If there is any sort of "Best in Show" category might this specimen be worthy of consideration given how much fancier it is than the average belatedly discarded holiday tree?
The question is now in the hands of the holiday steering committee
Monday, May 1, 2023
May 1
Basics Plus has closed on 3rd Avenue
Several other NYC locations remain in service.
The previous tenant at the address, the like-minded (but better, TBH) Surprise! Surprise! closed after 25 years in April 2014.
The Pinky's Space storefront is for rent on 1st Street
However, this development doesn't completely shut the door on the most recent tenant — Pinky's Space, the cafe-art gallery that has been closed since late last fall.
Earlier this spring, the landlord took legal possession of the storefront, where Pinky's Space first opened in 2018 as a quick-serve cafe offering a variety of sandwiches served on biscuits.
Co-owner Wesley Wobles said in an email over the weekend that the landlord would let them return if they made good on the back rent that dates to October.
"She will welcome us back if we can pay back the rent in full before she rents the space," Wobles said.
The financial tailspin began for Pinky's this past Oct. 27 when the city leveled their 30-foot-long outdoor structure, which had morphed into an assemblage of paintings, furniture and plants — topped off by a chandelier and disco ball.
At the time, co-owner Mimi Blitz reportedly (per the Post) estimated they spent upwards of $50,000 on the structure and used it for outdoor dining and other events that served as the main source of pandemic-era revenue since July 2020. (Initial reports put the value at $25,000, but Blitz told the Post that the amount was incorrect because "everything had happened so fast she didn't have time to calculate properly.")
After the city took down the structure, Pinky's closed to regroup with plans to reopen in early 2023. They also created a less-intricate outdoor space, which has mostly been dismantled recently.
"We spent the last of our money to rebuild our outdoor garden right away. The electric bill came, and we couldn't afford it," Wobles said. "We have no money coming in because we shut the business down after our outdoor dining structure was torn down by the DOT."
In January, Wobles and Blitz sued the city for $615,000 for removing the curbside space last fall "without any warning whatsoever" and "without cause, legal authority or due process," per the lawsuit. (The story was well-covered, including at the Post, 1010 WINS and PIX11.)
The city tells a different story, as Gothamist reported in January.
A DOT spokesman told Gothamist that Blitz's outdoor dining structure was too far off the curb, lacked "reflective materials" and was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was also covering a manhole, the spokesman said.According to the lawsuit, Pinky's received two cease and desist orders of compliance regarding the outdoor structure and made the requested changes on each occasion. The owners claimed they were never told their structure was dangerous and would be taken down."There was no communication in regards to saying, 'Look, this is an imminent danger. We're going to have to just sweep it away and take it away,'" Blitz said. "So we were completely caught off guard when that happened."
Meanwhile, the financial struggles continue. One source of income: selling art and accessories via the Pinky's Space website. "The clothing line is something that we have begun since we have been locked out," Wobles said. "It's print-on-demand items designed using the art we created at Pinky's Space."
In recent months, Wobles said that he and Blitz, who have an 8-year-old son, have tried to apply for several loans, including the New York Forward Loan Fund.
"Those applications take forever," he said. "We spent weeks working on them only to get denied, which was depressing."
Wobles said that he is on food stamps and has been visiting a church food bank to help feed his son. He said there's also a "real possibility" of being evicted from his apartment.
"The city just doesn't understand. They shut you down like that and expect you to just change everything. It's a tornado. It's not fair. It's not right," he said. "I worked my whole life as a chef in New York City restaurants and made a lot of people money. There's no reason it should be like this."
Sunday C&C Eatery announces itself at The Bowery Market
Sunday C&C Eatery will join Bowery Market tenants Current Coffee and Kettl tea. Scott Marano, the founder of The Bowery Market, previously told us that he has other new vendors lined up for the space.
The year-round market at Great Jones first opened in the summer of 2016.
RIP to the MRI place on Avenue A
The office provided an Open Upright MRI scanner — an alternative for patients who are claustrophobic, cannot lie down due to pain or whose size prevents them from being evaluated in a traditional MRI scanner (according to the website).
The Midtown location of Stand-Up MRI of Manhattan remains in service.
As we recall, until the mid-1990s, this space was a funeral home.
