Week in Grieview

[Photo of accordionist at Cooper Union by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Driver charged in collision that killed cyclist Kelly Hurley on 1st Avenue and 9th Street (Thursday)

A five-alarm fire at 60 E. 9th St. (Wednesday)

Rent Guidelines Board approve increases between 1.25 and 2 percent (Wednesday)

Push-in robbery on Avenue B was actually a drug deal gone bad: NYPD (Thursday)

Out and About with Sierra Gilboe Zamarripa (Wednesday)

A new lease for Three of Cups (Wednesday)

A new home for S'MAC on 1st Avenue and 12th Street (Monday)

The Marshal seizes Mamani Pizza on Avenue A (Thursday)

Fledgling No. 1 (Wednesday)

More dessert choices for Avenue A as Eggloo opens this weekend (Thursday)

City pools open; and a reminder to have a swimsuit to enter the pool area (Thursday)

The Black Rose looks to be moving into the former Benny's Burritos space on Avenue A (Friday)

A call to expand the boundaries of the proposed special business district in the East Village (Tuesday)

Saltwater NYC bringing Australian coffee to 12th Street (Tuesday)

Economy Candy's 80th anniversary retro signage (Friday)

Mancora now open in new First Avenue home (Monday)

Thoughts on the 9/11 mural on 9th and A (Tuesday)


[The musical bags of 11th Street via Derek Berg]

Your ideas wanted on improving McKinley Playground (Tuesday)

Sushi Lounge emerges from a crowded combo of brands at 31 St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Wasan East Village has apparently closed on 4th Street (Friday)

DOT looking for feedback about the Village Plaza (Monday)

First look at the Other Music documentary (Tuesday)

Looking at the Allegro Coffee Roasters coming to Whole Foods Market® Bowery (Monday)

Bluemercury rising on 3rd Avenue (Friday)

The New Stand coming to Patricia Field’s former storefront on the Bowery (Tuesday)

55 Third Ave. sells for $57 million — AGAIN (Monday)

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In case you were thinking of taking this carpet back home

Second Avenue and Fifth Street this morning... a discarded carpet with a PSA... discovered by EVG reader Sam Teichman ...

"This is not one of those cool furniture street finds. To be clear it's a carpet riddled with dog poop & vomit. YOU DO NOT WANT THIS unless you particularly enjoy those scents, which to be clear, you shouldn't.

Also, the carpet was really ugly & in shit shape. Godspeed! X"

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

This one is called Pride on Astor... taking place on Astor Place from Lafayette to Broadway.

Here's a description via the Facebook event page:

Experience the 20+ Authentic food booths, Browse the 50+ merchandise booths that sell a huge variety of goods that range from handmade metal statues to African baskets to the year's hottest trends in jewelry & fashion accessories and much more.

There's also a variety of butter for the corn...

Noted

Spotted at the Avenue A and Ninth Street entrance to Tompkins Square Park this morning...

Your July 1 rainbow action

[Click to go big]

The top photo by Tall Betty is from Seventh Street between A and B...

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A shot via East Village-based photographers James and Karla Murray...



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And on Second Avenue via Regina Shvartsman...



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And one more reader-submitted photo...

'Sesame Street' on 6th Street; Oscar the Grouch brings some cheer (and there's Big Bird)

Crews were (are?) out on Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue today ... filming something with Oscar the Grouch ... Vinny & O shared these photos...



Oscar doesn't have a nose, as you may have noticed these past 48 years, and we can reveal that he also doesn't have legs...



And Oscar can never be far from his pal Big Bird, who was also spotted being filmed... (not in character yet here..)





Just about the entire "Sesame Street" cast was in Tompkins Square Park last month to film a commercial for the Chrysler brand of automobiles.

What the devil? Vector Gallery closes on 3rd Street

That's it for the Vector Gallery, dubbed the Official Art Gallery of Satan by its founder, on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... workers cleared out the space yesterday...



