Meanwhile on Avenue A and East Fifth Street, a penis balloon

Photo by Shawn Chittle.

And Ha...

[Updated] NYPD shuts down Tompkins Square Park

The NYPD has shut down Tompkins Square ... witnesses report unrest in the neighborhood spilling over from an earlier march today that started at 7 p.m. at Washington Square Park... details still coming in...

There are dozens of police officers now on guard on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place.... the officers that we spoke with on the scene won't say why they are currently blocking the park... the NYPD closed every entrance to the Park in the last hour...

Several people around the park said that protestors have smashed windows at the Starbucks on Astor Place... as well as the incoming 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place...

[@Ewingweb]

About 50 ppl dressed in black bashing windows, attacking 7-11 sign, chanting "nypd go to hell" @evgrieve

— Ewing (@Ewingweb) April 15, 2012

There are conflicting reports what is happening... some have said it is related to #OWS ... Cops aren't talking... Anyone with more information?

UPDATED 10:23 p.m.

Updated 11:08 p.m.

Various readers have said that the activity tonight was related to an "NYC FTP" protest...

11:20 p.m.

Multiple residents say that East Sixth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C is closed...

@ChristRobbins is on the scene... He reports that "witnesses say it was an anarchist book after-party at 6th street. Two men say police 'beat people.'"

11:59 p.m.

"It was a very loosely organized anti police protest."

7 a.m.

Christopher Robbins at Gothamist reports that the NYPD arrested two men outside the Sixth Street Community Center last night. The community center was hosting an after party for the Anarchist Book Fair. However, attendees at the community center say the events on East Sixth Street and the unrest on St. Mark's Place were unrelated. There were reports that people were throwing bottles and other items off the center's roof, which employees say would have been impossible. An employee of the community center told Gothamist: "The police just came and brutalized two guys who were standing outside the stoop."

Report: The Lakeside Lounge closes at the end of the month

That's the word via a report at New York Music Daily, who note that the Lakeside, which opened in 1997 on Avenue B near 10th Street, "will be replaced by a gentrifier whiskey joint, no doubt with $19 artisanal cocktails and hedge fund nebbishes trying to pick up on sorostitutes when their boyfriends are puking in the bathroom – or out of it."

Read the rest of the post here about the bands who played at the Lakeside.

This and Banjo Jim's now within the past eight months. Ouch.

Here's the rest of the Lakeside's calendar for the month. Go say goodbye.

Ink Lake shares some Lakeside memories here.

Canned goods for the homeless on Avenue A

A good samaritan gave two men sitting in front of the former East Village Farms on Avenue A some canned goods. Unfortunately, the men do not have a can opener.

Photo by Dave on 7th.

[Updated] Cute pet alert for Tompkins Square Park today!

The pet rally is under way... the flyer here tells you what's going on...

And, when people rush the stage for Randall, voice of "The Honey Badger," I'm stealing this...

Updated Sunday morning

Here are a few photos of the event via Bobby Williams...

'Imagine you're a deer ...'

Today in Tompkins Square Park ... photo by Bobby Williams...

Previous Deer joke here.

'Empire' state

The Mekons with "Empire of the Senseless" circa 1989.

Cash mob for St. Mark's Bookshop Sunday afternoon

Citing an article in Publisher's Weekly, Jeremiah Moss reports that the St. Mark's Bookshop is struggling financially again.

Per Publisher's Weekly:

"We’re hanging in there, barely," says co-owner Bob Contant. "It’s a difficult April. Traffic is down. Without an increase, we can’t rebuild our inventory. We’re 20% short of where we need to be."

Last fall, more than 44,000 people signed a petition to help save the bookstore and to lobby Cooper Union to reduce its rent for 2012.

Jeremiah is organizing a cash mob for Sunday afternoon:

#cashmob St. Mark's Bookshop, Sunday April 15, at 1:00 pm. Spend $15 on a book. Spend your tax refund! Then go drink at The International on First Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Please re-tweet...spread the word.

While all this might be fine in the short-term, Jeremiah notes that "in this iZombie culture, what St. Mark's Bookshop needs most is a powerful new business plan — something that will sustain them in the long run, something that will keep attracting book buyers, day after day."

Meanwhile, the Bookshop has recently joined the Twitterverse — @stmarksbookshop

East Village 2 months late throwing New York Giants ticker-tape parade

Oops. EV Grieve reader Steven notes this mess on Avenue A near 10th Street this morning... Explanations?

This morning in Tompkins Square Park

By Dave on 7th.

A look down at 51 Astor Place

You've seen the work going on behind the plywood at 51 Astor Place, one day to be home to the Death Star.

[EVG]

How's the site looking from above?

Here are two aerial photos by Janko Puls ...

This is one reason why I hate 7-Eleven opening on St. Mark's Place

The proximity to Gem Spa.

EV Grieve reader x said this Wednesday: "Woe to the Gem Spa! Will Slurpees and Big Gulps ever replace the egg cream?!?"

Something to think about as the city continues to change, and not always for the better... Earlier this year, we saw the hysteria that accompanied the false report that the Gem Spa had closed.

How much (or little) do you think 7-Eleven might hurt Gem Spa's business? I imagine 7-Eleven will pick off some tourists who want water or sodas... and see the familiar sign. And from people who might have grown up with a 7-Eleven and find the food comforting or kitschy ...

The Daily News checks in today with a piece on the 7-Eleven opening here. Per the article:

"This is not part of what our local community storefronts are," said Gary Steinkohl, who has lived on E. Ninth St. for 25 years and was adamant the chain store would "absolutely not" fit in.

St. Marks has gone from "some alternative lifestyle, anything goes, place to a more mainstream, citified street that's almost like any other," he added.

A 7-Eleven spokesperson told the paper that: "We would not open a store we didn't think would be of convenience to the neighborhood. We typically franchise a store to someone who lives close by, and we want franchisees to become a contributing part of their store’s community."

Meanwhile, I was reading an article in The Oregonian from last Thursday about 7-Eleven's march through the Portland metro area — 15 new locations are in the works. (The article points out that 7-Elevens are opening up practically on top of each other there.)

And how are the locals taking it?

"Since December, Portland residents with concerns about increased alcohol sales and corporations draining profits from mom-and-pop stores have been demonstrating and hand wringing about 7-Eleven."

And elsewhere. In Los Angeles, 7-Eleven plans to open 600 new stores across the region.

Knowing next to nothing about 7-Eleven's history... I checked out the chain's history page on the 7-Eleven website ... the store's beginnings are traced to 1927 in Texas... and, in 1946, they adopted the 7-Eleven name.

Per the website: "As convenience stores grew in the 1950s, the retail outlets then served as the 'mom-and-pop' neighborhood grocery store, the 'ice-house,' the dairy store, the supermarket and the delicatessen all in one location."

And there you have it...

Previously on EV Grieve:
7-Eleven continues to feast on the East Village; next up, St. Mark's Place

A quick East Village 7-Eleven inventory

P.S.

And have you seen the hand-painted signs that V.H. McKenzie created for Tompkins Square Bagels...? They've been up in the shop now the past six or so weeks... Read more about them here.