No more Bugs on East 12th Street

Bugs, the 15-seat sushi restaurant on East 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, has closed.

An EVG reader, who spotted the Bugs sign outside in the trash last night, said the chef-owner, Shoo Boo, is returning to her native Japan.

The restaurant opened three summers ago... and drew praise from The New York Times, who noted:

Ms. Boo decorated the restaurant herself, wrapping twine around the front door handle, pinning ears of dried corn to a wall and filling the counter’s red shadowbox top with mosaics of broken glass. Light bulbs, shrouded in raffia, huddle in rattan boats dangling from the ceiling. The chairs, nine along the counter and six more at tables, could have been plucked from a hair salon.

It is the kind of place you are relieved still exists in the East Village: tiny, a little kooky, with its own weather.

A look at 330 Bowery, now free of its sidewalk bridge

[Last week]

Last week, workers removed the construction wrapping from 330 Bowery (aka 54 Bond St.), the historic circa-1874 building at Bond Street.

On Wednesday, it was time for the sidewalk bridge to go away after a two-and-a-half-year refurbishment...







A John Barrett luxury hair salon is taking over the retail space here at the former Bouwerie Lane Theater.

H/T EVG reader Christina!

Previously on EV Grieve:
330 Bowery wrapped and ready

Life next to 98-100 Avenue A

After our post yesterday about the progress at Ben Shaoul's new building at 98-100 Avenue A, a reader who lives overlooking the site between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street shared some photos from this angle...



The reader, who often works from home, says that the years-long demolition and subsequent construction "has been hell."

Cracks in my walls, ceiling, etc., and the lovely noise from 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday - Saturday. I only have one window to see out of for the air conditioner as I put 3-inch foam in the others.

Updated 11:42 a.m.

Another neighbor shared another view...

E-Nail has closed on 2nd Avenue

That's it for the 10-year-old salon at 125 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Seventh Street.

One of the owners told EVG reader Carol from East Fifth Street that they had "lost a lot of business," though the owner didn't specify if that was the result of the deadly gas explosion on March 26 or the recent citywide crackdown on nail salons.

E-Nail was closed for nearly six weeks following the blast two storefronts away ... reopening on May 3.

A tale of 2 printers

On East Sixth Street above... and East Seventh Street below...



"Broken and very heavy" ... you can almost hear the printer sighing...

Photos today by Derek Berg...

A Joey Ramone-CBGB 40th anniversary mural for the Bowery

A new mural featuring Joey Ramone is going up today on Bleecker at the Bowery... across the way from the former CBGB... EVG reader Lola Sáenz says that the mural is by Solus and John CRASH Matos...

The mural is via The L.I.S.A. Project to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Ramones debuting at CBGB.


[Top photos by Lola Sáenz]

Here was the view around noon...

A photo posted by Solus (@solusstreetart) on Sep 3, 2015 at 9:37am PDT

EV Grieve Etc.: Concerns about landmarks law; taste test at Harry & Ida's

[Cat day afternoon on East 10th Street via Grant Shaffer]

In the early 1970s, photographer Hans Haacke attempted to track the holdings of an East Village/LES landlord, and a writer traces Haacke's path today with interesting results (Curbed)

Preservationists fight bill setting time limit on landmarks decisions in NYC (The New York Times ... Gotham Gazette)

At the rally against NYU Tuesday in Washington Square Park (BuzzFeed ... the Observer)

Cooper Union enters agreement to end lawsuit over tuition (DNAinfo)

Ranking the sandwiches at Harry & Ida's on Avenue A (Eater)

Missing the hawks (Gog in NYC)

About those dead mutant rats strung up along the FDR (BoweryBoogie)

A few things to do in September (The Lo-Down)

Flagship Barnes & Noble bookstore on Fifth Avenue and 18th Street transformed into a Banana Republic (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Screening tonight: "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (starring Michael Landon) and "The Honeymoon Killers" (Anthology Film Archives)

Speaking of The Honeymoon Killers ... here's the band that took their name from the film live at CBGB in 1986 (YouTube)

... and if your workplace, school, church, etc., are making plans...

Looking for a practical way to help New Yorkers in need? Consider hosting a food or clothing drive! Learn more: http://t.co/dDtwDioZIS

— The Bowery Mission (@BoweryMission) September 2, 2015

Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A emerging from the dewatering hole

By late afternoon yesterday, Ben Shaoul's incoming retail-residential building between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street made its first appearance above the plywood, as these photos by EVG contributor Steven show…





Last time we checked in on the address here on Avenue A, a report of smoke from the construction pit prompted a visit by the FDNY. Earlier in the summer a sign appeared on the plywood noting that — "We are currently performing dewatering on this construction site. This is condensation (water vapor) coming up through the pipes."

Not sure where workers are with the dewatering. We didn't notice any smoke water vapor when we walked by yesterday.

Anyway, you know the rest… the building will one day look something like this…



Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Workers back demolishing what's left of 98-100 Avenue A

Rest assured, there isn't a fire in the hole at 98-100 Avenue A

Reader mailbag: Can my landlord legally convert a 1-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom unit?

An EVG reader asked the following …

The landlord of my small, rent-stabilized building just converted a one bedroom into a three bedroom/two bath unit and put it on the market for $5,900 a month — probably from less than $1,000 a month.

Is this huge jump legal?

