Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included ... (with a photo celebrating Orthodox New Year on Seventh Street yesterday by Derek Berg) ... 

• RIP Alicia Torres (Thursday) 

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished (Friday) 

• After 29 years playing in the East Village, I finally decided to see 'Stomp' before it closed (Monday) ... Clearing out 'Stomp' (Tuesday) 

• Openings: From Lucie on 10th Street (Friday) 

• The landlord has taken legal possession of Commodities on 1st Avenue (Friday) 

• The area behind the fieldhouse in Tompkins Square Park is now open for 5 hours a day (Wednesday) 

• A look back at the devastating fire that destroyed Essex Card Shop 1 year ago today (Tuesday) 

• New season of 'Feud' brings a 1970s Times Square vibe to the East Village (Thursday) ... In the 'Feud' of the night (Sunday) 

• 5C Cultural Center reopens with coffee service from the Roost (Thursday) 

• A look inside the under-renovation Poetica Coffee on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• A gut renovation at 12th and C, and the loss of the Gil Scott-Heron tribute mural (Wednesday) 

• Coffee shop slated for this retail space in NYU's Third North dorm (Tuesday) 

• 75 1st Ave. — once again without a sidewalk bridge (Saturday) 

• 2023 preview: Panda Express (Monday) 

• Foul Witch is the new restaurant from the Roberta's team on Avenue A (Thursday) 

... and do you remember Goggla's photo from the other day showing the piano tucked among some discarded Christmas trees in Tompkins Square Park? (View at this link.) Here's how that story ended — in the back of a garbage truck ... photo by Derek Berg ... (and we don't know what condition the piano was in before it was tossed)...

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In the 'Feud' of the night

EVG regular Daniel Efram shares these photos from this past rainy Thursday evening... when crews transformed Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue (and other blocks) into a 1970s-looking NYC for the second season of the FX series "Feud: Capote and the Women." 

The series, directed by Gus Van Sant, follows Truman Capote before and after excerpts of his unfinished novel "Answered Prayers" were published in Esquire in 1975.

The cast includes Tom Hollander as Capote, Demi Moore as Ann Woodward, Diane Lane as Slim Keith, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest and Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson.

City issues removal notice for the curbside dining structure at the currently-closed Eros

Photos by Steven

An item from earlier this week... Eros, the Greek restaurant on the NE corner of Fifth Street and Second Avenue, is entering its fifth month of what is billed as a temporary closure. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation has noticed... and issued a "Termination" notice for the restaurant's lengthy curbside dining structure...

The DOT notice is dated Tuesday (Jan. 10). Eros had 24 hours to remove it from the Fifth Street side before the city did ... (it remains in place as of this morning, Jan. 15) ... 

We previously spotted a letter here from the DOT dated Sept. 6 requesting that ownership correct some deficiencies in the curbside dining structure.

Eros took over for the diner the Kitchen Sink in September 2021 (same owners) ... management previously changed names from Moonstruck to the Kitchen Sink in the fall of 2015. 

The Eros website still notes that this location is "closed for renovations. Reopening TBA." We had not seen anyone inside the space since the restaurant went dark in August. 

Saturday's parting shot

Early this morning on Avenue A at 10th Street (snow flurries not visible)...

Why Bluestockings remains closed on the LES

Bluestockings Cooperative, the collectively-run activist center, community space and feminist bookstore at 116 Suffolk St., remains closed today — as it has been all week. 

Here's more about the situation via the Bluestockings Instagram account: 

Due to gross negligence by the owner of the building we are based out of, we have had to close our doors temporarily in order for emergency construction to take place. We were told this would be a two-day job, but mismanagement, weather, and a lack of the correct permits have prolonged the process to at least a five-day job. 

We are a small, anti-capitalist bookstore with razor-thin profit margins, and having to close for this length of time will have a huge financial impact on us as worker-owners and our business. If you would like to support us during this time, please consider making a purchase online or becoming a member ...

Bluestockings opened at 172 Allen St. between Stanton and Rivington in 1999... before relocating in 2021 to this space between Rivington and Delancey.

You can follow the Bluestockings Instagram account for updates.

Image via @Bluestockingsnyc

75 1st Ave. — once again without a sidewalk bridge

Here's a follow-up to Monday's post about workers dismantling the construction storage pen that had been sitting in the bike lane outside 75 First Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. 

Yesterday, workers removed the sidewalk bridge for the new (and unoccupied) 8-story condoplex... (thanks again to Elissa for the tip!)

Perhaps the sidewalk bridge will be gone for good. The same thing happened in July 2021, and only to return for more work on the building where the groundbreaking took place in September 2016.

Last weekend for 'City of Kings' at Howl! Happening

Photo from November by Daniel Efram 

This is the last weekend to see "City of Kings: A History of New York City Graffiti" at Howl! Happening on First Street (6 E. First St. at the Bowery).

The ambitious and detailed two-part show was put together by Eric Felisbret, Mariah Fox and Al Diaz (pictured above). The First Street exhibit focuses on the chronological framing of the history of graffiti in NYC. 

Meanwhile at Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive, 250 Bowery near Stanton Street, you can check out canvases by graffiti artists such as Crime 79 and photographs by Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, David Gonzalez and others who helped document the scene over the years. This exhibit is up through Jan. 29.

Both Howl! spaces are open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Details here.

You can read Dan Efram's feature on the show for EVG at this link.

Saturday's opening shot

DVD, wrapped in plastic ... Andréa Stella came across this scene on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... Laura Palmer gracing the cover of the first season of "Twin Peaks" places upon plastic. Cueing up Pete Martell on the phone here.

Friday's parting shot

View of the EV sunset tonight courtesy of Hywel dda...

For the 'Win'

 

David Bowie fans this week commemorated both his birthday (Jan. 8, 1947) and his passing (Jan. 10, 2016).

So in honor of all this, here's a video for "Win" from 1975's Young Americans LP. 

The footage here apparently comes from (outtakes?) from the "Cracked Actor" documentary.