Spring where we can get it

Photo on East Fifth Street by peter radley

EV Grieve Etc.: Jesse Malin's new record; Nevada Smiths' debt

[Avenue A aerialists via Grant Shaffer]

Reaching out and helping the homeless (The Bowery Mission)

Egg watch at Ageloff Towers (Gog in NYC)

Jesse Malin on his new record, "New York Before the War" (Rolling Stone)

A look at Noreetuh, the new Hawaiian restaurant on First Avenue (Eater)

Nevada Smiths owes NJ bank $146,789.21 (DNAinfo)

Rent hike KOs longtime Clinton Street bridal shop (The Lo-Down)

R Bar replacement Rebelle making progress on the Bowery (BoweryBoogie)

A "Gremlins" screening and cast reunion tomorrow night (Anthology Film Archives)

Inside Mace, the new bar at the former Louie 649 on East Ninth Street (Gothamist)

Revisiting some rare New York Dolls footage (Flaming Pablum)

A Velvet Underground reunion on French TV in 1972 (Dangerous Minds)

Remembering a heroic Titanic victim at Grace Church on Broadway and East 10th Street (Ephemeral New York)

... and at the Dorian Grey Gallery on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...



... and tonight via the EVG inbox...

It's The Annual Easter Vs. Passover Smackdown:
Full Moon Festa Edition

Celebrate & skewer Easter/Passover w/the Gorgeous Ladies & Lads of Bloodwrestling, on GLOB Friday! Under a fabled Full Red Moon, on the eve of Passover, the bloodwrestling underground is alive! And lurks just behind the the shadows of the encroaching NYU empire...

Our Lady of Perpetual PMS & Referee Mike SOS present seasonal characters paired in ferocious & hilarious matches! Also starring: live music from Lady Bizness & Maps to Atlantis. In the Front DJ Booth of Doom: DJ Oscar, Pat Pervert & Sam Harris. This is a MIXED event in the spirit of true fun & sports satire! Anyone disrespectful or disruptive will be removed, possibly dismembered. Men are strongly suggested to come to this event with a woman. Latecomers suffer obstructed views & ridicule. :) NO A-HOLES, NO D-BAGS!

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 E. 14th St. (btwn Ave. A & B), Manhattan
9p, 10pm showtime, $5 Cover

2nd Avenue update (April 3)

[Photo yesterday by PandaCat via Facebook]

The latest headlines

Manhattan District Attorney seeks to quiz Maria Hrynenko, landlord of East Village building leveled in gas explosion (Daily News)

Landlord of building that caused East Village blast was sued in 2013 (DNAInfo)

Investigators find gas plumbing in two leveled East Village buildings mostly intact (Newsday)

Everything we know so far about the East Village gas explosion (The Observer)

Con Ed flooded with reports of gas leaks since East Village blast (New York Post)

Week after explosion, nearby businesses feel economic impact (NY1)

2 women reunite with their beloved cats after building explosion (HuffPost)

Here is information gleaned from the most recent (dated yesterday) Inter-Agency Update:

• Currently located at 331 E. 10th St., the Red Cross Reception Center for displaced residents will move to the Community Board 3 Office, located at 59 E. Fourth St., on Friday April 3. Hours of operation at the new location will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, 4/3, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, 4/4. The center will be closed on Sunday, 4/5. Hours of operation will be from noon to 9 p.m. on Monday, 4/6, and Tuesday, 4/7
• To allow for FDNY marshals and NYPD Arson and Explosives Unit investigation to continue, debris removal will continue intermittently
• Approximately 4,400 cubic yards of debris searched and removed as of [yesterday] morning. Estimated to be more than half of the debris on site. This represents 85 trailer loads of debris removed. Each cubic yard weighs approximately one ton.

Donations, Services and Events

• Sting and Trudy Styler have donated $36,000 to a relief benefit for victims of the East Village explosion and fire to be held at Theater 80, 80 St. Mark's Place, on Sunday, April 12 at 8 p.m. The money will go to GOLES. Details on the Facebook invite here

• Next Wednesday at Parkside Lounge...



• Collections for the Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC continue...



Missing Pets

This cat was found near the explosion site on Wednesday night... now at The Animal Medical Center ... she is not microchipped...



Email the Center here

Blockheads bringing their San Francisco-style burritos to the East Village

[EVG file photo]

The city's seventh Blockheads is in the works to take over the Unidentified Flying Chickens space at 60 Third Ave. near East 11th Street. Aside from a full-service dining room, this location will also offer take out and delivery.

Brothers Ken and Don Sofer opened the first of the casual, San Francisco-style Mexican restaurants on Third Avenue and East 34th Street in 1993. They also own the Benny's Burritos in the West Village. (Ken Sofer helped open the East Village Benny's, but sold his stake 10 years later.)

Blockheads is on this month's CB3/SLA committee agenda for a new liquor license.

In February, the owners of Taproom 307 went before CB3 for the space, but were met with resistance.

As for UFO, they never seemed to catch on, though, as we've pointed out, the Korean fried chicken specialists made it longer than the previous tenant — the 3-week-old Après.

Spina's Italian fare exits Avenue B; Indian food on the way

Spina had a nice little run at 175 Avenue B at East 11th Street… However, after nearly six years, the pasta place/trattoria has closed for good. It hasn't been open for at least a week.

The space had quietly been on the market. (The listing tells potential suitors to "exercise discretion and do not engage in conversation about the space with anyone at the restaurant.")

