People like the Department of Transportation's Flaming Cactus installation, the Department of Transportation says

[Bobby Williams]

The Times has an update on Flaming Cactus, those neon zip ties on light poles on Astor Place/Cooper Square ... And EV Grieve readers make an appearance in the article:

To judge from a few of the anonymous comments on the EV Grieve blog [Ed note: WOO!], a couple of people would happily start the untying tomorrow. Others wonder about how the ties will look after a few seasons have passed. Or they worry that the needlelike loose ends of the ties might poke a child or a dog in the eye.

But Scott Gastel, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, said on Friday that the agency had received no complaints so far; only compliments.

Read the whole article here. You have until next June to enjoy/hate it.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tying one on at Astor Place (32 comments)

You have another 10 months left to discuss the Flaming Cactus at Astor Place

How much has it been raining of late...?

Spotted on Avenue C and Ninth Street.

'One of the East Village’s last standing bohemians soldiers on'

The Times has a feature today on Larry Fagin, who continues to give private creative-writing lessons as well as edit and produce various small publications. Article excerpt:

Four stories above East 12th Street, down the hall from Allen Ginsberg’s old apartment, one of the East Village’s last standing bohemians soldiers on.

Mr. Fagin, 74 years old, second-generation beat, New York School veteran, friend of Ted Berrigan, publisher of Ashbery, lives with his wife, Susan Noel, also a writer, in adjoining rent-controlled apartments in the building near Avenue A.

The article notes that he pays $150 a month in rent "in what he calls the 'Chelsea Hotel of the East Village.'"

Read the article here.

RUMOR: Which 'Friends' cast member demolished the historic East Sixth Street townhouse?

Yesterday, we had the sad news about the total demolition of the circa-1852 townhouse at 331 E. Sixth St.

Per a commenter:

Rumor has it that this building was bought by a former "Friends" cast member, not sure which one. Funny how that show portayed outrageously unrealistic NYC apartment living. The reality is so much more outrageous!

Hmm, well, we have no idea about this one. Well, it could be true, though it likely isn't.

Still, let's blame LeBlanc.

The Hot Chicks Room lives on!

Last night, as we noted, the Upright Citizens Brigade opened its East Village outpost (dubbed UCBeast) on Avenue A at East Third Street.

So we stopped by to see what was what. And, on the wall in the bar area, in plain view of everyone walking to and from church, school (think of the children!), the leper colony...

The Hot Chicks Room lives!

Well, the sign is a nod to a UCB skit. (Watch it here.) As you're probably painfully aware from this past March, a concerned resident was ready to circulate a petition to have the "Hot Chicks Room" sign removed from above the doorway on Avenue A. As the resident said: "I just find it, for this neighborhood, very inappropriate and repulsive."

[The sign BEFORE UCB removed it]

And eventually the UCBers removed the sign. In a ceremony, UCB alum Amy Poehler, presented the sign to Earth Matter on Governors Island, where the sign is presumably now offending a compost learning center.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Your 'Hot Chicks Room' sign update

[Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade (47 comments)

Breaking: UCB will remove the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign!

Enough is enough: 316 E. Sixth St. was the fourth pre-Civil War townhouse to be destroyed in the last year

While on the topic of 331 E. Sixth St., which is between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... as the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) noted, this is the fourth pre-Civil War building in the East Village to be demolished in the past year.

The others: 326 and 328 E. Fourth St. and 35 Cooper Square. Meanwhile, 316 E. Third St. is next on the kill list to make way for a luxury apartment building.

So let's send it right to GVSHP:

Enough is enough! The demolition of 331 East 6th Street only highlights the urgent need for landmark protections in the East Village. Several months ago the Landmarks Preservation Commission proposed two historic districts in the East Village, a critical first step in preserving the neighborhood's significant historic architecture. However, the Commission has given us no information as to when they will hold a public hearing on the proposed districts (the second of three official steps in the landmarking process). While we wait, more and more of the neighborhood's complex and colorful history is being destroyed.

How to Help:

Send a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission urging them to hold a public hearing on the East Village Historic Districts and calendar 316 East 3rd Street. A sample letter may be found HERE. Please send copies of all letters to gvshp@gvshp.org.

A note for the person who bled all over the stairs

EV Grieve reader Marisa found this instant classic Urban Etiquette Sign at the top of the stairs of a Second Avenue apartment building... As you can see, someone is bleeding all over the stairs and not remembering to clean it up (with bleach).

Is this too much to ask?

[For more photos and what not, visit her Tumblr here]

As the world ends: Subway Inn, now with Atomic Wings

Every so often we venture away from the neighborhood...

An EV Grieve reader reports on a recent visit to well-worn bar favorite the Subway Inn on East 60th Street near Lexington ... And?

"The place was full of overgrown fraternity guys watching sports and eating chicken wings."

Not chicken wings!

Anyway, we haven't been here since last December. So we paid another visit... Pretty typical crowd here and now. Off-duty Bloomingdale's workers. Several tourists. A rummy or two. That one guy singing along to Fleetwood Mac. And the jukebox wasn't even on.

Oh.

Not sure when this happened, but Subway Inn has apparently teamed up with Atomic Wings ...

You can have them delivered right to your table.

A convenience for hungry Subway Inners or the end of the world?

Either way, it's your colon.

Looking at the door policy at Croxley Ales

Don't recall seeing this sign before here on Avenue B near Second Street. Do you need both parents present or just one? I have a few more questions about this policy. Maybe you do as well?

Reminders: Deadline approaching for you to llustrate how scary you find NYU’s massive expansion plans

Remember, the the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) is inviting you to submit your best design illustrating just how scary you find NYU’s massive expansion plans. See the rules and contact information here. (Bottom of the post.) Deadline is tomorrow. Gather around designers...

[Updated] Breaking: Explosion reported at the ConEd substation on East 14th Street

Around 7:45 tonight, residents near the ConEd substation on East 14th Street and Avenue C reported hearing an explosion. However, many people thought it was thunder... until the FDNY responded... Breaking

According to EV Griever reader Robert Galinsky: "Big explosion, giant black plume of smoke, no flames." A witness at the scene said that it was a gas leak.

More emergency crews are responding to the scene...

In any event, 14th Street at Avenue C is cordoned off... the M9 and 14D buses were being rerouted... Avenue C is blocked off at 12th Street.

Updated:

Just after 9, @aimeeweiss noted that most of the emergency crews packed up and left the scene...

Earlier today outside 7A

[Bobby Williams]