[Updated] Fire this morning at 92 St. Mark's Place

The FDNY responded to a fire this morning just before 8 at 92 St. Mark's Place east of First Avenue.

MAN ALL HANDS 92 ST MARKS PL, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE 1ST FLR,

— FDNY (@FDNY) August 17, 2014

Firefighters smashed the windows and cut away the window guards of the ground-floor apartment as they quickly had the situation under control.

We saw one soot-covered resident, a male in his late 20s or early 30s, wearing only shirts sit down next door on the steps to Physical Graffitea. A next-door neighbor brought him a blanket. Paramedics brought another woman out of the building and treated her on the scene for smoke inhalation, according to witnesses.







First Avenue was temporarily closed to northbound traffic at East Seventh Street. At this point, we do not know the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage. As far as we know right now, there were not any serious injuries.

Updated Aug. 18, 6 a.m.

The Post reports that the FDNY reduced two unconscious women from the fire. They are both "hospitalized in serious condition with smoke inhalation."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, "but sources said investigators are focusing on the theory that smoking may have caused the couch to burst into flames."

Here's No. 92 early last evening...



Top photos via @evgrieve

Today's hawk (with bonus lunch shot)

Photos today in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams...

Thoughts on unchaining NYC

Jeremiah Moss of Vanishing New York has an op-ed in the Daily News today titled "De Blasio, unchain the city now." An excerpt follows:

It’s time for the mayor to step up and take action against the destruction of the city’s character.

Start by following the example of San Francisco, where City Hall tightly controls “formula retail,” as in big chain stores. If former Mayor Giuliani could keep adult businesses from operating near one another, then de Blasio can keep national chains from doing the same.

Starbucks and Marc Jacobs should not be allowed to have multiple stores within a few blocks, and we don’t need Walgreens down the street from CVS.

Then, pass the Small Business Jobs Survival Act to create fair negotiations of commercial lease renewals, so landlords can’t use insane rent hikes to evict dependable business people.

Give fines to landlords who leave commercial spaces vacant, creating blight while they wait for the right price.

While general commercial rent control may be unworkable, we can protect what little remains of the city’s oldest and most beloved small businesses by creating a selective rent control program.

Read the whole piece here.

You are no longer welcome!

Oh! Just noticed that the Welcome to the East Village/Modelo ad on East 12th Street at Avenue A has been blacked out…



The wall previously displayed an ad for the new season of the HBO television program "Girls."

Given that this appears to be an ad wall now … what ad would you like to see next? (Serious responses are OK.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Welcome to the East Village — home of beer

Reminders tonight: Memorial for Tommy Ramone at Bowery Electric

Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of the Ramones, died July 11.

Previously.

Do it clean

Here's Echo & the Bunnymen live in Spain from 1984 with "Heads Will Roll." The band, now Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant with four other musicians, is touring in support of "Meteorites," their 12th studio album ... they'll be at Irving Plaza tomorrow night and Sunday night. Saturday night is nearly sold out...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Cat photo from Cooper Square these days]

The history of Temperance fountain in Tompkins Square Park (Off the Grid)

Scratchbox Project coming to First Street Green Art Park this weekend (BoweryBoogie)

MoMA and the Warhol Museum will digitize all of Andy Warhol's film and video work (Dangerous Minds)

The hawks are being kinda boring in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

Delancey Street building sells for $10 million more than 2012 price (The Lo-Down)

Does Stuyvesant Square have the oldest iron fence in NYC? (Ephemeral New York)

Di Fiore Marquet Cafe closes after 22 years on East 12th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

"Gentrifiers, When Do You Call 311?" (The Brian Lehrer Show)

"We Are Mari Pepa," which explores the "lives and loves of a group of school-age punk rockers in Guadalajara," makes its NYC premiere tonight (Anthology Film Archives)

And if you happen by Ninth Street Espresso (the one at 341 E. 10th St. near Avenue B), then you can check out the work of East Village artist Stacy Harshman ... her show, "Defiant Flowers," is up through Aug. 29.

14 photos of the 1980s East Village

[Northeast corner of 1st Avenue and 6th Street/John Fensten]

In recent months, EVG Facebook friend Susan Fensten has posted photos that she and her father, John Fensten, took around the city in the 1980s. Of particular interest to us: The shots of the East Village from that time period.

Susan, who grew up in the neighborhood, gave us permission to post these photos. (Unfortunately, we do not have exact dates and locations for all these.)

Updated to note proper photo credits.


