Candy the Gem Spa kitten is 4 months old today!

EVG Facebook friend Blazes passes along the news from our favorite corner store on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...

There is also a Candy the Gem Spa Kitten Facebook page if you are interested in adorable photos and videos of Candy.

Cleaning up the fake movie snow from Tompkins Square Park

A crew (not with the city) was out cleaning up the fake snow from Tompkins Square Park this morning... leftovers from last night's shoot in and around the Park for Untitled Christmas Eve project, a comedy starring Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie.



Come back again some day... maybe for Untitled Christmas Eve project 2...?!?!



Photos by Derek Berg

Previously on EV Grieve:
Christmas returning to the East Village this week with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (again) for Seth Rogen comedy filming tonight

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: Zachary Mack
Occupation: Co-owner, Alphabet City (ABC) Beer Co.
Location: Avenue C between 6th and 7th.
Time: 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16

I grew up in Massachusetts, north of Boston in a town called Swampscott. I left Boston for college when I went to McGill in Montreal. I came here when I was still in high school to visit friends and a lot of them would take us here. I had no desire to come to NYC until I came to this neighborhood. It got to the point where I started to spend my summers here instead of going back to Boston. Then when I graduated New York felt like the only logical place to move.

So the first thing I did when I graduated in 2007 was jump on a train from Boston and move here with $150 to my name. It sounds like a cliché but it was true — I had $148.70 in my bank account. My friend let me stay with her until I could find a job and an apartment. I gave myself two weeks and I found both. My first apartment was above In Vino and I’ve living in the neighborhood since then.

My first job here was for a food website called Eats that was trying to compete with Yelp. They let me do food writing for them and some sales. It was a catch-all job. The site eventually ended up becoming Delivery.com, but back then it wasn’t going anywhere. I moved here right before [the recession]. I had to pay my own way, so it was tough. The first few months were tough trying to make it without the pay that I thought I would have after college

My roommate at the time had just started the paperwork to purchase In Vino, an Italian restaurant and wine bar on East Fourth between A and B. I told him that I needed to make some extra money. I began working there right as the [Wall Street] collapse was happening.

Around 2010, when things started to look up a little bit, I ended up taking an internship, which led into a full-time job at Gawker Media. The job was a writing internship for Gawker TV, condensing what had happened on shows the night before and running recaps. That was big at the time — 2010 was the year when they went from being obscure to becoming more mainstream. The friends I made working there are the best friends I have now.

That turned into a job with the Webby Awards, which is kind of the Oscars for the Internet. For a couple of years I was working 70 to 80 hour weeks and still not making any money. Then I realized that I was maybe going down the wrong path. I had moved to New York wanting to work in media but it was killing me.

So the opportunity came. David Hitchner, my close friend who owned In Vino, called me one weekend and he said, ‘Do you want to open up a beer store/bar in the East Village?’ I said absolutely. It took about a year to plan everything and get money together. I was still working the day job while this was going on.

We opened in May 2012. I realized that I had made the right decision the first week that we were open. I like working in this neighborhood so much. I felt like I had been disconnected from the neighborhood when I was working in the office and this brought me back into interacting with people instead of staring at a screen all day.

The first few months were incredible. We were going along great, and then five and a half months later, Sandy happened. We got flooded — so much damage. In a weird way it was the worst thing that could have possibly happened but also one of the best things because we learned a lot from it. This neighborhood just totally stepped up and everybody helped each other so much. There was a lot of camaraderie on the street.

It didn’t seem like we would survive for a time and it was stressful but we got through it. Our basement flooded to the ceiling like a swimming pool, so we had to replace everything down there, from electrical systems to the hot water heater to our walk-in fridge with the draft lines. It took us at least four months to feel any semblance of normalcy.

We open up at noon every day. That’s one of the things that I enjoy most. A lot of the people who come in for daytime hours with laptops to do work, have a coffee or a beer with a sandwich and use the free WiFi. People come in here for all kinds of things. Not even just to have beers, to hang out. Some of our best regulars never come in after 6 p.m. Most people don’t have the luxury of having huge living rooms in the city, so what David and I wanted to go for was something that felt like an extension of your living room. There’s no pretense here. It’s just come and hang out.

