Openings: Hard to Explain on 10th Street

Hard to Explain debuted on May 1 at 224 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

It's a small Japanese coffee-tea shop during the day ... in which the owners welcome you to bring your favorite records here for them to play. (Never did get confimration that the cafe is named after the Strokes song of the same name.) 

The cafe is open Tuesday-Sunday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. 

Starting this weekend, Hard to Explain will launch their beer-wine-sake service in the back. They only have a few seats in the bar area and are asking that interested parties to DM them on Instagram for a reservation. 

This space was previously a private dining room called Me and You via chef Jehangir Mehta, who ran the well-regarded restaurant Graffiti next door.

Image via @hardtoexplainnyc

MayRee to bring Thai food to 1st Street

A Thai restaurant called MayRee is in the works for 58 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

The principals will appear before CB3's SLA committee for a new liquor license for the space this month ...

The owner runs a similar establishment in Illinois. According to the questionnaire on file at the CB3 website, food comes first here: 

The premises are a restaurant where the main emphasis is on food, not liquor. The restaurant will NOT have late hours. It will close by 11 PM, five nights a week. On Friday and Saturday, it will close at 11:30 PM so we do not anticipate customers will be coming to the restaurant for the purpose of drinking. 

The premises are a small family-style Thai restaurant with only 25 seats, including the small, 7-seat bar area. There will be no televisions so it will clearly be a place where customers are coming for the food, not to watch sporting events or listen to music.

This CB3 virtual committee meeting is Monday, June 13 at 6:30 p.m. Find the Zoom link here.

As previously noted, many restaurants have come and gone here since The Elephant, a Thai restaurant, closed in 2011 after 17 years in business. Maybe people have been waiting for more Thai here.   

Aliens of Brooklyn colonizing 9th Street

Photo by Steven 

Signage went up yesterday for urban culture shop Aliens Of Brooklyn ... which is opening its first dedicated storefront at 305 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Designer Joseph Tijerina launched the brand in 2013... and has been selling his pop-cultural word hats, beanies and t-shirts at pop-up markets around the city, most recently at Artists & Fleas in Chelsea Market and Brooklyn.

You can follow the Aliens Instagram account here for updates. 

We'll let you if the shop's interior ends up looking like this!

 

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A post shared by Invented Word Hats. Allegedly. (@aliensofbrooklyn)

Wednesday's parting shot

Scene from a rainy late afternoon in Tompkins Square Park... photo by Derek Berg.

Report of a fire at 11 St. Mark's Place

Top photo by William Klayer; others by Steven 

The FDNY responded to a report of a commercial fire around 5:30 p.m. at 11 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Udon, Beard Papa, Land of Buddha and the Professional Threading Studio are the retail tenants here. It wasn't immediately clear where the source of the fire/smoke may be coming from.

The FDNY gave the "under control" at 6:16... citing "duct work" ...

Manhattan All Hands Box 0446, 11 ST MARKS PL, COMMERCIAL, DUCT WORK, Under Control

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) June 1, 2022

Despite the significant FDNY presence, witnesses on the street said they didn't smell any smoke... and hopefully, any fire/smoke may not have caused much damage...

Pride outside the 2nd Avenue F stop

There's a new Pride Month mural — "Queer AF: Do Not Tread On Me" — outside the Second Avenue F stop... art by Rose Cory via @dustyrebel aka Daniel Albanese. Read more about his Queer Street Art documentary here.

You can find items from Dress Shoppe II this summer at A Repeat Performance on 3rd Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

From left: Maegan Hayward, Sara Ann Rutherford and Delphine Le Goff

A Repeat Performance, the pop-up market extravaganza at the 3rd and B'Zaar space, has been extended through the summer.

The shop was set to close on Sunday after a three-plus-month run ... but the sales will continue here at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B through Aug. 28.

