Week in Grieview

[Early morning along St. Mark's Place]

Posts from this past week included...

CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development (Wednesday)

Dutch consultant files independent report on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (Friday)

Reports: Chinatown murders bring renewed attention to the city’s street homeless (Monday)

Blessing the pets at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (Monday)

Preliminary thoughts and concerns about the new Tompkins Square Park playground (Tuesday)

"Backstage On Stage" — What a Blue Man Group classroom setting looks like (Friday)

Gov. Cuomo approves bill to create public liquor license database (Monday)

St. Mark's Market closes (Monday)

A memorial for Lucien Bahaj (Thursday)

This week's NY See (Thursday)

Cloud99 Vapes space for rent, business set to close (Thursday)

Ruby's Café debuts on 11th Street (Monday)

A tribute to the construction worker who died at 356 E. 8th St. (Wednesday)

"Joker" weekend (Sunday)

Vanessa's Dumpling House temporarily closed for "modernization" on 14th Street (Monday)

Aoi Kitchen coming soon to 6th Street (Tuesday)

Year-long renovations expected soon at Joseph C. Sauer Park on 12th Street; locals want fence to remain at 8 feet (Tuesday)

Who painted Laura Palmer? "Twin Peaks" art coming to the Living Gallery Outpost (Tuesday)

Brooklyn's Nostro Ristorante setting up an outpost on 2nd Avenue (Thursday)

Punto Rojo is for sale on 1st Avenue (Thursday)

Bank of America checking into corner space on Houston and Eldridge (Wednesday)

Sweetgreen status check on the Bowery (Monday)

August Laura and all the new bars and restaurants coming to this stretch of 6th Street (Wednesday)

Here's the all-new storefront at 131 1st Ave. (Tuesday)

The China Star is now Baji Baji on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

Snapshot of the former International Center of Photography space on the Bowery (Monday)

Report: Tenant leasing alleged sex-party house on 7th Street is leading a "double or triple life" (Monday)

... and from Friday, EVG reader Laura notes the NYPD respecting the bike lane on 12th Street at Fourth Avenue. At least three cyclists had to ask him to move...



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When a stranger calls

Hawk watchers in Tompkins Square Park yesterday spotted this juvenile red-tailed hawk hanging out (it is fall migration time) ... dining on some local cuisine...



According to EVG correspondent Steven, this arrival didn't sit well with Amelia and Christo, the Park's resident hawks. They circled the youngster and, at one point, one of the adult hawks rammed the juvenile before escorting it away from the Park.

Later in the day, Amelia and Christo took in the views from atop St. Brigid's on Avenue B and Eighth Street...

'Fall Into Love' at Middle Collegiate Church's street fair on 2nd Avenue

Tomorrow (Oct. 12!) Middle Collegiate Church hosts the Second Avenue Street Fair: "Fall Into Love."

Here's what you can expect between Noon and 5 p.m. along the Avenue (from Sixth Street to 14th Street):

Children and families can enjoy fall-themed activities like pumpkin painting, art projects, a bounce house, tie-dye t-shirt making, and a bubble station, in addition to local vendors. The Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir, the Village Chorus for Children and Youth and other local artists will be offering entertainment in front of Middle Collegiate Church.

The Second Avenue Street Fair was started in the 1980s as a way to raise money for the "Celebrate Life Meal," the free meal the church offered to those living with HIV/AIDS. The meal continues today in partnership with The Momentum Project. Proceeds from the Second Avenue Street Fair benefit the pride ministries of Middle Collegiate Church.

Put this in 'Heavy Heavy' rotation

Here's "Heavy Heavy," a track from the local indie rock quartet Pom Pom Squad ... something from their "Ow" EP that's out now.

You can see them with Miss June Monday night out at Rough Trade.

[Updated] Signage for Lions & Tigers & Squares arrives on 2nd Avenue

It's signage day for the new outpost of Lions & Tigers & Squares, the Detroit-style pizza shop from the owners of Artichoke opening later this year on Second Avenue at 10th Street.

Our previous post has all the details.

Nicoletta closed last December at this address after six-plus years in business. They are still delivering pizzas from an undisclosed location.

Thanks to William Klayer for the photo!

Updated 8 p.m.

It appears they are in soft-open mode... photos via Steven...





Previously on EV Grieve:
Detroit slice city: Artichoke bringing an outpost of Lions & Tigers & Squares to 2nd Avenue

'Backstage On Stage' — What a Blue Man Group classroom setting looks like

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

Last Friday, the Blue Man Group launched a new ongoing educational program at the Astor Place Theatre called "Backstage On Stage."



