We'll always have the L train

The MTA is reportedly mulling over plans to repair Sandy-damaged tunnels on the L train between Manhattan and Brooklyn ... including one scenario that shuts them down entirely during the duration of the repairs — roughly three years.

That was one eye-opening takeaway from a report published at Gothamist, who noted that the MTA is also considering keeping one tunnel open during the process.

Richard Barone, the director of transportation programs for the Regional Plan Association, told Gothamist:

"It really depends on how quickly it takes the MTA to get the job done versus the severity of the shutdown. So if they can get it done in a year, but they have to shut both tunnels down, it's one thing. If it takes them three or four years to do it, and they have to alternate shutting down the tunnels, you have to question, which is better? Is it better to get it done faster but with massive disruption? Is it even possible to do that? Is there an another alternative that these folks can take to get to Manhattan for work?"

In the shutdown scenario, Manhattan-bound L trains would terminate at Bedford Avenue, the line's busiest station, per Gothamist. More than 300,000 people take the L on an average weekday.

Thoughts on how a prolonged L train shutdown would impact this neighborhood...?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is an Avenue A entrance for the L train in our future?

Avenue A L train entrance closer to a reality … some day

City council members talk up new L train entrance coming to Avenue A

Demolition permits filed to level the former Rite Aid and 2 other empty storefronts on Avenue D

[EVG photo from Sunday]

On Monday, we reported that the Rite Aid on Avenue D has relocated one block to the north.

DNAinfo pointed out yesterday that there are now permits on file with the city to demolish the one-story storefronts at 79-89 Avenue D between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street.

As previously noted, a 12-story building with a total of 96,038 square feet (7,868 of them for the retail component) will rise here. There are 108 dwelling units in the works. A spokesperson for L+M Development Partners confirmed to DNAinfo that the building will also feature some inclusionary housing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Space that houses Rite Aid on Avenue D hits market for $22.5 million

Report: New 12-story, mixed-use building in the works for Avenue D

Permit pre-filed for new 12-floor building at 79-89 Avenue D

Rite Aid relocates ahead of new development on Avenue D

Live from 'The Chintz Age'

The latest book from Ed Hamilton was released late last year... and the author of 2007's "Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws of New York’s Rebel Mecca" will be taking part in several readings for "The Chintz Age: Tales of Love and Loss for a New New York" in the days and weeks ahead...

• Thursday, Jan. 14, 7 p.m. — Inspired Word's monthly series, hosted by Michael Phillip Geffner, presents NYC writers at the Parkside Lounge, 317 E. Houston St. at Attorney Street.

• Friday, Jan. 22, 7 p.m. — Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. near Stanton Street

• Wednesday, Feb. 10, 6 p.m. — The Salmagundi Art Club of New York, 47 Fifth Ave. Hosted by the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation

• Thursday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m. — KGB Bar, 85 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery, part of the "Drunken Careening Writers" series hosted by Kathleen Warnock.

Here's a quick synopsis of "The Chintz Age" via its press materials:

In seven stories and a novella, Ed Hamilton takes on this clash of cultures between the old and the new, as his characters are forced to confront their own obsolescence in the face of a rapidly surging capitalist juggernaut. Ranging over the whole panorama of New York neighborhoods — from the East Village to Hell’s Kitchen, and from the Bowery to Washington Heights — Hamilton weaves a web of urban mythology. Punks, hippies, beatniks, squatters, junkies, derelicts, and anarchists ... searching for meaning and a place to make their stand.

EV Grieve Etc.: Skateboarder killed on Delancey; EV restaurateur arrested for indecent exposure

[Turning back time on East 6th Street via Derek Berg]

Greenpoint skateboard shop owner killed skating and hitching a ride yesterday afternoon on Delancey (Gothamist)

East Village restaurateur Dan Hoyt arrested again for indecent exposure (Daily News)

An interview with the Ancient Mariner of St. Mark's Place (The New York Times) Read our interview with Phillip Giambri here

Notes from Monday night's CB3/SLA committee meeting (BoweryBoogie)

A crowd to replace Sheldon Silver (The Lo-Down)

A Q-and-A with the partners and sisters behind the boutique Duo on East Ninth Street (Racked)

"St. Marks Is Dead" author Ada Calhoun has several local readings this month (Schedule here)

When AC/DC played CBGB in 1977 (Dangerous Minds)

... and from the EVG inbox...

