Shampoo Avenue B making the move down the block

[EVG file photo from like the winter]

After sitting empty for nearly seven years, 14 Avenue B has a new tenant.

Shampoo Avenue B has signed a lease for the space here between East Houston and East Second Street, as the Commercial Observer reported yesterday.

The salon will be moving from their current home at 42 Avenue B. Owner-operator Joel St. Yves told us that, depending on the construction inside the new storefront, they're hoping to move by the middle of next month.

He said that the new space will double the amount of the chairs in their current home. St. Yves also said they are adding two barbers "for cuts and shaves" to the salon's roster.

There's a long recent history at 14 Avenue B. This had been a popular space for new bar concepts that scared the crap out of the neighbors.

However, CB3 nixed various bar concepts here through the years, including the infamous Italian restaurant "with an occasional D.J." and the brewpub that borrowed the Prime Meats menu. The last actual tenant here was the loathsome Butterfly bar/club/expensive drink dispenser, which closed in 2007.

New shop for 2nd Avenue isn't an optical illusion

After 26 years in the East Village, Black Hound New York closed its retail location at 170 Second Ave. last March.

And as you can see from the above photo, awning signage is up for the new tenant — Eyes on Second. The new store will be selling artisanal eyeballs, carefully foraged from farm to table. We're not sure just yet what services the new optical shop will offer. Soon, though!

H/T EVG reader Steven

Rejected headlines:
'Eye' can't believe it's not a FroYo shop!

58 Third Ave. returns to the market at double the price, and the potential to nearly double the space

We spotted a new listing for 58 Third Ave. between East 10th Street and East 11th Street.

According to the listing at Voda Bauer Real Estate

With almost 24 feet of frontage mid-block, this four story mixed-use walk-up building includes prime retail space on the first floor. Located in the East Village it currently houses a restaurant with a lease expiring in August 2017.

The three Free Market residential/commercial full floors above with basement are perfect for investors and developers. The building currently has 6,308 sq ft, but an additional 4,786 sq ft. may be added. The close proximity to Union Square Park, M, L, 4, 5, N, R and 6 trains, as well as great dining, and shopping all make this building highly desirable ...

Asking price: $10 million.

Public records show that the property was sold for $4.5 million in December 2007 ... the asking price had been $4.99 million at the time...



Hey, the Taco Bell!

The address is currently home to Bodhi Tree, the Thai restaurant.

'Law & Order: SVU' makes triumphant East Village return

OK, don't know about the triumphant part ... but crews will be around as filming for the 16th season continues... the posted flyers show where you may be able to see cast members Ice-T or Mariska Hargitay...

Anyway, we're now all filled with nostalgia about the time "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" was casting for a "blood whore" in the East Village. Dreamy!

Previously on EV Grieve:
And now, photos of Ice-T in front of Sunny & Annie's

Another BigBelly for Tompkins Square Park

EVG Trash Can Correspondent Bobby Williams spotted a worker installing one of those solar-powered, digitalized trash compactors today in Tompkins Square Park ... joining, uh, a few others that arrived in the past few years.

Dubbed BigBelly, these suckers can hold five times the amount of garbage as a traditional trash receptacle and can reduce trash collection by 80 percent, as I cut-n-paste from a Villager article from 2011.

Depending on the broker, the BigBelly can also accommodate two bunk beds and one grill.

Is this your cat?

An EVG reader spotted this on East Seventh Street and First Avenue

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Leggy Tyrannosaurus in Tompkins Square Park by Grant Shaffer]

A visit to Hua Mei Bird Garden in Sara D. Roosevelt Park (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Henry Street Settlement announces $20 million renovation (The Lo-Down)

Box Kite Coffee on St Mark's Place opening a 2nd location on the Upper West Side (The Post)

Alvin Langdon Coburn's shadowy NYC street scenes from the 1910s (Ephemeral New York)

More about Exile Professional Gym, now open on Second Avenue (DNAinfo)

Rat selfies and bananas at Ray's (Slum Goddess)

Make your plans for Pickle Day on the LES (BoweryBoogie)

Russ & Daughters opening a café at the Jewish Museum uptown (Grub Street)

Appreciating 841 Broadway at East 13th Street (Off the Grid)

When the Replacements were censored on air (Dangerous Minds)

Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street hits the polls today

Don't forget to vote today ... for somebody ... during primary day throughout New York State. Like Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street, torn tendon and all.

Will this long-empty lot on 1st Avenue yield to affordable housing?

So, according to a tipster, there are preliminary plans in place to clear out this long-emtpy lot at 89 First Ave. between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street.

The other day, there were several workers on site to offer an estimate about removing the trees.

And why? The woman who has owned the lot is apparently handing it over to her nephew, who has plans/aspirations to build a 7-floor residence that will provide affordable housing.

There is nothing on file yet with the city about such plans. So keep this in the rumor stage for now.

And for now enjoy the sculpture fence ...





The lot's owner, Florence Toledano, also owns the 2Bn2C sculpture garden on East Second Street.

Construction watch: 401 E. 8th St.

The new residential building at 397-401 E. Eighth St. at Avenue D is rising quickly...



A nine-story building with 33 units — and a penthouse! — is in the works.

And to chart the progress to date, here's a look at the building in early August...



... and mid-July...



And one day...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile, before we christen Avenue D the next Greenpoint...

Stalled development site on Eighth Street and Avenue D asking $5.2 million

Long-stalled East 8th Street lot coming back as 9-story residential building — with penthouse

Learn about the art history of 404 E. 14th St.

Since the 1960s, 404 E. 14th St. (aka 405 E. 13th St.) has hosted and housed a dynamic community of artists, poets and filmmakers, a long list that includes Claes and Patty Oldenburg, John Chamberlain and Yayoi Kusama.

Tom Burckhardt, who moved into the building in 1995, put together an exhibit last summer featuring the works of 404's many artists through the years.

Tonight at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place, Burckhardt is presenting a slideshow and discussion of the microcosm art scene of 50 years at this one special address. It's free, but you do need to RSVP. (Call 212-475-9585 ext. 35 or email here.)

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is hosting the event. Find more info here. The lecture is 6:30-8 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
404 E. 14th St.: The coolest building that you will find with a McDonald's on the ground floor

Today in photos of a large praying mantis on East 5th Street

EVG contributor Derek Berg spotted this on East Fifth Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square ...



And one more thing for the East Fifth St. Tree Committee to worry about ...

Noted

Fuck you @CitibikeNYC

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 7, 2014

Background here.

1 explanation for that lousy parking job on East 11th Street

EVG reader mdmn spotted this parking job on East 11th Street near Amsterdam Billiards at Fourth Avenue yesterday afternoon.

Just an awful parking effort by someone in a rush to play pool?

The car was parked directly across from the the delivery gates at the Cooper Station Post Office.

Hey, there's a note.



Perhaps the force of the collision forced the car up on the sidewalk?



Other theories welcome, probably.