You are invited to 35 Cooper Square's funeral

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Join us and our colleagues on Wednesday, May 25 at 6 pm in front of 35 Cooper Square to mourn the loss of this 1825 Federal building and demand that the remainder of the historic Bowery gains protection now!

The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors has a list of 16 properties on the Bowery endorsed by Council member Margaret Chin – ranging from 1807 Federal townhouses to 20th century Beaux-Arts bank buildings - which need to be landmarked. Please join us in raising our voices to ensure that 35 Cooper Square is the last historic building on the Bowery to fall.

Bad Burger is hiring

Keith Masco's 24/7 diner at 171 Avenue A near 11th Street appears to be closer to opening... they're looking for help — all positions and shifts. So if you need a job...

You can read our earlier post about Bad Burger here.

The soundtrack for your East Village weekend!

Spotted for sale outside Ave. A Mini Market near 10th Street.

East Second Street, 8:07 p.m., May 19

Cooper Union, 6:12 p.m., May 19

Soon, there'll be more hotel rooms than apartments on the Lower East Side

The long-idle development affectionally called the Orchard Hell Building on Orchard Street between Houston and Stanton will become a — ding! ding! — 290-room hotel, Crain's reports. Read the history of this space here at BoweryBoogie, Curbed and The Lo-Down.

[Photo via BoweryBoogie]

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Photo by Stephen Popkin]

Rock 'N' Roll High School director talks the Ramones (Village Voice)

Plans for the BP station on Houston and Lafayette (BoweryBoogie)

Why there's Twitter trouble at Stuy Town Lux Living (Lux Living)

Ghost sign vanishes in Chelsea (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

"Ghostbusters" firehouse in danger of closing (Runnin' Scared)

More on the Bluebird switcheroo on East First Street (Serious Eats)

History of the Perp Walk (City Room)

NYC's anti-spitting law, circa 1896 (Ephemeral New York)

City approves Mars Bar demolition permit

We've been waiting for this one... The demolition permits to take down the building housing the Mars Bar are now on file, reports Off the Grid, the blog of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

The city approved them Monday.

So with this, Ray's temporary closure and the current demolition of 35 Cooper Square ... we've had better days.



Via Neighborhoodr.

East Village bars and restaurants with 0 violation points from the DOH

The DOH closure of Ray's this week really prompted this post. We often (or, maybe, always) write about the bars or restaurants that the DOH shutters.

So, what about all the places in the neighbor with spotless records? (Well, at least spotless as of their last inspection.) There are a good number of places with O violations points. (Also quite a few with just 2 violation points.)

Here's the list with 0 Violation points:

• Il Bagato and Il Postocanto on East Second Street

• Juicy Lucy on Avenue A

• Matilda on 11th Street

• Drop Off Service on Avenue A

• Yerba Buena on Avenue A (This comes after a bad score led to their closure in February.)

• Beauty Bar on 14th Street

• Something Sweet on First Avenue

• The Continental on Third Avenue

• Dunkin' Donuts on 14th Street

• Ella on Avenue A

• Numero 28 Pizzeria on Second Avenue

• Scarab Lounge on First Avenue

• Pinkberry on St. Mark's Place

• Brio Bar on Astor Place

And the DOH even makes the widget available for bloggers and who not...

A cleaner Ray's still not clean enough for the DOH

Speaking of Ray's Candy Store... We've heard from several residents who worked till the wee hours of the morning helping Ray clean up his shop after the DOH closure on Monday.

Unfortunately, despite an improvement, the cleaner space wasn't enough to pass muster with the DOH. As Bob Arihood reports at Neither More Nor Less, an inspector found more mouse droppings upon a return visit yesterday afternoon.

Also in front of Ray's — Jewels wiggles his dick at the NYPD. Bob has that post here.

356 E. Eighth St. back on the market

The building at 356 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D has been on the market a few times in recent years...

