Looking at the Church of Saint Emeric on East 13th Street

Catholic churches are coming and going these days in the East Village. Parishioners held the last mass this past Sunday at Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street. (The Villager has a nice farewell feature in this week's issue.)

The Catholic Archdiocese is selling the church property, which includes the Don Bosco Salesians rectory adjacent to the church and the church's former school on East 11th Street. No official word just yet on the new owner.

Meanwhile, renovations continue at St. Brigid's on Avenue B at East Eighth Street.

And then there the Church of Saint Emeric. As The Villager first reported in June, St. Emeric’s, built in 1950 at 740 E. 13th St. at Avenue D, will close and merge with St. Brigid's.

Per The Villager, Father Lorenzo Ato, priest in charge at St. Emeric for the past four years, will be the pastor of the new parish and has already moved into the Brigid's rectory.

Joseph Zwilling, archdiocese spokesperson, said there weren't any immediate plans for the St. Emeric’s church building or the two-story parochial school built in 1952 next door on East 12th Street and Avenue D.

In any event, I figured this was a good time to visit St. Emeric's ... located down a rather lonely stretch of East 13th Street, which dead ends at the Con Ed power plant. The church sits next to the Manhattan Pumping Station that's currently being refurbished ...

... and across the street from the Con Ed power plant...

On the morning that I walked by here, there were a handful of men huddled atop the sidewalk bridge sleeping...

... and here's a look from the East 12th Street side...

The church building itself is fairly unremarkable (I haven't been inside) and the chunk of real estate is in an unglamorous spot — surrounded by the Con Ed plant, pumping station and public housing. Not sure what would work here outside of some utilitarian purpose or nonprofit use. In other words, no dorms or condos.

But!

Things being what they are these days in Manhattan, I could see some enterprising restaurateur open an eatery and offer an East-River-to-table small plates Tasting Menu for thrill-seekers who desire a real "gritty" East Village meal (don't worry — the eel with be flown in fresh daily from Nihonbashi) ... or a developer launch a boutique hotel with Super Charged Weekend Packages for travelers who yearn what it's like to work at a power plant. Other authentic "street" touches include the housekeeping staff who push their supplies in imitation C-Town grocery carts (for sale in the gift shop for $1,695) and the bar that sells craft beers in brown paper bags.

Yeah, anyway — this is the Church of Saint Emeric

Are you missing a cat?

Bobby Williams spotted this cat in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... a stray? Someone's pet? Anyone...?

Bobby noted that someone had given the cat food and water ...

Spotted mid-block on the East Seventh Street entrance...

The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop raising money today for the Bea Arthur Residence

[File photo]

As previously reported, the Ali Forney Center will develop housing for up to 18 homeless LGBT youth at 222 E. 13th St., which will be formally named the Bea Arthur Residence.

Today, the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop is raising money for Ali Forney and Bea Arthur ... (Co-owners Doug and Bryan are longtime fans of both... they even named a cone for Bea Arthur.)

So... to the Big Gay Ice Cream blog:

We are proclaiming Friday, September 14 “Golden Girls Day” at our shop. That day marks the 27th (!!!!) anniversary of the show’s premier. God, don’t you wish shoulder pads would finally come back?

Come by our shop that day if you can — we’ll be collecting money for the Bea Arthur Residence. Here's how you can give:

- Pick up a Bea Arthur cone. 100% of the proceeds from every Bea Arthur cone sold will go to Ali Fornay

Tomorrow: Block Party on East Ninth Street

From the EV Grieve inbox... no packages of tube socks here...

Annual 9th Street A-1 Block Association Block Party

(9th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A)
Saturday, September 15, 11 am – 5 pm (no rain date)

Live Music (from noon - 4 pm) featuring

* Bluesco Band
* Navivan
* Nick Palumbo & the Flipped Fedoras

Resident artists, crafts people and photographers will be showing and selling their work, and residents will be selling a la "stoop sale" — antiques, bric-a-brac, clothing, accessories, music, jewelry, etc.

