Foggy with a chance of a photo op

This morning via Bobby Williams.

Ray turns 80, and makes new friends

Last night, a few friends and neighbors gathered at Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A to celebrate the proprietor's 80th birthday. Per tradition, there was entertainment. Given the milestone birthday, organizers decided to up the ante and hire four entertainers... so last night, Miss Bunny Buxom, Jo “Boobs” Weldon, Miss Little Motown and Gal Friday took to Ray's for... this...

As we've written before, the annual birthday cheer is always a boost to Ray's spirits, a brief break from the 24/7 grind of the store and reminder how much people appreciate him...

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Thanks to Shawn Chittle for the photos. Find more photos (and in color!) from last night at Neighborhoodr.

[Neighborhoodr]

Oh, and the cake was from Veniero’s ...

There are more photos on the Ray's Candy Store Facebook page... like this one...

For previous birthday celebration photos, you can visit Bob Arihood's Neither More Nor Less for 2010 ... and 2009...

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe has a 2-story screen to watch the Super Bowl

As you may have heard, the Super Bowl is Sunday ... anyway, passing this along... part of an events email from the folks at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

On Sunday, join us for a Super Bowl Party with pizza, snacks and drink specials. Watch the Baltimore Ravens battle the San Francisco 49ers on our two-story screen (the biggest screen on the Lower East Side!) $7 tix include free food.

Please note that use of a vintage Sports Illustrated cover of the 49ers does not imply any endorsement in the game.

The Ramones and Television back on the Bowery, sort of

A reader asked if we had heard about a release date for "CBGB," the movie (biopic?) about Hilly Kristal and the rise of his club ... filmed last summer in Savannah, Ga., which subbed for the Bowery of the 1970s... crews replicated the inside of the bar in Savannah's Meddin Studios, where all the interior shots took place.

As far as we know, the film doesn't have a release date just yet for 2013.

Meanwhile, in looking at the production company's website, we did spot a few teaser stills from the film, including:

Merv Ferguson (Donal Logue) and Hilly Kristal (Alan Rickman) ...

... and the film's version of Television...

... and the Ramones...

[Click on images to enlarge]

According to an article in Rolling Stone last summer, "To maintain authenticity throughout the film, [the filmmakers] exhaustively researched other CBGB regulars, and consulted frequently with Television's Tom Verlaine, the Voidoids' Richard Hell and Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz." Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys also has a cameo in the movie as a cab driver who hates the punk scene.

So, any plans on seeing the movie?

Previously.

Pearl Diner still closed, but there's a good sign

Late December, we noticed that the classic 50-year-old (plus) Pearl Diner on the fringes of the Financial District was closed. No sign... or sign of life. A casualty of Sandy.

However, on Monday, a reader noted that a "coming soon" was up now in the front window. We took a look...

Centre-fuge Public Art Project returns for second year; Cycle 7 debuts next month

From the EV Grieve inbox...

[March 2012]

Centre-fuge Public Art Project is proud to announce the continuation of murals on the trailer at First Street and First Avenue. Cycle 7 is the first installation of art in the new year.

In mid-2011 a drab, gray trailer, serving as a temporary office for workers on the 2nd Avenue subway line, popped up on the South side of First Street. For two years now Centre-fuge Public Art Project transforms the DOT trailer into a rotating street gallery. Artists create work on all visible sides of the structure with the art changing every other month. Anyone can propose an idea for work on the trailer.

The goal of Centre-fuge is not only to re-beautify an incredible block, but also to encourage the community to express itself in a public forum. With the closure of half of Houston Street, making underground way for the 2nd Avenue Subway line, the ever-growing presence of construction makes the area feel less like a neighborhood full of individuals and more like a work site full of barricades and jackhammers. Centre-fuge attempts to combat this effect. The project is dedicated in memory of friend, creator and Lower East Side neighbor, Mike Hamm.

Artists represented in Centre-fuge, Cycle 7 are Hellbent, Joe Iurato, Joseph Meloy, Matthew Denton Burrows, Nicholai Khan and Yuki. For more information on each artist, go to centre-fuge.tumblr.com/artist-bios. The recreation of Mike Hamm’s work is permanently installed on the eastern face of the trailer. A new Mike Hamm piece will be installed on the eastern face in April.

The seventh installation at Centre-fuge will be on view from February 10th until April 11th, 2013.

For more details, visit the Centre-fuge Tumblr. Previously.

Night hawk

Early evening in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams.

[Updated] 7A will reopen Friday; management promises no painted fingers on the back wall

7A on East Seventh Street and Avenue A is closed this week for renovations — back open Friday at 6 p.m. ... the chalkboard out front notes that workers are installing a new sprinkler system, etc.

The sign also points out, "Don't worry we will not be painting fingers on the back walls again."