I moved for the first time since I came here a couple months ago and I realized that I’m married to the neighborhood. I love the sense of community here and I think that’s why I’ve stuck around the city. I think we’re lucky to live in the middle of a neighborhood like this because we’re supportive of one another. We not only have people who have been here for 30-plus years, but also people who have been here for three who seem invested in the vibe that we create. I feel very lucky to be here.

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

Local elected officials urge Mayor de Blasio to help return the former PS 64 to the community

[City Hall photos by Peter Brownscombe]

A group of residents, community leaders and local elected officials delivered more than 1,000 holiday cards to City Hall yesterday afternoon urging Mayor de Blasio to help return the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street to the neighborhood.

The group delivered the greeting cards along with gold-wrapped chocolate coins, frankincense and myrrh on Three Kings Day to help draw attention to the ongoing battle for the landmarked building between Avenue B and Avenue C.



Developer Gregg Singer, who bought the building from the city in 1998, has to date unsuccessfully been able to convert the long-emtpy space into a dorm. There is currently a Stop Work Order on the site that the city issued in September.

Here's a collection of quotes about the building from local elected officials via Councilwoman's Rosie Mendez's office:

Mendez: "The Former PS 64 CHARAS/El Bohio was a school building and a cultural community center that cultivated the hopes and dreams of so many people in our community. Community activists laid the seeds and the foundation that created our community gardens and our urban homesteading buildings while sitting in a room at CHARAS. This holiday season my community and I want nothing more than to get our building back."

Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer: "Not too long ago, the CHARAS community center was an anchor that enriched this neighborhood, and with Mayor de Blasio's help it can be again. The Giuliani administration was wrong to shutter this community center and hand this historic space over to developers. The chance Mayor de Blasio has right now is one we rarely get: an opportunity to reclaim a lost jewel and make this neighborhood whole again."

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez: "CHARAS was a cherished public space and I will continue to support my community in its efforts to reclaim the building for the
community!"

State Senator Brad Hoylman: "We have reached a critical point in the decades-long fight to reclaim the PS 64/CHARAS building for community use. However, we are still at risk of losing this valuable asset to unwanted and unnecessary development. I look forward to working with all stakeholders to help ensure that CHARAS truly benefits the neighborhood, instead of private interests."

As for the Mayor, he happened to arrive halfway through the event, but walked right by and into City Hall without acknowledging the group.



Per previous reports, both The Joffrey Ballet School and Cooper Union have signed on to place its students at what will be called University House.



On Monday, Singer told DNAinfo's Lisha Arino that "the city issued the order because it wanted to clarify the language in the leases" he signed with the schools. He said that he is "working with the city to change the wording and hopes to restart construction by the end of next month."

Singer also said that he wasn't opposed to the idea of a community center in part of the space, though he hadn't seen any proposals for a community center. One local leader disputed this, telling DNAinfo that Singer "has never reached out to us in good intention and good faith."

On the aquatic paradise that is East 5th Street

[Back in October]

Back in October, EVG regular Jose Garcia told us about the arrival of a jet ski on East Fifth Street near Avenue C... which became a seemingly permanent fixture on the street.

In recent days Jose tells us that the jet ski got some company.



Per Jose:

"And [the owners] seriously and tenderly move them both as a group effort to accommodate alternate side of the street parking ... all I think about is what a marvelous time they are anticipating on the water once the weather turns. I find it fascinating and adorable."

An East 9th Street loft remains for sale, though now it's 'virtually staged'

Back in the summer, we looked at 735 E. Ninth St., a nice 3,300-square-foot loft space between Avenue C and Avenue D.

There's a new broker now for the space... as well as some new photos on Streeteasy ... and not just any photos:

This apartment has been virtually staged with a 3D animated video to show what this historic quintessential loft gem can be turned into. This the best deal in town! This unique downtown artist loft in an historic East Village building is finally available!

Oh! You don't always get to see a virtually staged loft around here...









Thoughts on what this can be turned into?

The price remains the same at $3.3 million.

A quick look at Tompkins Square Park before filming starts on the Seth Rogen xmas movie

Crews were putting the finishing touches on the Untitled Christmas Eve project starring Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie.

