Via @arielkaye
Waiting for more details... we heard four trucks were on the scene.
Updated: 9:32
Looks like a manhole fire... via @dens
Thursday, September 8, 2011
[Updated] Breaking: Fire on Second Avenue at Seventh Street
Via @arielkaye
Waiting for more details... we heard four trucks were on the scene.
Updated: 9:32
Looks like a manhole fire... via @dens
DOH temporarily closes Via Della Pace
Multiple tipster report that the DOH paid a visit to Via Della Pace — Danilo Gallinari's favorite restaurant! — last night here on Seventh Street near Second Avenue. The inspection report isn't online yet.
Is David Schwimmer the 'Friends' star who now owns the demolished 331 E. Sixth St. townhouse?
As the day progressed, a few commenters left hints pointing to David Schwimmer — you know, Ross.
And now, an anonymous commenter left us this juicy piece of detective work on the "Friends" post:
Gary Kress is the manager of 331 East 6th St Townhouse, LLC. That LLC is the current owner of this property. Gary Kress is also a name partner of Murphy & Kress, an accounting firm in Santa Monica that has numerous Hollywood types among its clientele. He has a relationship with Schwimmer through Dark House, a production company whose president Schwimmer is.
Indeed.
Well, as Muckety pointed out a few years back, Murphy & Kress is "an accounting firm that takes care of a clientele so exclusive that it refuses to confirm its clients. FEC filings indicate that Murphy & Kress handles financial affairs for Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Denzel Washington ... among other prominent figures in the film industry."
According to CorporationWiki, "Dark Harbor Stories, Inc. has a location in Santa Monica, CA. Active officers include David Schwimmer and Gary J Kress. Gary J Kress serves as the registered agent for this organization."
If all this does come back to Schwimmer... well, then he's your new neighbor!
Let's assume that this is his new home... We're wondering why:
• With all the available upscale townhouses on the market in the city, why did he buy this historic building only to tear it down?
• Didn't his people think tearing down this historic townhouse would raise the ire — and suspicion — of neighbors?
• What was so special about this particular location? Proximity to Indian food?
• How often will a busy person like Schwimmer actually even stay here?
• What does he have in store for the place? Indoor pool? Theater? Bowling alley?
What else do you want to ask?
Final destination for 11-17 Second Ave.
Been some time since we checked in on 11-17 Second Ave., the buildings — including the Mars Bar space — that will be demolished to make way for a 12-story apartment building. There are some whispers about why nothing much has happened here of late.
In any event, this past Saturday, workers were on the scene. When asked, a worker said they were removing the sewer and water lines from the property... a necessary step before demolition...
Expect to see some scaffolding soon. The City issued that permit in early August... not to mention the debris chute.
So all this is to say ... expect some scaffolding here soon enough...
In any event, this past Saturday, workers were on the scene. When asked, a worker said they were removing the sewer and water lines from the property... a necessary step before demolition...
Expect to see some scaffolding soon. The City issued that permit in early August... not to mention the debris chute.
So all this is to say ... expect some scaffolding here soon enough...
And now, a look at the naked mannequins inside Veselka Bowery
So we saw people decorating here at Veselka Bowery last evening... dunno if this is for a special event of sorts... or if the new restaurant will look like an airport gift shop ...
Tonight in Tompkins Square Park: Rosemary's Baby (And he STILL has his father's eyes!)
Tonight is the make-up date for "Rosemary's Baby," which was rained out back on Aug. 18.
We're your friends, Rosemary. There's nothing to be scared about. Honest and truly there isn't!
So that's it for the free summer movies. "The Warriors" was my favorite. You?
Meanwhile! A look back at a few of the summer movie highlights ... Please view while humming "That's What Friends Are For."
July 1!
[Bobby Williams]
July 21!
[Photos by Bobby Williams]
We're your friends, Rosemary. There's nothing to be scared about. Honest and truly there isn't!
So that's it for the free summer movies. "The Warriors" was my favorite. You?