7A closed for renovations back in January 2011 ... and afterwards debuted the jungle motif...

Updated:

The work has proven to be more extensive and time-consuming than originally thought ... so the new re-opening date is Friday, Feb. 8.

[Updated] DOH temporarily closes Kelly's Sports Bar on Avenue A

EVG reader AC notes that Kelly's on Avenue A is closed this evening, and there's the telltale yellow DOH sticker on the front door. The inspection must have happened this afternoon — no record of it yet on the Health Department website. Perhaps they'll be back up and running by Thursday evening's Sabres-Bruins game.

Updated 1-30
The inspection report is now online. An inspector found 38 violation points in total for the following:

1) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
2) Sewage disposal system improper or unapproved.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Stealing Claire Forlani on Avenue C]

Jerry Stahl and Lydia Lunch at St. Mark's Bookshop (Slum Goddess)

Million-dollar development deal to maintain East 6th Street synagogue (DNAinfo)

Up close with the hawk of Tompkins Square Park (The Gog Log)

Video interview with Aron "The Pieman" Kay (Animal)

"The cool thing is, Avenue C is still kind of a 'secret' area of New York City, just starting to be discovered" (Fork in the Road)

The Landmarks Preservation Commission schedules public hearing for the Bialystoker Nursing Home building (The Lo-Down)

About the "Retro Bar & Grill" slated for the Holiday Inn on Delancey (BoweryBoogie)

Jefferson Market Library's amazing NYC book collection (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

RIP Don't Honk signs (Gothamist)

Spending $47,000 at Nello (Eater)

And a second Strummerville show has been added tonight at the Bowery Electric... Details here.

Fed-up residents launch 'Solas Gone Wild'

Residents of East 9th Street have taken to Vimeo hoping to get the nightclub Solas to do something about the chaotic behavior routinely taking place outside of the establishment. The new “Solas Gone Wild” channel features three videos shot Sunday morning at 1:15AM of a Solas patron fighting in front of the club and storming up and down the block. At one point the police arrive, which does little to calm the situation.

Solas Fight - East Village, NYC Pt 3 from Solas Gone Wild on Vimeo.

“This kind of stuff happens every weekend and we're sick of it,” said one of the channel's creators. “It's guys fighting each other, people stumbling drunk into traffic. It's not noise from people having a good time, it's alcohol-induced violence and it needs to stop.”

Calls to 311 and to the nightclub itself have been made but so far the calls have done little to curb the late-night antics, the creators claim. — written by EVG contributor Atomic

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Woman on a stretcher outside Solas early Saturday morning

Reader report: Solas patrons turn sidewalk shed into after-hours hot spot

What color would you like to see the MTA adopt for their flashing lights on Select buses?

Last Tuesday, we had that post about the MTA discontinuing the flashing blue lights on the M15 Select buses on First and Second Avenues... apparently there were complaints because people thought the bus was an emergency vehicle.

We had a discussion about it in the comments.

Well, EVG regular Spike, who told us about all this in the first place, received an email from the MTA with some clarification:

New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law restricts the use of flashing blue lights to emergency-response vehicles only.

Per Spike: "Sounds better then 'stupid people couldn't tell the difference between a bus and an ambulance.'"

And now the MTA is testing new colors for the Select buses.

Spike is pulling for abalone shell or mother of pearl. And we're going with caput mortuum — Latin for "worthless remains," which captures how we feel riding the bus at times.

What color would you like to see the MTA adopt for their flashing lights on Select buses?

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP M15 Select bus flashing blue lights

Resident report: 1 month without gas for cooking at 22 St. Mark's Place

Back in late December, Mamoun's had to close for more than a week at 22 St. Mark's Place due to a problem with the building's gas line.

Per Mamoun's Facebook page: "Con Edison shut off our gas at the Saint Marks location because of a gas leak at the building. Our line was not affected but they shut it off anyway. We cannot get con edison to come back and turn it back on because of their huge bureaucracy!"

The gas returned Jan. 4. However, the rest of the tenants in the building haven't fared as well. A resident of 22 St. Marks Place, between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, said that tenants have been without cooking gas since the end of December (they do have hot water and heat).

Per the resident: "The building is doing very little to solve the problem ... and will not answer any real questions.

Yesterday, the landlord's reps apparently said that Con Ed would be by to "fix the problem." However, the residents were told that they needed to be at home during the day so Con Ed could access their apartments.

"People organized their schedules to work from home or took the day off."

No one from Con Ed ever arrived.

Meanwhile, according to the resident, the management company — NBKM Realty Management Corp. — is providing information contradictory to that of Con Ed. And the landlord is not offering any abatement for the lack of cooking gas for the past month.

On previous posts, readers offered advice on this all-too-common problem here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much of a rent discount for not having gas for cooking?

