EV Grieve

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Tom & Jerry's makeshift boundary

Last month I pointed out a sign spotted outside Tom & Jerry's on Elizabeth Street...

Now the bar has set up a makeshift boundary to keep people away from the front of the door and the adjacent apartment entrance...

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Summer crime season off to a credible start

Cat woman strikes! Footage from the robbery at the Arch shoe store on Astor Place. (Via the Post)

Every day, a little bit more of Shepard Fairey chips away...

The damage to the Shepard Fairey mural on Houston and the Bowery continues... a bit more advanced this evening than Sunday morning...

Meanwhile, our friend Bryan Waterman weighs in on this mural today at Patell and Waterman’s History of New York. In short: "It’s hard not to see this as the public demanding something better on that corner."

A look at the East Village noise wars

There's a nice, comprehensive piece by Sarah Laskow in Capital, a new online publication run by some former Observer editors.... The piece is titled Is the East Village getting noisier or just grumpier?

An excerpt!

Data from the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) show that the number of active liquor licenses in the area has stayed relatively stable. In 2006, in the zip code 10009, an area stretching east from 1st Ave between Houston and 20th St., the S.L.A. documented 222 active liquor licenses for on-premise consumption — the types of licenses that restaurants, bars, and clubs use. Over the next two years, that number dipped to 216, but by 2009, there were 231 active liquor licenses in that area. The aggregate increase was nine licenses.

But there has been plenty of turnover. Of the 231 licenses in 2009, only 153 have been consistently active since 2006. That means that about a third of the licensed establishments in the East Village have opened in their current incarnation only within the past four years.

Read the whole thing here.

Happy Birthday Superdive!

Oh lordy! A reader reminded me that I did absolutely nothing to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Superdive! Wow. Has it been a year already?

Yes! June 25, in fact.

Relive a reader's brave opening night here.

We try to figure out the bar situation. Confusing. It looks like there is no bar and patrons are just doing whatever, but really there is a bar. It's just surrounded by patrons. We eventually get drinks. My mixed drink is quite strong. This is good, as it took an eternity to get it. It was served by a bartender wearing legwarmers on her arms. As we're trying to secure drinks, we're hit by a blast of flatulence. Did I mention this place is fratty?

And, uh.... a lousy hidden-camera video from Superdive, apparently....

Feel free to sing along. It may be better if you played a few hours of beer pong first.

Talking away
I don't know what I'm to say
I'll say it anyway
today's another day to find you
Shying away
I'll be coming for you love O.K.

Take on me
Take me on
I'll be gone
in a day or two

So needless to say I'm odds and ends
But that's me, stumbling away
Slowly learning that life is O.K.
Say after me
It's no better to be safe than sorry.

Take on me
Take me on
I'll be gone
in a day or two.

The things that you say
Is it live or just to play
My worries away
You're all the things I've got to remember
You shying away
I'll be coming for you anyway

Take on me
Take me on
I'll be gone
in a day or two

Thanks for the 4,793 posts this last year guys!

Roy in the morning

Goggla has the sad news that Roy passed away two weeks ago after a short illness.

For years Roy opened up the Mars Bar in the morning. He refilled the liquor bottles and what not to prepare the bar for a new day. His eyesight was bad, which may be why the gin could have tasted like vodka that one time, and vice versa.

I don't know much about Roy. I understand that he used to be a desk clerk at the St. Mark's Hotel, where he continued to live.

Seeing Roy outside the Mars Bar every morning -- reading the paper, doing the crossword puzzle -- inspired Goggla to start her photo site, The Gog Log. She writes: "I took it for granted that he'd be there every morning, thinking as long as Mars Bar stood, he'd be there, too."

For more photos of Roy, visit The Gog Log.

NYPD working hard to close up budget gap

A reader sent along a link to the blog, Lori E. Seid… And How Was Your Day? This post is from last Monday, the first day of summer in Tompkins Square Park:

"This morning at 7:05, 2 Police SUV’s and a Van pulled over to us sitting on the ground with our dogs, by the benches behind the tree. The window of one rolled down & a voice questioned why our dogs were off the leash. Our ID’s were demanded and we were told to wait as the window rolled up and 2 other cops came out of their vehicles & joined the one to discuss our situation. 3 vehicals – 3 cops – 15 minutes of attention for aprox 11 lbs worth of unleashed dogs sitting on their owners lap, in a park, early in the morning."

