The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop will not be reopening on 7th Street

A lot of people have pointed this out in recent days: The for-rent sign in the front window of the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Co-founder Doug Quint confirmed the closure, though didn't offer any other immediate comment. [Updated: Read their farewell-to-Seventh-Street message here.]

This outpost had been closed since the PAUSE went into effect last March ... the Big Gay locations in the West Village and UWS did reopen.

The popular shop opened in September 2011 with a memorable array of entertainment, including an all-bassoon band, Bea Arthur lookalikes and Anthony Bourdain dressed as a priest blessing the shop. 

This was the very first location for the business that started with an ice cream truck. Since then, Quint and co-founder Bryan Petroff authored a cookbook on frozen treats and launched a pint-sized product line in grocery stores. 

Photo by Steven

A show of Local Artists this weekend at 3rd & B’Zaar

3rd & B’Zaar, the mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, is hosting an art show this weekend with an array of local artists.

The opening reception is tomorrow (Friday!) evening from 6-9. The show will then run this weekend — 1-6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

And coming soon: the space will become the Sex, Love & Vintage Market from Feb. 1-Feb. 28. Stay tuned for more details on that.

3rd & B’Zaar debuted late last year as a group of local merchants, artists and designers hosted a month-long Holiday Market.

Noted

As seen this afternoon on the Bowery at Bleecker... photo by Robert Miner...

Gallery Watch: Paige Beeber’s Farbe at Freight and Volume Gallery

Text and photos by Clare Gemima  

Paige Beeber’s Farbe

Freight + Volume Gallery, 97 Allen St.

Freight + Volume Gallery is a space I regularly walk past, but it wasn’t until seeing Paige Beeber’s large scale paintings that I had wanted to ring their doorbell for a tour. 

I had initially thought these were oversized textiles. Crazy in composition and almost panicked in their abstraction, as I drew closer to Beeber’s mixed-media canvases, a clear and painterly dialogue seeped through her strategically applied pallet of wet media, paint and found objects instead.

Ink splotted, cross-hatched and heavily patterned, what I enjoyed most about this show was how reminiscent of a studio scene these works exuded. It was almost as if all the paintings had kicked up a fuss about being transported to the gallery. It is immediately clear from their proud experimentalism that every work has a life of its own. Farbe (German for color ) felt like it was incredibly fun to put together and is an evocative showcasing of Beeber’s vibrancy and growing talent.

Beeber’s works operate as frames of time, snapshots of external and internal circumstances articulated and crafted by the artist. She has investigated ideas like order and chaos, which can be seen on her canvases through controlled, more orderly mark-making amongst the more frenzied and fluid gestures. The draw to these works is found within their multitudinous layers. Countless mark-making techniques that have managed to survive within the constraints of a canvas —how she has not run out of room I do not quite understand. 

What Beeber’s work does successfully is a call for contemplation from her viewer, as there is simply too much to comprehend from one glance. 

The scale of these works aid in this as well. As each work in the gallery towers over you, they demand some kind of attention and calculation — are they puzzles? A game of snakes and ladders? Painted knitting swatches? It is definitely not a case of what you see is what you get. 

Aside from the brilliant choice in showcasing Beeber’s paintings, I learned that Freight and Volume publish beautifully designed catalogs for each of their exhibitions. For a gallery that is dedicated to providing opportunities for emerging visual artists, an incredibly unique resource such as this — so kindly extended to their artists — is rare enough to be highlighted. 

Paige Beeber’s Farbe at Freight + Volume Gallery will be on view until Feb. 21.

 

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Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com 

When it snowed for a few minutes this morning

In case you missed the snow flurries this morning around 7:30... here are two scenes from along Avenue A... inlcuding a shot of Key Food's new awning that workers installed yesterday...

2021 development watch: 38-46 2nd Ave.

In the weeks-months ahead, workers will demolish three buildings (No. 38, No. 42-44 and No. 46-48) on the east side of Second Avenue between Second Street and Third Street...

