Today in Tompkins Square Park photo opps

No idea what this is for (maybe you do?) ... but everyone looks happy.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

DF Mavens opening non-dairy ice cream outpost on St. Mark's Place and 2nd Avenue

That prime northwest corner space on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place has a new tenant — a retail outpost of DF Mavens... as their tagline says, "The finest dairy-free ice cream in the world. Made in NYC."



Their dairy-free desserts have been available in various retail outlets ... though we believe that this is their first dedicated NYC storefront.

Eastside Bakery (.net?) closed down here at the end of April. And once upon a time, the space was home to the Gap in the late 1980s into the early 1990s.

DF Mavens will be arriving in 2014, per the sign.

Updated 10/18
This came up in the comments: Lula's is back open on East Sixth Street as of Aug. 3.

Report: Pulino's closing to make for new French restaurant on the Bowery

[EVG file photo]

Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria, which apparently tripled nearby rents and caused men to urinate in the co-ed sink, will close in January to make way for a new Keith McNally concept, Eater is reporting.

The McNally-owned Pulino's will reopen in March as a French restaurant called Cherche Midi, which was also the name of a French military prison in Paris.

Eater quotes McNally:

Through no one's fault but my own Pulino's hasn't fully worked and I've decided to change it quite radically.

Pulino's opened on the Bowery at East Houston Street in March 2010.

East Village resident looking for help with new health-insurance exchange

An EVG reader and East Village resident asked us the following yesterday...

I am wondering if there are other East Village residents struggling to sign up for health care insurance through the new federal program. If so, then I would love to hear how they are faring and get any advice or tips they might offer on how to get through the application process and which insurance is best.

I have gone onto the New York Health Exchange site several times in the last couple of weeks, failing to get through the entire application process every time because of apparent glitches in the system. Today, I got through it with some help from a phone rep, but even she couldn't figure out why I couldn't input certain key information, and she actually gave me wrong information about whether I should put in my total income for 2013 or my adjusted gross income.

I asked her if it was possible to go somewhere in my area and have someone help me in person with the application. She asked for my zip code and said there wasn't anyone here who could help me in person. It is pretty frustrating.

Is there anyone who has successfully navigated the new system who can offer any tips...?

128 Second Ave. has been sold

Back in late August, a tipster told us that 128 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Seventh Street was in contract.

Per the tipster, the building was being sold "to a group of four relatively young guys" ... who were heard outside 128 "talking about 'clearing out' the shop in the front" of the building. There are two businesses here: A tattoo/piercing parlor and the Stage restaurant.

According to public documents filed at the beginning of October, the building was sold for $7.5 million. The listed buyers are LLCs... with addresses that match up to Stellar Management ("known as a premier owner and operator of commercial real estate") and Icon Realty Management.

Ikon is familiar to the East Village, as far as gut renovations and additional stories go. Among the company's recent purchases: 326-328 E. Fourth St., 205 Avenue A and 154 Second Ave.

As for the beloved Stage, we understand that they have six years remaining on their lease.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation: Breakfast at Stage

Troubling talk about 128 Second Ave, and the long-term future of the Stage

Fencing in the future 6-story residential building on E. 9th Street

Progress check at 327 E. Ninth St., a former parking lot between First Avenue and Second Avenue. As we first reported in August 2012, a six-story, two-unit residential building will eventually rise here.

A crew was working on an upgraded fence yesterday ...



...to protect the current pit ...



The plywood includes a rendering of the future 327 E. Ninth St. ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The big dig begins for 6-story, 2-unit condo on East 9th Street

East Ninth Street parking lot will yield to 6-floor residential building

Extra Place and Heidi looking closed on Extra Place

Several week ago, we noted that Extra Place and Heidi, the sister restaurants along Extra Place, the pedestrian walkway off East First Street, were closed for renovation, per a sign at the door.

That sign is gone, and an EVG tipster noted workers removing tables and equipment from the restaurants yesterday... The Extra Place website is no longer active.



In July, CB3 dropped the hammer on the restaurants, denying renewal of its beer and wine license. (Per CB3: "The applicant has usurped a public pedestrian plaza for its private use in violation of New York City Department of Transportation restrictions by setting up an illegal sidewalk café in said public plaza.")

