Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Lucy's is closed until Aug. 12 (smiley face)


A reader just asked yesterday morning what was going on with Lucy's on Avenue A. Seemed like the place has been closed the last few days. And no note, like usual.

However! A note appeared yesterday.... Lucy is on holiday again...

Also, this note doesn't quite stack up against previous closed notes...








Exclusive: First look inside Sidewalk's new kitchen


Oh, OK. It's not really an exclusive. Anyone who walked by here on Sixth Street the last few nights probably got a look at Sidewalk's renovated kitchen. Anyway, as we reported a few weeks ago, Sidewalk hopes to reopen by Aug. 5.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Beatbox Kid Lucky on Astor Place today

[Bobby Williams]

[John Marshall Mantel]

East Village post offices spared from possible closure

[Photo via Forgotten NY]

This morning, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe released a "post office study" of nearly 3,700 potential closings in the United States. Despite the massive list, it appears that the Tompkins Square branch on East Third Street between Avenue B and Avenue C has been spared. Its name was not among those that the USPS may shutter to ease the agency's humongous deficit. (The full list is here.) There had been some neighborhood gossip that this small branch may go.

Meanwhile, the other local branches on 14th Street and Fourth Avenue are also not on the closure list.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Photo in front of the Ottendorfer Library on Second Avenue this morning by John Marshall Mantel

The building housing the incoming IHOP on East 14th Street once was a notorious house of smut (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Attorney Street next for more luxification? (BoweryBoogie)

NYU donates furniture (and trash) to new Cooper Square tenant (Runnin' Scared)

Remembering the The Tompkins Square Communist Rally of 1877 (Off the Grid)

A bed-bug infested mattress spotted on Orchard Street (The Lo-Down)

MTA's new $1 MetroCard fee coming soon (Gothamist)

Fire at Yorkville's old-school Hungarian Meat Market (Lost City)

With the Shake Shack Monster coming, will this mean bad news for the Oyster Bar? (Grub Street)

Stalled tractor-trailer clogging up St. Mark's Place entrance

A reader notes that this tractor-trailer has crapped out while making a turn off Third Avenue/Cooper Square onto St. Mark's Place...



The reader says the M8 buses are currently being diverted.

Post confirms that Mars Bar owner Hank Penza plans to open new place

The Post follows up on our story from yesterday that Mars Bar owner Hank Penza wants to launch a new bar nearby in the coming months. Penza told Jeremy Olshan: "I do plan to reopen ... I am looking at a couple of places in the area. I just haven't made a decision yet."

You can read the whole Post piece here. (And we should note that the paper credits EV Grieve in the story.)

Meanwhile, we should note that we haven't seen anything — transfers, etc. — on recent Community Board 2 or 3 dockets that suggest an opening is imminent.

Cancer benefit for TenEleven co-owner Evelyn McCue this Thursday night


The following information is on Facebook... slightly edited for this post

For those of you who are not aware, Evelyn's cancer has returned and we have decided to have the biggest and baddest fundraiser for her so that she won't have to worry about money and bills while recovering.

The date of the fundraiser is Thursday from 7:30 on.

There will be bands - including a solo performance from Uncle Leon of Uncle Leon and the Alibi's at 8 pm and John Embree's Shit show at 9 pm ... a comedy set from Margaret Champagne as well as a panda and a clown.

We have some awesome stuff to raffle off too, including prizes from Tease and Shampoo salon, dinner for two at Porchetta, bar tabs from Doc Holliday's, Royale, Cafecito, Blue Ruin, Milano's, The Library and Nice Guy Eddie's...

PLEASE note that there will be a $10 admission at the door and all tip proceeds will be donated to the cause.


We've always liked Evelyn and TenEleven (this is the former Mickey's Blue Room space), the kind of bar we need more of around here ... featuring the works of local photographers and artists ... and hosting the occasional musician as well as group events...

Workers remove iconic Chow Mein sign on Second Avenue

Construction netting is up now at 197 Second Avenue, in the space above Shoolbred's. Per the DOB: "STUCCO ON FRONT FACADE AS SHOWN ON PLANS." Uh-huh.



Which prompted a very distressing email from EV Grieve reader AC. "They took down the fucking Chow Mein sign!" It took several years, but the old-school neon Chow Mein sign has apparently finally vanished for good.

Here's a shot before Shoolbred's moved in courtesy of Jeremiah, who has been keeping an eye on this part of the former Jade Mountain sign the last four years.

[Via Jeremiah's Vanishing NY]

And you can see that the sign is gone.


Some history. Jade Mountain's owner, Reggie Chan, died after a truck hit him on his bicycle while making a delivery in September 2006. As Lost City noted, Jade Mountain, which had been here since 1931, closed in January 2007.

Per the Times from an article titled "For Bright Beacons, a Murky Future" — "The restaurant ... spoke to a bygone era, serving steaming plates of egg foo yong and moo goo gai pan until the day it closed."

Many people found the sign as comforting as the food. A welcoming glow on Second Avenue. What the Chow Mein sign looked like in all its glory...

[Via Jeremiah's Vanishing NY]

What are the chances that workers will put the Chow Mein sign back up after the renovations are completed?

Right. You don't need to answer.

For further reading:
Jade Mountain (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
Curse of the Jade Restaurant (Lost City)

BaoHaus signage now up on East 14th Street


As Eater first noted, chef/foodie personality Eddie Huang is opening a second BaoHaus location ... this one on East 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Among other things, the shop will feature a "Great Wall of Chinamen" with images of Connie Chung, Genghis Khan, RZA, Gizmo the Gremlin, William Hung, Confucius, Chairman Mao, Kung Fu Panda and Long Duck Dong.

BaoHaus 2 takes over the space that previously housed Thai Me Up. The sign in the window says opening in July 2011.

DOH temporarily closes Company Bar and Grill for 'operating without a permit'


Blue glass points out that the DOH has temporarily closed Company, the bar on East 10th Street near First Avenue. The notice is dated July 21.


Last Monday night, the CB3/SLA committee allowed a transfer of the liquor license in an ownership change at Company, according to Eater.

Xoom opening on 14th Street this Thursday


Xoom president Jennifer London writes in to say that her smoothie shop is opening on Thursday. Xoom moved here adjacent to the CitiFitness space from Seventh Street back in the spring. There is a grand opening party on Sunday from 3-5 p.m. with free samples. The new hours are 7 am - 9 pm Monday through Friday and 8 am - 9 pm Saturday and Sunday.

Monday, July 25, 2011


Photo by Bobby Williams.

In Tompkins Square Park, out of the rain



Photos by Bobby Williams.

Breaking: Soho becoming a winter wonderland


And now, workers are turning Greene Street into a winter wonderland this afternoon ... a reader notes for a TV commercial.

Previously.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition


The history of Movie Star News on East 14th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Rats at play in Tompkins Square Park (Neither More Nor Less)

Why Varvatos was the best person to take over CBGB (The Villager)

Looking at the incoming Tenement Museum Visitor’s Center on Orchard Street (BoweryBoogie)

How New Yorkers used to beat the heat (Ephemeral New York)

Hank Penza, on a chair and on the sidewalk (The Gog Log)

Tenant-owner dispute on Seventh Street results in fire, dead dog, possible civil lawsuit


The Post has this story today. A couple who live on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue were out in January celebrating a legal victory against their landlord, Steven Croman, of Croman Realty. When they returned home, someone had broken into their ground-floor apartment and started a fire in their closet. (We wrote about the fire here.)

Their Labradoodle named Foster died eight days later as a result from the fire, the Post reports. (The couple had been asking Croman to to padlock two doors that led to their backyard.)

Police later arrested a 22-year-old "career criminal" for the burglary and arson. Police didn't find any connection between the man arrested and Croman. Meanwhile, the couple are considering filing a civil lawsuit against Croman Realty. They have since moved and have a new dog.

Read the whole story here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Fire on Seventh Street

An end of an era at the Grassroots Tavern


After 24 years behind the bar at the Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place, John Leeper has retired. We've been trying to guess his age for years. Best guess is between 75 and 80.

His last day was Friday. We're told that a large contingent of regulars from the 4-9 p.m. shift — the times that John normally worked Tuesday through Saturday — were on hand to see him off.

According to an afternoon-shift regular, as John left the Grassroots at 9 p.m. for one last time, the entire bar sang "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow." He stood at the door with his wife, a high school teacher in Brooklyn. He had tears in his eyes. He waved goodbye and headed into the night.

Per the regular: "The Grassroots will never be the same."

Indeed. We've enjoyed his company through the years. John was always good with a story — tall tales or otherwise. We've heard amusing anecdotes about everyone from Joe Namath to Reggie Jackson to (rather randomly!) Claude Akins. He talked about running some after-hours joints in the West Village in the 1970s full of colorful characters, like Jimmy the Slabman.

He tended bar for Hilly Kristal in the early 1970s when Hilly had a place over on Sixth Avenue at Ninth Street. John followed him over here, working briefly at Hilly's on the Bowery, the bar that would later become CBGB. He had a few funny Hilly stories. But he was never nostalgic. Maybe a little too matter-of-fact at times.

