Sunday, January 31, 2016

Report of a fire this morning at 100 E. 7th St.



Several readers have told us about an early-morning fire at 100 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. The official FDNY Twitter account announced the fire at 7:17 a.m., and gave the "under control" at 7:30 a.m.







Unfortunately, we don't have any further information about the cause of the fire, which started in a second-floor apartment. A reader at the scene said that there didn't appear to be any injuries.

You can see the fire-damaged unit in the photo from later this morning...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

H/T Bill the Libertarian Anarchist

How about some help to rescue Lucy



Here on East Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...



There's a sign dated yesterday on the gate about a cat named Lucy living back here somewhere...



The person who wrote the sign would like to rescue Lucy, who, in the aftermath of the last week's blizzard, "was not able to eat for 5 days. She was very weak and meowing a lot..."

The gate is between the newish residential building at No. 532 and No. 536 (where Minca Ramen Factory remains closed for repairs). Anyone know who oversees this space? Is it part of No. 532 or 536?

When psychics close: If you're of the mind to rent this space on East 2nd Street



We have no idea when this storefront closed on East Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... an EVG reader mentioned it to us, noting that it was rare to see a psychic close up shop.

Well, there have been a few to shutter... like here and here ... and here?

Interestingly/impressively enough the psychic stayed in business for almost two years after Jared Kushner's Westminster Management bought the buildings here at 170-174 E. Second St. (Other tenants didn't fare so well.)

Per the retail listing, rent on the 250-square-foot space is available upon request. From that listing: "Bathroom in place and some concession towards work is available. Most uses are considered including non cooking food use."

Rock is Dead? at John Varvatos



EVG reader Cheap Trick took this photo outside the John Varvatos storefront at 315 Bowery this morning... per Cheap Trick: "The windows are boarded up. Is it closing?"

There's nothing on JV's social media accounts noting a closure... or any kind of special in-store concert event, as they've had in the past with their Bowery Live series... The Rock is Dead? signage suggests some kind of concert. (Iggy Pop-Josh Homme is the rumor.)

The storefront opened at the site of the former CBGB here in April 2008.

Updated 5:20 p.m.

Here's another look via EVG reader Margarita...



Updated 2/1

An EVG reader shared this invite for Wednesday evening...



Saturday, January 30, 2016

Poppy's Gourmet Corner closes for good after tomorrow



Poppy's Gourmet Corner on Avenue A at East 12th Street will be closing up after the business day tomorrow, EVG reader Shawn Chittle reports...Owner Mike Attal told Shawn that the rent is too high now...



Jared Kushner's Westminster Management is the landlord. This has become an increasingly valuable chunk of retail with Douglas Steiner's mixed-use building with ground-floor retail and 82 market-rate condos going up on the surrounding property.

Diversions: The return @ElBloombito

News of a possible Mike Bloomberg presidential campaign has prompted the return of the parody Twitter account @ElBloombito ...



Inwood resident Rachel Figueroa is behind the account that pokes fun of the former mayor's uninspired attempts to speak Spanish ... @ElBloombito launched during Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Re/code published an interview with Figueroa on Tuesday. You can read that here.

Anyway, this may be my favorite from the barrage of recent tweets...

Former Funkiberry space continues to look funki/funky



The empty storefront has looked this way for a little while here on Third Avenue at East 12th Street... however, it looked particularly photogenic in this morning's sunlight...



The colorful FroYo establishment closed in March 2015. Funkiberry opened in June 2014.

The asking rent for the corner space was $21,321.00 per month. However, the property is now off the market. So perhaps a new business is on the way. (Cue Beer Store comment!)

Until then...


Previously on EV Grieve:
Hey, the Funkiberry sign is up on 3rd Avenue

Hey, Funkiberry is now open on 3rd Avenue

Hey, the Funkiberry space is for lease on 3rd Avenue

Hey, the Funkiberry closed on 3rd Avenue

Report: East 6th Street slashing suspect blames victim (and the government) for attack

Francis Salud, who is under arrest for the apparent random slashing of a man on East Sixth Street on Jan. 16, spoke to a Post reporter yesterday at the Manhattan Detention Complex.

Per that conversation:

Salud told The Post he was on his way to score some pot when victim Anthony Christopher Smith walked toward him near Third Avenue and East Sixth Street on Jan. 16.

“Yo, Jamaica, you got some of that good bud?” Salud said he asked Smith.

“I don’t even f–k with you gooks,” Smith responded, according to Salud.

Salud added, “The government is profiting from the conflict between Caucasians and African-Americans, and it’s getting worse.”

Smith strongly denied that he spoke with his attacker. "There was no conversation," he told the Post. "I was attacked."

As previously reported, Smith underwent eight hours of surgery, and needed nearly 150 stitches for the wound from his right ear to his lips. He has partial paralysis on the right side of his face because several nerves were severed.

Previously

Friday, January 29, 2016

You can never go Back



The Coathangers have a new record coming out this April ... until then, you can check out a track from that release titled "Watch Your Back."

And the Atlanta-based trio will be out at Baby's All Right on March 29...

Cafecito closes Sunday on Avenue C

After 14 years in business at 185 Avenue C between East 11th Street and East 12th Street, Cafecito will be closing its doors for good after service on Sunday.

