3 Awful Avenue A bars: What are they now?

A few days ago we noticed that the sign went up for Ethos Meze, the new Greek restaurant opening this year at 167 Avenue A…




While the previous tenant here, Diablo Royale Este, has been closed for more than 18 months… the new sign is symbolic of sorts… an end of an era where three bars on Avenue A drew the ire of neighbors for the beer ponging, party busing, sidewalk peeing ways of its patrons...

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[September 2011]

From May 2010 to August 2012, Diablo Royale Este, which claimed it catered "to a mature audience," was popular with the party bus crowd … and, most famously, once hosted (unwittingly or not) a Boats 'N Hoes party for NYU students.

Diablo Royale Este eventually closed after some ongoing issues with the State Liquor Department.

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Then, at 200 Avenue A, there was Superdive.

Oh, the legendary Superdive, which started its reign of woorrorism with table-service kegs in June 2009… and remained open intermittently until October 2010… (Superdive threatened to return too many times… it was like trying to kill Jason Voorhees… )


[The glory days of 2009 via Meri Micara]

There was a midget dressed as a pirate working Champagne Tuesdays… Bargoers were encouraged to mix their own drinks… oh, lordy. We're just going to stop.

Today, the space is home to the ABC Animal Hospital.



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… and at 34 Avenue A, there was Aces & Eights, which arrived in March 2009 … residents quickly branded the place a beer-ponging frathole …


But, to the bar's credit, the general manager did try to make some changes, reaching out to EVG readers for input … and even making good use of the upstairs space for a cool art show…

The bar closed for good in October 2010.

The space is now home to Ruff Club, "a social club for dogs."

The Bruce High Quality Foundation University settles in on Avenue A

Been meaning to note this. You may have noticed the signage — BHQFU — on the third floor at 34 Avenue A near East Third Street...

The space is serving as home to The Bruce High Quality Foundation University (BHQFU), "a learning experiment where artists work together to manifest creative, productive, resistant, useless, and demanding interactions between art and the world."

Here's more via an article last fall in the GalleristNY, which describes BHQFU as "the mostly anonymous artist collective founded by a group of Cooper Union alumni." The unaccredited art school started in 2009 on West Broadway as a response to the "$200,000-debt-model of art education."


[The third-floor classroom, via Facebook]

Spring sessions on Avenue A include "You Watching Me Googling You." Find the school's website here.

And so, for now, this closes the book on 34 Avenue A, home to some angry-neighbor angst in recent years... from the closure of Mo Pitkin's ... to the opening and closing of flip-cup mecca Aces & Eights ... to CB3 rejecting all plans for a bar-restaurant-performance space here.

Today, the building is home to Ruff Club, a dog-friendly social club, a karate center and an artist collective.

Progress?

'Open clubhouse' at Ruff Club this weekend

From the EV Grieve inbox ... from East Village resident Danny Frost, who's opening the Ruff Club at 34 Avenue A... dubbed "a social club for dogs."

We're having "Open Clubhouse" events today and tomorrow from 11am-4pm. Folks can stop in for a coffee and tour our space, meet our staff, and apply in-person for membership.

We'll likely do a couple more of these ...After tomorrow, for the next couple of weeks we'll be open only for events and temperament screening appointments.

After the holidays, our daycare (off-leash play areas) and social club (the dog-friendly space with coffee and wifi in the front — picture the front bar room at Mo Pitkins / Aces & Eights with the bar intact but with a lending library instead of alcohol) — will be open 7am to 9pm weekdays, and we are still working out the exact weekend schedule. Boarding will be available 24/7/365.

Here's their website.

The sad last few weeks of Pete Wentz's former hotspot Angels & Kings

[Former East Village bar owner Pete Wentz]

We noted yesterday that 7-Eleven (and maybe some other franchise?) was taking over the space previously held by Bar on A at 170 Avenue A and the adjacent Angels & Kings at 500 E. 11th St.

Aces & Eights Angels & Kings quietly closed in late April... a fact that no one reported on for several weeks.

Quite a contrast to when Angels & Kings swaggered onto the scene in the spring of 2007 with the requisite UrbanDaddy d-baggery:

Launched in part as a hangout for the members of Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is... and Gym Class Heroes, Angels and Kings — or AK-47, as the kids are calling it — is your chance to sip a cheap bottle of beer and chat up attractive TRL aficionadas.

