Parting Tuesday shot

Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place via Greg Masters...

Last licks for Ludlow Guitars on the Lower East Side

[Ludlow Guitars owner Kaan Howell and employee Garret Lovell, first and second from left, along with members of nearby Con Artist Collective.]

Earlier this month, Ludlow Guitars announced that they were relocating to Brooklyn after 17 years on the Lower East Side.

Here's what owner Kaan Howell had to say, as reported by The Lo-Down:

[T]he move to Brooklyn is not due to an alarming rent increase, unlike his move 6 years ago from 164 Ludlow St. to the current location. “Normally when you do the move,” he said, “it’s not generally one thing (namely a rent hike).”

“The lease is not up this second,” Howell said, “but I’m choosing to leave before I really don’t have a choice.”

Yesterday was the store's last day in business here between Houston and Stanton.

Photographer Nick McManus, a group portrait artist who works on Impossible Project Polaroids for gallery exhibition in New York, stopped by for some closing shots.

Per Nick:

I was able to take a group portraits for the final day of Ludlow Guitars. Owner Kaan Howell and employee Garret Lovell were joined by their neighbors from Con Artist Collective down the block as the sun shone on the facade.

Kaan, who's owned the business since 2004, told me they'll be opening up in Brooklyn soon and were excited to start a new chapter there.

It was second time Ludlow Guitars has relocated after moving just up the block in 2010 from it's longtime home at 164 Ludlow St. where ODD is presently located. Kaan and Garret enjoyed the shoot and gave everyone guitars to pose with.

Update on yesterday's stabbing in Tompkins Square Park

Here are more details about the stabbing that took place yesterday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park.

According to Downtown Manhattan Patch, a 26-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was stabbed multiple times with a pair of scissors.

Per Patch:

Emerson Whitmore, 51, and Sarah Wilson, 36, who knew the victim, got into a fight with him over property that had gone missing or might have been stolen, according to the NYPD. Whitmore stabbed the victim in the back multiple times with the scissors.

Police charged Whitmore, who lives at Project Renewal on the Bowery, with assault and possession of a weapon.

The victim is in serious condition at Bellevue.

St. Mark's Ale House sign down

[Photo by Steven]

Workers today removed the St. Mark's Ale House sign from 2 St. Mark's Place. The 21-year-old bar-restaurant closed at the beginning of the month, as we first reported.

We continue to hear rumors that the owner the is going to reopen the place as a Greek restaurant.

Signage arrives for Dahlia's-replacing salad and juice bar

Earlier this month, multiple tipsters told us that the closed-for-now Dahlia's on Second Avenue and Fifth Street will return as a quick-serve restaurant specializing in salads.

And yesterday, the signage arrived for 100% Healthy Blend...



The sign notes both a salad bar and a juice bar on the premises. As we understand it, the owners of Dahlia's are also behind this new venture.

As you likely recall, the SLA temporarily suspended Dahlia's liquor license after serving a reported 50 minors one night in January. The Mexican restaurant then closed in May.



Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Dahlia's busted after cops find 43 minors drinking inside locked restaurant

More about the underage drinking bust at Dahlia's; plus, reaction from NYU students

RUMOR: The Dahlia's space will be converted into a salad bar

Full reveal at NYU's expanded Academic Support Center on Lafayette and 4th Street

After nearly 21 months of work, the sidewalk bridge and scaffolding have been removed from NYU's Academic Support Center (the former Tower video space) at 383 Lafayette St. at East Fourth Street...



As Curbed reported in July 2014, NYU was expanding the space, adding a new 4-floor buidling on the land that previously housed the Plantworks garden center for nearly 40 years.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Growing soon in the former Plantworks garden center — an NYU building

Coffee shop slated for former Top A Nails space on Avenue A

A tipster passes along word that a coffee shop will open in the former Top A Nails space going under renovations now at 137 Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street. The tipster did not have any further details, such as who the proprietors are.

Top A Nails moved next door to No. 139 — the former Sustainable NYC — at the beginning of May.

A look at Follia, opening soon in the former Mumbles space on 3rd Avenue

And just a little north from our usual coverage area... an EVG reader sends along these exterior photos of Follia, the Italian wine bar and pizzeria opening this summer on Third Avenue and 17th Street...



