[Updated] Citi Bike will be back in action tomorrow morning with limited service

[EVG photo on 6th and B from Saturday night]

Citi Bike officials shut down the grid last Friday night ahead of the blizzard... now they are ready to start up part of the system again tomorrow morning.

Here's the official CB message via Facebook:

Citi Bike will re-open tomorrow, Wednesday, 1/27/16 at 6:00 AM with *limited service*. Please check the station map or mobile app for up-to-date station information. Stations in blue are in-service, grey stations still need to be cleared. Snow removal will continue until all stations are cleared. AM Valet Service will be available as scheduled at Pearl & Hanover. AM Valet Service will not be offered at Penn Station or Port Authority. PM Valet Service will be available at all three stations. We appreciate your continued patience and understanding as we dig out!

Here's the link to the station map to check tomorrow morning.

Not sure about other docking stations around here... but the one on East Seventh Street and Avenue A looks ready for action...

Tuesday!



Today!




Updated 1/27

I looked at the station map out of curiosity... you can see the local docking stations that are (and are not!) in service as of this morning... 7th Street and A and East 10th Street along Tompkins Square Park are among those dispensing the bikes...



Bottom two Citi Bike photos by Derek Berg

Residents wonder how much longer their couches will be left buried after Saturday's blizzard

Photo on East 7th Street today via Derek Berg

Report: Police shoot man with knife in Jacob Riis housing complex on East 6th Street

The NYPD reportedly shot a knife-wielding man on the seventh floor of the Jacob Riis II housing complex on East Sixth Street and the FDR late last night.

The Daily News reports:

An NYPD sergeant and officer, both assigned to Police Service Area 4, found a 25-year-old man brandishing a knife, cops said. The man ignored the officers’ repeated commands to drop the knife.

“He kept advancing on them in a threatening manner,” an NYPD spokesman said.

The man, who was shot once in the chest, was taken to Bellevue where his injuries didn't appear to be life threatening, per the Daily News. The paper also described the man as "emotionally disturbed."

WPIX reports that the man, whose grandmother lives in the building, has more than 12 prior arrests.

Screengrab via WPIX

On Broadway, that Teavana (RIP Silver Spurs) will become a Starbucks

[Photo from October 2014 via @elivalley]

Starbucks is reportedly doing away with its Teavana tea bar concept, and is closing its three Manhattan locations, including the one on Broadway at East Ninth Street.

And what will replace Teavana? Per BuzzFeed, who first reported on this:

The company announced on Friday that it will convert the three Teavana tea bar locations in New York into Starbucks stores by the end of April.

For 34 years, the corner space here was home to Silver Spurs, the diner that closed in December 2013.

As for Teavana, Starbucks bought the Atlanta-based company for $620 million in December 2012. While the Teavana tea bars are closing, Starbucks will continue on with the nearly 350 Teavana retail outlets across the country.

H/T Grub Street

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 34 years, Silver Spurs is closing on Broadway

Teary letters to landlord show that local children are devastated over closure of Silver Spurs

Starbucks-owned Teavana coming to the former Silver Spurs space on Broadway

Report: Landmarked East 13th Street building sells for $21.5 million

Back in August, 126-128 E. 13th St between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue and an adjacent property on East 12th Street arrived on the sales market.

And now, The Real Deal reports the property has a new owner: Investor Arthur Minerof's Milan Associates picked up the two buildings for $21.5 million, or $1,670 per square foot.

The dance studio Peridance has a lease through 2028 (with a 5-year option after that) while the 12th Street side houses the Alliance Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu martial arts studio.

Per The Real Deal: "Minerof ... is planning a long-term hold of the properties."

As for 126-128 E. 13th St. (as we've cut-and-pasted before), this is believed to be the last surviving horse and carriage auction mart building in New York City, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who helped keep the structure from becoming a seven-story condo back in 2006.

In addition, the building served as the studio of artist Frank Stella, and during World War II was an assembly-line training center for women. (Read more about the building's history at the GVSHP website here.)

In May 2012, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to landmark the building. Several months before this vote, a State Supreme Court judge ordered the sale of the property after the condo developers lost a foreclosure suit, according to The Real Deal.

Image via Cushman & Wakefield

David Bowie tributes on the Bowery and Bond Street

The tributes to David Bowie continue...

In case you didn't read about this one yesterday... during the blizzard on Saturday night, a group of Bowie fans added David to the street sign on the Bowery at East Houston...



You can read more about this at Gothamist and BoweryBoogie.

And not everyone is a fan of the addition. Gawker said that "the tribute is bad and makes no sense."

Meanwhile, another tribute arrived last week on a gate along Bond Street between the Bowery and Lafayette...



You get two versions of Bowie, depending on the direction you're headed... the above shot (going to the west) is from Aladdin Sane ... and there's an older Bowie on the other side ... (this photo is much better than the one I took, so...)

Scott VanderVoort's tribute to David Bowie. Like the one done for Steve Jobs in 2011, one side is young, the other older #davidbowie #ripbowie #thethinwhiteduke #davidbowierip #streetart #nycstreetart #arteurbano #arturbain #artederua #scottvandervoort #liftnewyork

A photo posted by TheDustyRebel (@dustyrebel) on Jan 15, 2016 at 7:00am PST

This installation comes courtesy of Scott VanderVoort, who previously created a tribute to Steve Jobs on the same fence.

