Photos by Bobby Williams...
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Another Death Star
Spotted on Second Street at Second Avenue... Corporate Death Star by @crispstreetart ... there's a painted version outside Julie's Vintage on Second Street at First Street...
No word if there is a flaw in the super laser reactor of these Death Stars.
Paving the way on Avenue A
[Reader photo from last night]
After the milling action last week, crews returned last night to put down the new roadway on Avenue A...
Workers made it down to Sixth Street...
The new flyers taped up over the old flyers show that work will continue this evening...
And a look at how the freshly paved St. Mark's Place blends in with the freshly paved Avenue A...
Angelica Kitchen closes tomorrow; memorabilia sale this weekend
[Photos by Daniel]
As you may know, Angelica Kitchen closes out 40-plus years in business tomorrow.
Owner Leslie McEachern said that "making the numbers work week in and week out is just not viable for us anymore."
Since the announcement broke on March 24, the restaurant at 300 E. 12th St. near Second Avenue has been full of well-wishers turning out for a last of Angelica's vegetarian cuisine.
Eater's Robert Sietsema paid a final visit.
In addition to real estate woes — and the refusal to take any kind of plastic as payment — Angelica Kitchen’s problem may have been the food. It tended to be heavy and gluey and bland, true to the cuisine it came from. Yet that sort of vegetarian cooking can still excite reverence and nostalgia. I, for one, will be sad to see this vestige of the old East Village vanish.
And at The New Yorker, Jay Sacher, a former Angelica's employee, pens an essay under the headline "The East Village Loses Another Place for the Young, Hungry, and Weird." He writes about delivering food to Joey Ramone and recalls other celebrity encounters at the restaurant.
But, really, it’s the non-famous folks I remember most: Spencer, always walking into work with a purple plastic Kim’s Video bag in one hand, stuffed full of records—a man of obscure and eclectic musical tastes who was prone to saying things like, “The only good Beatles song is ‘Norwegian Wood.’"
And...
The East Village has been a walking graveyard for years now, sputtering along as a cover-band version of itself. For me, the loss of Angelica marks its true and complete ending. I know, of course, that such things are relative, and other New Yorks will exist for other younger waves of the young, hungry, and weird, but it does nothing to soften my lament for the passing of this one.
This weekend, the restaurant is hosting a memorabilia sale... selling off "chopsticks to food processors to sculpture."
The sale is 2-8 p.m. on Saturday... and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday...
Meanwhile, a group calling themselves Friends of Angelica Kitchen have launched a crowdfunding campaign to help pay off remaining expenses.
The restaurant started out on St. Mark's Place in 1976. It moved to 12th Street in 1987.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Angelica Kitchen closing on April 7; friends raising money to pay off expenses (61 comments)
Angelica Kitchen is latest East Village restaurant in danger of closing (35 comments)
More about Angelica Kitchen's uncertain future
Out and About in the East Village with Leslie McEachern
Bringing 'the beauty of Japanese Tea Ceremony' to 7th Street
Coming soon signage has arrived over at 74 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
As we understand it, the storefront will be a shop run by the owners of Tea-Whisk, whose aim "is to introduce the beauty of Japanese Tea Ceremony in NY."
The owners have hosted tea ceremonies at events around the city. This is their first shop. You can find the Tea-Whisk website here. Tea ceremonies date back 400 years in Japan. This article in the Voice looks at the art of tea ceremonies, and features the owner of Tea-Whisk, Souheki Mori, who runs the business with her husband.
The address here has been vacant for a few years... it was previously home to David Shoe Repair for 35 years.
Equipment watch: 253 E. 7th St.
A reader noted that a davey drill and other equipment recently arrived at 253 E. Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... where a 6-story residential building featuring six residences (each condo roughly 1,500 square feet) will rise.
This replaces a four-story residence that stood here until late 2015.
And on the other side of Seventh Street... we haven't heard much about No. 264 (the one on the left), the circa-1843 townhouse awaiting possible demolition... there's a "no trespassing" sign on the door...
