Alphabet Scoop open for the season on 11th Street

In case you are out shopping for ice cream on this 80-degree day... Alphabet Scoop, run by The Father's Heart Ministries next door, is now open for the season at 543 E. 11th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B...

And here's more about them:

Alphabet Scoop is a job and life skills program for teens. The program is designed to prepare teens with the skills needed to advance in their school and work endeavors. Teenagers receive classroom instruction and work under a shift supervisor in the retail store.

We recruit and screen mentors to work with the teens, offering friendship, guidance, support and encouragement aimed at developing the competence and character of the mentee. We belong to the Mentoring Partnership of New York. Every time you buy our ice cream, you are helping a teen remain in a teaching and nurturing environment and off the streets.

They are open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today.

And upcoming on May 12...

Bad hair days: Kings Hairstyling closed for renovations

Brown paper covers the windows at Kings Hairstyling on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... thought it might be another small-business casualty ...

But! They are merely closed starting today for a renovation... with a reopening on May 8...



I always liked the look of this place ... with veteran barbers in sporty shirts...


[Image via Yelp]

Friday's parting shots

[Photo by Goggla]

Thanks to Goggla and Bobby Williams for the lovely sunset-time photos...


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

'Perfect' way

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme died this week. He was 73.

Aside from the film credits ("The Silence of the Lambs," Melvin and Howard," "Philadelphia," "Stop Making Sense") you likely know about, he also directed this New Order video for "The Perfect Kiss," set in the band's practice studio, from 1985.

The short life of the Tompkins Square Park Art Bar captured on video

As noted yesterday, the Tompkins Square Park Art Bar rose out of the ashes of the former Black Rose on the corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A... it was a short-lived operation that the NYPD and Sanitation Department shut down after 24 hours or so...

And there is video of both the (fake) bar in all its glory and, starting at the 10-minute mark of the first video, the arrival of the NYPD...





H/T to the reader who forwarded the video to us...

Another sign of spring: the annual Dance Parade is May 20

Organizers of the 2017 Dance Parade have released more details about this year's event... via the EVG inbox...

Dance Parade New York is pleased to announce details for its 11th-annual event, showcasing over 150 dance groups across 83 unique styles of dance in celebration of peace and unity.

Grand Marshals for this year’s Dance Parade are capoeira master, Mestre João Grande; Broadway legend, Maurice Hines; American pioneer of techno music and founder of the Peace, Love, Unity and Respect movement, Frankie Bones; and the honorable Council Member, Rosie Mendez, who has been a committed supporter of Dance Parade since inception. The Grand Marshals will kick off the parade and festival with a ribbon cutting ceremony that begins at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday, May 20.

At 1pm on May 20th the parade unfolds with 10,000 dancers who salsa, sashay, 2-step and boogie their way down Broadway from West 21st Street, through Union Square and University Place and across 8th Street/Saint Mark's Place to a grandstand in Astor Place Plaza where performances take place.

Ending in Tompkins Square Park, DanceFest comes alive from 3 to 7 p.m. highlighting the artistic excellence and cultural treasures found in the Dance Parade. Festivalgoers are invited to view the richness of its cultural forms on four stages, participate in social dancing and take dance lessons — all FREE to the public.

This year's parade theme is "Dance for Peace."

City Council candidates to discuss 'Historic Preservation Issues' on the Lower East Side

An array of neighborhood groups are hosting a forum on Monday night (May 1!) with candidates for City Council Districts 1 and 2 to share their thoughts on "Historic Preservation Issues."

Per the invite:

You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions about their plan to preserve the historic architecture, streetscapes and character of the Lower East Side, from Chinatown to 14th Street.

The event takes place from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Third Street Music School, 253 E. 11th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Find more details and to RSVP here.

Own Olympic snowboarding champ Shaun White's A Building condo

Shaun White, the two-time Olympic gold-medalist snowboarder, is selling his penthouse condo over at the A Building on 13th Street, the Post reports.

