Updated: With the threat of rain on Dec. 18, the Feast will now take place on Dec. 19. Same time and place.
On Dec. 18, a group of East Village residents, including author Jeremiah Moss and EVG contributor Stacie Joy, is hosting a Community Holiday Feast in Tompkins Square Park.
From 2-4 p.m., volunteers will be serving free hot meals provided by East Village businesses and residents.
Organizers are currently looking for volunteers and welcome additional food and other donations. Interested residents and merchants can use this email to contact the group.
After a year off with the pandemic in 2020, SantaCon returns for in-person binging and bar crawling at the expense of the rest of the city this Saturday. (First reported here.)
Yesterday, SantaCon organizers unveiled the 2021 route, which starts at 10 a.m. at 40th and Broadway. Per the SantaCon website: "We will be dancing in the streets and will unleash a holiday celebration NYC has never imagined possible!"
A $13 donation gets your Santa Badge and access to participating bars, mainly in Midtown West and East. Six of the bars are in the East Village: The Grayson, 16 First Ave., Amsterdam Billiards & Bar, 110 E. 11th St., Doc Holliday's, 141 Avenue A, Horseshoe Bar/7B, 108 Avenue B, the Phoenix, 447 E. 13th St., and Solas, 232 E. Ninth St.
However, as we've seen in previous Cons, bars not on the official list are often all too happy to participate, including the 13th Step. (The SantaCon website states that participants must have proof of COVID vaccination.)
Meanwhile, ahead of the 2021 bar list, someone launched a Cancel SantaCon petition...
Per the petition:
SantaCon is the worst day of the year in New York City. Each year thousands of belligerent drunk people in Santa costumes flood New York City streets, leaving behind a trail of fistfights, vomit, urine and garbage. John Oliver did a segment on the event which highlighted the faux-charitable nature of the pub crawl. He stated that each SantaCon participant only raises $1.66 for charity, which is hardly enough to excuse the violent and inappropriate behavior. The evidence is crystal clear: Santacon does more bad than good.
This year New York City residents have had enough! We are calling for Mayor Bill de Blasio to show leadership and order the cancelation of Santacon. We believe that this is an issue that unites New Yorkers of all races, religions, and political beliefs.
Please sign this petition so we can end SantaCon in New York City once and for all.
This holiday mural — an interpretation of Will Ferrell in "Elf" — went up over the weekend outside the Second Avenue F stop... work by @paolo_tolentino and @turtlecaps.
• The holiday market is open at 3rd & B'Zaar (Link)
• Karen McDermott, who runs the March Hare with her husband Jason McGroarty, was diagnosed with colon cancer this fall. The toy store on Ninth Street also marked its first anniversary on Nov. 23. (Link)
• A new storefront for P.J. O'Rourke II on Avenue B (Link)
After a year without a Santa Claus head at the Rite Aid on First Avenue and Fifth Street, jolly ol' St. Nick has all his body parts (as far as we can tell) this holiday season.
EVG correspondent Stacie Joy noted Santa's masked presence in the greeting cards section...
Viewer discretion is now advised
Last year, as EVG reader Daniel shared, Santa was on duty right near the depleted shelf of Entenmann's ... without a head.
It was not immediately known what happened to it. (Stolen? Swallowed? Kicked?)
On Astor Place, Wegmans is wishing you happy holidays... pretty nice considering they're not expected to open here for another two years...
As previously reported, Wegmans signed a 30-year lease in July for what will be the grocer's first Manhattan outpost. It is scheduled to open in the second half of 2023.
Kmart closed in this space after 25 years on July 11. Wegmans had agreed to buy out Kmart's lease to make this deal possible.
East Village-based artist and entrepreneur P.J. O'Rourke has a new pop-up market space at 199 Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street ... where he is selling his brand of hats, prints, T-shirts, hoodies (the New York Fuckery ones are in) and other original designs (the brand goes by P.J. O'Rourke II)...