[West side of 3rd Avenue between East 10 and 11th Streets/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north from East Fifth Street/John Fensten]


[Random wall from 1984/Susan Fensten]


[Tompkins Square Park/John Fensten]


[East 5th Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[First Avenue/John Fensten]


[Union Square/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north on 3rd Avenue at East 13th Street/John Fensten]


[Astor Place/John Fensten]


[Avenue A near East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[Behind East Fifth Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[Leshko's on Avenue A and East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[East 4th Street with the Merchant's House on the left/John Fensten]

Report: Steve Croman facing another lawsuit from East 8th Street residents

As previously reported, two tenants at 309 E. Eighth St. are suing their landlord, Steve Croman of 9300 Realty, claiming that he has has engaged in a "campaign of harassment, abuse and neglect" since taking over the property between Avenue B and Avenue C in December 2012.

Now five tenants have filed suit seeking a halt to construction at No. 309, as The Real Deal reported.

According to the suit, filed Aug. 7, the five tenants claim that the landlord has engaged in gut renovations of multiple vacant apartments at the building since 2013, causing the ceilings to collapse in several occupied apartments.

The renovations at the 17-unit building also caused a gas leak that resulted in a month-long gas suspension, according to lawyers for the tenants.

"I would say that this case is symptomatic of what is going on in the Lower East Side today," said attorney Sadia Rahman, who represents the five tenants. "Violations like the broken front door and broken cornices have been in place for years, but owners instead are investing considerable sums of money into vacant apartments so that they can be deregulated and rented at market value."

As the Daily News reported on July 26, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched a probe into Croman's potentially illegal tactics. On July 25, the Daily News reported that Schneiderman slapped a cease-and-desist order on Falconite, who "tenants say has engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation to force them out."

Meanwhile, Croman and his wife Harriet, an official with 9300 Realty, have been enjoying another August in the Hamptons. On Tuesday, Page Six reported that the Cromans "created a Playboy-themed bash ... complete with a replica of Hugh Hefner’s famed grotto in the center of a tent. Completing the theme, pale pink carpeting surrounded a dance floor."

In her Gimme Shelter column at the Post yesterday, Jennifer Gould Keil noted that the Cromans paid $650,000 this month to rent a Water Mill home "while their own beach mansion, in Sagaponack, is being built."

As for the Playboy bash, "some of Croman's guests told Gimme Shelter they wondered what the couple is celebrating."

Chico creates a mural in memory of Robin Williams on East 13th Street

[Photo by Michael Paul via Facebook]

Longtime LES graffiti artist Antonio "Chico" Garcia finished this up yesterday at B Cup Café on East 13th Street and Avenue B.

And here's a shot of the finished mural last night at 9:30 via EVG Facebook friend Kathleen O'Regan...

Former Le Souk space 'needs a real restaurant operator'

Save for a few mysterious parties, Le Souk has been dead and gone now five years this October. (The State Liquor Authority terminated Le Souk's liquor license in October 2009.)

Since then, the space has been empty (much to the delight of neighbors) ... and on and off the market several times. We spotted a listing for the space at 47 Avenue B between East Fourth Street and East Third Street back in July 2011. The asking price then was $25K.

For rent signs arrived along this Avenue B corridor earlier in the summer. And now the listing has arrived on Craigslist. Let's check it out (Bolding via EVG):

This is a restaurant space that has an atrium in the back, the ansil/flute are in place. there is 6,627 square feet on two floors that could be divided for the right tenant. The asking rent is $331,350 per annum and $27,612.50 per month. This place needs a real restaurant operator. there was a liquor license at one time the new tenant would have to apply for a new one. Tenant will pay their proportionate share of real estate taxes as well as their own utilities which will include water, gas and electric. ownership would be willing to split up this site.

The photos at Craigslist are worth flipping through to admire the ancient ruins of Le Souk. Let's carbon date that disco ball.

Meanwhile, the former Max space at 51 Avenue B also remains on the market. Asking rent is $10,000 a month. This space has been vacant for 20 months.

Previously

Report: Shakespeare & Company closes for good at the end of the month

[EVG file photo]

As we first reported back on April 7, Shakespeare & Co. had lost the lease to its longtime home at 716 Broadway.

Now comes word that the bookstore will officially close at the end of this month, an employee told Gothamist.

Per Gothamist:

Right now, books and other merchandise are on sale at the Broadway store for 30 to 50 percent off. Go purchase some, and experience the soon-to-be-extinct joy of turning real, paper pages.

