At the first East Village Flea of 2021

The first East Village Flea (aka Nexus Flea) is in the books... the nice weather this past Saturday brought out residents who took in live music from the Carvels NYC (above) and Claudi from Pinc Louds (below) ... not to mention the local vendors selling everything from handmade jewelry to Vaccinated t-shirts...

Here's a look at the scene on First Street and First Avenue via EVG contributor Stacie Joy... the next Nexus Flea is scheduled for April 17 ...

Fresco will not be reopening at 138 2nd Ave.

Siblings Ilias, Vanessa and Anna Iliopoulos have decided to give up their Fresco space at 138 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.

A for-rent sign arrived on the storefront late last week. (The sign disappeared over the weekend.)

As you may recall, the family — citing a decline in business during the pandemic — temporarily shut down their 8-year-old gelateria-cafe and returned to their native Greece last October. 

They had hoped to reopen in January, but those plans didn't materialize with the surge in COVID cases and continued limits on indoor service. 

However, Ilias will be back in New York City next month to hunt for a new home for Fresco. In an email, he told EVG correspondent Steven that they will be looking exclusively at spaces downtown. Hopefully, they will land back in the East Village.

Photo by Steven

This photogenic East Village wisteria now has its own jigsaw puzzle

The wisteria outside 35 Stuyvesant St. at 10th Street is a thing of beauty each spring... and now it's the backdrop — along with the homes that form Renwick Triangle — for a new (as of March 5) 500-piece jigsaw puzzle...

An EVG reader spotted this at the Barnes & Noble website ($14.99) ... the puzzle — titled 500 Blooming Streets — from Galison Books "features a beautifully illustrated floral NYC street" ... from art by Jay Joy Laforme. 

The real-life wisteria — a favorite on Instagram – should be starting to bloom in a few more weeks. 

EVG photo from May 2020

Corner report: 14th and A

From the EVG inbox... a reader notes the progress with the deli-grocery going in on the southwest corner of 14th Street and Avenue A.

As noted previously, some of the gang from the old Stuyvesant Market on the southeast corner of 14th Street and Avenue A (RIP May 2010) will be behind the counter here.

The market takes over from Dion Cleaners, which closed in November after 35 years in business.

A look at Full Tank Moto Cafe, now open on Monroe Street

Full Tank Moto Cafe opened this past Friday down at 49 Monroe St. in the Two Bridges neighborhood.

The cafe portion of the business serves bread and pastries from C&B Cafe on Seventh Street. (C&B owner Ali Sahin was also said to give Full Tank an espresso machine.)

The exhibition portion of the space is currently showing "Group Sex" through April 18 via the East Village-based Ed. Varie... (read EVG contributor Clare Gemima's review of the show here).

Full Tank also includes space for people to park and work on their motorcycles...

The space previously housed Kaplan Philip Glass Works before becoming a restaurant called Monroe... and later the Ground until the indoor soccer facility moved over to Madison Street. 

Group Sex is on view through April 18 at 49 Monroe St. (roughly across the street from Coleman Skatepark under the Manhattan Bridge). Full Tank Moto Cafe is open daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the gallery will remain open until 6 p.m.

Easter in Tompkins Square Park

Let's hop right to Stacie Joy's photos of the colorful bonnets and bunny ears as seen in Tompkins Square Park on Easter Sunday ...

Barnyard Cheese Shop returns; Brix Wines moves a storefront away

Barnyard Cheese Shop reopened on Saturday at 168 Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street... (thanks to Vinny & O for the photos and Laura for the tip!)...

The popular cheesemonger and sandwich shop closed on Feb. 19 for a temporary break. 

In an email at the time, owner Beatriz Gutierrez told me that it had "been an exhausting year." She continued: "[B]ut I know that a lot of folks look to us, literally, for their daily bread and I knew it would be a shock to see us closed. But I also know that closing Barnyard, for at least now, was the right thing to do. I am working hard at finding the best way to reopen and also stay safe, relevant, and of course, solvent as a business at a time when so many other businesses are not able to do so."

Meanwhile, Brix Wines, her sister shop right next door, moved one storefront to the north...

... to the former Rue St. Denis space...

