What is happening with the Mono + Mono space?

[Last April 21 via EVG reader kke7st]

An early-morning two-alarm fire last April 21 ripped through 116 E. Fourth St., a single-level commercial building that houses Mono + Mono.

Now, nearly a year later, there hasn't been any sign of life at the restaurant that served Korean fried chicken and was known for playing a collection of upwards of 30,000 classic jazz albums.


[Photo from Tuesday]

An EVG reader who lives next door here between First Avenue and Second Avenue shared this photo (taken two weeks ago) showing the fire-damged roof...



The restaurant hasn't updated its Facebook page since May 7, where they wrote that "We're committed to reopening in a few weeks as your favorite East Village destination for 30,000 jazz albums, Korean fried chicken and soju cocktails. Thanks for your support. We'll be back stronger than ever!"

DOB records show an application on file with the city to "rebuild existing bar after fire damage, new HVAC system." The city disapproved the plan on March 18.

So it appears a reopening is in the works.., but it's just taking forever to actually happen.

Also, a "full vacate" remains in effect for the address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Early-morning fire at 116 E. Fourth St., home of Mono + Mono

(Kind of) An update on Mono + Mono

AlphaBet Cafe is closed for renovations

Several readers told us that AlphaBet Cafe closed Tuesday here on East 14th Street and Avenue B… signs point to a renovation/remodel …





Not sure if this is an actual closed for renovations … or a "closed for renovations," where we never see the place open again … A new operator was on the February CB3/SLA docket for a new liquor license, but they were scratched from the agenda.

AlphaBet Cafe had a few bouts of the DOH last year… however, there's nothing on file with the DOH now pointing to a health-related closure.

A quick step back into the early 1990s East Village

[East 5th Street]

Gregoire Alessandrini has once again updated his excellent blog, New York in the 1990's Photo Archives ...

We thought we'd share a sampling of his latest uploads here from the early 1990s...


[East 7th Street]


[St. Mark's Place]


[Second Avenue]


[Astor Place]

Spend the rest of your day checking out all his photos here.

Some background: As a student here in the early-to-mid 1990s, he always carried a camera around with him ... and he has been uploading the photos from that time to his blog. He lives in Paris these days.

Previously

[Updated] How you can see the passage of the Moon across the Hyades from East 3rd Street

Via EVG regular Spike… looks as if Felton Davis has his rig setup on East Third Street at Second Avenue …



Not sure what we're looking at this evening… but if you head over that way, you'll find out…

Maybe this… from EarthSky:

As darkness falls in early April 2014, the waxing crescent moon is passing in front of the constellation Taurus the Bull. Taurus the Bull’s most prominent signposts include the dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster and bright red star Aldebaran, which depicts the Bull’s fiery eye.

And from Universe Today (for tomorrow):

On the evening of Thursday, April 3rd headed into the morning of the 4th, the waxing crescent Moon crosses in front of the Hyades open star cluster. This is the V-shaped asterism that marks the head on Taurus the Bull, highlighted by the brilliant foreground star Aldebaran as the bull’s “eye”. Viewers across North America will have a ring-side seat to this “bull-fight” as the 20% illuminated Moon stampedes over several members of the Hyades in its path.

Updated 9:44 p.m.

Felton writes in with more information… and details on some upcoming sky shows!

Rim craters Furnerius, Petavius, Langrenus, Cleomedes, Geminus, Endymion, and the Mare Crisium put on a dazzling show tonight, as the three-day old crescent moon passed through Taurus about ten degrees below the Pleiades. When the light of the sun is shining across the craters it accentuates their shape, and left many people speechless, never having seen the moon in such detail, especially after a winter of non-stop clouds, rain and snow. Keep a lookout on Monday, April 14th for an eclipse of the moon, beginning just after midnight, and fully darkening the moon at 3 am Tuesday April 15th.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Searching for Comet ISON with East Village resident Felton Davis

Comet spotting with East Village resident Felton Davis

Discarded couch-chair matching sets of the day

East Sixth Street near Avenue C…



It looks better the closer you go… the more like technologically advanced form of extraterrestrial life…

In case you want to see a 'controlled fire' tonight

From the EVG inbox…

As part of a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training class, there will be a controlled fire outside of the East Side Community High School located at 420 East 12th Street in Manhattan tonight from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM. Expect to see FDNY and NYPD personnel in action.

