The mural had been tagged multiple times in recent months, as our friend Alex noted back in August ...
The mural has been here since August 2017.
Monday, December 14, 2020
Restoring the Blondie mural on Bleecker and the Bowery
The latest from the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church: the New York Liberty Bell survives
For starters, on Friday, the FDNY said that faulty wiring at 48 E. Seventh St. was to blame for the six-alarm fire that destroyed the neighboring Middle Collegiate Church. An FDNY spokesperson told 1010 WINS that the fire has been deemed "non-suspicious."
Myles N. Miller at NBC 4 reported that witnesses in the area first started smelling smoke around midnight. However, the first 911 call didn't come in until several hours later when a cab driver saw flames rising from No. 48.
Over the weekend, workers started removing the church's east-facing (back) wall in order to stabilize the site, according to the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at the Middle Collegiate Church. (Photo below via Steven)The Fire Marshall has concluded their investigation, but we do not yet have the official written report. What we've been told is: It has been confirmed that the fire originated in the building to our north and the cause was electrical in nature.
— Rev. Jacqui Lewis, PhD (@RevJacquiLewis) December 12, 2020
In some positive news, the steeple remains intact, which is where the New York Liberty Bell had hung in the belfry. The bell appears unharmed ...We will have more to say to our community and to the press once we see the official report. In the meantime, we offer prayers of thanksgiving that there were no fatalities.
— Rev. Jacqui Lewis, PhD (@RevJacquiLewis) December 12, 2020
As work continues to stabilize @middlechurch, our engineers have found that the church’s historic “New York Liberty Bell” was not damaged during last week’s devastating fire.
— NYC Buildings (@NYC_Buildings) December 12, 2020
DOB engineers remain on site to monitor & assess the stability of the structure. pic.twitter.com/v5BPwuIUGl
Some history of the bell via the Times:Our bell will ring again, and our love is still ringing. pic.twitter.com/BLofkL4HmT
— Middle Church (@middlechurch) December 13, 2020
It is about 25 years older than the cracked Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, according to a 1959 New York Times article.Cast in Amsterdam in 1729, the bell was rung in 1735 to celebrate freedom of the press after John Peter Zenger, a German journalist, was acquitted of charges of seditious libel. He had published criticism of British tax collectors, according to the Times article.
It also was rung on the day that Representative John Lewis died in July and a week after the presidential election to celebrate "that love and justice" prevailed...
Buildings Department officials said that they continue "to monitor and assess the stability of the remaining structure of the church, including the façade and the steeple, while cleanup operations are still underway."
In one other development, Gothamist reported that there was a small fire at the scene on Saturday morning.
Around 9 a.m. Saturday, "something sparked up and the units that were on the scene did what they were supposed to do, which is just put some water on it," said a FDNY spokesperson who declined to give his name. The flare-up was so minor that the FDNY personnel on scene did not transmit a fire alarm, the spokesperson said.
Theater in Quarantine presents a world premiere tonight from an East Village closet
After the pandemic shuttered theaters back in March, Joshua William Gelb transformed a 2' x 4' x 8' closet inside his East Village apartment into a white-box theater.
This apartment therapy marked the beginning of a creative endeavor titled Theater in Quarantine.
On March 30, Gelb and his collaborators began releasing pre-recorded studies in movement, camera orientation and perspective — building toward more complex theatrical experiences ... in late April, they premiered their first live-stream performance — an adaptation of Kafka's "The Neighbor," which was followed by an unauthorized edit of Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape" and collaborations with artists like Scott R. Sheppard ("Underground Railroad Game"), Nehemiah Luckett ("Jazz Singer") and Ellen Winter ("36 Questions").
Tonight sees the Theater in Quarantine's world premiere of "I Am Sending You the Sacred Face" by Obie Award-winner Heather Christian, a one-act musical that charts the spiritual journey of Mother Teresa from Gelb's closet.
The 40-minute work features choreography and additional direction by Katie Rose McLaughlin, and is presented in partnership with Theater Mitu's Expansion Works. Additional live-streamed performances will take place on Thursday and Saturday night at 9.
You can watch live tonight at 7 or 9 on YouTube, where all performances are archived.
New York Sal's Pizza bringing slices to 14th Street
The signage is identical to the New York Sal's Pizza up on 10th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen. Not sure at the moment if this will be a second location or if they are relocating. (Going with new location!) Any slice connoisseurs know anything about New York Sal's?
This will mark the return of a pizzeria with Sal's in the name for the East Village ... going back to the Sal's on Avenue A (RIP 2012 after a long tenure in two different locations ... and not to be confused with the also-closed Fat Sal's on Avenue A).
Rapid COVID-19 testing center opening on the Bowery
The Rapid Test Space (proper name?) is "powered by Vaheala," which "combines coronavirus testing, symptom and risk tracking, and contact tracing technologies to drive custom protocols so that employees and employers know who is safe to work onsite and who should stay home."
A business called Rapid Test NYC opened in Little Italy this fall. BoweryBoogie reported that the test costs between $250-$300 there (and potentially offset by certain health-care plans or flex-spending programs).
For anyone interested in more info, here's what the CDC currently says about antigen tests ... and antibody tests.
Former Finnerty's space for rent on 2nd Avenue
A for rent sign now hangs outside the sports bar and self-described "party destination" featuring rent-a-keg service.
The bar closed in March for the PAUSE and never reopened. There is not any message about the closure on their website or social media properties.
Finnerty's, which opened in 2009, was an alleged Bay Area sports bar, where fans could watch games featuring the 49ers, Giants, Golden State Warriors or San Jose Sharks. Snubbed: the Oakland A's (and the Oakland Raiders before they moved to Las Vegas).
This makes two like-minded bar closures on this block... Professor Thom's also never reopened after the PAUSE...
Steel structure for new Houston Street office building continues ascent
Some day it will be like this:
From acclaimed architect Roger Ferris, the only new development of its type on the Lower East Side, 141 East Houston is a new frame for viewing the neighborhood. Column-free and unbounded by walls, it reinterprets the area through a bold geometric perimeter of cladding and glass. State-of- the-art workspaces and private terraces reframe expectations, while a well-connected location recasts perspectives.
With its glass frame and dynamic courtyard running the length of its eastern side, doubling as a second facade, 141 East Houston challenges the distinction between indoors and out.
East End Capital and K Property Group bought the property for $31.5 million in the spring of 2017. The links below provide more background on what has transpired on the site of the former Sunshine Cinema (RIP January 2018).
Previously on EV Grieve:
• Sunshine Cinema-replacing office building moving forward; demolition watch back on
• Discarded theater seats and goodbyes at the Sunshine Cinema
• The 9-story boutique office building coming to the former Sunshine Cinema space
• A celebratory ad on the purchase of 139 E. Houston St., current home of the Sunshine Cinema
• The boutique office building replacing the Sunshine Cinema will be 'unbounded by walls' with an outdoor space called Houston Alley
• Sunshine Cinema-replacing office building moving forward; demolition watch back on
• Discarded theater seats and goodbyes at the Sunshine Cinema
• The 9-story boutique office building coming to the former Sunshine Cinema space
• A celebratory ad on the purchase of 139 E. Houston St., current home of the Sunshine Cinema
• The boutique office building replacing the Sunshine Cinema will be 'unbounded by walls' with an outdoor space called Houston Alley
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Sunday's parting shot
Week in Grieview
Posts from this past week include... (and thanks to Derek Berg for the photo of @krypfixed in Tompkins Square Park)
• Permits filed to demolish the former B Bar & Grill on the Bowery (Tuesday)
• Indoor dining at 25% comes to an end after this weekend (Friday)
• Bike lane detour confusion as construction starts along the East River Greenway (Friday)
• Straight shooters: Marvel Studios brings 'Hawkeye' to 4th Street for Disney+ series (Tuesday)
• Nón Lá debuts on 4th Street (Thursday)
• Headless Santa now free to terrorize Rite-Aid shoppers on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)
• On 1st Street, Con Ed work shutters Cafe Himalaya and Prim Thai once again (Tuesday)
• The Tompkins Square Park Holiday tree is now lit (Wednesday)
• Thai Direct reopens on Avenue A (Wednesday)
• This week's NY See panel (Thursday)
• This week's Gallery Watch: Nosegay Tornado by Ambera Wellmann at Company (Wednesday)
• A partial reveal shows off the now-taller 94-96 Avenue A (Thursday)
• As Westville Bakery exits, Superiority Burger set to expand on 9th Street (Tuesday)
• The Checkers on 1st Avenue closes (Tuesday)
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Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.
Spray on: A new tribute to Basquiat on Great Jones
The building, once owned by Andy Warhol, now houses Bohemian, an upscale Japanese restaurant ... their curbside dining space includes a message by Al Diaz, who, as a teen in the late 1970s, collaborated with Basquiat on a series of cryptic messages seen around the city signed from SAMO©. 
This isn't Wilson's first dalliance with the space. In the fall of 2018, he helped curate the Same Old Gallery, an exhibit that featured Diaz's work. The two also collaborated on a mural here to mark the 30th anniversary of Basquiat's death in August 2018.
In July 2016, the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation (now Village Preservation) unveiled a commemorative plaque outside the building ...
We don't need another hero
It's Day 2 of the holiday market and flea on 1st Avenue and 1st Street
Today marks Day 2 of the holiday market and flea on First Avenue and First Street at Peretz Square from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ... and it looks like a good day for it with temps expected in the high 50s. You can find a list of participants at the Facebook Events page here.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by yesterday and shared these photos...
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