'Law & Order' makes triumphant return to East Village streets

If you've watched even 15 minutes of the Winter Olympics on NBC, then you've likely seen a promo for the return of the original "Law & Order" on Feb. 24.

Expect to see part of the East Village in the upcoming season. The L&O crew will be setting up for a shoot on Tuesday along Avenue A and various side streets between 10th and Third, per the posted signage. (And vehicles need to be moved tomorrow by 3. Photo below by Steven.)

This 21st season will once again feature Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy ... new cast members include Odelya Halevi as ADA Samantha Maroun, Jeffrey Donovan as Det. Frank Cosgrove and Hugh Dancy as senior prosecutorial assistant Nathan Price. 

The Emmy-winning series originally ran for 20 seasons on NBC, from 1990 to 2010, with 456 episodes, spawning 36 four spinoffs and a movie. The franchise has been a regular presence on EV streets during its run.

And for some nostalgia, here's the intro to the "Law & Order" pilot episode from 1990...

  

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a reader pic of the ConEd sky the other morning)... 

• RIP Hanne 'H7L' Lauridsen (Friday) 

• Thayer is opening a bookstore and cafe at 99 Avenue B (Monday) 

• A new I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Wednesday) 

• Notorious East Village landlord Raphael Toledano faces 5-year real-estate ban (Tuesday) 

• Brindle Room is making an East Village return this spring in new 11th Street home (Wednesday) 

• A reminder to keep Two Bridge's Diner in your dining plans (Tuesday) 

• Reader report: USA Super Stores (U-S-A!) coming to the former Duane Reade on 3rd Avenue and 10th Street (Thursday) 

• A look at the B Bar & Grill demolition on the Bowery (Thursday) 

• Gallery Watch: 'Falling Through Flatland' by Chris Hood at Lyles & King (Tuesday) 

• Astor Place Wegmans watch, automatic sliding doors edition (Tuesday) 

• The Bronx Brewery East Village opens (Friday) 

• As the bank branches turn on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• Local photographer opens door of former Tut at 189 E. 3rd St. (Wednesday) 

• Now Yoga moving to online-only classes next month (Wednesday) 

• Openings: A trio of quick-serve vegan options (Monday) 

• Enchantments is ready to cast a spell in new home on Avenue B (Tuesday) 

• Pizza Girls coming soon to Avenue B (Monday)

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The city's mobile units offering COVID-19 vaccines today on Avenue A

The city has two Mobile Vaccination Buses on Avenue A today between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street... here until 6 p.m. with Pfizer vaccines for age 5+.

No appointments necessary ... and no lines this morning...

Thanks to Steven for the photos.

Sunday's opening Instagram post

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A post shared by Gregoire Alessandrini (@newyork1990s)

A scene from early 1994 on Houston Street looking west toward Avenue B ... post/photo by Gregoire Alessandrini. (We've featured his images in the past, like here.)

Saturday's parting shot

Tompkins Square Park today via Derek Berg...

44 Union Square to be filled with pet sounds

After a loooong renovation that included an addition of a glass dome, 44 Union Square (aka 100 E. 17th St. and the Tammany Hall Building) has a retail tenant. (Thanks to @gramercy_local for the above photo and initial tip!) 

Per published reports (Commercial Observer and The Real Deal), Petco has signed a lease for a 3-story space, taking 30,000 of the 73,000-square-foot landmarked building. The animal and pet supply chain will be relocating from 860 Broadway on the other side of Union Square. 

The previous retail tenants, a magazine shop and Frank's Wines & Liquors, closed in 2016...

The 17th Street side housed two cultural institutions, the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theater. 

As Jeremiah Moss wrote in 2016 about the building's upcoming renovation: "What sort of businesses do you think will replace these small businesses and cultural institutions? Well, almost every single thing around Union Square Park is a national shopping mall chain. ... Those that aren't, like Blue Water Grill, tend to be upscale."

Now we know. 

And address history, per Wikipedia: "The neo-Georgian structure was erected in 1928–1929 and designed by architects Thompson, Holmes & Converse and Charles B. Meyers for the Tammany Society political organization." 

2016 pic by J. Moss

ICYMI: That oddly configured Walgreens is closing on Union Square

This has come up a few times in emails and in comment threads...So!

As posted on Jan. 24, the Walgreens on the SE corner of 14th Street and Fourth Avenue is closing on Feb. 17, per the window signage. 

Walgreens customers can then go to other Walgreens, Duane Reades or Duane Reade by Walgreens locations, including the outpost at 1 Union Square. (For the sake of journalisming, we walked from the soon-to-close Walgreens to the Duane Reade — 50 steps!)

This corner Walgreens was renovated and expanded into the space above the quick-serve restaurants on Fourth Avenue back in 2010...

What could possibly fit in this space now (?).

Saturday's opening shot

Sunrise from the Ninth Street entrance to Tompkins Square Park. 

The sun makes a return today... the exclusive EVG forecast (via AccuWeather) calls for sunny to partly cloudy skies and much colder; breezy this afternoon with highs around 28°. Tonight's low is 17°, with the EVGRealFeel® of 12°

Teenage fanclub

 

Catching up to this Pom Pom Squad release from late December 2021... in which the NYC band shared this cover and frame-by-frame video reproduction of Nada Surf's "Popular" from 1996. 

Also, Bandcamp Fridays are back ... in which the music platform waives its revenue share for the day.

East Village weekend ski report

The winter sports season is alive and well on 11th Street near Third Avenue... back later with the powder report (at first glance this looks a little grabby). 

Thanks to Goggla for the pic!