Friday photo follies (with apologies)

Just passing some time at Nathan's at Coney Island...

Two good bags: At J. Baczynsky's East Village Meat Market

I love everything about J. Baczynsky's East Village Meat Market at 139 Second Ave. near Ninth Street...seen here in this shot taken by EssG (via Flickr).



...including their shopping bags. I treat the bags like a piece of art. While I could recycle them whenever I go visit to the shop, I greedily get another one...




...which is one reason they may have run out of the bags the other day...they were left to use the common "I heart NY" variety...



I was told the bag shortage was only temporary. Still, these things can't be cheap to make.

For further reading:
Bye-bye Burritoville (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

We hope the Archdiocese didn't spend any of the $10 million on the new "no parking" sign for St. Brigid's

At Eighth Street and Avenue B.

At home as it is in the tavern

At the all-new Robin Raj at 114 Third Ave. near 14th Street.

How about IM and texting?

East Seventh Street at First Avenue.

A rally at P.S. 64

"East Village activists and preservationists rallied outside the old P.S. 64 Monday afternoon, demanding that the Landmarks Preservation Commission save the neglected turn-of-the-century school from ruin." (The Villager)

A Polaroid from 1982

Blogger Jack Brummet at All This is That today posts a Polaroid that he received in 1982...It's a shot of Keith Haring's mural on Houston and the Bowery....



The photo was affixed to a postcard and mailed to him from San Francisco...the former NYC resident was living in Seattle. You can see the postmark on the bottom left of the photo....

The horror: Goldman Sachs staffers on biz must deal with free Bud and 250-thread-count Hilton Hotel-brand sheets made of a 60/40 cotton-poly blend

Entertaining story in the Journal today about the poor bastards at Goldman Sachs in town on business who now have to stay at the Battery City Park Embassy Suites, which goes for $250 a night with a special corporate rate.

It's a far cry from the plusher digs Goldman employees used to enjoy at the Ritz-Carlton and the Carlyle. But cost-cutting and government oversight mean finding out how the other half lives.

Some of the bankers aren't happy with the switch. "No one's supposed to complain out loud, but, let's face it, we're spoiled," says one Goldman employee. "They turned us into hotel snobs."

One night recently, a dozen Goldman employees from the Chicago office were yucking it up at happy hour, which starts at 5:30 sharp. The group was huddled around three tables in a cafeterialike room overlooking the headquarters of Merrill Lynch & Co., now owned by Bank of America, drinking free Budweiser out of plastic cups and eating pretzels and tortilla chips.

Golly! Sounds good to me!

Inside Goldman, the hotel has become the butt of jokes. There are grumblings about its accommodations and a wake-up call service that blares "cock-a-doodle-do" into the telephone. For the many Goldman executives who visit New York for meetings in midtown Manhattan, the hotel's location on the far southwestern edge of the island is inconvenient.

Hmm...still, at the Embassy Suites, there's the free beer and popcorn at happy hour and a complimentary all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. Not to mention a 10 percent discount at the Chevy's next-door.

Though just a mile from each other, the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park and Embassy Suites Battery Park are worlds apart. Rooms at the Ritz offer views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty; Embassy Suites rooms look out across the Hudson River, at Jersey City, N.J. Ritz guests luxuriate in 400-thread-count Frette linens made of 100% Egyptian cotton, while at the Embassy Suites guests sleep on 250-thread-count Hilton Hotel-brand sheets made of a 60/40 cotton-poly blend.

And forget free breakfast or drinks at the Ritz, which offers an $11 Irish oatmeal brûlée with berries compote in the morning and a $14 Ritz Carlton Martini (gin, muddled cucumber, mint and fresh lime juice) at night.

On Avenue A: Blue bolts; waiting for the return of Lucy's

Blue, the fancy dress shop on Avenue A between St. Mark's and Ninth Street, has moved to a new location in Nolita. Prime chunk of EV real estate is now presumably available — right across the street from the Park. By the way, the store is directly next door to Lucy's, which we hope reopens tonight as the sign on the door promises...

Bloomy is now wealthiest resident of NYC

Last year, the media mogul's worth clocked in at $11.5 billion. But after he bought back 20 percent of his company Bloomberg LP from a foundering Merrill Lynch in July, his value skyrocketed and he is now worth a staggering $16 billion.