To no surprise, that premise eventually fizzled. And it maintained its status as yet another bar to avoid in the neighborhood, the kind of place Yelpers grumbled about because of "hearing some d-bag nyu student show off his AWFUL rendition of 'The Humpty Dance,' or watching this Finnish girl sing 'Mambo No. 5.'" And don't forget the beer pong tourneys!

By last fall, the space was being used to show Penn State football games on Saturday afternoons (and the Steelers on Sundays!).

In January, the CB3/SLA gave the OK for the people behind Keybar on East 13th Street to take over the Angels & Kings space and open a bar-restaurant serving Hungarian food. We never heard what happened to those plans.

This past summer, we noticed that the building's super started using the entryway to store trash and recyclables...

And people took notice that this was a good space for trash.

Anyway, the space is now in plywood hell, resigned to another life of suburbia hell, this time as a 7-Eleven.

Flyer campaign targets CB3 district manager 'for assault on our civil liberties'

You may have seen these flyers around the neighborhood the past day or two... @bacondevil spotted this one on Second Avenue at East Fifth Street...

There was also one spotted on East 14th Street at Second Avenue... Per the flyer, someone is accusing Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer as being an "assassin of New York's creativity" who is "wanted for assault on our civil liberties."

The Lo-Down, who first reported on the flyers yesterday, spoke with Stetzer. She said that she doesn't know why anyone why would have done this ... "but she believes they could be related to liquor license applications."

Speaking as a resident during a CB3/SLA meeting last summer, Stetzer did publicly oppose the restaurant-bar-music venue project in the works for 34 Avenue A. CB3 ultimately rejected all the proposals for the former Aces & Eights space, and it will soon be home to Ruff Club, "a social club for dogs."

Last December, Stetzer was one of the many city officials tweaked in the annual holiday invite from activist Allen Roskoff. According to Scoopy's Notebook, Stetzer was depicted "as a sexy pole dancer because ... she's a foe of bars and clubs."

(Some residents also criticized Stetzer in the fall of 2010 for her role to possibly limit the number of concerts in Tompkins Square Park. You can read that background here.)

As far as these types of flyers go, this one seems rather mild by comparison. Back in the spring, a few flyers appeared around the neighborhood about developer Ben Shaoul. As reported by The New York Times in July, they read, in part: "I pledge to rape the East Village of every last vestige of creativity," and concluded: "You gotta problem wit dat?"

Week in Grieview

[Trying to to ride on the sidewalk again. Second Avenue at Seventh Street]

Q-and-A with Michael Dominic, the director of "Sunshine Hotel" (Thursday)

Coverage of the East Village Town Hall meeting (Wednesday)

Trash hoops in Tompkins Square Park (Monday)

The Bowery Poetry Club is now closed for renovations (Tuesday)

Cleaning out the former Aces & Eights/Mo Pitkin's (Tuesday)

David Schwimmer to have his very own Central Perk on East Sixth Street (Wednesday)

Electrical fire at Union Square (Friday)

Avenue D development lot now $4 million cheaper (Monday)

Short film on the Mosaic Man (Wednesday)

The new water cafe has opened (Monday)

The State seizes Fares Deli on Avenue A (Thursday)

What's left of Aces & Eights is now on the sidewalk along Avenue A

EVG reader Anna noted that workers are clearing out 34 Avenue A this morning... site most recently of Aces & Eights (and Mo Pitkin's previously) ...

As we first reported on June 29, the address will soon be home to Ruff Club, "a social club for dogs."

Week in Grieview

[Early evening summer Saturday in Tompkins Square Park. By Shawn Chittle]

Q-n-A with Brian Rose on "Time and Space on the Lower East Side" (Wednesday)

Inside the DeRobertis in-house bakery (Thursday)

3 new floors for 31-33 Second Ave. via Ben Shaoul (Wednesday)

East Village Social opens (Tuesday)

Doggie daycare for former Aces & Eights space on Avenue A (Friday)

Your new 7-Eleven signage on IHOP Way (Tuesday)

Tyra Banks arrives on Avenue D (Thursday)

More details on the stairwell collapse at 86 E. Fourth St. (Monday)

Schmidty, lost and found (Friday)

Bakery becomes bar (Thursday)

Rays's now has $1 popcorn (Monday)

Crusty trouble (Tuesday)

Quick recap of the hearing for the proposed East Village/Lower East Side Historic District (Wednesday)

About the new restaurants opening on Extra Place (Monday)

UPDATED: Expect the howling to continue at former Aces and Eights space

[June 5]

Well, perhaps the looooooooong saga about a new bar-restaurant for 34 Avenue has finally come to a close.

