Noted

All of the first-of-the-month loads of trash and discarded furniture around the neighborhood, this one on Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street is the most impressive... Thanks to Steven for the photo...

With larger new kitchen, EVLovesNYC expands to feed more New Yorkers

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

After an extended search, mutual aid group EVLovesNYC has found a kitchen space that fits its growing organization and mission. 

EVLovesNYC recently began cooking every Sunday at Rethink Food's state-of-the-art community kitchen at 116 W. Houston St. between Thompson and Sullivan. (Rethink Food is a nonprofit "creating a more sustainable and equitable food system by working in partnership with a network of local restaurants, community-based organizations, and food donors.") 

According to organizers, the move allows EVLovesNYC to scale up production numbers and expand its reach throughout NYC while maintaining its Sunday meals in the East Village, Tompkins Square Park, and with regular distribution partners throughout the city. 

The volunteer-run group's modest origins date back to spring 2020 when a handful of friends got together to prepare meals for neighbors from a small East Village apartment kitchen. 

Early on, Ali Sahin, the owner of C&B Cafe on Seventh Street, donated his kitchen on Mondays so the group could cook its meals. By June 2020, they had outgrown the space and started assembling deliveries at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

More than four years and 500,000 meals later, EVLovesNYC is still preparing meals — beef, chicken and vegan, made with attention to allergens and religious practices — for distribution.

I spoke with Tyler Hefferon (below right), EVLovesNYC's executive director, about the group's new kitchen and how it impacts its mission.

You've been looking for one for a while now. How did this come about? What is your agreement for using the Rethink space? 

We were put in touch with Matt Jozwiak [founder and CEO] of Rethink Food through East Village Neighbors Who Care. This mutual aid group receives hot meals from both EVLovesNYC and Rethink Food to support the number of clinics and services they offer to asylum seekers. 

After a short call with the Rethink team, we discussed EVLovesNYC using Rethink Food's new Community Kitchen on the weekends. Their staff is usually only active in the space Monday through Friday, and we have full access to their kitchen and equipment on Sundays. 

You’ve been in the new space for a few weeks now. How has it been cooking in the new kitchen? 

Like any new kitchen, there has been some getting used to the new layout, but in general, we are excited about the number of cooking surfaces, which will significantly increase the speed at which we can produce meals!

At the Sixth Street Community Center, we have been limited to six stovetop burners and a five-rack convection oven, capping us at around 2,500 meals per day. To put it in perspective, we now have 24 stovetop burners, a griddle, two deep fryers, four gas-powered ovens, and a tilt skillet at our disposal. Not to mention a loading dock for our distribution partners to pick up meals, an additional 800 square feet of prep and meal-assembly space, and a refrigerated compost room. 

Our core volunteer team worked in small groups in June as we familiarized ourselves with the space, but we are excited to open the space to online volunteer signups on July 7.

Will you continue to use the space at Sixth Street Community Center? 

Yes. Our lease was up for renewal, and we were unable to afford the increased cost of the space. In an effort to continue our partnership, we signed a three-month agreement effective July 1 with a less drastic increase, but with an understanding that we would cap our production at the Sixth Street Community Center to 1,300 meals per week so that they may lease the kitchen to other organizations. 

While this forces us to cut our Sunday operations, we still plan on using the space for smaller events throughout the week. 

Will you still be doing distributions in the East Village? If so, what are the dates, times and locations? 

We will be sending hot meals from our new kitchen every Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. in an effort to not disrupt our food distribution in front of the Sixth Street Community Center and Tompkins Square Park every Sunday from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

We will also continue supporting East Village Neighbors Who Care's services during the week, including the Free Store at Hope Church every other Monday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and services at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery every Wednesday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

We are also working with Rethink Food to add additional distributions in Tompkins Square Park on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. 

The new industrial kitchen is enormous. Does this increase the quantity of food you can produce? What about types of cuisines? 

Yes! We are proceeding with caution as we get acclimated to the logistics of the new space and have a better sense of what quantities we can handle financially, but our real-estate situation had been the major cap to our meal production every Sunday.

