Marketing an East Village scavenger hunt

For some reason this popped up in my inbox the other day... see if you can find the two words in the description that, that... shouldn't have anything to do with the others...

Watson Adventures' Secrets of the East Village Scavenger Hunt
This East Village scavenger hunt takes participants to the haunts of diverse personalities ranging from Washington Irving to Andy Warhol to Carrie Bradshaw to Leon Trotsky, learning amazing facts about the sights seen along the way. Highlights include TV and movie locations, hurly-burly St. Mark's Place, the last remnant of the Fillmore East, the remains of the city's most aristocratic neighborhoods, the scene of a notorious riot over Macbeth, and a mini-Ukraine.

Yes, the answer is Leon Trotsky.

Ugh. Anyway, the tour is this Saturday at 5 p.m., and costs $9.75.

Why yes, there has been a lot of consuming on this stretch of Avenue A

Spotted at 12th Street and Avenue A.

Spain 1, Germany 0

Is Avenue C OK? Are the German fans being good sports?

EV Grieve Cooling Center Opens for second day

[Update] Hey, wait a minute... I didn't post those last two photos!

So, what will happen on Avenue C this afternoon if Germany beats Spain?

So, it's Germany vs. Spain today in the World Cup semifinals. And, after recent Germany victories, Avenue C and Seventh Street has turned into a Celebration Zone. (Why Seventh and C? People have been watching the matches nearby at Zum Schnieder, Alphabet City Lounge, Kafana, Arcane and the Porch... and German fans have all kind of converged here afterwards...)

So! What happens today? Jumping on fire trucks was just for the Germany-Argentina quarterfinal. What if Germany wins to advance to Sunday's final vs. The Netherlands?



I was originally going to suggest some humorous things that may happen... but I don't want to give anyone any ideas.

I'll leave you with this...inside a German celebration in the middle of Avenue C last Saturday...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Avenue C is for...crazy German fans

More photos from yesterday's German-themed Avenue C street fair

That really big Chipotle ad on First Avenue is illegal, probably

Back in April, I made note of the ginormous Chipotle banner hanging from the building on the northeast corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place...




The Chipotle banner is one of several different ads in the East Village and West Village that the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) say is illegal. In a recent letter to Robert LiMandri, commissioner, New York City Department of Buildings, GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman noted that the Chipotle sign is illegal because "the property has no signage permits in-process or issued in the last year." The area was inspected and violations issued, but no hearing has been set.

The GVSHP was instrumental in getting that awful Kobe Bryant video game ad removed on Avenue A and 12th Street this spring... I hope the Chipotle ad makes a quick exit too... I hate having such a large fast-food banner on a main thoroughfare of the neighborhood...

Time for the Shepard Fairey mural to go

I'm not sure what else to say about the Shepard Fairey mural on Houston and the Bowery... every day, a little bit more of it disappears... it's like a beached whale being slowly pecked clean by every passing seagull, crab, uh, you get the idea. I took these photos last evening. I'm sure it looks worse this morning.





Or maybe the mural is more interesting this way, as one East Village resident suggested to DNAinfo.

BoweryBoogie has an update on the mural today too.

Activity at Pete's-A-Place, but what does it mean?

A reader noted some activity yesterday at Pete's-A-Place, one of the storefronts destroyed by fire back on May 12... The gates were up at the neighborhood pizza joint, and it looked as if workers were packing/inspecting some damaged kitchen equipment...





And yo9u can see from the photos the current state of Pete's interior...

Newsflash! Not a lot of people were dining outside last evening

OK, no shit given that it was like 400 degrees at this hour, maybe 6:30ish...(a little early for dinner, yes, but still...a lot of these places have happy hour specials). Anyway, while wandering aimlessly, I realized... no one was eating outside. There are always a few brave souls who insist on eating outside no matter how extreme... so, in a really unscientific manner, I walked by some places with outdoor seating to find them...











I finally spotted two diners outside Dallas BBQ on St. Mark's. I would have taken their photo, but, I thought, they deserved to eat in peace for being this brave...

The 13th Step is now open

Second Avenue near Ninth Street. Previously.

Hot tar for a hot night

Resurfacing First Avenue tonight (and tomorrow night...)... some day soon they'll be a bike lane along here...and new bus-only lanes for the M15...

Perhaps there's another app that creates Avenue C

EV Grieve reader (and blogger) Shawn Chittle notes the new MTA iPhone app for the East Village/Lower East Side ... As he points out, Avenue C is missing (sorry World Cuppers!) and Avenue D is apparently now subbing for the FDR...



In the comments, BabyDave points out the rather interesting new route for the Bowery....

Quote of the day: "Beer pong is not the Lower East Side"

From a DNAinfo article by Patrick Hedlund on the proliferation of bars in areas other than Avenue A:

Just south of Avenue A, Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side counts 19 bars/restaurants on the three-block stretch between Houston and Delancey streets.

While many of these places have arrived without incident, a decidedly déclassé bar featuring drinking games doesn’t necessarily fit with everyone’s idea of a neighborhood pub.

“A frat bar is not representative of this once-bohemian neighborhood,” said Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer, a longtime East Villager who counts the proliferation of bars as one of the board’s most pressing issues.

“Beer pong is not the Lower East Side.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Of the 147 storefronts on Avenue A, 70 of them are bars, restaurants or vacant

Photo by EV Grieve

The EV Grieve cooling center

From the blizzardpalooza this past February... a few shots of Tompkins Square Park for this 100-degree (or so!) day ....