Meanwhile! A look back at a few of the summer movie highlights ... Please view while humming "That's What Friends Are For."
July 1!
July 21!
[Photos by Bobby Williams]
More dessert for St. Mark's Place
A "coming soon" sign is up directly next door to Jane's Sweet Buns... And that looks like dessert to us...
More details to follow.
More details to follow.
[EVG flashback] Allen Ginsberg's former 12th Street apartment now on the market
The item yesterday about Larry Fagin, who lives down the hall from Allen Ginsberg's former apartment, prompted me to revisit the following post. This entry first appeared on Aug. 25, 2010, and became one of the most visited EVG posts in our nearly four-year history.
The Allen Ginsberg Project recently had the chance to see Ginsberg's longtime home at 437 E. 12th St. — up on the fourth floor. As Jill reported at Blah Blog Blah back in June, Ginsberg's apartment — where he lived from 1975 to 1996 — is being renovated. (He had three apartments in the building: this one in which he lived; one in which he worked; and one that he sublet to friends and students. As NYC Songlines notes, he lived here longer than any other home in New York.)
Jill's friend, whose apartment looked into Ginsberg's kitchen, shared some memories in June about her neighbor here between First Avenue and Avenue A. "We didn't bother with each other much, but he'd take photos of my shirtless carpenter boyfriend when he'd use the fire escape for an impromptu workshop. You never knew who'd be gathered around his kitchen table: a PBS film crew, a minion of men with black garb and payis chanting Sabbath prayers, etc. I never took photos of him, but Allen with his robe open illuminated by refrigerator light is burned into my retina, for better or worse! After he left, I found myself missing him."
Peter Orlovsky, the poet and longtime partner of Ginsberg, stayed in the apartment up until about a year ago, I was told. (Orlovsky died this past May of lung cancer at a respite care center in Williston, Vermont.) The apartment sat empty for nearly a year before the renovations started late in the spring.
Here's a photo that The Allen Ginsberg Project took a few weeks ago... along with one of Ginsberg's own shots...
The Ginsberg caption reads: "View out my kitchen window August 18 1984, familiar Manhattan back-yard, wet brick-walled Atlantis sea garden's Alianthus (stinkweed Tree of Heaven) boughs waiving in rainy breeze, Stuyvesant Town's roof two blocks north on 14th Street - I focused on the raindrops on the clothesline." [Allen Ginsberg Estate]
I figured this apartment was probably ready to hit the market. I contacted Dmitry (Daniel) Kramp, Kramp Residential Team, City Connection Realty Inc., who has been renting some of the other renovated apartments in the building.
I asked him when the apartment might be available for rent and if the listing will include a mention of its former occupant. Kramp responded, saying he wasn't sure if Ginsberg's name would be referenced since he already had a suitor lined up for the apartment.
Later, though, Kramp sent along the listing, which includes a line about Ginsberg, as well as photos of the renovated space. The apartment is going for $1,750.
Harry Smith stayed here for nine months in 1985 while he recovered from an accident. The small spare room he used (dubbed "Harry's Room") has been converted into a bathroom.
Through the years, this building has been host to an array of poets, musicians and artists.... some of whom are in the photo below...
Via: Edith Ginsberg, Cliff Fyman, Bob Rosenthal, Allen Ginsberg, John Godfey, Steven Taylor, Peter Orlovsky, Greg Masters, Michael Scholnick, in front of 437 E. 12th St., where all except Edith lived. Nov. 14, 1982. photo: c. Stephen Shames.
Among the many other notables.... Arthur Russell lived here for many years... ditto for Richard Hell.
Despite all this history, I'm not sure what kind of spirit, if any, can still exist in such an extensively renovated apartment, a place where Ginsberg, Orlovsky and assorted guests such as Herbert Huncke and William Burroughs held forth around a crowded kitchen table.
As Jill's neighbor wrote back in June: "Soon I'll look out at yet another set of white mini-blinds behind cheap replacement windows, illuminated by halogen floor lamp, with soundtrack by yet another long-past-teenage idiot amping-up to "Baba O'Reilly" as irony sails over his head and out into the beer-soaked night."