As we've repeatedly cut-n-pasted from past posts, CB3 has rejected all the recent plans for a bar-restaurant-performance space here. Aces & Eights, the last tenant here, closed in October 2010.

Anyway, a tipster hears that a dog-grooming business is opening here. A little fishy seeing as the rent was upwards of $15K for the main floor, but it has been empty for some time...

Last August, Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo reported: "We don’t think you can get a liquor license at this point because of so much negative history,” said ... a broker for Coldwell Banker, noting her client is growing desperate to bring in a new tenant."

The address showed up three consecutive months on the CB3/SLA docket this year ... and the mystery applicants were a scratch all three months.

The listing at Living New York says that the space has been rented.

And the for rent sign is down...

Updated 11:02 a.m.

We heard from Danny Frost, who confirmed the rumor. He said the space will be home to Ruff Club, "a social club for dogs."

"We think of it as an updated take on 'doggie daycare' with an eye toward the unique tastes and lifestyles of our East Village neighbors," said Frost, an East Village resident. "A major piece of our concept is a dog-and-human-friendly space in our clubhouse where members can socialize, create stuff, or maybe even get a little work done."

Subject to licensing, they do intend to offer grooming (and eventually boarding) services. By the way, they are taking the first floor and basement. The karate kids will stay as the tenants upstairs...

And, for the record (based on those comments to this post!): "We do not intend to offer food or drink."

And they have a website where you can query them for more details.

On the CB3/SLA June docket: Beer and wine for Ninth Street Espresso (on 10th Street)

We'll have more about the June CB3/SLA docket later... (the meeting is June 18) ...

Here are a few notable items:

Sidewalk Café Application
• Starbucks Coffee (Starbucks Corp), 145 2nd Ave

Don't think this is for alcohol ... just getting their paperwork back in order for the sidewalk cafe that the city shuttered ...

Applications within Resolution Areas
• To be Determined, 34 Ave A (wb)

The mystery applicants for the former Aces & Eights space are back. Third month in a row that they've appeared on the docket. The new applicants have pulled out of the last two meetings.

New Liquor License Applications
• Nevada Smiths (92 Nuns Walk Inc), 100 3rd Ave (op)

Getting ready to settle into their new home.

• Ninth Street Expresso (Higher Grounds Café Inc), 343 E 10th St (wb)

As Scoopy first reported at The Villager, Ninth Street Espresso on East 10th Street is moving next door into half of the former Life Cafe space... and this move looks as if it will include a beer-wine list.

Also... mystery applicants for the former Hea/Friend House space on Third Avenue at 13th Street... and the Mercadito Cantina on Avenue B... and something new for Bar on A, which had been for sale...

That time again: May's CB3/SLA agenda includes 34 Avenue A (again); new home for Gruppo Pizza

[34 Avenue A]

Seriously, didn't we just do this? Well, CB3 released its meetings rundown for May, including the CB3/SLA docket...

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, May 14 at 6:30 pm — JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. at Bowery

As always at this point, we don't know a lot about some of the new applicants just yet... Have a tip about any of these? Please let us know via the EV Grieve email ... Here are a few of interest... the whole agenda is here.

Renewal with Complaint History
• Boiler Room (JB Max Inc), 86 E 4th St (op)

• Ninth Ward (Church & Louis Inc), 180 2nd Ave (op)

• Numero 28 (La Meridiana 2 Ltd), 176 2nd Ave (wb)

• The 13th Step (149 Second Ave Rest Inc), 149 2nd Ave (op)

Sidewalk Café Application
• Nicoletta (Letta #1 LLC), 160 2nd Ave

• Cornerstone Café (AO Café and Restaurant LLC), 17 Ave B

Applications within Resolution Areas
• To be Determined, 34 Ave A (wb)

A scratch from last month... Here we go again with this space, seemingly doomed to any applicant since Aces & Eights held the liquor license... As you probably know, CB3 has rejected all the recent plans for a bar-restaurant-performance space here. Will this be any different? The applicant is only vying for beer and wine...

