Meanwhile, Extra Place continues to maintain its proud heritage

Previously.

Predators lurk outside Michael Huynh's new eatery on St. Mark's Place

Michael Huynh's D.O.B. opens soon on St. Mark's Place at the site of the former Australian Homemade... They'll be serving French Vietnamese cuisine...

And look at those new scorpions adorning the wall...





A few doors down, I see a theme emerging...



Hell, of course.

On Avenue B, Zaitzeff is reaching out to neighbors about its new liquor license

Not sure what else to say about this flier from the burger joint other than what's on the sign..



...and that it seems like a thoughtful thing to do. For instance, I can think of a few bar managers/owners who promised to meet with concerned neighbors after opening... Flashing back now to August...

One of the organizers said that Superdive has agreed to a meeting with neighbors, and that CB3 and 9th Precinct officials may attend as well. No date was mentioned.

Lou Reed's Olympic Moment

If you're watching any of the Winter Olympics, then you've likely seen this AT&T ad featuring Gretchen Bleiler, 2006 Olympic Silver Medalist in Snowboarding...

And you know the song by Lou Reed...



And it's not the first time a VU/Lou Reed song has been used in an ad.

When models are off duty, they hang around here just like us!

The Post has a fashion spread titled "Model Off Duty" today... "When these beauties are off the clock, their looks still rock (and how!)" .... Apparently when they're off-duty, they're hanging around here... locations include Tompkins Square Park, Max Fish and Schiller's...





In the paper, each photo (shot by Tamara Beckwith), include a caption such as "You wish you could look this good sitting on a pool table." (The Max Fish shot.) My caption would be: "Cher called, she wants her outfit back."

Update: Melanie has a shot of the photo shoot at TSP back in January...and a photo of the model.

MTV looking for Lower East Side residents with "SERIOUS roommate issues"

Per Craigslist:

TRUE LIFE: I Have Roommate Issues

Has your living situation become a nightmare? Are you fighting ALL the time?? Got some SERIOUS roommate issues??


Email us DIRECTLY at:
--- roommate@mtvn.com ---

Tell us as much about your situation as possible. Also, please be sure to include your name, location, PHONE NUMBER, and photo.

Please note that it would help if you had ripped abs, big boobs and are incredibly stupid.

TV pilot now filming in the Tompkins Square Park dog run

In case you're wondering what's going on there now...

We are shooting a television pilot in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and we are looking for dogs and their owners for a scene in a dog park. We are shooting early tomorrow morning, February 15, 2010, so please respond ASAP with a picture of the dog, and any other relevant details.
There is no pay, but there will be FREE FOOD!!
You must provide your own leash, and it would probably be a good idea to bring a water bowl, as the filming will last until sundown.

That's the trouble with you readers, you know all the plots.

Oh. And watch the ice!

Valentine's Day cheese and bacon recap

Avenue A loses some shade

You know that nice tree on Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street, roughly in front of San Loco? This one:



It's gone. A resident who lives in one of these buildings said the tree was seemingly healthy. Then one day last week: There's a "guy in a cherrypicker outside my window with a chainsaw taking the tree apart."





And notice how much else has changed on Avenue A... that Google streetview shot is from spring 2009...

Noted

On Avenue C and Seventh Street.

Tagging trends

One more photo and we have enough for a trend! Your move, dickchicken!

The Bowery, 10:22 a.m., Feb. 15

Bowery and First Street likely not ready to blow up

I bravely walked again on First Street near the Bowery... where all those fire trucks were the other day. It looks as if ConEd is on it.



The problem should be fixed by the fall. Of 2011.

The Big Black Bus on Avenue A

Earlier today I spotted this parked along Avenue A...





Looked up that Web site and found that it's country singer Kelli Lidell. This vehicle is called The Big Black Bus. I have no idea why it's parked here. Anyway, I read more of her bio... and as a kid she liked Dave Dudley and Jimmy Dean, among others.

All I have to say: Dave Dudley knew.

Avenue B entrance to Tompkins Square Park still locked up...

While out for a walk around Tompkins Square Park a few minutes ago this morning...I noticed...




The entrance to the Park is still locked up on Avenue B and Eighth Street at roughly 11 a.m. I'd say maybe the Park folks were all busy deicing the eastern approach to the dog run...but it's still a solid sheet of ice.

