Wednesday's parting shot

A look at the all-new East River Park Track that was back in service Monday after a year-long renovation ... thanks to Gregg Greenwood for the photo!

Mid-afternoon mannequin break

Up for grabs along with what looks like a SantaCon Still Life Display.

Photo on First Avenue and 11th Street today via Peter Hale...

Updated 5:28 p.m.



Photo by Lola Sáenz ...

Tuck Shop is closing after 13 years on 1st Street

[Photo of Niall Grant from 2016 by James Maher]

Niall Grant, the owner of Tuck Shop on First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, told me last evening that he is closing the business here at the end of service next Tuesday, Sept. 25 after 13 years selling Australian meat and vegetable pies on the block.

The other two Tuck Shop locations, in Chelsea Market and Urbanspace, will shut down by the end of the month.

Here's part of an email that Grant shared:

All the usual reasons can be cited but rising costs in general are behind this difficult decision. After 13 years in business I am tired of the struggle to keep a small business afloat in NYC.

My chief concern is finding jobs for my excellent kitchen team who have been with me for many many years including our head chef Pedro who has been with Tuck Shop since the very start, sous chef Juan (9 years) and prep cook Andras (7 years). They're a wonderful team so if anybody out there has a job for any of them please email tuckshopfirststreet@gmail.com.

I'd also like to thank all the folks who have worked for Tuck Shop over the years. I've made some lifelong friends and had lots of laughs with the staff. I wish you all well in your endeavors.

Finally I'd like to thank all the customers and regulars who supported Tuck Shop since 2005. I really appreciate what you've all done for me and my staff. You've allowed us to prosper, fed our families and paid our rents. We really appreciate it. Please come by the stores and say goodbye as we will miss you all greatly.

Thanks again,
Niall and the whole Tuck Shop family!

Here's part of our Out and About feature with Grant from February 2016:

I love this street. After 11 years here, I know everybody’s face. There are still a lot of the same old faces. All these guys hang out in front of the place. Some have been here for maybe 30 years. You see people grow up. It’s great to be part of a community like that. It’s nice seeing the whole family grow up upstairs.

'The Image Is a Seed' — Celebrating the work of Syeus Mottel on 2nd Avenue

[All photos by Walter Wlodarczyk]

Thanks to EVG friend Walter Wlodarczyk for bringing this exhibition to my attention... mh PROJECT nyc, the viewing space at 140 Second Ave., is currently presenting "Mottel_Mottel: The Image is a Seed," in which Matthew Mottel is presenting his father Syeus Mottel's entire archive of 35mm color slides — 3,000 strong shot between 1967 and 1975 — with performances by artists connected to their work.

Read more about the show here.



The elder Mottel, who died in 2014 at age 83, was a theater director and photographer, notable for his documentation of Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio, Buckminster Fuller and CHARAS.

Per mh PROJECT nyc:

Syeus defined his photography as “diaristic”: he shot the people he encountered including John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Martin Luther King Jr., William S. Burroughs, Abbie Hoffman, Miles Davis, Patti Smith, Vito Acconci, Robert Rauschenberg and Diane Arbus.

The exhibition got underway last Thursday with a performance by composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram ...




[Matt Mottel]

Here are the remaining performances, which take place from 8-10 p.m.:

9/19 Jeff Preiss, Filmmaker
9/20 Brian O’Mahoney Performance artist and theatre maker
9/21 Cooper-Moore, Jazz pianist, composer and instrument builder/designer
9/22 Steve Dalachinsky, Poet & Daniel Carter, Saxophone player
9/23 Lary7, Artist, filmmaker and musician & Bradley Eros
, Artist
9/26 Art Jones, Filmmaker
9/27 Will Cameron, Artist
9/28 Jean Carla Rodea, Interdisciplinary artist
9/29 Cat Tyc, Writer and artist
9/30 Gil Arno, Visual artist

The space is also open for viewing Saturdays and Sundays from 1 - 6 p.m. and by appointment.

You can find mh PROJECT nyc at 140 Second Ave., between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, No. 306.

Classic films at 7: Ciao for Now Presents 'Third Thursdays' this fall

This fall, Ciao For Now is screening free classic films on the third Thursday of every month.

Here's what will be playing in the dining room at 523 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B:

• Sept. 20 "A Star Is Born" (1937)

• Oct. 18 "Charade" (1963)

• Nov. 15 "His Girl Friday" (1940)

• Dec. 20 "The Little Princess" (1939)

The doors open at 6 p.m. ... and the movies start at 7 p.m. Food and beverages will be available for purchase to stay or to go.