"The summons both Charlie & I received were for criminal court appearances (mandatory or a warrant for our arrests’ will be issued) and cost $200 each. The photo above is of the lawbreakers waiting, as instructed by the officer, while our ID’s were check for outstanding warrants or acts of terrorism or whatever these little critters could cook up. I do feel safer now, don’t you?"

If you depend on the bus around here, then you're kinda screwed now

Well, we're in Day 3 of the MTA's ~~Screw The Passenger campaign~~ Service Changes due to the agency's $800-million deficit in their operating budget.

So! There was a little confusion on Sunday, as you might expect. Like why was this guy waiting for an M9 on Avenue B when service has been rerouted to Avenue C?

Why was the 14D running on Avenue B? And how did that guy figure that out?

Why hasn't the MTA posted the new route times? For instance, the new M9 stops on Avenue C still list the times for the M21.

Anyway, it's a little confusing. You have to read the fine print.

Here are the changes via the MTA.

Changes:

The M8 weekend and overnight service has been discontinued.

The M21 weekend service has been discontinued; the late-night service will end earlier. Ditto for the early-morning service.

The M9 service has been rerouted from Avenue B to Avenue C to replace the M21 and will terminate at the VA Hospital on East 23rd Street.

The M9 service has been discontinued along Water Street and in Battery Park City and was extended along Park Row to City Hall to replace the M15.

Which means the M15 service to City Hall via Park Row was discontinued and replaced by the M9.

M21 service was discontinued north of Houston along Avenue C and extended along Houston and the FDR to Grand Street.

Got all that?

Your chance to own a stalled project lot on East 13th Street

By golly it was just about one year ago that we took a look at 536 E. 13th Street near Avenue B... the onetime future home of a six-story apartment building ... However, there were issues with Stop Work orders (something pesky about the excavation here causing a huge crack in the building next door...) Now, the site can be yours...the owner has put the lot on the block...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A dormant construction site on East 13th Street

The photo the city doesn't want you to see, apparently

During the weekend, I was walking along the Bowery and decided to take a rather innocuous photo of this worker while standing on the sidewalk... Not even something that I had planned on using. Just took the shot.

Meanwhile, the worker's supervisor standing nearby shoos me away... We exchanged words for upwards of three long minutes. We couldn't really hear each other because of the noise from the machine. But! He told me it was against the law to take photos of city workers. He told me that I needed a permit. Anyway, it was all rather amusing. Made for a great brunch scene at Gemma!

Stop Work order for 16 Clinton St.

In early June, an EV Grieve reader brought word that workers were priming 16 Clinton St. for demolition... As the reader noted, the demolition would — among other things — displace Connie, the longest-term resident of the block, and its unofficial guardian.

However, the reader noted that there is a full Stop Work order now in effect...

In any event, according to the permit in process:

Alteration type 1
Demolish 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors existing rear building (Old law tenement) Cellar floor and foundation still remain

Previously on EV Grieve:
16 Clinton St. primed for demolition

Monday, June 28, 2010

The Curb Your Enthusiasm 18-wheeler

Lots of equipment on the scene for filming "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on East Fourth Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue... including the branded 18-wheeler!

Meanwhile, crew members said they were prepping to shoot the exterior scenes there (as of about 5:50) now... so Card Carrying Members of the Larry David Club take note...

Mystery Lot continues to fascinate

Been some more reader interest of late about the Mystery Lot... the long-vacant parcel of land between 13th Street and 14th Street just east of Third Avenue... Yesterday, a reader noted the presence of a man inside the lot — a man who wasn't whacking weeds, but merely taking it all in.... As the reader described it...."I saw a bearded gentleman enjoying the weather in there." Oh, yeah! See him below...

Meanwhile! Another reader wondered, "It could be a pretty sweet spot for a community garden, though I realize a glass windowed high rise is more realistic."

Whatever happened to simple bar names... and concepts?

I'm thinking about some of the bars that I like in the neighborhood... Joe's, Mona's, Lucy's, Sophie's, Manitoba's, 2A, 7B ... all have pretty simple names — and concepts. Some other bars have been around long enough that I don't even think twice about the names anymore ... the International, the Blue & Gold, Mar's Bar, the Phoenix, the Grassroots, the Holiday Cocktail Lounge ...

