Sunday, February 6, 2022
Sunday's parting shot
'Law & Order' makes triumphant return to East Village streets
Expect to see part of the East Village in the upcoming season. The L&O crew will be setting up for a shoot on Tuesday along Avenue A and various side streets between 10th and Third, per the posted signage. (And vehicles need to be moved tomorrow by 3. Photo below by Steven.)
This 21st season will once again feature Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy ... new cast members include Odelya Halevi as ADA Samantha Maroun, Jeffrey Donovan as Det. Frank Cosgrove and Hugh Dancy as senior prosecutorial assistant Nathan Price.
The Emmy-winning series originally ran for 20 seasons on NBC, from 1990 to 2010, with 456 episodes, spawning 36 four spinoffs and a movie. The franchise has been a regular presence on EV streets during its run.
And for some nostalgia, here's the intro to the "Law & Order" pilot episode from 1990...
Week in Grieview
• RIP Hanne 'H7L' Lauridsen (Friday)
• Thayer is opening a bookstore and cafe at 99 Avenue B (Monday)
• A new I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Wednesday)
• Notorious East Village landlord Raphael Toledano faces 5-year real-estate ban (Tuesday)
• Brindle Room is making an East Village return this spring in new 11th Street home (Wednesday)
• A reminder to keep Two Bridge's Diner in your dining plans (Tuesday)
• Reader report: USA Super Stores (U-S-A!) coming to the former Duane Reade on 3rd Avenue and 10th Street (Thursday)
• A look at the B Bar & Grill demolition on the Bowery (Thursday)
• Gallery Watch: 'Falling Through Flatland' by Chris Hood at Lyles & King (Tuesday)
• Astor Place Wegmans watch, automatic sliding doors edition (Tuesday)
• The Bronx Brewery East Village opens (Friday)
• As the bank branches turn on 2nd Avenue (Thursday)
• Local photographer opens door of former Tut at 189 E. 3rd St. (Wednesday)
• Now Yoga moving to online-only classes next month (Wednesday)
• Openings: A trio of quick-serve vegan options (Monday)
• Enchantments is ready to cast a spell in new home on Avenue B (Tuesday)
• Pizza Girls coming soon to Avenue B (Monday)
The city's mobile units offering COVID-19 vaccines today on Avenue A
No appointments necessary ... and no lines this morning...
Thanks to Steven for the photos.
Sunday's opening Instagram post
A scene from early 1994 on Houston Street looking west toward Avenue B ... post/photo by Gregoire Alessandrini. (We've featured his images in the past, like here.)
Saturday, February 5, 2022
44 Union Square to be filled with pet sounds
Per published reports (Commercial Observer and The Real Deal), Petco has signed a lease for a 3-story space, taking 30,000 of the 73,000-square-foot landmarked building. The animal and pet supply chain will be relocating from 860 Broadway on the other side of Union Square.
The previous retail tenants, a magazine shop and Frank's Wines & Liquors, closed in 2016...
The 17th Street side housed two cultural institutions, the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theater.
As Jeremiah Moss wrote in 2016 about the building's upcoming renovation: "What sort of businesses do you think will replace these small businesses and cultural institutions? Well, almost every single thing around Union Square Park is a national shopping mall chain. ... Those that aren't, like Blue Water Grill, tend to be upscale."
Now we know.
And address history, per Wikipedia: "The neo-Georgian structure was erected in 1928–1929 and designed by architects Thompson, Holmes & Converse and Charles B. Meyers for the Tammany Society political organization."
2016 pic by J. Moss
ICYMI: That oddly configured Walgreens is closing on Union Square
As posted on Jan. 24, the Walgreens on the SE corner of 14th Street and Fourth Avenue is closing on Feb. 17, per the window signage.
Walgreens customers can then go to other Walgreens, Duane Reades or Duane Reade by Walgreens locations, including the outpost at 1 Union Square. (For the sake of journalisming, we walked from the soon-to-close Walgreens to the Duane Reade — 50 steps!)
This corner Walgreens was renovated and expanded into the space above the quick-serve restaurants on Fourth Avenue back in 2010...
