Lower East Side named 46th best spot in the U.S. to ring in the New Year!

Woo!

Oh, this is according to a news release from Priceline.com and agoda.com that arrived in our, uh, inbox... "Priceline.com's top destinations list is based on thousands of hotel booking requests made by customers of its Name Your Own Price® hotel service for the New Year's weekend. Agoda.com's list is based on hotel reservations made for the upcoming holiday."

Uh-huh.

It's a really poor excuse for a news release. But! It is also a slow news day. (So far!)

Anyway, the Lower East Side is just a few slots behind downtown Atlanta, "Orlando, Universal Orlando Resort Area/Int'l Drive North" and "Miami, International Airport Area." Woo!

See you at the Ludlow Manor!

In case you still need a holiday tree for yesterday

You're in luck! ... several are left for sale outside the Hampton Marketplace Grocery Deli on First Avenue at 13th Street...

...or walk down 13th Street, where this one awaits the Sanitation Department...

A letter to Joe Strummer

On Dec. 22, the ninth anniversary of Joe Strummer's death, fans left candles and flowers outside his mural on Seventh Street at Avenue A. Someone also left a letter for Joe. Dave on 7th took a picture of it.

R.I.P. Joe Strummer
"If you want to see the heroic,
Look at those who can love in return
for hatred...
If you want to
see the brave, look
to those who can
forgive..."

Away in a manger, and what not

Outside the Saint Stanislaus Bishop And Martyr Roman Catholic Church on Seventh Street...

Earlier!

Tonight!

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Rejected headlines:
Hay, hay, hay!
Waiting for the man
Missing youth found
Sublet available starting Jan. 2
Is this Frankincense artisanal?
'I can't believe that the Standard East Village wanted $325 for the Village Queen room'

Hawk watch

Among other things, it was a great day for hawk watching in Tompkins Square Park... where Bobby Williams reports that there were four different red-tailed hawks at times... and they were not playing nice...

Week in Grieview

[You must come hear the pudding singing in the copper! Last night with Tiny Tim]

Vampire Freaks is closing (Wednesday)

A grim look at what's left of the Mars Bar (Monday)

Remembering Joe Strummer on the 9th anniversary of his death (Thursday)

RIP the New Charlie's (Tuesday)

The Standard East Village is hiring (Tuesday)

Meet Markand Thaker (Thursday)

Big sale for 145 Avenue C (Tuesday)

Here's January's CB3/SLA agenda (Thursday)

A passenger shoots out a cab's window on Avenue A (Monday)

The Sunburnt Cow closed during NYPD investigation (Tuesday)

Japadog opens on Jan. 5 (Wednesday)

7-Eleven opens (Friday)

Austin Mahone fans flood Avenue A (Monday)

EV Grieve turned 4 (in blog years) (Wednesday)

Christmas morning on Second Avenue

Near Second Street.

[Updated] A sampling of what's open this morning for coffee, breakfast

Not comprehensive...just a quick sampling ...

Cafe Pick Me Up

Odessa

Ray's

7A

Native Bean

Yaffa Cafe

Starbucks (Second Avenue and Ninth Street)

Veselka

Roastown Coffee

Ray's Pizza/Bagels

7-Eleven!

Gemma at the Bowery Hotel, for something more fancy

Everyman Espresso, 13th Street

The Bean

Pinisi Cafe/Bakery (East Fourth Street neat First Avenue)

Casa Adela (Avenue C near Fifth Street)

What else have you seen open this morning...?

A reward for return of missing bags

Spotted at Sixth Street and Avenue C.

A shattered window at Horus Cafe

EV Grieve reader Ted Roden notes this morning that someone smashed (or kicked in) a window at Horus Cafe on Sixth Street at Avenue B...

He says that it doesn't appear that anyone entered the place; and that it probably happened in full view of the security camera on the corner...

Reader reports: Multiple gunshots on Clinton Street

[Via EV Grieve reader Bob]

Multiple readers reported hearing gunshots around midnight on Clinton Street. BaHa said that she heard "four distinct gunshots" ... and the skies soon filled with NYPD helicopters ... A BoweryBoogie tipster heard "that someone was stabbed and someone shot off multiple rounds from a gun." The crime scene was reportedly at John’s Deli & Grocery at 37-39 Clinton St., where the NYPD locked down the area between Stanton and Rivington.

It's a wonderful life now on Avenue A, for several reasons...

Playing at (or outside) 2A ... and no woo-wooers on Avenue A...

Photo by Dave on 7th...

This afternoon with the Bubble Man in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams...

Hawk vs. crow

At the New York City Marble Cemetery today ... Photos by Bobby Williams...

Chalk vandals targeting Avenue A sidewalks now

Oh, wait... outside Tompkins Square Bagels this afternoon...

[Thanks to Dan on 13th for this shot!]

Dec. 24

14th Street and Avenue A today via EV Grieve reader Tom... very likely not left over from xmas 2010... But a commendable effort nonetheless by Tom...

But, in a shocking reveal from Tom:

The tossed tree was my neighbor's Christmas 2010 tree. Honest to God!

If so, then this is clearly the winner... The previous best was Aug. 23...

Tests are pending. Hold all tickets.

Manny delivers the rock salt

Manny the Peddler was out last night delivering rock salt to businesses along Avenue A using a wheelchair... RyanAvenueA, who took this photo, notes that Manny turns 71 on Jan. 2. He's been selling odds-and-ends down on Avenue A near Second Street for 32 years...

Today in rants: the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

[Image via]

Via Craigslist today...

PETER STUYVESANT P.O. WORSE EVER! (East Village)
Date: 2011-12-24, 7:14AM EST

Peter Stuyvesant Post Office has done it again, lost another one of my packages — and they seem not to care in the least. They scanned it delivered last Monday, December 5th and I WAS NOT EVEN HOME. Who did they give it to? They don't know and they don't care. It is appalling that the residents of the East Village must be held hostage by this shoddy Post Office. It has the monopoly and realizes there is nothing we can do about it. I spoke to a temporary Postal Carrier about my lost package, trying to get information, and her response was, "I am just here temporarily. At least I hope so. This is the worst Post Office ever and I am trying desperately to get reassigned." Even their own workers know it sucks. WORST POST OFFICE EVER.

Does anyone like this post office branch on East 14th Street near Avenue A?

In case you still need a tree...

Plenty left around as a quick survey this morning revealed...

At the Hamptons Deli Grocery Marketplace Store place on First Avenue at 13th Street...

On 14th Street at First Avenue...

On Houston near the Bowery...

No sign if the shredders ... just yet...

In case you still need a gift...

At participating Duane Reade stores... I smell another hit song!