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 next holiday market at 3rd & B'zaar starts on Nov. 26... ahead of that, expect to find more one-off events... Such as!
On Thursday evening from 7-9, EV-based artist/musician Alex Carpenter is headlining a night of art and music in the space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Carpenter will be showcasing new video works as part of his performance, and will also be officially launching his new release "Chord From the Second Delphic Hymn."
Other art and artists will be part of the show, including dancer Elayna Lopez...
Local singer-songwriter Vlad Holiday has a new EP out on Nov. 5 titled Write Me Off the Show. The video here is for the single titled "Skinny Dipping."
Also, today is another Bandcamp Friday, in which the platform foregoes its revenue and gives the bands all the $$$ from the day's sales.
In case you were thinking about going to B&H Dairy in the near future... may want to do it sooner rather than later: The kosher lunch counter will be going on an August break starting on Monday... returning to service on Aug. 25.
B&H Dairy: 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Phone: (212) 505-8065.
Also... Il Posto Accanto will be on a break after dinner service tomorrow, with a reopening date of Aug. 24.
Il Posto Accanto: 190 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. Phone: (212) 228-3562.
The mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B is hosting another day-long pop-up today featuring more than 20 local artists, designers and vintage sellers indoors and out from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Jane's Exchange next door will be in on the action too!)
Here are a few scenes from the first SITC on July 24 via EVG contributor Stacie Joy...
The mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B is hosting several day-long pop-up markets late this summer... starting tomorrow (Saturday!) where more than 20 local artists, designers and vintage sellers will be featuring their wares in the space from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sara Ann Rutherford, Delia Anne Parker and Maegan Hayworth (seen below) are among the merchants...
The folks at 3rd & B’Zaar also adopted the latest cardboard installation from East Village-based artist Tom Manco. He whipped up a picnic scene that was in Tompkins Square Park... the burger is now in the front window for Summer in the City.
After tomorrow, they'll be another Summer in the City market on Aug. 14. (And look for Drag Bingo here on Aug. 6 and Aug. 19.)
After nearly 25 years on Astor Place, Kmart has closed this once-prime retail outpost.
Yesterday was the last day in business for the struggling retailer (thank you to the EVG reader for the initial tip!) ...
We're told that employees weren't told of the Sunday close date until this past Friday. Signs announcing the last days were circulated throughout the store on Saturday.
Still, the closure isn't likely a complete surprise — at least to reporters covering the retail market. Earlier this year, Kmart's parent firm, Transformco, announced that it was closing several locations. (This outpost was not on a previously announced list.)
In May 2020, they shuttered the Penn Plaza store, leaving Astor Place as the sole Kmart remaining in Manhattan. (There are two left in the Bronx.)
Kmart and Sears were owned by Sears Holdings, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018 and narrowly escaped liquidation in early 2019, per USA Today. "They were sold to their longtime investor and CEO, Eddie Lampert, who has kept them alive on a shoestring budget under the company name Transformco."
Rumors circulated in late 2017-early 2018 that the Astor Place shop, located in the landmarked 15-story building that was the original home of the Wanamaker department store on Eighth Street and Lafayette (officially 770 Broadway), was shutting down.
The Real Dealreported in January 2018 that 770 tenant Facebook and landlord Vornado Realty Trust were in talks to expand the social media giant's presence in the building.
Per The Real Deal:
Vornado ... recently paid roughly $46 million to Kmart – whose department store occupies about 30,000 square feet on the ground, mezzanine and lower-level of the building – in what appears to be a buyout of the retailer’s lease, according to city property records. Observers said it's unlikely that Vornado boss Steve Roth would take such a risk without a replacement tenant lined up, and speculated that Facebook could be looking to make a splash with a high-profile storefront, a la Microsoft's store on Fifth Avenue.
However, Kmart remained open and downsized, giving up the second level and moving everything to the main floor and basement.
Despite its current open status, the location suffers from the company's misfortunes and corporate misguidances. Employees express frustration that deliveries to the store have slowed. They cite the absence of blankets, pillows, and towels within its once-popular home department. Employees notice that its once-steady foot traffic tends to come and go.
