Be B&H Dairy famous for ALL of 2022

Today (Friday) at 3 p.m., B&H Dairy is shooting their annual friends-and-family photo for the lunch counter's 2022 calendar. (Gabi Porter is shooting today's calendar cover.) 

This tradition started in 2017 here at the 83-year-old B&H. 

If you're worried about the weather ... the skies are expected to clear early this afternoon, per the exclusive EVG forecast. 

B&H is at 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. (B&H also has some nice t-shirts and hats for the upcoming gift-giving season.)

Friday's opening shot

This morning on Avenue A ... photo by Derek Berg. 

Speaking of downpours, according to the National Weather Service, light rain is expected through the early afternoon ... at which time clearing skies are in the forecast. 

Meanwhile, not to alarm you, but in the all-cap style of the NWS: "...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING..." 

So if you are on Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, Peconic and Gardiners Bays, and South Shore Bays from Jones Inlet through Shinnecock Bay, you can expect south winds 15 to 25 kt with gusts up to 30 kt and seas 2 to 4 feet. There may be a few occasional gusts to 35 kt today.

Please plan your maritime activities accordingly. 

Thursday's parting shot

We're not into the paparazzi scene here (or anywhere!) ... however, we do like Laura Dern and appreciate her body of work ("Blue Velvet," "Rambling Rose," "Wild at Heart," "Inland Empire," etc.) Seen on Avenue A at Third Street today by Derek Berg.

City removes tent encampment from 7th Street outside Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy

Starting late yesterday morning, another agencywide city sweep took place on Seventh Street between Avenue A and Avenue B along Tompkins Square Park. 

This time, however, instead of allowing the dozen or so residents of the makeshift tent encampments to pack up their possessions and move along (and only to return to the same spots a few hours later), city workers either confiscated or discarded their belongings. 

A posted Department of Homeless Services flyer stated that a clean-up of this area would start on or after Nov. 9. As EVG contributor Stacie Joy documented in this post, a similar sweep took place this past Friday, though the people who were sheltering here returned after city workers left.

This particular action only targeted people who have been staying along Seventh Street in recent months. Authorities did not address the encampments inside Tompkins Square Park.

The sweep started at 11 a.m. with officers from the NYPD, Parks Enforcement Patrol and the Business District Recovery Initiative detail. They struck down tents of anyone not on-site to protect their belongings. 

We're told that there were several confrontations at the outset of the sweep. (Stacie didn't arrive at the scene until after this.) One resident of the encampment was arrested and placed in an ambulance.

In addition, police arrested a mutual aid worker for "obstructing governmental administration Class A misdemeanor" for standing with/protecting a resident's tent. This individual was arrested at around 1 p.m. after exchanging words with the NYPD and released with a desk appearance ticket at around 7:30 p.m. 

During the afternoon, the assembled officers bagged the belongings from the tents. 

Some property was bagged and tagged, likely being stored at the NYPD's Erie Basin evidence warehouse in Red Hook, where the owners will need clearance from a judge plus ID to reclaim. 

Most items, however, were just thrown in the trash. The items were bagged and tossed directly into a waiting sanitation truck. In one case, an entire tent with its belongings was rolled up and discarded...

Lt. Jermaine Oden of the 9th Precinct oversaw yesterday's sweep. He told Stacie that "due to the pandemic, items were contaminated and not able to be saved." They "had to be destroyed." 

The corridor along the Park on Seventh Street was clear by late afternoon...

Afterward, Stacie saw one of the officers crying. "I felt bad for him. I do not think anyone was unaffected by this."

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Documenting the city's 'clean-up' along Tompkins Square Park on 7th Street 

Italian specialty shop Via Della Scrofa debuts on 4th Street

Via Della Scrofa, the new Italian food market via Giovanni Bartocci, is now open at 60 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. (Thanks for all the reader tips about this debut!)

We haven't stopped by just yet. According to the shop's Instagram account: "You can find everything from Tombola to Chinotto and much more!" Via Della Scrofa is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Bartocci will also be reopening Via Della Pace in its new space down the block at 87 E. Fourth St. in the weeks ahead. Our previous posts — here and here — have more details. 

Ahimsa Garden is leaving the East Village

Ahimsa Garden is leaving the East Village for Midtown East. 

Signs up at the Indian restaurant that serves vegetarian food at 265 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue shows an upcoming move to East 38th Street. Per the sign: "Thank you for all your support. We are blessed with such an awesome community."

AG, an offshoot of the Thompson Street location at the time, opened here in August 2017.

Thanks to the EVG reader who shared this photo!

A look at Tiger Lily Kitchen, opening soon on 3rd Avenue

The space looks to be shaping up for Tiger Lily Kitchen (TLK), opening soon at 58 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street.

Hospitality veteran Michelle Morgan opened Tiger Lily late last year as a takeout and delivery operation at 293 Third Ave. in Gramercy Park. This larger space allows for her to offer indoor dining.

Here's more about TLK via the restaurant's website:

Our founder, Michelle, realized her dream of starting her own project during the hospitality industry shift in 2020. She took this time to reconnect to her roots and what blossomed was a mixture of her mother's Hong Kong-style cooking and the familiar food of her childhood. With these inspirations she built the TLK menu, including food that is not only comforting but healthy, nourishing, and accommodating to allergies, intolerances, and dietary choices.

You can check out the TLK menu here... and visit the TLK Instagram here. 

This space was previously home to the Boilery, part of a chainlet with multiple outposts in the city that closed sometime late last year.

H/T Steven!

Wednesday's parting shot

Elvis is everywhere... like on Seventh Street this morning. Pic by Derek Berg.

Speaking out for the return of the former P.S. 64 to the community

Photos by Stacie Joy

This past Saturday afternoon, local elected officials, residents and supporters commemorated the 20th anniversary of the eviction of the Charas/El Bohio Community & Cultural Center at 605 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Several speakers, including longtime neighborhood activists and past and present elected officials, called on the city to take action to immediately "stop the destruction of the building," the former P.S. 64

Developer Gregg Singer, who bought the property from the city during an auction in 1998, has wanted to turn the building into a dorm called University Square. The DOB continues to maintain a Stop Work Order on the property. 

In years past, there has been a call for the return of the building for community use. The building became the Charas/El Bohio Community Center after the school left in 1977. The group was eventually evicted in December 2001 when Singer took over as the landlord. It has sat empty these past 20 years, causing locals to be concerned about its crumbling façade.  

Given this movement some hope: Mayor Bill de Blasio's statement at a Town Hall on Oct. 12, 2017, that the city would take steps to reacquire the building. According to published reports, the Mayor said he'd work to "right the wrongs of the past." Those plans have never materialized.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy was there on Saturday...

"What happened to CHARAS should never happen again, especially to an institution that served the community for so many years," said Carlos "Chino" Garcia, co-founder of Charas. "This was not just the destruction of a facility that served artists, community organizations and residents, but the total destruction of a community." 

"In 2017, my neighbors and I were so thrilled when Mayor de Blasio announced he would work to help get CHARAS El Bohio back," said John Blasco, District Leader, 74th AD Part A. "Since then, we have not had any support from the administration to make this a reality. The pandemic has had a detrimental impact on programs and services for all New Yorkers. If there was ever a great time to bring back a cultural community center to Loisaida, that time is now."

"On the 20th anniversary ... we're renewing our call to Mayor de Blasio to take action on his 2017 promise," said Assembly Member Harvey Epstein. "As someone who personally attends meetings at Charas, I know the historic and vital impact this previous cultural center has on our community. If de Blasio fails, I'll stand ready to call on the next administration to take action."

Previously on EV Grieve:

• A walk around inside the long-abandoned — and ghoulishly beautiful — P.S. 64

A new chapter at the 11th Street Community Garden with debut of a lending library

Members of the 11th Street Community Garden have debuted a free community library outside their space between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Residents are welcome to drop off books and pick up a few in exchange.

"We ask that if a book is taken, another book is eventually returned in its place," said garden member Connor Davis. 

11th Street is the latest community garden to set up a lending library. La Plaza Cultural also has several at their space on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street.