Yesterday afternoon from atop St. Brigid's on Avenue B… photo by Bobby Williams.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Christo to Dora: Silly dogs think they need to dress up to be photographed
Yesterday afternoon from atop St. Brigid's on Avenue B… photo by Bobby Williams.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Dan and John's Wings now open on 1st Avenue
[Photo last evening by EVG contributor Steven]
Dan and John's Wings opened their doors last night for business at 135 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street.
The two have been selling their wings at Smorgasburg, the outdoor food festival on weekends in Williamsburg and now in Coney Island.
Per their website:
When two friends from Buffalo found themselves in Brooklyn without authentic Buffalo wings, they decided to make their own. Using recipes they learned working in Buffalo bars and pizzerias, Dan and John bring Buffalo's legendary flavor to Brooklyn, New York.
You can find their menu.
The storefront previously housed sandwich specialist JoeDough, which closed in February 2014 after two-plus years.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Dan and John's Wings opening a storefront on 1st Avenue
Apartment fire at 630 E. 9th St.
[Photo via @mobirmingham]
There was a report of a fire last evening after 10 p.m. at 630 E. Ninth St. … in the building adjacent to La Plaza Cultural on Avenue C …
MAN ALL HANDS 630 E 9 ST, FIRE ON TOP FLR REAR,— FDNY (@FDNY) October 24, 2015The FDNY quickly had the situation under control… as a reader told us, a candle burning by the curtain and bed in a fifth-floor apartment in the rear of the building was to blame. No reports of injuries, though there is water damage down to the second floor in the rear apartments.
Come rummage at the Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish today
The Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on East Ninth Street at Avenue B is having a rummage sale today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
As a Trinity rep tells us: "We'll have clothes, kitchen and other household items, books, and some furniture."
And what does the money go to?
"Everything we raise this year will be split between our soup kitchen/food pantry program (Trinity's Services And Food for the Homeless) and Lutheran World Relief, specifically to help with relocation and assistance for Syrian Refugees. Last year we were able to raise over $1,000 through sales and donations."
And as the flyer notes, dogs are welcome … in case anyone is coming or going from the annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade today.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Start making Sense
EV Grieve Etc.: the Peace Pentagon sells; the Vanishing New York book
[Photo on East 6th Street by Derek Berg]
Blackstone Group's $5.3 billion deal to buy the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex contains an inducement: Blackstone has New York City's backing to sell the property’s unused development (air) rights. (The Wall Street Journal)
Partial demolition in the works for former Matzos Factory Building (DNAinfo)
Peace Pentagon on Lafayette Street sells (The Commercial Observer ... BoweryBoogie)
New building rising at 138 Bowery will house 46 hotel rooms and 21 residential units (The Real Deal)
Meet the family who runs Fresco Gelateria on Second Avenue (Off the Grid)
Landlords throughout the city are cutting asking prices to make their properties more palatable to tenants (Commercial Observer)
Congrats to Jeremiah Moss on the forthcoming Vanishing New York book (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Mathieu Amalric retrospective starts next Thursday (Anthology Film Archives)
"Full House! The Musical!" extended at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place (Theatre 80 ... official site)
...bathroom break...
[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]
Nest making with Christo and Dora in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)
Reviews of Timna on St. Marks Place (The New York Times ... The New Yorker)
Worth a look: The dark, compelling "Meadowland," in which a married couple unravels following the disappearance of their young son, is held over for a second week (Village East Cinema)
Through March 20, the Museum of the City of New York is presenting "Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half," photos from the Lower East Side (The New York Times)
Video: Nomadic youth discuss life on the street (The New Yorker)
5 books about how gentrification works (The Nation)
Not many people buying the Sexy Pizza Rat costume (Bloomberg)
Cat cafe debuts next week on Clinton Street (BoweryBoogie)
A 169 Bar appreciation on East Broadway (The Lo-Down)
NYC's first luxury hotel (Ephemeral New York)
Catching up with 92-year-old Jonas Mekas, a founder of the Anthology Film Archives (The New York Times)
...and at 240 E. Fourth St. near Avenue B, the VolaVida Gallery has decamped to a larger space at 319 Grand St. However, former VolaVida partner Laura K. Reich is keeping the storefront... last night she re-launched the space with a new partner as 212 Arts... its inaugural exhibit will be up through Nov. 12 ... details here.
[Updated] Ess-A-Bagel announces its new location on 1st Avenue
[Photo by @wemakesomething]
The folks at Ess-A-Bagel have put up the coming soon sign on their new home — 324-326 First Ave. at East 19th Street… on the east side of the Avenue in the Shoppes of Stuy Town (in the former GameStop storefront).
