The ol' model starving stickers are back

Or maybe the stickers never went away? On 14th Street near Fourth Avenue. And what exactly is she doing in those rose bushes?

Graffiti artist salutes new, undiscovered talent

Fresh graffiti spotted on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

A new convenient store for First Avenue

The former Health Conscious Express at 45 First Avenue between Second Street and Third Street is becoming a convenient store...convenient for people who don't feel like walking four storefronts to the south to shop at NY Village Deli.

And the new place will deliver, the sign says.

Life goes to Times Square

Thanks to frequent EV Grieve commenter Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk, author of "Times Queer," for passing along a link to a treasure trove of photos from Life magazine showing Times Square from 1950...



...to 1986...

What's new on East Fifth Street?

Might become a popular stop before Dart League night at the Ace.

Dead end on Avenue B?

We've chronicled the empty storefronts that line Avenue B — 22 vacant spaces still by my last count. Sure, there are signs of life in a few of the empty storefronts, but... Meanwhile, this gave us pause last night: Someone inexplicably (ominously?) placed a "dead end" sign for those driving south down Avenue B to see...




The sign is supposed to be facing east on 13th Street.



Meanwhile, the Tibetan specialty shop Lhasa Boutique near Fourth Street has offically closed.



By the way, I don't want to give the impression that tumbleweeds are blowing down the Avenue... Hardly. There are still the unnamed ones that attract the weekend jackasses..... And there are plenty of highlights... a few neighborhood colorful mom-and-pop shops remain (Metropolitan TV, Raul's Candy)...and fine places such as Mona's, Bee Liquors, Lakeside Lounge, B-Side, Life Cafe, 7B, Manitoba's, Mama's Bar (and Mama's on Third Street), Zaitzeff....

Product placement

Staying on Avenue B for a moment...The folks at the overpriced Mercadito Cantina proudly display their review from Time Out. Which happened to appear in the magazine's annual Sex Issue.



Hmm...I don't think I'll be ordering the Flan De Cajeta tonight.

More signs of the recession: At the Blarney Stone

On Fulton Street in the Financial District.

For anyone who has ever wanted to spend the day with Barbara Corcoran

Yesterday, of course, was Barbara Corcoran's 60th birthday. (Hope that you remembered to buy some property!) Anyway, quite by accident, I stumbled upon a Corcoran feature in the Times from March 5, 2000, titled What Do You Do All Day?

Let's take a look, shall we!

Wednesday, Jan. 19

6:00 a.m. Lana Zinger, Russian-born personal trainer, arrives for morning workout.

6:30 Tommy, 6, watches his mother work out. Between crunches, requests reading from "Harry Potter." Request denied.

7:00 Makeup artist arrives.

7:15 Dresses (brown Christian Lacroix suit with Herms scarf).

7:45 Takes Tommy to school in cab. It is absolutely freezing.

8:10 Arrives at Tavern on the Green to give speech at her company's awards breakfast.

8:15 Talks janitor into letting her practice her speech in a broom closet.

8:55 Emerges feeling confident, but "like Aunt Clara on 'Bewitched' -- dusty and smelling of Lysol."

9:00 At podium in front of 500 sales agents, clinks glass to get attention. Glass breaks.

Boring!

1:00 Sharon Baum walks in dressed in fur-trimmed suit with faux-diamond "Sold" pin. Corcoran says, "Boy, if you're not rich you certainly look it." Departs in Baum's Rolls-Royce for lunch at the Lobster Club. Shares creamed spinach, biscuits, French fries with Baum. Discusses whether the market will survive if the dot-com companies take a hit, how even Wall Streeters with millions in cash can't find apartments.

2:45 Departs restaurant. Gets call from office saying that the seller of the nine-room Park Avenue apartment she's been wanting to buy for herself finally wants to make a deal. Phones from car. ("I'm so nervous, I have to stop thinking like a sweaty-palmed buyer and start thinking like a broker.") Strategizes with Baum about how to be the winning bidder. Baum tells her to get as much information as she can about the family. Makes the call to the Park Avenue seller. "Oh, God, I got disconnected. Does anyone else have a cell phone?" Everyone in the car has a cell phone, including the driver. Still can't get through. Is now very hyper. Stays in the car and keeps trying while Baum looks at multimillion-dollar "maisonette" on upper Fifth Avenue.

4:00 Driver drops Corcoran off at gym, where she meets Becky Wood, Tommy's nanny, and watches Tommy swim.

Another bar felled by large yellow sticker

At Duke's on Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. ONLY temporary. The DOH sign was posted March 7; renovations were behind done behind the closed door. Had not reopened yet as of last night.

No racino for now at Aqueduct

"Plans to build a casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens have collapsed, the latest victim of the financial turmoil that has tightened the credit markets. Delaware North, the Buffalo company that was contracted to build and operate the casino, has not been able to get the financing to raise the $370 million it was to pay the state upfront, officials said. That leaves the state with yet another hole to plug in its ever-leakier budget." (The New York Times)

Previously on EV Grieve:

Thanksgiving at Aqueduct

Thanksgiving at the Aqueduct, Part 2

Noted

At the uptown F at 14th Street.