For further reading:
Howl (Blah Blog Blah)
The Allen Ginsberg Project
Via: Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Louis Cartwright, Herbert Huncke, William Burroughs, Allen & Peter's new apartment, 437 E. 12th St., New York City, December 1975. Photographer unknown.
The Allen Ginsberg Project recently had the chance to see Ginsberg's longtime home at 437 E. 12th St. — up on the fourth floor. As Jill reported at Blah Blog Blah back in June, Ginsberg's apartment — where he lived from 1975 to 1996 — is being renovated. (He had three apartments in the building: this one in which he lived; one in which he worked; and one that he sublet to friends and students. As NYC Songlines notes, he lived here longer than any other home in New York.)
Jill's friend, whose apartment looked into Ginsberg's kitchen, shared some memories in June about her neighbor here between First Avenue and Avenue A. "We didn't bother with each other much, but he'd take photos of my shirtless carpenter boyfriend when he'd use the fire escape for an impromptu workshop. You never knew who'd be gathered around his kitchen table: a PBS film crew, a minion of men with black garb and payis chanting Sabbath prayers, etc. I never took photos of him, but Allen with his robe open illuminated by refrigerator light is burned into my retina, for better or worse! After he left, I found myself missing him."
Peter Orlovsky, the poet and longtime partner of Ginsberg, stayed in the apartment up until about a year ago, I was told. (Orlovsky died this past May of lung cancer at a respite care center in Williston, Vermont.) The apartment sat empty for nearly a year before the renovations started late in the spring.
Here's a photo that The Allen Ginsberg Project took a few weeks ago... along with one of Ginsberg's own shots...
The Ginsberg caption reads: "View out my kitchen window August 18 1984, familiar Manhattan back-yard, wet brick-walled Atlantis sea garden's Alianthus (stinkweed Tree of Heaven) boughs waiving in rainy breeze, Stuyvesant Town's roof two blocks north on 14th Street - I focused on the raindrops on the clothesline." [Allen Ginsberg Estate]
I figured this apartment was probably ready to hit the market. I contacted Dmitry (Daniel) Kramp, Kramp Residential Team, City Connection Realty Inc., who has been renting some of the other renovated apartments in the building.
I asked him when the apartment might be available for rent and if the listing will include a mention of its former occupant. Kramp responded, saying he wasn't sure if Ginsberg's name would be referenced since he already had a suitor lined up for the apartment.
Later, though, Kramp sent along the listing, which includes a line about Ginsberg, as well as photos of the renovated space. The apartment is going for $1,750.
Harry Smith stayed here for nine months in 1985 while he recovered from an accident. The small spare room he used (dubbed "Harry's Room") has been converted into a bathroom.
Through the years, this building has been host to an array of poets, musicians and artists.... some of whom are in the photo below...
Via: Edith Ginsberg, Cliff Fyman, Bob Rosenthal, Allen Ginsberg, John Godfey, Steven Taylor, Peter Orlovsky, Greg Masters, Michael Scholnick, in front of 437 E. 12th St., where all except Edith lived. Nov. 14, 1982. photo: c. Stephen Shames.
Among the many other notables.... Arthur Russell lived here for many years... ditto for Richard Hell.
Despite all this history, I'm not sure what kind of spirit, if any, can still exist in such an extensively renovated apartment, a place where Ginsberg, Orlovsky and assorted guests such as Herbert Huncke and William Burroughs held forth around a crowded kitchen table.
As Jill's neighbor wrote back in June: "Soon I'll look out at yet another set of white mini-blinds behind cheap replacement windows, illuminated by halogen floor lamp, with soundtrack by yet another long-past-teenage idiot amping-up to "Baba O'Reilly" as irony sails over his head and out into the beer-soaked night."
