Hop Devil Lounge vs. Hop Devil Grill

As you probably know, the owners of the Hop Devil Grill on St. Mark's near Avenue A remodeled the joint to rebrand as the Southwestern themed...Hop Devil Lounge. The Hop Devil redux opened on Dec. 3. Been meaning to stop by, sort of, purely for research reasons. But I did pick up the new menu! Which I compared to the old menu...which leads me to think...



...they cut back on their clip-art budget.

So, anyway -- there's a Southwestern theme...and burgers. And lots of beer.

Sad pizza place on 14th Street closes

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly when Mambo Italiano Pizzeria at 347 E. 14th St. near First Avenue closed. In the last six weeks or so. I never paid much attention to it...until the crowds starting forming across the street at Artichoke. That's when the Mambo folks apparently started a little different tact. Their sidewalk sign said, "Try our Artichoke pizza," perhaps in hopes of picking off someone who didn't know which place was which. I'm not sure it worked: I swear I never saw one person in Mambo. The workers would just be in there, standing around, looking hopeful as people walked by... staring across the street at the big line at Artichoke.

In any event, I almost popped in a few times for a pity purchase. Which is really lame. I did that years ago when I lived on Clinton Street. Some new Moroccan place opened (Sago?). Never saw one person in there for the first few months. I wanted to be supportive. I went there twice. Once for something to go. They had a little bar. I ordered a bottle of beer, which came to like $6.92. Fuck me. Then I dragged Mrs. Grieve in there once for brunch or some shit. It was awful. Both times. We still make jokes about the eggs Tagine. They eventually got a little crowd. Then it closed. Then the building got torn down to make way for a condo.

Anyway, I stopped walking by Mambo. Which is why I don't know exactly when it closed.

I'm rarely suspicious when a jewelry store has a "must raise cash" sign on its front window

Name aside, there's some kind of Vegas feel to this glittery jewelry store on Nassau Street near John Street in the Financial District.



Of course.

Gramstand falls

Gramstand, the cutesy tea and sandwich place on Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street, shuttered rather quickly yesterday. As Eater reported, the owners had previously announced that they would close or be sold. Metblogs published the following note last evening from the owners:

Dear Friends and Customers,
The Gramstand is closing today and will host a farewell garage sale through the day. Please do stop by and purchase some odds and ends from us. We apologize for the short notice, but it was short notice for us as well.
Due to the rising cost of doing business and an overwhelming financial situation, the Gramstand has been forced to close it’s doors.

The owners had been looking to sell the place for $250k or the best offer.

This week's sign of the apocalypse

Eater reports that Wolfgang Puck will be catering the food at the Fillmore thingee that should really just be called the Irving Plaza.
"Tellers at the venue tell us that Puck has taken over the bar areas and will introduce food sometime in the next two months. And finally, your chance to watch Spoon while eating a pre-wrapped turkey sandwich has arrived."

"When the cultural embodiment of the East Village can’t work up a single quote about his neighborhood, it’s in a lot of trouble"

Check out East Village native Matt Harvey's article in NYPress this week titled "The East Village Isn't What It Used To Be... And It Never Was."

Too much in the article to try to excerpt here. I'll do one. Harvey contacts Richard Hell, who apparently doesn't get out and about much while working on his book:

I email Hell to tell him that he keeps coming up in my conversations around the dusky old town. What’s the deal man, are you up in your rent-controlled apartment with just your memories and Rimbaud? Have you withdrawn from the street and all humanlike zones? He politely replies that he doesn’t want to be bothered. It reads, in part: “Sorry to be a disappointment, I can’t work up much fresh to say on the subject.” When the cultural embodiment of the East Village can’t work up a single quote about his neighborhood, it’s in a lot of trouble.

Matt also talks with Jeremiah Moss, on the phone from his bunker.

The Knicks are well-represented on this season's NBA All-Star ballot!

Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry have yet to play a game this season, of course. Combined salaries for this season: More than $31 million.

Checking out the Vigilant Hotel: "Perfect for the bored with responsibilities of maintaining a traceable address"

I've long been fascinated by the Vigilant Hotel at 370 Eighth Ave. between 28th Street and 29th Street. An old-fashioned flophouse continues to survive in this era of pricey real estate and swanky hotel developments? Miracle of miracles! 14to42 had this information from a 2003 post:

In 1895 the lodgings empire of Angelino Sartirano consisted of hotels at 116 Gansevoort St., 208 and 352 8th Ave., 1553 Broadway, 2291 3d Ave., and here at 370 8th Ave.

The Sartirano (sometimes spelled Sartirana) hotel business is even older, going back to 1888 with his first hotel at 116 Gansevoort St. in the West Village.

The name Vigilant Hotel, however, is not quite so old, and seems to date no earlier than 1916. The hotel is still here (as of August 2003) but to all appearances no longer operates as a hotel in the usual sense...

14to42 also also has links to two photos by Percy Loomis Sperr in the New York Public Library's Digital Collections. The first dated 1932 shows a side wall with "Rooms 25¢." The second dated 1938 shows a small sign over the sidewalk reading "Vigilant Hotel."

