Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Pop's Eat-Rite debuts on St. Mark's Place
College Food Pantry now being offered at the Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish
The College Student Pantry is a food pantry program providing groceries for any college or graduate student who needs them, regardless of financial situation or institutional affiliation. The idea for the pantry arose out of a recognition among students at NYU and the New School that student food insecurity is a significant and growing problem in New York.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Another day, another discarded microwave with a note
Showing a lot of heart on Avenue B
Final public hearing on a larger 3 St. Mark's Place coming soon
In spite of overwhelming public opposition, in late August the City Planning Commission (consisting of appointees of the Mayor, the five borough presidents, and the Public Advocate) voted unanimously to approve the air rights transfer, adding thousands of square feet to the planned boutique tech office tower at this corner, long dubbed "the Gateway to the East Village."However, to proceed, the transfer needs the blessing of City Council, and local CM Carlina Rivera already publically stated her opposition in early March.
With the air-rights transfer, developer Real Estate Equities Corporation (REEC) would be allowed to build 8,386 square feet larger than the current zoning allows.
Regardless of an extra 8,000 square feet, construction will still happen. As Gothamist reported in early March, the project's architect, Morris Adjmi, emphasized a building of a similar height size would be built as-of-right.
REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the properties here for nearly $150 million in November 2017.
Previously on EV Grieve:
• New building plans revealed for 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place
• Concern over potential air-rights transfer for new office building on St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue
The original Coyote Ugly outpost closes; new location expected on 14th Street
We are living in unprecedented times. In comparison to the global pandemic, violence stemming from racial inequality, the raging wildfires, etc., my news is comparatively small— but it is deeply personal and I would like to share it.The original Coyote Ugly Saloon, on 1st Avenue in New York City, has closed its doors forever. We have been shuttered for 6 months in accordance with New York State Covid-19 restrictions and simply cannot continue to pay the rent. I want to thank all of the former employees, customers, friends, and family that made that little bar so very special. I celebrated so many memorable milestones within those walls. The bar — and you — will forever be part of who I am.
Funny fundraising business for the Sixth Street Community Center
There's a funny new way to help raise money for the Sixth Street Community Center.
An East Village resident is behind an ongoing series of outdoor comedy shows that serve as a fundraiser for the Center between Avenue B and Avenue C.
The next show is tomorrow (Sept. 16) night. You can follow @sixthstreetcomedy for details.
Reaching the top at Zero Irving (aka tech hub)
Here's what is turning out to be a monthly look at 124 E. 14th St., aka Zero Irving (and formerly the Union Square Tech Training Center and 14 @ Irving ... and tech hub for life!) ... workers are apparently up to the tippy top here at Irving Place...
The latest Zero Irving e-newsletter (14th @ Irving Construction Update #36, and, by the way, #2 is already a collector's item) states the following updates:
Superstructure Concrete
The project’s superstructure contractor will be completing the 23rd floor slab the week of 9/7. They will continue to place stairs at the top of house, in addition to mechanical pads, curbs and the buildings parapets. Upon completion of this miscellaneous concrete the contractor will begin demobilization. This will include cocoon removal, removal of shoring and decking material and other demobilization tasks.
Cellar
The project’s electrical contractor is finishing installation of Switchgear Room equipment and feeder conduits in coordination with Con Ed’s site visits. End line boxes will be completed, along with overhead conduits throughout the cellar. Con Ed is anticipated to complete their pulls and tie-ins to switch gear room. The project is expecting permanent power by October 2020.
General Site
The project’s mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection contractors continue work on site to install sleeves and layout embeds and all other materials being placed into the deck on the 23rd floor.
The new building — long contested by local preservationists and community groups (see links below) — sits on the former site of a P.C. Richard & Son on city-owned property.
