Making it official at St. Brigid's: "The construction and restoration has begun!"

Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, posted a brief note today ... the lead:

The construction and restoration has begun!

He notes that not much happened at the church in recent months. "Most of the summer was spent correcting minor conditions the City of New York insisted be corrected before work could begin." He said the city approved the plans for the restoration on June 28; work officially began at the site on Avenue B at Eighth Street this past Tuesday.

Previously.

Page Six Magazine says the Bowery calls to mind "an L.A. vibe"

Page Six Magazine never disappoints! And the now-a-quarterly (still free!) insert in the Post is back to highlight all the loathesome things in the neighborhood. Like in its look at "three hot hoods" yesterday. Hey, it's the Bowery!




"Once littered with punks and drunks, the Bowery (thanks to hotels Bowery and Cooper Square) now brims with lounge lizards and sun-kissed girls in bright rompers and frocks, calling to mind an L.A. vibe."

(This piece isn't online just yet...)

Previously.

Gee, I don't understand why the Post said that the Bowery has "an L.A. vibe" (And now: A scene featuring backflips and Tyson Beckford!)

The nice celebrity-style transporters were lined up along the Bowery last evening...outside the Bowery Hotel, of course...Like usual.



But let's back up for a moment. Earlier in the day, at Bowery and Bond. A pop-up shop! (Uh, a pop-up RV?)





What was this all about? According to the press release!

On September 10th at 6 p.m., Tyson Beckford will ride in loud and fast on his motorcycle to open Fashion's Night Out Bond Street's Mini-Block Party. Bowery designers and retailers will be out in full force to celebrate a crazy night of shopping and rocking-out to live music.

Crazy! Anyway, there were cheerleaders — volunteers from the nonprofit Cheer New York — on the Bowery at Bond. (BoweryBoogie caught them in action on Bowery and Houston.)




About two hours after Beckford was scheduled to arrive, he arrived. (Note: I didn't stand around for two hours: I happened to be by at the time he showed up...) And the big moment! It was just like the press release promised! Loud and fast! Like a real-life Kid Rock video! (Cheerleaders! Outlaw motorcyclists leaving skid marks on historical cobblestone streets!)



And here's Tyson...




And the aftermath of the entrance... a little rubber left on the Bowery...




And later...

Looking at Joe Jr's

Walked by the former home of Joe Jr's the other day at Sixth Avenue and 12th Street...not much doing...



...the space next door is also now available....



Previously on EV Grieve:
Joe Jr's has closed

Lucy's is back from a holiday break

Lovely...



Previously.

See you Hea

Sorry, that headline is a little flip...But Hea, the newish Japanese place that spent a fortune renovating the former bodega/nail salon on Third Avenue and 13th Street, has closed...





It seemed doomed, really, since closing in April for "renovations" just seven months after opening.

Doomed intersection? Cafe DeVille across the street has also closed.

Thanks to our friend Hunter-Gatherer for confirming this closure for us...

Bad (Mid-Atlantic) News

The Mid-Atlantic Newsstand at Third Avenue and NYU has closed...

Sidewalk reappears in front of E2E4 on the Bowery

The sidewalk shed has been taken away between Third Street and Fourth Street...



We'll miss you sidewalk shed!



Previously.

Page Six Magazine keeps it assy

Hey! Page Six Magazine has returned for an issue! And their online version features the following photo of the issue's cover model, a branded Heidi Klum...



Previously.

Starting tonight at Theatre 80: "The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side"

Theatre 80's next life gets under way tonight with an extended run of "The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side." The Amoralists recently held a successful run of the play at PS122. Performances are set through Oct. 5.

Via Broadway World.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Theatre 80 to remain a community theater; new cafe to open in memory of William Barnacle Scott

Delta Phi offers an apology; but are they sincere? "If not, the wrath of 12th Street will be a good college lesson for any young man"

Jill has an update on the story she has been covering at Blah Blog Blah. She spoke with members of the Delta Phi fraternity on 12th Street. According to her post just now:

[T]he fraternity has said that they've made attempts to reach out to as many of their neighbors as they could to apologize for the disturbance their party caused.

In response to an email that I sent to both them and NYU, they have assured me that they will take great pains in the future to ensure that their parties will not attract as many people by limiting the number of invites distributed. They said that the turnout was unprecedented and unexpected, unlike any of the previous parties they had on Avenue C and that they do not have big parties every week, and plan only one more next semester, but they say it will definitely not be as big a party, and they will post notices around the block so that we will have advance warning.

Currently four people are living full time in the frathouse apartment. I recommended that they volunteer their services in the garden across the street from their house, which might go a long way toward a mutual understanding and respect for the community, the block and the East Village. I also think they will learn a thing or two about drinking.

Some other blogs have picked up this story and it is making the rounds around NYU also, so either they are on notice to be on their best possible behavior, or the news will make them more popular than ever and cater to that pent up frathouse demand that NYU's been missing all these years. Only time will tell if they are sincere about making amends. I for one certainly hope they are and keep to their word, as I will be holding them to it personally and I have their phone number. If not, the wrath of 12th Street will be a good college lesson for any young man.

Previously.

Those guys playing beer pong in 1E may be the next J.P. Morgan Jr. or John Jacob Astor III some day

Just following up on Jill's post yesterday that NYU's Delta Phi fraternity is now calling 531 E. 12th St. home. Since we're going to be neighbors, I thought we should get to know the brothers (bros?) of Delta Phi ... Some history!

