A rental with everything but the kitchen sink (no, really)

On Monday, Curbed pointed out a cute East Ninth Street one-bedroom rental with a kitchen shower. Going rate: $2k a month. The catch: There may not actually be a bathroom in the unit. (The listing didn't mention one.)

Which brings us to a one-bedroom unit at 328 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Per the above photo, looks like there are new kitchen appliances in the space. No sign of a sink, though.

Let's look more closely at the listing (all sic):

This East Village 1 bedroom offers a gnerous space and lots of light on a charming tree lined east village block, on the 3rd floor of a well kept walkup building, this is the best deal for the dollar in this hood. The apartment has the shower and sink in the living space, they are new and well kept.

So there you go, there is a sink! Somewhere! (Funny that toilet wasn't mentioned...)

Asking price: $1,900.

Purple Ginger out, Kin Asian Bistro is in on East 6th Street

[Photo by Andrew T. Foster]

Purple Ginger, which served a variety of classic Thai, Chinese and Japanese dishes at 507 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, is no more.

EVG reader/Purple Ginger regular Andrew T. Foster told us the other day that the family who ran the place the past three-plus years sold the business to a company with several Chinese/Thai fusion places in Long Island City.

Per Andrew: "Too bad. The family who ran Purple Ginger was really cool and the food was great."

And just like that the new signage is up for Kin Asian Bistro...



The restaurant wasn't open for the day when we stopped by, so we didn't get a chance to take a look at the menu. The owners are on this month's CB3/SLA committee meeting docket for a new liquor license. However, this item will not be heard before the committee.

According to the questionnaire (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website, Kin Asian Bistro's hours will be 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday … until 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

A barber shop is coming soon to East 2nd Street

The signage recently arrived here at 174 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B… in one of the long-empty storefronts. Don't have any info about the place at the moment. The sign reads "Cut. Shave. Care."

This is the first retail tenant to take a space here since Jared Kushner bought 170-174 E. Second St. in December 2013.

Previously on EV Grieve:
'Most uses considered' for 3 retail spaces at Kushner's 170 E. 2nd St.

Residents continue to speak out about living conditions in Jared Kushner's 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Hitchcocktober movie of the week: 'Shadow of a Doubt'

Hitchcocktober continues tonight at the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue at East 12th Street.

Tonight at 8! "Shadow of a Doubt."



Do you know the world is a foul sty?

And upcoming:

Oct. 15 — "North by Northwest"

Oct. 22 — "Marnie"

Oct. 29 — "Rear Window"

You can buy advance tix online here.

Hey, it's National Pierogi Day

In observance of National Pierogi Day today, Veselka is serving an order (any variety) for $5 all day long.

The restaurant on Second Avenue and East Ninth Street makes 3,000 pierogis by hand every day (according to Veselka).

Or maybe you could pick some up to take home from East Village Meat Market on Second Avenue... and Polish G. I. Delicatessen on First Avenue.

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. James is traveling this week. East Village photographer Stacie Joy compiled today's post.



By Stacie Joy

Name: Elsie Flores
Occupation: Court Advocate at Andrew Glover Youth Program and Manhattan Criminal Court at 100 Centre Street
Location: Andrew Glover Youth Program, 100 Avenue B
Time: 3:24 pm, Monday, Oct. 5

I was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico, and came over to the East Village/Lower East Side when I was 6 months old with my mother. I grew up in the Lower East Side, and still live there today.

I got involved with Andrew Glover Youth Program (AGYP) after they helped me with my legal matters. I was arrested three times when I was younger — once for a direct sale of narcotics, once for an observed sale and once for grand larceny. I walked into the program center to visit a friend, and [executive director] Angel Rodriguez took an interest in my case. I used to hang out here with a friend of mine.

AGYP helped me when I needed help, with support, guidance and showing me the right way. Unfortunately, my mom was too caught up in alcohol and drugs, I have no father and my sisters and brothers were all adopted. So I had nobody. There was no support system. I had some neighbors that were lovely, but I was too caught up in the streets and making that easy money to stop. Money was so easy as a child — I wasn’t even 13 and I sold and dealt and did what I had to survive until I found out I was pregnant.

