Puddin' is coming

We pointed out the coming-soon arrival on Puddin' on St. Mark's Place (next to Jane's Sweet Buns) last month...

The place is shaping up with some gold-foil lettering...

Puddin' has a website, where you can read the menu...

And on Twitter...

Shopping today?

As we first reported, some people shop today, also known as Freaky Friday. So on this occasion, we're reposting this from Oct. 21...

From the EV Grieve inbox...

[EV resident Dominique Camacho in front of her store and cafe, Sustainable NYC, on Avenue A with the new Get Local Guide.]

In an attempt to keep our neighborhood independent and unique, the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC) publishes the free Get Local! Guide to East Village Shops each year. The updated 5th Edition is available now!

Spending your money locally helps small businesses thrive in the East Village. Local shopping also:

• Keeps more money in our community

• Creates local jobs

• Sustains small business owners who defend our neighborhood's identity

• Chooses creativity and personality over uniformity

The newly available 5th Edition lists 400+ local merchants and is available in shops and cafes in the neighborhood. You can download the online version here. (PDF)

We are working to preserve small businesses as an integral part of maintaining our diverse, livable community. In addition to the Get Local! Guide, the EVCC is researching ways to maintain retail diversity in our community.

The Robin Raj holiday window display continues to inspire

Third Avenue near 14th Street...

And arguably Simon Doonan's best work!

The Chocolate Library space is for rent on St. Mark's Place

The Chocolate Library closed rather quietly last month... the space is for rent, though Skyline hasn't posted the particulars just yet...

A canopy for King Samson on St.Mark's Place

Yesterday, workers were busy putting in a new canopy at the recently opened tattoo shop (formerly Cherries!) near the Grassroots on St. Mark's Place...

And here's what it looks like now...

[Bobby Williams]

And here is King Samson...

[Bobby Williams]

Avenue A, 7:51 p.m., Nov. 24

And on First Avenue earlier in the day...

Photo by Bobby Williams...

Tompkins Square Park, 3:23 p.m., Nov. 24

Things that people are throwing away today (or yesterday)

Seventh Street and Cooper Square...

Breaking: Christmas Holiday tree stands in place outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

Sources say that the Christmas holiday trees and marijuana will arrive tomorrow or the next day.

There are people waiting in line for Best Buy on Union Square to open at midnight

Thanksgiving morning at the World Famous Pee Phone

...and behind the phone on Avenue A at Seventh Street...

Is that a lamp post or are you just happy to see me?

That headline never gets old... Photos in Tompkins Square Park today by Bobby Williams.

In which a film crew calls your wife a 'stupid bitch' on Avenue A

Well then. A pleasant Thanksgiving to you too!

So we asked RyanAvenueA for a little background on this incident last night. Ryan and his wife were having dinner at an Avenue A restaurant. There were cones blocking the west side of Avenue A along (from Fourth Street on down) to restrict parking. There weren't any signs indicating what this was for, but all the cones were labeled "MC," Ryan said. A van was parked there, with an extension cord coming out of the rear passenger door that plugged into the panel at the base of a lamp post.

A little later, Ryan's wife goes outside for a cigarette. She asked crew members what they were doing, and they said they were "securing the location" for "A Gifted Man." To which she asked why they needed all the parking now. She said they should have permits up if they want to block the parking. They told her to get lost.

"As we walk out to go home, she slipped a little on the wet pavement, and the bigger buy (there's a few of them) goes, 'I hope you fall on your fucking head you stupid bitch.' I turn around and ask him what the fuck that was for, and he says I should ask my wife. He starts walking away and I ask him directly if they are there filming the CBS show 'A Gifted Man.' He just stares at me, and I repeat my question. He finally says yes and walks away."

As of this morning, the crews weren't set up yet for filming, though someone had posted permits.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Men's room at 7B. Not new, but ...]

Check out Jen Doll's cover story at the Voice — How to be a New Yorker (The Village Voice) ... which includes commentary by Jeremiah Moss.

Five East Village delis busted for selling booze to minors (The Lo-Down)

Progress at the subway super-station project on East Houston (BoweryBoogie)

Marty visits Sardi's (Marty After Dark)

Check out the latest from the EV Grieve animated GIF tribute site (EVGIF)

And if you're in town tonight, then consider seeing "Transatlantic Coffee" at 8:15 at the Anthology Film Archives ... A reader notes that the film stars longtime Lower East Side resident Kevin Pinassi, who recently received Best Actor for the movie at the inaugural Hell's Kitchen Film Festival.

[Kevin Pinassi photo by Thomas Ward]

And you thought that today would be a slow news day

Hardly.

Remember that toilet-paper dispenser that someone put up in a tree near McSorley's?

Yeah, well — it's out of paper.

