Moishe's Bake Shop has a new front window

[EVG photo from April]

In previous posts (here and here, for example) about the new sign at Moishe's Bake Shop, several commenters wondered when the longtime bakery on Second Avenue would replace the graffiti-etched front window.

Well, you might be happy to know then that Moishe's recently installed a new front window, as this photo via EVG contributor Derek Berg shows…



For whatever reasons, the shop near East Seventh Street has always seemingly been a graffiti magnet… Here's a photo from 2001 by James and Karla Murray…

Fonda debuts sidewalk cafe

An EVG reader noted that the new sidewalk cafe is now operational outside Fonda, the Mexican restaurant at 40 Avenue B near East Third Street. (The sidewalk section apparently officially opened this past Saturday.)

CB3 signed off on the cafe application during its August meeting.

And this is how the sidewalk seating looks with people…

The wonderful BRUNCH scene at our brand-new outdoor cafe at Fonda East Village! #brunch #nycbrunch #outdoorcafe #fonda #fondaeastvillage #eastvillage #fondanyc #bestbrunch

A photo posted by FONDA (@fondanyc) on Oct 10, 2015 at 1:58pm PDT

Reports: Contractor under investigation for 2nd Avenue explosion guilty in unrelated bribery case

According to published reports, contractor Dilber Kukic pleaded guilty today of felony bribery in a case involving two buildings he owns on West 173rd Street.

He reportedly admitted to paying an undercover investigator $600 last year to dismiss building violations at the properties. In admitting to the charges, he received three years probation, 200 hours of community service and a $4,000 fine.

Per the Daily News:

Kukic's lawyer Mark Bederow said he believed prosecutors refused to offer his client a misdemeanor deal, like they had for other defendants, because of his ties to the March blast on Second Ave., in which authorities were probing whether a rigged gas line was the cause of the deadly inferno which leveled two buildings.

Per the Post:

Investigators are looking at potential murder charges and Kukic and five others are the prime suspects, the Post exclusively reported in April.

“Although [this case] has nothing at all to do with the terrible accident in the East Village, the district attorney sought to punish him for that,” said Bederow.

Kukic is cooperating with the investigation into the explosion, the lawyer said.

@NYPDTWEETTOWER recognized for serving and protecting the Twittersphere

Back in July, the arrival of the NYPD Patrol Tower in the middle of Tompkins Square Park prompted the launch of the (fake) @NYPDTWEETTOWER account... documenting the daily travails of Officer Tubbs and his tweeting partner as they kept watch over the land...

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POSTING PHOTOS OF THE TWEET TOWER ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH THE HASHTAG #ASSHATS.

— NYPD TWEET TOWER (@NYPDTWEETTOWER) July 25, 2015

Now, in its annual Best of NYC issue, The Village Voice has named @NYPDTWEETTOWER the best local Twitter account.

For about a week, @nypdtweettower gifted its few hundred followers with gems like "TO WHOEVER CALLED 311 TO REPORT A 'PIECE OF SH*T TRANSFORMER' IN TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK: NOT FUNNY" and "APOLOGIES TO THE OLSEN TWINS. WE HAVE A HARD TIME TELLING BOHO FROM CRUSTY." When the police department folded up the tower and hauled it away a week later, @nypdtweettower piped down — for the most part, anyway. Mission accomplished.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Why yes — the Tompkins Square Park patrol tower now has a (fake) Twitter account

Reader mailbag: What's with the burning wood smell?

From the EVG inbox...

Has anyone written to you to say there has been a burning wood smell in the East Village since this morning? I opened the windows in the back of my apartment late this morning, and I got a big whiff of the smell. I have been out for a few hours and just got home, and now my whole apartment smells like burning wood! But I don't hear or see anything in the back of the building.

Reader report: Human bones found on 1st Avenue

Reports are coming in this morning about what are believed to be a pile of human bones found in the bike lane on the northwest corner of First Avenue and 13th Street.

