Christmas Eve, Astor Place

Jerry Delakas at Jerry's Newsstand, site of one of the more positive neighborhood stories this year.

Photo by Kelly King

Holiday movies: 'Blast of Silence'

Reposting this repost this from Dec. 23, 2011…

I know that I've written about "Blast of Silence," Alan Baron's New York (slightly hokey) indie noir from 1961.

Will repeat some of it now... the movie is about a contract killer in New York for a job during the Dec. 25 holiday season ... well, the trailer will tell you what you need to know...



Of interest hereabouts... the main character, "Baby Boy" Frankie Bono, stays at the Valencia on St. Mark's Place... which is the St. Mark's Hotel today, of course...

[Via]

In the background, you can see the former Saint Marks Russian and Turkish Baths ... which became the New St. Marks Baths ... and, eventually, Mondo Kim's ... and now the NYC Tofu House…

Some early xmas eve smoking manhole action on East 14th Street

Several readers told us about smoke billowing (or whatever) from a manhole on East 14th Street at Avenue B around 3 … and the FDNY was quickly called to the scene, EVG reader Greg Masters noted…

Cause for rethinking last-minute gift ideas as Key Master remains wrapped outside Gem Spa

On Monday, Derek Berg noted that the 15-month-old Key Master, a so-called "prize merchandising game" outside Gem Spa, was out of commission. Basically dead, wrapped in (Home Depot) plastic.

Two days later, not much has changed here on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.



So anyone looking to compete for, and win, prizes such as Macy's Gift Cards, iPods (????) and iPod Minis (????) will have to look elsewhere.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Gem Spa stunner: Zoltar now has Key Master competition; doomsday predicted

No. 7

[Never coming soon, courtesy of EVPinhead]

This website turned 7 on Sunday. (What turned out to be a non-event prompted the whole thing 7 years ago!)

So a sincere thank you, as always, to all of you for taking the time to read, comment, grumble, laugh, share, offer tips, provide feedback ... everything.

And thank you for helping me continue to feel connected to a place that is always seemingly changing.

'11 Minutes of Hell' on the Lower East Side

Via the EVG inbox ...

The LES Dwellers, a grassroots community group of residents of the Lower East Side, released videos [yesterday] that illustrate how bad the Lower East Side's Hell Square continues as late night bars and clubs continue to foster a SantaCon-style environment of binge drinking, public urination and vomiting, brawls and arrests every weekend.

The rampant party and hoards of drunks in the area drains police resources, forcing them to focus their time and attention to thousands of people who descend on the Lower East Side every weekend to party without regard to the local residents and businesses.

What is depicted in the videos is not outside the norm but is the norm. The bars, lounges and "restaurants" in this area over serve alcohol creating a dangerous environment.

The LES Dwellers called on Community Board 3 to address the issue immediately by working with the NYPD, the State Liquor Authority and local bar and business owners to resolve the recurring problems in Hell Square, which is the area bordered by Houston and Delancey, and Allen and Essex streets on the Lower East Side.

"This weekend was an outrage — ranking as one of the worst on record: It was SantaCon without the costumes," the group said in a statement. "Assaults and crime are up in our neighborhood due solely to the proliferation of late night liquor licenses in the neighborhood. And what's worse, on a day when NYPD lost two officers, the last thing the city needs is for the police to spend time and resources policing a man-made mess of debauchery. Police resources are wasted every weekend to babysit a bunch of drunks," the group said.

One video, filmed for a continuous 11 minute period at 3:30 am EST on Sunday, Dec. 21 on Ludlow and Stanton Streets, features a group of drunks stumbling north on Ludlow street and approaching Piano's Bar to enter. They're told that the bar is closing and they can't enter, so they leave the bar yelling obscenities and stumbling into the wall when the cops show up. Disregarding the police presence, the group gets into a knock-down brawl in the intersection of Stanton and Ludlow and police arrest 2 of the fighters. The video's hashtag is #11minsofhell.

Dozens of police arrived at the scene where the video captures a woman who has fallen and hurt her leg on the street and is struggling to get back up, followed by music blaring out of the front door of the Dark Room bar. Then, as the police continue to deal with the fight, a man is seen within 15 feet of the police urinating in a boutique clothing store's doorway and virtually falling asleep standing up.

And now for your viewing pleasure...



And!

Shakespeare & Company ultimately got kicked out for a Foot Locker

A big rent hike helped force Shakespeare & Company's to close its longtime home at 716 Broadway between Washington Place and Waverly Place.

