Man sues city over false Banksy arrest in the East Village

Last summer, police arrested Brooklyn resident Robert Pfeiffer as he stood outside Third Rail Coffee on East 10th Street near Stuyvesant Street admiring a piece of street art that may have been a Banksy.

Cops reportedly thought Pfeiffer was responsible for the smiley face and made the arrest.

Now, as the Daily News reports, he is suing the city and six police officers for wrongful arrest.

Ilissa Brownstein, Pfieffer's lawyer, said her client is a trained artist “who is interested in many forms of art including street art,” and he’d recognized the smiley face on the left side of the storefront as an iconic Banksy.

Pfieffer, 33, is a self-employed packing engineer for the advertising world who got his bachelor degree from the School for Color and Design in Munich.

“He said 'If I just did this, it would smudge, but it doesn't,'” she said. The officers arrested him anyway, keeping him in custody overnight. After two trips back to court, prosecutors dropped the charges in October.

According to the suit, Pfeiffer says he lost seven days of work at $45 an hour and has to take Ambien and Trazodone to sleep. He's suing for unspecified damages, per the Post.

A spokesperson told reporters that the city is reviewing the case.

Image via Google Streetview

Reciprocal Skateboards has closed on East 11th Street

That's it for Reciprocal Skateboards, the spirited shop/hangout at 402 E. 11th St. near First Avenue.

Owner Jon Eastman, who has run the place the past five-plus years, explains in a Facebook post:

[I]t comes with great sadness and difficulty that I'm forced to announce that as of this past weekend, Reciprocal has closed its doors for good. We are unfortunately completely out of resources to continue operating any further. And by resources, I mean money.

Over the last year or so I've scraped and clawed desperately from my own personal finances to get just enough money together, so that we can stay open and keep this beautiful thing alive. And that worked for a year or so. However, regardless of how hard I try, the margins in the skate industry, particularly for a mom and pop skate shop are just not there. The prices of skateboards today are barely more expensive than they were 20 years ago. Even cheaper if you factor in inflation. Yet our costs to purchase these products have gone up consistently.

Sure, we can charge more, but we have to compete with CCS, and Zumies down the street who buy in volume and charge next to nothing for cheaply produced decks with clever marketing campaigns. We're already more expensive than those companies, and the numbers still don't add up for us. This coupled with our increased rent, made the decision a clear one.

We'll particularly miss playing the shop's pinball machines, curated by Eastman, whose grandfather ran an arcade on Coney Island.



Images via Facebook

Hawk (and egg) watch continues on Avenue A, now with the help of a live webcam

[Ageloff photo from last week by Bobby Williams]

Been a few weeks since we've checked in on red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora, who have been busy building a nest (or two!) on the top floor of the Ageloff Towers on Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street.

As always, Goggla has been keeping tabs on the developments over at Gog in NYC.

In addition, someone has set up a live webcam on the Ageloff hawk nest. Access that here.


[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

There's also a new Tumblr, Two NYC Hawks and other things I LOVE, featuring some upclose hawk pics and video. Like this one, showing a rough landing by Christo (Dora not amused)…



And last week, The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation's blog Off the Grid had a post on the history of the Ageloff Towers as well as the Christodora House, site of last year's hawk nest.

Tomorrow night, the Society is hosting a program titled The Red-Tail Hawks of Greenwich Village and the East Village — a lecture and slideshow with Gabriel Willow, a naturalist, guide and educator with New York City Audubon

Wednesday, March 25
6:30 – 8 P.M.
Free; reservations required
Washington Square Institute, 51 E. 11th St., between Broadway and University Place

Go here for more details and how to RSVP

Finally, as a bonus, a meal photo for you from Tompkins Square Park the other day...


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Sen Ya bringing Japanese dining to the former Ginger space on 1st Avenue

Ginger, the unique sushi restaurant at 109 First Ave. near East Seventh Street, closed earlier this month, as we first reported.

As a Ginger regular told us, the owners decided to sell the business for family reasons. (In other words, a rent hike wasn't the culprit here.)

The new venture is called Sen Ya. There's now a note on the rolldown gate pointing to a mid- or late-April opening...



There isn't much information just yet on the Sen Ya Facebook page:

Sen Ya is committed to provide the highest standards of Japanese Food Dining. We prepare our meals freshly and with the finest ingredients of the season.

