For the time being, Zoltar is unable to see the future

Uh-oh. Fortune trouble outside Gem Spa on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place. Zoltar is currently out of commission.

Hopefully the gold head wrap softened the blow when the front pane of tempered glass fell back and cracked Zoltar in the skull ...

Red Hook Lobster Pound closed for now in Extra Place

Every restaurant with an outdoor cafe seemed to be doing brisk business yesterday ... then we looked in Extra Place, the pedestrian walkway off First Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue.

Red Hook Lobster Pound, which opened at 16 Extra Place in April 2014, didn't appear to be open. And they have outdoor seating.

Sure enough... a sign on the door says that are closed until further notice...



It appears to be a more permanent closure. The Extra Place address has been scrubbed from the Red Hook website.



It could be a seasonal closing... however, Red Hook's Montauk location has a "closed for the season" message next to its address.



As previously reported, nothing has really worked in the former alley that ran behind CBGB...



A handful of restaurants and businesses have come and gone in recent years. Only David Chang's Momofuku Ko remains.

Ten years have passed since we first heard about Avalon Bowery Place's plan to make Extra Place "a slice of the Left Bank, a pedestrian mall lined with interesting boutiques and cafes."


Previously on EV Grieve:
With new restaurant opening, will Extra Place finally become a dining destination?

Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Extra Place and Heidi currently 'closed for renovation' in Extra Place

Red Hook Lobster Pound in the works for Extra Place

A city inspector want to see if the Vektor Galley is 'being illegally used for religious assembly'

The last time we checked in with the Vektor Gallery, aka the Official Gallery of Satan, they were hosting an event/performance described as "a Vectorian Mass dedicated to the 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.'"

That performance drew a heavy response from the FDNY here on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. There was a report of a fire inside the small space, according to a witness.

On Saturday, a city inspector came calling ... to "ensure compliance with the New York Building Code," etc., etc.



Here is the complaint on file with the DOB (in their all-cap style) dated March 31: FDNY HAVE FILED A NORMAL PRIORITY REFERRAL REPORTING THAT STORE AT RIGHT HAND CORNER IS BEING ILLEGALLY USED FOR RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLY.

Also this past weekend, someone left this message on the gallery's front window...



"Yuppie scum paying $3,900 to create unoriginal shit."

The gallery opened last August.

H/T Aaron Wilson!

A quick look at the revamped Whole Foods Market® Bowery and its higher-profile bakery

Back in January, we noted some renovations underway at the Whole Foods Market® Bowery.

Phase 1 of these changes were unveiled last week. For starters, the bakery is now inside the main entrance on East Houston and the Bowery... it looks pretty much like the same stuff that they previously sold in a different location of the store (if any regulars of this place would want to chime in...)



The revamped space includes some seating ... providing for action views of the ongoing East Houston Reconstruction project...



Meanwhile! Back where the bakery stuff used to be ... there's some construction...



The prepared foods section has been revamped... and Whole Foods downsized the salad bar region.



The salad bar stations are down from three to two. During this leisurely morning visit, one had the breakfast food out ... while the other station had the standard salad bar fixings. Missing were the specialty items like cauliflower drowned in tahini and the kale salad surprise. (Surprise! There's feta and Craisins® in here.)

It feels a lot more cramped back here. Can't imagine what it is like during prime lunch/dinner salad bar hours.

A look at Jared Kushner's financial disclosure report

[EVG file photo]

Details of Jared Kushner's real-estate empire were made public in documents released late Friday night, according to published reports. As Bloomberg reported, Kushner, the son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump, "held personal lines of credit of as much as $90 million to 10 financial institutions as of his Jan. 22 appointment to the White House."

The New York Times reports that Kushner resigned from more than 200 positions in the partnerships and limited liability companies that make up the family real-estate business, which has acquired $7 billion worth of commercial and residential property over the last decade.

The 54-page financial disclosure report shows, however, that "Kushner will remain a beneficiary of most of those same entities," worth at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Times on Saturday examined the "perilous legal and ethical ground" that Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, are on now.

Unlike Mr. Trump, who is exempt from conflict of interest laws, both Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump — who took a formal White House position this past week — are forbidden under federal criminal and civic law to take any action that might benefit their particular financial holdings.

