Posts that I never got around to posting: "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!"

Got my first glimpse (like a month ago now!) of the Public Art Fund's latest exhibition at City Hall Park. It's by British artist Richard Woods. Went up at the end of June. And it gives me that "Three Little Pigs" vibe for some reason.




For further reading:
New City Hall Santaland-looking guardhouses: Cute or crazy? (Daily News)

Posts that I never got around to posting: Random passage from Where Thin People Roam, and Sometimes Even Eat

In the Times:

Leaving with a bottle of spring water was Gail Zweigenthal, a former editor of Gourmet magazine, where she had to balance Manhattan’s twin obsessions — eating well and looking good. “I exercise so I can eat,” said Ms. Zweigenthal (5-foot-3 ½, 114; like many residents of the Upper East Side, she was quicker to give her weight than her age).

Posts that I never got around to posting: One day you're a who's who, the next day your plaque is in the trash

Posts that I never got around to posting: Couch/body-in-carpet combo

On Avenue B.

Here comes the fear again: “THEY’RE BAAAACCCCKKKK”

Eater and Grub Street have the news on the rebirth of LeSouk on Avenue B ... And here Grub Street's take:

We just received an e-mail with the subject line “THEY’RE BAAAACCCCKKKK,” and the content is indeed enough to strike fear into the hearts of East Villagers. On Monday, Le Souk will reopen its doors after six months on hiatus following the loss of its liquor license and a successful lawsuit against the SLA. But residents of Avenue B, take solace: A spokesperson tells us that while the operation will be more or less the same at first, it may become more of a restaurant once its second, clubbier location in the Horus space at 510 Laguardia, Le Souk Harem (which will serve French-Moroccan cuisine but with more of an emphasis on the French), opens around Fashion Week. Details are still up in the air (we’ll keep you posted), but this much is certain: The beast has arisen.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: LeSouk to continue haunting the East Village

Ninth Precinct meets with residents to discuss quality-of-life issues surrounding the Cooper Square Hotel

Deputy Inspector Dennis Dequatro, commanding officer of the Ninth Precinct, met last night with local residents who are concerned about the ongoing quality-of-life issues surrounding the Cooper Square Hotel.

According to Dequatro, Cooper Square Hotel officials have called for a meeting with the Ninth Precinct. The call occurred after the NYPD, State Liquor Authority, Health Department and other agencies visited the hotel on July 2, Dequatro said. Several violations were found, though he couldn't recall the specifics at that moment. (According to public records, the Department of Health issued the hotel 45 violations during a visit on July 16.)

Before hooking up with the hotel, police officials wanted to hear complaints about the hotel firsthand from residents.

Dequatro quickly discussed the nearly four pages of stipulations (they begin on Page 7 here) that the hotel agreed to in order to get CB3 to approve the liquor license. And Dequatro explained the difference between laws and stipulations, which are really just a civil agreement. Or something. If there's a violation of the stipulations, then the only recourse is to notify the State Liquor Authority (SLA), who will take it under advisement.

"Other agencies have allowed [the hotel] to open a business next to your windows," Dequatro said. "It's not going to be an easy thing to enforce...to correct. We can't work magic."

The residents, nearly 20 total (also in attendance -- Stuart Zamsky, head of the East Fifth Street Block Association, and Susan Stetzer, CB3 district manager) then chimed in with their stories.

One resident talked about the blowout this past Saturday afternoon on the hotel's increasingly notorious 21st-floor penthouse, apparently available for private events. The thump-thump-thump was deafening down on Fifth Street, the resident said. "No one could stand out there there without getting their eardrums blown out." When she went to complain, a hotel hostess dismissed her with the wave of a hand, she said.



Regarding the Saturday bash, another resident said he went to the hotel to complain, but no one would summon the manager for him. Anyway, the employee told the resident that he couldn't do anything because the hotel was paid $20,000 for use of the penthouse.

Another party raged Sunday night until 11, a resident said. A Sixth Street occupant said, "You get girls screaming off the penthouse. I can hear what the DJ is saying." And she lives on the first floor.

While Dequatro is aware of noise issues from the balcony and back garden, he was surprised to hear about the 21st-floor penthouse. "I wasn't aware this space existed until 10 minutes ago," he said. Some residents said that they were never told about plans for a penthouse during community meetings with hotel officials before the Cooper Square opened.



Meanwhile, down below: One Sixth Street garden-level resident said hotel guests throw cigarette butts and trash over the fence and into her yard.

Dequatro took the names of any residents willing to let the NYPD into their homes with sound meters during a hotel penthouse party (or elsewhere). However, the NYPD sound meters can't measure the bass coming from the speakers on the penthouse -- a source of many of the residents' complaints. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has the sound meters for this, though that agency, with a smaller staff, takes longer to respond, Dequatro said.

No date has been set for a meeting between the Ninth Precinct and the hotel.

In the end, Dequatro said he knew what residents were going through. "I understand that there are frustrations...I understand that there are tensions."

For further reading:
Residents discuss the problems created by the Cooper Square Hotel: Meanwhile, across the street, a party for a sports car (EV Grieve)

Notes from the Backside (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Party at Cooper Square Hotel (EV Grieve)

Another view of the Mystery Lot

Just wanted to follow-up on the Mystery Lot post from late July. Wanted to have a record of the lot from the 14th Street angle looking south toward 13th Street.







And thanks to everyone who left comments on the post. Chris Flash had a chance to look around at the interior of this property's former occupant, the Jefferson Theater. "The place was in horrible condition, but definitely could have been rehabbed. The lay-out was tight but perfect for sight lines and accoustics -- I could feel the history still living inside there."

A shame.

Dirt candy

As we've pointed out, seemingly everything was tossed out after Max Brenner/Chocolate by the Bald Man abruptly closed last week.

Meanwhile, EV Grieve reader Donald Stahl passed along this photo he took last Friday outside the former Bald Man's home...



Not even the gummi bears or marshmallows were spared.

Dumpster of the day

Outside Bounce Deuce.

City funding likely not behind new public art

On Avenue B near Eighth Street.

92 Seventh Street gets a sidewalk shed

...for the six-story residential building ...getting squeezed in here near First Avenue ... And the new building now sports its first floor.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Looking at the last days of Coney Island? (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Ken Mac is back, and shooting in the Meatpacking District (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Shopping under the Manhattan Bridge (Hunter-Gatherer)

Restaurant supply store actually opening on the Bowery (BoweryBoogie)

Eateries dealing with liquor license delays (The New York Times, via Eater)

"Bollywood Hero" flash mob in Times Square at 2:30 (Esquared)

How's their football team?: Welcome to Stuy Town U (NYPress via StuyTown Lux Living)

Looking at "The Blank Generation" (Stupefaction)

OTB doomed? (The Huffington Post)

Filming "Eat, Pray, Love" in the neighborhood (via)