And the listing appeared again last Friday. It's now going for $3.75 million. Here are the details via Streeteasy:

AMAZING EAST VILLAGE TOWNHOUSE OPPORTUNITYPOSSIBLE OPTION TO CREATE A SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE, OWNERS RESIDENCE PLUS INCOME, OR INVESTMENT PROPERTY. This historic townhouse is located on a beautiful tree-lined street, just a block away from Tompkins Square Park in the chic East Village! With approx. 3000sf already built, and 6211sf in total potential use, this is the ultimate investment opportunity. The building consists of 4 fair market apartments and a basement level. The current rent-roll potential is $144,000, but with minor renovations to each unit could reach $164,000 (potential cap-rate over 4%). The building borders a huge and beautiful planted garden offering views from the building’s east side. The lot size is 18.5 X 97.5 and the building is 18.5 X 40 with the potential to extend at least 25 additional feet from the back of the building (the first floor has already been extended). First floor: Owner’s bi-level floor thru with private deck and garden. Second Floor: 2 bedroom floorthru with one bath paying $3000/mo. Third Floor: 1 bed with home office, wide plank floors, amazing garden views paying $2600/mo. Third Floor: 2 bedroom, great views paying $2825/mo. BUILDING CAN BE DELIVERED VACANT WITHIN 90 DAYS. The annual taxes are an exceptionally low $1,139! BE THE THIS BEAUTIFUL TOWNHOUSE’S FIRST OWNER IN ALMOST 30 YEARS

Previous listings didn't mention anything about being delivered "vacant" though.

With restaurant approval, an end to the GIANT SUSHI ROLL photos on First Street

As I first reported on May 6, August Cardona, owner of Dell'Anima, L'Artusi and Anfora, is buying the Bowery Wine Company and expanding to the empty storefronts next door on East First Street.

On Monday day, the CB3/SLA committee approved this transfer. According to Eater: "They didn't say much about the food but spoke eloquently about their project: they want to be really good and active neighbors."

The good news here is that this means an end to the GIANT photos of the sushi rolls and ties that Avalon Bowery Place has subjected us to for the last few years.

It's just embarrassing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
August Cardona buying Bowery Wine Company, expanding next door

In case you miss the sun

Burn your retinas on this.

Seventh Street and Second Avenue one day not too long ago when the sun was coming up in the morning.

Can you 'adjust and grind?' — Van Leeuwen is hiring

The Van Leeuwen location on Seventh Street must be opening soon given the "immediate start" part.

Previously.

Joey Ramone would have been 60 today

And to celebrate ... at the Irving Plaza tonight...(I don't know if any tickets are left...)

And because you haven't seen this since the last time that I posted the clip...

35 Cooper Square no longer suitable for framing

This evening.

Meanwhile, next to the Cooper Square Hotel...

The town cars are lining up for Special Event of the Night.

Just before 5, when you can never find a free jet ski

Photo by Bobby Williams.

For your rainy evening commute

EV Grieve International Jet Sports Boating Association correspondent Bobby Williams took this shot the other day on 10th Street near Avenue C. And yes, this is Mayor Bloomberg's first public jet-ski-sharing program that will encourage commuters to rent jet skis for 30-minute intervals in a zone south of midtown Manhattan and some surrounding neighborhoods when it's raining. Largely geared at those running errands or with short commutes, the jet-ski share proposes allowing renters to pick up jet skis from one location, and drop them off at another, with stations located every few blocks.

New East Village Brewery hopes to win you over with a stolen menu

On Monday, we reported that something called the East Village Brewery and Beer Shop hopes to take over the space at 14 Avenue B. We even ran photos of the menu the budding brewers taped to the front door.

Well! As several readers noted in the comments, the menu was exactly the same as two-star Brooklyn restaurant Prime Meats.

Indeed, Eater did the detective work today, and put the menus in a side-by-side comparison.

Exact matches.

The brewmasters were on Monday night's CB3/SLA agenda, but the committee postponed the vote because "the secret investors were not present, they couldn't identify where they were going to get the stuff to build the brewery and they had no brewmaster."

