Last day for the Os Gêmeos mural on Bowery and Houston?

This street mural by Brazilian street artists and identical twins Os Gêmeos went up at the Bowery and Houston last summer... Today is apparently the last day for the mural ... (The Deitch Projects Web site confirms this.) L Magazine (via BoweryBoogie) reported that Shepard Fairey will be the next (and last?) artist to paint the billboard space at this intersection.

HSBC adds the C

Just a follow-up from yesterday's post, in which I hoped that workers at the new HSBC branch at Second Avenue and Ninth Street would forget to add the C...

Sign a petition to reinstate two Nevada Smith's bartenders

As a followup to today's post on Nevada Smith's.... loyal supporters of the two bartenders who were fired now have an online petition... You can access it here.

It reads:

This letter is a response on behalf of a group of loyal Nevada Smiths customers regarding the incident that happened last week, where your bar was closed and fined for being found guilty of serving alcohol to underage customers, and the subsequent events that transpired, seeing Kieron and Ken fired, and Kieron arrested and placed in jail.

We would like to express the shock and ill feeling we have over your behavior in dealing with the situation. Nevadas has built its reputation and strong customer base through the hard work of the likes of two individuals in question. These men are what Nevadas is all about and to take them out of the equation will leave a gaping hole in the establishment which will be impossible to fill.

You will find below the signatures from the people who want Kieron Slattery and Ken Foley to be reinstated as bartenders at Nevada Smiths. If they are not, we will stand together in taking our business elsewhere.

Yours truly,

Loyal Nevada Smiths customers

[Image via]

Did you leave a briefcase with $78,383 inside on the Lower East Side?

You can always count on Craigslist...

Suitcase with $78,383 inside (Lower East Side)

Date: 2010-03-28, 5:10AM EDT

I thought I would at least post this. If you can describe the other items inside I will return. If not I am taking to the Police and after no one claims it I think I can legally own this. It is real hard posting this. But I know it is the right thing to do.

So you write back with the descriptions.

Color of Briefcase:
How many combinations on the suitcase/ bill types:
Other items inside:

My girlfriend is shaking her head and staring at me as I post this....i think it is the right thing to do.

[Update: Yep, it's a fake post. The Voice has the story. It was a social experiment!]

New ad for Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand Hotels targets the white, skinny and fabulous demographic

So the Grand Hotels NYC, the company behind the Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand Hotels, are releasing a series of Web-only video ads.

Here is the first one.



Here's a little explanation on the ad by Greg Foley, creative director of Visionaire, consulting creative & design director of VMAN and V Magazine, via Randburg:

Drawing inspiration from Warhol’s celebrity silk screens, Foley filmed in stark black and white and added colour post production. The camera follows two characters through the New York Hotels’ beloved downtown Manhattan neighborhoods, featuring the local architecture and historic cobblestone streets. In just 60 seconds, Foley has succeeded in capturing the energies of these two distinct neighborhoods – which is no accident; it is clear, the locale is the real focus. “It’s a little love note to SoHo and TriBeCa neighborhoods. We set out to ‘rediscover’ them through the eyes of two visitors and a party of their friends”. These two visitors take the form of a stylish muse, dressed in Doo Ri and wrapped in a Burberry trench and a cool auteur clad in a slender Hugo Boss suit, wielding an antique Bolex camera. The protagonists find their way to each other to the rhythmic beat of “Nonsense in the Dark" by Filthy Dukes.

Well, given the 4,763 hotels that have opened (or are opening) in the LES and elsewhere down here, the Grand Hotels may need to let people know they're still kicking or something. About five years ago, a friend stayed at the Soho Grand while on business. I was surprised that so many people were wearing sweats in the bar

Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches leaving the East Village?

There's now a "store for rent" sign over Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches on Second Street just off Avenue A...




Usually this is a sign the business below is closing or moving. (Oh, and they are still open: These photos were taken before their business hours.)

I sent an e-mail to Nicky's to ask what was happening... a member of the Dang family responded: "I am not sure if my family will keep that location in the East Village but we will find out in the next month or two."

The family member confirmed that they are currently working on a new location in the Financial District....



And they also have a location in Boerum Hill.

At Nevada Smith's, trouble in soccer paradise after a popular bartender is fired

Last Wednesday, soccer mecca Nevada Smith's on Third Avenue was shuttered for a day due to alleged underage drinking... The bar reopened Thursday.



Meanwhile, a Nevada Smith's regular shared what has been happening there of late... Kieron Slattery, a longtime popular bartender at Nevada Smith's, was fired by Paddy, one of the two owners. As the regular said, Keiron was fired because he refused to pay the fine the bar incurred -- upwards of $2,500. According to one side of the story, Paddy was passing the fine on to the bartenders who were on duty when the summonses were issued. Making matters worse, Kieron was arrested for trespassing when he showed up for work the next day. (One person familiar with the situation said that he refused to come out from behind the bar when asked.)

Now, as a result of Kieron's departure, several longtime regulars are boycotting Nevada Smith's, choosing to watch games at venues such as Central Bar on Ninth Street instead. [Update: Bartender Ken Foley was also fired...]

There is also a Facebook page created for Slattery titled "Pay the Fine! Not Fine the Workers!"

There's an alternate take on all this in a post at the New York Gooners.

Bottom line right now: There's a lot of tension at Nevada Smith's as all this is getting worked out... in addition, those rumors persist that the bar will be moving to a larger location nearby ... and that the bar's current location, 74 Third Ave., will be razed...

Update: Sign a petition to reinstate the two bartenders here.

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

There's a new listing for two townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... 12 bedrooms in the two homes... and both buildings are going for $4.6 million... According to the listing:

Extraordinary Opportunity. Two side by side townhouses that have 46 feet of street frontage and a 46 foot by 50 foot rear garden await your vision, dreams and renovation. Extensive original details throughout the townhouses. These properties will be delivered vacant, are currently over 7,000 square feet and come with an additional 10,000 square feet of air rights. Beautifully located across community gardens and on a charming block. This could also be a development site or for institutional use.

So, original details aside, someone will buy these to develop some high-end housing for that 10,000 square feet of air rights... and what about the current tenants...?

Give me a C!

The HSBC branch continues to take shape at Second Avenue and Ninth Street... and I'm hoping that they forget to add the "C" in the sign on the Ninth Street side...

Have you seen Gene?

Fliers are up along Avenue C...

A feel good story about Alternative Side Parking

A little something for car owners from the Streetwise: Parking in Manhattan blog:

[T]his week we are heading into a such a rare harmony of Alternate Side Parking Suspended days and other OFF days that, barring the usual unexpected street construction, movie truck monopoly, and last minute rescheduling of major religious holidays, we do not have to move the car from Monday March 29 to Thursday April 8! This is truly a great time to be alive. It is a wondrous miracle of Spring.

As the Streetwise proprietor Tom H. said, "This week we are heading into such a perfect storm of Alternate Side Parking Suspended days and other OFF days that we will not have to move the car for 10 straight days!"

Blogger is eating my photos

In case you're wondering where in the hell are all the photos here ... Blogger/Google is experiencing some difficulties per this:

Monday, March 29, 2010
Our image backend is experiencing problems which may affect the display and/or uploading of photos. We are working to resolve this and will update this post when we have more information.

Yet this photo is showing up.



[AP Photo/Evan Agostini via.]