Ahoy! It's Liberty Toye!

The building banner arrived last Thursday for Liberty Toye, the former nursing home and Bloom 62 apartment complex that Ben Shaoul is converting into a condoplex.


[Photo from 2014]

Sales got underway here on Avenue B and Fifth Street last November at the 81-unit building. Prices range from $660K to $1.8 million for buyers who may use Bitcoin for the purchase. Shaoul's sales team is renting an office at 44 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street...



The Liberty Toye website lists 11 available units.

The site describes the neighborhood like this:

Creative energy runs through the East Village like a buzzing electrical current. Since the ’70s, a groundswell of artists, musicians, and iconoclasts put the neighborhood—and New York City—on the map as the place to be. It’s the birthplace of punk, the hub of counterculture, the lightning rod for the city’s kinetic spark. Today, elements of the neighborhood’s history mix with new hotspots that carry the torch.

The 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation closed for good in June 2012 after Shaoul purchased the building ... eventually converting it into apartments. Bloom 62 started renting in May 2013. Prices topped out at $7,600 for a four-bedroom apartment.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

A look at the 'Hip young crowd planting roots at Bloom 62'

1st signs of Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 going condo on Avenue B?

More details on Ben Shaoul's condo conversion Liberty Toye, where you can buy with bitcoins

Sales underway for Ben Shaoul's Liberty Toye — at the 'crossroads that cradled the Culture of Cool'

Sunday's parting shots

A few shots from today's successful e-waste recycling event along Avenue A... photos by Derek Berg...



And because someone will ask, these are NOT new LinkNYC kiosks...

Week in Grieview

[Photo on 9th Street from Thursday by Michael Rosenthal]

Report: 2nd Avenue gas explosion trial to start in September (Monday)

In memory of Kelly Hurley (Thursday)

Jane's Exchange closing this summer on 3rd Street; owners looking for a buyer (Wednesday)

Go on a tour of the East Village tour in 1985 (Thursday)

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

The 31st annual Loisaida Festival is May 27 (Thursday)

7-story residential building planned for former Blue Man Group facilities on 3rd Street (Tuesday)

The Post looks at the Night Mayor's fines as an East Village bar owner (Wednesday)

RIP Gino DiGirolamo (Monday)


[Photo outside Royal Tailor Shop by Dan Scheffey]

'Heeere's Kubrick' at the City Cinemas Village East (Monday)

Full reveal at Thirteen East (Tuesday)

Bubbleology Tea seeking full liquor license for the former International space on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

Groups file lawsuit ahead of the L-train shutdown (Thursday)

Matthew Kenney bringing yet another plant-based restaurant to 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)

Coney Island Baby opens on April 26 with Murphy's Law (Tuesday)

What you are missing if you went away on Spring Break this week (Monday)

Shi Miaodao Yunnan Rice Noodle opening in the former Mark Burger space on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Red-tailed hawk week in review: Easter in the nest (Sunday) hawk fight (Monday) Dora re-injures her wing (Wednesday) Dora won't be returning to Tompkins Square Park for awhile (Sunday)

Checking in on 886, opening later this month on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

The historic 137 2nd Ave. — the former Stuyvesant Polyclinic — is for lease (Thursday)

Gothamist turns to Kickstarter to speed up its return (Wednesday)

Flashback Friday: Anthony Bourdain and Nick Tosches at Sophie's (Friday)

The Two Boots on Nassau Street no longer appears to be happening (Thursday)

... and this past week, 212 Arts left Fourth Street near Avenue B for a larger space on 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...



Check out their website for current and upcoming exhibits.

Dora's wing is not broken, but she won't be returning to Tompkins Square Park any time soon

[Photo of Dora Wednesday by Steven]

Back on Wednesday, Dora, one of the red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park, was rescued and sent off for an examination and a possible rehab assignment.

Bobby Horvath of the Long Island-based WINORR (the Wildlife In Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation) provided an updated on her injured wing via Facebook:

She has no broken bones but will not be going back to her Park ... She has had some bad luck and needs to regroup and stay out of trouble. She will be staying with us until we figure out what the next best step is. Also people were asking if she had any eggs inside her. The answer is no. So she will be our house guest for awhile. No more soap opera sagas for this gal for now!

And here's an x-ray of Dora's wing...



Goggla has video from Wednesday of Horvath examining Dora's wing in the Park.

Dora had been in WINORR's care starting in late November for an injury unrelated to the current one ... she was declared fit, and returned to the Park on Feb. 26.

Meanwhile, as Goggla pointed out, as Dora was leaving the Park, a new female red-tailed hawk (not Barucha/Nora) had already taken up residence in the nest. Christo and the new hawk mated then for good measure.


[Photo of Christo and the new hawk by Bobby Williams]


[Photo of Christo from Friday by Bobby Williams]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Dora the red-tailed hawk returns to Tompkins Square Park

Dora re-injures her wing, leaves Tompkins Square Park for examination, possible rehab

Reminders: Recycle your e-waste today

Reps from the the Lower East Side Ecology Center will be on Avenue A (between Ninth Street and 10th Street) today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ... where they'll be accepting your old (or new maybe) electronics.

And as noted on Friday, here's the list of items they'll accept during the e-waste-apalooza:

• Computers (laptops & desktops, servers, mainframes)
• Monitors (CRT and flatscreen)
• Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
• Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, cords, chargers, etc.)
• Tablets and e-readers
• Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, power supplies, etc.)
• Printers under 100 pounds, scanners, fax-machines, etc
• TVs, VCRs, DVRs, DVD & Blu-ray Players
• Digital Converter Boxes, Cable/Satellite Receivers
• Portable music players
• Audio-visual equipment
• Video games
• Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
• Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

There are some e-waste items that we accept, but we charge a recycling fee for:
Media such as CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and cassette tapes
Computer battery backup systems (Uninterruptible Power Supply [UPS])

FAQ page here.

Open house tomorrow (Sunday!) at Studio 55C on Avenue C

Via the EVG inbox last night...

Studio 55C, a new Home for Somatic Movement + Arts on the Lower East Side, is hosting an Open House this Sunday, April 8 from 2-5pm.

The Open House will include 15-minute sample classes in the Nia Technique, EyeCare Exercises, Moving for Life, Pranayama, and mini-bodywork/healing sessions. The art of Tasha Robbins will be on view and offered for sale, with proceeds benefiting Moving for Life to fund their free classes for seniors and cancer survivors. Studio 55C also will provide light bites and refreshments.

Studio 55C is a conscious movement collective formed by three leaders in the field: Martha Eddy, Dana Davison and Kristin DeGroat. Classes and workshops educate students on how to move from deep within the body to increase awareness, self-regulation, and the ability to self heal. As each student is encouraged to move fluidly in their own way, they experience a joy that goes beyond the average exercise experience.

Studio 55C is at 55 Avenue C between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. You can find their website here with more details about their classes and events. (Their next open house is May 11 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.)

The space was previously home to the East Village Dance Project, which recently relocated to the Abrons Arts Center.

Le Sia on 7th Street is one of the neighborhood's (and city's) most exciting new restaurants

Le Sia quietly opened in January at 11 E. Seventh St. near Cooper Square.

I hadn't heard anything from readers about the restaurant, which serves Chinese barbecue, seafood and an assortment of kebobs. The dining room was empty the few times I walked by during the winter.

However, as Eater noted yesterday, Le Sia is catching on, especially with students.

Eater's Robert Sietsema paid a visit and came away impressed. (The headline: "NYC’s Most Exciting New Chinese Restaurant Dares to Pile the Heat on Seafood.")

An excerpt:

Beyond the seafood, the menu also offers robust menu of other Chinese dishes — many of them offered here for the first time outside Queens. It’s a bold move; many of the newer Chinese restaurants in neighborhoods outside of immigrant enclaves like Sunset Park or Flushing either come from restaurateurs with experience in Western-style restaurants (like Little Tong) or offer water-downed versions of traditional Chinese fare (like Han Dynasty).

Hunan and Sichuan restaurants nearby already stir fry fresh green chiles with sliced pork or pork belly, for example, but here, fiery peppers are instead tossed with gluey cubes of pig trotter, with a texture something like melting gummy bears. Called “wok-fried hog hoof jelly with pepper” ($16.95), it’s one of four chef’s specials. Another less-known dish available here is a “dough drop and assorted vegetable soup” ($12.95), a comforting tomato broth with free-form dumplings.

And in conclusion...

For now Le Sia is BYOB, making it one of the better restaurant deals in the neighborhood, and also one of the most exciting. With a restaurant right in the East Village, the owners clearly have faith that people other than first generation Chinese immigrants will dig the foods of their hometowns — it’s pure genius that may pay off in a big way.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Le Sia opens today on 7th Street

Lunatic fringe

Vive la Void is the new solo project of Sanae Yamada, co-founder and keyboard player of Moon Duo ... the above video is for "Red Rider," from her LP due May 4 on Sacred Bones Records.

