Who's having the best week ever?

From the comments:

Between the Superdive death and the scathing piece on Ben Shaoul in The Real Deal, UPPER Avenue A residents are having the BEST WEEK EVER!!

Does this mean the Cooper Square Hotel no longer wants to fit in with the neighborhood?

Curbed has the news that the mural on the side of the Cooper Square Hotel is being painted over right now... And they produced the above evidence...

As you may recall, the Hotel hired four graffiti artists — Joyce Pensato, Nick 1, Vizie and Shinique Smith — to create the mural.

As you also may recall:

Klus Ortleib, the hotel's managing partner, wants the place to fit in with the edgy local art scene. "When I came up with the idea, people said I was crazy," he said.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Cooper Square Hotel's attempt to fit in with the neighborhood ready to be unveiled

New Avenue B bar won't be fratty or barfy, owner claims

Well! The other day we were understandbly horrified curious when we heard, via our friends at Grub Street, that a Speakeasy/Mardi Gras style bar is coming to 25 Avenue B. Hmmmm.....

Regardless! Grub Street's Daniel Maurer followed up with the new owner and learned that maybe we all shouldn't have the fear...:

We called the joint’s operator Kyle Radzyminski (also a partner in Thunder Jackson’s) and asked him whether East Village residents should invest in mops.

"We aren’t looking at ruining the neighborhood," Radzyminski told us. That's one thing people get frightened of. A couple of our guys have families and multiple kids. It's more of a place where you can watch sports, not a frat house." Radzyminski assured us that he’s looking to open "a place for almost anyone and everyone."

Goggla left this comment the other day: "Avenue B, the new Bourbon Street...hang on to your bead curtains." Heh. But can you imagine this place and Croxley's operating at the same time....?

[Photo via]

The "bad old days" are here again story of the day!

From the Post!

Gangs of wilding teens terrorized straphangers this week in a violent spate of daytime robberies and assaults on Manhattan subways -- another indicator the city could be sinking back to the bad old days that once gripped the Big Apple with fear.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Trend alert! The bad old days are here again!

Are the "bad old days" here again...again?

The Elephant: "We truly think we are good neighbors"

Last week, I reported that Thai eatery The Elephant on East First Street had been shut by the city for allegedly serving an auxiliary police officer who is a minor. (And they've had at least two other run-ins the past two years, as Eater reported.)

In that post, I mentioned the fiasco from last May in which a manager at The Elephant reportedly called the police while a group of teenage girls lined up to receive free prom dresses next door at the Lower Eastside Girls Club. For some residents, that episode left a lingering resentment toward the restaurant.

After last week's post, Adria Jover Sala, who said she manages The Elephant, contacted me.

For starters, she said that the manager who called the police last year was fired "after that tremendous mistake." She said there is a new staff. "We have people from Morocco, Senegal, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Spain, Mexico... most of [them] with sons and daughters.

"We are all trying to do our job the best we can. I understand if The Elephant, years ago, caused some trouble in the hood, though right now it is run by new management and we are committed to our beloved First Street. We truly think we are good neighbors. We care for our street, have friends all over the block on First Street. We take the UPS deliveries for our building. We let kids from the park use our restroom... we are been living here so many years and I think we deserve a bit of respect."

But did they serve a minor?

"We are sure the guy was over 35... though if we took the risk to go on trial for that and by any possibility the undercover [officer] was 18, as it says in the report, then the stipulation was to close us for two months and a fee of $15,000."

As part of the penalty, the city is shutting down The Elephant starting today for one week. The restaurant will also have to close for one week in May.

"The city is so incompetent with those rules ... they don't let you work and improve the place while you are closed. This is like kids, you do something bad and they send you against the wall for two hours... the only difference here, we are talking about a business with families, children, etc. who depend on them ... doesn't the city realize the impact?"



I asked Adria, who is originally from Barcelona and has lived in the East Village for 10 years, is she believes they are receiving unwarranted attention.

