Monday, July 15, 2013

The Wafels & Dinges café is now open on Avenue B


[Image via @FondaRestaurant]

The first Wafels & Dinges outpost is now open on Avenue B and East Second Street... the café is based on the same concept as the popular food trucks in circulation around the city ...

W&D founder Thomas DeGeest, an East Village resident, told us back in January that the store was "progressing at turtle speed." He also noted that it "will be as much a good coffee place as a waffle and ice cream place."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Wafels & Dinges opening a café on Second Street and Avenue B?

Wafels & Dinges hoping for a spring opening on Avenue B

Reader report: Klean and Kleaner has closed


[File photo]

As we reported last September, Klean & Kleaner, the laundromat at 173 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, was on the market for use as a bar or restaurant.

Off and on during the last few months, we heard that the laundromat was closing very soon... On April 30, we thought the end was here. "They were loading trucks all afternoon. Wouldn't let me drop off clothes unless I was ok picking up in '2-3 days' at an undefined location," said one neighbor.

However, they remained open through this past weekend. Staff was there yesterday for customers to pick up their laundry. There was a sign noting that the washers were out of service. (Someone had removed the doors to the washers.)

Meanwhile, EVG Facebook friend Edward Arrocha took these photos in late April. "They are devastated," he said of the staff. "I will miss them."









Word is the landlord is now asking $18,000 a month in rent. As previously reported, the owners of the Living Room on Ludlow Street were hoping to take over this space, though the CB3/SLA committee turned down that proposal in May.

Also, this marks the third East Village laundromat to close in the last few months. (East 10th Street and East 13rd Street.)


[Yesterday]

Previously.

Alphabets opens new outpost on Avenue A



As you may have noticed, a new outpost of Alphabets opened Saturday on Avenue A between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street... the gift shop, which has been around since 1985, is located at 115 Avenue A near East Seventh Street... However, as we understand it, this location will be closing in the coming months...



According to public records, the building at 115 Avenue A was sold last August for $3 million. The LLC that bought the building shares the address as the notorious 9300 Realty (owned by Croman Realty). A tipster told us that Alphabets could not negotiate a new lease. Thankfully, they found a nearby space.

'This prominent corner retail space' still available on Avenue A




On the topic of Avenue A between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street ... 72 Avenue A at East Fifth Street has been on the market since the East Village Pharmacy moved to East Third Street and Avenue A in 2011.

Massey Knakal now has the listing, which reads:

This prominent corner retail space features frontage on both Avenue A and East 5th Street. The landlord would consider food in this location, however vented cooking is not possible. The soaring ceilings add tremendous appeal, while the wraparound glass frontage provides excellent visibility to a future tenant.

Rent is available upon request.

Meanwhile, there is a rumor that some kind of FroYo operation is moving into the space next door (the other half of the storefront that housed the pharmacy). We haven't heard anything else about this in the past week...

Rat battle on East Second Street



We've heard from several residents who live on East Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... These residents say that there is a rat problem at 188 E. Second St, a single-level structure that's home to the beverage distribution company.



Said one resident: "It's full of rats that run and in out all night. Dozens of them. People walk their dogs here. There are little kids. A restaurant next door. It's a real mess."

The residents don't think that the operators here are doing enough to curb the rat population. Calls to 311 haven't done much, the residents say. And now a sign campaign has started.



However, the Beverage folks have responded... providing their side of the story...

Marshal seizes former LaVie space on East First Street



La Vie on East First Street shut for good last month following an ongoing battle with neighbors over a variety of quality-of-life issues... Neighbors had long complained that La Vie was operating as a club under the guise of a restaurant.

As we first reported on June 11,
the 1st Department of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the revocation of La Vie's liquor license. Although that decision was handed down on June 6, the club remained open until at least June 15.

For several days after that, workers cleaned out the space... and last week, the marshal seized the storefront ...turning the space over to the landlord...



Just a formality, but one that made several neighbors happy.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] La Vie closed for now on East First Street

New York Supreme Court upholds revocation of La Vie's liquor license

La Vie has closed; neighbors rejoice

L'asso EV has closed


[July 10 via @davidsokol]

L'asso EV has closed... there's no sign on the gate or announcement about the closure on its website on social media properties... the pizzeria on First Avenue between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street opened in late 2011...

We had talked with Greg Barris, a partner at L'asso EV, in the past. (He gave us the info on L'asso EV's hardcore/punk cassette art exhibit last summer.) When we reached out to him over the weekend, we learned that Barris left L'asso about six months ago and was not aware of the current situation. However: "It is disappointing. I spent almost every day for a year working on building that place and getting it going — it's a shame," he said via email.

The original L'asso outpost on Mott Street remains open.

In August 2011, when news of L'asso's expansion arrived, Rebecca Marx asked a reasonable question when she was writing for Fork in the Road: How much more pizza does the East Village really need?

At that time, there were 44 pizza places in the East Village.

Per Marx:

"[W]hile we appreciate the plenitude and variety, the whole thing is getting a bit rote: fancy pizzeria announces intentions to open/expand into the neighborhood, promises to forever alter the pizza landscape, opens, gets blogged about, and settles into comfortable mundanity. If you want to worry people, open a slaughterhouse."

Noted



An Urban Etiquette Sign on Avenue A... "Listen up, this roof is under 24/7 video surveillance and we have many 'eyes and ears' in the building looking at for you guys."

Sunday, July 14, 2013

At the Trayvon Martin rally in Union Square this evening




(Stencils by @artofandres)



Photos by Shannon O'Toole. (The photos are from the second of the two rallies in Union Square today to protest George Zimmerman's acquittal ... and show support for the slain teen Trayvon Martin.)

Goggla has photos here from Union Square.

Updated.


After the Union Square rally, those in attendance marched down Broadway... and worked their way though the East Village... one estimate on Twitter put the march at three-to-four blocks long...


... the protestors eventually headed north up First Avenue... where they amassed in Times Square.

Gothamist has more on the rallies here.

Week in Grieview


[Outside Jules Bistro on St. Mark's Place]

Eviction inspires East Village resident to create this one-woman play (Thursday)

Estranged husband slashes wife on Avenue D (Wednesday)

Two men snatch $100,000 in East Ninth Street robbery (Tuesday)

A fish market for First Avenue? (Friday, 45 comments)

Tuck Shop closes St. Mark's Place location (Monday)

Burlesque is back on the Lower East Side (Friday)

An abandoned car on a lot that will one day be home to a 13-floor residential building (Monday)

S'MAC closes kiosk in First Park (Friday)

The Citi Bike stationary workout (Friday)

Goloka Juice Bar & Health Shop opens on East Fifth Street (Tuesday)

The Smell (Wednesday)

About the 2Bn2C sculpture garden (Tuesday)

Empire Biscuit launches a Kickstarter campaign (Tuesday, 105 comments)

2013 recap: Out and About in the East Village (Wednesday)

Look at Rite Aid now! (Monday)

Shiti Bikes (Tuesday)

1-5 now for Thursday night screenings in Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)

Update on 185 Avenue B (Tuesday)