting.

Large numbers of the NYPD were also on-hand...





Photos by Bobby Williams.

Citi Bikes docking station arrives at Astor Place

On the west side of the Death Star... photo from Twitter via @buttermilk1

Cooper Union will start charging undergraduate tuition in the fall of 2014

Facing a strained economic future, Cooper Union officials announced today that it will charge undergraduates to attend classes starting in the fall of 2014.

Here are details via a statement that the school just released:

The following statement from the Board of Trustees of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art was presented by Chairman of the Board Mark Epstein to the student body, faculty and staff of the institution at a meeting today in the Cooper Union Great Hall.

“After eighteen months of intense analysis and vigorous debate about the future of Cooper Union, the time has come for us to set our institution on a path that will enable it to survive and thrive well into the future. Consequently, the Board of Trustees voted last week to reduce the full-tuition scholarship to 50% for all undergraduates admitted to The Cooper Union beginning with the class entering in the fall of 2014.

“Under the new policy, The Cooper Union will continue to adhere to the vision of Peter Cooper, who founded the institution specifically to provide a quality education to those who might otherwise not be able to afford it. Consequently, we will provide additional scholarship funding for those with need, including full-tuition scholarships to all Pell Grant-eligible students. We intend to keep admissions need-blind. Current undergraduates, as well as those undergraduates entering in the fall of 2013 will continue to receive the full-tuition scholarship for the duration of their undergraduate education.

“Our priorities have been and will continue to be quality and access, so that we will remain a true meritocracy of outstanding students from all socio-economic backgrounds.

Read the full statement here.

Read more on this story at The New York Times here.

Previously.

Citi Bikes docking stations arrive at NYU

Via EVG reader Jeffrey Borenstein...