East Village resident Nate Brown shared these photos from the scene, where the NYPD has now cordoned off the area...







We don't have any other information at the moment. To be continued...

Updated 2:48 p.m.

Photographer Scott Lynch at Gothamist has more photos... Scott doesn't think they are human bones "BUT WHO KNOWS? They looked gnarly as fuck, especially those spinal-column ones."

Updated 5:52 p.m.

An update via Gawker…

"The cops were there for an hour-and-a-half, two hours," a group of men working beside a Rose Demolition and Carting truck said. "They took the bones away in a black bag."

And per an officer at the 9th Precinct:

"They were animal bones and they were removed." She could offer no insight as to where the bones came from or why they were deposited on a street corner.

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: Mickey Davis
Occupation: Law Professor, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Location: Russ & Daughters
Time: 3:30 pm on Saturday, Oct. 10

I’m a New Yorker, but I’ve lived all over. I grew up in Long Island and then Manhattan, but my parents and grandparents are all from the East Village. I used to come here all the time growing up. I was here every weekend when we weren’t living here. My big date was going to the New York Public Library. It sure didn’t attract the girls but it always made me happy.

I just remember walking with my parents. There was still Little Italy. We’d always go down there to eat. When I was first started coming here it was still kind of a bustling neighborhood and it was productive in everything before it went into decline in the ‘70s. I remember when Katz’s was really a kosher meat place. The hits like Economy Candy are still around. That has always been a fixture and, fortunately, it’s still there.

We moved back to the neighborhood in 1990 and we started a family. When you have kids, you don’t go out too much, so for the first five years we were inside our apartment at night. Then one night I went outside, it was during the middle of the week, and there was a crowd in the street. I went running into my apartment and said, ‘You won’t believe this. It’s like Times Square out there. Something’s happening to the neighborhood.’ I just couldn’t believe it. I spent five years at nighttime in the apartment not realizing that the neighborhood was changing. And of course, one of the reasons we bought here was because it was reasonably priced because it wasn’t the greatest neighborhood. So this turned out to be a good investment and a good home.

I’m a professor of Law and I actually commute to Cleveland, Ohio, twice a week — on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ve been doing it for 30 years. My wife is from Europe, and she wouldn’t live anywhere but New York, so we moved back to New York and I loved it and she loved it.

My name is Mickey Davis and I’m going to be running for the Democratic National Convention. I’m going to vote for Bernie Sanders. It starts in the spring. I want to be a convention delegate because I’m afraid they’re going to steal the nomination for Hillary. You just have to run and you have to vote but it’s a very small election, so if just a dozen of your friends vote for you then you probably win, because people don’t vote for that. The problem is that if Bernie Sanders gets a majority of delegates it doesn’t matter because the Democratic Convention has a rule that they can appoint the superdelegates, which are more in number. So no matter who wins, if they want to swing it some other way, they’ll do it. That’s going to create a riot I think.

I was in ’68 in Chicago and I know what it’s like. Riots — there were riots. That was the ‘60s. It was like a year or two years of just demonstrations. My biggest memory is of going by the National Guard, who were all lined up with their guns and they were guys my exact age so they felt exactly the way I did. I remember putting long-stem roses in each of their muzzles. It was kind of a good feeling.

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

CB3 to hear details on de Blasio's proposed Zoning for Quality and Affordability

Earlier this year, the de Blasio administration released a citywide plan called Zoning for Quality and Affordability … which entails several zoning changes.

To date, the proposal has reportedly concerned some neighborhood politicians, housing activists and preservation groups.

Here's more from the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation:

GVSHP has expressed many concerns about the plan, particularly its impact upon the East Village where, on most avenues, it would increase the maximum allowable height of new development by 25 feet or up to 31 percent.

The premise of the plan is that it will create "higher quality" developments and allow for the creation of more affordable housing units, but we believe there is little or no evidence that either is the case, while the plan will clearly roll back hard-fought-for neighborhood zoning protections and result in a greater loss of light, air and scale in our neighborhoods.

