Tompkins Square Park, 10:17 a.m., Dec. 20

WTF: 'Le Souk is back to Avenue B for New Years!'

A rather terrified Avenue B resident passes along this info about a New Year's Eve bash at the shuttered Le Souk...




The description mentions Le Souk's West Village location, but everything else points to Avenue B... where the restaurant/club lost its liquor license last year... Anyway, The Harem VIP Table Service Ticket is $250.

Hickey's is gone

For some reason, I found myself near Herald Square Friday evening. Enough to make anyone want to drink. Hickey's! Of course!



So I made my way over to 33rd Street near Seventh Avenue ... to the well-worn 40-year-old bar that I'll drink in any chance that I have...



Ahhhhh!. I have no idea when this happened. Another one lost. Of course, this closure has been rumored for years.

A few doors to the east, that suburbany-looking place called Stoudt NYC was MOBBED. So I went into the OK-at-the-right-time Blarney Stone next door. This was NOT the right time: Pre-Knicks game crowd. So I found a slot near the front door. An array of half-finished drinks sat there on a table next to me. A woman wondered in. I'm pretty sure she was carrying a glass of red wine in with her. She put down her wine. She started wolfing down the different drinks. Two half-empty bottles of Magners. And something that might have been a screwdriver. She asked if that was my bottle of beer. Yes it was. She nodded, picked up her wine and walked back out the door.

I felt a little better about Hickey's for a moment.

Read more about Hickey's at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York .... At A Guy Walks into 365 Bars, our friend Marty Wombacher wrote: "Hickey's is one of the last great dive bars in Manhattan. Stop by for a drink or four and let's keep this joint in existence!" You can read his recap here.

[Top photo via Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

Taqueria banner adds touch of class to Extra Place

BoweryBoogie first reported on Dec. 1 that Brooklyn-based Oaxaca Tacos opened in a storefront toward the back of Extra Place... I'm not sure how you let people walking by the alley know that you're back there... but I suppose this is one way...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Meanwhile, Extra Place continues to maintain its proud heritage

Perhaps he just saw Extra Place for the first time in 15 years or so?

Looking at Extra Place

The other morning outside Mars Bar

Kiehl's knows plywood

Our very own Kiehl's is expanding, opening a store on Lexington and 64th Street. You can read more about it at Racked.

Meanwhile, I recently walked into the flagship Kiehl's on Third Avenue and 13th Street... and I thought I had entered, say, Barneys.

Pollo Cafecito space on the market

Back in the fall of 2009, Avenue C's Cuban eatery Cafecito opened Pollo Cafecito, a take out/rotisserie chicken joint... I noticed that the space was closed this past summer for renovations or something... Now that I see the space is on the market ...



... Cafecito is still going strong, as far as I can tell...

Noted

Papa John's on First Avenue will be open on Christmas Day.

Lights, camera...

Holiday cheer

EV Grieve Holiday Tree correspondent Bobby Williams shared photos from today's tree lighting in Tompkins Square Park...







Look for more photos and a video at LES NYC Window.

Why New York seems more suburban, exhibit No. 1,278

... last night at Madison Square Garden...



Via kasekaiserina.

The line in the clouds

This morning on Avenue D.

At the Tompkins Square Everywhere/Save Charas Projection

Last night, John Penley and filmmaker Vlad Teichberg hosted an event at the former P.S. 64/Charas space on East Ninth Street ... Teichberg projected work on the Charas wall ... Vlad and John provided the content along with Faith La and Ason Indigo... Shawn Chittle passed along these photos...










...the evening included a post-party at Kate's Joint...



You can find a video of the whole affair here.

Happy holidays, featuring Giuseppi Logan

You probably know all about Giuseppi Logan, though if not... here's more on him via WFMU. WFMU also posted this incredible video of Giuseppi and his son from Tompkins Square Park circa 1966 ...

Unsilence is golden

Many thanks to Bobby Williams for sending along some photos from Tompkins Square Park from Phil Kline's "Unsilent Night" this evening....

Fire on Second Avenue

...near Sixth Street...



Photo via @isaidgoshdamn. Anyone have any information on what happened here?

