Meanwhile, across 14th Street, Panda Express is still not open.
Thursday, January 26, 2023
This afternoon in signage updates
The former Charas/P.S. 64 is nearly all sealed up as it awaits its fate
Photos Tuesday by Stacie Joy
The construction team sealing up the former P.S. 64/Charas/El Bohio Community Center is wrapping up their work over the next few days.
As The Village Voice previously pointed out, "the work is being performed under an Immediate Emergency Declaration, and permits are not a prerequisite for the work to begin," per the Department of Buildings.
The work also comes at the expense of now-former owner Gregg Singer, who bought the property via a city auction in 1998. The address has multiple open fines and violations with the Department of Buildings, which still has a Stop Work Order (dating to August 2015) and a Full Vacate Order (from February 2019).
The workers, who arrived on Dec. 20, told EVG contributor Stacie Joy on Tuesday that they are sealing up some remaining windows and putting down 2x4s to shore up the ground-floor banisters and flooring on the building's Ninth Street and 10th Street sides here between Avenue B and Avenue C ...
On Monday, workers were spotted using cinder blocks to cover part of a Charas tribute/LES history mural on the 10th Street side of the building that included part of a former doorway.
The former school and community center had been easy to access in recent years, attracting a variety of urban thrillseekers and partygoers. The broken windows and poorly secured doors also exposed the building to the elements — not to mention pigeons and other critters.
According to workers, they've actually "preserved" the artwork here (two murals were mostly covered), saying that there is an inch or two between the masonry and the painting, so it is not being disturbed and that no mortar abuts the work.
The property will likely sit in limbo for a little longer. As we previously reported, at the end of 2022, Singer's nearly 23-year tenure as building owner ended.
On Dec. 23, New York State Justice Melissa Crane ordered the foreclosure and sale of the building with a default, including penalties and interest totaling approximately $90 million. (You can read Crane's 20-page decision and order here.)
The order could send the property back to auction within 90 days.
Meanwhile, some residents want to see the space used again as a community center, as it was during its time as Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Singer evicted the group on Dec. 27, 2001.
Reader report: Toasted Deli has not been open lately
The gate has been down during the usual business hours of late... and the phone is not in service.
The deli, which offered a wide variety of sandwiches and wraps, opened in June 2021.
Papered windows at 101 Avenue A, the incoming home of cafe-bar-music venue Baker Falls
ICYMI from our post on Nov. 28: Baker Falls is an ambitious new project that combines an all-day cafe, bar and live music via the Knitting Factory brand at the former Pyramid Club.
East Village resident Nick Bodor, who has owned and operated several local businesses in the past 25-plus years, including the Library on Avenue A and the now-closed Cake Shop on Ludlow Street, is behind this new concept.
You can read Stacie Joy's interview with Bodor here.
Last we heard there's an anticipated opening "around April."
Openings: the Office of Mr. Moto on St. Mark's Place
The Office of Mr. Moto is an omakase speakeasy-style restaurant now offering two evening seatings at 120 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.
And there is some detective work to take part in before dinner via the fictional master of ceremonies, Mr. Moto, "a gourmand and art connoisseur [who] traveled alongside Commodore Perry aboard his flagship, the USS Susquehanna" in 1853.
To enter the restaurant, you'll need to decode a cipher sent to you prior to your reservation. That code, entered on a pin pad inside a mailbox outside, will allow you entry to the Office of Mr. Moto. Once inside, you'll be greeted by the host and whisked away to either the Gallery or the Counter. The former is an eight-seat space serving a 23-course menu, while the latter is a six-seat sushi counter offering 21 courses.In either spot, the $185 menu curated by executive chef Toshio Matsuoka features high-quality fish sourced from the Toyosu Fish Market in Japan.
Following your meal, you might linger in the Library, where you can enjoy a drink while listening to Mr. Moto's collection of jazz. The cozy space is decorated with leather furnishings, antique items and even a self-playing Yamaha piano.As previously reported, Mr. Moto is from the team behind TabeTomo, which opened in December 2018 on Avenue A and is billed as NYC's first tsukemen-focused restaurant. (They also run TomoTomo on West 52nd Street.)
Mr. Moto is open Wednesday-Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight. Find more details here.
No. 120 previously housed the retail outlet for Squish Marshmallows. Owner Katherine Sprung's lease was up here after five years, and she now focuses on custom and catering orders.
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Wednesday's parting shots
Photos by Steven
Divine trash
Will it ever snow again?
And several people reminisced about when it used to snow in NYC in January.