No word yet on an opening date. The banner just arrived yesterday.
A quick recap: The bagel shop shut down its home of nearly 40 years on First Avenue at East 21st Street back in March… depending on who's telling the story, there was some sort of disagreement between the landlord and Ess-A-Bagel’s owners. At the time, the Ess-A-Folks vowed that they would open in a new storefront nearby.
As for the former Ess-A-Bagel space at No. 359 … today marks the one-month anniversary of Upper East Side favorite (uh, right?) Tal Bagels …
Tal replaced the former Rose Restaurant and part of Ess-A-Bagel. A Bank of America ATM center is supposedly taking the rest of the square footage and going in on the corner at East 21st Street.
Oh, and because multiple people pointed this out in the comments recently…
… the Moe's Southwest Grill has closed at 367 First Ave. …
Many thanks to @wemakesomething for the tip!
Updated 10/24
Here's more info on this location via the Town & Village blog… One of the owners, Muriel Frost, said that "the new location will be bigger, which will allow the bagel shop to do things that couldn’t be done at the old shop.
"We will do catering and also delivery, which we were not physically equipped to do before," she said.
No word about toasting.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Landlord forcing Ess-a-Bagel from its longtime home (46 comments)
1 week left for Ess-A-Bagel at its current 1st Avenue location
[Updated] Ess-A-Bagel has closed for now on 1st Avenue
[Updated] You and your family can be buried close to your East Village home for $350,000
[EVG photo from Sunday]
So it turns out that the New York Marble Cemetery on Second Avenue between East Second Street and East Third Street has the last two inground burial plots openly available in Manhattan.
And they are for sale — $350,000 each.
New York magazine has the story in its current issue.
The cemetery's monthly Open Days provide one way for cemetery officials to make the pitch to potential vault owners.
Caroline DuBois, president of the board and future occupant of vault No. 54, sat on a bench under two multicolored umbrellas. Brochures and a donation jar sat on a table in front of her. “I think it would be the perfect gift for a hedge-fund billionaire to give his sweetheart,” she said.
And how did they come up with that price?
“When you only have two, why give them away?” asked Robert Breck Denny, a trustee and a likely resident of No. 38, who was sitting near DuBois. To come up with their price, the trustees researched the cost of comparable grave sites — “in San Francisco, in Hong Kong, in Paris” — and “basically, did a market analysis.”
Like nickel beer, the vaults were much less expensive back in the day — $250 when the cemetery opened in 1830.
The cemetery's website has much info on the vaults:
NYMC is offering its two reclaimed and empty family-sized 80 square foot marble vaults for sale for $350,000 each. The requirement for bio-degradable materials ensures that a purchaser’s family can use the space for many generations to come. Interested buyers should contact info@marblecemetery.org for details.
Updated 9:30 a.m.
Gothamist first reported on the two plots at New York Marble Cemetery back in June. Read that piece here.
In op-ed, Raphael Toledano says that he wants 'to make the East Village a better place'
In a Talking Point column in this week's paper, The Villager lets the 25-year-old Toledano outline his plans for the neighborhood:
The reason I chose to grow my business in this beautiful neighborhood is simple: I believe in the East Village. I am not here to transform this community, rather I am determined to become a part of the fabric of the neighborhood that so many wonderful New Yorkers call home.
And!
My plans for these buildings are simple. We want to renovate the apartments and common areas, improve the outward appearance and take suggestions from tenants for how to make the East Village the ultimate live / work / play community.
Beyond that, we are committed to making meaningful contributions to improve the welfare of the community. I have been engaged with a number of organizations to find out what we can do to help, and I look forward to announcing new partnerships in the next few weeks. But in the meantime, what you need to know is that my company is here to make the East Village a better place.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'
Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano
Report: Uncle suing nephew broker Raphael Toledano over $100 million East Village deal
Report: Raphael Toledano completes purchase of 16-building East Village portfolio
Brook Hill Properties launches chocolate offensive
More about alleged harassment and landlord visits via Brook Hill Properties
Some Halloween-related things to do tomorrow (Saturday!)
There is the 25th annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade from noon to 3 p.m. …
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The Ruff Club at 34 Avenue A is hosting an after Halloween Parade party from 2-5 p.m. …
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The El Sol Brillante Community Garden Party Benefit is noon to the moon here at 530 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B…
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The El Sol Brilliante Jr. Community Garden tag sale is noon-4 p.m. at 537 E. 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B…
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La Plaza Cultural on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street is hosting some pumpkin carving from noon-4 p.m. … (While it's free, there are a limited number of pumpkins, per the planners.)
