Out of Erie

On Monday, Bob Arihood reported that John Penley was returning to the East Village from Erie, Pa., where he has lived the last three months. In this week's issue of The Villager, Scoopy said that he received the following text message from Penley: "redneck kkkrackers with guns want my blood in erie. fuck that."

FiDi's Zen Palate seized and padlocked (or maybe the other way around)

On June 30, the Zen Palate on John Street in the Financial District abruptly closed, forcing downtowners to look elsewhere for greasy, overpriced vegetarian fare.




Yesterday, the empty eatery was padlocked. And the marshal's sign went up.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Zen Palate closes up in Financial District; Hell's Kitchen location last now in NYC

Day 9

Previously.

R-Pattz films a scene at the Pearl Diner

Just a little bit ago...



Later, a group of teens were excited to photograph the QM-11 to Forest Hills.



OK, OK...R-Pattz was headed back to his town car.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Battling bed bugs (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

WNYC buys WQXR (The New York Times)

Oh, are they still open?: Death & Co. finally gets a liquor license (The Feed)

Death to cupcakes (The Village Voice)

Cab fun on Bowery and Delancey (BoweryBoogie)

Subway graffiti down 46 percent (2nd Ave. Sagas)

Women's swimwear inspired by NYC graffiti (Freshness)

2009 Siren Festival this Saturday at Coney Island (Siren)

Finally, Lady GaGa at a recent press conference.

What's doing in...Williamsburg: "It's like St. Mark's in the '70s" (but! "This is not Haight-Ashbury")

The Daily News investigates the alleged increase in squatters living in Williamsburg.

Let's just jump right in!:

Heroin-addict hobos from around the country are overrunning hipster haven Williamsburg — living in stalled luxury condo projects in the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood.

The newcomers, who call themselves "gutter punks," are stirring outrage among residents and shopkeepers who charge the bums brawl on the sidewalk, shoplift and shoot heroin in trendy cafe bathrooms.

"It's like St. Mark's in the '70s," said Williamsburg activist Philip DePaolo, referring to the notorious East Village hangout. "It's the bad old days all over again. There's crack and heroin all over the neighborhood."

The squatters, from middle-class families, hop freight trains to the city, where they can earn up to $150 a day panhandling in Manhattan. At night, like plenty of other borough commuters, they return to their homes: grubby hideaways inside boarded-up lots that pock the once-booming neighborhood.

"I've got to sleep somewhere, and I might as well do it in Williamsburg," said Stuart, 22, a Florida college dropout.

The admitted alcoholic and heroin user makes $15 an hour panhandling in Union Square, holding a sign that reads "Traveling Broke and Sexy."

"The girls here like it that I'm dirty and I ride trains," he added.

The vagrants - who also call themselves "crusty punks" - swarmed into Williamsburg this spring, drawn by open-minded young people and vacant lots.

And what do local politicos think?

"This is not Haight-Ashbury," said Community Board 1 member Evan Thies. "This is a family neighborhood."

And the cops?

Cops said they haven't seen an increase in crime or vagrants, but would monitor the area.

Also in the Daily News today:
For some homeless drug addicts, squatting is made easy in Williamsburg

For further reading:
Reader Rant: Williamsburg's Squatters' Row Has Got to Go (Curbed)
'Lots' of Woe in W'Burg (New York Post)
The BillyBurg Bust (New York)
‘Eternal Sunshine’ house may not be torn down after all (The Brooklyn Paper)
Eternal nightmare of the not-so-spotless crackhouse (The Brooklyn Paper)

Caffe Buon Gusto looking a little sad, neglected

Work on Caffe Buon Gusto on Avenue B and Fifth Street has seemingly come to a halt. More graffiti appears by the day. The paper covering the windows has fallen down. Not much progress can be seen inside.




An EV Grieve reader files this report after a walk by this past weekend:

One of the plate-glass windows has a big crack running from side to bottom, most of the new paintwork is tagged and defaced, and the paper peeling back from one of the windows shows that construction inside has come to a halt. I have eaten at the Buon Gusto on the upper east side a few times, and found the food tasty and the staff welcoming; not that the East Village or the Lower East Side wants yet another homespun Italian restaurant, but the empty storefront has a very sad look to it.

A 14-floor addition and new hotel for the Financial District?

Work (slowly) continues at 24 and 26 John Street in the Fiancnial District. At the former site of the Casual Grill and the Seh Ja Meh Korean restaurant. And just what is going into this space?





According to the permit on file with the city:



A 14-floor addition to create a hotel. The architect is the busy, Queens-based Gerald J. Caliendo. Hmm, what to think of this? For starters, there doesn't appear to be another need for hotel here. (The Hotel Reserve opened in December around the corner. And there's the luxury boutique hotel Gild Hall not far away.) And, as the Observer noted last summer, "Over the past 6 1/2 years, Gerald Caliendo ... had 1,604 individual new residential buildings permitted by the Department of Buildings, more than any other architect in the city."