For awhile it looked as if we might get at least some flurries today... but the forecast later changed to all rain. And wind!
Obviously all this hasn't gone unnoticed. Gothamist noted this lack of snow last week.
And per AccuWeather on Monday:
The Big Apple is just days away from breaking a record that might seem unimaginable: the latest date to see measurable snowfall in recorded history. While the city has seen precipitation since the winter season officially began, it has primarily come in the form of rain instead of snow due to abnormally warm temperatures. At the official weather station in New York City's Central Park, no measurable snow has been recorded this winter, only flurries.
And!
While the city has gotten cold enough for snow throughout this winter season and some flurries have been spotted, the most the city has recorded at its official location in Central Park is a trace of snow, which occurred as recently as Jan. 14. But a trace amount of snow does not count as measurable snowfall, which brings New York City to 320 days in a snow drought as of Jan. 24, the second-longest snowless streak on record for the city. The longest snowless streak lasted 332 days and ended on Dec. 15, 2020.New York City is also nearing the record for the longest stretch into the snow season without seeing more than a trace of snow. The latest date on record was Jan. 29, 1973. The 2022-23 season currently stands in second place after outlasting 1871, a year when snow was not measured until Jan. 21.
Jan. 21, 1871! (We were at McSorley's that day, figuring it would be going out of business soon. Who wants two mugs of beer at once? What a waste!)
For now, the next chance of snow is in the forecast for Feb. 2.
Meanwhile, we'll always have photos... ah!
About the 'Kim's Video' doc, which made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival
One-time East Village staple Kim's Video is enjoying a renaissance of sorts thanks to a new documentary that just debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.
Some background: After the multi-level Mondo Kim's closed at 6 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue in December 2008, founder Yongman Kim shipped the shop's massive collection of 50,000-plus tapes and DVDs to a town in Sicily, as Jeremiah Moss first noted.
The plans called for "a Never-ending Festival — a 24-hour projection of up to 10 films at once for the foreseeable future ... and, eventually, the conversion of all Kim's VHS films to DVDs to ensure their preservation."
And then, the plan was for Kim's members to have access to digitized versions of all these films, an assortment of cult classics and hard-to-find treasures. (Didn't go so well in Italy.)
Now about the documentary, conveniently titled "Kim's Video" and directed by award-winning filmmakers David Redmon and Ashley Sabin.
From the film's Sundance page:
Enter filmmaker David Redmon, who credits Kim's Video for his film education. With the ghosts of cinema past leading his way, Redmon embarks on a seemingly quixotic quest to track down what happened to the legendary collection and to free it from purgatory.David Redmon and Ashley Sabin's playful documentary embraces various filmic forms, from cine-essay and investigative nonfiction to experimental cinema and even heist movies, to fashion an ode to the love of cinema and the enduring power its stories hold.
As for reviews, Deadline called it "a playful and intelligent film" ... while Variety said it's "a flaked-out, one-of-a-kind story of film obsession." On the other hand, RogerEbert.com opined: "One can appreciate the dedication that went into this saga, but being obsessed with movies does not make a great visual storyteller alone" and IndieWire graded it a C+.
The directors are seeking a distribution deal for a theatrical release ... as well as a fictional film based on the making of this movie, per Variety.
The Kim's empire had a modest start in Kim's dry-cleaning business at 99 Avenue A in 1986 ... the last Kim's Video & Music closed in 2014.
And [SPOILER]... the massive collection of DVDs and videos from Kim's is now available to rent from the Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan. (Background on all this here.)
Top photo via
A look at the currently closed Mermaid Inn on 2nd Avenue
Photos yesterday by Stacie Joy
On Tuesday, an EVG tipster told us that workers were removing the contents from the currently closed Mermaid Inn on Second Avenue between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
A look inside reveals an almost-empty restaurant ...
After a 7-week encore, Mermaid Inn went gone dark in October. At the time, the official word was a temporary closure for the season.
Door signage still points to a seasonal shutter...
Despite this, two MI employees told us last fall that this closing was permanent.
Meanwhile, the East Village location is no longer on the MI website. We'll see what transpires.
Mermaid Inn closed here during the pandemic. Co-owner Daniel Abrams and partner Cindy Smith decided to shut down the seafood restaurant in the wake of failed attempts to reach a workable rent deal, Eater reported.
Then came a (delayed) triumphant return last September.
The Mermaid Inn arrived in the East Village back in 2003, with several outposts to follow... most recently a massive space on 10th Avenue in December.
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