Remembering the Stone

The Stone ended its 13-year residency on Avenue C and Second Street in late February. John Zorn relocated his experimental performance space to the Glass Box Theatre at the New School.

It was time for a change, he has said.

Sasha Frere-Jones talked with Zorn about the Stone for a piece published at Artforum yesterday.

An excerpt:

You know, thirteen years, we had a lot of complaints from artists about the space, about this, about that.

You would think they wouldn't complain.

But there's a variety of things to complain about! You know, I mean, not the best equipment in the world, there was a long time when it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer. We didn't really have a good air conditioner.

Right.

The radiator's clanking, the woman upstairs walks around, sometimes she waters her plants, overwaters it and the water comes dripping down. Someone left their barbecue chicken in the basement for a week and the stupid guy who's volunteering didn't clear it out, and it stinks, or a rat got to it, or someone saw a rat in the basement. Now that we've closed it, of course, it's a very nostalgic place now, now they're not remembering all of that.

It’s people talking about the East Village. “Oh, you should've been here.”

That’s bullshit. You want to relive your days of beatnik glory? Sorry man, it's now, it's today, this is what's happening. Dig it or get the fuck out. I don't live in the past. I'm very happy with the present.

Bubbleology Tea seeking full liquor license for the former International space on 1st Avenue

There was a rumor a few weeks ago that a bubble tea shop was moving into the former International Bar space at 120 1/2 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Looks like that might actually be happening. Applicants for Bubbleology Tea (a London-based chain) are applying for a full liquor license for the address, according to the questionnaire (PDF here) on file ahead of this month's CB3-SLA committee meeting on April 16

The proposed hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (9 p.m. for the rear yard) Sunday through Thursday; until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The specs call for seven tables serving 30 people, per the paperwork.

Aside from a variety of (boozy) bubble teas, Bubbleology Tea will have a menu featuring a "variety of authentic Sweet & Savoury Toasted English crumpets, as well as assorted snacks."

Principal Ben (Haiying) Li has has been a partner in a Gong Cha bubble tea franchise out on Long Island since 2016, according to the SLA application.

The CB3-SLA meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on April 16 in the Public Hotel, 17th Floor, Sophia Room, 215 Chrystie St. between Houston and Stanton.

The latest iteration of the International Bar closed this past Thanksgiving. (Non-renewal of lease, via landlord Steve Croman.) The bar merged with its sister saloon, the Coal Yard, one block to the south between Seventh Street and Sixth Street.

Coney Island Baby opens on April 26 with Murphy's Law

As noted back on March 8, Coney Island Baby is the name of the bar-music venue taking over the former HiFi space on Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street.

Since then, Coney Island Baby's Instagram account has shared more details on upcoming acts, including its opening night — April 26 with Murphy's Law...

Opening night of @coneyislandbabynyc ! April 26th with @murphyslawnyc. Tix available now: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/opening-night-event-with-murphys-coney-island-baby-tickets/8279015?pl=coney

A post shared by Coney Island Baby NYC (@coneyislandbabynyc) on Apr 1, 2018 at 5:08am PDT

Other upcoming shows for the 200-capacity space include Alejandro Escovedo on May 2 (sold out) and Bash & Pop with Johnny & The Bootlegs and the Liza Colby Sound on May 10, per the Coney Island website.

Brooklyn Vegan says the "the venue is from the folks who run Bowery Electric, Niagara and Velvet Elk Records."

HiFi, which also hosted the occasional book readings, comedy shows and acoustic bands, closed last October after 15 years at the address. The space was previously Brownies, the live music venue, from 1989-2002.

Monday's parting shot

At the former Subway (sandwich shop) on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... previously.

HAWK FIGHT

There was plenty of red-tailed hawk drama in Tompkins Square Park today.

Here's a brief narrative, pieced together from several eyewitness accounts. (The first batch of photos are by Steven.)

Hawk watchers spotted who they presumed to be Christo in the nest that he has been fortifying for Dora. However, it turned out to be an intruder, another red-tailed hawk who was unfamiliar to the Park regulars. (The other hawk wasn't Barucha/Nora/Not-Dora.)

That's when the fight started. One eyewitness said that the intruding hawk was the aggressor...





By all accounts, Dora, on top in the above photos, kicked the intruder's ass (paraphrasing). The intruder fled. Red-tailed hawks are very territorial, and the sight of an intruder in her nest, where there may be eggs, likely angered Dora.

