Habib's Place abruptly closes

Habib's Place on Avenue A near Sixth Street has abruptly closed. Really closed. (And you can now see the name of one of the former occupants...)



Thanks to EV Grieve reader Creature for the tip and photo. According to Creature: "I swear this was a fully functioning restaurant [Saturday]. I caught a look inside, before the gate was closed, and the place was gutted. Including the name blacked out."

This was Habib's third location in the East Village since 1992.

New Cooper Union building gets its first (temporary) storefront tenant

That retail space for rent in the new Cooper Union building is now occupied...





It's serving as the information center for Performa 09, which runs through Nov. 22

Absinthe absent on First Avenue (and Elvie's now for lease)

Jeremiah has written about the ongoing noise problems at Absinthe wine bar at 111 First Ave. near Seventh Street. It opened last December.

Anyway, I'm not certain when the place closed or changed concepts or names or whatever, but a new canopy is up at the address...



Meanwhile, up First Avenue near 12th Street...We noted a few weeks ago that Elvie's Turo-Turo, the Philippine eatery, was seized by the marshals...the "for lease" signs went up last week.

Squat the condos

Looking for delivery bikes outside the Moonstruck Diner

On Friday, some fliers appeared calling for a boycott of the Moonstruck Diner on Second Avenue and Fifth Street...




According to the signs, a blind man cut his hand on one of the diner's "7-9 commercial bikes that are always blocking the East 5th Street sidewalk." And the Moonstruck Diner "refuses to move those obstacles."

I walked by the Moonstruck several times over the weekend to see how many bikes were around... or if the owners responded...

Here's what I saw...an abandoned ATM...and a few bikes...not 7-9, though, at least when I was around.





And there weren't any bikes around Saturday morning.

Mini Bar getting ready to open on Seventh Street (just a block away from Big Bar)

The new small plates-type place is coming along on Seventh Street near Avenue A...(will this cause confusion with Big Bar goers?)... Signs are up, with a "coming in November" notice.



This will be the third business here in fairly quick succession...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A Cure for this location?

The Post continues tradition of exposing celebrity crotches

Jennifer Aniston was exposed back in August...Today, Dakota Fanning, who's 15.

Some scenes from Halloween

Bob Arihood has a lot more photos from the Park.

Cabs, Sleepy's truck collide on First Avenue and 10th Street

Not many details just yet. One witness said he thought the Sleepy's truck ran the light... No word on injuries either.

Cooper Square Hotel wants graffiti on building "to fit in with the edgy local art scene"

On Friday afternoon, we noted that some sort of graffiti mural was going up on the wall at the Cooper Square Hotel. (Curbed posted photos too.)

Yesterday, we walked by for an update...




Today, the Post follows up on the story.

Graffiti vandalism is apparently so cool that an East Village hotel has decided to fake it.

In a wacky attempt at earning street cred, the swanky Cooper Square Hotel has commissioned four graffiti "artists" to tag the Fifth Street wall of an adjacent building it recently bought.

One of the taggers, Joyce Pensato, was going to town yesterday on her section of the mural, which the hotel owners hope will be finished by Nov. 10, and then updated annually.

Pensato and three others -- who go by Nick 1, Vizie and Shinique -- were each paid to fill one quarter the wall.

His section spells out the words "Tropical Fantasy," a tribute to a friend who died over the summer and a reference to a local soda company.

Klus Ortleib, the hotel's managing partner, wants the place to fit in with the edgy local art scene.

"When I came up with the idea, people said I was crazy," he said.

At least one tenant of the tagged building agreed.

"They came in without regard for others," says Katy Able, 63.

"They say they can't fix a leak because they don't have money, but now they've paid to have a crane to put up graffiti."

Live blogging the NYC marathon

Why do they call it the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge? It doesn't really get more narrow as you cross it.

Live blogging the NYC marathon

And we're off! The elite male runners (No. 1-99) are out of the gate. (The elite female runners are already on the course.) And why do they get to go first? No wonder someone from this group always wins! They have a head start!

Live blogging the NYC marathon

Trautwig looks good and sounds crisp. No apparent ill effects from covering the Knicks home opener last night.

OK, OK

I'm not really live blogging the NYC marathon. Just following up on this post from Friday.