EVG contributor Derek Berg came across this scene today on Astor Place... where workers from the Village Alliance were lubricating the Alamo, an annual event to keep the Cube able to spin on its pedestal.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Lubing the Cube
EVG contributor Derek Berg came across this scene today on Astor Place... where workers from the Village Alliance were lubricating the Alamo, an annual event to keep the Cube able to spin on its pedestal.
2 neighborhood Duane Reade locations are closing this week
After four years in business, the Duane Reade by Walgreens outpost on Avenue D at Houston (officially 310 E. Second St. for some reason) is closing today (Nov. 6) here in the retail space of the Adele residential complex.
In addition, the Duane Reade on First Avenue just north of 14th Street is also shutting down after today. DR relocated here from around the corner on 14th Street in 2013 ... setting up their drug store right next door to a CVS.
[1st Avenue DR via Steven]
In August, Walgreens announced that it was shutting 200 stores nationwide to slash costs by a $1.5 billion.
Some background via CBS:
The Deerfield, Ill.-based company operates over 18,000 stores worldwide, including the Duane Reade pharmacies around New York City. Walgreens acquired the familiar New York pharmacy chain in 2010.
Walgreens also acquired almost 2,000 Rite Aid stores in a $17.2 billion deal last year.
In June Walgreens reported a 24 percent decline in quarterly net income and predicted that annual earnings would be roughly flat with the prior year. Walgreens has been hit by challenges including reimbursement cuts and lower price increases for branded drugs.
According to published reports, there are 91 Duane Reade locations in NYC, down from 253 less than 10 years ago, when people figured a Duane Reade would be the new tenant in any newly vacated retail space.
Around here, you can still find a Duane Reade on Avenue B and Second Street, 10th Street and Third Avenue, Third Avenue and 14th Street, and Union Square.
Thanks to @artisanmatters for the Avenue D tip! And to dwg for the First Avenue scoop!
State pols introduce legislation to ban garbage trucks from parking overnight on city streets, like on 10th Street
[Photo of NY1's Rocco Vertuccio yesterday on 10th Street by Steven]
Elected officials made good on their vow from this past summer to introduce state legislation to ban New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) trucks from parking overnight on city streets.
The legislation by Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick was introduced this past Friday more than 14 months after DSNY vehicles began parking nightly on 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
Despite meetings and direct pleas from residents of 10th Street and local elected officials, the city has yet to take any action to relocate the fleet of garbage trucks. With the city's inaction, officials now are turning to state legislation to get something done.
"For far too long, the Department of Sanitation has used East 10th Street as its personal parking lot, forcing residents to endure rotten smells and extreme noise pollution," Hoylman said in a statement. "This legislation... will finally end this ridiculous practice. We must ban garbage trucks from parking overnight on residential streets so we can protect the quality of life in every corner of our city."
Said Glick: "This disruptive practice has negatively affected local residents and small businesses by taking up valuable parking space, adding to noise pollution, detracting from our community’s quality of life, and introducing vermin and foul odors in front of residences."
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer and City Councilmember Carlina Rivera all chimed in with their support.
As I first reported on Sept. 18, 2018, the DSNY started using this section of 10th Street to park up to seven garbage trucks or other vehicles. The DSNY no longer has use of their garage on 30th Street, and their solution for the foreseeable future has been to relocate their fleet elsewhere, including overnight on residential blocks.
And why park here? The Theater for the New City complex at 155 First Ave. near 10th Street was previously used by DSNY for storage, and they still maintain space in the facility for crews.
City officials had promised to look into this parking practice, but nothing ever happened. In September 2018, shortly after the trucks arrived, Mayor de Blasio promised to "relieve the immediate pressure" on 10th Street. "Do we want garbage trucks parking on residential streets? Of course not," said de Blasio, as CBS 2 reported on Sept. 26, 2018. "What we’re trying to do every day is figure out the kind of facilities that will help avoid that in the future."
"In a city with a limited amount of space, DSNY uses all options at our disposal to care for our fleet. Street parking has been necessary to keep providing essential services to this area while we find a new garage space," Belinda Mager, a DSNY spokesperson, told the Post.
Residents remain cautiously optimistic for the trucks to move on.
"I am really hopeful that this legislation may finally get the garbage trucks off of our residential street in the East Village," 10th Street resident Michelle Lang told me. "It is unfortunate that the only way to get this done is through legislation at the state level, but the de Blasio administration has failed to do anything over the last year. Fingers crossed that this will do the trick!"
Previously on EV Grieve:
Questions and concerns as the sanitation department begins using 10th Street to park garbage trucks
More trash talk about those garbage trucks parked on 10th Street
Local elected officials continue to press city for alternatives to parking garbage trucks on 10th Street; muggings now a concern
A waste of space: 10th Street still waiting for the garbage trucks to move on
Garbage truck parking situation on 10th Street still stinks, residents say
Waste land: Local elected officials tell the city to move the garbage trucks from 10th Street
About face: The Cupcake Market has a new name on 7th Street
The owner of the Cupcake Market on Seventh Street has renamed her shop here between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... the new signage for Funny Face Bakery arrived yesterday, as EVG contributor Derek Berg noted...
The new name coincides with the launch of the bakery's online shop.
Sarah Silverman opened the bakery in April 2016. Given the name Cupcake Market, you'd figure cupcakes would be a big seller. Turns out she was on to something with the hand-painted face cookies of presidential candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump — that she created in the run-up to Election 2016. Those quickly became big sellers.