[Ah the memories! 98 Avenue B a few years ago...]

• Pizza Grupo (Fat Dog Inc), 98 Ave B (wb/removal from 186 Ave B)

Layalay, the B&T hookah hotspot on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh, got shutdown in October 2009. We've seen workers renovating the space... Pizza Grupo will be moving into here one of these days...

• Babel, 129 Ave C (op)

Alterations
• The Standard East Village (Cooper AB LLC), 25-33 Cooper Sq (op/close 2nd floor bar terrace/new outdoor space on north/alter hours/other alts)

Held over from last month. Read about the Hotel's plans here.

• To be Determined, 137 1st Ave (wb)

• Shervin's World Inc, 131 E 7th St (wb)

• Paulaner Brauhaus Restaurant LLC, 265-267 Bowery (op)

BoweryBoogie had the scoop on the German-based Paulaner Brewery aiming to open a beer hall just south of Houston.

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)
• Moonwalkers Restaurant Corp, 101 Ave A (op)

This is the Pyramid... continue to hear rumblings about its future...

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations |up=upgrades

April's CB3/SLA meeting: Mystery applicants for 8 Extra Place, Nice Guy Eddie's and 34 Avenue A (again)

[34 Avenue A]

Here we go. (Didn't we just do this?)

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, April 16 at 6:30 p.m. — JASA/Green Residence, 200 East Fifth Street at the Bowery...

At this point, we don't know a lot about some of the new applicants just yet... Have a tip about any of these? Please let us know via the EV Grieve email ...

So. Here are a few items of interest... (find the full rundown here...)

Renewal with Complaint History
• Pyramid Club (Moonwalkers Restaurant Corp), 101 Ave A (op)

Corporate Change with Complaint History
• Ugly Kitchen, 103 1st Ave (op)

Sidewalk Café Application
• Gelato Ti Amo (Quality Edibles LLC), 68 2nd Ave (unenclosed)

The new gelato place that we pointed out near East Fourth Street.

• Veselka Bowery LLC, 9 E 1st St (unenclosed)

Don't they already have a sidewalk cafe?

Applications within Resolution Areas
• To be Determined / The Great Life Hospitality Group LLC, 34 Ave A (wb)

Here we go again with this space, seemingly doomed to any applicant since Aces & Eights held the liquor license... As you probably know, CB3 has rejected all the recent plans for a bar-restaurant-performance space here. Will this be any different? The applicant is only vying for beer and wine...

• Ellsfred Inc, 520 E 6th St (op)

The owners of Mona's and Sophie's hope to take over this space. See this post for details.

• Liberty Head Tavern, 116 Ave C (op)

• Downtown Dining LLC, 5 Ave A (op)

5 Avenue A is the address for Nice Guy Eddie's. Does this mean the place is closing? Anyone? (As far as we know, CB3 member Dave McWater is still involved with the current ownership.)

Meanwhile, would the new ownership paint over the mural here...?

[Via Eater]

• San Matteo Panuozzeria E Birra (San Matteo Panuozzeria Inc), 127 St Marks Pl (b)

That new panuozzo place that opened in the old crepe joint near Avenue A.

• Yong Fa Restaurant Inc, 507 E 6th St (wb)

Held over from last month. This is the former 6th Street Kitchen space, which never reopened after that awful fire in Janaury 2011. The space had been for rent.

• Babel, 129 Ave C (op)

Alterations
• The Standard East Village (Cooper AB LLC), 25-33 Cooper Sq (op/close 2nd floor bar terrace/new outdoor space on north/alter hours/other alts)

Wait — "new outdoor space on north" ... the north side of the building? That would be the former 35 Cooper Square site...

New Liquor License Applications

• To be Determined, 90 3rd Ave (op)

This was last Montein Thai Cuisine near 12th Street... the DOH closed them in January 2011, and they never reopened. Others have tried to give this place a whirl...