The current asking rent is $50,000 for the storefront between Washington Place and Waverly Place. A broker told The Commercial Observer that is likely two or three times what Shakespeare is paying now.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Shakespeare & Company loses lease on Broadway

Shakespeare & Company space is for lease on Broadway

Today at Tompkins Square Park

Yonkers-based artist Jeffrey Reid was back with his large portraits outside Tompkins Square Park at Avenue A and East Seventh Street.

We've seen his portraits of the First Family, Donald Trump, Spike Lee, the Mona Lisa, etc. (Here and here.)

He was showing new work today, though.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Workers back demolishing what's left of 98-100 Avenue A

The demolition has picked up again at 98-100 Avenue A, where Ben Shaoul is building a 6-floor residential building with 29 apartments.

Work had come to a stand still here between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street for several months … but workers are back knocking over the carcass of the former theater-turned grocery. You can see the remnants of the auditorium in these photos from EVG reader Erika…





Demolition started last November. At this rate, the new building should be up by, say, 2021. Not that anyone is in a hurry for another brick box from Ben Shaoul.



Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished

Asbestos abatement continues at 98 Avenue A, Ben Shaoul's latest East Village trophy

Ben Shaoul's proposed new Avenue A building will be 8 stories with a roof deck

Meanwhile, 98-100 Avenue A is lying in ruins

Reader report: More about being aware of ATM skimming

[Photo from July 18]

An EV reader has a follow-up to our July 19 post "Beware ATM Skimming these Beware ATM Skimming signs say."

It seems as if a friend and I were both taken by this scam recently. We've both woken up to fraud alerts from Chase in the past week that our debit cards have been used elsewhere in the City.

Given that we both reside in Alphabet City, frequent the same places, and were still in possession of our cards, it suggests that it was indeed a scamming operation to steal the card data and produce dummy cards. Chase confirmed as much over the phone when I spoke with them. I'm very careful about using my card, so wherever the operation is it must be pretty stealth. We think it happened somewhere along Avenue C.

Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: 'Midnight Cowboy'

[Where's Joe Buck?]

The Films in Tompkins series ends tonight with the Oscar-winning "Midnight Cowboy" from 1969.



Anyway, you know how it works. The films start at sundown... and there will be local bands or DJs performing from beforehand. And think about mosquito repellent.

Updated: Former First Avenue Pierogi and Deli space for rent

After 30 years here at 130 First Ave. near St. Mark's Place, proprietor Wieslawa Kurowycky and her family decided to retire and close First Avenue Pierogi and Deli.

We noticed a "for rent" sign in the window the other day. The listing isn't online just yet at the Quality Living website. So we don't know what the asking price is for this prime real EV real estate…

And we miss the food at First Avenue Pierogi and Deli.

Updated 8-16
The asking rent is $6,500.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 30 years, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli is closing

At 205 Avenue A, where the NYPD stops by 'almost every weekend'

[205 Avenue A roof shot by William Farrington via the Post]

The Post has a follow-up story about our piece on the rooftop parties at Icon Realty's 205 Avenue A.

To the article!

Mitch Kossoff, a lawyer for Icon Realty, said there are guidelines in place for rooftop access, which only the top-floor tenants have access to. Parties past 10 p.m., loud music, consumption of alcohol, barbecuing and smoking are prohibited. Kossoff said he wasn’t aware of any complaints from last weekend’s bash but he’s ready to take necessary action, including eviction proceedings.

And!

Kyle Frey, 25, who lives on the first floor of the newly renovated building said cops come by “almost every weekend.”

And from the EVG inbox: Neighbors concerned about the noise from 205 Avenue A can contact the North Avenue A Neighborhood Association via email.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Friday night's rooftop party at Icon Realty's 205 Avenue A (49 comments)

Your 6-bedroom dream 'frat house' awaits you in the East Village

Icon Realty's new Avenue A 'frat house' is attracting attention

How's life by 326-328 E. Fourth St. these days?

Hibachi Dumpling Express now open on 1st Avenue

Last week we noted that Hibachi Dumpling Express was taking over the space previously held by the 2 Bros. Pizza on First Avenue near East 14th Street.

Hibachi opened today … their phone isn't even working, but they are cranking out some pretty good food…



There are 16 seats inside… though it will likely be better as a to-go or delivery place…



You can find their menu here. (They also have a location on East 23rd Street.)

And a quick turnaround of the space given that the 2 Bros. closed after July 17.

