Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo outside Webster Hall on 11th Street by Sean Piccoli... RIP Tina Turner)... 

• Report of a fatal stabbing on 10th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C (Sunday) 

• Inside the new home of The Joyce, which aims to be a hub for the performing arts in the East Village (Tuesday) 

• The Wild Son will not be reopening (Monday) 

• A grassroots movement to access the main lawn in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday) 

• On 10th Street, infused bake shop Sweetooth closed for now after raid (Monday) 

• I saw Andy Warhol at the Brant Foundation (Thursday) 

• Waga is closing on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• Sadly, Mister M — aka papier-mâché man — meets the end (Saturday) 

• Soft openings: Spicy Moon on the Bowery (Thursday) 

• A Make-A-Wish moment on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Power aid: Transformer work wraps up at the Con Ed substation (Monday)

• Is this the skinniest smoke shop in NYC? (Wednesday) 

• Report of a fire in an abandoned curbside dining structure on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

• "An Empire in Decline" at Village Works (Thursday) 

• On 10th and A, Deer Gallery debuts with some "Crispy Critters" (Thursday)

• Just another *******Pizza place (Wednesday) 

• To Eat Sushi on 10th Street (Thursday) 

• This East Village outpost of Blank Street coffee will be a barista training lab (Tuesday)

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Report of a fire in an abandoned curbside dining structure on St. Mark's Place

According to multiple residents this morning (after 8), a man allegedly set fire to the abandoned curbside dining structure outside 102 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Firefighters immediately extinguished the blaze. It was not immediately known if the man had been living inside the structure ... his whereabouts were also not known after the fire...

Last Wednesday, the Department of Transportation issued a "Termination" notice for this dining structure outside Compilation Coffee, which closed one week after the streetery arrived last November.

Meanwhile, city officials are still debating the future of outdoor dining. Part of a proposed bill "would allow 'streeteries' — aka the dining sheds on the streets — to stay up from April through November each year," NBC New York reported on Friday. 

Reader-submitted photos

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a construction shot of 1 St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue)... 

• With Community Board approval, Sammy's Roumanian Steak House takes another step to returning to the Lower East Side (Tuesday) 

• This East Village resident is bringing a classic 82-year-old radio back to broadcasting life (Thursday) 

• Mayor Adams visits Tompkins Square Park (Monday) 

• RIP Andy Rourke (Friday) 

 • Report: 8 months after fire, residents want their landlord to repair their Avenue D building (Monday)

• Workers demolish the south ramp to East River Park at Houston Street (Wednesday)

• Parkgoer escapes injury after a branch falls in the Tompkins Square Park dog run (Wednesday)

• The Cube will return to Astor Place this summer — but not before a spin to the Hamptons (Thursday) 

• A winning bid for Theatre 80; a vow to keep fighting for the building (Friday) 

• Openings: Saint Pizza on Avenue B (Wednesday) 

• Checking in at Jazba, a new Indian restaurant opening this summer on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• A necessary 'eVil' (Tuesday) 

• Packing up the Urban Umbrella scaffolding around Cooper Union (Tuesday) 

• 8 new trees on a truck in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)

• Out and about with Rhett the Rhino (Friday)

• The all-new Bleecker Street Bar debuts (Monday) 

• City issues curbside dining structure removal to the shuttered Compilation Coffee (Thursday)

• Scenes from a rain-soaked Dance Parade (Sunday) 

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Report: 8 months after fire, residents want their landlord to repair their Avenue D building

Photo from September 2022

Eight months after a two-alarm fire at 11-13 Avenue D, some residents of the 6-floor residential building between Second Street and Third Street say their landlord is "dragging his feet" in making the necessary repairs.

PIX11 reports that three tenants are taking landlord Gregorio Nunez to housing court via Mobilization For Justice. Residents say no work has been done to the rent-stabilized units.

"The landlord originally told us six months, and that's obviously not the case," Ise White... told PIX11 News. "Our apartments are in great condition. It's mostly the windows that need to be fixed very easily. There was no structural damage."

