EV Grieve

Thursday, February 23, 2017

A good idea

EVG reader 8E shares the above photo... someone created a "Make me a Park" sign on the fence that surrounds the empty DEP lot on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Lafayette... anyone know what the purpose of this lot is for?

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Mob scene on 10th Street as 'Gotti' crew and John Travolta hold forth

Crews and classic Cadillacs were out today on 10th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A to film scenes for "The Life and Death of John Gotti," a biopic on the crime boss and his son. EVG regular Daniel shared these photos...

John Travolta, seen below, is in the title role... the cast includes Kelly Preston and Stacy Keach... "Entourage" star Kevin Connolly directs the film that Lionsgate is releasing later this year...

If this helps...

Some more cast members ... or some employees of landlords...

9th Precinct hosting blood drive in honor of rookie officer who died on Feb. 1

The 9th Precinct is hosting a blood drive tomorrow at the station house on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

As Bedford + Bowery noted, the blood drive is in honor of Bianca Bennett. The off-duty rookie officer died in a car crash driven by a fellow cop in the Bronx on Feb. 1. Bennett, 27, had been stationed at the 9th Precinct.

Ost Cafe closes on Sunday

The rumors you may have heard in recent days are true: Ost Cafe on Avenue A at 12th Street is closing its doors on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Here's the message from ownership on the Ost Facebook page:

It has been a good run. We love being part of the neighborhood, and part of all of your lives.

Unfortunately, our little corner of 12th St and Ave. A has become too expensive to stay open any longer. The East Village (the commoditized version of it that is controlled by the Real Estate industry) is moving on up, and they seem to have forgotten to set any place at the table for small businesses. The City of New York is complicit in this change, cheering from the sidelines for more, bigger, taller, and pocketing the tax revenue. Alas.

Short of charging $10 a cup, we can no longer make ends meet selling just coffee and wine, and options are limited. “Ost Café and 24-Hour Vape Shop Emporium” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

We will close the doors on Sunday at 5PM for the last time. Stop by and say hello in the next few days, and thank you for making the past 9 years such a wonderful experience. Our Lower East Side location on Grand St is going strong, and we will always call this community home.

The cafe opened here in December 2008.

Out and About in the East Village

In this ongoing feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.

By James Maher

Name: Delphine Blue
Occupation: Radio Host, DJ, Pilates Instructor
Location: St. Marks Place between 1st and 2nd
Date: Thursday, Feb. 2 at 1:45 pm

Read part 1 of the interview with Delphine, a Queens native, here

When the Ritz was opening where Webster Hall is, they had an ad in the SoHo Weekly News, and it said that they were starting a dance company and they were choreographing rock music. I thought that’s the company I need to be in, so I went to the audition. The dance company thing lasted for 3 seconds but Jerry Brandt who owned the Ritz, was there. I said to Jerry, ‘I’m a DJ,’ and he said to me, ‘I’ll give you any job you want here but you can’t be the DJ.’ He said I could be the waitress.

I had never been a waitress, so opening night I tried to carry 12 Heinekens on a tray, which is impossible but I didn’t know that because I wasn’t a waitress. The place was packed because it was opening night. I dropped all the beers and I just put the tray down and started dancing. He said to me, ‘Ok, you can answer the phone in the office.’ So I did that and then I started putting together the VIP list, which was totally fun. But all the time I wanted to be the DJ. So after a few months they gave me Monday Nights. I worked there for five years and I eventually started working in all the other clubs from 1979 to 1983 or 1984. Danceteria, it was so fun.

I always loved the Cure from the get-go. They were my favorite band, and they’re still my favorite band. I also loved the B-52s, Gang of Four, The Police, The Knack, The Records, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello and Marianne Faithfull. One of my favorite nights ... was when Tina Turner played. This was probably the most exciting night. She played and after the show I was in the VIP room and David Bowie was there. I said to my friend, ‘I wish I could kiss him,’ and he heard me and spun around and kissed me on the lips. I think I fainted. That’s my big Bowie story.

Meanwhile, I also wanted to be on the radio, so I went to WNEW, which was the cool station and I just stood outside the door. Vin Scelsa came out and I said, ‘I really want to be on the radio. I really want to be a DJ,’ and he hit on me. I was so crestfallen, because I was so sincere and earnest.

