Lil' Monsters opening soon on East 10th Street (cute kitties alert!)

Sounds like a fitting name for a bar around here... But as the sign says here on the storefront at 279 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, Lil' Monsters will specialize in pet care and animal rescue...



And cute kitties alert in the front window...




And please note...



They have a Web site.

Pet hotel opening on Avenue B

Paws & Relax will be near 13th Street. Right across the way from the Copper Building.

It was a balmy 44 last evening

...when we spotted two intrepid diners eating outside at Yuca Bar, Seventh Street and Avenue A...the diner with her back to the camera was wearing a hooded parka thingee.

Reminders tonight: The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited

The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited
CUNY-Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave., Manhattan, Elebash Recital Hall

Join panelists:
Joyce Mendelsohn, author
Annie Polland, the Tenement Museum
Clayton Patterson, photojournalist and author
Eric Ferrara, the Lower East Side History Project

Joyce Mendelsohn’s "The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited," first published in 2001 and is being re-released by Columbia University Press in a revised and expanded edition, including a new section on the Bowery. Panelists will discuss the neighborhood's venerable churches, synagogues and settlement houses as well as the breakneck changes that have taken place. Transformed from historic to hip – aged tenements sit next to luxury apartment towers, and boutiques, music clubs, trendy bars and upscale restaurants take over spaces once occupied by bargain shops, bodegas, and ethnic eateries.

*RSVP FOR TICKET AVAILABILITY

Date: December 2, 2009
Time: 6:30 PM-8:30 PM
Phone: 212-817-8471
E-mail: gotham@gc.cuny.edu

Check out the Web site for more details.

Renovation watch at the former Tribe space

Every time we walk by the former Tribe space on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place, something is just a little bit different...over the course of a few days, we saw...





...and now, EV Grieve reader dmbream noted yesterday:

Hanging copperplate this morning at Tribe. Plywood taken down. Also jack-hammering out what were covered up window openings on the St. Mark's side of the place.

Here's a shot yesterday via les pensées insouciantes:



Anyway, as far as we know, the Crooked Tree folks are opening a tapas bar in this space.

Previously hereabouts.

Fare warning

From the EV Grieve inbox:

Dear God. There are Lady GaGa ads on the screens in the cabs.

[Image via Eric Alba.]

Welcome back

Now that most everyone is back from the Thanksgiving holiday... Per the Glum Friend of EV Grieve, who had to travel, this is the first best part about returning to NYC. The ride back in from JFK or LaGuardia... and the first glimpse of the skyline from the road....




The second best part is likely when the cab drops him right off at his favorite bar...

Friday night on St. Mark's Place

According to witnesses on Friday night, the fellow here was seen on St. Mark's Place between Third Avenue and Second Avenue.



He was having a difficult time standing...and not nodding off...



Soon, paramedics arrived, and took him to St. Vincent's.





Photo Credit: Vautrin

9th Precinct sees slight increase in overall crime for year; 74 of 76 NYC police precincts see lower numbers

As the Times noted yesterday:

Police Department statistics show that the number of major crimes is continuing to fall this year in nearly every category, upending the common wisdom that hard times bring more crime.

According to the article, there has been a decrease in overall crime in all but two of the city’s 76 police precincts.

So how about our 9th Precinct? I took a look at the city's weekly crime statistics for the period ending Sunday.

As you can see, there is actually an increase in crime in several categories. The numbers of rapes (12 in 2009; 8 in 2008) and burglaries (267 vs. 192) have increased in 2009 compared to 2008. The total number of crime complaints has increased from 1,363 last year to 1,402 this year. (And at least six of those reported crimes can be chalked up to the "Spiderman-like thief" who burglarized the same East 10th Street building earlier this year...)



However, as we've said before, it's important to keep these numbers in some perspective. For instance, robberies in the 9th Precinct have decreased by 80 percent since 1990.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Post notes a "90 PERCENT SURGE IN BURGLARIES" in the East Village

East Fifth Street suddenly has new views

A new listing popped up Trulia (via HotPads) the other day for a $1 million condo on East Fifth Street in the 10009 zip .... complete with a Google street view of Fifth Street and Avenue A.

And the photos that accompanied the listing looked like this...



... with hotties in the pool and steam room!



Obviously a mistake giving the description is for something swank in Long Island City. Or maybe that last bender at Sophie's lasted a little longer than I remembered.

City leaders take another step toward making NYC completely sanitized

From the City Room:

Citing high rates of graffiti, the City Council voted unanimously on Monday to gradually ban the use of rolldown metal security gates, a move that would eliminate what has been an enduring if forbidding feature of the urban streetscape.

Image via City Rag.

Headline writer in deep shit

Up at the Post, there's the sad story of an 81-year-old Lower East Side woman who was critically injured during a fire in her Grand Street apartment. And here's the paper's treatment of the story online...



Hmm, I always appreciate direct headlines that tell me what the story is going to be about, but...