The comedy is about an annual reunion of three childhood best friends on Christmas Eve.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Christmas returning to the East Village this week with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (again) for Seth Rogen comedy filming tonight

A smoking snow pigeon

Spotted on Avenue A this afternoon by Grant Shaffer...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (again) for Seth Rogen comedy filming tonight

In today's light snow, crews have arrived with snow-making equipment ahead of tonight's shoot for an Untitled Christmas Eve project starring Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie.





The comedy "is about an annual reunion of three childhood best friends on Christmas Eve." Which explains the Christmas stuff ... as these photos via EVG contributor Derek Berg show...





Crews will be filming overnight at 650 E. Sixth St., 108 Avenue B (Vazac's/7B) and Tompkins Square Park, according to the handy fliers on East Seventh Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Christmas returning to the East Village this week with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Report: The Streit’s Matzo Factory is closing, leaving the Lower East Side

Some sad but not surprising news coming out of the Lower East Side this morning. BoweryBoogie has an exclusive that the Streit's Matzo Factory, which has anchored the corner of Rivington and Suffolk since 1925, is in contract, and will close at the conclusion of this year's Passover baking season.

The fifth-generation family members broke the news to employees yesterday.

The dispatch comes via filmmaker Michael Levine, who has spent a better part of two years at the factory for his upcoming documentary, "Streit’s Matzo and the American Dream."

Per Levine at BoweryBoogie:

I personally know that this was an agonizing decision for the Streit family, who despite their many challenges, were determined to keep the factory and its workers employed onsite, even as the phone rang daily with offers from developers clamoring to purchase the valuable real estate. I watched as they turned down offer after offer, until the challenges of maintaining a manufacturing business in a drastically changing Lower East Side, as well as the pressures of increased foreign competition, left the company no alternative but to accept.

News of a possible sale surfaced back in December 2007, when Curbed reported that the space hit the market for $25 million.

As Curbed noted at the time:

The matzo business itself is moving, and the 104' x 100' lot is free to be converted or (ack!) torn down by whatever developer is lucky enough to snag it ... from what we hear, conversion will be very difficult due to the state of the 47,500-square-foot building's interior. With a "community facility bonus," a new structure could be built up to 67,600 square feet.

There's no word just yet on who the new owner is (Ben Shaoul is always a good guess).

As for Streit's, the family hopes to "find a new home for the factory and as many of their workers as possible, though no site has been chosen."

Read the whole BoweryBoogie post here.

Ricky hopes for a reunion with Pookie

[Photo by Sally Davies]

EVG regular Moe shares this story about Ricky, a familiar face in the neighborhood...

Until 2 weeks ago, Ricky was always accompanied by a cute little wiry-haired terrier chihuahua mix named Pookie who has a very nice disposition.

Turns out his dog was stolen 2 weeks ago when he left it tied up for a minute — yes, I know — outside the Ottendorfer Library on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Place to go inside for a book.

A witness said that it was a "junky-looking blond woman with hair pushed up in the middle of her head" who took it.

Turns out this woman is currently in jail on some other charges, and that she allegedly was also responsible for five other recent dog thefts.

She has some sort of arraignment today [Jan. 6] at which time Ricky and a lawyer who has helped him before will be present to see if, at the least, information about the current whereabouts of these stolen dogs can be obtained.

As Stanley L. Cohen heads to prison

Controversial East Village-based attorney Stanley L. Cohen heads to Pennsylvania today for an 18-month stint behind bars for obstructing and impeding the Internal Revenue Service.

The Forward files a feature on Cohen, including some details on his government-supported trip last October to Kuwait and Jordan to help negotiate for the release of American aid worker Peter Kassig with jihadists close to ISIS. (ISIS beheaded Kassig on Nov. 16.)

According to Cohen, the failure of his mission was in part due to the U.S. government’s failure to act when his initiative was aborted midstream, just as the talks were showing promise.

Cohen, who had also been renting loft space on Avenue D the past 10 years, also shares his disgust for the development of the neighborhood.

"Look at that building going up next door,” he said, shaking a fist at the 11-story high-rise under construction just outside his south-facing window. "Everything’s crowding in. There’s no more light in here!"

Upon his release from prison, Cohen plans live in his Catskills country home.

As The New York Times has pointed out, "Cohen's clients have included political activists and terrorism defendants, among them Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, bin Laden’s son-in-law."