Gracefully is closing on Avenue A

A few weeks ago, the market at 28 Avenue A between East Second Street and East Third Street cut back its hours, forgoing around-the-clock sales for an 11 p.m. closure.

Now comes word that the store will be closing for good soon. We've heard as early as this Friday … or by the end of the month. An employee confirmed the closure to us.

The story is that Gracefully needs to vacate to make way for the New York Sports Club that is opening here…



We were trying to remember when Gracefully opened — 1997? Anyway, long before Whole Foods… and, more recently, Union Market.

And this will be the last of Grace Dancyger's delis to close in the East Village. Graceland closed in April 2010 on Avenue A and East Second Street in April 2010 after a 19-year run. And Adinah's Farm closed in June after 20 years on Avenue C and East Second Street.

As far as we know, there are still three other Gracefully locations in the city, including on First Avenue in Stuy Town.

Thanks to @AnnaRoseMusic for the tip

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMOR: New York Health & Racquet Club taking over the space above Gracefully on Avenue A (24 comments)

New York Sports Club in the works for Avenue A

Sidewalk bridge and scaffolding arrive ahead of planned New York Sports Club on Avenue A

New York Sports Club says hello on Avenue A

Familiar Burger-Klein sign has disappeared from Avenue A

Coming soon to 1st Avenue: Sweet Generation, 'A Bakery for Arts Education'

There's a new tenant coming to the former First Avenue Pierogi and Deli at 130 First Ave. near St. Mark's Place.

As you can see, signs are up for Sweet Generation, a bakery that recently raised $27,000 in an Indiegogo campaign that ended on Friday to help build out the space.

Owner Amy Chasan is a former high school arts teacher who quit her job to open the made-to-order cookie and cupcake business … first from her home kitchen then to a shared commercial space.

Here's more about Sweet Generation via Indiegogo:

Before starting Sweet Generation, I dedicated my career to Arts education. I first taught Art in 2004 at an alternative high school that was a last resort for teens — there I witnessed the dramatic and profound transformation that my students experienced when nothing else had worked for them. They gained confidence, developed a stronger sense of self, and assumed greater responsibility for their own success. I spent 8 years running Arts programs and then worked with the City of New York to expand and improve Arts programs in low-income communities.

The problem is the negative impact that funding cuts have on the quality and availability of the Arts to children. In fact, government funding for the arts has decreased by 31% since 1992! I noticed that organizations tried to bridge the gap through bake sales and community events, but the ones that needed it most could not make up the loss.

At the same time, I returned to my lifelong love of baking as a personal creative outlet and before I knew it, I was being hired to cater weddings, art openings and corporate parties. Demand grew to the point that I was baking all night, going to work in the morning, running out to do a delivery on my lunch break, and then starting all over again… and that’s when I came up with the idea for Sweet Generation, a bakery that removes barriers between children and art.

Sweet Generation not only funds Arts education for youth, but engages young people in the business itself. A portion of Sweet Generation’s sales are donated to Arts organizations, and we support their fundraising efforts through in-kind donations of our baked goods. We also started an internship program that teaches baking, work readiness, and entrepreneurship to teens and young adults from low-income communities.

Some of the organizations that Sweet Generation supports are: Theater for a New Audience, Arlington Center for the Arts, Children’s Museum of the Arts, Citizen Schools, Urban Arts Partnership, The After School Corporation (TASC), Precious Dreams Foundation and the Hip-Hop Re:Education Project.

In 2013, the Voice named Sweet Generation the "Best Cupcake" in NYC.

After 30 years here, proprietor Wieslawa Kurowycky and her family decided to retire and close First Avenue Pierogi and Deli in early July.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 30 years, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli is closing

Momofuku-French Louie vets opening BARA on East 1st Street

A new restaurant is in the works for the former Prima space at 58 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.



Here are details via the BARA Twitter account:

BARA is a new French/Japanese tavern being opened in December by chef Ian Alvarez with cocktails and drinks from Kyle Storm.

