Mysteries of our time — solved!

I like Colin Moynihan's piece in the Times today about Momo's 8-mile-long tag throughout the city... You've seen it...And probably already knew who was responsible for it.... I didn't realize it was such a mystery. Still, a good recap. Per the article:

Although it has existed for four years, the paint line has escaped most people’s notice. And among those who have paused to register its presence, few have probably spent much time contemplating its origin. It is, after all, just a simple bit of paint: one more arcane marking in an urban landscape filled with street art and random splashings; a small-caliber mystery in a big city rich with secrets.

“The orange drip that flows through the East Village,” Sharon Jane Smith, 57, mused on Sunday as she gazed at the section of the line that meandered past her East Village shop, A Repeat Performance, on First Avenue near East 10th Street. “I have no idea where that orange drip came from."

Best Roof Talk Ever has more on Momo here.

And here is the video Momo made about the project...

Welcome to the Mary Help of Christians flea market

I'll go back later....but it's on.

The Mary Help of Christians Church Flea Market returns today

EV Grieve reader Shawn Chittle sent along this photo from yesterday afternoon... prep work for The Mary Help of Christians Church Flea Market, which returns today to 11th Street and Avenue A...



If you swing by, then let me know how it is... good stuff? Total crap? Drugs? Porn?

There must be something wrong boys

The Chameleons / The Chameleons UK, from 1983. For no reason.

More Howl!

Many of the Howl! Festival's high-profile events took place last weekend in Tompkins Square Park... However, there are plenty of other events left this month... all the way to Sept. 30... Check out the Howl! site... and East Village Howler for more details...

Speaking of last weekend... Here are some Art Around the Park photos from Minnie Romanovich... via her Flickr...





...and Stacie Joy captured some of the performers in the Park ...


Vangeline Theatre (Butoh)


Tigger!


Heather Litteer and the Tickled Pinks


Dirty Martini


Brown Girls Burlesque (Grandma Fun and Dame Chuchifrita)


Joey Arias and Sherry Vine


Tigger!


End of show with the whole group

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

No (for now) to Grimaldis at 352 Bowery (Eater)

At arm's length at the World Famous Pee Phone© (Nadie Se Conoce)

A slice of Old Town life (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Remembering the Cheyenne and the Moondance (The Gog Log)

Naked ice cream boy mannequin in Chinatown (With Leftovers)

Smell like Lady Gaga (BoweryBoogie)

I always like Melanie's photos (East Village Corner…Musings By MELANIE)

Slum Goddess channels... Billy Idol? (Slum Goddess)

New fall menu at 6th Street Kitchen (EV Eats)

Why Grand Street will be torn up for five years (The Lo-Down)

Here's a new website to check out — Why Are You on My Train? Telling subways stories (Why Are You on My Train?)

Also, if you need a dog prison... saw this in the trash the other day..."Your dog's home for life"?

A day in the life of First Avenue and 10th Street

Via EV Grieve First Avenue correspondent Blue Glass.

Bedlam brings the stars to 'a relatively dingy, run-down neighborhood'

[Photo via the Voice]

Well, Black Book has a press release feature on Bedlam, the new venture from Eastern Bloc's Benjamin Maisani. Here are some passages for you:

What used to be a dingy, run-down bar in a relatively dingy, run-down neighborhood has transformed into a posh lounge destined to draw crowds to Avenue C. Bedlam, named after the first insane asylum in London, opened its doors this past week, offering a new hang-out spot for those who like to feel old-world in a modern way. Non-crazies Sara Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Anderson Cooper, Solange Knowles, and Alan Cumming made it to the opening fete earlier this week. The new bar and lounge captures the mood of late 19th-century parlor life — think Edith Wharton or Robert Louis Stevenson.

And!

Thankfully Bedlam isn’t a showy, out-of-place jewel box of smartness; the flavor of the neighborhood and the former space is retained with the exposed brick wall and original, red vinyl benches. The back room—slated to host private events—still features 40C’s generous-sized bathroom and skylight (in addition to—surprise!—more animal heads).

And!

Creative cocktails like the Sagamore House — named after Teddy Roosevelt’s country house — will be available for whoever’s feeling fancy, but the average hipster can still order their Bud. The new bar has also plucked some top DJs from well-known establishments like Santos, Heathers, Le Bain at the Standard, and the former Mister Black, so expect — dare I say it — bedlam.

OK! Will take some time to process all this. Meanwhile, you may have some comments.

Previously on EV Grieve:
40 Avenue C getting another renovation

Anderson Cooper's boyfriend opening 19th-century cocktail bar on Avenue C

AWKWORD in 'The People's Champ,' co-starring the Mars Bar

Our friend AWKWORD passed along his new video for “The People’s Champ” shot with DJ Vlad’s Monstar Films team outside the Mars Bar and on Extra Place. (Back earlier this summer when Extra Place still had graffiti.)

Katie Holmes dines at 'Northern Sea Food Co.'

This image and copy came in over the transom from some media outlet:

Katie Holmes and her companion stop off for lunch at Northern Sea Food Co. in the East Village. Katie was flanked by security at all times which left autograph hunters frustrated. The pair were on their way home from the Calvin Klein fashion show in NYC.

