$71 million later, the Cooper Square Hotel has a new owner

The Real Deal reported today that the Cooper Square Hotel handed the keys over to Westport Capital Partners as part of a $71 million debt restructuring deal. As the story notes, the original hotel owners quickly ran into financial trouble after opening in 2008.

Meanwhile! Managing partner Klaus Ortlieb said that "March room rates are averaging around $300 per night with 85 percent occupancy, with rates expected to rise into the mid-$300 range over the summer and $400s in the fall."

Sex, drag and rock-n-roll: The New York Dolls on the 1970s...

Vanity Fair has an interview with David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, the sole surviving members of the New York Dolls, who have a new record coming out... Here's an excerpt from the Q-and-A:

Let’s talk about New York during the 70s. Stories from that era tend to be romantically gritty and over the top. It’s always something like, “So I was living in an apartment over a peep booth theater run by a midget, and one day these mobsters showed up with a meat truck filled with uncut cocaine...”

SS: That’s usually it. There’s a lot of nostalgic exaggeration about that time. But it was also much more dangerous than people remember. Back then, we got our asses kicked constantly. We had our first loft in SoHo, and some of our first musical experiences were there. But you took your life in your hand just walking through the neighborhood after 5 o’clock. If you were in Greenwich Village and you crossed Houston into SoHo, kids would come right up to you and beat the hell out of you, just because you had long hair or you were walking with a black guy or something. People say to me all the time, “Wasn’t it great back then?” No, it was not!

Alex has more over at Flaming Pablum about who the Dolls will tour with this summer (Mötley Crüe and Poison!) ...

And, why not...

Death & Co. will be closed for one more night

That's the word from owner David Kaplan to us via e-mail: "Looks like [the State Liquor Authority is] taking their time — it will be one more day. Closed tonight and they say we'll be open tomorrow." Death & Co. on East Sixth Street is just awaiting their liquor license renewal...

Previously.

Golden globe

At this time of the late afternoon, it appears newly crowned Best Actress Natalie Portman has a golden dome on the Bowery...

Tag sale at Rite Aid?

First Avenue and Fifth Street via EV Grieve contributor Bobby Williams.

You'll feel like a total frickin' rock star from Mars

Heh.

Via @elvainadine

Work more prominent now at the Economakis Mansion

It just occurred to us that we haven't checked in on the Economakis Dream Mansion on East Third Street since last May... On Jan. 5, Curbed made a return visit, noting a new cornice and new windows ... Still, hasn't really seemed like much is happening... until now... Workers recently put up construction netting and a sidewalk shed...

A look at the DOB permits issued a few weeks back don't reveal too much... However, there is the permit approved on Jan. 11 ... according to the DOB, workers will be installing a new curb cut. The DOB originally disapproved the curb cut, as Curbed noted on Jan. 5 ... Now it seems to be OK. As Curbed noted: "Maybe the old storefronts are being eyed for a private garage?"

Previously on EV Grieve:
And Economakis gets the whole building for his dream mansion

The 47 E. 3rd St. protest in video

At the 47 E. 3rd St. protest

Conspiracies: Where are all the fliers?

Death & Co. temporarily closed while waiting for liquor license renewal

We noticed that Death & Co. on East Sixth Street wasn't open last evening around 9 or so ... they usually open at 6... What's going on?

Owner David Kaplan told me there's a delay with the liquor license renewal. "Just the now regular SLA renewal process being slow," he said last night via e-mail about the temporary closure. They will be back open tonight.

Rumors: Juice Press opening a second East Village location

Several readers have noted that the Juice Press, the popular cold-pressed juice joint on East First Street near First Avenue, will open a second East Village location in a few months... one tipster even put the new storefront in this space on East 10th Street just west of Avenue A...



We asked founder Marcus Antebi if the Juice Press was opening a second location. He responded via e-mail: "Could be. I might do a laundromat instead. More quarters."

That came with an "LOL" ... they've been kind of funny all along... as you may recall, the storefront featured an array of goofy signs — Robot Daycare/Missing Sock/Mime Academy — before opening last May.

Season's greetings from the Moonstruck Diner

So you probably saw the trucks lined up on parts of First Avenue and Second Avenue yesterday ... crews were there to film scenes for "Damages" ...

[Photo via Pedro]

At the Moonstruck Diner on Second Avenue and Fifth Street, crews decked out for the diner as if it was the December holidays....

