Ta-da: It's Tonda

Signage appears at the recently shuttered E.U. on East Fourth Street near Avenue B.



As Eater noted, Tonda will be an Italian trattoria and pizza place...and work appears to be going on behind the papered windows...

Love for sale

After Love Saves the Day closed for good on Jan. 18, I wondered how long it would take for the LSD signage to come down...





It was there Saturday...but was gone yesterday morning....

Unlucky dog?

As Alex noted Sunday, the pooch who kept watch over the now-shuttered Spots' Cafe and Good Dog on St. Mark's Place is no longer on his perch....





In the comments on Alex's post, Jill said that she saw the pup in Chinatown...but, without photographic evidence, can we be sure that it's the same one? I'm actually curious what happened to the big fellow...I've softened my stance on him/her. Maybe I will miss the thing...At first, the dog seemed to represent the continued Disneyfication/froyogurtization of St. Mark's...serving as a metaphor for what was wrong with the neighborhood: big and stupid...Now, given the state of things, I hope the poor thing finds a good home. He/she just wanted to be loved.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Not such a hot spot

[Missing pooch photo by Alex via Flaming Pablum. Head on dog photo via The Voice]

Noted

A new (yes, right?) Neighborhood News feature in New York magazine included the following...

Remembering the Jones Diner

I couldn't let my previous post on the corner of Lafayette and Great Jones pass without an appreciation of the former occupant of the southeast corner (the one with the new hotel) -- the Jones Diner. We lost this one in September 2002.

Here's a passage from a piece that Tom Robbins did for the Voice back in January 2002:

Jones Diner is in an area zoned for manufacturing because, when it was built, the big cast-iron and federal-style brick buildings along Lafayette, Great Jones, and neighboring Bond and East 4th streets were filled with woodworking and machine shops and small garment plants. At breakfast and lunch, workers swarmed through the diner's narrow door, plunking themselves on the green padded stools and into the brown booths. Most of those businesses are long since gone; however, their lofts are now occupied by well-heeled residents and swank high-tech offices.

But Jones Diner has endured. Its $3 breakfast specials (juice included) and the never changing plastic-lettered menus above the big gleaming coffee tureens, offering meat loaf sandwiches for $3.25 and pot roast for $4.50, still lure passing delivery workers as well as employees of the neighborhood's last industrial outposts, the lumber yard down the block and the muffler shop across the street. There is also a loyal cadre of local residents who, in a swath of urban landscape that boasts three Starbucks, an Au Bon Pain, a Wendy's, a McDonald's, and an ever expanding universe of mid- to high-end restaurants, still find the Jones the most comfortable dining place within walking distance for simple meals.

For further reading:
The Fate of a Fabled Greasy Spoon Raises Questions About Landmarking (New York Times)

Former site of the Great Jones Diner (Flaming Pablum)

Jones Diner - Lafayette St. (NYC.com)

[Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images]

It's not your imagination

From the Times.

Another corner still primed to fall in NoHo

The Meineke Car Care Center on the southwest corner of Lafayette and Great Jones is still for sale. Haven't been by this corner for some time...I recall talk of either a condo, and later, a hotel, for this space back in the summer of 2007...I thought it was a done deal.




According to the Massey Knakal Web site:

The property has Landmark’s Approval for a 6-story steel and glass building for residential, commercial or hotel-use. The development opportunity at 372 Lafayette Street has tremendous potential. The location alone sets the site apart as there is tremendous demand for this type of development project. This property represents a truly exceptional opportunity to capitalize on the strong demand for a premier residential, commercial, or mixed-use development site within the trendiest retail corridor in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan.

The property is listed at $4.4 million. It could look something like this:



Meanwhile, here's what it looks like now...enjoy it while you can...




Meanwhile, across the street, work continues on the Great Jones Hotel. Which the sign says will be completed in February 2010.

Meanwhile, farther east on Great Jones...

Given the changes this area has seen of late, I wonder how much longer great little corner lots such as this one on Great Jones and the Bowery will be around...(I tend to worry about such things.)





And signs like this always give me pause...makes it seem as if Great Jones Cafe is up for grabs...

Faced with a lack of snow, the Penistrator uses a different canvas to showcase his work

On Avenue B near Sixth Street.

Seeing more of Seymour (er, Butcher Bay)

The plastic and plywood came down at the former Seymour Burton location -- now called Butcher Bay -- on 511 E. Fifth St. this past week.



Given the size and scope of the project, we thought they were renovating the Sistine Chapel inside or something.

Chipping away at Kim's

Workers continue to dismantle the former Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's...

Friday:


Saturday:


Sunday:


Wonder how much longer the cover art for the Noisettes and Goldfrapp will stay up there...

Looking at 131 E. Seventh St.

Last November, we did a post on the former Italian cafe Affettati at 131 E. Seventh St. ... which was to become the East Village Pie Lounge. A few weeks ago we noticed that the Pie Lounge-coming-soon sign was gone.

Now, there's this...