At the Coney Island USA Spring Gala 2012

On Saturday night, Coney Island USA visited Webster Hall to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Mermaid Parade at the group's annual Spring Gala.

East Village-based photographer Stacie Joy shared some of her photos with us...

Serpentina...

World Famous *BoB* ...

Bunny Love...

Dr. Flux PhD. body paints a lovely model...

Rev. Billy...

Director Darren Aronofsky and Kryssy Kocktail...

Miss Coney Island 2012, BB Heart...

Joe Franklin and Mayor of Coney Island Dick Zigun...

Slipper Room co-owners Camille and James Habacker flanking Jonny Porkpie, burlesque mayor of NYC...

Japadog reopened tonight at 6

Last Monday, the DOH temporarily closed Japadog here on St. Mark's Place... they were able to reopen tonight...

And just after 6...

Top two photos via Bobby Williams. Bottom photo not via Bobby Williams.

There are a lot of rats around here, rat report says

[File photo: Today they're climbing a tree, tomorrow, they'll be driving the M14A. By Bobby Williams]

DNAinfo posted news today on a survey from the city's Department of Health revealing that Inwood and Washington Heights have the highest reported rate of rat infestation in Manhattan ... with an 11.6 percent rat infestation rate in 2011.

Meanwhile, according to Department of Mental Health and Hygiene records, the Lower East Side and East Village are No. 2 with an 11.4 percent rat infestation rate in 2011 ... based on 492 reported rat infestations verified out of 4,279 inspections.

And here's handy-dandy chart via DNAinfo showing how other neighborhoods fare ...

Occupy Union Square

At Runnin' Scared today, Nick Pinto checks in on the new encampment for the Occupy movement at Union Square.

For the occupiers, Union Square offers a number of advantages over Zuccotti Park, where they spent last fall. It's much larger, with an open layout in a heavily trafficked location that lends itself to street outreach. Union Square also boasts a proud history as the center of labor, communist and anarchist rallies going back more than a century.

He also discusses the NYPD "fielding massive numbers to push the occupation out of the park each night, erecting metal barricades around the park's southern border and lining them with double ranks of officers from midnight until the park re-opens at 6 a.m."

Read the whole piece here.

Bobby Williams took the photos on this post Saturday afternoon...

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[At Billy's Antiques yesterday. Photo by Bobby Williams]

More on the mistrial in Lower East Side mistaken identity murder (Gothamist)

At the hoodie mass yesterday at Middle Collegiate Church (NY1)

Gastropub/sports bar replacing Peep World by the Garden (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Doomed Bowery newsstand get three more months (The Lo-Down)

The last night at Bill's Gay Nineties (Diner's Journal)

The Doughnut Plant expands on Grand Street (BoweryBoogie)

Bank branch opening at MJ Armstrong's space on First Avenue and 19th Street (pcvstBee)

"Sleepwalking: The Films of Sara Driver" at the Anthology Film Archives through Sunday (Capital)

Vacant 35 Cooper Square now attracting graffiti, rats

While we wait to hear what the Arun Bhatia Development Organization is going to do with the former 35 Cooper Square address, the space here at East Sixth Street next to the Standard East Village is presently home to more graffiti ...

... and, as seen attached to the front gate, there's now a notice about rats ...

The precision demolition at 76 Third Ave.

Just checking in on 74-76 Third Ave. ... seeing how the demolition is going... the former Yummy House is halfway down...

...and you can see the side of what was Nevada Smith's... and maybe some old wallpaper?

They'll need a new place for that parking sign. Not to mention a parking lot. An 82,000-square-foot, nine-story residential building is coming soon.

And how it looked on March 17...

Such a nice, precision demolition... so even... it's as if workers are taking out a brick at a time...

Demos used to be so much more dramatic... cinematic... as seen here in photos we posted awhile back from EV Grieve reader Steve Carter... when crews took down 19 Second Ave. in 1997...

Why is this woman in 59J?

We don't know much about MiMa, the new tower on West 42nd Street that Curbed refers to as "the Magical Island of Many Amenities in Hell's Kitchen."

But we are enjoying the ads for it, such as this one on East 13th Street near Broadway...

The ads don't make it clear that this actress actually lives there. She's currently in 59J. Is she visiting? What is she doing there, aside from carrying her shoes and flashing some thigh? Does she still make movies and plays? Or is she retired? So she retired from acting and is now carrying her shoes in 59J? We just need more to go on here.