Apparently, simplicity doesn't work anymore ... simple names, simple concepts... In the Times last week, Frank Bruni noted the three owners of the new Blind Barber on East 10th Street:

"This troika of tricksters is determined to get your attention. That’s no easy feat in the crowded downtown drinkscape, where the competition comes armed with secret entrances, hidden alleys, pharmaceutical paraphernalia, taxidermy. What’s left? A bar with barbers, it turns out."

Given the economics, I suppose you can no longer open a bar called Jim's where people could come and drink and have conversations and be profitable.

No, wait. I suppose you can no longer open a bar called Jim's where people who live in the neighborhood could come and drink and have conversations and be profitable.

So let's take a look at some of the new bars (and restaurants) that just opened or are opening very soon in the neighborhood:

1) The 13th Step

The team behind Down the Hatch is opening the 13th Step at the former Telephone Bar on Second Avenue. I posted this back in February.

The term the 13th Step means: This term is used as a euphemism for inappropriate sexual advances by a member to a newcomer in AA (such as sponsors toward sponsees).

In a post on the new 13th Step sign last week... some readers here weighed in...:

13th step. What the fuck is that, now we're gonna get all quaint and cutesy and ironic about alcoholism? Gawd sometimes I really hate people and their "creative ideas".

And!

Pretty soon we will have more bars with ridiculous flippant alcohol problem-referencing names like "The Drunk Tank", "Drunk and Disorderly's", "Alcohol Poisoning", "The Binge", "DUI"... possibilites are endless.

2) SRO

Theres's a new upscale winery coming to Stanton in the Bowery... at the former annex for the SRO Sunshine Hotel. So. The new owners tastefully decided to name this place... SRO... This name annoyed the CB3/SLA committee last Monday night, as Eater noted. (Read BoweryBoogie's coverage of this place here.)

As Jeremiah wrote about SRO: "another unfortunate appropriation of poverty-related language by caterers to the affluent. Hey, why not call it Flophouse? Or Soup Kitchen? Or Skid Row? Wouldn't that be hip? How about Scabies?"

3) The Ninth Ward

As Fork in the Road reported, the owners of Shoolbred's are taking over the former Thai on Two space on Second Avenue. Per the Fork:

"The new place will have an 1890s' New Orleans feel, with absinthe drips and classic cocktails, much like Laffite's or the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street. Some food — most likely, Cajun standards — will be served."

Fine, but... When I heard that name, I recalled my trip to New Orleans in the fall of 2006 — nearly 14 months after Hurricane Katrina wiped out portions of the city. A friend, who was born and raised in New Orleans, took me for a tour of the devastation in various parts of the city, including the Lower Ninth Ward. Houses had been knocked off foundations. Not much remained except some muck — layers of canal water, sewage and dirt — and mold. Doesn't make me feel like a cocktail.

On Friday afternoon, Fork in the Road noted Louisiana-transplant and writer Cajun Boy's reaction via Twitter:

A New Orleans-themed bar in NYC called Ninth Ward has opened. Maybe I'll open a NYC-themed bar in New Orleans and call it World Trade Center

4) Billy Hurricane's

In the former Rehab/Midway space (and Save the Robots) space at 25 Avenue B, an upstairs/downstairs combo is opening soon. Grub Street reported in April that the owners will open the "Bourbon. Beer. Rock'–themed Idle Hands in the basement space while upstairs a group with ties to Thunder Jackson’s and Point Break will open Billy Hurricanes, a Mardi Gras–themed bar trafficking in frozen daiquiris, Cajun food, and a signature drink that will be limited to two per person."

Billy's has a blog. The first post notes:

Once we get the kitchen finalized, among other things... we will be ready to rock!
Watch out for our opening night party... will be off the hook!
Please welcome us to the neighborhood.
Are you ready to rock!?

DNAinfo had a follow-up on Billy's/Idle Hands a few weeks back. Per Patrick Hedlund's story:

But even though its door have yet to open, the space has already been forced to contend with negative criticisms that have cast the bar as a theme-park-style venue that will attract rowdy crowds to the residential area.

"There's always going to be somebody who doesn't like it and doesn't want you there," said co-owner Rob Morton, 37 ...

Morton responded to the snipes by saying his group is simply following a long list of glitzier nightlife establishments that have flocked to the formerly gritty area.

"You can't yearn for a neighborhood that was," he said

.

Or can you?