Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk...
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Today at the Tompkins Square Park Greenmarket
Today's vendors, who are putting in place social distancing with their sales:
• Bread Alone Bakery
• Pura Vida Fisheries
• Fledging Crow Vegetables
• Meredith's Bread
• Stone & Thistle Farm
• Back to the Future Farm
• Norwich Meadows Farm
Information taken from the GrowNYC Instagram account.
And here's a photo via EVG reader Daniel from last Sunday showing the social distancing in place...
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Meanwhile, on 3rd Street
From Third Street, a very pointed COVID-19 Urban Etiquette Sign ...
To the asshole
who keeps leaving
dirty gloves outside
my window
Suck my whole dick!
Thanks to Mark White for the photo!
Bus stop
From just before 3 p.m. ... EVG regular Lola Saénz shares these from First Avenue and 12th Street...
Apparently this passenger claimed that someone on the M15 stole her headphones, and she won't move until the police arrive to help sort it out...
More about the layoffs at B Bar & Grill
[EVG file photo]
As we reported back on April 3, nearly 70 employees of the B Bar & Grill on the Bowery at Fourth Street were laid off in late March without any extension of benefits or offer of severance pay.
One of the now-unemployed B Bar staffers shared the letter sent to employees and signed by owner Eric Goode ...
[Click to go big]
As one former employee said:
Eric Goode responded to employee pleas for two weeks paid leave with very little - some directions about how to apply for unemployment and a "yours truly" sign off. This termination without pay was sudden and decisive, leaving many of the staff left with nothing to feed their families. Many of these staff members have worked at 20-plus years. Mr. Goode is currently living on his multimillion-dollar ranch in California.
Goode has enjoyed positive press in recent weeks for his role as the co-director and co-writer (along with Rebecca Chaiklin) of "Tiger King," the hit docuseries that recently debuted on Netflix.
BuzzFeed News talked with several former employees in a piece published earlier in the week titled "Their Wealthy Boss Was The Director Of 'Tiger King.' They Got Laid Off And Can’t Pay Their Bills."
[F]our staff members at the restaurant told BuzzFeed News that unlike other wealthy hospitality leaders who have donated salaries and worked to fundraise for those suddenly out of work, they have heard nothing from Goode as he enjoys Hollywood attention. Goode, they say, has the wealth and cultural influence to help them at a time when they need it most.
“They have families, they have children, they have mortgages to pay, and they spent a lot of their life working for B Bar,” said Luis Lugo, a former floor manager. “You’re the director of Tiger King and you own the Jane Hotel and you’re not a small mom-and-pop shop that’s struggling. You’re someone that has the financial resources to make a difference.”
And...
“It strikes me as unjust that I worked a long time for him and didn’t get anything in return,” said Eloy Aguilar, who worked for 25 years at B Bar as a line cook. “We need economic help, not just for me but also my other colleagues.”
There is a staff-driven GoFundMe campaign here.
As reported last fall, CB Developers paid $59.5 million for a stake in 358 Bowery — the B Bar & Grill's home since 1994. Goode, who owns a handful of hotels including the Bowery Hotel, has been assembling air rights to build a larger project on this corner space. B Bar was expected to close for good in August, per the former employee.
Previously on EV Grieve:
CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development
B Bar & Grill lays off its staff without severance
A football-sized cocktail to go option on 3rd Avenue
As seen outside Bar None on Third Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street... $20 for a to-go cocktail served in a football-sized container with an easy-sipping option... keep the container, and a refill is $15 ...
A free lunch for Engine Company 28, Ladder 11 on 2nd Street yesterday
In recent weeks, San Loco has created grab-n-go burrito grande meal packages for people interested in ordering food for local first responders, hospital staff or nursing home/senior center employees. (Details at this post.)
Yesterday, two local residents bought lunch for the 11 firefighters on duty for the afternoon shift at Engine Company 28, Ladder 11 on Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.
EVG contributor snapped this photo of San Loco co-owner Kimo Hing with Frank, Luke and Tom from the FDNY...
San Loco's Avenue C location is currently closed, but the outpost at 111 Stanton St. is open for takeout and delivery.
Previously on EV Grieve:
San Loco's special delivery to 2 local hospitals
Instagram follow of the day
The Instagram account for the East Village Independent Merchants Association — @evimanyc — has been providing updates on local businesses that remain open... or ones that could use some support via online sales.
C&B is selling its tables and chairs — to make room for a larger oven
[Image via Instagram]
Chef-owner Ali Sahin is selling off the tables and chairs in the back of C&B Cafe at 178 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. (Details below!)
When restaurants are able to reopen for dine-in service following the COVID-19 crisis, C&B will remain a take-out only spot. However nice it was to sit back there and listen to the cafe's turntable playing some classic jazz, R&B or disco... Sahin has plans for that space.
His bread-making has gotten quite popular, and he is in the process of buying a larger oven with the help of a crowdfunding campaign.
As he noted in the campaign pitch:
I always made homemade bread for the cafe, but since the virus hit I’ve been making 30 loaves a day myself to keep the cafe afloat. What I came to realize is that the cafe needs to adapt in order to survive. I want to bring a bread oven in the back so that I can transform the cafe into a bakery and keep the essential supplies coming for the community, while keeping my own people on their feet.
Here's more from an Instagram post this morning:
It is a strange feeling getting rid of these things that gave more comfort to me the last 5 years than any bed or couch I lay down since I left my parents’ home.
Now I need to make some room for the oven as well as some cosmetic upgrades to the back room. So most of our furniture, and tableware are for sale now. Tables are $50 chairs are $30 each. Plates and bowls are $5. If you really need something like this but can’t afford it I will give you a pair for free.
Sahin has been putting in 80-hour weeks — mostly by himself — to keep C&B afloat during this crisis. He continues to pay his staff, whom he didn't want to put in harm's way by coming to work. One C&B employee did volunteer to return to work. The other C&B staffers continue to get paid.
Meanwhile, Sahin's bank informed him this week that there weren't any funds left for his small business in the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program. Eater yesterday reported on some of the NYC "small" businesses who did receive the loans, including $10 million for Shake Shack and Potbelly. [UPDATED 4/20: Shake Shack is returning the $10 million.]
oh, just a $1.6 billion dollar burger chain getting $10 million in government-loans, and which smaller independent venues got shut out from b/c there isn't any more money left in the program.
— ryan sutton (@qualityrye) April 17, 2020
no big deal. https://t.co/sZMrv4Dz0c (by @TanayWarerkar)
C&B is open Saturday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Iggy said knock you out
Because we need a little Iggy Pop right now (or at least I do). Here's "Knocking 'Em Down (In the City)" from the 1980 Solider release, his fourth studio album.
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