Meanwhile, in Murray Hill

Well, outside our usual coverage area... But, a tipster sent along these photos from 4 a.m. outside Tonic East on Third Avenue at 29th Street, a three-level behemoth that Eater described as "a loudmouth bar."

We have no idea what happened. A fight? A fall?

Anyway, aren't you glad that we don't have bars like this in the East Village? Oh, wait...

[Updated: The tipster said that this was the result of a fistfight... this fellow got the worst of it, obviously]

In the spotlight

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band from 1972.

After the rain in Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Meredith Battjer.

Southern Manhattan, 2:45 p.m., June 17

Photo by Bobby Williams.

The Gil Scott-Heron mural on 12th Street

Earlier, we posted some photos of Chico working on a memorial for Gil Scott-Heron on East 12th Street at Avenue C...

Dave on 7th has a photo of the final mural...

NYPD closes deli on Avenue C and Fourth Street

Several readers reported a major police presence last night at the deli on the corner of Fourth Street and Avenue C.

Dave on 7th walked by this morning and found that the NYPD has closed the deli.

The sign says for "the criminal sale or possession of controlled substances SA." One reader believes it was for "discounted" cigarettes.

Today's sign of the apocalypse: Chase-Starbucks combo opening on Second Avenue and 10th Street?

A concerned tipster notes the following signs at the now-shuttered Cafe Centosette on Second Avenue and 10th Street... the tipster notes, "I was utterly heartbroken to find this sign posted on the corner of my block."

Well, first, we wouldn't be shocked by this. Still. Clearly a hoax. The sign is taped to the outside of the window. Plus! You recall the sign that appeared here this past Sunday.

In any event, not bad... but not quite as good as the jokesters who put this up at the former Second Avenue Deli across the way several years back...



Of course, that turned out to be a Chase branch...Joke's on us.

Outside the Mars Bar

A common sentiment these days.

'Road repairs' continue on Extra Place

Crews arrived Monday for "road repairs" on Extra Place... (Shouldn't it have been "Place repairs"?) EV Grieve Extra Place correspondent Bobby Williams took these photos.

And Goggla had this photo from Extra Place yesterday...

Meanwhile, I'm starting the rumor that they're putting in a canal ... as part of the Bowery's new Canal District.

Pop-up piano returns to Tompkins Square Park

As you may remember, the nonprofit organization Sing for Hope placed 60 donated pianos around the city for your use last year.

And now they're back with 88 pianos, each of which has been painted by an artist type or someone. Bobby Williams happened by yesterday when this guy was putting the (locking the?) Tompkins Square Park piano in place...

As the sign says, this one will be unveiled tomorrow.

But! Our own Melanie Neichin at East Village Corner got a sneak preview... And we hear that she even played "Für Elise"...

In any event, hope this won't be too distracting for the nearby ping pongers (table tennisers?).

The piano will be here until July 2.

Chico paints a Gil Scott-Heron tribute

Spotted by Dave on 7th at 12th Street and Avenue C.

Meanwhile, Bobby Williams caught up with Chico working on the front of the building...

And Crazy Eddie checks in with what it looked like right before Chico started...

Quintessence reopens today, sign out front says

On Tuesday, the DOH closed Quintessence, the vegan-raw food restaurant on 10th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A for various infractions...

samo passes along the following... the sign out front says the restaurant — where Lou Reed has dined — will reopen today.

Tre Scalini opening soon on St. Mark's Place

An Italian restaurant called Tre Scalini is taking over the former Bello's space at 130 St. Mark's Place near Avenue A. There's another Tre Scalini in Melville, N.Y.

A review of the restaurant that appears on Newsday.com sums the place up this way: "Its modus operandi seems ideal for the times: straightforward Italian food, large portions, low prices."

Noted

A helpful sign on Avenue A at 13th Street.