Eastern approach to Tompkins Square Park still treacherous

There's some improvement here from yesterday. But it's still treacherous... solid ice with no clear pathway.

Noted

In front of the Redhead, 13th Street near First Avenue.

A special Valentine's via Craigslist: "have fun jerking it to the pics you took of the bartenders"

Epic smackdown via Criagslist.

Douchebag at LIT obsessed with my teeth, - w4m - 37 (East Village)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2010-02-13, 5:06AM EST

Yeah, you're the "hipster" ass at LIT who insulted me for no reason than I caught you buying Maxim or some pathetic mag at the bodega. You obviously have women issues to just walk up to me in a bar and throw insults - especially when my teeth are white and perfect. Jealous much? Horny much?..then of course, you run away when I talk back. You are pretty unattractive in the first place - and you probably haven't gotten laid for years..you should just masturbate before you go out clubbing..then you may stand a chance. You're uncalled for hatred of me spoke volumes about your lonely pathetic "life". I may not be a model, but i'm way more attractive than you are in anyone's book..What a douchebag you are - insult my teeth then run away. I would gladly have told you off more since I live on that block for 17 years and was quite comfortable there - but you were out of your hood so you must have hopped in your little old cab to Billyburg..Ah well, hope to see you at LIT again soon - i'll surely remember your ugly face and since they love me there we are bound to have a GREAT time...See ya soon...have fun jerking it to the pics you took of the bartenders..Maybe you'll get them in Vice even! Oh - and besides your crooked teeth, you have a bad nose, zits and a gross body I noticed. Sorry-just being honest! I'm sure you've heard it all before!

Reminders tonight: Ray's delivery service starts

Here's that number: 718-473-9636

Previously:
Ray's new Saturday evening delivery service starts tomorrow

Practice Run for Ray's Delivery Project and Other Things Ray (Neither More Nor Less)

Miguel, call Lilly with the partially shaved kitty!

Have you seen all those "Desperately seeking Miguel" fliers on Second Avenue? The person here met Miguel at Lit, and he lives on Second Avenue and Sixth Street...



I hesitate to even post something like this...given it's likely a viral markerting scheme for an HBO show or some urban art project... Still! I looked up the number convenitently listed on dozens of fliers on public sidewalks ... and it took me to this Web site (NSFW). This number brought me to Lilly on My Red Book, a place for "Escort, Massage, and Strip Club Reviews."

Funny what you can learn about someone on the Internet... Such as she has a "partially shaved kitty."



Anyway, Miguel! Call her!

Parks Department apparently doesn't care if you fall on your ass on the way to the Tompkins Square Park dog run

Where the term "sheet of ice" is acceptable to use. I've heard some people grumble about this... things like, "Would it kill them to throw down a little salt over here..."

Paying our respects to the pay phone

[My photo from Second Avenue at St. Mark's]

Interesting piece in the Times today ... Manny Fernandez does a day in the life of a vanishing part of our streetscape: The pay phone ... He talks with different folks using a pay phone on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens... A few facts from the article:

The Queens Boulevard pay phone is one of 16,358 on the city’s sidewalks, according to the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the city agency that regulates them. The total has steadily decreased as cellphone usage has proliferated — 33,335 in 2000, 28,971 in 2004, 16,358 today. There are thousands more inside bars, restaurants and private buildings that the city does not regulate.

Verizon, which owns many, though not all, of the city’s pay phones, operates about 7,000 on the sidewalks and another 18,000 in subway stations and buildings.

My favorite pay phones -- today, at least -- are at the Subway Inn.

Be my Valentine

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Panty time on Houston and Orchard, courtesy of American Apparel, of course.

New Web site writes about NYC store openings and closings (Launch Stalker)

Jeremiah has a history of Village Paper... and some fire theories. (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Melanie got a look inside the old Australian joint on St. Mark's that will soon be D.O.B. (East Village Corner...Musings by Melanie)

Eco-indulgent living on 11th Street selling well (Curbed)

A recap of Day of Ray (The Villager)

A shortage of bitters on the LES (The Observer)

Big Kisses on Houston (BoweryBoogie)

Aside from the peepee phone, of course: Public bathrooms in NYC (Untapped New York, via Patell and Waterman’s History of New York)

This photo by Ozier Muhammad in the Times pretty much sums up why we hate Bloomy's public plazas in Times Square. New York Traffic Experiment Gets Permanent Run.