Previously on EV Grieve:
• Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC
• Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood
• City Council unanimously approves tech hub; some disappointment in lack of zoning protections
• The conversation continues on the now-approved tech hub for 14th Street
• P.C. Richard is gone on 14th Street; preservationists want answers about tech-hub commitments
Monday, September 14, 2020
It's full, wrapped in plastic: A Big Belly on B needs emptied out
An EVG reader shares these Big Belly photos from outside Sheen Brothers on Avenue B at 10th Street... the solar-powered trash can is full... and to prevent people from continuing using this for trash, or even stacking stuff on top, someone basically wrapped it with plastic and posted multiple notes ...
The Big Belly trash cans arrived here in July 2017 as part of the city's $32-million plan to combat vermin in rat-popular neighborhoods, like this one.
Today's special guest at the Tompkins Square Park dog run
Say a prayer! EVG regular Greg Masters spotted this today (Praying Mantis, right?) hanging out at the dog run in Tompkins Square Park...
CB3 wants your input on 2021 budget priorities
Community Board 3 shared this information...
What parks need reconstruction? What programs need funding? Help us assess the needs of our community.
Every year the Community Board submits a list of capital and expense budget priorities to city agencies. This hearing is your opportunity to have input into these district budget priorities. Tell us how money should be spent in Community Board 3.
Organizations, groups, and individuals representing all segments of the community are encouraged to participate.
CB 3 Public Hearing — FY 2022 Budget PrioritiesWednesday, Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Online: https://zoom.us/j/94839426844
By Phone: +1 646 518 9805, +1 929 205 6099
Meeting ID: 948 3942 6844
Farewells: Funny Face Bakery has outgrown its East Village space
[Photo Friday by Lola Sáenz]
A for lease sign now hangs in the front window at the former Funny Face Bakery space on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
However, it's a more-positive closure: Funny Face, which specializes in hand-painted face cookies of actors, politicians and various celebrities, is moving to a larger location outside the neighborhood.
Per a recent Instagram post:
Funny Face Bakery is moving up and moving out. We are so fortunate to have outgrown the space that has treated us so well for the last four years. It’s a bittersweet goodbye closing the doors to our East Village store. We survived the rain, but now we need to use it to grow.
No official word on the new location, though a source on the block said it will be in Brooklyn.
Sarah Silverman opened the bakery — originally called Cupcake Market — here in April 2016.
However, in a rebrand coinciding with a new online shop, Cupcake Market evolved into Funny Face last fall.
Turns out cupcakes weren't the big seller here. In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, her hand-painted face cookies of the candidates quickly became hot items.
She soon started creating custom portrait cookies for her customers to celebrate birthdays and other special events... as well as launching a line of intricately designed cookies accurately (and eerily?) depicting various celebrities and movie characters (as seen below with "It" and "Hocus Locus")... and hiring a group of artists from Pratt and SVA to help with the design.
H/T MP and Derek Berg!
Saramsam is a new Filipino restaurant from Ravi DeRossi on 7th Street
Saramsam means "casual dining" in Ilocano, the third-most spoken native language of the Philippines. Hailing from the city of La Union, Executive Chef Raj Abat says he wanted to create a restaurant that was Filipino down to its core — in its warm hospitality, nostalgic ingredients, and informal, communal style of dining. The twist? As part of proprietor Ravi DeRossi’s plant-based Revolution Hospitality Group, we serve Filipino cooking that’s entirely meat free.
[T]o create the menu, Chef Raj looked directly to the flavors of his own childhood — the funk of fermented bagoong shrimp paste, the sour tamarind of sinigang soup. From a plant-based sizzling “sisig” to an adobo of roasted mushrooms, we’ve got something for Filipino food experts and newcomers alike to discover.You can find the menu and other details here. Saramsam is open for sidewalk dining Wednesday from 5-11 p.m. and from noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Report: Cloister Cafe granted temporary restraining order to reopen
Cloister Cafe will reopen tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 15) on Ninth Street after a judge granted it a temporary restraining order against the State Liquor Authority, Page Six reported.
Investigators found the restaurant operating as a nightclub and hookah lounge with a live DJ, documenting numerous patrons ignoring social distancing with lines of customers congregating in front of the premises without facial coverings, at least twenty patrons consuming alcohol indoors under a fixed roof, and no receipts for food purchases.