In 2013, the Kushner Companies started buying up some 40-plus buildings in the East Village. According to the Cooper Square Committee, only Steve Croman owns more residential buildings in the East Village than Kushner does. The properties are managed by Westminster Management, a division of Kushner Companies.

Meanwhile, Kushner will be keeping very busy. Last week, the President appointed him to lead the newly created White House Office of American Innovation. (Read the official White House memo on this here.)

Per The Washington Post:

Kushner’s ambitions for what the new office can achieve are grand. At least to start, the team plans to focus its attention on reimagining Veterans Affairs; modernizing the technology and data infrastructure of every federal department and agency; remodeling workforce-training programs; and developing “transformative projects” under the banner of Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, such as providing broadband Internet service to every American.

Already on Kushner's to-do list: brokering a peace pact between Israel and the Palestinians.

One last note... Elizabeth Spiers has a piece in The Washington Post about her time working as editor-in-chief of The New York Observer under Kushner's ownership.

I inherited an office and a desktop computer, both in fine but used condition. The computer was a recent-model Mac, but when I turned it on, it was inexplicably running Windows. I summoned our beleaguered IT guy to explain, and he informed me that it had belonged to Kushner, who liked the design of Apple products but preferred the Windows OS.

“So he was basically using a $2,500 desktop as a monitor?” I asked. The IT guy shrugged.

In retrospect, this tiny moment seems like a metaphor. Frankensteining two products you appreciate into one product you appreciate even more isn’t irrational; it’s even creative, in a way. On the other hand, why did the newspaper’s owner need a $2,500 monitor? How was it anything but a vanity object?

About the for rent sign outside Somtum Der on Avenue A

A for rent sign arrived outside 85 Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street this past week.

An EVG reader asked if this meant that Somtum Der, the Thai restaurant, was going to be closing.

The sign is for the subterranean space, not Somtum Der. As previously noted in January, the storefront below the restaurant that previously housed Elvis Guesthouse is on the rental market.

There's a new broker now... and a new price. (Was $11,500 in January; $9,000 now.)

Here's the latest listing:

An East Village iconic location which housed Arrow Bar and most recently Elvis Guesthouse is back on the market. Approximately 1000 square feet of unique space. Surrounded by DROM, a Thai Restaurant, Sushi Restaurant and several established small commercial rentals. The asking price is approximate $9,000/mo. The best use of this space is a restaurant/bar.

Space is offered as-is and any prospective tenants will have to do a walk-through. It is advisable you bring professionals (engineer/architect/plumber, etc) to determine build-out costs. Landlord will grant concessions relative to build-out work.

Please note: There shall be NO cabaret, NO live performances allowed and NO dancing. The landlord is VERY STRICT on this.

During its two-year run, Elvis Guesthouse drew some noise complaints about the bands and DJs who performed in the subterranean space from residents who live building.

Elvis Guesthouse closed after service on New Year's Eve.

Week in Grieview

[3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place Thursday morning]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Developer withdraws zoning variance request for former 14th Street post office site (Tuesday)

Raphael Toledano files for Chapter 11; $145 million deal for EV portfolio is off the table (Thursday)

Maria Hrynenko looking to sell Second Avenue properties destroyed in deadly gas explosion (Sunday)

Get well soon, David Peel (Saturday)

D.L. Cerney returning to the East Village (Wednesday)

Manhole explosions reported near Union Square (Friday)

Macaron Parlour leaves St. Mark's Place for larger space on the LES (Friday)

Those Starbucks rumors continue to percolate on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place (Friday)

Greecologies-Pure Green combo opens on Second Avenue (Wednesday)

Ghost signage and (eventually) gelato at Ninth Street and Avenue A (Wednesday)

A collection of East Village photos from the early 1990s (Friday)

Village Pourhouse is closing on 3rd Avenue; E.Vil is coming soon (Thursday)

Avenue A — milled! (Wednesday)

Spiky structures complete outside Cooper Union (Wednesday)

Addiction NYC heads across St. Mark's Place (Friday)

About Big Lee's legal battles (Monday)

New retail space available on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

LoveThyBeast coming to Fifth Street (Monday)

"Broad City" wants to film in an apartment like this (Thursday)

Little Tong Noodle Shop opens (Monday)

The changing downtown skyline as seen from Avenue B (Tuesday)

Cadet is closing on Ninth Street (Monday)

Former Citibank branch on Avenue A hits the market (Monday)

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Roll It Up returns on 7th Street

Roll It Up is back open (as of yesterday) at 63 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The nautical-themed shop specializing in rolled ice cream opened last Aug. 26 ... then closed in November for the season...