The storefront debuted on Friday for the holiday season. You can check his Instagram for hours. (He also has online sales.)
In 2012, O'Rourke started selling his merch on the L train via a mobile art cart. He was on a month-to-month lease on 11th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue for nearly 15 months before moving to a pop-up space on Broadway back in the summer ... but not before some drama with an investor.
It's an anniversary to celebrate — especially with the difficulties of opening during the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the owners of the whimsical toy store here between First Avenue and Second Avenue are facing another major challenge: Karen McDermott, who runs the shop with her husband Jason McGroarty, was diagnosed with colon cancer last month.
McDermott, 31, who previously worked at Dinosaur Hill on the block, had surgery in late October. According to an Instagram post from the March Hare on Oct. 25:
Surgery went well and Karen is getting a little better every day. Once she is fully healed we will start chemotherapy and hopefully kick cancer out of sight!
You can help support the March Hare by keeping the store in mind with any holiday needs. The shop's hours are posted as 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 321 E. Ninth St. You might want to call ahead: (646) 422-7747.
There's also a crowdfunding campaign to help the couple pay for medical and living expenses. You can find that link here.
As McDermott wrote in a GoFundMe update:
The outpouring of love I have received through this has been beyond overwhelming, I am so thankful and happy to have known such kindness in my life.
A seasonal holiday market returns today to 3rd & B'Zaar.
The mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B will once again host a variety of local designers, artists, merchants and vintage sellers through Dec. 24.
The 3rd & B'Zaar social platforms — Instagram and Facebook — have been featuring the vendors each day. The space is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday with some later-evening events in the works.
... and a new mural arrived the other day on the NE corner of Sixth Street and First Avenue (outside the Dunkin') ... "Rise by lifting others" by Aída Miró ... thanks to Goggla for the photo...
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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.
Update: the alarm on the BMW outside Sophie’s at 507 E. 5th St. near Avenue A in the East Village is still going off — now 24 hours in. People egged the car, stole the NJ plates and left a passive-aggressive note. pic.twitter.com/wQcRY8oCAr
Posts this past week included (with a fall shot outside St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery on 2nd Avenue at 10th Street) ...
• Documenting the city's 'clean-up' along Tompkins Square Park on 7th Street (Monday) ... City removes tent encampment from 7th Street outside Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)
• Speaking out for the return of the former P.S. 64 to the community (Wednesday)
• There won't be a Cookie Walk this Christmas (Monday)
• Your chance to hear Citi Bike's expansion plans (Tuesday)
• A new chapter at the 11th Street Community Garden with debut of a lending library (Wednesday)
• First look at Lil' Frankies Grocery on 1st Avenue (Wednesday)
• Italian specialty shop Via Della Scrofa debuts on 4th Street (Thursday)
• Bar Veloce returns from pandemic hiatus (Monday)
• Work starts on the Union Square Holiday Market (Wednesday)
• Cinnamon Girl bringing cake, pie and coffee to 2nd Avenue (Tuesday)
• Ahimsa Garden is leaving the East Village (Thursday)
• Lahore Deli — home of the world's best chai? — has closed on Crosby Street (Tuesday)
Staging for building the Union Square Holiday Market arrived yesterday (thanks to EVG reader Doug for these pics)...
As widely reported last month, the winter market, featuring 150 local and national vendors, returns to the southern portion of Union Square at 14th Street after a year off due to the pandemic.
Things open here on Nov. 18 and run through 4 p.m. on Dec. 24.
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a 7 p.m. close on Sundays.
Find the vendor list here.
Organizers have decided not to host a Cookie Walk again this year at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on Avenue A and 10th Street.
Although there wasn't an official reason given for the cancellation, concerns over COVID-19 certainly played a role in this decision. According to an Instagram post from Friday:
After careful consideration, we have come to the unfortunate decision that we must cancel this year’s St. Nicholas Cookie Walk. We hope to be back next year, better than ever. Please have a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Merry Christmas.
