Where's the ball?

At the Tompkins Square Park dog run this afternoon... photo by Bobby Williams

Someone keeps destroying the nest that the red-tailed hawks are building on the Christodora House

[Photo from Jan. 22 via Bobby Williams]

As we pointed out last month, Christo and Dora, the red-tailed hawk parents of Tompkins Square Park, were rebuilding their nest that netted three offspring last year on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street.

We heard troubling news about this yesterday via Goggla, who monitors the hawks year-round in the Park via Gog In NYC.

Twice since Friday someone has removed the hawk nest and installed bird spikes, Goggla told us. The nest was empty on Friday and people watched the birds rebuild the whole thing on Saturday and Sunday. By yesterday afternoon, the nest was gone again.

Bruce at the Urban Hawks site is documenting the situation.

If the co-op owner, management company or a construction crew had a legitimate reason to remove the nest, their recent actions haven't dissuaded the hawks from moving. So, will the building just torture the hawks by removing the nesting materials each week until spring? That certainly would be cruel.

We're not sure about the legalities of any of this. As far as we understand it, (ethics aside) a nest can be removed if there aren't any eggs present.

Back to Bruce at Urban Hawks, who figures the situation will prompt the attention of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation:

Let's hope that either the building is forced to let the hawks continue nesting on the Christodora House or if the hawks are to be evicted, that old nest site is properly prepared so the hawks begin to find an alternate nesting location as soon as possible.

And a bonus photo of Christo on Avenue A the other day...


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

UPDATED 2/11 — here's one reason why someone may want to prevent the hawks from nesting here.

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

Red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora are building another nest on the Christodora House

The Pyramid Club is closed for vacation (or renovations) until next month

The Pyramid Club is now temporarily closed … there are "closed for vacation" signs up … pointing to a March 3 return…



However, the Pyramid's website points to a closure for a renovation…



A reader told us that the Pyramid didn't close until after this last Saturday; that the renovations would be contained to the downstairs.

Meanwhile, events such as the End of the Weak party Sunday nights will be at Lit Lounge for the rest of the month…



The club at 101 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street held its 35th anniversary last fall.

And we've heard the Pyramid-is-closing rumors for as long as we've done this site (start of the eighth year).

This is what the new condo building at 64 E. 1st St. will really look like

Last week we noted the rendering on the plywood outside 64 E. First St., where new condos are on the way for the block between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Yesterday, the developer's rep sent us an updated and colorized rendering…



And via the EVG inbox...

A 6-story boutique condominium will rise on 64 E 1st St between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave designed by GF55 Partners Architects and developed by MGM Property Group. The new building will be situated in a tree lined mostly residential block near the F train with street level shops and a playground.

The design envisions a façade with a contemporary industrial feel with large casement windows and metal details. The plan for the development is 6 light-filled residences each averaging 1,900 sq ft. The lower duplex will occupy the cellar and 1st floor with a private rear yard. Floors 2-5 are floor-through units with rear balconies. The upper duplex on the 6th and penthouse levels offer a rooftop terrace. Each unit will have two bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. Both baths and powder room will be outfitted with waterworks fittings and accessories. The floor plan will have a high end kitchen open to the living and dining areas.

Amenities include a workout room on the first floor and a shared rooftop with a barbeque. The site sits between a 10 unit condo building built in 2007 and a boiler and welding shop that has been there for over 50 years.

The space was once home to the club La Vie, which all the neighbors hated.

Previously on EV Grieve:
La Vie has closed; neighbors rejoice

Former La Vie space on East First Street will be demolished

Getting rid of the rats at the former LaVie ahead of a new 6-floor residential building

Here lies the remains of La Vie

Here's a look at the new condos coming to East 1st Street

Galleria J. Antonio is closing on Avenue A

We were sorry to see the store closing sign up here the other day at 47 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street… Galleria J. Antonio sells arts and crafts and custom jewelry and watches…

Here's some history of the store via The Villager (back in 2005 when some locals were ticked about the painting in the front window showing a woman's bare breast):

The galleria is a colorful crafts store with jewelry, pottery, handbags and even doggy costumes peppering the walls and display cases. An artists cooperative, the galleria was located on Christopher St. from 1979 to 1989. After a 15-year hiatus when the store’s founding artist and namesake, Jose Antonio, died of AIDS in 1989, the shop reopened in 2000 at its present location on Avenue A and E. Fourth St.

The for lease sign mentions no food… the Ave A Optical space a storefront away at No. 43 remains on the market as well…

Take a last look inside the mysterious 190 Bowery

[Via Wikipedia Commons]

Photographer Jay Maisel bought 190 Bowery in 1966 for $102,000. He recently sold it for a reported $55 million.

Developer Aby Rosen, the current owner, is apparently marketing the building for a retail-condo combo.

Meanwhile, for a glimpse of what the building is like now inside (and on the roof), we spotted this video yesterday at the Popular Photography website.

You don't see everything in the six-story, 72-room, 35,000-square-foot building… but you get the idea…

190 Bowery from Digital Destinations on Vimeo.

A Curbed tipster spotted movers carting out furniture and what not from the building at Spring Street last week.

In 2008, New York had what was believed to be the media's one and only inside look at the place.

Maisel lived in part of the the 1898 Germania Bank building with his wife and daughter.

Comeback special: Arrow Bar owners opening Elvis Guesthouse on Avenue A

[85 Avenue A]

Arrow Bar, the subterranean space with a good happy hour at 85 Avenue A between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street, closed last month.

The same owners (who also run Baby's All Right in Williamsburg) have now turned the space into a venue called Elvis Guesthouse. There was a soft opening this past Friday night featuring DJs and the Los Angeles-based punk duo Girlpool. Brooklyn Vegan has a rundown on the show with a lot of photos.

