Disappointhenge

Stupid clouds... East 14th Street tonight for Manhattanhenge...





There's still tomorrow night...

Half Sun on the Grid
Monday, July 13 8:21 P.M.

Photos by Peter Brownscombe

Week in Grieview

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Is Tompkins Square Park becoming a "homeless haven"? (Friday, 95 comments)

Come along on a tour of the under-renovation 122 Community Center on First Avenue (Tuesday)

Video: Cyclist snatches woman's iPhone on Avenue A; Citi Biker follows in pursuit (Thursday)

Messing with the hydrangeas prompts sharply worded Urban Etiquette Sign on East Seventh Street (Monday)

Empire Biscuit is hosting its first-ever comedy festival this August (Tuesday)

Out and ABout with Jeremy X. Halpern (Wednesday)

Lit Lounge makes closure official (Thursday)

Alleged purse snatcher caught by security store employee (and a lot of other people) on Avenue B (Friday)

Blowing the doors off of the Horseshoe Bar in the name of television (Wednesday)

Listen in to the vinyl sounds of Abraço and A1 Records from wherever you are (Thursday)

Via Della Pace Pizza officially opens on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

Blockheads opening soon on Third Avenue (Friday)

Moonstruck Eatery opens on A (Wednesday)

Partial reveal of the new residential complex coming to 185 Avenue B (Monday)

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot returns (Thursday)

Former Mary Help of Christians property getting the plywood treatment (Wednesday)

Yoo's Convenience Store — former home of New York's "best coffee" — becoming a tape shop (Monday)

Rent reduction at the former Bourgeois Pig space on East Seventh Street (Tuesday)

Incoming restaurant on Avenue A asking residents to rally for their liquor license and back patio (Thursday, 39 comments)

Films in Tompkins return this month (Wednesday)

Relive the July 4 fireworks with this East Village drone footage (Sunday)

Here's your T-swirl Crêpe shop signage (Monday)

A look inside the last East Village gas station (Wednesday)

Dewatering 98-100 Avenue A (Monday)

Crush story: About the home winemaker in the East Village (Tuesday)

Casual French-American cafe in the works for 110 St. Mark's Place (Friday)

Mother of Pearl comes out of its shell on Avenue A and East 6th Street (Monday)

Full reveal at 331 E. Houston St. (Thursday)

Resurfacing underway at the new YouTube-backed basketball courts in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)

… and speaking of Tompkins Square Park… apparently it's time to bid farewell to the iconic ANAL box seen around these parts this past week or so…


[Photo by Grant Shaffer]

Sources revealed that a few Park staffers disposed of it this weekend… We're not sure why the box was here in the first place (A movie prop? A quinzhee tribute?) Meanwhile, we now have a discarded fridge to distract us…

Manhattanhenge wants to be seen again tonight

East 14th Street provided a good warmup last evening for the next round of Manhattanhenge (when the setting sun aligns precisely with the Manhattan street grid) … for tonight's main event:

Full Sun on the Grid
Sunday, July 12 8:20 P.M.

Half Sun on the Grid
Monday, July 13 8:21 P.M.

Thanks to James and Karla Murray for last night's photo!

Previously

Report: East Village broker accused of rental bait-and-switch

An East Village-based broker is using the addresses of celebrity homes, including Anna Wintour's (!!!!), "in an apparent real-estate scam," according to the Post.

When Post reporters posing as prospective tenants answered the ads last week ... they were text-messaged back by unnamed real-estate salespeople. But each time the reporters tried to see the advertised apartments, they were met with excuses — they’re not available for viewing or they’re suddenly off the market.

They were then shown far less fashionable flats, and were ushered to the offices of St. Marks Place Realty at 36 St. Marks Place.

The undercover reporters then met with the real-estate firm's sole licensed broker, named as Jordan Marshall.

Dressed in a cheap suit, he launched into a high-pressure spiel: A just-viewed East Third Street apartment was listed by a major brokerage, and the rival firm was holding an open house that very afternoon. If the clients paid a $100 application fee on the spot and filled out a form, “We can stop them from renting it . . . This way we don’t lose it.”

