EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

More on Union Market's foray into the East Village (The Lo-Down)

The first look at Bowery Beef (Grub Street)

A collection of the old vs. the new buildings (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A review of Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye at The Poetry Project (SoundSystem)

Drinking at BillyMark's West (Eater)

Pussycat Lounge returning? (Downtown Express)

A Queens man lives in an igloo (Runnin' Scared)

NYU prof has implanted camera removed from head (NYU Local)

And as BoweryBoogie noted, mixed-media street artist TMNK has opened a pop-up gallery in the retail space in 52E4, the 15 stories of condo on the Bowery near Fourth Street. The gallery is now open... these are photos that I took the last few weeks...

When you could see the Grateful Dead on Second Avenue for $2

Following my recent post about the Hells Angels, a reader sent along the following photo ...

...when the Angels were presenting shows at the Anderson Theatre at 66 Second Avenue.

The reader also included a link to the site It's All the Streets you Crossed Not So Long Ago... there, the author lays out a fairly exhaustive history of 66 Second Avenue, which is between Fourth Street and Third Street... You can read the whole history there...

A few highlights though... The theatre likely began its life as a Yiddish Playhouse in the late 1800s-early 1900s... in the late 1960s and '70s, it functioned as a rock venue where everyone from Moby Grape, Procol Harum and the Yardbirds played.

Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company had their New York debut there on February 17, 1968 — look who else was on the bill: B.B. King.

Her post on the Anderson has a gazillion links and photos (some of which I reposted here) ... Far too many to try to mention here... find it all here.

Oh, one last thing. Hilly Kristal ran the CBGB Theater here from late 1977 to early 1978, she notes. The Talking Heads christened the CBGB Theater, followed by shows featuring the Dictators, the Dead Boys and Patti Smith. Here's one description of the CBGB Theater: "The place was disgusting. It made the CBGB club look like the Rainbow Room. We were talking about eighty years' worth of dirt. I mean there was popcorn left over from the last performance of the Yiddish theater in 1925...They did manage to clean up the entryway, and made it look like a subway station."

Anyway, find this and a whole lot more interesting posts on NYC's former rock & roll landmarks at It's All the Streets you Crossed Not So Long Ago.

And 66 Second Avenue today.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Loew's Commodore Theatre

Window shopping the other night at 66 Second Avenue

What was once here.

Pizza being delivered to former tattoo shop on the Bowery

Looks as if the look vacant former home of Bowery Tattoo has a new tenant...

... signs just went up for Forcella — La Pizza di Napoli here between Bond and Great Jones...

As BoweryBoogie had reported, the folks behind the Vbar were looking to open a bar here two years back... And maybe a little competition now for McNally's Pulino's?

Today in worrying about 35 Cooper Square

I swear those windows on the second floor weren't boarded up the other day...

And weren't people still living in apartments above the bar?

Previously.

The Mosaic Man has a home in the Lee

The Lee, the low-income housing development and training center on East Houston and Pitt Street, is nearly ready for occupancy. A spokesperson told me last fall that Lee developer Common Ground will reserve 104 units for formerly homeless individuals, 105 units for low-income workers, and 54 units for young adults at risk for homelessness.

Among the new residents: Jim Power, The Mosaic Man (along with Jesse Jane). Scoopy has an item on his new home this week in The Villager. You can read that here.

While this is all good news, Power is worried about the fate of his Mosaics — they'll likely be in the way of the Astor Place redesign. “I’m asking that Community Board 2 resign,” he declared, “because they thought that was a very good design — that’s ridiculous! This is still our neighborhood!”

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Lee expects full occupancy by March 31

Outside Lil' Frankie's, carrot toppled

On First Avenue near First Street last night. Photos courtesy of EV Grieve reader Anna. And we have no idea what was going on here... which makes it all the more entertaining...

[Publisher's note: We are limiting commenter Marty Wombacher to five bad carrot puns.]

Neon still burns brightly at the Blarney Stone

The Blarney Stone, an EV Grieve favorite down on Fulton Street, closed nearly one year ago... And the neon still has it going back on the former bar's Ann Street entrance...

"For lease" signs still adorn the front gate.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A fond farewell to the Blarney Stone

Guiding light

A little bit ago ... Courtesy of EV Grieve Contributor Bobby Williams

Noted

Second Avenue and Fourth Street.

Union Market makes their East Village move official with an Official News Release!

Thanks to a blogging friend for the following release...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Union Market to Open First Manhattan Location at 240 East Houston Street

BROOKLYN, Feb 10th, 2011 –-Brooklyn’s Union Market is set to open a new store location at 240 East Houston Street at Avenue A, bringing their experience-centered brand of grocery stores to it’s new Manhattan customers. The location is at the intersection of the East Village, and the Lower East Side.

Opening next fall, the store will bring Union Market’s unique approach and first-rate selection of goods to the borough of Manhattan for the first time since the store was founded in 2004. With its personal, convenient, and locally focused shopping experience, Union Market at Houston Street will offer all the high quality service and products that Manhattanites expect, with the personal touch of a neighborhood grocery store.

The new store at Houston Street will build upon sustainable business practices established at the LEED registered Court Street store. Union Market stocks organic, local and all-natural products, and will continue the stores’ established reputation as a customer first grocery store that offers superior goods at competitive prices.