You can read the city's PDF on how this would impact zoning in Community Board 3 right here.

Reps from the Department of City Planning will present the plan (PDF) this evening before CB3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee. The meeting will take place at the Educational Alliance Manny Cantor Center, 197 E. Broadway (at Jefferson Street, one block east of Essex Street). The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m., though this is the fifth item on the agenda.

The plan requires advisory input from Community Boards and borough presidents as well as approval from the City Council, per Capital New York, who has more on the proposals here.

Last days for Allied Hardware on 2nd Avenue

The family-run business is wrapping it up here at 59 Second Ave. between East Third Street and East Fourth Street after closing sales these past few weeks.

EVG reader Danielle Baskin stopped by the store yesterday, and learned that the owners have to turn over their keys to landlord Icon Realty on Friday. An auctioneer is coming by later today to take things in bulk, so there might not be too much left.

And a few of the items on the shelf look as if they have been here as long as the store has these past 30-plus years…





Danielle also notes that the owners have sold the 33-year-old front signage — for $100…

And the sign came down last evening...


[Photo via @JwalkinNYC]

Apparently there's also a second Allied sign that lights up that is also for sale, though there aren't any bids yet.

The hardware store had apparently been on a month-to-month lease with the previous owner. Icon, who bought the building earlier this year, is now asking $26,000 for the space.

Top 3 photos via Danielle Baskin

Previously on EV Grieve:
57 Second Ave. hits the market for $30 million

Reader report: Icon Realty new owner of 57 Second Ave.

Last day for Alex Shoe Repair on 2nd Avenue

Allied Hardware makes impending closure official on 2nd Avenue

Former Avenue A Wine & Liquor space for rent

[EVG photo from August]

The shop at 196 Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 13th Street closed back in August. (We never did hear a reason for the closure.)

And now the space is for rent. Here's the listing via LoopNet:

A Great retail space located in the heart of the East Village just off the corner of 12th Street. The space offers fantastic frontage of about18' with two display windows, 10' ceilings and nice open space. There is about 400 sf of space in the basement. Space can be vented for food use through the rear. All uses are considered.

This is a very hot area of the East Village with great restaurants, nightlife, retail and residential at the intersection.

The monthly asking rent for the 900-square foot space is $10,500.

Le Café Coffee adding new location on 4th Avenue

The folks at Le Café Coffee have carved out a second Union Square location here at 145 Fourth Ave. between East 13th Street and East 14th Street. (The other Le Café is around the corner at 7 E. 14th St. between Fifth Avenue and Union Square West.)



Not sure about an opening date — looks close to being ready.

Whenever they do open up, they'll have plenty of competition in the area … with the Wayside on East 12th Street just west of Third Avenue ... City of Saints Coffee Roasters on East 10th Street between Fourth Avenue and Third Avenue ... Third Rail Coffee on East 10th Street near Second Avenue ... Think Coffee on Fourth Avenue between East 12th Street and East 13th Street... Everyman Espresso on East 13th Street west of Third Avenue… Pushcart Coffee on Third Avenue at East 12th Street ... the Bean on Broadway at East 12th Street ... not to mention two Starbucks on Union Square… and the Dunkin' Donuts on East 14th Street between Fourth Avenue and Third Avenue ... and all the other places that I'm forgetting…

An afternoon scene in Tompkins Square Park

Photo today by Michael Sean Edwards...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A brief history of humiliating Teddy bears in the East Village

EV Grieve Etc.: Landmark potential for 138 2nd Ave.; Richard Hell at the Strand

[2nd Avenue photo by Derek Berg]

138 Second Ave. up for landmarking (DNAinfo)

A 'super awesome Mario Kart set-up' on East 10th Street (Gothamist)

The joke Craigslist ad for a 'hip artist loft' on the LES that was actually a bar's bathroom (Jezebel)

Richard Hell launches his new essay collection, "Massive Pissed Love," tomorrow night (Strand books)

