Week in Grieview

[Photo on Avenue B by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Affordable housing planned for city-owned buildings at 204 Avenue A and 535 E. 12th St. (Wednesday)

The makeshift memorials at the 2nd Avenue gas explosion site have been removed (Thursday)

Nicoletta Pizzeria closes 2nd Avenue dining room, plans move to a new delivery-only location (Friday)

You'll be back: Look at the renovated Hamilton-Holly House on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

City continues 14th Street prep work ahead of the L-train closure (Thursday)

More about Treetops, the name of the condoplex coming to 14 2nd Ave. (Monday)

Hardware store-replacing hardware store now open on 4th Avenue (Thursday)

Korean food coming to the former Dinah Hookah Lounge space on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)

Christmas miracle on the Bowery (Saturday)

Signs of new businesses on 3rd Avenue, and an H Mart update (Wednesday)

New signage arrives for Paquito's on 1st Avenue (Friday)

Scrooged: Tompkins Square Park holiday tree remains dark (Saturday)

A sushi counter for 4th Street (Thursday)

JR's neglected 'Gun Chronicles' on the Bowery Mural Wall (Friday)

Ravagh Persian Grill currently closed for renovations (Monday)

The 6th Annual Wendigo Holiday Group Art Show opens (Wednesday)

Fashion Pickle has closed (Friday)

Full FULL reveal at 287 E. Houston St. (Monday)

Report: Thirteen East + West on the auction block (Thursday)

1 more post about this corner of Avenue B and 3rd Street (Monday)

For these 14th Street buildings, there's now renovations inside to match the noise outside (Tuesday)

Hanoi Soup Shop's on for 115 St. Mark's Place (Friday)

... and EVG reader OrangeHOWELL shared this from yesterday... Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels was doing a photo opp on 12th Street at Avenue A ... under the Run DMC mural...



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The future of the Etna Tool & Die Corporation building on Bond Street

[EVG file photo]

The Post reports today that James Galuppo, the owner of the now-closed Etna Tool & Die Corporation at 42 Bond St., recently passed away. He was 100.

So will the 7-floor No. 42 hit the sales market for a luxury condo conversion?

According to the Post, Mr. Galuppo left the building here between the Bowery and Lafayette to his daughter Flavia Galuppo as part of a $12.5 million estate. And she has no plans to unload the property, valued at $6.3 million.

"My parents’ real concern was that their tenants who have invested their livelihoods in our building would have to vacate, and that really bothered them. My father asked me if it was feasible to try and stick it out . . . I intend to honor his wishes."

After 70 years, Etna Tool & Die Corporation closed last year. (See this August 2017 feature at Gothamist for more on what was one of the last tool and die shops in the city.)

And who's in the building now?

A modeling agency, public relations firm and tech company rent space in the building now, along with three residential tenants.

Flavia, an art director in the film industry, said she will likely seek a new tenant for the ground level to replace the factory.

Mr. Galuppo, who was born on the LES in 1918, opened the shop in 1946. He bought the building in the 1970s.

"He would say, ‘I never thought I would see the neighborhood go in this direction,’ ” Flavia said of her dad. “People were warning him, ‘What, are you crazy to buy here?’ But he really believed in the beauty of the neighborhood."

Big Belly ache

Two of the rat-proof Big Belly trash receptacles on Avenue A remain out of commission...like this one on the southeast corner at Seventh Street...



... and the northwest corner at 10th Street...



The solar-powered trash cans arrived in July 2017 as part of the mayor's $32-million plan to combat vermin in rat-popular neighborhoods, like this one. The Daily News reported at the time that each can costs $7,000.

Previously on EV Grieve:
8 more solar-powered, rat-proof trash cans arrive in Tompkins Square Park

Looking at the Big Belly 1.0 and 2.0 in and around Tompkins Square Park

City ready to attack rats in Tompkins Square Park (and elsewhere) (again)

Sunday sunrise

Tompkins Square Park this morning...

Dec. 22

Today marked the 16th anniversary of Joe Strummer's death ... no flowers or candles as of 10 p.m. at the mural outside Niagara, on Seventh Street and Avenue A, like in previous years (here ... and here, as an example). However, #JoeStrummer was trending on Twitter for awhile as many users paid tribute to the leader singer of the Clash.

... and a threesome of the Clash ...

Scrooged: Tompkins Square Park holiday tree remains dark

The lights on the holiday tree in Tompkins Square Park have been off the last few nights.

Other lights are on, so they must have paid the electric bill.

A mosaic destroyed on 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

A reader shares these photos from the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place... where one of Jim Power's mosaics was destroyed.

Per the reader: "The way the bits are laying on the ground it looks like it was intentional — or maybe a truck backed into it or something. Who knows. Anyway, it’s really upsetting."

When you forget your PIN

ATM work demolition today on Seventh Street as captured by Derek Berg...

Christmas miracle on the Bowery

On Wednesday morning, an EVG reader shared these two photos... showing workers outlining lane lines, crosswalks and other traffic markings on the Bowery at Houston...



The reader [sarcastically] thought that the contractors were marking the location for more roadwork.

Checking back in on the intersection... can it be that the never-ending East Houston Reconstruction Project has maybe actually ended???





As noted off and on through the years (starting with Mayor LaGuardia), completion of the $52.5 million East Houston Reconstruction project was overdue by five years. The Department of Design and Construction (DDC) started this project in June 2010, reconstructing/replacing combined sewers, trunk main, water mains, catch basins, fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc., etc., along East Houston Street, from the Bowery to the FDR Drive.

The work was initially scheduled to wrap up in 2013 (!!!), but was delayed again and again as the city reportedly ran into problems with existing underground wiring and pipes and unhinged bureaucracy.

The interactive map accessible via the DDC's website now shows a completion date of 12-25-2018!

Free tree times

If you were waiting to the last minute to pick up a Christmas tree ... then you're in luck. There are many trees for the taking curbside... as more people seem to be tossing their trees early this season before heading out for the holidays elsewhere...

A fine swine

Some hazy shoegaze from Ireland in the form of Just Mustard. The video is for a song called "Pigs" from the band's debut album (made Graham Duff's best-of 2018 list) out earlier this year.

JR's neglected 'Gun Chronicles' on the Bowery Mural Wall

JR's powerful "Gun Chronicles" mural at the Bowery Mural Wall is looking neglected, as these photos by Lola Sāenz show...



The panels are peeling ... and it has been tagged multiple times of late (not including the addition of the 11 and Xll)...





JR's mural features images of 245 Americans who represent various viewpoints on the gun debate. The artist collaborated with Time magazine back in late October for this interactive special report on gun violence in America.