Cooper Union agrees to reduce the rent for St. Mark's Bookshop; plus, awkward photo opp!

Things were looking gloomy and doomy for a rent reduction for St. Mark's Bookshop's. Just last week we learned that its landlord, Cooper Union, was broke. The Bookshop owners weren't expecting any deal.

But!

John Leland at The New York Times reports the following:

That changed on Tuesday, said the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, who met with both parties to work out an agreement. At a meeting in Mr. Stringer’s office, the college agreed to reduce the store’s rent to about $17,500 a month from about $20,000 for one year, and to forgive $7,000 in debt. The school will also provide student help with revising the store’s business plan.

Regardless, co-owner Bob Contant described the store's finances as "fragile."

Meanwhile... AWKWARD PHOTO OPP! From Stringer's office:

At 11 a.m., Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer will join Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha and bookshop owners Bob Contant and Terry McCoy to make a joint announcement about the future of the St. Mark’s Bookshop.

Who: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha
Bob Contant and Terry McCoy
Local elected officials and community leaders

Where: St. Mark’s Bookshop - 31 3rd Avenue

10,000 and counting: A new hope

Just a quick note to say that, in honor of our recent 10,000th post, we're pulling up some treasures from the EVG archives. So in case you are wondering what this old shit is. We'll be back with a few more tomorrow.

[EVG Flashback] "Sophie's...remains a good place to stop time"

Originally posted on Feb. 25, 2009...

I finally watched the "Disappearing Manhattan" episode of "No Reservations" (this after blabbering away about it the last three months!). It debuted Monday night, and will air several more times. Grub Street yesterday provided a nice synopsis of what the episode covered.

In particular, I was interested in the last segment, in which Anthony Bourdain shoots the shit with Nick Tosches at Sophie's. It was all of about three minutes (and the shoot at Sophie's took nearly three hours, I was told).

Here's most of what transpired at Sophie's....

[EVG Flashback] Team Bride confidential

Originally posted on July 25, 2008...

Did you see the women in the "team bride" T-shirts in the neighborhood Saturday night? I found a blog post on what this was all about: A bachelorette party featuring a scavenger hunt through the East Village. (There were two teams: the grooms vs. the brides.)

Anyway, in case you were wondering what that was all about, here is one of the participant's account of the evening via her blog (names and links have been left out...):

The last thing I recall about the night is having a booty off at the final bar (for those of you that are unaware, a booty off is a ass-shaking dance off competition)…and I might have won. I mean, according to me, that is. I mean, Brand New Booty comes on and no one can shake it like I can. You have to trust me with this.

And really…what is better than spending a weekend with some of your best girls…hanging out in NYC all day and night and having a booty off?

Exactly. Nothing.

Man I love New York.

Some more highlights:

* Asking a crackhead in Thompkins Square Park for directions to a statue and having a homeless man interuppt to give me “real” directions and be strangely alert, happy, and friendly for being outside at 12am in this park

* Going into one of the East Village Precincts with my biggest smile and please be nice to me look on my face while asking the cops if they would take some pictures with us for the game. (they did -– never underestimate the power of boobies in a tight tee shirt)

* Following a guy with tons of tattoos carrying 2 bags of garbage to a graveyard (riiiight)

Did I mention I love NYC? Only in New York could we do a Scavenger Hunt where every area we walked in downtown was filled with people ready to help us with our more outrageous tasks (and this being the East Village most were low key artiste hippie types with lots of “I wanna help” qualities.”)

All the streets were packed with a wide variety of flavorful different people. I am used to this area because one of my siblings lived here (but more towards Union Square and not Alphabet City)…but I could get around Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, Midtown and the Upper East Side in my sleep. Slowly throughout the years I am becoming more and more familiar with the gloriousness that is Soho, TriBeca, West Village and Greenwich Village and many other cute downtown areas. Ah, I love those areas.

But East Village is a whole other animal in many ways . . . Its a quirky and sometimes downright bizarre place…where some streets are almost quiet and dainty and the others are filled with people 24-7 and lined with bars, quick food joints, and restaurants. What a trip a hunt was around there.

[EVG Flashback] Breaking: Models invade Key Food, hold melons

Originally posted on March 31, 2010...


From an EV Grieve reader:

major fashion photo shoot right now in the produce aisle at key food on ave. a.
i counted 25 models, photographers, make-up artists, security, etc.
they just walked in and started shooting. looks like key food management had no idea.
saw model holding up 2 melons- is this for american apparel? sheesh!

