Garbage bags now adorn the windows at Out East

Out East has been closed the past two months here on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

There hasn't been any sign of activity at the restaurant — except for the black trash bags that someone covered the windows with last week...



There was never any announcement about a closure at the seafood-centric restaurant that aspired to bring a little Montauk to Sixth Street. The Out East website has "expired" while Open Table notes the place has permanently closed.

One EVG reader who dined here a few times noted that after a strong debut last April, Out East quickly fell apart, with disorganized service and marginal food and portion size for the price.

The operators of the two-level, 124-seat restaurant — which underwent an extensive gut renovation to make it Out East — have been involved with hotspots such as Beauty & Essex and Stanton Social. Perhaps they will try something different in this space.

Noted

[Click for a better view]

Goggla shares this photo today from East River Park ... art doubling as an Urban Etiquette Sign (or the other way around).

Feb. 25

An EVG reader just spotted someone discarding this tree on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... the tree still looks plenty lively a mere two months after The Big Day.

Anyway, one of the first candidates for MulchFest 2019.

Week in Grieview

[Last night at Royal Tailor on 11th Street]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Pile driving for new building on Avenue C prompts arrival of crack monitors next door (Wednesday)

At the annual Mr. Lower East Side Pageant (in Queens) (Monday)

Jimmy Carbone and Paloma Rocket collaborating on new venture for the Jimmy's No. 43 space (Tuesday)

The latest I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Friday)

Honoring actor Joseph Sirola at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Bad news for fans of Siggy's Good Food (Wednesday)

Still House relocating to 9th Street (Friday)

Clay Pot opens on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

A London-based hairdresser gave free haircuts to the homeless in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)

Avant-Garde-Arama at Performance Space grand re-opening (Thursday)

Retail for rent signs arrive for Steiner East Village storefronts (Tuesday)

A look at the former GG's space on 5th Street (Friday)

McSorley's turns 164 (Monday)

A spin through Downtown Yarns on Avenue A (Thursday)

Awaiting repairs for a sidewalk vault on 4th Street (Wednesday)

All is quiet at 75 1st Ave. (Thursday)

Last weekend for the Stone on Avenue C (Thursday)

Report: Financial firm takes the Death Star penthouse (Wednesday)

Chat 'N Chew reboot opens (Tuesday)

...and an opossum update from last night in Tompkins Square Park...

Opossum spotting! Dog barking at poor Opie up in his tree! @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/NiXovGhM0O

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) February 25, 2018

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The Landmarks Preservation Commission under Mayor de Blasio's watch

In the Daily News today, Eric Uhlfelder — author of “The Origins of Modern Architecture” — contributes an opinion piece titled De Blasio vs. NYC’s historic buildings.

As he writes, even properties within historic districts are at risk of redevelopement ... and "the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the last line of defense for protecting historic New York, is rolling over rather than pushing back."

Two key players are responsible for LPC contradicting its own mandate: Chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan — who openly questions the LPC’s right to tell architects what to do — and Mayor de Blasio, who is promoting redevelopment at the cost of the city’s architectural heritage.

A recent study commissioned by the New York Landmarks Conservancy showed the Landmarks Commission in a typical year approved more than 99.5% of all applications in historic districts.

De Blasio named Srinivasan chair of the LPC in 2014 after her stint as chair and commissioner of the Board of Standards and Appeals, "an agency known for granting zoning variances to expand development rights."

In the East Village, Uhlfelder notes how "the LPC ignored requests by preservationists to landmark a group of Beaux-Arts apartment buildings, permitting development of a new graceless hotel." This would be the incoming Moxy hotel on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Saturday's parting shot

Photo on Fourth Avenue today by Derek Berg...

Point of no return

NYC-born artist Yuno (now in Jacksonville, Fla.), who was recently signed by Sub Pop, released his first music video this past week... and Tompkins Square Park has a starring role... the above video is for "No Going Back."

H/T EVG reader VP!

The Webster Hall marquee

Here's a look at the Webster Hall marquee this morning.

As first reported last Sunday, the marquee became partially dislodged from the front of the landmarked building on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. Crews erected this sidewalk bridge to keep the marquee from landing on the sidewalk.

