EV Grieve

Monday, May 9, 2016

Confectionery now open on East 9th Street

Confectionery, a vegan chocolate shop and bakery, is now up and running at 440 E. Ninth St. near Avenue A.

As we noted last month, the retail shop is a collaboration between New Paltz-based vegan chocolate company Lagusta’s Luscious and bakery Sweet Maresa's.

EVG regular Scuba Diva stopped by on Friday and took a few photos of the small space...

Scuba Diva notes that the shop carries one of the signature treats from Lagusta's Luscious: Furious Vulvas.

Confectionery, which opened this past Thursday, also features macarons made by Maresa Volant. "The macarons are vegan, and since they're meringue-based cookies, they're pretty much a rarity, although a few bakers are featuring them now."

In any event, Scuba Diva is pleased to have a high-quality vegan confectioner in the neighborhood. "When you are vegan and everywhere you look the chocolate contains dairy ... you kind of do a little happy dance when you find someone who speaks your language."

The previous tenant in this space, Makki Deli & Grocery, closed in December after nine months in business. The Makki sign remains up for now.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Confectionery, a vegan chocolate shop and bakery, coming soon to 440 E. 9th St.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Where you can watch the transit of Mercury tomorrow

Local astronomy buff Felton Davis passed along the following...

The forecast for tomorrow is partly cloudy, so we will just have to watch the skies for an opportunity to witness the transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. Mercury will begin crossing at 7:13 in the morning, reach the mid-point at 10:57 am, and conclude at 2:42 in the afternoon.

I hope to show it for a couple of hours in the morning, take a lunch break, and then resume showing at 1 pm. My usual location at Second Avenue and East Third Street, or down at First Street by the F Train stop if the buildings are getting in the way of the sun. And yes, a very thick filter will be in place to reduce the bright light of the sun — that is the only safe way to view this unique event.

Here's more via an article in The Miami Herald.

[Updated] Found cat on East 8th Street

An EVG reader found this apparently lost (and hungry) cat in the Firemen's Memorial Garden on Eighth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

You can contact us via the EV Grieve email if this is your cat...

Updated 4:30 p.m.

And AJ is missing... details on the flyer...

At the 2016 NYC Cannabis Parade

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was in Union Square yesterday for the annual parade.

Here's more from a report today in Crain's:

Known until a few years ago as “Cures Not Wars,” and now as the NYC Cannabis Parade, New York’s annual rally in support of legalization has been held in various forms since the early 1970s. This year, the event culminated in a gathering at Union Square. As blunts and pipes were passed around, speakers attempted to educate the crowd about the Marijuana Taxation and Regulation Act (S. 1747/A. 3089A) that is currently stalled in the state legislature.

“We’ve been doing this for four decades. If we don’t get involved and do the hard work, it’s not going to go anywhere,” said Doug Greene, legislative director of Empire State NORML, the New York chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “Just coming here and listening to me speak and getting high is not going to change anything.”

Some would say the fact that the NYPD did not seem interested in arresting anyone who was getting high at the event was a major shift in and of itself. Although the NYPD cut its marijuana arrests in half last year, 16,590 people were still cuffed for low-level marijuana possession, about 88% of whom were black or Latino.

New York has launched a medical-marijuana program, with one of the dispensaries located nearby on East 14th Street. Dennis Levy, a lifelong marijuana legalization advocate, called the New York program "frustrating and flawed."

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Design apparently awakens the next few days on Astor Place

Yesterday morning workers started erecting that big tent/pavilion-y thing on Astor Place. (Despite a report on social media, this isn't the cube in a new shape.)

And as we will conveniently cut-n-paste from The New York Times:

A group of structures known collectively as Design Pavilion will take over the newly renovated Astor Place Plaza. Highlights include an installation by Snarkitecture for the condominium development 125 Greenwich Street; a structure designed by Harry Allen with the biomaterials company Ecovative; the DuPont Corian Blur Bar by Joe Doucet; and Growth, a show of new objects curated by the American Design Club.

Find the official site for A Design Awakening here. All this is is here through Wednesday.

A video posted by DESIGN PAVILION NYC (@design_pavilion) on May 6, 2016 at 4:35pm PDT

As for the cube, the return date is late May/early June.

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos and Marc for the links!

Clip-n-save art arrives on St. Mark's Place

You may have noticed the new murals (via The Bushwick Collective) on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue... the first completed work is by the São Paulo-based artist Sipros ...

Curious about what that "Bishop Iggy" will be next to the clip-and-save Van Gogh...

Previously here

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

The 2016 Street Fair/Festival season kicks off in high style today with the Second Avenue Festival along Second Avenue between East 14th Street and East Fourth Street...

Security is tight this year...

As always, we were on the scene too early, and there were several awkward moments where we thought the vendors setting up for the day might ask us for help...(Sorry, can't lift anything: tight hip flexors!)

As for the food options, so far we can exclusively reveal empanadas ...

... and Germany well be well-represented...(And Christmas in May! You threw away your trees too early!)

ATTENTION BRATWURST PAVILLION....

If you don't like movie posters of En Sabah Nur strangling Mystique, then move to...

Kidding!

However, as this photo from EVG reader Michael shows, someone did take exception with the poster for "X-Men: Apocalypse" at First Avenue and 14th Street.

Someone took the time to leave an eight-pieces-of-paper message: "This violence in my kid's face is not OK."

On that topic, what character is most likely to die in the film out on May 27?

Beast? Psylocke? Moira MacTaggert? Magneto?

[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]

24-year-old man falls to his death from Campos Plaza roof (Daily News)

Community Board 3 has sent another resolution to Mayor de Blasio regarding Rivington House (The Lo-Down)

Jared Kushner and the Trumps (Bloomberg BusinessWeek ... reaction at Gawker)

PS 122 offering a free self-guided tour of the East Village performance arts history (The New York Times)

East Village represents in this Best Bacon, Egg & Cheese Sandwiches listicle (Gothamist)

Speaking of cheese, this Mother's Day, mothers eat free at S'MAC on East 12th Street (Official website)

Another Prince tribute (BoweryBoogie)

The Metrograph cinema on Ludlow Street unveils its food and drinks (Eater)

Fairway files for bankruptcy (Grub Street)

The Ramones and the Fillmore East on Second Avenue (Flaming Pablum)

Early 20th Century rooftop ragers in NYC (Ephemeral New York)

When Peter Tork of the Monkees played at CBGB in 1977 (Dangerous Minds)

... and last night was the opening of "When Jackie Met Ethyl," a new exhibit at the Howl! Happening space on East First Street near the Bowery. Per Howl!:

This exhibition considers the cultural and historical impact of Jackie Curtis (1947-1985) and Ethyl Eichelberger (1945-1990) two of the most influential figures from the East Village’s heyday as a cauldron of transgressive gender-twisting performance.

Here are a few photos from the opening via EVG contributor Stacie Joy...