In case you were going to Lucy's this weekend…

Meant to note this earlier in the week… Lucy is on a break until next Thursday here on Avenue A.

Frowny face.

Last call for Speakeasy on Avenue C this weekend

The continued transformation of Nublu's new home at 151 Avenue C meant that the longtime tenant upstairs, Speakeasy, would eventually have to close up… and that's happening this weekend … Saturday night is it for the low-key salsa bar/club on the second floor that often feels as if you're in someone's living room. (Until the whole place is dancing anyway.)



Previously on EV Grieve:
151 Avenue C: "This prime East Village location stands out as a rare opportunity for users, investors and developers"

Nublu moving up Avenue C; restaurant in the works for new space

Report: Not everyone is happy about the pending arrival of Nublu's 2-story new home

NYC Deli Market Corp. moving into the former Wacky Wok space

The 4-year-old Wacky Wok closed on Avenue D and East Ninth Street at the start of this year.

Workers have been renovating the space … and the sign of the new tenant recently arrived — NYC Deli Market … the signage shows that they'll be offering the usual deli fare these days — sandwiches, hot and cold drinks, organic products…

East 7th Street, 9:22 p.m., May 1

Setting up for the Tompkins Square Park "riot" scene later tonight for "Ten Thousand Saints."

Also, there will be police officers on horses…

Noted

An EVG reader noted this happening at Poco on Avenue B and East Third Street...

Filmmakers prepping to film a 'riot' tonight in Tompkins Square Park

As we noted Monday, filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini are recreating the Tompkins Square Park riots of 1988 tonight for their low-budget adaption of the Eleanor Henderson novel "Ten Thousand Saints."

Here's a look at the action as of around 5:15 …





… and a few of the extras wait for their scene(s) …





The scenes of the actual "riot" are being filmed tonight… crews are expected here until 3 a.m.

We welcome any photos or videos of the filming action today/tonight … Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
Filmmakers will recreate the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988 this Thursday night

Film crew recreates 'tent city' in Tompkins Square Park

Film crew uses 'D Squat' and phone booths to recreate an 1980s East Village on 6th Street

[Updated] First Avenue subbing for Avenue D today

A Softee spot for legal battles

Hey, you remember a few weeks ago when we posted the above photo (thank you arrows!) of the Master Softee truck on East 14th Street... and there were comments about lawsuits between Mister Softee and Master Softee and all that?

Sure EV!

Well, the Daily News has a piece on all this lawsuit stuff today if you are interested...

The New Jersey-based owner of the ubiquitous ice cream trucks is suing a rogue Queens vendor, charging he opened his depot in Long Island City to peddle a knockoff version.

A mix of about two dozen nearly identical Master Softee and Mister Softee trucks are lined up inside and outside Dimitrios Tsirkos’s 11th St. garage.

The fledgling business has soured tempers throughout Mister Softee headquarters in South Jersey and its franchisees across Queens and the Bronx. Owner Jim Conway cried trademark infringement in a March lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court and demanded Tsirkos drop the Softee con.

“They want to confuse the public,” said Conway, who is no stranger to the courthouse. His 58-year-old family-owned company has spent “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in legal fees since the mid-1990s chasing down copycats in more than 10 cases.

Read the whole article here.

H/T Eater

Previously on EV Grieve:
So what's the deal with 'Master Softee?' (20 comments)

The 1st Lower East Side (LES) History Month starts today

[Yet ANOTHER butter and eggs shop!]

From the EVG inbox…

May 2014 brings the first annual Lower East Side (LES) History Month, a month-long celebration of the rich, diverse history of New York City's Lower East Side, including the neighborhoods of the East Village, Chinatown, Little Italy and Alphabet City. With participation by more than 60 Lower East Side-based cultural and community groups, LES History Month will feature over 80 affordable and unique events, including live performances, exhibits, gallery and walking tours, talks, film screenings, festivals and more.

LES History Month opens with Chalk/LES, a weekend-long participatory project to bring LES history, art and stories onto the streets of the neighborhood. Starting Friday, May 2, numerous LES sites will be emblazoned with chalked trivia and memories of their lived histories. On Saturday, May 3, public chalking sites will be open for all, encouraging passersby to participate with their own stories and images of the LES. Game participants are also invited to join scavenger hunt teams, organized by Guerilla Haiku Movement, who will head out and cover the neighborhood with sidewalk-chalked poetry, and engage passersby in their own creative storytelling about the LES.

Chalk/LES culminates on Sunday, May 4, as artists and volunteers will chalk a pathway from various LES transit hubs toward East River Park, along the waterfront, and arriving at Pier 42 for Picnic on the Pier. As a partnership with Paths to Pier 42, LES History Month will present salsa dancing with las Dinimicas of Grand Street Settlement, gypsy swing from Sugar Hill Gypsy Jazz, songs from the young singers of Downtown Art, and an afternoon of family friendly art activities led by The Tenement Museum and the Museum of Chinese in America.

To celebrate, LES History Month will also announce the inaugural LES Heroes award, recognizing the often unsung contributions of neighborhood residents, activists and leaders.

To find out more about LES History Month, its participants and opening weekend programming, visit here.

Photo via NewYorkHistory.info

Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield eyeing the former San Loco space on Avenue A

[Photo from February]

San Loco closed on Feb. 16 after 15 years at 151 Avenue A, as we first reported here.