Remembering good times and dead bodies at The Blarney Cove

[June 2013]

The Paris Review has an essay by Joe Kloc on the late, great Blarney Cove on East 14th Street…

Tommy, another regular, recounted an oft-told Blarney Cove legend. One evening, he said, a regular was sitting alone at the end of the bar, minding his business, enjoying his $1.50 mugs of beer with all the usual contentment of an old drinker on a young night. Suddenly, but without fuss, the man set down his mug, shut his eyes, slumped forward, and died right there in his chair. “They put him in the freezer,” Tommy said. And the next day his body was gone.

Read the whole piece here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here is the future of East 14th Street and Avenue A: 7 stories of residential and retail

City OKs permits to demolish the empty storefronts along this section of East 14th Street

The Blarney Cove closes for good after tomorrow night

The Blarney Cove sign is down! The Blarney Cove sign is down!

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: Gary Bell
Occupation: Martial Arts Teacher, Boys Club of New York
Location: 3rd Street between A and B
Date: 6:30 pm on Thursday, July 31st

I have lived around here for 35 years. I grew up in Harlem and was raised in South Carolina. As soon as I got out of the military I came down here and took up certain courses. I must have been 22 or 23. At first, I was working in the Wall Street area, for Solomon Brothers. I was doing a receptionist job and one of my co-workers asked me what would I want to do on the side. I told him that I’d teach martial arts, so he got me an interview at the Boys Club.

I started off as a volunteer and ended up working for the Boys Club for 30 years. I was the martial arts teacher. I noticed that most of the kids I dealt with had single moms. A lot of the kids were being bullied. I’m a big advocate of kids not being bullied, so I put my hand in that and I got a couple of kids really standing up for themselves. They had self-esteem, honor, dignity. Most of the kids became policemen, lawyers. It was amazing.

All in all I’m very proud of the work that I did. The best is when they came back to me and their parents would say, ‘By the way, George is playing baseball for a high school team and he’s the top pitcher in the nation.’ I said, ‘This kid was so nervous.’ He had a problem, but he came out good. If I walk just a couple of blocks I’ll see a kid and they’ll say, ‘Hey sensei, how you doing?’ Some of them left and came back and brought their kids.

Another thing that brought me down here was homesteading. I renovated an abandoned building right here on 2nd Street. I started in 1986 and finished it up in 1991. I’m a veteran and I was thinking about buying a building off of my VA Bill and I ran into this and it was a dream come true.

It was an organization run by the Archdiocese. Koch was the mayor at that time, What they’d do is find an abandoned building and squat in it and take it over. There has to be at least 12 homesteading buildings in this neighborhood. So they’d put you on a trial basis working on other people’s buildings and in return they’d give you your own building, abandoned — totally, totally abandoned.

It gave me a lot of respect for construction workers, because I had to do mostly everything — putting up sheetrock, putting in a new roof. Everything you did you were like an apprentice, but the big time stuff like electricity and plumbing, the government gave you professional people to come down here. They started us off with $300,000 to fix the building, but they gave us a time restraint. So they said, ‘OK, we’ll give you this money and this will pay for all the professional people, but you’ve got to finish it off in seven years, because if you don’t, the day before your time limit is up the city can just take the building.’

My building started off with like 12 people, and I guess the work wasn’t going fast enough because a lot of people quit and a lot of new people came in. We’ve got actors, accountants, carpenters. We’ve got all kinds of people.

The neighborhood was rough in the beginning. I was thinking of backing out of the deal because this neighborhood was rampant with crime and drugs. I was here when Tompkins Square Park was literally just homeless people. If you would have looked at it back then you would have never believed this transformation. It had me fooled too. There were no banks around here at all and hardly any restaurants. Now you’ve got them back-to-back. I never thought that would happen. It was very risky. I’m really proud of this neighborhood because a lot of people stuck with it and stayed strong.

The red tape was the biggest problem — the politics behind it. With every building, the Cardinal blessed the abandoned building before you got into it. At that time Mayor Dinkins came by and gave a little speech. Of course the politicians came by and wanted to take pictures of us. We had to put in 20 hours a week.

The whole deal cost me $225 dollars. There are some pictures that will scare you. You would go, ‘Oh my God.’ I said, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘Nah, I can’t do this,’ but as time went on, plus at the time my girlfriend was pregnant, so my son needed some space. So I was focused. I think it took me six years to complete it. It was Christmas Eve 1991 that I moved in. I have a duplex, parquet floors, a rooftop garden, and it’s beautiful man. You wouldn’t believe it.

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

East 7th Street apartment undergoing alien probe remains on the market

Heh.



Thanks to the EVG reader who spotted this (hopefully!) under-renovation studio at 70 E. Seventh St. for rent on Streeteasy.



Think about having an ax and a mirror at the ready when checking the place out… never know when there might be an alien probe…