EV Grieve

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Saturday's opening shot

Sunrise view from Tompkins Square Park this morning via Vinny & O...

Friday, December 27, 2019

'Lucky' strike

In "Lucky," Dehd delivered one of the catchier indie pop songs of 2019 ... the track is on the Chicago-based trio's excellent LP Water, which was out back in May.

Meet the owner of the 'In the Air Tonight' car that plays the Phil Collins classic on repeat

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

It's very possible that you at least heard the "In the Air Tonight" car on East Village streets this holiday season — you know, the 1985 Mazda Rx-7 GSL with an arena-ready sound system that plays the 1981 Phil Collins mega-hit on repeat.

A mutual neighborhood friend led me to meet the car's owner — Don Garcia, a Bushwick-based plumber. We had questions for Garcia after the car was spotted in the East Village on Dec. 14... the subsequent EVG video clip was viewed nearly 120,000 times on Twitter ...

Saturday night is not over until the ‘In the Air Tonight’ mobile makes a dance stop pic.twitter.com/IB89cJRyVd
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) December 15, 2019

The two men shown in the video were walking by, and spontaneously felt compelled to start dancing along to the song, featuring that epic drum break, now played at sports arenas around the world. (Gothamist has more on this dance story here.)

This holiday season, Garcia initially used the car — and its sound system — for a toy drive at the St Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. He does the Toys for Tots with the Legendary Muscle Cars Auto Club.

Garcia seemed surprised but appreciative of the attention. He answered some questions before letting me do a ride-along in the East Village as he demonstrated the newly wired sound system and lighting. And of course, playing "In the Air Tonight." (For the record, Garcia did not wear any ear plugs, though I did for this trip)...

How long have you been doing this?

I have had this car for seven years, working on it all that time. But as far as the music and lights part, I started [on Dec. 13] — the day before the videos surfaced.

Why this song?

I was playing this song because it’s such a good song to tune the car stereo and speakers to. It’s a song that makes you want to go out and do something you didn’t think you could. It was me and Lito, the guy who wired my car.

We’d been in Williamsburg earlier testing it out, and we were driving through the East Village when these two guys came out of a bar and requested, well demanded, that we put the song up loud, so we did. They jumped in front of the car and started dancing. We opened the doors at the light, pumped up the sound, and there were about 30 or 40 people standing there watching. When the song ended, we drove off.

Do you play any others?

Yes. I like rap, Spanish music, older stuff with no bad language. I like family-friendly stuff.

Any conversations with the NYPD?

No.

Do you play the same song the entire time over and over?

It's a good song and has a clear sound. People will stop and look, especially at night when you can see the lights.

Garcia also said that he never gets tired of the song.

It was interesting to be in the passenger seat as we rolled through the neighborhood with lights flashing and the song pumping. Lot of bass, and, of course, the famous drum solo. People waved, they pointed, danced, smiled and gave us thumbs up. A lot of people whipped out their phones and started filming. I didn’t see anyone react negatively.

Missing mosaics at the former Bean on 2nd Avenue

An EVG reader points out that someone has torn off the mosaic tiles at the now-closed location of the Bean on Second Avenue and Third Street...

Jim Power created the colorful mosaics ahead of the cafe's December 2011 opening. This location as well as the one on First Avenue and Ninth Street suddenly closed on Nov. 25.

The storefront at 54 Second Ave. is currently on the rental market — minus mosaic tiles — with an ask of $135 to $155 per square foot.

Koko Wings debuts on 1st Avenue

Koko Wings, which specializes in Korean fried chicken, is now open at 192 First Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street.

This is Koko's second NYC outpost. The other is on West 106th Street, which got a nice writeup via Westside Rag upon opening in 2014:

The wings are marinated in either soy garlic or hot and spicy sauce, both of which were tasty. You can also order drumsticks or chicken strips in the same marinades. The Kimchi cole slaw had a nice kick, as expected. Other Korean dishes like mandu (dumplings) and pa-jeon (scallion pancakes with seafood) are also on the menu...

This storefront was home for a brief five months to Chelsea Thai, which closed in January — this after 21 years in the Chelsea Market. Chelsea Thai founder-chef Saruj Nimkarn said that there wasn't enough business here to make the rent.

The address was previously the Neptune. The Polish-American diner closed in December 2016 after 15 years in business. According to one source, the rent doubled.

After Neptune's departure, the landlord divided up the restaurant into two retail storefronts. Space 194, a hybrid tea-coffee shop-gallery, is in the other half, but not for long.

As this photo via EVG regular Lola Sáenz shows, there's a for-rent sign now on the front door...