"We feel we are unfairly targeted by the city. Everybody knows where all minors go for drinks with their fake ID, why the police don't spend their resources with better efficiency than coming to a small restaurant to shut you down," she said. "At this point I'm quite desperate because [the city] believes that we are a club or something like that and we just are a small restaurant, which for the last two years everyone is out before 1 a.m... I just hope the neighbors could appreciate our commitment.

"The worst part is, I'm not sure if we are going to survive with this two-week agreement anyway."

[Image via; larger image via]

And this little piggy got painted over

Over on 192 Second Ave. at 12th Street... the scaffolding went up last week... Word is that the building will be painted... meaning the pigs are likely history...





Yesterday, a crew arrived on the scene...




The 12th Street Ale House is on the corner now ...Dick's Bar held this corner for many years, where the pigs first came to life ...

UPDATED: Thanks to EV Grieve reader Pinhead for tracking down an article from 2000 in the Times that discusses the mysterious appearance of the pigs here...

Anyway, this is another address in the neighborhood with so much history...

... Several bars earlier, the space was home to Slugger Ann's, where transgendered Warhol star Jackie Curtis tended bar and performed a cabaret act... (Jackie's grandmother owned the bar...)

Here's Leee Black Childers talking about Slugger Ann's in a scene from the documentary "Superstar in a Housedress."

Momofuku Milk Bar patrons getting loud?

A newish sign outside Momofuku Milk Bar on 13th Street near Second Avenue...



... are those cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookies making the masses noisy?

De La Vega calling for a boycott on Cafe Mogador, for some reason

Outside the De La Vega Museum on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue...



...which, of course, is right across the street from Cafe Mogador...



We didn't really care enough to ask about the sign.

Day-glo lights in Christodora seen as 'something of a metaphor for neighborhood transformation'

I finally had time to sit down last night with the new issue of New York magazine... where there's a feature on this swanky loft in the Christodora ...



Per the article:

Architect Joel Sanders’s clients (a lawyer and an economic consultant) left New York for San Francisco a decade ago but knew they’d come back someday — preferably to an apartment below 14th Street that felt like a “well-designed hotel suite.” How about an East Village loft with LED fixtures that cast a Day-Glo aura on the walls? Perfect. After looking at more than 50 places, the couple found what would become their future retirement pad (and current pied-à-terre) — a one-bedroom in the Christodora ... The result: a 1,140-square-foot loft that — with the push of one of eight preset buttons — is bathed in pale neon pink, or warm gold, or lime green. Sanders sees the lighting design as something of a metaphor for neighborhood transformation. The Christodora, he points out, has had a tumultuous history, starting life as a twenties settlement house for low-income families before becoming an emblem of the East Village in the throes of gentrification. Two decades later, passions have cooled, but the neighborhood—and its dwellings — are still pretty colorful.

[Photograph by Peter Aaron/Esto]

Wonder if this explains those spooky red lights that I've seen in the past....?

Things that you can read at the new Film Academy Cafe

On Astor Place. And has anyone tried their coffee?

President's day at Cooper Union

So following up on our exclusive from earlier ... President Obama gave a speech today at Cooper Union in which he may or may not have offered his views on the first round of the NFL Draft taking place later tonight.

Anyway, many thanks to EV Grieve reader Ryan for passing along a few photos from today... such as the President in his limo...



...there's former Gov. Mario C!...



Cooper Union President George Campbell Jr. showing off the cufflinks Obama gave him...



...and a fight between a communist and an anarchist/activist...



Ryan also said that he saw Lloyd Blankfein (the nerve!) and Rev. Al Sharpton. "Someone thought they saw Steve Jobs, but I can't confirm that he was there." Oh! Hope that Steve didn't see these!

Shepard Fairey's mural NAWed on

The Graffiti Friend of EV Grieve (GFOEVG) sent along this link from Animal New York... graffiti writer NAW tried to add a little something to the new mural at Houston and the Bowery... which didn't go over well with the security guard on duty...


