Local 92 has closed on 2nd Avenue

Multiple readers have noted that Local 92 has gone dark here on Second Avenue between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

There aren't any messages on the restaurant's website or social media about a closure... Google lists the Local 92 address as on Mulberry between Prince and Spring. No one answered the phone listed for this Mulberry address on Sunday or last evening.

Local 92, which served a variety of Middle Eastern cuisine and was a popular brunch spot, first opened here in 2013.

In 2021, three former employees claimed that Marcello Assante, the restaurateur behind Local 92 as well as the now-closed Bella Ciao in Little Italy, "refused to pay his employees overtime; ignored coronavirus health requirements issued by city and state officials; and referred to former employees as 'princesses' after they raised concerns about the alleged incidents," Eater reported. There were also allegations levied against Local 92 chef and co-owner Shai Zvibak. They denied the accusations. 

And Local 92 is the latest closure along this corridor in the past two years... other closings on Second Avenue between Fourth Street and Sixth Street include the Mermaid Inn, Eros, Mighty Quinn's BBQ, Wild Mirrors, Sauced Up!, Calexico and Sestina.

6 posts from July

A mini month in review... (with one more summer cloud pic)... 

• First look inside the Astor Place Wegmans, set to open on Oct. 18 at 9 a.m. (July 27) 

• When a young red-tailed hawk gets stuck in the airshaft outside your kitchen window (July 21) 

• RIP Big Lee (July 18)

• Late night at Key Food (July 14) 

• The last day for East Village mainstay Ink on Avenue A (July 9) 

• Angelina Jolie is creating a collaborative space for designers and artisans in Basquiat's former studio on Great Jones Street (July 8)

Noted

A little after 6 this evening, sanitation employees shut down Sixth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A...

... so that workers could powerwash off some street graffiti...

... oh...

... and as seen on Friday night...

Details about the NYPD's Night Out Against Crime

Photo by Stacie Joy

The NYPD is hosting its annual National Night Out Against Crime tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug. 1).

In the East Village, the community-building event takes place outside the 9th Precinct from 4-8 p.m. There's free food (BBQ!) and other treats for attendees... as well as some kid-friendly entertainment. It's also an opportunity to meet staff from the 9th Precinct.

The Precinct house is at 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

July 31

Photo by Steven

OK, so not a real tree... still, we can dream of a _ _ _ _ _ Christmas here on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Something to frown about at Smileys

Photos by Steven

Smileys at 199 Avenue A is the latest unlicensed cannabis shop to get busted in a multi-agency sweep last week.

An array of legal notices are affixed to the storefront (and semi-obscured by the rolldown gate) here between 12th Street and 13th Street...

Smileys, which opened at the start of the year and describes itself as a "wellness shop," remained closed over the weekend. 

As we've seen, shops that have been raided-fined have eventually resumed operations, new shops have risen from the ashes of shuttered venues, or new businesses with increasingly cutesy names arrive down the block.

Meanwhile, to avoid detection, several readers have noted at least two shops have removed their signage and only open in the evenings when a coordinated raid is less likely.

With a new law in place late in the spring, New York State — via the Office of Cannabis Management and Department of Taxation and Finance — ramped up efforts to shut down businesses selling cannabis without a license. 

However, as NY1 pointed out on July 14, of "the 22 stores that were issued violations in the city, only six have closed down. Most reopened for business and continue to openly sell cannabis in violation of the law." Gothamist has more on the enforcement success here.

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The City recently published a piece titled, Your Guide to Legal Cannabis in New York City.

CineKink is back with its 20th anniversary film festival

CineKink NYC is back with its in-person film festival since 2019, "bringing with it a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality." 

This year's festival, which marks its 20th anniversary, includes filmmaker Q&As, a "Bring It!"-style adult entertainment showdown and a screening of a 50th-anniversary restored print of "Deep Throat." 

 

Via the EVG inbox: "Works featured at CineKink NYC will range from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, mildly spicy to quite explicit — and everything in between." 

"We're delighted to return to the East Village for our in-person come-back," co-founder and director Lisa Vandever told EVG contributor Stacie Joy. "It's a place that has always welcomed artistic self-expression, and we really feel at home there."

The screenings and related events happen at The Wild Project, 195 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. The kick-off party for CineKink members, filmmakers and all-access package holders takes place on Wednesday. Screenings are scheduled Thursday through Sunday. 

Find all the programming details and ticket info here. 

And a scene from the last in-person CineKink from 2019 (photo by Stacie Joy) ...

Openings: Dora's Restaurant on Avenue B; Rynn's on 5th Street

Top photo by Stacie Joy

Dora's Restaurant debuted on Friday at 40 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street.

Siblings Dora and Oskar Morales are behind this establishment. (Their mother is also named Dora.) 

They serve 10 kinds of ceviche, plus wine, beer and sangria. 

No sign of a website or social media just yet.

Hours: Daily from 3-11 p.m.

Rynn recently debuted at 309 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

The restaurant offers a variety of Thai dishes, from starters (the crispy lotus root looks solid) to main courses. Rynn doesn't have a liquor license, so they offer free spirit-free concoctions and Thai iced tea and coffee. 

Like Dora's, they don't have a website or social media. (They are on Yelp.) Hours: Daily from 4-10 p.m.

Let us know if you try either place!

Sunday's parting shot

A walk along Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue this afternoon...

Raising awareness of Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s proposed merger with the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary

An informational rally is set for tomorrow (Monday) morning outside the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on 14th Street and Second Avenue. 

The assembled group, including several local elected officials, health-care advocates and Local 1199 workers, will discuss the Department of Health's requirements for approval of Mount Sinai Beth-Israel's merger with the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (NYE&EI). 

Here's some background via organizers: 

In late 2022, Mount Sinai Beth-Israel (MSBI), the parent corporation of the 200-year-old New York Eye and Ear Infirmary that serves people with hearing and vision disabilities, applied before the Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) to merge operating certificates with the Infirmary — a tactic that would enable MSBI to more easily move services out of the site and around the city, paving the way for a sale of the historic Infirmary.

Last month, the Department of Health released a letter stating its approval of the merger "would be subject to a number of contingencies and conditions, including community engagement and a commitment by MSBI to not close any NYE&EI clinical programs, change access to clinical services, or close inpatient beds." 

Organizers want to raise awareness of the situation and "hold the hospital giant accountable to the necessary stakeholder engagement and community engagement plan contingencies stipulated by the DOH." 

The rally starts at 11:30 a.m. Speakers are said to include Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Congressman Jerry Nadler.

The Infirmary owns two buildings here — 14th Street and Second Avenue and 13th Street and Second Avenue (pictured above) — and the vacant lot on 13th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Sources told the Post in February that the parcel "could fetch up to $70 million if sold for apartment-building construction."

You can sign a petition at this link.

Meanwhile, Mount Sinai Beth Israel is selling several properties on 17th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue that were used for offices and medical residences. Local elected officials are demanding that affordable housing be part of any deal.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Report: A roadblock for the relocation of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and sale of its land

• Report: Concern over the potential sale of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary

• A campaign to support landmark designation of the Eye and Ear Infirmary on 2nd Avenue