East Village stories and images from 2011

A sampling from our 3,652 posts from 2012...

January

Fire at the East Village Village Farm

[EV Grieve reader Special Monkey]

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The Great Thunder Blizzard of 2011...

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The Icicle Audi...

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A birthday celebration for Ray ...

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February

The Hells Angels unveil new line of defense for their bench...

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Tompkins Square Park regular Grace Farrell, 35, froze to death while sleeping outside an alcove next to St. Brigid's ...

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Efforts to save historic 35 Cooper Square from demolition...

[Bobby Williams]

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March

A lot of fuss about a sign on Avenue A ...

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Photographic evidence of the elusive Pigeon Lady ...

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April

We started getting that bad feeling...

[Bobby Williams]

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The MTA v. an East Village artist...

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May

The DOH shutters Ray's for too long...

[Dave on 7th]

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We all met the Chillmaster...

[Via Marty After Dark]

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To 186 years of history on Cooper Square ...

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June

Former Burial Society now a hole in the ground on East Fourth Street...

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Howl! came earlier this year...

[Photo by Shawn Chittle]

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July

Introducing the Flaming Cactus of Astor Place...

[Bobby Williams]

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Walk Man quickly came and went...

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The TSP Ratstravaganza...

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Farewell, Mars Bar ...

[Goggla]

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August

The BMW Guggenheim Lab opened, think tanking ensued.

[Photo by Bob Arihood]

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The NYPD went all out to find the people who beat up Gavin DeGraw ...

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Earthquake...

[AC]

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Hurricane Irene wreaks havoc...

[Photo by Shawn Chittle]

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September

After 30 years, Life Cafe closes (for now)...

[Michael Sean Edwards]

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The free Willie Nelson catches fire...

[@joshchambers]

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October

The Mystery Lot faces a condo after life...



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The IHOP opened, and people ate there...

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Joe's Bar on East Sixth Street closed, opened and closed again... and the proprietor, Joe Vajda, died in November... we await the fate of the bar...

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November

We waited for President Obama to drive by on East 12th Street ...

[Photos by Michael Sean Edwards]

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Nevada Smith's closed to relocate, with luxury housing on the way for the corner on Third Avenue and 12th Street...

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One construction positive: The ongoing renovation of St. Brigid's on Avenue B and East Eighth Street ...

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December

The end.

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Well, that's a fucking depressing way to end a year in review ... so to new hopes and beginnings and all that ...

[Bobby Williams]

Gone but not forgotten

Remembering a few of our friends and neighbors who died in 2011...

Bob Arihood, journalist, photographer

[Photo by Melanie via East Village Corner]

Ray Deter, bar owner, father

[Photo via Brew York, New York]

Cornell Edwards, store owner, caring neighbor

[Photo by John Galayda via One Horse Town.]

Joe Gonzalez, aka Caveman, veteran, pool aficionado

[Photo by Cary Conover]

John Leeper, bartender, father figure

[Photo by John Yale via the Grassroots Facebook page]

Monica "Kathryn" Shay, teacher, activist

[Image via]

Ellen Stewart, theater director, creative spirit

[Photo via La Mama]

Tompkins Square Park loses another tree

Oh no. A tree came down last night in Tompkins Square Park... Doesn't appear to be any damage, but ... we've lost far too many trees this year in the Park, including five or so during Hurricane Irene ... Photos by Bobby Williams...

Reader report: Itzocan Café has closed on East Ninth Street

EV Grieve reader @bonatron9000 made an unhappy discovery this morning:

"Itzocan Café — the delicious French/Mexican restaurant on Ninth Street near Avenue A — is shuttered with a sign thanking customers for their years of patronage."

As you can see, the space is already for rent...

Today in the Mystery Lot

Per Goggla: "The engines are idling, but there's no one in sight. Gate is unlocked...I'm so tempted to go in and play with the machinery."

Previously.

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

Last month, we first reported that Ben Shaoul was the mystery buyer behind the sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street at Avenue B.

According to a source, Cabrini officials made an offer to Shaoul in November to pay a substantial amount of money just to receive a lease extension — in addition to more rent. (Cabrini officials have been planning to relocate to a still-unspecified site.)

As the Lo-Down previously reported, the Cabrini building sold for $25.5 million.

Today, the Lo-Down has a copy of the letter that elected officials have sent to Kenneth Fisher, the attorney representing Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group. There is now concern that Magnum plans to flip the building.

Here's part of the letter (read the whole thing here), written by State Sen. Daniel Squadron and signed by an array of local politicians:

As the Magnum Real Estate Group pursues a sale, we ask that the needs of the senior community on the Lower East Side be taken into consideration. There are a number of options to preserve nursing home beds. The critical importance of those beds for the individuals already accessing CCNR’s service, as well as for the wider community of families and caregivers, must be prioritized.

Cabrini's lease runs out in April.

The nonprofit, 240-bed nursing home — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provides health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The location at Fifth Street and Avenue B opened in 1993. This location serves 240 patients and employs nearly 300 employees.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos