Cafe DeVille closed for the rest of the month

And keeping this restaurant theme going...Cafe DeVille on Third Avenue at 13th Street is closed for a holiday the rest of the month.



Hmm, OK...it's one thing for a mom-and-pop shop to close for a few weeks, but a fairly large place like this that employs so many people...?

Are New Yorkers addicted to luxury?

The Post takes a look at the new David Barton gym on Astor Place.

Throughout the day, a Ramones- and Bowie-filled soundtrack supports Barton's notion that his swanky $5 million gym will reflect the East Village's trademark punk and glam-rock spirit.

Trend?!

Indeed, the whole city's suddenly a nightclub. Not to be outdone, a huge trilevel Crunch half a block south of Barton's new gym offers an ear-splitting Tuesday-night deejay party and has a counter serving protein shakes and $4-plus iced coffees. There's also a Midtown Equinox, housing a deli-style takeout kitchen, and Rockefeller Center's Sports Club/LA, which has a sit-down restaurant, a bar and a sidewalk café.

"The mainstream offering doesn't cut it for some people anymore," says Barton.

And it isn't just gyms. Local entrepreneurs are giving Manhattan what it wants -- and Manhattan apparently wants everything in one place.

Hmm.

So what's the deal with this town? Is it an addiction to luxury -- or just ADD? According to Barton, it's all about choices.

"There are a lot of different people around and different gyms to service them," he says. Locals who complained about the closing of the enormous Barnes & Noble formerly occupying this space might note: While a bookstore is very East Village in theory, a 700-plus-store national chain that displaces ma and pa bookstores is not.

"You don't even shop in stores anymore," says Barton, suggesting online retailers that are hurting bookstores have made gyms "the new town square."

The downside for old-school New Yorkers is that such things tend to come off a little more new Times Square. Perhaps those of us wishing to exercise to the beat of our own drum, or bowl with the lights on, should consider moving to Arkansas? Fat chance. The sushi there sucks -- and just try getting it delivered after midnight.

For further reading:
No pecs, no sex (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

"Once a building is gone, it is gone forever"

The Wall Street Journal excerpts David Freeland's book, "Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville," released Aug. 1 in paperback. And here's an excerpt of the excerpt.

Almost anyone who has written about New York has pointed out how it lives in a perpetual state of renewal: built, torn down, and rebuilt in an endless cycle. This is not a process exclusive to New York: it has occurred on the South Side of Chicago, in the area surrounding Memphis’s Beale Street, in Miami, and in other cities throughout the United States. But in New York — and particularly Manhattan — the rate of change seems intensified.

And...

Manhattanites have often seemed remorseful at having ignored their physical history, having treated it so callously. At the same time they have sought to accept change as an inescapable element of life in the metropolis. "In Downtown: My Manhattan" (2004), Pete Hamill writes poignantly of this experience:

The New York version of nostalgia is not simply about lost buildings or their presence in the youth of the individuals who lived with them. It involves an almost fatalistic acceptance of the permanent presence of loss. Nothing will ever stay the same . . . Irreversible change happens so often in New York that the experience affects character itself.

But we never make total peace with the destruction of architecture. As evidenced by the popularity of Web sites such as forgotten-ny.com and vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com, our anxiety has grown in recent years, as more and more of the city we know has been replaced with new construction. The elegiac posts on these sites indicate that the process of coming to terms with architectural loss occurs in stages: first shock that something beautiful could have been destroyed; then resignation; and, finally, determination to appreciate the treasures that remain. If, as Hamill suggests, we approach loss with a fatalistic perspective, it is because we understand the irreversibility of destruction. Once a building is gone, it is gone forever.

I'm in a time zone

I also posted this at a new site that I'm part of: The New York Nobody Sings.

Wall Street gets a new street

Eurocobble, I presume,

Have you been toting middle school-style all summer?

From Style.com:

Backpacks showed up on several of the men’s Spring ‘10 runways — a good harbinger of trends to come, alongside the fact that I’ve been seeing hipster kids on the Lower East Side toting middle school-style all summer.

Moby and John Legend now have something in common

Yeah, well, anyway they both have bought condos at 52E4....(Can't wait for the pool party invite from these guys!) As The Wall Street Journal Reports:

Singer John Legend has signed a contract for an apartment listed at $2.3 million, in New York’s East Village neighborhood.

“I didn’t want a cookie-cutter place,” says the 30-year-old singer, who decided to buy the one-bedroom, two-bath apartment before a tour that began in June. The floor-through Lower Manhattan apartment of more than 1,300 square feet, in a new glass-and-steel residential tower on the Bowery and East Fourth Street, has 14-foot-ceilings and views in every direction. The price Mr. Legend agreed to pay couldn’t be learned. A similarly sized unit in the building sold for $2.59 million last month and another for $2.5 million in June. The 15-story tower, completed this year, has a doorman, an outdoor pool and indoor parking.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Taking a look at 52E4, and where the Moby mobile may park

Something about today's nypost.com is oddly erotic

At least the right-hand side featuring Amy Adams and the finger.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ad for Julia Child movie is oddly erotic

Today, I'm posting more posts that I never got around to posting

Good morning. As the headline suggests, you're about to see some posts that I never got around to posting for various reasons. Like, I forgot. Or I couldn't remember why I took the photo. Or, there was really nothing all that interesting about the picture. Or there was nothing really funny about the photo, like if I said about the shot below: "DBGB raises their prices!" And tried anyway.