John didn't have much patience for bar incompetence. You didn't want to be the person who walked into the Grassroots and ask what kind of beer was on tap when you're standing in front of one of the carefully placed beer lists on the wall. He particularly disliked when, say, four after-work types ordered a $7 pitcher of Budweiser. And all four people fumbled around their wallets or pockets looking for their $2 portion. Why doesn't one person pick up the round? He also lamented that no one read anymore, saying this while watching people who were by themselves at the bar playing with their various smartphones.

But stories and bar etiquette aside, he knew what to say when it mattered most. A job loss. A challenging situation at home. He often served as a father figure. We always knew where to find him. And it seemed like he'd be there forever.

[We thought we had some photos of John, though we couldn't find one. Photo here via]

Rumors: Mars Bar owner Hank Penza ready to open a new space in the next few months

[Photo taken Friday afternoon by Bobby Williams]

In all the Mars Bar hysteria in recent weeks... we continued to hear that owner Hank Penza planned to open a new bar in the next few months (and that he already had the liquor license) ... somewhere within five blocks of where Mars Bar lived since 1984.

Well, this might all be wishful thinking in the aftermath of the bar's abrupt closing last week. However, we've heard this same story from so many different Mars Bar regulars (people who were patrons at different shifts) that there has to be something to the rumors. In fact, Hank has confirmed this to several people.

As we pointed out on Friday, workers began dismantling the bar. However, the person who will serve as manager of the new Penza-run space has the actual bar and jukebox from the Mars Bar for the next place.

Meanwhile, you may have seen photos at Eater of the dismantled Mars Bar on Friday... Goggla has these and other shots from inside this past weekend on her Flickr page...


Behold the Hyatt Union Square, in progress

Workers have removed the scaffolding and construction netting at 132 Fourth Ave., the looong-delayed hotel that will one day be a Hyatt Union Square ...


And here's the rendering... No hydroponic bamboo garden or halo just yet...But we're waiting!

[Image from Archpaper via Curbed]

The hotel is expected to open in fall 2012. According to a news release: "The Hyatt Union Square will be a 4-star hotel with a historic facade and 23‐foot lobby ceilings that will create a unique space for guests. Amenities will include an upscale restaurant, a destination lobby bar, an exclusive rooftop lounge, private terraces, a state of‐the art fitness facility, and a pool."


The Real Deal had a report back on June 29 about Hersha buying this property from the McSam Hotel Group.

Read all our coverage on this here.

51 Astor Place now home to a long and winding sidewalk shed

Workers continue to prep 51 Astor Place for demolition. Late last week, you may have noticed that crews erected the rather lengthy sidewalk shed surrounding the building...





...and the space is prepped for the asbestos removal...


This is the end!

Mikey's Pet Shop space becoming an 'organic, healthy food market'


That's what workers renovating the space on Seventh Street near Avenue A told our Dave on 7th.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mikey's Pet Shop closing at the end of the month

Prime & Beyond New York now open on East 10th Street


Prime & Beyond is now open at the long-dormant space that previously housed Danal on East 10th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. (Jeremiah first reported this coming-soon eatery back on May 17.)

One reader said that the place opened last Thursday. There's already a five-star review on Yelp that reads "Simply awesome awesome meat... the best in the city..."

Anyway, this place is apparently an offshoot of a Fort Lee, N.J.-based steakhouse, as Eater pointed out.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

It's now snowing outside the New York Public Library


An EV Grieve reader sent this in the last hour from Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street... from the magic of TV commercials...Despite the heatwave....

REAL LIVE snow spotted in Midtown

Earlier this afternoon in Midtown ... a reader notes some movie-making magic...

Week in Grieview: Saying bye to the Mars Bar; buying cold drunks; sweating


Workers gutted Superdive (Friday)

Karl Fischer designing on East 12th Street (Thursday)

We bought several cold drunks (Tuesday)

[Photo by EV Grieve reader Rita]

More meatballs are coming to the East Village (Wednesday)

We looked at Pulino's new garden paradise on the Bowery (Monday)

We got an update about the renovations at St. Brigid's (Tuesday)

We pointed out the Bean's second location (Monday)

We first reported that the Mars Bar may be closed temporarily (Monday) then permanently (Monday) ... and flesh flies! (Wednesday)

We exclusively reported that it was hot out (Friday)

We showed solidarity for the Pelican Bay State Prison strike by throwing trash on Second Avenue (Thursday)

And Jane's Sweet Buns opened on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

[Photo of Jane by Allen Semanco]