E Smoke Shop will remain on St. Mark's Place

The E Smoke Shop will continue keeping you in lottery tickets, cheap cigars and water pipes on St. Mark's Place... signage is up on the shop on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place announcing their upcoming move down the block toward Second Avenue ...



E Smoke Shop is vacating ahead of the demolition of this corner. As previously reported, a seven-story, 66,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail is slated for this property. Permits were filed on March 15 to remove the low-rise buildings at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Avenue.

The E Smokers arrived in early 2014, taking over New Corner Magazine (or King's Magazine).

And a quick flashback (to before 2009) for a look at DJ Lenny M's Music World, the mix-tape emporium that had a kiosk on the Third Avenue side...



You can find DJ Lenny M on Facebook these days.

Previously on EV Grieve:
What happened to DJ Lenny M?

Report: Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Ave. fetching $50 million for development site

Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building

Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

End is nearing for the businesses on the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

ICYMI: Art bookstores are 'alive and well' here

The New York Times Style Magazine on Sunday took notice of the recent art bookstore additions in the neighborhood ... a piece titled "The New York Neighborhood Where the Art Bookstore Is Alive and Well" takes a look at Codex on Bleecker at the Bowery ... Karma on Third Street ... the relocated Mast on Avenue A ... and the incoming Printed Matter at the Swiss Institute on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

The lead...

The alternative art scene found a home in the East Village in the early 1980s. Artist-run collectives and unconventional exhibition spaces started to fill the empty storefronts; before long, however, the slept-on real estate became bank branches and chain coffee shops. But, as of late, the East Village has been reclaiming its reputation as a cultural haven with a series of new independent art bookstores.

This is the link.

And there is one baffling passage in the article ... in the section about Mast (h/t Dave on 7th)...

In 2010 [Brian Leitgeb] and his wife, James McKee, opened Mast Books in Alphabet City, built around a few large and extraordinary personal book collections he had purchased. And last week, Mast moved to a larger location just down the block, marking its official entrée into the East Village.

Blue Quarter debuts in the back of Local 92 on 2nd Avenue

A post shared by Blue Quarter (@bluequarternyc) on Jun 2, 2018 at 10:05am PDT

A rather hidden new 35-seat bar serving tea-infused cocktails opened last evening in the back (through the blue door) of Local 92, the Middle Eastern restaurant at 92 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

Blue Quarter, which occupies previously unused space at Local 92, is run by Max Green and Sother Teague, who worked at Amor y Amargo on Sixth Street at Avenue A.

Here's part of Eater's preview:

At Blue Quarter, Green pivots from bitters to tea cocktails. One called Unfinished Story incorporates matcha, coconut, lime oil, and tequila, while a Soon to Ripen includes earl grey tea, coconut water, paprika, and scotch. Black tea and mint tea also make appearances, and one drink arrives in a vintage tea pot. All of the nine cocktails are $15, and a few wines and beers round out the drinks.

Blue Quarter is open Tuesday-Thursday from 5 p.m. to midnight; until 1 a.m. on Friday-Saturday.

NYPD seeking info on this missing man, last seen on 10th Street

The 9th Precinct just released this info on a missing person...

The #NYPD is asking your help in locating this man reported missing by his family.
Eduardo Rivera
Male Hispanic 5’5” 72 years old
Last seen on Wednesday June 13 at 7:30PM on East 10 Street in the #EastVillage #NYC
If you have any information we ask you to call #800577TIPS pic.twitter.com/98STpAlXVk

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) June 19, 2018

Video: Father John Mistry's early-morning stroll through the East Village

The video for Father John Misty's song "God's Favorite Customer" came out today... it's the title track from his new album, out now on Sub Pop and Bella Union.

And the video is set entirely in the East Village, with a forlorn-looking Misty (aka Josh Tillman) slowly making his way from Seventh Street and Avenue A to Third Street and the Bowery.

If you want some analysis of the song and video, directed by his wife Emma Elizabeth Tillman, then you can head over to Stereogum.



H/T Jon!

This 3-story building on 6th Street is for sale (air rights included)

There's a new listing for 743 E. Sixth St., a three-story building between Avenue C and Avenue D.

According to the listing, the property is vacant ... and features a garage-studio on the ground level (the former Manny's Auto Repair) ... and a single-family residence on the second and third floors. (This PDF of the property includes some interior shots.)

Per Cushman & Wakefield: "This is a perfect opportunity for a user or developer. There are also 4,430 square feet of air rights available allowing for a buyer to build up and/or extend back."

Asking price: $4.5 million.

New playground at P.S. 19 now ready for action

The official opening of the revamped playground at P.S. 19 on First Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street took place yesterday morning.

As noted in the previous post on the renovation:

The playground will feature a synthetic turf field, a painted track, play equipment, trees, a garden area with an outdoor classroom, a green-roof gazebo, junior basketball, benches, game tables, student art and an outdoor ping-pong table.

It was designed as a green infrastructure playground, and will capture hundreds of thousands of gallons of stormwater each year.

The playground is open to the community until dusk, after school and on weekends and holidays — just not when in use by P.S. 19 or any of their after-school programs.



This all-new playground happened with funding by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and (now-former) City Council member Rosie Mendez in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land.


[Click on image for more detail]

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on the all-new playground coming to P.S. 19

Bad 'Neighbors' at First Street Green Art Park?

The Daily News reports that 52 out of 86 of the four-by-five-feet portraits in the Neighbors exhibit along East Houston Street have been tagged in recent weeks.

Neighbors features Americans representing all 50 states taken by photographer John Raymond Mireles ... the portraits went up on April 28 from First Avenue to Second Avenue at First Street Green Art Park.

"I expected some vandalism though admittedly not on this scale," Mireles told the Daily News. He admitted that his "heart sinks" from the tagging.

"It’s not what I hoped for, but it’s part of this artistic experiment.

"I could have done this show in a gallery,” he added. "Being outside, the exhibit invites and allows engagement. As an artist, my goal is to provoke thought and jump-start conversations that lead to action. That my artwork is altered in service of stimulating dialogue is a small price to pay."

And of the 52 tagged portraits, only one of them features a red penis...

The really for-real Target signage has arrived at EVGB

There is it is... here on 14th Street and Avenue A ... in the corner space of Extell Development's EVGB — the "East Village's Greatest Building."

Vinny & O shared these photos...



This small-format Target opens on July 21.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The for-real Target signage has arrived at EVGB

A Perfect spot for a dental office on 4th Street

A dental center is coming soon to the medical offices at 97-101 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue... here's the signage for Perfect Dental Care ...





No word on when Perfect may apply for a beer-wine license... just to pair with the sedation...



This office condo space has been on the sales market for $6.5 million.

Monday's parting shot

A moment at Lui's Thai Food, 128 E. Fourth St. Photo by Derek Berg.

The 9th Precinct's monthly Community Council Meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday!) night

The 9th Precinct's Community Council meetings take place on the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. ... at the 9th Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.