Lights on, lights off

Christo taking a break this evening in Astor Place... photo via 8E

East Village Spice back open on 1st Avenue

Spice is back in business at 71 First Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street.

The Thai place had only just opened in the former home of sister restaurant Pukk when it had to close to upgrade its gas lines… a fairly rigorous process these days.

The Spice on Second Avenue and East Sixth Street closed on June 1.

Head in the Clouds

The Orb is back with a new record... and they'll be around here at the Bowery Ballroom on Sept. 11.

Here's one of their more well-known tracks... "Little Fluffy Clouds" from 1990.

[Updated] Schoolchildren protesting NYPD patrol tower in Tompkins Square Park

A group of kids with the Middle Project JustArts Kids Camp were in Tompkins Square Park around noon to protest the NYPD patrol tower that arrived on Tuesday...

EVG correspondent Steven said that the campgoers are from the JustArts day camp, a collaboration between the Lower East Side Girls Club and The Middle Project, part of the Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue at East Seventh Street. The campers were chanting "No justice, no peace."





Edited to reflect the name of the day camp and affiliations

Updated 7-26

There are comments here from both Lyn Pentecost at the Lower Eastside Girls Club and the Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis from Middle Collegiate Church (and executive director of the Middle Project).

Here is what Rev. Lewis had to say:

I want you to know the Church and the Middle Project have not yet made judgment about the tower in the park. It just got there and we have not yet discussed it. When we know, we will say. In the meantime, we will not rush to judgment, we will engage with you and the police about it, and we will do all we can to help make our community safe.

So our little people were not expressing an official opinion from the adults who shaped the camp. What they did in the JustArts Camp was to talk about justice, to talk about what it means to be citizens of the world responsible to use our voices to create a more just society, and to reflect on/do art in service of justice. Some of our children have marched for justice issues. What they did in this case was a concert in the park, and chanted No Justice, No Peace. with their drums. The camp art and conversation was focused on justice--economic, racial, lgbti, environmental...

What is great about art is it creates a space for us to reflect, to project, to imagine. All who gathered likely had different interpretations of what was happening. And each child, each family represented, might feel different about the art, about the tower, about the city, about the events in our nation that call forth voices on police reform, safely, etc. We encourage not only justice work but freedom of thought, speech, etc.

I am fascinated by this conversation, and glad for it. It is the best result of our intent. Our voices, our art, invoke/evoke/provoke conversation, reaction, new ideas, dialog, resistance, encouragement. A good conversation helps us to know each other, to be stretched by each other, to find solutions together that we hope change the world for the good. I am thrilled that EV Grieve told of this event and hosted this conversation. Thank you!

Yes, Middle Church is justice forward, working to heal our souls and our world. The Middle Project is our non-denominational non-religious partner. It works to to teach ethics to children, youth, young adults and clergy that lead to a more just society. I know you share our passion for justice. We believe that when we know justice, we will know peace.

Thank you parents, thank you LES Girls Club, thank you Middle Project Team for helping our little people use their voices. Thank you neighbors for watching the concert, for watching out for all of our community children, encouraging them, being a village for them. And thanks for engaging in this dialog.

Former froyo spot will become body waxing center on 2nd Avenue, just because

EVG Waxing Center Correspondent Steven noticed that the signage is up for the next tenant at 120 Second Ave. — another Manhattan location for the (a?) Uni K Wax Center.



The Uni K folks offer body waxing, bikini waxing and other various waxings for men and women, per their website.

The address here near East Seventh Street is returing to its spa roots. After a short-lived time as the froyo spot Twister, the storefront housed a Spa Belles.

Previously on EV Grieve:
For whom the Spa Belles toll

EV Grieve Etc.: the Polish delights at G.I. Deli; new evening options at Jennifer Cafe

[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]

The Polish delights at G.I. Deli on First Avenue (The Village Voice)

A Fuku-Superiority Burger comparison (The Observer)

A look at Via Della Pace Pizza on St. Mark's Place (Eater)

East Village resident Lilly O’Donnell recalls a summer romance (The Washington Post)

More viewpoints on the Tompkins Square Park police tower (CBS New York)

From 1871 to 1874, the building at East 10th Street and Avenue D served as the Strangers’ Hospital (Ephemeral New York)

More about NYC's first kava bar, Kavasutra, now open on East 10th Street (The Daily News)

Video: A visit to Harry and Ida's Meat & Supply Co. on Avenue A (The Village Voice)

Gigi Li accused of election fraud in campaign for District Leader (BoweryBoogie)

Alex rethinks Patti Smith (Flaming Pablum)

Parents upset over removal of principal from Marta Valle High School on Stanton Street (The Lo-Down)

The global appeal of the Ramones T-shirt (The Independent)

12 hours of discussing "Paul's Boutique" (Dangerous Minds)

Kerouac's "The Vanishing American Hobo" essay (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

... and EVG reader Lauren passes along word that Jennifer Cafe on East Fourth Street and First Avenue is now open in the evenings... the proprietors are now in the third week of selling tacos, quesadillas and tortas after 6 p.m. ...



