Happy birthday Keith Haring

If you've been to Google today... then you probably saw the Google Doodle honoring Keith Haring on what would have been his 54th birthday today. Haring died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1990 at the age of 31.

And an EVG repost from March 12, 2009:

Blogger Jack Brummet at All This is That today posts a Polaroid that he received in 1982...It's a shot of Keith Haring's mural on Houston and the Bowery....


The photo was affixed to a postcard and mailed to him from San Francisco...the former NYC resident was living in Seattle. You can see the postmark on the bottom left of the photo....

Allright meat, show him your heat

This afternoon, for some reason, New York Mets knuckleballer (and all-around-nice-guy) R.A. Dickey was in Tompkins Square Park to watch people throw Wiffle balls... and interact with kids. And adults.

Above photos by Bobby Williams.

And from the MLB ManCave Facebook page...

h/t for headline

Meatball Factory closed for the moment

Over on 14th Street and Second Avenue, the 7-month-old Meatball Factory is closed... there's no sign, and there wasn't any sign of any workers on the scene. (Perhaps in the cellar?) There isn't a message on the restaurant's Facebook page or Twitter account (which haven't been updated the past month) ... and no one answered the phone when we called; no outgoing message ... so... we'll try again later.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Seventh Street along Tompkins Square Park... Photo by Bobby Williams]

Extensive history of St. Mark's Place (BoweryBoogie)

Dedicating Harry Wieder Way this weekend (The Lo-Down)

What's going on at the Sun Shine Cafe on Allen Street? (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

A look at the menu and cocktails at Bishops & Barons on IHOP Way (Grub Street)

A lot of opposition for the Chelsea Market expansion (Curbed)

Lars Ulrich on working with Lou Reed, the reaction to "Lulu" (Spin)

And at Tompkins Square Bagels on Avenue A today...

Proto's Pizza opens today on Second Avenue

We've been watching the space where Proto's Pizza will open on Second Avenue between Third Street and Second Street... as the above photo shows, the place looks like a nice, pretentious-free pizzeria.

Owner Rob Proto left us this message:

Proto's Pizza is opening for business on Thursday, May 3rd. Looking forward to providing the East Village with high quality and great tasting pizza, sandwiches and much more.

Let us know if you try it ... And, as a bit of background...Earlier, Neighborhoodr had more on the pizzeria:

The owner’s first go at a pizza place. Aims to hit the sweet spot of offering a high-quality slice for around $2.50. No dollar slices here. "I'd rather go out of business than have to compromise quality. You’re in New York. Do it right," says Mr. Proto, a Brooklyn native.

Hotel construction on 13th Street and Fourth Avenue — now in fifth year! — continues

Yesterday morning, EV Grieve reader John noted some progress at the incoming Hyatt Union Square on Fourth Avenue at East 13th Street... Indeed, workers were erecting scaffolding on the lower levels...

...and later... more scaffolding!

In any event, it seems as if the stalled/unstalled/too tall/view-blocking hotel project is dawdling along ... by our count, construction has entered its fifth year. Curbed's first post on it went up on July 18 2007.

It wasn't always a Hyatt property, of course... early on hotel developer Sam "McSam" Chang's group was behind the construction ... It became Hyatt's problem property in November 2010...

Early rendering!

Newer rendering with the hydroponic bamboo garden and halo!

[Image from Archpaper via Curbed]

Last official word on this via Hyatt was a fall 2011 opening.

Previously.

Let's take a quick look inside Michael White's new pizzeria on Second Avenue

We walked by that incoming Michael White pizzeria on Second Avenue at 10th Street yesterday ...

...the plywood is down on the side... (see the first comment — a commenter said there was never any plywood...)

...and the anti-blogger shield hasn't been activated...

Anyway, here's what one portion of the interior is looking like these days...

Per Diner's Journal, Nicoletta's pizzas "will be baked in a gas-fired brick oven but would be 'different, crisper' thanks to both his technique and a flour that is lower in protein."

Nicoletta is on this month's CB3/SLA docket for a sidewalk cafe...

