Sniff and the tears

Filming a cafe scene at the former Astor Place Starbucks

And hey! James Van Der Beek called. He wants his "Dawson's Creek" look back.

Third Avenue, 11:01 a.m., March 19

Oh, there is a spring break vibe outside. Feels like one of those days. Shenanigans galore.

Mary Ann's seized; Fifth Street and Second Avenue a jinxed location for eateries?

As Eater first reported last night, Mary Ann's on Second Avenue at Fifth Street has been seized...




Tough corner these days, apparently... as you'll recall, the Moonstruck Diner on the northeast corner briefly closed in February... And on the northwest corner, Rhong Tiam East/Kurve...and we don't even know where to begin... Kurve was briefly shuttered last November

Best sidewalk cafe from which to start your own restaurant

As we exclusively reported, it will be sunny and warmish-for-March out today and tomorrow. Which means many people will be taking to sidewalk cafes for eats and drinks and stuff. And there are many fine sidewalk cafes hereabouts ... and many of them make it awfully easy to borrow something from a table while walking by...as if management thinks they're operating somewhere other than a huge city....




To our continued amazement, nothing beats Gemma at the Bowery Hotel for pure potential lawlessness... Management really makes it tempting to borrow a table setting or two... At certain parts of the day, things are left unattended...



We've walked by so many times that, by now, we could have enough stuff to open our own restaurant... (patrons not included)



And we'll be charging $32 for the scrambled eggs. Not that we approve of serving $32 eggs ... or borrowing stuff from restaurants -- best to leave the stuff alone.

Related reading:
A Sign of Spring on Avenue A : L.E.S. Jewels Absconds With a Pitcher Full of Sangria From Yuca Bar's Window ... and Drinks It All Too (Neither More Nor Less)

Black Market opens its gates

Last month, the former Pizza Shop on Avenue A became Black Market... And the owners reportedly planned to keep the iron gates down even when they were open...

Now, though, the gates are up... making it look more inviting for commoners who aren't Bono or Michael Stipe or the Olsen Twins...



Meanwhile, given the recent parade of bold-faced names, a few people wondered if any of them ventured over to Ray's afterwards... perhaps they read about his troubles in the Times and want to help out a neighborhood institution...

Auditing the Federal Reserve's response to graffiti

As we reported last week, someone tagged the Federal Reserve building in the Financial District last week with the words "audit me." We watched last Thursday as a Fed Graffiti Removal team worked dilligently to remove the offending comment.



When we checked back in, the always-classy poster board and duct tape were back up on the wall...along with a few warning pylons.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Federal Reserve tagged

East River Park Bandshell 1992-93

I really like these photos of the old East River Park Bandshell (circa 1992-93) that were taken by Jen Williams (aka beatricethecat)...





The venue was refurbished in 2001 with, randomly enough, the help of Erin Brockovich.

And Jenn has more photos on her Flickr page.

Painting of Ronald McDonald's long-lost half brother surfaces on Avenue C

Spotted at 11th Street and Avenue C.

Reminders: Bake-in Rally at City Hall today

Parents whose children attend the East Village Community School, one of four progressive public schools in the East Village, are among the organizers of a bake-in (not that kind) at City Hall this afternoon.

A quick overview:

On Thursday March 18th there will be a protest against Regulation A-812, limiting the sales of home-baked goods at public school bake sales. It’s from 4-6pm at City Hall. Activist parents will have two tables: one with home-baked goods, and another with the “approved” items: Doritos, Fritos, Pop-Tarts, and Snapple.

EV resident Marjorie Ingall has more on the issue on her blog. And there's more information here on NYC Green Schools.

City workers remove holiday lights before Easter comes calling

City workers have arrived at Tompkins Square Park this morning to remove the holiday lights... really.

Previously on EV Grieve:
On St. Patrick's Day, a Christmas miracle in Tompkins Square Park

When High Society hits the Doghouse Saloon

So you may or may not know about CW's docu-reality show "High Society," which, according to the description, follows "Tinsley Mortimer, New York's most talked-about 'Park Avenue Princess,' as she and her circle of often-controversial friends circulate through New York's most prestigious black-tie affairs, outrageous parties and fashion exclusives, with never-before-seen access from behind the velvet rope."

In last night's episode, resident alleged racist homophobe and dumb-thing-sayer Jules Kirby went to the Doghouse Saloon on Orchard Street. And Emily Exton at Entertainment Weekly recaps some excerpts from Jules:

“Every now and again I like to go downtown and like hang out with poor guys.”

“For a couple of uptown girls it is like sort of slumming going downtown. We like to toy with guys. Like, a girl who walks into a bar with heels there, it’s like unheard of.”

“It’s fun to go hang out with blue collar people at a scummy bar. They do fratty things like play beer pong.”

“The best thing about going to like a downtown bar like that is that it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day; we can just like leave after sort of screwing with them.”

Outside, her friend Cleo asked a passerby for a cigarette, Jules quickly scolded her, saying: “People like don’t have jobs and stuff down here!”

If this was scripted for Jules, then it's lame. We can do better! Oh, and if she really said this?