Has anyone taken advantage of this 'great news' at the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office?

We all know how much fun it is going to the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office on East 14th Street. (A reminder here and here.) Has anyone done the Sunday pick-up service this month?

Revisit the Lower East Side/East Village of 1978: Screening of 'Viva Loisaida' this Sunday afternoon

You have a chance Sunday afternoon to catch a screening of "Viva Loisaida," Marlis Momber's 1978 documentary about life on the Lower East Side.

Per the Facebook invite:

VIVA LOISAIDA, chronicles what life was like for the director and her fellow immigrants in the mid 1970s. The film opens with a scene in the old Tompkins Square band shell and goes on to highlight the huge murals, the many grassroots art and political organizations which contributed to the EV/LES's a cultural diversity.

The screening starts at 3 p.m., at the Tu Casa Rehearsal Estudio, 95 Avenue B (East Sixth Street). There's a suggested donation of $10.

Previously.

Reviving those 7-Eleven + another chain rumors for Avenue A

[Photo last week via Shawn Chittle]

That pesky rumor has returned... the one about the incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A and East 11th Street being more than just a 7-Eleven. Back in September, we heard the space of the former Bar on A and Angels & Kings would be chopped into two chains, a 7-Eleven and either a Starbucks or Subway. Just rumors mind you.

So far, there's nothing on the DOB permits pointing specifically to anything other than a 7-Eleven here. But! The applicant of record for both 500 E. 11th St. and 170 Avenue A is Bentonville, Ark.-based Harrison French & Associates, an architecture and engineering firm whose clients include 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Subway.

Plus, as several people have noted, this is a really big space for just a 7-Eleven. Anyway, yesterday, a reader passed along word of a rumor that the space will be both a 7-Eleven and a Starbucks.

Perhaps. Anyway, at this point, nothing would likely surprise us here...

Previously on EV Grieve:
7-Eleven alert: Are 2 chain stores replacing Bar on A and Angels & Kings?

First sign of the incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A

Unsilent Night for a bad Santa kind of day in the East Village

[Unsilent Night in 2010 by Bobby Williams]

In case that you are looking for a group activity Saturday night in the East Village that doesn't involve dressing like Santa, acting like a jackass, buying Jäger bombs (and demanding that the bartender sets up a Jäger-train), terrorizing people out running errands, yelling for your friends who left a few minutes earlier and are already at next bar, then you're in luck...

It's time for the annual Unsilent Night, the boombox caroling walk... Composer Phil Kline's holiday tradition got its start in 1992... meeting place is 7 at the Arch at Washington Square Park... and the group makes its way over to Tompkins Square Park.

Oh, and what if the Santas come across the carolers...? Unsilent Night has asked nicely...

@santacon And please don't fuck with Unsilent Night! Enjoy it as it passes by ….

— Unsilent Night (@UnsilentTweet) December 13, 2012

Rolling out the fruit and vegetable stands at the incoming New York Healthy Choice

Back in February, signs first appeared for something called New York Healthy Choice on Avenue C at East 11th Street ... Chico created murals for the gates in July ... we haven't seen much activity here of late (granted, this isn't an intersection we cross with great frequency... and, like the other businesses along here, the basement was flooded during the Sandy surge...)

Exchanged emails with EVG reader Rob yesterday... who's also curious about what New York Healthy Choice will be — A deli? A mini Whole Foods? A place to buy a box of Annie's Mac & Cheese?

All the above?

Per Rob's photo, the proprietors have rolled out these vegetable-vegetable stands.

As Rob said: "Looks promising."

Former employee says: Rawvolution has closed

Last week we noted that Rawvolution, the vegan cafe on East 12th Street, would be closed until Jan. 1 for "renovations."

Meanwhile, a now-former employee sent us the following:

"Rawvolution closed down to the public as of December 1 (with no reason, warning, or heads up to their employees…shady shady.)"

