[Updated] A grand reopening at B&H Dairy

After nearly five months, B&H Dairy reopened this morning ... and there was a line of people waiting for one of the 76-year-old lunch counter's handful of seats...



East Village resident Elinor Nauen was among the first to arrive... waiting up the block...


[Photo by Sheila Rothenberg]

The diner was set to start serving again at 9 a.m., though it was actually 9:27 before the doors opened, EVG contributor Berg noted.

Here's a look inside...

A photo posted by Michael Scotto (@mgscotto) on Aug 14, 2015 at 6:44am PDT

B&H remained closed after the deadly gas explosion that leveled three buildings on March 26. Owners Fawzy Abdelwahed and Ola Smigielsk faced multiple hurdles (we documented this here) to get the diner back open here between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Per NY1:

With the darkest days behind them, Abdelwahed is now relieved that his wife didn't listen to him several months ago when he was ready to give up.

"Since this happened, I explain to her, 'Let's go look for another job,'" he said. "She said, 'No way. This is our dream and we're going to fight for it.'"

B&H is expected to be back to its usual 7 a.m. opening time tomorrow.

Updated noon:

NBC 4 is on the scene talking to B&H patrons about the reopening...



Photos by Derek Berg

An appreciation: 9th Street Community Garden

EVG reader Dan Efram shares these photos of his favorite local community garden — the 9th Street Community Garden on the northeast corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C.

"I lived upstate and this garden registers with me because it has such a home-grown appeal," Efram says. "The people there are always very welcoming, but you do know that you are entering their home. They put so much love into it."





















The garden, which encompasses an acre, started in 1979. Its hours are Friday 5-8 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday from noon-6 p.m. Find more info here.

Of course there are nearly 40 other community gardens in the neighborhood to enjoy. Find a list here. Meanwhile, The Guardian filed a story this week looking at the past, present and future of the local community gardens. Find that article here.

Residents seeking to block the Cock from moving into the former Lit Lounge space on 2nd Avenue

[EVG file photo]

As we noted last week, there is a new tenant seeking a liquor license for the former Lit Lounge space at at 93 Second Ave. between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street.

Turns out the Cock is looking to move up Second Avenue from its current home between East First Street and East Second Street. They are on this month's CB3 SLA committee meeting docket.

Meanwhile, there's already opposition — via the the East Fifth Street Block Association — forming to block the Cock…



This will not be the first time that the Cock has faced unhappy residents. Last fall, the Cock was looking to move from Second Avenue to 25 Avenue B, home at the time of Idle Hands. The Cock reportedly decided to withdraw when it became clear that the SLA committee was going to issue a denial.

Lit Lounge quietly closed at the end of July after 13 years at 93 Second Ave.

The August CB3 SLA committee meeting is Monday at the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Confirmed: Lit Lounge is closing on 2nd Avenue

Reports: Prep school teacher arrested for having sex with 16-year-old girl in bathroom at Lit Lounge

'Ten Thousand Saints' opens today at the Village East Cinema

It's opening day for "Ten Thousand Saints," the low-budget film adaption of the Eleanor Henderson 1980s novel of the same name.

As you may recall, directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini filmed around the East Village in early 2014 for the movie.

Here's the official plot outline:

Jude (Asa Butterfield) is a teenage boy who is trying to reconnect with his father Les (Ethan Hawke) in 1987 Manhattan. When Jude's friend, Teddy (Avan Jogia), dies of a drug overdose, Jude finds himself befriending a group of friends who are against drugs, alcohol, profanity and sex and live for punk-style rock music. When he meets Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld), who is sixteen years old and is pregnant with Teddy's child, he and Les are forced to be her rock as she struggles through her pregnancy and early motherhood while Jude struggles with his feelings for her and his relationship with his father.

And here's the trailer ...



The Los Angeles Times has an interview with the filmmakers here. The the article, Spring Berman, who lived in the East Village during the Tompkins Square Riots of 1988, which serve as a backdrop to "Saints," discusses filming challenges and then vs. now:

The tops of buildings hadn't changed, and there are still street signs and a few landmarks that have not been turned into a Chipotle or a gourmet frozen yogurt shop. But they are becoming fewer and farther between. Even graffiti had become a scarce commodity — which led to some creative solutions.

