One of these nights, one of these rainy old nights

Tompkins Square Park. Photo by Bobby Williams.

This is the Day

Kissing the Pink with "Maybe this Day" circa 1982.

I love a) the saxophonist and b) the crowd's reaction. [Deathly silence]

Speaking of "This is the Day." Why not. The The from 1983.

2 Bros. back open; Nino's 2.0 closed again

One of the 2 Bros. on St. Mark's Place that closed after a nearby fire in September is back open... this is the one that sells the $1.50 "supreme" slice...

And down on St. Mark's Place, weirdness continues at Nino's 2.0 at Avenue A. Reopened. Closed. Reopened. Now closed again...

The making of the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space on Avenue C

And as noted earlier ... The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) has its grand opening tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Here's the schedule (all subject to change):

3:00 Chain-cutting ceremony and proclamation by Rosie Mendez
3:45 Slideshow by Seth Tobocman with Eric Bliss, Ben Barson and Joe Merolla
4:30 Talk and slideshow by Adam Purple
4:45 Reading by Maggie Wrigley
4:55 Reading by Felix
5:05 Slideshow by Mac McGill
5:35 Talk by Ben Shepard
5:50 Slideshow by Fly
6:30 Talk by Frank Morales
6:40 Spoken word by Pete Missing
7:00 Sermon and songs by Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping
8:00 March by Rude Mechanical Orchestra
8:30 Performance by Rude Mechanical Orchestra
Deejaying by DJ Dirtyfinger

MoRUS is at 155 Avenue C between East 10th Street and East 9th Street. Visit the MoRUS website here for more information.

Previously.

Memorial service tomorrow for Donald Suggs

From the EVG inbox...

Friends and loves of Donald Suggs, we will be holding a memorial service for him at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery on Saturday, December 8th, beginning at 1 pm.

Read more about the memorial here. Read more about his life and work here.

Suggs, a familiar face around the neighborhood, died in early October from an apparent heart attack. He was 51.

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

Watch the Ramones on 'Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee' in 1988

In case you've never see it. Something for a lazy, rainy Friday afternoon. Or any afternoon...

Today at Schwimmer Manor

Two reports/photos via Twitter...

1. Bendy Thing doing a Loop-the-Loop outside 331 E. Sixth St. ...

[Via @lcsonka39]

2. Via @SubatomicSound —

Seems David Schwimmer is now pouring concrete for a bomb shelter in his new backyard #MoreNoisePlease

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is David Schwimmer the 'Friends' star who now owns the demolished 331 E. Sixth St. townhouse?

O Come, All Ye Faithful: Tree lighting at Tompkins Square Park is Sunday

From 4-5 p.m., per the sign. And don't worry — I'll have 79 more posts on the tree before the season is over...

Here are scenes from the ceremony in 2008 ... and last year .... And I made this terrible joke in 2010:

Meanwhile, this will be the last year for the tree lighting. On Jan. 3, workers will tear down the tree to make way for a new, 12-story tree. In three years, the current tree will be offered a space here, though at current market rates.

But we did almost lose the tree for real last year after Irene...

Breaking (sort of): Workers return to incoming Avenue A 7-Eleven

[Photo via Shawn Chittle]

We haven't seen much activity at the 7-Eleven coming to the corner of Avenue A and East 11th Street... in the space previously occupied by Bar on A and Angels & Kings... Workers gutted and plywooded (heh) the space back in September... but we haven't seen much, if any, activity here of late.

Until this morning.

'All uses considered' for former Mars Bar space at Jupiter 21

The retail listing — with fresh renderings — is now live for 21 Jupiter, the luxury building that took the place of 9-17 Second Ave. ... and, among other things, the former home of the Mars Bar.

Some details per the RKF listing:

SPACE
Ground Floor 1,400 SF
Lower Level 3,056 SF
Storage Space 1,252 SF

POSSESSION
Second Quarter 2013

TERM
20 years

And!

COMMENTS
Formerly “Mars Bar” location
All uses considered
New construction with premises being prepared for restaurant use
Located at the base of a luxury rental building
Existing 4am Liquor License in place

Any idea why Mars Bar is randomly in quotes? Oh, and does this mean Hank isn't reopening the bar here? (No snickering!)

And what happened to the BP station and other buildings?

Previously:

December Saturdays

For awhile this past Saturday, it seemed as if I ran into swarms of bargoers at every turn. More than usual. Earlier than usual. And this was starting with the brunchers around 12:30 p.m. on Avenue C. (I overheard one well-heeled brunch-goer suggest that they buy some beers and sit on a stoop after brunching on brunch.)

Anyway, I may have made a comment about all this on the EVG Facebook page Saturday. Something like:

A lot of large groups of really stupid people out tonight. Not used to this in the past month. My Jackass Guard is down.

And some 60 people responded, many having witnessed all this too ... a few comments:

• "Huge bro & woo packs from Chelsea over to EV. I ran home to take a xanax."

• "it sounded like an absurdist theatrical performance was walking down my block"

Anyway, since then, several people have pointed out that it's only going to get worse ... tomorrow marks an Ugly Sweater Pub Crawl starting at the Village Pourhouse...

Then on Dec. 15, also starting at the Village Pourhouse....

Per PubCrawls.com:

Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds. Picture thousands of Santas running throughout the streets of the city to some of the best bars that Manhattan has to offer.

Oh, and Dec. 15 is also SantaCon.

As one sort-of EVG acquaintance said last Saturday, maybe we should just be happy that people are returning to the neighborhood post Sandy to help the local economy. Should we just be happy for the swarms?

Home for the holidays at Theatre 80

Earlier this week, I noticed that a new sign went up outside Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place for the William Barnacle Tavern...

And yesterday, Lorcan and company put up some holiday gear...

Anyway, I realized that I hadn't written about the Tavern since before it opened. For this post in September 2009, proprietor Lorcan Otway, whose parents built and operated Theatre 80 starting in 1964, gave me a tour of the space. (You can read that post here.)

But Jeremiah Moss discussed the Tavern in a post back in January, noting:

The tavern is other-worldly. You feel like you've come upon a weird oasis, as if you've slipped through the time-space barrier and landed in some alternate reality. It's not the absinthe, because you feel it the moment you walk in. Everyone else feels it, too. Newcomers step through the door with exclamations of relief — a quiet bar in the East Village!

Tavern aside, there's a lot of interesting things happening at Theatre 80. Check out their website here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Barnacle Bill dies

Theatre 80 to remain a theater: "We intend to keep the East Village a vibrant arts community"

Pearl Theatre relocating; what's next for 80 St. Mark's Place?