Day of the Dead today at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

Photos by Peter Radley.

Stump removal in Tompkins Square Park today

That tree that sort of leaned in Crusty Meadow came down during Hurricane Irene...

Today, workers finally removed the remaining stump... as these photos by Bobby Williams show... looks like a grave...

Tompkins Square Bagels sign is up

[Photo by Shawn Chittle]

The mosaic sign created by Jim Power went up this afternoon at Tompkins Square Bagels on Avenue A near 10th Street... We'll have more on the opening date later... We had the first look inside the shop in September.

Here's the interview that we did with owner Christopher Pugliese in July 2010.

Zip Code 10003 has 169 chain stores

Yesterday, we reported on The Center for an Urban Future's fourth annual study ranking the national retailers with the most store locations in New York City.

It's a huge survey and, to be honest, we didn't dig into as much as we usually do. But! Our friend Jen Doll at Runnin' Scared did... and here's a stat that jumps out: The East Village came in third for most chains overall in New York City with 169. (This is just for the 10003 Zip Code that includes Union Square and parts of Fifth Avenue.)

We went back and looked at the 2009 report (PDF), which noted that the 10003 Zip Code had 151 chain stores.

There's no mention of the 10009 Zip.

And No. 1 overall? Zip 10314 in Staten Island with 186 chain stores.

Overall, the report found that the explosion of national chains has slowed somewhat over the past year in New York.

10,000 and counting, still

As we mentioned yesterday, we just posted our 10,000th post. In honor of that mark, we've decided to go back into our archives and relive some of those 10,000 posts this week. Anyway, we wouldn't dig in if we were you. We don't know where it's gonna go. Swear to God. And we'll be back later today with some actual news and what not.

[EVG Flashback] At Superdive

Originally posted on June 26, 2009...



Superdive opened last night at 200 Avenue A. (So it was Thursday the 25th after all!)

A reader sent me a fairly lengthy e-mail early this morning after a night out at Superdive. The reader started off by saying: "Maybe you can excerpt something useful from this, but I don't know. It just wasn't that interesting." We'll be the judge of that!

To the reader's e-mail:

Upon entering, confronted with a wall of noise. It's *incredibly* loud. You can't make anything out — total wall of noise.

Near the door are some mini kegs stuck in ice. By the window are guys filling mugs from a mini kegerator. Very fratty, all around. Fratty smell, especially.

We try to figure out the bar situation. Confusing. It looks like there is no bar and patrons are just doing whatever, but really there is a bar. It's just surrounded by patrons. We eventually get drinks. My mixed drink is quite strong. This is good, as it took an eternity to get it. It was served by a bartender wearing legwarmers on her arms. As we're trying to secure drinks, we're hit by a blast of flatulence. Did I mention this place is fratty? We get our drinks and head toward the front. The girls here are CUTE.

There is a live band in the back, playing under an enormous lit sign that reads APPLAUSE. The sign is always lit. I do not clap. There is a guy on piano, trying to sing over the noise, and he's accompanied by a drummer. They're playing "When a Man Loves a Woman."

There are plastic cups everywhere.

We go for another round of drinks. We ask how much, and the bartender says "Ummm.... 30?" as if we're bartering. We pay. It seems fair for the amount of drink we're walking away with.

A cringing girlfriend leading her man away from his friends.

A group of girls enter, high-fiving each other. They are cute.

A guy in a yellow shirt starts to lose composure, head in hands. He's had enough beer.

"Thriller" is played (the pianist/drummer are done now). There is cheering, dancing.

And that's about it. We get bored and go for pizza.

[EVG Flashback] Vandals continue to violate the sanctity of the "East Village is dead" mural

Originally posted on Nov. 18, 2009 ...






Oh, wait....

[EVG Flashback] An EV Grieve investigative report: In search of the Penistrator

Originally posted on Jan. 20, 2009...

In cooperation with the National Weather Service, we arranged for it to snow this past weekend. Why? We were hoping to capture the increasingly notorious Penistrator, a brazen snowffiti artist who is leaving his (or her? Nah) mark on unsuspecting cars throughout the neighborhood. We hired a profiler to help us in the case. His thoughts: "Based on scant evidence, keep on the lookout for what is likely a white male, Floridian, football fan, in his 20s who may be resentful of the fact that he doesn't have his car in the city."

And so, with the snowfall Saturday night, we began the quest. On first watch we saw a suspicious-looking figure lurking near the site of the original snowffiti on Seventh Street near Avenue B...



