Village Farm Grocery returns for limited daytime hours

Village Farm Grocery is back open now on the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Ninth Street with limited hours...



As the sign shows, they are open from noon to 6 p.m. A few people, wearing masks and gloves, can be inside the market at a time. And be "polite and courteous." (They're still offering deliveries too.)

Village Farm Grocery closed back on April 3, the first time that regulars could remember the shop ever shutting down — even after the blackout and Superstorm Sandy.

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

EVG Etc.: Recovering from COVID-19; taking aim at third-party delivery fees

[St. Mark's Place at 3rd Avenue]

• East Village resident Majorie Ingall on the recovery from COVID-19 (Tablet)

• Remembering downtown star — and East Village resident — Nashom Wooden (Popular Publicity ... previously on EVG)

• Jimmy Webb's love for NYC and tight pants (The New Yorker ... previously on EVG)

• The fruit cart returns to First Avenue just north of 14th Street (Town & Village)



• The Department of Transportation and the NYPD not into converting roadways into public space for coronavirus-crammed New Yorkers (Streetsblog)

• Thoughts on the shuttered Starbucks on First Avenue and Third Street and what the neighborhood might look like post pandemic (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

• Amelia and Christo, the red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park, are well — AND PLEASE DON'T USE A DRONE TO TAKE PHOTOS OF THEIR NEST (Laura Goggin Photography)

• NYC rents remain high — for now (Curbed)

• New York state is facing a $13.3 billion budget shortfall (Gothamist)

• City Council is taking up a series of bills on April 29 that could introduce a stricter fee cap on third-party delivery services (Eater)

• Via the EVG inbox: Citywide music performance of "For Our Courageous Workers" planned April 29 at the 7 p.m. cheer for front-line workers (Tenth Intervention)

• Take a look around the 98 Bowery archives (Official site)

• The Hester Street Fair goes virtual (Vogue)

... and East Village-based artist-actor Robert Galinsky recently launched a 30-minute talk-variety show that streams live Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. on Facebook.com/RobertGalinsky. Upcoming guests include Tony winner Maryann Plunkett and documentarian Clayton Patterson.

Here's how to check out a new group show this weekend

The Half Gallery on Avenue B and Fourth Street debuted a new exhibition this past Thursday titled "Under Glass" ...




Per the gallery's Instagram account: "The entire exhibition is viewable from the street and each piece is mirrored on our website with a brief audio description. This show follows in the tradition of Ugo Rondinone’s window gallery on Great Jones Street and The Wrong Gallery in Chelsea. Not exactly public art, but art for all."







Find the audio tour here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Half Gallery debuts on 4th and B

Noted

A COVID-19 Urban Etiquette Sign spotted on the Bowery at Fourth Street.

It reads:

Dear Jogger,

Bicycle Douchebag,

Yuppie/Millennial,

Narcissist swine:

PUT ON A FUCKING MASK.

Please respect your community and the lives of others.

YOU DO NOT LIVE ALONE.

Love,

East Village

Thanks to EVG reader Tina Li for the photo! Also spotted the signs on Second Avenue.

Café Social 68 now serving from their all-new to-go door

Café Social 68 reopened yesterday for the first time since mid-March here at 68 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

They set up a to-go counter at the front door where you can order coffee ...



... or one of their varieties of croissants and other café fare...



For now they plan to be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Van Da continues its weekend collaboration with Chef Hannah Wong

[Reader-submitted photo]

Van Da, the well-regarded Vietnamese restaurant on Fourth Street, is continuing its collaboration with chef Hannah Wong (of the incoming Brooklyn restaurant Haema), for a weekend takeout service. (Saturday and Sunday, or today and tomorrow.)

You can find the Haema-Van Da menu, which changes each weekend, and order in advance via this form. (If this is of interest, then consider putting in your order early: they've sold out the past two weekends on Sunday.)

You pick up the food at Van Da, 234 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B from noon to 8 p.m.

Friday's parting shot

A moment on 14th Street. Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk.

'Male' call

Here's a video for "Male Bonding," from the Dutch trio the Homesick's album titled The Big Exercise. (February 2020, SubPop). It would be on a top-10 list if we cared about those at the moment.

Anton van Dalen, drawing in isolation

[Photo by Jason van Dalen]

Anton van Dalen, the artist who has lived on Avenue A for decades, recently sent me an email with some new drawings.

Throughout March, he said that he worked to put his learning about COVID-19 on paper by pencil.

Here's more from his letter, which he invited me to share along with his work:

My thinking and drawing are intimately linked — it’s my means of coming to understanding.

I have always worked from the perspective of home, then street, neighborhood, city, world. So we learned that COVID-19 came to envelop every dimension of our private and public life.

Events rudely stirred up my still emotionally scarred childhood memories of World War II Holland. And as more and more military language has come to be used to halt the spread of the pandemic.

I wanted my visuals to center on the East Village, and began the drawings at my Avenue A home. But then family and friends, because of my age of 81, thought I should get out of the city.

Came to understand that I should listen to my children and retreat to the countryside of Long Island. Through their generosity I was able to turn my scribbles into accessible drawings.

Throughout my effort I worried about being appropriately thoughtful about this most serious matter. So I learned from family and friends, also daily news reports about the virus and its implications.

But then I also had to integrate mine and everyone’s frightened inner self into the drawings. Still I was concerned, not to be frivolous or satirical, rather keep the subject big, and myself small.

Downtown Bakery returns

From the EVG comments... inexpensive eats favorite Downtown Bakery reopened here on First Avenue near Fourth Street for takeout and delivery. You can also call ahead for pickup: (212) 254-1757. They created a new pickup window right inside the door and sealed off the space with Plexiglass. For now, they are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, though those hours may change depending on the business.

For more help with what's open, check out the interactive map created by the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC) along with residents Perry Leung, Paul Gale and Zhi Keng He ... the EVG link is here ... the EVCC link is here.

Elsewhere Espresso is back in action tomorrow

You'll have another coffee choice again moving forward: Elsewhere Espresso is reopening tomorrow (Saturday!) at 335 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Per the gate signage, they'll be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Photo via @eastvillagefoodfinds!

Old favorites

EVG contributor Susan Schiffman was cleaning out some drawers at home and came across menus for three old (and long-closed) favorites — La Foccacceria, Jade Mountain and Bamboo House...





Don't remember when they all closed — well, OK Bamboo House in November 2007 ... and Jade Mountain in the summer of 2007.

This would be a good PAUSE cleaning activity. Unfortunately, the EVG menu drawer went in 2011.