Free movies and music Thursday nights in Tompkins Square Park

Over at The Villager, Scoopy notes that there will be free music-movie nights in Tompkins Square Park on Thursday evenings this summer. As Scoopy reports: "The movies start at sundown, with live music — by bands of all ages — about an hour before. There will also be poetry, raffle prizes to benefit the Lower Eastside Girls Club, dance, live art, pizza and a mini merry-go-round."

And the list of movies:

June 30 — Raging Bull
July 7 — Coming to America
July 14 — The Warriors
July 21 — Star Trek
July 28 — Arthur
Aug. 4, — Pope of Greenwich Village
Aug. 11 — Kickass
Aug. 18 — Rosemary’s Baby
Aug. 25 — The Godfather
Sept. 1 — Stake Land

You can read Scoopy's column for all the details and sponsors...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

A roundup of articles on the rent regulation discussions (Curbed)

The sad state of the former Gino today (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

MTA's M15 Select Bus Service becoming more popular, MTA says (DNAinfo)

The latest new ugly hotel on the Lower East Side (BoweryBoogie)

A floating pool for the East River? (Runnin' Scared via Curbed)

Thrill-seekers attempt to climb the Williamsburg Bridge (Gothamist)

A meeting about Orchard Street safety (The Lo-Down)

At Pauline's Cabaret in the Bronx (Lost City)

The East Village Eats tour postponed for Saturday (East Village Eats)

And from Billy Leroy, a quick encounter with Paul Simon outside Webster Hall the other night...

What is going on with the corner of 14th Street and Avenue A?

EV Grieve reader Tom passed this along yesterday... we'll let him report the story...

---

As you know, ever since May 12, 2010 when the fire destroyed the stores on the southeast corner of 14th Street and Avenue A, there has been no reconstruction whatsoever at the site. The only thing open at that corner has been the Middle Eastern food cart that appeared there a few months ago:

Then in late May, I noticed that some workers removed one plywood sheet, entered the site and did a little work. Here's a pic of a worker taking measurements; and given the length of the tape measure, he clearly wasn't measuring for drapes:

Then yesterday, they started building a sidewalk construction shed around the site:

I checked the land records online, and there's no new deed on record yet. But something's up. Whatever it is, I just hope that Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-A-Place will be able to return.

----

We walked by the site ourselves last evening. The posted permits expired on April 1. According to the DOB, there aren't any other permits on file or pending.

So that means — shocker! — the work yesterday was done illegally... Meanwhile, we await the fate of this corner.

And a photo from DJ Xerox...

On this date in 1975 at CBGB

Thanks to Karate Boogaloo for pointing us to a collection of CBGB ads from 1975 as they appeared in The Voice.

It's All the Streets You Crossed Not So Long Ago has posted dozens of ads... here's one from the paper dated June 16, 1975...

7/21/75

And here's James Wolcott's review of the Ramones from July 21...

She has a collection of ads circa 1975 for other venues, including Club 82 ... and the Beacon.

Thurston Moore and memories of 315 Bowery

La Blogothèque has this new feature on Thurston Moore, who talks about how he first came to New York as a teen... and a few other takes on his time at CBGB... the video includes a good deal of his latest solo material as well.

And from the written intro to the video by Derrick Belcham:

In the bathroom of 315 Bowery, in New York City’s East Village, a picture of a picture of a rock club hangs. The original was taken some time after the club closed last decade, an impression of a time when it had already lost modern relevance, reproduced so that even the faded memory it captured would be lost in a dimly lit hall of mirrors.

Outside of the bathroom, an attendant of John Varvatos tells me that the store policy is to not allow photography of the store. I tell him that it isn’t the store I’m taking photos of. The chagrin of my own borrowed nostalgia is forgotten in the shadow of his callowness. He becomes heated and directs me to an area by the door. Here, a farcical museum has been erected. Stickers and gig posters are gathered here, organized for optimum viewing behind a pane of glass, under-lit to provide an efficient area to gift wrap Italian-sewn men’s jeans.

