Outside the Cooper Square Hotel.

Free concert in Tompkins Square Park Sunday afternoon

Just getting word of a free show in Tompkins Square Park Sunday afternoon (2-7) courtesy of The Shadow:

Performers will include:
> Chink Floyd
> David Peel
> El Muchacho
> Zero Content
> The Drunkard's Wife
> Jennifer Blowdryer

Storm damage at the Tompkins Square Park dog run

EV Grieve reader Allen Semanco passes along these photos showing last night's storm damage ...

Meanwhile, no word yet on these limbs.

Meanwhile, on 38th Street...

Dave on 7th was on 38th Street earlier... where he figured there must be some logical reason why somebody put this meter in the middle of the sidewalk.

Fab 5 Freddie told me...

EV Grieve reader Pedro happened by Gallery 151 at 350 Bowery Wednesday night where Fab 5 Freddy was debuting his month-long art show titled "New York:New Work."

And Fab 5 Freddy was out front speaking with friends and fans...

BoweryBoogie has more on the show here.

Why people will be running and eating pizza and stuff tomorrow in Tompkins Square Park

Oh, tomorrow marks the second annual NYC Pizza Run at Tompkins Square Park. Ninety runners, uh, run 2.25 miles, stopping at three checkpoints to eat slices of pizza.

If you want to take part, you're too late. It's booked.

If you want to take pictures of runners throwing up pizza, then please send them to our friends at EV Heave.

You can find more info here.

The former Café Charbon will become a sports bar 'with an emphasis on value'

As we reported from the CB3/SLA meeting back in January, the team behind The Stumble Inn, Off the Wagon, Gin Mill, Jake's Dilemma, Down the Hatch and The 13th Step are taking over Café Charbon on the corner of Orchard and Stanton Streets. The CB3/SLA committee unanimously approved the transfer.

Yesterday, BoweryBoogie noted that Café Charbon is now closed.

The new owners provided a few details about their plans for the space during the January CB3/SLA meeting: It will be a full-service tavern open from 11:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. The French doors will close at 10 p.m. There will be $1 drafts at happy hour, a private party room and DJs on occasion (no dancing, though).

Yesterday, we asked Michael Asch, one of the two senior co-owners of the 13th Step and its sibling bars, for more about their plans for the former Café Charbon.

They hope to be open in September or October after "a face lift."

"We will be a sports bar, pub and grill, serving burgers, salads, sandwiches, etc., with an emphasis on value — both on the food as well as liquor," he said.

And how about a name, given the ruckus about the 13th Step?

"We are also planning to be sensitive to to the community as far as a name is concerned," he said.

Introducing Gallery 98

Marc H. Miller passes along word about the latest edition to the 98 Bowery website ...

For collectors interested in New York’s downtown art scene circa 1980, the website 98 Bowery has debuted a unique online gallery featuring ephemera, multiples and one-of-a-kind artworks connected to the radical art group Collaborative Projects Inc. (aka “Colab”).

During its short but eventful history, Colab left its mark with exhibitions like the Times Square Show and the Real Estate Show, the affiliated alternative spaces Fashion Moda in the South Bronx and ABC No Rio in the Lower East Side, and a succession of pop-up “A More Stores” featuring low-priced artist multiples. Working collectively, the group was an incubator for ideas and a launching pad for member artists like Jenny Holzer, Tom Otterness, and Kiki Smith. Every item listed on Gallery 98 dates from Colab’s prime years, 1975 – 1985.

Among the items:

Find more here.

For further reading on EV Grieve:
Life at 98 Bowery: 1969-1989

Revisiting Punk Art

Q-and-A with Curt Hoppe: Living on the Bowery, finding inspiration and shooting Mr. Softee

Voices from 98 Bowery's past

An Urban Etiquette Stoop Sign

We spotted this Urban Etiquette Sign recently under a sidewalk shed on the tree-lined 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (AKA, Central Village)...

Perhaps the sign worked, because we spotted this fellow taking a nap a few stoops away...

Here's Johnny! on East Fourth Street

Between Avenue C and Avenue D.

And is this the best scene from "The Shining"?

Open, uh, house tomorrow at the New York City Marble Cemetery

Over on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. If anything, then this provides a chance for you to discard any unwanted explosives!

Meanwhile, mark your calendars:

Summer Neighborhood Open Days
Sunday, July 10
Saturday, Aug. 13
Sunday, Sept. 11

11 am to 5 pm

Fall Open Weekend
Saturday and Sunday
Oct. 15 and 16

10 am to 5 pm

Visit the cemetery website here.

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Boca Chica now delivering

Several readers have pointed out the arrival of Boca Chica delivery menus on their front doors... the Latin-American mainstay on First Avenue at First Street is now offering delivery for the first time...

Reservoir dogs, kind of

At the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run today... Photos by Bobby Williams.

Fun in the bike lanes

In case you haven't seen this by now... this video has made the rounds the last two days. It's from Casey Neistat, the East Village-based filmmaker about his experience getting a $50 ticket for not riding in the bike lane on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Place.

