EV Grieve

Monday, August 30, 2010

Crucial corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place now up for grabs, apparently

On May 4, 1988, the Gap opened shop on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, paying a tidy little $33,000 in rent per month... the store closed in 2001... I can't remember what came next... but in recent years the corner has been home to Pizzanini... As East Village Feed reported, they've been closed since Friday... with paper up on the glass...

Can't be easy to make it work with high rents here... and given the $1 competition at 2 Bros...

Anyway, change is certainly coming to the corner... You have the Theatre Condos upstairs.... with the new gaming shop upstairs... Work is under way on the former Andy's Chee Pees location... A worker on the scene said it would be "another store." Hmmm....

Previously on EV Grieve:
Hello again: Revisiting the past of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue

When the Gap moved into the East Village

For further reading:
St. Marks Cinema and Theatre Condos both via Jeremiah's Vanishing NY.

Deitch Wall now with a TWIST

As we noted last Thursday, the Deitch Wall on Houston and The Bowery would soon be home to work by Barry McGee (aka Twist)... As Animal New York reports (via BoweryBoogie), Twist and company began tagging the wall after midnight...

Here it is now...

Per Animal:

"TWIST and company finished the mural that is likely to breed outrage, anarchy and cliché news narratives questioning whether graffiti is art."

Their headline: "Twist's Completed Masterpiece."

Agreed!

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Everything that you need to know about the upcoming Howl Festival (East Village Howler)

An EV Grieve reader launches a new blog — check it out (Map of the Sidewalk)

Did Shaoul build another too-tall building in the East Village? (The Real Deal)

Chico's John Lennon mural painted over on Avenue B (BoweryBoogie)

Interesting — the Angelika Film Center has closed in Houston, Texas (29 95)

Exploring the former Novelty District (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Charlie Parker Festival organizers didn't allow photographers/residents to take photos upfront (East Village Corner - Melanie)

Photos from Saturday's free show in TSP (Slum Goddess)

Mafia Wars cleans up its money litter (East Village Feed)

And a reader sent along a photo of a rooftop videogame party or something on Avenue A from Saturday night...

Extra Place now mostly graffiti free, though the toilet remains

In recent weeks, I've been taking photos of the graffiti along Extra Place, the aspiring Left Bank/pedestrian mall of the East Village...

I'm glad that I did this... because most of the graffiti was all just scrubbed away...

...however, the doorway that serves as a small shelter... where, depending on the day, you can find used condoms and needles, is still in use as a toilet...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Meanwhile, Extra Place continues to maintain its proud heritage

Perhaps he just saw Extra Place for the first time in 15 years or so?

The Chocolate Wars (well, not at all, but we needed something that sounds CONTROVERSIAL)

Giving Extra Place the warm, comfortable feel of suburbia

Looking at Extra Place

The mystery of the mysterious pylons in the Mystery Lot

Even the slightest activity in the Mystery Lot here on 13th Street always prompts the fear... So, now, what to think of these pylons....

... perhaps in place to mark a new construction project?

When did American Apparel start selling Levi's?

Dunno, something American Apparel-y about this new Levi's ad campaign that is seemingly up in about 400 spots throughout the East Village (and elsewhere...)

13th Street and Avenue A. All shapes and sizes?

Rhong Tiam keeping hopes alive; making for good advertising space

The former Rhong Tiam here at Second Avenue and Fifth Street continues to provide entertainment...

Meanwhile, the folks next door at Second Avenue ~~Del~~i Grocery...

...figure they can expand their advertising on that not-in-use-for-the-moment Rhong Tiam space....

DBGB soft launches its new sidewalk cafe

A remnant of the pre Bowery 2.0...

Verizon's Second Avenue parking monopoly

Second Avenue at 13th Street. At least they're not parking in the bike lanes....

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Blondie bemoans the scene; talks haunted Bowery homes

The Post features Blondie in its latest "My New York" feature.

One way or another, new wave icon Blondie has retained their punk aesthetic since banding together 35 years ago. Founders (and former lovers) Deborah Harry, 65, and Chris Stein, 60, bemoan the demise of grass-roots stomping grounds such as CBGB and Mother. “The whole nature of culture in New York has really taken a nose dive, basically,” says Harry, a longtime Chelsea resident. “It’s much harder for musicians and artists to do what they do without really having to scuffle.”

The two also talk about one of their early homes...

266 Bowery, between Prince and Houston streets
Stein: “We lived there for three years [in the 1970s].”
Harry: “We always thought it was haunted.”
Stein: “It definitely had poltergeists. There would be knocking on the walls, things falling down that weren’t related to any activity. It’s subtle stuff, but all the standard poltergeist nonsense went on there.”

The area around 266 is still haunted, though for different reasons....

Blondie plays the Nokia Theatre Tuesday night.

[266 Bowery via Flickr]

Live Team Coverage of NYU Move-In Day continues

Traffic is fucked (can I say that on the air?) on Third Avenue, basically. The avenue is ripped off on the south lanes from 13th Street down to 11th Street. Our advice: AVOID THIS AREA AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT.

Otherwise! Orderly enough....

Not a big fan of the Move-In Day catchphrase....

If you follow this, then you may amend it to: Stop. Drop. Go. File Police Report.

And, in case you were thinking of going, for some reason, to BB&B today...

AVOID THIS AREA AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Live team coverage of NYU Move-In Day starts NOW

"In many ways, we can see a reflection of ourselves in them — though many people wouldn’t say that"

I spend a lot of time over at Crustypunks ... which I wrote about earlier this summer... The site is the work of Steven Hirsh, a photographer and East Village resident who teaches at Pratt ... In The Villager this week, Lincoln Anderson pens an in-depth look at Hirsch's site...

As well as sympathizing with the crusties, Hirsch ardently opposes gentrification.

“My opinion — the grungier, the better,” he said. “I don’t want the neighborhood to be yuppiefied like Carroll Gardens. When the place is like a movie set, where it’s so pristine, so sterile — it makes me want to puke.

“I’m an old-timer. People like me, we like this,” he said. “The park is funky. The park is cool. Does it offend yuppies? Maybe. I don’t know, I don’t care. They offend me. They caused rents to go up here to $2,500 or $3,000.”

Hirsch continues to add to his “Crusty Punks” blog, regularly posting new photos and profiles. In the end, the blog offers a window into a little-understood subculture, humanizing a group that many would choose to otherwise ignore or avoid.

“My opinion of them changed during the project,” he said. “I have a lot more respect for them. They have a lot to say, a lot of strength in their belief and doing what they do.

“They really show the humanity everybody has,” he said. “A lot of them are troubled, and that’s indicative of many people in society. In many ways, we can see a reflection of ourselves in them — though many people wouldn’t say that.”