326-328 E. Fourth St. now a shell of its former self

Not much left of the addresses here between Avenue C and Avenue D.... You can see right through 328 to the buildings on Third Street...

As the Times noted back September, the houses date to around 1840 ... "That these houses have remained virtually unchanged in the past 170 years is miraculous and noteworthy..."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

More pages of novels appearing on the East Village streets

Last Monday, we noted the presence of a single page from a novel or something on Seventh Street and First Avenue...

Perhaps this sparked some kind of trend... we've noticed other pieces of fiction now in place around the neighborhood... such as on Fourth Avenue and 10th Street (home of the Scribbler!)

And Avenue A between Seventh Street and Sixth Street ...

I inexplicably didn't take a photo of Page 2 ... And yesterday's rain likely wiped these all out...

Cowgirl Cupcakes (and Burritos) now open on East 10th Street

Back in December, we noted the Cowgirl Cupcakes was taking over a storefront on East 10th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A...

EV Grieve reader Leesy reports Cowgirl opened yesterday...

While she didn't sample the food, she did go in for a look... she notes the staff is very cool and excited to be part of the neighborhood... and that the place kind of smelled like, say, San Loco ... per the menu, burritos are the first item listed... Per Leesy: "I guess it just seemed odd that a place with cupcake in the name was more like Burritos."

Anyway, everything on the menu is vegan...

Souvlaki GR opening set for next Monday on Stanton Street

Back in January BoweryBoogie reported that food-truck favorites Souvlaki GR were opening an eatery at 116 Stanton St. just west of Essex Street. (New York Street Food had the scoop.)

EV Grieve contributor Samo happened by during the weekend and spoke with with Kosta Plagos, one of the owners. Opening date is slated for next Monday. Souvlaki will accommodate 40 inside ... and Plagos would eventually like to have sidewalk seating. "Concept is that you will feel like you are sitting in the streets of Mykonos."

BoweryBoogie has more on their food truck here.

[Updated] When will Veselka on the Bowery open?

After posting the coming-soon sign for Veselka Bowery on Saturday, we sent the folks there a note asking when they're expecting to open...

We didn't hear back from anyone at Veselka. We last heard that the location will open in mid-March, per the Feast.

[Updated 2:30]
From Fork in the Road:

"Our opening date will probably be in May. Maybe early June, but we're hoping to be faster than that," said Veselka owner Tom Birchard, who mentioned that this new location will be similar to the one on Second Avenue, but will have a full liquor license and be "a little less dinerish and a little more restauranty."

As for the menu, he notes that "Everything will still be inexpensive and casual but we'll have some really exciting items. We're looking for inexpensive caviar, and we're going to have lots of vodkas from Eastern Europe which will be great because the food goes great with it."

Community facility available on East Second Street

The plans for the new luxury homes at 229 E. Second St. between Avenue B and Avenue C included a community facility on the ground floor... we were curious if this would actually happen... Apparently yes, as the newish sign shows...

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

East 10th Street, 8:31 p.m., March 6

In the rain

Earlier today ... by EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams.

Noted

Fourth Avenue and East 10th Street.

Broken flowers

Outside the Peter Jarema Funeral Home on East Seventh Street today.

Week in Grieview

[Outside McDonald's on First Avenue]

Seizure causes smash-up at St. Marks Place and Avenue A (Tuesday)

Sidewalk is closed for renovations (Wednesday)

Putting together the pieces of Grace Farrell's last days (Tuesday)

A transformer fire at ConEd (Wednesday)

Charlie Sheen was on TV for some reason (Monday)

A Playboy Playmate and Bao teaming up for fried chicken and waffles on St. Mark's Place (Friday)

No more Junk on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

Another Juice Press coming soon? (Thursday)

Death & Co. had to close for a few days while waiting for its liquor license renewal (Thursday)

While we were suddenly quoting "Predator" (Friday)

ICTTS officials disqualify this tree from competition

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Rob D. for the above photo of this poor thing spotted during the weekend on Avenue A between First Street and Second Street.

However, since receiving this photo, officials at the International Coalition of Tree Tossing in the Spring (ICTTS) said that we cannot include this tree in this year's competition. An official said there is a little-known codicil in the ICTTS constitution that mandates trees must still have 75 percent of its branches intact to qualify.

13th Street, 9:47 a.m., March 6

Putting the Bowery to canvas

EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams took these shots yesterday afternoon in front of 35 Cooper Square...

A British immigrant on the LES

EV Grieve reader Samo notes a 53 MG on Forsyth and Houston that drew admiring stares yesterday...

Some FYI per Jalopnik:

The '53 MG TD came with a 54.4 horsepower pushrod four-cylinder engine (yes, that extra 4/10th of a horse was so important that MG included it in the power rating) and was priced at $1,945. That was about $1,500 less than The General's new sports car, the '53 Corvette, but 200 bucks cheaper (and orders of magnitude better-looking) than the Triumph Mayflower. Budget-minded car shoppers who wanted to go a little less sporty could buy the bargain-basement '53 Ford coupe- which probably outperformed the prewar-technology MG TD in just about every category save parallel parking ability — for just $1,734.

About HiFi (and long live El DJ!)

So yesterday afternoon, several readers noted the presence of some big yellow NYPD notices outside HiFi on Avenue A ... While we usually do call/e-mail for details on something like this, we did not yesterday. We quickly posted the photos. And we assumed the worst — as we've seen in other situations involving bars and the NYPD.

So while the bar did receive a summons from the NYPD, it did not have any impact on their business hours. HiFi was open as usual yesterday afternoon. We apologized to the folks at HiFi last evening. And we're sorry for causing any unnecessary hysteria among fans of the bar.

Meanwhile, onward!

Long live El DJ 2.0!

Here's a nice piece on El DJ by Chantal Martineau at Fork in the Road.

Signs of spring on Avenue C

The Church of Earthalujah starting 3-month residency at Theatre 80

Starting tomorrow night, The Church of Earthalujah begins a three-month-or-so residency at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place...

I asked Rev. Billy what attendees can expect.

The Church of Earthalujah at Theatre 80 is not a political rally in a theatre, not a comedy in an improv club, and not a church service with great music — but if isn't all three, you get your money back.

Find out more about what Rev. Billy is up to right here. Find him on Twitter here.

The Church of Earthalujah
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir
Theatre 80, every Sunday through June, 7:30 PM, 80 St Marks Place
$10, no one turned away

Here's your Veselka Bowery signage

Here we are at the coming-soon Bowery/First Street location of Veselka...

We last heard that the location will open in mid-March, per the Feast.

And here was a progress report from September.