At Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place. Today is the grand opening. If you try it, please drop me a comment...
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Get Roasted!: Roastown Coffee is now open
At Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place. Today is the grand opening. If you try it, please drop me a comment...
A bicycle thief
Here's a partial narrative from a 7 year old recounting how his bicycle was stolen on Seventh Street... via @XoomNYC
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition
Broken water pipe shuts down 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (DNAinfo)
The mall-ification of NYC continues (The Post)
The online video series The City Concealed kicks off with a look at Swing Street (Thirteen.org)
An "evening" with Sheryl Lee Ralph via 1984 East Village (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
Something new and swanky for Ludlow Street (BoweryBoogie)
CB2's turn to question new NYU tower (Curbed)
Honoring the longtime manager at Russ & Daughters (The Lo-Down)
At the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge (aka, RIP)
In his post yesterday on the documentary "New York Dive," Jeremiah linked to a Brownstoner item that the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge on Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn had recently been shuttered and gutted.
This was news to me.
Sure enough, the Times had an item about it on Sunday:
I've heard about the bar through the years — in rather mythical proportions, too. Sketchy! Dangerous! Anything goes! Quite the legend. In any event, I had never taken the time to go. Navy Yard had been on the endangered list since the building first hit the market in February 2009, as Grub Street reported.
I did make it out there a few times this year with the long-lost Intern of EV Grieve. I planned to write about it one of these days, though never got around to it seeing as it was far off the usual EVG beat. Didn't realize that the post would be an obituary.
The first thing I remember seeing walking up to the bar — just across the street.
Anyway, at first glance inside the Navy Yard, the place seems like your average rundown neighborhood bar. A few regulars are milling about, playing pool. The bartender is cordial. (I'm sort of blending the different trips into one post here....it was always the same.) WBLS is on a little too loudly on the radio. The TV is also on seemingly just as loud — one of those CBS shows that I've never watched on Thursday nights. (CSINCS?)
Eventually around 10 p.m., a lot more women are suddenly in the bar... they walk in, talk with the bartender, spend a lot of time in the women's room. Soon, there are anywhere from five to 10 women va-va-va-vooming around in lingerie, bikinis, etc. Oh! They're all very outgoing, especially when there are just two of you in the bar.
Every few minutes Delicious or Cinnamon or Diamond walks up and asks again if you'd like a dance. No thanks! Two minutes later... There's not much of a chance of sitting here for, say, a few hours drinking without purchasing a $10 dance. (And they don't have change for a $20, oddly enough.) So just sit there in your stool at the bar for the lapdance and wonder why Laurence Fishburne decided to do CSINCS.
There's steady drinking. No one is smashed. It's not amateur hour. There's a no-nonsense, studied drinking going on. I always expect it to get fratastic, though that never happens these nights.
I wanted to take some photos of the dancers, though thought better of it. I think Steve is giving me funny looks down the way. I did take some more innocuous photos.
I asked the Intern of EV Grieve for his notes too:
• The drink list: Thug Passion, Incredible Hulk (which a dancer told me is "sweet")
• The old school kitchen refrigerators
• Approximately 8 security monitors
• Pool table, punching bag machine and the stage that they only use for "special occasions"
• A sign behind the bar that listed prices for top, middle and bottom shelves, literally
• The bathroom has a super-long corridor with mirror in the corner, I guess so you can see if you're about to be stabbed or raided by the cops
• There was a posted time limit on the bathroom doors. Two minutes? And I think a no-gambling sign.
• 23 and over to enter... two-drink minimum.
• The tile floor
• The wood paneling
"God that place is great," the intern said.
Yes, was.
Incidentally, the item on the Navy Yard from the Sunday Times ran with a piece on The Fetch Club, "a haven for pampered pooches, fills a space where Fulton Fish Market smells once wafted. There is certainly no odor in this deluxe dormitory for dogs — the air is ionized and purified. The water is filtered, and the food is organic."
In the paper's Chronicle of a Changing City feature. Changing, indeed.
This was news to me.
Sure enough, the Times had an item about it on Sunday:
The Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge, a dive at Flushing and Washington Avenues opposite an entrance to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, was a bastion of grit. Scantily clad dancers would gyrate for tips as patrons sipped inexpensive drinks and shot pool. But the area has become more upscale, and when the building with the bar was sold, said Steve Frankel, who owned the bar for 11 years, the lounge’s days were over. “That bar was a real-deal place, built in 1907, and now they’ve gutted it,” he said. “All that history down the drain.”
I've heard about the bar through the years — in rather mythical proportions, too. Sketchy! Dangerous! Anything goes! Quite the legend. In any event, I had never taken the time to go. Navy Yard had been on the endangered list since the building first hit the market in February 2009, as Grub Street reported.
I did make it out there a few times this year with the long-lost Intern of EV Grieve. I planned to write about it one of these days, though never got around to it seeing as it was far off the usual EVG beat. Didn't realize that the post would be an obituary.