Mmmm! Must check out this Northern Sea Food Co. place!

Meanwhile, Katie may want to try Northern Spy at the same location.

Lightning strike at The Ludlow?

Zap! GammaBlog has some incredible video from last night's storm... Did lightning strike the Ludlow? (Top photo from GammaBlog's Flickr; whole thing via Curbed)



In any event, I'm hoping that the Bethenny Frankel statue atop The Ludlow wasn't damaged...

New sidewalk shed at St. Brigid's brings an end to shelter for travelers

Last week, to meet the demands of the continued renovations, workers put in a new sidewalk shed on the Eighth Street side of St. Brigid's... the structure takes up most of the sidewalk now...



During August, before the expanded sidewalk shed, several travelers would camp out here at night ...



Last month, I spoke with several regular East Village travelers... they all told me that the NYPD had suddenly cracked down on them like never before... and, according to them, the police said that this area by the under-renovation church was OK for them to sleep... and that Tompkins Square Park was "strictly forbidden."

There was some talk of increased gang activity... with the travelers being the target of the violence...

By now, though, most of the travelers have already moved on as usual this time of the year... just a handful remain.... In any event, the new sidewalk shed would keep them from sleeping alongside St. Brigid's...

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about this image early one Friday morning in August... I was out around 6:30 a.m., and came across this young woman asleep on the front steps of an apartment building on Seventh Street... In my 10-second assessment, I could tell that she wasn't part of the travelers scene... and she also wasn't someone who got locked out of her apartment... She seemed so vulnerable ... I felt a little cheap for taking a photo... Still, I wonder what the story was...

First fines levied for 2 Cooper pool party

Figures! Two guests per unit, people!

Previously on EV Grieve:
'Draconian regulations' for 2 Coop's pool and club

The perfect accessory for weekend nights out in the East Village

Homemade mask spotted on 10th Street.

The one sidewalk table you may not want at Westville East

On 11th Street... and to think the eatery was going to have even more tables out here...

Related reading: The Worst Outdoor Seating In New York (Eater)

On second thought...Rhong Tiam the Sequel not likely happening

JUST the other night, the former Rhong Tiam space on Second Avenue and Fifth Street was all lit up...

'

A worker on the scene said that they'd be reopening next month...

THEN! Last evening, while walking by, "for rent" signs had gone up...

Where the old Bowery fetishists will be this weekend

At the Film Forum for "On the Bowery," the 1956 documentary directed by Lionel Rogosin.



Our friends at This Ain't the Summer of Love have more on the film here.

It's electric

Wow. The talented and amazing James and Karla Murray took this storm shot this evening over the East Village...

The wrath of CAAN

This just arrived in our inbox from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP):

The Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031 (CAAN 2031) — a coalition of community groups GVSHP helped found to respond to NYU’s massive development plans following the suspension of the Borough President’s Community Task Force on NYU — continues to grow. CAAN 2031 continues to urge elected officials and the local Community Board, which will be voting or weighing in on NYU’s plans, not to approve or support zoning changes or landmarks approvals NYU is seeking which would negatively impact the character of our neighborhoods. CAAN 2031 has also written to various city officials urging that the public green space on Bleecker, Mercer, and West 3rd Streets and LaGuardia Place which NYU is asking be given to it for development as part of its NYU 2031 Expansion plan be turned into permanent public parkland (read the letter HERE).

CAAN 2031 now also has a website, which you can visit HERE. Both the CAAN 2031 website and GVSHP’s NYU webpage now also have useful documents including a summary of the NYU 2031 Land Use proposals, NYU’s Overview of their 2031 Expansion Plan, and NYU’s History of the development of and regulations governing the superblocks, which they are seeking to dramatically change.

On Monday, Community Board #2’s Zoning and Institutions Committee will be holding a joint public hearing on the NYU 2031 plan and the various zoning, land use, and landmarks approvals NYU is seeking for nine blocks east and south of Washington Square, to allow an additional 2 million square feet (the equivalent of the Empire State Building) of development there.

HOW TO HELP:

* Come to the Community Board #2 Public Hearing on the NYU 2031 Plan on Monday at 6:30 pm at PS 41, 116 West 11th Street, and speak during the public session regarding the serious problems with the NYU plan and the viable alternatives the University, Community Board, and elected officials should be considering.

By the way, the CAAN site included a link to video from NYU move-in day this past Aug. 29...

[Updated] Aces and Eights temporarily shuttered on Avenue A

Thanks to an EV Grieve reader for this shot... apparently Aces & Eights on Avenue A was shut down yesterday by the Health Department... One source said the bar was cited by the DOH last night for not having the proper paperwork... and that Aces & Eights would reopen next week.... Meanwhile, the source noted that the ownership has changed hands.... the people behind the Aces & Eights uptown are no longer involved here... which means that you can expect a name change one of these days ...

[Updated] The Lo-Down has more on the shuttered Aces & Eights:

[T]he bar never obtained permission to open its doors, according to city officials.

On Tuesday, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shuttered the 18-month old watering hole for lack of a valid operating permit. It had been cited for the same violation in April 2010, and ordered not to reopen until the permit was issued, according to the health department’s public affairs office.

Uh, oops?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Aces & Eight GM offers some clarification on previous posts, comments