The Smith eyes basement expansion on Third Avenue

The Smith, the popular bistro on Third Avenue near East 10th Street, is on this month's CB3-SLA committee docket. According to documents, the owners are proposing to add a bar to the restaurant's basement. (The PDF of the application is here.)

In addition to a small bar, The Smith plans to open up the basement area for dining as well.

A media rep for the restaurant told us: "Currently, The Smith East Village is hoping to expand this summer and revamp the downstairs area, but all is still pending final approval."

Restaurant staffers are currently collecting signatures in support of the expansion.

[Image via]

American Apparel celebrating 9 years of gratuitous butt shots on the Lower East Side today

The American Apparel outpost on East Houston and Orchard turns 9 today. (That's 2.3 in Nylon Spandex Micro-Mesh Bra Bodysuit Years.)

In honor of that, there's a big celebratory sale from 4-8 today. BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down have more details on that. (And they have a coupon.)

Never forget!


Previously on EV Grieve:
And now, my collection of the newish American Apparel ads

HOLD ON TO YOUR PYLONS!

Tompkins Square Park this windy afternoon... via Bobby Williams.

A feel good look back at Nemo, or whatever that storm was called on Feb. 8

Here is something to do while waiting for whatever the Weather Channel named the storm coming into the NY area this evening...

The day after Nemo (the Storm of Feb. 8™), East Village resident Stephen Nangeroni shot video of people (and hawks and dogs) enjoying Tompkins Square Park and the East River Park.

Per Stephen: "The video is purely happy in tone... the idea is to capture the goofiness and fun of a day in the snow."

Here is the link to Vimeo, where it looks better than here.

Richard Hell Week continues

And over at the Observer, Nate Freeman hangs around with longtime East Village resident Richard Hell on the Bowery.

An excerpt from the Observer feature!

“It was an expression of how things were at that moment,” he said, describing the impact of Television, whose first album, Marquee Moon, is perhaps the most hyper-literate of early punk artifacts, a fancily dexterous but punishing record. Having helped forge the group’s downright mathematical guitar playing, Mr. Hell left Television just before the recording of Marquee Moon and went on to form the equally influential, slightly messier band the Heartbreakers. “It wasn’t like we brought something to the world that changed the world, it’s that the world brought us something and we acted on it.”

His memoir, "I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp," is out next week.

As previously noted here:

On Wednesday, March 13, Hell is the guest of East Village Radio's The Rest is Noise show at noon. On Thursday March 14, he will appear at the Barnes & Noble on Union Square. (Details here.)

P.S.

If you want to know more about Marque Moon, then look no further than this book.

Wind KOs front door at the Bean on First Avenue

Winter Storm Saturn is heading our way... expect wet snow, rain, sleet, ice, misery, doom, despair. That kind of thing. Meanwhile, the wind has already been whipping up... this afternoon, EVG regular William Klayer notes that the wind took out one of the doors at the Bean on First Avenue at East Ninth Street...

Bleecker Bob's closing in May; will be replaced by — FROYO

Word is spreading this morning about what will replace Bleecker Bob's Records. Here's an update from the store today on their Facebook page:

STORE UPDATE:: 3/6/13

looks like the new tenant has signed the lease. we've heard they want to be open by June 1. it will take probably around 2 months to get work permits for the massive remodeling job they'll need to do so we're figuring we should be open until May 2013!!
--- get ready for another chain of self serve yogurt/coffee/hot chocolate cafes NYC!!

The store opened in December 1968.

The asking rent for the space was $17,000.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

Bleecker Bob's is for rent

Bleecker Bob's won't be moving to the East Village — or anywhere else, for that matter

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Manny Garcia
Occupation: Owner, Cafecito
Location: Avenue C between 11th and 12th
Time: 5 pm on Friday, Feb 1

I was originally born in Jersey City but I grew up in Miami. My parents are Cuban. My father’s actually a Spaniard but he lived in Cuba for 25 years. I’ve been to Spain but I haven’t been to Cuba yet. I’ve been waiting till it opens up. I still have relatives there who’ve I’ve never met.

Miami is paradise. Most of my family is there. It’s very multicultural. But it’s too much fun and so it’s hard to get serious. It’s a party town, the weather’s beautiful — it’s 80 degrees and you’re trying to work. My first job was at McDonald's when I was 14 and after that I worked in barbacking and bartending and as an assistant manager.

At the same time I was going to FIU Hospitality School and that’s where I met my business partner for the restaurant. He was from New York and one day he called me and said he knew a neighborhood and he thought a Cuban restaurant would be perfect there. So I made a trip and we signed a lease for half the space we have now. Initially it was just a little takeout café with sandwiches, small menu, milkshakes, coffee, and we used to press the sandwiches at the bar. Then about a year later the bakery next door left and we combined both spaces.

Until a year and a half ago I lived right upstairs. I was very connected to my work. Living above made my life very intertwined with the restaurant. My whole life was the restaurant. Even on my day off… I didn’t have a day off. They’d call me and say, “Where are you?”

We just had our 10-year anniversary. There was not much around here when we first opened. On this block was just a bodega on the corner. There wasn’t much entertainment for the neighborhood. Esperanto and Zum Schneider were the only ones here, and people thought we were crazy. They said, “Oh, you’re opening here? Everything has failed here.” But the neighborhood has been great and they supported us from the beginning.