Several regulars shared news of the Cuban restaurant's closure, and a staffer confirmed the news. There will be a closing celebration Sunday night at 9. All Cafecito friends and fans are invited.

As we understand it, business had been tapering off ... and the Cafecito team didn't want to see it go out of business slowly and sadly — "dwindling into another solemn East Village story," as one source put it. In any event, the owners aren't leaving the neighborhood — they also run Royale at 157 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

Like other businesses in the area, Cafecito was hit hard during Sandy in October 2012. Longtime manager Manny Garcia was featured in an Out and About in the East Village here in March 2013: "There was four feet of water in the building and we were closed almost a month. We’re still trying to recover financially. We had to replace everything. We didn’t have power for 3 weeks and to this day we still don’t have Verizon."

One nearby resident praised Cafecito's management for all their help through the years. "They could not have been any more supportive of local causes."

There is already a suitor lined up for the space. An applicant will appear before CB3's SLA committee next month. At this point, the applicant's identity hasn't been revealed.

EVG file photo

Tompkins Square Park holiday tree produces ornament offspring



Wait, we don't remember the tree having any ornaments ... just lights. Hmm.

Photo this afternoon via Goggla.

Reader report: Why does this block of East 4th Street smell?



From the EVG inbox...concerning East Fourth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C

A terrible smell has been lingering since the blizzard like a dead dog — or, not to be overly dramatic, a dead person.

This morning the area was surrounded by yellow tape. A police cruiser was blocking the street to traffic, and a Con Ed van was parked at the scene.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy had actually taken some photos of the block, which is now closed off for Con Ed and other assorted emergency vehicles.

A resident says that Con Ed is here responding to a service outage. As for the possible source of the smell, one of the Con Ed workers said that their meter readers didn't pick up any natural gas. Yay!



Meanwhile, farther down the block at Avenue C... the FDNY was on the scene...



The FDNY, witnesses said, was there because of a manhole fire (it is manhole fire season!), which they believe led to the service outage up the block.

A manhole fire could cause a smell ... though residents have noticed the aroma going back to Sunday. No one could place the smell. Some suggested a very large dead rat. Some went with fermenting garbage. Another theory included "maybe someone hit a deer."

Other theories are also welcome, probably.

EV Grieve Etc.: Lost evidence in 1972 NYPD ambush; nest watch in Tompkins Square Park


[2nd Avenue bike lane snow removal photo by Derek Berg]

The fiancé of Nicole DuFresne, who was murdered during a mugging on Clinton Street, reflects on the tragedy 11 years later (Gothamist)

Nearly all of the evidence recovered from the deadly ambush of two NYPD officers on Avenue B and East 11th Street on Jan. 27, 1972, has disappeared (Daily News)

Nest watch in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

The city is again looking to restore the Allen Street bathhouse (BoweryBoogie)

The sisters behind Mimi Cheng's on Second Avenue opening a location in Soho (Eater)

Bo Dietl is suing Cooper Union for $110,000 (New York Post)

Should LES galleries continue to stay open on Sundays? (Vulture)

NYU Langone makes it official with medical center for Essex Crossing (The Lo-Down)

NYC photos from 1965-69 by James Jowers (Mashable)

2016 real-estate trends to watch (Curbed)

Inside the billion-dollar sidewalk bridge biz (Crain's)

Revisiting Venus Records (Flaming Pablum)

When Lester Bangs trashed the Beatles on TV (Dangerous Minds)

The Ziegfeld closed for good last night (New York Post)

And you can see Bette Gordon's "Variety" from 1984 on Saturday night at 8:30 (Anthology Film Archives)



...and at midnight this weekend at the Sunshine Cinema on East Houston — John Carpenter's "The Thing" from 1982... (and "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly" plays at 11 p.m.)



...and it's Day 2 of a winter sale at Academy Records, 415 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Happening now!!

A photo posted by Academy Records NYC (@academyrecords) on

Come watch an artist make thousands of PB&J sandwiches on Avenue C



Brooklyn-based artist Jessica Olah is currently on a mission to make several thousand peanut butter and jelly sandwiches — for the sake of art, empathy for her mother and a good cause...



Olah estimated that from September 1990 through May 2004, her mother made 2,340 sandwiches for her to take to school.

Per DNAinfo:

"I was bringing someone their lunch [one day] and just marveling over the fact that my mom made me school lunches everyday," said Olah, 30. "I stopped and thought, 'Wow, my mom made me lunch every day, not only when I was younger but until high school.' That is a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

Inspired to "exercise empathy" for her mother, Olah began the task of making the same number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in five days...

Through Sunday, Olah, who raised $3,500 in a crowdfunding campaign, is making the sandwiches (roughly 10 a.m. to at least 6 p.m.) at the 12C Outdoor Gallery on Avenue C and East 12th Street. (195 Avenue C.)

People can come on by and watch this performance installation of sorts — titled "2,340 PB&J Sandwiches" — during the posted hours...



Each day, she is donating the sandwiches to The Bowery Mission.



As she told DNAinfo: "I wanted to do this as a meditation on what my mother has done. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a metaphor for a lot of small tasks mothers might do."

Thanks to Robert Galinsky for the photos