More on the future of Polonia

On Monday, we posted an interview 22-year-old Paul Jurczyk, who bought Polonia from his parents. With a new chef, Jurczyk has been modernizing the traditional Polish eatery on First Avenue...

The post elicited many negative comments from readers... Jurczyk followed up with a comment of his own that I thought was worth making a separate post...

Hi everyone, I feel like most of you have misunderstood what I was trying to say. I have no plans, whatsoever, of trying to scare off Polonia's long time patrons. I have become very well acquainted with many of them and would be sad to see them not come back. I have been frequenting Polonia since before I could walk. Many of these patrons have watched me grow up.

Everyone seems to be focusing on my "hoping that the old customers which really enjoy to nag and complain will find somewhere more suitable to their liking" comment. I did not mean to say that the older customers are naggers and would rather not have any of the older customers come in anymore. What I meant was that I have some customers (not all or even majority) which have been coming to Polonia for decades and prefer it the way it was before and make a point to tell not only myself but all my servers how much they dislike the changes.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If you do not like what I am doing that is fine — I do like the changes that I am making and most of my customers also like the changes. What doesn't make sense to me is why these patrons keep coming back and keep complaining. I won't be changing Polonia back to a diner. If you enjoy eating at diners (which I don't mind once in a while) then go eat at a diner, but please don't come in and tell me that you rather have Polonia as a diner. Its frustrating to have to listen to these complaints and frankly I find them to be a bit rude. I promise I am not changing things around just to annoy the long time customers.

Also, I in no way meant to criticize the original owners, my parents. What they did was great. They came here without a penny and created a business that was able to put my sisters and me through school. I know more than any of you how much time, work and hardships it took my parents to do what they did. My father worked seven days a week for fifteen years — I barely saw him. They did all this for my sisters and me and believe me, I appreciate all of it.

I am trying to make sure that Polonia stays afloat and doesn't disappear entirely like the many of the local spots have. Whether you like the changes or not depends on your taste and each person is allowed their own opinion. Hopefully you can all stay a bit open minded — maybe you'll find that you like Polonia better now than before.

13th and B, 71 years apart

Well, thanks to Pinhead, we've been spending more and more time at the NYPL Digital Library site...

So, here's a photo of Avenue B at 13th Street looking to the northeast from March 1939....



...and close enough from today... just the ConEd stacks let you know that you're looking at the same corner...



Speaking of Pinhead... here's a nice now and then via EV Transitions at First Avenue and St. Mark's Place... Alex has one too at 14th Street and Irving Place...

Rite Aid sets the bar for Dec. 25

On 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Big Daddy on Second Street

Hanukkah In NYU Dorms

From an article on the NYU Local titled "Eight Crazy Nights: Doing Hanukkah In The Dorms." (And where did they get all the Four Loco for the photoshoot?)

Is this $30,000-a-month apartment the most expensive ever in the East Village?

Back at the beginning of the summer, The Wall Street Journal noted that three-bedroom apartments in 2 Cooper Square were going for $20,000 a month, which would make these the most most expensive apartments in the neighborhood.... not true, seeing as there was a $25,000-a-month penthouse around the corner on First Street...

Speaking of First Street... somehow, this three-bedroom apartment at 38 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue escaped my expensive home radar... It first hit the market in September... and it remains on the market for $30,000 a month...

I'm trying to figure out if this is the most expensive monthly rental ever in the neighborhood... If you have any info to support this, please let me know...

Uh, anyway, what exactly do you get for that kind of money every month?

One of downtown's most dramatic and unique properties! Consisting of approx 5000 sq ft, this XXX mint, elegant home features 16 foot ceilings, corinthian columns, grand entry room, a 45 ft long living room, 3 master suites,library/family room,formal dining room,an enormous chefs kitchen & terrace.Other features include beautiful maple floors,oversized windows & doors,3 zone cental a/c & 3.5 baths. Building allows live/work.A magnificent property suitable for both family living & entertaining on a tremendous scale! Other Features: East, South, West, New Windows, Washer/Dryer designer wnd treatments, gold leaf ceil in entry hall

(Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate has the listing)

Look at the floorplan — it comes with your very own ballroom....



And the rest of the place...

Cafe Hanover's asking price: $50,000 per month

Cafe Hanover quickly flamed out at the former Mondo Kim's space on St. Mark's Place... here's one possible reason: The rent for the two levels here is $50,000 a month... For lease signs are up now on the front doors...