Related!
The number of American millionaires fell by more than a quarter last year, as the financial crisis decimated their investments across the board, a report said yesterday. (New York Post)

A doll's eye view of Third Avenue

I now feel as it is my civic -- and moral -- duty to keep you up-to-date on the wall space on Third Avenue near 12th Street. After a few weeks of a blank wall, we have a new (creepy as fuck) ad.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Off the wall

The ol' model starving stickers are back

Or maybe the stickers never went away? On 14th Street near Fourth Avenue. And what exactly is she doing in those rose bushes?

Graffiti artist salutes new, undiscovered talent

Fresh graffiti spotted on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

A new convenient store for First Avenue

The former Health Conscious Express at 45 First Avenue between Second Street and Third Street is becoming a convenient store...convenient for people who don't feel like walking four storefronts to the south to shop at NY Village Deli.

And the new place will deliver, the sign says.

Life goes to Times Square

Thanks to frequent EV Grieve commenter Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk, author of "Times Queer," for passing along a link to a treasure trove of photos from Life magazine showing Times Square from 1950...



...to 1986...

What's new on East Fifth Street?

Might become a popular stop before Dart League night at the Ace.

Dead end on Avenue B?

We've chronicled the empty storefronts that line Avenue B — 22 vacant spaces still by my last count. Sure, there are signs of life in a few of the empty storefronts, but... Meanwhile, this gave us pause last night: Someone inexplicably (ominously?) placed a "dead end" sign for those driving south down Avenue B to see...




The sign is supposed to be facing east on 13th Street.



Meanwhile, the Tibetan specialty shop Lhasa Boutique near Fourth Street has offically closed.



By the way, I don't want to give the impression that tumbleweeds are blowing down the Avenue... Hardly. There are still the unnamed ones that attract the weekend jackasses..... And there are plenty of highlights... a few neighborhood colorful mom-and-pop shops remain (Metropolitan TV, Raul's Candy)...and fine places such as Mona's, Bee Liquors, Lakeside Lounge, B-Side, Life Cafe, 7B, Manitoba's, Mama's Bar (and Mama's on Third Street), Zaitzeff....

Product placement

Staying on Avenue B for a moment...The folks at the overpriced Mercadito Cantina proudly display their review from Time Out. Which happened to appear in the magazine's annual Sex Issue.



Hmm...I don't think I'll be ordering the Flan De Cajeta tonight.

More signs of the recession: At the Blarney Stone

On Fulton Street in the Financial District.

For anyone who has ever wanted to spend the day with Barbara Corcoran

Yesterday, of course, was Barbara Corcoran's 60th birthday. (Hope that you remembered to buy some property!) Anyway, quite by accident, I stumbled upon a Corcoran feature in the Times from March 5, 2000, titled What Do You Do All Day?

Let's take a look, shall we!

Wednesday, Jan. 19

6:00 a.m. Lana Zinger, Russian-born personal trainer, arrives for morning workout.

6:30 Tommy, 6, watches his mother work out. Between crunches, requests reading from "Harry Potter." Request denied.

7:00 Makeup artist arrives.

7:15 Dresses (brown Christian Lacroix suit with Herms scarf).

7:45 Takes Tommy to school in cab. It is absolutely freezing.

8:10 Arrives at Tavern on the Green to give speech at her company's awards breakfast.

8:15 Talks janitor into letting her practice her speech in a broom closet.

8:55 Emerges feeling confident, but "like Aunt Clara on 'Bewitched' -- dusty and smelling of Lysol."

9:00 At podium in front of 500 sales agents, clinks glass to get attention. Glass breaks.

Boring!

1:00 Sharon Baum walks in dressed in fur-trimmed suit with faux-diamond "Sold" pin. Corcoran says, "Boy, if you're not rich you certainly look it." Departs in Baum's Rolls-Royce for lunch at the Lobster Club. Shares creamed spinach, biscuits, French fries with Baum. Discusses whether the market will survive if the dot-com companies take a hit, how even Wall Streeters with millions in cash can't find apartments.

2:45 Departs restaurant. Gets call from office saying that the seller of the nine-room Park Avenue apartment she's been wanting to buy for herself finally wants to make a deal. Phones from car. ("I'm so nervous, I have to stop thinking like a sweaty-palmed buyer and start thinking like a broker.") Strategizes with Baum about how to be the winning bidder. Baum tells her to get as much information as she can about the family. Makes the call to the Park Avenue seller. "Oh, God, I got disconnected. Does anyone else have a cell phone?" Everyone in the car has a cell phone, including the driver. Still can't get through. Is now very hyper. Stays in the car and keeps trying while Baum looks at multimillion-dollar "maisonette" on upper Fifth Avenue.

4:00 Driver drops Corcoran off at gym, where she meets Becky Wood, Tommy's nanny, and watches Tommy swim.