What could possibly fit in this space now (?).
Saturday's opening shot
The sun makes a return today... the exclusive EVG forecast (via AccuWeather) calls for sunny to partly cloudy skies and much colder; breezy this afternoon with highs around 28°. Tonight's low is 17°, with the EVGRealFeel® of 12°
Friday, February 4, 2022
Teenage fanclub
Catching up to this Pom Pom Squad release from late December 2021... in which the NYC band shared this cover and frame-by-frame video reproduction of Nada Surf's "Popular" from 1996.
Also, Bandcamp Fridays are back ... in which the music platform waives its revenue share for the day.
East Village weekend ski report
Thanks to Goggla for the pic!
RIP Hanne 'H7L' Lauridsen.
Photos by Stacie Joy from 2014
Longtime East Village-based multimedia artist Hanne Lauridsen died Sunday at age 84.
A friend said that the Danish-born Lauridsen, also known as Hanne H7L, "peacefully passed away in her home on East 11th Street, cared for by loving neighbors and surrounded by her art." (A cause of death was not revealed.)
Even if you didn't know Lauridsen, you likely saw one of her art cars parked on the street...
... or cross-country skiing in one of her leopard outfits whenever there was a snow cover on the streets. (She was immortalized in The New York Times one snowy day outside Tompkins Square Park here.)
This bio outlines her expansive career that saw her exhibit in galleries in the United States and Europe.
We'll update this post if there's information about a celebration of her life.
The Bronx Brewery East Village debuts tomorrow (Saturday!)
Top photo by Jason Greenspan
The Bronx Brewery East Village opens tomorrow at 64 Second Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street. (First announced in March 2020.)
A rep for this outpost of the Bronx Brewery, which opened in 2011, shared this info about the multi-level EV location:
Aside from the 14 beers on tap, the Bronx Brewery East Village will also feature the first U.S. location for the Swedish brand Bastard Burgers. (The food will be available for delivery a few weeks after the launch.) You can find the BB menu here.
[T]he space’s focal point is the pilot brewery system, a fully-functional brewery in the center of the seating area that will be used to expand their popular Y-Series ... limited-release, often experimental beers brewed in collaboration with creatives ranging from activists and musicians to artists and entrepreneurs.
The series will continue to provide a platform to celebrate and spotlight the community, contribute to charitable organizations and support the diversity of the city. Past Y-Series collaborations have benefited organizations like SapnaNYC (serving low-income immigrant South Asian women), the Humane Society, community gardens and Callen-Lorde (providing healthcare services for the LGBTQ community). The Y-Series beer roster for the new location is currently being developed and will prioritize local East Village/LES talent, including local artist ClockWork Cros and Mikey Likes It.And!
The space features corrugated steel accents and exposed i-beams, a nod to the industrial setting of the original Bronx location ... A concrete-topped bar with perforated metal sheeting anchors the front taproom area, with neon lights in the design of the NYC subway map overhead.
The back seating area is on a catwalk overlooking the pilot brewery system; guests can watch beer being brewed in real time as they eat and drink, taking in the sounds and smells of the brewhouse and cellar hop additions.
The Brewery's hours of operation: 5-11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays with a midnight close on Fridays; noon to midnight on Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays. Find more info on this location at this link.
No. 64's retail space has been vacant since NYC Velo moved next door to No. 66 in the spring of 2016.
Second interior pic by Charlie Bennet
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Reader report: USA Super Stores (U-S-A!) coming to the former Duane Reade on 3rd Avenue and 10th Street
An outpost seemingly came out of nowhere this past November on the NW corner of Houston and Avenue D — site of a former Duane Reade by Walgreens. (There's also a USA Super Stores on the UES — AT A FORMER DUANE READE! PATTERN DETECTED.)
USA Super Stores have a little bit of everything, from groceries to housewares to clothing — all at discounted prices. ("Cozy Fuzzy Sleep Pants" — $5.99; a 4-pound bag of Domino Sugar — $2.99.)
No word on an opening date. One day it will just be open!
This Duane Reade by Walgreens on the corner of Third and 10th closed in early March 2020 ... several years after expanding and gobbling up several small storefronts, forcing Excel Art and Framing Store and East Village Cheese (which was never the same) to relocate.