[Photo: ANIMALNewYork]

Per GFOEVG: "I suspect this piece gets dissed and fixed many times."

Blimey!: World Class Learning Academy takes over La Salle Academy space on Second Street

Crain's reports that the World Class Learning Academy — a U.K.-based independent school for kiddies age 3 to 11 — is taking over the La Salle Academy space on Second Street and Second Avenue. According to Crain's, "It will be the group’s sixth outpost in the U.S. and the first in New York. Its other American locations are in Boston, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Houston and Washington." The school opens in September.

And what will become of LaSalle, a Catholic boys school? They'll be moving into part of St. George Ukrainian Catholic School on Sixth Street.

Here's the happy-faced news release from LaSalle:

La Salle 6th Street is Born!
One of New York City’s oldest and most respected Catholic school secures its future on the Lower East Side.

La Salle Academy, an award-winning Catholic high school with over 160 years of presence in New York City’s Lower East Side, is expanding its educational programs to 6th Street, where they will be sharing space with St. George Ukrainian Catholic Schools, another historic neighborhood institution. The two schools will coexist in one building, but remain two completely distinct institutions. La Salle will also remain, in part, on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 2nd Street, in a building that will house an alumni center, administrative offices, a residence for the Brothers, and various rooms for student use.

The relocation comes after years of planning by the school administration and Board to address challenges that face inner-city Catholic education, including increased operating costs and decreased enrollment.

“With so much news about Catholic schools struggling, I’m delighted to state here and now that La Salle Academy will continue to provide its exceptional college preparatory education on the Lower East Side for generations to come,” said Dr. William Hambleton, the school’s president.

I knew money was tight for La Salle when they accepted a wrap-around ad for their building.

Superdive officially moving from the East Village; warnings issued in Murray Hill, the LES

Eater has the news: It's official: Superdive is leaving 200 Avenue A... but not before they "have a month long blowout. " The owners told Eater that they are in" final negotiations on a space on Third Avenue in the 30's and another down on the LES that is 'bigger and more heavily trafficked.'"

Feel free to leave your warm remembrances in the comments. Here's part of one comment: "The Superdive concept is an utter East Village failure and laughingstock."

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

Miss Heather finds another tourists/New Yorkers line in the EV (New York Shitty)

Trouble at the A Building (Curbed .... and The Real Deal)

Tah-Poozie has closed (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

BaHa finds more than brunch at the Knickerbocker (Daily News)

Slum Goddess is an "East Fifth Bliss" extra (Slum Goddess)

An actual "Sex and the City 2" promo pic (Nonetheless)

Plan B for 185 Orchard (BoweryBoogie)

EV Grieve regular Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk giving a reading tonight at the LGBT Center on West 13th Street (Elisa Rolle Live journal)

Catching up with the Specials (Flaming Pablum)

Who was watching Goggla? (The Gog Log)

Herald Square now and then (Ephemeral New York)

The classic Joe's Pork Shop in Astoria (Lost City)

Uncovering old ads in the West Village (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Truth in leads via Matt Harvey in NYPress:

The East Village is 100 square blocks of NYU-dominated real estate. On a Saturday night, its bars are all packed with out-of-towners.

And get to the 99-cent store on 14th Street near B now!

Sidewalk shed removed at the rebranded PS 64

Been some time since I recall a sidewalk-shed-free stretch of Ninth Street east of Avenue B outside the former P.S. 64/CHARAS/El Bohio community center -- now known as University House at Tompkins Square Park...




Not sure what, if anything, this means at the moment...Haven't heard any news about construction here since the fall...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Nightmare on Ninth Street: Is the megadorm project alive again?

When I noticed that the sidewalk shed at the former P.S. 64/CHARAS/El Bohio community center behind the Christodora on Ninth Street had been removed, I revisited previous posts on the topic... such as this one from last summer announcing the rebranded project: the University House at Tompkins Square Park.



You can read that post here.