[Bobby Williams]

In time for your Thanksgiving, the Hells Angels

Anyway, in case that you haven't seen it yet, someone has extracted a portion of the 1983 documentary "Hells Angels Forever" ... only showing footage around the clubhouse on East Third Street...



Per the message from the person who uploaded the clip:

I edited this film down from the full length feature, "Hells Angels Forever," to include most of the footage that was filmed on 3rd St., NYC. To be clear, I AM NOT THE ORIGINAL FILMMAKER. I lived across the street from the clubhouse for 10 years, from mid-1970s to mid-1980s. These are the guys I used to see on the block everyday.

The first guy speaking is Howie Weisbrod, who's apartment was directly across the street from mine. Next guy is Big Vinny Girolamo, who later lost his life in a knife fight with an Oakland Hells Angel, back in 1979. There's a plaque in his memory posted over the renovated clubhouse door to this day.

Most of the East Third Street scenes start just after the 2-minute mark... and an entertaining scene involving the 9th Precinct and an angry neighbor starts around the 6:59 mark...

Last day for Xoom on 14th Street

As the tweet shows, today is the last day for Xoom, the smoothie-coffee bar on East 14th Street in the Pure Fitness retail space ... Last week, Xoom owner Jennifer London said, "Unfortunately, the gym ownership has not been able to hold up their side of our contract making it impossible for me to run my business there."

Xoom opened here this past July ... after moving from Seventh Street in the spring.

Life behind IHOP: 'My apartment now smells like the kitchen of a cheap hotel after the breakfast rush'

Late Tuesday night, someone left a comment on three of our IHOP posts... (This one ... this one ... and this one...)

We thought that we'd share them with you all in one place...

1) IHOP is a neighborhood killer in more ways than one. The local owner of the 14th St location somehow persuaded the DOB to allow them to place the restaurant's heavy equipment and ventilation system on the "roof" of the 1-story extension behind the building, instead of on the building's actual roof; as a result, the (considerable) noise, and the smell of rancid bacon are channeled directly into the windows of homes up and down East 15th Street. My apartment now smells like the kitchen of a cheap hotel after the breakfast rush. All.The.Time. If any of your readers get wind (hah!) that their neighborhood is the next to be invaded by IHOP (I'm looking at you, Chelsea/Limelight area), tell them to sell. Sell now. Because if you wait until after the IHOP has opened, you'll be trapped.

2) Please God, let someone or something kill off this disgusting hellhole! IHOP's management somehow persuaded the DOB to allow it to place their heavy equipment and ventilation system on the "roof" of the 1-story extension behind this building on 14th Street. As a result, the noise and the horrible rancid bacon smell are channeled up and into the windows of 100+ apartments on 15th Street. This goes on 24/7. They have destroyed the quality of life for countless people. And Chelsea folks, they're coming for you next.

3) Glad the staff is nice. However, if you lived in one of the apartments behind this hellhole, you'd be praying for the day when the "Going Out Of Business" signs go up. The noise from the equipment never, never stops, and the smell! The SMELL!!!! My apartment stinks like a cheap hotel kitchen after the breakfast rush now. If you own an apartment in one of the neighborhoods slated to get their very own IHop (I'm looking at you, Limelight neighbors), sell now. Because once the doors open on the new grease palace, you'll be trapped. No one will buy your place once they see, hear and smell what's going on.

Bonus:

Punk rope flashmob outside IHOP...

EVG flashback: When 72 Avenue B was a luxurious 1,750-seat theater

On Monday, we reported that Ben Shaoul is the mystery buyer of the Cabrini Nursing Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street at Avenue B, and according to one source, he has designs on converting the Center into condos when the lease expires in 2012... we'll have more on this later... Meanwhile, a flashback to an EVG post from Sept. 28, 2009...

You'll recognize Fifth Street and Avenue B here...



But until 1957, it was a Loew's theater...



According to Cinema Treasures:

Loew's Avenue B is part of one of the great rags-to-riches stories of showbiz history. Movie mogul Marcus Loew erected it on the very site of the tenement building where he was born. Needless to say, his birthplace was demolished to make way for the luxurious 1,750-seat theatre, which was designed by Thomas W. Lamb and first opened on January 8, 1913, with vaudeville as its main attraction and movies thrown in just as fillers.

The Avenue B was the top Loew's house on the Lower East Side until the mid-1920s, when the circuit took over the Commodore on Second Avenue, which was a much busier area for entertainment and shopping. The Avenue B was reduced to playing movies at the end of their Loew's circuit run, and remained so until its closure around 1957-58

.

As Cinema Treasures commenter Warren G. Harris noted:

The theatre cost $800,000 to build. In his opening night speech, Marcus Loew said "This is the most pretentious of the houses on our string, because my better judgment was over-balanced by my sentimentalism and my longing to do something better here than I ever did before." According to corporate histories, the Avenue B was never successful, but Loew's kept it running for decades as a memorial to its founder, who was born on the spot.

Top photo via.