Second thoughts about the future

[Photo via an EVG reader]

Last Monday along First Avenue between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street…

And today!


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Puebla Mexican Food is closing after 25 years on 1st Avenue

[Photo via @jaha7236]

Puebla Mexican Food, which features huge portions at small prices, is closing for good at 47 First Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street...


[EVG photo]

The family run restaurant closes after business this coming Sunday, March 15. March 23. We hear that the lease was up, and the new rent was too much for owner Irma Marin to manage. As for finding another storefront, there's nothing affordable nearby … plus we're told that Marin understandably wants to take a break.


[Image via Yelp]

Back in February 2007, The Villager published a feature on Marin, who "was born into poverty in the town of Santana, in the central Mexican state of Puebla that their restaurant is named after."

She was one of 12 children. In 1979, at age 15, she left her parents and the world she knew behind to cross illegally into the United States. It was a last-minute decision. An older sister had backed out after the family had paid $550 per person to a coyote (an expert — or profiteer — at smuggling people across the border). The money could not be refunded and Marin took her sister’s spot, traveling with another sister, that sister’s husband and his brother.

The coyote led them on a five-hour hike over a Tijuana mountain into Southern California, using his familiarity with the route to avoid authorities. Marin and her small party eventually made it to Los Angeles, where they boarded a cross-country bus to New York City. Her sister and brother-in-law rented a tenement apartment in the East Village, and Marin lived with them. Her childhood and her formal education were over.

Over the next decade, she worked various factory jobs, becoming a legal resident in 1987 through a government amnesty program, per The Villager.

Marin’s sister and brother-in-law launched the restaurant in 1990… with Marin taking over in 2000. (Marin’s sister and brother-in-law run Downtown Bakery II at 69 First Ave.)

Meanwhile, we'll likely have a Puebla-heavy diet the next few days…


[EVG photo]

The new Holiday Cocktail Lounge opens tonight

[Photo from December]

The latest iteration of the Holiday Cocktail Lounge returns tonight after a three-plus year closure.

A quick recap. Stefan Lutak, the longtime proprietor who bought the place in 1965, died in early 2009 at age 89. Shortly before his death, Stefan decided to retire, and the bar closed for several weeks… only to reopen under new management on Jan. 17, 2009.

The post-Stefan Holiday lasted until Jan. 29, 2012. News broke a few weeks later that Robert Ehrlich, the founder of Pirate Brands, which makes Pirate's Booty, bought the building at 75 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue. After some anxious moments, we learned that Barbara Sibley, who lives in the building and runs La Palapa next door, would be helping oversee the operation.

No. 75 needed a a top-to-bottom renovation, and it was a long process. Sibley talked to us about it back in January 2014.

The building was in terrible condition ... It’s been such an exercise in zen and archaeology. As much as we’ve been trying to maintain it, you couldn’t keep everything. We were lucky on their closing night that we didn’t all fall through. Every time we look behind a wall it’s been a major repair. It’s been an endless process.

And here we are.

According to The New York Times, who first reported on tonight's reopening, "enough of the bar’s ancient innards have been retained that old regulars will recognize a familiar friend."

The tight horseshoe bar where W. H. Auden and Allen Ginsberg (and possibly Leon Trotsky) once presided has been given a rubdown, though it has been moved about 20 feet and now stands in the center of the space. Also still there are the battered awning, an old wooden phone booth and an exotic mural from the place’s earlier days as a burlesque cabaret.

The resurrection could not have happened without Robert Ehrlich, the snack-food mogul who created Pirate’s Booty, who decided to buy the building and preserve the bar.

The bar will include some beer-and-shot combos for $8 … and $6 cocktails served in glassware used by the old Holiday. But it won't all be the old Holiday. There are a few craft cocktails on the menu, via Michael Neff (the Rum House) and his brother Danny.

Said Michael Neff: "You have to honor the past without trying to duplicate it — that would be Disneyland."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The founder of Pirate's Booty is taking over the Holiday Cocktail Lounge

Why the future of the Holiday Cocktail Lounge may be in doubt

There goes the Holiday Cocktail Lounge

Last night at the Holiday

The Holiday Cocktail Lounge is closing Saturday night

"Beat writers...spent considerable time with the bookies, dope dealers, working girls and alcoholics for whom the Holiday was a second home"

State of New York auctioning off the remains of B.A.D. Burger on Avenue A

The State of New York seized B.A.D. Burger at 171 Avenue A near East 11th Street for nonpayment of taxes back in early February.