More details on renting the Patricia Field boutique space on the Bowery

Here's a little more information about the Patricia Field boutique on 302 Bowery ... on Saturday, we noted the "for rent" sign above the designer's storefront on the Bowery...

Field is currently renovated her ground-floor storefront at 306, and will move here sometime this spring...

Here is the listing for 302 via Joanne Klein... for retail or restaurant use...

[Click to enlarge]

[Outside the store Saturday afternoon. Photo by Bobby Williams]

Former East Village resident's new record out today

Just doing what we can to help out up-and-coming recording artists!

Heh... oh, just an excuse to get some cheap SEO by mentioning Madonna. (Madonna, Madonna, Madonna. Of course, it would have been helpful had we put her name in the headline.)

Anyway... a repost from last March 15... a Richard Corman photo of Madonna in the summer of 1982 around her apartment at 234 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B...

[Richard Corman]

Coen Brothers are back; plus a prop remains

Oh, the Coen Brothers and friends are back nearby to film "Inside Llewyn Davis" ... today along Bleecker Street ...

And we meant to note this after the first visit from the Coens, when they filmed on East Ninth Street on Feb. 17 ... here's how the block looked to help recreated the Greenwich Village of the 1960s...

[Bobby Williams]

Apparently the folks at Enchantments decided to keep the prop awning...

Guest bartenders for Sidewalk starting tomorrow night

Via the EV Grieve in box...

Some of New York’s most well-known and innovative cocktail specialists are temporarily stepping away from their spices and strainers to serve up shots and drafts as guest bartenders at the East Village’s Sidewalk Cafe, at 94 Avenue A (at East 6th Street). Starting March 28, such master mixologists as Scott James Teague (veteran of Pegu Club); Michael Klein and Nick Brown (PDT); and Frank Cisneros (Dram, Bourgeois Pig, Cienfuegos) and Jane Danger, formerly of PDT; are taking a break from the stylish concoctions they create elsewhere to lend their hand serving more typical bar fare — beer, shots, and a handful of popular mixed drinks, at Sidewalk Cafe. Guest bartenders will be on hand at Sidewalk the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Trash talk

Bobby Williams spotted these bags on East Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...

Week in Grieview

[East 13th Street yesterday morning]

Former P.S. 64 on the market... again (Thursday)

The end of the line for the World Famous Pee Phone? (Monday)

Tenants joining forces at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St. (Tuesday)

City fixes Avenue C Sinkhole, Jr. (Thursday)

The bloodcurdling late-night screams continue (Wednesday)

DOH temporarily shutters Japadog (Monday)

Work permits on file for the Mystery Lot (Thursday)

Nino's for sale (Friday)

Spring began (Tuesday)

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live tenants (Thursday)

Another makeshift shelter arrives alongside the Liz Christy Garden (Tuesday)

And there was a lot of debate about saving Kate's Joint ... Three posts and 74 comments. Read them all here.

Marking the 101st anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

[Via]

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in the city's history ... causing the death of 146 garment workers (mostly young women) who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths.

Matt LES_Miserable photographed Steven Greenhouse here on East 11th Street outside Veniero's ... Greenhouse, a longtime business writer for the Times, is one of the volunteers who takes part in the chalking project each year... writing the name and age of the victims in front of the buildings where they lived — mostly in the Lower East Side and Little Italy.

Marjorie Ingall has more on the Triangle activities here. Here's a piece Greenhouse wrote on the tragedy for the Times last year. And here's the site of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition with a list of activities taking place...

Noted

Spotted on East Second near Avenue D.

Hoodie mass this morning at Middle Collegiate Church

There's a mass this morning at Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and Sixth Street in honor of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen a neighborhood watch volunteer shot and killed last month.

Senior Minister Jacqui Lewis discussed the service in a blog post. "It can feel overwhelming, addressing racism, but we have to do it. Come to our multiracial/multicultural community, Middle Church, on Sunday; wear your hoodie and plan to pray for healing." (Esther Zuckerman at Runnin' Scared first reported this yesterday.)

Meanwhile, the news trucks are lined up for reports on the service.

Also, as you may have seen, someone placed wanted posters around the neighborhood for George Zimmerman, the Florida community watch captain who shot the unarmed 17-year-old Martin. Florida authorities have not charged Zimmerman in the shooting. At the time of the shooting, Martin was wearing a hooded jacket.