The first thing I remember seeing walking up to the bar — just across the street.
Anyway, at first glance inside the Navy Yard, the place seems like your average rundown neighborhood bar. A few regulars are milling about, playing pool. The bartender is cordial. (I'm sort of blending the different trips into one post here....it was always the same.) WBLS is on a little too loudly on the radio. The TV is also on seemingly just as loud — one of those CBS shows that I've never watched on Thursday nights. (CSINCS?)
Eventually around 10 p.m., a lot more women are suddenly in the bar... they walk in, talk with the bartender, spend a lot of time in the women's room. Soon, there are anywhere from five to 10 women va-va-va-vooming around in lingerie, bikinis, etc. Oh! They're all very outgoing, especially when there are just two of you in the bar.
Every few minutes Delicious or Cinnamon or Diamond walks up and asks again if you'd like a dance. No thanks! Two minutes later... There's not much of a chance of sitting here for, say, a few hours drinking without purchasing a $10 dance. (And they don't have change for a $20, oddly enough.) So just sit there in your stool at the bar for the lapdance and wonder why Laurence Fishburne decided to do CSINCS.
There's steady drinking. No one is smashed. It's not amateur hour. There's a no-nonsense, studied drinking going on. I always expect it to get fratastic, though that never happens these nights.
I wanted to take some photos of the dancers, though thought better of it. I think Steve is giving me funny looks down the way. I did take some more innocuous photos.
I asked the Intern of EV Grieve for his notes too:
• The drink list: Thug Passion, Incredible Hulk (which a dancer told me is "sweet")
• The old school kitchen refrigerators
• Approximately 8 security monitors
• Pool table, punching bag machine and the stage that they only use for "special occasions"
• A sign behind the bar that listed prices for top, middle and bottom shelves, literally
• The bathroom has a super-long corridor with mirror in the corner, I guess so you can see if you're about to be stabbed or raided by the cops
• There was a posted time limit on the bathroom doors. Two minutes? And I think a no-gambling sign.
• 23 and over to enter... two-drink minimum.
• The tile floor
• The wood paneling
"God that place is great," the intern said.
Yes, was.
Incidentally, the item on the Navy Yard from the Sunday Times ran with a piece on The Fetch Club, "a haven for pampered pooches, fills a space where Fulton Fish Market smells once wafted. There is certainly no odor in this deluxe dormitory for dogs — the air is ionized and purified. The water is filtered, and the food is organic."
In the paper's Chronicle of a Changing City feature. Changing, indeed.
Own a 'Bird's nest in the sky' on East Second Street
Wow. I've seen a few listings for East Village penthouses in my time... and this one at 213 E. Second St. just east of Avenue B could be one the more awesomer (awesomest?) one yet ... The unit hit Streeteasy yesterday for $2.3 million.
Deep breaths as you prep to stomach the listing:
Got all that about the neighborhood? Anyway, a few more views for you...
According to Streeteasy, Corcoran first listed this home in November 2008 for $3.1 million. After a 24 percent price cut in the next few months, the home was removed from the market. Prudential Elliman then had the listing, which it posted in May 2009 for $2.45 million.
The other unit in the building is available for $2 million.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Million dollar condos hit the market on East Second Street
Deep breaths as you prep to stomach the listing:
CARRIAGE HOUSE CONDOMINIUM #8... the BIRDS NEST IN THE SKY... a 4 Level Townhouse Condominium... 3 BEDROOM SUITES/ 4 BATHS, each a private domain with a view of the Empire State Building from every floor. On the top floor, the LIVING and ENTERTAINMENT LEVEL is flooded with SUNLIGHT from glass walls, glass roof and hidden light sources. Perched above... the INDOOR/OUTDOOR SOLARIUM with BATH and MAGNIFICENT MIDTOWN VIEWS and an adjoining PRIVATE TERRACE with a HIDDEN STAIR TO COMPLETELY PRIVATE ROOF with 180 degree exposure. All for the discriminating and esoteric-by-nature purchaser. CARRIAGE HOUSE CONDOMINIUM in the heart of the historic EAST VILLAGE...steps from the BOWERY HOTEL and the NEW MUSEUM...blocks from WHOLE FOODS...SCHILLERS LIQUOR BAR and THE HOTEL ON RIVINGTON...landscape to the cultural and artistic movements of the 20th century, now transformed into the hippest neighborhood and burgeoning new art district.
Got all that about the neighborhood? Anyway, a few more views for you...
According to Streeteasy, Corcoran first listed this home in November 2008 for $3.1 million. After a 24 percent price cut in the next few months, the home was removed from the market. Prudential Elliman then had the listing, which it posted in May 2009 for $2.45 million.
The other unit in the building is available for $2 million.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Million dollar condos hit the market on East Second Street
Noted
A reader passed along this photo outside the new deli on Avenue B and Fourth Street. And presented without comment.