And soon enough we'll likely have the first look at the 11-story mixed-use building that Gemini Rosemont Development has planned for this space... another development to watch in 2021.

As reported back in August,  there are work permits awaiting approval by the city... plans call for an 11-story building (120-feet tall) filled with 87 residences (condos?) and 10,014 square feet of retail. In addition, there will be a 1,884-square-foot office (likely medical) on the first and second floors. 

Last year, Gemini Rosemont bought the former La Salle annex at 38 Second Ave. and Second Street. The $14.5 million purchase of the four-story building was the third of three contiguous parcels acquired by the firm this year for development. Gemini Rosemont closed on 42-44 Second Ave. and 46-48 Second Ave. (the former Church of the Nativity) in March 2020 for $40 million.

Demolition permits have already been filed for three buildings.

The Church of the Nativity closed after a service on July 31, 2015, merging with Most Holy Redeemer on Third Street.

As previously reported, the Cooper Square Community Land Trust had explored buying the former Church of the Nativity to use as low-income housing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Educator: Turning the former Church of the Nativity into luxury housing would be a 'sordid use' of the property

• The fight to keep Church of the Nativity from becoming luxury housing

Taiwanese noodles for 7th Street?

11 E. Seventh St. looks to have a new tenant. 

There's a filing now for Four Four Taipei Noodles Inc. at the address. (H/T Upper West Sider!) No word yet if it is related to Four Four South Village, which sells similar Taiwanese noodles in Flushing. 

The space was previously home to Le Sia. The restaurant that served a Chinese crawfish boil was not able to survive the downturn during the pandemic. 

Le Sia debuted in January 2018 here just east of Cooper Square. 

As previously noted, No. 11 was home to Surma Books & Music for 98 years until June 2016. Third-generation owner Markian Surmach cited a decline in business and the expense of property tax and other charges related to owning the building. Public records show that the Surmach family sold the property to Icon Realty for $5.75 million at the time.

Amsterdam Billiards will reopen today

After a 10-month COVID-19-mandated closure, Amsterdam Billiards reopens this morning at 11 over on 11th Street and Fourth Avenue. 

Amsterdam Billiards, along with 15 other New York pool halls, had sued the state to reopen ... and this past week, a New York State Supreme Court judge ruled that the pool halls that had sued the state to reopen can do that — as long as COVID-19 safety protocols are in place, as PIX 11 reported.

Per PIX 11:

Among the many COVID-19 safety protocols for pool halls: They must operate at only 50 percent capacity, masks at all times, six foot social distance markers, no food or alcohol, deep cleaning as well as temperature checks, contact tracing and hand sanitizing stations.

While bowling alleys were allowed to reopen this past summer in the city, pool halls were left off the list. 

The judge’s decision will stand while the larger lawsuit is litigated.

Photo last night by Steven

Camellia will not be reopening on 3rd Avenue

Just a little north of our usual coverage area... Camellia, the restaurant that served made-in-house ramen and gelato, will not be reopening at 155 Third Ave. between 15th Street and 16th Street.

Food writer Nick Solares tells us that a for-rent sign has arrived in the front window. The restaurant never reopened after the PAUSE of March 2020.

Camellia debuted in early 2019 in space that was, in part, a Subway (sandwich shop). They temporarily closed several months later for renovations. 

Tuesday's parting shot

Today, the United States reached 400,000 deaths from COVID-19, which nearly equals the number of Americans killed in World War II, numbers multiple media outlets cited. 

Someone marked this grim milestone with a candle this evening on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Photo by Steven

Report: Man shot and killed last night on Avenue C and 3rd Street

Police are investigating a fatal shooting last night on the southeast corner of Avenue C and Third Street. 

According to published reports, a 36-year-old man was shot multiple times around 8:40 p.m. 

The Post reported that three men were seen fleeing westbound on Third Street. Witnesses also said that the victim had been on a bike.

Residents have long complained about the drug activity on this corner, which has been under a sidewalk bridge now for more than eight years. 

