Beaming up on the Bowery

I snapped a few shots Saturday of the beam action happening at 263 Bowery, just south of Houston. I must have just missed BoweryBoogie, who was there too. BB has more on what's happening here... and the progress thus far on the seven-story mystery project...

Albert Hammond Jr. finds someone else to buy his Third Street apartment

Cityfile has the story. Because he is your favorite Stroke. Or Fab. Maybe Nick? And it's OK if you say Julian. Or Nikolai.

This seems perfectly safe!

According to the description on YouTube: Red Bull Racing NASCAR driver Brian Vickers and his pit crew perform a full pit stop in the middle of Times Square.

The Evolution continues to evolve (sort of)

At Second Avenue and Fourth Street. Can't wait to see what the next incarnation of this space is...

Previously.

Oh! Turns out that I don't have to wait long.... Hunter-Gatherer, still pursuing the Bennigan's dream, happened by and saw some serious renovations under way. As he reported:

It looked like a fairly serious change as the interior has been gutted and the exterior walls have come down. As I queried the construction worker regarding the future tenant he said, “evolution”.

“Really”, I said, “what’s the concept”?

“Flair”, he replied, “flipping bottles, fire tricks…you know, bringing a Las Vegas style bar to New York”.

“Wow, sounds great”, I replied……..thinking that the description sounded vaguely similar to the former ethos of the hallowed halls of E4volution/2X4/Ambiance…

And from the HG Photo Department:



I said this in a comment over at HG: Seems the problem before was the concept, not the bar. So the owners decided to gut the bar and keep the concept?

Yankee Plywood

If you watched any of the Yankees-Mets game on Fox Saturday afternoon, then you probably several shots inside the old Yankee Stadium.


[Via the Demolition of Yankee Stadium Web site.]

I have no idea what was said: With McCarver and Buck in the booth, I had the TV on mute.

It was my understanding that all the seats were being removed (and sold). In any event, if you walk around the old stadium, as I did early Friday evening when I took the following shots, then you'll see what seems like miles of plywood...it now surrounds the old stadium. Wasn't this way during my last visit.







And it seems as if more than seat removal is taking place...



For further reading:
The Destruction of Yankee Stadium Web site

Save Gate 2

The Yankee Stadium Redevelopment Project

Previously on EV Grieve:
With high rises and new shops in the works, it's time to take a look at the area around Yankee Stadium

At the new Yankee Stadium

Meanwhile, across 161st Street...

The Spiderman sightings continue

I continue to read about Spiderman sightings in the neighborhood. The most recent sighting came over the weekend on The Wednesday Weekly, who reported: "Spidey had just gotten off the L Train from Brooklyn (I thought he lived in Queens...) and appeared to be heading somewhere in the East Village."


[Photo via The Wednesday Weekly]

MeikMeik has also noted Spiderman's presence... and Apa Chu... and Michael’s posterous ... and Hypernova ...


[Photo via Apa Chu]

And, might as well play this again...

DBGB signage as pretentious as you'd expect

DBGB opened June 5 on the Bowery... in case you haven't seen the etched signage on the windows of Avalon Bowery Place.






To make matters worse, when I was standing there, one of the etchers yelled, Quel imbécile! Mais qu'est-ce que tu fabriques?

OK, that's not true. But I wish it was!

A quick look inside Keith McNally's new joint on the Bowery

On the topic on high-profile new restaurants on the Bowery... Been some time since I've heard any updates on Keith McNally's new place at Bowery and Houston... there's a whole lot of plywood there to keep the snoops at bay...but the other day, a worker left the door open...



...just for a moment...and this is what's going on inside...

Bread and Butta needs more bread

It seems as if the problems continue for aspiring eatery Bread and Butta on Avenue C near 11th Street.

Reader DianeB passed along these photos... According to her: "I saw the notice, $12,200 in back rent due. This is the third non-payment notice in about 8 months. If this place actually opens a buttered roll and coffee will have to sell for $19.99 to take care of all the debts piling up."

Things that you will be able to smoke on Avenue B

Thanks to reader Elliot for passing along information on the former Lhasa Boutique on Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street.

We now have a photo of the store's new signage... The Exclusive Smoke Shop.



As Elliot noted: "It looks like there's already a good selection of bongs on the shelves inside."

Noted

According to a Web site called OMG!: "We get it Gaga; you have great legs. Now, do us all a favor, and get yourself a real pair of pants."

Last day for the Virgin Megastore (and why you will see so many people wearing Virgin Orlando T-shirts)

Just before 10 a.m. today, some 30 people were waiting in line for the last day of the Virgin Megastore on Union Square. I was not one of them. But when the doors opened, I decided to go in... I was ready to take a picture of the crowd entering the store, but a woman carrying a small dog shoved me.



Everything was 90 to 90 percent off.... One of the workers yelled, "Buy everything people!" And I said, Good luck with that, people.



I was unfamiliar with 90 percent of the artists left behind. Well, there was the Jimmy Buffett Christmas record.



The remaining crap for sale was kept to a small space. The rest of the hulking store sat empty. Somewhere downstairs, workers were yelling, their voices echoing throughout the former Megastore. First time that I'd ever been in here without some music or movie blaring from the speakers.






Somehow, people found stuff to buy. Mostly what was left... I'd say 500-800 Virgin Orlando T-shirts...$1 each!

Gusher on Third Avenue

A fire hydrant sprung a leak this morning at Third Avenue and 12th Street.




Someone had called 911. Just a matter of waiting and being entertained...




Within, say, 8 minutes, a crew arrived from the Department of Environmental Protection.



The oil screw on top of the hydrant was stripped...



So the crew had to shut off the valve under the street. (I don't really know hydrant-speak...you get the idea.)



And why not?

A red-tailed hawk on Seventh Street

On Seventh Street yesterday afternoon...between First Avenue and Second Avenue... There were, oh, 15 to 20 people standing on the north side of the street, looking up toward the roof of the building at No. 80 across the street...As you can sort of see from these photos, a red-tailed hawk was on the top-floor fire escape...




There was plenty of speculation about the hawk's presence, such as the baby pigeons who were nesting in the rain gutter. Efforts to reach the residents in the top-floor apartments were unsuccessful to this point. (And it wasn't made clear what the residents on the top floor were to do with this information.)



Unfortunately, we had to keep walking. We're not sure how this turned out...Before we left, someone joked that, perhaps, the cigar smoke from the ground floor would chase away the hawk...

For further reading on red-tailed hawks:
Today in Tompkins Square Park : Red Tail Drops Lunch in the Snow (Neither More Nor Less)
The Hawks of New York are dying... (Plain in the City)

James Franco vs. Robert Pattinson

Important casting news from ABC News:

James Franco and Robert Pattinson are neck-and-neck for the honor of playing musician Jeff Buckley in a biopic.

Buckley, who lived in the East Village, died in a drowning accident in Memphis on May 29, 1997.

And ABC's pick?

"My vote's on James Franco. Pattinson may be the hot young thang, but Franco can handle the tough roles and has Hollywood staying power. Plus, there's that eerily similar facial structure."

Anyway, according to another report: Jeff Buckley's mom, Mary Guibert, will help oversee the project and says the actor playing her son must sing and play the guitar himself. She claims, "Whoever gets the part will need a lot of self-discipline because they won't be able to fake it. It's going to take a phenomenal set of skills."