A look inside Castellano Electric Motors on the Lower East Side

Photos and text by Stacie Joy

Castellano Electric Motors Inc. has long captured my attention. Nestled in a modest, single-level building at 147 Ridge St., between Houston and Stanton, it stands as a relic of a bygone era.

Established in the late 1950s and operating at this location for over 40 years, Castellano Electric Motors harkens back to a time when the area was home to more independent service providers like this  ... and before most single-level buildings were transformed into high-end housing.

Jimmy, the owner, shared that he has no intentions of selling the building that houses the electric motor repair service. He satisfied my enduring curiosity by allowing me to photograph the interior (from a distance, anyway) ...

At a 6th & B Garden Variety performance with Angela Di Carlo and Dirty Martini

Photo by Stacie Joy 

There was a full house on Tuesday evening in the 6th and B Garden for Angela Di Carlo's Attention Deficit Disorder Cabaret ... which is part of TWEED TheaterWorks ongoing Garden Variety series.

The evening included special guest star Dirty Martini...

Michael Musto was among those on hand for the performances...

The next Garden Variety event happens here at the SW corner of Avenue B and Sixth Street on Sept. 12 featuring Julian Fleisher. Find other free 6th & B Garden events at this link.

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

A crosswalk moment on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place...

A quartet of murals for 2nd and A

Photo by Stacie Joy

This quartet of murals went up over the weekend on Second Street at Avenue A (NE corner)... a collaboration with (on the top) @outersource and @cramcept and, below, @scrambledeggsit and @ratchinyc ... a nice use for a blank wall that gets tagged after every fresh coat of paint.

A happy retirement to Jane and Billy, closing Katinka after 45 years in the East Village

Photo last week by Stacie Joy 

Time is running out to stop by one of the most unique shops in the East Village. 

As reported in late July, Katinka will close at the end of this month after 45 years in business. Jane Williams and Billy Lyles, partners in Katinka and in life, will be enjoying retirement very soon. 

The two opened their closet-sized shop in 1979 at 303 E. Ninth St. just east of Second Avenue... offering hand-made pieces — including shirts, vests, quilts and rugs — all made and imported from India. 

Jane told us that either tomorrow or Friday will be their closing day. (Hours: 5-8 p.m.) 

Despite the store closing, you'll see them in the neighborhood. 

"We live on Ninth Street, so we will be around," Jane said. "The East Village is our home."

A late summer refresh for Bin 141

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Bin 141, located at the NW corner of Avenue A and Third Street, is closed this week for a late-summer refresh. 

For starters, Gustavo Weissmann, who created the original Bin 141 awning, returned to give it a new color and design. (H/T EVG reader Newman!)

Meanwhile, we spotted co-owner Imen Bouzgarrou painting inside the low-key bistro ... she also created the new-look tables...

Imen and Rafik Bouzgarrou, who previously operated Angelina Cafe on Avenue A one block to the south, opened Bin 141 in the spring of 2019. 

They hope to wrap up the renovations soon and be back open this weekend. 

The Bin 141 website is here.

A signage setback at Ben's Deli

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

You may have noticed that the newish new sign at Ben's Deli (and now with a & Grill) disappeared this past week. 

Owner Sammy Ksem (pictured above) told us that the sign (see below) that went up in February at the under-renovation shop at 32 Avenue B was "too deep/too big." Aside from levying a $6,000 fine, the city made them remove it. 

So Sammy and company ordered a new one, which they hope will arrive within the next week. Sammy seemed philosophical about the fine but eager for the store to be approved and opened.

It has been slow going to date. The market between Second Street and Third Street temporarily closed this past September for renovations, including new shelving and lighting. Longtime owner (40-plus years!) and Avenue B legend Ben Gibran sold the business last year to his cousin Sammy.

Ben is still around ... and oversees the work and watches wildlife videos from his office van.

Painting it black on the TF in Tompkins Square Park

Here's a look at the multi-purpose courts (aka TF) in Tompkins Square Park after Day 2 of painting...

