A falling Falafel Star

I recently noticed a "closed for vacation until March 18" sign on what was Mohammed Falafel Star on Seventh Street near Avenue B... Next time that I looked, the place was closed... with work permits dated March 23 in the window...



...and this sign...



Does anyone know what happened to Mohammed? (Pictured here in a photo by Michael R.) I lost track of what was happening here...

Nevada Smith's back open

As we noted last night, Nevada Smith's on Third Avenue was shut down by the cops yesterday... Tonight, though, they are back open...



...otherwise, Bar None up the next block is ready to nab any soccer business away from Nevada Smith's...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Nevada Smith's shuttered

Guess the streetscape

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation posted this photo to their Flickr account yesterday... and they ask, Where in the Village was this streetscape?



See a larger image here.

Life above Cabin Down Below

Last November, the Pizza Shop, which was next to Niagara on Avenue A and Seventh Street, closed due to high rents. Thereafter, people going to Cabin Down Below, the not-so-secret speakeasy accessed through the Pizza Shop, had to enter instead on East Seventh Street, descend the metal staircase in the alley and walk through the smoking patio into the bar. If you're new to all this, Cabin Down Below is big with the bold-faced name set (Drew Barrymore!) and has become a post-Standard Hotel destination...



Which brings us to our current story. This switch in entrances has made one East Village family's life miserable. The resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told me his story... on how he has lived in this location for 13-plus years with his wife...and hasn't really slept the last four of those months.

"We love our neighborhood. We love the park ... the restaurants ... our bodegas ... and all of the other things that we enjoy ... It is our home.

"But we have encountered a problem that has seriously affected our happiness and enjoyment of living where we do. It is a place called Cabin Down Below. We haven’t had a good night’s sleep in months.



"We live directly to the east of Niagara ... our bedroom/bathroom wall is adjacent to the 'secret' stairs that lead to Cabin Down Below. This steel egress stairs are bolted directly to our building's wall. Basically, our headboard (and my kid's bed) is directly opposite this stair. So from 11:30 p.m. until 5 a.m. (and even 6:30 a.m. on Saturdays) all that we hear every 30 seconds are people trudging up and down these stairs. Imagine high heels drunkenly plodding up and down these stairs, about 6 to 8 inches away from your head. Trust me -- turning on our two white noise makers, our fans, our AC ... ear plugs, iPods... NOTHING can drown out the sound of footsteps on steel stairs."

"We can't sleep at night. Simple as that."



"And Niagara/Cabin Down Below didn’t use these stairs (except on rare occasions) until the Pizza Shop closed. After 13 years, we have grown accustomed to the live bands, people yelling outside our windows, cigarette smoke pouring in our windows. We used to go out and make noise too, so we have shrugged all that off.

"But these stairs? It's a nightmare."

The resident has done the usual things in these situations...call 311, call the bar to complain, etc. Nothing has worked to date.

"If the owner would simply re-open the Avenue A 'secret' entrance to the Cabin, that would solve our problems. I don't want to kill their business. I am all for people having a good time. Smoke, drink, hook up -- do what you want. But when it keeps up me, my wife and my kid every night of the week, that is where I draw the line.

"We don't want to move to the suburbs. We want to raise our kid [in this neighborhood].

Since our initial exchange, the resident heard back from an owner of Niagara.

"I hope I wasn't being naive, but she sounded very concerned about the situation and promised to do something about it 'very soon.' ... she plans to replace the current steel stair treads with concrete treads. The stairs will be still be rigidly connected to our building's wall, but it should help. And if it doesn't....then we will go from there. In the meantime ... we will suffer until she makes the fix..."

Today is the 99th anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire

Last March 25, we wrote a post on the 98th anniversary of the Triangle Factory fire, which claimed nearly 150 lives... Once again this year, volunteers have taken the time to walk around the neighborhood and honor the factory workers, most of whom were young immigrant women. Here's an NPR report from 2003 on the fire.

A reader also noted a service this evening in honor of the anniversary. Marc Ribot will be among the performers.

6:30 - 8:30 pm
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
(corner of Thompson Street)
Free

Here's the Web site with more information.

Panty raid

From the Police Blotter in this week's issue of The Villager:

The manager of Victoria’s Secret, 591 Broadway between Prince and Houston Sts., told police that a group of two men and three women entered the place at 5:20 p.m. Mon., March 15, distracted the security guard, and managed to take 96 panty thongs from a shelf, hide them in a big yellow bag and walk out without paying. The total value lost was $4,680, the store reported.