The landlord reportedly hiked the rent to $50,000 a month.

Anyway, as it was previously reported, a Foot Locker is taking the space... and Dave on 7th noted that the signage recently arrived.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Shakespeare & Company loses lease on Broadway

Shakespeare & Company space is for lease on Broadway

The Odessa in the early morning this holiday season

Looking fine before opening in the morning here at 119 Avenue A...

Happy holidays from the brown wall at Verizon!

Holiday greetings from one of our favorite brown walls .... outside the Verizon building on East 13th Street at Second Avenue...

Thanks to EVG regular LIBERATION for the photo...

Report: Avenue B's Back 40 closes after 7 years

Back 40, one of the first farm-to-table restaurants here, closed for good after service on Sunday.

Chef-owner Peter Hoffman told Eater, who first reported on this closure, that "a difficult landscape and lease uncertainty" led to the decision to shutter the 7-year-old restaurant at 190 Avenue B near East 12th Street.

Another holiday season with Jonathan, the cheery Christmas-tree salesman of 1st Avenue

[Ben and Jonathan]

Article and photos by Steffi Veizen, who takes a look at one of the Christmas tree vendors in the East Village this season.

Jonathan gives street vendors a good name here outside the Rite Aid on First Avenue at East Fifth Street.

Working the Christmas tree circuit on and off for the past six years, Jonathan is friendly and constantly smiling, although some of his customers don't seem to appreciate the Canadian native's cheery nature.



He sleeps in his rental truck and alternates shifts with Ben, his business partner. Jonathan's plywood shed is decorated with cardboard stars, topped with pine branches, carpeted and wallpapered with trippy iridescent (wrapping?) paper. A small heater helps keep the space toasty.



On a recent visit, Jonathan handled an indecisive, pain-in-the-ass customer with patience and grace, repeating the prices to her and catering to her hyperactive daughter. He cut about an inch off the bottom of the tree, telling the girl why and showing her how to count the rings on the cross section.

"Your tree is about 17 years old," he tells her with a smile. He makes most people around him look pretty Grinchy.



"Not everyone is difficult, although some people are," Jonathan said. "Some people try to bargain with me, and insult me when I don't comply."

Jonathan works for the generic-sounding company Evergreen and earns his money entirely on commission, so he's not in the position to give any discounts.

"I used to get angry, but not anymore," he said.

Any interesting customer stories to share?

"I had to leave my trees once and a man took a stand, gave the money to the shoe repair store, and left his phone number in case he owed me more … He came back and paid me the rest of what he owed me."

The job ends for Jonathan and Ben tomorrow. From there he said the trees will be collected and sold to the Russian Orthodox community, who celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7. Any leftover trees will be sent to the Department of Sanitation's treecycling extravaganza Mulchfest.

The number of chain stores increased this past year in NYC, though not in the East Village

[The same image we use every year]

Via the EVG inbox yesterday...

The Center for an Urban Future published the seventh edition of its annual “State of the Chains” study ranking the national retailers with the most store locations in New York City.

The study shows that there was a 3.3 percent increase in the number of chain stores in the five boroughs over the past year, a much larger spike than the 0.5 percent gain in chain stores between 2012 and 2013 and the largest annual increase since the 4.1 percent increase from 2009 to 2010. Queens had the largest year-over-year increase in chains stores among all boroughs, and Dunkin Donuts remained the largest retailer in the city, with 536 stores.

For the seventh consecutive year, Dunkin Donuts tops our list as the largest national retailer in New York City, with a total of 536 stores. Over the past year, Dunkin Donuts had a net increase of 21 stores in the city, a 4 percent gain. Subway is still the second largest national retailer in the city; gaining one additional store over last year’s total to make 468 locations across the five boroughs. Rounding out the top ten national retailers in New York are: Duane Reade/Walgreens (with 318 stores), metroPCS (298), Starbucks (282), McDonalds (245), Baskin Robbins (211), Rite Aid (201), T-Mobile (185) and GNC (156). In all, there are now 16 retailers with more than 100 stores across the city.

According to the research, the 10003 zip code, which includes Union Square and parts of Fifth Avenue, has 164 chain retailers — one of the highest numbers in Manhattan. (That is actually down from 179 in 2012.)

The 10009 zip code has 25 chain stores, down one from 2013.

Find the PDF of the report here.