Former Surprise! Surprise! space gutted

We looked inside the former Surprise! Surprise! space the other day… and workers have gutted the former housewares store at 91 Third Ave. at East 12th Street.

As noted a few weeks ago, a Basics Plus is rumored to be taking the space.

Surprise! Surprise! closed after 25 years in business on April 27.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Surprise! Surprise! will close at the end of April (42 comments)

Reader report: Basics Plus moving into the former Surprise! Surprise! space

Chick pics

A look at one of the chicks today in the hawk next on the 7th floor of the Christodora House…

Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Report: David Schwimmer's surveillance footage helps NYPD in male prostitute stabbing

David Schwimmer's high-tech surveillance system helped the NYPD with details about a stabbing that took place early this morning at 333 E. Sixth St.

According to the Post, a 26-year-old john refused to pay a 21-year-old male prostitute for his services … and the slashing occurred as a result … "and eventually spilled into the hallway with the men smashing through a glass lobby door."

Schwimmer, who lives next door, let detectives into his home to watch the surveillance footage.

The 26 year old was taken to Bellevue with stab wounds while the 21 year old was treated at Beth Israel for slashes on his arms.

Meanwhile, blood stains remain on the stoop at No. 333.

Cafe Pick Me Up sidewalk cafe remains closed

As you can see, the Cafe Pick Me Up sidewalk cafe outside 145 Avenue A at East Ninth Street has been closed all day…

This after a little drama last night around 6:30 …



… when the NYPD and FDNY responded to a report of falling debris at the building…



As you can see, part of the widow framing on the third floor fell …



No word on the extent of the damage (the DOB website is down) or when the sidewalk cafe will reopen.

Unrelated, Icon Realty bought the building last month for $10.1 million, according to public records.

Thanks to EVG reader William Klayer for the photos from last evening.

RIP Karen Kristal

[Photo via CBGB on Facebook]

Word is spreading that Karen Kristal, matriarch of CBGB, died this past weekend.

We don't have a lot of biographical information at the moment. She was in her late 80s. We will update this post when more details are available.

Tim Hayes, who owns the CBGB brand and is the founder of the CBGB Festival, said that "she made a huge impact on the music scene in NYC."

"She was the godmother of hardcore music in NYC," he told us. "She took care of the kids that came to CBGB and the hardcore shows on Sundays were all hers. Her role in CBGB was immeasurable and history has not done her justice yet. I will miss her deeply."

David Poe wrote this about her on the newly created CBGB: Punk and Hardcore page on Facebook:

"I will always remember Karen on Sundays checking id's and calling kids' parents when she sniffed out a fake one Her contributions to CBGB are well-known, and it's true enough that venerated space would not have existed as it did had it not been for her efforts. Karen was a true patron of the arts and embodied the indie spirit."

Here's more on her from a Village Voice article from September 2007:

Through the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Karen was a fixture at the door of CBGB and behind its bar. In that time, she developed a reputation, among patrons, bouncers, bartenders, and musicians alike, as a bit of a humorless hard-ass. Skinheads obeyed her command. The Ramones hid their joints when they saw her coming.

"I was more scared of Karen than I was of the skinheads," said George Tabb, a founding member of the False Prophets, former CBGB employee, and longtime Kristal family friend, as well as a reporter who covered the scene at the club for Maximum Rock'n'Roll. "They all had this respect for her. She put on the matinees — it was her idea, and that basically started the whole hardcore movement in New York."

Karen had been involved in an ugly legal battle over the estate of her husband Hilly Kristal following his death in August 2007. You can find the background of that suit at the Voice.

Memorial Day on Avenue A, 1991

Bob Arihood posted this on Memorial Day 2007 at Neither More Nor Less…

This was Memorial Day 1991 : the spirit of the time was somewhat more rebelious than it is today . This night ... disorder ruled .

This is your avenue A without the boutiques , bars and restaurants . There were no doggy pastry shops on avenue A : none in the entire neighborhood for that matter .

Visit Neither More Nor Less here for more photos and Bob's narrative.