"Apparently, he's dragging his feet," Nikita Salehi-Azhan, the Mobilization For Justice lawyer and tenant advocate, told PIX11 News. "Unfortunately, it takes a lawsuit to do anything about it. Because only four of the 16 units were occupied and three of the four are rent-stabilized. You can say he doesn't have an incentive to get the repairs going," Salehi-Azhan added.

When PIX11 contacted Nunez, he reportedly said, "no, no, no" and hung up the phone.

After the fire, the DOB issued a vacate order on the building.

Per the city: 

Due to extensive fire damage at 1st-floor restaurant along with fire, water and smoke damage throughout building... fire fighting operations to vent out entire building where all windows and doors have been removed along with removal of the skylight for venting. These hazardous conditions have therefore rendered the ENTIRE premises unsafe to occupy. 

Sources previously said the fire started in the New Chinatown Restaurant. 

There were no injuries in the fire.

PIX11 says the tenants will be back in housing court today.

Reader report: Apartment fire at 182 Avenue B

The FDNY responded to a late-night (after 2 a.m.) fire at 182 Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street. 

EVG reader Joe shared these photos from this morning, showing soot and broken glass on the sidewalk... and a burned-up office chair on the fire escape outside the third-floor apartment where the fire started...

Officials at the scene blamed a lithium battery from an e-bike. (And per the Citizen app: "Firefighters advise that a lithium battery was involved in the fire.") 

There weren't reports of any injuries... and no word on the extent — if any — of damage to the ground-floor tenant, Haile Bistro. 

CBS 2 reported last month that "lithium-ion battery fires are prompting more and more apartment buildings to pull the plug on e-bikes." 

As NY1 reported yesterday: "The FDNY says 66 fires have been started by lithium-ion batteries, killing five people. Last year, the city saw 216 fires and six deaths related to the batteries." 

This past week, two people died after a fire on West 190th Street sparked by a lithium battery.

After deadly collapse, city issues vacate order at the Little Man Parking garage on 9th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The Department of Buildings (DOB) has issued a vacate order for the Little Man Parking garage on Ninth Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Per the vacate order issued Friday via the DOB: "The occupied parking structure with concrete framing observed to be in a state of disrepair at several locations in cellar level... crushed column base observed at several locations in cellar level ... vertical cracks observed inside elevator shaft and on masonry walls."

Albert (below), the manager at this location, said that workers have relocated all the vehicles to other Little Man garages.

No one is allowed inside the now-empty garage. He said it would be at least two weeks before they could reassess the space, though repair work had yet to start as of yesterday. They plan to reopen once repairs are made and they receive the all-clear from the city.

The closure comes two weeks after the deadly collapse on April 18 at the Little Man garage on Ann Street in the Financial District. According to its website, Little Man Parking operates 46 garages in New York and New Jersey. 

During a citywide sweep on Friday, Buildings officials shuttered four parking garages, including an eight-story building at 50 Bayard St. in Chinatown and a 25-story structure at 225 Rector Place in Lower Manhattan. (The Ninth Street location was not mentioned in any media accounts.) 

The temporary order also means the Budget Car Rental that shares the space is closed for now... signage arrived on the door this past Saturday instructing renters to visit the East 31st Street location.

According to the Post, the Ann Street garage "had a long history of significant structural issues, including that the connection joint between one support column and a ceiling beam had developed cracks, as had several of the walls — including some that were 11 feet long — and needed substantial upgrades to comply with the city’s fire code." 

Willis Moore, the Ann Street manager, died in the collapse. He was 59.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo by Steven of the LUNGS Spring Awakening Parade in Tompkins Square Park yesterday)... 