For their part, Cloister Cafe claimed that the SLA didn't properly investigate the alleged violations — and just copied the claims from a Gothamist article.
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Sunday's parting shots
Week in Grieview
Noted
St. Mark's Place between A and 1st now an open street for dining on weekends
Kong is missing
Previously on EV Grieve:View this post on InstagramA post shared by Nefertiti Jones (@nefjones) on
Saturday, September 12, 2020
This should be a photo of the Empire State Building
The 1st Tompkins Square Arts + Crafts and Book Fair is TODAY
Come and get works of art, hand made crafts, books, records, videos, and more — all offered by members of your community on the Lower East Side. There will also be book readings, musicians and speakers. At dusk, we will be showing the amazing film called "Loose Change" (a student-made documentary about 9/11).Fair times are listed from noon to 6 p.m. Visit the Facebook invite for more details.
Noted
This morning in photos of the sun through trees
So things may look a little funky for awhile... this also may mean fewer posts for the near future ...
Friday, September 11, 2020
'Hold' on
Death Valley Girls have a new record, Under the Spell of Joy, out on Oct. 2. Ahead of that, here's a single from the release titled "Hold My Hand."
'Open' your eyes to this nighttime walk through the East Village
Here's info about a new nighttime walking tour through parts of the neighborhood... via the EVG inbox...
"OPEN" is a series of temporary light art installations occupying a selection of storefronts in the East Village. Visitors are invited to discover the neighborhood anew via a mapped out nightwalk. The walk links both empty and occupied storefronts transformed through a mix of light projections and radiant effusions of color.
Sponsored by the Designers Lighting Forum of New York (DLFNY), the Flint Collective NYC partnered with lighting manufacturers and local business owners to respond to a city transformed by the global pandemic. In the rhythm of closed storefronts "OPEN" offers an optimistic pause of light and color.
"People may be cynical in thinking of these storefronts as failed capitalism, but each one has a history and plays a vital role in creating and sustaining vibrant communities," said Yasmina Palumbo of neighboring business MUD NYC and site partner for OPEN.
The installation is spread out across eight sites in the East Village and is active from Saturday Sept. 12 through Sept. 20, 7:30-11 p.m.
The following sites are on the tour:
• 155 Avenue B
• 111 East 7th Street
• 336 East 11th Street
• 307 East 9th Street
• 436 East 9th Street
• 337 East 9th Street
• 107 Ave B
• Secret Site
And if a map helps...
Ki Smith returns home, and debuts Ki Smith Gallery on 4th Street
The Ki Smith Gallery is now open on Fourth Street (first reported here) ... EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the soft opening on Wednesday evening to check out new works on paper by Caslon Bevington, Morell Cutler, Charlie Hudson, Max "Senor Melon" Hodgson, Sono Kuwayama, Julia Powers, Luke Ivy Price, Kiyomi Taylor and Sei Smith...
[Sono Kuwayama]
[Caslon Bevington]
[The work of Kiyomi Taylor]
[Charlie Hudson]
Ki Smith is an East Village native and current resident... he most recently showcased emerging artists from a space on West 125th Street. Smith has worked for 10 years as an independent curator. His résumé includes launching the Bushwick-based gallery and performance space Apostrophe in 2012.
"It took us 10 years to make it back to the East Village where I grew up," Smith said with a laugh.
The gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. You can follow them on Instagram here.
Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices opens on today on Avenue A
[Photo by Vinny & O]
The EV outpost of Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices and Ice Cream officially opens today at 145 Avenue A at Ninth Street.
Daily hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The business dates to 1928 when Ralph Silvestro started selling Italian ice (or water ice) from his truck around Staten Island. The first retail store opened in 1949 on Port Richmond Avenue in Staten Island. In recent years the company has franchised out, expanding to other parts of NYC as well as Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester County.
This marks the third outpost in Manhattan.
Previously.