At St. Brigid's: That sinking feeling

In his most recent letter to parishioners (dated March 25), Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid’s, reported that the steeples at the church on Avenue B at Eighth Street will not be replaced as previously reported.

Torres also reported that the church's entire foundation needs to be stabilized. Why?

"The church sits on what is basically porridge," he wrote. "There is no bedrock until you reach 92 feet. There is also an underground stream which runs very close to the property."

However serious, Torres said he's confident the problem "is being addressed by well-qualified people with experience and knowledge in restoration."

This is the No. 1 bar in NYC?

Something called The Clubplanet Nightlife Directory has named its top-10 bars of NYC. And No. 1 bestest of the best bars?

#1 Best Bar in NYC
Elsa
217 East 3rd Street
New York, NY 10003

Just when you think East Village will forever stay in its un-gentrified hip-ness, a snazzy, upscale place like Elsa opens, as if the be-seen type of bars simply spilled out of the over-packed Lower East Side, and nestled in the surrounding neighborhoods. Well, the better for East Village scenesters. One thing is sure— if you like your drinks well-mixed, Elsa is the place to be, mostly due to its signature cocktails, courtesy of the best bartending pros, which is why its made our list as one of the best bars in New York City. And in case you were wondering about an appropriate outfit — you can get tailored on the spot two days a week. Elsa is styled after a tailor shop, but those old-school sewing machines are not a simple decoration. Now, we’ve already heard about linking the idea of shopping and drinking (boutique lounges), or drinking and doing your nails (Beauty Bar), but drinking while waiting for your hand-made jacket, that’s quite a new take on New York watering holes’ versatility.

Why have these storefronts been empty for so long?

Today, Jeremiah has a list of places loved — or just well-liked — around town that have been sitting empty with "for rent" signs.

Meanwhile, there are other storefronts in the LES/East Village that have seemingly been empty for years... Look at the recent photo below taken by the EV Grieve Intern of the former Tina Nails on First Avenue near 14th Street. The "Dear customers" sign remains. The place has been closed since September 2007.



Or how about the Coffee Pot (and, since last fall, Two Boots Restaurant) on Avenue A? Or the long dormant (and jinxed?) restaurant space at 171 Avenue A...?

These storefronts all seem like prime EV/LES locations. What gives? Shit economy? (Though some of these places have been empty since the recession...) Jinxed locations? Stupid landlords?

Here are just a few of the storefronts that remain empty....

There's the former Tonic space on Norfolk, sitting empty next to Blue.



And Kelley & Peng on the Bowery and Second Street.



Second Avenue and Third Street. (The one with the CRAZY landlord!)



East Sixth Street near Avenue A.



East Sixth Street near First Avenue.



Third Avenue near 12th Street.



First Avenue between First Street and Second Street.



First Avenue near East Seventh Street.



For further reading on EV Grieve:
Cafe de Nova space for rent; Avenue B back up to 22 vacant storefronts

A 35-year-old former Ivy League fencer and “Star Wars” buff is pretty much running the city

Well, at least according to the Times. Meet Edward Skyler! (Kind of like Skywalker!)

(And that's NOT Mr. Skyler in the photo.)

A little creativity outside a Duane Reade

On Third Avenue and 10th Street.

Vampire Easter Weekend

At Blockbuster on East Houston.

Buy a Hannah Montana hollow egg this Easter

At Duane Reade on Avenue B.

Mundane details continue to fascinate at former Love Saves the Day spot

Wow, the ramen guys really are going to brick up the windows. That seems...weird.

Nostalgia for 1980s New York in Beijing

From the Times:

What’s interesting about “Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993” at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, in Beijing, is that the Americans I know who have visited the exhibit, particularly those born and raised in New York, tend to focus on the location photos: the raw, grimy East Village sidewalks; Tompkins Square Park with its anti-gentrification protesters and drag queens; shirtless students at St. Marks Place; the bums on the Bowery and the gritty sidewalks and graffiti-covered subway cars that inspired “Stranger Than Paradise,” Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 film set partially in New York City. They are drawn to them precisely because they induce feelings of nostalgia for 1980s New York.

But Chinese visitors viewing the exhibit, most of whom have never been to New York (or America, for that matter), tend to focus on the Chinese people in the photos. Where the typical American will focus on how much Times Square has changed from the 1980s to now, the typical Chinese viewer looking at that same photo will focus on what looks like a Chinese immigrant sitting on top of a taxi.

Hummus Place expanding on St. Mark's Place?

Yesterday morning, I noted that Sympathy for the Kettle had closed at 109 St. Mark's Place.