-------------

We often get reader queries ... asking for help with, say, donating clothes or books ... or finding an East Village-based caterer... If you have a question for the masses, then try the EV Grieve email...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Places to eat that have that old East Village vibe (45 comments)

Reader mailbag: What do I do about my new neighbors who smoke pot all the time? (52 comments)

Reader mailbag: Where is a good place to get a cup of coffee in the East Village before 6 a.m.? (25 comments)

Reader mailbag: What has happened to the Cooper Station Post Office? (41 comments)

Reader mailbag: Can the landlord 'drill' the lock to gain access to my apartment for simple repairs? (15 comments)

Reader mailbag: Should we receive a rent abatement for having sporadic heat and hot water?

Reader mailbag: How often does your mail get delivered?

Reader mailbag: Where can I get my Mac fixed now?

Random photo found on the Internet

RUMORS: These 2 buildings on 2nd Avenue at East 12th Street are for sale

A credible tipster shared a rumor with us… that 192 Second Ave. at East 12th Street … and the building directly behind it at 303 E. 12th St. are on the shopping block…



The buildings are connected by a courtyard… word from the rumor mill is that the ground-floor space at 303 — currently a residence — is being pitched as a possible home to a cafe-restaurant.

Despite the reliability of the tipster, we haven't spotted any listings for the buildings… and there isn't any evidence that they are for sale…

Tonight

Tribute in Light test run.

Thanks to Alex Ward for the photo…

Checking the Hare Krishna tree for Dutch Elm Disease in Tompkins Square Park

A bit of a startling sight this morning when a tree crew towing a shredder pulled up to the Hare Krishna tree in the middle of Tompkins Square Park.

Workers were there, though, just to inspect the American Elm, which was the site of the birth of the Hare Krishna movement in the United States in 1966.









EVG contributor Steven, who took these photos, talked with one of the workers, who was checking the tree for Dutch Elm Disease. He said that the tree is sound, though he did have to remove a few suspect branches...

Drilling and soil testing commences at the long-empty lot at 89 1st Ave.

[EVG photo from September 2014]

As you may recall, we heard a rumor last fall that there were preliminary plans in place to build a 7-floor residential building in the long-emtpy lot at 89 First Ave. between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street.

The rumor gained strength in March when workers cut down 10 trees and cleared the brush from the lot.

There still aren't any permits on file with the DOB noting impending construction ... however, workers recently cleared out the weeds growing in the lot.

And yesterday, EVG reader Sam Teichman spotted a crew inside the lot during the morning hours...


[Photo by Sam Teichman]

And this morning, EVG reader EVA spotted workers drilling and soil testing on the lot ... usually a sign of incoming development.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Will this long-empty lot on 1st Avenue yield to affordable housing?

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Jennifer Bonilla
Occupation: 100 Ton Inland Master Mate Near Coast
Location: 7th Street between Avenues B and C
Time: 3:15 on Thursday, Aug. 27

I was born in Amarillo, Texas. I’m a 100 ton inland master captain with a sail and tow auxiliary. I drive boats. I used to work for a New York Waterway and I worked for CUNY on the research boat. I went off to work in Alaska, Oregon, Idaho and now I do private jobs mostly from the Bahamas to somewhere else.

I came here the first time when I was 25. I was an artist. I made jewelry and I realized I could sell it on the street without paying for a permit. [I sold them] on Broadway all the time. I had all this money but then the police took me to jail and kept the money.

Then I got out. I didn’t have my jewelry and I didn’t have my money. I was homeless. I was staying at the Y but when that ended I was out on the street. I got involved with a bunch of squatters and we squatted in an abandoned building. And now I’m a landowner, baby. It’s a good story. I built my apartment. I live on the 5th floor and I carried every single thing up there. Twenty-seven years I’ve lived in the same place.

There were no floors. When I moved in I had to cross over this beam to get to the little area of the floor that was left. We had no toilets, no heat and no water. We got our water from the street and eventually we put in one bathroom on the ground floor with a hot water heater and everybody who lived there shared that.

Then in 1988, we had a five-alarm fire and it burned the front of the building down. We rebuilt it. It was an incredible feat of architectural and structural work that we did to save it. We had a group of architecture students who volunteered with us for three years. They lived there and they camped out in tents. It was fun. We had the greatest life.

Nobody cared back then. The whole neighborhood, every empty lot had trash to the top of the fence. I used to walk around really dirty from the collar down all the time. I could wash all that you could see but a lot of times there was no place to take a bath. That’s how a lot of people remember me those first years. I was working for a bath. Every time I’d meet someone, I’d be like, ‘Do you think I could come to your house to shower?’ And then people would be like, ‘Really?’ All these guys thought I was hitting on them. Then I’d go in their bathroom and I’d lock the door and I’d come out two hours later, ‘Thanks a lot.’

It was so much quieter, even during the drug haze days. We had the big coke C and D cartel on our block. In 1995, the cops busted our block and every one of those guys who were working the block went to prison. Fifteen years they spent in prison. All of them are out because all of their mothers still live out on the block. They’re all reformed criminals. Let’s hope they’re all reformed.

Anyway, there are no more drugs being sold on our block, but with the way those drugs left, total mayhem came. When the drug dealers were running the neighborhood, there was some control going on here. You had security. You could walk on your block, and if somebody was bothering you, they’d step over to you … every one of those drug dealers would surround them and they’d go, ‘Is he bothering you? Cause you’re a homegirl.’ They’d go, ‘Homegirl, homegirl.’

One guy was harassing me and he was following me around. He said, ‘I’m going to send you back to Texas in a box.’ I was petrified and I crossed Avenue B and all those guys, they saw everything. It was amazing. And that guy never bothered me again after they were done talking to him. They had some kind of clout that doesn’t exist here anymore.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.