• Report: East Village gallery a no-show on opening night, leaving artists without their work (Wednesday) ... After group-show ghosting, the EVAC space is for lease on 1st Avenue (Thursday) 

• Help for A&C Kitchen, which remains closed after a late-February fire (Thursday) 

• A look at Poetica Coffee, opening soon on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Monday) 

• The farce awakens at the Orpheum Theatre (Saturday) 

• Downtown Bakery preparing to reopen after being sidelined with an expired license (Friday) 

• A visit to East Village Buyers, now in soft-open mode in new Avenue A home (Friday) 

• A new home on an avenue for East Village gallery-bookstore Ed. Varie (Tuesday) 

• A great new song and video from cumgirl8 (Friday) 

• Collapsed portion of sidewalk whole again on 7th Street (Monday) 

• Openings: Honey Crepes on 13th Street (Tuesday) 

• Aura Bar & Kitchen is back on 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Sushi on Jones departs The Bowery Market, where several new concepts are on the way (Thursday) 

• Signage alert: Deli Convenience on 1st Avenue; Partea on 14th Street (Monday) 

• On the April CB3-SLA docket: A Pig & Butter sibling on Avenue B (Monday)

• Happy trails to the Shake Shack curbside dining structure on 3rd Avenue (Thursday) 

... and Bob's Bar has reopened for the season on 12th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue (photo by Stacie Joy) ...

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Help for A&C Kitchen, which remains closed after a late-February fire

Photo of Mr. Li from March by Stacie Joy 

On Feb. 27, a two-alarm fire broke out at 136 Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. 

Initial reports blamed a "lit object" discarded from a residential window down to the courtyard in the rear of the building. Unfortunately, a groundfloor tenant, A&C Kitchen, the longtime quick-serve and affordable Chinese restaurant, remains closed. 

Sierra Zamarripa, who owns Lovewild Design next door, recently started a crowdfunding campaign to help Mr. Li, who has run A&C Kitchen for 30-plus years, with lost income over the past two months as well as other additional reopening expenses. 

You can find the link here.

Aura Bar & Kitchen is back on 1st Avenue

Aura Bar & Kitchen returns to service today at 111 First Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

The restaurant, with various small plates and pasta dishes, debuted here in late December... before taking a break last month while awaiting a liquor license.

As previously noted, ownership here was behind Cafe Mocha, which was wiped out by a three-alarm fire in February 2020 at 48 E. Seventh St./116 Second Ave. Any hopes for a reopening were dashed when another fire destroyed the corner building in December 2020. 

Cafe Mocha first opened in the East Village in 2008.

Aura's hours are listed as 4 p.m.-midnight on Tuesday-Wednesday; until 1 a.m. Thursday; and 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The Aura website is at this link.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo on First Avenue by Derek Berg) ... 

• Ben’s Deli moving on without Ben on Avenue B (Wednesday) 

• Time passages: Check out the interior of the long-empty Mom's Liquor Store on Avenue B (Tuesday) 

• Suspect arrested after firing gun on 4th Street between C and D (Thursday) 

• Reconstruction work on the Tompkins Square Park field house starts soon (Monday) 

• Report: Gregg Singer places the former P.S. 64/Charas into bankruptcy protection (Wednesday) ... At the long-vacant former P.S. 64/CHARAS, more "frivolous court actions to tie up the property" (Thursday) 

• Paying tribute to the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 (Friday) 

• These East Village tenants, fearing displacement, to rally against their new landlord (Saturday) 

• Experimental Intermedia brings the films of Bradley Eros to Whitebox gallery (Thursday)

• Anthology Film Archives hosting a long-overdue retrospective of East Village artist Abigail Child (Wednesday) 

• McSorley's "bringing all the energy back inside" (Monday) 

• Corteiz x Nike Air Max 95 collab drop draws crowds, NYPD on 4th and C (Tuesday)

• The $1 cheese slice at 2 Bros. on St. Mark's Place is now $1.50 (Monday) ... A cheese slice is 99 cents again at 99 Cent Pizza on 14th Street (Thursday) 

• Highlighting "Free The Nipple Day" on Avenue A (Thursday)

 ... and a moment on Third Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street...