For further reading:
Howl (Blah Blog Blah)
The Allen Ginsberg Project
Via: Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Louis Cartwright, Herbert Huncke, William Burroughs, Allen & Peter's new apartment, 437 E. 12th St., New York City, December 1975. Photographer unknown.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
People like the Department of Transportation's Flaming Cactus installation, the Department of Transportation says
The Times has an update on Flaming Cactus, those neon zip ties on light poles on Astor Place/Cooper Square ... And EV Grieve readers make an appearance in the article:
To judge from a few of the anonymous comments on the EV Grieve blog [Ed note: WOO!], a couple of people would happily start the untying tomorrow. Others wonder about how the ties will look after a few seasons have passed. Or they worry that the needlelike loose ends of the ties might poke a child or a dog in the eye.
But Scott Gastel, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, said on Friday that the agency had received no complaints so far; only compliments.
Read the whole article here. You have until next June to enjoy/hate it.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Tying one on at Astor Place (32 comments)
You have another 10 months left to discuss the Flaming Cactus at Astor Place
'One of the East Village’s last standing bohemians soldiers on'
Four stories above East 12th Street, down the hall from Allen Ginsberg’s old apartment, one of the East Village’s last standing bohemians soldiers on.
Mr. Fagin, 74 years old, second-generation beat, New York School veteran, friend of Ted Berrigan, publisher of Ashbery, lives with his wife, Susan Noel, also a writer, in adjoining rent-controlled apartments in the building near Avenue A.
The article notes that he pays $150 a month in rent "in what he calls the 'Chelsea Hotel of the East Village.'"
Read the article here.
RUMOR: Which 'Friends' cast member demolished the historic East Sixth Street townhouse?
Yesterday, we had the sad news about the total demolition of the circa-1852 townhouse at 331 E. Sixth St.
Per a commenter:
Rumor has it that this building was bought by a former "Friends" cast member, not sure which one. Funny how that show portayed outrageously unrealistic NYC apartment living. The reality is so much more outrageous!
Hmm, well, we have no idea about this one. Well, it could be true, though it likely isn't.
Still, let's blame LeBlanc.
The Hot Chicks Room lives on!
Last night, as we noted, the Upright Citizens Brigade opened its East Village outpost (dubbed UCBeast) on Avenue A at East Third Street.
So we stopped by to see what was what. And, on the wall in the bar area, in plain view of everyone walking to and from church, school (think of the children!), the leper colony...
The Hot Chicks Room lives!
Well, the sign is a nod to a UCB skit. (Watch it here.) As you're probablypainfully aware from this past March, a concerned resident was ready to circulate a petition to have the "Hot Chicks Room" sign removed from above the doorway on Avenue A. As the resident said: "I just find it, for this neighborhood, very inappropriate and repulsive."
[The sign BEFORE UCB removed it]
And eventually the UCBers removed the sign. In a ceremony, UCB alum Amy Poehler, presented the sign to Earth Matter on Governors Island, where the sign is presumably now offending a compost learning center.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Your 'Hot Chicks Room' sign update
[Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade (47 comments)
Breaking: UCB will remove the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign!
So we stopped by to see what was what. And, on the wall in the bar area, in plain view of everyone walking to and from church, school (think of the children!)
The Hot Chicks Room lives!
Well, the sign is a nod to a UCB skit. (Watch it here.) As you're probably
And eventually the UCBers removed the sign. In a ceremony, UCB alum Amy Poehler, presented the sign to Earth Matter on Governors Island, where the sign is presumably now offending a compost learning center.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Your 'Hot Chicks Room' sign update
[Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade (47 comments)
Breaking: UCB will remove the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign!
Enough is enough: 316 E. Sixth St. was the fourth pre-Civil War townhouse to be destroyed in the last year
While on the topic of 331 E. Sixth St., which is between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... as the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) noted, this is the fourth pre-Civil War building in the East Village to be demolished in the past year.
The others: 326 and 328 E. Fourth St. and 35 Cooper Square. Meanwhile, 316 E. Third St. is next on the kill list to make way for a luxury apartment building.
