123 progress check

Meanwhile, here's 123 Third Ave. from a different angle...





...for no other reason than to simply note the building's progress...

Flashback to May 2008...


[Image via Curbed]

Who here misses the Tanning Zone? Which, I'm surprised, hasn't been used as a bar name .... yet...

Union Square Walgreens not being intimidated by world's largest Duane Reade

Just typing out loud here...

--Walgreens buys Duane Reade...

--Duane Reade opens humongous new store on Union Square

--The Walgreens about 200 feet away on 14th Street and Fourth Avenue is now being remodeled...





There's probably some logic here, which no one really has time to get into... anyway, as you were.

What about Bob?

This tag has appeared in recent days around the neighborhood ... any ideas?




Google wasn't so helpful.

Eat Pray Love Ray's

It kind of rhymes, Eat Pray Love Ray's...



At the World Famous Pee Phone©.

Protecting community gardens: Sunflower Jess climbs a tree and gets arrested

Here's some video of Sunflower Jess getting arrested for climbing a tree in City Hall Park during Time's Up! Harvest Day of Action to Save the Community this morning...



(Here's the press release on the Harvest Day.)

...and here is video of the Paul Revere ride from last Thursday that started in Tompkins Square Park...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Protect our community gardens

Mad hatters and other people in hats

Two worlds seemingly collided in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... so there was The First Annual Massive Mad Hatter's Tea Party ... and one of the great free concerts ...




A reader noted, "Some of the Mad Hatter people were watching the band, but not enthusiastically. ... Anyway, Hot Dog seemed to like it."

Indeed!

Apparently there were more cops on the scene than any other free show in recent memory... (and they weren't there for the tea party...)



I wasn't around yesterday afternoon, but Bob Arihood was there. Many thanks to Bob for passing along the photos in the post ...














Slum Goddess also has some great pictures... and a video! Melanie has some shots too.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

The return of the Scribbler (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

How you can "live richly" on the Bowery (BoweryBoogie)

An outdoor pingpong table for Tompkins Square Park (DNAinfo)

Checking out the LES secret grilled cheese dealer (The Post)

More on Thursday's Paul Revere ride (The New York Times)

"Rosemary's Baby" tonight in Bryant Park (Nonetheless, who also points us to a "Rosemary's Baby" now and then at Scouting New York)

And the Times has a feature on East Village resident Kieran Culkin ... in which the 28-year-old actor drinks at one of his favorite bars — Bar None on Third Avenue... "For the first couple of years, I hated it," Mr. Culkin said of the neighborhood, which he moved to about eight years ago, after leaving his family's Upper West Side apartment. The crowd, he said, was too loud, too obnoxious.

Beauty Crisis is gone now on Seventh Street...


[Thanks to Blue Glass for the photo]

And can TVs get bedbugs? On 10th Street and Avenue A

Bon Vivant reopening as something completely different from Bon Vivant

Thanks to Eater, we now know the fate of the Bon Vivant diner on Broadway near 12th Street:

It's closed for renovations for a month. The potentially bad news for regulars is when it reopens, it will lose its diner atmosphere, have a new name, and focus on "organic foods," according to the owner of the salon next door. Despite all the changes, the restaurant will retain the same owners

.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bad sign at Bon Vivant

And another thing...: An instant classic urban etiquette sign

Spotted on East Third Street near Avenue B.

'Are you going to post this on Facebook?'

No!

Fifth Street near Avenue A.

No sign of life at Bon Vivant

Still no activity at Bon Vivant, the Greek diner on Broadway near 12th Street. The diner, owned several decades by a Greek family, remained shuttered over the weekend... no sign, no explanation... and no answer on their phone...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bad sign at Bon Vivant

Shade for 325 Bowery

Just noting the progress here on the Taavo Somer/William Tigertt diner on the Bowery and Second Street... now with awnings... And I'm not sure about the exact shade of this color here -- vanilla?




Previously on EV Grieve:
325 Bowery gets scrubbed and painted

Bus and bike lane hijinks from the weekend

On First Avenue and Second Avenue...






The obstacles just seem that more apparent with the presence of signs, of course...

Previously.

Noted

Avenue B near Seventh Street.

Two closings: Amaya and Pinisi

Amaya thai eatery on Fourth Street near Avenue B appears to be closed....



Ditto for Pinisi bakery, which opened here on First Avenue near Second Street in May 2009....

Man actually not shot in Tompkins Square Park

From today's NYPD Daily Blotter in the Post:

A bonehead who accidentally shot himself on the Lower East Side was busted after he claimed to have been shot in Tompkins Square Park, authorities said.

Fernando Torres, 62, shot himself in the hand and thigh in his apartment last Sunday at 5 a.m., sources said.

A neighbor told police he saw Torres shove a revolver into a bag along with bloody clothing, which the bumbling triggerman tossed into a garbage bin, cops said.

Torres then walked into Bellevue Hospital and claimed he'd been shot in the park, cops said.

And this may explain why detectives were in Tompkins Square Park last Sunday morning...

Mattress factory

Seems to be a more active move in/move out end-of-month/beginning-of-month period than usual... seems as if more people are moving out than moving in... While walking around yesterday and today, I counted 17 abandoned mattresses... I started taking pictures of them... but you get the idea...







And none of them were marked "bedbugs."

10:11 a.m., Avenue A, Aug. 1

Sunday morning reading

Third Street and Avenue C.