Realistically, we will start increasing our quantities to support additional distributions around the city starting in October. If we can figure out how to make it happen financially, we could gradually increase our production to 4,000-5,000 individually packaged hot meals every Sunday. 

The new equipment, such as the fryers and tilt skillet, absolutely opens doors to new cuisines. As we familiarize ourselves with all of the fancy prep equipment, we can eventually incorporate new complexities into our recipes that we've been avoiding just to be efficient with our volunteer prep team's time.

How can the community support EVLovesNYC going forward? 

As exciting as doubling our meal counts sounds, we hope that our fundraising can keep up to pace! If you are in a position to donate to our kitchen warming fund, do so here. 

Watch for July volunteer shifts [link here] if you want to join us at the new kitchen. 

There is nothing more valuable than spreading the word and sharing our work and mission within your network. Any interaction with our social media accounts helps our visibility exponentially. You never know who may be able to help.

[Co-founder Mammad Mahmoodi]

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• These East Village residents are helping feed families in Queens during the COVID-19 crisis 

• East Village volunteers expand their outreach to feed more neighbors in need 

• East Village Loves Queens expands: Meet East Village Loves NYC 

• Volunteers at East Village Loves NYC prepare meals for Ramadan; celebrate 1st anniversary

These 2 East Village trees are still entombed in concrete

We've heard from several EVG readers about these two tree pits... the top one is outside 521 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. We mentioned it on May 7, and multiple readers said they called 311 about the entombed tree. 

Meanwhile, building management maintains that this has reduced the rat population. 

Elsewhere, there's another soon-to-be-dead tree outside 47 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, a spot that residents said they have reported to the city.

Any others to report?

Signage alert: Stuytown Pharmacy on 14th Street

Photo by Pinch 

Signage went up Friday for Stuytown Pharmacy at 329 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

There's nothing inside the white-box space (most recently home to Hair Trendz) just yet. We haven't spotted any information online about the business.

This arrival comes as more chain drugstores are shutting down locations. Last week, we noted the desolate Rite Aid still hanging on at First Avenue and Fifth Street. (CNN shared this headline on Friday: Why Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid are closing thousands of drug stores across America.)

While another independent drugstore is a welcome addition to the neighborhood, its business hours, which may not be conducive to everyone's schedule, could potentially be an inconvenience.

The hours listed on the front door are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, and closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Smiles everyone: New-age dental studio setting up shop in 2nd Avenue condoplex

Tend is opening one of its new-era dental "studios" in the retail space at 24 Second Ave. at First Street. 

The brand has multiple locations in the United States, including a dozen in NYC. 

Tend got its start in late 2019. Here's how TechCrunch covered it at the time: 

Tend sees an opportunity to reinvent the dentist's office. How? Through tech-heavy dental "studios" that "prioritize" your comfort by featuring sleek waiting areas that it promises you'll almost never need to use and by offering "Netflix in your chair" that you will enjoy while wearing the latest and greatest Bose headphones. (Tend says it will get your favorite show queued up before you arrive for your appointment, which you will breezily book online, and whose prices you can learn in advance, so you don't suffer sticker shock later.) 

 And! 

It all sounds faintly ridiculous, but also nice, especially contrasted with traditional dentist offices, which tend to be both highly antiseptic and astonishingly vague about pricing. 

This is the second permanent tenant for the condoplex on the NE corner of First Street. Liftonic opened a studio on the lower level earlier this year. 

The ground-floor retail space — the former BP station property — has seen a variety of pop-up concepts in the past few years, including a Mathieu Lehanneur showroom. 

Meanwhile, another East Village condoplex remains tenant-free. The 11,000-square-foot retail space at the base of Steiner East Village on Avenue A between 11th Street and 12th Street is now in its sixth year of emptiness.

And someone has called this out with a sign noting "Storefront Vacant for Six Years" ... with the number of the RIPCO brokers leasing the space... (thanks to the reader for this photo)

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Cecil Scheib 

View of the sunset, Tompkins Square Park and the refurbished basketball courts...