"Bayside! The Musical!" is back in NYC, playing alongside "Full House! The Musical!" at Theater 80 on St. Mark's Place (Ticket info here)

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: Spike Polite
Occupation: Musician, Lead Singer for SEWAGE, Actor, Model
Date: Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Edge, 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue

I was born on a military base. I think it was Buffalo. My father was in the Cold War and in the end of Vietnam. We lived on military bases and then upstate, but I was forced to come here as an early teenager. My mom had me institutionalized, like for suicidal tendencies. I never thought you could be forced to be stuck in New York City, but it happened to me. I was 14 going on 15. Then they put through me the person in need of supervision, even though I wasn’t in need of supervision and then they sent me to Lincoln Hall. I had to go through all these foster homes and they kept me down here. Then when I got out of that they wouldn’t have me back.

I just met other people and it was always my goal to do something with music. I went to CBs. This was in 1988. When I was a kid skateboard fashion was coming around and people were listening to a lot of punk rock. As a child, my mother always took away my guitars and took away all the stuff. I grew up loving the Ramones, Sex Pistols, the Exploited, GBH — I liked them from both sides of the pond. I used to literally play over and over all the Sex Pistol songs on the album through my guitar and amp as a kid, and of course AC/DC and Black Sabbath too.

I started living in the squats. I just knew that this was rough and tough but it was easier than being in all of those foster homes and detention centers. At least here I had a fighting chance that I could have allies. The thing was, I didn’t have any direction or anything like that. I didn’t have a family to say, here is a trust fund, now you should go to college and blah blah blah. I didn’t have anything like that. I had a survival-level type of thing ... so I banded together with these other people and we lived in this abandoned building.

We’d find things on the street because New York was a different place then. Everything was on the street. They’d throw it away and you could take it yourself and sell it, right from the garbage where you found it. So we would go and take that stuff and we’d put it up in the squat and we’d make these little kingdoms and comfy crashpads and flophouses and then we’d go out during the day. Everybody would go out to make some kind of money and figure out whether they wanted to delve deeper into having nothing and do drugs and raise money for drugs, or if you wanted to go out and try to elevate yourself or to get up out of that stuff.

The 8th Street squat came after 3BC. 3BC was the headquarters of punk rockers, with spiked-up jackets and spiked-up hair, and colored hair and tight jeans and all that good business, whereas the other squats were mainly for the crusties. They were like the downtrodden with the pieces of rope for hair, and they would wear the baggy clothes and they looked like the color of concrete. They thought they were peaceful, so we were the anarchy punks, the punk rockers with the spikey hair, so we were different than them. 3BC was a flophouse of just like 50 to a 100, 200 punks crashing up there. A lot of them were visiting from out of town and most of the people in the squats, even the crusties, were from out of town too. Very few of them were from here or even from the state.

Punk rock ... I would define it from my point of view, basically it was working class, up to middle-class people. It was a rowdy, rebellious culture who had a reason to be rebellious because their way of life and everything was messed up. We were independent rebellious. We’re more like cats. Skinheads act like dogs; they want to be in packs. Punk rockers are independent people and they could take it or leave it. A lot of those people were Oliver Twist-type people. They’re paupers; they’re poor, but they’ll give you anything, the shirt off their back. They have nothing but you have their loyalty, almost like William Wallace of "Braveheart." The heart matters good, but it matters if the order is with you, but then in runk rock if you get too close to the order, you’re a sellout.

James will have more from Spike Polite in the next Out and About in the East Village...