And a for rent sign via Steve Croman's 9300 Realty is now at the small storefront.

In April, the city inspected the space over complaints that the gallery was "illegally used for religious assembly." Then in March, an event/performance described as "a Vectorian Mass dedicated to the 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'" drew a heavy FDNY response after a report of a small fire inside the space. (Any fire was related to the Mass.)

The Gallery didn't appear to be a hit with all neighbors, as someone scrawled "Yuppie scum paying $3,900 to create unoriginal shit" on the front window.

The gallery opened last August.

And this likely won't be the last time you'll see the Gallery, which has had stints on Clinton Street, East Broadway ... and in Los Angeles.

According to its website, "VECTOR Gallery seceded from the United States, making it the newest (and smallest) independent country in the world." Not sure what the asking rent will be for the smallest country in the world. But the 325-square-foot space (with basement) is on the market for $3,250 a month, per the listing.

Previously this space housed Snack Dragon, which closed in October 2014 after being Cromanated.

H/T EVG reader Jennifer!

Checking in on the Tompkins Square Park sinkhole

The one at the Eighth Street/Avenue B entrance... now in its third smash week...



We weren't able to measure the sinkhole's circumference to see if it is expanding, and if surrounding properties, such as St. Brigid's, are in danger of being swallowed...

Gigi leaves a request for Key Food; weekend ruined?

Gigi wants to know where the Yasso S’mores frozen Greek yogurt bars are... Key's frozen dessert section doesn't have them ... and she left some Post-it® Notes about it on the freezer doors here on Avenue A...

H/T Stacie Joy

'Cleveland' rocks

An audio-only clip of "Cleveland," a track from the new record that Algiers released last week.

The band will be at Baby's All Right on July 22.

Headline H/T

[Updated] The Black Rose looks to be moving into the former Benny's Burritos space on Avenue A

Updated: This item is no longer on the July SLA docket.

The Black Rose, the bar that recently lost its space at 117 Avenue A, is looking to move a block to the south and reopen in the former corner home of Benny's Burritos, according to paperwork filed ahead of next month's CB3-SLA committee meeting.



In late April, the Marshal took possession of the bar space between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place on behalf of landlord Steve Croman. There were accusation that Croman forced the bar out, even removing the boiler.

As for Benny's, the restaurant closed on Nov. 29, 2014. The corner space at Sixth Street has sat empty since then. The Benny's awning remains up...


[Photo from yesterday]

Benny's owner Mark Merker said that they were having trouble staying afloat, as costs and rents rose while competition increased from Chipotle and other restaurants that served burritos. Benny's limped along for a few months with a smaller, mostly to-go spot next door. They closed in February 2015. This space became a 99¢ pizza place called 99¢ Pizza, which seems to do brisk business.

There's not much more information about the new Black Rose at this month. The full questionnaire isn't online yet. (Updated: The PDF of the questionnaire is here.) And it will be somewhat new given that much of the bar's interior ended up on the corner of Avenue A and Seventh Street, where Jerry launched the short-lived Tompkins Square Park Art Bar.

The July CB3-SLA committee meeting is July 17 at 6:30 p.m. at a rather strange venue — Ian Schrager's luxury Public Hotel, 215 Chrystie St.

Mango Mango bringing more dessert to St. Mark's Place

Signage has arrived upstairs at 19-21 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue for Mango Mango, a dessert shop with multiple locations that launched in Chinatown in 2013.

Here's more about them via their website:

The aspect of our business is to serve traditional Hong Kong style sweet soup dessert to modern fusion sweets. We use the finest ingredients and a sophisticated method of cooking to create innovative handmade desserts to serve our customers. Most of our desserts are made with mango from the soup base to the pastries and drinks that we cater to our customers. Mangos are liked by all ages because of the sweetness that it brings and provides 100% of vitamin C.

The space adjacent to the Chipotle and above St. Mark's Market was previously home to Beyond Vape, which went up in smoke closed in January.