Plus, they don't have a menu, apparently.

Off to a fine start!

This find awaits your 8-track collection

EV Grieve reader BH discovered this on East Fourth Street. And in case you were curious, the panel on the bottom part is not a speaker — it's a light show box. Oh yeah.

Dessert Row lives: Here comes the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop to Seventh Street

Xoom, the nearly 18-month-old smoothie shop, moved out from its Seventh Street location in March. (Jennifer at Xoom is planning to open in another East Village location.)

Meanwhile! Serious Eats (via Eater) reports that the folks behind the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck are opening a shop in the former Xoom space. And this will likely happen next month or so.

Meanwhile! (Again!) Big Gay Ice Cream is the second trucker to open an ice cream shop on Seventh Street. We expect to find Van Leeuwen open soon near Second Avenue.

Previously on EV Grieve:
On East Seventh Street: Dessert Row seems a little deserted -- Chocolate Bar has closed

Keep on truckin': Van Leeuwen opening dessert shop on Seventh Street

A bad sign at the former countercultural theater on Avenue B

So, the other day I noticed that Chico (and friends) had created new murals on the long-abandoned former church on Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street...

Then I noticed this. An asbestos abatement notice for work starting May 24.

I've been waiting for something to happen to this space for the last few years. It was a movie theater for many years, first the Bijou in 1926, then the Charles. (The theater closed in 1975.) A fire nearly destroyed the building in October 2006.



There had been talk of fixing up the place for the tenant — the Elim Pentecostal Church. But those plans never panned out. Last June, I toured the space with the Rev. Carlos Torres. (See that post here.)

He had plans to sell the space to a developer. The ground-floor would house the church and a community center. The upper levels of the new building would be for (likely, luxury) housing. He didn't have a timeline for any of this; and there seemed to be a lot of red tape involved in any plans. However, what was clear: The building was beyond repair and needed to come down. (Having been inside, I can vouch that it would take a fortune and a few miracles to get this place up to code.)

So the asbestos sign. Asbestos removal often precedes a demolition. However, there aren't any permits on file for the space with the DOB.

I'd love to see this space returned to its previous life as a theater, such as when it was the Charles here in 1966. Ha,right?



(Read more about this addresses' history as a theater here.)

Regardless, I hope that any new plans do include a rebuilt church and community center along with the nice apartments. Anything other than another lost block of just high-end housing in the East Village.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Revival planned for church and theater on Avenue B

Inside the Charles

Former landmark countercultural theater now for rent on Avenue B

Reader looking for someplace to donate books

In the spirit of this post from last October about donating clothing ...a readers asks:

Where can I donate used books in the East Village or Lower East Side? Some kid stuff, some adult stuff.

The NYPL will only take five books at a time for their fundraisers, and my kids' public school only has one fundraising book sale a year, and Project Cicero only wants new or very gently used kids' books (and only has one drive a year).

The books I have are really GOOD books, but they're not new. And I wanna purge now.

Yo landlord!

We spotted a classic Urban Etiquette Sign under the gate at the coming-soon Upright Citizens Brigade on East Third Street ...

It's about the air conditioning unit. "Please have this piece of crap repaired, replaced or turn it off!"

Signed by "the people that live here and have to listen to that crappy A/C"

You will now be able to enjoy your Joey Ramone on Joey Ramone Place

Peels, home to the Joey Ramone and situated on Joey Ramone Place, received the OK from the CB3/SLA committee Monday night to put out a sidewalk cafe. As Eater reported, "Peels' sidewalk cafe will be particularly large with an additional 46 seats outside."

46 seats? Will this make it the largest sidewalk cafe on the Bowery? Gemma, DBGB or Pulino's don't seem quite big enough for 46. I dunno. What do you think? Gemma does seem pretty big.

Womp, there it is: Tagging 147 E. Ninth St.

