Monday, February 18, 2013

Reader report: Someone vandalized Portal 1 on Avenue C



A local East Villager passes along these photos of Portal 1, one of 13 portals by Nicolina and Brazilian artist Perola Bonfanti... passersby can scan the QR code on each one, then "you will begin the journey to uncover their mystery."

Unfortunately, someone ripped off the QR code on the Portal located on Avenue C and East Seventh Street. According to the reader, the artists are in South America but are working on a long-distance repair.



Here's the website for the portals.

UnReal Estate Friday night at MoRUS

From the EV Grieve inbox...



A Benefit Show for UnReal Estate; A Late Twentieth Century History of Squatting in the Lower East Side

Friday Feb 22 - 7pm-11pm
@ MoRUS
Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space • 155 Ave C

Unreal Estate Squatter History slide show by Fly

War In The Neighborhood slide show
by Seth Tobocman
with Ben Barson and Eric Blitz

words from Penny Arcade!

$5-10 sliding scale NoOne turned away for lack of $$ !!

Here's the Facebook events page with more details.

We'll have more on this show later this week.

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: Alder's rustic look; First Avenue's next noodle joint; Pudgie's empty canopy

Haven't done one of these roundups in some time...

-----

Progress at noted LES chef Wylie Dufresne's new pub called Alder, opening on Second Avenue near East 10th Street... looking rustic or cabin-y...



-----

EVG regular WIlliam Klayer notes the new "tapas and noodle bar" is opening at 141 First Avenue, which has been a few ramen places since its day as a fish market...







-----

... and, sadly, the iconic signage for the shuttered Pudgie's-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's action-packed combo on First Avenue has been stripped off the canopy. Note on the door still says "pardon our appearance during renovation."

Sunday, February 17, 2013

East Village sunset





Photos today by Bobby Williams...

Week in Grieview


[Off-road driving on Avenue A? Photo via Crazy Eddie]

Motor City Bar is closing (Monday)

Mike Bakaty talks about the early days of tattooing in the East Village (Wednesday)

Tom Cruise sells in the American Felt Building on East 13th Street (Monday)

New Jared Kushner tenants are organizing (Tuesday)

Why the East Village is like Ireland (Wednesday)

Former Whole Earth Bakery space will be an Italian restaurant (Monday)

Chloƫ Sevigny showed her new line at the St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery (Tuesday)

New York Health & Racquet Club headed to Avenue A? (Wednesday)

C-Town reopened on Avenue C (Monday)

Verso reopened on Avenue C (Friday)

Own the Avenue A 7-Eleven! (Thursday)

Let the First Avenue pizza war begin (Friday)

"Sexy hot bartending robots" wanted (Wednesday)

FIRE BREATHER! (Wednesday)

Verizon sucks (Thursday)

There are a lot of places around here to buy coffee (Monday)

LES hotels with special day rates (Tuesday)

Woo: Lawmaker wants to curb fee-based pub crawls


The Post reports today that Democratic Assemblyman Micah Kellner has introduced "a bill that would pull the plug on pub crawls by yanking the liquor licenses of bars that promote the boozy block-by-block odysseys."

"It creates mayhem," Kellner said. “We’re not trying to legislate common sense. What we can legislate is licensed liquor establishments promoting and enabling dangerous behavior.”

According to the article, "his bill targets bars that sponsor organized pub crawls requiring a fee to participate. Informal gatherings among friends would not be outlawed."

The article includes the classic "if people don't want" quote:

“If people don’t want to live around nightlife they shouldn’t live in Manhattan,” said Kevin Barry, a 27-year-old Upper East Sider. “It’s incredibly shortsighted.”

Speaking of pub crawls, a reader asked us if we saw the pub crawl last night that featuring a group of bar-hopping thrill-seekers all holding onto a rope and wearing wigs on Avenue A. So sorry that we missed it. But someone must have photos.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Pub crawl ban brewing?

Celebrating lent is getting out of hand



Outside St. Brigid-St. Emeric on Avenue B last night. Not sure where the stretch limo's occupants were.

Sunday morning with Zoltar


Previously.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

[Updated] Report: 19-year-old woman dies on East 12th Street after night of drinking


A 19-year-old college student was found dead this morning in the lobby of 125 E. 12th St., according to published reports.

The Post reports:

A doorman discovered Jocelyn Pascucci — a Stony Brook University student from East Meadow — unconscious in the lobby of the building at East 12th Street and Third Avenue just before 5 am.

She had been bar-hopping in the neighborhood and drinking heavily, which may have exacerbated her heart condition, law enforcement officials said.

Pascucco, a Marine Vertebrate Biology major, got separated from friends and walked a short distance to the apartment building, wearing only one shoe, police sources said.

A doorman reportedly let her into the building because she looked "cold and drunk."

Updated:

The Daily News has more information.

Jocelyn and her friends spent the first part of the evening at a concert at Webster Hall, family members said. They hit a few bars afterward, but she soon got separated from her group.

Her last stop was a bar just down the block from where she collapsed, police sources said.

Richard Pascucci said he and his wife had just driven to Stony Brook to help their daughter with laundry.

"We made cookies for her and brought them to her for Valentine's Day," he said. "We always used to go fishing. I’m going to miss that."

Updated:

Several media outlets have posted Jocelyn's photo from Stony Brook's website.

Hawk vs. pigeon today in Tompkins Square Park









The pigeon eventually escaped... Later, though, the hawk dined on an already-dead pigeon... Photos by Bobby Williams... not sure if it was the same pigeon...



Things that we were staring at on the sidewalk outside McDonald's on Third Avenue today

[Updated] On the 'No 7-Eleven' Bodega Walk today



Via the No 7-Eleven Twitter account.

Previously.

Group shot here by Ingrid Kellerman ...



And a video of the walk by Matteo Minasi ...



Off topic, be sure to check out the car at the 1:30 mark.

Today in meteor woo


As we first reported yesterday you may have heard, a meteor blast shook Russia's Urals region yesterday.

The Post had a local angle today:

That didn’t stop science geeks and party kids in the Big Apple from celebrating the cosmic rarity.

I’m getting drunk in honor of the asteroid,” said Maria Hess, 21, who bellied up to the bar at Jimmy’s 43 on the Lower East Side.

2nd 'No 7-Eleven' bodega walk today

From the EV Grieve inbox...



Previously.

Friday, February 15, 2013

I'm so dizzy



Here's Red Lorry Yellow Lorry with "Spinning Around" from 1985.

2 Bros. Pizza now open on First Avenue


[Photos via AC]

The 2 Bros. Pizza location on First Avenue near East 14th Street opened today... and let the $1 pizza wars begin...



Eater's Greg Morabito put it this way the other day: "But really, there should be no competition here: Vinny Vincenz serves one of Downtown Manhattan's best utilitarian slices. The regular $2.50 slice is easily three or four times better than one of those crummy pieces of wet cardboard served at 2 Bros., or at any of the other dollar slice joints in the area."

Agree?

Previously.

The Nuyorican Poets CafƩ has its new HVAC unit


[Via Facebook]

From the EV Grieve inbox...

This week, the Nuyorican Poets CafƩ installed a new heating and air conditioning (HVAC) unit! Hurricane Sandy knocked out our heating in October; thanks to our fans and supporters, we finally have heat again at the CafƩ

The CafƩ on East Third Street between Avenue B and Avenue C also made an appearance this week on MTV's "Washington Heights." You can find that episode here. The CafƩ is featured starting at the 3:50 mark for a few minutes, and then several times during the segment from 32 minutes in to the end.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Avenue C and East Second Street the other day]

A Jewish-Iraqi pop-up restaurant for East Ninth Street (DNAinfo)

A look at the work of Andrea Stella, founder of The Space at Tompkins (Take Part via HuffPost)

2 LES bars cited for alleged underage drinking (The Lo-Down)

Clayton Patterson op-ed: We need new LES leaders (The Villager)

Ruby's opens on the Coney Island Boardwalk in...



Muji opening a store on Cooper Square (BoweryBoogie)

Those romantic Ramones! (Montreal Gazette)

Why Quinn holds the cards on rezoning and landmarking (Off the Grid)

Losing this Brooklyn landmark? (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Hulu showing the entire Criterion Collection for free this weekend (Gothamist)

...and how many of those Kate Moss/Rag & Bone ads look like this...


The morning after



Seventh Street and Avenue C via Steven Matthews...

Every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song
Every rose has its thorn

Yeah it does — Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall, Rikki Rockett

Now what's going on with 100 Avenue A?

[Last March via Bobby Williams]

East Village Farms at 100 Avenue A between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street closed Feb. 7, 2012. (A whole year already? Jeez.) Since then, not much of anything has happened inside the space, though the sidewalk does serve as a makeshift shelter.

[Feb. 2 via Bobby Williams]


[Wednesday via Bobby Williams]

However, in recent days, there has been some activity inside the former grocery...



And plans have changed here. Last year, the landlord was proposing to keep the store on the first and second floor, and then add a third and fourth floor for residential use.



For whatever reason, the landlord never got this plan approved. Now, as a tipster notes, the landlord has ditched the idea of adding the additional floors. Plans on file now with the DOB show a proposed addition to the back of the building ... and increasing the size of the store at the first and second floors.





Per our tipster: "I just wonder by increasing the floor area for the first and second floor, what sort of commercial entity are they looking for? Who would need such a large floor plate (and 2 stories) besides a market/grocery or a Duane Reade-type pharmacy? It's too big for a restaurant, bar or clothing store. So I wonder who they think will lease the space?"

Good question. Have any guesses? Or any tips about the space? Then please leave a comment or drop us a note via the EV Grieve email.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished