EV Grieve

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Year-end self serve

There were nearly 2,500 posts on EV Grieve this year. Here are a few of them... And none of these would have really worked without your comments...thanks for being part of this site...

LeSouk has really closed (Nov. 2)

Mars Bar regulars get in the way of a Drew Barrymore photo shoot (Oct. 19)

The Times goes to the Mars Bar with one of those guys who's in "Gossip Girl" (Oct. 17)

Reading reviews of Tompkins Square Park on Yelp (Oct. 15)

Updated! Mysterious, low-flying helicopter returns... (Oct. 12)

The summer of pink shirts (Sept. 23)

Page Six Magazine says the Bowery calls to mind "an L.A. vibe" (Sept. 11)

East 12th Street now home to "THE ONLY REAL FRAT HOUSE AT NYU!" (Sept. 9)

A note for the people on the terrace tossing sandals and doing things that "should be done in private" (Aug. 17)

Observations from last night's noisy bars meeting (Aug. 13)

Aces & Eight GM offers some clarification on previous posts, comments (Aug. 4)

Uh-oh (July 22)

Work on Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre begins at former Two Boots space (July 2)

At Superdive (June 26)

CB3 didn't approve a liquor license for Superdive; "a nice neighborhood Internet café-bookstore" becomes a bar with keg service at tables (June 24)

East Village, please meet your new nightmare (June 18)

The Hells Angels kindly request that hotel guests please refrain from sitting on their bench (June 16)

Residents discuss the problems created by the Cooper Square Hotel: Meanwhile, across the street, a party for a sports car (June 3)

So this guy walks into the Mars Bar in a green shirt with a pink sweater around his shoulders... (May 29)

Pearl Theatre relocating; what's next for 80 St. Mark's Place? (May 28)

Bar threatens to call cops on a Thursday afternoon because some girls were standing in line to get free prom dresses next door (May 21)

Looking at the LES: "Those bridge-and-tunnel places are what made this area better" (March 5)

Why people move away (Feb. 4)

The Chocolate Wars (well, not at all, but we needed something that sounds CONTROVERSIAL) (Jan. 23)

An EV Grieve investigative report: In search of the Penistrator (Jan. 20)

Random photos from 2009 that I don't think I ever posted

Posts that I didn't get around to posting in 2009: StillBerry (PinkLife?)

Previously.

Posts that I didn't get around to posting in 2009: This apartment-for-rent ad pretty much sums it up...

$4595 / 4br - AWESOME 4BR-HUGE ROOFDECK 40 FT BY 40 FT-DW-EAST VILLAGE no fee (East Village)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2009-08-16, 3:41AM EDT
Reply to: hous-sg7zp-1325723237@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have an awesome newly renovated 4 Bedroom in the heart of the East Village that has a huge 40 by 40 ft roofdeck. Great for grilling, partying etc. patio furniture a kiddie pool, a grill and a couple hammocks- its huge. The apartment is already installed with internet, phone cable, etc. has tons of windows, lights and even fits a L couch, dining room table etc. The apartment has hard wood floors, modern newly renovated kitchen, exposed brick, etc. Oh and the building is pet friendly- which is great because the dog park is 1 minutes walks away .The building has a super living nearby. And if you like to party there is a huge roof deck that has a grill for great parties. Sorry If i cant post photos this apartment is still occupied thus Im not allowed to be photographed.
The area is awesome - loads of bars restaurants and shops . easy walking distance to the Lower East Side, Gramercy Park, Soho etc. Tons of cool bars, pubs, shops etc. The F train is a quick walk and 6,N,R, are accessible.

If you would like to check the place out feel free to call me at 917 xxx-xxxx. This apartment is still occupied so yeah cant post photos with their belongings on the internet. Way to many variables like schedules, pets, move in dates, etc for me to go back and forth by emails only to find out your in Singapore- Please no emails without phone numbers.

Previous Craigslist ads on EV Grieve.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Identical twin brothers from the East Village — who attended Stanford and Princeton — have been indicted for allegedly stealing $2 million from more than 30 victims using investment scams (DNAinfo)

The winter '09 of our discontent (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Ask Biker Bill if he tweets (Neither More Nor Less)

Former Cooper Union Starbucks now being used to shill for vodka (Curbed)

Shake Shack to open in Nolita complete with rooftop terrace (Eater NY)

Neighbors ready to battle Nolitan Hotel (The Lo-Down)

BoweryBoogie reports today that this historic tenement at 5 Essex St. on the LES is slated to be demolished and provides some of the history here... Back in January, I made note of the great sign here...asking if the Dembitzer Brothers were still shipping "all over the world."

Another shot of old East 10th Street

Following up on our earlier post today on 10th Street and Avenue A.... EV Grieve reader Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk sent along this Morris Engel photo from the 1950s of 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue (looking northwest).

(Via Flickr)

Gone but not forgotten: Donald

You very likely have seen Donald around the neighborhood. He's the fellow in the photo below pushing a grocery cart up Avenue A. (I wish that I had a better photo of him.)