Word is now that high-profile restaurateurs Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield are eyeing the former San Loco location for a cafe-bar concept that would be open early for breakfast … and late night for cocktails (with lunch and dinner in between). The place would curate a specific coffee, wine and cocktail program.

This application is on the May CB3/SLA agenda released yesterday (though their names aren't on it just yet).

Friedman and Bloomfield own such places as high-profile places like The Spotted Pig, The Breslin and The John Dory Oyster Bar … while Friedman has teamed with the likes of Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter at The Monkey Bar and Taavo Somer at The Rusty Knot.

Avenue A looks to be going even more upscale in a hurry … with projects such as this, the all-new 7A and Alex Stupak's new Mexican restaurant at the former Sushi Lounge space.

The former 7A will apparently be called Miss Lily's 7A Cafe

It appears that last night's storm brought down the tarp protecting the new sign at the former 7A space... revealing that the new place will be called Miss Lily's 7A Cafe here on East Seventh Street and Avenue A ...



Various EVG tipsters told us previously that the place will be the second outpost of restauranteur Paul Salmon's Miss Lily's along with a Melvin's Juice Box.

A rep told Eater last month that the new place will "pay homage to the cafe history of 7A," but it will also have "elements of Melvin's Juice Box and Miss Lily's."

Looks pretty accurate by the look of the new signage.

7A closed after nearly 30 years on Jan. 26.

H/T @derbyon

Previously on EV Grieve:
Some part of 7A will stay in the new 7A's name

Details emerge about what's next for former the 7A, Odessa Cafe & Bar spaces

[Updated] Reader report: 7A will close at the end of the month

Renovations underway at former 7A space

[Updated] Rumors: 7A space will become a 2nd outpost of Miss Lily's and Melvin's Juice Box

A Mars Bar comeback gains more traction

[Hi! Remember me? Photo from July 2011 by Bobby Williams]

Community Board 3 released its meetings rundown for May … and a conspicuous item appears on the SLA committee docket:

Paul Mil Cafe Inc, 11-17 2nd Ave (op/alt/gut renovation) (Mars Bar)

The listing appears twice, under "alterations" and "items not heard at Committee."

Back in 2011 when Mars Bar was displaced by the impending Jupiter 21 monstrosity on Second Avenue and East First Street… the rumor was that owner Hank Penza had someone in mind to reopen a bar in the retail space. In fact, the person has the actual bar and jukebox from the Mars Bar for the next place.

In early January 2013, Billy Gray at the Commercial Observer reported that the J21 retail lease includes "a second retail space that could assume the notorious Mars Bar's trade name and liquor license."

Per that report:

The development company BFC Partners reached an agreement with the Mars Bar crew that would allow the next commercial tenant to occupy a 4,456 basement and ground floor space under the proud, stubborn and – who knew? – business-minded Mars Bar auspices.

The TD Bank appears to be taking most of the retail space… so where would a bar fit?



Well, there is also retail space on the East First Street side … and the aforementioned basement…



So… is it such a good thing to do a Mars Bar redux? Would it be like making a TV series out of "Casablanca" with David Soul in the Bogart role?

Or something.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The former Mars Bar is becoming a fucking bank branch

So where's that fucking bank branch that's taking the former Mars Bar space?

Rumors: Mars Bar owner Hank Penza ready to open a new space in the next few months

That's it: The Mars Bar is closed for good

Gentrification, Steve Croman targets of this East Village tenant parade

Via the EVG inbox…

You are invited to attend a press conference at Tompkins Square Park and join an East Village Parade to resist gentrification in NYC communities. The loss of affordable regulated housing in the East Village and the displacement of tenants have been caused by landlords like Steven and Harriet Croman of 9300 Realty.

This landlord currently owns about 70 buildings in the East Village alone and hundreds throughout the city. He has been exploiting the vacancy decontrol laws for over 20 years using abusive tactics to force tenants out of rent-regulated apartments.

After the press conference the parade will go to Croman’s 9300 Realty buildings in the area to reach out to his tenants. Many of Croman’s tenants have the same problems and need to know how to protect their rights.

Paradise Alley
The parade will stop at Paradise Alley to dramatize the difficulty of being an artist in NYC today. On Avenue A and East 11th St. the building known as Paradise Alley was located before being replaced by the current building in 1987. While this little-known location is famous for the beat artists, musicians and writers from the 1950s and 1960s, there is a lesser-known association with East Village artists during the depression.

In 1938, Paradise Alley was known as a bohemian artists’ colony. The landlord raised rents so high that the residents refused to pay it. The landlord got evictions but when the artists still refused to leave, the landlord got the police to brake down the doors and evicted the artists at gunpoint. This event in 1938 mirrors what artists are experiencing today in NYC.

Rent Freeze
The goal of the Parade action is also to alert the East Village tenant community about the need to support the Rent Freeze. Mayor de Blasio is asking the RGB to impose a rent freeze this year to put a brake on rising rents. NYC tenants have to demand the same with feet on the street.

Come to the East Village Tenant Parade and Paradise Alley remembrance. The parade will move through the East Village starting at noon at the corner of East Seventh Street and Avenue A.

Sponsored by The Stop Croman Coalition and The Good Old Lower East Side

Here is an article about Croman from a May 2000 issue of The Village Voice.