Memorial for the Free Willie Nelson

This evening on Sixth Street near Avenue A ... where the RV caught on fire this morning...

Meanwhile, as EV Grieve reader Creature notes, Free Willie's friend, Old Flat Top, came over to console it...

This afternoon on Avenue A

The Yarn Cart Tour continues... it is making the rounds... photo by Bobby Williams.

First Twitter celebrity endorsement for St. Mark's Bookshop

It's Britta Perry from NBC's "Community." Yes, I had to look that up...

Previously.

[Thank to EVG reader Mike for the tip]

A message about landlords on Life Cafe's chalkboard

As we reported last night, Life Cafe on 10th Street and Avenue B is closed "until further notice" due to a landlord dispute...

And on Life's outdoor chalkboard today ...

Breaking: The Free Willie Nelson is caught on fire!

Oh no! The Free Willie Nelson — the RV that usually parks around the neighborhood — caught on fire this morning. It was parked on Sixth Street near Avenue A.

What will this mean for his 50-state quest?

Thanks to @joshchambers for the photos!

This morning at the Mystery Lot

Uh-oh! Workers arrived at the scene ... However, well-placed Mystery Lot sources believe the work is being done on the Kiehl's building on the corner of 13th Street and Third Avenue here... and not the Mystery Lot... Photo by Shawn Chittle.

After 30 years, Life Cafe closes — 'until further notice' — in the East Village

I first posted this last night... Yes, Jonathan Larson wrote "Rent" here while hanging out in the early 1990s, a topic we'll explore a little later. Headline: Inspiration for "Rent" felled by landlord dispute.

[Photo by Faces]

We've heard these rumblings for weeks... now it's official: Life Cafe on Avenue B and 10th Street is closing after 30 years. Perhaps for good.

Per the Life website:

Dear friends,

On this auspicious day of 9/11/11, after 30 years in business, I am closing Life Cafe East Village this evening “until further notice.” I’m doing this due to issues around building repairs the landlords were supposedly going to complete one year ago. Until the landlords complete the repairs, I will remain closed. We anticipate a rebirth of Life Cafe sometime in the near future. Thank you for your loyal patronage over the years.

You are welcome to stop by as my guest today and raise a glass with me to Life!

Because Life is worth Loving.

Kathy Life

Michael Sean Edwards took these photos of what might be Life's last night in recent months. [Apologies — I misunderstood Michael — these weren't from tonight]

Here's a post we ran back on Sept. 15, 2009...



Nice piece on BushwickBK about Life Café, which recently celebrated its seventh anniversary in Bushwick. Co-owner Kathy Kirkpatrick opened the first location, of course, on 10th Street and Avenue B in 1981. Here's a snippet from the article:

[T]here were also many hardships in running a café that could barely stay afloat. Kathy held an office job in midtown and all the work was straining her marriage. The couple split in 1984 and David wanted to sell the café. Kathy refused and resolved to run it by herself, just as New York City sank into the crack epidemic and the East Village swarmed with unpredictable junkies.

"It was hard for us working in a little neighborhood café, forced to do drug intervention, something we weren’t trained in or prepared for," she said. "We had people shooting up and OD-ing in our bathroom and things were getting pretty ugly."

[Photo via Cactusbones]

Early word on the new-look Phoenix on East 13th Street

The Phoenix, the gay bar on East 13th Street, is under new ownership. We discussed that here. One of the owners told us that they intended to clean the place up a bit while still catering the the local gay and lesbian community. Earlier in the month, the new owners closed the bar for a few days for some revamping. Phoenix regular Lux Living stopped by the new-look bar and filed this report.

I went to the Phoenix Friday night for the first time since their new makeover and though the changes aren’t dramatic, it feels like the cast of "Trading Spaces" has been hard at work. Frank, not Hildi.

They took out the Galaga arcade machine and the jukebox — genius move taking control of the music away from the patrons. They painted the front of the bar a sky blue and plastered the walls with all of the clichéd and junky signs the Catskills has to offer. New tables include two milk jugs with a board on top (?) and an old-fashioned sewing machine (??). Gone are the peanut/candy machines and the ledges that held the HX magazines and postcards for gay-related events and such. On the plus side they refinished the floor so it no longer smells like vomit and beer and the pool table is still there.

I wasn’t there long enough to use the loo so I don’t know if they painted over the shark in the bathroom. If they did, I’d be bitter.

The bottom line is that one of the area’s last remaining gay bars has been transformed into a lesbian brunch fantasy that probably should have been left in Cherry Grove or possibly in the dorm room of the Sarah Lawrence fantasy from whence it came. Gone are the blood red walls and dark orange ambient lighting. Here to stay are the finest eBay deals on authentic set pieces from Ted Danson’s personal collection from "Cheers." If ever there were a Jersey Turnpike Bennigans patiently awaiting its passport to the Isle of Lesbos, the new Phoenix is undoubtedly it.

[The old bathroom shark, which may or may not still be here]

Yarn-covered cart continues magical mystery East Village tour

The yarn-covered grocery cart — an Agata Olek original – continues to make the rounds. This weekend, the cart appeared on First Avenue at 11th Street.

Then! Yesterday! Several readers spotted the cart on the move — with a chaperone!

At 14th Street and First Avenue heading south. Photo by EV Grieve reader Joe...

And!

Avenue B and 12th Street via @armrooster ... who reports the fellow "was walking very slowly and singing very loudly."

Why people are calling for a boycott of The University of the Streets

There's a story making the rounds about a fight at The University of the Streets, the 40-year-old-plus arts-community space on Seventh Street. As Brooklyn Vegan first reported on Friday, musician Tom Blancarte sent out the following message:

"Breaking news to all musicians in NYC who might be playing at University of the Streets in the East Village:

I just played there with Talibam!, Tim Dahl and Moppa Elliot, and when we were finished, the owner and her son told us that we owed them 50 dollars. When we told them we didn't owe them anything, her son punched my friend Kevin in the face with keys in his hand! He came close to losing his left eye! Please boycott this place, they are bad, bad people."

The photo is of Kevin Shea of Talibam! via his Facebook page. The University of the Streets folks haven't addressed the issue. So we haven't heard their side of the story. Meanwhile, people are filling up their Facebook page with ugly comments.

Are people in the East Village laughing at the homeless?

[Tribute for Liz on Avenue B via Bobby Williams]

On Saturday morning, we reported that a passerby found a woman's body outside St. Brigid's on Avenue B ... the police ID'd her as a woman in her 50s named Liz ...

The Post had this item in the NYPD Daily Blotter yesterday:

A homeless East Village woman was discovered dead yesterday morning, and police are investigating whether she died from a drug overdose.

The woman, believed to be 50, died on Avenue B near Tompkins Square Park and was found at about 8:50 a.m. by a passerby. There was no sign of trauma.

"She asked me why people ‘are laughing at me,'" said Chanel Clark, 35, who said she spoke to the distraught woman Thursday.

"She said, 'It's so rude the way people laugh at the homeless. It's so cruel.'"

Today in dog poop etiquette signs

East Fifth Street near the Bowery.