H/T Shawn Chittle

8 days and nights of Jim Jarmusch

[A scene from 1980's "Permanent Vacation"]

An 8-day retrospective of LES resident Jim Jarmusch starts tonight at the Film Society of Lincoln Center ... titled "Permanent Vacation: The Films of Jim Jarmusch."

From the description:

Over the course of a single-minded yet constantly surprising career that has now spanned more than three decades, Jim Jarmusch has become a beloved, forever-cool icon of independent American (and world) cinema. His movies combine a romantic wanderlust, a sense of humor both humane and deadpan, and a connoisseur’s appreciation of the highs and lows of art and popular culture (Elvis Presley, Yasujiro Ozu, and William Blake, for starters).

This complete retrospective — which includes 11 features and several shorts and music videos — leads up to the upcoming release of Jarmusch’s latest feature, Only Lovers Left Alive (a selection of the 2013 New York Film Festival, opening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on April 11).

Here's one of the music videos that he directed ... "The Lady Don't Mind" by the Talking Heads from 1985...



Will be nice to see "Stranger Than Paradise" on a big screen (tonight at 7 and tomorrow at 1:30)...



Find the full schedule here.

H/T EVG reader Joe

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Fridge escape on East 10th Street! Photo by Michael Sean Edwards]

El Sombrero back open for now with new owners, sort of the same vibe (BoweryBoogie)

75 Essex St. back on market for $30 million (The Lo-Down)

Andrade Shoe Repair closing on University Place (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Measles outbreak on the LES (DNAinfo)

Why DC’s bikeshare is flourishing while New York’s is financially struggling (The Washington Post)

A visit to Execution Rocks off Long Island (Scouting NY)

Check out William Burroughs on film starting tomorrow (Anthology Film Archives)

... and via EVG reader Michael from yesterday ... it's customary to post photos of people wearing gorilla masks in Stuy Town...

Out and About in the East Village — early 2014 recap

We're taking a week off to provide a quick early spring recap...

So then! Here's a look back at our subjects so far from 2014 ... many thanks to East Village-based photographer James Maher and everyone who has taken part in this series... we'll return next week with Out and About in the East Village ...

Jan. 15 — Barbara Sibley

Jan. 22 — Alex Harsley, part 1

Jan. 29 — Alex Harsley, part 2

Feb. 5 — Tom Clark

Feb. 12 — Dawn Haberman

Feb. 19 — Mike Stuto

Feb. 26 — Dina Leor

March 5 — Eric Danville, part 1

March 12 — Eric Danville, part 2

March 19 — Margery Teplitz

March 26 — Pamela Joy

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

As you may know, the resident hawk pair of Tompkins Square Park have built a nest on the East 9th Street side of the Christodora House at Avenue B…







Goggla, who has been documenting the hawks in recent months at Gog in NYC, along with the other hawk watchers, were pretty sure that Dora (a name for now for the female hawk) had laid an egg on a nest on the 7th floor…

Well, she certainly has, as this photo by Francois Portmann at Gog in NYC shows …



Check out Goggla's recent posts here … and here … and here for more on this mating/nesting action.

Top photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

Memorial set for d.b.a. co-founder Dennis Zentek

[Photo by KM Keller via Facebook]

Dennis Zentek, who opened d.b.a. at 41 First Ave. in 1994 with friend Ray Deter, died on March 23 from injuries he suffered in a fall.

The folks at d.b.a., where he was the co-founder and owner, have released details about a memorial celebrating his life.