... and a reader notes that Dieci on East 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue has been closed for the last two days... there's a notice from the city saying that restaurant has been operating without some unspecified permit...

How Grace Farrell came to die outside St. Brigid's in February 2011

[EVG photo from February 2011]

On Feb. 19, 2011, a woman froze to death in her makeshift bedding on Avenue B between Seventh Street and Eighth Street in a doorway at the under-renovation St. Brigid's.

In the days that followed, there were several media accounts of the woman, Grace Farrell. From the Daily News:

She came from Ireland half a life ago, a blue-eyed 17-year-old determined to make a splash in New York's art scene with her colorful portraits and vivid landscapes.

On Sunday morning — years after her life started to go bad in a haze of alcohol and a lousy marriage — Grace Farrell, 35, was found dead on the sidewalk in front of St. Brigid's Church on Avenue B in the East Village.

Her body was ice-cold from sleeping one too many nights on the street.

She spent her last night alive on a bed of cardboard in a church alcove. Thin blankets barely sheltered her from the brutal winter weather.

There's now a new documentary on RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland titled Grace & Emmanuel. The special documents the lives of Farrell and Emmanuel Touhey, who grew up together at St. Vincent's Children’s Home in Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland. Touhey emigrated to the United States a few years before Farrell. Their lives took very different paths, as Touhey became an editor at C-SPAN's website.

In Washington D.C., Emmanuel read the news in the New York papers. Although he hadn’t seen Grace since his time in St. Vincent’s Children’s Home, he wanted her to be remembered as more than just another grim statistic.

“I think despite how hard she tried and how much she hoped to live a life that she wanted to live for her son and for her family, the odds were against her I think from the beginning.”

You can listen to the episode here. There's an accompanying article at The Irish Times here.

Updated: Tompkins Square Park sleepover planned to protest NYPD patrol tower

[Photo yesterday by George Cohen]

Via the Facebook invite:

Protest the NYPD "sniper tower" in Tompkins Square Park 1988 with a weekend long campout to celebrate the 27 years since the bloody NYPD riot that injured hundreds of innocent and unawares local citizens in our neighborhood. The arrogance of the NYPD was never greater since the recent erection of the "sniper" tower outfitted with cameras and recording equipment.

A clear and blatant violation to first and fourth amendments rights to public assembly, free speech and privacy. Bring a tent, some water and noise makers. Support the right of homeless people to enjoy a public park. It's real estate maggots like Jared Kushner who are destroying our community. Let's show him it won't come easy.

The sleepover is planned Aug. 7-9.

The patrol tower arrived on Tuesday, and has already inspired a Twitter parody account. There's also an online petition asking Mayor de Blasio to remove the tower.

Updated 2:44 p.m.

Some clarification in the comments from John Penley:

I was asked to come back to help with this so I am. First of all the camp will be called Camp New York Post and people will not be sleeping inside the park and being arrested we will sleep on 7th street outside the park and there will be no fires just free food and cold non-alcoholic drinks. We also will not block the sidewalk. The point I want to make is that the reason for doing this is not just the tower it is because we believe the NY Post used the sad plight of homeless people to create a return to Giuliani style policing in relation to the poor and those suffering from poverty, mental illness and gentrification and we do not want that to continue

Previously on EV Grieve:
NYPD installs patrol tower in the middle of Tompkins Square Park (147 comments)

The Post reports Tompkins Square Park 'has become a homeless haven' (113 comments)

Observer editors write, 'it's time to take back Tompkins Square Park' (49 comments)

Parts of Avenue C and D now with a SkyWatch tower, additional NYPD lights

[Updated] NYPD patrol tower arrives on Avenue D

Bringing up babies on the side streets

[Photo Monday by Fenton Lawless]

Unlike last summer, when the young hawks spent much of their formative months in Tompkins Square Park, Christo and Dora's 2015 fledglings have been keeping to the side streets near their former nest at the Ageloff Towers on Avenue A and East Third Street.

So there have been several hawklet sightings on side streets between Avenue A and Avenue B and East Sixth Street and East Third Street.

East Village resident Emily Reese shared this ...

One of Christo and Dora's brood decided to take a break outside my living room window.



The hawk seemed giant. I guess it was two feet from its toes to the top of its head. It was sitting facing away from the window at first, but it noticed me and moved to face me as I began to photograph it. It stayed for 20 minutes, first on the west side of my north-facing fire escape ... Then it shifted to the east side, much to the terror of my two pet birds just inside. It was amazing to watch.

Toward the end of the hawk's visit, she decided to close the aperture and slow the shutter speed on her camera to try to capture the beautiful movement of the hawk's feathers ...







As always, Goggla has been been keeping tabs on the hawk clan (here and here). You may also find more Christo-and-Dora activity at TwoHawksNYC here.

1st sign of the incoming CVS at 51 Astor Place

Paper went up this week around the retail space at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star that will house a CVS...



According to The Real Deal, which first reported on the building's first retail tenant last week, this CVS will cover roughly 11,500 square feet on the Death Star's ground and concourse levels … at the southern end here …

The new CVS marks the 29th large-scale drug store in the immediate area.

Previously on EV Grieve:
BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star! (42 comments)