That turned my life around. I wanted to give my daughter a better life than I had. I wanted to show her the right way, not the wrong way. My mother never had a job, so I had to learn what it meant to go to school, to go to college, to provide for my daughter. I then decided I wanted to give back. I know how it is to have nobody, to have nothing. I know how it feels to be misguided and how easy it is to get into negative activities. But you know that money, as fast as it comes, is as fast as it goes.

The neighborhood has changed a lot since I was a kid! I don’t know if I can say it’s changed for the better, I feel like now it’s targeting a certain race or class of people. Everything is so expensive now between the bars, restaurants, rent and stores. Some things are just nicer but unaffordable. I feel like they are pushing out the minorities, those who grew up here. I feel pressure, pressure to step up my game.

So I won’t become a statistic, which they would love to see. I will continue to do what I do, which is work hard, stay away from illegal activities and negativity. I try to talk to people in the community in a positive way, show support and give advice, any way possible to help youth in trouble. I assist young people who have been through what I have been through. And since I was once where they are, I know their tricks and can spot their untruths.

The majority of the kids come here with legal problems. Being arrested and needing help with the court system. We work with legally appointed attorneys to help these kids (ages 13 to 21) with tickets, court dates, drug issues, etc. A lot of kids don’t know their rights. No one is teaching them or educating them about their rights. These kids don’t know how the system works, and we are here to assist them, teach them, and help them get on the correct path. We tell them what they can and cannot do, what might happen. We help them by maintaining an 8 p.m. curfew for them, making sure they are at school every day, and that they pass their drug screens and tests.

When a young person is unable to make bail, he or she stays in jail, which is not the answer. AGYP does not provide bail money for these defendants, and so we are working to change this law as well. AGYP won’t help kids who have been charged with murder or rape or who have a very very long rap sheet of prior violent predicates. Most of the kids who come to the program come with drug arrests, theft, prostitution and gambling, low-level crimes and are first-time offenders.

For AGYP to not accept someone, he or she needs to be extremely violent with a long list of prior violent arrests. Andrew Glover Youth program has an amazingly low recidivism rate, somewhere along the lines of 3 percent. The program aims to take criminals off the streets, offer help and guidance as well as support. But not blind trust. We check up on them every day, help them the best way we can.

Officer Andrew Glover was a local East Village police officer who was murdered during the commission of his duties in the mid-1970s. Andrew Glover and NYU poli-sci student Robert Siegal were friends, who always spoke about making this program for kids, for the community. When Robert Siegal died, Angel Rodriguez [his friend, who was also acting as intermediate director at the local Boys Club] stepped in, and seamlessly took over. Angel Rodriguez didn’t hesitate, named the program after Officer Glover, and Angel is now my bossman!

A typical day for me is heading to criminal or family court in the morning with clients, taking clients to school, to doctor’s appointments, to psychiatric evaluation or drug testing, then coming into the Avenue B office to help handle any and all legal matters the best way we can. Since we mandate a strict curfew, I then spend my evenings catching up with them. I could be making a home visit. Also, in the evenings, we provide supervision here at the Avenue B location, where kids check in, learn new skills, and receive counseling.

Condos at former East 6th Street synagogue will start at just under $3 million

[EVG photo from 2013]

There's now a teaser website for the three condos that are being built at the former Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 415 E. Sixth St.

Unfortunately, there's not much info there… except for the slogan: "History reimagined … For modern living" and some contact info.

And there's a rendering of sorts… which also shows the new top floor…



At the time when the condo plans were first made available several years back, some neighbors and preservationists were concerned about the size and scope of the new level.

