Reader report: Film crew makes woman in walker use sidewalk on other side of East 10th St.

There are some annoyed residents along East 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B this morning… While residents mostly try to be accommodating to the endless film shoots around the neighborhood, Jose Garcia notes this small crew crossed a line this morning.

"These clowns, who could not or would not say whether they have a permit, made the woman pictured WHO IS USING A WALKER, cross the street so they wouldn’t have to interrupt their precious work. They also asked the parks people to stop raking."

"We were not as polite as we normally might have been once they harassed the woman WHO IS USING A WALKER and bullied her into crossing the street. Happy Saturday everyone!"

Updated 12:15
Apparently the crew is filming a scene for a movie called "Little Galicia."

A resident on this block was told that the crew was from "Little Galicia." This is NOT true. The locations manager wrote in to say that they had proper permits from the Mayor's Office of Film Theater and Broadcasting, "and would NEVER allow our crew to stop an elderly woman from crossing the street during filming." They were shooting at 253 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and 1st Avenue on Friday.

Today in marriage proposals

A reader spotted this on Avenue C and East 12th Street…

Previously on EV Grieve:
A marriage proposal by mural on Second Street (and she said yes)

Going to the mural and we're gonna get married

Marriage mural on East Second Street rankles neighborhood activist

A week in the life of the Cooktop Sidewalk Garden on St. Mark's Place

It was, of course, the story the captivated the city this past week. It started after someone discarded cooktops on the sidewalk along St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Then that one guy you always see on St. Mark's Place put them to good use.

The rest is, of course, Cooktop Sidewalk Garden history.

Monday!



Tuesday!



Wednesday!





Thursday!





Friday!



Today! [sob]



It was also a week in which we learned that not many people know, exactly, what a cooktop is.



So. Worst sidewalk garden branding ever then?

Taking this disk for a drive on the 6 train

Yesterday, while waiting for the downtown 6 at Astor Place, EVG contributor Derek Berg talked with this gentleman holding the giant disk… he is a veteran computer guy who was transporting this hard disk (the IBM 2302?) from the late 1960s to his new office…



Perhaps this held the battle plans for 51 Astor Place?

'Til death do us part

Video posted last month from Savages … with "Husbands."

Donostia opens tomorrow on Avenue B

The tapas bar/cafe opens tomorrow morning at 155 Avenue B at East 10th Street, per the signs on the gate. We don't honestly know much about the place other than what was on their application for a beer-wine license back in May.

• Listed food: "Spanish tapas, sandwiches, salads, meats, cheeses, etc."

• "The principal has worked as an employee at several fine dining establishments including Craft, db Bistro Moderne, Estiatorio Milos."

There is also a small retail component here as well … selling "Spanish specialty goods," per CB3 documents. The space, previously home to Zee's Pet Shop (now on East 13th Street), has been meticulously renovated.

[Photos by Bobby Williams]

Cafe Rakka looks to be a goner on Avenue B

[Photo courtesy of Ray LeMoine]

Ugh. Long-timer Cafe Rakka on Avenue B is for rent ... the familiar sign of Croman Realty's "Call Harvey" can't be missed.

Too bad — Cafe Rakka is always a nice, affordable option here near East Third Street. Anyway, it remains open for now.

Meanwhile, the Cafe Rakka — now called Rakka Cafe — is undergoing renovations on St. Mark's Place.

Today in posts about turkey mac-n-cheese

Via the EVG inbox from S'MAC on East 12th Street...

Our Thanksgiving Turkey MAC is back on the menu and you can find details on our website ...

It will stay on the menu through Christmas.

Report: St. Mark's Bookshop prepping fundraiser ahead of possible move to Avenue A

Rent-challenged St. Mark's Bookshop is finalizing a fundraiser ahead of a move to Avenue A, according to a report at Publishers Weekly.

There's a fundraiser (online and in the store) set for Dec. 5 that will feature signed first editions donated by a variety of authors, including Ann Carson, Lydia Davis and Paul Auster.

Per Publishers Weekly:

But that is only one piece of the store’s fundraising plans so that it can stay in the East Village in a space near Avenue A and Third Street. The president of Cooper Union has offered to help the bookstore by letting it use the school’s Great Hall for a fundraiser and to contact some of the schools’s donors on the store’s behalf. Those details are still being worked out.

Cooper Union will reportedly allow the store to leave its current home on Third Avenue with four years left on the lease.

