[Updated] Large police presence now on Avenue C and East Third Street

[Via @thestarkonline]

There's currently a large NYPD presence (around 2:15 p.m.) on Avenue C and East Third Street. A lot of rumors involving a DOA. No other details or confirmations as of now. Will update later today when we receive more information.

Updated:

We've heard all sorts of stories... the last of which is that a man was shot in the stomach in a drug deal gone bad... he was expected to recover from his wounds, per a source...


[Via @HelenatRCSN]

Update: Zoltar will be repaired.... tonight!

Ace photographer East Village Hawkeye has more about the sickening vandalism of Zoltar outside Gem Spa. Via Facebook:

The owner told me that the glass would be fixed tonight. He may have security camera footage of the crime. Nobody working there gave me any description of the vandal(s).

In other developments, a good question via Twitter:

@dishwithdina @tomhanks @evgrieve But why didn't Zoltar see this coming!

— Andrew McMahan (@AndrewMcMahan) April 13, 2013

And Tom Hanks has been informed.

Speaking of Zoltar and "Big" (you know, the movie) Scouting New York had a post a few years ago about the Zoltar scene at the end of the movie... which took place at Rye Playland. Read that post here.

Last day for Bleecker Bob's; move on hold to the East Village?

Per the Bleecker Bob's Facebook page:

4/13/13 SADDEST DAY EVER at Bleecker Bob's

two words we'd NEVER thought we'd say.....
CLOSING DAY!!!

still negotiating with that spot in the east village. was hoping to have good news by today. maybe we'll post the name of the realtor for the building who seems to be holding things up for no reason, so everyone can spambard him with emails and comments. ugh, so frustrating!!

Give us the name!

Previously on EV Grieve:
[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

Bleecker Bob's is for rent

Bleecker Bob's won't be moving to the East Village — or anywhere else, for that matter

Bleecker Bob's have a bid on space in the East Village

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Woo! Sausage on a stick! Fried calamari! Heartburn! Recurring gastroenteritis! (Oh, kidding.)

But there is a street fair going on right now on Astor Place up to Broadway, per Bill the Libertarian Anarchist.

First one of the season!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Breaking! Breaking! Zoltar is broken! Broken!

Actually, Zoltar was vandalized! Word is that some "homeless kids" purposefully smashed the Zoltar glass with a skateboard yesterday and ran.





More. Much more! To come.

Updated 11:24 a.m.

As word of this crime spreads... friends and followers are sending their regards...

I informed Coney's Wonder Wheel Zoltar of the crime. He sends his condolences and wishes East Village Zoltar a speedy recovery @evgrieve

— Amusing the Zillion (@AmusingZillion) April 13, 2013

There are unconfirmed reports that Mayor Bloomberg will cut short his weekend trip to Bermuda to address the situation here.

Sunday afternoon in the Park with NO 7-Eleven

From the EV Grieve inbox...

We're going to chalk up the park at the Tompkins Square Park nonbandshell at 2 pm and then take our chalk and our Community Wheel of Fortune to the corner of Avenue A and 11th Street, the site of the threatened 7-Eleven, and chalk up the street and talk to the passers-by who don't yet know what's coming to their neighborhood. Join us for some good old anti-corporate-anti-suburbanization-and-anti-Pringle-ization-of-our-souls-and-our-streets fun!

Meanwhile, here's video journalism piece CUNY TV produced on the No 7-Eleven group... it starts at the 12:45 mark...

Man survives fall on F train tracks yesterday; called 'hobo' by Post

There were a lot of news accounts yesterday morning about an F train striking a man at the station at Houston and Second Avenue. The Post has more details.

The man, 26-year-old Alexander Flefleh, fell off the platform and miraculously survived. "He suffered head trauma, but broke no bones below his neck, said his mom, Aphrodite Flefleh of Astoria, Queens."

She also said that he lives in a homeless shelter and "suffers from seizures, as well as emotional and drug problems." The man, whose birthday was yesterday, may have had a seizure and fell.

And, as you can see from the headline, the Post described Alexander Flefleh as a "hobo."

So sad about us

The Damned with "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" from 1979.

headline h/t

Papaya King sign now — up

At 3 St. Mark's Place.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking: Papaya King sign going up on St. Mark's Place — right now

Any info on the 'ultra loud sex noises' on East 10th Street last night?

A reader left the following comment:

Can anyone talk about the ultra loud sex noises on east 10th btw 1st/A last night? it was super strange. did anyone else hear/witness?

Well?

[Image via random clip art]

Report: a battering ram on East 5th Street; big drug bust at Campos Plaza

A reader passes along the following... the incident occurred 8:30 last night ...

I was walking home on 5th between A and B and there were lots of police trying to get into an apartment building using a battering ram and then rushing in and yelling "we have a warrant!" or something to that extent. It was like a movie scene honestly.

The reader said that it was an apartment building next door to the Ace Bar.

Meanwhile, there have been other reports of heavy law-enforcement activity in the area. The Associated Press reported this afternoon that 41 members of two drug trafficking rings have been indicted.