And this arrived in our inbox last week...

On August 16, 1977, the morning after Elvis Presley theoretically met his end on the toilet in Graceland, a chubby man in a white linen suit and an ill-fitting blonde wig bought a one way ticket from Memphis to Istanbul. He paid in cash and used the name John Burrows.

Once he arrived in Turkey, he bounced around the hippie trail, hitchhiking from Tehran to Peshawar, Kabul to Lahore, Delhi to Goa, Kathmandu to Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Instead of staying in the finest hotels, where he would have certainly been noticed, he bunked in guesthouses, small lodgings run by local families and foreign Heads.

In 1979, political changes in the Middle East put an end to the hippie trail. John had grown tired of his nomadic lifestyle and settled on the outskirts of Kathmandu, where he opened a small bar inspired by his years spent in guesthouses. He named it ELVIS GUESTHOUSE.

After the place had been open for a year, John disappeared one day. A gin soaked journalist claimed to have spotted him on the beach in Occupied Cambodia, and others said that he had made his way into the ethnic minority areas of Southwest China. Eventually, the building was demolished to make way for a shopping mall. But a few photos of the bar survived, and we have created its exact replica here.

We haven't heard anything just yet about an official opening date for the bar.

Bittersweet: Puddin' NYC won't be reopening after all on St Mark's Place

Back in late November, the City temporarily closed Puddin', the small shop at 102 St. Mark's Place that sells pudding, pudding-filled cakes and frozen Puddin' Pops.

The note on the door between Avenue A and First Avenue explained: "Oh fudge! We forgot some paperwork. Be back soon!"

It turns out that Puddin' won't be back soon after all. Puddin' chef/owner Clio Goodman bid farewell on Facebook yesterday.

To all our loyal patrons, it is with much sadness that we announce we will not be reopening in the near future. We can't thank you all enough for the support over the years; it meant the world to us. It was a great ride indeed.

A Puddin' manager told DNAinfo's Lisha Arino, who first reported on the permanent closure, that the restaurant was shut down "for an administrative issue with our permit, not a food safety issue."

A Health Department spokesperson told DNAinfo that, despite multiple reminders to renew their permit, "the owners were found operating with an expired food service establishment permit." They would be able to reopen once management renewed the permit, the spokesperson said.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Oh fudge, Puddin' popped for incomplete paperwork

Step inside Jimmy McMillan's world for a moment

The saga of Jimmy McMillan's $872-a-month St. Mark's Place apartment continues.

After a 4-year legal battle, the "Rent is Too Damn High" party founder was set to be evicted last Thursday from his apartment of 38 years. (The landlord has claimed that McMillan's primary address is in Brooklyn.)

However, as the Post reports, McMillan won an 11th-hour reprieve to stay for at least another week while the matter continues to get sorted out.

Meanwhile, McMillan invited the Post into his apartment for a grand tour.

Per the rather wacky piece:

The Post got a first tour of the downtown pad, which features a sunken living room and exposed brick — and piles of clothes littering the floor.

They’re there for a reason, McMillan explained, in case he has to “get out in a hurry.”

Also from the article:

He owes more than $18,000 in rent, the landlord claims.

McMillan claims he tried to pay his rent, but Judge Laurie Lau refused to accept his payments and Lisco Holdings returned his checks.

McMillan insists there is a conflict of interest because lawyers from the landlord’s law firm sit on a committee to select Housing Court judges.

Previously

A last look at De Robertis before its conversion to Black Seed bagels

As reported last week, the owners of Black Seed bagels are opening a location at the former De Robertis Pasticceria and Caffe on First Avenue near East 11th Street.

The Black Seed owners hope to serve their Montreal-style bagels, coffee and sandwiches here at No. 176 by late spring.

To date, there haven't been any work permits filed with the city to renovate the space.

Photographer Ali Smith got a look inside the now-empty bakery the other day, and shared the photo with us...



Per DNAinfo's Lisha Arino:

[T]he owners plan to keep as much of the store’s original architectural elements intact, including its tin ceiling and hand-cut penny tile floors.

“Where we can, we’re going to preserve [the architecture] and where we can’t, we’re going to build to match the historic elements,” [co-owner Noah] Bernamoff said.

The 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe closed this past Dec. 5 after 110 years in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ugh: The 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe closes after Dec. 5 (43 comments)

[Updated] 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe looks to be closing once the building is sold

174-176 First Ave., home of DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe, is for sale

Let's take a look at the DeRobertis in-house bakery

Black Seed bringing bagels to the former DeRobertis space on 1st Avenue (43 comments)

Hanjoo owners bringing Korean food to former Jewel of India space on East 6th Street

Well, Jewel of India lasted less than a year at at 324 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue…



The space won't be empty for long, though. The owners of the recently closed Hanjoo on St. Mark's Place are opening a Korean restaurant here, according to documents (PDF!) on file at the Community Board 3 website. This is one of the items on tonight's CB3/SLA committee docket. (This application for a beer-wine license is not subject to a board vote.)

There isn't any other information about the new restaurant … other than that they will serve Korean food. Hanjoo quietly closed at the beginning of the month after two-plus years at 12 St. Mark's Place.

Thanks to Vinny and O for the photos!

Makki Deli & Grocery coming soon on East 9th Street

This looks promising ... signage just arrived at 440 E. Ninth St. just west of Avenue A for Makki Deli & Grocery ... who will sell Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani food and snacks, as you can probably read for yourself on their awning.

Anyway, we're looking forward to seeing what kinds of food they will have to offer.

Thanks to the EVG tipster for the photo!