Live above the iconic Block Drugs

Back on Friday evening, a tipster noted the arrival of an apartment for rent sign on Second Avenue and Sixth Street — above Block Drugs...



As the sign shows, it's a five-bedroom, two-bathroom unit (perfect for a family?) .. that has a "tasteful renovation" in what is officially 240 E. Sixth St. (aka 101 Second Ave.).

While the for rent sign may be new, the apartment has been on the market for nearly two months, according to Streeteasy.

And NOT listed among the many amenities: the warm glow from the Block Drugs neon...


[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

As for the monthly rent: $9,995.

The building dates to 1880. Block Drugs was said to open in 1885. Public records show that Adeline Residences Inc. has been the longtime owner of the building, dating to 1970.

You HAD your chance to buy the 7-Eleven retail space on the Bowery

[Same photo as last time]

Back on Nov. 26, we noted an investment opportunity for you involving the retail condo at 351 and 353 Bowery between Third Street and Fourth Street... home of the 7-Eleven.

The single-tenant retail condominium was going for $6,915,032. (I had the .032!)

Anyway, YOU ARE TOO LATE. Commercial Property Executive reported last week that the 2,156-square-foot retail space sold for $6.9 million to a "private investor."

Public records show that the building last traded in 2019, when the seller acquired it from HK Organization for $4.6 million.

This 7-Eleven opened in December 2011. The 7-Eleven recently extended their lease through December 2034, with contract terms featuring a 10 percent rent increase every five years.

Becky's Bites moves on 7th Street

The Becky's Bites storefront has closed at 122 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. Proprietor Becky Rosenthal cleared out the space on Friday ahead of a short move across the street.

The online and catering portion of the business that specializes in cream cheese-based desserts is now sharing space with Butter Lane Bakery.

View this post on Instagram

We are excited to announce that Becky’s Bites NYC catering has moved to @butterlane 🧁🍭🍰🍫🍪 just across the way of our home on 7th street! All #NYC #catering + 📞 preorders will be available for delivery & pick up from 123 East 7th street M-F 9am to 5pm 🤩🤩🤩 Be on the lookout for exciting product collaborations + amazing Butter Lane cupcake products available on our catering menus later this month! #smallbusiness #supportingsmallbusinesses ✊🏻

A post shared by Becky's Dips (@beckysdips) on Feb 1, 2020 at 9:58am PST

Coincidentally (or not), the other business at 122 E. Seventh St., Desnuda, the 18-seat ceviche bar, closed on Jan. 15. Owners did not provide a reason for this closure. Their Brooklyn location remains open.

Public records show that 122 East 7th Street Associates has owned the building since 1985.

The 300-square-foot retail space that Becky's leased — starting in the summer of 2017 — has been on the rental market in recent weeks. No word on the asking rent.

Week in Grieview

[The return of Sherlock Holmes via Derek Berg]

Posts this past week included...

• Get well soon, Ray! (Monday)

• A reading series at Odessa (Tuesday)

• Police looking for trio in vicious Jan. 1 attack on 9th Street and Avenue A (Thursday)

• Behind the build: Amelia and Christo's dream nests 2020 (Wednesday)

• Are you missing your pet parrot? (Thursday)

• Recognizing Debi the Gardener for her years of service in Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday)

• Factory Tamal bringing its freshly made tamales to 4th Street (Monday)

• Demolition prep for the former home of Barrier Free Living on 2nd Street (Tuesday)

• Deadline extended to apply to serve on a Community Board (Wednesday)

• Workshop next week will offer free legal resources for East Village small business owners (Thursday)

• At the Tribal Soundz reunion (Friday)

• Partial reveal of the explosion site condoplex (Friday)

• Now hear this: About the new book of East Village bar quotes from Billy the Artist (Thursday) ... An afternoon with Billy the Artist (Saturday)

• Avenue A storefront watch (Monday)

• The Izakaya opening a 2nd East Village location (Friday)

• Spätzle alert: Zum Schneider's kitchen will be open for a few weeks longer (Friday)

• Pinks Cantina bringing the tacos to Webster Hall (Thursday)

• That unique pop-up gallery space on 7th and C is now home to a palm reader (Thursday)

• Prince Tea House expanding to the East Village with an outpost on 10th Street (Tuesday)

• A new tree nest for El Jardin del Paraiso (Tuesday)

• Addiction NYC space for rent on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

• Kissaki debuts on the Bowery this week (Monday)

And Stacie Joy shared this photo of a Corona promotion at Key Food Thursday night... (the thing was gone by Sunday)...



Which reminded me of a piece I saw online at USA Today the other day:

As new coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, some people seem to think that the deadly outbreak is somehow related to Corona beer. It's not.

The alcoholic beverage from Mexico showed a surge in Google searches in the past week, along with the term “corona beer virus” and “beer virus.”

In the United States, Google Trends calculated that 57% of the people that searched one of those terms searched for “beer virus,” and the remaining 43% searched for “corona beer virus.”

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Corners

The northwest corner of Second Street at First Avenue, as seen yesterday...

Wooden sword and sorcery at Community Grocery & Candy

A New York City bodega worker fended off a would-be robber with a wooden sword.

The worker struck the robber on the head, sending him to the hospital with minor head injuries when he started demanding money and fighting him.https://t.co/vAvQ3kxLIa

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) February 1, 2020

Early yesterday morning, an employee at Community Grocery & Candy on 14th Street near First Avenue reportedly protected his store from a robbery attempt with a wooden sword stashed behind the counter.