A look at the B Bar & Grill demolition on the Bowery
EVG reader Robert Miner shared these photos, showing that workers have mostly wiped out the former outdoor courtyard (and Taco Bar!) ...
All this is happening to make way for a 21-floor office building on the property. (We got a first look at the Midtown-friendly monstrosity here.)
As for the B Bar, the one-time hot spot (circa the mid-1990s) was expected to close for good in August 2020. However, the place never reopened after the PAUSE in March 2020.
We first reported on this new project in January 2021.
Find more background at our last post or below...
As the bank branches turn on 2nd Avenue
The HSBC on the SW corner of Ninth Street and Second Avenue made the cut and will transition to a Citizens Bank on Feb. 17.
Ahead of that, workers yesterday installed the deep-green Citizens signage (with the daisy wheel logo ) ... EVG contributor Steven was there to mark the occasion...
... and at the end of the day, a temp HSBC was back on the marquee...
HSBC arrived here in the spring of 2010 ... before it was a bank branch, the Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man haunted this space.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
The sewer-repair work on 11th Street
Yes!
Apparently, a sewer line broke along here — ugh ... Steven shared these photos from earlier today... showing that the block is closed off to traffic while repairs continue ...
I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenant: Jeanne, since 1986
Why did you move to the East Village?
I am a native New Yorker. My father is from Queens. He is Italian American. My mom is from Brooklyn; she is Irish. We like to call that a mixed marriage. I am one of those classic Italian-Irish mixes from that era of New York.
My dad became a firefighter and they moved when they got married and started to have kids. I was born in Flatbush. They moved to Staten Island like everyone else after the Verrazano Bridge was built. I grew up in Staten Island and I went to NYU. That is how I ended up in the East Village. It was a no-brainer.
I had a friend in college who lived on 1st and 1st. It was 1980, and it was like venturing into the wilds. People told me not to go to the other side of Tompkins Square Park. My first apartment was on 11th between 1st and A.
I had a friend who lived on 2nd and B. When I went to visit her, I would stay over. It felt safer that way. When my daughter was in junior high in the late 90s, her friends’ parents did not allow them to visit. Until the restaurant scene started percolating.
Where did your daughter go to school?
She went to public schools. She began elementary school in the Lower East Side School. It was in the PS188 building. The name was changed to East Village Community School when they moved to 12th Street. It was the first small progressive school in District 1. Neighborhood School became the second. I kind of pulled her out. There was a shooting one day nearby. I moved her to PS19, a more conventional, traditional elementary school.
When I first moved Chloe to PS19, it wasn’t going well. They would say, “we’re going to take a spelling test,” and Chloe had no idea what a spelling test was. The progressive alternative schools in the neighborhood didn’t give tests or grades. Students received report cards, but they were narratives about how they were doing, not letter grades.
I made an appointment with Judith Foster, who had been Chloe’s kindergarten teacher at the Lower East Side School, for some support and guidance. She was now the principal at The Neighborhood School. Judith is an incredible educator, resource and support for students and parents.
For middle school, Chloe went to the Lab School in Chelsea. It was a good sequence because she learned how to navigate the city. She used to go to swimming lessons on 23rd Street. She could walk from PS19 as a 5th grader through Stuyvesant Town with a friend.
By the time she went to junior high, she would take the bus. She could take the subway in the daytime. She went to Bronx Science for high school. The kids were from every neighborhood in New York City. They had the run of the city. They lived in Chinatown, Jackson Heights, Roosevelt Island. I feel good about that.
The city is a great place to bring up kids.
It’s nice to have a couple of good friends still in the East Village because so many people are gone. I met Raquel through downtown theater people. I met her when she had the New York Theater Asylum, and I remember bartending there. Chloe must have been a baby. We’ve known each other for over 30 years. She’s a unique character in the East Village.
How did you find your apartment?
I was living on 11th Street and 1st Avenue in a tiny little two-room apartment in the back of a tailor shop. There was one room, and it didn’t have windows. I should have had the storefront, but what did I know? I was still in college.
