Headless Duane Reade shopper slowly but surely getting a head

Last weekend at the Duane Reade on East Second Street and Avenue B!

Today!



Eventually!

[EVG file photo]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Headless Duane Reade shopper giving East 2nd Street the creeps

'Crane operation' to close off part of St. Mark's Place this weekend

As the signs show, St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue will be closed off for part of the weekend … "due to a crane operation at 119 St. Mark's Place."



I didn't even know that 119 St. Mark's place was a crane hospital! (Boooooooo.)

Updated 2:06 p.m.


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Anyone happen to know what the workers are dropping off on the roof?

Get on it

Been revisiting Dinosaur Jr. since learning they're headlining the 4Knots Music Festival at the South Street Seaport on July 12…

Here is "The Wagon" from 1991.

The Halal Guys finally opening their East Village restaurant tomorrow

We walked by the incoming Halal Guys space last evening on East 14th Street just east of Second Avenue ... and spotted about 10 workers inside stocking the refrigerated units with drinks, etc. When asked, one of the workers said they'd be open "soon."

Soon turns out to be tomorrow, as the Daily News reports that the first restaurant from the popular food-cart vendors opens at 7 a.m. 5 p.m.

And what can you expect?

In addition to the standard gyros and platters sold at the carts, the restaurant will boast new offerings, including a juice and smoothie bar, hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanoush, Mediterranean salads and yogurt. And the falafels will be made fresh, instead of merely reheated at the carts.

While a rice-and-meat platter is $6 at Halal Guys’ carts, the East Village restaurant will offer two sizes: a regular for $6 and a large for $7.

Meanwhile, the owners are planning to go national (and eventually global) by working with Fransmart — the franchise company behind the rapidly expanding Five Guys Burgers brand — to open restaurants in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Houston.

So does this mean that we can't like them anymore?

We were first to report on the East Village expansion last Sept. 28.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Halal Guys are now open on East 14th Street and 2nd Avenue

The Halal Guys are apparently opening their first restaurant in the East Village

Summer in the city

East Village rooftops (and at least one hammock) via James and Karla Murray.

1 business left on this stretch of Avenue C

Adinah's Farm on Avenue C and East Second Street closed on Sunday night.

With the market's closure, there is one remaining business on the east side of Avenue C between East Second Street and East Third Street — the liquor store...



The storefronts to the north remain boarded up.


[EVG file photo]

As we've noted, there has been a full vacate order on 32 Avenue C at East Third Street since August 2012 ... the building is in disrepair, and will eventually be demolished ... along with everything to (and including) 26 Avenue C (the former Impulse Footwear).

Plans were filed with the city in July 2005 for a new 6-floor residential building here. The city disapproved the plans in May 2006, and nothing more happened with the project.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Concern for 32 Avenue C

Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: the 'tough beauty' of 'La Haine'

Tonight at 8:30ish … it's another in the Films on the Green series with the 1995 release "La Haine."

Here's Criterion describing the film:

Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with La haine, a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income banlieue districts on Paris’s outskirts. Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) — a Jew, an African, and an Arab — give human faces to France’s immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their marginalization slowly simmering until it reaches a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.

Vacation time for Stage Restaurant

[Photo by Sean Ganann via nycgo.com]

The Stage closes for a summer break after service tomorrow ... and Roman and company will be back on July 9.

Just noting this because they don't always put up a sign on the gate at vacation time here at 128 Second Ave. near St. Mark's Place.

Didn't want to cause any panic in case you saw them closed during usual business hours ... especially given some of the troubling talk here of late. While the building was sold, the Stage has five-plus years left on their lease.

Wet hot NYC summer: City pools open today

[Hamilton Fish Pool via www.nycgovparks.org]

That means Hamilton Fish Pool on Pitt and East Houston ... the Dry Dock Pool on Avenue D and East 10th Street ... and the Tompkins Square Pool (mini pool for kids!) are opening ...


[Tompkins Square Pool yesterday via EVG]

The early and late lap swims (8-9 a.m. and 7-8 p.m.) at Hamilton Fish Pool will begin in a few weeks, the Lo-Down noted yesterday.

And no word just yet when you can swim in a floating pool in the East River.

The 2014 New York City Drag March is tonight

Leaves Tompkins Square Park at St. Mark's Place at 8ish.

Check out some photos from last year's march here.

[Updated] Olympic Restaurant closes on Monday

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

The Lo-Down has a thorough report on the longtime Lower East Side businesses that will be closing in the days ahead to make way for the new mega Essex Crossing development.

Of particular interest to us: The Olympic Restaurant at Delancey and Essex. The Lo-Down was told that the diner will close for good after service on Monday. (EVG contributor Stacie Joy previously reported on June 19 that the closing date was still up in the air.)

Perhaps we will run into you there this weekend.

Updated 11:51 a.m.

Lisha Arino at DNAinfo reports that Olympic owner Spiros Nakos "is offering everything on the menu for half price on" Monday.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Olympic Restaurant may close for good as soon as tomorrow

BoweryBoogie and and Jeremiah Moss have also made recent visits. Read BB's take here … and JM's here.

Last in the fledge class

[Photo today by Bobby Williams]

Just one of the (baby?!?!) hawks remains in the nest on the Christodora House ... his/her fledgling siblings have already taken off.

After a little drama Monday night, Shaft has seemingly found his, uh, wings. The second fledgling left Tuesday. He/she has been mostly hanging around East Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. Goggla has an update on the fledglings here.

Hawk watchers figure hawk No. 3 will leave the nest tomorrow.

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

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

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

The baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park are ready to leave home (also, fledge party alert!)

Brooklyn shows off its mountains

Or so it looked like late this afternoon from East Seventh Street near Second Avenue...

Funky Town now has the brightest awning on St. Mark's Place

The new signage went up this afternoon...