Week in Grieview

[Photo on First Avenue by Goggla]

A walk in Alphabet City in 1978 (Friday)

RIP LES Jewels (Saturday, 51 comments)

An appreciation: Star Shoe Shop (Tuesday)

The future of 181 Avenue A, aka the former Mary Help of Christians (Monday)

Avenue A 7-Eleven AC woes (Monday)

Rosie Mendez wins the Democratic primary (Wednesday)

New mural honors Tompkins Square Park (Friday)

Tompkins Square Park in 1904 (Thursday)

Prepping 100 Avenue A for demolition (Tuesday)

Out and About with Sven Furberg (Wednesday)

Bike helmets that we like (Tuesday)

Lightning! (Thursday)

A trash complaint about Taverna Kyclades (Thursday)

Picnic opens on Second Avenue (Tuesday)

12 years of Bloomy (Monday)

The Stuyvesant Stationery shop is closing on East 14th Street (Friday)

------


[Photo by Gregory Patrick]

Meanwhile, at DayLife...

Part of DayLife today on Orchard Street... Per the DayLife website:

DayLife is a FREE 3-block special event that covers Orchard Street in astroturf and pushcarts, and includes the best in LES food and fashion vendors.

Photo via EVG reader Evan.

Happening now: The Joe Strummer mural is returning! The Joe Strummer mural is returning!

As we first reported on Aug. 19, workers blasted away the 10-year-old Joe Strummer mural outside Niagara on Avenue A and East Seventh Street as part of ongoing exterior renovations at 132 E. Seventh St. As promised, though, the mural was to return... and it's starting to happen right now with the original artist Dr. Revolt ...

Thanks to @gaminette for the photo!

AlphaBet Cafe back open on East 14th Street and Avenue B

[Bobby Williams]

Just noting that AlphaBet Cafe, a fine little place for an inexpensive meal, is back open ... they were closed for several days due to a gas problem, according to signs on the door.

The New York City Marble Cemetery is open until 5 today on East 2nd Street

From the EVG inbox...

The New York City Marble Cemetery invites you to visit on our Neighborhood Open Day on SUNDAY SEPT. 15 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Come and enjoy our peaceful green space

*Upcoming Dates*

Our Fall Open Weekend
Saturday and Sunday
Oct. 12 and 13
10 am to 5 pm
With historical displays, photos and artifacts
Visit and learn more of the history of the Cemetery and those interred here.

East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

[Updated] Memorials for LES Jewels in the East Village

There are at least four memorials now in the neighborhood for Joel Pakela, aka LES Jewels, who died this morning from what some people have said was a drug overdose. (No official word just yet.) There is a memorial now on Avenue A at East Ninth Street...









-----

St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue...





-----

... and outside the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) on Avenue C...





There are also several candles lit in his honor outside Ray's on Avenue A.

Thanks to our dear friends at MoRUS for the above photos.

-----

Updated 9-15

Steven Hirsch shared these photos from last night on Avenue A and East Ninth Street...











-----

This morning around 7:30 ...


[EVG]

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP LES Jewels (35 comments)

RIP LES Jewels

[Photo from 2011 by Bob Arihood]

Word is circulating in Tompkins Square Park today that LES Jewels, a familiar figure in the neighborhood, has died. Park regulars said that Jewels, aka Joel Pakela, died as a result of a drug overdose. [Update 9-16: A cause of death has not been confirmed. There are other theories, as you can see in the comments.] Friends said that he was 43.

According to sources, Jewels was found unconscious this morning at 7:44 on Avenue A at East Ninth Street. An EMS crew tried unsuccessfully to revive him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

His drug- and alcohol-fueled rampages along Avenue A and in Tompkins Square Park were well-documented by Bob Arihood at Neither More Nor Less.

One longtime resident recently introduced himself to Jewels ... and wasn't sure what to expect.

"He couldn't have been nicer."

Here's the last photo that we've seen of Jewels, taken Sept. 8 at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) on Avenue C...


[Photo via MoRUS]

Giuseppi Logan ready for the day in Tompkins Square Park

EV resident Brian Kubovcik shares this photo from this morning... where Giuseppi Logan is setting up in Tompkins Square Park.

Per Brian: "Always brightens my day to see him out there."

Agreed!

Tina Turnstile sings, 'We don't need another Starbucks...'

Details per YouTube:

Tina Turnstile has had it with the corporate takeover of NYC neighborhoods and has something to say about it!
Tina Turnstile — Written/Performed by: David Ilku
Directed & Produced by: Parker Posey & Jodi Lennon

And sung to the tune of Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)"...

"We don't need another Starbucks ... we don't another Duane Reade... we don't need another bank branch..."

[H/t Doug at Big Gay Ice Cream]

Noted

Dave on 7th notes that Citibank has apparently moved the Jacob Riis Houses a few avenues to the west...

To your next apartment

"Cockroach," the new one off the fourth record by Crocodiles.

Davey's Ice Cream opens tonight; free scoops alert

[Photo via @salim]

As noted earlier ... over at 137 First Ave. just north of St.Mark's Place...

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on Davey's Ice Cream, opening later this summer on First Avenue