When later confronted by the Post, Marshall repeatedly said "I’m not sure what you’re talking about."

Read the whole article here.

Also, Wintour's West Village home is not on the market.

Where to find True Crime in the next few weeks

The Film Forum has a True Crime series running though Aug. 5, screening such classics as "Badlands," "Birdman of Alcatraz" and "The French Connection," among many many others. ("In Cold Blood" screens today.) You can find the calendar here.

It's Marbleous! Neighborhood Open Day today at the New York City Marble Cemetery

Today at the New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... via the EVG inbox...

A reminder….. that we invite you to join us under the midsummer sun at our Neighborhood Open Day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

And for your calendars...

Upcoming Neighborhood Open Days at the New York City Marble Cemetery:
Sunday, Aug. 9
Saturday, Sept. 12
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

And!

Fall Open Weekend, with historic displays, photos and artifacts
Saturday and Sunday
Oct. 17-18
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Read more about the cemetery here.

Headline H/T DrBOP!

And to the anon commenter who left this comment last time: "Come stand online for David Chang's Corpse-ofuku!"

Black 'Hole'

The Jesus and Mary Chain are playing two shows in September at Terminal 5 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their acclaimed record Psychocandy. (Tickets for the Sept. 25 show went on sale today.)

From Psychocandy, here's "In a Hole."

Alleged purse snatcher caught by security store employee on Avenue B

A man reportedly wanted for several local purse snatchings was chased down and stopped by an employee of Top Notch Security on Avenue B yesterday.

Matthew Gonzalez, who works at the store at 8-12 Avenue B between East Houston and East Second Street, spotted the alleged purse snatcher in action.

Per CBS New York:

“We watched him, and he eventually stole some lady’s purse. I chased after him, grabbed him, and before you know it the cops were on him,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said he recognized the suspect, wanted by police, and jumped into action when the man stole a woman’s purse as she sat in front of a restaurant on Avenue B.

Gonzalez said the man in the video is possibly connected to other recent purse thefts in the area.

“I thought, ‘Let me catch this guy, because he’s going to keep doing it again if he’s not caught,” he said.

Police initially came to the store to see if cameras captured the same suspect this past Sunday, turns out they did.

Top Notch reps shared the surveillance video with us…



Several people who saw this scene pay out yesterday thought it was the man who swiped the iPhone from a pedestrian on Avenue A and East Seventh Street. It was not.

The Post reports Tompkins Square Park 'has become a homeless haven'

[EVG photo]

Here are some passages from the article in today's Post:

“I really don’t enjoy the beauty of the park anymore because I’m too scared to walk through it,” said NYU student Christine Gal, 19, who lives nearby. “I would say it has doubled in the last six months.”

And!

A parks worker called the urban oasis “scary,” saying it’s riddled with bums who have drug problems.

And!

One woman is worried about bringing her 6-year-old daughter to the park.

“Some of them are junkies. They’re standing there almost falling down or sitting there slumped over,” the 39-year-old woman said. “My daughters asks, ‘Mommy, why are the men sleeping?’ And that’s not something you want to explain to your child.”

At least one of the five Post reporters who received a byline on the article spent time in the Park yesterday … noting "a herd of homeless people sprawled across the lawn" while "a few feet away, hobos sought shelter under a cluster of trees, snuggling up in sleeping bags."

The Post also found "a similarly seedy scene across town at Washington Square Park."

Anyway! Thoughts on the state of Tompkins Square Park (not the song by Mumford and Sons) this summer? Any different than, say, five years ago?

Hand-painted Blockheads signage arrives on 3rd Avenue

As we've been reporting, 60 Third Ave. will be home to a new location of Blockheads, the San Francisco-style Mexican restaurant from the folks who launched Benny's Burritos.

Workers painted the sign yesterday here between East 10th Street and East 11th Street. A rep for Blockheads told us they hope to be open by the end of the month, though that's not definite.

The previous tenant, an outpost of the Jackson Heights-based Unidentified Flying Chickens, closed last month after 11 months in business.