2nd Avenue update (March 29)

[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

The latest headlines

Possibility of criminal charges in New York City building collapse growing (ABC News)

Months before East Village blast, utility found gas line was tapped in dangerous way (The New York Times)

Investigators question whether cause of East Village explosion is criminal (WABC-7)

East Village explosion underscores city's infrastructure woes (Crain's)

Heartless visitors snap selfies at East Village blast site (New York Post)

Donations and Services

• The Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC continues to collect donations to help address the needs of residents displaced by the explosion. Find the website here with more details.

• A parishioner from Church of the Nativity, Mildred Guy, lost her home in the fire. Today, Nativity will be collecting clothes, sheets and funds for displaced victims from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Donations will be going to the Red Cross. The Church is at 44 Second Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street.

• Theater for the New City on First Avenue is offering FREE clothing from their costume collection ("costume" street wear) to its neighbors displaced by the explosion. They have coats, jackets and other clothing. Call 212-254-1109 to make an appointment.

• From 5-8 p.m. today, Professor Thom's is hosting a fundraiser for their Second Avenue neighbors. Per a Professor Thom's manager: "100 percent of all donations collected will go directly to helping our neighbors who have been affected by this."

The Loft at Professor Thom's (219 2nd Avenue between East 13th Street and East 14th Street) A $25 donation gets a bracelet for $1 well drinks & domestic beer, $2 wine and imported beer.

• EVG reader Sierra writes in to say:

We have an apartment on 9th Street and Avenue C. We can easily live in half of it as it's currently two apartments not yet combined. Our home is furnished and completely private. A single person or couple would be best for the size of the space. We can offer a two-week stay, just ask for proof of address.

Email her here

• EVG reader Gojira also has an extra room for a displaced resident. "I have a large, unused room in my apartment, free to a displaced single or couple, but you must be okay with cats. Email me here. I can host for a month. Proof of address required."

• A displaced resident named Alex left this comment on a previous post:

Hello! I live at E 41 7th, and we are displaced and awaiting news. If anyone is interested in volunteering anything, you can contact the Red Cross...or take things to 169 Avenue B. They already have lots of things. But as a displaced person who will most likely be in long term shelter for a while, a few things that needed (and got elsewhere! Yay!), but others may need are: ear plugs and eye masks (for sleeping in shared housing), slippers, pajamas, mittens/gloves/hates/scarves (I had a coat, but didn't need gloves on Thursday when I left, but needed them today). New underwear & simple socks. Laundry detergent, even small containers of it, shower caps, bathrobes, travel things, small individual instant coffee things, simple cups/mugs, plates & cutlery (I'm in shelter and got food, but don't have a cup for coffee).

• Manhattan Mini Storage is offer free storage for displaced residents. Details here

SUVs now catching on fire outside the Con Ed plant

A scene on East 14th Street at Avenue C around 4 p.m. … outside the Con Ed plant, which likely had nothing to do with this SUV fire.

Thanks to @soaperynyc for the photo!

The breaker pop heard 'round the neighborhood

[Photo from Feb. 16]

We talked with several people about the noise/bang/pop/explosion at the Con Ed power plant and subsequent flicker in the power on Saturday night... it didn't go unnoticed (as is usually the case) ...

@fnytv @ConEdison sure was and I saw a flash of blue light towards the east

— M. Dunn-Srimuangboon (@BuckLikeBronco) February 22, 2015

The Villager talked with Con Ed spokesperson Sidney Alvarez to see what happened at the plant on East 14th Street and Avenue C.

“Basically, in a nutshell, we had some equipment malfunction within our facility. In a nutshell, a breaker popped — and the cause was freezing rain.”

The Fire Department responded but there was no fire, and there were no injuries, Alvarez reported.

The spokesperson didn’t disagree that East Villagers had likely heard a thunderous bang.

“I’m sure they would have heard something,” he said.

As for a white flash in the sky, he said, there was no information regarding that in an internal report he was reading from, but he didn’t deny that it could have happened.

“But there was no fire, no spark,” he noted.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village residents ask: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT NOISE LAST NIGHT?

