7-Eleven bravely enters the East Village $1 pizza war

Photo on the Bowery via Goggla.

The final countdown at Billy's Antiques

Yesterday, Billy Leroy and Jesse the manager removed the painting done of Leroy "back in the day" ... the store is closing Jan. 1. The iconic tent here on Houston at the Bowery is coming down to make way for a new two-level building. Billy's Antiques will return to the new structure when construction is complete.

Year-end listicle alert: The most-commented EV Grieve posts of 2011

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting...

1) Occupy Tompkins Square Park this weekend (121 comments)

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2) RIP Bob Arihood (70 comments)

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3) An East Village pep talk (63 comments)

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4) In which a film crew calls your wife a 'stupid bitch' on Avenue A (59 comments)

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5) About Mercadito Cantina closing: 'Open letter to EV Grieve and CB3' (58 comments)

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6) Banjo Jim's space to become home to an 'artisanal neighborhood cocktail bar' (48 comments)

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7) Today's sign of the apocalypse: Starbucks taking over The Bean's space on First Avenue and Third Street (48 comments)

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8) [Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade (47 comments)

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9) The Hot Chicks Room lives on! (46 comments)

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[Photo by Melanie Neichin via East Village Corner]

10) Crusty Row, now with a vacancy in Tompkins Square Park (46 comments)

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11) So where do you order Chinese food from? (43 comments)

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12) The East Village rolls out welcome wagon for new Starbucks (41 comments)

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13) Continuing to question the BMW Guggenheim Lab's benefits to the local community (39 comments)

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14) Does the East Village have enough places now to order hamburgers? (38 comments)

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15) One man's campaign against 'the doorshitter' on St. Mark's Place (37 comments)

The top-11 things that people mistook for Lady Gaga in 2011

[Via Eye Heart New York]

The top-10 EV Grieve posts that NO ONE read in 2011

Here's your second chance, people!

• If you stand just right on 14th Street and First Avenue, then it kind of looks as if the shadow is going up Leonardo DiCaprio's nose (Nov. 11)

• Today in sidewalk sales on St. Mark's Place (July 10)

• And the DEP catch of the day is... (June 18)

• THIS is why we need a second Chase branch on Second Avenue and 10th Street (June 24)

• Exclusive first look inside the new Capital One bank branch at 123 Third Ave. (Sept. 26)

• Today in interesting-looking boiler-service trucks on Seventh Street (Sept. 24)

• Today in dog poop etiquette signs (Sept. 12)

• You may now sign up for the TV/VCR (Aug. 5)

• An espresso to go? (May 14)

• Noted (Feb. 16)

Posts that I never got around to posting in 2011: Is this a good place for a cellphone call

[Photo by blue glass]

Rejected posts from 2011: New NYU outdoor swimming pool coming along

Yes, there's a reason the EV Grieve editorial board rejected this one. And others.

Rejected posts from 2011: Tonight on 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians'

Rejected posts from 2011: Trees on East Sixth Street now shedding condoms

Boo!

A grizzy discovery today at the New York City Marble Cemetery

Feel free to boo the headline. Photo on Second Street by Bobby Williams.

Protecting the artwork in Extra Place

Bobby Williams notes today that workers put a protective coating over the artwork on Extra Place...

Wasn't that long ago that workers were quickly removing graffiti as quickly as it went up on Extra Place ...

Polonia has closed

blue glass passes along the sad news that First Avenue Polish diner mainstay Polonia has closed.

Per the Polonia Facebook page:

I am sorry to announce that on this Christmas Eve Polonia will be closing its doors permanently. We would like to thank all of our amazing customers who have supported us this quarter of a century. As all good things, Polonia's time has come to an end. It is time for new ventures. Keep your ears open for NYC Pierogi Factory. And again... Thank You!

We're curious about the sounds of NYC Pierogi Factory. (Except for the "Factory" part of the name, which The Meatball Factory has ruined for us.)

Jozef and Renata Jurczyk opened Polonia in 1989. Per the Polonia website:

Jozef and Renata were both born in Poland and traveled to New York City in the early 1980’s in hopes of following The American Dream. Arriving in the US with very little money, they both worked dead end jobs until saving enough money to open their own business, a restaurant which would allow them to share their culture and memories with other New Yorkers living in this dominantly Ukrainian and Eastern European neighborhood — The East Village.

In November 2010, their son, 22 year-old Paul Jurczyk, officially took over the restaurant from his parents. He worked to update the menu, taking it from diner food to something more upscale. Jurczyk hired a chef, the 26-year-old Olaf Wozny, who previously worked at Il Bucco, to help update the menu.

We interviewed Paul here last year. Read those posts here.

A few of us grumbled about the changes. However, as Jeremiah Moss wrote on Dec. 6, 2010: "There's still a homey feeling here that has little to do with the hyper-gentrification that is washing over the neighborhood ... This place is not going to attract any douchebag crowds anytime soon, so don't fret."

One rumor is that the landlord was raising the rent.

An Eighth Street now and then

EV Grieve reader Steve Carter passed along this shot from East Eighth Street near Avenue C (roughly early 1990s)...

...and we attempted to line it for for a now-and-then...

From 1983-1985, the address was home to the performance space 8BC...

[Via Ephemeral New York]

77 E. Seventh St. East Village's lone entry in 'NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist'

[77 E. Seventh St. via Google Street Maps]

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has released the 2011 NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist ... and it looks as if one East Village building made the list.

At No. 29 in Manhattan: Robert Koziej, head officer, 77 E. Seventh St. with 110 total infractions. With 16 units in the building, that's roughly 6.8 infractions per apartment...

de Blasio's database contains 358 buildings owned by 317 separate landlords in all five boroughs. Topping the list: 1071 Home Corp, which had 1,187 infractions total in eight properties in the Bronx.

Read more at the Daily News ... h/t Curbed ...

Noted

To be honest, we're not sure how long this has been on the plywood outside the former P.S. 64/CHARAS/El Bohio Community Center on the Ninth Street side... we noticed some messages after the holiday party/community potluck here on Dec. 18 ... but we didn't see this (Real? Fake?) phone number for controversial developer Gregg Singer, who owns this ... and whose plans haven't gone anywhere since he bought the place during a city auction in 1998... he is apparently pressing on with plans ... Scoopy had an entertaining item on all this a few weeks back at The Villager (last item).

Anyway, nice job of someone trying to paint over this ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Will old PS 64 get a theater for nonprofit groups?

Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

'Public Assembly' for the former P.S. 64 on Friday

Support for Karl Fischer's 427 E. 12th St.

Just noting this as part of our ongoing coverage of 427 E. 12th St., future home of a 6-level Karl Fischer-designed apartment building, as we first reported on July 21.

Anyway, there are now support braces in the pit to help prop up 425 E. 12th Street...

According to the DOB, the most recent complaint here was dated Nov. 22, when a caller noted: "While doing work at above location, the top part of the adjacent building has separated walls due to this work."