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

Guayoyo has been closed now for 1 year

[Photo from Jan. 14, 2015]

On the morning of Jan. 13, 2015, a fire broke out in the basement of Guayoyo, the Venezuelan restaurant at 133 E. Fourth St. and First Avenue.

Residents in the building were briefly evacuated, but the FDNY allowed them to return a short time later.

In the months that followed, we saw a few workers inside cleaning up the restaurant space. One employee on the scene last April told us that he hoped that Guayoyo would be back open "soon."

The space has sat empty now for months.


[EVG photo from last week]

We haven't seen any signs of life. The restaurant's phone is no longer in service ... and no one responded to a message we sent to Guayoyo's public email account.

During a follow-up inspection after the fire, Con Ed discovered a gas leak in the building, according to a spokesperson for landlord Icon Realty. Con Ed then shut off gas service to the building. For the past year, a temporary boiler has sat outside the residential entrance on East Fourth Street.

According to Chris Coffey, the Icon representative, a majority of tenants have now had their gas service restored.

And Guayoyo?

"We're continuing to work with the restaurant to get them up and running as soon as possible," Coffey, managing director with Tusk Strategies, told us yesterday. However, he said that there wasn't any timeframe for their return, citing the ongoing involvement with DOB and Con Ed representatives.

He said getting the gas service restored — for both the tenants and the restaurant — was a "daily activity" for the landlord. According to permits on file at the DOB website, the city has yet to approve a new fire suppression system for the restaurant. (The permit was filed on Oct. 1. The city disapproved of the plan on Dec. 1.)

As seen with B&H's labyrinth of red tape earlier last summer ... after the city OKs the permit ... and a FDNY-approved contractor does the necessary kitchen work, the FDNY must sign off on the new system. Then Con Ed steps in to test the gas lines. Once the restaurant receives final approval by all involved parties, the Department of Health arrives for an inspection before any food can be served.

So how can Guayoyo survive a year — and longer — without income but with mounting expenses?

According to Coffey, the restaurant does not currently have to pay rent ... and he says that Icon has waved over $80,000 in back rent.

The husband-wife team who own Guayoyo previously ran Kura Sushi at the address, which dates to 1988. After a lawsuit prompted by a similarly name restaurant in California, Kura later became Ishikura before closing in 2009.

There are residents who feel as if Icon has been deliberately dragging along the process so Guayoyo will eventually vacate their lease. Arthur Nersesian, a local writer, neighbor and frequent Guayoyo patron, figures the delay will allow Icon "to turn the corner into another overpriced shithole that will attract the worst and destroy what to me is still an East Village relic."

Former Gothic Cabinet Craft space for rent

Earlier this month, the longtime East Village location of Gothic Cabinet Craft packed up and left the corner of Third Avenue and East 13th Street, its home since 1969.

The two-level retail space — 1,500 square feet total on the main floor and basement — is now on the market.

There aren't many details on the listing, other than the annual rent is $350,000 per year... just a little more than $29k per month.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Gothic Cabinet Craft has closed on 3rd Avenue

[Updated] What's going on at Empire Biscuit?

[Reader photo from last week]

That's the question an Avenue A resident asked after noticing that the biscuit purveyors at 198 Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 13th Street have closed for a "brief winter break" for the second time this month.

Last week...



But then they did reopen...

Closing for two days felt like a year. Hello, EVill.

— Empire Biscuit (@empirebiscuit) January 9, 2016

... and as of yesterday... another sign appeared, noting that they'd be back open on Jan. 14...



There isn't any mention of this second winter closure on the Biscuit's social media properties.

The quick-serve restaurant's website is also down for the count...



Empire Biscuit opened in the fall of 2013.

Updated 5:53 p.m.

Empire Biscuit assured us that they will reopening... Here's a new post with comments from owner Jonathan Price. "It's a slow time of year," he said. "We're doing some housekeeping. We refinished the floors in the kitchen Tuesday, for example. It's been over two years and there's just a lot of maintenance to do."