"If we saw a graffiti-covered truck, we'd flag it down and give them 50 bucks to park in front of a Citi bike stand," Pulcini said.

The filmmakers did make use of one natural resource that always seems to be in abundance in the city. "I would often see our production designer picking up garbage," Pulcini said. "I'm not going to pay for garbage in New York," Springer Berman added.

"Saints" looks to capture both the beauty and messiness of the past, to walk up against a line of romanticization while being careful not to cross it. "I get irritated sometimes when people say how difficult it is in New York now and how much better it was then," Pulcini said. "Yes, it's hard because it's expensive and you're living with 13 roommates if you're in your 20s. But back then you were mugged and pulled into a stairway at gunpoint. There was a rat in every apartment. I don't know that it was easier."

As for the film, the Daily News was dismissive with a two-star review ... while The Village Voice praises Ethan Hawke and says "the movie has a lilting, generous spirit." And the Times says that "Saints" is "full of quietly impressive performances and young characters who register as authentic."

And the trades: Variety declared it a "warmly conceived dramedy [that] will likely resonate strongest with audiences who have a direct connection to the story’s place and time" … while The Hollywood Reporter called it "a sensitive but not overserious coming-of-age pic with a strong sense of place."

The Village East Cinema is on Second Avenue at East 12th Street. Find more info and showtimes here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Filmmakers will recreate the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988 this Thursday night

Film crew recreates 'tent city' in Tompkins Square Park

Film crew uses 'D Squat' and phone booths to recreate an 1980s East Village on 6th Street

[Updated] First Avenue subbing for Avenue D today

Another 'riot' in Tompkins Square Park, this time for the cameras

What it costs 'to own one of the few remaining totally raw lofts downtown'

5 E. Third St. just east of the Bowery is new to the market. Here's the listing via Brown Harris Stevens:

Amazing opportunity to own one of the few remaining totally raw lofts downtown. This is the one you've been waiting for. A modern key lock elevator opens into this top floor loft in the historic Wyoming Arts Condominium, a boutique CONDO building of eight full floor residential lofts.

This ninth floor loft has 16 windows and four exposures. The wall of south facing windows give great light and views of sky, iconic water towers and the Bowery Hotel across the street. The bones of this generous space are superb. There is a full bath and an additional water closet providing the plumbing and waste lines for two baths. Restore the original wood floors and expose as much of the brick walls as you choose.

Price: $2.6 million.

The viewings start tomorrow.

Speaking of views, here's a look out a window to the southwest...



There is a 13-story, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development going in on the northeast corner of the Bowery and East Third Street that might spoil the view from a few of the west-facing windows.

Images via Brown Harris Stevens

Watch this man help himself to packages from an East 7th Street lobby

A resident who lives on East Seventh Street between Avenue A and Avenue B tells us that this man has entered his or her building several times in the past month… and helped himself to packages in the lobby. (Another resident said that he has struck No. 140, 144 and 150.)

In each case, the man lingers outside the front door… and waits for a resident to enter or exit the building, then walks right in before the door closes… The building management did file a police report.

The resident shared surveillance video from two of the incidents … thinking perhaps the man is hitting other nearby lobbies as well…





There's also surveillance footage showing the man walking right in after building residents, who do not seem to notice that someone is entering directly behind them…



Said the resident: "I never, ever let anyone in behind me. This is NYC — you never know who is walking in behind you."

Building management has posted a screen grab from the video and a warning note to residents…

Late afternoon thriller on East Houston and Avenue C

EVG reader Naomi Paulin sends along these photos … after catching some kind of Michael Jackson-inspired pop-up performance on East Houston at Avenue C…







And then he beat it.

B&H Dairy reopens tomorrow

[Photo yesterday by @davidpiz]

ConEd was at B&H Dairy yesterday at 127 Second Ave. for final inspections... and owners Fawzy Abdelwahed and Ola Smigielsk took to Facebook last night with the good news...



The gas is on!

Now after nearly four-and-a-half months, the 73-year-old diner between St. Mark's Place and East Seventh Street will reopen for the first time since the deadly Second Avenue gas explosion on March 26.