The shop opened last December.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chelsea Thai coming to former Neptune space on 1st Avenue; Filipino fare for Avenue A

Chelsea Thai debuts on 1st Avenue

Chelsea Thai closes after 5 months on 1st Avenue

Thursday, December 26, 2019

MulchFest officially underway with first arrivals in Tompkins Square Park

MulchFest season is now upon us. Starting today, residents may drop off Christmas trees at any MulchFest location through Jan. 11.

EVG MulchFest Senior Editor Steven noted that two trees have already arrived in Tompkins Square Park, perhaps by residents who will be traveling for the remainder of the holidays or need the space for setting up the New Year's buffet.

The trees will gather here until Chipping Saturdays, which take place on Jan. 4 and Jan. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Per the Parks Dept. website:

Bring your tree to a chipping site on Chipping Saturdays to take home a tree-mento! We'll chip your tree and give you your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree.

Previously

Report: Chain stores decrease citywide, though show growth in the 10009 zip code

[The same image we use every year]

The number of chain stores overall in NYC declined by 3.7 percent over last year, marking the largest year-over-year drop in national retail locations since the Center for an Urban Future began their annual analysis more than a decade ago.

However, in the 10009 zip code that covers the East Village, the number increased by four from 27 to 31 in the previous 12 months. (Need to revisit the openings from the past year to see what stores represent this increase.)

Here are some cut-n-paste highlights from the report, which was released last week ... (the full report is here)...

Our 12th annual analysis of national retailer locations in New York shows that the 316 retailers listed in last year’s ranking reduced their total footprint in New York City by 304 store locations, declining from a total of 8,136 stores in 2018 to 7,832 stores in 2019 — a 3.7 percent decrease.

The slowdown is broadly spread among all five boroughs, led by Queens, where the number of chain store locations shrank by 4.9 percent — the sharpest single year decline to date — followed by Brooklyn (-4 percent), the Bronx (-3.8 percent), Manhattan (-3.1 percent), and Staten Island (-2.4 percent). This is the first year in which all five boroughs have registered declines.

Overall, our analysis also finds that more of the city’s chain retailers are shrinking than are growing. In 2019, a total of 114 retailers—36 percent of the 316 national retail companies tracked in our 2019 study—reduced their footprint over the past year. This compares to 76 retailers that registered a net gain in stores over the past year, and 126 retailers whose footprints remain unchanged.

We first observed significant declines in the number of national retail locations over the past two years, with most decreases concentrated among merchandise retailers: chain stores selling clothing, accessories, cosmetics, and other household supplies. Even amid that pullback, our research showed that food retailers continued to grow across the five boroughs through 2018.

But this year we see notable declines among both merchandise retailers and food chains, with broad-based declines among fast food restaurants, pizza shops, juice bars, ice cream and yogurt chains, and bakeries. The difference is that many other national food chains have continued to expand in the city, while that generally has not been the case for merchandise retailers.

...and...

For the 11th consecutive year, Dunkin’ Donuts tops our list as the largest national retailer in New York City, with a total of 636 stores, a net increase of 12 stores since 2018. MetroPCS is still the second-largest national retailer in the city, with 468 stores, despite losing three stores over the past year.

Rounding out the top 10 national retailers in New York are Starbucks (with 351 stores), Duane Reade/Walgreens (317), Subway (287), T-Mobile (245), Baskin-Robbins (217), McDonald’s (203), CVS (170) and 7-Eleven (141). There are 15 retailers with at least 100 stores across the city, down only 1 from last year.

Closer to home, the 10003 zip code, which includes parts of the East Village as well as Union Square and Fifth Avenue, has the third-highest number of chain store locations at 164 (down from 174 last year).

The 10009 zip saw a 15-percent increase from 2018, rising to 31 from 27. Meanwhile, the 10002 zip code, covering the Lower East Side and Chinatown, stayed at 51.

About the decline in chains: "It definitely raises a lot of question about the future of retail," Jonathan Bowles, the executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, told Gothamist/WNYC.

He said taken together, the patterns show that many of the challenges threatening the survival of small independent businesses are now affecting national retailers.

Reminders: Movies are $8 before noon every day at the Village East on 2nd Avenue

Just a reminder about movie prices at the City Cinemas Village East on Second Avenue and 12th Street: Screenings before noon are $8 every day. (Regular ticket price is $15.) In case you want to catch up on a movie during this holiday break...

I went to see "Honey Boy" and "JoJo Rabbit" on recent weekdays before noon. Aside from the price, it's a nice way to enjoy a film without the crowds. There were two other people in my "Honey Boy" screening. "JoJo Rabbit" played to 15-20 people the other morning.