Con Ed making strides so that the East 13th Street substation doesn't explode again

Week in Grieview

[Photo from East 10th Street Friday by William Klayer]

Author/bar owner Evelyn Dahab dies in East First Street apartment fire (Wednesday)

International owners planning seafood market-restaurant for the space (Monday)

More about the world's smallest screening room coming to Two Boots on Avenue A (Tuesday)

Ben Shaoul's bland new Second Avenue building is called The East Luxe (Friday)

Ray's Candy Store hit with $200 fine for inadequate doughnut labels (Wednesday)

Here is the New York Sports Club building on Avenue A (Friday)

Wechsler's Currywurst and Bratwurst has closed on First Avenue (Tuesday)

MoRUS turns 2 (Thursday)

Part two of our interview with Arthur Nersesian (Wednesday)

Partial dorm reveal on Cooper Square (Friday)

A 14-screen Regal Cinemas theater with electronic reclining seats coming to the LES (Monday)

Fire destroys two apartments at 542 E. 14th St. (Wednesday)

One way to support the trees in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)

The former Gracefully space is for rent on A (Monday)

Bendy thing action at 185-193 Avenue B (Tuesday)

City Comptroller audit finds poor maintenance and shoddy oversight of the Citi Bike program (Friday)

Jared Kushner East Village buying spree continues (Thursday)

The latest Steve Croman legal news (Tuesday)

The Dee Dee Ramone exhibit is now open (Wednesday)

Rendering mix-up at 67 Avenue C (Monday)

BARA debuts on East First Street (Tuesday)

… and yesterday, the NYPD removed the month-old patrol tower on East Third Street and Avenue C …

Week in Grieview

[Why did Zoltar move? He loves Paul's! Photo by Derek Berg]

Gracefully is closing on Avenue A (Monday)

Q-and-A with Vanessa McDonnell, director of the John's of 12th Street documentary (Thursday)

East Village Radio is returning (Friday)

Native Bean moving soon on Avenue A (Thursday)

Q-and-A with activist Kelly Cogswell, author of "Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger" (Tuesday)

Pizza Bagel Cafe yielding to a T-Mobil store on East 14th Street and First Avenue (Tuesday)

City's first cat cafe opening on the LES (Thursday)

Out and About with Ben Bahud (Wednesday)

Coming soon to First Avenue: Sweet Generation, "A Bakery for Arts Education" (Monday)

Facebook is here now in Midtown South (Wednesday)

The Marshal seizes Cafe Cambodge on Avenue C (Thursday)

$73 million and Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 is all yours (Friday)

John Lurie's new live Internet radio show debuts (Wednesday)

LaVie in rubble (Friday)

zPizza closes on First Avenue (Monday)

A Building condo returns to market WITHOUT THE SLIDE (Tuesday)

Heavenly Market opens on Third Avenue (Friday)

Awwwwwwwww: Christo and Dora make cute in the sunset (Tuesday)

Momofuku-French Louie vets bringing BARA to East First Street (Monday)

Refurbished El Sombrero debuts (Wednesday)

New residential building for former Mobil station lot will be 10 floors with 0 zero affordable units (Wednesday)

57 Second Ave. available for $30 million (Thursday)

Mystery mounds (Friday)

Mile High Run Club is up and running (Monday)

… and we realized that we never noted the arrival of the recently relocated Cloak & Dagger boutique at 334 E. Ninth St. … in the former Archangel Antiques space…

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: Jamie (he declined to have his photo taken)
Occupation: Check Cashing Guy
Location: 5th Street between 1st and 2nd
Date: 4:30 pm on Monday, Aug. 25

I’m from Brooklyn, East New York. I grew up in the projects. I had a great time. Projects back then were a little bit different than they are now. I thought they were great.

When we were growing up the playground consisted of monkey bars, one round cement thing and a seesaw. Concrete everywhere. There was no rubber or nothing like that. Everybody who has ever played on that would tell you that they either busted their shoulder or something like that. Everybody got hurt on one of those things.

The thing that I loved about the projects was that you had to negotiate within your building, then this building across from you might not have liked your building, so you had to negotiate with them, and not only that, but your development might not have liked the development across the street.

But the best thing was that it was a community. Everybody knew you. If you did something wrong you were in trouble before you even got home. When they said that the night has a thousand eyes, believe me, they knew. It was a good time, plus we had an imagination. We had nothing indoors, so everything was outdoors. A stick was everything in the world to us. Now if you give a stick to a kid he’s just going to hit you with it.

My grandparents opened this store in 1946, so for 67 years this place has been around. It used to be on East 2nd Street and when they closed that they moved here. My grandparents used to take me into the store when I was 8 years old. They had four stores. All the brothers and my grandfather had a store. There was another store on Broadway and Bleecker. I was always taken to that store. That was where my grandmother would take me, away from my grandfather and uncle. I was always the guy running up the bills, when everything was pen and paper. On the weekends if I didn’t run out fast enough it was, ‘You’re helping grandma today.’ That was how I got started.