Sunday, April 30, 2023
6 posts from April
• A familiar face is leaving Key Food (April 26)
• The farce awakens at the Orpheum Theatre (April 22)
• After group-show ghosting, the EVAC space is for lease on 1st Avenue (April 20)
• Hemingway, the sleepy window kitty of 3rd Street, has been priced out of the East Village (April 10)
• A look at Theatre 80 before marshals seize the historic East Village venue (April 5)
• First look at the all-new Superiority Burger, now open on Avenue A (April 2)
Week in Grieview
• NYC institution Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse attempting a Lower East Side comeback (Thursday)
• No new grocery now for the former Associated space on 14th Street in Stuy Town (Thursday)
• A familiar face is leaving Key Food (Wednesday)
• Here are the official local Open Streets for 2023 (Tuesday)
• Sign of Summertime: the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival set for Aug. 27 in Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday)
• A look at Wicked Heathens, now open on 9th Street (Friday)
• Here's what's coming to the former Zum Schneider space on 7th Street and Avenue C (Monday)
• Reminders: Tompkins Square Library branch now closed for renovations (Tuesday)
• Poetica Coffee debuts on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)
• The skyward-bound 21-story office building at 360 Bowery reaches the halfway mark (Monday)
• A career-spanning exhibition of Andy Warhol's work at the Brant Foundation (Wednesday)
• The Braised Shop closes in the East Village (Monday)
• On St. Mark's Place, office building 1, tree 0 (Friday)
• Asbestos abatement for the vacant storefronts along Stuyvesant Street (Tuesday)
• One of the neighborhood's more unique apartments is now a storefront (Friday)
• Signage alert: The restaurant-bar in the works at 309 E. Fifth St. (Tuesday)
Sunday's opening shot
Photo by Steven
An addition to the "Indicted" banner here along St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue — "Remove Justice Swag."
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Convenience Tobacco rises from the ashes of Runtz Tobacco; NYPD takes note
You may recall that this space was previously Runtz Tobacco, one of four unlicensed East Village cannabis shops that the city attempted to shut down this year. Runtz was permanently shuttered as of early March.
Meanwhile, the new establishment is using the Runtz Tobacco sidewalk signage.
As the Daily News reports, the NYPD has taken note. (Or took note after a reporter from the Daily News called.)
Per the News:
According to the NYPD, the shop is going against the court order that shut Runtz down."They are currently in violation of a court order to remain closed to the public," an NYPD spokesperson said of the shop in a statement. "It is anticipated that the premises will be closed again soon. If not, we will seek to get a full closure order from the court."NYPD intends to resolve the case with a settlement, the NYPD spokesperson added.
And...
Attempts by the Daily News to reach Runtz's owner, lawyer and landlord were unsuccessful and an employee at the shop said she wasn’t able to answer questions about the store.
It had been a challenging debut for Runtz. Armed robbers reportedly took them for $5,400 shortly after opening this past August.
EVG Etc.: the 11-ingredient Fak-Tin at Sunny & Annie's; the 26 best East Village restaurants
Avenue A in the rain this a.m.
• Roger Clark checks in on Theatre 80 as auction looms (NY1 ... previously on EVG) Ways to help (Village Preservation)
• The Rent Guidelines Board could seek increases of up to 8.5% for rent-regulated units (THE CITY)
• Enjoying the 11-ingredient sammy Fak-Tin at Sunny & Annie's (Eater)
• The MTA ends its Twitter service alerts because Elon (THE CITY)
• The 26 best EV restaurants, per TONY (Time Out New York)
• A long read on Superiority Burger (GQ... previously on EVG)
• The Walkmen reunite at Webster Hall (NME)
• A look at 'Nowhere New York,' in which Julia Gorton captures 'the city's punk and no wave subcultures in all their hedonistic glory' (i-D)
• May 1 is the next First Mondays reading at Performance Space New York on First Avenue and 9th Street (Official site)
• Molly Ringwald’s former East Village duplex on 10th Street sells for $7.9 million (Architectural Digest)
• That Fyre Fest-7th Street Burger grilled cheese mashup flopped (Rolling Stone)
• Mayor Adams bids farewell to NYC's nightlife mayor (Page Six)
• Works by Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat 'are suddenly so L.A.' (Los Angeles Magazine)
... and in Instagram posts...
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