EV Grieve Etc.: Couple forced to smoke crack; the Strand at 90

[14th Street and 4th Avenue via Derek Berg]

In District 1, which includes parts of the Lower East Side and the East Village, "families choose where their children will go to elementary school, and in 2016, 84 percent of families got one of their top three choices for kindergarten. But their choices still added up to segregation." (The New York Times)

93,000 people applied for 104 subsidized apartments at Essex Crossing (DNAinfo)

Here are the new CB3 members (The Lo-Down)

"How the New Bowery Wall Commission Puts Rape Culture on Display" (Hyperallergic)

Pearl Theater, with roots in the East Village, files for bankruptcy (The New York Times)

Tenants Association asks Blackstone to keep Associated in Stuy Town (Town & Village)

Cross-Dressing and Drag on Screen (Anthology Film Archives)

Feds: A Brooklyn man lured two drunken patrons from the Wren on the Bowery to an apartment and forced them to smoke crack — and then used their credit cards while the victims were incapacitated (Daily News)

A river-to-river bus on 14th Street during the L train shutdown? (Streetsblog)

The Strand is turning 90 (Gothamist)

Frank O’Hara’s East Village (Off the Grid)

The Lower East Side Film Festival continues through June 15 (Official site)

Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt East Village Towers coming to MoMA (B+B)

"Leave Home" gets the 40th anniversary deluxe treatment for the Ramones (Diffuser)

City wins court battle to reduce adult businesses (The Real Deal)

A look at some New York City miniatures (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

... and workers this morning were installing a new awning at the always-reliable Banh Mi Zon on Sixth Street just west of Avenue A...



---

Follow EVG on Instragram and/or Twitter

Summer, when the city could maybe splurge on another Big Belly for Tompkins Square Park

This morning...

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Just after 8 a.m., the NYPD put up the barricades on Third Avenue at 14th Street ... to block traffic as crews begin setting up for!



It's the annual Third Avenue Festival sponsored by the Cooper Square Committee... and one of the better sessional street fairs, as far as seasonal street fairs go.

At this hour, the various vendors were just setting up...so [in a rather apologetic tone] no sneak previews today...



The festival is noon to 5 p.m., from 14th Street south to St. Mark's Place.

Friday's parting shot

[Click to go big]

Ninth Street looking west toward Avenue B this evening via Keiko on 9th...

Dirty 'Trick'

Mary Timony of Helium is playing two sold-out shows at the Mercury Lounge tonight ... (after a set at Rough Trade last evening)...she'll be playing songs from Helium's two records and assorted singles ... including (likely!) "Pat's Trick" from the band's debut record, The Dirt of Luck, from 1995.

1st look at the Lenin statue's return to the Lower East Side

[Photo by Stacie Joy from last September]

Last September, workers removed the familiar 18-foot statue of Lenin from atop the recently sold Red Square on East Houston between Avenue A and Avenue B.

That statue was said to rise again one day on a Norfolk Street building a 1/2 block from Red Square. Michael Rosen and Michael Shaoul, co-owners/developers of the original Red Square, are reportedly the owners of this 6-story walk-up adjacent to the Angel Orensanz Center.

Early this afternoon, EVG correspondent Steven came upon a crew on Norfolk Street, and ran into construction manager Peter Marciano.

The statue had been on the roof since September, and workers were putting it into place today...











EVG correspondent Stacie Joy also happened to be at the scene...











The statue arrived atop Red Square in 1994.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rumors: Red Square has been sold

Report: Red Square has been sold for $100 million

The fall of Lenin: Iconic statue removed from Red Square on East Houston Street

Sunday in Tompkins Square Park: Puke Island part 7

Here's the lineup:

2 p.m. — A Special Mission
2:45 — Sexual Suicide
3:30 — Invading Species
4:15 — The Accelerators
5 — The Third Kind

Promises to be a festive day in Tompkins Square Park. In addition to the concert, participants in the Body Pride Parade will be meeting starting at noon to prep (strip?) for a march at 2 p.m. to Washington Square Park.

And the temperature will hit 95 degrees.

Dance by the cube this evening at Astor Blaster

Via the EVG inbox...

The Alamo sculpture, the “Cube”, turns 50 this year and to celebrate, you can dance the night away at Astor Blaster, the first ever FREE silent disco at Astor Place.

Three live DJ’s will spin their decks with tunes featuring the very best beats of today, with a nod to the musical heritage of the neighborhood. Wearing FREE wireless headsets, guests will dance their way through the sunset and into the night around the iconic Astor Place “Cube” which will be the focal point of a dazzling light show.

Admission to Astor Blaster is FREE and wireless headsets will be available on a first come, first served basis. Guests will also have the option of simply dancing to their own music, or Astor Blaster playlists via Spotify, while enjoying the unique opportunity to revel in the middle of Astor Place.

The Astor Blaster turntables start spinning at 6:30 pm, continuing until 10:30 pm. For revelers wanting to continue their evening in the neighborhood there will be exclusive Astor Blaster offers available in local venues and bars.

For more details here. (This event was rescheduled from May 5, when it was washed out by rain.)

Exclusive: 2nd Avenue explosion sites have a new owner

[Reader photo from Wednesday]

According to public records, Maria Hrynenko's companies — MAH Realty and Kiev Realty — have sold the flattened properties at 119 and 121 Second Ave., site of the deadly gas explosion in March 2015.

The new landlord, listed as "Avenue Second Owner LLC" with a Wooster Street address, which is Shaky Cohen's Nexus Building Development Group, Inc., paid $9.15 million for both lots, per filings recorded yesterday. (A tipster previously claimed that Premier Equities, a Midtown-based real-estate investment and development firm, was to be the buyer.)

It's not known just yet what the new owners might have planned for the two parcels. Workers have been on the site in recent days taking a full soil profile.

Lawyers have said that a sale could potentially jeopardize the settlements of the victims. The DA charged Hrynenko and several others, including her son, with involuntary manslaughter and other alleged crimes. The criminal case against her has yet to go to trial while the multiple civil actions are still making their way through the courts.

As for lawsuits, Hrynenko is now claiming that her management company was "careless and reckless" in its work that led to the deadly explosion. Investigators have said that an illegal cost-cutting gas delivery system at 121 Second Ave. may have caused the blast that killed two men and injured a few dozen other people as well as destroyed three buildings — 119, 121 and 123 Second Ave.

According to the Post back in March, a broker working with Hrynenko contacted the new owner of the lot at 123 Second Ave. The broker reportedly said they had a buyer interested in purchasing all three lots. However, the owner, Ezra Wibowo, who paid $6 million for the property, declined the offer. Public records show that he is still the owner.

A source told the Post, "For him, it’s a long-term investment. He’s not in a rush to build or develop."

Time will tell how much of a rush the new owners of 119 and 121 Second Ave. are in to build on this prime corner lot.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Maria Hrynenko looking to sell 2nd Avenue properties destroyed in deadly gas explosion

Reader report: A buyer for 119 and 121 2nd Ave., site of the deadly gas explosion?

Live to be Great on Great Jones

The gutting/converting continues over at 41 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette.

In early 2015, the city's Landmarks Commission signed off on the conversion of this five-story, 19th-century commercial building — Acme Sandblasting Company was here for years — to a six-story residential building with three residential units. (This Curbed post has all the background.)

Anyway, the broker bunting recently arrived on the sidewalk bridge... Team Serhant is heading the sales... and their marketing slogan is "Live to Be Great" (Get it?) ...



There's a teaser site up... no word yet on pricing or anything...



There are floorplans and photos at the developer's site.

A quick look at Tramonti Pizza on St. Mark's Place

[Photo by Cheyenne]

Tramonti Pizza has been in soft-open mode the past several weeks at 130 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Gothamist stopped by for a few visits ... and gave the place high marks.

First, the vibe:

There are somewhere around 25 seats, including three stools by the front window overlooking the bustle of St. Marks Place. The music is nondescript Italian classics, the staff friendly and professional, the pace unhurried. Located by Tompkins Square Park, Tramonti is a welcome, decidedly un-sceney respite from the often-frantic restaurants in this part of the East Village.

And the food?

In the pizza section there are seven so-called "untouchables," classic combinations that honor the old Tramonti pizza-making traditions, but all of the pies here are made with San Marzano tomatoes and Fior de Latte cheese imported from the Amalfi coast. The one untouchable I ate was called the Verace, and it was delicious, a simple pie of robust tomato sauce and large patches of mozzarella di bufala on a chewy, blistered crust.

You can find the Tramonti menu here.

There are on this month's docket for a beer-wine license. (Given the method of operation and the fact that ownership agreed to stipulations, they will not be appearing before the CB3-SLA committee.)

The two previous tenants here were pizzerias (Via Della Pace Pizza and Falanghina Pizza Bar). Whole Earth Bakery held forth for 20-plus years until December 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Pizzeria in the works for former pizzeria at 130 St. Mark's Place

Urban Etiquette Sign of the week

@EdenBrower spotted these signs last evening on Ludlow Street...

HEY, YOU BIKE-STEALING PIECE OF STINKING CRAP!!!

If you stole my bike, and my child's bike, to ride them, I hope you crash into a brick wall and have chronic pain to go with your festering insides.

If you stole our bikes to sell, I hope you develop scabby painful bits all over your body and never get a moment of rest, ever. I HOPE SOMEONE YOU LOVE CRIES EVERY DAY.

Those were OUR bikes, not yours, they were our primary transport and I bought them with money I earned. Get a job, you thieving sack of shit.