In November, The New York Times reported:
Barbara Sloan, the operations manager at Manhattan Renovations, a general contractor representing GlobalServ, said the owner was planning an information session for neighbors “to discuss details surrounding potential asbestos abatement and demolition.”
As far as we know, such a meeting hasn't taken place to date.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Sunset wow
An EVG reader shared this from East Houston and Avenue A... #NoFilter
Updated:
Another view via Bobby Williams...
Back to the future
Zoltar had been partially covered with a trash bag outside Gem Spa the past few days. The front pane of glass in his house of birch-veneer fortune telling fell back and knocked his head wrap off to the side.
Anyway, EVG regular Lola Sáenz notes that a coin-operated, fix-it machine team has repaired Zoltar's home of nearly five years here on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place...
To a wealth of wisdom.
EV Grieve Etc.: Con Ed worker rescues man on the L tracks; NYU student eyes Mendez's Council seat
[The latest cycle of Centre-fuge on 1st Street]
Con Ed employee rescues man moments before L train arrives at Third Avenue station (DNAinfo)
NYU senior wants a shot at succeeding Rosie Mendez on City Council (New York Post)
Nephew of model Tyson Beckford was found guilty of manslaughter and other charges in the death of an MTA bus driver (Daily News)
Neighbors petition Ian Schrager to shut off those lights at the incoming Public Hotel on Chrystie Street (The Lo-Down)
Owners of The Tang on First Avenue opening an outpost on the Bowery (BoweryBoogie)
The Lower East Side smells (The New Yorker)
Hot-dog purveyor Feltman's will reopen on the site of its former home in Coney Island. East Village location at Theater 80 on St. Mark's Place will stay put (Gothamist ... previously)
A few days remain to see the Tony Conrad documentary (Anthology Film Archives)
After sitting empty in Soho for three years, the former Milady’s space has a new tenant (Eater ... previously)
Con Ed sues Extell over mess at One Manhattan Square (The Real Deal)
...and the new Mick Rock documentary starts Friday down at the Metrograph on Ludlow Street...
[Updating] Reader report: Bike-truck collision on 1st Avenue at 9th Street
[Reader-submitted photo]
Several readers passed along reports of a collision between the truck in the above photo and a cyclist at the west side of First Avenue at Ninth Street earlier this morning.
In an email sent at 7:50 a.m., a reader said: "I was told rider was under truck .. and taken to hospital."
There isn't any other information available at the moment about the condition of the cyclist and who may have been at fault in the collision.
As of 8:30., the intersection remained taped off while investigators were on their way to the scene, according to witnesses.
[Photo via OlympiasEpiriot]
We'll update if/when more information becomes available.
Updated 11:30 a.m.
According to DNAinfo, the cyclist, whose name has not been released, is a 31-year-old woman. She was riding in the northbound bike lane when the truck reportedly struck her.
She suffered severe head trauma and was treated at Bellevue Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition, police said.
The truck driver remained at the scene and wasn't immediately arrested, police said.
Updated noon:
Per Streetsblog, "the available information suggests the truck driver failed to yield to the cyclist."
First Avenue has a parking-protected bike lane, but at most intersections, cyclists and turning motorists proceed during the same signal phase through “mixing zones.”
Turning drivers are supposed to yield to cyclists at the mixing zone, but the treatment is not as safe as intersections where cyclists and turning drivers have separate signal phases. These “split-phase” signals have a demonstrably better safety record than mixing zones.
Bikers pls be careful out there. Devastating reminder in EV on 9th + 1st @evgrieve @EastVillageBuzz pic.twitter.com/ON6TOjthSH
— Kristi Adams (@KristiAdamsNYC) April 5, 2017
Updated 4/12
A friend of the victim told us on Sunday that doctors were optimistic about her chances for recovery.
Unfortunately, there were complications. DNAinfo now reports that Kelly Hurley was taken off life support yesterday.
Per DNAinfo: "Investigators were still reviewing video, the spokesman added, and the driver could still be charged."
Last evening around 6, a group of 12-15 cyclists left flowers at the scene of the collision.
[Photo by Lola Sáenz]
I reached out to a family member... and will update when more information is available.
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