Proto's Pizza coming soon to Proto's Pizza space on 2nd Avenue

[Photo from March 3]

The pizzeria at 50 Second Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street closed at the end of February … and for rent signs soon went up in the window.

Last night, though, an EVG reader noticed a new sign in the window … noting that Proto's is returning under new ownership…

Creator of the foie gras Fluffernutter opening Lord Hamm's on East 3rd Street

A takeout sandwich shop is expected to open this spring at 226 E. Third St., between Avenue B and Avenue C.

According to New York magazine, who first reported on this opening, proprietor Corey Cova "is an undersung sandwich genius, having served as the opening chef at Earl’s Beer & Cheese, where his brainstorms included Hudson Valley foie gras on Eggo waffles, and mozzarella with dill pickles, miso mayo, and potato chips on Thomas' English muffins."

New York also notes that he "brought the world the scallion-pancake pork taco and the foie gras Fluffernutter."

While the place doesn't have a website yet, there is a Lord Hamm's Twitter account.

No. 226 was previously home to a dry cleaners.

Tonight's moon

Photo by Grant Shaffer

Gale Brewer's plan to help save small NYC businesses

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer released a report today titled "Small Business, Big Impact: Expanding Opportunity For Manhattan Storefronts." (Find a PDF here.)

Per the Daily News:

Brewer is proposing legislation to give small businesses a one-year break before they get booted from their spaces. Under the plan, the city would create a mediation program that would kick in when a store nears the end of its lease.

If the landlord and tenant don’t reach a deal with the help of a mediator, the landlord would be required to offer a one-year lease extension with a rent hike of no more than 15%.

“The city can — and must — do more to help small businesses survive,” Brewer said.

Other ideas from Brewer include ... via Gothamist:

Finding a way to "condo-ize" more storefronts (basically allowing tenants to buy space, as there are federal funds for small businesses to do this); create "low-intensity" commercial districts in areas that have skyrocketing rents (this would be allowing some commercial businesses to open on quieter streets); and helping small business owners navigate the thicket of various city agencies.

At the memorial service for Donna Harris

[A makeshift memorial for Donna Harris on Avenue A earlier this month]

Village Voice reporter Emily Mathis attended the memorial for Donna Harris Saturday night at Maryhouse on East Third Street.

Harris, a homeless resident of Avenue A/Tompkins Square Park these past five years, died on March 2. She was 52. The Voice reported that Harris, an addict who was mentally unstable, died in Harlem as-of-yet-unknown causes.

In total, some 50 people stopped by the Maryhouse to pay their respects, including family members.

Her daughter, Grace Harris, said her mother's drugs of choice were Oxycontin and, she suspects in later years, heroin. The younger Harris had been estranged from her mother for about a year.

Also from the article

[H]er death has clearly hit a nerve, symbolizing not just the plight of the city's homeless population, but also the real estate restructuring — and consequential class restructuring — of the East Village. "You have these buildings where families used to pay $500, now single people are paying $5,000," [Maryhouse worker Felton] Davis said.

"There have been a few cynical comments, people who were like, 'please, what is this,'" he continues. "I think that people that are moving into this neighborhood, and paying top dollar — it irks them that there are people leftover from when this was working class families and poor people. And they have to walk by them in the park. And people are dirty, and they're coming here to eat. There's a class of the super-rich that are bothered by that. They think that anything that isn't spiffy is affecting property values."

Read the whole article here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Donna Harris

About the memorial for Donna Harris Saturday at Maryhouse

[Updated] Ess-A-Bagel has closed for now on 1st Avenue

Yesterday was last call for the nearly 40-year-old bagel shop on First Avenue at East 21st Street…

Here's a video that someone from the #SaveNYC group made from inside the shop after the doors closed...



To recap the recap on the situation here:

As the Town & Village Blog first reported on Jan. 16, Ess-a-Bagel was being forced out of its longtime home. However, according to a statement that the landlord's reps sent us, Ess-A-Bagel’s owners "repeatedly refused to meet us between their below-market rent and current market value."

However, they will be reopening nearby one of these days...

Ess-a-Bagel downtown will be opening again soon at a location nearby! Watch this space for details. #essabagel

— Ess-A-Bagel, Inc. (@EssABagel) March 17, 2015

As to where… owner David Wilpon told Town & Village "that there were a couple of possibilities, but declined to elaborate, citing confidentiality agreements." Last Monday, an Ess-A-Bagel worker "said even he didn’t know where the business was moving or when it would reopen."

