TLC Tea House coming soon to East 2nd Street

The Coming Soon Signage is up at 103 E. Second St. between Avenue A and First Avenue … where TLC Tea House is opening in the former Gaia Lounge space…

The sign shows [perhaps] what will be in store… all served with a little TLC?

RIP Shane Keogh

Shane Keogh, a familiar figure behind the bar at the Grassroots Tavern and on stage as bassist for Iconicide and Lucifer Jones, died on Aug. 14.

He collapsed on his way to the New York Sports Club on Avenue A. The cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, said his girlfriend, Blair Hopkins. He was 38 years old.

Keogh worked as a bartender the past three years at the Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place.

"He loved it there and referred to it as the Supreme Court of Bartending jobs," Hopkins told us.

He also worked as a bartender at the now-closed Bar 82 on Second Avenue and Identity Bar on East Sixth Street, Blue Ruin and Bellevue in Hell's Kitchen, and at the first Duff's Brooklyn.

Keogh was a native New Yorker and grew up in the Bronx.

There is a wake for his friends and family tomorrow night from 5-9 at Walker Funeral Home in Woodhaven, Queens. His friends will be gathering afterwards at the Grassroots Tavern, 20 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenues. (The bar has a memorial fund going to help pay for funeral-related expenses.)

"He liked to refer to himself as 'Captain Fun' behind the bar," Hopkins said. "He was the kind of person who would do absolutely anything to elicit a laugh."


[Keough, left, at the Grassroots]

There is a public "Memories of Shane Keogh" Facebook page here.

Photos courtesy of Blair Hopkins

Week in Grieview

[Yesterday on Avenue A at East 5th Street via William Klayer]

Development site available on East Third Street at the Bowery (Monday)

Two East Village Chase Bank branches are closing for good on Nov. 12 (Wednesday)

At the Village East Cinema (Friday)

Work starts on the two Caffe Bene spaces (Monday)

More about Sustainable NYC's closure (Thursday)

There have been three dog attacks in the neighborhood this month (Tuesday, 60 comments)

10 Degrees Bistro now "renegotiating terms with the landlord" on Avenue A (Thursday)

Zibalee closes on East 13th Street (Wednesday)

Medical marijuana dispensary opening on East 14th Street (Monday)

The former Le Jardin space is for rent on Avenue C (Thursday)

Is a Beer Factory in store for the former Spice space on Second Avenue? (Wednesday)

10-story building now in the works for 255 E. Houston St. (Wednesday)

Cantonese-style restaurant coming to Avenue B (Monday)

Is 26 Avenue B ready for its new building now? (Monday)

The Málà Project coming soon to First Avenue (Thursday)

D-Lish Pita has closed on Avenue A (Monday)

Report: CB3 denies the Cock's move up Second Avenue (Tuesday)

Glasgow Vintage Co. has apparently closed on East Ninth Street (Wednesday)

The new lights on the Con Ed substation (Friday)

The Organic Grill is closed for the rest of the month on First Avenue (Tuesday)

New Petco ready to be Unleashed on Aug. 31 (Monday)

A found collection of photos from the 1980s East Village (Tuesday)

Your dreams of living in a penthouse cottage above Kiehl's are dashed for now (Thursday)

First sign of two new floors to come on Third Avenue and 10th Street (Tuesday)


[B&H Dairy art by Martin Russocki]

First U.S. hemp bar is now open on St. Mark's Place

The Brooklyn Dark Hemp Bar — who bill themselves the first Hemp Bar in the United States — is now open at 9 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (They officially opened last Saturday, and have been handing out samples this past week.)

As the sign shows, they sell pastries, coffee, tea, etc. … using hemp seeds as an ingredient.



They also sell their signature chocolate bars, which you may have seen at various stores and food fairs.

The Hemp Bar's hours are 8 a.m. to midnight Monday-Friday; 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday-Sunday. You can read more about Brooklyn Dark at their website.

The address was previously home to I Am Coffee, which seemed to be open one day a week.

You can dispose of some of that crap that you weren't exactly sure what to do with today

Passing this info along…

Union Square North Plaza, south of 17th St between Park Avenue and Broadway.

The NYC Department of Sanitation is holding a series of SAFE Disposal Events (Solvents, Automotive, Flammable, Electronics) to provide NYC residents with a one-stop method to get rid of harmful household products.

Materials accepted include common household products such as auto fluids, batteries, electronics, strong cleaners, medications, paint, month-old acai bowls and more.

Until 4 p.m. today. (And sorry for the short notice — just heard myself.)

A look at Ori Carino's Best Housekeeping murals

[Click on images for more detail]

A few weeks back we noted that Ori Carino was working on a new installation on the roll-down gates at Best Housekeeping on Avenue A at East Second Street… EVG contributor Stacie Joy recently caught up with Carino, who lives nearby on A, for a look at the final product…



Carino said that the panels took approximately three days apiece to do…





You can read more about Carino, an LES native, on his website here.

Caracas Arepa Bar remains closed due to gas issues

Caracas Arepa Bar has been closed of late … DNAinfo has the story about what's going on here at 93 1/2 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The Venezuelan restaurant closed on Aug. 8 after workers smelled gas. Employees promptly called the FDNY and Con Ed.

