McSorley's turns 164

[Bill, who has been going to McSorley's since 1964]

McSorley's celebrated its 164th birthday yesterday over at its home (of 164 years!) at 15 E. Seventh St. near Cooper Square. EVG regular Dan Efram shared these photos.

Part of the festivities included, as always, the presence of the musket-toting McSorley's militia...









P.S.

Because someone always brings this up...Per New York magazine several years ago: "Though McSorley’s claims it opened its doors in 1854, NYC historian Richard McDermott used public records to prove it really opened in 1862."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Happy No. 162 McSorley's!

Week in Grieview

[Yesterday morning on 2nd Avenue]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Report: high-end condo in the works for 2nd Avenue explosion site (Tuesday)

Pile driving resumes at the site of the East Village's last gas station, where a 10-floor building will rise (Monday)

Get well soon, Mikey (Wednesday)

NYPD looking for this suspect in armed robbery of boutique on 7th Street (Friday)

Here's more about Facebook's takeover of Kmart's 2nd floor at 770 Broadway (Wednesday)

More details on the all-new playground coming to P.S. 19 (Wednesday)

Former Trash & Vaudeville space on St. Mark's Place to become Wanyoo cyber café (Friday)

Bareburger is leaving 2nd Avenue; new outpost slated for Orchard Street (Friday)

Maria Hrynenko due back in court on March 23 (Thursday)

Tarallucci e Vino closed through March for renovations on 1st Avenue (Tuesday ...Thursday)

31-33 2nd Ave. is on the market — for $40 million (Thursday)

A gym for Stuy Town on 14th Street — aka '7,500 Square Feet of Awesome' (Monday)

197 E.. 3rd St. is for sale — again (Friday)

Mr. White debuts on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Ai Weiwei installations come down (Monday ... Wednesday)

Neapolitan Express pulls into the opening lane on 2nd Avenue (Monday)

Newsstand proposed for Cooper Square (Monday)

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The Webster Hall marquee looks to be in danger of falling

[Photo by Michael Giacoppi]

The NYPD and FDNY are currently on the scene here on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue... as you can see in the photo, part of the Webster Hall marquee has pulled away from the landmarked building. The street is blocked off for now.

Will check back later here to see what has transpired. (The NYPD requested a DOB inspection at the site.)

Webster Hall closed last Aug. 10. Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, bought the building from the Ballinger family for $35 million in the spring.

The new owners will renovate the space. They filed the permits in December for the job, which includes interior demolition and structural work to help upgrade the facility and make it ADA compliant.

Updated

William Klayer shared this photo from around 10:30 a.m. ...



And some pics with the FDNY on the scene...





A little later, crews had temporarily propped up the right side of the marquee... the street remains blocked off...



An officer on the scene said that no one actually saw the marquee come undone... one passerby tried to blame the constant construction across the street at the incoming Moxy hotel...

Reminders: The 9th Precinct Community Council meeting is Tuesday night

This Tuesday February 20, is our monthly #Community Council meeting. It will begin at 7PM here @ the Precinct. We look forward to seeing you! #EastVillage #NYC pic.twitter.com/kZMBnBVMAY

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) February 17, 2018

The 9th Precinct tweeted out a reminder about this month's Community Council meeting ... these take place on the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. So that would be this Tuesday, Feb. 20, per the tweet.

The meetings take place at the 9th Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

This is an opportunity for residents to address any concerns and ask 9th Precinct officials for their input on recent crime statistics.

It's snowing a little

Photo from late this afternoon on First Avenue and Seventh Street by Derek Berg...

The National Weather Service is estimating between 4-7 inches of snow before daybreak. [Updated: So much for that accumulation.] When I was out a little earlier in the flurries some people seemed surprised by this turn of events, as if it was actually June instead of February.

And hold the bun...

Jax taking a look inside Ray's on Avenue A... thanks to Sharon for the photo earlier today...

Noted

An addition to the Starbucks sign on St. Mark's Place at Avenue A ... previously

Thoughts on the 'riveting retrospective' of Peter Hujar's work at the Morgan Library & Museum

Peter Hujar, the subject of a riveting retrospective @MorganLibrary, deserves to be better-known says @deborahsolo. Her review. https://t.co/nVcO4c1AOO

— WNYC 🎙 (@WNYC) February 16, 2018

An excerpt from Deborah Solomon's review at WNYC:

A photographer who specialized in tender black-and-white portraits of his friends along with the less likely subjects of cows and other farm animals, he was one of the essential chroniclers of the East Village scene in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. Many of his photographs pay undisguised homage to taut male bodies, reflecting a time of when Stonewall had brought a sense of freedom and AIDS had not yet descended. You can say that he made beautiful, optically pristine photographs about a scene on the verge of vanishing.

The Morgan Library & Museum is open:
Tuesday through Thursday: 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Peter Hujar retrospective at the Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Ave. at 36th Street, is up through May 20. More details here.

Friday's parting shot

Photo from First Avenue and 12th Street today by Grant Shaffer...

'Alive' and kicking

The next record from Frankie Cosmos — New York native Greta Kline — is out on Sub Pop later next month. The video is for a track called "Being Alive."

The band is opening for Belle & Sebastian this June 8 at Forest Hills Stadium.

NYPD looking for this suspect in armed robbery of boutique on 7th Street

The NYPD is searching for a man they say robbed a boutique at gunpoint late Wednesday afternoon.

Here is info via Patch:

Police say the man entered the shop, located at 66 E. 7th St., at about 5:08 p.m. on Wednesday and began talking with an employee as if he was going to purchase something. The man then walked toward the store's counter, pulled out a gun and demanded money from the register, police said.

The man made off with $500 in cash and a cell phone, according to authorities.

The shop is Neon by Cheng between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

And via the NYPD...

The #NYPD is 👀 2 identify & locate this man #wanted for a commercial robbery. On Feb 14 inside a clothing boutique he displayed a handgun and demanded 💰. If you have any info we ask you 2 ☎️ #800577TIPS #EastVillage #NYC pic.twitter.com/7jKW5LXkXo

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) February 16, 2018

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.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mapping East Village pizzerias; power-washing with Christo and Nora

[Photo today by Peter Brownscombe]

City Council members push Cuomo to declare a NYCHA state of emergency (Curbed)

Mapping all the East Village pizzerias (Best Pizza NYC)

The latest on 85 Bowery (The Lo-Down)

Lanaza's old murals look intact at the opening-soon Joe & Pat's on First Avenue (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York ... previously)

The 2018 Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival is Feb. 23-25 at the Village East on Second Avenue (Official site)

Christo and Nora make the best of the rain (Laura Goggin Photography)

Theater for the New City on First Avenue announces Charles Busch's new show (Official site)

A new Safe Haven shelter is opening on East 17th Street in April (Town & Village)

The plan to fill in the East River in 1916 (Ephemeral New York)

Last year's subway outage will cost Con Ed $202 million (Bloomberg)

Shake Shack expects to open between 32 and 35 new restaurants in the U.S. in 2018 (CNBC)

The play "Imperfect Love" has been extended by a week (now to Feb. 24) at the Connelly Theater on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. The director, East Village resident Michael Di Jiacomo, described the work this way: "It's essentially the story of a little Italian theater troupe trying to survive circa 1898 — not unlike our situation." The play is presented by John Turturro, who did a film adaptation of the story in 1998. Find ticket info here.


[A scene from "Imperfect Love"]

And as recently noted, the Exclusive Smoke Shop and Deli on Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street became Vape and Smoke (which is not to be confused with Vape N Smoke on Second Avenue) ...



A tipster told us that they removed the sign because because passersby saw the bearded dude and thought this was a barber shop (for real) ... so now!

Former Trash & Vaudeville space on St. Mark's Place to become Wanyoo cyber café

Wanyoo, a Shanghai-based cyber cafe chain, has signed a lease for the two-level retail space at 4 St. Mark's Place.

The cafe, which has a location in Flushing, reportedly signed a 20-year lease for 2,600 square feet on the ground floor and 1,400 square feet in the basement of the under-renovation landmarked building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.


[Via the Wanyoo website]

They optimistically hope to be open early this summer.

Until February 2016, 4 St. Mark's Place housed Trash & Vaudeville for 41 years. The store relocated to 96 E. Seventh St.

The Hamilton-Holly House (aka 4 St. Mark's Place), built in 1831, was once owned by Alexander Hamilton’s son. The building, which changed hands for $10 million in the spring of 2016 for $10 million, is currently undergoing a gut renovation and expansion.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: After 40 years, punk rock mainstay Trash and Vaudeville is leaving St. Mark's Place


[Via]

4 St. Mark's Place is for sale

More residential units and a 5th-floor addition in the works for landmarked 4 St. Mark's Place

Bareburger is leaving 2nd Avenue; new outpost slated for Orchard Street

Bareburger is on this month's CB3-SLA docket for a new beer-wine license for 173 Orchard St. between East Houston and Stanton. (Their questionnaire is online here.)

While Bareburger, which sells a variety of organic and all-natural burgers, is expanding with multiple locations in NYC and overseas, the East Village site on Second Avenue at Fifth Street will be closing in the weeks ahead.

Matt Kouskalis, who owns and operates a handful of the city's Bareburger outposts, confirmed the East Village closure. He said escalating rents at the location were behind the reason for the move.

"So we are moving to a slightly smaller and cozier spot on the Lower East Side," he said via email. "We are sad to leave the East Village but our new location is only a few blocks away and our delivery area will remain the same!"

He said he hoped to be open in late April on Orchard Street.

Bareburger debuted on Second Avenue in January 2012. The previous tenant in the two-level space was neighborhood scourge Sin Sin.

Previously on EV Grieve:
'The neighborhood will not rest until you are gone and Sin Sin’s license is revoked'

NYPD hosting meeting between Sin Sin and neighbors tonight

East Village noise wars new battlefront: Sin Sin/Leopard Lounge

Why the president of the East Fifth Street Block Association carries a baseball bat