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Familiar names on the list of the city's most demo-happy developers
[View of 500 E. 14th Street in June via an EVG reader]
From The Real Deal today:
Gary Barnett’s Extell Development filed a whopping 18 demolition permits between Jan. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015, twice as many as the next most prolific filer, Icon Realty Management, according to an analysis of Department of Buildings filings for Manhattan projects by The Real Deal.
Around here, Extell demolished a row of single-level businesses (Blarney Cove, Bargain Bazaar, ABC Animal Hospital, who moved to 200 Avenue A, etc.) on East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B to make way for two 7-floor retail-residential buildings.
As for Icon, we can't recall them demolishing anything, just adding on to existing buildings and helping close several small businesses with rent increases (Allied Hardware, Alex Shoe Repair, Dusty Buttons, Cafe Pick Me Up...)
If you are in the market for a life-sized replica of GG Allin
Then you are in luck... this GG Allin model made his debut outside Search & Destroy Tuesday afternoon on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, as EVG contributor Steven noted ... it's a creation of Blankit Novelties, and "Al E. Gorey" (creature sculptor) and "Harris C." (master of molds) ...
Mr. Gorey says he is raising money for a GG Allin comic with a cover by Jeff Zornow.
For now, GG will remain in the window at Search & Destroy... where it likely costs $6,666, the proceeds of which will fund the comic book...(you can ask Al E. Gorey about it via Facebook)
Oh, and that GG codpiece is removable...
Gas leak closes Nino's for now
Several readers noted that the pizzeria on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place closed yesterday... the sign on the door points to a gas leak in a neighboring building as the cause.
As we understand it, Nino decided to close not to take any chances... they are hopeful that they will be able to reopen tomorrow, Saturday at the latest…
Updated
The gas leak has always temporarily closed Yoshi Sushi at 131 Avenue A…
Trying to figure out what is going on at 98-100 Avenue A
Ben Shaoul's new building going up at 98-100 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street continues to intrigue and confuse local zoning enthusiasts.
We've gone through the various DOB permits and have come away generally confused.
EVG reader something structural shares our curiosity and confusion... so we took another step-by-step look here to see if we can figure out what is going on, mainly how many stories will this thing end up?
1. A new building permit was filed for and issued for a total floor area of 27,693 sf and a total FAR of 3.41. The description is "APPLICATION BEING FILED TO CONSTRUCT A NEW 6 STORY BUILDING." That suggests a pretty standard filing in R7A. Maximum FAR of 3.45 inclusive of commercial. OK!
2. A complaint was filed "NB UNDER CONSTRUCTION EXCEDS THE BULK AND HEIGHT OF THE PROPOSED 6 STY BLDG" on 9/28/15. A cursory look at the accepted ZD-1 confirms it looks nothing like what's out there. With us so far, right?
3. DOB (BEST Squad High Rise unit) stopped by 9/30/15 and issued a partial Stop Work Order. There's no indication if this was for zoning, or one of the other 8-10 violations they received for safety, protection of adjacent properties, etc.
4. Two weeks later, on 10/14/15 their Architect of Record filed a new PAA. The documents haven't been scanned yet, but:
- The PW1 now says "APPLICATION BEING FILED TO CONSTRUCT A NEW 8-STORY BUILDING."
- The residential floor area went to 30,399 sf with an additional 6,775 sf for commercial. Total FAR is 6.60, up from 3.41.
- The comments on the filing? "FILING PAA HEREWITH TO AMEND PW1: FLOOR RANGE, JOB DESCRIPTION, ZONING CHARACT ERISTICS, BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS, SCHEDULE A AND REVISE PLANS." AKA: filing for a different building. And the city approved this amended plan exam just yesterday, per DOB records.
Meanwhile, the structure was topped out before they even filed the amendment. So there you go. Plenty for zoning enthusiasts to mull over.
The new building's Schedule A shows 38 units ... and retail stores on the ground floor. Last month, it was announced that the building will house 33 condos, ranging in price from $1.3 million to $2.3 million. In addition, as previously noted, the retail space will house a 12,000-square foot Blink Fitness center.
Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A
Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A
New Facebook group is advocating for a Trader Joe's 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
Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A emerging from the dewatering hole
Life next to 98-100 Avenue A
Condos at Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A will start at $1.3 million; high-end gym eyed for retail space
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