Skylarking

A shot to end the weekend from Blue Glass... taken on 10th Street...

Seems like 4:41

10th Street along Tompkins Square Park. And I'll keep making that Daylight Savings joke.

"He possessed knowledge that most people don't even come across today"

Las week, we passed along that sad news that Howard O'Brien, a longtime bartender at Sophie's, had died after an eight-month battle with cancer.

Patrick Hedlund has a lovely feature on Howard at DNAinfo:

When friends came to clean out the apartment of Howard O'Brien, the longtime neighborhood bartender who passed away last week, they found his Yale University master's degree diploma still rolled up in its original packaging.

Friends said that was typical for a man who, despite his extensive education and vast accomplishments, chose to spend nearly 25 years behind the bar at Sophie's on East 5th Street, one of the last true local haunts left in the East Village.

"Maybe he took it out to look at it once and then put it back in the tube. That's how nonchalant he was about something like that," said Bob Corton, 57, the founder and former owner of Sophie's, who grew up with O'Brien in Westchester and helped empty his East 3rd Street apartment last week.

"He possessed knowledge that most people don't even come across today."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Howard O'Brien, 1954-2010

Lost and Found

I found a pair of men's Hanes underwear on Avenue C near 10th Street. I tried them on, but they didn't fit. So if these are yours, just let me know!

9:02 a.m. or 10:02 a.m., Second Avenue, Nov. 7

Booze beat for the LES?

The Post has this "exclusive" item today:

Fed up with drunken antics on the Lower East Side, a neighborhood business association hopes to get off-duty cops to walk what would essentially be the city's first booze beat.

If approved by the NYPD, the moonlighting crime fighters -- in uniform -- would patrol the beer-soaked lanes between Houston and Delancey streets Thursday nights and on weekends.

They wouldn't be permitted to work inside or at the front doors of the many local gin mills, but they could lasso sidewalk lushes.

"We think having a cop on the beat . . . would really help nightlife establishments be quieter and safer," said Lower East Side Business Improvement District Executive Director Bob Zuckerman.

The Post also managed to speak to one person opposed to this idea.

And barflies voiced concern that the off-duty cops could become the fun police.

"This is a noisy city," music writer Nicole Wasilewicz, 25, said outside Pianos on Ludlow Street. "You come here to make some noise."

[Image via]

5C Cultural Center and Cafe needs support

The owners of 5C Cultural Center & Cafe at Avenue C and Fifth Street are back in court Wednesday to battle being evicted by their landlord... they can use some support...Willie Mack will be playing some Harlem-based jazz there tonight at 8. $5 cover.

Noted

Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place. Somehow, I still find this confusing.

One Fall day

Noted

Earlier today.. I really don't know what was happening. But I was taught early on that you always take a photo of large tow trucks going the wrong way. Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

Roastown Coffee opens Tuesday

If you walked by the corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, then you saw the Roastown Coffee all dandied up and ready for action... the signs out front say the place opens Tuesday...

Get the lead out

Uh, how did I miss this story? From the Journal:

A test of dozens of New York City homes with older pipes found that at least 14% of the collected samples contained elevated levels of lead, New York City's Department of Environmental Protection reported Tuesday.

So you're suposed to run the water for 30 seconds before drinking it and stuff.

I have not done this... Yet, with all this extra lead, I still can't finish the Times crossword puzzle! [BOOOOOOOOOOOO!]

Anyway. Get the Led out.

You're a... hexbreaker (dream maker? love taker?)

A tweet earlier today by our friend Bryan Waterman put us in the mood for The Fleshtones. From 1983.

Noted

16 Handles on Second Avenue now delivering FroYo. What about the people living east of Avenue B?

Photo of the week

I love this shot that appears in The East Villager this week by J.B. Nicholas. The caption: "Rosario Dawson, standing next to Speaker Sheldon Silver, couldn’t restrain her enthusiasm at the groundbreaking for the new Lower Eastside Girls Club headquarters."

I was trying to think of a funny headline for it, but, well, ended up with Photo of the Week. D-

Everything must go

Blue Glass sent along this rather sad Craigslist ad...

Lost My Apartment - Selling Everything Cheap - $25 (East Village)
Date: 2010-11-04, 3:56PM EDT

Landlord destabilized my apartment and I could no longer afford it. What to get rid of stuff that I'll never use: dresser, wicker parson's chair, ornamental hanging globes, lamp. Everything is stored in a facility on 10th Street at Avenue D. Elevator and dollies available. Would like things gone by the weekend.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

A visit to the new Coal Yard (A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars ....)

Rally to save Ruby's tomorrow! (Amusing the Zillion)

No leads in after last week's attempted child abduction on East Sixth Street (The East Villager)

Celebrating the Bowery events (Bowery Alliance of Neighbors)

Starting next week: MIX 23: The 2010 New York Queer Experimental Film
Festival (Mix 23)

Enjoying some Funkadelic circa 1973 (Flaming Pablum)

Can you reinvent yourself online? (The Grumbler)

The renovation of 118 E. First St. (BoweryBoogie)

When the Kardashians open a store (Racked)

A Bleecker-born Beat (Ephemeral New York)

Bedbugs invade city schools (Daily News)

And a recent East Village rental roundup via NearSay:

• Around 185 available listings of all sizes/prices
• Average rent is ~ $2,900/mo. $1,925 for studios, $2,600 for 1BRs, $3,350 for 2BRs, $3,900 for 3BRs, $4,195 for 4BRs, $4,210 for a loft (excluding an outlying $19,000 loft)

Max's Kansas City and CBGB live! Sort of!

So this explains why we always saw so many empty bottles on Extra Place...

Thanks to a post this morning at Eater... we now know about Extra Place by Max's Kansas City. Per the website:

Almost 30 years have passed since the cultural institution Max’s Kansas City closed its doors. Andy Warhol once stated that it was “the exact place where pop art met pop life,” while William S. Burroughs credited it as “the intersection of it all.” However, its legacy lives on as the focal point of art, music, and fashion. Inspired by this history, the Max's Kansas City Co. opened Extra Place in January of 2010 as a venue for live music and exclusive private events. Located beneath the former home of CBGB, with an entrance on the storied alley Extra Pl. (off of 1st Street between the Bowery and 2nd Avenue), Extra Place by the Max's Kansas City Company revives the debaucherous and creative history that made the location so legendary. The Max’s Kansas City company renews these hallowed grounds by establishing Extra Place, a venue for the industries of art, music, and fashion.

Papa John's unleashes its new delivery car for the East Village

Good news from Otto's Shrunken Head

Co-owner Nell Mellon dropped us a note last night with an update on the progress at Otto's Shrunken Head, the 14th Street mainstay that suffered a fire early on Oct. 24...

"Last week we worked really long days/nights to get the front open on Saturday (Oct 30). Lots of support and hard work from staff and regulars helped tremendously! We are back to normal operating hours in the front. And we are hustling in the back. We hope to have the backroom ready for the weekend November 19th. Keep your fingers crossed!"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Assessing the damage at Otto's Shrunken Head

Breaking: Early-morning fire at Otto's Shrunken Head