Is the "best the East Village has to offer" worth the hike?

Here's a two (plus!) bedroom home at 125 E Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue that's new to the market... it's going for $825,000... take a look!





See if you can find what might be considered the catch for some people in the listing...

Magnificent and chic, this pre war beauty is the best the East Village has to offer. This spectacular renovation is worth every step of the sixth floor walk up. Flexible floor plan and attention to detail have created an unparalleled level of urban sophistication. Can be used as a three bedroom apartment or a two bedroom with a home office or seperate dining room. Enjoy your spectacular chefs kitchen featuring top of the line appliances including a Miele dishwasher, Sub Zero refrigerator and wine cooler. Gaze over the historic roof lines of neighboring 19th century tenement buildings while your south facing windows fill your apartment with generous sunlight. Gorgeous bathroom features original light fixtures and large claw foot tub with custom walnut vanity and cabinet, Jado faucet and glazed tiles. Apartment also features hi ceilings, ebonized oak floors, great closet space. Details galore, this apartment is a must see! Building offers laundry room, bike room and storage.

See for yourself Sunday during an open house from 1-2 p.m.

A rebirth of hookah hotspot Layaly?

B&T hookah hotspot Layaly at 98 Avenue B near Sixth Street was shut down by the cops last fall... In the last week or so, workers have started renovating the building...




I asked the man in charge if the bar was reopening. He said, no, that they were just renovating the front of the building. Hmm. There aren't any work permits posted ... and nothing has seemingly been filed with the city -- I can find no new records of work permits with the DOB. Either the work is being done illegally... or there's some other explanation, which I look forward to hearing...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

A mystery home on Charles Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

More fun under the Avenue A sidewalk shed (Neither More Nor Less)

Thurston Moore's school of white noise (Flaming Pablum)

Remembering Wendy O. Williams (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

What taxi date can tell us about NYC (Streetsblog)

Barf — a Subway to open on Delancey and Allen (BoweryBoogie)

Check out the Film Forum's newspaper movie series (Nonetheless)

Cooper Union's outdoor urinal (EV Heave — warning, page contains barf photos too)

We love John Penley's photo blog (JPenleyPix)

... and NYC Taxi Photo

... and Greenwich Village Daily Photo

Pee phone now charging (East Village Corner ... Musings by Melanie)

Checking out the new Thai place on Clinton Street (With Leftovers)

An EV Grieve reader sent along these shots from lower Fifth Avenue... where it seems as if the animals...



...are lining up for the bistro truck...



Walid menswear is going out of business on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... always liked that Walid sign...




We also received several e-mails about gunshots last evening...

"A little after 6 we were walking on Avenue A in front of Benny's when we heard a loud POP. Someone in front of us ducked a little bit. There was some nervous laughter. Someone eating outside of Benny's said, "Was that a gun" to his friends. It turned out someone popped a tire on their bike."

Also:

"I was on Stanton and Attorney last night when I heard two gunshots coming from about a block east. I couldn't see what was going on out the window, but I saw people looking that way, and then the undercover cops and a patrol car headed that way. Anyway, I was curious to find out if you heard anything about it."

And Malcolm McClaren has died at age 64. He managed the New York Dolls and Sex Pistols, among many other things...

Nicky's staying in the East Village; Graceland moving out?

Following up on our scoop last week about Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches on Second Street possibly closing up shop...



An EV Grieve reader talked with another member of the Dang family. Per the reader:

"They will not be closing until the next 2 - 3 months ... it is up to the landlord. He says that they are going to be moving just a block or 2 away from the current EV location and will have more space, less rent and still play 'The Simpsons.' The FiDi location will be run by his sister."

And this:

"He also said that the deli around the corner, Graceland (not the high-end one) is going to be forced to close as well as the landlord wants a substantial amount more in rent."



Which, I suppose, makes sense: Graceland and Nicky's share the same building...

Here comes NYU's superblocks

Lincoln Anderson has an in-depth piece in this week's issue of The Villager on NYU's expansion plans. To the story we go!:

After New York University’s NYU 2031 expansion plan was recently leaked — by an unknown source — to two local newspapers, one of the newspapers’ articles, and most of the subsequent media reports, focused on the university’s relatively far-off hopes to develop up to 1 million square feet of facilities on Governors Island. The Governors Island angle was admittedly the “sexy” urban planning story.