La Follia had been operating at the corner of of Third Avenue and 19th Street. Per Town & Village earlier this year: "The new location will be an upgrade for the Italian restaurant, since it will make it possible to expand the menu and offer things like pizza."

The owners are also behind Carroll Place on Bleecker Street and Anisette on Third Avenue.

Mumbles closed here at the end of January after 22 years. Owner David Feldman cited a variety of reasons for closing Mumbles, including a continued decline in business the past few years.

Parting Monday shot

Photo by Bobby Williams

[Updated] Report of a stabbing in Tompkins Square Park

A man was stabbed in the neck three times this afternoon following an argument in Tompkins Square Park, according to several witnesses.

Multiple readers reported a heavy police presence in Tompkins Square Park starting around 2:30 after the incident took place near the chess tables in the southwest corner near Seventh Street and Avenue A. Sources in the Park told EVG correspondent Steven that the two men are regulars at the chess tables, and that the fight started over a cellphone.

A police source said that an arrest had been made. The condition of the victim is not immediately known.

Updated 7/19:

Here are more details about the stabbing that took place yesterday afternoon:

According to Downtown Manhattan Patch, a 26-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was stabbed multiple times with a pair of scissors.

Per Patch:

Emerson Whitmore, 51, and Sarah Wilson, 36, who knew the victim, got into a fight with him over property that had gone missing or might have been stolen, according to the NYPD. Whitmore stabbed the victim in the back multiple times with the scissors.

Police charged Whitmore, who lives at the Project Renewal on the Bowery, with assault and possession of a weapon.

The victim is in serious condition at Bellevue.

Remembering Alan Vega

[Photo this morning by Derek Berg]

Someone spray-painted Alan Vega's name on the wall here on Sixth Street at First Avenue...as mentioned previously, the co-founder of influential electronic and proto-punk band Suicide died Saturday. He was 78.

From The New York Times:

Suicide, particularly in its early years, was as much a provocation as a concert act. Formed in 1970, it was one of the first bands to bill themselves as “punk music.” With Martin Rev playing loud, insistently repetitive riffs on keyboards and drum machines and Mr. Vega crooning, chanting, muttering and howling his lyrics about insanity, mayhem and death, Suicide fiercely polarized its audiences.

In the trashy, fertile downtown New York City arts world of the early 1970s, Suicide performed at the Mercer Arts Center, Max’s Kansas City and CBGB as well as at art galleries. The band was initially a trio, including a guitarist, but by 1972 it was just Mr. Vega and Mr. Rev.

[Updated] Reader report: Rumors about the new Astor Place and the Alamo

[Astor Place photo from Saturday]

Longtime EVG reader Liberation shared the following...

[On Friday] I was told by someone who works for Village Alliance that, when eventually complete, the new Astor Place will have a variety of food vendors, outdoor tables and chairs, and some type of lighting scheme. There's a large electrical box on the northeast corner of Chase that will power all of this. The Village Alliance and some type of committee at the Sculpture of Living building decide who these food vendors are and, in general, decide what takes place in the area.



One bit of news I found shocking is that they have allegedly altered The Alamo sculpture so it will now include some type of lighting.

According to the Village Alliance employee the sculpture will also rotate on its own now as he said people have hurt their backs trying to spin it. Personally, I find it unethical to alter an artist's work to make it appear more like a theme park attraction.

The Alamo had an announced return date of June 22, but the city pushed it back to August.

Workers removed the Alamo for safekeeping for the duration of the $16 million capital improvement project on Nov. 25, 2014.

Updated 3 p.m.

William Kelley, executive director of the Village Alliance, shared the following with us:

The Alamo sculpture should return in August, and it is exactly the same as it was before. There are no lights and the spinning mechanism is human powered, just like before. It received a thorough cleaning and coating to protect it from the weather and will return in good shape.

Also coming in August, there will be bistro tables, chairs and umbrellas for use by the public, much like you see in other plazas around the city.

Finally, there will be a single food concession in the north and south plaza spaces at Astor Place (not around Cooper Square or points south) pursuant to the license agreement with NYCDOT. No other vending will be allowed on the plazas.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Alamo returns to Astor Place this Halloween

Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

This is what it might be like living inside the Alamo on Astor Place

RIP Tony Rosenthal, the sculptor who created the Astor Place cube

The first of Jim Power's restored mosaic light poles has returned to Astor Place

Looking at a cube-less (still) Astor Place