I got pregnant with my boyfriend, who was like the coolest dude. He had a recording studio in a basement. Remember when everyone had music in the basement in the 80s? We had Chloe there. 11th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A. I still remember going into labor. I said, “go get the cab.” We had a $5 bill taped to the dresser for the cab to take us uptown to the midwives at St. Luke’s Roosevelt. All the way up to Lincoln Center — $5!
My boyfriend had to go up to 2nd Avenue to get a cab. Cabs were not coming to Avenue A. There were three of us now living in this tiny little place. We realized we had to get another place. We didn’t think we could afford anything.
I knew the people that were living here, in my current apartment. They were friends who I worked with in the experimental theater scene.
When one of my friends decided to go back to Germany, he offered us the apartment. He knew we had a baby and needed more space. It was an act of generosity. This was like a palace with 2 bedrooms, an eat-in kitchen. It’s not that many square feet, but it feels very spacious. My daughter could have her own room. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. What we were paying wasn’t very much, but it seemed high at the time. And it has gone up. But it is still affordable. It’s how I can be an artist. It was a sublet when they left.
One of them lives in the city part-time, and the other stayed in Germany. Eventually, by the book, with the legal percentage increase in rent, the lease would be in my name. We were young and in flux. I was in flux, but I had a baby, so I couldn’t be that much in flux.
And that is why I still have the apartment. People say, “you are so lucky.” It is not about luck. We lived through some hard times over here. There were the frequent insurance fires, abandoned buildings, the dope and crack years, the gentrification wars, and of course, the devastation of AIDS.
What do you love about your apartment?
So many things. But I think the most important thing is the light. And people might laugh because they think there is no light in NYC. But because of the way the apartment is situated, the light moves around all day long. So different rooms become lit. I move around with the light. My daughter tried living in a bunch of other places. And said, “I am spoiled for life. I didn’t realize it, but I need an apartment that actually has sunlight.” I was worried when they built the building next door. That it would cut off my light.
I used to lie in bed and see the Empire State Building. That does not happen anymore. But I can still see the moon. This is East. When the moon rises, I can see it. I’m also close to the roof. It’s not a particularly nice roof. It has a giant T-mobile tower and cell phone stuff everywhere, but it’s my porch.
I’ve done a lot of work with astronomy in my artwork. I have shot several films from my East Village roof. It’s important to go out and check-in with the planets and see where the stars are. I can see the bridges. We used to be able to see the World Trade Towers.
When I look at these floorboards, I know that these are the same floorboards walked on from the time this building was built in 1898. The East Village is a really wonderful part of New York City, and it is the only place in the world where I feel relaxed, accepted and at home.
There isn’t one closet in the apartment. It’s not like the Upper West Side. It’s immigrant housing. The wardrobe I have for my clothes was here when I moved in. I think it’s been here since 1920. It’s not fancy. I never changed anything. Why bother? I appreciate that history. I need to live in a place with a lot of history.
We had a downtown, underground culture mixed with the old communities that were here. None of us had any money. There was a huge creative spirit. All of these things mixed together made a very special cocktail. It’s a connection. We have a certain way of understanding history here. We’re on the continuum.
If you’re interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email. And read about her in The New Yorker!
Brindle Room is making an East Village return this spring in new 11th Street home
Owner Jeremy Spector confirmed that his restaurant, known for some pretty tasty burgers, will reopen this spring at 647 E. 11th St. just west of Avenue C.
Spector is on this month's CB3-SLA docket (Feb. 16) for a liquor license for the address, the former Virginia's. (Their lease was up on Dec. 31 at the address and Virginia's ownership decided to look elsewhere for a larger space.)
The Brindle Room spent 11 years at 277 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. The restaurant was open for takeout during the early days of the pandemic but stayed shut after the spring of 2020.
Spector vowed to find a new home for The Brindle Room. And he likes what he will have at No. 647.
"The place has really cool ceilings, and it's bigger and nicer than my old spot," he said in an email yesterday. "But most important to me is that it's in the same neighborhood. I'm pretty fired up — it's been two long years."
He also shared a clip about with a reopening announcement...
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