Spying on progress at the former Kurve space just got more difficult

Monday evening!

Last evening!

Where's the fun in that?

Comments, noted

A comment left today on "[Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade"

Anonymous said...
I can speak on behalf of the community and we are willing to settle with changing the sign to "slut jam"

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

New charges against officers in East Village rape case (City Room)

NYPD arrests Lou Reed's manager (Runnin' Scared)

This morning in Tompkins Square Park (Nadie Se Conoce)

More of old Times Square (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Signs of progress at new Allen Street hotel (BoweryBoogie)

Ranking the Papaya Dog on 14th Street and First Avenue (Marty After Dark)

As you've probably seen, Duran Duran has a new album out today... #FeelingOld

Residents Jeer NYU's new plans (The Local East Village)

Revisiting Zum Schneider (East Village Eats)

An interview with DeNiro from a few weeks ago in which he discusses Twitter (Parade)

And some scenes from yesterday evening via EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams...

A carbon monoxide scare in an East Ninth Street building...

EMTs transport a regular from Avenue A to the ER...

Another view on why 35 Cooper Square must be saved: For the area's new buildings

Here's the take from Fred A. Bernstein, writing a post for the The Design Observer Group:

[T]here’s a reason to save the building that has nothing to do with its past, and everything to do with the present.

The house is all that stands between two angled, glass-and-steel buildings (one of them, Thom Mayne's academic building for the Cooper Union, a masterpiece of contemporary architecture). Those buildings wouldn't be the same without their modest, gable-roofed companion.

Contemporary buildings feed on historical context. When that context is removed, even the best of the new buildings fall flat.

And!

New buildings depend on context if they're to be become architecture, not just site-specific artworks competing for attention in an architectural petting zoo. Greg Pasquarelli, a principal of SHoP, one of the busiest firms in the city, recently described his firm's idea of contextual design: “Making sure that the building looks nothing like the buildings around it.” He was referring to his penchant for placing new buildings among the old, but what about ensuring that old buildings remain among the new?

When deciding what to preserve, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission should think of some buildings — like the house on Cooper Square — as buffers, essential elements in making sure new buildings live up to their potential (to enliven, not entomb, the city).

Read his full post here.

Another East Village 'redevelopment opportunity'

165 Avenue B is on the market. The building is just north of East 10th Street. A few years back, junk shop Waldorf Hysteria called the retail space home....



Now the groundfloor is rather sterile looking... (Or as l.e.s.ter once commented, "Holding-Cell Chic.")



Anyway, here's the Massey Knakal listing:

Originally built in 1890, the building is approximately 5,703 sq. ft. and is currently configured with 6 apartments. The building has a commercial overlay which would allow the ground floor to be use as retail or commercial. The property also benefits from additional unused air rights and being steps away from Tompkins Square Park.

The building is currently going for $3.95 million. (You can find the 'Mixed-Use Redevelopment Opportunity' PDF here.)

Anyway, just the latest older building with the potential for more floors...

[Waldorf image via]

Will you belly up for some bitters?

As we reported last week, Amor Y Amargo — "a bitters tasting room" — is opening in the Cienfuegos complex on Sixth Street at Avenue A.

Grub Street reports that the place opens tonight. And they have details on menu items and what not. Here's more from Grub Street:

The drinkery will be New York's first bar focused on bitters, and you can expect bitters-laced cocktails, tasting flights ... plus Mayur Subbarao's housemade sweet vermouth on draft. To complement all this: a special menu of Spanish-leaning bites from chef Luiz Gonzalez, including tortilla espanola and fried garbanzos with morcilla.

[Photo via EV Grieve reader Creature]

Today in urban dog etiquette signs

Fourth Street near Avenue B...

Eighth Street near Avenue C...

Former Kurve space kleaned out

The city issued the permits last week for workers to renovate the former Kurve/Rhong-Tiam space on Second Avenue at Fifth Street. And workers quickly cleaned out the former thai eatery, which you can see for yourself now that they removed the paper on the windows...



Now!

The new operators of the space were on the agenda for this month's CB3/SLA meeting listed only (and mysteriously!) as "corp to be formed." However, they were a late scratch from the docket.

Nike knows I'm miserable now

Marina Galperina at Animal New York points us to the latest faux ad from KATSU... here on Avenue A near 12th Street, Morrissey is making for an unlikely Nike spokesperson...

[Animal New York]

jdx has a set of KATSU ads from the Bowery here.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

$2,000 rent-deregulation limit up in the air (The Wall Street Journal)

Rent regulations good for New Yorkers? (Save the Lower East Side!)

Loved ones create a Facebook page in memory of Grace Farrell (Facebook)

Jury selection for 9th Precinct rape trial starts today (The Daily News)

A benefit For hate-crime victim Barie Shortell this Wednesday (New York Shitty)

Revisiting the Show Follies Center in Times Square (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

When Carnegie Hall was almost torn down (Ephemeral New York)

LES still a Poop De Ville weekend nights (BoweryBoogie)

East Village scenes from St. Patrick's Day (Nadie Se Conoce)

St. Patrick's Day barfers revelers kept the Cooper Union streak alive (EV Heave)

Reviewing the Fourth Avenue Salvation Army (Thrift Store Confidential)

HBO debuts "Triangle: Remember the Fire" tonight (HBO)

Trailer