Openings: Downtown Threads on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Downtown Threads is now in soft-open mode at 66 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. 

The shop is selling vintage/thrift clothes and used records. Operator Angel Ramirez, who's also behind Cafe Social 68 and the Halloween pop-up shop in the spaces next door, says Downtown Threads will have items for most budgets.

... here's manager Shaune Crawford...

Hours are Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. They just launched an Instagram account ... a website is in the works. 

This space served as a pop-up this past summer for Whim Golf. Before Whim, the storefront had been vacant since Lancelotti Housewares left in the fall of 2021 after 25 years in business.

What's going on at Connelly Theater Upstairs, the former home of the Metropolitan Playhouse

The Metropolitan Playhouse suspended production for the foreseeable future and left its home of 31 seasons this past summer at the Cornelia Connelly Center on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

That 51-seat black box space is now part of the adjacent Connelly Theater and going as Connelly Theater Upstairs. Gabe Mollica's "Solo: A Show About Friendship" opens there tonight. 

About the production: 

Gabe dives deep into what it means to have friends in your 30s, his special relationship with Stephen Sondheim, working at a summer camp for children with chronic illnesses, and what happens when you break up with your best friend. 

Find tickets here. 

Meanwhile, also starting tonight, "Salesman之死" at the Connelly Theater ...

Openings: Babs Home and Pantry on Avenue A

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Babs Home and Pantry has debuted at 149 Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

The home goods and gift shop features "local artists, vintage glassware and whimsical decor."

This is the second outpost for owner-operator Anna "Babs" Budinger, who grew up in the East Village. She opened her first shop in Astoria. 

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

F45 Training next for this 13th Street retail space

Coming soon signage is up for an F45 Training space at 110 E. 13th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...

About them:

F45 Training is an Australian franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Austin, Texas. It has over 2,000 studios in over 60 countries...

And! 

F45 Training merges three leading-edge fitness training styles into one 45-minute functional training class. 

There is no word on an opening date here.

INA NYC, the designer consignment store, was the last tenant in the storefront, closing in 2020. 

The former Bong World is for rent on 14th Street

Just closing the loop on the Bong World world... as the storefront is now for rent at 226 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Bong World (March 2022-August 2023)

Key Food would like you to use a basket or cart

Photos by Stacie Joy 

If you've been in Key Food on Avenue A at Fourth Street in recent days, then you've likely noticed an abundance of signage asking patrons to please use the baskets and carts provided...

... and NOT your personal carry-on or reusable bags...

Key management says these new signs are to "passively deter shoplifting." And the signs are definitely more passive than this move to stop a shoplifter at Key.

Dedicating Frances Goldin Way

This past Thursday, the community came together to dedicate the stretch of Fourth Street between Cooper Square and Second Avenue as Frances Goldin Way...

Here's more about Goldin from the Cooper Square Committee: 

Frances Goldin was one of the Lower East Side's most noteworthy and accomplished activists, civic leaders, and advocates for affordable housing. She was a leader in the establishment of the Cooper Square Committee, its affiliates, and the Metropolitan Council on Housing while fighting tirelessly for more than 50 years for the racially just integration of the Seward Park Urban Renewal area. She was dedicated to gay rights and was once honored on the lead float in the annual Gay Pride Parade in NYC. She was also a distinguished literary agent and founded her own firm representing many Pulitzer Prize-winning authors.

The East Village resident died in 2020 at age 95. 

And here's the moment of the unveiling...

 

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A cannabis dispensary is the first tenant for this newly created retail space on 7th Street

Signage is up now for Buy Me Flowers, a cannabis dispensary, at 102 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

This is the very first retail tenant for the space, which for decades served as a residence. 

This appears to be another unlicensed cannabis operation. (You can find a list of regulated, licensed dispensaries here.)

In August, the city put in place a new law to curb illegal stores: 

Introduction 1001-B, now known as Local Law 107 of 2023, prohibits owners of commercial spaces from knowingly leasing to unlicensed sellers of marijuana or tobacco products, imposing fines of up to $10,000 on landlords for violations. 

Steve Croman is the building's landlord. (A smoke shop is also on the way in one of his retail spaces on Avenue B.)

As previously noted, Anthony Pisano lived in this converted storefront full of antiques and whimsical curiosities for nearly 40 years. He died in 2018 at age 86. Check out some interior pics from his home here.  

Taking a 'Deep Dive' at Baker Falls

Starting tomorrow (Monday evening), Baker Falls is presenting its first art exhibition at 101 Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. 

The evening (from 6-8) at the one-time home of the Pyramid Club includes a reading by local playwright-performance artist Edgar Oliver. 

Here's more about the opening via the EVG inbox...

"Deep Dive" is a site-specific constructed environment of sculptural objects and process paintings by Alex Wolkowicz. This is the first time Baker Falls has invited an artist to create an installation. The Pyramid Club has been iconic in New York City nightlife since its opening in 1979 and at the forefront of the downtown performance, drag, punk, gay and rock scene. 

"Deep Dive" honors the opening of Baker Falls and commemorates the Pyramid Club as a cultural touchstone for artists, performers, outsiders and drag queens. While under construction, Wolkowicz treated the space as an archaeological excavation site by collecting textures of the architectural details of the interior space using wet pouring techniques and graphite frottage rubbings. 

The "Deep Dive" exhibition is in conjunction with the production of a new play, "Rip Tide" at Axis Theater, by legendary downtown artist Edgar Oliver, about his formative years at The Pyramid Club. Oliver will perform original works at the opening reception ... 

The event also marks the official opening of the Baker Falls cafe in the downstairs "Fever Dream room."

"Deep Dive" will run until Jan. 9. You can RSVP for a free ticket here.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from the Loisaida Fall Festival on 3rd Street yesterday by Stacie Joy)...

• Tenants crowdfund to aid East Village super critically injured in high-speed car collision (Tuesday) 

• Why the benches were removed from across the street from the 9th Precinct (Monday) 

• The reconstruction of the multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park begins on Oct. 16 (Saturday) 

• So the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade will take place this year after all (Wednesday) 

• Thinking about Dennis Edge (Thursday) 

• Tenants and businesses are now without gas at 199 E. 3rd St. (Monday) 

• Here are J. Kathleen White's 2023 dioramas at the 9th Street Community Garden & Park (Friday) 

• Here's the next business for the former Grassroots Tavern space on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• The Hard Swallow is now closed (Thursday) 

• Posse officially in Effect now with the Beastie Boys on 14th Street and Avenue A (Thursday) 

• Behold this amazing miniature of Mars Bar (Tuesday) 

• Spellbound! It's the return of Hitchcocktober (Tuesday) 

• A Bank of America is checking into the corner of 2nd Avenue and 7th Street (Wednesday) 

• Retail spaces at the historic 4 St. Mark's Place are now for rent (Monday)

• In case you felt like seeing this exhibit featuring a classic Lower East Side bagel shop (Tuesday)

• Look at 6 Avenue B now! (Wednesday) 

• The Avenue Cafe bringing pastries and coffee to St. Mark's Place (Thursday) 

• Must be the season of the pop-up Halloween shop on Avenue A (Friday)

• 231 1st Ave. up to its 4th business in the past year (Wednesday) 

• 2 bad signs at Luzzo's on Avenue B (Thursday) 

• House of Munchies debuts on 1st Avenue (Monday) 

...and thank you to everyone for keeping tabs on the tire clamp story... the contraption is now outside the construction office in Tompkins... (photo by Steven)

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