6 posts from June

A mini month in review (with a photo from Houston and Avenue A)

• The Rite Aid on 1st Avenue doesn't look like a store that will be in business much longer (June 26) 

• Reports of multiple people stabbed on 14th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue; 1 fatality (June 23) 

• Father Seán is leaving the East Village (June 17) 

• Take a look at the all-new Delancey Street Pedestrian Bridge (June 12) 

• After 25 Years on Avenue A, Juicy Lucy will move following vandal attack (June 6) 

• The former St. Emeric property could yield a 570-unit affordable housing complex on Avenue D (June 5)

At the start of the 2024 Drag March in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The 30th edition of the Drag March got Pride Weekend underway... with the annual walk-march-protest to the Stonewall Inn. (Earlier in the day, President Biden and Elton John attended the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center adjacent to the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street.) 

As always, participants prepped and gathered in Tompkins Square Park before departing from Avenue A and Ninth Street. 

Here are a few scenes from this festive past Friday evening... which included a tribute to transgender pioneer and activist Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992)...

Week in Grieview

Posts that past week included (with a photo from 7th and A)... 

• Reports of multiple people stabbed on 14th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue; 1 fatality (Sunday) ... A look at 14th Street after the triple stabbing and homicide on Sunday (Monday) ... NYPD light tower arrives on a cleaned-up SE corner of 14th Street and 1st Avenue (Thursday) ... This morning on 14th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue (Saturday) 

• Emma Rogue is opening an events space on Houston Street (Saturday) 

• At the Harold Hunter Skate Jam in Tompkins Square Park (Friday) 

• At an East Village benefit for Washington Square Park Mutual Aid (Wednesday) 

• East Village singer-songwriter Jesse Malin will return to the stage this Dec. 1 and 2 (Wednesday) 

• A plaque dedicated to a former longtime Parks employee is missing from Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday) 

• Now people are stealing Invader's mosaics in the East Village and elsewhere (Wednesday) 

 • The Rite Aid on 1st Avenue doesn't look like a store that will be in business much longer (Wednesday)

• Check out an aerial view of the refurbished Tompkins Square Park basketball courts (Wednesday) 

• Opening weekend for Carnitas Ramírez (Monday) • City pools are open (Thursday)

• High winds bring down a branch in Tompkins Square Park (Monday) 

• A tribute to Patti Astor at First Street Green Art Park (Sunday)

• This smoke shop won't be reopening after an assault and robbery (Tuesday)

• Openings: Pasta de Pasta on 1st Avenue (Thursday) 

• 3 new bakeries-cafes have opened in the East Village (Tuesday) 

• A permanent closure for Dhom on 12th Street (Thursday) ... M & J Asian Cuisine on 14th and B (Thursday) ... and Joey Bats Café on Avenue B (Wednesday)

• The NW corner of 1st Avenue and 2nd Street awaits its new development (Monday) • The all-new Boiler Room announces itself on 2nd Avenue (Monday) 

• Lamia’s Fish Market is 'temporarily closed for maintenance' (Wednesday) 

• From the EVG archives: Q-&-A with Susan Seidelman, director of 'Smithereens' and 'Desperately Seeking Susan' (Friday) 

• Today in parallel parking (Monday) 

... and some of the recent chairs of Avenue A...

Gustaf headlines a free show in Tompkins Square Park TODAY

Show Brain presents a solid lineup of bands this afternoon (1:45- 6 p.m.) in Tompkins Square Park ... featuring the art-punk swagger of Brooklyn's Gustaf to end the afternoon. 

Here's the lineup (Skorts are taking over for Teenage Halloween): 

 • Gustaf • Shred Flintstone • Miranda and the Beat • Teenage Halloween  • Skorts • Abby Jeanne + the Shadowband 

And hopefully, the thunderstorms expected later today will hold off until late this evening...

Young red-tailed hawks continue to entertain in Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Steven 

It may be entertaining to us, but we feel for parents Christo and Amelia as they deal with this martial arts phase of their 2024 offspring. 

Goggla has some great shots of the young hawks at play here.

This is not a drill! Why you need to see this new mural on 12th and C at night

NYC-based artist Tom Bob is known for incorporating urban objects into his murals.

For the newest work at the 12C Outdoor Gallery on the SW corner of 12th Street and Avenue C, Tom Bob used a light fixture on the building in a piece titled "Jack Hammer Head Lamp."

"His creations expand our imaginations and inspire us to view public spaces with a refreshed perspective and joy,” 12C curator Robert Galinsky told us.

Heads up about this tent in a tree on 9th Street

Thanks to EVJackie for sharing this photo from Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. For some reason, there is a tent in a tree on the south street. 

We have no idea how long this has been stuck up there... but given the high winds today and expected again tomorrow, it may not be there for much longer.

This morning on 14th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue

We walked on 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue this morning around 7:30, when people typically start selling random items — including dented canned goods, rusted tools, soiled clothing and forgotten DVD titles — from sheets and blankets on the sidewalk. 

Depending on the weather, up to a dozen people can be selling items.

The block was empty this morning except for the longtime fruit vendor who set up near Trader Joe's.

At Immaculate Conception Church, the weekly Saturday flea market was getting underway inside the grounds. (Local elected officials have asked the Archdiocese and the church to end the flea market, though to date, they have not heeded the requests.)

We saw two NYPD officers on foot patrol. As previously mentioned, there are also the two NYPD light towers on the south side of the street. 

These developments unfolded this past week after a deadly triple stabbing last Sunday just before 6 p.m. along this busy commercial corridor and across the street from Stuy Town. 

Police arrested a suspect, 30-year-old Alejandro Piedra, who was later charged with murder with depraved indifference and attempted murder with depraved indifference, according to the NYPD and media accounts. Police said Piedra allegedly killed 38-year-old Clemson Cockfield and injured his wife, 52-year-old Jennifer Cockfield, as well as another man, 32-year-old Jonathan Lopez. 

During a police briefing on Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said all three victims sell second-hand items along this block.

The sidewalk sales are just one of the activities that residents have cited through the years along this problematic block, quality-of-life issues that include drug trafficking, early morning prostitution, and a growing unhoused population in need of city services. 

Residents here are hopeful the changes that have occurred in the past week will become permanent.

Meanwhile, someone launched a website titled Carlina From the Block, documenting what has happened since the deadly fight last Sunday ... and calling out the District 2 City Councilmember for not taking more action on 14th Street over the past seven years. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• NYPD light tower arrives on a cleaned-up SE corner of 14th Street and 1st Avenue 

• Why 787 Coffee decided to close its 14th Street outpost (June 2023) 

• Residents voice concerns about quality-of-life issues on 14th Street and 1st Avenue (February 2018)

Emma Rogue is opening an events space on Houston Street starting this weekend

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Vintage clothing entrepreneur Emma Rogue is expanding her Lower East Side presence with an events space at 313 E. Houston St., between Clinton and Attorney.

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday, 1-7 p.m.), the storefront debuts hosting a collection by Italian designer Son Ludo. (Details on Instagram here.) 

Rogue started selling clothes from her childhood bedroom on Depop and opened her first shop stocked with Y2K and 90s vintage and secondhand at 53 Stanton St. in June 2021. She recently relocated to a larger space nearby at 154 Allen St., where she also showcases other up-and-coming designers. (You can read more about her in this Teen Vogue feature.) 

At 313 Houston St., she plans to have an e-commerce area and a space to host events and pop-ups. (Perhaps she'll do another collaboration with her friend and fellow East Village store owner, Bella McFadden's iGirl.)

Rogue says she's happy in the new storefront and looks forward to meeting her neighbors.

Rogue says they'll return with more events after this opening collaboration. You can follow the shops via @roguegarms.

Practical magic

 

"Streetwise," the new six-track EP from Pretty Sick (aka Sabrina Fuentes) dropped this week. As Alternative Press noted, "The result is wholly different than anything she’s released, riding glitchy textures and a thwacking beat while laying down mercilessly cool lines about running around NYC ('Everyone's a gossip, everyone's trash/But I don't mind the company when I'm just blowing cash')."

The above video is for "Violet."