After years of missed payments and unpaid bills, Kmart's relationship with many of its longtime vendors has evaporated. It has led to empty shelves and unusual selections of off-brand merchandise. ... Kmart is no longer a profitable and dependable outlet for suppliers.
Financial woes aside, other big-box shops such as Target and Marshalls have eaten away at Kmart's business. Not to mention Amazon.
I took a last look at the space yesterday...
Pinched for time, I didn't make it downstairs for the holiday supplies, but I did check out the Astor Place-branded underwear...
EVG reader Karen came across the store-closing signage while walking by yesterday: "Most other customers seemed equally shocked and dismayed. Shelves were fully stocked for the most part and there weren't really any big bargains — though with the longest line I've ever seen, seems people just wanted to have their last hurrah."
This Kmart arrived in November 1996. I worked nearby at the time and ate at the short-lived K Cafe a few times with co-workers to fill the void left by Woolworth's departure on 14th Street.
I recall plenty of horrified WTF reactions from people about the Kmart opening here. People seemingly adopted a balanced don't-mind-it/hate-it relationship with Kmart through the years, especially as more big-box shops arrived. (My blogging friend Alex has written about this location numerous times. This post includes a video of U2's strange PopMart press conference here in 1997.)
At the time, the Astor Place store was one of over 2,100 Kmarts located throughout the 50 states and U.S. territories, according to Forbes. Today, there are less than 40.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy reports that fixtures and shelving will be sold this week — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting tomorrow. There will be security at the door — just let them know that you are looking for the fixtures.
For whatever reason(s) the gates were locked to the main lawn in Tompkins Square Park on this holiday Monday... which forced people to jump the fence... photos by Derek Berg...
The Cock, closed since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, returned to service on June 24 here at 93 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
For now, the two-level bar-club is open Thursday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. For the holiday weekend, they will be open on July 4. Proof of vaccination is required to enter the establishment.
As we first reported, owner Allan Mannarelli, an East Village resident, was hoping to relocate the Cock ... and he appeared before CB3 this spring for a new liquor license at 112 Rivington St., the former Fat Baby space. However, CB3 denied the move. (BoweryBoogie has details on the licensing history.)
Heading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend with the picnic pic so far of the summer... Goggla spotted the squirrel and sparrow breaking bread in Tompkins Square Park.
Before the sparrow joined the feast, the squirrel was digging out the insides ...
This is the last few days for Spring Into Pride over at 3rd & B’Zaar, the mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
The space, featuring 30 local designers, vintage sellers and artists, ends its two-month run on Monday. Hours: 1-6 p.m.
The organizers have held a variety of special events here in recent weeks, including a Drag Bingo night, which EVG contributor Stacie Joy documented...
Photos of Keith Haring's art in San Juan circa 1986 is the subject of a new exhibit this evening at Village Works, the gallery space at 90 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
The collection of photographs was taken in December 1986 of Keith Haring's public art.
Haring executed this beach wall mural in early Summer 1986 on the Condado Beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico. D.C. Larue photographed details of the work over the December 1986 holiday season. The mural had been weathered over the months by the sand, wind and rain and the effect beautifully resonated with Larue.
In February 1987, a hurricane washed the entire retaining wall the mural was on into the sea. The photographs were authenticated by the Keith Haring Foundation for D.C. Larue in 1993.
The opening reception is tonight from 7-10 ... with the closing taking place July 1 from 7-10 p.m.
Today was set to be the last day for Spring Into Pride over at 3rd & B’Zaar, the mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
However! Based on the feedback this past month, the organizers have decided to extend Spring Into Pride through June (June 28 to be exact).
There will be a few new vendors joining the more than 30 local designers, vintage sellers and artists.
Spring into Pride is open from 1-6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
The mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B debuts its latest extravaganza tomorrow (May 1) with 30 local designers, artists, makers, vintage sellers, etc., including (in the top photo) Sara Ann Rutherford, Frank New and Delphine le Goff.
Hours: 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Ahead of the grand opening, East Village-based artist Scooter LaForge was putting his mark on the interior... EVG contributor caught a work-in-progress glimpse the other day...
