Posts that I never got around to posting: This panini

Always seemingly advertised at the Marco Polo Cafe on St. Mark's Place. Not as bad as it sounds?

Posts that I never got around to posting: Eyeglasses are great for reading too!

On 10th Street and First Avenue.

Posts that I never got around to posting: Two photos taken on Orchard Street a few moments apart

Swatching Chico on Houston and Avenue B

Back in mid-April, we mentioned the space on Houston and Avenue B that was earmarked for Chico...



Well, Chico and company (Tats Cru?) are currently putting up a new mural.... which looks like a Swatch ad...





We'll walk by later for a progress report...when it's a little less congested.

A new label for McSorley's

Drew Friedman designs the new label for McSorley's. He says he will be paid with beer. (Via BoingBoing)

Critters on the loose in Manhattan! (NOT on the menu at Serge today: Possum)

While walking to a dumb lunch appointment today up in Midtown ... I saw five police cars parked along Madison Avenue in the 30s. Several police officers and passers-by were staring at the trellis next to the door at the French eatery Serge.



A makeshift barrier was set up outside the restaurant, which was not yet open.



Uh, so why are we all standing here looking at the trellis? A building maintenance man and bicycle messenger said in unison, "Possum!" Well, sure enough, a possum was hovering in the corner....looking pretty menacing...



So we all stood around like a bunch of dopes while the police officers figured out the best method of humanely trapping the possum. That left people time to theorize. "How do you think he got here?" Well, said one man, "I've seen possum in the Bronx." Another man chimed in, "I bet he took the subway!"

Yeah, OK....the police eventually got a little cranky with so many people — now maybe 40 strong? — milling about.

Back up, people!



We did. People new to the crowd said things like, "What is it, a gas leak?" Tourists took photos.



A few minutes later, an officer approached the possum with an apple-picker-looking thing. The possum was placed inside a plastic trash can and carted off... We didn't hear where the possum was being taken. People stood around for a few more moments, seemingly disappointed to see the free entertainment come to a conclusion.

[Oops...Thanks to the e-mailer...it's an opossum in the Western Hemisphere...Apologies...]

The M9's route to Battery City Park this past week

Since the fire destoyed a section of East Broadway in Chinatown last Thursday night, bus lines from the neighborhood heading downtown — the M9, M15 and M22 — have been slightly rerouted to avoid the blocked-off destruction zone around East Broadway and Allen. Though the MTA isn't really communicating this.



I can't speak much on this topic, but the M9 Riding Friend of EV Grieve (M9RFOEVG) said there's little or no communication from the drivers headed downtown. In the five business days since the fire, the M9 has traveled three different routes. One morning, the M9 took a left on East Broadway, then a right on Montgomery, then a left on to Madison. "The [bus driver] seemed like he had no idea where he was going. Then he'd stop at an M22 stop on Montgomery and answer a bunch of questions from M22 riders. Like why in the hell is there an M9 here and where are you going?" M9RFOEVG claimed the alternative routes added an additional 20 minutes to the trip.

This morning, though, M9RFOEVG reported that the M9 route was nearly back to normal. The bus just does a quick hitch around the destroyed buildings on East Broadway. And hence, it provides an opportunity for blurry photos:







Check out BoweryBoogie for the latest on the Chinatown fire.

Metal plates on Houston and Pitt driving some people crazy

These fliers were spotted on Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C -- on the buildings that face Houston. The plates in question do make an awful ka-chunk! when a car/truck drives over them. Which is about every four seconds. It's annoying... On the bright side, you likely won't be able to hear the plates, at least during the day, once the Eastern stretch of Houston gets ripped up...

And what's happening at Pitt and Houston?

Bar threatens to call cops on a Thursday afternoon because some girls were standing in line to get free prom dresses next door

Wow. A doozy in The Villager this week. I'll link to it soon as it's online. Quickly, though! Last Thursday afternoon from 4-6, the good people at the Lower Eastside Girls Club were holding their annual free prom gown giveway at their HQ on First Street. As Lincoln Anderson reports, "hundreds of excited teenage girls lined up...in the process, blocking the way into The Elephant," the French/Thai bar/restaurant that doesn't exactly pack 'em in on a late Thursday afternoon. There were some words exchanged. And an Elephant manager threatened to call the cops. Lyn Pentecost, the executive director of the Girls Club, called the threat mindboggling. She lives on the block, and called the Elephant "a yuppie bar" and said that it "keeps the street awake all night every night." She claimed the manager got verbally abusive with the girls who were waiting for one of the 500 free prom dresses. The Elephant's GM, Eduardo Sontan, who was not in the restaurant at the time of the incident, told Anderson that they apologized to the the girls, but stressed the girls were blocking the entrance and the manager was worried someone might get injured by falling through the restaurant's sidewalk vault doors. He also said "I'm not against girls" and mentioned that Vice President Biden and Chelsea Clinton have recently dined there.

