McSorley's is/was 161 today

[Image of old McSorley's via Facebook]

Opened in 1854, as legend has it here at 15 E. Seventh St. near Cooper Square.

There was cake...


[Photo via @ueshawk]

… and Abe Lincoln … and the dudes with muskets …


[Photo by TheDustyRebel via Facebook]

And because someone will bring this up and ruin everything:

There are some doubters about when McSorley's actually opened. Per New York: "Though McSorley’s claims it opened its doors in 1854, NYC historian Richard McDermott used public records to prove it really opened in 1862." Which means Lincoln never set foot in the place.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Happy 155th birthday, McSorley's (or not)

Exclusive: Minnie McSorley's first interview

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Blogger portal along East 14th Street]

Parishioners continue fight to spare The Church of the Nativity on Second Avenue from closure (NY1)

About the new gym opening on St. Mark's Place (DNAinfo)

A Feature on the Loisaida Center on East 9th Street (B + B)

Four Bowery buildings fetch $50 million (The Real Deal)

How East Village rents stack up to other neighborhoods (Curbed)

Marky Ramone concert etiquette (Dangerous Minds)

Photos of a frozen East River (Gothamist)

Old timer Caffe Dante looks to be closing soon on MacDougal Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

NYC buildings that survived demolition (Ephemeral New York)

… and via Michael Sean Edwards in Tompkins Square Park today…


[Click on image for more detail]

Sub-zero wind chills don't prevent Zoltar from seeing the future

Hard at work outside Gem Spa this morning at 8:30, reports Derek Berg…

Ralph Feldman's East 8th Street

Ralph Feldman, a former FDNY fire marshal, died on Feb. 5. He was 79.

Here are some of the photos that he shared with us last fall from the block he lived on since 1969... few photos included building addresses or dates... though all were on East Eight between B and C, where he said there could be up to five fires a week in the abandoned buildings during this time period.

As he wrote for the Local in January 2012, "At the same time when the Bronx was burning, the East Village was burning. All of Brooklyn was burning. In the ’70s and ’80s, big portions of the city burnt down."




[1970]


[1982]





















The Villager has more on Feldman this week here.

Valuable lots to be sold in the neighborhood — in 1836

[Click on image for more details]

Something from the Museum of the City of New York.

Here's the description:

Valuable Lots to be Sold by Jas. Bleecker & Sons on Thursday 19th of May 1836

Map of area from 6th to 8th Streets betwen 1st and 4th Avenue.

Missing from the description: There goes the neighborhood!

Check out more from the Museum's collection right here ... and all available for purchase.

Reader report: A mixed reception for a potential new East 7th Street resident

A dispatch from EVG reader Leslie yesterday...

Like many in today's real-estate market, everyone's willing to look even further east.

Today, a familiar face was checking out homes on 7th between C and D and received a mixed reception. Some longtime neighborhood residents exhibited marked hostility; others had fingers crossed that this newcomer would choose to stay.

The well-wishers fantasized a new laser focus on reduction of the blocks rodent population.

But the haters, per eyewitness accounts, made their hostility known.

Multiple members of a local blue-jay clique jeered sharp jaay-jaays and repeatedly dive bombed youngblood hawk.

The clannish residents entered attack mode, pecking at his noggin as he sat placidly upon a branch pondering the new location.

Fans tried but failed to capture documentation of the skirmish (see photo below). Nest shopping stopped when a kit of pigeons circled 6th Street, ending the outing to the east.

At the Tompkins Square Greenmarket today

Just two vendors — Meredith's Bread and Pura Vida Fish — are braving the wind chills today. Also, from the Greenmarket folks: "Sangmin from the compost team will be here til 1 to collect your food scraps, but there is NO textile recycling today."

How windy will it get today?

[Photo on East 13th Street near First Avenue by paddy523]

From the weather people…

Winter Weather Advisory, Wind Chill Advisory
Statement as of 3:59 AM EST on February 15, 2015

...Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 1 PM EST this
afternoon...
...Wind Chill Advisory remains in effect from 6 PM this evening
to 9 am EST Monday...

• locations...New York City...Metro New Jersey...Long Island and coastal Connecticut.

• Hazard types...periods of snow...blowing snow and high winds into early this afternoon. Hazardous wind chills after midnight through Monday morning.

• Accumulations...snow accumulation of 1 to 5 inches.

• Winds...northwest 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph.

• Temperatures...3 below to 20 above zero.

• Wind chill...as low as 22 below due to temperatures 3 below to
16 above zero...and winds northwest 20 to 30 mph with gusts up
to 45 mph.

• Timing...the strongest winds will occur through early this afternoon. The lowest wind chills will occur after midnight through Monday morning.

And not the first time that we have used the Wind of the Century tag.

Love in the overnight

St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Avenue A. (People drew other things on cars as well, as usual.)

Photo by Michael Sean Edwards

Ray's now has onion rings

Last night, Ray introduced fried onion rings to his menu, per EVG regular Peter Brownscombe.

They are freshly cut and fried, not frozen...



113 Avenue A near East Seventh Street

Dallas BBQ is for lovers

The scene on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place via Derek Berg...

Are the red-tailed hawks building a nest on the Tompkins Square Library?

[Photo from the other day in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams]

As we noted earlier this week, red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora likely won't be able to build their nest on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street this year. So, they will need a new home for a nest.

To the EVG inbox this morning…

Sadly I don't have a photo, but I spotted a hawk, hopefully Christo or Dora, flying out of Tompkins with nesting materials in his talons. He was headed toward the library on East 10th between A and B and appeared to land in that general area. Maybe a new nest location on a building in the vicinity??

I guess we'll see!

Yes!