Barnyard is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Brix Wines is open daily from noon to 8 p.m., to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. 

Thanks to Steven for the second Brix shot...

Partial reveal at the 101 Condominium

Workers late last week removed the scaffolding and netting from the all-new 24 First Ave. — aka the 101 Condominium, Rybeck Development's 7-story, 23-unit condoplex.

The Second Street side of the project remains behind the construction shroud... 

The building will feature residences from studios to three-bedroom units. (No mention of pricing.) Listed amenities include a full-time doorman, fitness center, lounge area, grill & wet bar and an "immaculate indoor/outdoor park." 

And here are two renderings of the building's lounge area for tenants via the 101 website...

Two addresses — 24 First Ave. and its property mate 99-101 E. Second St. — were demolished to make room for the 101.

No. 24 's previous occupants included the cabaret Lucky Cheng's (1993-2012) and Club Baths, the first openly gay-owned bathhouse (1971-1983)... and Cave Canem and La Nouvelle Justine in between.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Building that housed Lucky Cheng's on 1st Avenue now on the auction block

• Onetime home of Lucky Cheng's and adjacent property sell for $12 million

• 7-story residential building pending at the former Lucky Cheng's space

• Demolition permits filed to bring down former Lucky Cheng's building on 1st Avenue

• The 411 on the 101 Condominium

Vinny Vincenz Pizza has closed

We started hearing reader reports late last week that the venerable Vinny Vincenz, the 18-year-old pizzeria at 231 First Ave., was closed during usual business hours.

By Friday, a for rent sign had arrived on the storefront here between 13th Street and 14th Street. (Thank you to food writer Nick Solares for the photo.) 

There's no mention of a closure on the pizzeria's lightly used Instagram account. 

Vinny Vincenz had stared down the competition during the Great $1 Pizza War of First Avenue in 2013-14, which saw multiple sidewalk sandwich boards … the introduction of $1 drafts… and dancing pizza menu women.

The place served a good slice and offered other pizzeria staples. This marks the second old-school pizzeria casualty over here... as Muzzarella on Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street shut down last year. 

The Hayaty Hookah Bar space is for rent on Avenue A

A for rent sign now hangs outside Hayaty Hookah Bar at 103 Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, bringing an official end to the lounge.

Hayaty had not been open since the PAUSE went into effect in March 2020. 

And some residents had been surprised that Hayaty was open at all following a deadly shooting outside the space in January 2020.

Early on Jan. 9, 2020, two men, identified as Earl Facey and Richard Reid, reportedly got into an argument inside the lounge. 

The fight escalated outside when the two men — each reportedly carrying a .22 caliber handgun — exchanged gunfire. Surveillance footage obtained by NBC 4 showed the two men "shooting at each other as they dance around a parked car," per the report, outside Hayaty.

The chase ended in front of 113 Avenue A where Facey was said by police to fatally shoot Reid in the torso. Two uniformed officers who were on patrol nearby shot Facey on the northwest corner of Avenue A and Seventh Street as he walked away, refusing multiple commands to drop his weapon and lie on the ground, according to police accounts and media reports. One officer fired his weapon twice, the other one time. Facey later died at Bellevue.

Hayaty remained open until the PAUSE.

The building's other storefront, the former Thai Hub, is also for rent. Thai Hub relocated to 50 Avenue A early last month.

You'll recognize those for rent signs ... they've been up on the long-vacant southwest corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street... same landlord here... 

The space has been vacant ever since Benny's closed here in November 2014. Hopefully, 103 Avenue A won't sit empty for nearly seven years.

Another take on the coming-soon Bagel Boss signage

Back on March 22, we reported that Bagel Boss was opening an outpost at 238 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... the signage, though, got tangled up, and it was difficult to read passing by... and eventually someone just took it down...

But! As the top photo shows, the signage is securely in place... at the site of old-timer City Gourmet Cafe, which closed during the pandemic.  

And as noted on March 22, there's also a Bagel Boss coming soon to 55 E. Houston St. at Mott Street... in the former Oddfellows space.

Bagel Boss, founded in 1975, will now have 15 locations in NYC and on Long Island.