After the skirmish, Dora struggled to take off ... Ranger Rob (aka Rob Mastrianni, a Manhattan Ranger supervisor and East Village resident) was eventually summoned to the Park. He thought that Dora would be fine, especially as she started to fly.



She eventually made it into a tree, where Christo brought her a rat...



... and later in the day, Dora appeared to be doing OK...



And a few other photos of Dora today ... via Ryan John Lee...





... and from Garrett Rosso...



H/T Emma Haddad!

'Heeere's Kubrick' at the City Cinemas Village East

On Wednesday evenings in April, City Cinemas Village East is celebrating the work of director Stanley Kubrick starting this week with "Dr. Strangelove."



The theater is on Second Avenue at 12th Street. Find more details here. The films start at 7:30 p.m.

And upcoming...

False alarm of the day

[Random fake rubber finger photo]

Patch has the report:

Officers responded to a report of a bag of human remains near East 23rd Street and Avenue C at about 12:40 p.m. on Monday, an NYPD spokesman said. The bag turned out to contain fake rubber fingers, and not actual human remains, he said.

What you are missing if you went away on Spring Break this week

Suckers!

Tompkins Square Park this morning.

RIP Gino DiGirolamo

[Photo of Gino in 2014 by Michael Paul]

Gino DiGirolamo, who ran a tailoring business in the neighborhood for 50-plus years, died this past Friday. He was 82. He suffered a heart attack several weeks ago, and never recovered.

Friends and customers had been leaving get-well wishes on cards on the gate at Royal Tailor Shop on 11th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...




[Photo Friday by Vinny & O]

He was born Gioacchino di Girolamo in Palermo, Sicily. After active duty in the military, he worked for two years as a tailor in Palermo before deciding to move to the United States in the early 1960s.

He worked as a tailor on Avenue A near 12th Street (in space that is now part of Boris & Horton). He bought the shop for $1,000 in 1963 when the owner decided to return to Italy.

Gino moved to 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B in late 2006. A rent increase there almost caused him to retire. However, with the help of an East Village resident, he was able to find the 11th Street space where he had been since 2014.

Gino was known for keeping long — and often unusual — hours, working overnight, barely visible behind a mound of clothes, before calling it a day around 11 a.m.


[Photo from 2009]

Here's part of a post that Jeremiah Moss wrote about Gino in 2008:

He wears a measuring tape around his neck. He has two televisions sitting one on top of the other. His walls are covered with pictures of the Italian soccer team, boxer Rocky Marciano, and a poster showing popular lengths of sleeves and trouser legs.

A gray-haired woman sits with him. While customers are present, she is silent. But after the customer leaves the shop, she gets up and berates Gino, telling him what he’s doing wrong and asking why can’t he do things the way she says. The tailor just smiles.

You can read more on Gino in these features from years past at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York ... Town & Village ... and the Local EV.

And there is a series of videos with Gino from 2007 on YouTube... including this one...



Gino lived in Ozone Park, Queens with his wife Adriana, a schoolteacher, who died in October 2013. Their son Vito was a familiar presence in the shop.

Updated:

A longtime customer launched a crowdfunding campaign "to raise funds to honor Gino with a donation in his name or potentially a plaque or marker in the neighborhood." Find details here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 50 years in business, Gino DiGirolamo is closing the Royal Tailor shop

Report: Rent hike forced Gino to retire and close his Royal Tailor shop

Gino's short-lived retirement

Mary Pupillo - 'A true relic of the East Village'

Report: 2nd Avenue gas explosion trial to start in September

Three years after a gas explosion killed two men and leveled three buildings on Second Avenue at Seventh Street, the case will finally go to trial on Sept. 24, according to The Villager.

Per the paper: "Ahead of the projected trial date, both parties will suggest questions for jury selection on June 25, the judge on the case, Kirke Bartley said on Friday."

As previously reported in February 2016, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's office charged landlord Maria Hrynenko, her son, Michael Jr. Hrynenko (now deceased), along with contractor Dilber Kukic and plumber Jerry Ioannidis with manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide and assault in the second degree, among other charges.

The final defendant, licensed plumber Andrew Trombettas, was charged with offering a false instrument​,​ for allegedly lending his name and license number to paperwork.

The five were accused of installing an illegal gas system, which they hid from inspectors, at 119 and 121 Second Ave. All five pleaded not guilty in 2016.

In February, Nexus Building Development Group filed plans to build a high-end condo at 119 Second Ave. Nexus paid $9.15 million for the empty lots at No. 119 and 121 between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Public records show that Maria Hrynenko's companies — MAH Realty and Kiev Realty — were the sellers.