Giant rats invading one of the nicest blocks in the East Village?

Here, on the tree-lined East 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (oh, yes — as seen below in this photo from the summer...where Parker Posey once lived!)



...Anyway, right in the heart of the St. Mark's Historic District -- evil lurks... in the form of some bigass rats, apparently... just check out these traps...




...hope the neighborhood doesn't have a problem with stray cats too...

MARS BAR was a riot in the Nineties...

An EV Grieve reader pointed out the Facebook page titled "MARS BAR was a riot in the Nineties..." Since then, I have been looking at the nearly 800-plus photos there, such as these by Ellen Cheever....





(And thanks to Ellen for granting me permission to repost here...)

And this!

Now let's get in line for some Frrrozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3!

I don't make it up to this part of town all that often so...in case this has already been covered elsewhere... spotted this over by Park Avenue South and 33rd Street earlier this week...



...and if you stand at this spot and look toward the west... you can almost see where Rick's Cabaret is on 33rd Street...

What happened to Boutiques on Bowery?

Something called Boutiques on Bowery was scheduled to open Feb. 1 at the retail space in 52E4, the 15 stories of condo on the Bowery near Fourth Street...




And, as Goggla and others have noted, not much is going on in this space...looks awfully empty...





...and the "for rent" signs are gone...

East Village bar roundup: An issue with Professor Thom's liquor license and Superdive's Mad Dog Room

Lots of EV-related bar news....

A follow-up on the Professor Thom's post from the other day. Eater has the news:

"They'll be closed down until Feb. 22. Turns out they forgot to renew their liquor license with the SLA in time..."

And also via Eater — as well as NY Barfly — comes word that Superdive is having some sort of issue ... Per Eater:

A quick search reveals they've been hit with a violation for working on the place without a permit and allowing people to gather without a certificate of occupancy. Since the building's ground floor certificate is still legal (PDF), one can assume the DOH is referring to the bar's newish basement space, called the Mad Dog Room.

Meanwhile, I will continue to ignore those e-mails about a Superdive Dead Pool ....

Hugh gotta be kidding? Thespians battle for Bowery-Bond bachelor pad

According to the Post's Jennifer Gould Keil today:

Hugh Grant and Gerard Butler might be duking it out for the $15.45 million penthouse triplex at 54 Bond St. in NoHo. Both actors have checked out this grand, three-bedroom, 4,862-square-foot bachelor pad on a charming cobblestoned block. Developer Adam Gordon says the entire building is also for sale at $32 million — and can be turned into an 11,000-square-foot, single-family mansion (plus retail space), with the basement used for storage or transformed into a lap pool. Gordon bought the cast-iron, landmarked structure, which dates back to 1874 and is also known as the Bouwerie Lane Theatre building, for $15 million in 2007.

The penthouse has swirling mahogany staircases where a craftsman molded each piece of wood by hand. There are two full gourmet, dine-in kitchens — one with an adjacent wine-tasting room. The penthouse also includes 1,277 square feet of outdoor space, including a roof deck and a terrace.

If one of these fellows should happen to land here... they would join this group of notables who have lived at this address... (per the 54 Bond Web site)



Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the "new intersection of cool"

Moonstruck Diner closed for a variety of reasons

EV Grieve regular Goggla noted last night that the Moonstruck Diner on Second Avenue at Fifth Street was closed... As she said:

A sign on the door says they have plumbing problems, but a DOH sign says there will be a court hearing to decide whether or not they'll re-open, which is odd...the kitchen windows have been papered, so you can't see what's going on in there, but it looks like someone is doing some work.

Indeed, we walked by ourselves and saw the following...






Previously on EV Grieve:
Neighbors call for a boycott of the Moonstruck Diner

Sad news about the liquor store on Houston and Avenue B

I walked by the liquor store at Houston and Avenue B last night... and once again, the place was closed...



...and I noticed that the liquor sign on the side had been removed...



My worse fears were confirmed when I got home and read the latest issue of The Villager... in an item about Chico's new mural here, Scoopy reported that the woman who owned the liquor store died several months ago... and in the space on the roll-down gate, Chico is going to paint a mural of the owner. (And does anyone know her name?)



I have no idea what will happen to this space. I haven't seen the store open in some time, though this isn't really a corrider that I walk with any frequency.... Me being me, I worry about what will become of the space. This is prime corner real estate with million dollar condos right across the street (like this one for $1,825 million).

And I'll miss the owner... the kind of which we don't see much of anymore...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile, right around the corner

As for Chico's new mural...

In his column this week, Scoopy had the following news about the new mural CHico is creating on Houston and Avenue B. To the Scoopster:

It turns out Chico, who is back in town from Tampa for some more commission work, is painting over the P.O.P. [Power of Peace] mural with a new one for a local band, Loisaida. He’ll then paint a new one for the Girls Club just to the west, covering over another of his murals, for the local band Aventura. Basically, it’s not what we thought — that someone might have dared diss Chico by painting over his work — but just some mural switching by the artist himself.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chico has a new work in progress on Houston and Avenue B

A vintage TV ad for Christopher Street Bookstore

Jeremiah's post yesterday on adult bookstores reminded me of this vintage commercial that I found for Christopher Street Bookstore... I think this first ran during Super Bowl XX...

