Who owns Superdive?

I have no idea!

In a news item on the bar last week, Paper noted "the owners wish to remain anonymous."

After we posted this on Monday, Paper left us a clue:

The furnishings were recycled from the owners' previous bar ventures. Anything look familiar?

Jesus, no! We only saw plastic cups!



All I know is that the name on the liquor license belongs to Joseph Birdsong, who owned the previous occupant at 200 Avenue A — Rapture Cafe & Books. That doesn't make him the owner, right?



Previously on EV Grieve:
CB3 didn't approve a liquor license for Superdive; "a nice neighborhood Internet café-bookstore" becomes a bar with keg service at tables

Noted

Last night, Superdive, the bar that claims not to have any door policy, turned away dozens of people looking to help Justine Joli celebrate her birthday. Guests needed a reservation. Somebody call Allen Salkin!

My, what big plywood you have

Earlier:



Now:


The work is getting serious at 167 Avenue A — home some day (next month even!) to the EV outpost of Diablo Royale, as Eater reported.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at 167 Avenue A: Another Hennings-Giraldi production?

Just in time for the rest of summer: The Tompkins Square Park playground has reopened

Reopened yesterday. And it looks very nice too. I would go in, but I don't have any kids. And would seem like a perv. Maybe. Anyway! It closed last August.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tompkins Square Park playground completion now set for summer

Os Gêmeos: (Almost) day by day

At Bowery and Houston.










And the finale:



Will be on the wall for the next 12 months.

And has the Vulture noted, the mural is dedicated to Dash Snow.


[Top image via Bombin' Magazine]

Buy an old piece of the Pearl

Previously on EV Grieve:
Pearl Theatre relocating; what's next for 80 St. Mark's Place?

200 Water Street now leasing

Following up on my post a few weeks back...when I noted that NYU had packed up and left the Water Street dorm in the Financial District.





And Rockrose has a new Web site for the property — luxury rentals...but no details. But hey — the rooms are good enough for NYU students! And a commenter noticed the following:

Taking a closer look at that poster, I'm thinking she almost looks like she's preparing to fellate that bridge. What makes no sense whatsoever, though, is that it's the Manhattan Bridge. Where do they think 200 Water Street is ... Chinatown? DUMBO?

Meanwhile, RR is changing all the lightbulbs...

The "lesbian princess of porn" holds court tonight at Superdive

As Grub Street posted a little bit ago... Fleshbot (NSFW) has the deal about tonight at Superdive:

Today, Thursday July 16th, just so happens to be Justine Joli's birthday. And how does a complex beauty like the Sapphic red lust bomb plan on celebrating?

Apparently the lesbian princess of porn has orchestrated an all out bash at NYC's infamous bar Superdive — a reputedly lawless environ where guests can mix their own cocktails behind the bar and the door policy is, well, for lack of a better term, nonexistent.

Amidst this lawless carousing Joli plans to pack in hordes of capital "L" lesbians, art performers, a surprise celebrity guest or two, and famed photographers Ellen Stagg and Siege, along with a host of exotic ingenues she has collected over the last few years living in the city [edit: and maybe even a Fleshbot editrix!]. Ever playing the part of the gracious and demure hostess, Justine invites all of her friends and fans to come join her for a drink amidst the raucous celebration, to order themselves a keg and cheer to her, or to sit down at the Steinway and bang out a song in honor of her special day.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

A Liberacemobile in the EV (Hunter-Gatherer)

One reason why Bounce Deuce may have closed (Grub Street)

Remembering 14th and Third (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

It's possible that this building is for rent (BoweryBoogie)

CK's ass at night (NYC Taxi Photo)

John John's death 10 years later (Urbanite)

As a follow-up to the Mondo Kim's post, Eater notes that the CB3 rejected the liquor license for the new karaoke joint back in March.

Why Santas were outside the Irving Plaza this week (Brooklyn Vegan)

Finally, I'm just getting into the summer (finally), and I see photo shoots for winter clothes. Ugh. (And what's with the Twisted Sister look?)

Yeah, we can hear you now, assholes

Many thanks to reader Empire for passing along these shots of a Verizon commercial being filmed right now on Seventh Street and Avenue A in front of the Yuca Bar.

What Koi can do to win us over tonight

As I reported Tuesday, the sushi titans from Koi will meet and greet the neighborhood tonight and talk about their plans to turn a former men's shelter into a pricy eatery.

I'm just hopeful that Koi officials know what will really win us over: Naked sushi models!

And please do not ask to have your photo taken on the Harley

Oh, a few weeks ago we wrote about the "do not sit on bench" sign at the Hells Angels HQ. As we learned (thanks to a reader), the sign was directed toward the guests of the secret vegan hotel operating next door on Third Street.



Maybe hotel officials figured they didn't want their guests plunked over the head with a wrench or something. The hotel recently added their own sign to the front door.

A dormant construction site on East 13th Street

The Post recently reported that there are 39 stalled construction sites in Manhattan. (That's 143 in all five boroughs.) I'm curious about stalled projects in the East Village. One that I've had my eye on: 536 E. 13th Street near Avenue B. Seems awfully quiet here this summer.






For good reason. According to the DOB, there's a Stop Work Order on the six-story apartment/condo going in here. Why the stoppage?

DUE TO EXCAVATION OPERATIONS,CRACKS IN THE ADJACENT BLDG @ 530 E 13TH ST THRU 1ST TO 6TH FL FRONT & REAR FACADE

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.