There are barrels of Acrylic Resurfacer 4200 around the perimeter as well...

This space along Avenue A and 10th Street has been a skating hotspot for decades and will reopen on Tuesday. The surface is looking a little slick at the moment. The asphalt was just getting broken in again after renovations from Oct. 16 to Dec. 1. Aside from new asphalt, Parks added benches, fountains and three basketball backstops.

The courts reopened without any markings — save for around the basketball area. 

As you may recall, the original reconstruction diagrams included a walking track marked by blue paint and painted lines for kickball. It's still unclear if the Parks Department will add those in the days ahead.

The space hadn't been redone since the early 1990s. And speaking of 1990...

 

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

A moment from an early evening set by Fede/Claudi of Pinc Louds...

RIP Hettie Jones

Hettie Jones, an acclaimed poet, publisher, teacher, activist, and decades-long East Village resident, died on Aug. 13. She was 90.

A native New Yorker who grew up in Queens, Jones wrote 23 books, including three volumes of poetry and a memoir of the Beat Generation, as well as books for children and young adults, including "The Trees Stand Shining" and "Big Star Fallin’ Mama: Five Women in Black Music."

She was connected with the Beat poets, actively involved in social justice, and taught poetry and writing at New York University, The New School, Parsons School of Design, and other institutions.

PEN America, where Jones was a longtime member, shared details about her life: 

In the 1950s, she married the poet LeRoi Jones, who later changed his name to become the Black power nationalist Amiri Baraka. Hettie Jones spoke and wrote about the bigotry and antisemitism she faced at that time, both as a Jewish woman and a white woman married to a Black man. 

In 1957, the couple founded a literary magazine, Yugen, and the Totem Press, which published works by legendary Beat writers, including Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Williams S. Burroughs.

Later divorced, they had two daughters: Kellie Jones, a professor of art, archaeology and African American studies at Columbia University, and Lisa Jones Brown, a writer on staff at The Village Voice for 15 years. 

The family had lived at 27 Cooper Square since the early 1960s and the heyday of the Beats. 

Village Preservation has more about her fight to save her longtime home between Fifth Street and Sixth Street, where she lived for nearly six decades:

In 2007, when a hotel developer announced plans to build the 22-story Cooper Square Hotel, it looked like the 1844 Greek Revival house at 27 Cooper Square would be demolished. The four-story building that currently stands on this lot is of unknown origins. However, clues from a tax assessment records and historic maps indicate it might have been constructed between 1843 and 1845, as two narrow houses with ground-floor shops.

Given Hettie's petite size, it would be easy to call her successful effort to save the structure a David-and-Goliath triumph, but that would diminish her accomplishment. Remarkably, her gentle but persuasive stress on the building's age and artistic heritage convinced the hotel's owners. They opted to spare the building and simply utilize the structure's lower two floors for corporate headquarters. Hettie also convinced the hotel to reinstall the vintage stained glass window above the entrance door, which had been removed long before.

You can read more about her extraordinary life at The Associated Press and The New York Times.

NYU buys dorm on Cooper Square that everyone already thought was an NYU dorm

According to published reports, NYU bought the dorm at 35 Cooper Square at Sixth Street for $69.2 million. 

Marymount Manhattan College (MMC) had occupied the 13-floor residence hall since August 2015. (The building includes retail tenants Librae Bakery and Meet Fresh bubble tea.)

Despite multiple reports about Marymount leasing the space dating back 10 years, some residents thought it belonged to NYU's East Village dorm empire. 

Well, it does now... as the NYU branding is already at the entrance...

The deal is joint venture between two Midtown-based real estate firms, Sherwood Equities and Bhatia Development, Crain's and PincusCo reported. 

MMC's lease was reportedly terminated last month. This seemed like a bit of a hike for students of the private liberal arts college, which has its main campus on the Upper East Side.

