Armed men robbed the Metro PCS store on East 14th Street twice last month: cops

The NYPD is looking for two men who have robbed the Metro PCS store on East 14th Street at First Avenue twice last month — Jan. 6 and Jan. 20, according to a Crimestoppers report in DNAinfo. Police say the armed men also held up an Upper East Side pharmacy.

[During the Jan. 6 robbery, via NYPD]

Both of the suspects are described as 40 to 50 years old, 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-1 and 150-200 pounds.

Police said they were wearing dark clothes and latex gloves. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). DNAinfo has a video too.

Crazy Eddie sent us these photos of the Metro PCS store last week...

Red-tailed hawk lets rat live to see another slice of bread in Tompkins Square Park

So, this afternoon, the red-tailed hawk locks in on a potential snack in Tompkins Square Park...

But, as Bobby Williams notes, the hawk didn't bother the rat.

Maybe the hawk is letting him fatten up on that bread.

More wannabe models on the Bowery

Outside Patricia Fields this afternoon. Photos by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Jazz legend Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park earlier this week. By Bobby Williams]

A feature on director Amos Poe, whose films will play at Anthology Film Archives this weekend (The Wall Street Journal)

About those bogus Gem-Spa-has-closed rumors (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Bar etiquette signs of the East Village (Capital New York)

Introducing Tripping With Marty (Tripping With Marty)

Man who brought us AvalonBay Communities now working for the Housing Authority (Crain's)

12 East Village/LES restaurants that have expanded to Williamsburg (Eater)

The rather doomed corner of Essex and Houston (BoweryBoogie)

Delancey Underground looks for support via Kickstarter (The Lo-Down)

Vintage Talking Heads (Flaming Pablum)

Thor's new Coney Island building on Surf Avenue is fucking horrible looking (Amusing the Zillion)

Madonna on her forthcoming tour: "People spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags. So work all year, scrape the money together, and come to my show. I’m worth it." (Newsweek)

And several readers noted a late-night trash-can fire in Tompkins Square Park near Avenue A and St. Mark's Place. Per an EVG Facebook friend: "Fire ... was being stoked by a half naked, gyrating man."

Washing day for 86 E. Fourth St.

Over at 86 E. Fourth St., workers are putting a shine on the building at Second Avenue that RURU & Associates recently purchased ... notes @bndo, who sent along the photo, "Guess they're not tearing that one down."

Previously.

And now, let's look down at Sixth Street's incoming mansion

EV Grieve reader weigone sends along a photo looking down at (so to speak) 331 E. Sixth St., where David Schwimmer may or may not be building a six-floor home. She took the photo yesterday, and noted that workers poured the wall of concrete for the foundation on Friday.

"Anyway, the noise is horrendous," she said. And only six floors to go! There has been some talk of recording the construction noise, and playing it back during the new tenant's first roof party.

This would probably never happen in Hancock Park.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is David Schwimmer the 'Friends' star who now owns the demolished 331 E. Sixth St. townhouse?

Outrage over total demolition of historic East Sixth Street townhouse

The end (of the view and daylight) is near

On Monday, we had an update on the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel on Second Avenue between 10th Street and Ninth Street. Plans call for an additional three floors here.

A reader sends along an aerial view looking north at the property. As you can see, construction hasn't started yet.

However, when it does, the folks living next door with the south-facing windows will likely lose any view and daylight. Which really sucks.

Another former East Village funeral home now on the market

On Monday, we had an update on the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel on Second Avenue ... there's news about another former East Village funeral home now, though nothing quite as dramatic as a three-story extension courtesy of Ramy Issac that will happen on Second Avenue...

The former Brettschneider Funeral Home at 49 Seventh St. just east of Second Avenue is on the market for $5.2 million. The funeral home moved out in 2005 (or was it early 2006?).

The Corcoran listing notes that three of the five units received gut renovations in 2006. And here's part of the rest of the listing:

Exceptional investment opportunity for five free market apartments in a prime East Village location ... Erected between 1857-1862, this well-maintained 25'x74' townhouse is built on a 25'x93.5' lot with a garden, totaling 6,826 interior square feet. Each of the five apartments occupies an entire floor ... Four of the five apartments can be delivered vacant. With the exception of the first floor one-bedroom apartment, each rent paying occupant is on a month-to-month lease, paying below market rents of $3,800, $3,900, and $4,000 per month. There is significant potential for rent increases, as similarly sized apartments in the neighborhood command higher prices. The first floor occupant will remain for an additional ten year lease term.

Here's a shot of how the funeral looked a few years ago ...

[Via Flickr]

Heart of Glass

Philip Glass turned 75 on Tuesday. And the composer is the subject of Steven Thrasher's cover story this week at The Village Voice. Among other topics, Glass discusses the neighborhood he has called home since the 1960s.

Some excerpts:

"The Bowery used to be synonymous with people who lived on the street and were alcoholics," Glass says with little nostalgia of many veteran Villagers. "In the '80s, if you wandered over to Avenue B . . . there would be people walking in the middle of the street hawking drugs! Just announcing what they had for sale! It was that open.

"I am not sorry to see that part of the East Village disappearing. It was a very grungy part, you know?" He admits that Tompkins Square Park "is much better than it used to be. ...

Still, Glass is aware (and sad) that many of the economic realities that allowed him to become an artist, back when the East Village was a neighborhood of Ukrainian immigrants and Yiddish theaters, no longer exist.

And!

"It was very common when I was a kid — I call myself a kid until I was in my thirties; that would have been until the late '60s and early '70s — it was very common to find a loft in the East Village . . . empty synagogues and that type of thing," Glass says. "You could find a loft for $150, $200 a month.

"Now, that's impossible," Glass says, though it never stops the Big Apple. "One of the things that's made New York so impressive is the constant wave of young people looking for fame, fortune, art, whatever, something."

