St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery to install first female Rector

From the EV Grieve inbox Monday...

St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, one of New York’s most historic Episcopal churches, will install The Rev. Winnie Varghese as Rector at a special service at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20. The Rt. Rev. Barbara C, Harris, the first woman ordained bishop in the world-wide Anglican Communion, will preach and The Rt. Rev. Andrew M.L. Dietsche, Bishop Coadjutor of New York will preside.

Varghese will be the church’s first Rector in 23 years — and the church’s first female rector in its history. The church, which has design contributions from a long line of notable architects, has been the site of continuous Christian worship for more than 350 years and is New York's oldest site of continuous religious practice.

Varghese joined St. Mark’s in 2009 as the pastor and priest-in-charge. Under her leadership, the church has experienced rapid growth, even as studies show that religious affiliation is falling.

Recently, Varghese was chosen to visit Derby, England, and Mumbai, India as part of an 8-member team from the New York Diocese. As part of the team, Varghese was tasked with understanding how specific cultural, political and social issues affect each diocese to help steer future church leadership. In recent years, Varghese was also asked to present at a conference for Christians working with people living with HIV/AIDS in Chennai, which explored a Christian perspective on sexual minorities.

Why yes — you can rent an apartment on East Fifth Street between A and B for $13,500 a month now

[EVG file photo]

Back in June, we ran a very similar headline about a showcase-y apartment at the new 532 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. A new apartment was asking a rather incredible $13,000 for rent. The listing didn't have many details. And it sort of disappeared... But it returned Thursday to Streeteasy.

Now, there are so many details, the listing at No Fee Rentals is exploding with ALL CAPS!

OUTSTANDING ONE OF A KIND DUPLEX APARTMENT with your very own THREE LEVEL PRIVATE PLANTED ZEN GARDEN. The main level of this amazing apartment home features an open chef’s kitchen and dining room bathed in southern light overlooking your private garden, a spacious queen sized bedroom and a stone tiled bathroom. The garden level features a huge living room with stone floors, an additional half bath, in unit washer and dryer and access to the STUNNING THREE LEVEL GARDEN that must be seen to be believed. All located in a brand new luxury rental property in the heart of the trendy EAST VILLAGE.

Oddly enough, as luxurious as all this sounds ... the listing is accompanied by a handful of photos someone shot with the the fisheye setting (Walleye Vision!)

Or maybe we're supposed to imagine how this all looks through the front door's peephole.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Beaming up on Fifth Street

Demolition on East Fifth Street

On the way: A five-story apartment building for Fifth Street

Sweet Jesus

We'll have some more details about last night's CB3/SLA meeting tomorrow some day... one quick highlight. As you may recall, CB3 OK'd a wine-beer license for Jane's Sweet Buns on St. Mark's Place last fall. At the time, owner Ravi DeRossi assured the skeptics about the concept of a bakery serving alcohol. All just to pair wine with the buns and desserts.

"It was never intended to be a bar," he said of Jane's, according to coverage in The Local last October. "It's completely innocuous and an asset to the community."

In June, Jane's closed, and Proletariat took over the whole space as a bar.

All this was apparently news to CB3, who reportedly never received any notification about the new bar. Last night, Team Proletariat went before the committee with the alteration request.

And now Grub Street picks up the action:

After committee chair Alexandra Militano called the shift in business a "ruse," the board unanimously voted to deny Proletariat's request for an alteration to lengthen its bar. Before the vote, committee member David McWater told the crowd, "I wouldn't vote for this alteration if Baby Jesus came down here."

Gimme Gimme Records is closing after Sunday; 4th East Village record store to shutter this year

Ugh. Gimme Gimme Records, a gem of a used shop on East Fifth Street (next to the 9th Precinct), is closing after this weekend. This past summer, as we noted here, Steve Croman of Croman Realty (9300 Realty) bought the building... a huge rent hike ensued and... the store that just recently celebrated its 18th year is closing Sunday night. That's how it goes.

And it is/was a great little store... open three days a week (and Slum Goddess works here) ... with a piano teacher using the space at other times. Seems so quaint in these bloodthirsty real-estate days.

Owner Dan Cook has plans to eventually reopen the store in Los Angeles. Maybe you can visit. And by my count, this is the fourth record store to close in the East Village this year — Norman's, Rockit Scientist and Big City Records.

Fall at the Surprise Garden on East 14th Street

In August, Arrow Zelasnic shared the story of the Surprise Garden on East 14th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C ...

And this fall, it's looking as robust as ever...

[Bobby Williams]

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Surprise Garden and how it got that way on East 14th Street

A shot in time: First Avenue and East Ninth Street in 1981

EVG reader William Klayer shared this photo that he came across ...looking west out of his former apartment window on First Avenue and East Ninth Street...

What do you think of the new carts at Key Food?

EVG regular Stacie Joy mentioned this to us the other day... we hadn't been in the store in some time... So we looked.

Sporty. Less bulky than the old ones, which you can still find chained up here and there... (The Key folks told us that a Key Foods in Queens "adopted" the older carts.)

Perhaps the newly remodeled store is gearing up to meet the competition of the incoming Union Market on Avenue A and East Houston.

The Bowery 2008: waiting for Bond and Obama

I was looking for something about the Bowery on Google Street View the other day when something somewhat entertaining happens around East Fourth Street... the image date changes when you head north past East Fourth Street ... and you're in October 2008...

[Click to enlarge image]

... where, as you can see, we were waiting for the new James Bond movie ... the 2008 election (can Obama do it?) and the monstrosity of 2 Cooper Square... Things don't seem too different today... we're waiting for the new James Bond movie ... the 2012 election (can Obama do it?) ... and perhaps a new 9-story hotel on East Fourth Street...

The Standard East Village is sporting a lot of wood now

The plywooding of the Standard East Village continues.... now the wood stretches pass what was the entrance...

According to Hotel Chatter, the additions-subtractions will take up to six months to complete. That's a long time to keep that plywood graffiti free.

Previously.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Meanwhile outside the Standard East Village plywood...

Vertical planking on the plywood? Via EVG reader and stand up citizen artist Paul Kostabi...