Week in Grieview

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

Posts this last week included...

• Let's stroll through Tompkins Square Park on this June 1, 1967 (Wednesday)

• John's of 12th Street remains closed due to mechanical issues (Monday)

• C&B foregoes curbside cafe space after city can't seem to decide on outdoor dining guidelines (Thursday)

• 6 E. 2nd St., home of Ramones history, is for sale (Monday)

• Winter Flowers looking radiant this summer (Friday)

• Checking in on Foxface Al Fresco on St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

• Out on a walk with Touchy Blinky (Wednesday)

• Openings: Green Garden Buffet (Thursday)

• Checking in on the Parkside Lounge (Friday)

• The new-look storefronts at 99 Avenue B (Thursday)

• Punjabi Grocery & Deli is reopening (Tuesday)

• Enter Phase 3 (Monday)

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday)

• Hoops return to the Tompkins Square Park basketball courts (Tuesday)

• A first: Katz's unveils some sidewalk seating (Friday)

• Tac N Roll awaits an insurance assessment (Thursday)

• 12th Street ghost signage (Wednesday)

• On 2nd Street: Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Monday)

• Construction watch: 15 Avenue A (Tuesday)

• Illumina East closes on Avenue B (Monday)

• 2 years in, Suki relocates to larger space on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

• Professor Thom's doesn't look to be reopening (Wednesday)

• Rumors: A new tenant for the long-empty bank branch on Avenue A and 4th Street (Tuesday)

... and new in Tompkins Square Park this week... at the St. Mark's Place/Avenue A entrance...



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Reader report: The alarms at the Avenue A NYSC have been ringing since Thursday night

Via the EVG inbox...

The burglar alarms at the New York Sports Clubs outpost at 28-30 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street has been going off CONTINUOUSLY since Thursday night. It's going off on both the front interior of the building (flashing florescent lights inside the front entrance along with sounds), irritating the merchants nearby, and VERY definitely at the rear of the building. Those of us whose apartments back up to rear of their building are being driven crazy!

According to the reader and nearby resident, calls to 311 get transferred to 911, where nothing has come from the complaints. Queries to NYSC have not been returned.

The gym has been closed since March 16. In early April, the New York state Attorney General's office ordered NYSC to stop charging membership dues during the COVID-19 closure.

Reminders: It's Book Swap Saturday!

Book Swap Saturday enters its fourth week outside the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Per the organizers: "Let's share our used books to help us get through this pandemic together. Leave some and take others."

The free book swap is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. But get there early if you want the "naughty" ones...



And EVG Book Swap Correspondent Stacie Joy did check the bag — it was empty!

Vision quest

Montreal's Freak Heat Waves have a new record out in September... this is a single from that release called "Dripping Visions."

A report of a package thief on 3rd Street

An EVG reader shares this from a building on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...

Somebody in my building buzzed in this package thief, who took my stuff. In addition to his backpack, he's got a giant suitcase, so I'm betting my building isn't the only one he hit.

Also:

I can't decide if I'm glad his mask is below the chin, so we can see his face, or if I'm annoyed that he's breathing all over the narrow hallway.

EVG Etc.: Concerns about an increasing homeless population; realities facing live-music venues

[Morning at 9th Street Espresso via Vinny & O]

• Explaining the increase in the homeless population in the East Village and Lower East Side (B&B) LES residents complain about growing number of homeless encampments (NY1)

• Report: NYCHA residents say their living conditions have continued to worsen and many oppose the de Blasio administration’s plan for resolving the fiscal crisis confronting the city’s largest affordable-housing program (CityLimits)

• "Claims from the NYPD's top cops that an uptick in gun violence has been caused by bail reform efforts and emergency releases from Rikers Island due to COVID-19 continue to prove baseless, without any data surfacing to back them up." (Gothamist)

• Manhattan rental vacancy hits another all-time high (The Real Deal)

• East Village bar owner Jesse Malin on the crisis facing live-music facilities: "Very few venues are going to be able to survive being closed this long" (Rolling Stone)

• Delivery apps still taking a big bite out of NYC restaurant profits (The Indypendent)

• The National Community Reinvestment Coalition used data from the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau to rank the cities on gentrification during a five-year period ending in 2017. San Francisco-Oakland was No. 1, followed by Denver, Boston, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and New Orleans. NYC was No. 7 (USA Today)

• Martin Scorsese to direct David Johansen documentary (Pitchfork)

• Funhouse by the Stooges turned 50 years old this week (Flaming Pablum)

Checking in on the Parkside Lounge

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

When we last checked in on the Parkside Lounge in April, owner Christopher Lee shared his story of recovering from COVID-19.

The corner bar on Houston and Attorney opened for take-home drinks on July 3, and debuted a small area for curbside seating on the Fourth of July.


[Christopher Lee]

On the July 4 holiday, Lee created the day’s special (the Thirsty Patriot, a vodka and soda drink) and taped up signs on the newly built outdoor seating. The local artist who built it, Joe Kay of Six Quarter Studio, stopped by for a beer and some last-minute adjustments. Soon, the first customers begin to arrive...








[Lucille the bartender]

Parkside’s hours are flexible right now. You can keep an eye on the bar's Instagram for updates.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Parkside Lounge owner Christopher Lee talks about his recovery from COVID-19

Winter Flowers looking radiant this summer

More Winter Flowers have arrived along the fence at La Plaza Cultural on Avenue C at Ninth Street...









Rolando Politi created these unique sculptures from discarded materials in 2000, and displayed them at the community garden. The Winter Flowers, numbering nearly 250, had to be removed when La Plaza received a new fence last year.

He started hanging them back here in May.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Winter Flowers return this spring at La Plaza Cultural

A first: Katz's unveils some sidewalk seating

Katz's, which has remained open this spring with takeout and delivery, debuted its first-ever (in 132 years!) outdoor seating this week... there are six socially distant tables set up on the Ludlow Street side of the deli here at Houston...



And as I understand it, you buy the food inside and bring it out... there isn't any table service.

Thursday's parting shot

The mural for July outside the Second Avenue F stop... art by Sara Erenthal...

Because we haven't had a tropical storm yet this year

[Photo on Avenue A yesterday by Derek Berg]

Via the EVG inbox...

The New York City Emergency Management Department today urged New Yorkers to prepare for potential impacts of Tropical Storm Fay. The National Weather Service has issued a Tropical Storm Warning for New York City in effect from 6 a.m. Friday through 2 a.m. Saturday. A Flash Flood Watch is also in effect for the City from 6 a.m. Friday, July 10 through late Friday night.

With Fay’s track expected to impact NYC, NWS is forecasting moderate to heavy rain to move into the area early Friday morning, continuing throughout the afternoon before tapering off around midnight Saturday. A total of 1 to 2 inches of rain is forecast with this system, with locally higher amounts of 2 to 4 inches possible. Severe thunderstorms cannot be ruled out with this system.

High winds are also in the forecast on Friday, with sustained winds 35 mph to 45 mph and gusts up to 50 mph. Winds are expected to taper off overnight Friday into early Saturday morning.

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood and NYC.