Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Matt Torres
Occupation: Construction Worker
Location: East 8th Street and Avenue C.
Time: 12:45 on Sunday, May 26

I’m 19. I just came out for the [Loisaida] festival. I heard it from out my window. I was born on 11th Street and Avenue C, not even in a hospital — right there in my grandmother’s building. I’ve been out here for years. I’ve been back and forth between Brooklyn and here but this is my home. Everyone knows my family in some type of way — most of my family lives around here.

My grandfather’s parents live over there on 2nd Street and my grandmother’s parents live over on 10th and B. They’ve been around here all their life. All their cousins, everybody. My grandmother’s father, he lives right down on Avenue D. He’s still alive. He went to PS34 on 10th Street. My family has been here all their lives.

It was alright growing up here. You did have your struggles but it was pretty good. Everyone gets along with each other and knows each other in some type of way. This is definitely a neighborhood. It’s different from any other place. It’s the diversity that’s interesting because you’ve got so many different people here.

I play sports around here, well I used to when I was growing up. I played for OLS [Our Lady of Sorrows], Felix Millan Little League. I played football, basketball, baseball, just about everything. Got trophies in all of them. I also have a little brother. He’s only 11 months younger than me but when people first started to get to know us around here they thought we were twins. We just had a lot of fun. Most of the fun happened on the basketball court.

I’m also a Sergeant here in the Explorers, PSA 4 [Police Service Area]. It’s a leadership program for 15 to 21-year-olds. We try to teach young people leadership and structure. We also make sure you’re doing good in school. We do competitions with other precincts around the city, with drills and things like that.

I was going to go to the Marines, but then I started getting tattooed, and the Marines don’t allow tats from the elbow down. So right now I’m in the construction business, operating construction machinery and things like that.

I’ve got LES tattooed on my hand right here.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Ivories, tickled: Pop-up piano returns to Tompkins Square Park on Saturday

[Song for Hope]

Starting Saturday, the Sing for Hope Pianos return to NYC streets.

Per the website!

In one of New York City’s most vibrant public art installations, 88 artist-designed pianos (one for each key on a piano) are placed in parks and public spaces throughout the 5 boroughs for anyone and everyone to enjoy.

And Tompkins Square Park will have a piano (pictured above) created by P.S. 34.

Our design was inspired by the composition notebooks we use in school. The front and back of the piano show the notebook cover, the sides are notebook paper and the legs of the piano are pencils. You will also notice that on the side panels of the piano, we have written "hope" in various languages.

The piano will be in the Park through June 16.

As you will recall, the pop-up piano that visited Tompkins Square Park in 2011 was the worse thing to happen here since Daniel D. Tompkins decided to ... Oh, joking!

Here are some photos from Bobby Williams from July 2011...

[H/t @galadarling]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ivories on pop-up piano in Tompkins Square Park ready for tickling

Middle Earth has resumed with residual delays

EVG regular William Klayer spotted one of designer William Puck's "Lord of the Rings"-style mock MTA posters while waiting for the R on Broadway and East Eighth Street...



Now we should likely make some Frodo Baggins joke, though we don't know any.

Is this wall a remnant of the former cemetery under Mary Help of Christians?

Last week, local preservationists called for a complete archaeological evaluation of the grounds below Mary Help of Christians Church on East 12th Street. The site was once home to a cemetery, and the groups are concerned that some burial plots may remain.

Developer Douglas Steiner has plans to convert the property into a residential complex.

After the rally, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman made a discovery... he recently wrote about it on GVSHP's Off the Grid blog:

[R]eturning to our East 11th Street offices after yesterday’s rally, we saw something on the block we had seen many times before, but now, armed with the knowledge of the former cemetery’s existence, viewed in an entirely new light.

On the western side of the block, running between what is now called Open Road Park and the rear walls of the properties which line the 1st Avenue end of the block, is a mysteriously out-of-place stone wall. And this wall just may be the western wall of the long-vanished cemetery.

Berman makes his case with some archival maps of the street, like this one from 1867...



As he notes:

By 1867 the First Avenue frontage of the cemetery had been sold off and tenements built. So where this stone wall now stands was, from 1867 on, the boundary between the cemetery and the residential structures to the west.