Friday night when it rained

EVG contributor Michael Sean Edwards took these photos on Friday night on East 10th Street near Avenue B during the rainy season…

Today in photos at the Tompkins Square dog run

Photo via Bobby Williams …

Week in Grieview

Raising money for the family of Wen Hui Ruan (Tuesday)

Stories from the Cadillac with the Tiger in it (Tuesday)

East Village Radio signs off (Saturday)

Flood on East Houston! (Thursday)

Is the end near for the BP station on Second Avenue? (Thursday)

Feast and the Google Glass drama (Friday)

Video: Watch the baby hawks eat! (Thursday)

Mimi Cheng's dumplings replacing Viva Herbal Pizzeria (Thursday)

Details on the luxury rental The Nathaniel, complete with rooftop reflection pool (Friday)

Move-out trash at NYU (Wednesday)

Out and About with Yehuda Emmanuel Safran (Wednesday)

Details on what's taking over for Sapporo East, and RIP Mother Earth (Monday)

New coffee shop coming to East 10th Street (Wednesday)

Barcade looking at 6 St. Mark's Place for next outpost (Tuesday)

Miss Lily's opens (Sunday)

Former Tu Case Recording Studio space for lease on Avenue B (Wednesday)

East 14th Street demolition (Monday)

Renovations at the new home of St. Mark's Bookshop (Tuesday)

Dunkin's Donuts on the move on East 14th Street (Monday)

The Mediterranean Grill and the Efendi Hookah Lounge closes (Tuesday)

Quick-serve Indian and Pakistani food coming to Fourth Avenue (Monday)

Check out the $$$$ rebranded "Eleventh and Third" (Wednesday)

This summer rental "penthouse" comes with hammocks (Thursday)

Spice Cove is moving on East Sixth Street (Tuesday)

Movie night in Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday)

China Wok is back open! (Tuesday)

… and checking in on some EVG analytics or whatever for the week…

Crunch Bowery opens with a preemptive 'there goes the neighborhood'

Crunch Bowery opened for business yesterday … and they are apparently making a funny with the "there goes the neighborhood" line …



The Crunch around the corner on Lafayette will close soon … because! As BoweryBoogie reported on May 16, 708 Broadway/404 Lafayette is being converted into a — ding! ding! — hotel!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Crunch moving to the Bowery; CB3 OKs New York Sports Club on Avenue A

The Loisaida Festival street fair is TODAY; big chair photos await

Day Three of the Loisaida Festival begins soon (depending on when you are read this) … it's the street fair component of the festival … on Avenue C between East Sixth Street and East 12th Street …

There is some of the usual street festival stuff… but this one also has more unique vendors …





… and yes! Gag holiday cards on the way!



Here are more details on what to expect today noon till 5:

Kid Zone — anchored at La Plaza Cultural Community Garden 9th Street & Ave C
Children and/or Puppet Theater, Storytelling, Arts & Crafts Workshops, Capoeira demos and more.

Green Zone — a designated block featuring environmental and civic organization offering hands-on learning on topics of environmental literacy, food waste & composting, neighborhood storm surge resiliency.

Exhibitors and Vendors
Will feature local Loisaida artists and NYC based Latin American artists, creative arts & crafts, clothing, community, civic and cultural organizations, housing and health services, domino tournament, sampling of diverse Latin American foods and staple Latino restaurants from the neighborhood.

You may head over to the official website for a list of the performers today and other details.

East Houston back to its good ol' normal self

[Photo Thursday by @maraaltman]

On Thursday morning, a ruptured pipe dating to 1959 flooded East Houston Street with mucky water. Crews worked overnight Thursday to fill in the sinkhole that formed after the break between Orchard and Ludlow … here is how East Houston was looking earlier today… almost as good as its old self!



Holiday weekend or not, the arrows, pointing to the formerly broken roadway, have to work…



The DEP claims that the break was an anomaly, according to NBC News, and not related to the ongoing East Houston Reconstruction Project between the Bowery and the FDR that is set to wrap up long after we're all dead.