A farewell to Big Lee and the Hard Swallow

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The Hard Swallow is going out in Coney Island style this weekend. 

The neighborhood bar at 140 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street closes after service on Saturday night.

This comes two-plus months after the sudden passing of co-owner Leroy "Big Lee" Lloyd, who was 51. 

Maria "Sasha" Lloyd, his wife and business partner, has planned a closing-night party on Saturday — which also happens to be close to Lee's birthday — featuring regulars from the Coney Island Circus Sideshow. (Big Lee grew up in Coney Island.)

"Anyone who feels connected to the bar and Big Lee is invited to come here on Saturday," said Sasha, a lifelong neighborhood resident. "Lee didn't want tears; he wanted a celebration."

She has also hired a videographer to record testimonials about Big Lee as a keepsake for her two sons, Nicholas and Jacob. (People who can't make the event can record a video and post it on social media with the hashtag #ThankYouBigLee, and those will be included in the keepsake for the family, she said.)

I recently stopped by the bar and met (from the left) bar manager Audreana "Storm" Janelle, bartender Socks Markley, Sasha and bartender Caitlyn "Aurora" Milkman

While the Hard Swallow is closing, Sasha's business partner will be keeping the space and eventually opening a new bar after going through the liquor license process.

As for Sasha, she decided to make a fresh start and will be moving to Hawaii next month, a plan put into effect while Big Lee was still alive. 

Sasha said she is having difficulty mourning and grieving while still in the same apartment and bar. She and Big Lee had the Hard Swallow for over eight years; it was their whole life, she said.

Buffing out the Basquiat plaque on Great Jones

As previously reported, someone rollered over the two-level space at 57 Great Jones St. with pink paint, even defacing the memorial plaque for onetime 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 clean up the plaque. She made some progress, though she realized it would need to be professionally buffed out. 

Today, photographer-artist Adrian Wilson (via @plannedalism) was able to restore the plaque and make it legible once more here between the Bowery and Lafayette... 

Earlier this summer, Angelina Jolie announced a new venture, Atelier Jolie — "a creative collective for self-expression" — opening in November inside the space. 

Vogue dropped a feature on Jolie and her new project earlier today.

Openings: Spice Brothers on St. Mark's Place

Photos by Stacie Joy

Spice Brothers recently debuted at 110 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Lior Lev Sercarz, who sells crafted spice blends to chefs via his company La Boîte, teamed up with David Malbequi (below left), owner of David's Cafe next door, for this venture...

And we've already heard good things about the Eastern Mediterranean street food (like the shawarma platter) ... beer and wine are also available here...

The restaurant takes over from Isabella, which Malbequi and Daniel Rivera, his partner from David's, ran.

Spice Brothers is open Tuesday-Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.

The fullest of full reveals at 699 E. 6th St.

We meant to note this one sooner... we now have a full reveal at 699 E. Sixth St. at Avenue C. (Workers removed the plywood around the corner property.)

As previously reported, the residential building will include 11 units, a storefront and space for an unspecified community facility on this long-vacant corner. Not sure where the storefront will be — the Sixth Street side?

And still no sign of listings... maybe you've seen some?

A gas station was the last tenant here in the 1980s. And for decades it was an entertaining empty lot.  

Tix for Basquiat x Warhol at the Brant Foundation now on sale

Tickets for the latest show at the Brant Foundation, Basquiat x Warhol, are now on sale. 

Here's what to expect from the space at 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... via the EVG inbox... 

The Brant Foundation is pleased to present Basquiat x Warhol at the Foundation's East Village location, curated by Dr. Dieter Buchhart and Peter M. Brant in collaboration with Dr. Anna Karina Hofbauer. On view from Nov. 1, 2023, through Jan. 7, 2024, this is the first time the collaboration has been the subject of a major New York exhibition since Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat at Gagosian Gallery in 1997. The exhibition is traveling from Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and has benefited from the collaboration between the two institutions. 

The Brant Foundation's first show here in the spring of 2019 featured work by Basquiat — some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. A career-spanning Warhol collection was here back in the spring. 

Tickets for the new show are $20, and $15 for EV residents. (Kids under 12 are free, etc.) Find ticket info here.

Openings: Bar Miller on 6th Street

Image via the Bar Miller website 

Bar Miller, an 8-seat omakase restaurant, is now open at 620 E. Sixth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C (in the former Mayanoki Sustainable Sushi space next door to Grape and Grain). 

The establishment comes via Jeff Miller and TJ Provenzano, who operate Rosella on Avenue A. 

Per Thrillist: "Bar Miller will offer 15 courses of nigiri, sashimi, and some less traditional dishes that highlight pickled ingredients alongside a bar program with US-made wine, cider, and sake." 

Bar Miller is open Wednesday-Sunday with seatings at 6 and 8:30 p.m. (Reservations available here.)

Aside from Mayanoki, Miller and Provenzano were also involved with the last iteration of Grape and Grain. Still waiting for word on what is next for that space.

H/T Peter Arkle!

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

As seen on the Bowery... and a moment when it wasn't raining today...

[Updated] The Wegmans signage has arrived on Astor Place

The Wegmans signage rolled up today (in the back of a truck) here on Astor Place. (Thanks to William Klayer for the photo!)

The doors open here on Oct. 18, a date made public over the summer. 

As previously noted, the 87,500-square-foot space at the landmarked 770 Broadway is the first Manhattan outpost for the grocer. 

EVG's Stacie Joy received a tour of the two-level supermarket back in July. You can revisit that post here.

Updated 

And by the end of the day, the first sign was up... pic by Stacie Joy...

Police seeking help ID-ing 12 suspects in late-night robbery on Avenue C

***ADDITIONAL IMAGES*** pic.twitter.com/vHGk9R5wXg

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) September 25, 2023

'The NYPD is searching for a dozen suspects from a robbery on Sept. 17 at 12th Street and Avenue C.

According to the NYPD and published reports, a 23-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman had just left a bar on Avenue C at Eighth Street around 3:45 a.m. when they encountered the group — eight males and four females — several blocks away. 

One of the suspects displayed an unspecified weapon, and others in the group were said to have taken the couple's cell phones, wallets and debit cards. 

"This neighborhood is good. You can tell who's who," a local resident told PIX11 News. "I don't know any of these people whatsoever."

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.

Cheers to The Whiskey Ward

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Regulars and employees, past and present, gathered last Wednesday night for a farewell to the Whiskey Ward. 

The low-key neighborhood bar at 121 Essex between Rivington and Delancey has been on the Lower East Side for nearly 24 years. 

I arrived as co-owner Sandee Wright was prepping to open on this special night...

... along with bartenders Chloe Troy...

... and Chelsea Pinchera ...

Wright said the closure had nothing to do with a landlord or rent increase. "We're going out under our own terms."

Why are they closing? "It's time," said Wright, a longtime Lower East Side resident who relocated a few years ago. 

"Things changed a lot after COVID, and people had less disposable income...and whiskies were hard to come by, especially ones like Pappy Van Winkle. It's impossible to get the good stuff — the bottles no one else has."

"I'm going to miss this place terribly," she said. "Every brick of it."

"I love everything about this place and the people," Wright said. "They are my family."

~~~Postscript~~~ 

As we understand it, a friend of Wright's plans to apply for a new liquor license and take over the space — operating under a new name — in the months ahead.