Today in outdoor sales

The semi-annual tag sale took place today at Village View... EVG correspondent Stacie Joy arrived just as the winds were picking up, and some residents were packing up for the day...





...she notes that no one bought the Bill Cosby book...



...or the Darth Vader Mr. Potato Head...











... and on East Second Street outside the Le Petit Versailles Garden... Kembra Pfahler, the artist and musician, hosted a sidewalk sale...

Competitive doubles

Photo in Tompkins Square Park today by Goggla

Week in Grieview

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park yesterday by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Steve Croman hit with 20 felony charges; faces 25 years in prison (Monday ... Thursday)

Tenants and local elected officials speak out against Icon Realty (Tuesday)

Other Music closes for good on June 25 (Monday)

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust (Monday)

The moment when a dog urinated on Donald Trump's portrait outside Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday)

In Vino closes for good on East Fourth Street after service tomorrow (Thursday)

Despite looming shutdown, MTA plans to start expanding the First Avenue L stop (Friday)

Without a liquor license, Dahlia's decides to close for now (Monday)

Trader Joe's a possibility for the Extell Development on 14th Street and Avenue A (Thursday)

Out and About with John Ellert (Wednesday)

Branded sidewalk bridge arrives at 347 Bowery along with prices for the million-dollar condos (Wednesday)

New street art for Prince and David Bowie (Thursday)

Mikey Likes It unveils a new ice cream truck (Tuesday)

Loose bricks drama on Third Avenue (Wednesday... Friday)

At the 2016 NYC Cannabis Parade (Sunday)

Jones LES is for sale on East Houston (Wednesday)

Cellar 58 closes for renovations (Tuesday)

Confectionery opens on East Ninth Street (Monday)

Nail salon coming to the former Twist space on Avenue A (Wednesday)

Construction enters awesome pile-driving phase at 438 E. 14th St. (Thursday)

Taking in Mercury's trip across the Sun from Second Avenue (Monday)

Eastville Gardens sells for $44 million on Eighth and Avenue C (Friday)

The Funkiberry space will become a pizzeria — again (Friday)

Vacancy Project bringing hair, art and coffee to East 10th Street (Monday)

The New Museum is expanding on the Bowery (Wednesday)

The new Mamoun's Falafel is now open on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)


[Photo by Steven]

...and as a parting thought, plus always be mindful when parking your semi on First Avenue...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

... and disposing of your ax...

Rats chased Chloë Sevigny from the East Village

Former East Village resident Chloë Sevigny stars in Whit Stillman's new film "Love & Friendship," which opened Friday at the Angelika.

The Guardian UK has a profile on her, in which she discusses a variety of topics... including!

Her former neighborhood:

“The East Village, it’s lost,” Sevigny says with a snort. “Have you seen Astor Place? Starbucks, Citibank, Kmart, and that’s about it. Some of the streets are still holding out – you can still find a few of the old mom-and-pop stores. The avenues? Forget it. They’re gone for good.” She is only 41, but speaks like an old-timer, casting her eyes back to a sepia-toned era.

Why she moved to Brooklyn:

“I got out, in all honesty, because of rats. After Hurricane Sandy, my street was overrun and I couldn’t handle it. The 10th Street Association are going to hate me for saying that. But yes, the rats are all over the East Village, they’re in Tompkins Square. And I lived on the ground floor with the garden, and I could hear them scratching outside the window and I just couldn’t cope.”

Her hometown of Darien, Conn.:

The actor visits regularly, although she doesn’t much like it; again, the place is not what it was. “Change freaks me out,” she says. “The town used to be really charming. Now it’s the whole post McMansion thing, and everybody cuts down the trees because they don’t want to deal with the leaves. And they floodlight everything, and knock down the colonial homes, and put up these big, ugly, boxy-looking things that are very on trend.” She sighs once again, like an aged pioneer. “Everything used to be wilder and more romantic.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chloë Sevigny on the East Village today: 'It’s like a frat house everywhere' (57 comments)

Image via the Love & Friendship website

Letters for Angel

Someone has set this up on the corner of Avenue B and 13th Street... soliciting letters for Angel... (the address is to a box at the 23rd Street post office)...





I don't know Angel, but based on all this I'm assuming he was a piraguero who sold flavored shaved ice here...



Anyone have more information about all this?

'The Devil's Veil' debuts tonight

Longtime East Village resident Anton van Dalen has a new exhibition debuting this evening titled "The Devil’s Veil."

The exhibit will be up through June 19 at Romeo, 90 Ludlow St. (between Delancey and Broome). The opening reception is tonight from 6 to 9. Find more details here.

