You won't be able to visit the New York City Marble Cemetery today

In case your plans today included a visit to the New York City Marble Cemetery during its Neighborhood Open Day ... that isn't happening now... a handwritten note here on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue says the cemetery won't be open today "due to illness" ...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

A message on the Cemetery's website is more ominous: "As of May 5, 2017, the Cemetery is temporarily closed to visitors until further notice."

The New York Marble Cemetery at 41 1/2 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street will be open next Sunday (Mother's Day!) from Noon to 4 p.m. Find their schedule for the season here.

Saturday's parting shot

Spotted on Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. Photo by Bobby Williams...

A note about 14th Street today

An EVG reader passes along a gridlock alert for drivers, passengers and crosstown bus passengers (well, anyone) on 14th Street ... there is the Second Avenue Street Festival going on until 5 p.m. today, which is causing some gridlock action as the top photo shows.

Oh, and the L is down for the weekend. (2019 preview!)

#LTrain Riders should plan an alternative route for this weekend travels. pic.twitter.com/BsIg9CAPCl

— Rosie Mendez (@RosieMendez) May 5, 2017

As for the Street Festival, there is a better-than-usual selection of street meat...





...and beware of the lousy Beyonce bootlegs...



Street Festival photos by Steven

Today in photos of police-escorted charter buses on Avenue A

EVG reader Paul Dougherty shares this photo from 9:30 a.m. on Avenue A at Sixth Street... NYPD cruiser (one in front and one in back) escorting three charter buses with tinted windows. The first bus was marked District of Columbia.

Jared Kushner in town checking on his East Village properties? Potential homeowners coming from Steiner East Village? Attendees going to a post-post Met Gala party? Anyone?

Today in community garden plant sales

Both items via the EVG inbox...

UNCOMMON PLANTS FOR CITY FOLK
WHEN: Saturday, May 6, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
WHERE: El Sol Brillante Community Garden, 522-526 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B
Rock Garden plants and choice perennials for sun & shade, including native plants
Plants are grown by members of MCNARGS (including many from Tom Stuart) with additional selections from Wrightman, Garden Vision Epimediums, Gowanus

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Plant & Bake Sale, 6th Street & Avenue B Community Garden (southwest corner of 6th and B)
Saturday-Sunday, May 6-7, 12-5 p.m.

Our Horticulture Committee and other volunteers have been hard a work growing and procuring plants, baked goods, and other items to sell.

All money raised from this event goes directly to fund our always FREE Events Programming for the Summer. This includes Music, Spoken Word, Film Nights, Slide Lectures and Talks, Workshops, Drawing in the Garden, and more.

Find more details here.

Friday's parting video

From earlier today... Life in a Steve Croman building when it rains...

Be out of your mind with 'Boredom'

Here are the Buzzcocks with "Boredom" ... circa 1981.

And they are playing Webster Hall on June 9.

EV Grieve Etc.: LES landlord Samy Mahfar settles civil suit; MCA Day happens tomorrow

[Flashback Friday to blue skies from 3rd Street]

Weekend guide to the Lower East Side History Month (Official site)

LES history on display in open-air museum exhibit on East Houston Street (BoweryBoogie)

AG Schneiderman settles civil suit with landlord Samy Mahfar (The Lo-Down)

DA: Driver involved in deadly March crash on the Williamsburg Bridge was driving drunk and going 111 MPH (ABC 7)

Council candidates for District 2 agree to rezone Tech Hub area/East 14th Street (Town & Village)

Details on MCA Day tomorrow in Brooklyn (Gothamist)

The U.S. theatrical premiere of Wang Bing's new film, "TA’ANG," "perhaps the most revealing cinematic portrait yet of life in a refugee camp." (Anthology Film Archives)

Diversions: Early footage of the Plasmatics surfaces (Dangerous Minds)

There were 12 offers for actress Diane Kruger's EV apartment (The Post) ... while Chloe Sevigny is moving back to Manhattan (Architectural Digest)

Past lives of the bunker on the Bowery (Ephemeral New York)

10 galleries to visit on the LES (The New York Times)

Next NYCHA infill site to add more units to Two Bridges neighborhood (City Limits)

... and the gift shop Pink Olive is celebrating its 10-year anniversary tomorrow at 439 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Lunch break

Lunch on a steel beam wheatpaste, new on Fifth Street via SacSix ...

