ICYMI: Fresco is closed for now on 2nd Avenue

Fresco closed after service on Sunday here at 138 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street...

As we reported on Friday, Siblings Ilias, Vanessa and Anna Iliopoulos decided to temporarily shut down their 8-year-old gelateria-cafe and return to their native Greece. 

They hope to reopen in January... 

 

"It's not a landlord issue. It's purely about the decrease in revenue due to COVID-19," Ilia told EVG correspondent Steven about the temporary closing.

Photos yesterday by Steven

LT Baron's Dry Cleaners & Laundry shuts down on 11th Street

LT Baron's, a small dry cleaners and laundry at 520 E. 11th St., has gone out of business here between Avenue A and Avenue B. (Thanks for Gojira for the tip.)

Several families have owned the business through the years, with a nice couple taking over early this year.

Several neighborhood dry cleaners have had to permanently close during the pandemic, including Sun's Laundry and C & C. The customer base has seen a sharp decline with more people working from home and fewer people attending dress-up events such as weddings.

Monday's parting shot

A sidewalk scene on Second Avenue today via Derek Berg...

A blessed day for dogs at Trinity Lower East Side

 

Yesterday afternoon, Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish hosted a walk-through Blessing of the Animals in their garden space on Avenue B at Ninth Street... EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped to catch Pastor Will in action in this celebration of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals...

... and here's Pastor Will with his husband Steven and their delightfully drooly dog, Joey...

 

A campaign to co-name part of St. Mark's Place after Jimmy Webb

There's a fledgling campaign underway to co-name part of St. Mark's Place after Jimmy Webb. (Thanks Cheryl for pointing this out!)

The online petition is here. The process of co-naming a street within the confines of Community Board 3 is explained on this PDF.

Webb, a familiar figure in the East Village during his long tenure as the manager and buyer at Trash & Vaudeville, died on April 14 of cancer. He was 62. 

He started working at his dream destination, Trash & Vaudeville, in 1999, and remained there until the shop relocated from St. Mark's Place to Seventh Street in 2016.  He opened I Need More in October 2017.

UPDATED 10/6

Apparently there are multiple campaigns underway. This one has nearly 1,500 signatures. 

Photo from 2013 by James Maher

Taco time: Amigo debuts on 2nd Avenue

Amigo officially opens today at 29 Second Ave. between First Street and Second Street (it has been in soft-open mode).

As previously reported, Amigo is a collaboration between Chef Ruben Rodriguez of Nai Tapas at 85 Second Ave. and Juan “Billy” Acosta, whose family runs the much-ballyhooed Carnitas El Momo in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Rodriguez and Acosta met and decided to team up for what L.A. Taco says will be "arguably the best carnitas you will ever find in the U.S."

From an Eater preview the other day: "The restaurant's headlining carnitas tacos ($6), from Acosta, comes in three meaty varieties: Maciza, or bone-in pork butt; buche, or pork stomach; cueritos, or pork skin; or diners can order a mix of all three on a taco. Carnitas tacos abound in the East Village, but this pork’s reputation is second to none."

You can find the menu at Amigo's website... and foods pics on Instagram. And the hours: Monday through Thursday from 5-11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from noon to midnight; and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.

Photos courtesy of Amigo

Previously on EV Grieve:

• The best carnitas in Los Angeles are coming to the East Village

Tech hub tops out on 14th Street

Workers have officially reached the top at Zero Irving (and formerly the Union Square Tech Training Center and 14 @ Irving ... and tech hub) at 124 E. 14th St. at Irving Place... the American flag is now flying above...

The 21-23-story building, developed jointly by the city’s Economic Development Corp. and RAL Development Services, will feature 14 floors of market-rate office space as well as "a technology training center and incubator, co-working spaces and state-of-the-art event space ... on the seven floors beneath," per the Zero Irving announcement issued last October.

Food-hall specialists Urban­Space officially signed the lease for 10,000 square feet on the ground level last month.

The new building — long contested by local preservationists and community groups (see links below) — sits on the former site of a P.C. Richard & Son on city-owned property.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

• Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

• City Council unanimously approves tech hub; some disappointment in lack of zoning protections 

• The conversation continues on the now-approved tech hub for 14th Street

• P.C. Richard is gone on 14th Street; preservationists want answers about tech-hub commitments

AuH20 Thriftique closes up shop on 7th Street

After 14 years selling stylish women's vintage clothes and accessories, AuH20 Thriftique has closed its shop at 84 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

AuH20 closed on Oct. 1 — the shop's 14th anniversary.

