A 2ND MULCHFEST HAS BEEN ADDED BY OVERWHELMING POPULAR DEMAND

In case you missed last weekend's Mulchapalooza in Tompkins Square Park... the Parks Department is holding another one tomorrow and Sunday...

#MulchFest 2018 has been extended! You can drop off your🎄 for recycling at any of our 78 MulchFest locations through Sunday, January 14! Find a location near you at https://t.co/1vLwWlRGdw. pic.twitter.com/MBvamtZuTt

— NYC Parks (@NYCParks) January 8, 2018

However, please note that on-site chipping will not take place. Per the Parks Department website: "all holiday trees dropped off at MulchFest sites will still be recycled." (But how can it be a MulchFest without any actual mulching happening in the Park?)

Anyway! Goggla has photos AND video from last weekend's festivities...

Thursday's parting shot

A little late to be storing for winter? Photo in Tompkins Square Park today via Steven...

[Updated] Report of a stabbing on 14th Street at 1st Avenue

[Photo by William Klayer]

The NYPD is investigating a stabbing that took place this morning around 11:45 outside the Community Grocery & Candy on 14th Street just west of First Avenue.

There aren't many details at the moment. Per Patch:

The knifeman was wearing a black leather jacket and ran away after attacking the victim, an NYPD spokeswoman said. He has not been arrested.

Police said the injured man was transported to the hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.

As of now, there isn't a description of the suspect or motive in the stabbing.

Updated 1/12

Town & Village has more on the story...

The two men had gotten into an argument inside a store that turned physical, police said, spilling out onto the street. At one point, one of the men took out a sharp object and slashed the 54-year-old victim. Police said both individuals are “known to the neighborhood,” though they don’t know the name of the suspect and haven’t arrested him.

The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was treated and released.

The suspect is described as Hispanic and about 6 ft. 2 inches tall and was wearing a long, leather coat.

LinkNYC goes old-school with expanded offerings

Photo on Second Avenue and Fifth Street this morning via Derek Berg.

Ayios Greek Rotisserie has closed on St. Mark's Place

[Photo yesterday by Steven]

Word is spreading that the Greek restaurant at 2 St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue/Cooper Square has called it a day.

One of the workers in a nearby kiosk told Steven that Ayios closed at the end of 2017. The gate has been down during advertised business hours of late. There's nothing mentioning a closure on their website. There's no answer on the phone... while Yelp is reporting that they have closed...



The restaurant opened on Aug. 31, 2016 at No. 2, whose previous tenant was the St. Mark's Ale House. They closed in July 2016 after 21 years in business.

H/T EVG reader Paul!

Polish G. I. Delicatessen signage comes down on 1st Avenue

[Reader-submitted photo]

Workers yesterday removed the Polish G. I. Delicatessen awning at 109 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The space is undergoing renovations for what is believed to be an outpost of Shawarma House, which specializes in halal Turkish dishes from a quick-serve space on West 39th Street and a cart on Staten Island.

Polish G. I. Delicatessen, the Eastern European specialty foods shop, closed this past July after 21 years in business. Read more about that closure here.

Sweet Generation is 3 today

Sweet Generation, the bakery at 130 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, is celebrating its third anniversary (birthday?) today... to celebrate, there are some freebies while supplies last.

Sweet Generation partners with several nonprofit organizations and local high schools to create an internship program that teaches baking, food safety, customer service, work readiness, and entrepreneurship to teens and young adults from low-income communities.

Report: LPC rejects glassy addition for landmarked 827-831 Broadway

[DXA Studio]

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) nixed the reflective, four-story addition proposed for 827-831 Broadway between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Curbed has coverage here. A few excerpts:

The Commission’s verdict followed hours of public testimony, where most people spoke in opposition to the project describing it as “overwhelming,” “grotesque,” and “atrocious,” among other descriptors.

But not everyone hated the proposal.

There were many who came out in support of the four-story rooftop addition too, most notably a number of art gallery owners, who praised the design and the aesthetic.

“This is a great homage to the existing building,” said Arnie Zimmerman, an art gallery owner.

“This impresses me in that the scale is exciting,” said Sally Wasserman, who lives in a building that neighbors the project.

Commissioner Michael Devonshire reportedly praised architect Jordan Rogove, though thought that this particular addition "may have been more appropriate as a de Kooning museum out in a field in East Hampton."

The LPC ultimately told the design team to return with a revised proposal, as Curbed reported.

This past November, the LPC voted to landmark the circa-1866 cast-iron buildings where artists Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Paul Jenkins, among others, lived and worked.

That decision spared the address from demolition. As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel in 2015 for $60 million. The deal reportedly included 30,000 square feet of air rights, which would be put to use for a 14-floor office building.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) had campaigned for more than 18 months to help preserve these buildings.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

There's a proposed addition for the recently landmarked 827-831 Broadway

Wednesday's parting shot

A sunset-time look downtown today via Bobby Williams...

Gutter ball

Haha. Sorry.

Photo today on Second Avenue and Fourth Street by Derek Berg.

Morning routine

Derek Berg photographed this man in Tompkins Square Park this morning... taking part in some deep-breathing exercises that also involved rubbing snow on his head and bare chest.

Report: The Landmark Sunshine Cinema closes on Jan. 21

The owners of the the Landmark Sunshine Cinema on East Houston have made its closing date official: Jan. 21.

Deadline Hollywood broke the story last night.

Ted Mundorff, CEO of Landmark Theatres, took a pragmatic tone when reached by Deadline. “We’ve known it was coming,” he said. No special programming or commemoration is planned on the final weekend, he confirmed. “There’s nothing to celebrate.”

The Sunshine moved up "Dog Day Afternoon" one weekend, and the Al Pacino classic will play alongside "Super Fly" as the theater's last midnight movies on Jan. 19-20.

To recap, last May, the Post reported that East End Capital and K Property Group bought the building for $31.5 million with plans to convert it to a mixed-use development with retail and upstairs office space. The site includes 20,000 square feet of air rights.

In November, the new owners of the building housing the theater filed demolition permits to take down the three-level structure here between Eldridge and Forsyth, per The Lo-Down.

Landmark reportedly had the opportunity to buy the property, but decided against it after CB3 voted down a proposal for a full liquor license for a cafe in the theater in 2012 for pre- and post-movie drinks and dinner. Landmark now offers those amenities at a new theater on West 57th Street.

The Sunshine had been expected to close in early 2018. The recent arrival of some special screenings at the theater gave hope to some Sunshine regulars that, perhaps, the place would remain open for a few months longer...



... and there was a tweet from the Sunshine about the Oscars...

We'll be back live-tweeting #TheOscars on March 4 so be sure to mark your calendars, everyone!

— Sunshine Cinema (@sunshine_cinema) January 8, 2018

The Sunshine opened on Dec. 21, 2001.


[2001 photo via Facebook]

Built in 1898, the Sunshine Cinema building was formerly the Houston Hippodrome motion picture theatre and a Yiddish vaudeville house.


[Photo taken during the BombCyclone last Thursday]