As you may have noticed, the NYPD has set up mobile lights outside 19-25 St Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Steven shared these photos from Friday night...
It's not immediately clear why the the NYPD placed the lights here. Typically the lights arrive after a highly publicized incident. For instance, in October 2018, the NYPD set up a light tower on the northwest corner of Seventh Street and Second Avenue after several published reports about the growing number of increasingly unruly travelers/crusties gathering on the sidewalk.
The sidewalk bridge has been up here for what, two to three years? Readers have noted a menacing undercurrent at times here.
Both businesses on the lower level here are closed, making it an appealing spot to gather without any repercussions from store management. St. Mark's Market vacated the premises back in October. Mi Tea next door is currently closed for renovations. Also, upstairs tenant Chipotle shut down in August 2018. A new restaurant is going in to the space in the months ahead.
The Liquiteria on the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street is no longer in business...
EVG regular Laura pointed this out to us late last week, noting the store had been closed in recent days. It appears all three Liquiteria locations in the city shuttered. Their website is no longer active and the phone numbers are disconnected. (Perhaps this means that they'll be a liquidation for Liquiteria?)
The original Liquiteria opened on Second Avenue and East 11th Street in 1996, long before the juice/smoothie craze took hold. Founder Doug Green sold the business several years ago to a group of investors who then opened several more outposts.
Back on Wednesday, we noted that the old A Repeat Performance sign from the now-closed bric-a-brac shop at 156 First Ave. needed a new home.
The fine folks who run the East Village Vintage Collective on 12th Street are now the proud new owners. No word yet what they have planned for the classic sign.
Here's Amelia, one of the resident red-tailed hawks, enjoying this spring-like day today atop the St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on Avenue A and 10th Street ... thanks to Steven for the photo.
EVG reader Jackflashnyc shares this photo... showing a spacious sublet — 6 square feet — available on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. Price: a modest $3,750.
It likely won't be on the market long — Rainer Turim reports that there's already plenty of interest in the space...
Sweet Generation, the bakery at 130 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, is celebrating its 5th anniversary this weekend ... on this occasion, they are giving out free mini cupcakes [while supplies last].
Sweet Generation partners with several nonprofit organizations and local high schools to create an internship program that teaches baking, food safety, customer service, work readiness, and entrepreneurship to teens and young adults from low-income communities.
As a reminder... today marks the second round of MulchFest 2020. Head over to Tompkins Square Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the metal mulching machine.
The above photo, depicting a creative way to haul a discarded Christmas tree, is from Tompkins Square Park Thursday via Derek Berg. (P.S. Please do not attempt to throw a carpet into the mulcher.)
An EVG tipster shared this tribute to David Bowie from outside the Broadway-Lafayette station. Today marks the fourth anniversary of the death of Bowie, who lived nearby with his wife Iman.
Station to Station was Bowie's 10th studio album, which included the single "Golden Years."
Early Thursday morning, two men, identified as Earl Facey and Richard Reid, reportedly got into an argument inside the Hayaty Hookah Bar at 103 Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.
The fight escalated outside the club, when the two men — each reportedly carrying a .22 caliber handgun — exchanged gunfire. Surveillance footage obtained by NBC 4 shows the two men "shooting at each other as they dance around a parked car," per the report, outside Hayaty.
The chase ended in front of 113 Avenue A, the address of Ray's Candy Store, where Facey was said by police to fatally shoot Reid in the torso. Two uniformed officers who were on patrol nearby shot Facey on the northwest corner of Avenue A and Seventh Street as he walked away, refusing multiple commands to drop his weapon and lie on the ground, according to police accounts and media reports. One officer fired his weapon twice, the other one time. Facey later died at Bellevue.
Francisco Valera, a photographer and photojournalist/videographer, lives in a front-facing apartment on Avenue A at Seventh Street.
"It was 3:38 a.m. I was awake, writing in my computer in my living room. It was pretty quiet. Suddenly I heard the shouts of what appeared to be men, nothing unusual for this crazy corner. Then I heard the shots — like three or four times," he said in an email. "I knew right away they were from guns. My dog ran toward
the window and I panicked, thinking the bullets could hit him. I turned the lights off and looked out the window to see a men laying in the middle of Avenue A."
He shared this two-minute video that shows the moments after both men were shot. (The first 15 seconds of the video were filmed sideways.) In the clip below, two officers have their guns drawn, crouching behind a trashcan, looking toward Facey, in the green jacket lying in the intersection of Seventh Street at Avenue A.
An unidentified voice can be heard yelling "two shooters down" and telling officers to "holster up." Officers can also be heard commanding passersby to "back off" multiple times.
In the street outside 113 Avenue A, officers are performing CPR on Reid, on his back in the white jacket. An unidentified man is seen pleading with the police. "Officer, please put him in a car. Put him in the car — you don't have a fucking second!" The sounds of an ambulance can be heard in the distance. The man turns to the north on Avenue A toward the approaching ambulance. He pleads with the officers again to take Reid to a hospital in an NYPD vehicle: "There's traffic because of this! What the fuck are you all doing!"
The video contains disturbing images — viewer discretion is advised.
Police said both men were reputed gang members and have been linked to prior shootings.
Rumors started late last year that the Archdiocese of New York had sold the former Church of the Nativity on Second Avenue between Second Street and Third Street for use as luxury housing. (There's nothing in public records yet to confirm the rumors.)
This afternoon at 3, the Cooper Square Committee and the Nativity Committee are holding a rally in front of the property at 44 Second Ave. ... per the flyers, "the $40 million sale of the Nativity Church/Rectory is coming."
However, the Archdiocese of New York reportedly didn't seem too keen on that idea, perhaps intent on garnering top dollar for the prime real estate for luxury housing.
In April 2019, Catholic Homes New York, the affordable housing unit of Catholic Charities and the Archdiocese of New York, announced plans to redevelop several existing properties to provide 2,000 affordable units in NYC over the next 10 years. Not on the affordable-housing list: Church of the Nativity and the Church of Saint Emeric on 13th Street near Avenue D.
This wouldn't be the first time that a former Catholic church was demolished for upscale housing in this neighborhood. Developer Douglas Steiner bought the former Mary Help of Christians property in 2012 from the Archdiocese of New York for $41 million.
Last Saturday, we mentioned that the Tompkins Square Library branch was giving away extra books ... via the comments, an EVG reader mentioned that the Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, is once again hosting a book swap on Saturdays.
By popular demand, Ottendorfer now hosts a Book Swap every Saturday! Please bring your books, DVDs, CDs and miscellaneous trinkets to trade with others.