According to Town & Village, Ess-A-Bagel has expressed interest in the now-closed laundromat space the next block up…



As for the now-closed Ess-A space at 359 First Ave. ... a Bank of America branch is in the works.

Meanwhile, because this always comes up on any First Avenue bagel posts… here are two other bagel shops on the west side of First Avenue between 14th Street and 21st …





For further reading: Jeremiah Moss stops by for a last bagel at this location.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Landlord forcing Ess-a-Bagel from its longtime home (46 comments)

1 week left for Ess-A-Bagel at its current 1st Avenue location

Neighbors curious about the 11 days of activity at Peter Brant's exhibition space on East 6th Street

[East 7th Street]

Some neighbors don't think that the people behind the incoming exhibition space for the Brant Foundation are being ... very good neighbors.

Last Wednesday, workers began loading equipment into the back of 421 E. Sixth St., the under-renovation exhibition space expected to be used by the billionaire art collector Peter Brant's Brant Foundation between Avenue A and First Avenue. This included the arrival of several high-powered CAT generators parked on East Seventh Street, outside the driveway/back entrance to the East Sixth Street property.

In the past several days, a handful of parking spaces (with generic No Parking Police Department signs) have been blocked off on East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street ...


[East 6th Street]


[East 6th Street]

There are also security guards posted on both streets... none of the guards have been very forthcoming with details. A reader finally found one to divulge more than a no comment/I don't really know ... according to one of the hired hands, the space is hosting an event for Dom Pérignon on Friday.

In total, the activity surrounding this event will last 11 days, per the signs posted on 421 E. Sixth St.



If you have any questions or concerns about this, then you can call the caterer, as the sign suggests.

One neighbor who emailed us about the situation hopes that this won't be the upscale party norm for the building now that Brant and his organization is the owner.

Artist Walter De Maria, who died in July 2013 at age 77, bought the former Con Ed substation in 1980 to use as a home and studio.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Confirmed: Peter M. Brant buys Walter De Maria's amazing East 6th Street home and studio

1st permits filed for renovation of Walter De Maria's former home-studio on East 6th Street

More about the 1st show at Walter De Maria's former home-studio on East 6th Street

Here's what Peter Brant wants to do with his new exhibition space on East 6th Street


[EVG file photo]

Looking at the former Odessa Cafe and Bar

Workers have removed the sidewalk bridge and scaffolding from 117 Avenue A… where crews had been gut-renovating the Steve Croman-owned building…

And we can see the new-look storefront that previously housed the Odessa Cafe and Bar here between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

What's next for the space? Don't really know! (Helpful, yes!)

The applicant was on the August 2014 CB3/SLA agenda, but the item was not heard before the committee (meaning the public didn't have a say in the matter). Paperwork on file with CB3 points to a corporate change, with a Robert C. Payne as the new partner.

On our last Odessa post, a reader left this kinda-sounds-like-the-dude-quoted comment: "I talked to the dude working on it — he said he's 'just making a bar, none of this overly fancy shit.' He seemed like a cool guy."

Other failed concepts for the space included a diner serving comfort food specializing in Nashville Hot Chicken … and a "new American brasserie/bistro."

Anyway, "just … a bar, none of this overly fancy shit" sounds pretty good.

The former Odessa Cafe & Bar closed Aug. 31, 2013.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Former GM from Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs part of team to buy the Odessa Cafe

Reader report: Odessa Cafe and Bar will remain open through Sept. 6

Former Odessa Cafe and Bar will serve comfort food specializing in Nashville Hot Chicken

Now what for the Odessa Cafe and Bar?


[Photo from August 2013]

Developers likely not thrilled by this pop-up rendering on the Bowery

[EVG photo from January]

Well, you know, a 13-story, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development is in the works for 347 Bowery.

And someone, likely just a cheap Penistrator knockoff, saw fit to degrade the renderings on the plywood here at East Third Street by drawing a large [redacted].

Thankfully workers had painted over the offending doodle before any more harm could be done...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

The future of 347 Bowery (sorta!) revealed

Noreetuh opens, serving Hawaiian-inspired cuisine on 1st Avenue

Noreetuh, described as a "casual Hawaiian restaurant," opened last week at 128 First Ave. near St. Mark's Place.

Chef Chung Chow previously worked as a sous chef at Per Se and Lincoln Ristorante…

Here's a look at the menu that's posted to the door…



Noreetuh is open Tuesday through Sunday night for dinner.

128 First Ave. was previously home of the Mediterranean Grill and the Efendi Hookah Lounge.

A Chipotle for Stuy Town

Yep, a Chipotle is coming to 286 First Ave. in Stuy Town … near East 17th Street… not sure exactly when Chipotle made this announcement… (an EVG Facebook friend shared the info with us on Friday) …

The Chipotle displaces the PCVST Broker Welcome Center, which has moved up the block…

Week in Grieview

[Photo on Avenue A by Derek Berg]

Here's what Peter Brant wants to do with his new exhibition space on East Sixth Street (Tuesday)

Workers remove 10 trees from long-empty First Avenue lot (Tuesday)

That's it for Mitali East on Sixth Street (Wednesday)

Out and About with Regina Bartkoff and Charles Schick (Wednesday)

Lois now serving draft wine on Avenue C (Tuesday)

Ginger has closed on First Avenue (Monday)

Happy Spring! (Friday)

Ess-A-Bagel is closing at its current First Avenue location (Monday)

The sad, strange saga of Tony Franzese continues (Monday)

What you can rent the former Benny's Burritos location for on Avenue A (Wednesday)

Kabin Bar & Lounge closes on Second Avenue (Friday)

Life at 20 Avenue A (Tuesday)

Un-dorming 101 E. 10th St. to make way for luxury rentals (Thursday)

Adventures in trespassing at 190 Bowery (Tuesday)

Mercadito has officially closed on Avenue B (Monday)

Former Bourgeois Pig space for rent on East Seventh Street (Thursday)

More about Taberna, the Portuguese restaurant opening in the former Yaffa Cafe space (Wednesday)

NYU has a new president (Thursday)

13 months after opening, the USPS retail outlet on East 14th Street gets signage (Monday)

Brow Bar! (Thursday)


[Outside the F stop on Second Avenue and East Houston — "Dedicated to Syrian Refugees"]

The latest issue of The Shadow is now available

Look for NYC's only underground newspaper at the following locations:

• The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS): 155 Avenue C
• Gem Spa: St. Mark's Place/Second Avenue
• Saint Mark's Bookshop: 136 E. Third St. (Avenue A-First Avenue)
• East Village Books: 99 St. Mark's Place (Avenue A-First Avenue)
• Revolution Books: 146 W. 26th St. (Sixth-Seventh Avenues)
• Bluestockings: 172 Allen St. (Stanton Street)
• INK: 66 Avenue A (East Fourth - Fifth Streets)
• Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books: 34 Carmine St.
• McNally Jackson: 52 Prince St.
• The Source: 331 East Ninth St.

Report: East Village resident sues dog walker for losing Sugar

From the New York Post today:

The Manhattan man who allegedly “flipped out” last month and lost Sugar — a beloved pit bull mix who has become a social media celebrity — has been outed in court papers as Tommy Doerr, a 46-year-old East Village resident.

Devastated dog owner Morgan Bogle, 33, is suing Doerr for negligence in Manhattan Supreme Court.

She went to court against Doerr “because he refused to speak to me,” Bogle told The Post.

“I have tried to play detective for three and a half weeks, and the reality is we just don’t know” what happened to the tan-and-white, 4-year-old Sugar, said Bogle.

Bogle is seeking $15,000 damages from Doerr, as well as the return of Sugar, who went missing on Feb. 23 under mysterious circumstances.

Doerr had been Sugar’s dog walker for three years.

For the latest Sugar updates, head to Twitter and Facebook.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about Sugar, the missing pit bull mix with a $5k reward (78 comments)

Reward for Sugar is now $10,000, thanks to NBA all-star David Lee (45 comments)

An East Village Sugar sighting (53 comments)

Pukk is closing for good after tomorrow night

The 11-year-old restaurant shuts down after service tomorrow evening, according to the sign on the door here at 71 First Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street.



Pukk's "vivid Thai–fusion cuisine" (per New York magazine) was a favorite among vegetarians. In a piece at the Voice back in June 2005, Robert Sietsema wrote: "In contrast to both the ho-hum vegetarian restaurants of the East Village and the mediocre Thai places found nearly everywhere else, Pukk is manna from heaven."