And here is a draft copy of their menu via Instagram:



Alvarez, a former sous chef at Momofuku, most recently worked with Storm at French Louie in Brooklyn.

Prima closed in August after nearly three years on the block. In a refreshingly honest assessment, Prima owners said that they closed because they just weren't busy enough.

What a 7-floor new building above the Jehovah's Witnesses on Avenue C is starting to look like

Construction is moving along quickly (it seems) at 67 Avenue C near East Fifth Street… where a 7-story, 7-unit residential building is going up at the former Kingdom Hall that was owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses…



We still haven't seen a rendering yet. Anyone?

Previously on EV Grieve:
First sign of the new 7-floor condo rising above the Jehovah's Witnesses on Avenue C

After 'closing for renovations,' zPizza has closed for good

It took about three years for the zPizza branch to open at 26 First Ave. near East Second Street.

And now after 17 months in business, zPizza — with its non-GMO wheat flour — has closed … the first sign up noted a renovation…



… then a second sign acknowledged the closure…



We tried it and liked it upon their opening… though we didn't like it enough to ever go back.

zPizza "was founded in the art colony of Laguna Beach, California" per the website. There were other locations in NYC, including at JFK.

Previously on EV Grieve:
zPizza finally opens on First Avenue

Today's sunset

Photo by Bobby Williams

Week in Grieview

[2nd Avenue via Derek Berg]

6 more floors in store for the soon-to-be unrecognizable St. Marks Hotel (Thursday, 34 comments)

Police say this guy has burglarized 10 East Village apartments (Tuesday)

118 E. 1st. St. will yield to a new 9-floor residential building (Wednesday)

Remaining tenants at 504-508 E. 11th St. welcomed home with eviction notices (Friday)

Broken steam pipe wipes out East 12th Street toy shop (Tuesday)

A familiar name is set to become the new owner of d.b.a. (Monday)

RIP Korzo Haus (Monday)

Out and About with Kim Kalesti (Wednesday)

Never-ending construction continues to hurt Punjabi Grocery & Deli (Thursday)

Soup and broth to go at Brodo (aka Hearth) (Monday)

The Marshal seizes Lumé, another restaurant that couldn't make East 8th Street and Avenue C work (Tuesday)

98-100 Avenue A finally demolished (Friday)

A call to action from Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street (Wednesday)

The 14th Street Pizza Bagel Cafe abruptly closes (Monday)

Vegtown opens on East 14th Street (Monday)

Snack Dragon has officially closed (Monday)

A few details on the 23-floor building replacing the soon-to-be demolished Bowlmor Lanes (Wednesday)

Watch David Johansen interview Johnny Thunders outside CBGB circa 1976 (Tuesday)

348 Bowery is for rent (Monday)

95 Avenue A is sinking (Thursday)

Free Robot Butler plug! (Wednesday)

… and Maria's Cafe may have a new home… but they still serve up one of the least-expensive breakfasts around … Avenue C between East Third Street and East Fourth Street …

Looking at NYC's 'fratty heat spots'

An EVG reader passed along a link to a Business Insider piece from Friday.

Per the article:

The data experts at Yelp put together a series of maps that show the frattiest neighborhoods in 10 American cities. Yelp documented how often its users mentioned the word "frat" in reviews, and then plotted those locations on a heat map.

NYC made the top-10 list… and this area in particular is an apparent hot spot as the map shows.

Here is their NYC analysis:

Nearly all of Manhattan's east side, with some areas in the surrounding boroughs, is covered with fratty heat spots likely due to New York's colleges and job opportunities that draw crowds of students and recent grads. The Lower East Side, Murray Hill, Midtown East, and the Upper East Side are popular fratty spots in particular; the bar and nightlife options, paired with slightly cheaper living costs than on the west side, appeal to recent graduates.

The Russ & Daughters documentary makes its broadcast debut on Dec. 2

After making the rounds at some film festivals, "The Sturgeon Queens," the documentary on Russ & Daughters, has a broadcast premiere date.

Via the film's Facebook page:

"The Sturgeon Queens" will air on Thirteen WNET New York Tues, Dec 2, 10 pm. On WLIW Dec. 3, 7:30pm. Rest of the country will have to wait til 2015, but lots of fest and theatrical screenings still coming...

Here's the storyline via IMDB:

Four generations of a Jewish immigrant family create Russ and Daughters, a Lower East Side lox and herring emporium that survives and thrives.

Produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the store, this documentary features an extensive interview with two of the original daughters for whom the store was named, now 100 and 92 years old, and interviews with prominent enthusiasts of the store including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, chef Mario Batali, New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin, and 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer.

Rather than a conventional narrator, the filmmakers bring together six colorful longtime fans of the store, in their 80s and 90s, who sit around a table of fish reading the script in the style of a passover Seder.

Straight to 'Hell'

In case you have 82 minutes to space… here's "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell," a 2007 documentary directed by Henry Corra that originally aired on VH1 … an EVG reader shared it, so we're passing it along…

Per IMDB:

New York City, 1977 - It was a time when the city had fallen into decay, with too few jobs, money, police, schools, and social services. There was a city wide blackout with major looting, a serial killer on the loose, and the Bronx was burning. And yet out of the chaos emerged one of the most creative times any city has ever encountered.

The documentary uses groundbreaking animation to help tell the story, and features interviews with those who lived it, including Ed Koch, Geraldo Rivera, Jimmy Breslin, Gloria Gaynor, Afrika Bambaataa, Chris Stein (Blondie), Richard Hell, KRS-One, Grandmaster Caz, DJ Disco Wiz, Legs McNeil, Annie Sprinkle, Al Goldstein, Tommy Ramone, Jellybean Benitez, Lee Quinones, and many more.

NY77 THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL Documentary from guranjeslitice on Vimeo.

Leveling La Vie

Just noting the continued de-evolution of the former club at 64 E. First St.

Workers are in the process of leveling the structure to make way for a 6-floor residential building here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

New York Yimby reported in April that there will be six residential units (likely condos) — "two duplexes, one spanning the cellar and first floor, and another located on the sixth and penthouse levels; each of the other four residences will be full-floor."

La Vie, a club masquerading as a restaurant, finally closed in June 2013 after a protracted battle with the State Liquor Authority.

Despite the angle of this photo, Abetta Boiler and Welding Service next door is still in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] La Vie closed for now on East First Street

New York Supreme Court upholds revocation of La Vie's liquor license

CB3 denies La Vie; owner responds by calling Susan Stetzer a 'racist'

La Vie has closed; neighbors rejoice

Former La Vie space on East First Street will be demolished

Getting rid of the rats at the former LaVie ahead of a new 6-floor residential building

Boarding up the former La Vie

Rummage away today at the El Sol Brillante Jr. Garden

Capital One introduces new curbside banking on 2nd Avenue

Or maybe it is part of their new campaign, "What's in your trash?"

Report: Deal falls through to bring Lucky Cheng's to Ludlow Street

Lucky Cheng's will not be calling the former Living Room space at 154 Ludlow St. their new home after all.

The cabaret, originally on this month's SLA licensing committee docket, was hoping to make the move back downtown permanent. (They had been operating out of the DL on Delancey Street.)

However, as Lisha Arino reported at DNAinfo yesterday, the plans fell through.

Lucky Cheng’s was in the process of acquiring the space when the landlord pulled out at the last minute, [general manager Richard Huguenot] said.

“Basically, I don’t think the landlord wanted us over there,” he said.

Lucky Cheng's is now searching for a space big enough to host its new format, which will include circus acts, burlesque, contortionists, and aerialists along with its signature drag show.

Huguenot said the restaurant wants to remain in the Lower East Side, where it first opened in 1993. The ideal space would be about 4,000 square feet and able to accommodate about 150 people, he said.

Lucky Cheng's closed its Midtown location last summer after the death of owner Hayne Suthon. She moved Lucky Cheng's from First Avenue in 2012.