Never so happy to see a McDonald's billboard

Atop Fourth Street and the Bowery:

Before!




Now!




Previously on EV Grieve:
On no...no no! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Western Chinese cuisine coming to St. Mark's Place

East Village Feed and I had been talking about what's going into the former Seoul Station location on St. Mark's Place near First Avenue.... (photo via EVF)....



...and now we know...some western Chinese cuisine...

Hope that you survived the tornado tonight

Uh-huh.

Tornado watch for NYC area

Bloomberg will do anything to make NYC more suburban!

[Heh.]

Post intern now very unpopular among underage drinkers

The Post sent a 20-year-old intern into various bars and bodegas, mostly in the East Village and Lower East Side, and discovered that -- OMG! -- many places served him a drink... even though his New Jersey license showed that he is underage.

Per the story:

He got served at an astonishing 17 of 30 establishments -- 57 percent -- despite the stores and gin joints facing fines up to $10,000 and the loss of their state liquor licenses.

Many of the spots, selected randomly from among 132 places with underage State Liquor Authority violations from May 1, 2009 to May 1, 2010, never bothered to ask the college sophomore for his ID -- a valid New Jersey driver's license showing his birthday, Aug. 29, 1989.

And!

At Kate's Joint, at 58 Ave. B, a female bartender asked for his ID, looked at the license briefly and poured the intern a Blue Moon draft, waving at the owner herself, Kate, as she sat at the bar, which had two signs cautioning that drinking was not legal for those under 21.

Her only question: "Would you like some orange wedges with that?"

A male bartender at Cosmic Cantina, at 99 Third Avenue, looked over the license before selling the intern a bottle of Dos Equis for $5. He then said, "This is for you," and poured a free shot of tequila. When the intern walked out, the bartender encouraged him to take the open but untouched beer with him.

A few things about this story:

--Why would anyone order Blue Moon? It tastes like moldy water.
--Did he accept the orange slices?
--I like the bar at Kate's.
--Cosmic Cantina's last day is today... they didn't renew their lease.
--Did he drink any of the beers? What a waste of a lot of drinks!
--This sounds like any other weekend around here.
--Been more interesting to do this story while NYU is in session...when bartenders are seemingly more vigilant about the kids looking for some drinks...

[Photo by Angel Chevrestt for the Post]

Summer Art Spectacular today at the Mars Bar

But it's always spectacular here....

In case you didn't notice, Cafe Hanover is now open on St. Mark's Place

After a nearly seven-month delay, Cafe Hanover opened this weekend in the karaoke empire at the site of the former Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's Place...








Previously on EV Grieve:
2U (or U2) Karaoke is now open on St. Mark's Place; Hanover Cafe coming soon

Notes that will likely mean something to somebody

Spotted on the Bowery today.

Avenue A, 9:27 p.m., June 5

Demer and Col on Second Avenue

Jim and Karla Murray have some great shots of Demer and Col creating a mural on the plywood outside Ninth Ward, the new bar opening on Second Avenue in the old Thai on Two place... From last night...



See all their photos here.

Lilly Coogan's RIP?

Walked by Lilly Coogan's on First Avenue near Sixth Street last night several times... and, when I took this photo around 9:30, the gates were still down... And I called the bar to discover their number was not in service... One of the bars around here that I've never stepped foot in... maybe because it replaced one of my favorites, the Homestead, one of the great dives in the neighborhood. I reminisced about this in a comment on Eater... They had the crummy pool table that was about a foot from the north wall. I recall they had shorter sticks as a remedy.

A plaque for Shepard Fairey, and something else to tag

A new plaque went up to commemorate Shepard Fairey's mural on Houston and the Bowery... Only about six weeks after the mural went up... (And when will the plaque be defaced?)

Flashback to April 20!



For further reading:
Houston Wall (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
Graffiti Wall Primed for Shepard Fairey (BoweryBoogie)

MARTE kicks off today

Over at PS 63 on East Third Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Per the MARTE website:

MARTE (Manhattan Artisan Retail & Trade Emporium)—is a weekly upscale flea market taking place at school locations throughout Manhattan. The flea is a collaboration between each school’s Parents Association and Manhattan Media, the leading publisher of community newspapers and Manhattan lifestyle magazines. Each market is free to the public and features new and antique jewelry and furniture, local artists, food vendors, and entertainment. Proceeds from the events directly impact the schools and Parents Association.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday this summer. (It's also open tomorrow for the kick-off weekend.)

"Is this the new East Village?"

The Daily News checks in with an update on Village Green, the eco-friendly condo on 11th Street and its developer, Michael Namer.

What we learned from the article:

[A]ll but two of 36 units are sold in the building that has a green roof, uses Daikin HVAC systems instead of a boiler, has a wellness center, recaptures rainwater, and counts several buyers as bona fide supermodels.

Is this the new East Village? Maybe, maybe not, but Namer and company proved that good product marketed to the right audience will find buyers, even with prices averaging $1.1 million.

And a great headline for Joe Coscarelli's post on this at Runnin' Scared:

The East Village is Finally Safe For Yuppies, Parties and the Environment

(One item I didn't note on the Daily News piece: "[Namer] throws huge parties. One is so big they have to almost close the street.")



Previously.