And, based on the sign to Pukk patrons, it appears there's a Spice opening here next month. (Pukk and Spice share the same ownership.) The Thai chainlet has been slimming down. The Fourth Avenue location closed in December. And the Spice on Second Avenue at East Sixth Street is on the rental market.

Puebla Mexican Food closes on 1st Avenue; Villacemita opens on Avenue A

As you know, Puebla Mexican Food is shutting down at 47 First Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street. There were several closing dates… last we heard, owner Irma Marin would keep the 25-year-old quick-serve restaurant open through Monday.

Not sure what happened to those plans, but Puebla has officially closed… back on Wednesday, per one EVG reader. The storefront has mostly been cleaned out.

A rent hike is apparently to blame for this closure.

Meanwhile, at 50 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street, Villacemita, serving Puebla Mexican cuisine, opens today at 4.


[Photo from last week]

Here are their menus… breakfast (served until 2 p.m.)…



… and dinner…





They have not yet posted their beer-wine menu.

After today, Villacemita's hours will be 7 a.m. to midnight every day.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Villacemita, serving authentic Puebla Mexican cuisine, announces itself on Avenue A

Puebla Mexican Food is closing after 25 years on 1st Avenue (29 comments)

Noted

From the EVG mailbag:

"I saw this man running barefoot on Avenue A this morning. It was 29 degrees. It was wet and slushy. Concrete isn't exactly forgiving! I was shocked and kind of impressed."

Peter Cooper is now out of the box

[Photo last April by Dave on 7th]

As we noted yesterday morning, workers were starting to remove the Peter Cooper monument from its protective plywood.



So just for some closure, so to speak, Peter Cooper is now completely out of the box… free to once again watch over the park outside Cooper Union that bears his name…





Workers had covered Coop up for safekeeping during the Astor Place-Cooper Square reconstruction project, which will be done just as soon as the 4-5 guys working on it are done.

Essex Crossing's 15 minutes of Andy Warhol fame are up

Executives of the Pittsburgh-based Andy Warhol Museum announced last night that they will no longer be moving forward with their plans to build a 10,000-square-foot annex to anchor the new Essex Crossing development.

In a statement to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Eric Shiner, director of The Warhol Museum, said:

"The Andy Warhol Museum, which had been exploring its participation in the Essex Crossing development in lower Manhattan, has determined that it will not proceed with the project. Despite the efforts of both the museum and the developers, an internal study of business and other operational considerations led the museum to this decision.

"The Warhol will continue to participate in programs, exhibitions, and special projects in New York City through its longstanding collaborations with a variety of New York-based arts organizations.”

The museum was to be in Site 1 of the former Seward Park urban renewal site … in the Broome Street municipal parking lot, a complex that will include condos and a bowling alley.

As the Post-Gazette reported last May:

Delancey Street Associates will pay for the cost of building the museum branch, which has a target opening date of 2017. For the first five years of the museum's existence, the developers will pay for any operating deficits.

For their part, a spokesperson for Delancey Street Associates, told the paper:

"For the past two years we have worked closely with The Andy Warhol Museum to find a way to bring Andy home to New York's Lower East Side. We have dedicated tremendous time and resources and offered them a very generous multimillion dollar package to make this work. We found out today and are surprised and disappointed that they are unable to see this through. We are hard at work looking for another exciting use for this great space."

And why did Museum leaders consider Essex Crossing a good spot for the annex? Per the Post-Gazette:

The location appears apt. When Andy Warhola moved to New York in 1949, his first apartment was in Lower Manhattan on St. Mark's Place. The Lower East Side, where the branch housing his art will be built, teemed in the 1900s with immigrants whose lives of assimilation and struggle paralleled the experience of Warhol's parents, Andrej and Julia Warhola.

Meanwhile, you still have the 14-screen Regal Cinemas theater with electronic reclining seats to look forward to at Essex Crossing.

RIP Lisa Colagrossi

We were sorry to hear about Lisa Colagrossi, a WABC-TV reporter. She suffered a brain hemorrhage while returning from covering a story Thursday morning, according to the station. Colagrossi, a mother of two, was 49.

She was in touch with us several times through the years about East Village-related stories. She was always friendly and professional, and showed a genuine interest in stories in this neighborhood.

Her colleagues remember her here.