[Updated] Tompkins Square Park loses its great gnarly squirrel tree, here before the Civil War

[Photo via @NCintheNYC]

On Oct. 12, the great old gnarled Black Locust on the East Seventh Street side of Tompkins Square Park caught fire (rather suspiciously, too) ...

There was hope that the remaining part of the tree could stick, so to speak, around.

GammaBlog points out that this was one of the few trees left in the Park that pre-dates the Civil War:

I knew it would at least have to be trimmed to avoid branches falling on people, but hoped they would leave the main body of the tree as a habitat for the squirrels and as a historical relic.

Nope.

This morning, crews arrived, as GammaBlog reports.



All that's left is a fucking stump.


[Bobby Williams]

For further reading:
RIP Gnarly Squirrel Tree (GammaBlog)

A memorial for Lou Reed at Tompkins Square Park

A memorial for the late Lou Reed arrived this morning last night outside Tompkins Square Park at St. Mark's Place, as these photos by ace East Village photographer Michael Paul show...



Meanwhile, Laurie Anderson reflects on her 21 years with Reed in an essay published at Rolling Stone:

I have never seen an expression as full of wonder as Lou's as he died. His hands were doing the water-flowing 21-form of tai chi. His eyes were wide open. I was holding in my arms the person I loved the most in the world, and talking to him as he died. His heart stopped. He wasn't afraid. I had gotten to walk with him to the end of the world. Life – so beautiful, painful and dazzling – does not get better than that. And death? I believe that the purpose of death is the release of love.

Today in free ads for Microsoft

Just a quick note from Midtown South, where this checkmark arrived early this morning at Astor Place...





The checkmark, plugging a new Office product, points (heh) out that "This is the intersection where oddball and original meet." Perhaps it should say met instead of meet?

Honors for one of the most unique shops in the East Village

The East Village Community Coalition recently honored The Source Unltd Copy Shop with its annual Outstanding Pigeon award for their continued service and commitment to the neighborhood.

Since 1982, the shop at 331 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue has been a go-to spot for copies, office supplies, cards and postcards created by local artists... and some good old-fashioned community spirit.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy stopped by the cozy storefront to photograph proprietors Santo and Margaret Mollica.



"The East Village is still one of the few places where you can just be, and come across all kinds of people from all over the world," Santo said.

How do they feel about being honored for their 30-plus years in the neighborhood?

"When I was a kid, my old man sat me down and he said, 'Son (cause he used to forget my name sometimes), there are three things that can help you have a good life: One is to have faith in yourself as well as The Lord; two is to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst; and three is to be charitable toward others and they, in turn, would be charitable toward you," Santo said.

"And me and Marg have always tried to live and work by that code," he said. "So it's nice to have it recognized as working."


[Santo and Margaret with Curtis, who is named for Curtis Mayfield]

Don't mind the fake dead horse on the set of Steven Soderbergh's 'The Knick'

[Photo via The Lo-Down]

As you may have heard/read/seen/smelled yesterday, parts of Orchard Street and the Lower East Side were transformed into the early 1900s for "The Knick," a Steven Soderbergh-directed miniseries starring Clive Owen.

Perhaps our favorite photo from the shoot came via Reddit ...



You can find more photos at BoweryBoogie ... The Lo-Down ... Gothamist... and DNAinfo.

Filming continues today.

520 E. 11th St. is for sale

There's a new listing for the building between Avenue A and Avenue B. Not many details on that listing via Habitatman NYC:

Six Story Walk Up Apartment Building with 27 Residential units & 3 Stores. Plus Laundry Facilities in the basement.

No mention of "air rights" ... and there isn't any copy like "will make for a lovely single-family mansion once you toss out the pesky residents."

Asking price: $18 million.

[Image via Trulia]

SFW: This East Village apartment is 'sexy,' though we don't know why

Here's is a Craigslist ad for a pretty-average looking one-bedroom apartment. The headline describes the place as "sexy." Perhaps it is, though you wouldn't know it from the description:

New renovation

Perfect location near Whole Foods Trader [sic] and all transportation

Sun drenched with windows a [sic] plenty and Skylight

Queen sized Bedroom

Ample closets with Overhead stotage [sic]

Exposed Brick

And the unit is an unsexy $2,150. Any ideas why this is sexy? Or what, in general, makes an apartment sexy, aside from maybe the residents?

H/T @SerenaSpeaks

Tonight's sunset

Along Avenue B...

[Updated] Today's Empire Biscuit update

The new biscuitery at 198 Avenue A was back open this morning. Via Eater:

Co-owner Yonadav Tsuna says that they've bulked up their production, brought on a professional baker to streamline the biscuit-making, and smoothed out the service to get those biscuit sandwiches out as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, the Empire Biscuit Help Wanted ad remains on Craiglist, if you are qualified:

Empire Biscuit is hiring experienced line and prep cooks
We're looking for experienced line cooks and prep cooks. All shifts are available. You'll work with familiar and exotic, high quality, seasonal ingredients. You'll have the opportunity to smoke, pickle, and cure. You'll make sweet and savory jams and jellies. We're looking for precision, speed and cleanliness. Please see our menu at empirebiscuit.com. If you don't dig it, don't apply. We're a new restaurant. If you kick ass, you'll grow with us. Please send your resume. We hope to hear from you.

And no word just yet when they will remain open 24 hours a day.

Updated:
Gothamist has a feature on the shop today titled "Inside Empire Biscuit, Finally Ready To Meet East Villagers' Drunken Demand."

Per co-owner Yonadav Tsuna:

"We had some people here Saturday night crying outside," he said, when asked about the necessary closure late last week. Tsuna and his business partner Karl Wilder were inundated with so much early business that they were forced to lock up and hire additional staff in order to keep up with demand. "We're doing five times to ten times more than we thought we would," Tsuna said with a nervous grin.

On Broadway, Blatt Billiards building will be much taller with a glassy face

Catching up to an update about Blatt Billiards, a pool table manufacturer, who will be leaving its longtime home at 809 Broadway near East 12th Street.

The 126-year-old loft building sold for $24 million in May. And the new owners have big plans here, as The Real Deal reported, by nearly quadrupling the building's height with the addition of three apartments.

IDM Capital filed plans to boost the height of the 55-foot building at 809 Broadway to 199 feet, adding 10 stories to the five-story structure.

And!

The new building is expected to have about 22,000 square feet of commercial space, 10,400 square feet of residential space and a 167-square-foot wedge set aside for community facilities, the DOB filings showed.

It all goes as planned, the building will look like this: