Lilly Coogan's RIP?

Walked by Lilly Coogan's on First Avenue near Sixth Street last night several times... and, when I took this photo around 9:30, the gates were still down... And I called the bar to discover their number was not in service... One of the bars around here that I've never stepped foot in... maybe because it replaced one of my favorites, the Homestead, one of the great dives in the neighborhood. I reminisced about this in a comment on Eater... They had the crummy pool table that was about a foot from the north wall. I recall they had shorter sticks as a remedy.

A plaque for Shepard Fairey, and something else to tag

A new plaque went up to commemorate Shepard Fairey's mural on Houston and the Bowery... Only about six weeks after the mural went up... (And when will the plaque be defaced?)

Flashback to April 20!



For further reading:
Houston Wall (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
Graffiti Wall Primed for Shepard Fairey (BoweryBoogie)

MARTE kicks off today

Over at PS 63 on East Third Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Per the MARTE website:

MARTE (Manhattan Artisan Retail & Trade Emporium)—is a weekly upscale flea market taking place at school locations throughout Manhattan. The flea is a collaboration between each school’s Parents Association and Manhattan Media, the leading publisher of community newspapers and Manhattan lifestyle magazines. Each market is free to the public and features new and antique jewelry and furniture, local artists, food vendors, and entertainment. Proceeds from the events directly impact the schools and Parents Association.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday this summer. (It's also open tomorrow for the kick-off weekend.)

"Is this the new East Village?"

The Daily News checks in with an update on Village Green, the eco-friendly condo on 11th Street and its developer, Michael Namer.

What we learned from the article:

[A]ll but two of 36 units are sold in the building that has a green roof, uses Daikin HVAC systems instead of a boiler, has a wellness center, recaptures rainwater, and counts several buyers as bona fide supermodels.

Is this the new East Village? Maybe, maybe not, but Namer and company proved that good product marketed to the right audience will find buyers, even with prices averaging $1.1 million.

And a great headline for Joe Coscarelli's post on this at Runnin' Scared:

The East Village is Finally Safe For Yuppies, Parties and the Environment

(One item I didn't note on the Daily News piece: "[Namer] throws huge parties. One is so big they have to almost close the street.")



Previously.

Truthful liar

Playing at CBGB From Ulli Lommel's 1980 movie "Blank Generation." For the Vans advertising team.

Welcome back!

One of our old friends has returned!

The Macho Man Randy Savage said...
Ooohhhh yeahhhhh. Hot time, summer in the city. Macho Man is back and he's keeping it gritty. YEAH! Ms. Grieve! I had no idea. I don't know what's going on at this Simone place, but if anyone charges the Macho Man for food he doesn't eat, I'm going to CHARGE THEIR FACE. Yeah.

Do not be alarmed: Fab 208 space for rent

Prepare yourself for walking by Fab 208 on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... (Maybe East Village vintage stores are doomed?)



As Racked noted last week, the store, which has been on the block for 18 years, is moving to the former (and smaller) Howdy Do space across the street...(We imagine they'll fare much better than the post-Howdy Do tenant .)

Anyway, you guessed it: Rent hike. Per Racked: "So don't be spooked if you see a 'for rent' sign in the window — they are moving, but they're not going far." And this is the first that I noticed the sign...

Meanwhile, we're curious what new business will come calling here at Fab 208...

New Simone GM offers an apology

Back on April 9, we relayed a story from a reader about an unpleasant experience at Simone on First Avenue at St. Mark's Place.... Basically, the reader and a friend were ready to enjoy a quiet meal early one weekday night ... the music got louder... staff wouldn't turn down the music... when the diners cancelled their order, a Simone staffer called the cops... and the reader was charged twice on the credit card for a meal he or she never received...

So!

Yesterday, I received the following not from Simone:

Hi Ms Grieve,
I'm getting in touch with you in regards to the awful experience you had at Simone Martini Bar & Cafe. I am the new General Manager there and, upon taking the position, the owner and I took the time to check Simone's reviews. We had no knowledge whatsoever of this incident before we read about it and we where shocked and appalled. The situation was handled extremely poorly and we would love to redeem ourselves. We understand that you probably have no desire to ever step in Simone again but we would really like to make the effort to make things up to you in some way.

I appreciate the note (though, as I responded to the GM, this incident didn't happen to me) ... and this is all in keeping with bars/restaurants trying much harder to be better neighbors... (Read more on that theory here.)