The renovations to the three-story building, 32 Avenue C, came to a halt in recent years. A full vacate and stop-work order remain at the address. 

In open letter, community groups seek answers over recent removal of 2 CB3 committee chairs

Fifteen community groups and block associations within Community Board 3 have signed an open letter to local and state officials requesting an inquiry into the recent removal of Alexandra Militano and Carolyn Ratcliffe as chairs of the SLA Committee and Arts & Culture Sub-Committee, respectively. (Update: the letter now has 16 signees with the addition of the First Street Block Association.)

Community groups point to the Dec. 30 letter drafted by five CB3 SLA Committee members and the Facebook post from ex-Arts Chair Ratcliffe after the demotions via Chair Alysha Lewis-Coleman raised concern about the direction and mandate CB3 leadership and management is adopting regarding liquor licensing and arts and culture in CB3. 

According to a release that accompanied the letter, the signees are especially troubled over the continued support of the Lower East Side Partnership (formerly LES BID) in the CB3 SLA Committee process, which Militano and some residents have opposed in recent years. 

"My block association is deeply concerned about unchecked liquor license proliferation and its effect on our block”, said Stuart Zamsky, an officer of the East Fifth Street Block Association in the release that accompanied the letter. "The LES BID would tip the scale for landlords and usher in more licensing if they are involved in the CB3 process." 

Neighborhood groups previously expressed concern about the new SLA Committee chair, Michelle Kuppersmith, who they say doesn't have the necessary experience to delicately balance the competing interests of an expanding nightlife industry against quality-of-life concerns. Militano has more than 20 years of involvement with CB3. (The turmoil on the committee also led to the resignation last week of member Clint Smeltzer.)

There were several protest signs visible during the virtual SLA committee meeting on Jan. 11 ...

The open letter from the 16 community groups offers a six-tiered approach that will allow residents and CB3 to move into 2021 "on good footing and continue to work together to bring positive and inclusive change for our embattled communities." 

The letter follows ...

Open Letter to Electeds - CB3 Leadership by E.V. Grieve on Scribd

The former Meet Noodles space is for rent on 3rd Avenue; Taste Wine looks closed next door

Meet Noodles has closed at 50 Third Ave. I don't know when this happened. They had been open for takeout and delivery ... as well as some curbside dining... but it all seemed to go dark in recent months. (Thanks to Steven for the photo!) 

There isn't any word of a closure on its website, social media properties ... or even Yelp. The restaurant specializing in Chongqing noodles opened here in May 2019. They also have locations in Brooklyn, Columbus, Ohio, and Nashville, Tenn. 

Anyway, there's now a listing for the space that doesn't offer many details, like rent. 

The west side of Third Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street is getting grim... with this closure, five of six consecutive storefronts are now empty... including the former Boilery and Blockheads ... Ainsworth on the corner is said to be temporarily closed...

In addition, next door to Meet, it appears that Taste Wine Co. has closed... paper is covering the windows and the store appears to be empty, per Steven ... the shop had just reopened under new ownership in the fall... if this is a permanent closure, then this makes six of seven closed businesses right in a row...

Happy trails: the sidewalk bridge has been removed from the all-new 619 E. 6th St.

To the amazement of a few residents on the block... workers last week finally removed the sidewalk bridge from outside 619 E. Sixth St., where a 6-story residence has been in the works here between Avenue B and Avenue C.

While the sidewalk obstruction is gone, there are still construction supplies stacked in the street.

As a reminder of this project via DXA Studio Architecture, the architects of record:

The facade is clad in a Danish handmade brick and includes a full width mural along a sidewall that links the building in character with its East Village neighbors where street art abounds. The five residential units, from a small studio up to a dramatic three bedroom with office and double height duplex on the top floors, incorporate a simple and timeless palette of materials throughout.

We first heard about this project in January 2016. It has seemingly taken a long time to knock down the previous one-level structure on the property and get to the point where workers could cart off the sidewalk bridge.

Residents on the block had previously expressed their annoyance by the roadway dividers and temporary walkway, which became a popular spot to use as a toilet. 

Previously on EV Grieve:
• 6-story condoplex, complete with Danish handmade brick, coming to East 6th Street

How you can record a virtual 88th birthday greeting for Ray

Ray Alvarez, the proprietor of Ray's Candy Store at 113 Avenue A near Seventh Street, turns 88 on Jan. 25.

Given the pandemic, there won't be any type of in-person celebration as in previous years (a tradition dating to 2007).

So here is the plan instead (and it's meant to be a surprise for Ray) via the b-day organizers ...

Since we can't be together for Ray's Annual Birthday Celebration this year, we're making a virtual video hug for Ray and would love for you to be a part of it! Please click the link below to record your birthday wish (it's easiest to just use your phone) and we'll play them all for Ray! 

We'll collect hugs through Sunday, Jan. 31, so please add yours before then! LET'S SET THE GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FOR BIGGEST VIDEO HUG EVER!

P.S. Don't tell Ray…it's a surprise! 

The link to record the video is here. 

MLK National Day of Service.

In honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, the 12th Street Block Association along with Down to Earth Community Garden are working together today ... "to make our block a better place to live by doing a street tree clean up, replacing tree guards for our new trees and in preparation for spring planting." 

Volunteers are meeting at the Down to Earth Community Garden on the southwest corner of Avenue B and 12th Street at 1:30 this afternoon.

Week in Grieview

Posts from the past week included... (with a photo early yesterday morning from First Avenue and 14th Street)...

• Residents say dangerous safety conditions at Mariana Bracetti Plaza lead to illegal and hazardous activities (Thursday) 

• Advocacy group: The city's value engineering study for East River Park does not exist (Monday) 

• Costume drama: Halloween Adventure is closing next month (Monday) 

• The debut of Phony Express, a local pandemic-era band who collaborates by phone (Friday) 

• NYPD looking for suspects in brutal daytime mugging on 3rd Street at 1st Avenue (Thursday) 

• The iconic motorcycle mural on 6th Street and Avenue A apparently rode off into the sunset (Friday) 

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday) 

• Gallery Watch visits the Hole on the Bowery (Wednesday) 

• Panna II will return, and expand into the former Milon space next door (Wednesday) 

• Post unveils signage at new 3rd Street location (Friday) 

• Have you seen the refurbished Cooper Station Post Office? (Tuesday) 

• The new-look 100 2nd Ave. (Tuesday) 

• Carving out a retail space at 56 St. Mark's Place (Monday)

• 2021 development watch: 77 E. 3rd St. (Wednesday)

• A quick look inside the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, opening next month on 1st Avenue (Tuesday) 

• A deli-grocery for the southwest corner of 14th Street and Avenue A (Monday) 

• The Schmackary's outpost on Cooper Square isn't reopening (Monday)

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Save our compost

An EVG reader shared this photo from the Tompkins Square Greenmarket today.

As you may have read in recent months, the Parks Department wants to evict three composting sites in the coming months — Big Reuse in Long Island City, the Lower East Side Ecology Center and Red Hook Farms. (For background you can read these articles at Politico ... the Queens Daily Eagle ... MSN ... City Limits... and, most recently, Gothamist.)

And the Lower East Side Ecology Center's compost stand at the Greenmarket is trying to rally support for the sites... you can text COMPOST to 21333 for talking points ... and you can find more info via @Saveourcompostnyc. 

Noted

In really random flyers... Derek Berg spotted this one on St. Mark's Place... an invitation to the "wedding celebration" of Lena Dunham and Mayor de Blasio. 🤔  

It takes place on Valentine's Day in Union Square. The RSVP is to Fiona X. Apple at an aol address.

Saturday's parting shot

Thanks to Rainer Turim for this photo outside Key Food on Avenue A... Also! Less than a month now to Valentine's Day.