The first year was pretty much all locals. They’ve been our base and they were excited that they had a place to go that they could identify with. Even though there weren’t that many Cuban people in the neighborhood, there were a lot of Puerto Rican, Dominican, and every other Latin culture here. It was much different from working in a restaurant in Miami. Miami was crazy and 90 percent tourists. There were different people every night. There’s more of a community here.

Right after we opened we had the blackout in 2003. It was my birthday. We just opened the doors and gave everything that we had away. We had beers, food, and there was a line outside the restaurant. It was a blackout party.

The hurricane was tough, but we all chipped in together in the same way. We helped people and people helped us and it brought everybody together in the neighborhood. We supported each other. We were all in boots trying to drain basements with generators. Friends who had gas had to go to Jersey to get more gas for people. People chipped in with whatever was needed — flashlights, lights, ice, milk. People would take turns going to Costco on 116th. They would take a list and ask everybody what they needed. They would buy milk and pampers for the kids. The burden was on everybody.

The restaurant itself got hit pretty hard. There was four feet of water in the building and we were closed almost a month. We’re still trying to recover financially. We had to replace everything. We didn’t have power for 3 weeks and to this day we still don’t have Verizon. It’s five months later.

A hurricane, a flood, here? I’m from Miami and I would never think that I would move to New York and have it worse than in the tropics. It’s unbelievable.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Report: THE EAST VILLAGE IS REALLY NOISY!

So, amNY analyzed 311 data and found that! The East Village is the noisiest neighborhood in the City.

Woo! High-fives everyone!

Oh.

According to the paper's not-really-surprising analysis, the East Village (2,108 noise complaints), the Lower East Side (2,069) and Williamsburg (2,061) are the city's top three offenders.

Local leaders responded:

Susan Stetzer, district manager of Community Board 3, which oversees the East Village, said the area has had the most complaints "for many years" and that it's "nothing new."

How will you celebrate this hard-earned victory?

[St. Patrick's Day 2012 via Bobby Williams]

7-Eleven fallout: East Village groups propose resolution 'to restrict corporate formula stores'

There's a proposed resolution on the docket for tonight's CB3 Economic Development Committee meeting to restrict corporate formula stores in the neighborhood through a zoning amendment. The resolution comes from members of the No 7-Eleven group and the 11th Street A-B-C Block Association.

The groups are seeking CB3's support for the resolution.

The block association has held two meetings now (read recaps here ... and here) to discuss the incoming 7-Eleven on East 11th Street and Avenue A.

Per an invite from the last Black Association meeting:

7-Eleven is coming to Avenue A at 11th Street. The residents of 11th Street won't sit for it. We're drawing the line of suburbanization here.

We have had about enough of chain stores and suburban franchises, Duane Reades, Walgreens and Chase Banks on every corner. We've chosen to fight. Join with us and let's start a city-wide resistance. Let's not sit for it any more.

Below you'll find the resolution. (Find the PDF via the CB3 website here.)


[Click on image to enlarge]

The full Board meets on Feb. 19, 6:30 pm, PS 20, 166 Essex St.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] More from the anti-7-Eleven front on Avenue A and East 11th Street

Avenue A's anti-7-Eleven campaign now includes arsenal of 20,000 stickers

'No 7-Eleven' movement goes global with BBC report

Work picks up at incoming 7-Eleven; more 'No 7-Eleven' skull posters adorn neighborhood

On the topic of the incoming 7-Eleven at Avenue A and East 11th Street... work has picked up here this week... there has been more activity than we've seen since September...


[Bobby Williams]

(And these trucks have nothing to do with the mashed potatoes vending machine found at a few 7-Elevens.)


[Crazy Eddie]

Meanwhile, we've spotted several of the No 7-Eleven Skull Posters in nearby windows... (Courtesy, presumably, of the No 7-Eleven group...)


[Crazy Eddie]


[Facebook]


[Facebook]

Previously.

13 months later, Grand Opening officially ends at the First Avenue Subway

The Subway at 108 First Ave. near East Sixth Street opened last Feb. 8. EVG Facebook friend Steven noted that the Grand Opening banner has finally been removed... to make way for a new campaign...

Cone-eating sewer grate of Avenue B — fixed!

At East Ninth Street at the entrance to Tompkins Square Park.... flashback to Feb. 23!



And now!



Photos by Bobby Williams.

Feast opens today on Third Avenue

[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Back in July, the New York Central Framing Annex moved from 102 Third Ave. around the corner to East 12th Street...to the New York Central Art Supply Warehouse... We didn't know too much about the new bar-restaurant in the works for the renovated space, which looked as if it has a similar design vibe as Boulton & Watt on Avenue A...

In any event, Feast opens today. And Gothamist has the scoop on what to expect.

Feast styles its menu around the idea of dinner parties, where diners "share plates of food and long conversations" as they would dining at someone's home. Two different "feasts" are available at dinner time, including a Union Square Greenmarket feast that changes with the seasons and a nose-to-tail feast focused around a rotating selection of animals. Diners are seated around large, communal tables made from reclaimed wood, surrounded by vintage pieces like a cast iron stove from Cape Cod, hay pulleys and picture frames.

Here's the menu via the Feast website. According to the menu, the Farmer's Market Feast is $38 per person while the "Nose to Tail Lamb Feast" is $48 person.

Doors are open from 7:30 am – 4 pm Monday through Sunday for coffee and "freshly baked-on-premise-pastries." Feast proprietor Brian Ghaw also owns Savoy Bakery in East Harlem.