Meanwhile, there's an applicant on this month's CB3/SLA committee agenda for a new beer-wine license for the space. The principals are a husband-and-wife team who plan on opening an Indian restaurant called Babu Ji. The proposed hours are 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday; until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The questionnaire (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website has more info as well as a sample menu.

Tuome remains closed on East 5th Street

[Photo from Tuesday evening]

Back on Sunday morning, a small fire broke out in the kitchen of Tuome, the well-regarded new restaurant at 536 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B… a resident who lives in the building said Tuome would be closed at least a week… we walked by on Tuesday night, and found the place closed up… no sign about a temporary closure, and no message on Tuome's social media properties…

There is a sign up now, though… perhaps this means they plan on being back in action tomorrow…

When the world's top collectors of Dom Pérignon rosé came to the East Village for dinner

[Photo from March 24 via @hanyakrill]

Meant to post this earlier in the week… for anyone who was curious about that 11 days of activity around the incoming Brant Foundation exhibition space on East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A.

We only heard that the space was hosting an event for Dom Pérignon.

The event was held on the evening of Thursday, March 26. (Perhaps worth noting that the fire was still raging nearby at 119-123 Second Ave.)

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that it was for the world's top collectors of Dom Pérignon rosé.

Some excerpts from the article…

Nine rosé Champagne aficionados sat down for an intimate, one-of-a-kind pairing dinner … with Dom Pérignon Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy.

Guests at the East Village event included New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, real-estate executive Michael Fascitelli and wine-store owner Robert Schagrin.

And!

The seven-course dinner featured dishes showcasing a global range of spices, from a Thai bouillon to an elegant mole verde to a duck entree, redolent of cumin and coriander, based on a 17th-century French recipe.

The dinner was held at 421 E. Sixth St. and the space decorated for the occasion by rock star Lenny Kravitz’s Kravitz Design, which brought in sculptures, dramatic lighting and sleek furniture.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Neighbors curious about the 11 days of activity at Peter Brant's exhibition space on East 6th Street

The art of noise on East 7th Street ahead of tomorrow night's event at the Brant Foundation

Noted

You've no doubt seen the remains of the minivan on Cooper Square between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place… it had been parked along East Seventh Street near Second Avenue at the time of the explosion and subsequent fire last week… The NYPD towed the vehicle out of the way on Sunday evening…

And now, someone has put a for sale sign on it…



"Runs great — need little work." The number is to a landscape design company.

Photos this afternoon by Derek Berg

Updated: We heard that the cops towed it away a little earlier...

2nd Avenue update (April 2)

[M15s running again on 2nd Avenue via Derek Berg]

The latest headlines

Landlord's lawyer blames Con Ed in East Village explosion (The New York Times)

East Village building owner could be charged with manslaughter (New York Post)

Here's what investigators are looking for under East Village blast rubble (DNAinfo)

Buffalo State University to honor Nicholas Figueroa (NBC New York)

Gas leak prompts caution and unforeseen problems (WPIX)

Survivor of East Village explosion tells his story (WABC-7)

New Yorkers rush to help mom of 3 whose apartment burned down (People magazine)

We're live at #EastVillageExplosion site. It happened one week ago today . Updates all morning on @NY1 pic.twitter.com/UAhovurbhl

— Rocco Vertuccio (@NewsieRocco) April 2, 2015

Donations and Services

• The staff of Bar Virage across from the blast site have started a crowdfunding campaign for displaced restaurant workers (Give Forward)

• Speaking of Bar Virage... Via Facebook: "We are rallying at the neighborhood spot Virage – the restaurant directly across from last week's blast – to help get them back on their feet and get all our neighbors and fellow New Yorkers together for happy hour. Also included in this is an informal crawl between Via Della Pace and Van Leewan!" 6-9 p.m.

• Today from 11 to 2 pm., parishioners from the Church of the Nativity, 44 Second Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street, will again be distributing donations to displaced residents. Details here.

• The 14th Street Y is offering displaced residents and their families six months of membership. Details here.

• Professor Thom's is hosting another fundraiser for their Second Avenue neighbors. Tonight from 6-10, a donation at the door gets you a free beer from Harpoon Brewery as well as happy hour prices until 10 p.m. All the money collected at the door will go to charity. Professor Thom's is at 219 Second Ave. between East 13th Street and East 14th Street.

... and tonight...

RIP Moises Ismael Locón Yac

[Image from Facebook via the Daily News]

The medical examiner has confirmed that the second body discovered in the rubble of 121 Second Ave. on Sunday is Moises Ismael Locón Yac.

Locón, an employee at Sushi Park, was 27. He and Nicholas Figueroa died when a gas explosion rocked the building housing Sushi Park last Thursday.

Various media accounts noted that Locón sent most of his paycheck back to his family in Guatemala, where he worked as a school teacher before moving to the United States seven years ago.

On his days off in New York, Locón liked to accompany his older brother, Alfredo, and Alfredo's two children, to city parks.

According to The New York Times:

Despite a growing fondness for his adopted city — the walls of his rented room in Queens bore a poster of the Empire State Building and a framed cover from The New Yorker — Mr. Locón had been planning to return to Guatemala this year to reunite with his girlfriend [his childhood sweetheart], according to a cousin, Pablo Yac.

"I saw that young man every day," Michael Schumacher, the co-owner of a food market near the sushi restaurant told the Daily News. "Every single day we had a chat — you know, ‘How’s business?’ The kid worked hard for his family. He’s gone. He’s gone."

An East Village couple, who did not know Locón, has established a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help his family pay for the funeral and other expenses. You may find details here. As of this post, $810 has been raised.