Sunday, March 13, 2011

Out of season


EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams spotted this rolling ad on Avenue A this weekend...

Noted


A Jaguar Ferrari on East Sixth Street via EV Grieve reader Brian M.

And now, for some reason, a photo of John Legend's bulldog


The singer, who lives off the Bowery, tweeted this: "My bulldog Puddy just met his long lost twin on the streets of the East Village."

Week in Grieview


The "Crazy Landlord" is back! (Monday)

More details emerge about the future of 34 Avenue A (Tuesday)

A discussion on whether 35 Cooper Square is worth saving (Friday)

A cab ends up on Second Avenue sidewalk (Thursday)

189 Avenue C introduces some rentals (Thursday)

290 Mulberry is for sale (Wednesday)

Looking at the photography of Steven Hirsch (Wednesday)

Work continues at St. Brigid's (Tuesday)

Closing time at Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)

[Photo taken on East 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B]

El Jardin del Paraiso, 8:42 a.m., March 13


[At El Jardin del Paraiso on East Fourth Street between Avenue C and D.]

Sidewalk shed returns to 147 First Ave.

Workers arrived this morning at First Avenue and Ninth Street to erect a new sidewalk shed for the mystery building...



Workers removed the other sidewalk shed here last Wednesday... The upper levels will soon be home to luxury apartments.

Previously.

Avenue A, 9:31 p.m., March 12

Saturday, March 12, 2011


Photo by EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams today on 14th Street.

East Village winners in the 'Best of New York'

East Village Man has compiled the East Village-related items from New York Magazine's "Best of New York" issue. There weren't actually many mentions ... here are a few...

RESTAURANTS

Best Bacon and Eggs - Peels (325 Bowery at 2nd St.)

“Plants Matter” section for best veggies:

Carrots - Dirt Candy (430 E. 9th st. at Ave A)

Escarole - Porsena (21 E. 7th st. near Cooper Square)

Check out the rest at EVM.

Yesterday on Avenue C

One less outdoor dining option on the Bowery today


Outside Gemma on the Bowery this morning.

Lost



Flyers spotted around Tompkins Square Park this morning.

Today!


Toss those umbrellas aside! Sources at the Weather Channel tell EV Grieve that it will be partly sunny — or, given your outlook, partly cloudy — today. However, there is an 80 percent chance of running into drunken UConn fans on the street and in the bars.

[Photo by EV Grieve Discarded Umbrella Correspondent Bobby Williams]

Last night!

Perhaps it was the combination of several powerful forces converging... spring break, pleasant weather, Big East Tourney, pre-St. Patrick's Day greenletting ... Or maybe it was just another Friday night... One reader noted that there were several street fights on Avenue B at Fourth Street. Eventually, the police just camped out there....







Friday, March 11, 2011

Something 'Blue'



The Rattlers, featuring David Merrill, Mickey Leigh and Matty Quick, circa 1981.

Noted

From the EV Grieve inbox:
A buddy of mine and I just started a delivery service in Manhattan we’re calling Thanks, Bro. Basically, it’s a gift delivery service that lets guys say thank you like a man — without the emasculation of sending fruit, flowers, and candy, but rather by way of beer and beef jerky instead. Featuring a range of beer and gourmet jerky options, we’re a mom and pop-type operation with a price point around fifty bucks. The branding and ordering process is very guy-oriented – basically you show up to thanks-bro.com, pick your six-pack, your jerky, your delivery container (we intend to expand this to replica NFL helmets and other dude-ish options of that nature), give us you and the bro you want to thank’s info, pick your thank you note type and message, and click submit. We email back with a paypal invoice and to clear up any questions about the order, and done and done. We show up at the apt of your bud and say “thanks, bro” for you.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition


RIP Chloe Dzubilo (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A man's life, tossed in a dumpster (The Gog Log)

CB3 nixes food vendors for new Cooper Square (DNAinfo)

At the Donut Pub (Marty After Dark)

The Eldridge is closing (Eater)

An NYU superblocks preview (The Villager)



[Photo by Bobby Wiliams]

Gemma's fake history

Earlier this week, Brooks at Lost City noted the "Est. 1886" underneath the sign for Standings, the sports bar on Seventh Street that has been there for, what, five years? He writes, "They even put up letters for 'Standings' that rather matched the font of the 'Est. 1886.' False advertising, I say, designed to snare rubes." (This formerly housed Brewsky's, a bar that likely wasn't around in 1886 either.)

I have the same feelings about Gemma at the Bowery Hotel.


Workers started tearing down John's Garage (below) here on the corner in the fall of 2003... which is now home to the Taavo Somer-designed Italian eatery ...

[Photo by rollingrck via Flickr]

... which is notable for introducing fine china to the sidewalks of the Bowery...



Anyway, I've never understood one thing about Gemma... up there in the corner...


...the 1954 date. The placed opened in 2007. The previous building here was demolished...


Last August, BoweryBoogie unearthed real-estate marketing materials for the Dry Dock Savings Bank, which called this corner home since the late 1870s... Dry Dock moved in the fall of 1954...

[Image courtesy of rollingrck via Flickr]

So it's possible that Gemma is paying homage to the year when the bank moved... or maybe they're just trying to give the impression to tourists that there's a lot more history behind Gemma than there really is...

Is 35 Cooper Square really worth saving?


The fight to save 35 Cooper Square continues. As we noted the other day, both Community Board 2 and 3 will discuss stopping demolition of 35 Cooper Square and preserving other Federal houses on the Bowery. Both boards will also discuss nomination of the Bowery to the State and National Register of Historic District. (CB3 passed a resolution on it last night. BoweryBoogie has more here.)

Meanwhile, in an opinion piece published yesterday afternoon, a writer for the Local East Village (the NYU-Times collaboration) wonders why we're fighting it. He admits that he is 22 years old and a resident here for only eight months — and "more privy to this neighborhood’s prolific bar scene than its historic past."

So, from his perspective:

The days of Diane di Prima living upstairs have long since passed. Over time, 35 Cooper Square evolved, from a residential haven for poets and writers, to – like it or not – a cheap watering hole. Over time, 35 Cooper Square’s become little more than an eyesore next to its surroundings. And somewhere over that time, 35 Cooper Square lost its history.

And, moving forward:

The East Village skyline will shift, and shift again. It always has. Who’s to say this is a bad thing, or that tomorrow’s residents won’t include the next di Prima, Hendrix, or Madonna? As East Villagers, it’s our duty to remember the past. But when we reflexively cling to our past, when we use 35 Cooper Square as a scapegoat for fear and uncertainty of an unseen future, we become something altogether different.

You can read the whole post here.

[Updated] A taste of the East Village while you're at SXSW!

Something called the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference is getting under way in Austin, Texas, today. And after all these years, I thought South by Southwest was part of the menu at Chili's. (Booooooooo!)

Just kidding about SXSW, now in its 25th year.

Anyway, a reader on the way to SXSW mentioned that there is an East Village in Austin.

Indeed! Here's a description of it:

The East Village isn't your average mixed-use building on the Eastside. It's a striking piece of art designed and built by renowned architects Bercy Chen Studio, nestled proudly within a historic, thriving, vibrant, rapidly growing community, harmoniously mixing the awesome old with the bold new, all within a few blocks of Downtown. The vibe in the 11th Street East End District is as unique as it is to live at The East Village.




I'm not sure what the point of this is other than to say it all hits a little too close to home ... namely the stupid, rampant development...

UPDATED:

Per Jeremiah's comment... Yes, thought this all looked a little familiar... here's the future 347 Bowery.