Raffles for gifts, discounts or coupons from block businesses, who will also be offering their wares

Block businesses include:
* Boutiques and Antiques: Bridal Veil Falls, Cloak & Dagger, Devorado, Dorian Grey Gallery, Dusty Buttons, Enchantments, Flower Power, Grey Era Vintage, Ollie's Place, Pink Olive, Polytima, Pork Pie Hatterie, Puppy Love Kitty Kat, Reason Outpost, The Upper Rust
* Restaurants: Cigkoftem, Dirt Candy, Empanades, Exchange Alley, Good Beer, Kajitsu, Whitman's, Zucker Bakery
* Hair Salons/Barbers: Lovemore & Do, Maria Mok Salon, Neighborhood Barber

Things to do on Avenue A weekend nights that don't involve bars

Browse through the used book selection at Mast, 66 Avenue A between East Fifth Street and East Fourth Street...

Noted

Spotted at Vazac's, Seventh Street and Avenue B.

Later.

Giant grasshopper spotted on East First Street

Not to alarm you ... spotted outside 21 E. First St. today by Bobby Williams...

Likely one of the giant grasshoppers accidentally created at the NYU experimental farm. Or else it's a piece of construction equipment.

Here's Garland Jeffreys and East 14th Street in 'The Contortionist'

Here's the new single/video by EVG favorite Garland Jeffreys — "The Contortionist," which Devereux Milburn shot near Jeffreys' Stuy Town home ... and featuring East 14th Street and Avenue C. Background vocals by Lou Reed and Savannah Jeffreys.

The Collisions tonight at the Stand

Lori Der Hagopian, the proprietor of The Stand, the gallery kiosk on East Seventh Street at Avenue C (a former newsstand), is hosting her first opening here tonight... she is presenting work by Brennan Cavanaugh...

The Collisions are collages made from one edition of The New York Times. Per Lori: "Images from that day's paper are chosen and re-assembled, with x-acto knife and gluestick, to create a personal and surreal revisioning of the day's news."

The opening starts at 7 p.m. The exhibit is up through Sept. 30.

We wrote about The Stand back in May. You can find that post here.

Looking for the elusive Wacky Wok menu dropper

At some point, every single home or business or church or structure of any kind — empty, under-construction or abandoned — in the East Village has had a Wacky Wok menu placed on the front door. Multiple times. Maybe daily. Probably daily. I'd argue that there are more Wacky Wok menus around than any locksmith cards combined.

I've spent too much time thinking about this through the months. (Years?) Do the Wacky Wok menu droppers work on commission? Are they paid by the gross tonnage of menus delivered? Does Wacky Wok have a printing press in their basement on Avenue D at East Ninth Street? Is Wacky Wok a better name than, say, Wok and Roll?

Anyway, I always seem to run across the locksmith people bombing the doorways. But I've never seen anyone from Wacky Wok leaving the menus behind. Once, I walked into my building and, about 45 seconds later, decided to run another errand. In that time, someone put a Wacky Wok menu on the door. I quickly scanned the street with the enthusiasm of a child catching Santa in the living room (preferably late on Dec. 24). There wasn't anyone in either direction.

Anyway, I started taking photos of the WW menus. A sampling.

Well, you get the idea.

Then, the other day, I spotted this fellow pulling the cart thing stick a menu on the front door of 100 Avenue A, the former grocery that has been sitting empty for seven months now...

He turned east on Seventh Street. I followed to watch him work. When I rounded the corner ... he was gone. Into, presumably, the Wacky Wok time continium vortex.

Now this isn't anything against Wacky Wok, a healthyish Pan Asian eatery. For me, it's a curiosity, not an annoyance. And I've ordered food from here, and have mostly found it agreeable. And I have four or five menus to choose from every time that I call.

Webster Hall now home to the exclusive Hanky Panky Club

From the EV Grieve inbox ... a news release slightly edited for length ... the place opens tonight...

The Hanky Panky Club, brought to you by nightlife veterans Lon Ballinger, Gary Spencer and Sameer Qureshi, is accessed through a hidden speak easy type entrance on East 11th Street inside the iconic Webster Hall — the same private entrance used by the likes of Madonna, Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton (just to name a few).