You can read the whole post here. It's an interesting read, and possibly more proof that the city should conduct a search for remains before Steiner's project moves forward.

Early last year, preservationists submitted a request to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking them to landmark the church. The LPC denied the request. (Read about that here.)

Metro has an article on all this today as well. Find that piece here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Citi Bikes, work day 1

After yesterday's more leisurely Citi Bikes debut for riders with annual memberships... I decided to take a very unscientific look at the first working weekday for the bikes... I checked out the Docking Station at Astor Place (above) ... it was nearly empty the few times that I walked by ... (At the same time, docking stations near City Hall and Wall Street were reported full...)

An afternoon look at the docking station on East Seventh Street at Avenue A found a lot of bikes available ...


[Bobby Williams]

Crain's reported today that there were a few snafus in the system on Day 2, including that riders complained of problems docking their bikes.

Meanwhile today, WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show explored the question: Is the new bike share a practical – and fast — transportation option for congested NYC?

To find out, three WNYC employees left the same spot on Clinton Street and East Boradway, each taking different modes of transportation to get back to the station: bike share, cab and subway.

(Spoiler: the bike share won.)

You can listen to the segment here.

In other developments, there is already a Craigslist Missed Connection Post, per the Observer.

To date, more than 16,400 people have paid $95 for an annual membership, according to Crain's. BusinessWeek explores Citi's sponsorship angle in all this ("$41 million over five years is a rounding error for the company") ... while Motherboard explores who might be making money in all this.

Sunny weather on hold

Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.

And you'll likely see this post again at the end of the year during our gala "Worst EVG Headlines of the Year" fête.

Corner soul

Checking in on the façade repair at 112 Avenue A at East Seventh Street... the Joe Strummer mural should come out of all this OK...

Are you missing this cat?

This fellow was found this morning on East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A ... he has been cared for, though there aren't any tags, collar, etc. Let us know... we can put you in touch with the person who found him...

A classic Urban Etiquette Sign for the 'Birthday Girl on the Second Floor'

A tipster points us to the front door at 500 E. 11th Street at Avenue A.

Per the tipster: "As if the residents of this building weren't suffering enough from Kushner and 7-11 construction..."


[Click image to enlarge]

The sign reads in part:

"We understand that you may be on a different schedule than many of us, but we're not playing our music out of our windows when you're sleeping. No, we have an understanding of what it means to be a neighbor. This is not a dormitory (although, the changing nature of the East Village may, at times, look and sound otherwise)."

Pretty good! But will it actually do a bit of good? According to the tipster: "This is the second time a letter was posted pleading with said tenant to play nice."

What happened to the tree chair on East Sixth Street?

[From February via Bobby Williams]

I'd been meaning to write a post about the great tree chair of East Sixth Street ... located a little east of Avenue A.

However, I noticed during the weekend that the chair part is gone...



Anyone know what happened? Maybe in for repairs?

A neighbor here told me that a longtime resident created this... and that he was a little bashful about attention for this...

Gentle Wash Laundromat has a new owner, sign, on Avenue A (aka, today in laundromat news)

Gentle Wash Laundromat has new ownership now at 97 Avenue A near East Sixth Street ... the new owner retained the former staff ... workers put up the new sign on Saturday... EVG reader Creature noted that the inside was painted and all the Asian nicknacks were removed... (and expect wi-fi service soon.)

Can't personally speak much about the place. There are several one-star Yelp reviews ("Please don't go here unless you want to be treated like an insect and for your laundry to smell like poop") ... and one person referred to the owner as an (ugh) "evil dragon lady."

Regardless, says longtime patron Creature of the former owner: "All I know is she was always nice to me and will be missed. It feels like another institution leaving, but that may just be me."

While I liked the former sign...



... it's nice to see that another laundromat didn't close down for good around the neighborhood. (Like here ... here ... and some day here.)

An apartment that 'has no issues'

A reader who is looking for a new apartment shared this listing for a nice place on East Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C... the reader was both amused, and, later, horrified, by the description...

The previous occupant was a master carpenter/environmentalist and it shows! Every room has AT LEAST ONE WINDOW!

Nice! What else?

