Tonight's sunset

Photo by Bobby Williams

More (TV) crime drama in Tompkins Square Park today

Crews were out early this morning setting up shots for NBC's "The Blacklist" ...



... and a little later, there was some fake FBI action as well as star James Spader (seated in hat and glasses)...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

"The Blacklist" shut down part of the Park last Wednesday as well ... followed by the "Law and Order: SVU" shoot in the Park on Friday. (Plus that Richard Gere film has been doing scenes in the Park...)

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Bill Gerstel
Occupation: Musician
Location: Two Boots Pizza, 3rd Street and Avenue A.
Time: 12:10 pm on Saturday, April 19.

Happy Record Store Day. I got too much. I went to Kim’s and Other Music. I got my fun. I got my one obscure find. Everybody’s looking at all the new releases, the new special releases, of which there are some good ones, but I found this Al Kooper-produced band called Appaloosa that I’ve never heard of. That’s Record Store Day. Also, I’ve been reading the history of Stax Records, so I got Otis Redding’s first album and I got an Elvis Presley recording at Stax.

I grew up in California and I moved here in 1980. I was playing music in California. Van Halen and the Knack were real big then, and Television and the Talking Heads were here, so moving just seemed like a no brainer. I had to be here. I’m a drummer.

When I first arrived, I lived near Christopher Street in the West Village for a bit and then I lived on Gansevoort Street, which was just like meat trucks and hookers and transvestites turning tricks in the middle of the night. I got my first place in the East Village in 1986. I lived on 1st Avenue above Gringer Appliances, which is still there. I think that will always be there because they own the whole building. The owner’s not trying to gouge anybody. He’s not a great landlord but he’s not a horrible landlord either. So I stayed there and I was super of the building for awhile, which meant I just swept floors and hung out for the oil delivery. I really didn’t have to do much. Then we moved to this block in 1997.

I used to have a day job working for a music company putting out a cassette label. I was sort of marketing, promotion, radio distribution and everything. It was very small and for years it was just cassettes. But I haven’t had a day job in 20 years.

I was playing music all over the place. In the East Village, I played at A7, which is now Niagara. It was just a dirty punk club and if they didn’t like you they would sit on the stage. I played Brownies and I was in the band 3 Teens Kill 4 for several years, so we played at the Pyramid Club a lot and did a little touring.

I now play with Emily Duff [The Emily Duff Band]. It’s sort of like Americana, Bluesy, R&B stuff — great songs. I’m also in a cover band in New Jersey and that’s how I make money, because everybody wants to just hear a jukebox; nobody wants to pay for live music. I did a lot of Irish music for years and now I do classic rock covers — Bowie, the Rolling Stones. It’s more fun playing originals, but I don’t mind playing covers.

One of my favorite nights was playing at the Continental … and Johnny Thunders was headlining. We were opening for Johnny. It was a cold, snowy night and so he had a big overcoat on. He was leaving at the end of the night and somebody in the backroom was like, ‘Johnny, Johnny!’ I think they were going to pay him or whatever it was. He was all nervous and running out, and he stopped abruptly and two frozen chickens fell out of his trench coat that he was stealing from the kitchen. He passed on getting paid and just left.

The venues are disappearing in the city but there are a lot in Brooklyn. It’s really hard in the East Village now cause the demographic is changing. It’s crazy. When I first came here, everybody was going to the West Village. I would work over on Bleecker Street and everybody would go there looking for Mary Travers and Bob Dylan, and now everybody comes over here looking for Johnny Thunders. It’s just the lifecycle. It’s inevitable and with rents going up and now property taxes have gone up astronomically. I’m a rocker and I play music, but I’m also a homeowner, so I notice all of that as I grow older. Now we’re just part of the city.

There are things that I don’t miss. I don’t miss the danger of it. I wish it was a little more edgy, but I got mugged a couple times and I’m glad I’m not worrying about that anymore, and I don’t have to step over junkies and my son doesn’t have to step over junkies. Although he did see junkies when he was 6 years old, going, ‘What? How’s that guy doing that?’ It was a great place to have a kid because the parks were nearby and there were lots of kids and lots of people like me around. There were a lot of us that didn’t leave. You can take them to museums or to hear music. He’s seen stuff that he’ll never see anywhere else. My son has got a gig a two. He’s a guitarist and not a drummer, fortunately, so we can play together.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Former Christodora House gym and (fabled) pool for sale

For years now there has been talk of doing something with the derelict community space in the Christodora House on Avenue B.