Anyway, I passed this note along to the reader, who is still dealing with the credit card investigation... the reader also appreciated hearing from the GM... then later sent a pointed response discussing customer service... and that bars/restaurants "are not a place for staff to hang out and play the music of their choice."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Cops called after a sandwich order is cancelled

[Image via New York]

Construction for new Lower Eastside Girls Club home starts next week

The Lower Eastside Girls Club is prepping for the groundbreaking next week of its new home (Center for Community) on Avenue D...

As the flyer shows, there's a meeting this Tuesday night at the Jacob Riis Community Center, 80 Avenue D, between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

A detailed presentation will be made about the construction timeline and neighborhood impact as well as information about the upcoming Girls Club programs.

Questions can be submitted in advance to:
building@girlsclub.org

For more information, go here.

Meanwhile, as we've covered here before, here's a look at the new home:




Among other things, the new building will include:

We are expanding our successful entrepreneurial social venture businesses, The Sweet Things Baking Company and Community Café, with the construction of a Culinary Education Center and commercial kitchen. These programs offer job training and opportunities for teenage girls and neighborhood women. The kitchen will also serve as a classroom for nutrition education and meet in-house food service needs. A courtyard filled with flowers, an outdoor fountain designed by artist Kiki Smith, and café tables will provide a unique oasis for dining and quiet events.

And!

In the Fair Trade Gift Shop and Book Store, items from cooperatives around the world share shelf space with girl-made crafts and artwork. Our public market space will be a home for our Farmers Market Center, simultaneously supporting New York State farmers and our community's health.

And!

A portion of this new facility will be devoted to public programming and the arts. The “Girls Out Loud” Internet Radio Station is the site for live programming, podcasting, and digital journalism activities. Simultaneously, girls will be taking their digital film, photography and IT courses, while school classes and the general public participate in film festivals and screening events in the Screening Room. The Art + Community Gallery, site of LESGC’s teen curatorial training programs, will act as a venue for a wide range of art exhibitions.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Lower Eastside Girls Club's "urban paradise" closer to reality

Penthouse life on Avenue A

Here's a new-to-the-market home at 50 Avenue A...

Huge Outdoor space in a beautiful Penthouse in the East Village. Renovated loft-like home with high ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace, a Solarium plus a 900 square foot private multi-tiered roof deck. Additional features include an open kitchen with Miele appliances, a washer/dryer, excellent natural light through open northern exposure (Views of midtown Manhattan), 2 full bathrooms and a 2nd bedroom/home-office.

And:







You can bring your check for $1.35 million to the open house this Sunday afternoon between 1-3.

"Very pied-a-terre" on East 13th Street

Or, on Sunday, you could check out the open house here at 228 E. 13th Street... A 650-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment near Third Avenue... Listing, please:

This charming one bedroom with south, north and east exposures is a rare find. With approximately 900 sf of private exclusive roof top, beautifully planted, it is truly your stairway to paradise! Prime east village location, corner unit, windows with unobstructed views in every room, exposed brick wall throughout the apartment, high ceilings and full of character. Just a short walk to Union Square and the farmer's market, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, as well as Momofuku, Milk Bar and Kiehl's right on the corner. Very pied-a-terre and pet friendly as well!

(By the way, say this listing was on the market, hmm, 1o years ago, what would the realtors have promoted ... back before Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Momofuku?)

So it's going for $530,000... Looks nice and all ... and check out the roof...






...where, at the right angle, you could keep tabs on the Mystery Lot just a little west up the street.

And it's not in that place that defaulted or anything

I was looking at a Craigslist ad for a four-bedroom duplex, with a backyard, laundry, etc., etc., in the East Village. One of those let's-get-nine-new-grads-to-live-here-and-party-while-we-make-Manhattan-ours places for $5,200. Anyway, I don't know, this last line of the ad cracked me up:

GREAT LOCATION, A FEW SHORT BLOCKS TO L TRAIN (NOT STUYVESANT TOWN)

[Image via Lux Living]

Stop the rooftop noise

Anyone else spot these "stop the rooftop noise stickers"?



Apparently atop 84 E. 10th St. here...

Bowery bum?

While doing a little recon for one of my 87 posts on the Bowery Wednesday... I spotted this street sign on the Bowery... Slow Down Bum Ahead? Not funny!



...and as I kept walking...



Oh.

Superdive continues to be, well, Superdive

Superdive isn't going quietly into the nightlife... looks like they're here for longer...or they're just taunting you...

Here are their summer plans, as Eater reported:

Thursdays: 7:30 beerpong tournament. Cost of entry is the beer you drink during the tourney. Winning team drinks for free all night. After the tourney we celebrate with live music and karaoke.

Fridays: Wet T-shirt contest, with a male AND female winner of $100 cash each and free drinks.

Saturdays: Endless Champagne Disco Ball. 11-1 $25 all you can drink champagne. Music by world-class Disco DJ, Christian.

Haha. Funny, guys. You can do better than this, though.

Previously on EV Grieve:
NOW what's going on with Superdive...?

More on the possibly vanishing mosiacs

Continuing our conversation about the possible loss of the mosaics.... Jeremiah Moss shared this photo with me...



We're all hopeful that a Vanishing tribute to these will never have to be written.

A little bit ago outside Bikes by George

A reader sends along the above shots while walking past Bikes by George on Fourth Street near Avenue A... "Pickup truck pulls up loaded with 'used' bikes. Two guys driving look like they haven't ridden a bike in 30 years. Short conversation ... bikes get unloaded. Hmmm."

More on the Mosaic Man removing his mosaics

Per the earlier post today.... EV Grieve reader Marjorie Ingall passed along these photos from a few weekends ago...




Already this morning, Marjorie and several other readers have written to say that they hope that Jim reconsiders removing the mosaics; that they are vital and iconic part of the neighborhood....

3,000-square-foot bar/restaurant "with an occasional D.J." apparently moving forward on Avenue B

Last September, I noted that a new bar/eatery was coming into the dormant spaces at 14-16 Avenue B at Second Street...



Yesterday, work on the exterior began...






Back in January, Rebecca Marx at Fork in the Road reported that Beltrami Foods, an Italian restaurant, will open here. As she noted:

According to Cristiano Morroy, one of the restaurant's owners, Beltrami will be open from morning to night, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. The chef will be Morroy's mother, a professional chef whose food reflects where she lived and worked in her native Italy. The restaurant's menu will have a strong southeastern accent, as Morroy's mother spent time in towns like Apulia and Otranto, both located in the heel of Italy's boot.

Although this is Morroy's first restaurant in New York, he already runs a catering company that does a lot of work in the fashion industry. His mother, he says, is quite well-known back in Italy, having cooked for both Mick Jagger's and Willem Dafoe's wedding party.

Two quick comments:

1) Jagger and Dafoe?!
2) Can Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B possibly support another Italian restaurant? Especially with yet another one coming to Second Street and A? (And, more important, can this section of Avenue B support any more bars...?)

Back in February, the CB3/SLA folks denied Beltrami a license.... Here's how Eater reported it:

A yet-to-be-named group surfaced with a proposal to utilize the old Butterfly space, a stone's throw away from Sigmund, for a 3,000 square foot Italian restaurant, catering company and lounge "with an occasional D.J." This scenario sounds familiar - and the residents didn't hesitate to show their fresh battle scars from the throes of Le Souk, China 1 and Carnivale, all restaurants-gone-clubs that they say wrecked havoc on the peace and quiet in their 'hood. Needless to say, this was too much for CB3 and the community representatives to stomach, and after a lengthy dispute of pros and cons, the motion was denied.

As EV Grieve reader Mediainski commented back in February:

I love the claim of an "occasional DJ." In other words, this place is going to be blaring loud music every night!

Also! The denied transfer (from the former Butterfly at 14 Avenue B) led to an epic David McWater outburst at the meeting. The Lo-Down had all the details.

The current liquor license for this location is inactive...

Mosaic removal on St. Mark's Place?

I'm not sure what to make of this... As you can see here, someone wrapped tape around one of Jim Power's mosaics on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue...



The tape has been ripped in part ... but it appears to say "Mosiac Work To Be Removed."



Last I heard, via Neighborhoodr, Jim was coming back to the neighborhood a few days a week to do some repair work on his Mosaic Trail... perhaps this is his print... and he intends to replace it... Or there's something else... there's a recent entry on Jim's blog that reads, "bad day......MOSAIC"S to be covered and REMOVED after 26 years."

As I said at the top, I'm not sure what to make of this...