• Tara Thai Cuisine, 137 1st Ave (wb)

• The Northern Spy Food Company (The Northern Spy Food Co LLC), 511 E 12th St (op/upgrade)

• Extra Place (Extra Place America LLC), 8 Extra Pl (wb)

Heard a few rumors what was going in here... nothing worth repeating just yet...

• Sake Bar Satsko (Aw Creative Associates LLC), 202 E 7th St (wb)

• Raclette (New York Raclette LLC), 508 E 12th St (wb)

Something cooking for the former Jubb's Longevity space...

• Raasa (Mumbai New York Corp), 328 E 6th St (wb)

• MR Restaurant Holding Corp, 320 E 6th St (wb)

• Porchetta LLC, 110 E 7th St (wb)

• Golden Cadillac, 500 E 11th St (op)

They tried for the Mug Lounge space back in the fall (to no avail) ... now they're angling for the Angels & Kings space... where we thought Keybar was headed after January's meeting... Difficult to keep track of bars that we've never been to before...

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b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations |up=upgrades

New listing for 34 Avenue A

Back in August, 34 Avenue A hit the market as a rental via Coldwell Banker Commercial ...

Of course, there's a long recent history here, from Mo Pitkin's to Ace & Eights to a CB3 smackdown.

Anyway, there's now a new listing at Living New York ...

Here are the details:

Full Built out Turnkey Restaurant for Lease/Sale - Prime East Village Avenue A Location!
34 Avenue A between 2nd and 3rd Street

Originally the Famous Mo Pitkins Performance Space Venue!

Fully Built out Turnkey opportunity for a unique, cool space.

Fully built 1 or 2- story restaurant space available leased together or separately.
3000 Sqft + 1500 basement. Loaded with charm and character this space features high original tin ceilings, exposed brick, floor to ceiling windows and plenty of natural light..

Ground Floor - 1,500 Sqft + full 1500 sqft Basement built out as a bar/ restaurant with banquet seating and full kitchen including commercial appliances, beer taps, walk ins, security system, Ice maker, etc…
$15,000/mo

2nd floor 1,500 Sqft Large open space with platform for performance use, Large Bar and glassed in front Lounge area.
$7,500 /mo

Total Rent $22,500/mo
Key money $250,000

Or you can just buy the whole fucking building. That possibility is mentioned at the bottom of the listing. No details on the price. Living had it at $4.65 million back in May.

Regardless, securing a liquor license will be a challenge.

As Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo reported back in August about the rental:

“We don’t think you can get a liquor license at this point because of so much negative history,” said Debra Stelnik, a broker for Coldwell Banker, noting her client is growing desperate to bring in a new tenant.

In any event, it has been awhile since we've been inside the place... and Living New York has some photos...

Looks like someone from Aces & Eights left behind the Jäger machine!

Even an empty 34 Avenue A is upsetting neighbors

34 Avenue A has been focal point for criticism since Aces & Eights opened in the spring of 2009... Then, of course, came the drama with the various restaurant-bar-performance space proposals... In August, "for rent" signs went up here.

On Saturday morning, Dave on 7th spotted the following Urban Etiquette Sign outside 34 Avenue A... (EV Grieve reader Matt also sent us photos ...)

So what's going on? Debra Stelnik, a broker for Coldwell Banker, told me this weekend via email that the space is still for lease.

If the noise came from the tenants upstairs, then you'd think the sign leaver would have placed the note to the left on their entrance... Theories? Ideas?

In any event, here is the rental info for the main floor and basement...

34 Avenue A is for rent, again

There is a new "for rent" sign up in the window at 34 Avenue A, most recently home to Aces & Eights ...

Backing up for a minute. We first noted the building was for sale back in May for $4.65 million. The listing is no longer active at the Living Real Estate Group. Someone removed the listing at Streeteasy on July 16. Nothing in the city property records indicates that a sale was made... or is in the works.

So, we can assume the current owner is now trying to lease the space again. A rep for Coldwell Banker Commercial said that she was hired by the owner to lease the current retail, and said she knew nothing about the building sale. (So much for the rumor via a commenter that there was a lease on the table for a Subway sandwich shop here.) The rental listing wasn't online as of last evening at the Coldwell site.

Meanwhile, as you probably know, CB3 has rejected all the recent plans for a bar-restaurant-performance space here.

