Makeshift altar arrives at former Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church

[Photo by EVG reader Matteo]

Last summer, workers demolished the church, school and rectory on the Mary Help of Christians lot on Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 11th Street. Developer Douglas Steiner awaits city approval for his retail-residential complex at the now-empty lot.

In the meantime, someone has created a makeshift altar on the East 12th Street plywood… which includes a frame around the plywood portal…


[Photo by EVG reader Matteo]

..and EVG reader Alta Tseng shared these photos…







Despite the demolition, former church regulars continued to hold their daily sidewalk prayer service on East 12th Street through August.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

Into the snow, again

[Tompkins Square Park]

Photos this snowy day via Derek Berg


[East 4th Street]

Noted

Astor Place tonight via EVG reader 8E…

E Smoke Shop now anchoring St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue

We spotted workers putting up the new sign yesterday afternoon at the newsstand/deli on St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue… and a reader sent us a shot from this morning showing how it's looking… say hello to E Smoke Shop…



A new operator took over the now former New Corner Magazine (or King's Magazine) last month … the fellows who work here couldn't be any nicer … as for the sign … rather schlocky, though maybe the use of S-shapted pipes might seem kind of quaint in about, oh, 50 years. And awesome display of bongs water pipes in the window… some competition for the other shops down the street…

Previously on EV Grieve:
New Corner Magazine closed for renovations; new operator to take over

What happened to DJ Lenny M?

[Updated] A new look for the magazine shop on Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Bombed again at the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall

Maya Hayuk's nearly two-week-old criss-cross mural up on the wall at East Houston and the Bowery was hit for the second time…



Her mural was tagged just two days after completion, as BoweryBoogie noted.



Apparently all this happened during Thursday night's snowstorm, per AnimalNY.

East 14th Street, 8:06 a.m., Feb. 15

You can get into The New Museum for free by donating a winter coat

[A work by Paweł Althamer via The New Museum]

From the EVG inbox...

Beginning in February, the New Museum will present the first US museum exhibition devoted to the work of Paweł Althamer. Since the early 1990s, Althamer (b. 1967 Warsaw, Poland) has established a unique artistic practice and is admired for his expanded approach to sculptural representation and his experimental models of social collaboration. Althamer is predominantly known for figurative sculptures of himself, his family, and various other individuals within his community. Beyond simple portraiture, these sculptures, along with the artist’s other activities, highlight the complex social, political, and psychological networks in which he operates. “Paweł Althamer: The Neighbors” will be on view on the Fourth, Third, and Second Floor galleries from February 12–April 13, 2014.

And about admission…

For his exhibition, Althamer has initiated a coat drive for the Bowery Mission, the Museum's neighbor, which has been serving the homeless and hungry since 1879. For the duration of the exhibition, visitors bringing new or gently used men's coats to the New Museum will receive free entry. All the coats will be donated to the Bowery Mission.

The New Museum is at 235 Bowery.

So I meet you at the cemetry gates

A little Valentine's Day mood music for you… "Found Love In a Graveyard" by Veronica Falls circa 2010...

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

Looking at a Missed Connection on Craigslist today...

dude who looks like Robert Smith - w4m (East Village)
I used to see you all over the East Village. The first time I saw you was at a Karen Finley reading at Barnes and Noble 3 or 4 summers ago. Then you were everywhere. On the L train. At some other feminist performance event I can't remember the name of now. Once I was at the Bean on 2nd ave and you came in to put up your event poster. It seemed like you were a regular. I went away for the summer and haven't seen you since. Are you still alive?

Not sure what era of Robert Smith this Robert Smith looks like (80s? 90s? 2000s?) Regardless! Hope that it works out for you kids!

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[On Avenue A, photo by Grant Shaffer]

Landmarks Preservation Commission still not pleased with plans for 9-story hotel adjacent to the Merchant's House Museum on East 4th Street (Curbed)

Early photos of the Merchant's House Museum (Off the Grid)

Mayor de Blasio nixes 'infill' plan for NYCHA properties (The Villager)

The paintings of East Village artist and activist Sally Young are up at the Ottendorfer Library (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

East Village photographer Sally Davies has a show at the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery (The Jewish Week)

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Video interlude... Casey Neistat snowboarding yesterday on the streets of the East Village and LES...



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Join Citi Bike's email list and get a free 24-hour Citi Bike pass (Citi Bike Facebook page)

Playing bocce on First Avenue (Ephemeral New York)

Talking 2 years of Centre-fuge art on East First Street (BoweryBoogie)

A look at new restaurants opening on the Bowery (Eater)

An interview with LES resident Michael Kelly, who stars on "House of Cards" (The Lo-Down)

The last 5 standalone diners in Manhattan (Scouting NY)

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And this week marked the annual wreath-laying on Founder's Day at Cooper Union ... EVG reader Beth Sopko (Cooper Union class of '87) shared these photos (find more here) ... some students turned out on Wednesday, on Peter Cooper's 233rd birthday, wearing all black clothes and carrying black balloons — a statement regarding the board's decision to begin charging undergraduate tuition at the school starting this fall ...

Scenes from the Great East Village Slushathon

[First Avenue and East 13th Street]

As you may have noticed, it's really slushy and mushy out there ... East Village-based photographer Gudrun Georges captured some of the messy leftovers from yesterday's storm...


[Avenue A, we're gonna need a bigger boat]

Find more of her work here. And consider buying some waist waders.

Soon, there won't be any record stores on St. Mark's Place, and that sucks

[EVG file photo]

Here's a bit of depressing (but not really surprising) news buried in a Wall Street Journal piece today about St. Mark's Place:

Sounds, the last of once-many record shops on the strip, recently limited its business days to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, said Felicia De Chabris, an associate broker with Halstead Property. She said Sounds' space went on the rental market this month, with its first showings this week.

Among the CD/record shops that have closed on (or near) St. Mark's Place in recent years ... Joe's CDs, 13 CDs, Venus Records, Mondo Kim's, Smash, Norman's, Rockit Scientist Records...

From an EVG post on the topic from January 2012:

Didn't seem like too long ago where you could have spent an afternoon on St. Mark's Place rooting through the bins of the record stores here ... then reading the liner notes/CD sleeves of your purchases at the Grassroots or wherever over a beer ... Ah, how old-fashioned

Meanwhile, all the more reason to support the record stores that remain here ... places such as...Kim's ... Good Records NYC ... Turntable Lab ... A-1 Records ... Other Music ... Academy Records ... Rainbow Music...

Updated 3:34 p.m.
Alex weighs in on all this over at Flaming Pablum.