Back then there were not many check cashers. Now there’s a whole flood. You had this check casher here, then you had one on Essex, Broadway and Bleecker, 14th Street, and 23rd Street. That was it. So if you’ve lived in this neighborhood, or you know anybody who was ever on the fringe, they went in, whether they paid a bill or cashed a check. We had celebrities from here to there. It’s amazing when I look at the old card file. In every walk of life there are a lot of interesting people and I won’t talk about them, but they made a lot of colorful nights that made your day go quick. It was always a warm feeling when people came in and they didn’t hate the store.

A lot of people misunderstand check cashing stores. You can’t just look at something now. You’ve got to take history into account. Back in the old days there were no banks around here. There was nothing here, and if there was a bank you needed $5,000 or $1,500 and they really didn’t want to deal with that type of population. They didn’t want the mother coming in with the two kids filling out all the forms. So check cashers arose to fill that need. We were the first ATM machines. Banks were 9 am-3 pm Monday through Friday, then say goodnight. There was no 24 hours. We filled the void that we would be open earlier and closed later. At the same time, there are a lot of people, whether they want to say it or not, living week to week with their paycheck. The majority of United States people owe a lot of money on credit. I think [all the banks around now] are a major write-off for them because you can’t have that many customers.

My father was killed during a holdup, working in his own store. That was 1972. So life changed at that point. I was 13. I don’t think my father wanted me to go into his line of work. He wanted me to be my own person. He used to say to me, ‘Jamie, I want to be known as Jamie’s father, versus you being known as Sidney’s son.‘ That was his biggest wish. School was very important. To get into a city school back then you needed an 85 average. There was no deviation from it. So I made sure I was in the 90s. It wasn’t a suggestion; it was a fact of life. You’re going to college.

Who knows, life would have been a little bit different. My mother suffered very badly from asthma and we were going to be going to Arizona at the time. That’s where the doctors recommended to go. We were ready to pick up and go. She was the one that stopped us. So that was it, we stayed around. Then my uncle passed away in 1988 and he offered the store to everybody else and nobody wanted it so I bought it from the rest of the family. I’ve been running it ever since then. The major thing is that when I walk in there it’s not a job. When I walk in there I see my grandmother, I see my grandfather. Cleaning out things, I come across handwriting. It’s a whole life in there and when I walk out and look at the neighborhood, it’s completely changed.

A job is one thing, but this is history. I cannot tell you how many people come in and say, ‘I was here when I was this big.’ They leave the neighborhood and come back and say, ‘You’re still here?’ I joke and say that they never gave me the key to get out. You see, there’s happiness. There’s a conversation. I know everybody, I know your name, I know your kids, I know if you’ve had an operation. There were a lot of colorful people, people that only wanted the money from their left hand. I couldn’t give it to you with my right hand.

We always charged less than other check cashers. I made a living, my kids were taken of and my wife was taken care of. I knew that there was a lot of hardship and if I could have helped, if I could put a dollar, or two or three or four in your pocket… so we always charged less. That was my way of giving back to the neighborhood. Unless you had been to another place, you didn’t know. So what happened was when I was closed for that one week people would come back and say, ‘Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re back!’ They would be shocked.

There’s a lot of hurt; you see it. When you work the window it’s worse. You hear the pain; you hear things; you see the aging. You’ve got kids just starting off and parents with two kids… if I can give you a happy meal. My accountant hates my guts. A lot of check cashers hate my guts because I make them look bad. They wouldn’t give me certain services unless I raise my rates. I tried to explain to people that they’re not charging you more, they’re not stealing from you, they’re charging you the legit rate that I could charge you, but I’m not. It put a smile on me.

So far nothing has been happening [getting back into the store]. I’m trying to get in. That’s the most important thing. I’m trying not to make waves, just trying to get inside. I just don’t understand why it’s taking so long. What happened was there was some construction being done [in the building] and a person put their foot through the ceiling. The person below them had enough and finally called the fire department and police department. Because of the condition of the place, the fire department looked, didn’t like what they saw, didn’t see any permits, and they went around the whole building. By the end of the day, it was everybody out — full vacate.