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EVG Etc.: the 9 Lives of a 7th Street townhouse; the 17 NYC arts institutions with free admission

Photo on 7th Street the other evening by Steven (and there wasn't a fire) 

• LES fashion designer's homicide linked to fatal drug-facilitated robberies (ABC News) 

• The history of 64 E. Seventh St. includes Lou Reed and Yoko Ono (The New York Times) 

• Christo and Amelia are in the brooding stage in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography) 

• "[A]n experiment in queering fine dining" at HAGS on First Avenue (The New Yorker... previously on EVG) 

• Checking out Wild Rabbit Coffee on Seventh Street (Time Out... previously on EVG) 

• Women rob East Village couple of $8k worth of property (amNY) 

• A mother-daughter conversation about their home in Stuy Town and putting down roots (dwell)

• Workers at the Trader Joe's at Essex Crossing file petition to unionize (NY1) 

• Next on Musical Mondays at Village East by Angelika — "Victor/Victoria" (Official site) 

• How to get an NYC street co-named (THE CITY) 

• A list of free museums for New Yorkers to visit (Hyperallergic)

Paying tribute to the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911

Tomorrow marks the 112th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

As in past years, volunteers have been taking part in the chalking project (organized by Street Pictures), writing the names and ages of the victims in front of the buildings where they lived on the Lower East Side.

For example, Julia Oberstein lived at 53 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street. (Top photo.) She was 19 years old. 

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in U.S. history ... causing the death of 146 garment workers (mostly young women) who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths.

The Triangle Waist Company was located on the northwest corner of Greene Street and Washington Place just east of Washington Square Park, where the commemoration ceremonies take place today (3/24). Find more details at The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition website.

A memorial, expected to be unveiled at the site of the fire, is in the works. Read more about it here.

[Updated] Suspect arrested after shooting at police on 4th Street between C and D

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated 3/25: ABC 7 has an update here on the suspect, 20-year-old Richard Mendez, who allegedly had threatened his brother with a gun.

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A 20-year-old man is in custody tonight after shooting at a police cruiser on Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D, according to published reports

Per CBS 2, "officers in a marked police car spotted the suspect waving a firearm." He then allegedly fired at the vehicle, striking it several times. The officers also reportedly returned fire. 

NBC 4's account of the story said the suspect "was ... menacing people with a gun" before the encounter with the NYPD near 330 E. Fourth St.

There were originally reports on the Citizen app that the officers sustained unspecified injuries. CBS 2 reported that "the officers were taken to a local hospital to be treated for ringing in their ears." 

Updated: 

According to the Post, the man was menacing his brother with a gun. It wasn't immediately clear if the suspect shot at the officers during the confrontation. 

Per the paper: "The suspect's brother was also arrested for an alleged robbery from Wednesday, according to sources."

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo — "make your best offer" — from 14th Street by Daniel Efram) ... 

• A new home and name for Café Cortadito (Monday)

• 3rd & B'zaar's new market will feature the work of women-owned businesses (Wednesday) 

• May the farce be with you: 'The Empire Strips Back' is next up at the Orpheum Theatre (Thursday) 

• A new era for the old Bad Pussies wall on 3rd Street and Avenue B (Tuesday) 

• Fire jumping returns (Saturday) 

• Revisiting a transformative Sunday on Avenue A (Friday) 

• What's happening on this block of 5th Street? (Tuesday)

• CM Rivera addresses 'operations improvements' for Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday) 

• Openings: The York on Avenue B (Tuesday) 

• Corner spaces for lease along Houston at Elizabeth and the Bowery (Tuesday)

• Report: The Astor Place cube will be ready for a spin once more this summer (Friday) 

• Corner development battle: 360 Bowery takes commanding lead over 1 St. Mark's Place (Monday) 

• Ghost signage on 7th Street (Wednesday) 

• On the rental market: 118 St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• March madness! Key Food continues to up its St. Patrick's Day game (Monday) 

• First sign of Raising Cane's on Astor Place (Thursday) 

• Gelato 1st and 10th (Monday) 

• Report: Angel's Share has a new home (and what of its old home?) (Monday) 

... and on First Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street, the short-lived Healthily Deli is now going as Top1 Convenience (thanks to Steven for the photo)...

