EV Grieve

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Workers are dismantling the interior of Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church

Reps for developer Douglas Steiner filed permits in late April to demolish the now-vacant parcel of Mary Help of Christians that includes the church, school and rectory, as we first reported.

Steiner has plans to convert the property into a residential complex

And workers have been on the scene this morning tossing/carting various items from the church on East 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Ruth, a neighbor, reports that workers are "tossing out stacks of hymnals or prayer books. Also bookshelves, computer, books, furniture."

A little later, the workers were spotted removing parts of the former church's pews...

On May 23, local preservationists called for a complete archaeological evaluation of the grounds below Mary Help of Christians Church on East 12th Street. The site was once home to a cemetery, and the groups are concerned that some burial plots may remain.

The church opened in 1917.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Bad dog

Paul Kostabi spotted this on East Fifth Street and Second Avenue... someone channeling Keith Haring...

Today in photos of mysterious, gross-looking splatter on First Avenue

EVG reader Peter Hale spotted this today on First Avenue between East 11th Street and East 12th Street... Per Tony: "Juice pulp? Tomato pulp? Cab vomit?"

And, oh good — someone has already driven through it...

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: Danny Lama
Occupation: Singer / Songwriter
Location: 5th and A.
Time: 5:45 on Friday, May 30.

I’m a songwriter. I guess the way to label my music is rock, post-punk, punk. I played reggae and I played Doo-wop. I guess I’m a blues-rock player by trade.

I was born in Manhattan — in Harlem. We lived on Amsterdam Avenue but when that became the wild west we moved up to the Bronx. I was in Catholic grammar school — I’m surprised I never got thrown out. I guess it was because my parents had to pay tuition. They thought of me as the devil worshipping, cult leader, Charles Manson junior. I could not take to that God-according-to-them stuff.

The nuns once called my mother in and said, “Danny’s doing this terrible thing, he’s reading this Hunter Thompson 'Hell’s Angels' book, it’s pornographic.” And my mother said in her Irish accent that was thicker than the nuns, “That book is on The New York Times bestseller list. You should be proud. None of your readings are up to his standards. You can’t teach him to read like that. You should be thankful. A year ago he was reading comic books and now he’s reading Hunter Thompson. We pay you good money so shut up and leave his reading habits alone.” Isn’t that cool?

My mother was a nurse from Ireland. She let me go to the Fillmore East four years before anybody else. The Fillmore East brought me to this neighborhood. The music and the freedom was the thing that drew me here. My father was 20 years older than my mother. He was from a different generation. My mother used to let me go to the early shows at the Fillmore as long as I was back home in the Bronx by midnight before my father got home from work. I lost my virginity in this neighborhood. I got picked up by a woman down here — she took me back to her house on 9th street and I couldn’t leave this neighborhood once the sun went down because you’d hear screaming on the streets at night.

At the Fillmore I saw Eric Clapton, Humble Pie, Lee Michaels, Cactus. And I had tickets for the last week in ‘71 that they closed, but I got in trouble with the nuns. After that there was the Academy of Music on 14th street, which later became known as the Palladium.

Senior year of high school and freshman year of college, I was already reading poetry and getting the craft of songwriting down. The real arty punk movement was in the 70s. I was always in the neighborhood. There was a drummer in The Cramps that lived here and one thing led to another. I used to roadie at CBGBs from 75-79. I was a roadie for Talking Heads and Television. I was a kid and so I would roadie for them to get in.

I moved here officially in ‘81 or ‘82. I’ve lived in the same apartment for about 31 years. Back then I was working for a printer and then I was a ghostwriter for a jingle house, in advertising on Madison Avenue. They were just using my ideas and riffs. And then I got picked to be in a music school for the recording industry and that led to an internship, where I became a publicist for Arista Records. I worked for a publicity director for R&B and Jazz for Arista. And then I worked in retail and wholesale records because of my record collection and my knowledge of all that stuff.

