Indoor dining in NYC increases to 50% on March 19; Little Poland promises reopening

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday afternoon that New York City will expand indoor dining capacity to 50 percent beginning on March 19. 

The news coincided with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announcing that his state's restaurants would also increase to 50 percent. 

NYC and New Jersey restaurants are currently operating at 35 percent capacity ... while the rest of New York State is operating at 50 percent capacity (soon to be 75 percent on March 19).

And via the news advisory...

"In New York State, our decisions are based on science and data and we are encouraged by the continued decline in infection and hospitalization rates," Cuomo said in a statement. "We will continue to follow the science and react accordingly. If we keep the infections down and vaccinations up, we will continue to stay ahead in the footrace against this invisible enemy and reach the light at the end of the tunnel together."

Several East Village bars and restaurants have previously said that they'd reopen when the capacity hit 50 percent ... including Little Poland on Second Avenue. The diner teased this out yesterday on Instagram...

 

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Top photo at Il Posto Accanto from February by Stacie Joy...

Anthology Film Archives will remain closed for the time being

One year ago today Anthology Film Archives temporarily closed its doors at the start of the pandemic.

Although NYC theaters were OK'd to reopen at limited capacity last Friday, the theater on Second Street at Second Avenue was not among the movie houses electing to restart its in-person programming. 

Here's more via the Anthology Instagram account: 

[D]espite that announcement, Anthology is not planning to rush it — given the current COVID numbers in NYC, the uncertainty surrounding new variants of the virus, and the increasing momentum of the vaccination program, we are keeping our theaters closed for the time being. 

We're hard at work developing the protocols that will allow us to safely reopen when the time is right, and we’ll keep you updated. 

Meanwhile, we'll continue to offer online programming before and after we open our doors, so that until everything returns (as much as possible) to normal, watching our programs from home will still be an option.

The Anthology is a vital part of this neighborhood (and NYC)... looking forward to when they are ready to safely return.

City removes tree said to have been tangled up with a sanitation truck on 1st Avenue

The tree on the northwest corner of First Avenue at 12th Street was spotted on the ground yesterday morning. (Thanks to William Klayer for the photos.)

We asked Caesar Ekya, the co-owner of S'MAC on that corner, about what transpired.

According to Ekya, a sanitation truck was traveling north in the bike lane, emptying the garbage cans along the west side of First Avenue on Tuesday night around 11. 

"It must have got tangled in the branches because as it drove off it pulled the tree along with it," Ekya said. "That was a gorgeous tree and we're hoping the city can put it back and not have to tear it out." 

Unfortunately, before the day really got started yesterday and Ekya arrived at the restaurant, the city already had the tree removed.

A bad sign at Joe's Rice Roll on St. Mark's Place

Workers were seen emptying Joe's Steam Rice Roll at 36 St. Mark's Place on Tuesday (thanks to Steven for the photos) ... it's not entirely clear what's happening here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue at the moment... there's a dumpster parked out front...

... and the interior is bare...

There isn't any message about a temporary or permanent closure on the shop's Instagram account. (Or, better — on the front door.) The website is currently offline and the phone is not in service. No one responded to messages just yet about the status here. (Pandemic-time refresh/renovation?)

This wouldn't be the first time this outpost closed without any notice: Joe's was shuttered for seven weeks in the fall of 2019 without any explanation before finally reopening. 

Joe's debuted in the East Village in June 2019 ... another branch of the popular quick-serve establishment, which got its start in Flushing. They had been open in recent months. 

Report: San Francisco's Beloved Cafe ready to adore the LES

The San Franciso-based Beloved Cafe is opening its first NYC outpost at 196 Allen St. just south of Houston. 

As the Commercial Observer first reported this week, the health-focused cafe specializing in organic juices, teas, smoothies, salads and plant-based bowls plans to debut this summer. 

The original location opened in San Francisco's Mission District in 2017. 

Part of this Allen Street storefront previously housed Palà, the pizzeria that closed in May 2017 after 11 years in business. 

Beloved Cafe will be the third new food establishment to open on Allen between Houston and Stanton this year, joining Meat + Bread and Mi Salsa Kitchen. 

P.S. 

On the topic of quick-serve health-focused cafes... several EVG readers have pointed out that the now-former Dr Smood outlet (opened September 2017) around the corner on Houston and Orchard is for rent ... the branch of the chainlet closed late last year...

That '80s show: 3rd Street all Russian Dolled up today for Netflix TV shoot

Crews for "Russian Doll" are along Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B today (and tonight) ... where the block for the time-bending Netflix series (No. 2) was decked out for an early 1980s look.

Despite the leap back a few decades, series lead (and a writer and creator) Natasha Lyonne hasn't reverse aged a day! 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos...

... this is Jane's Exchange... doing duty as a Ukrainian market called Ukraine Grocer...

Apparently, only Book Club along here missed out on the time travel. 

And around the corner on Avenue B, Ben's Deli, which played a key role in season 1, got a new look...

Stacie reports that Lyonne was very friendly with the onlookers, who cheered her on as she smiled and waved ...

AND SPOILER!

They bought some records from us so there'll be records

— Academy Records NYC (@AcademyRecords) March 11, 2021

Gallery Watch: 'Dress Up My Lindsay' at Public Access on St. Mark's Place

Text and photos by Clare Gemima

Dress Up My Lindsay 

Public Access, 8 Saint Mark's Place 

Public Access is a cute space tucked away on a lower-level storefront on Saint Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue that has been exhibiting an eclectic and impressive mix of artists since opening this past September. 

For the gallery's latest show, Marika Thunder has painted 10 large-scale oil paintings in her solo show, Dress Up My Lindsay. While slightly disconcerting in some painted moments, the show presents autobiographically intriguing and nostalgic plays on pain and heartbreak that we find within celebrity culture. 

Dress Up My Lindsay showcases a bittersweetness of what adolescence promises versus what it actually provides. The recurring motif used in Thunder's body of work is the child star turned troublemaker Lindsay Lohan, famous for her roles in "Freaky Friday," "Parent Trap" and "Mean Girls." 

The power and influence that Lohan had on her community were at an all-time high in the 1990s. It is no surprise that young girls all over the country idolized her, and for Thunder's case, started to religiously follow her tabloid headlines and celebrity behaviors by collaging magazine clippings into notebook pages for fun. 

The compositions of her paintings in Dress Up My Lindsay are reminiscent of her collaging days, bringing life to scribbled pages and dirty marks now with oil paint and a bolder delivery. The smudginess and lack of realism make these paintings unique and stand out amongst each other distinctly. Most paintings don't necessarily consider the precise rendering of Lindsay Lohan, positioning Thunder's subject more as a projected catalyst or representation of the artist's own childhood. 

This is an exciting space that pushes the boundaries of contemporary art and culture. I am grateful to have been greeted and shown around by a lovely man named Diego. He outlined to me how Public Access aimed to be a hospitable and inclusive art gallery that maintained a welcoming attitude regardless of who walked through the door. 

The experience he facilitated was very down-to-earth and inquisitive. I find it to be such a nice rarity when people working in an exhibition context wish to engage in dialogue with their viewers. It's also gratifying to see and feel so much passion in a newer space.

Dress Up My Lindsay at Public Access will be showing until April 12. The gallery is open Thursday through Sunday from 2-7 p.m. You may schedule an appointment for viewing here. 

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ 

Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com 

The mystery of the disappearing Rite Aid sign

Goggla shares this from the corner of First Avenue and Fifth Street...stay tuned for new signage? And are people liking this RA outpost more these days?

Updated 3/12

Per Stacie Joy: "At Rite Aid today: crew reports new lettering and signage (to reflect new colors, font, etc.) should be up next week. They told me they have no plans to close, that all Rite Aids are being rebranded."

Appreciating the pinhole photography of late East Village resident Veronica Saddler

Veronica Saddler, who taught pinhole photography at Cooper Union, died in February 2020.

Thankfully, a friend rescued some of Saddler's photographs and negatives from her Fourth Street apartment, and a selection of the work is now featured at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery, 219 E. Second St. between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

Here's more about her photography from a New York Times feature in 1999: 

For most New Yorkers, Manhattan with empty streets is only a beautiful dream. But Veronica Saddler, a pinhole photographer, can clear out the city with her cameras. The two faded cardboard boxes scribbled over with exposure times could not look more unassuming, yet they have produced dozens of majestic photographs. 

For Ms. Saddler, who is smitten with Manhattan's architecture, pinhole is the ideal medium. The city is transformed into a place where buildings, not people, are the focus, and for anyone used to crammed city streets, the vast stretches of empty pavement in these photos are almost as compelling as the buildings themselves. The pinhole's infinite depth of field and wide-angle capacity have a distorting quality that causes some buildings to appear to stretch out and envelop an entire block, an effect Ms. Saddler enhances by not shooting her subjects straight on.

The New York in her photos is serene and slightly haunted: Delmonico's steakhouse is a stony battleship sailing down a deserted Beaver Street; Jefferson Market Library looks more than ever like a misplaced fairy castle, its tower oddly warped like a melting ice cream cone on an abandoned stretch of the Avenue of the Americas. An afternoon shot of Trinity Church looks as if it was taken at the dead hour of 5 a.m. 

Her work will be on display until April 3. Gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Said an EVG reader who alerted us to the show: "The exhibition is beautifully installed. It would be sad if this talented African American woman's passing went unnoticed." 

Here's a look at some of her work on display courtesy of EVG contributor Stacie Joy...

Sidewalk bridge fakeout at the beleaguered Mariana Bracetti Plaza

Word spread yesterday that workers were removing the sidewalk bridge from around Mariana Bracetti Plaza, the 7-story NYCHA-run housing complex on Third Street and Fourth Street along Avenue C.

There were momentary cheers, as tenant advocates have blamed the longstanding sidewalk structures for the increase in illegal activities here in recent years.

As resident Kanielle Hernandez told EVG contributor Stacie Joy in January:

Landlords put up these dark ugly scaffolds as a resolution instead of actual repairs. Then they stay up for years without any actual work being done. But someone is getting paid to have these sidewalk bridges just up with no real purpose. It creates dark hidden places for illegal activity. 

With the sidewalk bridges came more and more and more homeless, drug addicts and alcoholics. The money being spent to have these useless sidewalk bridges up should be used to actually improve the building conditions.

Upon arriving at the complex yesterday, Stacie learned that the sidewalk bridge will be rebuilt, with workers replacing the rotting wooden planks...

While the pieces did need to be replaced, workers also said that the sidewalk bridge would remain up for another three years.

According to DOB records, permits for a sidewalk shed date here to December 2000. (Reason: "loose brick.") There are records of permits for the installation of a sidewalk bridge in March 2003 ... April 2004 (for "remedial repairs") ... August 2015 ... and October 2017. (A Google Streetview shows a structure in place continuously back to 2016.)

And some scenes from yesterday's work... 

Tonight, Community Board 3's NYCHA & Section 8 Housing Subcommittee will discuss the conditions at the Mariana Bracetti Plaza housing complex.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Local elected officials, NYCHA reps get firsthand look at the problems at Mariana Bracetti Plaza 

• Residents say dangerous safety conditions at Mariana Bracetti Plaza lead to illegal and hazardous activities 

• Another look at conditions in and around the Mariana Bracetti Plaza public housing complex

• PSA 4 providing increased security at Mariana Bracetti Plaza

Claim: The pandemic caused more bar-restaurant closings in the East Village than in any other NYC neighborhood

The pandemic has devastated countless businesses in the city these past 12 months.

And according to one tally, there were more bar-restaurant closings in the East Village than in any other NYC neighborhood. 

Citing statistics compiled by restaurant recommendation site the Infatuation, the Post reports that 55 establishments have closed in the East Village. 

Cutting and pasting:

By comparison, 21 restaurants closed in the West Village; 19 restaurants closed on the Lower East Side; 15 closed in both Williamsburg and Staten Island; 14 closed on the Upper West Side; 13 closed in Midtown; and 11 closed in Chinatown. Neighborhoods with 10 closings or less include the Upper East Side with 10, and six each in Murray Hill, Soho and FiDi, according to the Infatuation. 

Why so many here?

The problem, sources say, is that the East Village — sometimes referred to the city's version of "Bourbon Street" — boasts a young, late-night crowd that spends more money on booze than food, which means it was hit first by the lockdowns and then by the curfews, which now end at the geriatric hour of 11 p.m. 

One named source in the Post article is Stratis Morfogen, who's opening the automated Brooklyn Dumpling Shop on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place one of these days.

"The neighborhood is filled with college students and first-time apartment owners — people in their 20s who don't sit down to eat until after midnight. Pizzerias stay open here until 7 a.m. In most neighborhoods, food is 75 percent and liquor is 25 percent. In the East Village, it's the opposite. Liquor is a vital part of the East Village's restaurant business and it has been crushed by the curfew," Morfogen said. 

A few places on the Infatuation's list of 55 aren't in the East Village, such as Oatmeals on West Third Street and Nix on University Place. In addition, while Coyote Ugly on First Avenue closed, they relocated to 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

There are also many closures that they didn't note, including B Bar & Grill on the Bowery, Lovenberg on Sixth Street, Vegan Love on 10th Street Dia, Atlas Cafe and Nostro on Second Avenue. Boilery on Third Avenue, the Dumpling House on Second Avenue, Native Bean on Avenue A, etc. 

So, unfortunately, the number is higher than 55. And I don't want to count myself ... to avoid turning this into some kind of sporting event. 

Tuesday's parting shots

"Russian Doll" day continues... season 2 of the Netflix series is filming at multiple locations in the East Village, including at (in!) 7B/Vazac's/Horseshoe Bar ... which is going by Black Gumball for the shoot...

Film notices around the neighbor names this production as "Black Gumball."

And there'll be more filming tomorrow on Avenue B, Third Street and Houston, among other locales.

In a piece of casting news, Annie Murphy, who played Alexis Rose on "Schitt's Creek," will reportedly be in the second season of "Russian Doll."