EV Grieve Etc.

A few items to note from the past few weeks...and yesterday...


[Photo by Steven]

CJ. Tattoo is opening soon at 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

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The Caracas Arepa Bar at 93 Seventh St. appears to be shaping up, at least from the outside...



The restaurant suffered extensive damage during an early-morning fire last September. No word on a possible reopening date, but there is noticeable progress. The Caracas to-go space at No. 91 continues in service.

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Across Seventh Street... Comparti New York signage has been on the door the past few weeks at No. 102...



The space, last home to XyZ Pintxos y Botanas, will be home to a tasting room via Comparti Catering, described as "a full-service catering and events resource."



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East Village Bikes has taken over the Recycle-A-Bicycle space at 75 Avenue C between Sixth Street and Fifth Street...



Good photo opps atop the store van...



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The brown paper fell down inside the storefront for rent at 198 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street...



...offering a glimpse inside the former Empire Biscuit, which closed about 17 months ago...



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And from yesterday, sigange arrived for La Pizza Di Tramonti, the new pizzeria coming to 130 St. Mark's Place near Avenue A...



Still no word who's behind this venture...


[Photos by Steven]

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Also yesterday! Workers continued removing the extensive sidewalk bridge and scaffolding that had covered the corner storefronts on East Houston at Allen...



Sugar Cafe shut down in February... some sort of combo house of nightlife horrors is in the works for the rehabbed spaces...

'Enjoy the Royal Tenenbaum lifestyle' at the price-reduced Kate Spade house of 12th Street

[Image via Sotheby's]

Last June, we noted that this lovely single-family townhouse at 215 E. 12th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue was on the market for $16 million.

The place is owned by a co-founder of the Kate Spade brand (and dubbed the "Kate Spade House" by The Real Deal) ... by October, the ask had been reduced to $12 million.

And now! As Curbed noted Wednesday, there's a new broker and price — $9.95 million. Time to pounce?



Here's the new pitch via Sotheby's:

25 feet wide and voluminous interiors set this home apart from the pack. Vast parlor floor with 13½ foot ceiling height, two fireplaces and floor to ceiling windows allows for ballroom sized entertaining space.

5,000 square feet of interior space with additional FAR that may allow for an additional 5,000 square feet.

Many options for next owner starting with garden level apartment/den. 1-2 bedrooms with 2 full bath and kitchen has separate entrance and Garden access.

Glorious double parlor floor with eat-in kitchen and staircase to the garden level.

Third floor currently has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and could be the ultimate master suite.

Fourth floor has 3 bedrooms, full laundry, full bath and large sky lighted den.

Enjoy the Royal Tenenbaum lifestyle or develop into a one-of-a-kind mansion.

The Royal Tenenbaum lifestyle????



Public records show that the home last changed hands for $4.3 million in 2007.

A look at the MTA's new @LinkNYC on wheels

Back on April 18, Gov. Cuomo announced that the first of 79 new buses equipped with Wi-Fi service and USB ports have arrived for service in Manhattan.

Per the MTA news advisory on this:

After the initial delivery of 3 buses this week, units will arrive at a rate of approximately 3 to 5 buses per week. All 79 buses will be in service by the end of this year and will be based at the MTA’s Tuskegee Depot, running on the M14, M15, M101, M102 and M103.

Anyway, I finally saw one out in the wilds ... on Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place... Go Big Blue!





Per the MTA:

The addition of Wi-Fi provides a new level of connectivity to New Yorkers, bringing ease and convenience to those working, reading emails, or checking in on their social media accounts without impacting their cellular data plans. The number of USB ports on buses will range from 35-55, depending on the make and model, and will be conveniently located throughout the bus.

As for the non-blue-and-gold buses, the MTA is retrofitting the existing fleet with the same "digital-age amenities" as the new ones.

Hopefully Cuomo and Co. will come to their senses and bring back the two-tone green ones...


[Image via the MTA]