I looked at the listing online:

Size: Ground Floor (3,000 Rsf), Plus Full Basement (3,000 Rsf) Term: 5-19 Year Sublease Rent: $33,750 Per Month No Key Money! Fully Equipped Restaurant/Deli In One Of The Busiest Streets. Basement Includes A Fully Equipped Kitchen, Including Hood, Venting, Modern Ovens, Huge Walk-Ins, And New Structural Beams. Leased At $135 Psf, Or $33,750 Per Month. Optional 2nd Floor Lounge/Bar With Operating 4 Am Liquor License. 2nd Floor (3,000 Rsf) @ $80 Psf, Or $20,000 Per Month. Total Space, Consisting Of Ground Floor (3,000 Rsf), 2nd Floor (3,000 Rsf) And Basement (3,000 Rsf), Asking $50,000 Per Month

And, not until I took the photos above, did I ever realize there was some place called JD's Bar on the second floor...



And where exactly is 2U (U2) Karaoke in this funhouse?

Orologio is for sale on Avenue A

While searching for the Cafe Hanover listing... I came across another one... a listing that may leave a few people dismayed...



We were just talking about Orologio in the comments here. From Cookiepuss: "Orologio is a real local place too with its bohemian decor, warm vibe and affordable pricing."

Things that are now open behind what used to be CBGB

BoweryBoogie reports that Brooklyn-based Oaxaca Tacos quietly opened yesterday on Extra Place... Not sure if I'd bring up CBGB in announcing the business...



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

What a $25 rental from 100 years ago should cost today

Yesterday, we did a now-and-then at 224 Avenue B... from 1909 to today...rents then were going for $25 a month.




In case you missed the comments. Lisa asked what the rents were going for today.... It just so happens there are two two-bedroom apartments on the market now at 224... one is $2,395; the other is $2,295.

And Esquared produced the handy-dandy inflation calculator. So, $25 in 1909 is equivalent to $589.50 in 2009. Inflation calculators don't take into account East Village inflation ....

Window shopping on the Bowery

Urban Roots pulls out on Avenue A

Several readers have pointed out that Urban Roots, the natural foods store on Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street, has abruptly closed...



I hate to see any non-nightlife-related stores close (unless they're real assholes) ... Still, as one reader pointed out, the stores are under control of the Ageloff Towers co-op board... meaning you won't see a bar in here...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Of the 147 storefronts on Avenue A, 70 of them are bars, restaurants or vacant

Whatever happened to the Two Boots Restaurant? Plus: NYCHA puts up two prime storefronts on Avenue A for rent

Sons & Daughters closing on Avenue A; new tenant for A and Third Street?

[Top photo via]

Comedy does poetry

From the EV Grieve inbox...

David Cross and a couple of his friends are putting on a benefit to raise money to keep the Bowery Poetry Club around for hopefully at least a few more years.... Per David Cross in the e-mail: "I know the ticket prices are steep but it's a benefit and (most) of the ticket price is tax deductible." Details follow...

Noted

Tomorrow night, LeBron James returns to Cleveland for the first time since he left for the Miami Heat in the off-season. To mark the occasion, the Village Pourhouse on Third Avenue and 11th Street will serve anti-LeBron drinks such as Hater-ade.

A week or so in the life of the Deitch Wall

Kenny Scharf's work is done at the Bowery and Houston ... here's a look back...

Nov. 22

[Photo via Eddie Brannan]


Last Wednesday! (This image via BoweryBoogie)



Friday!



Saturday!



Sunday!



Monday!




Last night...

Why East Village residents should still fear NYU's expansion plans

Tonight, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and other community groups are holding a town-hall meeting to discuss NYU's expansion plans...



Per the GVSHP website:

"Now that NYU has dropped its landmarks application for a 400 ft. tall tower on Bleecker Street in the face of overwhelming opposition ... what does this mean, and where do we go from here in responding to their still-overwhelming plan?"

While this plan specifically focused on the West Village, Rob at Save the Lower East Side! believes we have something to worry about too... As he writes:

East Villagers ought to be alarmed by NYU's decision not to build on its own campus. All voices at the town hall will ask NYU to build in the financial district, but NYU may be looking for closer locations more attractive to their students. That would be our neighborhood.