Updated 10 a.m.:

And here's the scene outside this morning... as supplies start arriving for opening day...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Updated 1 p.m.:

B&H opens tomorrow at 9 a.m., and will be back to their usual 7 a.m. time on Saturday...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Progress and frustration at B&H Dairy

You won't recognize the former Lan Cafe space on East 6th Street

[EVG photo from April]

A rent hike did in Lan Cafe, the family-run Vietnamese vegan restaurant at 342 E. Sixth St. The homespun Lan closed at the end of April here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

And as we first reported, an omakase-style restaurant is in the works for the space from one of the owners of Kura, the upscale sushi bar at 130 St. Mark's Place.

Here's how the under-renovation space is looking now, via these photos by Vinny & O …





No word on an opening date here… not that anyone may be able to tell if the place is open by the looks of the façade.

Marymount Manhattan College's Cooper Square dorm opens on Aug. 28

[Photo by Jim Rogers]

It has almost been three years to the date since when we first learned that a dorm was in the works for Cooper Square…. at the former 35 Cooper Square at East Sixth Street.

And now the dorm is ready for students starting on Aug. 28.

Here's part of the official news release that we received yesterday:

Marymount Manhattan College (MMC) is pleased to announce the opening of its brand-new student residence at 200 East 6th Street, in the thriving downtown East Village community known as Cooper Square.

“MMC’s expansion into downtown Manhattan is an expression of our commitment to fully engage with all corners of the city, as part of our “city as a campus” philosophy, while also offering students an intimate community and academic experience,” explained Dr. Kerry Walk, President of Marymount Manhattan College.

MMC worked closely with developer Arun Bhatia from The Arun Bhatia Development Organization to conceptualize the building plans and construct a residence that would serve the college for many years. The completed building meets the needs of MMC’s urban students with 24/7 security, on-site MMC Residence Directors, an outdoor terrace space, a 24-hour study lounge, laundry facilities, bike storage, a modern fitness center, as well as wireless Internet throughout the building.

“We are thrilled to expand our student residence footprint in Manhattan to accommodate our growing student population, within the dynamic East Village neighborhood just a short commute to MMC’s main campus,” said Emmalyn Yamrick, Director of Residence Life.

MMC is a private liberal arts college with its main campus on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, at 221 East 71st Street.

Per the release, the Cooper Square Residence Hall will accommodate 272 students in total. This year, 199 MMC students will be moving in ... while the additional 73 spots have been contracted out to Cooper Union.

No word just yet on the retail tenants for the space. Too bad that the Cooper 35 Asian Pub isn't still at 35 Cooper Square, where the dorm now stands — students may have liked that.

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

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

City OKs 13-floor dorm for Cooper Square

Updated: Here's what the newest East Village dorm will look like

Dig bottoms out on Cooper Square; here comes the dorm, here comes the dorm!

Your chance to lease the retail space in the new Cooper Square dorm

A 95% full reveal at 185 Avenue B

Workers yesterday removed just about the rest of the scaffolding and wrapping from 185-193 Avenue B, the new mixed-used residential building at East 12th Street…



DOB permits show 40 units, with an "outdoor recreation space" on the roof. The ground floor will also house the previous tenant at the address — the Elim Pentecostal Church.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside the Charles

Former landmark countercultural theater now for rent on Avenue B

7-story building in the works to replace former countercultural theater/church on Avenue B

Construction site at 185 Avenue B remains shut down for now

[Updated] The 'insane' noise and pounding are back at 185 Avenue B


[EVG photo from November 2011]

7:15 p.m.

A good few days for sunsets. Tonight's photo via Bobby Williams

RIP Ian Jones

Authorities have confirmed that a body found in the Hudson River upstate on Monday is that of Ian Jones, a model and photographer who lived in the East Village.

Jones, 32, went missing following a kayak accident on Saturday morning. The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office considers his death an accidental drowning, per a media advisory.

According to published reports, Jones and his girlfriend, Tali Lennox, were on the river near Staatsburg, N.Y., when their kayak overturned. Passengers in a passing boat were able to rescue Lennox.

The Daily Mail reported that the couple had been staying at Locusts-on-Hudson, an estate owned by André Balazs.

As a photographer, Jones worked on a project titled "Street Kids," which "casts a photographic lens on the street-kid culture of the East Village."

Here's more about that project:

It began as a collaborative effort between Jones and Grey Magazine’s editor-in-chief Valentina Martin. Both were fascinated by the hardcore resiliency and youthful vibrancy of the “unknown” youth of Tompkins Square. Agreeing from the start that neither one of them would profit, they developed Street Kids with the intention to philanthropically support the kids using fashion photography as a medium. Offering $200 in cash to the kids for one day of photographing, Jones began the process of casting the subjects that would make up his photographs...

You can find some of the photos here and here.

Someone today placed candles, flowers and flyers outside his apartment building on East Seventh Street and Avenue A.

Watch 'Mrs. Doubtfire' for free tonight on 9th and B

[EVG file photo]

The outdoor summer film series continues tonight at Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on East Ninth Street at Avenue B. (And sorry for the short notice!)

For free out in the church garden tonight: "Mrs. Doubtfire."



The doors open 7:30. Film starts around 8 or whenever it is suitably dusk-y out.

And upcoming at Trinity:

Sept. 9 — "West Side Story"

Oct. 21 - "Ghostbusters II"

Border this: Aspiring Penistrator looking for tri-state dominance, or something

DNAinfo has a cool map thing (as Curbed might call it!) that lets readers/residents use an interactive map to draw where they think their neighborhood's borders are.

Given the debates around the East Village about borders, specifically where Midtown South ends and New York Harbor begins, we're curious to see the results.

Anyway, all good...



EVG reader Tad took a shot at drawing the EV borders. And what did he see upon submitting his outline? For starters, the borders that other readers drew... as well as a very large...



You guys!

We checked a few other neighborhoods, and only noticed the work of a wannabe Penistrator in (or hovering over) the East Village section. (Oh, and the Pac-Man eating Atlantic Avenue.)



Per Tad: "Given the state of our neighborhood, this seems about right."

The Bowery Mission is in urgent need of food donations

From The Bowery Mission Facebook page...

URGENT NEED — This photo was taken [yesterday]. Our pantry shelves are almost completely empty! We are in great need of canned goods, sauces, pasta, rice, beans, grains, and condiments. Please consider donating to help ensure we are able to continue to feed homeless and hungry New Yorkers. Food donations can be dropped off 24/7 at 227 Bowery (at Prince St.). Thank you for for your support!

Find more information about making donation at the Bowery Mission website

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: Arthur Rivers
Occupation: Retired, Hair Stylist
Location: 2nd Street between Avenue A and B
Time: 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 10

I was born in Harlem, back in the day, in 1938. I’m 77. I was raised in the South Bronx. Being brought up in the Bronx, it was a lot of fun. It was all Irish and Italian in the neighborhood we moved to. I come from an interracial marriage, so it was hard there for awhile because my mother looked white, basically was. But it was good. We had neighbors who were good.

As a kid, I knew there was more to it than living in the Bronx, so I started venturing downtown, checking out different neighborhoods. I would just walk around and see what was going on. Back in 1965 or ’66, I moved to St. Mark's Place and stayed there for a couple years. I was living there with this woman. I had a lot of artists friends. That was when the artists were moving from the West Village to the East Village, and the apartments were cheap here compared to the West Village. I lived there for two years and then I went uptown and lived on the Upper West Side.

When I was about 19 I worked in this kosher butcher shop in the Bronx ... and one guy there, his name was Steve Sportz. He looked like Robert Redford to be honest. He took me up to his friend’s salon on 84th Street and Grand Concourse and when I walked in — bright lights, music and women. All I really saw were some women. I said, ‘This is what I want to do when I grew up.’

So I went to school and I did a lot of traveling. I became a successful hair stylist. I did a lot of entertainers’ hair, magazine work, commercials and stuff. Then I got tired of it, to be honest because there were too many things going on. There were a lot of drugs in the salon and this and that and a lot of my friends died from the virus. The next thing I knew a lot of them were just gone.

I was tired of living uptown so I got out of that and I moved down here. This is where I’ve lived for the last 27 or 28 years. The neighborhood down here has changed immensely. As a kid I lived in Harlem too. My mother was able to buy a brownstone in the Bronx, but the reason why Harlem changed, and a lot of people don’t take this into consideration. It wasn’t just the heroin that came in there. It was the supers. Back in the day the buildings had coal burners, so you had to have a super on the property. Once the oil burners came, you didn’t need the supers anymore.

So that’s how the neighborhood changed. The buildings went down and then crack and heroin and everything else came. Think about what happens when you don’t have a super. When I was a kid they kicked you off the stoop; you weren’t allowed to hang out on the stoop and stuff. Then once they left, the buildings went down. That sort of happened around here, but not as much.