We usually don't note this kind of thing (or do we?), but Jim Joe/WOMP broke out the fire extinguisher here on the side of 147 First Ave. at Ninth Street, which will be demolished become a motel become luxury rentals with a yet-unknown ground-floor restaurant.

This Womp went up in the last few days...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ninth Street and First Avenue shocker: Motel ... Hello?

Blockbuster: 147 First Ave. set for demolition

A sign switcheroo yesterday at the Amato opera

Yesterday, we reported that the Amato Opera building on the Bowery is now for sale for $6.95 million. The space was previously available as a rental for $22,500 a month.



And workers quickly changed over the sign yesterday to reflect the sale.

Curbed reminded us yesterday that the building was sold back in December 2008 for $3.7 million. Will be a tidy little profit for the owner once the building sells. Per Curbed, "319 Bowery NY, LLC" closed on the property in 2008, and that LLC shares an address with Croman Real Estate, also known as 9300 Realty. Steve Croman has been named to the Voice’s 10 Worst Landlords List.

Cooper Square, 6:12 p.m., May 17

'Man cave,' get your Noho 'man cave' here...

News release from the EV Grieve inbox...

Multi-Million Dollar NYC NoHo Loft Featuring the Ultimate Man Cave

A spectacularly authentic full floor loft residence with modern flair can be found in downtown Manhattan, in the heart of NoHo. New to the market, this wonderfully expansive home has three exposures (north, east and west) and 22 oversized windows providing incredible sunlight and quintessential views of NoHo.

With approximately 3,000 square feet of living space this phenomenal loft has 11'6" barrel vaulted ceilings, exposed brick walls, extra large open floor plan and original loft detail throughout. Remarkably extensive renovation completed, no detail has been overlooked. Current configuration boasts three bedrooms, three completely redesigned full bathrooms, a home office and stunning custom library. The custom library is the ultimate in man caves.

The current owner, an avid reader custom designed every detail down to the exquisitely carved burl oak bookcases and coffered ceiling. This man cave provides the ultimate old world refuge in a sleek modern loft. Not what you would expect to find at the end of a Missoni carpeted hallway. The private master bedroom suite includes windowed dressing room and a most exquisite en-suite master bathroom with steam shower.

The landmark boutique cooperative building is firmly planted in the middle of tree-lined historic Great Jones Street. This coveted loft is situated in a vibrant and highly desirable neighborhood with an enclave of superb galleries, boutiques and restaurants. $4,200,000

Not exactly what I thought a "man cave" would look like. My former 23-year-old neighborhood described his place as a "man cave," though, despite the Megan Fox poster, he was kidding.

The listing is here.

Where to get your 100-ounce beer today on Avenue A

Cafetasia on Avenue A. Photo sent along by Shawn Chittle.

CB3 highlights: East Village Brewery and Beer Shop postponed; 200 Avenue A denied

Several readers provided some quick feedback on last night's CB3/SLA meeting.

Applications within Resolution Areas

• To be determined, 14 Ave. B (op)

This is the proposed East Village Brewery and Beer Shop that we reported on yesterday.

POSTPONED

The committee postponed a vote on this because, as one resident told me, "the secret investors were not present, they couldn't identify where they were going to get the stuff to build the brewery and they had no brewmaster!"

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades

• To be Determined (Not A Bookstore LLC), 200 Ave A (trans/op) (Superdive)

The art gallery bar idea.

DENIED

Plenty of drama on this item. Board member David McWater quickly called for a vote, so residents in attendance didn't need to speak out against the applicant. Per an attendee: "In an unprecedented feat a transfer was denied. Something that almost never happens." (Shawn Chittle has more on this vote in the comments.)

• To be Determined, 500 E 11th St (trans/op) (Angels & Kings)

DENIED

Updated:

Eater has more meeting coverage here.

Burning down the house, again

"According to Billboard and the late Hilly Kristal’s daughter, a documentary on CBGB, legendary New York City venue and birthplace of punk rock, is in the works." (Crawdaddy, with a hat tip to Karate Boogaloo.)

