EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

RIP Love Saves the Day (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Visiting the Cafe Reggio (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

At the Chinatown Working Group meeting (Save the Lower East Side!)

Sheila, champion of dive bars, is out at Gawker (Gawker)

Brooks spots a rarity: wooden phone booths (Lost City)

Yoink! (BoweryBoogie)

"Mr. Subbarao is, by his own admission, a 'cocktail geek,' one of a growing legion of amateur connoisseurs who have turned recherché cocktails — whether mixed at home or sought out in bars and restaurants — into a lifestyle, or to hear some tell it, a religion. They receive their education from, and in turn provide a considerable fraction of the revenues for, geeky cocktail bars — recognizable by the devout use of jiggers, the whopping arrays of bitters, and an almost-total absence of vodka. As these bars proliferate, more and more drinkers cross the line from enthusiast to, well, geek." (New York Times)

A great post from Monday: Highlighting the characteristics of the buyers for the Theatre Condo on St. Mark's (Curbed)

Your morning hardcore: "Bye Bye"... by Borscht

Borscht is one of the many NYC hardcore bands playing the A7 reunion Saturday at the Knitting Factory. Tim at Stupefaction will be playing bass with the band. Here's the original lineup doing "Bye Bye" circa 1983.

Old Hop Devil Grill to reopen today with a Southwestern flavor

The former Hop Devil Grill will reopen today, at least according to the sign on the front of the bar on St. Mark's Place near Avenue A....and their Web site:

Hey everyone, we'll be closed until December 3rd due to some renovations we are doing. As you know, or in case you didn't, we feature Southwestern cuisine on our menu, and so we are taking a little time to make our place a little more southwestern. Same excellent beer, sangria, margaritas and fine tequila. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Hop Devil Grill.

Yesterday, workers were busy putting the final fixins' on the exterior.





I took a quick gander inside...and saw the many taps still lined up along the wall...

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Hop Devil Grill

What's doing at 72 E. Fourth St.?

As we noted early last month, one-story structures in the neighborhood seem to be an endangered species. (And Jeremiah reported last month that Jam Envelope & Paper's one-level storage space is history.)

So I was curious to learn more about the now-familiar scaffolding around the single-level structure at 72. E. Fourth St. (Between Second Avenue and the Bowery.)



Turns out to be an interesting project. In October 2005, New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) purchased the vacant building -- a former New York City storage facility -- “as is,” from New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development for $1.

According to the NYTW Web site, the site will be "a new scenery, costume and prop workshop. Construction is scheduled to begin in the winter 2008 and be completed in 2009. The facility will be designed and built using sustainable design principles and widely accepted LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) standards, optimizing comfort and health benefits to its employees. Manufactured materials with recycled content will be used, and wood produced from sustainably harvested forests will be used exclusively."



By the way, the day I walked by, there was a "stop work order" slapped on the front dated Nov. 25.

Hope for the Hudson's sign?

Was boohooing the other day about the faded Hudson's Army-Navy Store sign getting painted over during the renovation at 103 E. Third Ave. at 13th Street.



Well, maybe the sign will live...? The last time I looked, the painting had continued on the front of the building. The old sign had been spared...so far. Can it be?

An A7 reunion

Tony Rettman has the story in the Voice on the A7 reunion show taking place Saturday at the Knitting Factory.

Located on the corner of Avenue A and East 7th up until its demise in 1984, A7 was — and still is — a place of legend. Agnostic Front, Heart Attack, the Beastie Boys, Urban Waste, the Abused, the Misguided, and countless others regaled the moshing masses at this shoebox-sized spot long before CBGB ever accepted them. And now that the entire Lower East Side is a fuckin' romper room, it's time for a reunion.

Co-promoter Bryan Swirsky considers Saturday night's event (subtitled "One Big Crowd," after an early NYHC compilation) both a celebration and a tribute to the "action-first" style prominent in the East Village underground at the time. "These weren't soft-handed kids from Iowa putting on a show in the most horrible neighborhood in Brooklyn to call it 'authentic,' " he says. "These were runaways involved in bad activity mixing with hardcore punks who were also rubbing elbows with curious suburban kids coming in for the shows. There was no irony dripping from the fangs of cultural vampires. There was no time to be a culture vampire back then. You just did it."

Stop!

First Avenue near Sixth Street. The Cemusa ad-rotation thing was stuck. And Perry Farrell lost his head.

Che in the city

So Guerrilla opens Dec. 12. Benicio Del Toro portrays the Argentine revolutionary.

Here's how a few of the posters for the film have fared around the neighborhood.




Sixth Street and First Avenue.



First Avenue near Fifth Street.

Meanwhile, as City Room reported, there's a life-size statue at the Doris Freedman Plaza — at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 60th Street — by Christian Jankowski that depicts a street performer dressed as Che Guevara.



According to a post on Commentary magazine from Nov. 21: "Why is the most vibrant capitalist hub in the world playing host to a statue of a murderous communist thug? Bailout mania? The Castroesque extension of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s reign? The base of the sculpture is inscribed with a Che quote that my ignorance of Spanish prohibited me from deciphering. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an apology for committing acts of terror and helping to derail a country for nearly half a century."

Then later:

UPDATE: Apparently, the sculpture is not intended to depict Che Guevara, but rather a street performer dressed as Che Guevara. Which I’m sure makes all the difference in the world to the families of Che’s victims.

Looking at a "stunning hi-def branding production" -- a video on YouTube!

From Dexigner:

Anish Kapoor's huge stainless steel balloon sculpture floats gently out of the Manhattan sky to land on-site at 56 Leonard Street, where it is compressed into final form under the descending weight of architects' Herzog & de Meuron's twisted-glass and steel 57-story hi-rise residential tower.