Previously on EV Grieve:
About Union Market coming to Avenue A and Houston

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Is the Bowery Ballroom getting an Irish bar next door? (The Lo-Down)

Some people in NYC have leprosy (Runnin' Scared)

LG Optimus Black receives Keith Haring graffiti makeover (Shiny Shiny)

Comparing and contrasting "Mean Streets" and the Feast battle today (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Sunday evening at the Mars Bar (The Gog Log)

Ugly new Delancey building getting a — faint! — kitchen supply store on the ground level (BoweryBoogie)

Remembering the Cedar Tavern on such a winter's day (Flaming Pablum)

Why some Stuy Town residents may smell, be constipated (Lux Living)

More on annoying foodie types (Grub Street)

A link between diet soda consumption and an increased risk of strokes and heart attacks (Gothamist)

More news from the latest CB2/SLA meeting (Eater)

And we have another exclusive new track from the forthcoming Strokes record:

229 E. Second St. is sold out, and look at the roof deck!

Lordy it has been 13 months since we last looked at 229 E. Second St. between Avenue B and Avenue C...

You remember that it went from this...



to this...



At last look, the building's prices had been reduced anywhere from 10 to 20 percent. Well, that worked. According to Streeteasy, all the units have been sold. But! Don't despair... there is one unit available as a rental: A two-bedroom, floor-through loft with a soaking tub and "and floor-to-ceiling closets that will hold the largest of wardrobes!" Priced to rent at $6,800.

Meanwhile, the roof deck was one of the things about 229 that intrigued us. We just saw glimpses of it from the street.



But we found a few photos at various sites...

Complete with priceless renderings...

Hot tubbing!

Finally, according to the DOB, the ground floor will be used for a community facility. Will they have hot tub access?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Million dollar condos hit the market on East Second Street

229 E. Second St. sprouts a roof deck

Cutting condo prices by 20 percent on East Second Street

Back at the Marble Cemetery

Our Bobby Williams happened by the New York City Marble Cemetery again yesterday on East Second Street ... This time, a lone worker was shoveling the lawn... Bobby says he yelled twice to the worker, but the man did not look up... We're just a little curious to learn more what was happening here.

Gothamist got the scoop yesterday. (By calling? Who knew they had a phone at the cemetery...) Cemetery officials say there will soon be a burial there, and crews are preparing the lawn for the ceremony.

I'm fascinated by the history here at this rather crumbling green oasis. (Read more about it here.) You may also search interments listed by vault here.

The future and past of 264 Bowery

Back in July, I sat through a CB2 meeting ... where 264 Bowery was on the agenda that night... a group of slicksters were hoping to turn the vacant space into a club tapas bar that would serve food until 3:30 a.m. The working name: Bowery Row.

The committee rejected that one. (Read more on it here.)

I was reminded of this yesterday while reading Eater's coverage of Tuesday's CB2 meeting. Another proposal was on the docket for 264 Bowery: Two fellows hoping to open English Road, a bourbon bar with southern food. They stated upfront that "we are not a club, just a bar" without any TVs. They'd be open until 4 a.m., have DJs ... and the lawyer mentioned how good the soundproofing was. As Eater noted, the info packet for English Road mentioned their security plan was "Chuck Norris approved."

The neighbors loved this! And CB2 denied the English Road request.

(BoweryBoogie has more on the history of 264 Bowery.)

Now I drift off again into lala land ... I wonder if 264 Bowery would/could ever be turned back into what it was in the 1930s.... a barber shop that didn't serve drinks or double as a clothing store...

Tri-boro Barber School photographed on Oct. 24, 1935. [Via the NYPL]

The Bowery is the fourth most dangerous street in Manhattan

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign released a report on "the most dangerous roads for pedestrians" in the area yesterday. According to the report (via the Times), 109 pedestrians were killed on Manhattan streets from 2007-2009. In total, there were seven fatalities on the Bowery — putting it at fourth place in the city...

The report includes a map showing each roadway death... here's a shot of the LES...

You can find the whole report here.

Haters call Shep Fairey a 'buttmunch' on the Bowery

Make that a "commie buttmunch." The worst kind of buttmunch?

At Fourth Street.

At the star-studded secret Strokes show?

Twitter is alive with reports of the new Strokes single. This isn't it. Something about the clothes and hair though... I think the Strokes owe it all to Leif Garrett.

Ham radio operator irking neighbors with 30-foot antenna on East 11th Street

We've heard people complain about everything from bar noise to messy willow trees... so here's a first: Some neighbors on East 11th Street are upset over a resident's giant rooftop antenna. As Patrick Hedlund reports at DNAinfo, a group of residents are hoping the city will force the ham radio operator to have the antenna removed.

To an upset neighbor!

"Whenever we have guests over, they take one look at it and say, 'Oh my God, what is that?'" said Greg Ramsey, who's lived at 235 East 11th St. since 1988 and whose outdoor terraces sits about 12 feet away from the antenna. "It's like a military installation or something. It just seems extremely selfish to have this huge tower for one man to be running his ham radio from. It's obtrusive and inappropriate."

The tenant, who grew up in the building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, told Hedlund that the antenna allows him to communicate with radio operators worldwide. "It was put up professionally and it's been approved," he said. "I didn't do anything in a precarious manner."

Read the whole article here.

[Photo by Patrick Hedlund/DNAinfo]

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Former staffers at a Mars Bar farewell party Monday night (Nadie Se Conoce ... See also: Vivienne Gucwa's MB photo essay)

Case sheds light into Bloomy's last re-election campaign. Which doesn't make the Mayor too happy (City Room)

How the city makes money off your frozen cars (Runnin' Scared)

From Tribeca to the East Village in 2:11 minutes (NYC Taxi Photo — now with video!)

More on the LCD Soundsystem line — with video! (BoweryBoogie)

More on Friday Night Throwdown in the LES (The Lo-Down)

Looking at 'The Penguin Pool Murder' (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

CB2 weighs in on some bars sort of near you (Eater)

Doughnut Plant opening in the Chelsea Hotel (Diner's Journal)

The return of East River Pipe (Village Voice)