Happy ending for The Villager box

We recently noted that some drunken hooligans someone moved The Villager box from the west to east side of Avenue B at Eighth Street. Or perhaps it was that mighty wind from that weekend...?



Well, we went back over there to see what became of the box... turns out it was moved across Eighth to a new, perhaps, safer location...

Another tag for the Cooper Union building

Previously.

Busy finance guy on St. Mark's Place looking again for an 18-27-year-old female roomie to walk around in her undies

Last April, we posted about the young man with a deal for a hottie roommate on St. Mark's Place:

$130 Unique offer for a unique woman (East Village)

Many of you who read this ad are going to find it very offensive. Please understand that while this offer might not work for you, there are people out there in this world that have different levels of comfort with certain ideas that might be offensive to the majority of the population.

I got this idea from an article in Time Out New York that I read a while ago. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment that I inherited and now own. I live alone in the East Village, and have an empty bedroom and a lot of space. I am offering the empty room w/private bathroom for only $130 a month. Here is the catch...of course there is a catch. I'm a white late 20's guy that works in finance. I work A LOT and therefore my social life has become nonexistent. So, I want to add a little bit of excitement to my life. I would like to rent the room to a woman between the age of 18-27.

You should be a free spirited, liberal minded person who is very open minded. I would like you to be a slim attractive girl who is OK with occasionally walking around or hanging out in her underwear <---yes...that would be the slightly crazy part.

Dunno how well that worked out. Apparently our man is looking for a new roomie, same conditions — except now you have to pay MORE to walk around in your underwear for him. Rent is up to $300 a month. (Via Curbed)

There are 21 empty storefronts along Avenue A

The ongoing discussion with the rent woes for Ray at Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A prompted me to take an inventory of empty storefronts along Avenue A...Chris Flash noted the following in his Ray's article at The Shadow:

As Ray is already paying a peak rent for his small store, and as the neighborhood is already full of empty storefronts, it is doubtful whether a new tenant would be able or willing to pay as much or more for Ray's store.

I counted 21 empty storefronts on Avenue A. However, at least five of the storefronts are being renovated in preparation for new tenants. (But they are still technically vacant now...)

Starting on Houston and walking north along Avenue A...up to 14th Street...







The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre is coming to the former Two Boots space...




At 85 Avenue A, the Arrow is very much open in the lower level...and upstairs there's work being done on the opening-soon Cafetasia...




95 Avenue A will one day be home to Cienfuegos, a Cuban eatery...





And there's work being done on this storefront next to Horus on 10th Street...


167 Avenue A is reportedly becoming an EV outpost of Diablo Royale...









Previously on EV Grieve:
There are more than 20 empty storefronts along Avenue B

East Village vintage store shutterings continue: Andy's Chee-Pees on St. Mark's Place is closing

Just one week after the Post's trends piece on East Village thrift stores hurting...Andy's Chee-Pees on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue is closing this location...And after the sidewalk shed was finally removed from this corner last Wednesday.



...they have another store on Eight Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. Andy's was established in 1977. (And I remember that the store used to be on the other side of St. Mark's Place, closer to Trash and Vaudeville...)



Hard to believe a store like this can't make it on St. Mark's Place. Of course, the pricey Theatre Condos are upstairs...and the developer has been advertising commerical space for lease...

Update: Walked by tonight, and the store was cleared out...

So let's take a quick tally of some of the neighborhood's unique vintagey stores that have closed of late:

Love Saves the Day
Howdy Do
99X

At Evolution Lounge: Vodka martini, flipped, not stirred...

While walking on Second Avenue the other night, I saw that that the Evolution Lounge had (re)opened at Fourth Street...As you may know, we've been following the saga of this space through various incarnations/awnings...2x4, Ambiance, Evolution...




Our old friend Hunter-Gatherer was told by a construction worker last summer that Evolution would feature "flipping bottles, fire tricks…you know, bringing a Las Vegas style bar to New York."

Flipping bottles, eh?





Didn't see any fire tricks, though.

Previously.

Things that we were unaware of this week: Celebrating sausage

Outside Jimmy's No. 43 on Seventh Street. And is there a Bacon Week anytime soon?

Superdive now only open three nights a week

Now just open three nights a week for the winter...



..and the front door seems to have taken a shot...errant flip cup?

Former Starbucks no longer shilling vodka

Curbed noted at the end of the year that the former Starbucks in the now-former Cooper Union was advertising for vodka...



...and now the ads are gone...(and were they even legal?) And does this signal that something is about to happen to the space?

Waterfront property losing value

Over at the Waterfront Spa on Second Street at First Avenue...



...half of the sign was painted over to make way for a new Vans ad over the weekend...

Shoe gazing

The Liberty Convenient Store on First Avenue near Seventh Street closed last summer...



The location is now home to a children's shoe store that doesn't appear to have a name just yet...

One view on "Naked City"

At the Post today, Julia Vitullo-Martin, director of the Center for Urban Innovation at the Regional Plan Association, takes a look at the new book by Sharon Zukin, "Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places."

Vitullo-Martin writes:

While Zukin expresses substantial ambivalence, she ultimately believes that authenticity is its own reward. Indeed, she goes so far as to propose that authenticity should be used to "ensure everyone a right to stay in the place where they live and work." But this would be disastrous in practice, resulting in rent rules and protections that would leave a grid-locked and static city.

Down that road lies what Justin Davidson pondered in New York magazine ... her the "dedicated yearners would roll back" the tide of affluence, preferring the "cracked-out squats" of the 1980s.

Put that way, I vote for today’s New York, even without the authenticity.