Today in photos of a large crane on Avenue A

Putting in the new sign for the 7-Eleven? (KIDDING! I know, not funny...)

Bike gang overruns East Village

Oops! Check that...

Photos by EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams...

Then from his eyes, Spring fireflies

Siouxsie and the Banshees with "The Killing Jar." 1988.

Mara's Homemade blames their closing, in part, on the East Village bike lanes

Word is getting out this afternoon (via Twitter and Eater, for starters) that Mara's Homemade, the Cajun eatery on East Sixth Street, is closing at the end of April.

Via a letter linked to on Twitter, they mention multiple factors for the closing.

But the reason for closing that might generate the most discussion?

We accepted a short term lease to give us time to re-locate or negotiate a longer term with our current landlord. Since that time, the BP explosion took place, bike lanes were installed on First and Second Avenues which reduced parking and the signs of future property tax increases have occurred.

Report: craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant coming to old Kurve space

Grub Street gets the word on what's coming to the former Kurve-Rhong Tiam space on Second Avenue and Fifth Street: a craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant. And it's from the team behind Dempsey's and Sláinte. And don't call it an Irish pub! "The food will be in the American comfort-food mode with some twisted-up Irish dishes mixed in for good measure," owner Tom O'Byrne told Grub Street.

They're just one of the 40 items on next month's CB3/SLA docket.

Marking the 100th Anniversary Of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

[Photo by EV Grieve reader T]

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

Here's a chalk memorial of a young victim from the 1911 fire on St Mark's Place near Avenue A.

CNN has more on the fire here. NY1 said they'd have updates on the anniversary throughout the day.

New signs for 35 Cooper Square

One reader fretted, a sure sign of imminent demolition? No. It's difficult to say what's happening here of late. The city approved the demolition of the historic 35 Cooper Square on Feb. 14. However, the city hasn't issued the permit for demolition... stay tuned...

Spring, eternal

Came across this photo on Facebook... from inside Sophie's ...

It's a springtime poem by the one-and-only Joseph "Count Slima" Williams — owner of the greatest laugh that you'll ever hear. (And you can purchase Slima's poems by inquiring at Sophie's.)

[Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk. More photos at Flickr]

Does the East Village fit the Dockers demographic now?

Sign spotted for a Dockers commercial shoot today on Avenue A at 10th Street.

Pub crawl ban brewing?

Town & Village reports this week that Community Board 6 — which serves the east side, from 14th Street to 59th Street with hot spots like Murray Hill and Stuy Town — will discuss a possible ban on pub crawls. (The meeting is set for next Thursday.)

The article isn't online, though Lux Living scanned in the piece...

(You can read it at Lux Living here.)

One CB6 rep said that pub crawls "may be a lot of fun for the revelers, but they're not a lot of fun for the community." And — duh! — the problem with crawls? They too often lead to heavy crowding ... "with the result of excess noise and vomiting in the streets due to binge drinking."

Perhaps CB3 will consider such a ban? Some bar owners may not like it, but residents would...Meanwhile, please feel free to defend pub crawls.