Closing ceremony for the Squirrel Hotel & Resort this evening on 7th Street

This is happening tonight over at the Sam & Sadie Koenig Garden on Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D...



"Finally, we can celebrate Spring's uprising with the closing reception for the Squirrel Hotel & Resort."

The event is 6-8 p.m. Per the sign, nuts and World Peace cookies will be served.

Actress Drea de Matteo on her life at 123 2nd Ave.

The Post today has an interview with actress Drea de Matteo, who talks about losing her home of 22 years during the fatal gas explosion on March 26, 2015.

de Matteo, born and raised in Queens, was 21 in 1993 when she moved into the second-floor apartment at 123 Second Ave., one of three buildings destroyed following the explosion and fire.

“I was holding parties there. It was wild,” she said. She put her funky stamp on the space with Gothic tables and chairs from her dad, Albert, who owned a furniture company. She added black lights “so at night it was [like] a discotheque — the whole apartment glowed. It was a little gypsy caravan,” she said.

The apartment, above Sam’s Deli and the restaurant Pommes Frites, saw her through life changes: opening a vintage clothing store, Filth Mart; landing her first big role, on “The Sopranos,” in 1999; winning an Emmy in 2004. As her star grew, de Matteo stayed put — even once she became engaged to musician Shooter Jennings, son of country music legend Waylon Jennings, and gave birth to their two children. (Jennings and de Matteo later split.)

“I brought both of my children home from the hospital to that apartment,” she recalled.

The pad also became a sanctuary at the end of 2014, a year after her father died. De Matteo’s mom downsized from the Whitestone home where the actress had grown up and moved the family’s most treasured possessions into the loft. The pad housed “everything meaningful and valuable” in her life, de Matteo said. She lost it all in the blaze. “Every single photograph is gone, every videotape of my dad . . . my children’s footprints.”

Nonetheless, the actress said, “I can live without all that stuff. I am just happy to be alive.”

In June 2016, de Matteo and several dozen other residents filed a $17 million suit in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleging the city and Con Edison, along with the owners of the restaurant Sushi Park and contractor Neighborhood Construction Corp., failed "to observe significant and dangerous 'red flags' … failing to take any steps to protect the public and their property."

Last fall, the owner of No. 123, who is not implicated in any of the various lawsuits, sold the empty lot to Ezra Wibowo under the LLC 123 Second Ave. Corp. for $6 million.

Meanwhile, multiple readers have noted the arrival (last Sunday night/Monday morning) of this graffiti on the east-facing wall of 43 E. Seventh St. ...


[Photo by Steven]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: 2nd Ave. explosion — landlord, 3 others charged with 2nd degree manslaughter; showed 'a blatant and callous disregard for human life'

Former residents talk about landlord Maria Hrynenko: 'it was clear she wanted to get rid of anyone with a rent-regulated apartment'

Report: 123 2nd Ave. is for sale

Selling 123 Second Ave.

A few more details about the sale of 123 2nd Ave.

Start your Sunday off right

Baguettes and cigarettes on Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street.

Diversions: Watch Iggy Pop's 1st appearance on Letterman 35 years ago

Dangerous Minds yesterday uncovered the clip showing the first time that former EV resident Iggy Pop appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman" ... back in December 1982.

As cherrybomb summarized:

After being introduced by Dave, Iggy jangles out onto the stage wearing bright red boots, turquoise blue eyeshadow, fierce black cat eyeliner, and blush. He spazzes brilliantly through the frenetic single “Eat or be Eaten” and then heads to the couch for the interview segment with Dave. And that’s when we get to the really good stuff.