Kate Goldwater, who opened the storefront after graduating from college at age 22, made the announcement on Instagram. She will continue the business via online sales. 

On Sept. 17,  she shared her story in a post on Medium titled "The President Ruined a Business I Spent 14 Years Building."

As she wrote: "I joke with my husband that it's just a secondhand store. I wasn't saving lives, but I think I really did have something special in the East Village. I really do feel like I'm letting everyone down by closing it, but I also don't think that I have another option."

Image via Instagram

St. Marks Barbershop moves around the corner

St. Marks Barbershop has left St. Mark's Place. (H/T Steven!)

Albert and Co. have relocated from here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue ... to Cooper Square — specifically 13 Third Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The shop is taking part of the space that was previously home to HairMates.

With the move comes a new name — Ace of Bladez!

The departure means that 16 St. Mark's Place won't be a barbershop for the first time since the late 1960s.

Groovy signage for the Royal Unisex Barbershop is still visible on the east-facing wall.

Top photo by Steven!

Sunday's parting shot

As seen on the sidewalk outside Veselka on Second Avenue at Ninth Street.... "Beet Covid, Wear Your Mask."

Thanks to Lola Sáenz for the photo...

Week in Grieview

• The East Village storefront art of Delphine le Goff (Thursday)

• A new era for indoor dining in the East Village (Friday) 

• Sophie's, Josie's and Mona's reopen (Wednesday) 

• Black & White is closing, with plans to relocate in 2021 (Wednesday) 

• Fresco closing this week with hopes of reopening early next year (Friday) 

• New hours for the city's free meal pick up (Tuesday)

• New York Sports Clubs permanently shutters Avenue A location 2 days after reopening (Friday) 

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday) 

• Public Access debuts on St. Mark's Place with show by legendary skateboarder Mark Gonzalez (Thursday) 

• Il Mattone space now going as the Pizza Spot on East Houston (Monday) 

• A new front window era at Le Fournil (Thursday) 

• Kyuramen bringing ramen to 210 E. 14th St. (Monday)

• 2nd Avenue closings: Spiritea, Dia and Atlas Cafe (Wednesday)

• Pado is closing on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• Construction watch: 11 Avenue C (Tuesday) 

• C & C Dry Cleaning closes on 7th Street (Thursday) 

• A return for Tokio7? (Tuesday)

• 45 E. 7th St. now with its perforated cornice parapet (Monday)

... and to wrap up our coverage of the neighborhood's first film shoot notices in six-plus months... As you may already know, there was a video shoot at Double Down Saloon on Avenue A between Houston and Second Street. It was a collaboration between Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa. 

Top photo of Ink on A

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Here Nor There opens on 9th Street

Here Nor There opened back on Thursday at 315 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

The boutique, owned by stylist Julia Copeland, offers "curated vintage and emerging designers." (She has dedicated the store to her mother Elizabeth, who passed away in late August.)

The shop's website is here... the Instagram is here.

No. 315 was previously the boutique Huminska, which officially closed in December after 27 years in business. 

Top photo by Steven, storefront photo via Instagram

Opening a portal at the Bowery Mural Wall

The latest work wrapped up at the Bowery Mural wall yesterday ... an elaborate, student-assisted creation via Groundswell and Raul Ayala titled "To Open a Portal" ...

This is a lousy photo (the glare!) at the wall that explains more about the work...

Amped up: Bands get the boot from Tompkins Square Park for not having sound permits

A promising triple bill of bands got the boot from Tompkins Square Park last evening.

EVG reader Chris Ryan shared these photos... the three bands (and check them out!), the Employees, Hello Mary and Clovis, arrived to play an amped late-afternoon show without a sound permit.

According to Ryan and several other witnesses, the NYPD and the Parks Enforcement Patrol showed up after while, and eventually shut down the show (they apparently let the bands continue playing for nearly 30 minutes before stopping it)... 

Ryan said the officers explained that the bands must have permits to play amplified music. (Ryan offered to put the bands in touch with Chris Flash, who has organized free shows in the Park for years.)

There have been reports of "an intermittent crackdown on amplified performance," as amNY put it, in Tompkins Square Park. 

As Ryan said: "Hopefully, this not the end of the resurrection of live music in the Park."