There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)

Tompkins Square Park today via Bobby Williams…

Why there'll be electric guitars on East Village streets this afternoon

As part of Make Music Winter .. the Tilted Axes Mobile Electric Guitar Procession will work its way through the East Village this afternoon from 3-5.



Here's more about it:

Composer and producer Patrick Grant creates and leads a procession with dozens of electric guitarists through the East Village, with a special stop at The Alamo, the iconic Astor Place sculpture commonly referred to as The Cube. In 2014, The Alamo will be moved from its current location to another part of the plaza. To observe this occurrence, Grant introduces new repertoire that evokes the iconic guitar music that has scored sub-genre Wild West cinema. The event will be a moving, polyphonic sound cloud layered in compelling, electric rhythms to honor the season’s axial tilt.

Here's a video from last year's Tilted Axes procession…

Oh, won't someone please buy this lonely Christmas tree?

At the St. Mark's Market, one lone tree remains for sale. It would look nice in any home! I'd buy it, but I already have 11 in the apartment…



Meanwhile! So there's one tree left here… Elsewhere! Forests of trees remain for sale!







And, well, please shield the eyes of the children now.

The troubled Frosty the Snowman inflatable on Second Avenue near East Houston is… just… Maybe it's the heat? (Let's remain positive.)


[I'll be back again some day. Thumpity, thump, thump]

First discarded Christmas tree of the season (aka FREE TREE)

Hurry now. Fourth Avenue between East 12th Street and East 13th Street. Still smells sorta piney.

Safe 'Harbor'?

Touché Amoré with "Harbor" … the band's record, "Is Survived By," made No. 2 on Andrew Sacher's Top 20 Albums of 2013 over at Brooklyn Vegan…

Take these old MTA benches off of LaMaMa's hands — or they'll be chainsawed!

An EVG reader passed along this Craigslist post…

We payed full price, $650 each — you can have them for free, you just have to pick them up. We will even help load them into your truck. They weigh ~500# each. We used them in a show and the show will be done. You MUST pick them up Sunday night or early Monday morning at LaMama theater. Otherwise they will be chainsawed...

FYI: they are 10' plus long, so you would need a box truck, not a cargo van.

Seriously, haven't you always wanted one of these in your back yard? Or you artist loft?

Today in red-tailed hawks eating a rat on a fire escape

EVG regular William Klayer caught the action on East 12th Street just east of First Avenue… Oh, that stare!

What has happened to East Village Shoe Repair?

That's the question the Confidential columnists at the Daily News are asking today. The sliver of a shoe-repair shop on St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue rather abruptly closed before Thanksgiving, as we first noted here.

And there is some fallout from this closure. To Confidential:

Model Francesca Vuillemin is one of several lower Manhattan tastemakers who recently popped into East Village Shoe Repair to pick up shoes. Hers were pairs by Balenciaga and Miu Miu that she’d left for repairs. She estimates the kicks were worth $700.

Vuillemin had been told by the store’s proprietors many times since September that the repairs were behind schedule and had been asked to come back another time.

An EVG reader heard from proprietor Boris Zuborev that they would reopen in the David's Shoe Repair storefront on East Seventh Street. (The for rent sign is off that space.) We haven't heard anything else about this.

The Daily News tried to contact Boris, but "two calls to a number registered to [him] resulted in a pair of angry hangups."

In which we turn 6! 6! 6!

[One day on Second Avenue]

The EV Grieve website/blog turns 6 tomorrow. Thought I'd mention it now, though.

The whole thing started because of this. (Ultimately a false alarm! Thanks Page Six!)

Anyway, on previous anniversaries, I talked about the secret formula for blogging (No. 4) and my dubious past as TV Grieve (No. 5).

Today, I'm here to talk about the future. Starting today, I'm launching a Kickstarter campaign without a business plan to raise $750,000 to create Grieve.You.Me, a new site powered by a proprietary algorithm that also generates positive Yelp reviews and...

Ahhh. OK, a sincere thank you to everyone who has been part of any of EVG these past six years… from taking the time to read the site… sharing the posts… commenting, complaining, commiserating, passing along tips, laughing, crying… you know. Your involvement and camaraderie makes it all worthwhile. (And a large thank you to everyone who contributes to the blog on a regular basis, including Bobby Williams, who sends me great photos every day, and James Maher, who presents a compelling portrait of our neighbors every week in Out and About in the East Village.)

Thank you.

As for the real future, I'm looking forward to continuing on… hope that you are too.


[East 5th Street between Avenue A and B]

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

[EVG file photo]

The new owners of 347 Bowery filed permits yesterday to begin the interior demolition of the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence, according to documents at the Department of Buildings.

The permits show "interior demolition of non-load bearing partitions of existing vacant 3 story building including cellar," listed at a cost of more than $234,000. Frank J. Quatela is listed as the architect of record.

A little recent history.

The Salvation Army's East Village Residence closed here at the Bowery and East Third Street in August 2008. (Find some history of the space here.)

In January 2011, the Post reported that the France-based Louzon Group had bought the building for $7.6 million and were planning on opening the — for real — ugliest fucking hotel ever.

But, those plans, thank God, fell through.

