TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken hasn't been open lately after just 3 weeks in business

The quick-serve restaurant opened Nov. 23 at 151 Avenue A between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

And TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken has been closed the last two nights … and the owners haven't left any notes about a temporary closure due to some unforeseen circumstance. And there isn't any outgoing voice message. (We couldn't even find a Yelp review for them.)

IF this place is closed for good … it won't be any recent closure record. In 2011, an Italian restaurant called Tre Scalini closed after less than two weeks at 130 St. Mark's Place.

As for 151 Avenue A, the San Loco closed here back in February. The CB3/SLA Liquor Licensing Committee voted to deny high-profile restaurateurs Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield a license to open a bar cafe here in May.

Buy some art to help the Bowery Mission

Via the EVG inbox…

The Bowery Mission is pleased to announce the L.E.S. Art Drive, the first annual fundraising initiative for The Bowery Mission supported by its neighbors in the Lower East Side visual arts community.

This one-day silent auction will be hosted at the New Museum’s ground-floor space at 231 Bowery, next to The Bowery Mission, on Sunday from 1-6 pm. The event will raise funds essential to help the Mission continue their efforts to provide meals, shelter, clothing and services to New Yorkers in need. The Bowery Mission has been serving New York’s homeless and hungry for over 135 years.

Find more info at the Bowery Mission website.

These are apparently the participating bars in SantaCon 2014

SantaCon organizers plan to release this year's pub crawl route this evening.

Ahead of that, a curious East Village resident downloaded the official Santacon app that they are now advertising on their website.

The resident found that the participating bars are in the Midtown West/Murray Hill region: Pacha, Beer Authority, Houndstooth, Tempest, The Thirsty Fan, Slake, Red Room, Vivid Caberet, American Whiskey, Blarney Rock, The Australian, Stout, The Keg Room NYC, Feile, Blaggards, Reichenbach Beer Hall, Butterfield 8, Mustang Harry's, The Liberty, Suite 36, Mustang Sally's, Playwright Irish Pub, Galway Pub, Rick's Cabaret, Slattery's, Pioneers Bar, Jack Dempsey's, Foley's, Maru Karoke Lounge, Rattle 'n Hum, Nelly Spillane's, IchiUmi, Joshua Tree, 230 Fifth Avenue Rooftop & Lounge.

The pre-party starts at Pacha on West 46th Street.

The SantaCon website also notes that they are scaling back this year's festivities:

Due to the planned protests on Saturday, Santacon is scaling back this weekend's festivities in order to create the lowest possible impact on the city we love while still maintaining our glorious traditions this holiday season.

Santacon has respect and compassion for the hard-working municipal organizations of NYC, as well as for the important civil rights demonstrations currently shaping our city’s future. Thus, we are changing the format of this year’s Santacon.

This evening, all participating Santacon bars and venues will be announced on nycsantacon.com. Their halls will be decked, and they’ll be ready and waiting for Santa to come down their chimneys. PLEASE PATRONIZE THESE VENUES ONLY. If a venue isn’t on this list, it’s because they don’t want you there. Please move around throughout the day from venue to venue but spend most of your time inside, not on the streets.

Finally, it’s more important this year than ever to pace yourself, watch out for your elves, and stay safe. Fighting, public urination, and vandalism are unacceptable and a great way to ensure that there will be no Santacon in 2015. #DontScroogeSantacon

Meanwhile, the Village Pourhouse on Third Avenue and East 11th Street is still pretending to be an official SantaCon stop…

Maisy

Maisy the cat today in Tompkins Square Park.

Photo by Derek Berg

Jared Kushner picks up 2 more East Village apartment buildings

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

Jared Kushner's Kushner Companies has expanded its East Village portfolio.

According to Lois Weiss at the Post, Kushner has closed on a 16-building apartment portfolio for $131.5 million. Two of the properties are in the East Village — 104 E. Seventh St. and 438-440 E. 13th St.

Stone Street and Florida-based HIG Realty Partners were the sellers. Stone Street bought the EV properties in November 2012.

We heard from a resident at No. 438 this past April who let us know what life has been like here since Stone Street took over the building. 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."

And!

"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."

Not that Kushner will be a much better landlord. The Kushner Companies have not been very popular around here with all the allegations and subsequent media reports of tenant harassment and quality-of-life issues brought on by gut renovations in their buildings.

The Kushner Companies have bought up 28-29 or so East Village walk-up buildings in the past two years.

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

Life at 438 E. 13th St.

