At the start of the annual NYC Drag March

The marchers all gathered last night around 7 at Tompkins Square Park for the annual trek across town to the Stonewall Inn...

"The very first Drag March happened 19 years ago as an (unofficial) part of the Stonewall 25 commemorations - the organizers of Stonewall 25 didn't wish leather or drag at their event thus our event was propelled into being..."
~Drag March Co-Founder Harmonie Moore of the NYC Church Ladies for Choice

Melanie from East Village Corner shared a few photos with us... (She has more at her site here.)







...and via @emmsape ...

Work continues on East Seventh Street sinkhole

EVG reader MP let's us know that work continues tonight on the sinkhole that formed on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue earlier today...





Per MP: "Apparently there was mass car towing by nypd making for unhappy residents and very unhappy bridge and tunnelers."

Storm Center

Cooper Square during one of today's storms... photos by Bobby Williams.

Reader report: Woman injured in fall on under-construction staircase at 86 E. Fourth St.

Late this afternoon, emergency crews responded to a report of an accident inside 86 E. Fourth St. at Second Avenue...





Per reader @kxd8053, who took these photos ... "woman fell through a marble staircase smashed by construction workers."

According to a notice that the DOB issued today:



"FDNY REPORTS 3RD FLOOR LANDING COLLAPSE WITH ONE INJURY."

We don't know the extent of the injuries yet... more information to follow as it becomes available.

As we've been reporting, RURU & Associates purchased the building last fall ... residents have said that the new owner and management — ID'd by multiple readers and tipsters as the (Oheb)Shalom family — are declining to offer new leases as current tenant leases expire.

Find further coverage of 86 E. Fourth St. here.

Have other tips or photos about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

Zapped!

These photos from earlier this afternoon are by Gregory Patrick... looking downtown from Third Street and Avenue B...

'Hearts' of darkness

The Crocodiles with "Hearts of Love" from 2010. It's all fun at the beach until the 2:38 mark, when the gratuitous violence begins!

And the band will play Maxwell's Wednesday night...

Looking at (the former) Nice Guy Eddie's this afternoon

As BoweryBoogie noted this morning, workers have quickly gutted the former Nice Guy Eddie's space on Avenue A at Houston/East First. Workers have scrubbed the Eddie's name from the exterior. The 16-year-old bar closed last Sunday, and will be converted into a restaurant serving American comfort food.

And kiss the mural goodbye?

Previously on EV Grieve:
How do we feel about the Kiss mural outside Nice Guy Eddie's?

Moving truck stuck in East Seventh Street sinkhole

We heard reports late this morning about police activity on East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... including the presence of crime-scene tape...

Turns out that it's for this moving truck, whose rear wheel got lodged in a sinkhole (or, perhaps, caused the sinkhole...)

Thanks to EVG reader @Knickerbock4Lif for the early accounts and these photos...







... and via another reader...







...and EVG reader Ryan...





And not the first time a moving truck has been nearly swallowed by a sinkhole in the East Village.

2 hours until Germany-Greece at Zum Schneider

Around 12:45, some 30 people were waiting for Zum Schneider to open at Seventh Street and Avenue C. Euro Cup 2012 quarter-finals this afternoon — Germany-Greece at 2:45.

Previously.

Rents going up, duh

The Rent Guidelines Board met at Cooper Union last night to vote on increases for rent-stabilized apartments in NYC.

And? Could have been worse!

Per Curbed, which has a nice summation of the evening:

The RGB voted 5 to 4 to approve an increase of 2 percent or $20, whichever is greater, on one-year leases, and a 4 percent or $40 increase on two-year leases. The owner members had wanted 5 percent and 9 percent, while the tenant members wanted a complete freeze.

Cabrini Center patients out by the end of today; closes for good June 30

Following up on our post from yesterday about the awning coming down at the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Avenue B and East Fifth Street ...

We asked Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare, for more details on the closing. Via email yesterday afternoon, she noted that Cabrini took down the awning (and other signage) because they were worried that the new owner "might handle it badly."


[Via Twitter]

As for the closure: "All of the residents will be moved by the end of this week, and then the rest of the employees," she said. "We will turn it over [to the new owner] on the 30th. We had a closing liturgy and reception last Friday."

The last resident is moving out today. The man, a former garment worker for Montgomery Ward who has lived on the Lower East Side Side since 1953, will be transferred to a facility in Borough Park in southwest Brooklyn.

There isn't room at a facility anywhere closer. He's on several waiting lists. In a message last night, his daughter, who grew up with her mom and dad on Clinton and Delancey, said that "staff and families have been crying all day. I'm so angry right now."

As previously reported, developer Ben Shaoul, the building's new owner, will convert the health care facility for elderly patients into residences, either condos or rentals. Plans to sell the Center to a for-profit operator never materialized.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

Q-and-A with Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare

What it costs to live in newly renovated apartments above a Starbucks in the East Village

Back in March, after seven or so years of stop-start renovations, we finally got to see the new-look 219 First Avenue...

[March 30]

We confirmed the Starbucks for the retail space here at East 13th Street... But what about the residential space?

A few of the rentals hit the market yesterday, per Streeteasy. Let's take a look.

NEVER LIVED IN top of the line 1br +DINNING area SUPER BRIGHT
Top of the line Kitchen new stainless steel appliances + DISHWASHEr. Cherry wood cabinets.
CORNER unit, get AMAZING sun light.
13th st and 1st avenue.
Queen size bed LARGE californian closet.
NEW bathroom (TUB)
tons of sunlight and PERFECT Union Square location. VERY high ceilings.
PLEASE note, this is available August 1st or a bit later.
Next to all, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, L train is a Block away and 4 minutes walk to Union Square subway station

(Do the words in all caps spell out some sort of message...?)

Anyway. A 600-square-foot one-bedroom unit is $2,450...











There's also a two-bedroom unit (650 square feet) available for $3,000. As crazy (sad?) as this sounds, these aren't as expensive as we expected... Streeteasy puts the median two-bedroom price in the East Village at $3,420.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Today in rumors of another Starbucks opening in the East Village

219 First Avenue ready for a chain store, probably