Here's the bar behind Jane's Sweet Buns

Just following up on yesterday's item via UrbanDaddy about a new, sorta secret bar opening in the rear of Jane's Sweet Buns... A reader sent along the above photo from last evening... workers were still setting up the 10-seat bar, which is called Proletariat ... they will serve "hard-to-find brews from the Death + Company guys."

No official word on when the bar opens...

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] There's now a (sort of) secret beer bar behind Jane's Sweet Buns

Vandaag's weiner window opening this weekend

This weekend, over on Second Avenue, Vandaag will start serving sausages out of a takeout window on the restaurant's Sixth Street side, Eater reported yesterday.

As you might expect, the weiners are foodie friendly. Here's the menu, via Eater ...

Why you are in luck if you ever dreamed of having R.A. Dickey of the Mets watch you throw a Wiffle ball in Tompkins Square Park

Because it's happening this afternoon! We don't know many other details... other than that someone sent us this Facebook notice last night...

And record-long headline too!

The Neighborhood School library spared for now; Standard East Village chips in $10,000 donation

[Photo by Bill Massey]

A few weeks ago, word spread that The Neighborhood School was in danger of losing its library. (You can read our post on it here.)

There's good news on the situation via The Wall Street Journal, who reports that parents raised funds to save the job of the librarian, Cheryl Wolf, and the library for at least another school year. As Ralph Gardner wrote:

The good news is that the heroic efforts on the part of the P.S. 363 community have underlined the value of librarians in the life of students — it's perhaps even more so today, when children have virtually unlimited computer access to information but need guidance putting it into context. The bad news is that the plight of the school puts into stark context just how dramatically the budget crisis has affected the city's public education system.

Read the whole article here.

The Journal notes that the "Save the Library" campaign was several hundred dollars short of its goal when The Standard East Village put in a $10,000 contribution. (We'll have more later on the other local businesses who were very supportive.)

Meanwhile, the fund shortage continues in other areas of the school... which you can read about at the school's website.

But for now... parents are savoring the moment...

Catch the rainbow

In Tompkins Square Park today with Hildegard Ford — AKA the Four-Leaf Clover Lady of the East Village...

Photo by Bobby Williams

You can read more about her in this feature from the Daily News from 2008.

[Updated] There's now a (sort of) secret beer bar behind Jane's Sweet Buns

Last October, Jane's Sweet Buns went before the CB3/SLA for a wine and beer license to pair with its desserts (the alcohol, not the license). Apparently the bakery that opened last July on St. Mark's Place in the former De La Vega Museum space is putting the license to good use.

According to an UrbanDaddy report this afternoon, Jane's back now includes a new 10-seat bar called Proletariat ... "a tiny enclave of hard-to-find brews from the Death + Company guys, now tucked innocently behind Jane’s Sweet Buns."

Per UrbanDaddy, "you’re going to walk in, give a wink and a nod, and just glide on through the door to the right of the counter" to access Proletariat.

UPDATED:
Several readers quickly noted that there was a lot of CB3 debate over this application... Someone else pointed us to CB3's final verdict:

VOTE: To deny the application for a beer wine license for DeRossi Chelsea LLC, doing business as Jane's Sweet Buns, for the premise located at 102 St. Marks Place, unless the applicant agrees before the SLA to make as conditions of its license the following signed notarized stipulation that 1) it will operate as a bakery and pastry shop, serving food during all hours of operation, 2) it will stop serving beer and wine at 12:00 A.M. Sundays through Thursdays and 2:00 A.M. Fridays and Saturdays, 3) it will play ambient background music only, consisting of recorded music. Community Board 3 is approving this beer wine application although this is a location in an area with numerous licensed premises because 1) this applicant and its employees have a significant collective experience in baking, 2) the approval of a beer wine license would give the applicant parity with adjacent licensed establishments, and 3) at less than four hundred (400) square feet in size, this location could not be detrimental to the community.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

["Dark Circles" opening soon? Spotted by peter radley at Sixth Street and First Avenue]

A mini Mars Bar (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The Rent Guidelines Board vote for a hike (DNAinfo)

Parking punch retrial begins (New York Post)

An appreciation of Mink DeVille (Heave Media)

More scenes from the OWS/Wildcat protest at Sara D. Roosevelt Park yesterday (The Gog Log)

Cocktail Bodega for the LES? (BoweryBoogie)