Here's the Mother of all bendy things

We've seen the concrete pumps bendy things here at 21 E. First St. in the past... but not like this one that Goggla spotted yesterday...

Here's what's coming to 35 Cooper Square: 9-story dormitory

After months of waiting, we finally know what's coming to the former 35 Cooper Square — dorms. Today, reps for developer Arun Bhatia pre-filed paperwork with the DOB for 200 E. Sixth St.

Here's what we learned from the pre-filing.

The proposed plans call for a 9-story dormitory with 43 rooms ... plus retail on the ground floor. In total, the building will be nearly 35,000 square feet (at a height of 117 feet). The paperwork lists Debra Kossar of Kossar & Garry Architects as the architect of record.

No indication just yet who the dorms are for — NYU and Cooper Union would have to top the list of guesses, of course.

The closing of the Asian Pub in January 2011 at 35 Cooper Square set in motion a sequence of events that led to the demolition of the 185-year-old, Federal-style house.

The Arun Bhatia Development Organization has developed dorms for the New School and Marymount Manhattan College, among others, through the years.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Doom and doomer: More of Cooper Square primed for development

Cooper 35 Asian Pub part of development deal on Cooper Square

Cooper 35 Asian Pub putting up a fight before being torn down

Another tree lost in Tompkins Square Park

Ugh. Bobby Williams reports that workers removed a tree today in Tompkins Square Park... this one close to the Avenue B/East Ninth Street entrance...

... and later...

We hope to hear from a Parks official about why workers had to remove the tree... we seem to be losing far too many trees/limbs ...

[Updated] Has the Lyric Diner closed on Third Avenue?

[Image via @McCollumAshley]

EVG reader @Sheba passed along word earlier today that the Lyric Diner on Third Avenue at 22nd Street appears closed... Several other people have tweeted this... there is brown paper over the windows and a large CLOSED sign. We called, though no one answered the phone... it's possible that this is just a late-summer clean up/renovation, though you'd think they'd leave a note ...

I haven't been here in a few years... I heard that the quality had slipped... I recall that they served egg creams and had something on the menu called the Twin Tower ice cream soda...

Updated: Per KB in the comments... the Lyric is only closed for renovations...

Reader report: Murals on East Fifth Street

Earlier this afternoon, EVG reader prop noted the in-progress murals that Paul Kostabi was creating on East Fifth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery...

... then the NYPD arrived... who told him to move the canvas onto the sidewalk...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Spotted on Avenue C and East Third Street via Glenn Belverio]

Do you have any tips for NYC tourists? (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Scaffolding woes on East Fourth Street (Occupy East 4th Street)

Checking in on the 163 Orchard Street Hotel eyesore (BoweryBoogie)

Glaze Teriyaki Grill opening soon on Fourth Avenue (Grub Street)

More details about the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival at Pier 36 next month (The Lo-Down)

One idea for vacant LES storefronts (DNAinfo)

Ice cream at the Standard East Village (Fork in the Road)

At the Johnny Ramone tribute (Rolling Stone)

CBGB promoters planning to raise money for Pussy Riot (The New York Times)

...the former Animal Crackers storefront on East Second Street is for rent...

... and on Avenue B near East Second Street... the former boutique New World Order is now a ... Law Office!

... though we hear that they will be applying for a beer-wine license, just to pair with documents being notarized...

6 St. Mark's Place on the market for $14.5 million

6 St. Mark's Place, currently home to NY Tofu House and a very large karaoke bar, is now on the market. The building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue is currently asking $14.5 million.

Per the Massey Knakal listing that arrived yesterday:

[T]his elevatored commercial 5 story plus lower level building is 81% NNN on one of the busiest downtown retail corridors. The average rents are $52/SF and all have long term leases in-place. The seller is willing to escrow 1 years rent for the second floor for $15,000/month until a suitable tenant is found. This is an excellent opportunity for an investor who is looking for strong in-place cash flow in one of the busiest corridors of the East Village.

It likely is an excellent investment... 51 Astor Place is rising about a 1/2 block or so away... and once that thing is up and functioning, the retail landscape along here could change dramatically ... marking a switch to restaurants/businesses catering to an office crowd...

Previously, before the quick succession of failed businesses, No. 6 was home to Mondo Kim's ... and going back ... No. 6 was first, starting in 1913, home to the Saint Marks Russian and Turkish Baths ... which, in 1979, became the New Saint Marks Baths, the gay bathhouse (purportedly the largest one in the world) that the city eventually closed in 1985 during the AIDS epidemic.