Residents of 97 E. Seventh St. haven't had gas for cooking since Feb. 19

Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez apparently leaving Avenue B

[Google]

EVG reader c ryan passes along this photo ... on the door of Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez's longtime office on the southeast corner of Avenue B and 11th Street...

We haven't heard just yet if she'll maintain an office on the Lower East Side... Her newly drawn Seventh Congressional District includes the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth, Ridgewood and Woodside, the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick, Greenpoint, Red Hook, East New York, Brooklyn Heights, Sunset Park and Williamsburg and part of the Lower East Side and East Village.

Per the comments, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney now represents this area in the reconfigured 12th Congressional District...

Anyway, as for the space ... the Lower East Side People's Mutual Housing Association owns the building. And rumor is GOLES will expand into this space?

Report: Ethiopian restaurant in the works for Avenue B

Fu Sushi closed on Avenue B between East 11th Street and East 12th Street last August.

The Post reported yesterday that a new Ethiopian restaurant is set to take this space in the coming weeks. The place is called Haile Ethiopian Bistro, and owned by Menasie Haile and Gemada Hiwot.

The Post also noted that Prime & Beyond, the steakhouse at 90 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue, is leaving to be closer to the Lincoln Tunnel and its New Jersey location. Prime opened in July 2011... The restaurant never seemed all that busy when we walked by... Did you ever try it?

[EVG file photo]

[Top photo via Yelp]

How much is the fee to use the ATM sign as an umbrella?

This morning in Tompkins Square Park via Derek Berg. (And we featured Derek in Out and About in the East Village last October.)

Remembering 2 officers slain on Avenue B and East 11th Street

Last night, EVG reader c ryan noticed police officers standing by two candles on the southeast corner of 11th Street and Avenue B...

Today, there was an explanation for the memorial...

On Jan. 27, 1972, rookie officers Gregory Foster and Rocco Laurie were gunned down here while on foot patrol. Their deaths were later reportedly tied to the Black Liberation Army.

You can read more about the officers at the Lower East Side History Project site.

Summer wishes, winter dreams

Tompkins Square Park today via Bobby Williams

[Updated] The 'insane' noise and pounding are back at 185 Avenue B

[EVG file photo from last November]

On Friday, the incessant pounding from a pile-driver returned to the construction site on Avenue B at East 12th Street, where a seven-story apartment complex is in the works. (As previously reported, Rev. Carlos Torres of the the Elim Pentecostal Church, the previous occupant here, is the owner of the site. The ground-floor will house the church and a community center. The upper levels of the new building will be designated for some combination of housing.)

On Dec. 18, the DOB issued a Full Stop Order ... and the site remained inactive until Friday. A DOB inspector found a "vertical crack between buildings 181/183 Avenue B" directly next door to the site, per DOB paperwork.

Said one reader in the comments on our last post:

My son attends the school next to this site and the noise is insane. His entire classroom shakes when they are pile driving and the teachers have to shout to be heard. I complained to the construction manager, who told me even he didn't understand why the city was permitting them to build during school hours...

Apparently all is well in the eyes of the city, as the DOB rescinded the Stop Work Order.

Meanwhile, nearby residents and parents of the school next to the site remain understandably unhappy.

Said one in an email this morning:

Parents and teachers of the school next door are *very* upset about it, as the construction noise seems to coincide exactly with school hours and is incredibly disruptive — I'm a parent and honestly it sounds like the pile driving is *inside* the classroom.

One resident posted a quick video this morning, showing just how loud the construction is. Find that here.

There have been seven complaints filed with the city since the construction restarted, records show. One resident figures the city won't do anything else until the nearby buildings collapse.

Updated 1:30

6 seconds of what the noise is like for 8 hours...

The construction noise driving everyone crazy on Avenue B. vine.co/v/bJvMgv5FjX2

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) January 28, 2013

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside the Charles

Former landmark countercultural theater now for rent on Avenue B

7-story building in the works to replace former countercultural theater/church on Avenue B

Construction site at 185 Avenue B remains shut down for now

Report: Divorce could force closure of Lula’s Apothecary on East Sixth Street

The Post reports on the apparently bitter divorce between Derek Hackett and Blythe Boyd, who opened the popular vegan ice cream shop on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B in 2008. They were divorced last year.

Per the article:

[E]arlier this month, Hackett filed papers in Manhattan Supreme Court demanding the business be dissolved because Boyd is hoarding the profits for herself.

Hackett claims that his ex-wife has completely frozen him out of the business despite their equal ownership and that profits are tanking, court papers show.

“Boyd has substantially cut the hours of the retail location during the busiest season, the late spring and summer months, and as such continues to operate to the detriment of the shareholders.”

However, Boyd told the Post "that she did all the work — and that Hackett just reaped the profits and used them to pay his rent."

[Image via Joonbug]