Soon, you'll be able to go No. 1 or No. 2 at First and First — for 25 cents

The Villager has the poop on an item on this month's CB3 agenda. As Lesley Sussman reports, the Department of Transportation plans to install an Automatic Public Toilet (A.P.T.) at the southeast corner of First Avenue and First Street on the small concrete island that separates Houston and First Streets.

Per The Villager:

The first A.P.T. was installed three years ago in Madison Square Park and is one of 20 D.O.T. plans for the city. There are currently three A.P.T.’s in operation.

The toilet is self-cleaning and would cost 25 cents to use. Operating hours would be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. — not much solace for clubgoers after a night of beer swigging.

Image via.

The pleasures of eating in Extra Place

Previously.

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

In Extra Place, no hoop for you!

Oh, crap. So much for my little hoops obsession in Extra Place...

Before!

And right after that!

And now!

[Bobby Williams]

The hoop is gone.

So who was the killjoy?

Fat Sal's is open now on Avenue A

Here's at the former APizzA spot on Avenue A, the fifth NYC location of Fat Sal's opened yesterday.

Also, for the record... we once noted a reader's concern about the pizzeria's new ventilation blower that was really going to "suck (or blow) big time" (heh) ... However, the reader has noted that Fat Sal's has been a very good neighbor since moving in, and they even spent extra money on a less-noisy ventilation system...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Fat Sal's coming to Avenue A

The Bowery now safe for celebrity smooching

Photogs spotted actress Diane Kruger and her boyfriend Pacey Witter Johusa Jackson necking and stuff on the Bowery before lunch at Gemma the other day. And now you can get on with your day.

[Photo via OK!]

Seventh Street, 8:54 p.m., May 5

Photo by Dave on 7th.

Today in photos of Frisbee-catching dogs in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Frisbee-catching Dog correspondent Bobby Williams.

Not Too Big To Jail

Pee Phone hijinks on Avenue A at Seventh Street. But is the phone working again?

[Photos by Dave on 7th]

Live like a Stuyvesant, and own a piece of East Village history

A historic home is now on the market at 25 Stuyvesant Street.

How historic? Per the listing at Brown Harris Stevens:

Petrus Stuyvesant laid out the street plan for the development of his property in 1787, naming several nearby streets after his children, Judith, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Cornelia. His son, Peter, would famously go on to found the New York Historical Society while his grandson, Hamilton Fish, born at 21 Stuyvesant Street, would later become Governor of New York and then Secretary of State for eight years.

Designed by renowned New York architect James Renwick, Jr., who went on to design St. Patrick's Cathedral and Grace Church among many other buildings, the Anglo-Italianate row of 23-35 Stuyvesant Street was completed in 1861 as part of the larger "triangle" formed by the point where East 10th Street meets Stuyvesant.

But what about the house? Well, in part:

Retaining its elegant and thoughtful single-family floor plan, 25 Stuyvesant Street is approximately 3380 square feet inside, built 16' x 39' on a 59 foot deep lot with six levels, including the garden level, plus the basement for mechanicals and storage. There is a grand stoop entry as well as a second entrance below the stoop leading to the garden level.

The parlour floor has ceilings which measure 10' 10" with beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows, and an original medallion decorating the ceiling. There is an original marble surround on the wood-burning fireplace. With a full bath at the top of the stairs, the main living room in front connects to a library via an arched entryway also with original pocket doors.

This is so "Upstairs Downstairs" sounding, sort of. And there's isn't any kicker, such as, "Good investment property to tear down and build an NYU dorm." And it's yours for $4.5 million.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Second incarnation of Atlantic Book Shop closing (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Remembering Barnacle Bill Scott (Neither More Nor Less)

Prediction: More high-rises for the East Village in the next 10 years (The Local East Village)

2 Cooper Square residents helped kill the B Bar Beige party (Eater)

The R train is gross (Runnin' Scared)

Warning about Walmart on the LES (DNAinfo)

Tommy Hilfiger buys Madison Avenue's landmark clocktower (Curbed)

RIP 35 Cooper Square (Patell and Waterman’s History of New York)

What's replacing The Eldridge on Eldridge (BoweryBoogie)

Sounds like a headline from here!: Pair of Old East Village Buildings To Be Torn Down for Condos (Curbed Chicago)

And Dave on 7th notes the finished ad outside Alcatraz Sushi Lounge on Avenue A and St. Mark's...

A reader reminder about fire-escape windows

An email from a reader...

We were burglarized Friday night at our home on East Second Street and Avenue A by someone crawling through our fire escape window. They unlocked our security fire gate and came in. The worst part was, we were home. They emptied my purses, rummaged through things. Got off with cash, a camera and jewelry. Left our front door open as they escaped. Luckily we slept through it, but it was creepy.