There were plans 10 years ago to turn the space into residential units, but the Christodora House board reportedly eventually withdrew the application to receive a zoning variance. (The pool, gym and other adjacent rooms are zoned for community use.)

In any event, the gym and pool area arrived for sale yesterday at Massey Knakal. Here is the listing:

Located on the northeast corner of Avenue B and East 9th Street, the subject property consists of 2 community facility condominium units located on the ground floor and lower level of 143 Avenue B a/k/a the Christodora House. The ground floor unit was a former gymnasium with ceiling heights of approximately 22'. There is a small outdoor terrace to the north and two doors on East 9th Street that have been boarded up. Both doors could be reopened and collectively serve as an exclusive entrance for the two units. The lower level is a former pool and could either be put to use or filled in for an alternative use. The two units have a 501C filing status (Not-for-profit) and are therefore restricted to community facility use only. The building sits directly across from Tompkins Square Park and adjacent to the former Public School 64 which closed a number of years ago and is currently being converted into a mixed-purpose building including dormitories for the Joffrey Ballet School and Cooper Union.

Price: $2.5 million.

For starters, the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center is NOT "currently being converted into a mixed-purpose building." That is developer Gregg Singer's wish. The city has yet to approve any of those plans.

As for the gym and pool…

Here is the pool as it looked in 1928 … via the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.


… and here are photos that we happened to have of the pool and gym taken much more recently…







Scoopy at The Villager got a look at pool back in 2008. Here's part of his description: "It was 8 feet deep at one end and sloped up from the center to a shallow depth at the other end. From the looks of it, it hadn’t been used for 50 years."

South Brooklyn Pizza is closing … and moving

EVG reader MP spotted this sign last night at South Brooklyn Pizza … apparently the pizzeria, with four locations in Brooklyn, is closing here at the end of this week … and moving to an undisclosed new space.

There isn't any mention yet on South Brooklyn's Facebook page about this new East Village location. (An employee told MP that they were still looking for space.)

Shortly after opening at 122 First Ave. between East Seventh Street and East Eighth Street in April 2010, South Brooklyn Pizza began expanding into the space next door formerly occupied by Ruben's Empanadas. There was a legal battle over this move, which Jeremiah Moss covered here. (It was never easy for South Brooklyn. There was also opposition to the pizzeria's liquor license. And what became of those "Fondle Parties"?)

The expanded dining room opened in August 2012.

Also in August 2012, the company behind South Brooklyn Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In any event, this will be a lonely stretch of First Avenue … next-door neighbor Kim's is also closing in the months ahead.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Opposition to South Brooklyn Pizza's liquor license

Cocktail specialist Eben Klemm opening King Bee in the former Exchange Alley space

The other day, we wondered if 424 E. Ninth St., where Exchange Alley just closed, was a doomed location.

After all, Exchange Alley, which opened in August 2012, was the latest to give this space a try between Avenue A and First Avenue … where Olivia, Sintir and Zi' Pep all closed in fairly quick succession.

However, there's a already a new suitor lined up to try the space… a sign out front notes that a restaurant by the name of King Bee will appear before next month's CB3/SLA committee for a wine-liquor license... and the applicant is noted mixologist Eben Klemm, the former MIT molecular biologist who created the "aperitif-driven cocktail program" at Pearl & Ash on the Bowery, among may other bars and restaurants.

Meanwhile, outside the former Blarney Cove...

[Photo by Cassandra Gaylor White via Facebook]

Spotted along the plywood near the former Blarney Cove on East 14th Street …

"I have rich parents and I am going to rent your apartment for $6,000 a month just because I can!"

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Some day, this stretch of East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B will be home to a new luxury retail-residential complex that will look something like this.

That $6,000 should get her a nice 1 bedroom!