Upon the dorm's grand opening nine years ago, 199 MMC students moved in, per a school news release at the time. The additional 73 spots were contracted out to Cooper Union. 

The dorm sits on a lot previously occupied in part by 35 Cooper Square, the Federal-style building dating back to 1825. The closing of the Asian Pub in January 2011 at 35 Cooper Square set in motion a sequence of events that led to the demolition of the historic building in 2011, despite pleas from community activists and preservationists. 

Neighbors weren't so supportive of all this, leaving signs calling developer Arun Bhatia "a destroyer of East Village history." 

Crain's has more about NYU's real-estate empire: 

NYU is considered one of the city's largest and wealthiest landlords, and, like other private colleges, it benefits from tax exemptions on its real estate. Last year NYU acquired a Kips Bay apartment building​​ for $210 million — one of 2023's priciest transactions. And the total assessed value of NYU's holdings is about $1.8 billion, just below Columbia University's total, but NYU is taxed on just $120 million of that, thus enjoying nearly $1.7 billion in savings, according to a Crain's analysis in a piece from last fall headlined "City loses $788 million in property taxes as private colleges eat up 25M square feet of land."

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• 35 Cooper Square, 'this much-beloved little building,' dies at age 186

Renovating 82 2nd Ave. for the arrival of Kebabwala from the Unapologetic Foods team

Storefront renovations are underway at 82 Second Ave., where the Unapologetic Foods team is opening the fast-casual Indian kebab house Kebabwala between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. 

News of this arrival dates back three summers. However, Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar have been plenty busy with the arrival of Rowdy Rooster on First Avenue and Naks a few blocks to the north. (The two are also opening a branch of their Adda Indian Canteen in the former Huertas space at 107 First Ave.) 

As for Kebabwala, Mazumdar told Eater the small space (10 indoor seats) is inspired by street grills around India and describes it as "a shot in the arm of a Delhi night market, with kebabs, bread, and the whole nine yards." 

No. 82 has been vacant for years and last housed restaurants including 7 Spices and Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine.

Monday's parting Instagram post

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brad Heckman (@hecksign)

Artwork created by Brad Heckman based on this EVG photo from First Avenue and Ninth Street...

The Loisaida CommUnity Fridge on 9th and B needs a new home — here's why

Photo and reporting by Stacie Joy 

On the heels of our story that the 12th Street and First Avenue East Village Neighbors Community Fridge at S’MAC was being forced to close, we received word from Trinity Lutheran Parish that the Loisaida CommUnity Fridge and Pantry at Ninth Street and Avenue B also needs to shutter. 

I spoke to Pastor Will Kroeze from Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish about the situation. 

"Over the winter, we received violations from the Department of Health because of an increased number of rodents in and around our garden where the fridge is located, which jeopardizes our ability to fulfill our primary mission — to serve the community through our daily free lunch and food pantry," he said. "It is imperative that we maintain high standards of cleanliness and hygiene so that we can do this work, as we are regularly inspected by the Department of Health and have always been proud of the high marks we receive." 

He said that the church is now seeking a new location for the fridge "so that it can continue to be a resource for our community." 

"Given that the East Village Neighbors fridge on First Avenue is no longer operating, we feel particularly strongly now that the Loisaida Community Fridge must continue on; we are seeking the community’s support in securing a new location nearby."

The fridge arrived here in June 2021.

"It's been such an honor for Trinity to host the fridge since its inception. The fridge has been a natural extension of the work we've done for over 40 years to address food insecurity in our community, and we're proud of the many thousands of pounds of food that have gone directly into the hands of those who need it the most," Pastor Will said. "The success of the fridge is a testament to the dedication of the tremendous group of community leaders and volunteers who have poured their hearts into it in service to our neighbors." 

While the CommUnity structure remains in place for now, the East Village will soon be without any community fridges. The plant-based one outside Overthrow on Bleecker Street near the Bowery is currently MIA, with an Instagram post from last December stating a new fridge was on the way.