We haven't heard anything official yet from ownership...

Fall Friday flashback: SANTA! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

On Fridays this fall, and probably winter and spring and... we'll post one of the 12,000-plus EVG, uh, posts from yesteryear, like this one, from Dec. 12, 2009...

----------

A little brisk, but a fine morning nonetheless to run some errands. It's rather peaceful out and...


WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

SANTA! SANTA! I followed a group of Santas up First Avenue who kept yelling at people a block ahead of them — at 9:30 a.m. ... And someone asked me where the North Pole was — two different times along Third Avenue. Can't wait till they all start drinking...

The Santas are congregating now at Lunasa.

Evening in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams.

We're DOOMED

Zoltar is out of order again outside Gem Spa... He was fine this morning when I walked by... At this rate, the Mets should sign him to a big contract.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

[Updated] Reader mailbag: No water on my block!

We received a late-night/early-morning email from a reader noting:

"There is no water in my block. I thought it was just in my apartment, but I asked my neighbor and she doesn't have water either. I also went to the corner deli to get something, and the deli guy brought up that they didn't have water."

The reader followed-up, saying that the water returned this morning to where he lives along East Seventh Street and First Avenue ... but that the water was now a rust color coming out of the faucet...

Anyone else experience loss of water the past 12 hours? Or notice some construction ... or...

Updated:
Added the photo that Bobby Williams took yesterday on East Seventh Street near Avenue A... showing the work on the water main...

Here's where the Santas will be on Saturday

A reader sent along the zones for SantaCon on Saturday...

...and they are expected in the East Village between 4:30 and 7 ... "Have fun anywhere in the green zone," according to the directive. Pay no mind to us residents! You're just having fun!

Per the reader:

Although they have specific bars listed ... I imagine there will be Santas everywhere in the neighborhood. The other crappy thing is that the time frame (4:30-7:00) means that a lot of the Santa's probably won't go across to Brooklyn at 7pm and will just stay in the EV all night.

Also:

It might be nice to have a few places that volunteer to be "Santa-free zones" that could be publicized as safe places to go on Saturday.

I know that the Grassroots on St. Mark's won't serve any Santas... anywhere else?

Also, we understand that there at least two other separate Santa events here Saturday...

And noting the main photo on the SantaCon home page:

Tompkins Square Bagels turns 1

This weekend, Tompkins Square Bagels celebrates its one-year anniversary at 165 Avenue A. On the eve of the occasion, we asked proprietor Christopher Pugliese to reflect on the past year.

On the local community:

"I'd really like people to know how thankful I am for their support. I've met so many amazing people at Tompkins Square Bagels this past year, you could not imagine. Every type of person. What a great great community we have. Anyone who says the spirit of the East Village is gone or done is absolutely wrong. The people are here."

On what he's most proud of:

"One of the things I'm most proud of, and maybe something that landlords should pay attention to, is that I made it without a liquor license. They were dangling that in front of me like a carrot if i agreed to pay a little more in rent. I made a decision early on — no liquor, no cigarettes, no targeting the school kids around the block by filling my place with junk food and candy. No lotto tickets. I was going to either live or die being a responsible member of the community. And I lived."

On the future:

"I'd love to put an old-fashioned Italian-style pork store/market type of place in the Diablo Royale Este space next door. [The bar temporarily closed late in August; it is not expected to return. The space is on the market.] I want to knock down a wall in TSB and connect the two. I want to have meats, fish, cheeses, coffee, bread, groceries, pre-made food, pasta, etc.

I'm interested in doing this because I live here and, personally, I'm tired of having to walk blocks and blocks for a decent piece of fish or some good pasta. Where I grew up in Brooklyn, we had places like Pastosa Ravioli. Have you ever been to one? It's like an Italian pork store, pasta shop and gourmet food place all rolled into one. There's a real neighborhood here on Avenue A. The people are here. Yet, they don't have basic needs met like a good market."

Previously.