Alexander Olch discusses the incoming Metrograph cinema on Ludlow Street (The Lo-Down)

No more horse patrol on Hell Square for now (BoweryBoogie)

Because there haven't been enough Black Seed-bagel-opening stories (WWD)

Previewing the Will Ferrell-themed bar called Stay Classy on Rivington (Eater)

A review of Bruno Pizza on East 13th Steet (Grub Street)

Iggy Pop at age 19 (Dangerous Minds)

… and, randomly, a photo of Jack Black outside 770 Broadway (HuffPost/aol, etc.) on East Ninth Street yesterday afternoon…


[Photo by Derek Berg]

In progress

Here's a look tho morning (above) at the mural by Dasic Fernández that has been going up on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue the past few days…

And here's a look at the mural from yesterday morning…

The disappearing 253 E. 7th St.

[Image from 2014 via Massey Knakal]

In July 2014, we reported that 253 E. Seventh St., a townhouse between Avenue C and Avenue D, was for sale.

The listing for the vacant, four-story building noted that the buyer could keep the existing structure and add floor area. Or! "The buyer could demolish the existing and structure and build a new ground-up development."

Well, as we noted previously, the buyer opted for plan B.

An EVG reader who lives nearby shared photos of the demolition underway… (Another neighbor noted that the asbestos removal started in late 2014.)



Per the reader: "Brick by brick, 253 East 7th Street disappears into history, clearing the way for luxury development."



There are permits pending approval at the DOB for a 6-story building with six residences.

The building exchanged hands in August 2014 for $4.3 million to an LLC with a Grand Street address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Options for this lovely East 7th Street townhouse include demolition

New building in the works for 253 E. 7th St.

Picturesque ivy coming down on East 8th Street

The abundant ivy on the east-facing wall that frames the De Colores Community Yard & Cultural Center on Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C won't be around for much longer.

A volunteer gardener at De Colores explained that the ivy has been obscuring some windows at 309 E. Eighth St. and has been harboring an untold number of pests. ("Lots of bugs, rodents, squirrels, bees, wasps, birds — you name it.")

In addition, parts of the wall that haven't been covered with ivy are also damaged, so there's some hope that the landlord (Steve Croman) of the gut-renovated building will make some repairs on the exterior.

The ivy is nearly 3-feet thick in areas and is nearly 60-feet high.

"The main roots — the size of a tree trunk — have been cut and it will probably start dying soon," the volunteer gardener said. "People love the ivy and stop and take pictures of it all the time, so here's your last chance."

Sixth Street Yoga Junction now open in the Sixth Street Community Center

Sixth Street Yoga Junction opened on Oct. 5 … they are located on the third floor of the Sixth Street Community Center, 638 E. Sixth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Here's more about the studio:

Sixth Street Yoga Junction is a community yoga studio in the East Village of New York City. We offer affordable, vinyasa based yoga classes for all levels. This "junction" is intended as a meeting point for the community as well as a joining of attention, body and breath within ourselves as we practice. We offer you a welcoming space and the guidance to cultivate a relationship to your inner experience.

You can find pricing and more info at the Sixth Street Yoga Junction website and Facebook page.

Free Rat Academy on Friday

Via the EVG inbox...

Free Rat Academy
Friday, Oct. 16
4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Dias y Flores Community Garden
520-522 East 13th Street, between Avenues A & B

Kindly RSVP to any of these contacts:
ratportal@health.nyc.gov
646-957-0247

And this is just mere blocks from where Pizza Rat made international headlines several weeks ago… though there's no way of knowing if Pizza Rat will be around for this…

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man

Spider-Man fighting overdevelopment on Avenue A and East 11th Street?

Photo today Grant Shaffer

3 new retail tenants for 51 Astor Place: Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports

[EVG file photo]

Here's the news via the EVG inbox...

SRS Real Estate Partners announces the signing of three retail transactions at Edward J. Minskoff’s 51 Astor Place. Leases were recently executed with “best in class” operators Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t Creative Salad Company and Flywheel Sports.

These three tenants join CVS at the building, further transforming the Astor Place streetscape and enhancing the amenities for the office tenants and surrounding neighborhood. Only one retail space remains in the 400,000 SF Fumihiko Maki-designed tower.

Here's more about Bluestone Lane Coffee, which has five Manhattan locations:

Bluestone Lane offers a refined product proposition dedicated to producing the highest quality coffee and complimentary foods, delivered in an engaging way. We are focused on creating environments where customers are immersed in the experience and leave feeling like a local.

Bluestone Lane Coffee is influenced from the renowned coffee culture hub of Melbourne, Australia, where premium coffee is a way of life.

Buy a condo on East 4th Street, get a photo of graffiti art

As we've been reporting, there's a gut rehab (new building really) happening at 324 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D… The condoplex is called Altes House.



The above photos show how the address — with three new floors — is looking these days… before eventually looking like…


[Image via Mortar Architecture + Development]

In December 2013 and January 2014, the then-empty building served as a makeshift gallery for a group of 40-plus artists, as was widely reported.

We'll get back to that in a moment. Yesterday, The New York Times had an update on what's going on at the Altes House.

First, the pricing for the units, which will sport lacquered cabinets and Carrara marble counters in the kitchens, with walnut vanities and heated towel racks in the bathrooms.

Altes House’s apartments, which are expected to open this winter, range from one-bedrooms with about 600 square feet to a three-bedroom penthouse with about 1,600 square feet. Prices average about $1,300 a square foot, or starting at $749,000 for a one-bedroom. The Miller Samuel appraisal company estimates that apartments typically sell for about $1,100 a foot in the neighborhood. Sales are to start this month through the Harkov Lewis Team of Halstead Property Development Marketing.

And then there's the memento that Altes House buyers will receive upon signing up...

Provocative artwork, some depicting Cubist nudes, children’s toys and explosives, that was splashed across walls in the empty building ... and discovered by Mortar Architecture and Development, the developer, has been professionally photographed for posterity. And buyers in the 11-unit, seven-story project ... will receive these framed photos as gifts, to preserve the building’s legacy.

“There were things that were broken, there was this graffiti everywhere, but once you started to get into it, and look at it, you started to become amazed by each piece,” said Anthony Morena, the principal of Mortar, about that morning in January 2014 when he entered the abandoned building and discovered the striking street art. To others, the scene inside might have appeared to be major vandalism. Cupboards were smashed, a stove was painted black and Budweiser bottles styled like Molotov cocktails were stenciled onto a cupboard.

Previously on EV Grieve:
2 new floors, gut renovation in store for empty tenement that last housed a Hanksy art show

At Hanksy's 'Surplus Candy' art show in an abandoned East Village tenement

Gut renovations underway at 324 E. 4th St., most recently the makeshift gallery for Hanksy and Co.

The unique façade of 324 E. 4th St. is gone

324 E. 4th St. getting the 2 building look (but just 1 rooftop terrace)

Teaser site arrives for the Altes House, 11 boutique condos for East 4th Street


[EVG photo from February 2014]

Arepa Factory has opened on Avenue A

The quick-serve Venezuelan restaurant opened Saturday at 147 Avenue A near East Ninth Street …



It wasn't open yet for the day when we walked by… but the space looks nice on the inside…

A photo posted by Arepa Factory (@arepafactorynyc) on Oct 9, 2015 at 4:19pm PDT

A photo posted by Arepa Factory (@arepafactorynyc) on Oct 9, 2015 at 4:19pm PDT

Has anyone tried it yet??? (They have a Twitter account here.)

The storefront used to be part of Café Pick Me Up, which decamped to join the Gnocco space on East 10th Street back in June.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Arepa Factory coming soon to Avenue A

After nearly 4 years empty, 37 St. Mark's Place may be getting new retail tenants

Workers have removed the for lease signs and put up paper on the windows at 37 St. Mark's Place … where several storefronts here in the corner building at Second Avenue have sat empty since late 2011.

Timi's Gelateria Classica™ closed at the end of 2011 in one of the spaces… while Michael "Bao" Huynh's Baoguette Cafe shut down at summer's end in 2012.

Still no takers for the former 7-Eleven space next door, though…



Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Reader report: The 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place has closed (48 comments)

A few more details about renting the former 7-Eleven space on St. Mark's Place

Timi's Gelateria Classica™ facing eviction on St. Mark's Place

[Updated] Baoguette Cafe still looks rather closed

Avenue A's high-wire act

Several readers have asked in recent weeks what the story is with the wire/line that, in the right light, is very visible above Avenue A between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street (and maybe elsewhere?)… it has been up there for months now… running from the light pole on the northwest corner of Sixth Street to the southeast corner of Seventh Street… and then across to the northwest corner of Seventh Street…



Another view…



… and because of contractual obligations…



… and it also stretches from the northwest corner of Sixth Street to the southeast corner… (and it looks like some wire up at Fifth and A too...)


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Perhaps a clue on Avenue A and East Fourth Street…



Facts and theories welcome…

Updated 9:08 a.m.

That was fast! Many people had the answer... see the comments for the explanation...

So long Sounds

Tonight is the last night for Sounds at 20 St. Mark's Place... after 36 years in business here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

Thank you @helenango for the photo...

Previously on EV Grieve:
The last record store on St. Mark's Place is closing

Week in Grieview

[Photo on 2nd Avenue yesterday by Derek Berg]

The Union Square Food Emporium will become a Key Food (Tuesday)

Out and About with Elsie Flores of the Andrew Glover Youth Program (Wednesday)

Owners of the Wayland opening the Drift on Avenue C (Monday)

The Red & Gold Boil has closed on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Ben Shaoul replacing luxury rentals with condos at Bloom 62 (Friday)

A family continues to feel the loss on Second Avenue (Thursday)

Bench in Tompkins Square Park dedicated to food writer Josh Ozersky (Tuesday)

Former home of the East 12th Party Crew now for sale (Monday)

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union now owns 49% of 51 Astor Place, which people still think is in Midtown South (Wednesday)

Indian-speciality movie rental shop closes on East Sixth Street (Friday)

As the traffic islands disappear and appear on Third Avenue (Tuesday)

Brewing Soon signage arrives for Caffe Bene on Avenue A (Monday)

Purple Ginger out, Kin Asian Bistro is in on East Sixth Street (Thursday)

A rental with everything but the kitchen sink (no, really) (Thursday)

MoRUS extends Adam Purple memorial show through Oct. 25 (Wednesday)

Long-dormant First Avenue development site changes hands (Tuesday)

Squirrel jumping (Tuesday)

Old Flat Top's new friend (Monday)

Black Seed bagels opens Monday (tomorrow) on First Avenue (Thursday)

When it's time to remove the Mickey Mouse statue with an erection from the Standard East Village (Tuesday)

4-bedroom rentals arrive at 329 E. 10th St. (Friday)

A barber shop is coming soon to East Second Street (Thursday)

… and the vintage boutique Dusty Buttons opened yesterday in its new home at 324 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue… (back story here)


[Image via Facebook]

Finally, you can get a burger served on a chocolate doughnut on the Bowery

[EVG photo from last week]

PYT — "Home of America's Craaaziest Burgers" — debuted on the Bowery last evening. This is the first NYC outpost of the Philadelphia burger place known for some pretty wacky creations.

See for yourself on their sidewalk sign here at 334 Bowery between Great Jones and Bond… for local flavor, PYT is offering the Basquiat Premium Beef Burger…



For now, PYT's hours are 7 p.m. to midnight… and cash only.

In the meantime, you can check out PYT preview pieces at Gothamist … and Eater …

Since last November, Forcella, Espoleta and Gia Trattoria have come and gone fairly quickly at this address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
PYT bringing its offbeat burger creations to the Bowery