Saturday, February 5, 2022
44 Union Square to be filled with pet sounds
Per published reports (Commercial Observer and The Real Deal), Petco has signed a lease for a 3-story space, taking 30,000 of the 73,000-square-foot landmarked building. The animal and pet supply chain will be relocating from 860 Broadway on the other side of Union Square.
The previous retail tenants, a magazine shop and Frank's Wines & Liquors, closed in 2016...
The 17th Street side housed two cultural institutions, the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theater.
As Jeremiah Moss wrote in 2016 about the building's upcoming renovation: "What sort of businesses do you think will replace these small businesses and cultural institutions? Well, almost every single thing around Union Square Park is a national shopping mall chain. ... Those that aren't, like Blue Water Grill, tend to be upscale."
Now we know.
And address history, per Wikipedia: "The neo-Georgian structure was erected in 1928–1929 and designed by architects Thompson, Holmes & Converse and Charles B. Meyers for the Tammany Society political organization."
2016 pic by J. Moss
ICYMI: That oddly configured Walgreens is closing on Union Square
As posted on Jan. 24, the Walgreens on the SE corner of 14th Street and Fourth Avenue is closing on Feb. 17, per the window signage.
Walgreens customers can then go to other Walgreens, Duane Reades or Duane Reade by Walgreens locations, including the outpost at 1 Union Square. (For the sake of journalisming, we walked from the soon-to-close Walgreens to the Duane Reade — 50 steps!)
This corner Walgreens was renovated and expanded into the space above the quick-serve restaurants on Fourth Avenue back in 2010...
What could possibly fit in this space now (?).
Saturday's opening shot
The sun makes a return today... the exclusive EVG forecast (via AccuWeather) calls for sunny to partly cloudy skies and much colder; breezy this afternoon with highs around 28°. Tonight's low is 17°, with the EVGRealFeel® of 12°
Friday, February 4, 2022
Teenage fanclub
Catching up to this Pom Pom Squad release from late December 2021... in which the NYC band shared this cover and frame-by-frame video reproduction of Nada Surf's "Popular" from 1996.
Also, Bandcamp Fridays are back ... in which the music platform waives its revenue share for the day.
East Village weekend ski report
Thanks to Goggla for the pic!
RIP Hanne 'H7L' Lauridsen.
Photos by Stacie Joy from 2014
Longtime East Village-based multimedia artist Hanne Lauridsen died Sunday at age 84.
A friend said that the Danish-born Lauridsen, also known as Hanne H7L, "peacefully passed away in her home on East 11th Street, cared for by loving neighbors and surrounded by her art." (A cause of death was not revealed.)
Even if you didn't know Lauridsen, you likely saw one of her art cars parked on the street...
... or cross-country skiing in one of her leopard outfits whenever there was a snow cover on the streets. (She was immortalized in The New York Times one snowy day outside Tompkins Square Park here.)
This bio outlines her expansive career that saw her exhibit in galleries in the United States and Europe.
We'll update this post if there's information about a celebration of her life.
The Bronx Brewery East Village debuts tomorrow (Saturday!)
Top photo by Jason Greenspan
The Bronx Brewery East Village opens tomorrow at 64 Second Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street. (First announced in March 2020.)
A rep for this outpost of the Bronx Brewery, which opened in 2011, shared this info about the multi-level EV location:
Aside from the 14 beers on tap, the Bronx Brewery East Village will also feature the first U.S. location for the Swedish brand Bastard Burgers. (The food will be available for delivery a few weeks after the launch.) You can find the BB menu here.
[T]he space’s focal point is the pilot brewery system, a fully-functional brewery in the center of the seating area that will be used to expand their popular Y-Series ... limited-release, often experimental beers brewed in collaboration with creatives ranging from activists and musicians to artists and entrepreneurs.
The series will continue to provide a platform to celebrate and spotlight the community, contribute to charitable organizations and support the diversity of the city. Past Y-Series collaborations have benefited organizations like SapnaNYC (serving low-income immigrant South Asian women), the Humane Society, community gardens and Callen-Lorde (providing healthcare services for the LGBTQ community). The Y-Series beer roster for the new location is currently being developed and will prioritize local East Village/LES talent, including local artist ClockWork Cros and Mikey Likes It.And!
The space features corrugated steel accents and exposed i-beams, a nod to the industrial setting of the original Bronx location ... A concrete-topped bar with perforated metal sheeting anchors the front taproom area, with neon lights in the design of the NYC subway map overhead.
The back seating area is on a catwalk overlooking the pilot brewery system; guests can watch beer being brewed in real time as they eat and drink, taking in the sounds and smells of the brewhouse and cellar hop additions.
The Brewery's hours of operation: 5-11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays with a midnight close on Fridays; noon to midnight on Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays. Find more info on this location at this link.
No. 64's retail space has been vacant since NYC Velo moved next door to No. 66 in the spring of 2016.
Second interior pic by Charlie Bennet
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Reader report: USA Super Stores (U-S-A!) coming to the former Duane Reade on 3rd Avenue and 10th Street
An outpost seemingly came out of nowhere this past November on the NW corner of Houston and Avenue D — site of a former Duane Reade by Walgreens. (There's also a USA Super Stores on the UES — AT A FORMER DUANE READE! PATTERN DETECTED.)
USA Super Stores have a little bit of everything, from groceries to housewares to clothing — all at discounted prices. ("Cozy Fuzzy Sleep Pants" — $5.99; a 4-pound bag of Domino Sugar — $2.99.)
No word on an opening date. One day it will just be open!
This Duane Reade by Walgreens on the corner of Third and 10th closed in early March 2020 ... several years after expanding and gobbling up several small storefronts, forcing Excel Art and Framing Store and East Village Cheese (which was never the same) to relocate.
A look at the B Bar & Grill demolition on the Bowery
EVG reader Robert Miner shared these photos, showing that workers have mostly wiped out the former outdoor courtyard (and Taco Bar!) ...
All this is happening to make way for a 21-floor office building on the property. (We got a first look at the Midtown-friendly monstrosity here.)
As for the B Bar, the one-time hot spot (circa the mid-1990s) was expected to close for good in August 2020. However, the place never reopened after the PAUSE in March 2020.
We first reported on this new project in January 2021.
Find more background at our last post or below...
As the bank branches turn on 2nd Avenue
The HSBC on the SW corner of Ninth Street and Second Avenue made the cut and will transition to a Citizens Bank on Feb. 17.
Ahead of that, workers yesterday installed the deep-green Citizens signage (with the daisy wheel logo ) ... EVG contributor Steven was there to mark the occasion...
... and at the end of the day, a temp HSBC was back on the marquee...
HSBC arrived here in the spring of 2010 ... before it was a bank branch, the Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man haunted this space.
Previously on EV Grieve:
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