There’s hope because we know that there are people in the building [on the 4th floor]. So I don’t understand why they don’t let us back there. We were hoping for a resolution a little bit faster than it has. It was supposed to be a lot faster. It was a, ‘Ra ra, we’re going to get you guys in.’ I thought it was going to be one or two days, but then I saw that wasn’t happening. But I’m learning a little history. This is one building but it used to be two buildings. In the 1950s these were two separate buildings and they combined the two. So that’s why the other side is back in. They’re in a different structure.

A lot of people don’t see me now [in an armored truck across from the store]. I had to rent the truck. This was supposed to be a stopgap and next thing you know it’s becoming a way of life.

What’s upsetting is that no matter what happened, we were always open. If there was a blackout, we were open. During Hurricane Sandy and the blackout, we were open. People knew. They would come around the corner. People would come from the Bronx and Brooklyn. They had check cashers right underneath them, but they’d say, ‘You know what, you treated me like a person. I walked in, I was just going on recovery or something like that, you didn’t talk down to me, I’m your customer for life.’ They knew no matter what happened, there’s a light on. That’s what’s hurting me the most is that I’m not in there.

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

Demolition watch along East 14th Street

A month has passed since we checked in on the demolition progress on East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Workers have just taken out the fire-damaged spaces of the former Stuyvesant Grocery, Pete's-a-Place, Jackson Hewitt and the beauty shop starting at the southeast corner of East 14th Street and Avenue A...





The buildings that housed Rainbow and (sniff!) the Blarney Cove are mid-rubble at the moment.



Coming soon along this corridor — two, 7-floor retail-residential buildings.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units

3 storefronts down in the ongoing demolition of East 14th Street

Week in Grieview

[Supermoon over the East Village photo by Allen Ackerman]

After 76 years, Bowlmor Lanes has closed (Monday)

How Kushner is treating residents at 170-174 E. Second St. (Thursday)

Snack Dragon closing this month (Friday)

Starbucks-owned Teavana coming to the former Silver Spurs space on Broadway (Tuesday)

Stage Restaurant returns from holiday (Wednesday)

Car fire! (Wednesday)

There's not much left of 324 E. Fourth St. (Tuesday)

NYU adding building to former Plantworks garden center space (Wednesday)

IHOP on East 14th Street now has a sidewalk cafe (Thursday)

It's always nice to hear from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street (Friday)

Rodeo Bar is closing (Thursday)

GNC opening at 79 Third Ave. (Monday)

Goat Town has closed (Monday)

Mimi Cheng's Dumplings now open on Second Avenue (Wednesday)

The Second Avenue BP station is gone (Tuesday)

The first batch of books arrive at the new St. Mark's Bookshop (Thursday, and the former location has been gutted)

Sushi proposed for former Cafe Rakka space on Avenue B (Tuesday)

A look at those new condos on East Seventh Street (Thursday)

Sketchy pink box update (Tuesday)

A summer moment (Sunday)

Week in Grieview

[2nd Avenue bus on fire lane photo from July 4 via Derek Berg]

LIGHTNING STRIKES (Wednesday)

Painting the Dodge heading West (Tuesday)

We will miss First Avenue Pierogi and Deli (Wednesday)

Pricing for new condos at 227 E. Seventh St. (Tuesday)

99-Cent Discount Center latest lost-lease casualty on East 14th Street (Monday)

Your new Dunkin' Donuts has arrived on Cooper Square (Monday)

Golden Cadillac closes (Wednesday, 29 comments)

Sketchy pink boxes alert (Tuesday… Thursday)

Closing date for BP station on Second Avenue (Monday)

Exclusive: It was the the Fourth of July (Friday)

Bass thief (Thursday)

Rendering reveal for 76 E. Houston St. (Thursday)

Financial help for Citi Bike (Wednesday) … not to mention a valet service (Thursday)

Opening for new St. Mark's Bookshop pushed back (Tuesday)

Retro crotch grab at Mousey's (Thursday)

The Mobil station reopens (Monday)

The townhouse at 356 E. Eighth St. is back on the market (Thursday)

Check out this "charming studio" (Wednesday)

Transforming Eleventh and Third (Tuesday)

… and you always post photos of macaws on East Ninth Street …


[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

And check out the placement of the Times with the photo of Brazil star Neymar … Was the macaw's owner rooting for Colombia?

