Mediterranean Grill and the Efendi Hookah Lounge have apparently closed on 1st Avenue

Workers were spotted yesterday clearing out the space at 128 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Seventh Street … home of the Mediterranean Grill and the Efendi Hookah Lounge next door…



Thanks to EVG reader Raquel Shapira for the photos…





The space, which was previously home to Kebab Garden, has been on Craigslist for weeks.

Now, let's all have some wishful thinking for the return here of La Focacceria!

Former Love Saves the Day space on the market

East Noodle & Izakaya closed here at 119 Second Ave. at East Seventh Street last August … after sitting empty these past nine months, two small for rent signs have arrived on the front window … we didn't spot the listing online anywhere … we're curious about the asking rents here.



This was, we think, the second ramen place to try this high-profile space since Love Saves the Day closed on Jan. 18, 2009, after 42 years in business. Word was their rent tripled.


Jeremiah Moss had a post on this corner just last week. Check that out here.

P.S.
Since the phone number on the for rent sign got cut off … it's 347-608-4058 in case you are interested…

Spice Cove moving a storefront away on East 6th Street

Some news on East Sixth Street via Goggla … Spice Cove at No. 326 has closed … and, as the sign above explains, the Indian restaurant will be moving over an address to No. 328 …



And, as we previously mentioned, Jewel of India is opening soon at No. 324 in the former Red Pepper space …

China Wok back in action on Avenue B

[May 10]

Fans of the reliable, quick-serve restaurant at the corner of East Third Street had been concerned in recent weeks … when the above signs arrived on the gate … However, after more than two weeks, China Wok is back open …



… as is Meskel, the Ethiopian restaurant on East Third Street that shares the same building as China Wok. Meskel had a similar sign on the gate.

A neighbor said that there was a gas leak in the building … and the residents as well as the restaurants were waiting for a ConEd repair.

At the memorial for Wen Hui Ruan on East 6th Street

[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Nearly 70 people were in attendance just after 6 tonight for a candlelight vigil for Wen Hui Ruan, the 68-year-old resident who died following an attack here at 745 E. Sixth St. last week.

City Councilmember Rosie Mendez's office organized the event to give his "family and the community a chance to come together to remember his life and to take a stand against violence in the neighborhood."

Police arrested 20-year-old Jamie Pugh early last Tuesday morning. He has been charged with second-degree murder, robbery and assault.

East 4th Street Citi Bike docking station now 'From a Different Perspective'

[Last Monday morning via Derek Berg]

Last Monday morning, workers temporarily removed the Citi Bike docking station on East Fourth Street just west of Second Avenue ... to make way for a street mural courtesy of DOT Art and the Fourth Arts Block (FAB).

The docking station returned this morning...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

And here is the final product with the bikes back in place...


[Photo of FAB's programs coordinator, Tyler S. Bugg, via FAB's Facebook page]

The mural, titled "From a Different Perspective," was created by Herb Smith and curated by FAB's Public Art Director, Keith Schweitzer.

Solar-paneled cell phone charging stations return to Union Square (and other places)

From the EVG inbox ...

The Union Square Partnership is again partnering with AT&T, Pensa and Goal Zero to bring back the popular solar-paneled cell phone charging stations. This year, they will have 3 charging stations in the seating areas. The first station will be located in the West Side Seating Area within Union Square Park, the second in the Pedestrian Plaza on Broadway and 17th Street, and the third charging station will be located at the James Fountain area (“Mother and Child” Statue).

The program grew out of Superstorm Sandy when New Yorkers who had lost power for days flocked to city centers to recharge electronic devices.

You can go here to learn more about the Street Charge program and stuff.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Hawkelujah atop St. Brigid's yesterday via Bobby Williams]

24-Hour watch underway at the Children's Magical Garden (BoweryBoogie)

A trip inside Mars Bar replacement TD bank (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The Warhol Museum moves forward with plans for LES branch (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Occupy protester Cecily McMillan sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years probation (Gothamist)

Great photos from the Dance Parade Saturday (Gog in NYC)

Part of Elizabeth Street co-named "Danny Chen Way" (The Lo-Down)

Tough Times for Irish bars in NYC (Crain's)

Revisiting the recently reopened Sarge's Deli on Third Avenue (Lost City)

About that x-rated Butthole Surfers show at Danceteria in 1986 (Dangerous Minds)

40 years of the Ramones and Joey's birthday bash tonight (Metro ... Bowery Electric)

Memorial tonight for Wen Hui Ruan

The flyer above has all the details… the memorial will be at the location where 68-year-old Wen Hui Ruan (previous published reports referred to him as Ruan Wen Hui) was brutally attacked on May 9. He died from the injuries he sustained the next day.

745 E. Sixth St. is between Avenue C and Avenue D, though closer to D…


[Looking west on East Sixth Street]

… a memorial remains in place in front of the building.



Police arrested 20-year-old Jamie Pugh early last Tuesday morning. He has been charged with second-degree murder, robbery and assault.

Ruan, a retired garment worker who lived on Avenue C and East Seventh Street with his wife, had just dropped off his granddaughters when the attack occurred.

To recap what has transpired in this case:

Saturday, May 10

Published reports tell of an attack on East Sixth Street that left a 68-year-old man hospitalized. The NYPD releases a photo of the alleged suspect captured by a surveillance video.


[Photo of suspect via the NYPD]

Sunday, May 11

The NYPD offers $2,000 for any information about the attack.



A tipster sends us the surveillance video that shows the vicious assault and the aftermath … the video shows several people walking by the victim lying injured on the sidewalk without stopping to help.