Pearl Street Diner closed, but just for today because of R-Pattz

I really hate going up to my favorite places and seeing a sign tacked to the door. I always fear the worst. Like when I went up to the Pearl Street Diner in the Financial District yesterday for lunch.



OK, I can live with this for one day. And filming for the new R-Pattz film "Remember Me" takes place here today. Remember to leave your screaming teens at home.



[Top Pearl Street Diner photo via]

Psychic looking a little more permanent

The psychic/clairvoyant/chakra balancer who took up board above Rockin' Robin Raj at 114 Third Ave. now has spiffy new awnings and signs. Maybe they're here to stay? If so, then maybe someone wants to take down that "building available" sign.

Previously on EV Grieve:
I sense that Robin Raj gets a new upstairs tenant

Chipotle under way; X'mas decorations likely not in stock

Looks as if some work has begun on the Chipotle that's coming into the former Rhyme & Reason space on 14th Street and Irving Place.



Of course, workers haven't removed all the old signs just yet.

And this doesn't even including filming "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"

From CBS 2:

A report released today by Transportation Alternatives noted the folowing:

* Every day more than 2.7 million New York City drivers speed.

* Only 1 in 12,698 get caught.

* A driver could speed every day in NYC and get ticketed only once in 35 years.

The group claims that the speeding and other traffic violators make the streets unsafe, but city records show that in the last two years traffic deaths in the city have been the lowest since 191

Day 8

Previously.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Enjoying Governors Island (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The Native American population of Lower Manhattan (East Village History Project)

John Penley returning to EV (Neither More Nor Less)

A tribute to NYC's seedy hotels (Ephemeral New York)

Reports: Downtown artist Dash Snow has died of drug overdose (Gawker)

The Tube looks at NYC nightlife circa 1983 or so (Stupefaction)

A big, fat "Greek" shoot on Ludlow (BoweryBoogie)

Slum Goddess checks in from Italy (Slum Goddess)

The Vulture notes: "Now that her new single, 'LoveGame,' has reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, Lady Gaga has become only the third artist in the last sixteen years to score three No. 1 hits from a debut album. Her esteemed company in this exclusive club? Avril Lavigne and Ace of Base."

Noted from today's Wall Street Journal... maybe I'm just misreading it:

Noted

Coming soon.

Bastille Day 1992 at Florent

In honor of Bastille Day, Karen Lillis has uploaded a set of black-and-white photos (like the one above) from a Bastille Day event at Florent from 1992.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Remembering Richard Leck: "He liked the anything-goes quality, the creativity and the street life"

Your invite to meet your new neighbor who wants to turn a men's shelter into a high-end sushi joint

On Monday, fancy sushi eatery Koi goes before the CB3 for a full-liquor license for a proposed restaurant at 347 Bowery, the site of the former Salvation Army's East Village Residence.



On Thursday night, Koi reps will look to liquor up concerned locals at Sala.



And they offer us an idea of what the place may look like...



Previously on EV Grieve:
On the Bowery: "What in the hell is this?"

At 504-508 E. 12th Street: Buyers beware

Massey Knakal has 504 and 508 E. 12th St. listed for $15 million. According to the property description:

The subject properties are two contiguous 6-story, mixed-use, walk-up apartment buildings totaling approximately 30,900 square feet. The property has fifty-four (54) residential units above four (4) stores on the ground floor. Of the fifty-four (54) residential units, twenty-seven (27) are free market, twenty-five (24) are rent stabilized and three (3) are rent controlled. The property has four unit types: two (2) studios, eleven (11) one bedrooms, thirty-seven (37) two bedrooms and four (4) three bedrooms. The rent regulated apartments are renting for approximately $28/NSF or 37% of market. All of the free market apartments have been gut renovated featuring new hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.

I'm not sure how long these have been here ... if you look at the building, between Avenue A and Avenue B, there are yellow posters (six in total) on display in several windows.



To help you read it:



I know some of the backstory here about the landlord(s), though not enough to feel comfortable writing about... If you have something to add about the addresses/landlord(s), please feel free to share more in the comments.

The road to Wall Street and the Stock Exchange is getting...Eurocobble?

On Nassau Street yesterday...





...and the street will now feature Italy's finest Eurocobble.



Can't wait to see when the Eurotrash takes a walk on the Eurocobble.

(And the crowd boos!)

Looking at 128 E. 13th St.

Been some time since we looked at 128 E. 13th St. between Fourth Avenue and Third Avenue. The historic 1903 carriage house that belonged to Frank Stella was designated for demolition to make room for -- a seven-story condo. This is believed to be the last surviving horse and carriage auction mart building in New York City, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP).



Long story, of course! The building was saved in spring of 2007. And it will be home to the Peridance Center, who signed a long-term lease for use of the building as a dance studio.

Anyway, that was more than two years ago... While a new sign is up, there looks to be a lot of work left...




You can read more about it here on the GVSHP site.