The always-festive event, held in early December in the church basement, offers about 75 varieties of homemade cookies and pastries each year. As the name implies, you take a walk around cookie-filled tables and pick your favorites.
Last year's Cookie Walk, which would have the 12th annual, was also canceled due to the pandemic.
Nice to see the windows again this holiday season at the 99-cent store at 73 First Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street... the sidewalk bridge came down here this past summer after nearly five years for the condoplex next door.
Over the Halloween weekend, we spotted this discarded (or lost!) Santa hat on Avenue A.
We noted this in our Instagram Stories ... wrong holiday, etc. Haha. A few people nervously brought up SantaCon. Haha. As in, That's not happening this year — is it?
As of now, yes.
According to its website, SantaCon, which Gothamist describes as "the annual debauched meathead magnet bar crawl that floods certain unfortunate neighborhoods with blathering bro-chads in Santa costumes every December," the event is Dec. 11...
The pandemic sidelined last year's SantaCon. Participating venues are announced shortly before the 'Con... and the East Village always seems to make this Santa's list.
• Police looking for a suspect who robbed an 80-year-old man with a box cutter in an elevator on 12th and C (ABC-7)
• Van Leeuwen fined for violating NYC's cashless ban (Eater)
• About the five potential amendments to the State Constitution that are on the ballot this election (The New York Times)
• NY Laundry service workers looking for the industry to clean up its act (The Indypendent)
• A new report from the Department of Transportation reveals that a new bike lane — whether protected or simply painted — decreases the risk of cyclist injury by 32 to 34 percent (Streetsblog)
• Bike parking shortage has remained a persistent problem in NYC; city adding 10,000 bike racks to the streets (The City)
• A last holiday look (possibly!) at Halloween Adventure on Fourth Avenue (Gothamist ... previously on EVG)
• Halloween at the Merchant’s House Museum on Fourth Street (PIX11)
• More about Café de L’Enfer on Avenue A (Time Out ... first on EVG here)
• A look inside Susan Alexandra's new bead emporium on Orchard Street (Vogue)
• Verizon moving workers to space in Essex Crossing (The Real Deal)
Without fail for 23 years, Brooklyn circus cabaret punx The World/Inferno Friendship Society have faithfully raised The Great Pumpkin at their annual HALLOWMAS celebration. Sadly, due to the recent tragic passing of their lead singer, their version of Hallowmas will not take place this year, or ever again.
We cannot try to begin to replace that event, but we can do our part to help make sure that Jack is remembered on this sacred holiday. So, in honor of Terricloth, we are setting up a small pop-up exhibit as a tribute to our fallen Halloween-obsessed friend.
Starting in the late 1990s, Jack used to make postcards for his band's cultish following. The cards would advertise the Inferno's latest shows, capers and misadventures. At a time when the internet was replacing how punk rockers mainly heard about gigs, Cloth refused to give up the art of the physical mailing list. He wanted some things to remain tangible.
We will display the original cut-and-paste postcard collages in all of their wonderful disintegrating DIY scrap art glory. We will also have some original handmade punk show flyers and pages to a lyric zine that he made back in the late 1980s.
A visual cut-and-paste elegy hoping to pay respect and send a message back to him about the work that he did. Because it mattered.
You can check out the show Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at C-Squat. You can enter through the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street. Find more info here.
Also, on Sunday ... back to the EVG inbox...
After the art show, a number of World Inferno fans will gather in Tompkins Square Park to play cover songs of their music. The band was booked to play a show in the park this Halloween. Obviously, the band will not be appearing but dedicated Infernites are still gathering around 5 p.m. to make sure the songs do not go unplayed this Halloween.
The following businesses have volunteered food and other products for the event: the Bean, C&B Cafe, East Village Vintage Collective, Food for Life, Mary O's, Rossy's Bakery & Café, San Loco, S'MAC and Subject NYC. The local volunteer group East Village Loves NYC will also donate. 