Psychic continues First Avenue sidewalk office expansion
We've been keeping tabs on the First Avenue psychic's growing sidewalk empire here next to Coyote Ugly.... check out these photos by First Avenue correspondent Blue Glass ...
Early October!
A little later!
This week!
As Blue Glass notes, "When she gets a couch — watch out!"
Early October!
A little later!
This week!
As Blue Glass notes, "When she gets a couch — watch out!"
Monday, November 8, 2010
Introducing EV Transitions
Well, apparently all that time EV Grieve regular Pinhead spent on the NYPL archives is being put to good use for our benefit! Check out EV Transitions, Pinhead's newly launched blog. Per the description:
Call it "Streetscapes Lite," after Christopher Gray's column in the Sunday NY Times. I apply my full geek powers and talent for time-wasting to researching the history of locations and buildings and other places in my neighborhood that I find interesting.
Meanwhile, EV Grieve, EV Heave and EV Lambo have all collectively sued Pinhead for violating our EV copyright!
Kidding... I love the site... though it will be better once he gets that full liquor license...
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition
Here comes Walmart, again (Crain's)
An early look at the "New York Dive" documentary (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
Saying goodbye to Ruby's (The Brooklyn Paper ... Amusing the Zillion has more coverage. ... ditto for Grub Street)
An Eighth Street video now and then (Flaming Pablum)
Protesting against an NYU tower (Curbed)
About that boyfriend-stealing Lady Gaga (Runnin' Scared)
A drink at Nice Guy Eddie's (Eater)
At the SPURA rally (BoweryBoogie)
EV Lambo's Midtown friend (Stupefaction)
And from [jdx] — extra place, squared
Cafe Hanover closed on St. Mark's
EV Grieve reader Ryan notes that the ginormous, 24-hour Cafe Hanover in the old Mondo Kim's space is closed right now...
The state already seized the then-two-month-old Cafe back in July.
Previously on EV Grieve:
2U (or U2) Karaoke is now open on St. Mark's Place; Hanover Cafe coming soon
The state already seized the then-two-month-old Cafe back in July.
Previously on EV Grieve:
2U (or U2) Karaoke is now open on St. Mark's Place; Hanover Cafe coming soon
What is taking over the Superdive space
The owner of the former Aces and Eights space at 34 Avenue A isn't the only person reaching out to the neighborhood.
Signs are up now at the Superdive space. The new owners of the space are on this month's CB3/SLA docket.
As you can see, the new owners want to meet the neighborhood tonight — with promises of cider and pastries. I sent Han Kao an e-mail Saturday morning asking for more details on what people can expect here, though he didn't respond.
However, a neighborhood power broker tells me the new owners are thinking something nouveau American cuisiney but aren't going to commit to anything until they meet with the neighborhood. The resident says while the new owners sound friendly enough, nearby neighbors would love a business that doesn't require a liquor license. One resident along Avenue A asked, "Why can't the landlord bring in a Yoga/Meditation center with a juice bar?" Noted another neighbor: "Great idea. Wrong lifetime."
Signs are up now at the Superdive space. The new owners of the space are on this month's CB3/SLA docket.
As you can see, the new owners want to meet the neighborhood tonight — with promises of cider and pastries. I sent Han Kao an e-mail Saturday morning asking for more details on what people can expect here, though he didn't respond.
However, a neighborhood power broker tells me the new owners are thinking something nouveau American cuisiney but aren't going to commit to anything until they meet with the neighborhood. The resident says while the new owners sound friendly enough, nearby neighbors would love a business that doesn't require a liquor license. One resident along Avenue A asked, "Why can't the landlord bring in a Yoga/Meditation center with a juice bar?" Noted another neighbor: "Great idea. Wrong lifetime."
An Avenue A now and then
Well, we continue to look through through the New York Public Library photo archives... EV Grieve reader Lambert Jack sent along these shots...
Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street from 1937...
...and today...
For more on the old Hollywood Theater, check out this post.
And facing south on Avenue A at Sixth Street from 1941...
....and today...
Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A
Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street from 1937...
...and today...
For more on the old Hollywood Theater, check out this post.
And facing south on Avenue A at Sixth Street from 1941...
....and today...
Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A
The Mission Cafe has closed
Back in August, I noted that the Mission Cafe on Second Avenue was for sale... Perhaps the sale went through: The Mission is now closed.
But, as the sign on the gate says, you can hit their big sister cafe across the Avenue...
But, as the sign on the gate says, you can hit their big sister cafe across the Avenue...
Mary Ann's remains closed
Last week, I noticed that Mary Ann's on Second Avenue at Fifth had been closed for "renovations." The place was expected to reopen Thursday, per their sign...
However, Mary Ann's remained closed during the weekend....
Here's a look inside on Sunday...
Dunno what this current closure is all about... As you may recall back in March, the state seized the restaurant for nonpayment of taxes...
However, Mary Ann's remained closed during the weekend....
Here's a look inside on Sunday...
Dunno what this current closure is all about... As you may recall back in March, the state seized the restaurant for nonpayment of taxes...
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