[Updated] EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: AAA Amici Pizza looking closed; Glaze starting delivery

EVG reader Jodi noted that AAA Amici Pizza (formerly New Amici and Due Amici, right?) on Third Avenue at East 12th Street has been closed... the gates were down when we went by last evening. And no one is answering the phone. See if we can learn more about what's happening here today... (Another victim of the Nicoletta Effect?) Also, a new cafe is in the works adjacent here in the the long-closed D&M Convenience store on East 12th Street.

UPDATED: AAA Amici Pizza is back open...

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The folks at Glaze — the Seattle-style teriyaki place on Fourth Avenue near East 13th Street — sent us a note saying that they are now delivering to parts of the area... from 11 am until 10:30 pm ... for now, the delivery zone spans from Avenue A to Sixth Avenue, and from East Fourth Street to 23rd Street.

Have you eaten here? I tried it and liked it...

They are also up for a beer-wine license during Monday's CB3-SLA committee meeting.

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And Zagat noted that the Filipino Gastropub called Jeepney on First Avenue near East 12th Street opened last night (read more about it here) ... and maybe they are saving money on vowels and stuff on the sign...

[Via EVG reader @robbyohara]

[Updated] An East Fifth Street view of the Standard East Village renovations, and its future lobby

Bobby Williams notes the workers putting up the plywood late yesterday afternoon. As you know, the Standard East Village is putting in a Jai alai court moving its lobby to this side of the building (and adding a small enclosed bar).

[Click on image to enlarge]

Previously.

Updated 10-13

Workers continued boarding up the construction site yesterday...

[EVG]

Last three photos by Bobby Williams.

Cool for kids: Schools unveiling the new rooftop garden on the Robert Simon Complex

From the EV Grieve inbox...

WHAT: Ribbon-cutting-ceremony for Fifth Street Farm, an innovative new rooftop garden on the East Village’s Robert Simon Complex, home to the Earth School, PS 64, and Tompkins Square Middle School.

WHO: Students, teachers, and parents from the Earth School, PS 64, and Tompkins Square Middle School; architect Michael Arad; supporters of Fifth Street Farm; attorneys from the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center; city elected officials including Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Council Member Rosie Méndez, and State Senator Daniel Squadron.

WHEN: Friday, October 12, at 1 p.m.

WHERE: Robert Simon Public School Complex, 600 East Sixth Street (at Avenue B)

BACKGROUND: The Fifth Street Farm Project will unveil an innovative, low-cost rooftop garden designed by 9/11 Memorial architect Michael Arad at the Robert Simon Complex in the East Village, home to the Earth School, PS 64, and Tompkins Square Middle School. Working with a limited budget and challenging space, a dedicated group of teachers, parents, students, and community partners spent six years developing plans and gathering funds and permits to build the rooftop garden.

The new 2,400-square-foot rooftop farm will foster a greater awareness and understanding of the natural world, especially the role plants play in the food web, by providing the means for low- and middle-income inner-city schoolchildren to grow, harvest, and eat herbs, vegetables, and fruit. The space can also accommodate study of environmental and natural science, including experimentation with storm-water capture and solar energy.

The Villager wrote about it here back in April 2011.

Exclusive first look inside the first Monimax 4000W wall mount ATM on the Bowery

Yesterday, we exclusively reported the exclusive that the Bowery will soon be home to a Monimax 4000W wall mount ATM, which offers unprecedented deployment flexibility while supporting a robust set of traditional ATM service offerings.

We now follow that up with the first look inside here at East Fourth Street ...

[Bobby Williams]

We'll let you know about the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Fall Friday Flashback: Nuts? One plan to expand Tompkins Square Park

On Fridays this fall, and probably winter and spring and... we'll post one of the 12,000-plus EVG, uh, posts from yesteryear... like this one from Oct. 23, 2009 ...

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Last Friday, we ran the post on Yelp's reviews of Tompkins Square Park. And a commenter floated this idea:

I keep thinking: I'd love to see the park grow into Ave. A and Ave. B, even given the obvious work that would have to done to reroute traffic, etc. (Well, Union Sq. expanded into the street. And, the George Hecht Viewing Gardens grew up in the street. And, um, well, yes, it would require some doing. I know it's nuts. The Parks Dept. is more likely to, I dunno, turn the Temperance Fountain into a Shacklet and set up craft vendor stalls in the oval, at best, than get expansionist on our asses.)

The expansion would present logistical nightmares galore. (And what to do with the Farmer's Market? Move it to Seventh or 10th Street?). And what purpose would this additional space really provide?

Still, using our sub-remedial Photoshop skills.... dare we dream?

A journey through the East Village and Lower East Side in 1978 [Video]

Thanks to Alex at Flaming Pablum for this link to "Viva Loisaida 1978." (The link has been making the rounds on Facebook.)

The description via YouTube:

Produced by "Gruppe Dokumentation" & "Tylis" and filmed in Loisada, by Marlis Momber, this 10 min. commercial gives a brief preview before gentrification occurred in Lower East Side in the Fall of October, 1978 with Chino Garcia & Bimbo Rivas.