When I first moved here, when you went into the building your doormen were drug dealers and they took care of the building. They took care of the people in the building. This area here, Avenue A all the way over to Avenue D, was drug infested. You didn’t come out.

Now I notice, Thursday through Sunday, you can’t walk on Avenue A – the traffic, millions of people. At one time you were in the house by 9. You didn’t come out again unless you knew some people out here. And you know, I miss that. It might sound crazy. I don’t miss the drugs and stuff but I miss the people who were around here. It really was a neighborhood and everybody knew everybody. If somebody got in trouble you were there for them. It was just a lot of different things that were happening. There was always something nice happening. You knew your neighbor; you hung out with your neighbor. You had your little block parties and stuff.

I’m a New Yorker. I’m an original. There are not that many of us around who are still here. I don’t mind people moving into the neighborhood but just have respect for the people who are here. It’s a community.

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

Why Taylor Swift fans treated the staff like shit at Ballaro on 2nd Avenue

On Monday, EVG contributor Derek Berg noted the arrival of a chalk message on the sidewalk outside Ballaro on Second Avenue between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street.

The message was pointed, yet strangely polite: "We do not play Taylor Swift here you cunts. Grazie."

At the time of our post, we didn't know what this was all about.

But commenters filled in the blanks:

I was actually there [Sunday] night and a big group of drunk people were abusing the bartenders and yelling at them to play Taylor swift.. They actually did play 2 Taylor songs to try and please them. Then they started booing because she didn't play the right one.

And now, Ballaro checks in:

Dear Neighbors,

As one of the owners of Ballaro, I wanted to shed some light on the events that took place at my establishment this last Sunday night. In my eyes, it was extremely ridiculous. It’s easy to talk shit and to make snap judgements without ever knowing what truly took place, which is why I wanted to write this letter.


To start, I do not know who wrote that sentence on the floor outside of our place, but it was not me or anyone who works at Ballaro. That’s not who I am - I grew up in a family that taught me how to respect people the same... their skin color, race, religion, sexual orientation and age is never taken into consideration when I’m serving customers. I treat everyone with the upmost respect. 


I know that I was offended, degraded and treated like shit by a group of 15 drunk people without any valid reason. They were screaming “BOO, YOU SUCK!” at me and my wait staff because Taylor Swift wasn’t playing on our sound system. I then played two Taylor Swift songs for them to placate them and they were dancing and singing all together so I assumed I had made my customers happy.

However, after the two songs ended and the playlist moved on to other artists, they started complaining even more and it escalated. They started screaming that the songs I played weren’t the right one and I was told that, “this place is shit, the music and the people here suck.” I was then told to, “go back to your country with that fucking immigrant face.”
 


This was the point that I lost control and I finally broke under the consistent barrage of snarky comments to myself and my staff. We had done nothing but serve them and try to make their time as enjoyable as possible and we were all being treated poorly. I yelled at them to leave and asked them all to go. 


One of the women in the group took out her phone and said that she was going to make a viral video so no one would come to Ballaro anymore. Now this, more than anything, upsets me because Ballaro is a gathering place for neighbors, friends, lovers and strangers alike. We have a community that gathers in Ballaro and we all love and support each other and welcome anyone in our restaurant and bar. To possibly lose all that because of someone’s tainted point of view on social media, would be the worst thing.


My mission is to make everyone who enters through the front door feel like they are at home, because sometimes New York hardens even the best of us and we forget the true values in life: community and peace. 


I’m a dreamer, and as a dreamer I would love to change the world, starting even in the smallest ways. So please, let’s make LOVE VIRAL and not hate! If anyone is bothered at the way I run my wine bar, I’d love to have a calm conversation with them face-to-face. If you truly dislike Ballaro, than luckily there are a million other places in New York that you can go to. I can’t allow groups of belligerent drunk people to insult my bar, myself or my staff. This place is my heart and soul, and I need to protect that.


I’ve learned that everybody deserves a second chance and I have learned the importance of always responding in love, no matter what insults or hurt is thrown at me.


East Village, I hope you will be safe and sound, Taylor Swift or no Taylor Swift.
 

Sincerely,
 

BALLARO


PS - You know where to find me if you feel the need to come apologize and pay your $500 check, as you left without paying.


Photos by Derek Berg