Meanwhile. I got hired to work at WLIR, which was a modern rock station. Then in like 1985-86, everybody started listening to these stupid big hair bands like Poison. Everyone started going in that metal direction and I just couldn’t get with it. So I got fired from WLIR and I started my own show on WBAI. I forged a place for myself and developed a reputation based on playing music that you didn’t hear on the radio.

In 2000, I started working at WFUV, then I got hired at Sirius, and then at the same time East Village Radio started. East Village Radio just blew up, and it was so fun being in that DJ booth in that window. I loved that station, but then they crashed and burned and WBAI became a frightening caricature of itself and started to fail, so I left there.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this I got hired to be on Jack.fm, which was the most despised FM radio station, but it didn’t matter because it was the No. 1 market in New York. I was on afternoon drive so I had gone to the mountaintop. That’s it — I did it. I got to speak 30 seconds twice and hour in a three-hour shift, and I made more money than I had ever made in my life. We’re talking basically three minutes in three hours. It was ridiculous. I would say nothing, nothing. Then they changed the format one day without telling me and I lost my job.

I got scared and lost sleep, and then I decided to become a Pilates teacher. I got certified, which was really hard to learn something totally new. I still do radio and DJing too so I’m happier now. A little while later one of the guys who had been on EVR, my friend Steve Dima, called me and he and a couple people were starting a radio station at the South Street Seaport called Little Water Radio. So now I’m an owner-operator. Four of us started the station and we’re having a blast.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Residents and community groups to rally 'to end construction as harassment'

Via the EVG inbox...

More than 100 tenants, along with 25 community organizations, legal advocates and elected officials, will rally at City Hall on Thursday, Feb. 23, to urge that the City Council take action to stop “construction as harassment.”

Aggressive landlords frequently use dangerous construction work in residential buildings to harass rent-regulated tenants. The rally, organized by Stand for Tenant Safety Coalition, will call for the Council to pass 12 bills to help end the harassment and strengthen tenant rights.

Many unscrupulous landlords use dangerous or negligent construction to harass tenants out of rent-regulated apartments. When landlords successfully evict, displace, or harass out rent stabilized tenants, their apartments can be leased at a much higher rent to the next tenant, adding to the loss of affordable housing in New York City.

During the rally, tenants and advocates will share their personal, real-life stories and discuss the impact of dangerous construction. Tenants and advocates also will share information about the legislation awaiting Council approval.

Tenants, community groups and local elected officials have accused several landlords with properties in the East Village of employing "construction as harassment" tactics, including Icon Realty ... Raphael Toledano ... Jared Kushner ... Steve Croman ... and Ben Shaoul.

The rally takes place tomorrow from 11 a.m. to noon at City Hall.

Chi Ken, the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken Store, coming to St. Mark's Place

Two weeks ago, we noted that Clay Pot, serving "traditional Hong Kong style open-flame cooked clay pot rice," is coming to 58 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

On Monday, signage arrived for a new restaurant arriving in the open space on the west side of the building — Chi Ken, the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken Store...

A Chi Ken location opened in Sunset Park last summer...

Chi Ken sells a variety of quick-serve items, including milk tea, popcorn chicken and Crazy Jumbo Squid "that's bigger than your face." You can find the Chi Ken website here.

And here's a feature on the shop from last summer...

Hakata Hot Pot and Sushi Lounge closed here at the end of February 2016. (Hakata Hot Pot combined with sister restaurant Zen 6 the next block to the west at 31 St. Mark's Place.)

Natori closed at this address in November 2012.

Line check at Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan had its soft opening back in December... and the lines immediately started at the Hong Kong-based, Michelin-starred dim sum parlor on Fourth Avenue at 10th Street.

The restaurant, the first in the United States for the brand, had its grand opening on Jan. 18, expanding the hours of operation in the process. So did that do anything to help reduce the crowds...?

No, at least on the weekends.

Here's a look at the line Saturday morning around 10 (they open at 10:30)...

[Photo by Steven]

... and Sunday at 9 a.m. ...

[Photo by EVG reader JG]

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Gutting the former M2M on 3rd Avenue

In case you missed our post from the holiday weekend ... M2M has closed at 55 Third Ave. after 15 years in business here at the corner of 11th Street.

However! The Asian-specialty story will return, eventually occupying some of the long-empty storefronts on Third Avenue and Ninth Street later this year. (For now, M2M is open at their location on Waverly Place.)

As for No. 55, workers are already gutting the space...