Say goodbye to the temporary fire truck garage on East 14th Street

[EVG file photo from August 2013]

Workers today disassembled the temporary structure outside Engine Company 5 on East 14th Street near First Avenue. For the past 10 months, the pen had been housing the truck from Ladder Company 3 on East 13th Street near Fourth Avenue ... while that station house underwent repairs ...


[Photo by EVG reader Pinch]

Previously on EV Grieve:
This open, airy, East Village studio seeks $2,600 a month

The demolition gets serious on East 14th Street

Last Monday, workers began taking apart the single-level buildings on East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The crew has moved on from hand tools now, as the above photo by James and Karla Murray shows. (This looks to be the former ABC Animal Hospital.)

Workers are making room for two, 7-floor retail-residential buildings featuring 150 residential units.

Also, as EVG Facebook friend Michael Paul noted, Monday marked the 4-year anniversary of the fire on East 14th Street and Avenue A that wiped out Stuyvesant Grocery, Pete's-a-Place, Jackson Hewitt and the beauty shop ... an event that perhaps set this whole development in motion?

[Photo by EVG reader Sergey]

Previously on EV Grieve:
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units

Week in Grieview

[Double the hawk fun in Tompkins Square Park yesterday via Bobby Williams]

Former La Vie space will be demolished (Wednesday)

Xi'an Famous Foods closes for renovation (Thursday)

RIP Boukiés (Friday)

A return for Sapporo East? (Friday)

Another Ben Shaoul special for the LES? (Tuesday)

Out and About with Margery Teplitz (Wednesday)

Archangel Antiques is calling it a day (Thursday)

FroYo casualty (Monday)

A record deal for the Death Star (Monday)

47-year-old Stromboli Pizza closed on University Place (Tuesday)

Welcome to EV Grieve's (Friday, 31 comments)

Check out this rooftop addition to this East Second Street building (Thursday)

Report of a late-night fire at 145 Second Ave. (Wednesday)

Landmark hearing for East 14th Street synagogue (Friday)

Burkina is now known as Got it 4 cheap™ (Tuesday)

This apartment is not abandoned (Tuesday)

The Tree Chair of East Sixth Street needs some TLC (Monday)

If you were looking for an apartment with a red suspension bridge (Thursday)

[Updated] Reader report: Cab crashes into Optyx on Second Avenue and East 14th Street

An EVG reader sends along the above photo from a little earlier this afternoon (roughly around 4:45), noting "Multiple fire trucks, cops, etc. Fortunately it appeared that no one was injured."

And via @amybraun7 …



At this point, we don't know any other particulars… such as the cause of the accident…

Updated 6:19

Plate on cab that crashed store today at 14th/2nd has 18 violations on record, 4 for running red: https://t.co/4Z2tpKitJs h/t @alter_spaces

— newyorkist (@Newyorkist) March 2, 2014

Updated 6:23

Here's a photo by ddartley via Flickr, where you can find a few more shots…



And several people have pointed out the fact that the driver crashed into a storefront with an awning reading "eyes examined."

Updated March 3

A witness told 1010 WINS reporter Gary Baumgarten that the vehicle was driving fast when it crashed through the front window. "He was driving extremely, extremely fast," Richard Ciero said.

The impact was so loud that a nearby store owner came outside thinking that a bomb had gone off.

And an EVG reader left this comment:

It was my daughter in the back of the cab. She was on her way to the airport. She has severe whiplash. Very grateful her injuries were not worse.

9 photos showing the East Village of the 1970s

Earlier this month, our blogging friend Alex at Flaming Pablum alerted us to the Museum of the City of New York's website ... where they just unveiled more than 1,000 digitized photos by Edmund V. Gillon, who chronicled NYC in the 1970s and 1980s.

Some two weeks later, we finally looked at every single photo. We pulled a few from this neighborhood with their accompanying captions for you... (But you should really go here and see them all for yourself.)


[East 8th Street and Avenue B, 1975]


[Christodora House, 1978]


[Second Avenue looking at East 12th Street, 1975]


[Cylindrical fire escape on the façade of 62 East 4th Street, 1977]


[Phebe's on the Bowery 1975]


[107-113 East 14th Street, 1976]


[Fresh Jersey Eggs, Open Thursday Only at 72 East 7th Street, 1978]


[Varieties Theatre, 110-112 Third Avenue, 1979. Demolished in 2005.]


