About the newspaper article in the Chez Betty Cafe front window

So C has taken over the Chez Betty Cafe space on East Third Street near Avenue C. Had never been inside, but I looked at the cafe's front window quite a bit... where there was an article from the Times on display. With one passage blacked out. (Later, someone placed a Yelp sticker over this.)




I always wondered what passage someone had blacked out. So I looked up the article. The piece is from March 2005:

At Chez Betty, a sumptuously decorated cafe that opened last May on East Third Street just off Avenue C, Shilat Erbibou froths milk for cappuccinos and serves delicate salads. She has befriended the bohemian-chic models who live around the corner, and watched students from Cooper Union and New York University bring wary parents who come to check out the neighborhood and are comforted by Avenue C's growing charm.

But Avenue D, the next thoroughfare to the east? As far as Ms. Erbibou is concerned, it could be a hundred miles away.

"I haven't been to Avenue D," she said with a shrug. "I don't think there's a future there."

Speaking of new coffee shops...

La Bonne Bouffe, a cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place, opened on the corner of Avenue B and Second Street in March 2009 ... and closed in December...

Based on the sign that we spotted outside the space, it appears another cafe-coffee shop is on the way...

Still speaking of coffee shops... 9th Street Espresso closing for renovations

9th Street Espresso just east of Avenue C is closing starting today for renovations, as the sign shows... 9th Street on 10th Street remains open...

Looking for the old Bon Vivant space

Last July, I noted that Bon Vivant, the usually reliable Greek diner on Broadway near 12th Street, had closed after several decades in business.



Eater later reported that the owners would reopen ... but "lose its diner atmosphere, have a new name, and focus on 'organic foods.'"

So I thought I'd check up on the new space. I couldn't find it at first. Been some time since I've been right on this stretch of Broadway. That Quiznos Subs on East 12th Street and Broadway with the erotic ads closed late last summer... and here's its replacement... Cafe Reunion! (Update: Per the comments ... it already came and went)

Meanwhile, as for the Bon Vivant space, I didn't spot it right away... everything looks the same here now. It's all so sterile... a spa!

Finally...

Dog days of spring

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Earlier today in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams.

The true meaning of Easter

East Sixth Street, 12:41 p.m., April 24 (Easter)

At the Mars Bar Friday afternoon

All photos by John Marshall Mantel. Find more shots at his photo blog...

As for Mars Bar, there's an art show opening there this afternoon... and an Easter BBQ.

NYPD responds to an alleged shoplifter

Just after 9 this morning, the NYPD swarmed around an alleged shoplifter on 14th Street and First Avenue... a witness thought the apparent theft occurred at the CVS... in total, there were nine officers on the scene...

NYPD responds to reports of a beating on 10th Street and Avenue B

Last night around 11, there were reports of a man being beaten by a group of up to 10 young males on 10th Street at Avenue B. Bob Arihood took the above photo in Tompkins Square Park of the young men being detained by police (their faces have been blurred). They were held for 20 minutes or so then released. (Police left with the victim.) As Bob noted, it wasn't clear whether the pictured males were released because they were clearly innocent or because no one was pressing charges.

A message from the Lower East Side about underage drinking

You may have been read about the 7th Precinct’s crackdown on Lower East Side bars and clubs to curb underage drinking, late night noise and overcrowding. (The Lo-Down has covered the topic extensively.)

EV Grieve contributor samo notes this signage on Houston at Ludlow Street....