Tuesday, September 5, 2023

The J Crew on the Bowery is back open

After a nearly two-week closure, the J. Crew Men's Shop on the Bowery at Bleecker is back open as of late last week.

At first, there was a handwritten sign stating that the J. Crew Men's Shop was "temporarily closed."  Then a more formal sign on the storefront at 316 Bowery noted that the shop was "experiencing technical difficulties." 

The reopening has a notable absence: a reader said the coffee bar has been removed, per a reader.

This men's-concept outpost debuted last September. A J. Crew outpost is expected to open in the months ahead on Lafayette and Bond.

Monday, September 4, 2023

Flashback to 2011, when the Big Gay Ice Cream shop opened on 7th Street; and today's current legal battle

Labor Day 2011 saw the grand opening of the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

It was a memorable shitshow with an entertainment lineup that featured an all-bassoon band, Bea Arthur lookalikes, Roller Derby stars and Anthony Bourdain dressed as a priest blessing the shop.

This was the very first storefront for the business that started with an ice cream truck. In the years that followed, the good-natured brand grew in popularity, and co-founders Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff (seen above in 2011) authored a cookbook on frozen treats, opened multiple outposts and launched a pint-sized product line in grocery stores. 

Today, however, just one shop remains in business ... and the future of the brand is in jeopardy. (The EV location never reopened after the Pause of 2020.)

This past week, The New York Times reported on a story we'll continue to follow:
On Friday, a founder and partner, Doug Quint, filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court accusing another partner, Jon Chapski, of mismanaging the company and fraudulently collecting government loans during the pandemic.
And...
During the pandemic, though, the good vibes evaporated. Today, after multiple missteps, unpaid debts and evictions, the company's future is murky. Mr. Quint is working in a Walgreens pharmacy in Pittsfield, Maine, where he grew up. Mr. Petroff works in human resources for a New York restaurant chain.

Both men say they hope to pull the company back from the brink and continue without Mr. Chapski, whom they hired as a financial adviser in 2011 and made a partner in 2016. The founders continued to develop new products and marketing efforts, but Mr. Chapski effectively ran the business.

Mr. Quint is seeking at least $4 million, claiming damages arising from breach of contract, fiduciary irresponsibility and "willful misconduct" by Mr. Chapski. (Mr. Petroff, who like Mr. Quint still retains a 35 percent ownership stake, has declined to be a party to the suit, citing the expense of legal representation, but said Mr. Quint had his "full support.")

In his lawsuit, Mr. Quint accuses Mr. Chapski of failing to pay landlords, vendors and the I.R.S.; concealing legal proceedings and business moves from him and Mr. Petroff; and collecting government loans during the pandemic while the stores remained closed and employees went unpaid. Public records show that the four New York City stores — each of which is a separate limited-liability corporation — received loans totaling more than $500,000.
Through a spokesperson, Chapski told the Times he'd respond to the lawsuit "when appropriate."

In an email to us over the weekend, Quint referred to the current situation as a "disaster." 

Reports of smashed car windows on East Village side streets

East Village residents woke up yesterday to find several cars vandalized overnight. 

Mammad Mahmoodi, co-founder and executive director of East Village Loves NYC, came to his car yesterday morning to find that someone smashed in his rear window and the passenger side window and door. 

The thief made off with some shoes Mahmoodi planned to donate yesterday at the Sixth Street Community Center, the home base for East Village Loves NYC. There were other reports of smash-and-grabs on Fifth Street and Avenue D and Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B (and likely more).

Mahmoodi filed a report with the 9th Precinct, which apparently has turned this into a felony case.

Sunday, September 3, 2023

Sunday's parting shot

This evening on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg)...

• Asylum seekers are no longer staying at the former St. Brigid School in the East Village (Monday

• The Tompkins Square Library branch reopens; a conversation with Lenny Kaye on deck (Monday

• The long-neglected 6 Avenue B is for sale (Thursday

• A Fresh new look for CTown on Avenue C (Wednesday

• Ayat signage alert on 7th and C (Monday

• After 2 bagel shops, Cuban cuisine is next for 238 E. 14th St. (Wednesday

• Openings: Salter House on 2nd Street (Thursday

• A new Indian restaurant for the former Little India on 6th Street (Friday)

• Someone Barbified Basquiat's former space on Great Jones (Monday)

• Dim sum joint looking closer to being a go (go) on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

• 7 floors of steel for 1 St. Mark's Place (Wednesday

• The New Up & Up Laundromat has closed on Avenue A (Friday

• Plywood report: The Commodore at 14 Avenue C (Thursday) ... El Pulpo at 51 Avenue B (Thursday

• About the VIP portable toilet in Tompkins Square Park (Friday

• Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill is now the East Village Mini Market (Saturday

• Smoke shop comings and goings (Wednesday

• Bong World is officially cashed on 14th Street (Saturday)

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Neighbors come together to create a streetscape on 9th Street

We've been watching a communal mural project unfold this past week outside 418.5 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. (Top photo by Steven.)

Local resident and artist Javi Vecino Cintron led the project with the assistance of neighbors.

Here's how it started back on Tuesday (photos below by William Klayer)...
... and how it ended...

Not so pretty in pink at 57 Great Jones St.

Back on Monday, we noted that someone rolled over the exterior at 57 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette with pink paint.

Several media outlets picked up the story (and credited and linked to EVG) ... so thank you...
Curbed 
Bollyinside (!!!)

Anyway, the pink painter (whose identity is known) also defaced the memorial plaque for one-time tenant Jean-Michel Basquiat, who lived and worked here from 1983 to the time of his death in 1988. 

The incident motivated EVG regular Lola Sáenz to spend an hour on Friday trying to clean up the plaque and make some progress, though it will need to be professionally buffed out ... (see the top photo)...
As for the address ... earlier this summerAngelina Jolie announced a new venture, Atelier Jolie — "a creative collective for self-expression" — opening this fall inside the space. 

Sunday's opening shot

Hope everyone is enjoying the Labor Day Weekend...

Saturday, September 2, 2023

Saturday's parting shot

A view of the in-progress 21-story 360 Bowery from Great Jones...

Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill is now the East Village Mini Market

Photos by Steven 

Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill abruptly closed this past week at 153 Avenue A near 10th Street... and just like that, the new business signage is up for the East Village Mini Market. 

A tipster said the new owners took over and fired the previous staff. The incoming market, we're told, will focus more on smoking-related products... gone are the sandwiches and deli case from TFDG's days ...
There was a similar abrupt switcheroo here in early 2012 when the Avenue A Mini Market abruptly closed to make way for Tompkins Finest Deli.