[Top two photos via Bobby Williams]

While we personally didn't spot any of the cast members, Pedro reports seeing lead Glenn Close in the window of Moonstruck, typing away on her laptop (not a Mac person!). We can't confirm whether the Moonstruck staff served her boiled bunny rabbit ...

And in the evening...

At the Cooper Square Hotel, V is for....?

Just looking at the new art near the front of the Cooper Square Hotel...

Looks similar to the hotel's new restaurant/bar mascot at the Trilby... except for having normal-sized hands...

[Image via Eater]

(And is this Nick Walker's work? I left before taking a closer look at the signature...)

Wholesome Foods now open on Seventh Street and Avenue C

Thanks to our friend East Village Eats for passing along the word...

Previously on EV Grieve:
On Avenue C, market known for Cobra Malt Liquor giving way to Wholesome Foods

East Village Pharmacy closer to opening

As we noted in January, East Village Pharmacy is moving from Fifth Street and Avenue A to Third Street and Avenue A... the new canopy is up... (DNAinfo first reported last September that a pharmacy was set to take this space...)

[Updated] Sidewalk Cafe closed for renovations on Avenue A

Don't know more than this at the moment... The DOB gave them a C in September... with 43 violation points, but nothing that likely led to its closure... In the comments, an employee of another Sidewalk-owned eatery says Sidewalk will reopen in three weeks; that the renovations don't have anything to do with the DOH.

Noted

Today in people dressed as trees in Tompkins Square Park

Oh, I dunno... I'd rather not know what was really happening here... via EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams

Melanie has a great shot of the tree dancing over at East Village Corner.

[Updated] Transformer fire at the ConEd Plant

Several readers have said they see black smoke from somewhere in the East Village ... another reader says there is a huge FDNY presence at the ConEd plant on East 14th Street.

Anyone?

EV Grieve reader Crazy Eddie just sent us some photos...

[Updated]

DNAinfo is on the scene. Per their report:

A transformer fire broke out at a Con Edison substation in the East Village Wednesday afternoon, FDNY and utility officials said.

The fire broke out at the power station on East 14th Street and Avenue D at roughly 2:19 p.m., the FDNY said.

No injuries were immediately reported, fire officials said.

Con Ed workers were also responding to the blaze, a spokesman said.

While no power outages had been reported, some customers may have noticed their lights flicker, reflecting a dip in voltage, according to a Con Ed spokesman.

Anyone's power out?

More wildlife spotted in the East Village

Earlier today on Fourth Avenue near 13th Street. Courtesy of @hula_doll

How you can support the Essex Street Market

During the SPURA debates, BoweryBoogie reports that someone floated the idea of moving the Essex Street Market. As he notes, LES resident Cynthia Lamb is leading the crusade against such plans. Sign the petition to keep the market where it is ... find the petition here.

[Image via]

Humans of New York

Brandon Stanton is on a mission: He wants to find every interesting person in the city, and take their photograph.

And he's on his way. He currently has nearly 1,400 portraits on his website — Humans of New York.

Here's his mission statement:

Humans of New York is a multi-year project to construct a photographic census of the city of New York. The team consists of one man, who walks the streets several hours a day, looking for interesting people, and taking their photograph. Currently, the project is in the gathering phase. The goal is 10,000. Photos are uploaded as they are collected, and arranged by date. When a substantial body of portraits has been gathered, they will be grouped by neighborhood and displayed geographically. Upon completion, an interactive map will show every neighborhood in New York through the faces of its inhabitants.

So far, he has taken plenty of photos in the East Village, including:

The site also includes accompanying stories. Yesterday, he had photos of a traveler on St. Mark's Place named Rancid and her dog Riot. You can find her story here.

I asked Brandon about taking photos in the East Village compared to other parts of the city.

"Anywhere in the East Village is an easy day. The general rule is: 'Anyone who is out to be seen, is willing to be photographed.' Beautiful girls, fashionistas, artists — they love to be seen," he says. "The farther you get from the artistic and high-fashion crowd, the more resistance you run into. In the East Village, I probably get about 90 percent of the portraits I ask for. Somewhere like Bedford-Stuyvesant, that number drops below 50 percent.

"I do tend to value the portraits from rougher neighborhoods more, because they are harder to obtain, and rarer. But whenever I get rundown, its back to the East Village for a breather."

Find more at Humans of New York here.

[All photos by Brandon Stanton. Reprinted with permission]