Mother's Day greetings

On Avenue D...

Bike stolen from 'broke student'

Spotted on Avenue C and East Second Street...

Noted

Bustin' stereotypes outside Whole Foods Bowery....

Noted

Swordplay in Tompkins Square Park today...

Photos by Bobby Williams...

Aerial views of the Essex-Houston Street fire

EV Grieve reader Chris sends along more photos from the street/sewer/manhole/whatever fire currently burning on Essex at Houston...

Even the workers are impressed with the fire... this fellow is either taking photos or texting — or both!

Per Chris: "Fire department seems to be mostly just watching" for the time being...

Update: As of 2:11 or so, Chris notes that the fire is out.

[Updated] A big boom and fire on Houston and Essex

Just around 1:30 at Houston and Essex... Photos via Anonymous Octopus ...

Per the Anonymous Octopus: "Smells electrical. Some nice pretty mushrooms puffing out."

Three more shots from EV Grieve contributor samo...

Per samo: "Some are saying electrical fire where there was road construction."

Bespoke Chocolates bids farewell from Extra Place

Bespoke was the first retailer to open in Extra Place ... a topic that we covered quite a bit, starting here. Here's the note that's Bespoke is sending out to friends...

They opened early in 2009 ... and they will close on Thursday. We'll have more on this topic on Monday...

Missing the OTBs

The Kentucky Derby is today... though betting on it is more challenging now with the closure of the OTBs (like the one above on Third Avenue in the 40s) back in December.

From an article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday:

In a city where it's possible to do just about anything imaginable, it's suddenly become enormously difficult to legally put money on the most prestigious horse race on the planet.

So it's off to Belmont then... instead of a trip to Delancey...

Birdbath Bakery now open on Third Avenue

As Eater noted, the fifth location of Birdbath Bakery, a spinoff of City Bakery, opened yesterday on Third Avenue at NYU. Among other things, they'll serve Kombucha on tap. And we hope that no one decides to detoxify the body right there on the corner... Jeremiah noted the Birdbathers impending arrival back in October.

Distributing Cornell's plants continues today

As you can see from the sign, more of the plants that belonged to Cornell Edwards, who opened The Flower Stall at 143 E. 13th St. in 1967, will continue to be distributed today...

Second Avenue, 9:48 a.m., May 7

Noted

Just noticed that Diablo Royale Este put up a Cinco de Mayo banner on the property that belongs to the coming-soon Tompkins Square Bagel next door ...