Fall Friday flashback: In the Associated water aisle

On Fridays this fall, and probably winter and spring and... we'll post one of the 12,000-plus EVG, uh, posts from yesteryear... a fitting one today, as we overly prepare for Hurricane Sandy, who may or may not strike these parts on Tuesday... this Hurricane Irene-related post is from Aug. 26, 2011...

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A few minutes ago at the Associated on 14th Street near First Avenue. By Shawn Chittle.

Batman returns

EVG reader Teeny passes along this Batman sighting ... he was driving the old-school, Adam West-era Batmobile here on East 12th Street and First Avenue...

"Glad to be back in Gotham City," he said, though this was before he saw the eviction notice at the batcave.

Perhaps part of the promo for the upcoming "Dark Knight Rises" DVD release?

(And where was he a few minutes ago?)

Reader report: iPhone snatching ends in chase, brawl

Tonight on Ninth Street and First Avenue...

@evgrieve iphone snatching on 9/1 ends in street chase/ brawlrandom guys helping her punched.. Phone recovered. Mugger(s) gone? Cops

— Robby O'Hara (@robbyohara) October 26, 2012

Anyone else witness this?

Reflection of the times

Avenue A and St. Mark's Place this evening. Headline and photo via Shawn Chittle.

Alternate headline:
I'll be your mirrors

Eviction notice for Soho Billiards

[Photo from 2011 via BoweryBoogie]

EVG regular Spike passes along this item (slightly outside our usual coverage zone) ... Spike noticed that Soho Billiard was closed yesterday ... and today, there's an eviction notice on the door... There's at least one tweet noting that they closed after Sunday. There's nothing to indicate this on their website; their phone number is a constant busy signal.

The billiards hall has been here at East Houston and Mulberry since 1990.

BoweryBoogie had this to say about them last year:

Soho Billiards is truly the last of a dying breed, and occupies what is now a substantial swath of valuable corner real estate. Nice to see this adaptation, as their presence is always a welcome counterweight to the massive invasion of haute couture.

A dying breed now dead, apparently.

A scene from the Union Square Citibank today

A man diligently counting and organizing mounds of pennies. Tough times. Per the reader who took the photo: "Poor guy is scraping pennies together and these clowns own half the city."

Today's sign of the TSP Ratstravaganza

A reader noted this scene earlier today... after the meals were served to those in need on Avenue A along Tompkins Square Park... the remains...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Tompkins Square Park, by Bobby Williams]

The case for neighborhood groups having a larger role in liquor license decision-making (The Lo-Down)

Middle Collegiate Church hosting an "irreverently reverent gospel experience" (NY1)

1930s photo of the Second Avenue El in the East Village (BoweryBoogie)

A quick East 9th Street now and then (Flaming Pablum)

More about L'Apicio on East First Street (The Daily News)

Celebrating the first year at Sauce (Eater)

Cupcake trend coming to an end? (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Late 19th-century life of actors at Union Square (Ephemeral New York)

Vote in the Village Voice's 2012 Web Awards, including Meme of the Year, Best GIF and Best Neighborhood Blog (The Village Voice)

Suitor in line for Lucky Cheng's space

The November agenda is out for the CB3/SLA committee meeting... we'll highlight the docket in full a little later... (You can find it here for now.)

A few quick notes. The folks from the incoming Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken on East First Street are down for a beer-wine license.

Also, there's an unnamed suitor for the Lucky Cheng's space. (The cabaret is now open on Times Square.)

I asked Lucky Cheng's owner Hayne Suthon for an update on the space this morning, and she wasn't quite ready to divulge the To Be Determined. "Not sure. The attorneys are negotiating still — one main tenant with a back up," she said via email.

In an interview with Suthon on Oct. 12, Blackbook's Steve Lewis had this to sale about the evolution of Lucky Cheng's and what is next:

All was good until the neighborhood changed. The East Village/LES's conversion from hipster heaven to dormitories for slaves and students left them without their base. Bachelorette and birthday shindigs filled the Lucky Cheng’s room,and Hayne eyed the new Times Square. A year or two ago, I told everyone in town that her space was available and the best game in town. Now, operators are clamoring for it and deals are done... almost. Someone will make it nice for those who are now around. Money will be spent to pay for the rent, the renovation, and other things. The neighborhood can now support that. Whatever fabulous that comes in will set a bar... a tone for the area.

Noted

Spotted on East Seventh Street and Avenue B this morning by EVG reader Steven Matthews...

Fire at 518 E. Sixth St. last night

We heard reports of a fire last night around 10 on East Sixth Street... A few more details have come it... the fire occurred in a second-floor apartment in the back of No. 518 between Avenue A and Avenue B.

According to EVG reader Emily, who witnessed the FDNY on the scene:

"We saw bright lights and heard glass shattering ... there were firefighters running up and down the fire escapes, through the building, shattering all the windows with crow bars. There was smoke flowing from the building."

And here are two photos of the rear of the building from this morning...

Anyone else have more details?

[Updated] RIP Christine Ebel, co-owner of Arcane at 111 Avenue C

[Via the Arcane website]

Word began circulating yesterday that the body discovered yesterday morning in a lot at 227 E. Seventh St. was Christine Ebel, the co-owner of Arcane, which is adjacent to the property on Avenue C. Ebel ran the French-Caribbean eatery with her brother, Benjamin Alter.

We'll update the post today when more information becomes available. Several people told us that the death was accidental. Meanwhile, a memorial is growing outside the restaurant at 111 Avenue C, where this was the scene early this morning...

Updated 1:56 p.m.

DNAinfo's Serena Solomon reports that Ebel, 52, apparently died after falling from a balcony. She reportedly lived in an apartment above the bistro. Other restaurateurs in the area are mourning her death.

"She was always there [at Arcane], always working," said [Edi] Frauneder, who is also the chef at Edi and the Wolf, "humming along to the pace of Avenue C."