Nevada Smith's shuttered

Uh-oh...the soccer (football, sorry!) mecca on Third Avenue was shuttered by the cops today...Thanks to EV Grieve reader TK for the photo and tip... According to their Twitter account:

Bar will be closed today due to circumstances beyond our control. We apologise

Reports: Union Square's W Hotel filing for bankruptcy

Per Portfolio:

The W Hotel Union Square, housed in an elegant old building on Park Avenue South at the northern edge of lower Manhattan, is populated with an assortment of models, actors, and other big spending types in advertising, finance, etc., etc., etc. The number of $21 cocktails flowing through the bar must be waning, because business is way down and the new owners are filing for bankruptcy protection.

Crain's first reported on the story.

Update: My apologies... The Real Deal had the piece first -- last night, in fact. You can read their article here.

[Image via]

A summer rental on East 12th Street

If you're looking for a summer getaway, then consider this furnished townhouse at 215 E. 12th. St.



According to the listing:

Stately 1850's four-story mansion width (25') townhouse with oversized garden on tree lined street, available fully furnished. This 5,000 square foot home on a beautiful tree lined street is in the heart of the East Village, and offers incredibly high ceilings and grand proportions.

The private gated street level entrance leads to the foyer and an ornate staircase that winds up the four floors, capped by a beautiful skylight.

The dramatic parlour floor features intricate moldings and woodwork, wood herringbone floors, 14 foot ceilings and two working wood burning fireplaces. Huge oversize windows flood the "ballroom" with southern light. The state of the art eat-in windowed kitchen has marble floors, pressed tin ceilings, a professional six burner gas range and Sub-Zero refrigerator.

The third floor is equally dramatic with 12 foot ceilings. The master bedroom with separate dressing area , office and en-suite bath is bathed in light from 3 south facing windows. A children's room with loft has garden views, and there is an art studio with two exposures.

It's all yours from June 15 to Aug. 16. The price: $25,000 per month. Better hurry! The price increased $5k two weeks ago...

Update: Thanks to EV Grieve reader C. Bee in the comments... she remembered that the home was featured in the Times in 2008.... according to the article, Pamela Bell, one of the four original partners in the Kate Spade brand, lives here with her family....

The Charlie Parker Residence getting jazzed up

Heh, heh -- oh, forgive me for that headline...

Anyway, over on Avenue B near 10th Street, workers yesterday began chipping away at the exterior of the onetime residence of Charlie Parker... Not quite sure exactly of the extent of the work just yet...





Have no fear, though... nothing tacky will happen here... As I borrowed from the Web site: The Charlie Parker Residence was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in l994 by the U.S. Department of the Interior. In l999 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Charlie Parker Residence a New York City Landmark.

By the way, apartments in this building hit the market every so often... they run upwards of $4,000 per month.

Street sign shenanigans in the East Village

Some urban pranksters are on the loose... these street signs were spotted yesterday on 10th Street...



...and the fellow from Life was busy taking down the "Welcome to Hell" sign...



...we spotted this one on Sunday on Avenue A near 12th Street...Not sure if it's part of the same group or if it was being sold by one of the street vendors assembled that day... Given the number of golf bags that we see during the duffster season, this one should be made permanent...

Life Cafe back open last night

Speaking of Life, the restaurant was back open last night as the sign promised the previous evening....



Previously on EV Grieve:
Life Cafe closed, though just for one night

Cafe Colonial owner says Pulino's opening helped triple her rent

In our post yesterday on the Cafe Colonial possibly closing, we wondered if the eatery on Houston and Elizabeth would be the first victim of the McNallification of the neighborhood...

Late yesterday afternoon, Daniel Maurer at Grub Street spoke to Cafe Colonial owner Luciane Gilan, who believes her rent tripled thanks in part to new neighbor Keith McNally, and she may just retire when her lease expires May 31.

The landlord now wants $20,000 a month for the 30-seat restaurant that has been there for 15 years.

Here's more from Grub Street's interview:

"I know people who know [the landlord] and they told me what's going on. He said, 'McNally is opening a place and he wants to bring people over and we might get a high-end boutique.'" So does she resent her new neighbor? "I think that he is genuinely a good restaurateur and he does good — the problem is that the landlords think, Oh, because he's a good guy he's going to bring a lot of customers around. So people get greedy and make rents go up. I don't think we, as people who live here, gain anything by having these kinds of things here. Because you know what, who's going to shop in a high-end boutique? I can't and any local people can’t."