Here's the listing for the unit (NOT the one that had the slide) in Ben Shaoul's pool-topped condoplex between Avenue A and First Avenue via Citi Habitats:

Come inside this stunning and south facing Two bedroom Two and one half bathroom sunlit highly coveted penthouse at the A building. Floor to ceiling windows and soaring 12 foot+ ceilings with open layout provide downtown views and beautiful sunrises on your private patio. The building is a full service luxury doorman building with fully equipped rooftop including a vibrant pool scene, gym, and garden. Modern finishes throughout the apartment combined with an abundance of natural light are sure to impress.

The Real Deal notes that the unit last sold for $2.9 million in 2014. Presumably White has owned it since then. (Not sure how much time he actually spent there.)

Current asking price: $2.79 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
People apparently love the condo with the giant metal slide, according to article about how much people love the condo with the giant metal slide

Your chance to stand in line outside a 7-Eleven to meet Shaun White today

No. 117 is the latest Avenue A storefront for rent

[Photo by Daniel]

One day after the Marshal's notice eviction was posted at the now-former Black Rose bar space at 117 Avenue A ... the for rent signs arrived here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The listing isn't online just yet at Steve Croman's 9300 Realty site... this storefront joins two other nearby Croman properties for rent — 115 Avenue A (former Blink Fitness membership office) and 147 Avenue A (formerly La Lucha).

Back in 2014, the space, which housed the Odessa Cafe and Bar, was asking $22,500.

Reader report: A car drives in the 1st Avenue bike lane

[Reader-submitted photo]

An EVG reader shared this from this afternoon...

I was just on First Avenue and St. Mark's, and a silver car drove past me, moving uptown on First Avenue in the bike lane! The guy was driving in the bike lane! I was shouting you are in the bike lane, and a delivery guy with a handtruck who was in the car's path was shouting the same thing.

But the guy kept driving, and turned left on 9th Street right where Kelly Hurley was hit. I chased after the car, but he zoomed down 9th Street and turned left onto Second Avenue. I went back to the corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's hoping he would come around, so I could snap a photo of the car, but he didn't. The car was silver, and I didn't see what kind of car it was.

Anyway, it was shocking to see someone do this right after a cyclist was killed here. It was shocking that the guy ignored us. His window was down, so he had to have heard us. It goes to show that First Avenue is a free-for-all. It is yet more evidence to me that cops need to be stopping not bikes but cars on First Avenue and ticketing them and informing them of the rules of the road.

City shuts down the Tompkins Square Park Art Bar after 1 day

[Yesterday!]

Well, after one day, the Tompkins Square Park Art Bar (aka the remnants of the now-closed Black Rose) is no more... EVG regular Daniel reports that a city sanitation crew stopped by the corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A and took away the bar and most everyone else that Jerry and Co. had assembled from the cleared-out space at 117 Avenue A...





Just some of Jerry's paintings and his shoes — and the Black Rose's Jimmy Page Monolithic Riff — remain...

The Black Rose has closed on Avenue A; welcome Tompkins Square Park Art Bar (temporarily)

The Black Rose, which billed itself as a neighborhood rock-and-roll bar, has closed at 117 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

EVG regular Daniel shared these photos and the tip.

The Marshal took legal possession yesterday of the nearly two-year-old bar on behalf of landlord Steve Croman.



The space was quickly cleaned out...



As we understand it, the Black Rose management told Jerry, the artist who occasionally takes up residence on the corner of Avenue A and Seventh Street, and company to take what they wanted... and so for at least part of the day there was the all-new Tompkins Square Park Art Bar...



...featuring framed posters of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, velvet rope, red banquettes, bar stools, a disco ball and other former Black Rose items along the Seventh Street entrance to Tompkins Square Park...







No. 117 was the longtime home, until August 2013, of the Odessa Cafe & Bar.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Black Rose, 'a neighborhood rock and roll bar,' opening in the former Odessa Cafe and Bar space (73 comments)