No matter the weather, you'd see Donald out and about collecting newspapers, bottles, cans, anything, really. He'd pile it atop the cart and push it toward his apartment on East Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. After sorting through a load inside the apartment, he'd take whatever he didn't want to the corner of Avenue A and Fifth Street and neatly (or not) stack it.

I don't know a lot about Donald. He was just someone who was an everyday presence in the neighborhood. I was told he has lived in the East Fifth Street apartment his entire life. (And I'd say he was in his 50s.) He lived with his mother and sister, who both died in recent years. I talked with Donald several times, though it wasn't really a conversation. He'd say that he wanted to adopt a new sister and ask how he could go about it. He also talked about how much he missed his mother. He had no other family that I was aware of. I can't exactly describe his mental state. He mostly spoke in an agitated voice. He seemed to be able to take care of himself. I saw him in Key Food a few times buying groceries and standing in line at Citibank.

I heard stories that his landlord had wanted him out -- for years. I heard stories that the landlord changed his locks several times. I can't say if any of this is true. Because his family had lived there for 50-plus years, the rent was nonexistent. I heard that some of his new neighbors in the building, understandably not pleased with Donald's habit of bringing garbage into his apartment every day for hours on end, were paying healthy East Village rents. (A person who had been inside Donald's apartment said that it was filthy.)

Some time in October, city workers showed up at Donald's apartment to remove him. Workers boxed up all of the salvageable possessions and piled them onto a truck. Other items were placed on the curb. Witnesses said Donald was agitated, and the police officers on the scene had to subdue and handcuff him.

No one has seen him since. A few people who knew Donald have tried to reach out to his social workers, though I'm not sure about the success of their efforts. People are just curious where he is; if he's doing OK.

I told this story to a longtime East Village resident who now lives in another part of the city. I thought that he knew Donald. Here's what he said:

A distressing story. I remember the guy, and thinking back on it, there there are quite a few such characters who seem to disappear over the years and you're never sure what happened with them. There was a woman on 3rd btw 2nd/1st who would sit on the stoop naked save a ratty bathrobe ... and ask every person passing "Got a cigarette?" I saw her two, three times a day and my answer never changed. "I don't smoke." Still, she'd ask me every time. Then one day she was gone.

Sad, really. It's those folk who give the EV its favor, make it unique.

Now and then: 10th Street and Avenue A

At Flickr, rollingrck has a great set of old East Village postcards, including this undated shot of 10th Street and Avenue A...

I tried to line it up to compare to today's corner...

Practicing safe swiping

Entering the 4/5 the other day at Fulton Street downtown ...

Up all night

Sophie's and Mona's will be among the bars with the proper permits pulling an all-nighter on New Year's Eve...

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

When moose attack at hipster LES hotspots

From the AP wire...

NEW YORK -- A restaurant-goer says she was struck by the decor at a Manhattan restaurant -- but not in a visual way.

Raina Kumra says in a negligence lawsuit filed last week that a stuffed moose head plummeted off a wall and onto her head at the Scandinavian-themed White Slab Palace on Oct. 4. She says she suffered a concussion and other injuries after being hit by the 150-pound moose head, adorned with 3-foot-wide antlers.

The owner of the Lower East Side restaurant didn't immediately return a telephone message. Nor did Kumra, who is representing herself in the case.

She's seeking unspecified damages. The lawsuit was filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Rumors: The Blockbuster on Houston is closing

I'm not a fan of Blockbuster, but I was told by a reliable source that the store on Houston in the Red Square complex is closing...However, I spoke with a manager there who said that this was not true. (He didn't sound all that convincing, but ...)

Regardless, if this rumor was true, then it wouldn't really be a shocker. No secret that the DVD rental business is hurting. (Blockbuster shut their location on 15th Street and Third Avenue.) Plus, you can rent DVDs for a $1 at Blockbuster kiosks at Duane Reade on 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue as well as the Kmart on Astor Place...

Still, where do you do something old-fashioned like rent DVDs these days in the East Village? Two Boots has a greatly reduced video selection... Mondo Kim's is gone... Cinema Classics is gone...And there was a DVD/video store on 10th Street between Avenue C and D -- is that still open? And Intervideo Electronics on First Avenue next to McDonald's rents movies...What places am I forgetting about? Many people I know do NetFlix or check them out from the Tompkins Square library branch.

How soon before there won't be any place left to buy books or music (chain holes like Barnes & Noble, Best Buy aside...)...let alone rent DVDs...?

Kobe Bryant's slam chunk

Our ~~obsession~~ interest in the former spay/neuter wall on Avenue A near 12th Street continues. As we pointed out the other day, the building's landlord, Desides Weinberg, was critical of the spay/neuter mural because it had not been properly maintained through the years... As Media magazine reported, chunks of the mural had fallen off the side of the building over the years.

Fine. As an EV Grieve reader pointed out...have you looked at the new mural here lately?

All the Indian food that's fit to eat?: The Times Restaurant and Bar

I've never noticed this restaurant along Eighth Avenue near 40th Street... just across the way from The New York Times Building...

Was this restaurant always here? Did they change their name -- or font -- when the Times arrived across the street in 2007? A Sulzberger family side project?

(Times building photo via)