14th42 also published this shot from 2003 of the hotel's faded sign:



So, can I get a room here? Sure! It's for men only. And it will cost you $140. A week.

The reviews are mixed on Yahoo! Travel. Someone who has never stayed there gave it five stars while someone who did gave it one star. What was so wrong with it that it deserved that?

Don't ever step foot in this place
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 10/08/08
The place is so downtrodden, neglected and downright decreped. The hotel guests are homeless people who arementally ill. Even the police wouldn't stay in this hotel! If I were homeless I wouldn't stay in this disgusting hotel. Im shocked they are still open!

OK, Felix Ungar...we'll getcha a suite at The Carlyle!

Anyway, here's what the place looks like on the inside:







(These three photos via here.)

Finally, here's review of the hotel at Not for Tourists by Dave Crish:

A scar, even upon the pissed on pave of Chelsea's north edge. I relate, here, of history's Vigilant. Built some hundred years ago of resilient brick, at present resembling ash. Not the sort of amenitied lodge one peruses on vacation. Piped of, but, three befouled showers, a pair of sinks, and toilettes of excreta. Succinctly, an inn of cells petit rented to gents of varied feather—all poor for whatever reason, breathing the airs of next step below homelessness. $125 per seven days. No credit, no checks, no euros, cartons maybe—of Marlboros. Never gleeful, rarely tended proud asylum sans musique. Fine abode for a bit of drifting or a brief disappearance. In sum, perfect for the bored with responsibilities of maintaining a traceable address. Foam pad, gray, oft cavorted 'pon by bloodsucking mites. Not a lash of social space but narrow hallways. Sphere of little social grace a tincture schizo of few heads cracked—a few murderers, few blooming, and even fewer handsome. Maybe a master once and then. Never a fellow un-weathered. Indeed, the Vigilant Hotel. For the times when desires discordant means and the bench not an option.

Related on EV Grieve:
Elk in the City

East Village bathroom for rent (presented without any potty humor)

From Craigslist (via dustbury.com)

I am a female in my mid 60's and I am looking for a room mate. Times are tight and I need some extra money.
I am willing to rent out my bathroom in my 1 bedroom east village home.

My bathroom is large. You can easily put a twin air mattress in there. I only ask that when I need to use the bathroom, you or your air mattress are not in it.

I do ask that when you are in the apartment, you confine yourself to the bathroom. I do not feel comfortable with a stranger walking around my living room. This might change as I get to know you better.
You may have guest over as long as they are cnfined to the bathroom as well. This might seem a bit odd but please remember the rent is $400 and the bathroom is large.

RIP Ohio Theatre?: "It's not the first cultural institution to succumb to real-estate pressures"

Alexis Soloski reports in the Voice that the Ohio Theatre will likely close in the new year. The former textile factory at 66 Wooster St. is being sold. According to the Voice: "[M]aintenance expenses and preservation of the façade required by the city created an untenable financial burden," which is why the previous owners reluctantly sold the space.

Said Robert Lyons, artistic director of Soho Think Tank, a nonprofit group that administers the Ohio: "It's not the first cultural institution to succumb to real-estate pressures," he says. "Soon we're going to have a city without any cool theater spaces.... [New York needs] to protect our cultural jewels like this."

The reaction from John Del Signore at Gothamist: "Argh, must everything that makes life worth tolerating in New York City be systematically eradicated?"

(Photo via Theater Mania)

About that iconic Pepsi-Cola sign in Queens

The City Room has the answer:

In Manhattan, they’re asking what happened to the “Pepsi-Cola” sign. In Queens, they’re asking what happened to the “aloC-ispeP” sign. In both cases, the answer is that it has been temporarily dismantled and will be reinstalled nearby. In any case, the Hunters Point waterfront will not lose this distinctive, ruby-red, 120-foot-long, 72-year-old presence.

(Photo via Wired New York)

Tipstering with good intentions: Versace to the Bowery?

I always appreciate any tips... So! A tipster just e-mailed claiming that a Versace store was opening on First Street at the Bowery. The tipster said the item was in Luxury Briefing. Which does me no good since the thing is subscription only. Anyway, it's a former Versace designer opening the store, as Racked reported in October. He has done work for Sarah Jessica Parker, which means this may become a stop on the Sex and the City tour. (OK, sorry. Because I made this joke, it'll probably really happen now.)

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

The Yanks pay $160 million for their next Carl Pavano (amNY)

Firefighter fisticuffs at McFadden's (Gothamist)

UGH. Bumper cars at Astroland are destoryed (Kinetic Carnival)

Some history of Vesuvio Bakery (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A little Borscht for lunch (Stupefaction)

About that shit building where Cedar Tavern used to be (Flaming Pablum)

Minetta Tavern stripped of its history (Eater)

Be offended at Varick and Vandam (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Where TVs go to die (BoweryBoogie)

Time suckers: New York magazine on Google Books

As Ryan Tate reported on Gawker, New York is available now in the new magazine search on Google Books. Gawker highlights Barbara Goldsmith's classic "La Dolce Viva" article from April 29, 1968, that told of the seedy side of Andy Warhol's entourage. That same issue includes a feature on the growth of graffiti art in the city.

Anyway, I've just spent about an hour reading that issue. See you next week!