On this day, the theater hosted 125 kids from the PS 142 After 3 Arts Program on the Lower East Side.

Blue Man officials say that this matinee program aims to give kids an in-depth look at the theatrical world and introduces them to opportunities both on and off the stage. This program will be STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) focused.

There's a 30-minute session where students get a behind-the-scenes look at the mechanics of a show as well as a Blue Man history lesson. (The global entertainment empire got its start in the East Village/LES, performing at LaMama, PS 122 and Dixon Place in the late 1980s.) A Blue Man Group performance follows this session.

I stopped by for the inaugural "Backstage On Stage" session and found a lot of happy kids, who especially enjoyed experiencing the messier aspects of the show and seeing their teachers "volunteer" to take the stage ... not to mention those Blue Men, who've been performing here in the 287-seat theater since Nov. 17, 1991.

Holidays at Kmart; pint of beer Halloween costumes, plastic Bennington pines

We have a dispatch from Goggla from the Kmart on Astor Place. She points out the (going fast?) beer pint Halloween costumes.

Fine, but Halloween seems so July.

"If you're over Halloween already, they are stocked with Christmas trees."

These are 6-foot Bennington pines in the boxes...



Merry Christmas!

EVG Etc.: 14th Street busway declared a success; old-world charm found at Dua Kafe

[A scene in Tompkins Square Park via Derek Berg]

• The NYPD is struggling to identify one of the four homeless men who was brutally killed in Chinatown on Saturday (The New York Times)

• Why is the Council bill on commercial Leases in limbo as the commercial vacancy problem worsens? (City Limits)

• Mayor de Blasio, with support from local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera, is said to be "pushing for a plan that would restrict hotel development in the Union Square area to only projects that hire unionized staffs — a move that critics say will benefit a politically powerful labor group at the expense of the local economy." (The Post)

• Check out this new exhibit — "Activist Estates: A Radical History of Property in Loisaida" — at the Loisaida Center on Ninth Street (Off the Grid)

• Those Yoshitomo Nara drawings on the wall at Niagara on Avenue A and Seventh Street may be worth a lot of money: Nara’s "Knife Behind Back" (2000), a large painting of the same frowning little girl present at Niagara, sold for nearly $25 million at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong (artnet news)

• NYC Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg touts the initial success of the 14th Street busway (Streetsblog ... previously on EVG)

• Details on the queer-run, pop-up bar called Butch Judy’s out back at Performance Space New York on First Avenue and Ninth Street (TONY)

• Dua Kafe on East 14th Street between A and B has become a destination for traditional Albanian cooking (Grub Street ... previously on EVG)

• Supreme signs lease for 190 Bowery (Commercial Observer) ... and the Supreme shop on Lafayette is no more (BoweryBoogie)

• Details about a free bird walk to track fall migration tomorrow — Oct. 12 (The Lo-Down) And how about some red-tailed hawk activity (Laura Goggin Photography)

• That NYC '81 film series continues (Metrograph)

And to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Meg on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue is donating part of the sales from their "Tough Titties" sweatshirts to Planned Parenthood of NYC Action ...


[Meg photos by Steven]

Dutch consultant files report on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project

[The Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resiliency]

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera announced the publication yesterday of the final report by independent consultant Hans Gehrels of the Dutch environmental group Deltares. The two hired Gehrels for a review of the $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) last month.

Among the findings in the report:

• The need for improving transparency and stakeholder engagement
• Ongoing monitoring for air quality impacts to be made available publicly
• Release of City documents that provide evidence for the analysis underlying the Final Environmental Impact Statement
• Further investigation of Interim Flood Protection Measures during the construction period
• Phased construction for continued use of of portions of the park with additional open space mitigation
• Additional clean fill for future flood protection against sea level rise

For your weekend reading, you can find the full 68-page report at this link.

Stay tuned for more thoughts and analysis as people dig into the report.

Meanwhile...

"We heard the requests of the community for an independent review loud and clear, and we listened," Brewer said in a statement. "Deltares brought their vast experience and expertise to the analysis of this project, and I implore the de Blasio administration to take these suggestions into account before any construction begins."

And per Rivera: "I look forward to carefully reviewing this report and the recommendations from Deltares and hope the de Blasio administration will do the same as they work to address our other outstanding demands."

On Oct. 2, the de Blasio administration announced more changes to the city's stormproofing plans for East River Park. Instead of the entire Park shutting down for three-plus years starting in March, the flood protection construction will be done in phases, with all of East River Park remaining open until next fall.

The plan still faces a City Council vote as the land use review process winds down.

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's comic series — an observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood as well as NYC and surrounding area.