As for the extended closure, Vanessa Maldonado, operations manager for the Caracas chainlet, blamed the plumbing company that they hired to fix the problem, per DNAinfo.

To the article:

[A]fter spending two days fixing a gas pipe, the company waited a week to file the necessary paperwork for a Con Ed inspection, all the while assuring the restaurant it was submitted, Maldonado said. Roto-Rooter also avoided her questions, she said.

“All the time they were lying to us, telling us that the papers were in, the papers are here, the person who has the papers is not here,” she said.

And…

“It has been all this unclarity,” she said. “It has been very, very vague and confusing.”

Con Ed is due to inspect the restaurant this Wednesday.

And there is a sign up for Con Ed's arrival…



There isn't any mention of the temporary closure on the Caracas website or social media properties. There is a sign up for patrons…



As the sign says, Caracas To Go is open two doors away…

Taking the pile driver out for a spin on this gorgeous Saturday summer

A reader shared this photo today from East 12th Street and Avenue A… Not sure which construction site it's going to or from… or if surge pricing is in effect.

The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is tomorrow in Tompkins Square Park

The city's annual salute to the legendary saxophonist is this weekend… with the show coming to Tompkins Square Park tomorrow (that would be Sunday).

Here's the lineup: Rudresh Mahanthappa, Joe Lovano (pictured), Myra Melford and Michael Mwenso.

Head to the Jazz Festival website for info on all the artists.

The free show is from 3-7 p.m.

Workers remove plywood tribute at the site of 2nd Avenue explosion

[Photo from May 18 by Vinny & O]

On May 18, workers removed the plywood fence that surrounded the site of where 119-123 Second Ave. stood until the deadly gas explosion on March 26. However, the plywood — with photos and tributes to Moises Ismael Locón Yac and Nicholas Figueroa, the two men who died on March 26 — remained up behind the new chain-link fence.

Yesterday, though, several readers mentioned that workers took down that plywood fencing…



… and stacked it up in the lot…



Meanwhile, we haven't heard much about the investigation into the blast. Last Friday, in an article about B&H Dairy reopening, the Post had a few updates on what they called "an ongoing criminal probe."

According to the Post, prosecutors and homicide investigators continue to question witnesses.

They spoke to Marius Wesser, the lawyer for chef Machendra Chongbang, who worked at Sushi Park, the site of the explosion. He said that he went for an interview last month at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

Per the Post:

“They must have had 20 people there,” Wesser said. “Fire investigators, [DA] rackets bureau people, NYPD — it was pretty intense.”

The DA’s Office declined to comment, and lawyers for Maria Hrynenko, who owned the blast building and the one next door, did not return calls.

H/T Vinny & O

Party tent down

As we like to do, we were taking in the view via the blogger portals along Avenue A … where those condos are going in between East 11th Street and East 12th Street…

This caught our eye(s) …



What went on here? What's with the party tent in the pit?

The moon at the moment

The view tonight from the East Village via Grant Shaffer

Chairman of the Bored

Hey, it's Iggy Pop from 1979 with "I'm Bored."

At the Village East Cinema

[EVG photo from last week]

I've been meaning to write something about the historic theater — my favorite in the neighborhood — on Second Avenue at East 12th Street.

Oh, for starters, something that I was unaware of: Screenings before noon every day are $8, $6 off the usual price. (They also have $1 films for kids and parents in the mornings. "The Wizard of Oz" was playing this week.)

Anyway, that great analog marquee has been carrying the "historic auditorium reopens" message for weeks now. But most of the movies I see here, though, tend to be in the small theaters on the lower level.

I finally sucked it up to see whatever might be playing in the big room upstairs. So, the other morning, I was one of the four people who paid his or her $8 to see — eep! — "Terminator: Genysis" in the historic auditorium…







The renovated auditorium reopened on May 22. Here's more about the refurbishment via the Evergreene Architectural Arts website:

Built in 1925 as the Yiddish Art Theatre, the City Cinema Village East is one of a handful of Moorish Revival-style buildings in New York City. Intended to house Maurice Schwartz’s Theatre Company, the property ultimately becoming a multiplex in 1992.

In early 2015, EverGreene conservators conducted a historic finishes investigation, analyzing and documenting the condition of the ornamental plaster ceiling. Craftsmen removed 75 large plaster elements from the ceiling from which they cast new ornament in our New York City studio. The design decision was made to stabilize the extant ornament and craft and decoratively finish new ornament to be compatible not to restore the ceiling. This lends a “conservation” aesthetic to the Village East Cinema.

Using both traditional and mechanical methods, craftsmen installed new plaster elements into the ceiling and consolidated extant ornament to reinforce the support structure. Decorative artists removed and cleaned flaking paint from the ceiling and inpainted the newly-installed ornament to match the existing palette, seamlessly integrating new with old.

Here's a shot of the restored ceiling via the Evergreene website (they have more photos here).



You can read more about the theater's history at Vanishing New York.

And now you do you want to discuss "Terminator: Genysis"?