Back to Publishers Weekly:

The new location would be about half of the store’s current size, or 1,300 sq. ft. Co-owner Bob Contant regards the store's downsizing as a good thing. “The print book business isn’t as robust as it used to be,” he points out. “Where we sold 25 books, now we sell five.”

As for the new new location "near Avenue A and Third Street" … let the speculation begin!

The photogenic recyclables of East 2nd Street

The daily activity outside D & D Salvage on East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue caught the eye of East Village resident Stephanie Nilva, who recently began documenting the streetscene here.

"I walk by every morning and I loved how the bundles look — the colors, the textures," she said.

Team behind Ofrenda bringing Black Ant to the East Village

The owners of Ofrenda, a homestyle Mexican restaurant in the West Village, is opening Black Ant in the East Village. The restaurant will be located at 60 Second Ave. near East Third Street, in the space previously occupied by Bona Fides.

The Black Ant Facebook page describes itself this way: "Contemporary Mexican Restaurant, Cocktail Bar and Garden."

The Facebook page shared plans for the new space as well…



Black Ant is aiming for a mid-Janaury opening, per their Twitter account.

Read more about Ofrenda's background here at New York magazine.

More on the closing of Continuum Coffee and Continuum Cycles

As we reported earlier this month, Continuum Cycles and Continuum Coffee have closed on Avenue B. We caught up with Continuum owner Jeff Underwood for more about what happened.

The coffee shop opened shortly before Sandy hit last October, and Underwood had a difficult time recovering from the storm damage. (An unresponsive landlord apparently didn't help.)

"I had taken all of my funds and put it into the cafe last year. Not only did our whole basement flood with sewage and salt water, destroying my stock for the cafe and bike shop, we also didn't have phone service or stable Internet service for over three months," he said via email. "This kept us from running credit cards, which is 80 percent of our sales."

Business lagged post-Sandy, and he wasn't able to get ahead of the mounting bills as the year continued.

For now, Underwood said that he plans to regroup over the coming months, with the expectation of reopening a shop somewhere in the neighborhood in the spring.

"I'm actually very excited about taking the winter off to look for the perfect space. I also do dog rescue and training, which I love, so this will give me time to take on more clients and work with more dogs in need," he said. "As for bicycles, I will still take on clients, but obviously at a smaller scale. My goal is to revamp my website for e-commerce, so that we can reach more folks.

"It has been a bittersweet couple of weeks. Closing was a bit hard but the love that people are showing is blowing us away."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Out and About in the East Village with Jeff Underwood

Reader photo from Nov. 17

ArtisanFEST returns to The Neighborhood School on Sunday

From the EVG inbox...

The Neighborhood School’s ArtisanFEST: Art, shopping, snacks and all your holiday gifting under one roof!

The Neighborhood School’s ArtisanFEST is back! On Sunday, Nov. 24, from 10 am to 4 pm, come out to support a local public school and get all your holiday shopping done in one fell swoop. Admission is free and open to the public. Scoop up silk-screened clothing, hand-printed linens, sample-sale items, home decorations, jewelry, fine art and more.

Confirmed artisans include: Lucky Fish (gorgeous screen-printed clothes and home goods); Vale (edgy yet dainty vintage-y jewelry); Wovenplay (imagination-sparking clothes and accessories for wee adventurers and artists); Interior Provisions (affordably luxurious home products with a conscience; Small Trades (men’s and women’s classic clothing inspired by Irving Penn’s 1950s photos); Winter Water Factory (boldly printed organic clothing and accessories); Atsuko & Akiko (exquisite and playful clothing, home décor and jewelry); Jillian Sherry (delicate ripped silk paintings and textile prints); Billie Beads (polymer beaded, bejeweled objets and killer tchotchkes); MUNY (Indian, boho, fair-trade, handcrafted textiles evoking both Mumbai and New York – hence the name); Odette Williams (delightful retro-hip aprons, kid clothes and wall art) and many more. There will also be homemade treats, kids selling their own beaded and Rainbow-Loomed jewelry, and some of those groovy food trucks.

A portion of the proceeds goes to Studio in a School, the wonderful organization that brings together professional artists and public school kids, and to The Neighborhood School PTA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. The Neighborhood School is at 121 East 3rd Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village.

Night at 51 Astor Place

A look inside the retail space for lease at 51 Astor Place… photo by Bobby Williams