Per the Daily News, the suspect, identified as Zachariah Vasquez, demanded money from the register.

Instead of handing over the money, Alomari Saleh produced the sword and struck Vazquez in the head.

The report does not mention if Vasquez had any weapon.


[Photo this morning by Vinny & O]

An afternoon with Billy the Artist

Billy the Artist signed copies of his new book "Things You Don't Hear Twice: Quotes From the East Village" this afternoon at International Bar on First Avenue.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the IBar ... and shared this photo of Billy with Tyler, an International bartender ...



...and out front, joined by Molly, the bar's owner...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Now hear this: About the new book of East Village bar quotes from Billy the Artist

RIP Del Pitt Feldman

The Times published an obituary yesterday for Del Pitt Feldman, who passed away on Jan. 14 at age 90 in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Feldman, who was raised in East Flatbush, was known for "creating hand-crocheted garments."

And in 1965, she opened a boutique in the East Village on Seventh Street called Studio Del.

From the Times:

The garments — including open-weave vests, string bikinis, minidresses and capes — seemed to capture the freewheeling spirit of the neighborhood, and of the 1960s counterculture. The store’s clientele included Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Grace Slick and Andy Warhol.

High-profile women like Cher and Lily Tomlin also wore her clothes, but Ms. Feldman was unimpressed by celebrity status. When Ms. Joplin walked into the store and asked to try on a small top that was hanging in the window, her daughter said, Ms. Feldman declined, telling her she was too big for its trim dimensions.

Ms. Feldman's narrow store, decorated with vintage wooden furniture found at junk shops nearby, had a homey feel. More often than not, Ms. Feldman would crochet there, sitting in a large rocking chair. Classes were held in the back; a wide array of yarn was also for sale, as were tools for knitting and crochet.

By the early 1970s, the store had become a de facto clubhouse for a group of female artists who were working in crochet, among them Dina Knapp, Sharron Hedges, Arlene Stimmel and Nicki Hitz Edson, who was also, for a few years, a store employee.

Studio Del closed in the early 1980s. Not sure of the shop's address at the moment, though I'd like to find out more about it and her work...

Updated 8:15 p.m.

Thanks to EVG regular Daniel ... she shared an article on the store from the Times in 1972 — the shop was at 19 E. Seventh St.

Another look at the NW corner of 2nd Avenue and 7th Street

Here are two more partial-reveal views of the 7-floor condoplex building on the gas explosion site on Second Avenue at Seventh Street...



This is a follow-up to our post from yesterday morning. You can find all the background about this project and its history at this link.

6 posts from January 2020

[Key Food, randomly enough]

A mini month in review...

• Trio responsible for the deadly 2nd Avenue gas explosion sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison (Jan. 17)

• About those detailed East Village drawings at the new Trader Joe's on 14th Street (Jan. 15)

• RIP Matthew Maher, longtime owner of McSorley's (Jan. 13)

• Exclusive: Video shows chaotic moments after fatal shootings on Avenue A (Jan. 10)

• How to help save the Lower East Side Ecology Center's community compost program (Jan. 9)

• A Visit to Don Juan’s Barber Shop on 4th Street (Jan. 8)

Won't You Be My Neighbour?

The Dutch quartet Neighbours Burning Neighbours just released two new songs, which are well worth seeking out (if you like the screech of, say, Sonic Youth and early Siouxsie and the Banshees).

The video here is for a 2019 single called "Hesitate."

At the Tribal Soundz reunion

An array of musicians gathered last night to celebrate the legacy of Tribal Soundz, the community-oriented world music store that had a 10-year run until 2008 at 340 E. Sixth St.

Nora Balaban (pictured below), who opened Tribal Soundz in 1998, invited the musicians and speakers to perform at the East Village Playhouse — the site of the former music shop between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the packed playhouse for part of the nearly four hours of music...




[Akim Funk Buddha]


[Rima Fand]


[Deer France]


[Francis Jacob]

... and here's a clip of an ensemble featuring members of the bands Timbila and mbiraNYC ...

Reminders: First East Village Photo Club meeting is tomorrow

Reposted from Jan. 23...

Updated 1/31

The Tompkins Square Library will be closed tomorrow for repairs. So the meeting is taking place at the Ottendorfer branch, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. Same meeting time: 11 a.m.

Susan Schiffman is looking to start a photo club for interested East Village residents.

Schiffman, who has been photographing the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant, shared this overview:

I want to invite people who love to take photos to come together to meet, to share and to talk about photos they have taken or seen or projects they are thinking about starting. Maybe we can put a show together.

We have a space to meet once a month at the Tompkins Square Library. It would be great if you could stop by and join the conversation about photography.

Please let me know if you are interested or have any questions. You may email me here.

We will meet the first Saturday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon. The first meeting is Saturday, Feb. 1. If you would like to share your photos, then please bring prints or photos on a usb drive.

You may catch up on Susan's posts for EVG here. She was also featured in The New Yorker this past summer.

Pillow talk

In lieu of snow this January... here's what appears to be pillow stuffing in parts of Tompkins Square Park...



The stuffing arrived some time between 7-8:30 a.m., per Vinny & O, who shared these photos.

Updated 10 a.m.

EVG reader Annabelle points out the faux snowscape can be traced to a single pillow...