New York Sports Club brands its new Avenue A home

One of the final pieces of the new New York Sports Club is in place at 28 Avenue A — the signage…



Now the gym here between East Second Street and East Third Street just needs some weights and treadmills and what not (or maybe all that has already been moved inside)…

The NYSC website now says this location will open in Winter 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New York Sports Club in the works for Avenue A

Sidewalk bridge and scaffolding arrive ahead of planned New York Sports Club on Avenue A

New York Sports Club says hello on Avenue A

Familiar Burger-Klein sign has disappeared from Avenue A

Here is the New York Sports Club building on Avenue A

Tuscan food specialist opening 1st U.S. outpost on 4th Avenue for some reason

[EVG file photo]

After nearly two and a half years since Dryden Gallery moved out, 129 Fourth Ave. is getting a new full-time tenant.

The Post reports that the first U.S. outpost of Mi Garba ("I like it" in Italian!) is opening here just south of East 13th Street.

And what will they sell?

The flagship 1,000 square-foot space, at 129 Fourth Ave., will include a restaurant with 10 tables. There will also be Tuscan food and wine for sale along with a boutique offering fashion items, including custom-made shirts and jackets.

The space was previously home to a pop-up gallery last May featuring model-photographer Amber Arbucci's breasts.

A Fresh & Co. is opening next door to the incoming Mi Garba on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street.

East 5th Street remains blocked off after threat against the 9th Precinct

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Multiple readers have told us that East Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue has been closed since this morning. Only residents are allowed onto the block.

Word on the street is that there was some kind of threat made against the 9th Precinct, which sits mid-block.

That'a all we've heard at the moment.

The NYPD and other police departments in the United States and elsewhere have reportedly been on alert since an ISIS threat from last September recently resurfaced.


[Photo via EVG reader Perri Silver]

Car alarms — still annoying!

Spotted last evening on East Seventh Street and Avenue C…

Photo by Corinna Lindenberg via Facebook...

Ess-a-Bagel is moving down the block

[Image via]

News broke on Friday via the Town & Village Blog that Ess-a-Bagel was being forced out of its longtime home on First Avenue at East 21st Street. The 39-year-old bagel favorite apparently did not get its lease renewed.

However, according to a statement that the landlord's reps sent us: "Ess-A-Bagel’s owners repeatedly refused to meet us between their below-market rent and current market value."

In any event, it appears that Ess-a-Bagel already has a new space lined up ... based on this tweet sent Saturday...

Don't worry fans of Ess-a-Bagel's 1st Ave location, our delicious hand rolled bagels are just moving down the block!! #NYC'sBest=EssaBagel

— Ess-A-Bagel, Inc. (@EssABagel) January 17, 2015

A tipster with knowledge of the situation here also told us about the move.

The landlord, L&M Development Partners, reportedly already has a Bank of America and Tower Bagels fitted for the current Ess-a-Bagel space.

As for Ess-a-Bagel's new space, perhaps it will be the former home of The Frenchmen.

Updated 1:56 p.m.

Gothamist notes that the Ess-A-Bagel owners have yet to sign the lease at the new location.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Landlord forcing Ess-a-Bagel from its longtime home (46 comments)

Sunrise where the Domino Sugar Refinery stood for nearly 135 years

EVG reader Daniel Root was walking in East River Park Saturday morning.

"Afterward I was thinking how I had never seen that sunrise [there] before and it occurred to me that the reason I hadn’t seen it is the now demolished and missed Domino Sugar Refinery was in that gap."

Indeed...


[Photo from 2013 by Bobby Williams]

The demolition of the circa-1880s building with the iconic Domino sign was complete in late December.

Some day the whole mega-project will look like...



Head to Curbed for more details about all this.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bombing the Domino Sugar Refinery

At the Domino Sugar Refinery

6 minutes of the East Village from a 1986 housing crisis documentary

Here's part of the neighborhood as seen in the 1986 documentary "There's No Place Like Home: Housing Crisis, USA."

In rain, concern grows for famed Avenue A ice sculpture

There was talk of buying bags of ice at Key to stack around the sculpture to preserve it from the rain and above-freezing temps.

But it was just talk, as it sometimes is.

Also, the hydrant is in front of 79 Avenue A at East Fifth Street if the city/FDNY is reading...

Previously

Gas problem temporarily closes Thai Terminal

We heard from a reader the other day that Thai Terminal on East 12th Street was mysteriously closed... don't know if this sign has been up the whole time... anyway, it notes that a gas problem has kept the restaurant between First Avenue and Second Avenue from opening.

Hopefully this problem won't linger as it did for East Village Thai on East Seventh Street.

Thanks to EVG reader Greg Masters for the photo!

Avenue A ice sculpture growing in size, stature

Near East Fifth Street... Photo by Grant Shaffer

Previously

Report of a fire at 85 First Ave.

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

The FDNY came out in force around 1:30 to respond to a fire at 85 First Ave. just north of East Fifth Street (at the location of the former wine shop Tinto Fino).

MAN ALL HANDS 85 1 AVE,

— FDNY (@FDNY) January 17, 2015

The FDNY had things under control in about 10 minutes…

MAN ALL HANDS 85 1 AVE, 1 FRL AWNING, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) January 17, 2015

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

No word on the cause or the extent of the damage. There weren't any reports of injuries. And the fire didn't seem to have any impact on Three of Cups next door… which remained open.

This is the second reported fire along this stretch of First Avenue this past week. There was a basement fire at 133 E. Fourth Street at First Avenue on Tuesday morning.

A new mural on 12th and C that addresses gender-based street harassment

Brooklyn-based illustrator/painter Tatyana Fazlalizadeh created a new mural yesterday on East 12th Street at Avenue C ...



It's part of her ongoing project titled "Stop Telling Women to Smile," where, as the Huffington Post describes it, "Fazlalizadeh places portraits of women in public spaces, encouraging victims of gender-based street harassment to fight back."



Find more of her work on her website. And here's more about Fazlalizadeh in the Times last year ... and NPR in 2013.

Thanks to Robert Galinsky for the photos...