East Side faculty returning to vacated school for quick supplies grab tonight

On Sept. 24, students and faculty at the East Side Community School on East 12th Street had to evacuate when part of the building's eastern wall was found to be separating from the rest of the structure.

Since then, the some 650 displaced students have been relocated to other schools in the city... Students and faculty had to leave on the 24th before they could collect all their supplies, technology, etc. (Find out how you can help them with donations here.)

However, as DNAinfo's Serena Solomon reports, East Side Principal Mark Federman has arranged with city officials to return tonight with some of his teachers to collect as much instructional equipment as they can.

"We are only going to get a couple of hours," he told DNA. "We will tag and box everything, and then the movers will take it from here."

Did a Subway close on First Avenue?

A tweet from yesterday.

@evgrieve Not sure if you've covered this, but the Subway on First Ave near 13th Street has been closed the last few weeks. Chain retreat?

— Adam Fusfeld (@afusfeld) October 10, 2012

We hadn't noticed. Sure enough. Late yesterday afternoon.

We called the restaurant. The line went dead after 10 or so rings.

There aren't any notes on the front door. But there is one sign of doomsday:

The Wacky Wok menu!

Perhaps this closure is temporary. (But wouldn't you leave a sign or something telling people that, say, due to a plumbing issue, the restaurant will be temporarily closed?)

Meantime, do you remember the last time that a franchise closed around here? Maybe the Dunkin' Donuts on Second Avenue?

And now the renovations really begin at 50-58 E. Third St.

[Yesterday outside 50 E. Third St. Photo by Bobby Williams.]

There hasn't been any shortage of drama at 50-58 E. Third St. Back in July, reps for the new owners, GRJ, a fund co-founded and co-managed by brothers Graham and Gregory Jones, promised that the remaining tenants would have to endure "heavy construction" in the days and weeks ahead.

At 50 E. Third St., a tipster recently claimed that "illegal" work was taking place in the building. The resident or, perhaps, neighbor, wasn't too specific, just that it was a living hell.

Tenants have noted other worrisome developments in the last week or so, claims such as workers shutting off the water without any notice or knocking a hole in someone's living room wall from next door and claiming that it was an "accident."

On Sept. 24, the DOB approved a whole bunch of work for No. 50:

"Renovation of existing apartments 2A & 2C on 3rd floor, 3B & 3C on 4th floor, 4C on 5th floor, 5A, 5B & 5D on 6th floor. New metal balconies facing rear in conjunction with apts. 2C, 3C, 4C & 5D. New roof decks in conjunction with apts. 5A, 5B & 5D."

There are several complaints on file with the DOB for No. 50 (12 since Aug. 23), including a Partial Stop Work Order that only applies to the balconies.

Yesterday, the DOB approved the exterior renovation of the entire building; ditto for the exteriors at No. 58 and No. 54, the other two buildings that the Jones brothers purchased for a three-building price of $23.5 million. (There is paperwork on file dated yesterday for interior work at No. 54, renovations that will be similar to No. 50. The DOB assigned those plans to an examiner. There is only a permit for exterior work on file for No. 58.)

In April, 17 residents of the buildings received letters that stated, in part: "It has been agreed with the impending new owners that your lease will not be renewed and that you will be expected to vacate at the expiration of your lease." The residents banded together and formed a tenants group; local politicians came out to offer support during a rally on May 7. However, as one former resident put it, the Big Real Estate Machine was too great to overcome.

Per Gregory Jones in the news release announcing the sale this past July: "We see a real opportunity to reposition the buildings. We'll invest significant capital and we look forward to creating the most desirable walk-ups in the East Village."

Have any tips or photos about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Three apartment buildings sold on East Third Street

Advocate for East Third Street buildings moving to Washington Heights

More about the lease renewals at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St.

Tenants at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St. banding to together in face of building sale

More drama at 50-58 E. Third St.; 'heavy construction' awaits tenants who stay

Duane Park-Bowery Poetry Club mashup coming together

Several months have passed since since there was any news about a revamped Bowery Poetry Club, which closed on July 17. The BPC website promised a fall return, which seemed optimistic considering nothing has been happening inside the space.

As DNAinfo's Serena Solomon first reported, BPC would merge with Tribeca burlesque club Duane Park. But just how all this would work was a bit of a mystery.

However, Grub Street provided an update yesterday afternoon. At a CB2 meeting Wednesday night, Duane Park co-owner Marisa Ferrarin told Grub Street that "Holman will do poetry readings on Sundays and Mondays, and that Duane Park — with Southern-inspired food and live entertainment like burlesque shows, magicians, and contortionists — runs the space the other nights of the week. The arrangement is flexible, so the duo may do poetry dinners together."

And when should all this happen? It seems a little vague — the new place should open "sometime next year after renovations are complete."

Meanwhile, BPC II will still have to compete with this next door...

[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Duane Park in the Bowery Poetry Club's future?

What is happening with the Bowery Poetry Club?

Bob Holman on the future of the Bowery Poetry Club

Clearing out the Bowery Poetry Club; plus, free knowledge!