She soon started creating custom portrait cookies for her customers to celebrate birthdays and other special events... as well as launching a line of intricately designed cookies accurately (and eerily?) depicting various celebrities and movie characters... and hiring a group of artists from Pratt and SVA to help with the design.
So given the popularity of the cookies, the shop decided to re-introduce itself as Funny Face Bakery. And they do still sell cupcakes.
Daily hours are 1:30 to 9 p.m.
First sign of Mokyo, a new Korean restaurant coming to St. Mark's Place
Signage recently arrived for Mokyo at 109 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.
This is a new venture via Kay Hyun, the chef-owner of the popular Korean restaurant Thursday Kitchen on Ninth Street.
Mokyo looks to have a similar small plates menu as its Ninth Street sibling. CB3 OK'd a beer-wine license for the address back in July. At the time, Mokyo's proposed hours were listed as 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily, with a brunch service from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The previous tenant here, the Israeli-Mediterranean restaurant Timna, closed in March after nearly four years in service.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
This book was due on Dec. 10, 1958. Someone just returned it to the Cooper Union Library.
A fun item from the Cooper Union Library's Instagram account.
The above copy of Gestalt Psychology by Dr. Wolfgang Köhler was due back at the Cooper Union Library on Dec. 10, 1958.
Obviously any book that seeks to understand learning, perception and other components of mental life as structured wholes is one that you want to sit with for awhile.
And someone did so — for 61 years.
According to the Instagram post, the patron found it while going through some old books (it wasn't clear if she was the same person who checked it out) ... and she returned it in the mail.
Fortunately, the library wasn't Gestalt-free all these years. The library added a newer edition of the book in 1970.
Remember to vote today!
Polls are open today (Nov. 5!) from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in what promises to be a pretty slow day at the ballot boxes.
As City Limits points out, though: "Those voters who do show up will make important decisions on citywide offices, changes to the city’s governing structure and judicial posts."
Among those offices is public advocate. Letitia James, the previous public advocate, was elected as state attorney general in November 2018. City Councilmember Jumaane Williams won a special election in February, and is seeking to serve out the remainder of James’ term, which ends on Dec. 31, 2021.
Anyway, the office of the public advocate exists to be a watchdog, a check on the mayor. The public advocate is also the first in line to assume the title of mayor if something were to happen to said mayor.
City Limits has a nice voters' guide, which you can find at this link.
Behold your new Avenue A L-train entrances!
As we were first to report back on Sunday evening, the L train's new Avenue A entrances — the Brooklyn-bound side — opened to the public yesterday morning at 9.
But first! There were speeches and what not...
EVG regular Greg Masters, who provided the initial tip about the opening, shared these photos (the MTA noted that the station opened with temporary finishes)...
This work has been two-plus years in the making. According to MTA officials yesterday, the majority of work on the 14th Street sidewalk restoration is expected to be completed more than six months ahead of schedule.
When all the construction is wrapped up, the revamped 14th Street First Avenue station will have four new street entrances — two on either side of 14th Street at Avenue A as well as two new platform-to-street ADA elevators that will be ready next summer. (Find more details on this MTA advisory.)
Still no word on when the the north side (Eighth Avenue bound) entrances will open at Avenue A. Meanwhile, the luxury of having entrances at Avenue A and First Avenue will be short-lived.
According to the L Project Newsletter:
Now that the Avenue A side will be open, the 1st Avenue side will close on Nov. 11 for a few months for structural repairs. We have to make sure it looks as good (and has the structural strength too!) to match the new one. The same thing will also happen for the north side entrances. We'll always have two open at the station.
Now here are additional photos courtesy of East Village Tours...
Bedford & Bowery has a few video clips of the new entrances here.
Meanwhile, the L-train slowdown, which began on April 26, is now expected to be finished within a year — reportedly several months ahead of schedule.
What's going on at Joe's Steam Rice Roll?
[Photo Thursday night at 6:30]
Joe's Steam Rice Roll has not been open during the shop's usual hours here at 36 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue stretching back into last week ... and the gate remained down over the weekend without any notice to potential patrons.
There also isn't any notice of a temporary or permanent closure on the quick-serve restaurant's website or social media properties. The phone is currently out of service. No one has responded to an email query about this location's status.
Joe's debuted back in June, making this the third NYC outpost of the popular quick-serve establishment, which got its start in Flushing. (You can read more about the food at Joe's in this Hungry City column at the Times in January.)
As previously noted, No. 36 has seen a variety of quick-serve concepts come and go in recent years, including Cheers Cut, the Taiwanese mini-chain of fried foods ... Friterie Belgian Fries ... Fasta ("Pasta Your Way") ... and the $1.50 branch of 2 Bros. Pizza.
Previously.
A blast from the burrito past!
For the first time in a long time the gate was open on the southwest corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street yesterday ... bringing into the view the fairly well-preserved storefront of the previous tenant — Benny's Burrito's... the menus are still posted outside the front door...
Benny's closed here on Nov. 29, 2014 after 27 years in business.
The prime corner space has sat empty since then. At least one prospective tenant kicked the tires on the space in 2017. (The Benny's to-go spot next door, which closed in February 2015, is now the 99¢ pizza place called 99¢ Pizza.)
Anyway, no idea why the gate is finally open. The original rental ask for the spot was $22,000.
Mark Merker, who launched Harry's and Benny's Burritos in 1987, attempted a revival with Benny's Burritos & Empanadas at 86 E. Seventh St. in January 2018, but it didn't last.
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