H/T dwg

Early tree decorating ideas for 2016

Spotted on Second Avenue this evening via @edenbrower ...

The Sock Man says thank you; store closes on Saturday

As we first reported last Thursday, The Sock Man is closing on St. Mark's Place after nearly 33 years here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

The Sock Man took to Facebook on Sunday night:

The Sock Man wishes all of you all a Happy and healthy New Year! Unfortunately, after 30 years on The block, we will no longer call 27 St.Mark's Place our home. This will take place in the next week.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support in making my business what it is. You never know where our new home will be, but in the meantime The Sock Man is still open for business at www.thesockman.com. With the low shipping rates!

Thank you for EVERYTHING!! ‪#‎SaveNYC‬

A tipster told us that the landlord is asking for 3x the current rent.

Owner Marty Rosen has been peddling socks, tights, lingerie and other accessories in this space since 1983.

In an interview in the Daily News in 2009, Sock Man customer Chloe Sevigny called Rosen the "grumpiest man on Earth." Responded Rosen: "I have my moments. I'm from New York. We all have our moments."

Updated 1 p.m.

In a follow-up comment, The Sock Man said that Friday (Jan. 15) is his last day in business.

Updated 5 p.m.

I should have noted earlier that this address was one of the 16 East Village properties purchased by Raphael Toledano’s Brookhill Properties last September.

Updated 1/15

The store will now close by 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 16.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Sock Man is closing on St. Mark's Place

This block of Avenue A is awfully quiet, and why is Lucy's closed?

Not much happening on Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street... as far as storefronts are concerned..

Nino's and Yoshi Sushi are entering the third month of closure, apparently due to a gas leak in the building. (And the landlord previously issued eviction notices.)

The space between these two restaurants remains vacant. The 10 Degrees Bistro closed back in August. (The team behind Shoolbred's and Ninth Ward got the OK last month from CB3 for a beer-wine license to open a cajun-style restaurant here.)

Continuing north... EVG regular Peter Brownscombe shared these photos from last Wednesday night... Lucy's has been closed...



... and the note on the door isn't the most comforting — closed until further notice.



Lucy tends to take several breaks during the year, though she always leaves a sign with a reopening date. She has randomly closed for a short period of time without any explanation (here and here). Anyway, not sure what is happening here.

And the rest of the block... Top A Nails is open... the former Sustainable NYC is for rent... and Doc Holliday's anchors the corner at Ninth Street... for now there are just two of seven businesses open on the block...

Ruffian is now open on East 7th Street

Ruffian, a cafe at 125 E. Seventh St. named after the American champion thoroughbred racehorse, is now open here between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Here's more info on the cafe via a news release from the EVG inbox...

Ruffian is owned by Tabla alumnus Patrick Cournot and business partner Nick Fusco. They are joined by chefs Josh Ochoa and Andy Alexandre (also Tabla alumni) and sommelier Alexis Percival.

Collectively, Josh Ochoa and Andy Alexandre, have worked under the direction of highly regarded chefs such as Michael Lomonaco (Windows on the World), Polo Dobbin (Dressler), and Floyd Cardoz (Tabla). The menu changes daily and features dishes like Lamb Crepinette with Buttered Turnips, Cornish Hen with Wheat Berries and Mushrooms, and Marinated Mussels with Bruléed Aioli Toast.

Managing Partner Patrick Cournot will also serve as Ruffian's wine director. Cournot curated the wine lists at Lelabar, Resto, The Cannibal, and Blaue Gans, among others. The wine list will offer 100 selections by the bottle ($40-$250) and 15 wines by the glass ($11-$20).

The release notes that Ruffian will soon serve beer.

This will be the second new wine bar right along this stretch of East Seventh Street... Virgola, the Greenwich Village-based oyster-and-wine cafe, is now open at No. 111.

Oaxaca Taqueria was the previous tenant at No. 125.

Illustration via the Ruffian website

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ruffian Wine Bar signage arrives on East 7th Street