So let's send it right to GVSHP:
Enough is enough! The demolition of 331 East 6th Street only highlights the urgent need for landmark protections in the East Village. Several months ago the Landmarks Preservation Commission proposed two historic districts in the East Village, a critical first step in preserving the neighborhood's significant historic architecture. However, the Commission has given us no information as to when they will hold a public hearing on the proposed districts (the second of three official steps in the landmarking process). While we wait, more and more of the neighborhood's complex and colorful history is being destroyed.
How to Help:
Send a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission urging them to hold a public hearing on the East Village Historic Districts and calendar 316 East 3rd Street. A sample letter may be found HERE. Please send copies of all letters to gvshp@gvshp.org.
A note for the person who bled all over the stairs
EV Grieve reader Marisa found this instant classic Urban Etiquette Sign at the top of the stairs of a Second Avenue apartment building... As you can see, someone is bleeding all over the stairs and not remembering to clean it up (with bleach).
Is this too much to ask?
[For more photos and what not, visit her Tumblr here]
As the world ends: Subway Inn, now with Atomic Wings
Every so often we venture away from the neighborhood...
An EV Grieve reader reports on a recent visit to well-worn bar favorite the Subway Inn on East 60th Street near Lexington ... And?
"The place was full of overgrown fraternity guys watching sports and eating chicken wings."
Not chicken wings!
Anyway, we haven't been here since last December. So we paid another visit... Pretty typical crowd here and now. Off-duty Bloomingdale's workers. Several tourists. A rummy or two. That one guy singing along to Fleetwood Mac. And the jukebox wasn't even on.
Oh.
Not sure when this happened, but Subway Inn has apparently teamed up with Atomic Wings ...
You can have them delivered right to your table.
A convenience for hungry Subway Inners or the end of the world?
Either way, it's your colon.
An EV Grieve reader reports on a recent visit to well-worn bar favorite the Subway Inn on East 60th Street near Lexington ... And?
"The place was full of overgrown fraternity guys watching sports and eating chicken wings."
Not chicken wings!
Anyway, we haven't been here since last December. So we paid another visit... Pretty typical crowd here and now. Off-duty Bloomingdale's workers. Several tourists. A rummy or two. That one guy singing along to Fleetwood Mac. And the jukebox wasn't even on.
Oh.
Not sure when this happened, but Subway Inn has apparently teamed up with Atomic Wings ...
You can have them delivered right to your table.
A convenience for hungry Subway Inners or the end of the world?
Either way, it's your colon.
Looking at the door policy at Croxley Ales
Don't recall seeing this sign before here on Avenue B near Second Street. Do you need both parents present or just one? I have a few more questions about this policy. Maybe you do as well?
Reminders: Deadline approaching for you to llustrate how scary you find NYU’s massive expansion plans
Remember, the the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) is inviting you to submit your best design illustrating just how scary you find NYU’s massive expansion plans. See the rules and contact information here. (Bottom of the post.) Deadline is tomorrow. Gather around designers...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
[Updated] Breaking: Explosion reported at the ConEd substation on East 14th Street
Around 7:45 tonight, residents near the ConEd substation on East 14th Street and Avenue C reported hearing an explosion. However, many people thought it was thunder... until the FDNY responded... Breaking
According to EV Griever reader Robert Galinsky: "Big explosion, giant black plume of smoke, no flames." A witness at the scene said that it was a gas leak.
More emergency crews are responding to the scene...
In any event, 14th Street at Avenue C is cordoned off... the M9 and 14D buses were being rerouted... Avenue C is blocked off at 12th Street.
Updated:
Just after 9, @aimeeweiss noted that most of the emergency crews packed up and left the scene...
According to EV Griever reader Robert Galinsky: "Big explosion, giant black plume of smoke, no flames." A witness at the scene said that it was a gas leak.
More emergency crews are responding to the scene...
In any event, 14th Street at Avenue C is cordoned off... the M9 and 14D buses were being rerouted... Avenue C is blocked off at 12th Street.
Updated:
Just after 9, @aimeeweiss noted that most of the emergency crews packed up and left the scene...
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