Photos by Derek Berg
This discarded toilet on Second Avenue certainly could use some #sprkl ... (courtesy of East Village-based musician-artist Paul Kostabi).
Thursday, October 13, 2022
About those fireworks last night on the East River
Photo via @Jazibaba
We received a lot of queries last night about the fireworks display that went off last night after 9 on the East River below the Williamsburg Bridge.
There wasn't any notification about them (as everyone pointed out, this account has one job) ...
Which prompted plenty of tweets... and concern!Today is 10/12 and there are no official fireworks scheduled.
— NYC Fireworks (@nyc_fireworks) October 12, 2022
Ok are there fireworks or is NYC under attack?!
— Bright Light Bright Light (@brightlightx2) October 13, 2022
I hope those are fireworks…but why are there fireworks in NYC now?
— Trevor Abenavoli (@trevaben) October 13, 2022
Anyone in NYC know what the fireworks are about rn?
— Sriram Ramakrishnan (@Sreezy3000) October 13, 2022
East Village feels like July 4th
Myles Miller of NBC New York got the scoop today from the FDNY: The fireworks marked the end of filming the fifth and final season of "The The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."Just a massive fireworks show at 9pm on a Wednesday in October and no one knows why because nyc https://t.co/DjbmxceKzE
— Allison Klein (@televisionwhore) October 13, 2022
All good now?.@FDNY: “The purpose of the fireworks display was marking the end the filming season for the @MaiselTV” cc: @evgrieve @nyc_fireworks https://t.co/VDT8neLP6a
— myles miller (@MylesMill) October 13, 2022
Ha! My husband and I arguing if it was a. Fireworks b. ConEd letting off steam or c. Armageddon
— don't make me come in there (@nervesarackin) October 13, 2022
Nomad is closed for now on 2nd Avenue while owner takes a 'much-needed break'
Photo by Kevin Frech
Nomad, the low-key Mediterranean and North African restaurant at 78 Second Ave., has gone dark in recent days. Someone has removed the sign and paper covers the windows here between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.
The restaurant's website now notes that it has closed "until further notice."
Owner Mehenni Zebentout shed some light on the situation in an Instagram post from Monday:
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has raised a glass and joined me for a meal — either at Cucina Di Pesce, Belcourt or Nomad…or all three! You became part of my family, and you helped me realize my dream of bringing the food and culture of my country to live here in NYC.After 33 years in this industry, I am taking a much-needed break to visit my family, regroup and plan my next chapter. This is not goodbye; more like stay tuned for what's next. As David Bowie once said, "I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring."
I look forward to sharing my next adventure(s) with you soon.
In June 2020, writer Richard Morgan had this to say about the place: "Nomad radiates a defiant truth: It is the coolest, tastiest, truest restaurant that New York's galloping gourmands have no interest in letting anyone know about (if they themselves even know about it at all)."
Nomad first opened in 2006.
Picture this: an art gallery for 5th and B
Top 2 photos by Stacie Joy
Renovations continue inside and out on the NW corner of Fifth Street and Avenue B... where an art gallery called Gratin is in the works for the space...
The arrival will likely make at least one upstairs resident happy... back when the storefront was on the market in the spring...
... there was a sign in the window reading: "No Cafe. No Food."
Oda House, which served the rare-for-Manhattan Georgian cuisine and other Mediterranean staples, closed here in August 2020 after seven-plus years in service. Caffe Buon Gusto was here for a bit after the corner market Zips.
Openings: Le Burger on 5th Street
Photos by Stacie Joy
Le Burger has debuted at 540 E. Fifth St., just a little west of Avenue B. (First noted here.)
As the name implies, the restaurant serves a variety of burgers (see the menu below) ... and they offer wine and draft beers.
According to the questionnaire from July's CB3-SLA meeting, ownership previously ran the now-closed UES spots 1742 Wine Bar and Giorgio's Brick Over & Wine Bar.
Black Iron Burger was in this space for nearly six years before closing in 2019.
For now, the space is open from 5 p.m. to midnight. No sign of a website yet, though Le Burger is on Instagram.
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Lighting up the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park
Photos by Stacie Joy
The mobile lights are ON this evening on Seventh Street and Avenue A at the entrance to Tompkins Square Park.
The solar-powered lights via the Parks Department arrived last Friday morning ... a day after a delivery man was slashed in the face during an attack around 3:30 p.m.
This is the first time that we've seen the lights illuminated...
This corner of the Park around the chess tables has drawn complaints from residents who've reported fights, drug use and the sale of stolen property... the Parks Enforcement Patrol and NYPD have placed barricades around the chess tables multiple times in recent years.
City removes charred and tagged Acura from Houston Street
The driver of the Acura crashed it into a pole early Sunday (4:50 a.m.) at Houston and Allen. After the collision, the car caught fire. We're told no one was injured.
[UPDATED] Remembering Manny the Peddler
Photo from 2020 by Brian Boulos
UPDATED: Despite what the signs say, the service for Manny is on Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. at Most Holy Redeemer.
Manny the Peddler, a decades-long presence along Avenue A, recently passed away.
Manny, aka Emmanuel Howard and a father of four, sold second-hand items here for more than 40 years. Although the city often came by and dumped all his sale items, Manny remained resilient and continued to run his sidewalk shop.
We don't have any further information about his passing. He was believed to be in his early 80s. There is a small memorial (since removed) where he was often seen arranging his items for sale on various tables between Second Street and Third Street ... (thanks to Carl Bentsen for these photos) ...
Here's more about Manny via a profile at The Local East Village from 2011:
He worked as a print shop delivery boy, metalworker, lathe operator, carpenter, and handyman, and around 1979 he began vending in front of the Con Edison substation on Sixth Street and Avenue A. It became a bonanza."People used to come down from upstate and buy out the whole table for six, seven hundred dollars," he says, and then give him their business cards so he could call when he had good stock. Mr. Howard says he once made $4,500 in a week; he had never had that kind of money before.With a pocketful of connections, he could sell whatever people brought to him, and the temptation got too much. In 1997 he says he spent nine months of a six-year term on Riker's Island for possession of stolen goods. He suffered a heart attack while in jail and served the rest of the time on probation."I messed up big time on that," he laments, and has since returned to selling donated items from neighborhood residents, many of whom he's done odd jobs for over the years."Manny is organic to the neighborhood," says a café owner on Avenue A ... explaining that his spot is like a public space, connecting people from different backgrounds. "I see people gathered around the tables, all different layers of society. I think it is very healthy to have that."
A 14th Street storefront is available to rent for the first time in 63 years
A for-rent sign recently arrived on the front window between Avenue B and Avenue C at the now-closed Sun's Laundry.
Robert Lee opened the dry-cleaning business with his father in 1959.
Mr. Lee was 84 in August 2020 when he and his family decided to close up shop, one of the city's last Chinese hand laundries.
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