The B.A.D. Burger Facebook page later noted that the diner would be "temporarily closed for a few days."

Unfortunately, the latest legal documents on the door point to a permanent closure...



The notice, dated March 5, says that the contents of the restaurant will be sold off on Thursday at 10 a.m.

B.A.D. Burger opened in late 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] State seizes B.A.D. Burger on Avenue A for nonpayment of taxes

324 E. 4th St. getting the 2 building look (but just 1 rooftop terrace)

[EVG photo from February 2014]

324 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D has been gutted ahead of a three-level extension.



And now we've seen all sorts of building add-ons around the neighborhood/city… often the extra floors actually blend into the existing building … not here, though …



It looks like someone dropped another 3-level home on top of what is being called Aisling House Altes Houses.

Anyway. According to New York Yimby, who first revealed the building's new look, the 11 residences will "be spread over nearly 9,000 square feet of space ... with a full-floor duplex penthouse on top and two apartments per floor above the ground level."

And here is what Mortar Architecture + Development has to say about it on the firm's website:

A renewal project for a building on East 4th Street in Alphabet City, Aisling House combines the restoration of a 100 year old brick townhouse and a refined three story addition. The eleven unit building is created using led lighting, locally sourced materials including zero voc paints and lighting by Apparatus. The building lobby and each kitchen is finished with reclaimed wood from the original townhouse, walnut cabinetry and Calcutta Gold Marble countertops. The rooftop lounge will include a green roof, and the rooftop terrace is finished with a custom cypress wood trellis.

As for that 100-year-old statement, NY Yimby writes, "Its Greek Revival features mark it as well over 150 years old."

And as previously reported, Hanksy hosted sorta secret art shows here back in December 2013 and January 2014 when the building with the colorful façade was abandoned.



Wonder if Mortar kept any of this locally sourced material for the gut-renovated building…

Previously on EV Grieve:
2 new floors, gut renovation in store for empty tenement that last housed a Hanksy art show

At Hanksy's 'Surplus Candy' art show in an abandoned East Village tenement

Gut renovations underway at 324 E. 4th St., most recently the makeshift gallery for Hanksy and Co.

The unique façade of 324 E. 4th St. is gone

Week in Grieview

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Report: Family of man killed by tire swing in Tompkins Square Park will sue the city (Wednesday)

Former funeral home on Second Avenue begins afterlife as rentals with furnished roof deck (Tuesday, 27 comments)

Survey: East Village residents are spending 56% of their incomes on market-rate apartments (Monday)

Out and About with the owners of Pangea (Wednesday)

Empellón al Pastor wants to add sidewalk seating on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place (Wednesday, 51 comments)

Proto's Pizza has closed on Second Avenue (Tuesday)

DumplingGo is a go on Second Avenue (Monday)

Burkina (aka Got it 4 cheap™) closes on First Avenue (Wednesday)

Funkiberry closes (Thursday, 43 comments)

Petco confirmed for Second Avenue (Tuesday)

Celebrating $pread magazine (Wednesday)

Taqueria St. Mark's set to open (Tuesday)

About East Village Radio's return (Friday)

Juice Press on East 10th Street (the one near Avenue A) closes for renovations (Monday)

205 Avenue A's 6-bedroom unit with rooftop deck is back on the market to annoy everyone (Thursday)

The Cardinal has closed on East Fourth Street (Friday)

You may now watch the documentary about former East Village boutique Mod World for free (Thursday)

Night Owl opens in the North River space (Monday)

Oh how was your National Pancake Day? (Tuesday)

Matty's has been evicted from 25 Avenue B (Friday)

Selling 190 Bowery (Wednesday)

It snowed (Thursday)

… and the thaw is on… and we now know how many bikes were in this snow bank on East 10th Street… the other day!



Today!



Bike photos via Michael Sean Edwards

The evolution of fashion

On the Bowery… photo and headline by Grant Shaffer

Well blow me down

For some reason there is a tent on the roof of the building housing Tarallucci E Vino on the northwest corner of 10th Street and First Avenue.

Anyway, the tent is now on the sidewalk below this afternoon thanks to a nice gust of wind...



Steven Hirsch, who took this photo, says that no one was injured… Police are on the scene.

RIP Donna Harris

Felton Davis, who works at Maryhouse on East Third Street, shares the following with us about Donna Harris, a homeless resident of Avenue A/Tompkins Square Park these past five years...

Donna was long known to us at Maryhouse, and had a ton of stuff in storage here. She was photographed with her friends here on Christmas day of 2014.

She told me she couldn't spend another winter in the Park, and was going to accept some sort of hospitalization in 2015. She stopped by Maryhouse last weekend for her mail. And then the temperature dropped, and the last snowstorm of the season took place.

And Donna made her departure.

She died last Monday. She was 52.

Several people memorialized her outside the former Odessa Cafe and Bar at 117 Avenue A near East Seventh Street, where she often slept on the sidewalk.





Updated: A memorial service for Donna takes place on March 21. Details here.

Former Mobil station transformed into gorgeous Styrofoam® Park

[Last weekend]

Last weekend, the soon-to-be-demolished Mobil station on Avenue C and East Houston became a splendid and scenic cafe for two…

Now, in recent days… giant blocks of Styrofoam® have been carefully placed at the scene (along with some discarded furniture) …





What might next week bring?

Catching up with legendary street photographer Flo Fox

We've written about the prolific street photographer Flo Fox in the past … Today, at age 69, Fox, despite blindness, multiple sclerosis and lung cancer, continues to take photos on a daily basis thanks to her attendants, friends and sometimes total strangers.

Curbed has a new interview with her, which you can read here.

Do you find today's New York less photogenic than it was in the 70s and 80s?

No. It's always a place to be. I am a tourist every day in my own town. I don't miss the '70s and '80s, but the '50s and '60s. The doo wop. The rhythm and blues.

Meanwhile, check out her interview on Tom Snyder from 1980...



You can watch part 2 here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Watch this 10-minute documentary on the amazing street photographer Flo Fox

The photography of Flo Fox

Tweets and free irons that leak

For starters, thank you to Thrillist for including @evgrieve in the listicle "42 NYC Twitter Accounts You Need to Follow NOW."

Per Thrillist: "No East Village neighborhood news is too small to report for the EV Grieve."

Hmmmk.

Meanwhile, might be late on this … Crazy Eddie spotted this yesterday on Avenue A near East 13th Street… dunno if someone has already claimed it…

RIP Amnon Kehati

Amnon Kehati, a longtime partner in Sidewalk Cafe on Avenue A and more recently Mark burger on St. Mark's Place, died Feb. 19 after going into cardiac arrest. He was 64.

The Villager has a feature obituary on Kehati in this week's edition.

“Restaurants are a way of life rather than a business,” his daughter said. “People would say that he shouldn’t be working so hard, but it wasn’t work to him.”

An East Village Sugar sighting

There have been several reports of a Sugar sighting on East 12th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C today…

SOS. #FINDSUGARNYC seen running on East on 12th st towards the River DO NOT CHASE

— FindSugarNYC (@FindSugarNYC) March 6, 2015

ALPHABET CITY VOLUNTEERS: Spread out. Walk slowly. Stay calm. Sugar is a rescue. If she's there we need to coax her out. #FindSugarNYC

— FindSugarNYC (@FindSugarNYC) March 6, 2015

SOLO PAW PRINTS SPOTTED (sent by M's friend) - entrance to gated alley south side 12th btwn B&C #FindSugarNYC pic.twitter.com/1NxHKkwJ1P

— FindSugarNYC (@FindSugarNYC) March 6, 2015

ALPHABET CITY VOLUNTEERS: Pls check alleyways/behind trash bins. Sugar is a rescue. Please stay calm. Responds best to SHUGY #findsugarNYC

— FindSugarNYC (@FindSugarNYC) March 6, 2015

Sugar, whose owner is an East Village resident, is the Amstaff/pit bull mix that went missing on Feb. 23 under mysterious circumstances. Read more background here and here.

For the latest, head to Twitter and Facebook.

The reward is now $10,000. Find more details here.