That really big Chipotle ad on First Avenue is illegal, probably

Back in April, I made note of the ginormous Chipotle banner hanging from the building on the northeast corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place...




The Chipotle banner is one of several different ads in the East Village and West Village that the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) say is illegal. In a recent letter to Robert LiMandri, commissioner, New York City Department of Buildings, GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman noted that the Chipotle sign is illegal because "the property has no signage permits in-process or issued in the last year." The area was inspected and violations issued, but no hearing has been set.

The GVSHP was instrumental in getting that awful Kobe Bryant video game ad removed on Avenue A and 12th Street this spring... I hope the Chipotle ad makes a quick exit too... I hate having such a large fast-food banner on a main thoroughfare of the neighborhood...

Time for the Shepard Fairey mural to go

I'm not sure what else to say about the Shepard Fairey mural on Houston and the Bowery... every day, a little bit more of it disappears... it's like a beached whale being slowly pecked clean by every passing seagull, crab, uh, you get the idea. I took these photos last evening. I'm sure it looks worse this morning.





Or maybe the mural is more interesting this way, as one East Village resident suggested to DNAinfo.

BoweryBoogie has an update on the mural today too.

Activity at Pete's-A-Place, but what does it mean?

A reader noted some activity yesterday at Pete's-A-Place, one of the storefronts destroyed by fire back on May 12... The gates were up at the neighborhood pizza joint, and it looked as if workers were packing/inspecting some damaged kitchen equipment...





And yo9u can see from the photos the current state of Pete's interior...

Newsflash! Not a lot of people were dining outside last evening

OK, no shit given that it was like 400 degrees at this hour, maybe 6:30ish...(a little early for dinner, yes, but still...a lot of these places have happy hour specials). Anyway, while wandering aimlessly, I realized... no one was eating outside. There are always a few brave souls who insist on eating outside no matter how extreme... so, in a really unscientific manner, I walked by some places with outdoor seating to find them...











I finally spotted two diners outside Dallas BBQ on St. Mark's. I would have taken their photo, but, I thought, they deserved to eat in peace for being this brave...

The 13th Step is now open

Second Avenue near Ninth Street. Previously.

Hot tar for a hot night

Resurfacing First Avenue tonight (and tomorrow night...)... some day soon they'll be a bike lane along here...and new bus-only lanes for the M15...

Perhaps there's another app that creates Avenue C

EV Grieve reader (and blogger) Shawn Chittle notes the new MTA iPhone app for the East Village/Lower East Side ... As he points out, Avenue C is missing (sorry World Cuppers!) and Avenue D is apparently now subbing for the FDR...



In the comments, BabyDave points out the rather interesting new route for the Bowery....

Quote of the day: "Beer pong is not the Lower East Side"

From a DNAinfo article by Patrick Hedlund on the proliferation of bars in areas other than Avenue A:

Just south of Avenue A, Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side counts 19 bars/restaurants on the three-block stretch between Houston and Delancey streets.

While many of these places have arrived without incident, a decidedly déclassé bar featuring drinking games doesn’t necessarily fit with everyone’s idea of a neighborhood pub.

“A frat bar is not representative of this once-bohemian neighborhood,” said Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer, a longtime East Villager who counts the proliferation of bars as one of the board’s most pressing issues.

“Beer pong is not the Lower East Side.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Of the 147 storefronts on Avenue A, 70 of them are bars, restaurants or vacant

Photo by EV Grieve

The EV Grieve cooling center

From the blizzardpalooza this past February... a few shots of Tompkins Square Park for this 100-degree (or so!) day ....

More vintage doom: Beauty Crisis is closing

Another thrift/vintage store is closing in the East Village...Beauty Crisis on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue is wrapping it up in the next two weeks...




[Many thanks to EV Grieve reader Blue Glass for the tip and photos.]

Meanwhile, the vintage carnage continues...among the closures this year:

Monk Thrift Shop on Avenue B

Atomic Passion on Ninth Street

O Mistress Mine on 11th Street

Andy's Chee-Pees on St. Mark's Place

Fab 208 is moving into a smaller space on Seventh Street

Not to mention previous closings:
Love Saves the Day
Howdy Do
99X

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village vintage stores doomed?

Atomic Passion has closed

The East Village continues to lose retail diversity

More small businesses continue to close...



City Copies on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue closed about one week ago. An EV Grieve reader noted the friendly owner. "I'd go in and he'd call me 'friend.' He knew what I needed." According to the reader, the owner could no longer pay the rent and the high taxes.

And this is an awfully big space...likely destined to become some kind of specialty food joint to fit alongside the other eateries down on Seventh Street...



The barbershop at 150 E. Second St. near Avenue A is gone... (This shares the address with Nicky's, which will move...)



And Village Fabrics on First Avenue and 11th Street is on the way out... there's a "for rent" sign above the store now...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Of the 147 storefronts on Avenue A, 70 of them are bars, restaurants or vacant

Something other than a bar opening on Avenue A between 10th and 11th Streets

Next door to the Horus Cafe. Workers on the scene said that it will be a hair salon.

The East Village is officially well-represented in the nail/skin salon category

Nothing against nail/skin salons. But. I'd argue that there are enough of them now in the East Village to keep our nails and pores nice and pretty for some time...

A new skin salon is opening is opening on Second Avenue near Fourth Street (a few doors away from a recently renovated salon...)



Meanwhile, new salons recently opened on Fifth Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square ...



and Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ...

165 Avenue A being prepped for a bar/restaurant?

Speaking of this stretch of Avenue A... several residents have said that 165, the former home of the Monk Thrift Shop, is being turned into a bar/restaurant...



The space is adjacent to Diablo Royale Este. Nothing from the DOB suggests that a restaurant is (legally) in the works...

Even Duane Reade wants to be a bar in the East Village

Everyone is getting in on the act! Ha, OK...so Duane Reade outlets have sold beer for awhile now...



However, the DR brass has decided to advertise now, like here at Avenue B and Second Street...

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: The 13th Step's sign; the Stage's holiday

Noted, outside Cheap Shots (or, Spanky and Darla's) on First Avenue...



Noted, outside the Pig on Seventh Street on July 4...



There's an opening-night party at the 13th Step tonight... I was kindly given an invite to stop by too...



And don't be alarmed to see the Stage closed for awhile...



..they're just taking a summer break...

Same time next year

And from James and Karla Murray, a shot of some East Village fireworks from last night...



[Photo via James and Karla Murray Photography]