The Lo-Down reported in July that "Glauco Lolli-Ghetti, the principal at Urban Muse, a privately held real estate firm that 'acquires, develops, repositions, operates and brands' both commercial and residential real estate," bought the space in a $16.3 $19 million deal.

No word on what those plans are just yet. But you can count on it being something, you know, pretty nice.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reactions to new Bowery hotel: 'It would be cheaper and more useful just to blow up the building and leave a 30-foot crater'

Why do the French hate us?

Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Report: The Jefferson is all sold out

The Jefferson, the new 82-unit condo at the site of the former (sob) Mystery Lot in the North West East Village, is 100 percent in contract, The Real Deal reported.

Prices at the building, officially 211 E. 13th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, ranged from $795,000 for a 536-square-foot studio to more than $3.5 million for the penthouse.

Here is Jacqueline Urgo, who helped lead the sale for the Marketing Directors:

“The product was planned perfectly for the marketplace, including an exterior that fit in contextually with the neighborhood,” Urgo said via email. “While other developers were building family-sized residences, we planned smaller homes for this marketplace, a decision that was validated by the strong velocity of sales. Our buyers were predominately primary residents, many of whom were already committed to the East Village neighborhood and wanted to move up to this level of luxury and lifestyle.”

Plus, as the Jefferson ads showed, everything works! Unlike that craphole you live in…


[Sick burn, Jefferson!]

Previously on EV Grieve:
City approves new building for Mystery Lot

The last days of the Mystery Lot

Before it was the Mystery Lot

The Mystery Lot developers using famous dead comedians to sell condos at The Jefferson

The Jefferson reveals what '21st Century living in the heart of Olde New York' costs

East Village grifter alert: Beware the man with the sob story who offers you a wedding ring as collateral

An East Village resident shares the following with us...

There is a scam artist working the area around Tompkins Square Park. A white guy in his early 40s, baldish, about 5-8, stout — dressed and looking like a perfectly average working-class type.

The first time he came up to me near my building about two months ago, pleading for help, saying he and his kids were trapped in a van that ran out of gas and he needed something like 18 or 28 dollars, I don't remember exactly.

I never do this, but that time I believed the guy, especially since he looked so desperate and even offered his wedding ring, some chain, phone and what not as a security deposit till he paid me back. I turned down his generous proposal, gave him $20 and was happy to just go home after a long day at work. Actually, I even felt good about helping the guy out.

But then yesterday, on the same block, just a couple of feet from my building, the same guy catches up with me and starts telling me the same story all over again.

I was furious, but being pregnant I didn't feel prepared to take the risk of getting into a big arguement with the guy or taking his picture. So I just interrupted him and said he had pulled his trick on me two months ago and left.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village grifter alert: Beware the broken vodka-bottle scam!

Lucy's is back open, Hallelujah

Lucy's, one of our favorite bars, had been closed of late on Avenue A … likely on another customary break ... before Thanksgiving, we spotted a sign saying that the bar would be reopen on Dec. 6. But, as far as we know, that never happened… and the bar remained closed… including last weekend. (Who could blame her.) A reader spotted a sign on Dec. 13 saying closed, and instructing people to go next door to Doc Holliday's.

Still not open as of Wednesday. There was understandable concern.

Lucy's was closed last night. No "Be back in a week" sign. Please someone tell me this isn't the end (cc: @evgrieve)

— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) December 19, 2013

However, last night, Lucy was back… and it was really nice.

More details on DF Mavens, opening next spring on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place

As we first reported back on Oct. 17, that prime northwest corner space on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place has a new tenant — a retail outpost of DF Mavens...

And yesterday, the DFM folks sent along the official news release about this outpost...

Situated on a prime block at the corner of Second Avenue, DF Mavens’ flagship store will open in the spring of 2014 and showcase the brand’s award-winning line of dairy-free ice creams. The store will feature a wide range of vegan snack and beverages, including a full line of baked goods, fresh juices and coffee.

“We’re very excited to open our first dedicated storefront and plant our flag in the vibrant East Village food scene,” states Malcolm Stogo, a world-renowned ice cream consultant and founder of DF Mavens. “Our new retail outpost will allow us to bring delicious, dairy-free ice cream to a greater segment of New Yorkers who want vegan-friendly dessert options in time for the warm weather.”

DF Mavens also announces that four of its pint-sized non-dairy ice creams are now being carried in Whole Foods Markets at Union Square, Columbus Circle, Bowery and Tribeca. These flavors include: Shot of Java, New Orleans Salted Praline, Del Lago Chocolate and Key Lime Pie.

DF Mavens pint-sized offerings include 9 flavors that feature the highest quality ingredients and are categorized by soy-based, coconut-based or sugar-free varieties. Designed to taste as good as any cream-based formula, each flavor is handcrafted by Stogo himself, who has consulted on brands like Haagen Dazs, Stonyfield’s Frozen Yogurt and Colombo.

As you may recall, Stogo, the vegan ice cream shop on East 10th Street just west of Second Avenue, closed for business in November 2012.

Stogo opened in December 2008 at the site of the beloved A. Fontana Shoe Repair, forced out after 45 years due to a big rent hike.