As for pricing, the sign that arrived outside the under-renovation building notes that the condos start at $2.95 million…



As previously cut-n-pasted: The landmarked building between Avenue A and First Avenue was reportedly in disrepair and the congregation's population had dwindled. Synagogue leaders signed a 99-year lease with East River Partners worth some $1.2 million. The synagogue will retain some space on the ground floor for their use.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plan to add condos to historic East Sixth Street synagogue back on

Play spot the potential penthouse atop the East Village synagogue

A final look inside the Anshei Meseritz synagogue on East Sixth Street

Stained-glass windows removed ahead of condo conversion at Congregation Mezritch Synagogue

Another A for Ray

EVG regular Peter Brownscombe reports that Ray has retained his A rating after the completion of his long-awaited Health Department sanitary inspection yesterday at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A.

The good DOH news continues since those darks days in May 2011.

MoRUS extends Adam Purple memorial show through Oct. 25

[Photo via MoRUS/Facebook]

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) will continue its memorial exhibit honoring Adam Purple, the environmentalist and urban gardening pioneer, who died on Sept. 14 at age 84.

Here's the info via the EVG inbox...

Due to increasing levels of interest from the public about Adam and the history of community gardens, MoRUS will extend The Adam Purple Memorial Show, which includes rare photos of The Garden of Eden, memorabilia and rare footage of the garden and Adam appearing in his Purple attire on several talk shows, including "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee," through Sunday, Oct. 25.

Among special events tied-in with the Purple pop-up include a screening of the award-winning documentary, "Dirt," shot and produced by David Evans, Maria Liedholm Holter and Catherine Williamson Duncumb in the mid-1990s. When "Dirt" was recognized by the International Documentary Association in 1998 and the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1999, it launched global awareness of what the East Village had known for years: community gardens breathe life and pump vitality into marginalized neighborhoods.

"Dirt" will screen at MoRUS on Thursday, Oct. 8, 7 p.m.

MoRUS is at 155 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street. The suggested donation for the screening is $5, but no one will be turned away. Donations will support the preservation of Adam's history through photographs, videos and other artifacts.

Purple — born David Wilkie in Independence, Mo. — garnered international attention in the mid-1980s when he battled the city over a five-lot, 15,000-square-foot garden he created amid the ruins of the Lower East Side.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Adam Purple

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union now owns 49% of 51 Astor Place, which people still think is in Midtown South

The Real Deal has the story about 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star:

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union recently bought a minority stake in Edward Minskoff’s 51 Astor Place, a deal that values the futuristic-looking Midtown South office property at $600 million. The Seoul-based credit union, which has more than $23 billion in assets under management, paid roughly $113 million to buy a 49-percent stake in the fully leased, 400,000-square-foot building.

Why?

James Yoohoon Jeon of FG Asset Management, which oversees the credit union’s investments in 51 Astor Place, said: "We believe there’s a huge potential for rent increase in Midtown South."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Facebook is moving into the neighborhood; Midtown South expands its boundaries, apparently

Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor Place

Reader report: 'This man stole the keys to my apt. and your building'

An EVG reader sent this along… spotted in the lobby at 233 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue … We do not know the backstory…

Today in flying leaps

Photo outside the Pyramid on Avenue A today by Derek Berg

The Red & Gold Boil has closed on St. Mark's Place

After 13 months in business at 30 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, The Red & Gold Boil has hung up the nets... A sign on the door notes that they closed after service on Sunday...



The place never seemed all that crowded... perhaps the idea of eating fresh crab for $35 on this stretch of St. Mark's Place wasn't so appealing ... ditto for the name — The Red & Gold Boil, which sounded as if it needed to seek medical attention. (Earlier, the place went by Red & Gold Crab Shack.)

Thanks to EVG correspondent Steven for the photos

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking: Japadog is closing for good after tonight on St. Mark's Place

Reader report: Crab Shack in the works for former Japadog space on St. Mark's Place

Here is your Red & Gold Crab Shack! signage on St. Mark's Place

When it's time to remove the Mickey Mouse statue with an erection from the Standard East Village

A little earlier today on East Fifth Street at the Bowery... from the rear, it appears that the movers are pushing just another Mickey Mouse statue... but from the front...



Word is Mickey was decor for a party at the East Village Standard... (And is this Andre Saraiva's work?)

Photos by Marjorie Ingall...