A happy Schmidty ending

As you may recall, Schmidty the parrot went missing the other night... But! After an anxious day-and-a-half ... his owners report a happy reunion:

He was hanging out on a tree on Avenue D and 12th street. A young guy named Jorge called us at around 8am. After many false alarms in the past two days, this was truly our parrot ...
Without the support of the amazing community this would have not been possible. Thanks you to all of you who helped ...

Prepping for 'Taxi Driver' in Tompkins Square Park

Bobby Williams checks out the preparation for tonight's free screening of "Taxi Driver." And as you can see, the films this summer will be shown in Crusty Meadow the grassy area in the middle of the Park... Am curious if security will be checking bags ...

Germany vs. Italy

A few scenes from this afternoon's Euro 2012 semi-final soccer match ...

Photos by Dave on 7th.

Jane's Sweet Buns officially closed; Proletariat taking over space

[June 20]

As we've pointed out, Jane's Sweet Buns on St. Mark's Place has been closed of late...

Now, Grub Street gets confirmation that Proletariat, the 10-seat bar that opened in the back of the Bunnery in May, is taking over the full space... and they will open in the expanded storefront tomorrow.

In addition, the bar will eventually add a food menu that includes beer-steamed mussel buckets, baked clams and "more beer-friendly fare," Grub Street reported.

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

Bakery opening on St. Mark's Place

Has Jane's Sweet Buns closed?

Will you shop at the incoming Kips Bay Fairway?

A little outside our usual boundaries... but maybe this might impact someone's shopping routine... Crain's (via Racked) reports that a Fairway is opening in the Second Avenue strip mall that also houses the (often pleasant) AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 ... the grocery will replace the Office Depot and Crunch Gym there at 30th Street.

Had a neighbor who'd always make a weekend morning/afternoon out of hitting either the Harlem or UWS Fairway... I recall going once and being impressed... and wishing that it was closer to home.

[Updated] Reader report: Man clipped by bus on Avenue A

A few minutes ago... a reader noted that the man, now sitting in Avenue A, got clipped by a northbound M14, which was idling just past St. Mark's Place ... we don't have all the details... but the man did appear to be talking to the EMTs on the scene...

Updated with photos at 3:23 p.m.

Via Bobby Williams...

Don't it make my brown wall blue

Hey! What's this along the Verizon building on East 13th Street at Second Avenue...?

Brownness! Freshly brown!

And no parking.

Thanks to EVG reader and Verizon Wall Correspondent evilnyc for the photos and update...

Previously on EV Grieve:
First tag reappears on the Verizon building

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Verizon is going to blow the budget on brown paint

Let's take a look at the DeRobertis in-house bakery

[Gudrun Georges]

DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe on First Avenue near East 11th Street is one of my favorite places in the neighborhood ... the business has been run by the same family, now in its 4th generation...

Photographer Gudrun Georges recently captured the 108-year-old Italian bakery in these photos ... and she shared them with me ... (find more here) ...







In addition, John the owner invited her to have a look at the in-house bakery, an area not in view to customers ... it's located below the cafe...

You can find more of her bakery photos here.

51 Astor Place wants the skyline to itself

Our friend Pinhead sent along these before and after renderings of the Death Star 51 Astor Place...

The older one!



The newer one on the 51 Astor website now...



Notice anything different? Or missing?

Let's go the the Grievestrator...





As you'll notice, the new rendering does away with that pesky 19-story white-brick Saint Mark apartments ... (Joey Ramone lived there!) ... If 51 Astor Place wants to do away with some buildings around here, then we have some suggestions...

Tonight, 'Taxi Driver,' plus more about 'Films in Tompkins' this summer

A few weeks, Scoopy at The Villager had the scoop on the free summer movie series in Tompkins Square Park... We received the news release on Tuesday... a quick note before the cut-n-paste job below. The lineup looks to have changed by one film ... "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is off the list that Scoopy had ... "Donnie Darko" moved slots to cover that night ... and "Goldfinger" is the new addition to the lineup, which definitely sets us up for a Pussy Galore reference.

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Free. Gates Open at 6 p.m. Music Starts ½ Hour before the Start of the Film (sundown)

June 28 — Taxi Driver, Music by Mr. Reed

July 5 — Exit Trough The Gift Shop, Music by Church of Betty

July 12 — Fantastic Mr. Fox, Music by Dandy Wellington And His Band

July 19 — Summer of Sam, Music by The Debonairs and Brendan O’Hara

July 26 — Goldfinger, Music by The Luddites

Aug. 2 — Donnie Darko, Music by The Rad Trads
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 9 — The Big Lebowski, Music by Main Squeeze Orchestra
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 16 — Poltergeist, Music by Timbila

Dates subject to Rain Delays.

Films In Tompkins is sponsored by Ella, The Blind Barber, Two Boots, Grolsch, GalleryBar, Tower Brokerage and NYC& Company.

Tonight through Sunday: 'Spring Pictures of the Floating World'

From the EV Grieve inbox...

[Click image to enlarge]

And here's more information from the news release...

Peculiar Works Project announces a new site-specific sextravaganza: Spring Pictures of the Floating World (and Art of the Bedchamber), a two-part performance art installation, reimagining 17th Century Japanese Shunga — pillow books — and their 5,000-year-old Chinese inspiration.

This unique hybrid event features multiple, immersive installations that will integrate live, multi-disciplinary performance in an exhibition context.

For four nights only — Thursday (7-11pm), Friday (7-11pm), Saturday (4-11pm) and Sunday (4-8pm) — more than 50 installation artists, designers, directors, composers, choreographers, puppeteers and performers will transform the abandoned basement of 66 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue into a grand pleasure palace.

Audiences can come and go throughout the exhibition hours, but due to its sexual nature this is an ADULTS ONLY event (NC17).

Visit the Peculiar Works Project website for more details and ticket info.

About the Millennium Film Workshop

In our previous post, we noted the interesting performance exhibition happening at 66-68 E. Fourth St. tonight through Sunday ... it's taking place in part of the space that belonged to Millennium Film Workshop inside the La MaMa Annex Theater...

Back in January, Steven Thrasher at Runnin' Scared reported that the Millennium Film Workshop faced eviction from its longtime home on East Fourth Street after falling behind on rent with La MaMa ... he followed up the next day with a piece on La MaMa leaders saying that they believe in and support the Workshop's mission.

And that was the last we heard about the situation.

Anyway, as we learned, the Workshop is still in the basement under the LaMama Annex Theater, but they reconfigured their space. We understand that La Mama plans to rent the half that the Workshop vacated to someone else. One person with knowledge of the negotiations between the Workshop and La MaMa described it as a "positive" transition.

Iconic Hand Rolls opens tonight on First Avenue

Iconic Hand Rolls opens this evening at 6 here on First Avenue near St. Mark's Place (in the space that previously housed Cotan, who took over the space after Shiki Kitchen closed...)

Hiroko Shimbo is the consulting executive chef of this quick-serve sushi restaurant ... and here's an Iconic employee with one of Shimbo's creations ...

[via Hiroko's Kitchen]

You can find the menu here.

Tyra Banks goes up on Avenue D

On Avenue D yesterday, workers put up the sign for the Tyra Banks TZONE, which will be housed at the new Lower Eastside Girls Club Center for Community on Avenue D... Per the TZONE website:

The Tyra Banks TZONE at the Lower Eastside Girls Club will be a leadership development center within the Girls Club. Through a rich mix of career development workshops, mentoring, experiential learning opportunities, financial literacy initiatives and community-wide events, hundreds of preteens and teens will build self-esteem, achieve greatness in their lives, and prepare for life as entrepreneurs and change-makers in the world.

The New York Times wrote about Banks and the TZONE back on June 13.

"What I don't want to be is Tyra, the 'celebrity girl,' coming here and the girls being excited when they see me," she told the Times. "I want them to be numb to me. I can do normal work here and they can see me, to know that this is what a business is."

TZONE launched in 1999 as a series of summer camps to build self-esteem among young girls with the Lower Eastside Girls Club, the article noted.

Photo by Bobby Williams.