See the new Jeff Buckley mini-documentary tonight at 2A

Mini-documentary on Jeff Buckley with some musical performances happening tonight upstairs at 2A courtesy of Tom Clark (OAAITEV alum!) ... Doors at 8:30. And there's very limited space.

Find out more about Sunday night events at the Treehouse at 2A here.

The semi-annual Village View tag sale is tomorrow (Sunday!)

The sale is in the playground just behind 60 Avenue A at the corner of East Fourth Street and Avenue A ... from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Take a look at some photos from last fall's sale here.

Noted

A new Urban Etiquette Sign on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...

Photo by Stacie Joy

Today in free flatscreen TVs

This one's up for grabs on East First Street outside Meltzer Towers Park between First Avenue and Avenue A... Per the note taped to the top of the set, "This one works perfectly!!!"

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

The 2016 Street Fair/Festival continues today with another Street Fair/Festival on Second Avenue. (Just like last week.)

Unfortunately, as always, we arrived too soon. So browsing was difficult because there was still traffic zipping down the Avenue ...



By the time we strolled a few blocks to the south, though, the barricades went up and the traffic was stopped... affording the opportunity to bike down the middle of the Avenue just like any other day...



We only spotted one food option so far: sweet corn on the cob (Have you ever seen a restaurant with a Sweet Corn on a Cobb Salad?)...





Officially, this is the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council-St. Stephen Our Lady of Scapular Co-Sponsored Fair.

Second Avenue is closed from 14th Street to Sixth Street. The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

P.S.

It's fine to bring your pets, but please keep them on a leash so they don't get away...


[Photo further down 2nd Ave. by Vinny & O]

Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen goes on summer hiatus after this weekend

An EVG reader let us know that this is the last weekend for the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen at 33 E. Seventh St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square before their customary summer break.

So if you want to load up on their inexpensive stuffed cabbage and pierogis, etc.

The basement cafe, a fundraising arm of the St George Ukrainian Catholic Church up the street, is open (roughly) 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and tomorrow.

Speaking of St. George, the 40th annual Ukrainian Festival is next weekend on this block...



H/T Eddie!

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen

Skylines and sunsets

Sunsetting action this evening looking toward the Christodora House (above) and North Miami Beach Williamsburg (below)...



Photos by Bobby Williams

Puddle people rise up!

Photo today via Grant Shaffer

Monk power

The Brooklyn-based Honey's new LP is out this week... Named WFMU's release of the day yesterday:

"Hawkwindy/Stooge-oid driving/hooky scuzz trio from Brooklyn."

The above video is for the song "Monk."

EV Grieve Etc.: East Village restaurateurs launch collective; Merchant’s House Museum turns 80

[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]

Where New York is gentrifying and where it isn't (City Lab)

At Tompkins Square Park, "the outdoor barometer of homelessness in New York City" (The Awl)

East Village restaurateurs launch Eastville Restaurant Collective (Eater)

Baker's Pizza is an NYC "slice destination" on Avenue A (Gothamist)

Christo gathers a feast for the fam in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)

More about who knew what and when about the deed lifting at the former Rivington House (The Lo-Down)

The charges against Steve Croman: "lost in all this schadenfreude is the uncomfortable fact that Croman and his son are embodiments of unfortunate stereotypes about Jews" (Tablet)

On-the-lam owner of Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck busted in Tennessee (Gothamist ... Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Third Street Music School Settlement, "America's longest-running community music school" (NY1)

Alex on the impending loss of Other Music (Flaming Pablum)

Merchant’s House Museum on East Fourth Street turns 80 (Off the Grid)

A look inside Beetle House on East Sixth Street (Grub Street... previously)

At the car wash with Jeremiah Moss! (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Making a network of malls in Midtown — in the 1970s (Ephemeral New York)

... and there's sale tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Dias y Flores Community Garden, 520 E. 13th St. between Avenue and Avenue B...

No, LinkNYC didn't set up a kiosk in Tompkins Square Park

In case someone asks.

Photo this morning via Steven.

[Updated] A pre-rush hour look at 3rd Avenue

In the aftermath of Wednesday evening's loose bricks drama... traffic has opened up on the streets surrounding 115 E. Ninth St. ... one lane anyway on Third Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street...



And here's a look at the facade situation...



A DOB spokesperson told DNAinfo that they will carry out a partial demolition to rebuild the unstable part of the facade. There isn't any timeline on the repairs.

DOB records show vacate orders on three units — 14C, 15C and 16C.

Updated 2:30

Third Avenue and the surrounding streets are back open...





...and it appears work continues on the facade...



Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updating] Danger of falling bricks on 9th Street and 3rd Avenue

This morning in photo shoots on Avenue A

Near East 11th Street. Photo by Shawn Chittle.