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park yesterday ... photo by Penny Rand]

Is Clinton Street Baking Company expanding into Min's Market space? (BoweryBoogie)

Joey Ramone Birthday Bash returning to Bowery Electric (Brooklyn Vegan)

East Side Stories — The 2014 East Village Theater Festival continues through May 4 (Metropolitan Playhouse)

The Incubator Arts Project decides not to renew its lease at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery (The New York Times)

An interview with Bella Meyer, Marc Chagall's granddaughter and the proprietor of Fleurs Bella on East 11th Street (The Jewish Daily Forward)

An interview with the co-author of “Gentrifier? Who, Me? Interrogating the Gentrifier in the Mirror" (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Here's your Summerstage schedule, including for East River Park (The Lo-Down)

RIP Pearl Paint (Tribeca Trib)

The last L-shaped streets in the city (Scouting New York)

Source: Kim's staff looking for ways to save their store

Yesterday we broke the sad/bad news that Kim's Video & Music is closing at 124 First Ave. There isn't a closing date just yet (word is the store will be around another two months months). For now, there's a sale with up to 30 percent off on all video and music.

Meanwhile, an unnamed source says that a few Kim's staffers are exploring a number of possibilities to keep the store open there or elsewhere in the neighborhood. That's all the source could say at the moment… other than that the employees "feel horrible" about the impending closure.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] A really bad sign outside Kim's Video & Music on First Avenue

Life at 438 E. 13th St.

[EVG file photo of 438 E. 13th St. from November 2012]

Back in November 2012, news surfaced about a deal involving 11 walkup apartment buildings in the city, including two in the East Village — 438-440 E. 13th St. and 104 E. Seventh St. Stone Street Properties reportedly bought the properties for $73 million, according to The Real Deal.

We heard from a resident at No. 438 who let us know what life has been like here since the sale. First, the resident says that many longtime tenants were driven out of their units … "and we had to deal with a round of apartment gut renovations last year. But things have really gotten bad in the past two months as they have started another round of gut renovations."

Among the problems: No gas (the resident says that it was turned off on March 20). "We didn't have any heat for extended periods in January and February and a whole list of plumbing/electric/structural issues that have occurred since."

Is there hot water now?

"Yes, we do have hot water at the moment, but you never know from one day to the next. Sometimes we get notices stuck to the door, sometimes not," the resident said. "Depends on what the construction crew is doing. What we do have consistently is construction noise every weekday morning at 8 — with workers ringing all the buzzers to gain access starting at 7:45. This has gone on since the first week of March. Two weeks ago they started at 7 a.m. on a Saturday.

In the resident's opinion, "Stone Street doesn't seem to care at all. They ignore calls and emails on these issues."

"I have lived in the East Village for [20-plus] years and have never dealt with such disregard for tenants," the resident said. "Even the tenants who moved into the renovated 'luxury' units are being screwed."

Previously on EV Grieve:
2 East Village buildings part of $73 million deal

East 2nd Street is home again to a 'Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches'

EVG regular RyanAvenueA pointed out that a Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches just reopened on East Second Street east of Avenue A.

OK!

So to quickly recap the recent history here:

Vicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches took over the Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches space on East Second Street nearly three years ago. Vicky's then closed at the end of November.

The folks at the all-new Nicky's said that they are the original Nicky's.

HOWEVER. We later emailed the family who ran the original Nicky's (and who still have two restaurants in NYC). Here's what they had to say:

"No. They are not the original Nicky's. We only have two locations now. One in the Financial District and one in downtown Brooklyn."

A family member said that they are aware of the name use here, but that it was OK.

On closer inspection, the menu for the new Nicky's looks similar to Vicky's…

Vicky's!



The new Nicky's!



Previously on EV Grieve:
Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches leaving the East Village?

At long last, Brick Lane Curry relocating to Second Avenue

[EVG file photo]

It was almost exactly three years ago that we heard that Brick Lane Curry was going to relocate to 99 Second Ave. between East Sixth Street and East Fifth Street.

Via a sign in the bathroom (!!!) at the East Sixth Street location, Fork in the Road learned that the move will take place in the next three to four weeks.

Per FITR: "The curries and tandoor oven will make the move, too — and you'll still be able to get phaal, one of the hottest dishes in the city."

And this Second Avenue space is huge at 7,000-square-feet and three levels.

Previously, the address was home to Sea Salt, the short-lived fish place that remained intact for several years after closing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Brick Lane Curry House still planning Second Avenue expansion

World's largest Brick Lane Curry House slated for 99 Second Avenue