The 17-year-old family-owned and operated catering company is also open for Soup Night every Tuesday evening from 5 to 10. Hit this link for more info.

Tuesday's parting shot

It was raining dogs and ... Uh, photo on Second Avenue and Seventh Street today by Derek Berg.

Tompkins Square Park after the rain

The remnants from Hurricane Florence moved through the area this afternoon.

Per NY1:

Tuesday [ed note: Today!] was the second-wettest day of the summer, and the wettest day in more than a month, in some parts of the city.

Bobby Williams shared these photos from Tompkins Square Park...

1st Avenue L train stop during the afternoon downpour

The L-train stop on First Avenue was among the victim's of this early afternoon's heavy rainfall... in case you haven't seen this clip making the rounds...

@MTA the 8th Ave bound L Train at 1st Ave is heavily flooding. Extremely dangerous. pic.twitter.com/dNsCCi8aAu

— papi chulo (@hardwhitebarbie) September 18, 2018

And props to @hardwhitebarbie for documenting how the rats were faring in the station during this time...

Here’s one trying to make it. pic.twitter.com/rOwj2uI3U7

— papi chulo (@hardwhitebarbie) September 18, 2018

Town Hall provides a few more details on the 24/7 construction at 14th and A

[EVG photo from last month]

Last night, a handful of local elected officials along with reps from the MTA and the city gathered at Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue for an L-train shutdown Town Hall.

Aaron Gordon has a nice recap at Gothamist today. Here's an excerpt specifically related to my post yesterday about 14th Street and Avenue A serving as the main staging area for the upgrades to the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel:

Multiple residents voiced a belief that asbestos was being improperly disposed of in dumpsters near their apartments, something New York City Transit president Andy Byford assured them isn’t happening. He promised to post something on the MTA website detailing exactly what materials are being disposed of and that asbestos is not one of them, which requires completely separate disposal teams and procedures due to its high toxicity. “If you all really think that,” he said, “then I think we owe it to you to get something up on the website to get your mind at rest.”

Several citizens also expressed concern about the “considerable truck traffic,” as one put it, that has already inundated the neighborhood. Another said she’s experiencing more headaches and sore throats than usual and cannot open windows out of fear construction dust would enter her apartment. Byford pointed out they simply cannot do the work without trucks bringing materials in and out through the East Village shafts — which will become elevators into the 1st Ave L station after the shutdown is complete — but did offer that at the peak of construction, 30 trucks’ worth of debris will come out of the tunnel per day and 10 will be going in with new material.


[EVG photo from last month]

Byford also said that although the work inside the tunnel will be 24/7 to try and wrap up the project as quickly as possible, surface-level construction will not be all hours of the day.

Read the full Gothamist post here.

Meanwhile, as Streetsblog reports, Community Board 6 members said that "the current plan for next year’s L-train shutdown will fall considerable short of what will be needed to efficiently move the 400,000 daily commuters who will be affected." This link goes to the Streetsblog piece.

[Updated] Questions and concerns as the sanitation department begins using 10th Street to park garbage trucks

Community Board 3 officials learned last Thursday during a committee meeting that the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will use part of 10th Street west of First Avenue to park garbage trucks.

By Saturday, new street signs had arrived [per a resident, the signs arrived a few weeks back. See comments], restricting the parking on part of 10th Street west toward Second Avenue to the Department of Sanitation. The trucks arrived on Saturday as well.


[Top two photos by Steven]


[Photo from Saturday]

Everyone was seemingly caught off guard by this parking development, including the Community Board, local business owners and residents.

"There was no discussion or outreach. We are still gathering information on this issue," Trever Holland, chair of CB3's Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront Committee, told me via email. "Most of the questions we asked went unanswered or [the DSNY said] 'we'll get back to you.'"

The DSNY no longer has use of their garage at 606 W. 30th St., and are relocating their fleet elsewhere, including 10th Street and at Pier 36. None of these trucks will be servicing residents within Community Board 3.

"We have very little information from the DSNY, but many, many complaints," CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer said yesterday. "I have never before received so many complaints in such a short time."

In an email, one EVG reader noted: "Over the weekend, three stinky garbage trucks were parked on the block. It was like a wall of stench in front of Pinks and across from Snowdays and Tarallucci e Vino."

Pinks, the bar-restaurant at 242 E. 10th St., is the business most directly impacted by the arrival of the parked trucks.