Get your Bowery pants! J. Crew memorializes the Lower East Side in cotton and worsted Italian wool

According to the new J. Crew catalog, these shots were taken in Portugal. And where are the Clinton Chinos? Or the Pitt Street polos? The possibilities are endless...

All work and no play makes....

We were browsing around the Internet looking for some East Village property to invest that $9 million in that we have lying in suitcases in the hallway... when we came across a new listing to buy 105 Avenue B, one building south of Seventh Street. Challenging times for real-estate types these days, for sure... Still, the listing seemed a little stressed out...



Oh, yes -- just a computer glitch... anyway, we'd like to know more about the building... not much information just yet... a few photos, though...

Noted

Did you read about Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s first day on the job yesterday? Per the Times:

The first indictment of Mr. Vance’s tenure as the Manhattan district attorney was of a pair of teenagers accused of swiping a brown handbag from a woman leaving a Dunkin’ Donuts in the East Village, according to court documents.

The article didn't mention which DD this happened at...

[Image via]

Things that we were unaware that happened on Wednesday

NYU Wednesday at Butter Lane Cupcakes on Seventh Street.

Your pigskin preview

From an article that I never finished reading in the Times today on pigskins:

People come to Porchetta, the slip of a sandwich shop run by the chef Sara Jenkins, just for the skin, which she sells for $25 a pound. The trick, she said, is a special oven and good pork. She uses the middle sections of Niman Ranch pigs at a rate of about 20 a week, making sure the skin looks clean, healthy and fresh. (Cooks who use a lot of pork skin say the fresher the skin, the better the crackle.)

This Little Piggy called his cardiologist in advance

There's a rather hilarious review of the new This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef shop on First Avenue near Ninth Street over at The Awl. Here's part of the exchange between Balk and Choire:

BALK: I am a man who LIKES HIS SALT. And I've got to say?
BALK: That roast beef was SALTY. Like, if I'm ever going to have that heart attack I've been working up to, it's gonna be today.
Choire: Yes. I actually don't… I don't feel right?
BALK: Are you getting the tingling thing down the arm?
Choire: No! Though I did have that the other night? I mean, I feel bad, not in the way, like, OMG BAD MEAT? But like, "Oh I have a cup of salt inside me that I cannot dilute even with this 33.8 ounce container of seltzer!"
Choire: The sneaky thing is: we didn't realize this WHILE we were eating!
Choire: Which is what makes the sandwich magical.
BALK: I know, it just tasted great!
BALK: And then… jdkvngekjrgvbsvbjjvk.
BALK: So I guess we should tell the roast beef fans of New York that they will enjoy this sandwich, but they should call their cardiologist in advance?

Day of Ray lineup set

We'll have more later this week on the Day of Ray, coming this Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. at Sidewalk on Avenue A and Sixth Street...check out the flyer designed by Jennifer Schindelar....



And here's the lineup...

NOON - Luigi Babe

12:15 - Reww

12:25 - Marilyn Kirby

12:40 - 5 minute video by Pam Kray

12:50 - Bowery Boys (Joff solo set)

1:05 - (comedian) Andrew Lisa

1:15 - Shaker Pegs

1:35 - Elastic No-No Band (Justin solo set)

1:50 - (comedian) Steve Bossous

2:00 - Mike Winkler

2:15 - A Brief View of the Hudson

2:30 - Jordan Levinson

2:50 - East River String Band

3:10 - Bill Murray Experience

3:30 - (comedian) Johnny Lanzilloto

3:40 - Nobody Can Dance

4:00 - Joe Yoga

4:15 - Master Lee

4:35 - The Fools

4:50 - Daniella, Our Lady of Perpetual PMS

5:00 - Jessica Delfino

5:15 - Toby Goodshank

And, you know, there's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

And thanks to Lilly, Haley, Leah, the folks at Sidewalk and everyone else responsible for helping put this benefit together...

Live at the "top of the Bowery"

There's a new listing for a studio apartment on Cooper Square... $530,000 and it can be all yours...



Perhaps it's a fine home... I just didn't make it past the first sentence of the listing:

Top Of The Bowery -- Bright, Renovated Studio Condo Located On The Edge Of Noho And The East Village And Just Above The Evolving And Now Chic Bowery.

Former Joe Jr's space looking empty and lonely ... and suspiciously like a future nail salon

Walked by the former home of Joe Jr's at Sixth Avenue and 12th Street for the first time in months ... The "for rent" sign is still up, and the space is all cleaned out, and looking like it's prepped for a bland doctor's office or, more likely, a nail salon...






Previously on EV Grieve:
Joe Jr's has closed

Chico has a new work in progress on Houston and Avenue B

A tipster riding the M9 yesterday afternoon noted that Chico and company were at work on the corner of Houston and Avenue B... and here's the mural so far...




Not sure just yet what this is going to be a mural for...

This replaces the anti-violence mural that Chico and and the POP (Power of Peace) Youth Anti-Violence Coalition created last October.