Monk Thrift Shop is closing — but, it remains open for now

On Monday we noted that the Monk Thrift Shop on Avenue C at 11th Street had closed. Well, as a walk by today revealed, the store is closing, but they remain open... with 50 percent off sales...



And what of the Madonna/Jesus pairing... ?

10:11 a.m., East 11th Street, Dec. 18

Holiday tree lighting in Tompkins Square Park tomorrow

The sign gives you all the details... Meanwhile, this will be the last year for the tree lighting. On Jan. 3, workers will tear down the tree to make way for a new, 12-story tree. In three years, the current tree will be offered a space here, though at current market rates.

Uh, sorry. still in a state about this. On a serious note, I won't be around here tomorrow afternoon... so if you have any photos from the tree lighting that you'd like to share... grieve98 at gmail dot com.

Previously on EV Grieve:
On St. Patrick's Day, a Christmas miracle in Tompkins Square Park

Looking at the Nevada Smith's blow-job Santa

Or maybe Glory Hole Santa.

Speaking of Santa, guess what next Saturday is? That's right. Heat vs. the Lakers!

Or would you rather hear ANOTHER holiday song?

O Holy 'Unsilent Night'

The Wall Street Journal writes today about one of the cooler traditions around... Phil Kline's "Unsilent Night," now in its 18th year... happens tomorrow night... Here's the Journal:

The premise is simple: On Saturday at 7 p.m., people of all kinds will gather in Washington Square Park, and everybody with the means to do so will press play on a tape or CD or MP3 of music composed by Mr. Kline for the occasion. Then the whole mass will walk — more than a little majestically— to Tompkins Square Park, where the affair comes to a gentle end 45 minutes later. The music is wordless, made up mostly of what sounds like bells and chimes swirled together into something communal. The effect of it moving down city streets is mesmerizing.

"It's an overwhelming physical experience," said Luc Sante, author of the fabled book of New York lore, "Low Life," and a friend of Mr. Kline's. "Listening to it echo back and forth and ripple through the crowd — it's a collective activity, like being in a choir without singing."

Find all the details at the official site.

Image via.

13th Precinct pays visit to local blogger; deemed safe to society

Back on Nov. 2o, Stuy Town's Lux Living posted a satirical item titled "Tenant to Children: STFU." The post was based on an e-mail in which a resident complained about screaming children playing in Stuy Town early Saturday mornings.

Per the resident: "Parents, nobody likes your kids. THEY ARE ONLY CUTE TO YOU. Keep them indoors, tied up, gagged, drugged, WHATEVER, and stop letting them loose at 8AM on Saturday mornings."

Lux Living illustrated the post with a crying child in a rifle scope's crosshairs. Which didn't go over well with some residents. In total, the post generated 70 comments... Given the controversy over the image, Lux Living changed the illustration to the one pictured above. Meanwhile, a few angry residents were fearful that a real whackjob was living among them.

Enter the police.

I'll let the folks at Lux Living, who shared this with me, pick up the story from here.

Detectives from the 13th Precinct stopped by today to check on my lucidity and be sure there were no guns in my apartment after some tenants complained that I was inciting violence by posting an email sent to me for the "Tenant to Children: STFU!" post. They were really nice and understood the Lux Living post in question was satire but they had a job to do. After a tour of my apartment and some light conversation about my art collection and antique furniture it was clear to them that I am just a writer with a dark sense of humor and not a threat to society.

Yesterday, the Lux Living team felt compelled to write a clarification for the benefit of new readers.

It has come to our attention that some of Stuy Town's new suburban transplants haven't caught on that Lux Living is a satirical website even with such lively content. Unfortunately, when they moved to the city not only did they bring their ill-behaving children and bourgeoisie sensibilities, they also brought their fear mongering.

The downside to this, aside from becoming a terrible bore to those around them, is that they lost the ability to distinguish a perceived threat from over the top, in-poor-taste, Married With Children / John Waters / Always Sunny-esque humor.

And just to spell it out: "There is nobody targeting children, setting neon colored bear traps baited with mint candies and silly bandz, or razor scooter jousting taking place."

The post includes an epic comment from Park Avenue Grinch, who discusses the "the tsunami of suburbanite dullards that are spreading throughout the city like Dutch Elm disease – another suburban blight."