So long spaceship windows! Rolling out the barrel at the Cooper Craft and Kitchen

Over on Second Avenue and Fifth Street, work continues on the former Kurve/Rhong Tiam space...

And workers have now replaced the space-aged windows...



...with rather normal-looking windows...

And on the inside? EV Grieve reader Sy on 5th Street got a glimpse. Very barrel-ly!

Meanwhile, Bobby Williams got a look at the front...

As previously reported, the space will be a craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant called Cooper Craft and Kitchen from the team behind Dempsey's and Sláinte. They got a full liquor license approval back in June.

Bonus photo of the former curvy Kurve windows!

Hell in Austin

The Austin Chronicle has a quick recap of Richard Hell's book reading there in Texas Tuesday night:

Funny, ecstatic, historic, depraved, revealing, Hell hit all the bases, beginning with Television’s first rehearsals (“It was like creating the world”), CBGBs’ early days (“sticking a needle in my arm felt adult, more independent than any choice I’d ever made”), Pere Ubu and Rocket From the Tombs drug casualty Peter Laughner (“so pure and so tainted”), cocaine nights (“under cocaine my brain and cock were the same”), and his road to addiction recovery in 1983.

Why the Mosaic Cafe closed

[Dave on 7th]

Yesterday, we reported that Mosaic Cafe had closed on Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street... I asked co-owner Rachel Fuchs what happened. Here's her response, via email:

"Business was going well. Unfortunately, we had to close due to issues with the landlord. We are very upset about the whole situation and love the neighborhood... so hopefully we will be able to relocate in the East Village in the near future."

It takes two

Earlier today in Tompkins Square Park. Photo by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Second Avenue and Houston, by Bobby Williams]

Looking at the vestibule inside St. Mark's Bookshop (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Overnight at Occupy Wall Street (The New York Observer)

Protests planned about treatment of the Occupy Wall Street protestors (Runnin' Scared)

Looking at the Limelight documentary (Flaming Pablum)

3 views of lower Fifth Avenue through the years (Ephemeral New York)

Looking at the subway stations with cellphone service (The Wall Street Journal)

14th Street Y is going green (NY1)

Steve Albini on NYC: "New York has a couple of characteristics that are undeniable and one of those is that it’s a magnet for assholes who couldn’t get any attention at home and decided that the problem wasn’t that they weren’t interesting but that there were all these squares around them in Dubuque or whatever and they need to go to some big cosmopolitan city like New York where people will appreciate them." (Gothamist)

The WikiLeaks truck is on East Fourth Street this morning

Several readers have pointed out that the WikiLeaks truck is currently parked on East Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue ... these photos are via Dave on 7th...

Earlier in the week, people spotted the truck at the Occupy Wall Street protests...

h/t @HanserHanser

Neighbors leave first Urban Etiquette Sign for UCBeast

Three weeks have passed since the Upright Citizens Brigade opened up their new theater/comedy club at Third Street and Avenue A...

And we have our first noise complaint, spotted on the East Third Street side...

In part, "Look around you. There are apartment buildings with people trying to get a few hours sleep. Start being a good neighbor and tell to those people to keep their voices down and stop blocking the sidewalk."

Well, this has quickly turned into a comedy of manners. (Offt!)

Peepshow returns to Avenue C

For the past five or six years, J. Kathleen White has created a set of peephole dioramas ... and she places them along the gate at Avenue C of the Ninth Street Community Garden... Bobby Williams has a look at her 2011 collection that just went up ...

Mosaic Cafe has closed on Avenue C

Dave on 7th passes along the news that Mosaic Cafe has closed on Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street...

They opened last November, and seemed to be a good neighborhood spot ... The sign left for customers says that they might relocate...

The 4th Street Food Co-op temporarily closing for renovations

Here's a message from our friends at The 4th Street Food Co-op:

The 4th Street Food Co-op will be closed from Friday until Sat. Oct 8 (reopen day subject to change) for renovations. We will be replacing our floors and relocating our cooling compressors. More details about the work and re-open dates can be found on our blog.

Please come stock up before Thursday night on dry goods such as bulk rice, oats, nuts, olive oil, and maple syrup, so that we don't have to move as much stuff!

Remembering the Twin Towers on East Fourth Street

The Fourth Arts Block is featuring the work of Lower East Side-based photographer Brian Rose ...

His panorama of various facades of the former Twin Towers is mounted on the ArtUp Scaffolding Bridge at the 70 East 4th Street Cultural Center. And FAB Café is hosting a concurrent exhibition of Rose’s work at 75 E. 4th St. The opening event is tonight from 7-9.

Meanwhile, Rose tells us that he is going forward with publishing "Time and Space on the Lower East Side," working with a small publisher. He just launched a Kickstarter campaign to facilitate funding. The project page is here.

We first wrote about the project in July 2010. You can find that post here. Bonus photo of his from the 1980s...



On the Bowery looking north toward East Fifth Street — now JASA/Cooper Square Senior Housing and the Cooper Square Hotel

Former Octavia's Porch space yielding to a Mexican restaurant at 40 Avenue B

CB3 hasn't even yet distributed the SLA commitee agenda for October ... though we already know of one applicant here at 40 Avenue B. Looks as if the name might be Fonda operating as a contemporary Mexican restaurant. The owners will be aiming for a beer-wine license.

In May, the "Global Jewish" restaurant from "Top Chef" alum Nikki Cascone closed after six months. Chabela's and Russo's have been in and out of here in fairly quick succession in recent years.

'Modern Love' filming at Vazac's today

Filming continues around here today for the pilot episode of "Modern Love," a series for Lifetime. Per Vulture, the show "centers on the science editor at the New York Times (or a modified version thereof) who suddenly becomes the 'Modern Love' editor while his marriage is dissolving and he's raising a 15-year-old daughter."

And today they'll be filming inside Vazac's/7B at Seventh Street and Avenue B ... so you may need to find another place to drink in the afternoon... (And did they ever find that "hip, eclectic type loft or apartment?" for the series?)

Also! Be sure to bring your Eric Stoltz and Ally Sheedy paraphernalia to have signed. These under-appreciated actors are the leads.

Speaking of Ally Sheedy, may we recommend her in "Man's Best Friend" from 1993...

Helen Stratford in Tompkins Square Park today

Helen Stratford by Bobby Williams.