In the early days I was in a band called Mona Rock, nobody will remember that, Thorns Grass, Maloney’s Touch, Espionage, The Good Life, Moving Up, Bad Politics — we were one of the house bands along with the Beastie Boys and Hi Sheriffs of Blue at a venue on the corner of A and 7th. That lasted from '81 to '85. Then there was Convulsion Cabaret in ’89. James Chance played keyboard. The guy who just died, Ray Manzarek, he played with us.

I’ll give you a little history as we’re walking. This building here on 3rd and A ... used to be a bunch of row houses of the same size. There was a woman in there who used to type up my manuscripts for poetry and lyrics. This was in the 80s and she used to run a business typing for a dollar a sheet for prose writing, poetry, song lyrics. She was very good with the poetry and the spacing. She had a great idea of the cadence and the rhythm of it without even hearing it. I really liked the way she did it. Anyway, her landlord went into the basement with a jackhammer and did a number on the main support beam. It crippled the building.

This other building around here was known as the toilet. It was actually written about in many books and novels. The toilet referred to a brand of heroin that was sold out of there. There were lines every weekday morning sometimes. Lines from the building to the corner. People in business suits on the way to work in Wall Street, waiting to buy it. It was then taken over by homesteaders. A bunch of the other surrounding buildings belonged to homesteaders as well. I used to go on the roofs around here to practice shooting guns. It was fucking crazy around here for awhile.

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

[Updated] 9th Street Bakery closes for good on Sunday

As you probably know, 9th Street Bakery is closing. Owners Oleg and Tetyana Kucherenko have said that they can't afford the 38 percent rent hike that the landlord is requesting with a new lease. They've been on a month-to-month rent arrangement until the landlord found a new tenant.

Word came down on May 15 that the couple needed to be out in the next few weeks.

And now: Sunday is their last day.

A bakery has stood here the past 87 years. Word is that a juice/smoothie shop will take over the space here just west of First Avenue.

Updated 3:13 p.m.

Marc Yearsley at Gothamist spoke to Oleg today.

"[It's got] nothing to do about rent, it's about business. It can't be generalized because the neighborhood in this spot really changed. Changed so much," he explained. "I have maybe 5% of my customers left. I was fighting until the end, but it was already bad a year ago."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: 9th St. Bakery is closing after 87 years (59 comments)

For further reading:
After 87 Years, Saying Goodbye to Ninth Street Bakery in the East Village (The Village Voice)

9th Street Bakery (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

My Mom and Pop: 9th Street Bakery (Off the Grid)

Someone continues to vandalize the Citi Bikes docking station on East 13 St. and Avenue A

[May 24 via EVG reader Mark]

The Citi Bikes docking station on East 13th Street at Avenue A continues to a source of anger for an unknown person or group of people.

On May 17, someone hung anti-Citi Bike flyers and slapped a large hunk of dog poop on the unoccupied docking station. (Later cleaned off.) The following week, someone taped photocopies of a Post article titled "Get the rack outta here" on the docking station ... with instructions to call 311.

Now, a reader on that block notes that the anti-Citi Bikes campaign has moved on from poop and colorful flyers.

"I spoke with Citi Bike workers about an issue I had docking a bike at the 13th Street station. The two workers explained that someone has been vandalizing the mechanism for docking a bike at the station .... and they found four bikes with punctured tires [yesterday] morning.

"They also said it this was not the first time this station has been vandalized."

Meanwhile, on Sunday, I saw a woman remove a bike from this station... she got about 50 feet down East 13th Street before realizing that the tire on the bike she selected was flat. It was likely flat when she backed it off from the docking station.

Nino's Pizza is nearly back in the East Village

And in some welcome news ... Work continues on the northwest corner of Avenue A and St. Mark's Place ... where Nino Camaj is reopening the pizzeria that he previously sold... signs went up yesterday noting that the original Nino's Pizza is "comin soon" ... looks close to opening ...