Anyway, I fixed it...



Updated 2 p.m.

The downside of the repair...

Thanks, little help here! cc: @evgrieve. pic.twitter.com/MO6mLPOank

— pinhead (@evpinhead) February 24, 2018

Please remember to take your rice cooker with you when exiting the train

Thank you for your patience as we investigated a suspicious item at the Delancey/Essex St station- Service is back up and we have determined the item was not threat- Enjoy your night on the Lower East Side pic.twitter.com/jaIIcNpel5

— NYPD Transit (@NYPDTransit) February 24, 2018

A rice cooker that someone left behind on the F train last night at Essex and Delancey led to a bomb scare.

Per the Daily News:

Initial reports from authorities said the device was a pressure cooker with wires sticking out of it, but police later determined the electronic was not an explosive.

Subway trains were stopped while the bomb squad investigated and resumed running moments after cops gave the all clear around 8:45 p.m.

Meanwhile, in other MTA news from last evening, via PIX 11:

According to data released at an MTA meeting this week, New Yorkers took 1.727 billion trips taken last year, compared to 1.756 million taken in 2016, so roughly 30 million fewer trips.

"I'm not surprised. The subways have been pretty bad lately," said subway rider Leslie Spencer.

'Metro' NY

"Street Safari," the second record from Public Access T.V., was released today ... the above video, featuring actor Kevin Corrigan, is for the song "Metrotech."

Not sure where the band calls home these days... in 2015, they were living at 123 Second Ave., which was destroyed during the deadly gas explosion. (The band was on tour out west at the time.)

The decibelists tell New Yorkers' displacement stories in this new music video

Decibelists are an experimental pop band founded by native New Yorkers Emma Alabaster and Leo Ferguson.

They're sharing their new music video for “Galapagos” here (the East Village makes a few cameos).

Here's the band with more about it:

This video features born-and-raised New Yorkers who have experienced loss in some way brought on by gentrification. With powerful visuals, it shows the ways that People of Color, low-income New Yorkers, queer folks and artists experience displacement, loss of community spaces, and heartbreak as more and more neighborhoods gentrify.

The video was created through an interactive process of community engagement in which born-and-raised New Yorkers were invited to tell their “displacement stories” and create short narratives for the video. The song was written and performed by decibelists and uses rising tides and extinction as a metaphor for this displacement.

The video is a mix of dreamy cityscapes and ocean surf, real estate signs, construction sites and yuppie douchebags, set against the stories of real, very pissed-off New Yorkers.

And here it is...



On March 1, the band is hosting a fundraiser for grassroots anti-gentrification organizations featuring local artists and performers at Starr Bar in Bushwick. Find more details here.

Report: Gothamist will return via WNYC thanks to 2 anonymous donors

The amazing news is true—Gothamist is returning! https://t.co/rU1yg8I51m

— Gothamist (@Gothamist) February 23, 2018

Per WNYC:

In a deal largely funded by two anonymous donors, WNYC is acquiring the news site Gothamist, including its archives, domain name and social media assets. The move comes as part of a larger deal involving two other public radio stations and Gothamist's network of local news sites. KPCC in Pasadena, Calif., will take over LAist, while WAMU in Washington will acquire DCist.

"For more than a decade, Gothamist served as a source of trusted local news," New York Public Radio president and CEO Laura Walker said in a press release. "That resonates with us at WNYC, where we are committed to telling stories rooted in New York and that matter to New Yorkers. As we’ve seen a decline in local journalism in even the largest metropolitan areas across the country, even at a time when it’s so vital, we remain committed to strong, independent reporting that fills the void."

Per Wired, the deal was spearheaded by Gothamist founders Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung, who will start publishing again this spring.

DNAinfo, however, will not be returning. Its archives will live on.

Publisher Joe Ricketts abruptly shut down Gothamist and DNAinfo last Nov. 2.

Updated:
Find more details in the post at Splinter titled The Many Questions Surrounding the Revival of Gothamist.


Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: Joe Ricketts just shut down Gothamist and DNAinfo (46 comments)