And was her window open?

Our window was open a smidgen — like 2 inches. The gate was closed and locked. They must have had a very slim arm to reach inside and open it. Not to mention being really agile to climb in in complete silence. There were three of us there sleeping and nobody heard a thing.

Stranger than Merchandise

A new ad campaign from Uniqlo spotted on the 6 Train ...

Now featuring "Down by Law" T-shirts.

City's new First and Second Avenue bike and bus lanes are a success, city says

I'm just catching up to this story that Streestblog posted last Friday. The piece was based on a presentation by the Department of Transportation on the First and Second Avenue redesign.

Here are a few highlights via Streetsblog, where you can find more details as well as a dandy slideshow:

• The new Select Bus Service is 15 percent faster than the old limited was. It goes 11 percent faster while moving, thanks to dedicated lanes enforced with cameras, and spends 36 percent less time at stops thanks to off-board fare payment.

• Where the bike lane and pedestrian refuge islands were installed, the street is much safer. Injuries declined by 8.3 percent compared to an average of the three previous years.

• Riders are flocking to the new protected lanes. On First Avenue, there were more riders counted in December, January, and February with the lanes than in June without them. From June 2010 to April 2011, the count rose by 153 percent. On Second, where the base of riders was higher to start, the number of cyclists rose by 55 percent from June to April.

Noted

I asked the Superdive owners what became of the Superdive sign that workers removed on Tuesday.

The response:

"It will be moved to a new location soon to be revealed...
long live SUPERDIVE."

Driving to the hole in Extra Place

Since discovering the basketball hoop in Extra Place a few weeks ago...

...we've wondered who has been playing here. The gang from John Varvatos taking on Extra Place newcomers Daniel Boulud?

Maybe! Though on this day, here's who we saw playing... Kids!

Argosy appears to be the latest East Village vintage clothing shop to close

We haven't seen much activity lately at Argosy, the vintage clothing store on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A...

...and some important-looking court documents appeared on the gate this week...

...and the mail continues to collect inside the gate...

If this turns out to be a permanent closure, then Argosy is the latest East Village thrift store/boutique to shutter in the last 18 months or so, a list that includes:

More vintage doom: Beauty Crisis is closing

Monk Thrift Shop on Avenue B

Atomic Passion on Ninth Street

O Mistress Mine on 11th Street

Andy's Chee-Pees on St. Mark's Place

Physical Graffiti turns into a tea shop

Junk on St. Mark's Place

Personal Affairs on Seventh Street

Amon-Ra Showroom on East 10th Street

The Monk Thrift Shop on Avenue C

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village vintage stores doomed?

Pork pie hats for East Ninth Street

Meanwhile, a little east of Argosy on Ninth Street, a shop called Pork Pie Hatters is coming soon...

Even Zarkana can't magically fix this stalled tourist bus

On First Avenue near Seventh Street... Where do you suppose the tourists wandered off to?

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Bobby Williams]

Remembering the Kiev (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Johnny Bizarre's tongue in a mousetrap (Neither More Nor Less)

264 Bowery won't be a bar after all (BoweryBoogie)

The Best Coffee in the East Village and Lower East Side (Serious Eats)

Lunching at Peels and feeling like a tourist (Flaming Pablum)

Bloomberg's taxi choice is as suburban as expected (Lost City)

At the wedding of Reverend Jen Jr and Taco (Slum Goddess)

Good lord: Vin Diesel rapping with Arthur Russell in 1986 (NYPress)

And while in town, Chico is busy touching up some of his previous murals...

...such as this one on Avenue C and 10th Street...

[Bobby Williams]

Like clockwork, 123 Third Avenue on time, pretty much

So, we've been watching the work on the southeast corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue (aka "East Union Square") starting in April 2008, when the sidewalk shed started going up... and the Tanning Zone came down ...



Workers demolished the two-story building, and the future 123 Third Avenue started going up in the fall of 2008...



September 2009...



The signs said all this would be done by May 1, 2011. (Yeah, right!) Which was Sunday.

So how did they do? I took these shots on April 30...

And now, the sidewalk shed is gone...

Given the number of stalled and dead projects, 123 stayed on track. (Curbed looked at 123's rendering vs. reality last week.)

And as this penthouse party invite* for last night shows, 123 has sold 90 percent of the units... with some $3.6 million (and up!) penthouses left to scramble for...

Not bad for something that looks like the dorm across the street, though with better amenities.

* The 123ers did invite me, though I couldn't attend you know.