So opens directing and new media studio Tronic's stunning hi-def branding production, which was designed by partners Jessi Seppi and Vivian Rosenthal, themselves Columbia University trained architects, to conceptually mirror the architects' intent while providing the foundation for the luxury properties' marketing program. Music and sound design was provided by Nylon.

Uh. Huh?

Oh.

Thanksgiving at the Aqueduct, Part 2

On Thanksgiving, we headed out to South Ozone Park, Queens, home to the Aqueduct Racetrack, conveniently located by the long-term parking at JFK. Just a short 2-3 hour A train ride away! Actually, I think it's just 21 stops away from where we live in the neighborhood. So, fuck yeah — we called Delancey Car Service to get us there. High rollers! Post time was 11:25 a.m., an hour earlier than usual for the fall meet, which ends on Dec. 31.

Oh, the real fun begins in January with winter racing. You'll know who the diehards are then. As Mark Jacobson wrote in a Feb. 22, 1999, Aqueduct feature for New York magazine:

It is unlikely that the seventeenth-century English aristocracy had Aqueduct winter racing in mind when they imported those three Arabian, Turk, and Barb stallions -- stock from which all Thoroughbreds are said to be descended. Begun in the mid-1970s to keep gambling tax dollars pumping year-round, winter racing has long provided a handy metaphor for the 50-odd-year decline of the erstwhile Sport of Kings. Indeed, with its slew of six-furlong races, its bowls of clamless clam chowder ladled out from steaming steel vats, and the same daily "faces" -- Rastas, Chinese waiters, Korean War vets on disability, etc. -- serial plunging at the $2-exacta windows, Aqueduct seems a perfect spot to divest one last grubstake before tottering off this mortal coil.

Yeah, well, that's the thing that has always struck me about Aqueduct: So many of the regulars there do seem to be merely killing time before dying. It's like a well of loneliness, even among like-minded individuals there intent on betting and drinking.





According to the Aqueduct Web site: "Aqueduct opened on Sept. 27, 1894. In 1941, a new clubhouse and track offices were built. The track was torn down in 1956 and the new "Big A" opened in 1959. In 1975 the inner track was constructed to facilitate winter racing."

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. It was suitably depressing, made even more so by the presence of holiday decorations that brought no warmth to the cavernous space. At least they're trying.



There was actually a fair number of families at the track. That's part of the idea of an early post on the holiday. Come out, watch some races, and leave by 3 p.m. for home and turkey and stuff. And get everyone out of the house while the real work gets done.

For food at the track, there's a Nathan's Famous and Sbarro. Not to mention the Hello Deli. There's a cafetria in the Man 'O War Room. And the Big A grill in the second floor clubhouse.



But! For some old-school charm, you have to visit the Equestris, the white-tablecloth restaurant that offers panoramic views of the track. You can buy six beers at a time. They'll put them in a bucket with ice. The betting windows aren't too far away. (But don't stay up here too long — the real action is downstairs alongside the track.)

I appreciate the air of sophistication put on by the tux-clad, well-coiffed maître d' and bell captain. They make you feel as if you're at 21. Given the rather seedy clientele downstairs, the desciption of the Equestris on the Aqueduct Web site is particularly hilarious:

Elegant Attire has long been a Tradition at Aqueduct Racetrack. Ladies and Gentlemen who honor this tradition are always appreciated.
Recommended Attire: Elegant
Gentlemen should wear suits or sport jackets (no shorts or abbreviated wear); Ladies should wear dresses, skirts or pantsuits.
Acceptable Attire: Business Casual
Management reserves the right to use its discretion to determine acceptable attire. Gentlemen: Collared shirts required. Suits or sports jackets optional. No shorts or abbreviated wear.

The track holds 40,000 specators. On Thanksgiving, they drew 3,200. So there were definitely places where it seemed like it was a little full.



I love the barber shop at the track. Wasn't a lot going on Thanksgiving, though. In fact, I stopped by three different times. The door was open, but the barber wasn't around. Not that I really wanted a haircut. I just like the idea of it. I got my hair cut there once. It's $7. Despite his grandfatherly appearance, the barber was rather miserable and in no mood for track history chitchat. He scolded me a few times. And he smelled like talcum powder. My hair is simple to cut. Yet he still made me look like Fred Gwynne. Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster.



Topeka John always says to bet on horses with Cat in their name. (I forget why — I just do it.)



As I noted yesterday, Aqueduct is becoming a racino, a racetrack that will include a casino (slots only), conference center and big hotel. It promises to be fancy — a business destination for yuk-yuk doofsters in pleated khakis in town for business. This place will never be the same. I understand the need to generate revenue, etc., etc. — just don't have to be happy about it.

Sorry, but I have to quote that Joe Bob Briggs article one more time:

Aqueduct is the kind of urban race track that doesn't really exist anymore in the rest of the country.

I love this place.

State of independence -- and where you can find the East Village of the 1980s today

New York magazine has a handy guide to independent record stores, book shops, galleries, etc., in this week's issue. Of particular interest to me: the record stores, a list that includes Academy Records, Other Music, Second Hand Rose and Hospital Productions. Fine, fine. I still really like Etherea on Avenue A, so let's give them a little love, huh?

Of note is the galleries section. Bushwick gets the following ID by noted art critic Jerry Saltz: "It's the closest thing to the eighties East Village."

Do you mind if we dance with your dates?

From the Times today: the fourth and final article in a series examining the workings of New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. Today's title: Preservation and Development, Engaged in a Delicate Dance

[S]ome preservationists and politicians assert that, under a mayoral administration that has emphasized new construction — from behemoth stadiums to architecturally bold condo towers — big developers have too often been allowed to lead on the dance floor. Some accuse the landmarks commission, charged with guarding the city’s architectural heritage, of backing off too readily when important developers’ interests are at stake.