The attempts to redevelop this space has a long, complicated history... Gregg Singer, the building's owner, unsuccessfully tried for years to get a megadorm project off the ground. In March 2009, Singer told The Villager that he's still an investor, but he had moved "onto other stuff." His megadorm was shot down by a judge two years ago.

I did a little more searching for the University House at Tompkins Square Park and this popped up ...



Whoa.

This is all probably part of the old plans (or a hoax!), except that it was, as I understand it, only branded University House at Tompkins Square Park last summer. And, interestingly enough, this is a standalone Web page that lives under the Singer domain, but you can't access it from the Singer Financial Corporation site. I found it via a Google search.

Regardless, this is the first time that I've seen the above rendering in about six years ... If anything, then maybe this can serve as a "what could have been" ... Here is some info from the Web site, which lists that the project will completed in July 2010/11... (You can find all the floorplans here.)

DESCRIPTION OF PROPERTY
A through block site just off Tompkins Square Park to be developed into a 23-story school dormitory in the East Village of Manhattan.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
University House will be a consortium of universities sharing a single state of the art facility. There are single room suites and double room suites, all of which have kitchens and bathrooms. The universities will be able to secure housing designed, operated and managed for students at affordable rents with amenities not found in apartment buildings or hotels.

This safe and affordable residence hall will provide beautiful views of Tompkins Square Park to the west and the East River to the east providing sun drenched living spaces for all its inhabitants.

AMENITIES
Amenities include wireless internet access throughout the interior and exterior common areas, an outdoor garden, basketball court, a world class fitness center with separate areas for weight training, cardio fitness, stretching and dance/aerobics, lounge, common and private study rooms hard wired with internet access outlets, music rooms, game room with pool tables and ping pong tables, TV screening room, laundry room, and bicycle storage room. Private offices for university staff.

Be curious to find out what, if anything, is going on here... No new work permits have been posted via the DOB. And for a crash course on the headlines through the years, here's a link to the East Village Community Coalition, who collected many of the articles on the project. (Mostly via The Villager!) And here are some from Curbed.

Prepping for the Prez

As I exclusively reported, President Obama will be giving a speech later today at Cooper Union. Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon, the NYPD was busy placing barriers on parts of the Bowery and East Houston. Due to security reasons, I cannot divulge the street names where these barriers are located.





Anyway! EV Grieve reader Elliot noted: "The Tea Party folks could get a nice photo op of his motorcade rolling past the Red Square Building with Lenin saluting from high above."

Meanwhile, I hate to even mention this... but, EV Heave has a full report on Cooper Union's efforts to thwart the Serial Vomiter from striking today. We do hope that EV Heave is wrong... because, quite frankly, people haven't been this excited about a visitor since they thought they saw Justin Bieber on the L train.

One more from Monday night: Zerza denied

One more report from Monday's CB3/SLA meeting... Zerza, the Moroccan eatery on East Sixth Street, was looking to transfer to the former poisoned Carne Vale space at 46 Avenue B. Radouane, the owner (he sent me a note last week) stood up and gave a passionate talk on his restaurant and his love of the East Village... He introduced his mother, who is also the chef. It's a family-run business that he says has been a good neighbor throughout its seven-year history ... His current space, though, is too small and too expensive. He said he would close at 11:30 p.m. and there wouldn't be a bar... it seemed like one of the more honest and straightforward talks that I've heard ... not that everyone was paying attention on the Board. During his talk, he seemed to have the attention of three Board members. Two board members were at the far left-end of the table talking with Keith Masco, who was just before the Board. And Board member David McWater left before the Zerza presentation.

Anyway, the Board denied Zerza's request for a transfer citing oversaturation... Plus, there's still a stigma attached to 40 Avenue B ... expect the storefront to sit empty for some time...

Read the rest of my CB3 report here. Eater has more from the meeting. As does the Lo-Down.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Zerza owner discusses his intentions for new Avenue B space

Zerza moving to Avenue B

Noted

Outside the Brother Jimmy's off Union Square the other day. Subtle!