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Fire, jump with me

Photos by Stacie Joy

Thursday evening saw the return of a fire-jumping event in an East Village community garden, the first since 2019. 

This year's edition, produced by More Gardens, took place at El Jardin del Paraiso on Fifth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Here's some background:

More Gardens' Chaharshanbeh Suri NYC is a festival rooted in community, sharing, equity, and reverence for the earth through ritual fire jumping, art, music, food, and culture that began in the lands of West and Central Asia.

This fire celebration nourishes our spirits, strengthens our connection to each other, and affirms our belonging by embracing our diverse nationalities, languages, faiths, class, genders, races, and sexual identities. We make gathering joyful through art, music, food, culture, and intergenerational sharing. We hold each other to tend the flames of love, justice, solidarity, and goodness across the planet and right here in the community green spaces of NYC.

The fire team included Joules Magus ... with representatives from the FDNY present for safety. 

An estimated 200 people took part in the jumping ceremony. EVG contributor Stacie Joy was on hand for part of the festivities ...

The owner of A&C Kitchen on Avenue C would like to reopen his business now

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

On Feb. 27, a two-alarm fire broke out at 136 Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street.

Initial reports put the blame on a "lit object" discarded from a window down to the courtyard in the rear of the building. 

 The fire destroyed a ground-floor apartment. As a precaution, the FDNY opened up some walls and the ceiling in the kitchen at the Wayland on the corner, causing them to be closed for a few days to repair the drywall. (They reopened on March 2.) 

Meanwhile, A&C Kitchen, the longtime quick-serve and affordable Chinese restaurant sustained some water damage — mostly in its basement. 

Now, more than 10 days after the fire, Mr. Li, who has owned A&C Kitchen for the past 30 years, is frustrated with the city's response and the bureaucratic process.

Mr. Li says the electricity and gas are still turned off to his business, even though they have restored both services to the residents and nearby commercial tenants. 

He pointed out that there is no fire damage to his restaurant and that any water damage in the basement has been cleaned up and the smoke scent mediated. Still, he has lost two weeks of business. 

He is actively looking for assistance from the community and hopes that local elected officials might help him cut through the red tape...

Mr. Li also noted that people who live in the building are still tossing lit cigarettes out the windows and fears they may have a similar issue again...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo on St. Mark's Place by Derek Berg) ... 

• D.A. announces indictment in assault outside Ray's Candy Store (Thursday) 

• Report of a fire at 136 Avenue C (Monday) ... After the fire at 136 Avenue C; A&C Kitchen damaged (Wednesday) 

• Anyway Cafe is closing; staff hopes to open new establishment (Monday) ... At the last night of Anyway Cafe (Wednesday)

• Seasoned Vegan coming to the East Village (Thursday) 

• On 1st Avenue, New Double Dragon is closing and maybe reopening (Tuesday) ... Serenity Spa remains open on corner rumored for new development (Wednesday) 

• A community art project honors the resilience of Ukrainians; it will be on display at Veselka (Thursday) 

• The return of B-Side (Friday) 

• Potty on! Restrooms randomly back open in Tompkins Square Park after a 4-month closure (Sunday) 

• Closing the book for now at Short Stories on the Bowery (Wednesday) 

• Night market concept looks to be the life of the Partea on 14th Street (Thursday) 

• Virginia's eyes a March debut in new 3rd Street home (Tuesday) 

• Hello Dolly: Incoming dessert shop on 1st Avenue has a memorable name (Tuesday) 

• A notice to remove the sidewalk dining room at the now-closed Bait & Hook (Monday) 

• A look at 'Vital Impetus' at Azure Arts (Friday) 

• From Brix to Brick on Clinton (Monday) 

• Smoke shop! (Monday) 

... and is Saquon Barkley of the NY Giants enjoying his off-season in the neighborhood? As seen in a dry cleaners on Avenue A... 

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