Although the EV and the 3rd & 4th Avenue triangle have been recently rezoned to cap heights, there are still plenty of available development sites here. 3rd Avenue still allows the same bulk as prior to the rezoning, and it allows more bulk than the NYU dorm that already stands on 3rd Ave at 10th Street. (It's only 5.31 FAR. Under the new zoning, 3rd Ave allows 6.5 FAR for dormitories!) And they can build as high as 12 stories on 3rd Ave -- the current dorms there are only two stories taller than that.

And then there's El Bohio, the old P.S. 64. It's already standing, requiring minimal construction, and it is a huge lot. A dormitory there would end all hopes for a community center. So there's plenty to worry about

.

Indeed.

The future?



Previously on EV Grieve:
NYU's expansion plan for the East Village

"A model tenement house" 101 years later on Avenue B

I came across this page from the "Apartment Houses of the Metropolis" at the NYPL archives... it's dated 1909... It shows "a model tenement house" at 224-226 Avenue B... where rents go for $20 to $25 per month...



You can see the address here today... 101 years later, not much has seemingly changed outside ... save the storefronts, one of which has been home to Mona's....

222 Avenue B is ready for you

Fast-forward to Avenue B today... We've been watching the workers renovate 222 Avenue B for months now ... the building was sold back in 2008 for $2.4 million... Anyway, the new-look building is ready for move-in as of — today! ... two-bedroom apartments have hit the market, and we finally get to see what has been going on inside here...



Per the listings at 9300 Realty:

These are gorgeous two bedrooms with exposed brick with a private roof deck & balcony, a granite kitchen that has stainless steel appliances (including a dishwasher), washer/dryer, and marble bath. Units have individual climate control, video intercom, storage lofts and more!

The price: $3,695.





Not a big fan of those doors to nowhere... is that really considered a balcony?



And I hope this front door is merely temporary...

Looking at the new Avenue D greenstreet

Yesterday, we looked at the new greenstreet coming to First Street off Avenue A and East Houston Street ... all part of the three-year East Houston Street construction job expected to last through the summer of 2013... A greenstreet is also planned at Avenue D... so you will no longer be able to hit Second Street going 60 MPH off Houston...




This intersection will likely look a whole lot different in three years or so... especially if that new development in the planning stages actually happens...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Avenue D's future

Coming soon to East Houston: Construction, hell, rodent control stations

Long-threatened East Houston reconstruction starting this month

Another bikini bar on the endangered list?

The other day, the Times took a look at the lonely stretch of EV Grieve favorite Nassau Street in the Financial District... specifically, the article focuses on the Nassau Bar, as the headline suggests: "On Nassau Street, the Present Closes In on a Bikini-Clad Past." As reporter Michael Wilson aptly notes, the whole street — long torn up by construction — seems to be frozen in time.



And inside the Nassau Bar?

"...beginning at 11 a.m., six days a week with Sundays off, women in bikinis sling shots and $3 cans of Miller Lite the same way they did in the city’s bad old days. “The only thing we change around here is the light bulbs,” said Robert Capone, 44, a manager at Nassau Bar.


[Photo of Tiffany at Nassau Bar via A Guy Walks into 365 Bars...]

There's talk of a luxury hotel at 5 Beekman Street... and, of course, the Beekman Tower around the corner...where studio rentals will start at $3,000. The article notes the post-Sept. 11 retail slump on Nassau Street... and suggests that people who move into gleaming new homes wouldn't want to visit a bikini bar. To the article:

If the new neighbors would seem to leave the bar in the cross hairs of gentrification, its owner, Michael Reagan, 41, of Staten Island, is unfazed. What’s not to love about a bikini bar?

“I’m always interested in getting people’s second impression of the place,” he said. “You’ll have a guy walk in with his girlfriend and they look all uptight, but they already ordered and they don’t want to leave. And then an hour or two later, they’re saying, ‘Oh, this isn’t at all what I thought it would be.’ ” He added: “Once people get over the initial hurdle of the basic uniform of the bartender, it appeals to everybody.”

Mr. Reagan bought Nassau Bar about three years ago and did not change a thing. Not even Mario Cosimano, the 47-year-old porter who works 12 hours a day. Mr. Reagan says the bar’s current lease expires in 2018. Asked if he imagined a buyer coming along in the meantime to turn his dive bar into a bistro — Le Nassau? — with words like “artisanal” on the menu, he said simply, “No.”

Read Marty's visit to the Nassau Bar here. [Photo above via A Guy Walks into 365 Bars...]

Recent NYC bikini bar casualties:

Hook and Ladder II ...

Deno's Party House ...

Deno's Bikini Bar ...

Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge ...