Saturday, May 5, 2012

Was that a UFO over the East Village yesterday?



From reader Brian B. ... this incident occurred yesterday.

I was walking west on 10th Street between Ave A & B at 5pm today, I looked up and spotted a small red dot floating stationary way up in the clouds.

At first I assumed the red dot was a a child's "toy" balloon that had floated up out Tompkins Square Park. For most of the sixty seconds it took me to travel the block, I watched the red "ballon" remain in a stationary position (against the edge of the buildings in the distance).

When I got to the corner of 10th & A, I watched the "balloon" for a few more seconds, then turned my attention to the pedestrian traffic in front of me as turned right and began walking north on Avenue A.

While I was waiting for light at 12 Street, I looked up and noticed that the "red ballon" that had been floating stationary back over 10th Street was now traveling in a straight line across the horizon acting very much UNLIKE a balloon.

I took out my camera and shot this video. (Canon PowerShot ELPH 300HS 13X optical zoom)

The sun was still pretty bright at 5pm and I my camera's display was too dim for me to see if I was capturing the tiny dot that was hardly visible to my eye. I figured that with the camera zoomed in all the way, the footage would be too shaky to show much.

For most of the footage, the object looks dark, but during the last few seconds of the footage, you'll notice the red coloring I saw when I first mistook it for a balloon.

I don't think it's an alien space craft or anything, but it was definitely a UFO in the sense that it was flying and I couldn't identify it. I'm postive it wasn't a plane or a helicopter. Some kind of surveillance drone? Anyone have any idea what this could be?

I'm totally going with alien spacecraft. But I'm a realist.

You? Your thoughts on what this was. (Aside from Lady Gaga or Lana Del Rey, of course.)

And keep in mind: This isn't the first time for something like this happened around here. Remember this. Or this.

Breaking: World's largest pink stretch Hummer spotted on Avenue B


At East Ninth Street. Woo! x 2.

Howl! Festival set for June 1-3


Several readers pointed us to the Howl! Festival's Facebook page... where we found the following announcement posted this morning:

HOWL! Festival 2012 arrives June 1, 2, and 3 in Tompkins Square Park. Non-stop fun and nonsense for kids of all ages~

Check the Howl! website here for more details.

Our previous coverage is here.

Bear crawl ends predictably enough on Avenue A


Avenue A at Second Street.

Same shit every weekend. The SB&T (stuffed bear and taxidermy) crowd invades the neighborhood... and we have to see this kind of thing the next morning. Spent an hour cleaning the stuffed white cotton off my front stoop.

Snakes on an Avenue

[Photo by Marjorie Ingall]

You may have seen this last evening... above, on Seventh Street... and, later, a show on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue... via EV Grieve reader Rob



Times like these we turn to the Hollywood classics, such as Ice Cube in "Anaconda" — "They got snakes this big?"

3 church/school flea markets today

Multiple flea markets today...

At the St. Brigid School on Avenue B and Seventh Street...


...at Trinity on Avenue B at Ninth Street...


A reader also said that there are tables with clothes set up outside the Graffiti Church on Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...

Someone stole this bike from outside Table 12 on Avenue A yesterday morning

[Click to enlarge]

Spotted on Avenue A and 10th Street...

Shooting the moon

Bobby Williams took these last night...



If you look closely enough at the detail of this last photo, you can see the moon's new 7-Eleven...


And tonight – SUPERMOON!

Friday, May 4, 2012

10:08 p.m., 171 Avenue A, May 4


Previously.

Photo by Shawn Chittle

Dogs day afternoon


Today in Tompkins Square Park via EV Grieve reader Caiti....

Voices



Ultravox with "The Voice" circa 1982. And an admirably cheesy video.

Remembering Adam Yauch in the East Village


As you likely have heard by now, Adam Yauch, aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, died today after a battle with cancer. He was 47.

Shawn Chittle points us to 171 Avenue A, former home of 171A — the studio used by the Beastie Boys to record "Polly Wog Stew" in 1982.


Per Brooklyn Vegan:

In September of 1980, Jerry Williams would begin renovating the interior of 171A. Previously the place had been a glass shop, but after moving in their PA equipment Williams went on to build a stage at the front and an audio booth in the back. By November the 171A Studio was a venue used to house after hours parties where downtown bands like the Cooties would perform [but] with a huge New Year's Eve show coming up, the New York Fire Dept. stepped in and stopped further shows from proceeding...

By now though 171A had gained a lot of name recognition around town, so instead of shutting it down completely Williams decided to change it into a rehearsal studio. At the time, most of the available rehearsal spots in New York City were tiny little rooms, but 171A offered much more. Jerry described it as being like "...a full sized room with 15 foot ceilings and a floor space 60 feet long and provided recording artists with a quality PA system suspended from the ceiling. It was a cut above other rehearsal studios and since it was about half the size of CBGB's it produced a very similar sound."

Williams, aka Jay Dublee, died in September 2010.

Bad Brains and Reagan Youth were among the other bands to record here... We hear that a few Beastie Boys fans plan to put out candles in front of 171 this evening right now.

The Meatball Factory is now temporarily the Hole pop-up restaurant called Hole Foods

[EVG reader Michael]

It looks as if the Meatball Factory has served its last Meatball... at least for now...

Right under our noses at the Times today:

The Hole gallery opens a conceptual pop-up restaurant called Hole Foods, with a 40-person dinner. The artist Joe Grillo designed the Day-Glo-colored space.

Hole Foods, 231 Second Avenue. Saturday from 8 p.m. Invitation only.

It's the new (previously) secret project from The Hole Gallery on the Bowery. And this explains why several tipsters insisted that the Meatball Factory was a goner.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Renovations for the Meatball Factory

Rally Monday for East Third Street residents facing eviction

The flyer is pretty self-explanatory...


We were first to report on the looming evictions back on March 15... You can read more via the links below...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Three apartment buildings sold on East Third Street

Know your rights: Help with understanding NYC rent laws

More about the lease renewals at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St.

Tenants at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St. banding to together in face of building sale

Related:
And Economakis gets the whole building for his dream mansion

At the 47 E. 3rd St. protest

Here is the beer menu for the new bar behind Jane's Sweet Buns

At least the beer menu for tonight... Thanks to a reader for sending this along...


There are also 25 bottles ranging in price from $8 to $31 (the De Dochter van de Korenaar Embrasse Peated Oak Aged — wolf it!) ... you can find the list here.

The 10-seat Proletariat is now open in the rear of Jane's on St. Mark's Place... you can read about the place here ... and here.

The bar is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Noted


From the Village Pourhouse Facebook page:

What are YOU doing on Cinco de Mayo? If your answer remotely resembles "traveling to multiple downtown bars while drinking awesomely cheap tequila & beer specials and wearing a sombrero/mustache" then you belong with us at Village Pourhouse!

What's the over/under on Saturday, May 5 being more of a shitshow than Saturday, March 17?

Making the case for Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery to serve beer

[Photo via Serious Eats]

EV Grieve favorite Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery on Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street is on this month's CB3/SLA docket for a beer license... Here, EV Grieve reader Charles Hutchinson makes his case for Zaragoza...

One of the few truly unspoiled eateries on my stretch of Avenue A, Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery, has been hurting since they lost their beer license in September.

Zaragoza is a 10 year-old family-run business (husband, wife and grown son — Pompeyo, Maria and Ruben Martinez, respectively, all of whom live in the neighborhood). Zaragoza makes authentic, good, affordable fare — tortas, tamales, burritos — with fresh ingredients every day. For years it has been a convivial and crowded take-out with a few tables that were always filled.

Unfortunately, much of that has changed since the Fall when Ruben filed papers to change the establishment from a limited partnership into a corporation. What he didn't know, and now regrets, is that the change in legal status would complicate and possibly jeopardize his liquor license.

Since then, Zaragoza hasn't been permitted to sell a single can of Tecate or any other of the Mexican Beers that it used to stock. And that has put a serious crimp in their business.


So how dead is it now? When I went over there [last Friday night], weaving past the throng of revelers in front of one or more neighboring bars, the place was empty save for an occasional take-out like myself. Ironically, part of what is complicating the license renewal is the proliferation of bars that for most part didn't exist when Zaragosa started selling beer there many years ago.

Zaragoza is now seeking neighborhood support as it gathers signatures prior to pleading its case before the Community Board. Can you alert your readers of the need to sign the petition and help revive this venerable establishment?

Yes. There aren't many places like this left. [Added] They are collecting signatures of support for the CB3/SLA meeting at Zaragoza. You can stop by and sign. Ask Ruben or anyone behind the counter.

You can read a recent review of Zaragoza here at Serious Eats.

Zee's Pet Shop is now closed

[Bobby Williams]

Zee's Pet Shop on Avenue B just off East 10th Street had been going out of business for, well, a seemingly really long time...


As of yesterday, the store is officially now closed. I had a post in March 2010 about the space being for lease.

Mikey's on Seventh Street and Furry Land are other recent casualties... I don't own a pet. So, where do people shop these days for pet supplies in the neighborhood?

Space on the Bowery and Bond for 'the fashion crowd'


Over on Bond and the Bowery, the corner retail space (officially 57 Bond) has sat empty since WaMu moved out in March of 2009 ... But it's still ready for something fabulous, according to the new listing at Massey Knakal:

A retail condominium located on the southwest corner of Bowery and Bond Street - one of the most desirable locations in the neighborhood. The unit has exposure on Bowery and Bond Street with an entrance on Bond. ... This corner space sits on the rapidly emerging fashion district surrounding the intersection of Bond Street and the Bowery. No cooking is allowed. With tenants nearby including Billy Reid, Rogan, Blue and Cream, John Varvatos, and United Nude, this space is likely to draw significant attention from the fashion crowd.

The space is for sale for a fashionable $4.2 million; asking rent "upon request."

Previously, the space was "the new intersection of cool."


It was also a photogenic intersection for Bringing it On...


Anyway, this is just one more opportunity for my Bowery-Bond nickname to take off — BowBo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Post discovers that the area around Bowery and Bond is pretty nice these days — and getting nicer!

Noted

[Click to enlarge]

Letters addressing what you can and can't flush down your toilet are always so... awkward. Haven't seen it done well yet. And who dumps cat litter down a toilet? (Wait, don't answer that...)

Via Shawn Chittle.