Report: Despite looming shutdown, MTA plans to start expanding the 1st Avenue L stop

[Photo via EVG reader Michael]

The MTA has now held two meetings for people to yell at them (as Gothamist put it) about the looming L train shutdown to repair the Sandy-damaged tubes.

The two not-great options are basically: total shutdown for a projected 18 months. Or! A partial shutdown with repair work lasting for three (heh, sure) years.

There has been a lot of coverage about the various scenarios ... concerns from straphangers, residents, business owners... (You can check out some coverage at Curbed ... Gothamist ... The New York Times ... Here's a report from last night's meeting via DNAinfo)

Meanwhile! DNAinfo reports that the MTA will begin construction of new entrances to the First Avenue L train stop next year... However, this could all be a big tease, depending on the option the MTA goes with for the tube repairs. As DNAinfo notes:

[I]f the Manhattan stops along 14th Street shut down along with the Brooklyn-to-Manhattan service as some reports suggest could be a possibility, it could be years before riders can take full advantage of the new stairwells.

And here's the rendering for the Avenue A entrance via the MTA (h/t EVG reader Jeffrey!)...



As we previously noted, the MTA 2015-2019 Capital Plan, which was approved by the MTA Board last October, includes $71.9 million for a new entrance to the overcrowded First Avenue stop ... in part to make the entrances ADA compliant.

After last night's public meeting about the L, MTA officials will next hook up with local community boards for discussion before making a final recommendation possibly later this summer. The main work is set to begin in early 2019.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is an Avenue A entrance for the L train in our future?

Avenue A L train entrance closer to a reality … some day

City council members talk up new L train entrance coming to Avenue A

Hey, the Funkiberry space will become a pizzeria (again)

Workers have been busy inside the former Funkiberry froyo space on Third Avenue and East 12th Street. This past week, an EVG reader saw workers bringing in "regular, not wood burning, ovens." A worker also told EVG correspondent Steven that the space was to become a pizzeria. Not sure at the moment who the tenant will be.

Probably would have made sense to leave the pizza ovens intact after AAA (New) Amici Pizza got RentHikeitis and closed in July 2013. The corner space had been home to at least two pizzerias before this.

F-berry closed in March 2015 after nine months in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Stuff that you can't make up: More FroYo for the East Village

Ghost signage uncovered on Third Avenue and East 12th Street

DOUBLE ghost signage discovered at 88 3rd Ave.

Hey, the Funkiberry sign is up on 3rd Avenue

Hey, Funkiberry is now open on 3rd Avenue

Hey, the Funkiberry space is for lease on 3rd Avenue

Hey, the Funkiberry closed on 3rd Avenue

Report: Eastville Gardens sells for $44 million on 8th and C

[Image via Streeteasy]

L+M Development Partners is the new owner of the Eastville Gardens, the 7-story residential building with an Associated Supermarket in the retail space on Eighth Street and Avenue C.

According to The Real Deal, who first reported on the transaction:

The developer paid $44 million to owner BFC Partners, which finished developing the building at 342 East 8th Street in 2002. The seven-story building, near Avenue C, has a mix of market-rate units and affordable housing. A Baptist church is also on the site, but doesn’t appear to be part of the deal.

The Commercial Observer reported that L+M and BFC swapped Manhattan residential properties as part of a 1031 exchange.

Eastville Gardens is on the site once occupied by El Jardin de la Esperanza.

Here's more on what happened there via The Local/New York Times:

In 1999, community gardeners occupied the site of the Esperanza garden with a giant frog sculpture that doubled as a tree house. Even after the site had been bulldozed, a late-night party descended into chaos as 150 people stormed the lot, clashing with the police and injuring seven officers. Gardeners had previously launched a court case, but the New York Supreme Court ruled the project could go ahead. (In response to a suit filed by then-attorney general Eliot L. Spitzer, another Supreme Court ruling halted all work on other community gardens — the day after the East Village site was bulldozed.)

Donald Capoccia, who operates BFC Partners, is behind the Jupiter 21 residential building at 11-17 Second Ave. ... as well as part of the venture developing Essex Crossing (along with L+M Development).

Not sure what, if anything, this might mean for the Associated. The owners can't seem to get a break. The same owners ran the Associated on West 14th Street that recently had to close due to an exorbitant rent hike ... as well as the Met Foods on Third Avenue and East 17th Street, which closed in April 2015. Principal owner Joseph Falzon and his partners have reportedly been working with Blackstone to come to an agreement for the Stuy Town Associated before their lease expires for that store in 2017.

And what will become of the unused lot between Eastville Gardens and 115 Avenue C? The only activity there the past 14 years has been someone cutting back the weeds.


[Photo from November]