Once inside, guests ascend the marble staircase to a stunning, velvet-walled room. The gorgeously-appointed room is a soundproof, discreet lounge experience, that boasts a full back-line stage always ready for performances. This Thursday, we have music by DJ Thomas D and Friday, a live performance by Eddie and The Gun and Nima Yamini — the man behind Avenue A Soundcheck.

What makes The Hanky Panky Club different than any other New York venue is the access to the Webster Hall balcony. This balcony overlooks the main stage of the legendary music venue ... This balcony gives The Hanky Panky Club goers the option to view the music and crowd below, all from the intimacy of a private party.

The Hanky Panky Club will also be known their commitment to impeccable customer service. Jonas, previously of King and Grove, will be at the warmly exclusive door. If the Hanky Panky Club is at capacity, Jonas will take a phone number and texts guests when the club is ready. The wait staff will be dressed in feminine, sexy tutus inspired by famed London Nightclub Owner Peter Stringfellow, modelesque go-go dancers will fluidly dance about the room and atop the bar. These ladies are trained to not only bring the bottle, but the etiquette of a private lounge from a time when service was the ultimate element.

The Hanky Panky Club, located at 125A East 11th Street, will be open every Thursday - Saturday where each night you will know to expect a well known DJ spinning the vibe of the room to perfection. Thursdays think soul, Fridays think electronic and Saturday night - anything goes... Be prepared for energetic beats and spontaneous live performances.

Are you missing a parrot?

We've seen a lot of missing pets flyers around... but we've never seen one for a parrot matching this description in Tompkins Square Park...

In the past month, Bobby Williams, peter radley and others have heard about this parrot, living in the wilds ... Sort of gaining Urban Legend status. We'd assume that this is an escaped pet.

Bobby finally got the above shot the other day. It was looking for food with some starlings.

Anyway, in case you're missing a parrot, there's still hope.

Lot of dreams

On Monday, we looked at some dead weeds and new medians along East Houston at Avenue D... On the topic of weeds, the lot on the northwest corner of Avenue D and East Houston remains empty... and it looks like this...

There was talk of a huge development here going on three years ago now... like this, as first reported on by the Lo-Down...


The rendering is still live at the website of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects ... under "unbuilt projects."

Have any tips about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

Previously on EV Grieve:
Avenue D's future

Reader report: Car-motorcycle accident on Fourth Avenue at East 13th Street

EVG reader Lauren passes along this photo and information from last night around 11 ... where there was a car-motorcycle accident on Fourth Avenue at East 13th Street. "Not sure how the person on the ground is ... the fireman was just sitting there holding her hand."

We'll see if we can get an update later...

This is what an empty storefront on East Houston looked like on Sept. 2, 2012

This year, we'll post photos like this of various buildings, streetscenes, etc., to capture them as they looked at this time and place... The photos may not be the most telling now, but they likely will be one day...

Former Fu Sushi space for rent

Fu Sushi closed on Avenue B after Aug. 26. (We heard from a reader who believes they are looking for a larger space somewhere.)

We saw the homemade for rent signs up early last week. And we just spotted a listing for the space at Streeteasy: $4,375 for 700 square feet.

All things considered (crazy rents around here, etc.) this seems ... reasonable?

[Photo via Yelp]

On the fence

Today in Tompkins Square Park. Headline and photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Tompkins Square Park yesterday. Photo by Bobby Williams]

CB3 OKs Nevada Smith's expansion — with some stipulations (Grub Street)

A meal at Sapporo East, the oldest Japanese restaurant in the East Village (Fork in the Road)

An interview with Allen Ginsberg's assistant-turned biographer (The Awl)

A Stop Work Order for weekend construction at 120 E. Fourth St. (Occupy East 4th Street)

The "White Glove Bandit" pleads guilty (DNAinfo)

How the Sweet Banana Candy Store almost became a Blondie song (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Sunday at Mona's (The Gog Log)

What's up with the dangling stuffed bunnies and bears on the LES? (BoweryBoogie)

CB3 votes against proposed bus stop on Essex Street (The Lo-Down)

Cyclist wanted for allegedly inciting Audi trashing on Broadway and Bleecker (Gothamist)

And some lost-and-found pet signs from the last few days...