Monday, May 12

News breaks that the victim, first identified as Ruan Wen Hui, has died from his injuries.


[Photo from 2006 via CBS 2]

His youngest daughter speaks to CBS 2 about her father, who enjoyed playing operas while his wife prepared dinner. "I couldn't believe that this happened to my father because my father is a very good man. He always helps people and he always smiles. Everybody thinks that he’s the best person in this world," she says.

Tuesday, May 13

Police arrest Pugh, who reportedly lives near the scene of the crime, in the early morning on East 14th Street and First Avenue. The arrest is made based on a tip to Crimestoppers. Investigators believe that he sought to rob Ruan, who did not speak English. Pugh leaves the 9th Precinct on East Fifth Street early that evening …


[Photo by Frank Franca]

Wednesday, May 14

Before her son's arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, Charlotte Pugh-Douglas tells reporters that she believes someone slipped the club-drug Molly into his drink last Friday evening while partying. As DNAinfo reports, "Pugh didn’t even know about the attack until one of his friends showed him the chilling surveillance footage over the weekend and said the attacker looked like him."

Judge Bruna DiBiase orders Pugh held without bail.

Thursday, May 15

Ruan's family want his killing treated as a hate crime, the Daily News reports.


[Jefferson Siegel/NY Daily News]

Friday, May 16

City Councilmember Rosie Mendez's office organizes a memorial service for May 19 to "give Hui's family and the community a chance to come together to remember his life and to take a stand against violence in the neighborhood."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: East Village resident dies from injuries sustained in brutal attack

[UPDATED] Reward for info on East 6th Street assault; plus video of the attack

[Updated] Family mourns Ruan Wen Hui as police hunt suspect in deadly assault on E. 6th St.

[Updated] Report: Murder suspect's mother says her son was high on Molly at the time of attack

Report: Family of Ruan Wen Hui wants hate crime charges brought against suspect

Dunkin' Donuts moving on East 14th Street

A tipster tells us that the Dunkin' Donuts at 520 E. 14th St. is on the move… heading east toward Avenue B a few storefronts away … to the former home of La Isla Restaurant, which closed in July 2012…



DOB permits for this address at No. 542 point to a renovations for a Dunkin' Donuts …



Meanwhile, what will become of the storefronts at No. 520? The building will be the last thing standing here … with bookend 7-floor retail-residential complexes on the way …



Gino DiGirolamo's Royal Tailor shop at No. 520 is closing on May 31. Gino is retiring after 50 years in business. A bit of a forced retirement given that the landlord was doubling his rent here.

In other Dunkin' Donuts news … as we reported on Friday, a DD is taking the former Norman's Sound & Vision storefront at 67 Cooper Square.

Demolition continues westward ho on East 14th Street

OK, so we've posted several photos already showing the demolition along East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. However, we hadn't been by ourselves for whatever reasons.

So here we are. Cool! Blogger portals in the plywood for easy photos!





According to the handy sign, the demolition ahead of the two, 7-floor retail-residential buildings will wrap up in August.



In two weeks, the workers have taken out the former ABC Animal Hospital and Petland. The former Bargain Express is next to fall …



… as the demolition heads west to Avenue A… sparing only 520 E. 14th St.



Previously on EV Grieve:
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units

A sad day for Mother Earth at the former Sapporo East

Renovations continue at the former Sapporo East space on First Avenue and East 10th Street … the 30-year-old Japanese restaurant closed for good at the end of December, as we first reported.

However, the space will remain a sushi restaurant. Yuji Umeki, who manages Kenka at 25 St. Mark's Place, is one of the principals at the restaurant that will be called Beronberon. EVG regular William Klayer, who took these photos on Friday, hears that they will be offering a menu very similar to Sapporo East's offerings.

Unfortunately, the renovation plans didn't include keeping Chico's longtime "Love Mother Earth" mural on the East 10th Street side… or the ad for Crystals Garden next door. (While the murals were nicked up, people liked them — based on how many readers passed along news of their demise this past weekend.)







Workers blacked out the murals on Saturday…


[Photo by EVG reader Fallon]


[Photo by EVG reader Fallon]

For now, just a section that reads "Love Moth" remains. We understand that workers will be adding windows in this space.


[Photo by Kevin Decatrel]

It will be 'easy to convert' Launderette into a restaurant on 2nd Avenue

Late last month, the owners of the longtime laundromat at 97 Second Ave. near East Sixth Street posted a detailed letter about why they are closing their business later in the summer. (You can revisit that post here.)

Now the brokers put up a "for lease" sign in the front window … showing a "rendering of possible new storefront" and offering other details about the space…



… such as it will be "easy to convert to restaurant" and something about hot air.

Oh, and the asking rent per the listing: $25,500 a month.

Desi Shack signage arrives on Fourth Avenue

The second Manhattan location of Desi Shack is coming soon to Fourth Avenue at East 13th Street. The signage appeared late last week.

Here's their description: "Desi Shack is a casual restaurant that offers New Yorkers a new take on Indian and Pakistani food. Our simple menu offers endless choices. We serve fresh grilled food, giving you the option to customize your meal the way you want it."

And here's what New York magazine had to say about Desi Shack after its Lexington Avenue shop opened in the fall of 2011: "Truly authentic it’s not, but quick, satisfying, and cheap is good enough."

The Shack is located next to the incoming Liquiteria…



The spaces previously housed a Blimpie and Young Chow.

H/T Andrew Fine!