Friday, August 13, 2010

Standing outside the Copper Building (waiting on a friend)

Oh, nothing really to note here at the Copper Building at 13th Street and Avenue B... just seeing how easy it will be to look into someone's apartment from street level...






Thought maybe we'd get a response out of EV Grieve reader Despiser of the Copper Crapper too...

The Wall Street Journal on Avenue C

As The Wall Street Journal notes today:

[W]hile the night life has turned Avenue C into a top party destination for young professions and college students, the added noise and traffic is causing increased friction between residents and revelers.

Older residents who moved to the neighborhood in the '60s are now trying to keep out new bars. They have taken their complaints to the Community Board 3, which is restricting the number of new establishments that can sell alcoholic beverages.

According to the community board's website, Avenue C between Houston and 14th streets, an area with 23 liquor licenses, is deemed to have "greatly diminished the quality of life" for residents.

Some say the night life helps the area. "I understand sometimes there is too much noise," said Benjamin Alter, owner of Arcane, "but to me, the more business you have in the neighborhood, the better it makes the economy for the neighborhood."


Yes! Woo!



Anyway, let's flashback via the Times to 2005:

"C will keep its edginess for five more years," predicted Melvina Goren, a partner at Porch, 115 Avenue C (Seventh and Eighth), a candlelit bar known for its large backyard. "And then the scene will move on to Avenue D."


Well, any thoughts on that prediction?

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Cafe Hanover back in business on St. Mark's

The marshals paid a visit to the new Cafe Hanover in the old Mondo Kim's space back on July 20.... and, as several readers have noted, they have reopened ...



[Thanks to MT for the photo!]

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition



NYC murder rate up 17% so far in 2010 (Runnin' Scared)

Is this finally the economic collapse? (Fortune)

Hmm.. not so cheery with the headlines so far... We need a cheery song!



Update on saving the community gardens (The Gog Log)

Watering on East Houston (BoweryBoogie)

Arby's quickly shutters in landmarked building (Eater)

The Grumbler questions the no-shoes rule (The Grumbler)

Resident discards mattress WITHOUT bedbugs (NYC the Blog)

Sleeping on the sidewalk to beat the heat in 1910 (Ephemeral NY)

New Belgian place that isn't German on Second Avenue gets more Belgianie (DNAinfo)

East Village Radio livestreaming tonight's White Rabbits show from East River Park (The Lo-Down)

And the man surrounding by police officers on First Avenue near 10th Street in the photo below? He allegedly stole a bike.



This happened last Thursday... via justindisgustin's Flickr page ...where there are more details (and photos!) about the incident.

DBGB, Pulino's and Gemma helping peddle Sala on the Bowery

A few weeks ago, we made note of the "restaurant available" sign on the Bowery and Great Jones...right there on Sala's wall...



For unknown reasons, we never actually explored that listing... until now...and tapas specialist Sala is on the market...



As you can see, lots of big-time eateries nearby...it's almost as if all those places are part of the deal. No, you'll just have to make do with the two liquor licenses that Sala has...

East Fifth Street co-op with Japanese maples out back reduced now by 40 percent

Here's a lovely little one-bedroom at 513 E. Fifth St. ... with a private backyard... You could roll out of bed and practically be in Sophie's... or maybe hop the fence and be in Joe's...






I suppose there are other amenities too.
Per Corcoran:


Investor Friendly Coop with private back yard! Great Investment Opportunity, rent out right away! No board approval, all cash required. Prime East Village renovated one bedroom with a huge sun flooded private garden, totaling over 1100 sqft. This newly renovated one bed/one bath coop offers a tranquil indoor space with plenty of pre-war details, including exposed brick, hardwood floors and high ceilings. Recently renovated kitchen and bath create a nice relationship of pre-war detail with modern amenities, such as Bosch dishwasher, washer and dryer and well appointed closets with storage space. Move from the beautiful indoor space directly into your outdoor oasis, which has been designed by a landscape architect and features wood decking, a separate fieldstone patio, and Japanese maples among other year round and seasonal plantings.

This coop is located around the corner from Tompkins Square Park as well as several other East Village gardens, restaurants, and shopping. There is no board approval and flexible purchasing is allowed, purchasing for someone else, investment, guarantors and pied-a-terres are all fine. This building is pet friendly.


And the price continues to fall...since February, the price has come down some 40 percent, according to Streeteasy...

02/17/2010 -- Listed by Corcoran at $650,000.
03/24/2010 -- Price decreased by 8% to $599,000.
06/10/2010 -- Price decreased by 17% to $499,000.
08/05/2010 -- Price decreased by 15% to $425,000.

No takers yet for this oasis? Maybe it's the neighbors?

Don't give anyone any ideas



Along the ConEd substation on Avenue A. I'm sure some developer would love this corner to, uh, develop.

Here comes the fear again: 505 E. 12th St. back on the market



A reader noted that a For Sale sign went up 505 E. 12th St. (the former Mundial and Totem space) ... which, perhaps, means the new bar on May's CB3/SLA meeting is no longer a go... the "corp to be formed" here was not approved by the CB3/SLA committee...

Now someone else can take a shot here... According to the listing:

BEAUTIFUL EAST VILLAGE LOUNGE WITH KITCHEN
Approx. 1400 sq ft plus 500 sq ftS back yard, 30 foot store front, and full basement

Price: $140,000
Rent: $7,500
10-year lease

As a reader/nearby resident has said about this space: "Another bar opening up in the Mundial space is my worst nightmare."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Another nightmare bar for 505 E. 12th St.?

Last night's CB3 recap: Residents 1, Bar Owners 0

12th and A gets the brown paper treatment

Meanwhile, on the corner of 12th Street and Avenue A, paper has gone up in the windows of the long-dormant space that once housed the Raven...




Unfortunately, we don't have any more details on what's going in here... However, the folks behind the proposed Mexican cantina (El Camion) here have moved on, sources tell us. As you may recall, the El Camion brass gave very little notice about an open house on a Friday night at 5 back in May. The CB3/SLA committee later denied their request for a liquor license transfer.

Abandoned eatery served eviction papers



Saw these papers up at Matsukado on Second Avenue near Sixth Street... the eviction notice is dated last week, though the short-lived Japanese restaurant closed in May. Maybe the owners kept the keys...

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Today's sign of the apocalypse


"Introducing The Hopsicle Experience, a frozen can of beer, sliced in half and served like a Push Pop for big kids," now at Diablo Royale Este on Avenue A near 10th Street. (Source — who else? UrbanDaddy!)

First Avenue continues to entertain

After workers repaved First Avenue... adding bike and bus lanes and what not, we thought that the work had been completed along this corridor

...not so...EV Grieve reader Blue Glass noted some of the work in these photos last evening around 6 when the cone squad arrived at 11th Street....there was a lot of slow-motion back and forth, taking a few men nearly 30 minutes to put out eight cones. And some work commenced ...








And why are they cutting First Avenue after just repaving it? As Blue Glass suggests, at this rate, the city will be done with the First Avenue renovations sometime around 3020.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Looking at the First Avenue's new bike lane and "floating lane"