Meanwhile, no sign of a soda fountain machine just yet ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
New Nino's will be the old Nino's

'Let's plan those blarney blow out parties'

[EVG from 2008]

As noted Monday, the Blarney Cove on East 14th Street is closing for good at the end of the month. I found the above photo in this EVG post from 2008 ... when the bar was apparently trying to broaden its demographics...

Meanwhile, I learned yesterday that the Blarney Cove has a — Facebook page ... where they posted this message Monday...

Yes-the blarney cove is closing it's doors on June 30th. the property has been leased to another company. the stretch of land on 14th street where the blarney resides will be forever changed. so -get you ass in so I can see you again & say goodbye.and that means during the week, tuesday and wednesday.-not just the weekend. let's plan those blarney blow out parties

And this is the current Blarney Cove profile photo...

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

The Blarney Cove will close for good at the end of June

Cheep's Pita Creations has apparently closed on Second Avenue

A tipster told us late last week that the windows at Cheep's Pita Creations were covered in newspaper. Closed for renovations? Apparently not. Workers have stripped the place bare, taking with it that Cheep-looking sign. (Sorry for that one.)

Cheep's opened here on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Place in March 2010, taking over the space held by Snacklicious Cinderella.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The New York City Marble Cemetery loses three trees

Multiple readers passed along the bad news that workers removed three trees today from the New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... Unfortunately, according to cemetery volunteers, the trees were diseased, and posed a threat to possibly fall during a storm...

... despite the loss, the remaining trees still provide plenty of shade...

See for yourself during the cemetery's Open Day this Saturday ... 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Here's a sight for you

This is happening right now on East Eighth Street and Broadway ... tour bus missed didn't quite navigate the turn, as these photos via EVG reader 8E show...

Chico at C-town

Bobby Williams spotted Chico this afternoon brightening up the exterior of C-Town on Avenue C...

Facebook is moving into the neighborhood; Midtown South expands its boundaries, apparently

From The Wall Street Journal this morning:

Facebook Inc. is moving its New York office south and nearly doubling its space, marking the latest technology company to set up shop in the city's Midtown South neighborhood.

Facebook, a popular social media site where users share "Game of Thrones" spoilers, is moving into 770 Broadway at East Ninth Street, an area of New York also known, randomly, as Astor Place, the East Village, NYU, WeAs (West of Astor), LeLa (left of Lafayette Street) and Where is that Starbucks with the restroom?

Facebook reportedly signed a 10-year lease for 100,000 square feet at 770 Broadway, whose current tenants include AOL, J Crew and the Huffington Post. Facebook and its 200 New York employees currently must do with a 55,000-square-foot space on two floors at 335 Madison Ave.

The new space sounds like it will be very Facebooky.

Architect Frank Gehry will design the space, which will include a cafeteria with its own chef, smaller kitchens with snacks and drinks and an open floor plan.

Meanwhile, the new tenant-wanting office building at 51 Astor Place sits directly across the street.

Oh, and will anyone notice a difference with the 200 new tenants? Here's the Voice's take:

Facebook employees will probably just blend in with the existing NYU students, only they'll have nicer living arrangements and more expensive sneakers.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village — the new Midtown?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

Catching up with this report by Sabina Mollot on the Town & Village Blog ... she reported on Friday that "the union representing regional postal employees learned that the United States Postal Service had decided to proceed with a plan to relocate the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office on East 14th Street."

The USPS would lease the former Duane Reade on East 14th Street near First Avenue for retail services, such as stamp sales and P.O. boxes.

However, a USPS rep told Mollot that the decision is not final.

The lease expires at the current location next February. The landlord reportedly told the USPS that they have other plans for the building, which was erected in 1951.

Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Alphabet Plaza rising on D

We continue to monitor the progress at the incoming Alphabet Plaza, the 12-story mixed-used apartment building at East Houston and East Second Street/Avenue D ...

Actually, EVG reader Ray is monitoring the progress... where residents living in 11-13 Avenue D are slowly losing their southern views...

Early April!

May 20...

Yesterday...

Some day!

Via The Real Deal ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 12th-story 'Alphabet Plaza' in the works for Second Street and Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza ready to rise on Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza is rising on East Houston and Avenue D

Easy as...: Alphabet Plaza makes first appearance above ground

Alphabet Plaza starts to apply sun block

St. Mark’s Church Greenmarket Reopens today

From the EV Grieve inbox...

The St. Mark's Church Greenmarket, which has connected the East Village with local food and farms since 1981, reopens for the season on Tuesday, June 4. Vendors include:

• Kernan Farms Vegetables, including the first of the season’s asparagus and strawberries from Cumberland County, New Jersey
• Bread Alone Bread, pastries and pies made from local flour, from Ulster County, New York
• El Mirador Farm Vegetables, Mexican specialty produce, and herbs from Monmouth County, New Jersey (New Farmer Development Project Participant)

St. Mark’s Church Greenmarket
East 10th Street and 2nd Avenue
Tuesdays 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. from June 4 through November 26

* WIC and FMNP checks accepted at individual farmer stands.

* EBT/Food Stamps/Debit/Credit accepted at market info tent from 12p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Looking at the Fatburger opening in Murray Hill

And for some reason I was walking on Third Avenue just above 34th Street Sunday when I spotted the signage for Fatburger... Crain's reported last December that the 60-year-old Beverly Hills-based chain was planning on opening 10 outposts in Manhattan.

And apparently this one at No. 509 will be the first... looks close to being ready... and it looks nothing like the one I ate at in California once while on vacation about 100 years ago... this one has a bar ...

There used to be a Fatburger on Third Avenue near East 18th Street, where Robert Sietsema remembered that Matt ("Friends"!) LeBlanc once worked...

Fatburger is owned by Riese Restaurants ... who also owns Tad's Steaks. Maybe they'll open another one on Union Square ... Oh, and doncha think the East Village will be one of the 10 outposts for a Fatburger?

Updated 12:30
It opens next Tuesday, per Eater.

Reader report: Supercuts leaving St. Mark's Place

A tipster passes along word that the Supercuts here on St. Mark's Place is closing down at the end of this month. "No word on why or what would be replacing it," per the tipster. A stylist said folks in the area could go to the location at 66 University Place (between 10th Street and 11th Street) ... and that some of the St. Mark's stylists will relocate to that branch.

Kiehl's now has its own Captain America comic

[Via Kiehl's/Marvel Comics]

Kiehl's has hooked up with Marvel Comics for its own Captain America: Transformation & Triumph comic book, USA Today reported yesterday.

Apparently Kiehl's president Chris Salgardo is a big comic book fan/geek and reached out to Marvel about a partnership.

The comic is available in the store and online to coincide with the launch of a "Heavy Lifting" moisturizer, an anti-aging skin treatment for men.

And the plot (of the comic book, not the anti-aging skin treatment for men):

Written by William Harms and featuring artists Angel Unzueta and Ty Templeton, the story takes place in Cap's past but also his present, where he battles Cobra, a member of the Serpent Society, attacks the original Kiehl's store at 3rd Avenue and 13th Street ... thinking that the remnants of the old super-soldier serum are in the basement.

Not to spoil it, but Cobra eventually has to move after a developer buys his building and terminates his lease.

Oh! And a look at the comic book ...

Kiehl's Captain America Exclusive Preview

Monday, June 3, 2013

And how was your commute?

A scene this late afternoon at the Union Square 4/5/6 titled Man Urinates on Subway Tracks ... via @manhattan_matt

Oh, and good. There's video.

Free films back in Tompkins Square Park with Rushmore, Easy Rider & Rocky Horror Picture Show, plus more

Looking at 'Bowery Bombshells — Great Ladies of the Lower East Side'

Low Life 7: Bowery Bombshells — Great Ladies of the Lower East Side marked the Grand Finale during this weekend's Howl Festival in Tompkins Square Park... EVG contributor Stacie Joy was on-hand yesterday to capture the sights, sounds, wigs, fishnets...