Reader report: Unshoveled sidewalks in front of the incoming 7-Eleven remain treacherous

Yesterday morning, we noted that the plywood walkway outside the incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A and East 11th Street was extremely slippery... causing someone to post the above warning note...

Apparently little has changed here.

EV Grieve reader VH McKenzie notes:

"The only building on the block of 11th between A and B that DIDN'T shovel any snow from the pathway in front of their building since Friday ... the site of the incoming 7-Eleven.

"What was a slippery, treacherous sheet of ice is now, thanks to the rain, an impassable small lake. Soon to be a slippery, treacherous sheet of ice again when the temperature drops."

Walking on the other side of the street is really a good idea.

[Updated] Breaking: C-Town back open on Avenue C

[From January, via Dave on 7th]

The C-Town on Avenue C near East 11th Street has been closed since suffering extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy... Dave on 7th notes that the renovated supermarket reopened this morning ...

From the C-Town Supermarkets Facebook page:

Hey C-Town Shoppers! Help us in welcoming back our C-Town store on Ave C in Manhattan! After a long and difficult rebuild from Sandy we are proud to have you back!!

Updated 2:45

Dave on 7th randomly checked pricing on... Horizon Organic whole milk... on sale this week for $3.99...

...and the Stonyfield brand is $5.99...

Dave on 7th noted that the Stonyfield at Associated on Avenue C and East Eighth Street is $5.49 ... and the Horizon is $5.79!

No word on beer prices. Yet.

Report: East Village (ZIP 10003) leads the city in places to buy coffee or tea

The economists over at StatsBee, a blog via NYCEDC's Center for Economic Transformation, examined the Restaurant Inspection Results from the health department to find the number of cafés, coffee shops and tea shops in the five boroughs.

In total, they found 1,700 such places. According to their research:

Manhattan neighborhoods have the highest density of cafés per ZIP code. The East Village ZIP code of 10003 has the highest number of shops with 49, closely followed by Midtown/Hell’s Kitchen (10019) with 47. Midtown East (10017) and SoHo (10012) each have 41, and Tribeca/Chinatown (10013) has 40.

Researchers also looked at the breakdown between the chains and independent shops. And what they found:

With the Restaurant Inspection Results list, we counted 454 Dunkin’ Donuts (including hybrids like Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins) and 272 Starbucks locations. 42.7% of the City’s cafés are one of these two major chains, with the remaining majority made up of smaller chains or single-location establishments.

Find the full report here, including an interactive map. Not sure how telling any of this is, but we do enjoy conversations about coffee. And chains/franchises.

And this is ZIP 10003, because someone always asks ...

Reader report: Former Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen becoming an Italian restaurant

Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen, which had been at 130 St. Mark's Place since 1991 (34 years in business total), closed for good on Dec. 29, as we first reported.

Aside from rising rents, business had been down... and, of course, Sandy didn't help matters.

Yesterday, a worker at the store told Bill the libertarian anarchist that the space will become an Italian restaurant.

Know more details about the new tenant? Then please let us know via the EVG tipline.

Your East Village pizza update

New signs are up in the windows of the long-time coming Apizza on First Avenue at East Second Street... noting that this California-based healthy pizza place is "coming soon." BoweryBoogie first noted this impending arrival back on Dec. 23, 2010.

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Speaking of healthy pizza... the transformation of the former Naked Pizza on East 14th Street continues... this will be the second NYC location for good old-fashioned Joe's Pizza ...

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...and signage arrived for the new 2 Bros. Pizza on First Avenue near East 14th Street...

Former kind of weird sushi place on the Bowery is now home to the Wise Men

And at 355 Bowery, we have the former home of Osaka Vibe/Orange Valve — aka, that kind of weird sushi place on the Bowery. We wrote an appreciate (of sorts!) about it back in December 2011, after the kitchen temporarily closed for renovations... only to never reopen again.

Now, a new venture called Wise Men officially opens in the space on Wednesday, according to Grub Street. And three women are behind the space: photographer Danielle Levitt, S magazine creative director Christina Chin and hospitality vet Caroleyn Ng.

As BoweryBoogie pointed out, the name Wise Men is a nod to Ms. Chin's "ancestral connection to the area. When the Chins emigrated from Hong Kong in the 1960s, the family opened Wise Men, proclaimed at the time as the first 'western-style' steakhouse in Chinatown."

Back to Grub Street: "In a bar-heavy area that's all about modernizing, Wise Men's a much-appreciated nod to old-school New York meat and cocktails."

The valve wheel from that kind of weird sushi place remains as the Wise Men doorknob. But there aren't any $1 Jello shots.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation of sorts: That kind of weird sushi place on the Bowery

The never-opened Yogurt Crazy owes NYU back rent

Signs for the incoming Yogurt Crazy here on Third Avenue between 12th Street and 11th Street arrived last June.

And we haven't seen much, if any, activity in the space. Apparently the shop has been on the clock. A "rent demand" letter dated Feb. 2 is on the front door... Per the letter, signed by Peter Min, director of NYU's Lease and Acquisitions, Yogurt Crazy owes $37,134.87 "for rent and additional rent" through Feb. 28.

They'll have to sell Crazy amounts of FroYo to pay that.

Snow adventures in Tompkins Square Park

Photos today by Bobby Williams.

Week in Grieview

[Friday night on Avenue A via Slum Goddess]

NYCHA plans to lease public housing space for luxury development (Wednesday)

RIP Arpad Miklos (Tuesday)

"Hipster girls ... and bearded guys" wanted for new bakery concept (Monday)

Jennifer Esposito is opening a gluten-free bakery on East 10th Street (Tuesday)

Jared Kushner may soon own the whole neighborhood (Tuesday)

Meet "the flute mistress of epic doom metal" (Wednesday)

Former Nino's Pizza is for sale (Friday)

People waited in line for free pancakes (Tuesday)

7-Eleven sign jokesters (Friday)

It snowed (Saturday)

Water main break on East 13th (Thursday)

Scott Stringer's plan for the East River (Thursday)

Laundry bistro! (Monday)

The Village Scandal has been evicted (Wednesday)

Demolition on Lafayette (Thursday)

A truck full of dead pigs on the LES (Wednesday)

Looking at 205 Avenue A — too tall already? (Tuesday)

[Updated] At the Direct Action Fashion Show

Last night, The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) on Avenue C presented a Direct Action Fashion Show. Per the organizers: "Celebrate how activists use costumes, puppets, and props to draw awareness to various environmental, social, and political issues and create positive, sustainable change."

By all accounts, it was a festive (and colorful!) evening. See for yourself in these photos by Brian Caron ... (Find more of his work here.)

Find more photos on the MoRUS Facebook page.

And here's a video by Paul DeRienzo showing the grand finale with all the models on the runway...



Here are the grass suits in action...



And an overview of the whole evening...