Also, in 1914, The Modern School — "an anarchist school with Emma Goldman on the board," according to NY Songlines — had space in the building.

About that 'terrible screeching noise' on East Ninth Street

A more specific sign has arrived on East Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C ... we posted a photo of the first sign yesterday... it was a little skimpy on details...

Now, though...

[Bobby Williams]

And a reader left this in the comments:

The noise is a high pitched sound that sometimes sounds like a whine and at present more like a shriek that varies in pitch. It's affecting people in the upper stories, especially at the rear of buildings on the eastern half of 9th and 10th Streets between B and C. It continues 24/7 for days at a time. It first began last Thanksgiving and returns intermittently. The latest episode has lasted more than a week and those of us affected are getting pretty desperate, as the sign indicates. Calls to 311 have got us nowhere so we've now appealed to CB3 to use their influence with the DEP. As the sign indicates, we can't trace where the noise is coming from but it's most likely a ventilation system.

Your chance to stand in line outside a 7-Eleven to meet Shaun White today

So Gold-Medal-winning snowboarder Shaun White will be at the 7-Eleven today at noon on IHOP Way as part of a promotion for his new flavor of gum — Mintacular ...

According to the flyer the gum dude handed me this morning... "Shaun White and Stride will ... completely take over this 7-Eleven" which "will be transformed into a Stride super store, carrying only Stride's two Shaun White flavors ..." According to the Times, 7-Eleven will also serve a batch of Mintacular-flavored Slurpees. (Read Andrew Adam Newman's article here.)

Be kind of cool if the left the 7-Eleven this way permanently. We need a good two-flavor gum store around here.

Bon Vivant replacement closed after 13 months on Broadway; long live Bon Vivant

Burger House, the so-called "Zen Grill," opened on Broadway near East 12th Street in June 2011... it was another in the rather suddenly trendy Asian-style burger places popping up (see Bento Burger) ... there were better places for burgers, though the fare here was always solid enough... anyway, the place closed on July 10 and the space is for lease...

Prior to this ... and for decades, Bon Vivant served always-reliable, reasonably priced diner food... Eater reported that the same owners were behind the new concept...


As New York magazine noted: "Imagine a prototypical old-school diner and, chances are, you’ll get a close approximation of Bon Vivant. Owned for decades by a Greek family, it has a huge illustrated menu, vinyl maroon booths, and chrome chairs."

That description sounds like the makings of an obituary in the new New York City. (See Jeremiah's Vanishing New York for the graveyard full of diners that have closed ... Tiffany Diner, Chelsea Gallery Diner, the Galaxy Diner, etc.)

The landlord upgraded all the storefronts along here... given them a sleek, impersonal feel ... So even if the owners were to reopen Bon Vivant, it would, of course, never be the same... Or could it work again, some equilibrium maintained...?

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bad sign at Bon Vivant

[Updated] Joe Strummer would have been 60 today

John Graham Mellor, better known by his stage name Joe Strummer, was born on this date in 1952.

Updated: Today at 4, East Village Radio has a special Strummer birthday tribute, hosted by Jesse Malin. Details here.

------------

And now... an EVG repost from Dec. 22, 2011...

Joe Strummer died on this date in 2002. He reportedly had an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. He was 50.

In November 2003, REVOLT painted a mural in honor of the former Clash frontman on the side of Niagara on Seventh Street at Avenue A ... seen here in this video featuring Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros singing "Redemption Song."




Since then, I've taken far too many photos of the mural, which REVOLT updated in February 2009...


Look, Smokin' Joe! (Eh, sorry...)



There's always something comforting about seeing the mural there... looking rather calm about anything going on around it...




Let's end this with a Strummer solo number from Aki Kaurismäki's "I Hired a Contract Killer" from 1990...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Joe Strummer gets a splash of Niagara

Joe Strummer gets a new look, skyline

[Updated] You can now sit outside at Nicoletta

Outside seating is now available at Nicoletta, beginning tonight! Enjoy your pizza outdoors in@ Nicoletta instagr.am/p/OkPbIxQ_Xw/

— Nicoletta Restaurant (@NicolettaNYC) August 20, 2012

Not real cozy-looking just yet here on Second Avenue and East 10th Street. And is that police tape?

Updated:

A reader walked by around 7:45 tonight and noted two tables were occupied so far ...

They'll likely need to add some greenery to the space a la DBGB to make it look a little more inviting...