"I can firmly attest to the fact that Saturday evening the corner of 10th Street and First Avenue is jammed with people, and at that time on Saturdays, Pinks typically has a nice dinner and drinking crowd," said Alex Sassaris, an owner who also bartends on the weekends. "This past Saturday during the same time the bar was practically empty.

"Keep in mind we are a food-service establishment, with the cellar door just a few feet a way from a truck filled with garbage — that's certainly a potential rodent nightmare on our hands."



Rodent potential aside, Sassaris said the trucks parked in front of the bar also present a possible security issue.

"[We are] obstructed from the view of 9th Precinct patrols," he said. "This poses a substantial danger to our patrons and staff for any number of potential threats ... if the police can not have eyes on the bar from the street."


[Image from security footage at Pinks]

Before Theater for the New City moved into its current home at 155 First Ave. near 10th Street in the late 1980s, the Department of Sanitation used the building for storage. As Off the Grid noted in a 2012 feature, "When the Theater for the New City purchased the former First Avenue Retail Market building there was stipulation that they had to still share part of the space with the Sanitation Department for a time."

Apparently there are still facilities for the city to use in the building. According to last week's CB3 committee meeting agenda, Department of Sanitation officials were on-hand to discuss a "reactivation of Section Station at 155-157 First Ave."

It's not immediately clear how long the city plans to park garbage trucks on 10th Street. According to CB3's Holland, sanitation officials said that it will be "temporary" — like five years or longer until they secure a new spot.

"If this is allowed to continue, our business is certainly in jeopardy and all the people we employ could potentially be out of a job," Sassaris said.

--

Updated 9/19

Here's an update from CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer this morning:

I also want to thank the readers who posted information about the trucks. The CB number posted in the comments is not correct — it is a defunct fax number. However, it is not productive to call — we would be doing nothing but answering the phones. Do call 311 and also do submit a "make a complaint" form on the CB website. At this point it would be good to submit only if new information. For example, we just got a complaint through the website that there are now trucks also parking in areas not reserved for the trucks.

CB 3, CB 6 and the council office were informed of this decision shortly before it happened, with little information, and with no input or choice. However, we will be working together to try to have a better resolution.

The East River Park Track appears to be back in action

An EVG reader noted that the East River Park Track was open for business yesterday... mostly students were using the new upgraded facilitates ...



The front gates were unlocked. The reader was unsure if the track was open to anyone or just the students. (It appeared to be some kind of organized practice or event, the reader thought.) Updated: the track is open for anyone to use.

Anyway, as previously reported, the Parks Department closed the East River Park Track at the FDR and Sixth Street — without any advance notice — for a year-long renovation project last September.

In late August, a Parks rep said that the track would return for use on Sept. 10, though it remained locked up last week. The Parks Department website shows that the work here is now "100% complete."

The $2.8 million initiative was set to "reconstruct the synthetic turf soccer field and resurface the running track," per the Parks Department website, which includes this rendering highlighting all the improvements...


[Click on image for more detail]

Previously on EV Grieve:
The East River Park Track is now closed for renovations; September 2018 reopening expected

A look at the boutique office building replacing the St. Denis on 11th and Broadway

[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

Workers are prepping the historic St. Denis at 797-799 Broadway at 11th Street for demolition, as Jeremiah Moss reported yesterday.

Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the building for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.


[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Plans were unveiled on Friday for the new building.

Via a news release:

799 Broadway is located at the corner of 11th Street and Broadway, at the convergence of Union Square and Greenwich Village. Designed by Perkins+Will, the new 12-story, loft-style building will comprise 182,000 square feet of boutique office space and will provide a dramatic complement to this quintessential New York neighborhood. With floor plates ranging from 3,600 to 22,000 square feet, 799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies.

And...

Once completed, 799 Broadway will complement Columbia’s growing portfolio of differentiated assets in Midtown South, characterized by smaller floor plates, distinctive architecture, and high-end, modern finishes and amenities.

Speaking of once completed...


[Binyan Studios]

Further proof the tech/office boom in our neighborhood, which will be exacerbated by the recent Tech Hub rezoning, is turning Greenwich Village+the East Village into “Midtown South” in the real estate industry’s eyes: https://t.co/r3r5nomlhf

— GVSHP (@GVSHP) September 17, 2018

The 165-year-old building that is being torn down is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.

However, the building is not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.

Moss, who worked in the St. Denis, wrote this feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books back in March.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor Place

Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million