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...and you've likely seen these around... just as a recap...


[First Park]


[Outside the F stop on 2nd Avenue]


[Lafayette Street]

Car 5087, where are you?

While on patrol in Tompkins Square Park this morning, an NYPD cruiser got stuck in a snowbound area near the dog run...



A group of residents and fellow officers came together to assist...





EVG contributor Derek Berg noted that it took a little more than an hour to free the cruiser.

PYT has closed on the Bowery after just 3 months

PYT — "Home of America's Craaaziest Burgers" — debuted on the Bowery last October. And despite a lot of opening publicity, PYT has closed. For rent signs now hang on the window here at 334 Bowery between Great Jones and Bond.

To date, there isn't any mention of the closure on the PYT social media properties.

This was the first NYC outpost of the Philadelphia burger place known for some pretty wacky creations. Like the Cocoa Krispies Chicken Burger. They also offered the $64 "Basquiat Burger," a misguided effort at paying homage to the neighborhood that BoweryBoogie described as an example of "utter cluelessness"

The space may officially be a doomed location. It was home to Forcella Bowery for nearly three years until November 2014 … only to be replaced in December 2014 by the tapas-friendly Espoleta, which closed six months later to make way for Gia Trattoria. They quickly closed. Then PYT arrived.

The adjacent space, the former SRO Pizza, is also for lease.



Previously on EV Grieve:
PYT bringing its offbeat burger creations to the Bowery

Storytelling with B&H Dairy owners Fawzy and Ola Abdelwahed

[Image via Facebook]

B&H Dairy owners Fawzy and Ola Abdelwahed are among the guests tomorrow night in the new "What's Your Story?" series co-hosted by the East Village Community Coalition and Fourth Arts Block.

Here's a description of the "What's Your Story?" event:

It’ll be an evening of storytelling (similar in format to “The Moth”) by neighborhood artists, residents and business owners. Free and open to the public; free drinks for the first 30 guests, free food for everyone!

Other featured speakers include Sophie Lo from the Museum of Chinese in America and Alex Campaz from Works in Progress NYC.

It all happens tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan 26) from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at UNDER St. Mark's, 94 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Find more info here and here.

With a carrot nose, and two eyes made of lemons...

[Outside Cafe Mocha on 2nd Avenue via Derek Berg]

To be honest, the professionalism and craftsmanship of the now-defunct 5-foot snow penis in Tompkins Square Park took the spotlight away from some of the other more family-friendly snow creations that arrived after the blizzard... here are some of those snowpeople via Bobby Williams...







Feel free to leave your blistering critiques of the children's work in the comments!

[Updated] Woman has her face slashed on the 6 train at Bleecker Street this morning

The NYPD says a 71-year-old woman was slashed in the face while riding a southbound 6 train as it approached Bleecker Street around 7:15 a.m., according to published reports.

The injured woman, who told police that she did not know her attacker, was taken to Bellevue Hospital with a 4-inch laceration on the left side of her face.

The NYPD described the suspect as a light-skinned black or Hispanic 18-year-old man, wearing a red sweater and black sneakers, the Daily News reported. He reportedly fled the scene on board a southbound D train leaving the Broadway-Lafayette station.

Updated 1/26

Police released a sketch of the suspect... and noted that the attack happened on a downtown D train entering the Broadway-Lafayette station... and not the 6 arriving at Bleecker as originally reported in media outlets yesterday...



Gothamist has an update with video surveillance footage and relevant links here.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Updated 1/27

Police arrested 21-year-old Damon Knowles, of Brooklyn, in the assault.

Morning slush hour

Astor Place outside the downtown 6 (though several other corners have a similar look).

A sign of peace at 118 E. 1st St.

Can't say for sure when this happened here at 118 E. First St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... someone painted a giant peace sign on the front of the building. (I don't recall seeing it on Friday afternoon. Anyone?)

In any event, might be a good time for a quick recap on what's happening here. As previously noted, the existing structure is being demolished to make room for a 9-story residential building. In total, there are seven units divided over 12,500 square feet of residential space, as NY Yimby first reported. (Given the size — about 1,800 square feet, NYY figures these will be condos.)

And it looks as if the city approved the plans back in November...



...while I haven't seen any renderings, perhaps these zoning diagrams on file with the city about what's to come will hold you over...



And as noted in a few previous posts about this address, No. 118 was home in the mid-1980s to Darinka, the performance space operated by Gary Ray that featured They Might Be Giants as its house band.

Previously on EV Grieve:
118 E. 1st St. arrives on the market with so many possibilities, and air rights

118 E. 1st. St. will yield to a new 9-floor residential building

Demolition of 118 E. 1st St. begins to make way for 9-story residential building

Coming soon signage arrives at Mamoun's new St. Mark's Place home

Just noting the signage is up at 30 St. Mark's Place, where Mamoun's Falafel will be relocating in the months ahead.

As we first reported on Dec. 30, the 45-year-old falafel joint is moving from its longtime home at No. 22 here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue for double the space.

Red & Gold Boil closed at No. 30 in early October.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mamoun's Falafel is moving on St. Mark's Place

More about the Mamoun's Falafel move on St. Mark's Place