Delta Phi has remained an exclusive fraternity. Rather than engaging in the wholesale expansion policies that have marked the operation of other greek letter fraternities, the brothers of Delta Phi choose to establish chapters only at the finest schools and usually with proximity to other chapters. It grants its chapters a substantial degree of local autonomy - allowing them to develop their own traditions and policies within the scope of a larger institution.

Members of Delta Phi have come from every walk of life; social and economic. It’s members have reached the pinnacles of business, politics, education and service. Our fraternity is an organization where names such as J.P. Morgan, Jr., John Jacob Astor and James Roosevelt and are but the start of a long and distinguished list.

And at NYU:

The Gamma chapter was established on Tuesday, June 1, 1841 and is the second oldest social fraternity at New York University and the oldest continuous chapter of our National Fraternity. Among Gamma chapter’s alumni are many distinguished men and the namesakes of several buildings at NYU. The men of Gamma greatly value the traditions of brotherhood in Delta Phi and continue to preserve fraternal life as an integral part of the college experience in a large metropolitan area.

Distinguished Alumni

Howard Crosby - Initiated 1841
William H. Nichols - Initiated 1869
Ernest Howard Crosby - Initiated 1872
Henry Pomeroy Davison - Initiated 1901

Notable former Delta Phi members from other university's include John Jacob Astor III, Charles Scribner and George Will.

Astor photo via.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 12th Street now home to "THE ONLY REAL FRAT HOUSE AT NYU!"

Flashback: When the Christodora House became a Greek house

Jill's post yesterday on the 12th Street NYU frathouse reminded me of a post I did almost one year ago to date...Here it is again...from Sept. 9, 2008...

[Photos by Charlie Kerman]

In 1983, when the Christodora House on Avenue B was still abandoned, members of the Tau Delta Phi, Delta Eta Chapter at Cooper Union, placed their Greek letters on the west side atop the 17-floor building. Don't have a lot of details, such as how long the letters remained there. Long enough for a photo opp, of course. Photos of the letters crew are below. (Note the condition of the Christodora...)

Buck Floomberg returns

On Avenue B near Eighth Street.



Earlier!



And before that!

The Bhakti Center is opening a cafe in their First Avenue yoga HQ

The Hare Krishnas’ Sanctuary vegetarian eatery on First Avenue between First Street and Second Street has sat empty for several years...



...until now. The Bhakti Center, which has yoga classes and other events on the upper floors here at 25 First Avenue, is opening a cafe on the ground level.



For further reading:
Hare Krishnas clash as eviction effort divides First Ave. building (The Villager)

Ghost at Mars

You don't say?

Permanent Brunch is open for brunch.

East 12th Street now home to "THE ONLY REAL FRAT HOUSE AT NYU!"

In case you missed this (And I did — found the link via Curbed first), Jill has a post on NYU's Delta Phi House opening up shop at 531 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Here's the description via Facebook:

531 East 12th Party Crew (Apt 1E)
Category:
Entertainment & Arts - Nightlife
Description:
There are lots of places to party in New York, but few can match the insanity of 531 East 12th Street. If you are tired of going out to bars, come to an apartment with a massive common room filled with multiple pong and flip cup tables.

Here is an article by the New York Observer written about the parties we throw:

You belong in this group if any of the following apply:

1) Came to NYU and within 2 days, missed having house parties.

2) Think beer pong should be in the 2012 Olympics

3) Forgot your keys, wallet, and name at one of our parties.

4) Hooked up on one of the couches in the common room in the dark, thinking that nobody could see you.

5) Bought St. Ides malt liquor from the deli below our old apt (40 Avenue C).

6) Couldn't find your way back to Weinstein, Hayden, or even the front door after partying.

7) Gone to the website and seen a picture of yourself, trashed, on the front page.

8) You fell down the two flights of stairs walking home from our old house (40 Avenue C).

9) You have taken a picture next to our suit of armor in the common room.

10) You and your friends want to come to some of the sickest parties in New York.

Don't miss our welcome week blowouts...there's a reason why the NY Observer called them "legendary".

THE ONLY REAL FRAT HOUSE AT NYU!

Jill writes:

On Saturday night it was reported that hundreds of people were streaming in and out of that building and the police came by at least 5 times, to no avail. At around 3am one resident heard something outside her ground floor window and opened it to find a young man pissing in her flowers. She yelled at him and he ran down the street with his dick hanging out.

Now I am officially freaking out. Frat bars are one thing, an actual frat house is beyond anything I can put into words. Let the phone calls of protest begin.

Here's a piece Curbed had on the new building back in March 2007.

Photo via.

Mikey's Pet Shop to become a nail salon?

Several readers have passed along updates on Mikey's Pet Shop on Seventh Street near Avenue A...the store will likely be open until the end of this week...and, despite the moving signs on the sidewalk out front, they don't have a new store just yet...



Another reader said that she was told a nail salon is already in place to take over the store. Mikey's had to close up because the landlord was reportedly raising the rent to $20,000 a month. And a nail salon will be able to afford that...?

And with a new tenant, I imagine we'll be losing Chico's mural...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Mikey's Pet Shop closing at the end of the month

Did I show you my photos from Miami?

No, no -- wait. Sorry. I took these in East River Park looking over at the Edge and whatever that other stuff is.