The folk hero of East Fifth Street

A reader shares this incredible true story from early Monday morning...

[Not the actual bus in question]

I guess the 6-12 people on the safari party bus were caught a bit off-guard last night when I began trying to kick their door in. Awoken moments before, at 4, by the shouting and music, I went to the window and saw what it was and quickly grabbed my pants, shoes, thought of getting a bat, but didn’t want to wake the kids by opening their baseball gear. It was their sleep that I was trying to preserve after all.

When I went outside I wasn’t thinking that I’d be trying to kick their door in. Maybe I tried to push the door open to scream at them to move on? I don’t quite remember...except that the door was shut hard and that I was giving it my all now, repeatedly...wham! wham! wham!

As I was doing this I think I was screaming to get the bus OFF this street (maybe not as nicely as that). At one point I exchanged some words with someone baiting me at one of the two open windows, he telling me how he was going to fuck me up and holding a kitchen scissors as if it was a knife, and me saying to come on out bitch as I leapt up and tried to grab his face off.

I should have, of course, thrown a punch but didn’t, and they weren’t coming out of the bus either. There were no real fighters there, myself included, thank god, just a lot of testosterone, booze, etc. The kid turned away when someone said let’s move down the street.

And, the bus was up and running and as I was thinking down the street isn’t going to work for me, a half drunk can of beer came whizzing by my head. I followed the bus on foot, opened a recycle bin or two and pulled out some bottles, 32oz-ers I think, three of them, and I was running now. The bus thought about parking for a sec, and then decided to hightail it as they saw me running up behind them, except that the light was against them. They paused before running it as I hurled bottle #1 at their rear and as they floored it up the Bowery I hit them once again with #2.

I do wish that I had just knocked on their door and kindly asked them to turn down their music and move their party elsewhere. Oh well, perhaps this might help other prospective traveling living rooms to steer clear of East Fifth Street.

More trouble for Ray's; additional $2k fine levied, food tossed

Bob Arihood at Neither More Nor Less has a report on yesterday's DOH closure of Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A. According to a news report, despite the DOH closure, Ray decided to stay open so that he could make his rent. Unfortunately, the DOH returned at 4:30 yesterday afternoon and slapped Ray with a $2,000 fine for defying the order. In addition, as Bob reports, Ray had to toss all of his food products and immediately close. Bob has a lot more details here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
DOH shutters Ray's Candy Store

The Amato Opera building is for sale now for $6.95 million

First, a mini recap: Last July, CB3 gave its blessing for the owners of the V Bars to open a "bar/restaurant/theater experience" in the former Amato Opera on the Bowery. However, as DNAinfo reported in late March, no work has been done on the space and its remains on the market. NYCRS has the listing at $22,500 a month.

So! This weekend, an Amato Opera listing appeared at Corcoran. Its price: $6.95 million. Here's the listing:

The Amato Opera house was an historic property founded in 1964. The original building was constructed in 1899. It was the home to the celebrated opera company for nearly a half-century since before closing in May 2009. It is a four-story building, which was converted into a theatre with rehearsal and storage space, 107-seats, a 20-foot stage and a tiny orchestra pit. It measures approximately 5,429 sq., is a four-story masonry building which stands on a 22'33" X 93' lot, and measures 22'4" wide by 84' deep and c. 7'5" wide at the rear. The property, located in a C6-1 Commercial District (R7 Residential District equivalent), is well suited for commercial, residential or mix use. The building has additional air rights. Property shark states a maximum of 9,576 sf and/or a maximum height of 85 ft. The building is currently 52.4 ft high. All due diligence has to be done by buyer and we are only providing information publicly displayed on property shark with no guarantees. 319 Bowery is between Bleecker and Bond. The neighborhood is now lined with luxury hotels, fashionable restaurants and stylish fashion stores. Bring your architect and your imagination and don't miss this excellent opportunity.

Noho-branded new art for Extra Place

Oh, that's subtle.