Via Facebook:

On Wednesday, April 16 at 4 pm SHARP, we will have a ceremony at the Marble Cemetery, on the north side of East 2nd Street between 1st and 2nd aves, around the corner from d.b.a. This will be a non-religious Celebration of Life and Memorial Service led by non-denominational Celebrant Sacha Jones. All friends of Dennis are welcome.

This will be followed by a New Orleans-style Second Line parade, leaving from d.b.a at 6 pm.

We will continue to honour and toast Dennis well into the wee hours at d.b.a., 41 First Ave. between East Second and Third Streets

Please, no flowers, but donations are welcome to Dennis's favourite charity - the d.b.a. bars!

His brother Ron wrote the following on Facebook on March 26:

Those of you who knew my brother ... will remember him as a unique individual whose greatest pride was saying he never worked a day in his life since as a Rock n Roll photographer, a bartender and finally a bar owner ... he was being paid for being at places he would have been anyway doing things he loved to do surrounded by beautiful women.

He passed [March 23] at Bellevue hospital from the head injuries he suffered in fall down a flight of stairs on [March 21]. To my knowledge, he never regained consciousness.

Deter died in July 2011 from the injuries he suffered in a bicycling accident.

Construction Watch: 31-33 Second Ave.

[Photo from 2009 by LuciaM via Panoramio]

As we first noted back in June 2012, Ben Shaoul was adding three new floors of residences at 31-33 Second Ave.

We've been watching the demolition/addition here in recent months… (a neighbor described it as a "bshaoul mess") …

November





January



This past Saturday



Eventually the building will be … this…



BoweryBoogie previously reported that a Petco-branded store is set for the retail space.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ben Shaoul planning a 3-story addition at 31-33 Second Ave.

Bracing for 3 new floors at 31-33 Second Ave.

And now, a reader politely takes exception with the United States Postal Service

[File photo by Gian G. via Yelp]

From the EVG reader mailbag via mdmn:

So the nightmare of the USPS continues. Not only are they still not attempting to deliver packages... I was home all Sunday, so bullshit a 5:09 pm attempt, and bullshit a notice was left... but now I'm told to pick it up at the branch that services 10009...

Where the fuck is that?

Is it the East 3rd Street location? The new East 14th Street location? The Madison Avenue Location? Or perhaps according to the USPS website, the still operating Peter Stuyvesant location that IS FUCKING CLOSED!!!

Fuck you USPS...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Today in rants: the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

Meanwhile, at everyone's favorite local post office branch...

Reader mailbag: What has happened to the Cooper Station Post Office?

The Peter Stuyvesant Post Office closes for good TODAY

A look at your new post office on East 14th Street

Exclusive 2nd look inside the all-new USPS retail outlet on East 14th Street

Red Hook Lobster Pound now open in Extra Place

[Image via Facebook]

Extra Place is no longer so lonely… Red Hook Lobster Pound officially opened its doors yesterday at 11:30 a.m….

Right now we are opening the doors at #RedHookLobster's newest pound in Manhattan! 16 Extra Place off of 1st st. bt Bowery & 2nd Ave.

— RedHookLobsterPound (@Redhooklobster) April 1, 2014

The well-regarded Red Hook Lobster Pound took over the vacated Oaxaca Taqueria space at 16 Extra Place. (Oaxaca Taqueria moved to East Seventh Street.)

Grub Street, who first reported on the opening yesterday, notes that the Pound has Narragansett Lager, Bronx Brewery's Pale Ale and Allagash White on tap. And they will have outdoor seating once spring is actually really here.

With this and whatever Momofuku is opening down the alley/Place, Extra Place may finally become the dining destination its developers touted some seven years ago, as we've cut-and-paste many times before.

Previously on EV Grieve:
With new restaurant opening, will Extra Place finally become a dining destination?

Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Extra Place and Heidi currently 'closed for renovation' in Extra Place

Red Hook Lobster Pound in the works for Extra Place