At this point, it's clear that the CB3 won't approve any nightlife-related operation here. How about a shoe store then?

We'll have to wait longer to find out about plans for 34 Avenue A

34 Avenue A was one of the most intriguing items on tonight's CB3/SLA docket. In March, the committee rejected the proposal to turn the former Aces and Eights space back into a performance venue.

No name was on the appliacation for the space in May, simply: "To Be Determined, 34 Ave A (op)"

In any event, we'll have to wait longer to find out about the plans for the space: 34 Avenue A is a scratch for tonight.

Meanwhile, one other item of interest: 200 Avenue A, the art gallery with a full liquor license. In previous posts on this the gallery, several readers claimed that they were misled when it came to sign a petition of approval for the plans.

For instance, per Cat Sitter in the City:

I wish I could take my signature off that Superdive/now we're an art gallery petition I signed. It really bugs me that the girls were telling me they were creating an art gallery. I had no idea it was an art gallery with a liquor license, and I wonder if they duped others in the same way.

And!

Anonymous said...
Oh, great. I signed their petition. They said it was going to be an art gallery. They were two nice girls who didn't say anything about booze. I feel like I was hoodwinked.

34 Avenue A is for sale

34 Avenue A has just hit the market. Living Real Estate Group has the property listing. Via Streeteasy:

Own a piece of East Village History!! Originally home to the famous live music venue Mo Pitkins, this is a rare opportunity for a user or investor to acquire a unique mixed use 4 story walk up building in the heart of the East Village. The property is newly renovated and has a vacant ground and 2nd floor retail space with full basement. The ground floor is built out as a restaurant with full kitchen and appliances and storage in the usable basement. The 2nd floor was previously duplexed with the first floor and has a large open space with a bar and private lounge area. The 3rd floor (currently leased mo mo) is a floor through 1425 sqft live/work space with exposed brick, high ceilings and newly renovated kitchen and large floor to ceilings windows. This unit could also be transformed into a 2 bed 1.5 bath apartment. The top floor is a duplex penthouse with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, brand new kitchen and 2 very large private outdoor spaces. This is a Unique Building loaded with charm and character including exposed brick, high original tin ceilings, large windows, multi levels and large lofty spaces throughout.

Price: $4.65 million.

CB3 has rejected recent plans — including a group featuring Phil Hartman of Two Boots — to turn this space back into a performance venue after its turn as Aces & Eights.

As the Observer reported in November 2008, 34 Avenue A was sold to an entity called LAMNG Corporation for $4 million. The building had been on the market for more than a year, with an initial listing price of $5.5 million.

On May 16, an unknown group will make another pitch for the space before the CB3/SLA committee.

Seems like old times, except older: 34 Avenue A and 200 Avenue A back on the SLA docket

The folks at CB3 have posted the May meeting schedule, including the docket for the SLA licensing committee... Lots of action again this time around... First, the meeting place and time: SLA & DCA Licensing Committee, Monday, May 16 at 6:30 pm — JASA/Green Residence, 200 East 5th Street at Bowery

A few highlights. (The whole caboodle is here.)

Applications within Resolution Areas

• To Be Determined, 34 Ave A (op)

We're not sure just yet who is looking at trying to revive the former Mo Pitkin's/Aces & Eights space this time around... the same crew with their "performance venue"? A new crew! We'll find out...

• Solo Pizza (Solo Pizza Inc), 27 Ave B (wb)

• Ave B Caffe Buon Gusto Inc., 545 E 5th St (aka 76 Ave B) (wb)

[Whistling....]

• Paradiso (Paradiso NY LLC), 105 Ave B (wb)

This is the cafe/coffee shop near Seventh St.

• Boxcar Lounge (Oops of New York Inc), 168 Ave B (op)

• Bat Yam Food Services Inc, 97 St. Mark’s Pl (wb)

• To be determined, 14 Ave. B (op)

Well! At one point, various people were going to combine 14-16 Avenue B at Second Street for some massive club bar-restaurant with mama from the old country cooking, etc. However, CB3/SLA always shot down those plans ... and now Discovery Wines is taking the space at 16 Avenue B. And now someone is giving the smaller space at 14 a whirl...