An EV Heave update

We haven't heard much lately from our friends over at EV Heave... Rest assured, the Heaver has been busy. Recent updates include:

Ruminating about the Day After (as in St. Patrick's Day)

and most most recently:

All is quiet on the Cooper front

Craigslist headline of the day: "to the two little shit twerp crooks last night at jimmy's no.43"

On Craigslist...

this is your bartender speaking.
i really, truly believe you stole my jacket. because someone did. and you left abruptly before finishing a beer of which you first complained about the price then borrowed money to buy. you also made a quip about not being easily identified at a crime scene.

i don't care about either of you, but please leave my jacket at the bar sometime soon. unless you threw it in a city trash can on the corner once you realized no one would leave anything valuble in an unattended jacket.

who knows, maybe you fucks are wearing my pressed powder & eyeliner. jokes on you tomorrow at school - that shits waterproof and i'm willing to bet college boys don't know how to properly wash their face.

there are two possible endings to this story - i see my jacket again, or you're smart enough not to walk back into the bar and hope i don't recognize your shitty prepubescent patchy facial hair on the street.

kisses!

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Third Avenue near 12th Street

Mark your calendars for Record Store Day on April 17 (Stupefaction)

A heated thread on the Coney Island USA message board (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A walk on the East River Promenade — at least what's finished of it... (BoweryBoogie)

A serenade by Cowboy Stan outside Ray's (Slum Goddess)

Alex unearths another stash of 1960s NYC photos (Flaming Pablum)

Essex Street fixture M Schames & Son is moving (The Lo-Down)

The history of Keepers Bakery on East 10th Street (Blah Blog Blah)

John C. Reilly's head going up in the Meatpacking District (BoingBoing)

IFC creating TV show based on The Onion (NY Times)

New documentary coming on longtime Times lensman Bill Cunningham (NYTimes)

And a tweet from Alessandra Torresani from the weekend...




And I have no idea what was happening here on Ninth Street and Avenue C the other day. But the first rule in Blog School: You always take a picture of a crane.

Save the date: Learn how NYU will expand by 6 million square feet

Save the Lower East Side! has the date for when NYU will present its
2031 Expansion Plan...April 14. As STLES noted, the NYU campus will expand 6 million gross square feet within the next two decades. Hope you like the color violet. (Curbed has more on NYU's plans here, including the school's desire for taking over Governors Island.)

Future of 276 Elizabeth apparently doesn't include the Cafe Colonial

For lease signs have gone up on the southeast corner of Houston and Elizabeth above the cozy Cafe Colonial, which opened here in 1994.



Based on the listing, it appears the future of this corner is destined to become high-end retail ... the rendering of the rebranded corner -- 73 East Houston Street -- shows lots of shopping bags and some thighs and calves...



The listing mentions all the new and fancy things that the New Era of the Bowery has to offer:

NEIGHBORS: Whole Foods, DBGB, John Varvatos, Vince, Tory Burch, Calypso, Blue & Cream and the New Museum

COMMENTS:
• On the same block as the new Keith McNally’s - Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria Restaurant
• One block from Whole Foods
• Dense residential, seven day a week market
• Fantastic corner exposure

Is Cafe Colonial then the first victim in the McNallification of the neighborhood? It wasn't that long ago where Leonardo DiCaprio could be spotted here for brunch...

Playing tag with 290 Mulberry

Continuing west on Houston... I've been keeping tabs on 290 Mulberry via in-the-know sources such as BoweryBoogie and Curbed... You've seen this wavy thing on the southeastern corner...




Here's the listing:

290 mulberry delivers award winning full floor loft residences and one spectacular penthouse by SHoP Architects. Amenities include: 24-hour doorman, private elevators, north, west and south exposures, and outdoor spaces with views from Broadway to Brooklyn. All homes feature wide-plank radiant-heat walnut flooring, central A/C, and in-unit W/D. Custom-designed interiors offer gloss white kitchens by Schiffiini with stone countertops, Miele gas cook top with fully vented hood, Sub-Zero refrigerator, Bosch dishwasher, Bosch oven, and Bosch wine cooler. Master bath has custom vanity by SHoP Architects, Vola faucets and rain showerhead, teak wood paneling, Siberian marble floors, frosted glass tile walls, and a clerestory window bringing in southern light. Expected occupancy, summer 2009.

StreetEasy has seven active listings, from $2.5 million to the $7.5 million penthouse. None of the units have been sold... and none of them are in contract...

So is this project in limbo? I don't know, but the sign out front seems telling... Does this look like a condo ready to sell some units?

Memorial today for Bar on A owner Bob Scarrano

A reader passed along the news that Bar on A (or BOA or Barona) owner Bob Scarrano recently passed away... the bar opened nearly 15 years ago ... and it remains open...



People who knew Bob are encouraged to come to Gannon Funeral Home (152 E. 28th St. near Lexington) anytime today between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to share a memory with his wife Ann...