EV Grieve

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Virage reopens

Virage on Second Avenue at Seventh Street closed this week for renovations... and, per their sign, they were expected to reopen last night... and they were open...

When children talk for a long time on payphones

Second Street at Avenue A.

Santacon taking over Starbucks, Second Avenue

Via @prismpop

Via @katemax

Via @experiri

Reporting for duty

11th Street and Second Avenue this morning. Santacon is on. Do with this information what you want. They're a) fun-loving thrillseekers enjoying some holiday camaraderie b) obnoxious twats.

Tompkins Square Park, 9:19 a.m., Dec. 11

14 shopping days left until there are no more shopping days left

Today and next Saturday at dba.... via Patell and Waterman’s History of New York.

Grieve: Crap, is is time for xmas already?

Bryan on December 10, 2010 at 7:26 pm
“Crap, is is time for xmas already?”

Hence holiday fair IN A BAR.

Ah!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Duran Duran still draws a crowd

Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes stopped by Mark Ronson’s Authentic Sh*t on East Village Radio tonight... and... Wooooo!

Stepping away for a few minutes — keep an eye on things

Sunshine on a gloomy day

Great shot from inside the Sunshine Theater on Houston via JDX.

So... how's the M15 Select Bus service faring?

A few days ago EV Grieve reader Mike checked in with a report on the M15 Select Bus... been awhile since we heard anything about it...

So while waiting to buy ride and get receipt, I chatted with both the woman in front and back of me. Both of them loved the Select Bus! The biggest negative continues to be the lines that form for the machines to get tickets during rush hour. And that lady this morning who apparently decided that she didn't need to wait in line like everyone else, even when she cut right in front of me and I explained that the queue of people wasn't just folks fond of loitering — she acted dumbfounded and was not responsive, but hopefully that was from shame more than from being an asshole, which is how it seemed.

Rest in Peace M15 Limted Bus, Long Live M15 Select Bus!

And this morning, Mike noticed that the MTA looks to be installing MORE machines at 14th Street and First Avenue... which could help alleviate those rush-hour ticket lines...

Shit Week continues: Majestic willow tree butchered on Eighth Street

An EV Grieve reader out walking his dog this morning was shocked to find that the majestic willow on Eighth Street near Avenue C....

... had been hacked down... seemingly overnight...

Per the reader: "maybe it was diseased, but it looked perfectly healthy to me."

Melanie just posted a photo of this willow at East Village Corner. In the comments I said that I loved this tree.

UPDATE:
A reader sends along another photo, noting that "it looks worse in the daylight."

Ugh.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The willow trees of Loisaida

11th Street condo owners want to chop down this willow tree

Fade away

The mourning continues for the Mars Bar... Yesterday's various news account all but confirm what no one really wanted to acknowledge... the Mars Bar is going away... as early as the spring... Per Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo:

Circumstances outside the construction timeline — which could take as many as three years or more from the bar's closure until its theoretical reopening — could make it difficult for the diminutive dive to see new life.

The above photo is of Roy, a Mars Bar employee for years... outside the bar that he opened every morning for as long as anyone can remember... He passed away in June. Thanks to Eliesha Grant for permission to use this photo.

Long before the Mars Bar on Second Avenue

Thanks to Goggla for passing along this NYPL Digital Library link ... it's an undated photo of Second Avenue... looking north to First Street... The Mars Bar building once housed the Woolworth Theater. I couldn't find anything on it (granted, it was a quick search) ... So if you happen to know anything about the theatre... I wonder if people were devastated when the theatre shuttered?

Seeing the past helps put the present in perspective (OK, that was lame)... In trying times, I usually turn to the good book for inspiration.

"New York ... would seem on the face of it to be founded on progress, on change, on the bulldozing of what has faded to make way for the next thing, the thing after that, the future. The lure of the new is built right into its name; it is the part of the name that actually registers ... Manhattan is a finite space that cannot be expanded but only resurfaced and reconfigured ... New York has no truck with the past. It expels its dead."

— Luc Sante, "Low Life"

Jeremiah has more on Before Mars Bar today here.

Pools that I may crash

A reader directed me to one of the amenities at the ritzy 15 Union Square West ~~fishbowl~~ condo ... Woo! (When is the caddy swim? 1-1:15?)

And is that a red or burgundy dress? And is she a bridesmaid? Why is she walking around USW dressed like that? Why is she gazing into the camera? Why is the room so empty and cold-looking? Is this a fantasy scene?

I hope that it's red. So. Before taking a swim, I may serenade her...