They include 33 members of the "Blocc Boyz" street gang, based in the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side.

The gang members reportedly used car services to deliver cocaine to its customers across the city.

Also.

A separate indictment charges eight members of the "Money Boyz" street gang, based in the Campos Houses in the East Village. They're accused of trafficking cocaine, including crack.

You can read the press release from the District Attorney's office here.

And here's more from that press release:

Money Boyz

According to documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court, since approximately November 2011, members of the “Money Boyz” gang, based at or near Campos Plaza in the East Village, are charged with selling large quantities of cocaine to undercover police officers. Acting as its manager, CHRISTIAN/CHRISTOPHER SLATER, 23, is accused of overseeing the operation.

Deal off to bring Crif Dogs to the former Billy's Antiques space

Crif Dogs will not be selling its wares from the former Billy's Antiques space on East Houston at Elizabeth Street, we learned this morning. Crif Dogs partner Brian Shebairo confirmed that the deal is dead. And he is mighty pissed about it. More on that in a moment.

Shehairo planned to park the Crifmobile at this lot and open a more-permanent space with outdoor tables and chairs, as Grub Street first reported on April 1. The space has sat empty since Billy Leroy put away the giant tent in March 2012. Plans for a new two-story building on the lot have never materialized.

Shebairo, who opened the flagship shop on St. Mark's Place in 2001, was working on a deal with landlord Goldman Properties. However, that deal died yesterday when Goldman reps said that they'd like Shebairo to turn the space back over to them in September and October for a Kenneth Cole-sponsored arts event where the homeless could receive free needles and condoms.

This revelation from Goldman came after Shebairo spent two months working on the proposal, incurring costly lawyer fees in the process.

"I'm so annoyed," Shebairo said on the phone this morning. "I jumped through hoops to make this happen with them leading me along the whole time. I think they wanted me to come in to clean the space for them then give it back in the prime season so they could work with Kenneth Cole."

The proposal inadvertently ended up on this month's Community Board 2 agenda — before Shebairo had time to do any neighborhood outreach. After the item appeared on the docket, he learned that NoHo power-broker Zella Jones was dead against the idea of someone peddling hot dogs with a full-liquor license on that corner.

Shebairo said that he sat down with Jones during a recent four-hour meeting at Saxon + Parole. By the end of the meal, he had agreed to a host of stipulations, including only serving beer and closing by 10 p.m. He said that he had her blessing, which goes a really long way in that neighborhood.

Apparently Shebairo could of had a much smaller presence during the two-month Cole event. As one Goldman rep apparently told him, "Brian, we're going to make you famous."

Said Shebairo: "It was a kick in the fucking face. I don't know how Kenneth Cole is going to make me famous."

He has all the proper permits for the year ready for the Crifmobile, and he could legally just park it by the empty lot if he wanted to.

"I thought it was kind of a cool idea," he said with a sigh, "a creative use of the space."

News break: It is raining

The scene looking south around 10 a.m. By Bobby Williams.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Breaking: Papaya King sign going up on St. Mark's Place — right now

Workers arrived around 7 a.m. today to put up the new Papaya King sign at 3 St. Mark's Place...



... and moments ago, Shawn Chittle spotted workers prepping the sign for placement...



Papaya King hopes to have the shop open by May 1.

RIP Walter — 'hasta la vista'

We received some sad news yesterday... the loss of one of those characters you always saw around the neighborhood — Walter. (Walter Seda, though most people never knew his last name.)

His friends Michael and Jenny shared the following:

It's with great sadness that we are letting you know that Walter from 2A (among many other places such as Sidewalk Cafe, Magician, Parkside Lounge, Nice Guy Eddie's and Manitoba's) passed away Tuesday April 9 at Downtown Hospital at 8 pm. He waited to make his departure until Happy Hour was over just as he usually did many many nights in the past. Walter had been battling with bladder cancer for many months but despite his unusually strong constitution ... he finally succumbed.

Walter technically lived on Broome Street, though, as Michael said, he LIVED in the East Village, as evidenced by the many places where he was known.

In a follow-up email, Michael provided a little more background about Walter: He came here from Puerto Rico in 1959.

"May 24th to be exact as he told me on one of the last days I saw him alive. He daily walked the length and breadth of the East Village even in the dead of winter and never wore a coat as anyone who knew him would attest. He only wore short-sleeve shirts. When ever he left to go home at night (usually at the end of whatever happy hour he was at) he would raise his right fist and to all present would say "Hasta la vista" in his big gravely voice. His rough and hulking exterior belied his sharp mind and the fact that little escaped his watchful eye."

There will be a short service during the viewing around 7 p.m. at the R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home on Saturday. Prior to this, his friends are planning to meet at 2A for a drink or two to celebrate his life.

Said Michael: "All who knew him will miss him and never forget him."

[Photo of Walter by Tim Finn]

Rainbow will be the latest business to exit East 14th Street

Last Friday, we pointed out the ongoing exodus on East 14th Street ahead of some unspecified new development that promises to build on a good part of this stretch of single-story buildings... Now, as these photos by ace photographer East Village Hawkeye show, Rainbow, the junior retailer, is the next business to close...



An employee told EVG regular Gojira that April 20 is the store's last day ...



As we previously reported, eight parcels consisting of 222 Avenue A and 504 - 530 E. 14th St. (excluding No. 520) were leased for a 99-year period by the respective owner of East Village 14 LLC.

After Rainbow goes, the remaining businesses will be Rite Aid, the laundromat, which multiple readers have said will move to Ray's old space at East Side 99-cent store toward Avenue B, and the dearly beloved Blarney Cove. But for how much longer?

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

Conspiracies: What next for 14th Street and Avenue A?

Those ongoing rumors about the future of East 14th Street between Avenue A and B

Petland is moving away from East 14th Street, fueling more new development rumors

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

Bargain Express has closed on East 14th Street

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

Score this $11,000 penthouse above Nevada Smiths

[100 Third Avenue in July 2012]

Nevada Smiths opened Wednesday in their new mutlilevel home at 100 Third Ave., as Zagat first reported. And yesterday, two of the residential units in the formerly four-story building hit the market — one for $7,000 and the $11,000 penthouse.

Here's the PH listing from Citi Habitats:

MAGNIFICENT BRAND NEW BUILDING IN THE HEART OF THE EAST VILLAGE! GORGEOUS 3,000 SQUARE FOOT PENTHOUSE DUPLEX WITH A KEYED ELEVATOR ENTRANCE! This fabulous unit features 2 PRIVATE TERRACES, A FIREPLACE, an open eat-in kitchen with stainless steel GE Profile appliances, your own Bosch WASHER & DRYER, track lights, oak strip floors, and ubiquitous closets. The elevator building has a shared roofdeck, intercom security system and is located steps from Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, the 4,5,6,N,Q and R trains crosstown buses.

After watching the slow-growing add-on these past four years, we finally have a look at the inside of the residences ... here are photos of the penthouse, which carries an $11,000 monthly rent.





...and your view from the eastern terrace...



Anyway, as noted in a previous post, the address here has been a variety of theaters through the years... in the 1960s-1980s, it spent time as The Jewel and The Bijou, showing XXX fare such as "Gay Hawaii" and Joe Gage's "Kansas City Trucking Company." In February 1989, City officials closed the theater, "charging that the owners of the Bijou Cinema were 'essentially operating an AIDS breeding ground with profit being the driving force,'" according to a report in The New York Times.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here then, where Nevada Smiths once stood

100 Third Ave.'s lonely add-on

100 Third Ave.'s theater past

100 Third Ave. in 1936...

[NYPL]

If these plywood walls could talk...

In the last week, several messages have gone up on the plywood outside the former P.S. 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street... Building owner Gregg Singer filed plans to renovate the space into dorms for an unspecified school on Feb. 12. (The city disapproved the first round of plans on April 1.)

Jefferson Siegel sums it up this way in the current issue of The Villager:

Neighborhood animosity has boiled for years over owner Gregg Singer’s attempts to develop the location for various uses, including as a 27-story university dormitory. At one point, angered by the opposition, Singer threatened to turn the building into a drug rehab center. The old school was eventually landmarked and now Singer and his partners are trying to retrofit it as a student dorm once again, according to plans filed with the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Now to a few of the messages spotted on the politically charged plywood since the latest plans for the use of the space were revealed:




[Photo via MoRUS]


[Photos via MoRUS]

As for the fire on East Ninth Street late last Friday night... the Post noted this on Wednesday:

Authorities are hot on the trail of a group of inadvertent firebugs.

The suspects set a bonfire on an East Village sidewalk to stay warm but accidentally set three cars on fire, cops said.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Will old PS 64 get a theater for nonprofit groups?

Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Something new in the works for PS 64?; plus sidewalk bridge expiration anniversary

Welcome to the neighborhood, Mr. Sarkozy

Oh, we were enjoying a leisurely walk one recent evening and we spotted Olivier Sarkozy, half-brother of the former French president and beau of Mary-Kate Olsen, standing on the sidewalk outside the lovely James Renwick-designed home at 123 E. 10th St. that he reportedly purchased last summer.



While reports said that he bought No. 123, we thought we also saw him enter the adjacent property at No. 125 (both were on the market) with the movers, who were carrying various boxes marked "Sarkozy," like the one in the back of the van marked "Bridgehampton Dishes."



We did not spot any marked, say, "Mary-Kate's pots & pans."

And the Di Bella Bros. sign is hidden once more on East 13th Street

On Monday, EVG regular evilnyc noted that there was some sign work going on at the Hamptons Market on First Avenue ... workers removed the sign on the north side of the building, which revealed ... the beloved previous tenant ...



...Di Bella Bros., the Italian deli that dated to 1925.

Obviously this was going to be a short-term reveal... sure enough, a reader noted that the Hamptons Market sign returned yesterday...



...looking as if it belongs more in a food court than on a city street...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Di Bella Bros. ghost signage uncovered on East 13th Street