And the new crop of vendors, designers and artists will feature a familiar name starting today. Saroj Goya, who ran the recently closed Dress Shoppe II at 83 Second Ave. for more than 20 years with her late husband, will be selling her vintage Indian fabrics and clothing from the space for the summer. (You can read this post for more about the closing of Dress Shoppe II. Sales also continue at Etsy.) 

Here are some of the items via Dress Shoppe II...

"We feel so lucky to have The Dress Shoppe II as part of 3rd & B'zaar's A Repeat Performance market and are happy to have them back home in the East Village," said 3rd & B co-founder Maegan Hayward.

Hours here are 1-7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Check out the 3rd and B'Zaar Instagram account for updates and features on the participating vendors.

A Repeat Performance, the bric-a-brac shop at 156 First Ave., closed in July 2019 after 39 years in business. The sign became available ... and the folks at East Village Vintage Collective on 12th Street became the proud new owners. (Maegan Hayward is an EVVC co-owner.)

Meanwhile, have a great holiday season... 

Renovated 104 E. 10th St. comes into view

Workers recently removed the construction netting from outside 104 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Second Avenue after nearly two years of gut renovations... bringing in to view this home in the St. Mark's Historic District. 

According to the architect of record:

MKCA is orchestrating the reinvention and gut renovation of a historic townhouse in the storied St Mark's Historic District for a young family. Abandoned for a generation, the 2,400 brick rowhouse has been rescued from a state of near-structural collapse. The project includes a new sculptural stair, penthouse addition, and interiors that celebrate the historic building while updating it for contemporary family life.

This has long been a residence of interest. As previously reported, the neo-classical townhouse, constructed in 1879, was once the property of reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb. It sold in 2013 for $3.5 million to an entity going by North Sydney LLC. 

The building had been vacant for years, and the last (and lone) tenant was playwright, poet and performance artist Edgar Oliver. 

This article from 1998 in The New York Times suggests that the place could be haunted. But as Oliver said at the time, "The house I do believe is haunted. Alas, it is only with memories." 

Check out the links below for more history and photos of the place pre-renovation...

Previously on EV Grieve: 

•  Plans to convert the haunted beauty 104 E. 10th St. into a single-family home with 2 extra floors 

• The charmingly shabby interiors of 104 E. 10th St.

Openings: Birria LES on St. Mark's Place

Photo by Steven

Birria LES debuted back on Saturday at 34 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (Arrival first reported here.)

This location will have more room for indoor seating to enjoy their tacos, mulitas and tostadas than the outpost that opened on Rivington Street last spring. You can find their menu here.

They are open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; with an 11 p.m. close Thursday and Sunday; and a 4 a.m. close Friday and Saturday.

Birria LES took over the storefront from Japanese chain Ramen Setagaya, which shuttered earlier this year.

Retail space at 44 Avenue B hits the rental market

Photo by Stacie Joy 

This storefront at 44 Avenue B is now on the rental market ... the 1,800-square space between Third Street and Fourth Street has a monthly ask of $17,495, per the listing. 

The leasing marks the official end of Remix here, a clothing store selling a variety of streetwear, including brands like Doc Martens, Fred Perry and Izod. 

They opened in early 2020 and didn't have much time to get established before the PAUSE of March 2020... they eventually reopened, though the hours seemed sporadic.  

No. 44 was previously a laundromat.

Tuesday's parting shot

A scene from the Great Heatwave of May 31 in Tompkins Square Park... photo by Derek Berg...

6 posts from May

A mini month in review... with a photo from the Ukrainian Festival on Seventh Street by D.R. Grimes... 

• After deadly shooting, fearful residents speak out about the drug activity on Avenue D & 3rd Street (May 18) 

•  Hello Mary takes the stage at Webster Hall (May 17) 

• Councilmember Carlina Rivera calls for an immediate end to the city's encampment sweeps (May 9) 

• Welcoming baby Isabella Jane (May 8) 

• About Raife Milligan, the NYU student who police said was killed by a drunken driver on Houston Street (May 6) 

• Italian favorite Via Della Pace opens in new East Village home on 4th Street (May 2)