However, missing in the hyped-up coverage was the fact that N.Y.U. plans to start immediately on its expansion plans for its two South Village superblocks, part of its strategy of adding 1.5 million to 2 million square feet of space in its Washington Square-area campus “core.”

Read the whole article here.

And about that leak!

One thing related to NYU that isn't getting bigger

Taavo Somer's new place sporting wood on the Bowery

Work is getting serious now at 325 Bowery, the future home of Taavo Somer's "classic American diner." The plywood is all around now...



A recap from Fork in the Road and the Nov. 16 CB3/SLA meeting: "Somer plans to fully utilize the bi-level space, creating a 63-seat restaurant with a 38-foot counter on the first floor and a 19-foot bar on the second. His application met with a show of support from members of the community, who bemoaned the current state of the abandoned restaurant, which has become a haven for drug deals and muggings."

Previously on EV Grieve:
325 Bowery gets scrubbed and painted

Under wraps: Work starts on two high-profile new East Village eateries

Before these buildings are scrubbed clean

With the arrival of the fancy "classic American diner" at the Bowery and Second Street ... the building was certainly going to be spiffed up to not look so urban...

Before!



This week!



It seems as if more and more of the untidy little spaces that give the neighborhood a little remaining grit are being scrubbed clean... such as the Verizon building last week.

So, before it all goes away, let's appreciate some of what remains...

Signs of warm weather: DBGB sheds its winter doors

This winter!



This week!



Can't you just smell the sausage?

Abandoned air conditioners ready to cool you off in AC heaven

As I am exclusively reporting, it's pretty warm outside right now....



And, subsequently, a lot of ACs are on... and a lot of people seem to be tossing their old ACs, which all may need just a little work.... I think these babies might need to have their filters cleaned...

79th Street gets its taste of Avenue C's Sunburnt Cow

We know several people who continued to be annoyed by the fraternity-and-sorority hijinks in front of the Sunburnt Cow on Avenue C near Ninth Street... Maybe it's the drink-and-drown brunch weekends....



Anyway, this item in The Rundown caught our attention:

The sequel to Avenue C's The Sunburnt Cow brings the same Australians-in-exile party to the Upper West Side's post-college nightlife nexus. It's bigger, better, and has (somehow) precisely cloned its downtown clientele — this is not a place for the stroller patrol.

That fact is evident in the $18 all-you-can-drink brunch, which should create fun sidewalk traffic for moms on their way to Zabar's, as well as a series of noise complaints from their upstairs neighbors.

The menu's also a clone of the East Village institution, with Aussie-inspired cuisine — loaded up burgers, raw bar offerings, and the terrifying Pesto Shark (it's exactly what it sounds like).

It's a bar built for big blowouts. Go now and get your drink on, before the community board shuts them down.

The Lounge at Dixon Place holds its grand opening tomorrow night

The Lounge at Dixon Place celebrates its official Grand Opening tomorrow night at Dixon Place, the nonprofit that provides space for literary and performing artists...

It's a Lower East Side bar that directly supports artists and a theater that presents their works in progress. "All of our proceeds go directly to helping support the Dixon Place mission. It keeps our ticket prices low and allows us to present free music and other events in the Lounge," Tim Ranney, Dixon Place's director of marketing, told me.

So is the bar open all the time? Or just before and after performances?

"We are open every night at 6 to the public just like a real bar. It's a neighborhood bar as well as for folks coming here for a show," he said.

And there's a 2-for-1 happy hour special every night of the week from 6 to 7. "No plans yet to adopt the 'buy a keg' concept from Superdive but we do have a bar special called 'The Bull Dyke' -- a shot of whiskey and a PBR."

Ranney also noted there's an agreement with the building and neighbors that mandates the Lounge closes by midnight Monday-Thursday and by 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. "And we keep the music very, very low," he said.

Details on the grand opening are here. Dixon Place is located at 161A Chrystie St. between Rivington and Delancey.