Hummus Place shares the address on the west side of the building. Word on the street is that Hummus Place is taking over the former Kettle space. Which is one reason why Hummus Place on St. Mark's was closed today and workers were coming in and out of the space. There's an outgoing phone message at the St. Mark's store stating that all the NYC Hummus Place locations (four in total) will be closed for the holiday from April 8-17. Sounds like a good time for an expansion.

The Holiday expands its hours

After Stefan's death earlier this year, the Holiday was only open on the weekends. Now, though, as this flier on St. Mark's shows, the Holiday is expanding its hours. Which is a good thing.

An award for navigating "the wilds of don’t-ruin-my-neighborhood blogosphere resentment"

In Time Out's Eat Out Awards this week, the magazine's critics bestow the Best Sweet Revenge award upon Bespoke Chocolates. Why?

As if the seven levels of city-permit hell weren’t enough, chocolatier and former Union Square Cafe pastry staffer Rachel Zoe Insler also had to navigate the wilds of don’t-ruin-my-neighborhood blogosphere resentment before she even opened the doors of her unassuming bonbon shop. Insler placated the haters with patience and warmth — and won over everyone else with her pretzel-covered sea-salted caramels, cardamom-scented Turkish coffee truffles and the rest of her handmade sweets. 6 Extra Pl at E 1st St (212-260-7103)

Well, now. I hope you haters are happy now! Got your just dessert!

Hell yeah, it's HoJo's

Thanks to reader/frequent commenter Mick for passing along the url to HoJoLand, a comprehensive Web site devoted to the history of Howard Johnson's. The last HoJo's closed on Times Square on July 9, 2005 (first photo below). As HoJoLand points out, there were 10 HoJo's in Manhattan at one point...



...like this one on 53rd and Lexington...



...uh, somewhere on Broadway...



and at 1551 Broadway...



Meanwhile...you'll find the world's largest repository on the last HoJo's in the city on the site...

A quick look inside DBGB

Sometime this spring, DaBo's brasserie/diner place -- DBGB (ugh, sorry) -- will open at 299 Bowery between Houston and First Street. (Latest projection has it opening in May.)



The doors to the location, a block south of you-know-what, were open last night... the fans were blowing out toward the Bowery to provide ventilation for the paint job that was happening inside. I went to step inside for a better look when Mr. Unamused Supervisor did one of those, Halt!-who-goes-there moves. Anyway, opening in May? Maybe late May!

The NYC housing slump is now A1 New York Times serious

A few excerpts from the Page 1 article today in the Times:

In this year’s first quarter, sales of co-ops and condominiums in Manhattan plunged nearly 60 percent from the first quarter of 2008. Average co-op prices fell as much as 24 percent in the same period, according to various market reports released last week.

And...

The stress is most severe at the high end of the market. There are 350 apartments and town houses for sale in Manhattan with asking prices of more than $10 million, and inventory has been growing. It would take about six years at the current sales rate to absorb all those listings.

And...

Jonathan J. Miller, an appraiser who prepares quarterly reports on Manhattan, said the market could continue to fall through this year and next, especially if credit remained tight for most buyers. After that, he said, it could take several more years to work through the excess inventory.

And...

Mr. Miller said that during the last big real estate downtown, when studio apartments were so cheap that he considered buying one on a credit card, people thought the luxury market would never come back. “Conspicuous consumption was out of vogue in 1991,” he said. “The market was back by 1997 or 1998.”

And finally...

In the newest issue of Us Weekly, Lindsay Lohan opens up about her heartbreaking split from Samantha Ronson, the "humiliating" weekend showdown with Ronson's family, and says that friends' fears she is suicidal are unfounded.

Oh, sorry. That's not from the article.

Avenue B is no longer a dead end

A few weeks back we mentioned how someone placed a "dead end" sign for those driving south down Avenue B to see...



The sign came down this past week...Order has been restored!

No-frills copy shop opens in the Financial District

Spotted near Williams Street.

Just in time for Easter...

The Christmas decorations are still up outside Villaggio on Avenue C. near 11th Street.

What's left of Lou

A few of the Lou Reed/Supreme ads are left hanging around...Such as this one on East Seventh Street near First Avenue...



...and this one on East Third Street near Avenue C.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Top that, Kermit

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

ATM card skimmers found in the East Village (Gizmodo)

Biker Bill is on the mend (Slum Goddess)

CBGB in the funny pages (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

Ruby's lives for another season (Kinetic Carnival)

Jeremiah continues his Crown Heights tour (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

One day it will please us to remember even this: The New York Dolls will play at John Varvatos (Flaming Pablum)

Beer bargains at Key (Hunter-Gatherer)

Tap city (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Stephen Merritt hitting Off-Broadway (Pitchfork)