Sidewalk Café Applications

• 26 Seats (Paris Cuisine Inc.), 168 Ave B

• Peels Restaurant (325 Bowery Restaurant LLC), 325 Bowery

• Cacio & Pepe (Peprico Inc.), 182 2nd Ave

Just realized that I've never eater here.

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades

• To be Determined (Not A Bookstore LLC), 200 Ave A (trans/op) (Superdive)

The art gallery with a full liquor license is back. Last month, the committee told them to do more (and better!) community outreach.



• To Be Determined (Epicurean Management), 11 E 1st St (trans/op) (Bowery Wine)

Something new in store for the Bowery Wine Company? A quick flashback to the BWC protest in 2008.

• To be Determined, 500 E 11th St (trans/op) (Angels & Kings)

Another reject from last meeting. The committee told them to do more (and better!) community outreach.

• Hop Devil Grill, 125-129 St. Marks Pl (trans/op)

• To Be Determined (Evir Corp), 117 Second Ave (trans/wb)

Dunno what's going on here... this is now 7.2 at the corner of Seventh Street... onetime home of the Kiev...

New Liquor License Applications

• Led Zeppole (Arti Restaurant & Catering Group), 328 E 14th St (wb)

• The Toucan & The Lion (Type A Goods LLC), 342 E 6th St (op)

What's with the names these days? And this is the entity taking over the Mara's Homemade space.

Because you want to know more about the plans for 34 Avenue A

Rebecca Marx talked with Todd P. at Fork in the Road last evening... and he shared more about plans for 34 Avenue A:

Patrick says that he and his co-partners (who also include Mo's/Two Boots owner Phil Hartman and Mike House, an architect whose projects include work on Santos Party House) all want to create a venue that "reflects and serves the surrounding community. No one wants this neighborhood to be this gauntlet of bars where you can get Jell-O shots. We are very happy to remove that stain [of Aces & Eights], but at the same time, no one wants more overpriced boutique restaurants."

The new space will have a ground-floor restaurant which, Patrick says, "will be the main revenue source and the main face of the business." Its menu will be seafood-based "Pacific Coast-style Mexican cuisine" (Pacific as in Jalisco, not California) and its atmosphere "casual yet fairly sophisticated as well. We envision high-quality and not bargain-base priced cuisine, but also not prices that price out the average individual."

And!

As for the performance part of the equation, Patrick stresses that "this is not an indie club, not a rock club, and certainly not a dance club." Instead, it will be purely avant-garde. "Our feeling is that it's a genre that really needs to be represented in the city," he says. "Both the Stone and Issue Project Room are great, but they're maybe more of a museum setting than we would like to be. I have a great respect for those things, but you're seeing kind of a presentation of something rather than it being a little more free form."

(DNAinfo also has more on the space here.)

The comment box is awaiting.

As EV Grieve first reported last Friday:
Phil Hartman bringing a 'performance venue' back to former Mo Pitkin's space

And Monday:
[Updated] Bringing 'the tradition of the old Knitting Factory and Tonic' to 34 Avenue A

[Updated] Bringing 'the tradition of the old Knitting Factory and Tonic' to 34 Avenue A

Last Friday, we reported that Two Boots founder Phil Hartman's name is attached to the new venue proposed for 34 Avenue A, the space that was most recently Aces and Eights ... and Mo Pitkin's before that ....

Hartman sent us a note during the weekend with a few more details on the space:

I've been approached by a local music booker/promoter about helping get the old Mo's space re-opened as a music venue. His vision is to carry on the tradition of the old Knitting Factory and Tonic, and I love the idea of seeing the space revived for the use for which it was created, and to wipe out the stain that was Aces & Eights. There would also be a restaurant component on the ground floor.

My role is as an advisor and a cheerleader — I live and work within a block from there and think it would be great for the neighborhood. So, no, I'm not "re-opening Mo Pitkin's" but hopefully the spirit of that place, and of the old East Village, will be revived!

This is one of the items on the docket for the SLA & DCA Licensing Committee next Monday at 6:30 pm — JASA/Green Residence - 200 E. Fifth St. at the Bowery.

[Updated]
Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo reports this afternoon that concert organizer Todd Patrick, aka Todd P, is also involved in the project. You can read more about Todd Patrick in this Voice profile from 2006.