[Broadway and 14th 1977]

-----

A word about the new collection from the Museum's website:

These photographs by Edmund V. Gillon (1929-2008) are a recent addition to the Museum's Photography collection. Gillon is best known for more than a dozen books on New York City for the Dover Publishing Company. The bulk of the collection is architectural in nature, portraying the city’s historic districts, landmarks, architectural ornamentation, and civic sculpture. His photographs bring to life not only the countless readily apparent changes that have taken place in the city’s urban landscape over the past several decades, but also the many subtle changes that transformed neighborhoods such as SoHo, Tribeca, and Dumbo as they transitioned, building by building, from gritty wastelands into the vibrant urban oases they have become.

City OKs permits to demolish the empty storefronts along this section of East 14th Street

The city OK'd the permits yesterday for workers to demolish the empty storefronts along East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B ahead of a new luxury retail-residential complex.

The storefronts that once housed Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-a-Place (before the fire on May 12, 2010) at Avenue A east to, and including, the former Animal Hospital at No. 532 will be demolished. The lone exception: 520 E. 14th St., the tenement building where the Dunkin' Donuts resides. Presumably new development will happen on either side of this building.

[Click image to enlarge]

Gary Barnett of Extell Development grabbed up eight parcels in a 99-year lease worth $35.14 million. And as noted in previous posts on the topic, the new development will look something like…


[RKF]

Time is running out to get that Blarney Cove sign.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

East 14th Street corridor now nearly business-free ahead of new development

Here is the future of East 14th Street and Avenue A: 7 stories of residential and retail

Taking another look at the all-new East 14th Street

On Friday afternoon, we got the first look at what a good chunk of East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B might look like a few years from now ... via this conceptual rendering from an RKF retail listing ...



To date, eight parcels consisting of 222 Avenue A and 504 - 530 E. 14th St. (excluding No. 520) were leased for a 99-year period. Per the retail listing, this will be a seven-story residential and retail development.

The post drew 57 comments... ranging from better than what's there now (several commenters noted the corner space is currently housing a handful of people) ...




... to could have been worse... to ugly, boring, suburban ...

So we're trying to get an idea of how large this "residential and retail development" will be... The red lines (where are the arrows?!) outline the parcels that were sold...




[Click image to enlarge]

And one thing that we didn't mention Friday: The listing says that there will be a "loading dock located on the East 13th Street side of building."




So what will go on East 13th Street to make this loading dock a reality? (And is this quiet stretch of East 13th Street really loading-dock friendly?) Our best guess... whatever this thing is on the block...



And from the air...



And it seems like that fire on Avenue A and East 14th Street was a really long time ago already...

[EV Grieve reader Sergey]

The three-alarm fire wiped out the corner on May 12, 2010... taking with it neighborhood favorites Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-a-Pizza.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

East 14th Street corridor now nearly business-free ahead of new development

Here is the future of East 14th Street and Avenue A: 7 stories of residential and retail

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Too early this morning on 7th Street and 2nd Avenue]

Selling the air rights to landmarked buildings (Curbed)

Looking at the planetarium at the new Lower Eastside Girls Club (NY1)

Will the SLA yank the liquor license from EMM Group’s Bowery complex? (BoweryBoogie)

Honk NYC in video on Avenue C (Slum Goddess)

A Horn & Hardart automat and Julian’s pool hall once shared an address on East 14th (Ephemeral New York)

“Our Lower East Side” group show opens tonight (The Lo-Down)

Remembering Billy's Topless (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Fire escape life (Gog in NYC)

An overview of the NYC Independent Film Festival (DNAinfo)

Chain stores push out this grocery store in Williamsburg (Runnin' Scared)

Zombies wait for cab on Houston and B (GammaBlog)

Fred Armisen (as Ian Rubbish) interviews Mick Jones and Paul Simonon (Dangerous Minds)

... and tonight, The Shala Yoga studio is hosting a fundraiser to help support the Bent on Learning Yoga program at The Children's Workshop School on East 12th Street...

Amor Bakery will not reopen on Avenue B

[Derrick Loris]

Back on April 22, a small fire broke out at 224 Avenue B at the Amor Bakery... the FDNY quickly put out the blaze... neighbors reported minimal damage... Still, it was apparently enough to permanently shutter Amor ... the bakery never did reopen here near East 14th Street ... and workers have recently cleared out the interior ...



The space is available, though not officially on the market with a "for lease" sign just yet.

Among other things, the neighborhood bakery was known for creating a variety of "specialty" cakes fit for any occasion that called for abs and boobs...




[Cake photos by Robert Sietsema via Fork in the Road]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: Fire reported at 224 Avenue B