Hilarity ensues.

And here's an interview with him at New York magazine.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

A feature on Avenue C's Nublu (The New York Times)

Advocates: Car crashes more deadly than gun violence in NYC (DNAinfo)

Fallout from the painted-over Fat Black Pussycat sign (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Wednesday in Tompkins Square Park (Neither More Nor Less ... Melanie has more shots here at East Village Corner)

No law against women walking around NYC topless (Runnin' Scared)

Good Samaritan gives Natividad Zirate new tools (BoweryBoogie)

The Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival is Sunday (The Lo-Down)

Goggla posts her Art Around the Park photos (The Gog Log)

Shots of Kenny Scharf's freshly painted rolldown gates on Delancey (Fresh Paint NYC)

And, last night, we mentioned that a cat named Delilah is missing from 6th Street and Avenue B ... A reader spotted this rather thin-looking cat last night at the Creative Little Garden on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... The reader called Delilah's owners, though it wasn't a match...

An update on the Greenpointing of the East Village

It has been four months since we last looked in on the new apartment complex rising on East 5th Street between Avenues A and B. When we last looked at the rendering, a Curbed tipster noted that it was reminiscent of the “condos going up in Greenpoint.”

Which brings us to today, where we now have a better idea of what 532 E. Fifth St. will look like. (Uh, the photo on the left.)

Well, we don’t know about Greenpoint, but the building is green, right down to the promised rooftop gardens.

And! A view of the back of the building...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Beaming up on Fifth Street

Demolition on East Fifth Street

On the way: A five-story apartment building for Fifth Street

'Just-renovated' A Building penthouse on resale market with a little off the top

Over at the A Building, the Party Palace on 13th Street ... a penthouse just went on the market. According to Streeteasy, the owner bought it in March 2008 for $1,909,218. It's now listed for $1,895,000.

Well, here are a few views....

And the listing:

This just-renovated south-facing penthouse with terrace at The A Building features wonderful sun and sky, 11 foot ceilings, and exceptional contemporary finishes, including LV Bespoke 6 inch wide oak plank floors, Somfi motorized shades, and a B&W surround sound system in the living room with a second zone for the terrace. The ideal layout offers space for a large dining area plus several seating areas, great for entertaining. Both the living room and master bedroom open directly out onto the sunny, 250 SF south-facing terrace, perfect for accommodating dinner guests or just for stumbling straight out of bed to enjoy the flowers and soak up the sun. *Please note, there is a special assessment of $145.98 per month through December of 2011.

Hmm.

Odd that a three-year-old building would feature a "just-renovated" penthouse. Or not, as The Real Deal pointed out last year in an article titled "Massive headaches at the A Building." As TRD reported: "Faulty construction has afflicted roughly a quarter of the A Building's 96 units with serious leakage and mold issues."

In any event, see the penthouse for yourself this Sunday during the open house from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Hey, and bring your swimsuit!

P.S.
If you don't care for this unit, there are six other homes for sale in the A Building, per Streeteasy.

Cool off today with a souvenir piece of the Icicle Audi ice

As you likely remember, the biggest story this — or any other, really — year was the Icicle Audi on East Second Street. (No? All you need to know is right here.)

As we exclusively reported on Jan. 24, the owner of the Icicle Audi was able to chip away enough of the ice-covered Audi to move it... and he left behind Icicle Audi ice for various souvenir collectors. Like us!

Instead of selling a souvenir chunk of ice then – when the eyes of the world were on the Icicle Audi... we waited until it got hot out ... when people may be more desperate for a chunk of ice — a liquid of unknown burst NYC water pipe origins frozen into this solid toxic state. And taking up room in the freezer.

So, behold — with a newspaper for authenticity ...

Bid early and often — and quickly. I've already heard from those guys at Death & Co.

Bonus January flashback!

No opening day set for the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop on Seventh Street

Last month, Serious Eats reported that the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is opening a brick-and-mortar shop at the former Xoom space on Seventh Street.

In a video interview posted yesterday at The Amateur Gourmet, Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff discussed the Big Gay Ice Cream Empire, which includes a book next summer.

At about the 1:25 mark, Quint tells Adam Roberts that the space is coming along. But! How about an opening date? "It opens when it's ready to be opened," he said. "We want to learn how to run the store properly before we open. So we aren't going to set a date."

And, well, here's the whole interview ...

Someone's In The Kitchen With...Doug Quint & Bryan Petroff (from The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck) from Adam Roberts on Vimeo.

Why you'll risk life and limb walking under this tree in Tompkins Square Park

On Tuesday night, we wondered why this patch of the sidewalk on Avenue B along Tompkins Square Park was cordoned off with "Danger Do Not Enter" red tape...

As Dave on 7th and Chris noted, there are two large limbs just sort of hanging around up there... a crew has them secured but ... let's hope that a gust of wind doesn't come along until these things have been removed....