Basically the apt has no issues. All the bedrooms are a nice size. It's not on ave D, it's not above a bar, its not near a hospital or on a strange block. It's actually on a well lit, active residential tree lined street.

Per the reader: "'Not on Avenue D'? Just what are they trying to say?"

Also, the apartment has been rented.

Weekend recap: 'Bloom 62' announces itself at the former Cabrini Center

In case you missed our post on Saturday... the luxury apartment building that is replacing the former Cabrini Center on East Fifth Street and Avenue B has a name: Bloom 62 ... "The right place to plant your roots."

A banner ad went up Friday. And there's now a website with this marketing copy:

It sounds impossible: a fully-appointed luxury building has sprouted in the beating heart of the East Village. A 24-hour doorman greets you before work in the morning, after returning from a cafe in the evening and when heading out to Tompkins Square Park on the weekends. You'll have every modern convenience, from a gym to a roof deck to in-unit laundry, on the same streets where names like The Ramones, Warhol and Hendrix and [sic] paved the history of this neighborhood for years to come.

Reader reaction included:

Woo Generation said...
I don't know what Ramones and those other things are. How close is 13th Step?

Anonymous said...
I know someone who died in there. I could never live there. They look like prison cells with windows and rooms brightened with Photoshop.

Read the rest of the post and reader comments here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's Bloom 62, the luxury apartments replacing the Cabrini Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

Another look at the dba cab accident

[Monday morning, with a dented canopy]

In case you missed this... late Sunday afternoon, a cab backed up into dba on First Avenue... said one witness on the scene, the driver "had a diabetic incident, according to the cops on the scene."

Here a few other photos from the accident, where thankfully no one else was injured... These photos are via Event Photos NYC ... where you can find more shots here.







BoweryBoogie also has a few shots here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cab backs into dba today

Cars and suspended cans this Memorial Day

On Avenue A...





...and along East River Park...





Photos by Bobby Williams...

Citi Bikes now making tired jokes about Williamsburg

The bike share is under way, of course ... and we're spotting more and more of them on the streets (people seem to be enjoying the experience, though we're terrible mind readers) ... Meanwhile, Ray LeMoine points out this Citi Copy® on East Second Street and Avenue B that we never noticed before ...

Updated: A free taste of tacos this afternoon at El Diablito Taqueria

[Via @shawnshahan]

El Diablito Taqueria opened a few weeks on 60 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

If you have been curious to try the place... they tell us they will be handing out samples of their tacos as well as free agua fresca out front today from 4-5:30 p.m. 3-4:30 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
El Diablito Taqueria is now open on East 3rd Street

And we're off: 1st Citi Bikes spotted in the wild; world doesn't end

Have now spotted 4 people riding Citi Bikes in the last 10 minutes. Plus 1 van. twitter.com/evgrieve/statu…
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) May 27, 2013

Anyone with a Citi Bike membership want to share an assessment of your experience with the bikes today? (Anonymous or not.) Via the EV Grieve email ... or in the comments...

Meanwhile, the Post reports today that a Citi Bikes docking station was positioned "a mere 150 feet" from Frank's Bike Shop on Grand Street.

And the shop’s 68-year-old owner, affectionately known as “Dr. Frank,” is worried about his future.

"My biggest question is how did they come about to choose the areas where they put these bikes. Did they study the areas? Did they look at the businesses around them?" asked a flabbergasted Frank Arroyo.

He says his bike rentals comprise one-third of his income.

And did you see Marcellus Hall's New Yorker cover this week? (Read about it here.)


[Via Gothamist]

At the Loisaida Festival

Here are photos from yesterday's 26th annual Loisaida Festival on Avenue C...




[Top 3 photos by Bobby Williams]

-----

And a few Avenue C street scenes via EVG contributor James Maher...




















-----

And here's a video featuring an after-party on the Avenue...

Cab backs into dba today

[Via an EVG reader]

As we understand it today around 5 ... a cab driver somehow backed into dba on First Avenue...


[Via an EVG reader]

...as our friends from dba tell it, the cab driver was taken off in an ambulance with unknown injuries, but amazingly nobody else was injured... all the more amazing when you look at the photos from inside via EVG reader Shawn...