[Bobby Williams]

...and readers spotted these between 10th and 13th Streets... near Third and Fourth Avenues...

[William Klayer]

So whatever happened to Mondo Kim's extensive video and DVD collection?

After Mondo Kim's closed on St. Mark's Place in December 2008, the massive collection of some 60,000 tapes and DVDs were shipped off to a town in Sicily, as Jeremiah Moss first noted.

The plans called for "a Never-ending Festival — a 24-hour projection of up to 10 films at once for the foreseeable future ... and, eventually, the conversion of all Kim's VHS films to DVDs to ensure their preservation."

And, eventually, the plan was for Kim's members to have access to digitized versions of all these films, an assortment of cult classics and hard-to-find treasures ... anyway, seemed like an interesting idea... especially since no one around here wanted the collection. (Here was Mr. Kim's public offer.)

So. Some four years later, whatever happened to all this? In an extensive piece at the Village Voice this week, Karina Longworth investigated.

"Nothing is going on with those videos. All the videos are rotting in a Salemi room in mice shit," one source there lamented.

Ugh. While the situation turns out not to be quite that dire, the collection's future still seems unresolved.

You can read the whole piece here for all the details.

Watch 21 E. First St. grow before your eyes

The 12-story residential building under construction on Second Avenue at East First Street — officially 21 E. First St. — seems to be quickly progressing...

How it looked in the summer of 2011...

[Google]

And we stopped by every week (or every other week in some cases) to monitor the progress....

June 2

June 9

June 23

June 30

July 14

July 22

Aug. 4

Aug. 11

Aug. 25

Sept. 1

Sept. 8

We're gonna need a bigger camera. Well at least a different vantage point.

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: Rembrandt Duran (and Lucy)
Occupation: Clothing Designer
Location: 9th Street and Avenue A (Tompkins Square Park)
Time: 3:58 on Monday, September 10

"I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 21 years. I’m a Mexican-Dutch New York City born designer. I own my own brand; it’s called Adeen. I’ve always been into cartoons and I just fell in love with the way the cartoons were dressed, so I kind of now design things that aren’t costumey but are reminiscent of the cartoons. It’s my favorite cartoon characters from back in the day but in a really fashionable way. So I guess that’s how my whole brand came alive. The motto is, “Bringing that Saturday morning cartoon feel.”

Surprisingly, everybody has been really receptive towards it. It’s been 2 years since I started the brand and I have 23 stores worldwide that carry my stuff: Sydney, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, LA, and now New York.

I used to be one of those bad kids in the neighborhood. When I was younger, I had really long curly hair and everybody thought I was a girl so I’d run around the sprinklers naked and people would come up to me and be like ‘you’re not a girl!’

One time I almost got shot. We fucked with the wrong cab driver. It was like, "Up, okay… Gotta go; he has a gun." There were other things we did as well that were funny to us at the time, but wouldn’t have been funny to anyone else.

My whole group of friends are not as bad as they used to be anymore; they all changed their lives around. We’re all doing our own things. Either they’re skating, rollerblading, or they’re all off in college. I guess we all just started hanging out less and started focusing more. Everybody’s prospering and doing really great.

The $2 falafel spot is the best; the one on 2nd Avenue between 7th and 8th. Cheep's. Mamoun's is gross; they don’t even have good hot sauce — it’s too hot! The dollar pizza place is the best. That’s really where I chill around the neighborhood."

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

At Kembra Pfahler's 'Fuck Island'

Artist-musician Kembra Pfahler has a new exhibit at PARTICIPANT Inc. at 253 East Houston ... the opening reception was Sunday. (The exhibit runs through Oct. 14). Photographer Walter Wlodarczyk shared these photos with us from Sunday. (See more of his photos here.)

Per the press materials:

“Fuck Island” is a protest anthem, love song, and manifesto written for her band, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. As Pfahler describes this song-as-exhibtion: “It’s the first annual Karen Black cock festival. But it’s really more like a happy funeral. We are celebrating the death of the patriarch, and you are all party to this secret.”

For out more about the exhibit here.