Is the wrecking ball in store for the Cooper Union Engineering Building?

In this week's issue of The Villager (not yet online), Scoopy addresses the hot neighborhood rumor: Will the Cooper Union Engineering Building on Astor Place be demolished, like, really soon? The Starbucks there is gone, of course. Continental owner Trigger told Scoopy that he heard the building was coming down next month. (By the way, Trigger said that he favors a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's coming to the space...Not sure if he was serious.) Edward J. Minskoff Equities has the long-term lease on the building. Minskoff CFO Ben McGrath told Scoopy: "We are not commencing demolition next month -- that's a certainty. Cooper Union is still in the building. ... Obviously, the economy has an impact on the decision, but we're still wrestling what to do and when to do it."

Scoopy also mentions that the school will have moved into Cooper Union's new academic building at 41 Cooper Square by the summer. The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new building is Sept. 15."

Important news: New York City is the sixth-best place in the country for "good hair days" (Yeah, suck it L.A.!)

Interpret this survey as you please. And how did we finish behind Anchorage? Don't they have to wear hats year-round?

Peek-a-boo I see 2 (Cooper Square)

I swear I walked by the behind-schedule 15-story rental-retail combo at 2 Cooper Union just two days ago and saw nothing (the hole in the ground)... and now? Someone's working OT....

93rd Duane Reade in Lower Manhattan nearly complete

We're almost ready for more Duane Reade action ... at the former Staples store on Fulton and Water Streets in the Financial District.

"Sesame Street" characters seen doing whippets in Tompkins Square Park after filming yesterday

KIDDING! I took the above photos the other weekend. Some young adults were just making whipped cream for dessert, that's all.

Oh, but I did find a box of rotting bananas on Ninth Street and Avenue B right near where "Sesame Street" was filming.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Bob Arihood has the latest on the Avenue A groper (Neither More Nor Less)

Hmmm, Peter Pan Donut Shop (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Bea Arthur tag painted over on Third Street (Flaming Pablum)

The Record and Tape Center is closing in Park Slope (Lost City)

NYC's first gourmet cupcake truck (Grub Street)

Broadway ready for pedestrians (Curbed)

Is the pee phone doomed? (Slum Goddess)

First look at Washington Square Park (Washington Square Park)

A hellhole no more: Orchard Street pothole paved over (BoweryBoogie)

Iggy and the Stooges to play "Raw Power" — first time in 36 years (Stupefaction)

Wish you were here: Old postcards to home from NYC (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

About Iggy's career as an insurance spokesperson (Hunter-Gatherer)

Laura Kennedy of the Bush Tetras has a birthday today. Wish her the best (Laura Kennedy Liver Fund)

First photos from the "Sesame Street" shoot today at Tompkins Square Park: How soon before the paparazzi and groupies (and drugs, natch) arrive?

On Avenue B. I'm going to heckle Fozzie Bear. (Uh, is he still on the show...?)

Magazine that I already thought folded folds

RIP Trump magazine. Another nail in the coffin of wretched excess?

Busy week for filming on Avenue B: Tompkins Square Park safe for "Sesame Street"

First, today, prepare yourself for the mindless bloodletting of "Hyperactive" shooting on Avenue B along Tompkins Square Park....




"Hyperactive." Certainly sounds like some drug-addled splatterfest, right? "It's 'Sesame Street.' It's for the kids," a crew member told me. Oh.

But Thursday! "Step Up 3-D," the long-awaited sequel to "Step Up 2: The Street," which -- duh! -- followed "Step Up," the winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2006.



Be ready to "Step Up," people.

Wyndham Garden Hotel starting to sprout on the Bowery

When we last looked at the coming-soon high-rise at the corner of Hester and the Bowery last October...there wasn't much progress to report...



...and the 108-room Wyndham Garden Hotel, expected to open in 2010 (according to a Wyndham press release), didn't seem popular with everyone...



In any event, the site is showing signs of life...





For further reading:
LES hotel saturation: A map (BoweryBoogie)

Coming to Union Square: Chipotle Mexican Grill

Lois Weiss reports today that Chipotle Mexican Grill will open in the Zeckendorf Towers on the northwest corner of Irving Place and 14th Street. It's at the former site of Rhyme & Reason, the card shop, which closed last September. As I noted then: "What's to come? I have no idea! But it's a prime spot in NYUville. Also! There's a Duane Reade a block away on 14th and Third...and a Walgreens across the street. So this seems like a good spot for a drug store. Rite Aid?"

Anyway! Jeffrey Roseman of Newmark Knight Frank represented Chipotle. He told the Post: "Union Square is still buzzing and is a hot market." It will open at the end of the summer.