Posts that I never got around to posting: Hold your horses

On Second Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Posts that I never got around to posting: Ella's new "spin on Hollywood glamour and the roaring 20's"?

A reader asked me if I knew what was going on with Ella, the upscale piano bar/speakeasy that opened last fall at 9 Avenue A.

Uh, I do not. I've never heard much about it. Eater ran Ella's epic opening press release:

For immediate release ˆ September 2008 - Carleton Varney, one of America's most innovative and respected interior decorators, brings his Dorothy Draper touch downtown to Avenue A. This fall, Varney and the young architect Robert Stansel III (GalleryBar), will showcase their designs of the new cocktail/piano lounge, Ella. Mr. Varney, best known for his work on Joan Crawford's homes and the Waldorf Towers, has proudly lent his flair and vision to his nephew Josh Boyd's next venture. Nightlife entrepreneurs Darin Rubell (cousin to Steve Rubell), Josh Boyd and Jordan Boyd have made what they call the LEV (Lower East Village) their place of business and community for the past eight years. Ella will be their third nightlife venture following the successes of New York City staple, Plan B and alternative art-space, GalleryBar.

"Ella is our spin on Hollywood glamour and the roaring 20's. We want to capture the energy and flair of the time by bringing it back with our music, design and staff", says owner Josh Boyd.

The dynamics of music at Ella will range from solo musicians to small bands. Emerging and established pianists and eclectic New York City DJ's will host nightly shows in the intimate piano bar. This downstairs room will seat 40 people for performances and exclusive private events. Musicians such as Regina Spektor, G Love, Alexa Ray (daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley) are slated to perform. The 1700 square foot top floor of the space will have a combined feeling of the décor of Hampshire House, The Carlyle and Hollywood's Lake Arrowhead Springs Hotel as well. Door designs from the original Camellia House in Chicago's Drake Hotel, will enhance Varney's decorations in the Dorothy Draper style ˆ a style Varney used this year at the 80th Academy Awards Architectural Digest Green Room design.

A list of $12 specialty cocktails, such as the Plum Gin Fizz (Muddled sour plum, 2oz Gin, splash of simple syrup, splash of lemon juice, shaken in a Collins glass) will be served nightly. Bottles of beer are $7 and glasses of wine will range from $10 to $20. Rotating selections of bar snacks, such as prosciutto, olives, and Gus' Pickles, from neighboring stores and the farmer's market, will be offered daily. The Ella staff will fit the theme dressed in classic sexy and sophisticated 1920's attire.

Anyway, the reader sent along what Ella hosted Tuesday night...

Posts that I never got around to posting: 49th ramen restaurant welcomed on St. Mark's

This is only two months old now!

Posts that I never got around to posting: Anne Hathaway's Francis Bacon

Posts that I never got around to posting: New door policy at 7B?

Posts that I never got around to posting: Jose Reyes eats potato chips

On Second Street near Avenue B.

Posts that I never got around to posting: Missed connections on Craigslist

boy that asked about world hunger/saving the environment + i was rude - w4m - 22 (Union Square)

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Date: 2009-07-28, 5:23PM EDT

you were standing on 14th between 5th and 6th i believe, on the south side of the street asking people to donate to a cause. i can only assume this, as when you approached me i turned to you, noting your flushed face and sweaty brow, and replied with 'i have time, i just don't want to stop.' afterwards, i felt like more of an asshole than i have in my entire life. i sit here at union square typing this from a non-qwerty-keypad-phone. i know you have a tiresome and often unrewarding job, and i honestly didn't mean to be so abrasive. i have a quirky sense off humor that is typically off putting and difficult to understand because normally things i find humorous aren't funny at all. regardless, i hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. if you'd like, i'd like to buy you a cold beverage of your choice next time you are out in the heat saving the world. if anyone may know this young man, i ask that you please pass this on to him.

Via.


Blonde on houston around 11pm - m4w - 24 (Downtown)

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Date: 2009-07-28, 10:54AM EDT

i was standing outside of the film forum talking with a friend at around 11 or 11:30 last night as you walked by. We were the only people outside of the theatre and when you walked by i grilled you pretty hard. you were completely stunning.

Via.

Posts that I never got around to posting: I'm so happy to be putting on a life preserver and maybe drown!

On the Staten Island Ferry.

Posts that I never got around to posting: "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!"

Got my first glimpse (like a month ago now!) of the Public Art Fund's latest exhibition at City Hall Park. It's by British artist Richard Woods. Went up at the end of June. And it gives me that "Three Little Pigs" vibe for some reason.




For further reading:
New City Hall Santaland-looking guardhouses: Cute or crazy? (Daily News)

Posts that I never got around to posting: Random passage from Where Thin People Roam, and Sometimes Even Eat

In the Times:

Leaving with a bottle of spring water was Gail Zweigenthal, a former editor of Gourmet magazine, where she had to balance Manhattan’s twin obsessions — eating well and looking good. “I exercise so I can eat,” said Ms. Zweigenthal (5-foot-3 ½, 114; like many residents of the Upper East Side, she was quicker to give her weight than her age).

Posts that I never got around to posting: One day you're a who's who, the next day your plaque is in the trash