I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant

East Village resident Susan Schiffman documents the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.



Photos and text by Susan Schiffman

Tenant: ilyse, since 1977

Why did you move to the East Village?

In 1977, a friend from my hometown asked me if I wanted to share a sublet with her for the summer in NYC. Within a month, I knew that I wanted to stay. I didn’t like the first neighborhood I moved into but then discovered the East Village. It felt like I finally discovered a place where I could fit in. I’ve been in this apartment since December 1977.







How did you find your apartment?

I was actually in another apartment down the street near Phebe’s restaurant, which used to be a kind of wild off-off Broadway scene. I worked there. That was the job I had found. There was a customer in the restaurant who noticed me when I was eating in the Binibon on the corner of Fifth Street. Manhattan Plaza had just been built. It was for actors and he was an actor and he got an apartment there.

He recognized me from my work in the restaurant. He asked me if I was interested in taking over his apartment for what we used to call “key money.” Which meant that you pay the previous tenant a couple hundred bucks and they make the arrangements with the management of the building. It was very old school and you could actually talk with the manager of the building. I got my first lease for $135. That was the rent not the key money. It doesn’t work like that anymore.



What do you love about your apartment?

First of all I love that I feel a connection in this apartment to the immigrant past of this neighborhood. I don’t like to call them ghosts because that sounds unhappy. But I feel that there has been a continuous spirit of something here since this neighborhood was built as a refuge for people coming from other places. People who worked very hard when they got here and made the life that my generation has possible.

Second of all, I love this apartment because it has low rent and where it is located it has been a platform for a really unstructured, exploratory and unconventional lifestyle — where I was able to take acting classes for a little while, photography classes for awhile. I had so many different jobs in 4 or 5 very different industries and have met so many interesting people. I was able to raise two daughters completely on my own in this place.

Because of the milieu that existed in the neighborhood, when my daughters became school age I was able to send them to amazing public schools that were started by parents and teachers. I was able to get involved with community gardening and composting.

I’ve had such a rich life. That doesn’t mean I have a dime in my bank account because I barely do. It doesn’t mean that I take vacations because I don’t. Or that my clothes don’t come from curbside finds because they do. It just means that I’m rich. It has been a very rich existence. I have so many memories tied to this location.











If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.

Recycle your e-waste Sunday on Avenue A

[EVG office photo from March 2018]

This Sunday, you may bring your working — and non-working! — electronics to Tompkins Square Park for a recycling event hosted by the Lower East Side Ecology Center.

The recycling action happens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain or shine!) on Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

And here is the list of items they'll accept:

• Computers (laptops & desktops, servers, mainframes)
• Monitors (CRT and flatscreen)
• Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
• Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, cords, chargers, etc.)
• Tablets and e-readers
• Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, power supplies, etc.)
• Printers under 100 pounds, scanners, fax-machines, etc
• TVs, VCRs, DVRs, DVD & Blu-ray Players
• Digital Converter Boxes, Cable/Satellite Receivers
• Portable music players
• Audio-visual equipment
• Video games
• Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
• Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

There are some e-waste items that we accept, but we charge a recycling fee for:
Media such as CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and cassette tapes
Computer battery backup systems (Uninterruptible Power Supply [UPS])

FAQ page here.

If you can't bring your unwanted electronics here, then at least leave the items in a public place where someone can photograph them for a future EVG post.

Flashback Friday: Anthony Bourdain and Nick Tosches at Sophie's

You may have seen food personality Anthony Bourdain in the neighborhood of late ... filming scenes (to air this fall) for his CNN series "Parts Unknown" ... among his stops: Ray's Candy Store, John's of 12th Street, Veselka and Max Fish. (You can read more about all this over at Eater, Bowery Boogie or Bedford + Bowery ... or Bourdain's Instagram account.)

A post shared by Harley Flanagan (@harleyfflanagan) on Apr 4, 2018 at 3:34pm PDT

So for this Flashback Friday, we'll head back to February 2009, when Bourdain's previous show, "No Reservations," aired an episode titled "Disappearing Manhattan."

In the last segment, he stopped by Sophie's on Fifth Street to meet with writer Nick Tosches... here is a grainy clip showing 90 seconds or so of the three-minute scene...



As Bourdain said, "Sophie's in the East Village remains a good place to stop time." Still mostly feels that way too.

Thursday's parting video

First Avenue cloud maker via Grant Shaffer...