Something besides a bar opens on upper Avenue A

Hey, a new barbershop opened here between 13th Street and 14th Street... What was this, the massage place that moved across the street? Anyway, always nice to see regular old businesses open...

Exquisite DVD Video now featuring 'store for rent' signs

While checking out the IHOP sign the other day, I noticed that the Exquisite DVD Video store next door on 14th Street is on the block...

It's still open, so you have a chance to buy one of the 50 copies of "Perfect Stranger" that they seem to have.

Dog day afternoon III

At Tompkins Square Park today. Photo by Bobby Williams

Luca Bar back open on St. Mark's Place

On May 26, the state seized the Luca Bar on St. Mark's Place near Avenue A. According to the Local East Village, the owners of the Italian bistro owed state tax officials $31,385.49, not including interest and penalties.

Apparently all this has been taken care of: Anastasia at the Luca Bar dropped us a note to tell us that they reopened yesterday.

Shampooin' in the rain

EV Grieve reader John Iz passes along this photo from last Thursday's rainstorm... where he spotted this fellow on Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street shampooing his hair with the rain water ... while chugging a beer.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Questions linger over arrest at the Tompkins Square Park chess tables (Neither More Nor Less)

The unique Footlight Records on East 12th Street is becoming a real-estate office (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A look at Avenue C's Umbrella House (Off the Grid)

What will happen to Pier 35 on the East River? (BoweryBoogie)

RIP Barry Chusid (The Lo-Down)

33 reasons to love summer (The Village Voice)

And from a reader via email:

Rally for Real Rent Reform At Gov. Cuomo’s NYC Office

On June 15, the rent laws are set to expire, putting the homes of over two million New Yorkers at risk. Tenants are demanding that Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature do more than just renew the laws. We need stronger laws to protect rent stabilization for the future!

WHEN: Wednesday, June 15 at 5 pm
WHERE: 633 Third Avenue (Between 40th and 41st)
WHY: New York needs real rent reform NOW!

Reposting: New sidewalk shed at St. Brigid's brings an end to shelter for travelers

I posted this last September ... reposting part of it now after the conversation about the disappearance of Crusty Row...

Last week, to meet the demands of the continued renovations, workers put in a new sidewalk shed on the Eighth Street side of St. Brigid's... the structure takes up most of the sidewalk now...



During August, before the expanded sidewalk shed, several travelers would camp out here at night ...



Last month, I spoke with several regular East Village travelers... they all told me that the NYPD had suddenly cracked down on them like never before... and, according to them, the police said that this area by the under-renovation church was OK for them to sleep... and that Tompkins Square Park was "strictly forbidden."

There was some talk of increased gang activity... with the travelers being the target of the violence...

By now, though, most of the travelers have already moved on as usual this time of the year... just a handful remain.... In any event, the new sidewalk shed would keep them from sleeping alongside St. Brigid's...

The S.S. General Slocum, 107 years later

Today mark's the 107th anniversary of the the General Slocum disaster. You likely know about this tragedy. The S.S. General Slocum was a paddle steamer packed with mothers and children on a church trip that caught fire in the East River. More than 1,000 people, mainly residents of the East Village's German community, died.

Prior to Sept, 11, 2001, the burning of the General Slocum had the highest death toll of any disaster in New York City history.

Ephemeral New York has more on the tragedy here and here. You can find more Slocum resources here.

By coincidence, a worker was trying to clean a tag off the Slocum Memorial Fountain in Tompkins Square Park yesterday. Dave on 7th, who took the photo, said the worker was unaware of the anniversary.

The City dedicated the fountain in 1906. Per the Parks & Recreation website:

The Slocum Memorial Fountain by sculptor Bruno Louis Zimm was donated by the Sympathy Society of German Ladies and installed in Tompkins Square Park, a central feature of the neighborhood. The nine foot upright stele is made of pink Tennessee marble with a low relief of two children looking seaward as well as a lionhead spout.