Extra Place was originally on the October CB3/SLA agenda for a new liquor license. However, they were a scratch before Oct. 7's meeting.



The restaurants opened in July 2012,and received fairly positive notices for their food.

At this point, it doesn't appear the restaurants will return... or that Extra Place will ever work as a shopping-dining destination...

Previously on EV Grieve:
With new restaurant opening, will Extra Place finally become a dining destination?

Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Meanwhile, Extra Place continues to maintain its proud heritage

Extra Place and Heidi currently 'closed for renovation' in Extra Place

Lui's Thai food coming soon to East 4th Street

Matt Rosen passes along word that a new Thai restaurant called Lui's is opening on East Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... in the space that last housed Pinisi Cafe & Bakery. Don't know anything else about Lui's just at the moment.

Hitchcocktober continues at Village East Cinema

Hitchcocktober continues for the next three Thursday evenings at the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue and East 12th Street... Tonight at 8: "Vertigo."



Details here.

For scary Halloween-time movies of a different sort, the CBGB biopic is also playing at the Village East Cinema.

Honk if you love brass bands and parades

[This evening via Bobby Williams]

As you may have heard, the 2nd Annual East Village Cavalcade of Pomp is underway now in the neighborhood... part of the HONK NYC! Festival.

Per the HONK NYC Facebook page:

East Village Cavalcade of Pomp Parade Starting Locations & Schedule — all parades end in Tompkins Square Park, where bands will perform a set.

5pm - Perhaps Contraption in Tompkins Square Park

5:30pm - Os Siderais begins a parade through the neighborhood from De Colores Community Yard Garden on 8th Street between Avenues B & C

5:30pm - Environmental Encroachment steps off from Two Boots Pizzeria, Avenue A and 3rd Street corner

6pm - Minor Mishap Marching Band leaves from The Bean, 1st Avenue at 9th Street corner

6:45pm - Hungry March Band departs from the Lower East Side Girls Club, 8 Street between Avenues C & D

Expect a mass of honking and marching then in Tompkins Square Park... then at 8, there's a HONK NYC! Radical Marching Band Symposium at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space at 155 Avenue C ... then an after-party at 10 at Drom on Avenue A...

Distinguished men in hats were in McSorley's earlier today

Ale! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep pic.twitter.com/qghQ1frQLc

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) October 16, 2013

Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, appearing soon together on Broadway, were in McSorley's earlier for a photo shoot ... per a Facebook post by Minnie McSorley: "McSorley's Old Ale House: Now wheelchair accessible, and mutant friendly."

H/T @fnytv

'Mayor of Avenue D' busted for running large-scale drug operation

The Manhattan DA's office has indicted 11 members of an LES-based narcotics trafficking organization that possessed and sold street-level crack cocaine, according to a news release from Cyrus R. Vance Jr. yesterday.

From that release:

According to the indictment, since approximately January 2012, the defendants obtained, transported, processed, packaged, and sold large quantities of crack cocaine to customers in and around the Jacob Riis Houses, a New York City Public Housing Authority development between East 8th and East 13th Streets, from Avenue D to the F.D.R. Drive, as well as at other locations.

The leader of this organization – DWAYNE MITCHELL, a/k/a “Dubbs,” 35 – obtained wholesale quantities of crack cocaine from supplier SABED RAHMAN, 29. MITCHELL and RAHMAN are accused of meeting regularly over a long period to exchange wholesale quantities of drugs and cash, including at a Starbucks location in Midtown Manhattan.

Prosecutors told the Daily News that Mitchell acted like the "Mayor of Avenue D" while "charming the neighborhood by hosting barbecues and field trips to Six Flags for kids."

And more from the DA's release:

According to the indictment, the defendants used cell phones to communicate and conduct their business. They also attempted to conceal the conspiracy and alleged illegal transactions by conducting them in a covert manner and using coded language, including the terms “chicken,” “donuts,” and “food,” to refer to cocaine and sums of money.

Mitchell reportedly faces up to 20 years on the most serious charge.