Having been spotted, he beat a retreat. The cars were left unmolested. But for how long?






Until Sunday night ... when we arranged for another 1-2 inches of snow to fall on the area. Given our profiler's belief that the Penistrator is a football fan, we also arranged for two high-profile NFL games to be played Sunday.

This combination of snow, football and, possibly, large amounts of alcohol, was all the Penistrator needed... as you can see from this wide path of penistruction on 13th Street that stretches from Third Avenue all the way to Avenue B.






Another clue: An Eagles fan?




And is he adding a new body part to his repertoire?



With the Super Bowl and more snow on the horizon...there's every reason to think this will continue...

[EVG Flashback] Theatre 80 to remain a community theater; new cafe to open in memory of William Barnacle Scott

Originally posted on Sept. 4, 2009 ...

As I noted back in late May, The Pearl Theatre Company, which has had a residency at Theatre 80 the past 15 years, was relocating to Midtown for its 2009-2010 season.

Lorcan Otway, whose parents built and operated Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place since 1964, said in an e-mail to us at the time that "we intend to keep the East Village a vibrant arts community."

Indeed, that is certainly the case. Good news, finally, for a neighborhood overrun by beer pong, keggers and chain stores. This coming Thursday (Sept. 10), Theatre 80 begins its next life as a community theater. A local theater group is mounting a production for the next month; another group is booked for another month after that... (Stay tuned for the specifics...)



In addition, Lorcan will open a nautically themed cafe in the former Pearl Theatre's concession area.



The spot will be called William Barnacle Scott, named in memory of the late Tompkins Square Park regular who passed away in May. There will be no TVs. No Internet jukebox. And the cafe will close at 6 p.m. As the sign out front promises, "A quiet cafe where people can hear each other talk, and you can hear yourself think."




The cafe will be serving coffee and tea for theatergoers in the short term. Eventually the space will be open to the public, and will likely sell beer and wine.



And what a tour. Despite the heavy workload in preparing the space for next week, Lorcan was gracious with his time, and showed me the entire theatre. In the cellar, he pointed out the foundation to the farmhouse that was in this spot dating back to the late 1600s.

And! I saw the original beer cooler that belonged to Scheib's Bar & Grill, the former speakeasy that operated in this space until Lorcan's father, Howard, and his mother, Florence, bought the building in 1964. (Lorcan's mother is 89 and still lives above the theatre.)

I had to take some photos of the beer cooler...




And Lorcan told me the story about one of the two safes they found in the basement. The safe pictured below was opened in 1964 after being sealed up since the Prohibition. When Howard Otway and Mr. Scheib, who came up from Florida for the honor, opened the safe, they were overcome by fumes and passed out. As Lorcan said, inside: Beer-soaked $100 bills that were picked up off the bar in a hurry and bundled inside the safe. The bills became moldly through the years. (Lorcan said with a chuckle that the Otways never received a finder's fee for the nearly $2 million in moldy bills that Mr. Scheib eventually were able to clean...)



The upstairs area will include a photo of Howard Otway, a Broadway actor, whose inspirational vision for an arts-oriented community lives on with Lorcan today. (Mr. Otway passed away in 1994.)

Prima time on East First Street

Diner's Journal reported Monday that Prima opens on East First Street today. It's a confab featuring the owners of Summit Bar and Ninth Street Espresso with an assist from Motorino’s Mathieu Palombino.

And so they will serve coffee and light breakfast starting at 8, and small meals throughout the day. And booze starting at 5 p.m. According to The Feed, Prima will have "a seafood-focused menu that recalls Palombino’s days as chef de cuisine at BLT Fish."

This space was previously home to The Elephant, the Thai restaurant-lounge, for 17 years.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Elephant: "We truly think we are good neighbors"

Rejected headlines for this post include: Prima scream, Prima fear and Prima suspect.

The day after

Tompkins Square Park today. By Bobby Williams.

Why did the NYPD pepper spray and tackle these people on Avenue A and Sixth Street Friday night?

You may have seen this earlier today... I spotted it at Gothamist... Someone uploaded a video to MyBlockNYC from Friday night on Avenue A at Sixth Street that shows a cop pepper-spraying some revelers... and then, a tackle...



The NYPD didn't arrest or charge anyone after all that.

More Halloween-related vandalism? Smashed side view mirrors on East Sixth Street

Earlier today, we pointed out that someone had smashed a lot of car windows on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...

EV Grieve reader Ted Roden noted that someone knocked off several side view mirrors on Sixth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C as well...

Survey: 'the explosion of chain stores in New York has slowed somewhat'

From the EV Grieve inbox... cut-n-paste journalism, baby!

The Center for an Urban Future today released its fourth annual study ranking the national retailers with the most store locations in New York City. This year’s study finds that the sluggish economy may be finally catching up with chain stores in New York. For the first time in the four-year history of the Center’s annual ranking, the explosion of chain stores in New York has slowed somewhat.

Nearly a third (31 percent) of the national retailers that were listed in our ranking last year reduced their presence over the past 12 months, compared to only 20 percent of chain stores that contracted between our 2009 and 2010 studies. And while Dunkin Donuts tops our ranking for the fourth consecutive year, for the first time the company did not show a net gain in stores—it held steady with 466 stores across the five boroughs, the same number as last year.

While the growth of chain stores has slowed, 86 of the retailers that were listed in last year’s study (28 percent) actually added locations over the past 12 months. Overall, the number of national retail stores in the city grew by 1.6 percent over the past year, as the 307 retailers included in last year’s ranking expanded from a total of 6,883 stores in 2010 to 6,994 stores in 2011. But the 1.6 percent increase is far below the 4 percent rate of growth in chain stores between 2009 and 2010.

Subway again ranked second on our list, but it began to close the gap between it and Dunkin Donuts by adding 41 new stores over the past year, an increase of 10.5 percent. The sandwich chain now has 430 stores across the five boroughs, up from 389 in 2010 and 335 in 2008. Metro PCS has quickly vaulted into the number 3 spot on our ranking, with 272 locations across the five boroughs. Starbucks dropped to fourth, though it grew by three percent over the past 12 months and now has 263 stores in the city. Other retailers with noteworthy gains in stores over the past year include:

* T-Mobile: 161 locations, up from 117 in 2010 (and nearly double their 82 stores in 2008)
* Metro PCS: 272 locations, up from 216 in 2010
* 7-Eleven: 83 locations, up from 74 in 2010 (and 57 in 2008)
* Family Dollar: 49 locations, up from 5 in 2010
* Sunglasses Hut: 32 locations, up from 19 in 2010
* Five Guys: 22 locations, up from 14 in 2010
* Aeropostale: 10 locations, up from 5 in 2010IHOP: 16 locations, up from 12 in 2010

Ninety-six companies (31 percent) reduced their footprint in the city over the past year. A few notable examples include:

* Borders: closed all of its 9 stores this past year
* Hollywood Video: closed its final 2 stores this year, after filing for bankruptcy in 2010
* Blockbuster: 10 stores, down from 30 in 2010
* American Apparel: 7 stores, down from 20 in 2010
* New York Sports Club: 42 stores, down from 53 in 2010 (Curves, another health club, also closed several stores, reducing its presence from 25 stores to 19.)
* Ann Taylor: 10 stores, down from 19 in 2010
* Gap: 33 locations, from 37 in 2010 (The company may reduce its presence further over the next year, as it just announced it will be closing 189 stores nationwide.
* Verizon Wireless: 43 locations, down from 50 in 2010
* Sprint: 25 locations, down from 33 in 2010
* Sleepy’s: 89 locations, down from 102 in 2010
* KFC: 60 locations, down from 71 in 2010
* Quizno’s: 10 locations, down from 15 in 2010 (and 27 in 2008)

Cooper Union contemplates charging tuition for the first time; faces $16.5 million budget deficit

Wow, the Coop is considering charging undergraduate students tuition for the first time since its founding in 1859, according to The New York Times today.

Per the article:

[University president Jamshed] Bharucha said that in recent decades, the school had resorted to unsustainable practices to support its operations — like selling assets and dipping into the principal of its endowment, which stood at $577 million in mid-2010 — rather than just spending the endowment’s earnings. In recent years, it also spent heavily on a new academic building and renovations of its historic building, both on Cooper Square.

The school also generates significant income from real estate it owns, including the land under the Chrysler Building, but the value of those properties has also been dropping.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the school's $16.5 million budget deficit this year has been growing for decades.

Nothing definite about the tuition, Bharucha said. There will be task forces and blue ribbon committees and stuff exploring all this. Also: lower-income and many middle-income students would continue to attend free ... and none of the current 900 undergraduates would be charged, per the Times.

Meanwhile, not looking so good now for a rent reduction for the St. Mark's Bookshop, though that matter wasn't mentioned in the articles.