RIP Bobbie Hondo

Photos from October by Stacie Joy 

Bobbie Hondo, a regular in recent years on the downtown performance scene, died on May 31 in her native El Paso, Texas. She was 28. A cause of death was not revealed. 

Here's part of a feature obituary celebrating her life: 

Her independence, unmatched energy, beaming with life spirit and candor, embraced her community. She utilized her voice to provide the impulse, her experiences and determination to advocate for reframing the reality of the issues that impacted her community. Bobbie stood as a symbol of light, inspiration and strength for all humans, in a world conflicted to find equality, free of fear and shame.

Tributes to her on Instagram highlight her talent, creativity and kindness.  

You can read more about her life and some remembrances from friends and families here. 

Above photo: Hondo with her friend Lida Fox (left), vocalist-bassist of cumgirl8 during a show at the Knitting Factory last fall.

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...

Gaia Italian Café set to debut on 3rd Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Updated 6/7: Certified open

Neighborhood favorite Gaia Italian Café is expected to have a soft opening this week at its new home at 226 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

 

For now, the Café will be open for a few weekdays at lunchtime (no weekend hours yet) with a limited pickup-takeout menu while chef-owner Gaia Bagnasacco and sous chef Kevin Espinal adjust to this new adventure.

An assortment of Italian shelf-stable products (sauces, truffle polenta, grilled artichokes, imported Italian pastas, vinegar and oils) will also be for sale, in addition to a new line of ice cream and house-made treats.

And the duckies have returned to decorate the kitchen.

In an interview, Bagnasacco said she created the storefront “as a tribute to Earth [Gaia is the Greek goddess of Earth], that will have the face of a shop or to-go ‘Gastronomia,’ focusing on serving the community, awareness of Earth matter, and on a style of eating that follows the Mediterranean diet as a primary source in the homemade Italian tradition of the cafè.”

You can follow the Gaia Instagram account for updates. 

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Previously

State of the art: Blick is now open in new 4th Avenue home

Blick Art Materials is now open (as of June 2) in its new home at 111 Fourth Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street. (Thanks, Jeanne Krier, for this photo!) 

We noted this pending arrival last year... as the Blick outpost on 13th Street between University and Fifth Avenue was closing to relocate here.

This storefront is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week... with an 11 a.m. start on Saturday and Sunday.

Until early 2019, this space was home to Jerry's New York Central.

Gen Korean BBQ House next for 14th Street and 3rd Avenue

Gen Korean BBQ House is opening an outpost on the SW corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue... the former home of 5 Napkin Burger. They are taking the entire space — including the storefront that served as the 5 Napkin Express, then Taman Falafel.  

Reps for the California-based company will appear before CB3's SLA committee next Monday for a liquor license for this location...

The chain has 18 locations in California, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada and Texas ... with a handful more in the works. 

Gen Korean BBQ is apparently known for its all-you-can-eat specials. There's a menu with the questionnaire on the CB3 website here. 

This CB3 virtual committee meeting is Monday, June 13 at 6:30 p.m. Find the Zoom link here.

The 5 Napkin Burger branch closed here in January after nearly 10 years. And a comeback for Disco Donut will have to wait!

New smoke shop called Smoke Shop debuts on 3rd Avenue

If there's an empty storefront, then there's a smoke shop just waiting to open... And over on Third Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street, a smoke shop apparently just called Smoke Shop is now open...

... with a velvet rope for a more upscale bong-shopping experience...

There was a storefront shuffle here, with the UPS store moving over a space... Smoke Shop then took the former UPS.

Chick-In to bring Korean-style chicken to Allen Street

A quick-serve restaurant serving Korean-style chicken is shaping up at 205 Allen St. just south of Houston (and below the Dash Snow mural). 

Don't know too much else about Chick-In. There's an Instagram account, though no posts just yet. 

The space was previously home to Vivi Bubble Tea.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a construction notice on 2nd Avenue) ...

• Reader report: Private security firm now keeping tabs on unhoused encampment on 9th Street (Sunday) 

• Luzzo's debuts on Avenue B, closes on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

• You can find items from Dress Shoppe II this summer at A Repeat Performance on 3rd Street (Wednesday) 

• 44 Stuyvesant St. is on the sale market for the first time — ever (Tuesday) 

• A visit to P&T Knitwear on Orchard Street (Friday)

• Pride outside the 2nd Avenue F stop (Wednesday) 

• The Marshal seizes Bar None on 3rd Avenue (Friday) 

• The Tacos Cholula cart makes triumphant return to 2nd Street (Thursday) 

• Renovated 104 E. 10th St. comes into view (Wednesday) 

• City Councilmember Carlina Rivera makes bid for Congress official (Friday) 

• Report of a fire at 11 St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• Aliens of Brooklyn colonizing 9th Street (Thursday) 

• MayRee to bring Thai food to 1st Street (Thursday)

• Coming soon to 14th Street: Fries Factory, Urban Juicery (Tuesday) 

• The stately 122 E. 10th St. is for sale (Monday) 

• Openings: Hard to Explain on 10th Street (Thursday) ... Birria LES on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) ... Everytable on Avenue B (Tuesday)

• Retail space at 44 Avenue B hits the rental market (Wednesday)

• The Salads Days of our lives (Monday)

... and a new era...

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

Please explain

Photo by Stacie Joy 

As seen at the Orchard Alley Community Garden on Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D: 

Welcome Starbucks to Orchard Alley!

A reader asked about this. We do not know! A joke? An inside joke? A commentary about the community garden?

Starbucks is not in expansion mode anyway. Since early 2020, Starbucks has permanently closed 44 of its 235 locations in Manhattan, per The New York Times.

[Updated] June 5

Good Sunday morning from 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...getting the house cleaning done early so you can enjoy this fine-looking day. 

Thanks to Jaderade for the photo!

Updated 6/6 

 

The photo made the morning news today on NY1 with comments by Pat Kiernan ... (thanks Corinne for the pic!)...

Saturday's parting shot

As seen today along Second Avenue [😍] by Derek Berg...

A 'Grave New World' at MoRUS

A new group show is now on view at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) as part of the ABC No Rio In Exile series.

Some info via the EVG inbox about the exhibit that opened yesterday:

"GRAVE NEW WORLD: Death. Destruction. Decay. Dystopia." 

With work by Kelly Boehmer, Anastasia Clarke, Alexis Karl + Adam Torkel, Kristen Leonard, Caitlin McCormack, Kit Mills, Tom Prinsell, and Kate Stone. 

You can check it out Saturdays and Sundays from 3-6 p.m. The closing-night reception is June 24 from 6-9. 

MoRUS is at 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

So many kh-kh-kh-kh-khanges at Key Food

A quick weekend update (has that name been taken?). 

Thank you to everyone who has shared photos and reports in recent days from our home-away-from-home, Key Food. 

As we've been noting, a major aisle reorg is underway here on Avenue A and Fourth Street. The frozen foods section is heading from aisle 1 to 6. The produce area will be revamped and expanded. 

That's just for beginners. EVG correspondent Stacie Joy has been on it... and a report is forthcoming. 

Until then, enjoy these two photos courtesy of Maggie Ruggiero ...

...  and William Klayer...

... and the personal collection of EVG (on loan) ...

... the 400 cases of Skinny Pop are safe...

... to be continued...

A clean-up day for Tompkins Square Park

The Youth Council of Assembly District 74, represented by Harvey Epstein, has organized a clean-up day TOMORROW (Sunday, June 5) in Tompkins Square Park. 

Volunteers can meet at 1 p.m. at Seventh Street and Avenue B. The Parks Department will provide the necessary cleaning supplies. You may RSVP at this link.

Red-tailed chicks continue to dine-in

Photos by Steven 

While the three Tompkins Square Park red-tailed hawk chicks are getting closer and closer to branching out and leaving the nest, they're not ready to hunt and prepare their own meals. 

In this sequence, Amelia makes an in-nest delivery (no third-party apps here!) ... before taking for Park parts unknown...

The three chicks have grown so quickly (the first hatch was April 17, per Goggla) and appear to be in their mischievous plotting phase...

Friday's parting shot

Sunset this evening... Fifth Street and Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... thanks to Eva Jakubowski for the photo...

June 3

A seasonal shade of yellowed brown on Houston and Ludlow today... thanks to Robert Miner for the photo...

Here comes the 'Sun'

 

Local faves Hello Mary debuted a new single/video this week... here's guitarist Helena Straight, bassist Mikaela Oppenheimer and drummer Stella Wave with "Looking Right Into The Sun."

These 2 community gardens are hosting a free summer theater festival

In 1956, Joseph Papp began the outdoor theater tradition on the Lower East Side when he introduced "Shakespeare in the Park" in the (now-demolished) East River Park Amphitheater. 

This month, LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens) continues this tradition with the free LUNGS Summer Theater Festival in two East Village community gardens. 

Via the EVG inbox... 

The theme of the 2022 Festival is Mother Earth/Nature. 

The festival will present six 30-minute plays performed in two community gardens. Three plays will be performed on Saturdays, June 4 & 11 at 6B Garden, on the corner of Avenue B and Sixth Street ... and three different plays will be presented on Sundays, June 5 & 12 at Green Oasis Garden, 370 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D. 

A set of three plays will be performed twice on Saturdays from 2-7 p.m., and twice on Sundays from 2-7 p.m. Each program will be repeated the following weekend, Saturday, June 11 and Sunday, June 12.

This inaugural Theater Festival is curated by Penny Arcade, Erez Ziv, Riki Colon, Roman Primitivo Albear, Bonnie Sue Stein and Charles Krezell. 

Everyone is welcome! We are hoping for great audiences to experience Free Theater in our community gardens! 

Find more info here.

A visit to P&T Knitwear on Orchard Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

P&T Knitwear, the neighborhood's newest bookstore, debuted at 180 Orchard St. between Houston and Stanton this past Saturday. 

This is a family-owned independent bookstore, podcast studio, event space and cafe ... "run by a team of passionate lifelong readers and listeners." (Our previous post has more about the owners.) 

So far, we've heard good things about the shop, which offers free WiFi ... EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by and shared these photos...

P&T also has an event space that seats up to 80 people. (See their upcoming events here.) 

The space is free to use not only for book events but also for community programs, workshops, mixers and more. You can email info@ptknitwear.com for info...

P&T is open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.