MoRUS celebrates its 2-year anniversary tomorrow night

[Image via Facebook]

Via the EVG inbox…the party is tomorrow night …

Come celebrate with the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space at our two-year Birthday Bash, which will take place at the museum's storefront location in the legendary C-Squat. If you haven't visited the museum or attended any of our community events yet, now is a great time to come check out the space and join us for our two-year anniversary party!

Featuring a slideshow and presentation by Fly, performance by Seth Tobocman, DJ and dancing, and cake!

Sliding scale: $10.
All proceeds from the event help support MoRUS 2015 programming.

Doors open at 8, performances start at 9. MoRUS is located at 155 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the opening of the The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space last night

A soft opening at the Brant Foundation's new space at Walter De Maria's former East 6th Street studio

Back in August, news reports confirmed that billionaire art collector Peter Brant bought Walter De Maria’s former home and studio at 421 E. Sixth St. for $27 million.

While nothing has been made official about what Brant intends to do with the space, a tipster told us last spring that it will serve as exhibition space.



And last night, the Brant Foundation apparently had some kind of soft opening inside the space… EVG reader Shawn Chittle was there and shared these photos… We don't have any details on the exhibit… which included carefully placed scattered bottles and a drunken Scooby Doo… [Updated: Page Six reports this is the work of Gagosian gallery artist Dan Colen.]




[Click on image to enlarge]





De Maria died of a stroke in July 2013 at age 77.

No. 421 was built in 1920 as a ConEd substation, but had been converted into a photography studio after De Maria bought it in 1980.

All photos via Shawn Chittle

Previously on EV Grieve:
About that "giant-robot laboratory" on East Sixth Street

RIP Walter De Maria

What is your East Village dream home?

Walter De Maria's 'giant-robot laboratory' going for $25 million; inside is amazing as you'd expect

Walter De Maria's home/studio on East 6th Street is now on the market for $25 million

Rumor: The Brant Foundation buying Walter De Maria's E. 6th St. studio for an exhibition space (19 comments)

Confirmed: Peter M. Brant buys Walter De Maria's amazing East 6th Street home and studio

1st permits filed for renovation of Walter De Maria's former home-studio on East 6th Street

Living in… the East Village

[Random EVG photo from the archives]

The Times checks in with a "Living in" piece about the neighborhood ("The East Village Clings to a Colorful Past") … your basic primer with some history and what not.

Passing along a few real-estate fact and figures from the piece:

Though home prices are no longer cheap, the East Village still offers a slim advantage in terms of value over other Manhattan neighborhoods… The average price per square foot of a condo in Manhattan this year through Nov. 30 is $1,643; in the East Village, it is $1,562, which is about 16.5 percent higher than 2013. There are only about 33 condos on the market…

And!

[Bond New York broker] Wagner said he does not notice much difference between average condo prices in the East Village and those in Chelsea or the West Village. Studios typically run around $485,000; one-bedrooms about $900,000; and two-bedrooms about $1.5 million, with outliers in both directions. Co-ops typically cost about 20 percent less than condos, he said.

Avenue A Classic Food now open on … Avenue A

Rays's has some company (and competition in some respects) next door with the arrival this week of Avenue A Classic Food, your basic deli … wraps, smoothies, fresh juice… and bacon. The front door was open yesterday morning, and we could smell the bacon, so to speak, across Avenue A…

The address is 115 Avenue A between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The SantaCon pre-party is in Hell's Kitchen

There seems to be some interest in where the annual SantaCon pub crawl will take place on Saturday.

As noted yesterday, SantaCon organizers told Community Board 3 officials that the official event will NOT take place in the East Village/Lower East Side. (Unlike last year.)

Apparently if you donate $10 to charity you get the early route information for SantaCon. (If not, then you have to wait until Friday for the details.)

One curious East Village resident forked over the $10 … and received a button that gets him or her into a private party at Pacha on West 46th Street Saturday morning at 11.

Given the starting time of this SantaCon private party, the resident figures Hell's Kitchen will be the neighborhood the groups hits on Saturday …

Tompkins Square Park, 7:21 p.m., Dec. 10

Reader report: Fire destroys 2 apartments at 542 E. 14th St.

The FDNY responded to a fire late this morning at 542 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B...

MAN ALL HANDS 542 E 14 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 3RD FLR,

— FDNY (@FDNY) December 10, 2014

East Village-based photographer Michael Paul, who took these shots, spoke with a resident of the building... word is two apartments were ruined in the blaze, which started in a third-floor unit...





There were not any reports of injuries. The FDNY is investigating the cause of the fire.

MAN ALL HANDS 542 E 14 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 3RD FLR, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) December 10, 2014