Read the full article here.

Tacos Morelos will be back very soon

That's what a reader asked the other night after discovering the food-cart favorite was not at its usual outpost on Second Street and Avenue A...

We noticed it during this past weekend... Anyway, the delivery bike is still there...

We talked with someone at the Jackson Heights outpost ... and he explained that they just had some paperwork to take care of regarding the cart (kinda paraphrasing here, and it's nothing serious — just routine paperwork) ... and he expected to have the cart back tonight or tomorrow morning...

Just a feline fatale

Remember, in the summer of 2010, when a woman held up an Astor Place shoe store while wearing a cat mask? She was suspected in several other robberies around the city. Anyway, today, a judge sentenced her to 10 years in prison.

And the sentencing for 29-year-old Shana Spalding was as theatrical as you might suspect who wore a cat mask during a robbery. Per DNAinfo:

"I am not Catwoman!" Spalding shouted. She also told news photographers "Stop taking my picture, you bastards!"

As the media reported, she was the singer for a death metal band called Divine Infamy, who lives on via YouTube.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Summer crime season off to a credible start

Taking the whole 'death and taxes' thing a little too literally

Outside the New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street today. By Bobby Williams.

Updated: East Village Farms posts its going-out-of-business signs

[Kevin Shea Adams]

As we first reported on Jan. 6, East Village Farms is closing on Avenue A between Seventh Street and Sixth Street. Earlier today, workers were taking out still-wrapped flats of unopened food and merchandise. (The owners are moving to a store on 48th Street.)

The store closes for good Sunday. And today, as our friends at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop note, the going-out-of-business signs are on the doors.

While the building's owners haven't commented on the plans for the space, the persistent rumor is a full demolition. There still aren't any permits on file with the DOB either.

And a reader just sent these along from the other night here...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished

Sure, it's warm today, but...

Spotted by EV Grieve reader Kurt on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place today.

2 Cooper Square now the property of Kuwait, sort of

Here's some news via Bloomberg (hi Mike!)... The investment arm of Kuwait’s social-security system — Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc. — bought 2 Cooper Square, our favorite 144-unit building that includes a rooftop pool, video-game center and private movie-screening room. Per Bloomberg, the sources didn’t disclose the price and asked not to be named because the deal hasn’t been made public.

And as the article notes: "At 2 Cooper Square, available one-bedroom apartments rent for as much as $6,686 a month, according to the property’s website. A two-bedroom unit is listed for $9,335 a month, while a four-bedroom apartment commands $22,000 a month."

Wow. Sounds to me like it's time for a Pool Party!



Previously on EV Grieve:
'Draconian regulations' for 2 Coop's pool and club

2 Cooper residents treated to views of Josh Duhamel's abs, ball sack

The founder of Pirate's Booty is taking over the Holiday Cocktail Lounge

When we reported that the Holiday Cocktail Lounge was closing, we did mention that the bar was on the February CB3/SLA docket for a new liquor license.

Documents on file with CB offer few details about the fate of the space on St. Mark's Place, but we now know who is hoping to take over the bar: Robert Ehrlich, the founder of Pirate Brands, which makes all-natural snacks including Pirate's Booty, Smart Puffs and Original Tings.

There's not a lot of information on the CB3 forms. The applicants are calling the space a tavern, with hours starting at 11 a.m. ...

There's also mention of a "local regional menu."

What about snacks?

In addition to his healthy-snack empire, Ehrlich operated several cafes in Sea Cliff. We sent an email to a Pirate Brands media representative last night in hopes of getting more information about Ehrlich's plans for the space. So let's wait and see what's in store here...

Also, someone did fax the form to CB3 from Pirate Brands ... in case you were questioning this...

Obscura Antiques & Oddities has closed; moving to new East Village home soon

Last night, a reader walked by Obscura Antiques and Oddities on 10th Street near Avenue A — and spotted workers clearing out the store.

But wait. It turns out that the reality television darlings (we mean that in a positive way!) are only moving to a larger store in the neighborhood, though they can't say where yet. The Obscura Antiques Facebook page has more details:

OK....a bit of bad news....but good news too...We are moving...sooner then we had thought. We must be out of our current space by the end of January...Thats 3 days from now....but the new space isnt ready yet...so we are closing until the new place is ready and we can move into it...Which will hopefully be soon....like near the end of February. If you are coming to NYC and plan to visit in the next month.....We are very sorry.....We will not be there....But when we do reopen...its in a space about twice the size of our former store...and the place used to be a Funeral Home...so its win/win for all. We will post all of our info soon...such as where the new shop will be. Its actually very close to our former shop....maybe 3 or 4 blocks away....

Hmm, we know of one former funeral home that's nearby... like this one right here.

A book about life at Luna Lounge

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Brooklyn, New York: February 1st, 2012 - Former Luna Lounge co-owner, Rob Sacher, has a brand new book, Wake Me When It's Over, a story of his life as a New York club owner filled with stories about meeting, partying, or working with many iconic bands of the alternative and indie rock world.

Among the people and bands about whom Rob has written are stories about Ray Davies of The Kinks, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Rick Danko of The Band, Joey Ramone, The Psychedelic Furs, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Bjork of The Sugarcubes, The Strokes, Interpol, Longwave, Marty Willson-Piper of The Church, Elliott Smith...

Rob is self publishing his book through his own DIY imprint and is raising promotion money through Kickstarter ... The funding campaign ends on February 29th. The official release date of the book is March 1st.

Rob has been in the business for more than thirty years and owned two clubs before Luna Lounge, the Mission and the Sanctuary. He grew up in Brooklyn in the 1960s, is a musician and songwriter too.

Here's the Kickstarter page, which includes a video of Rob talking about the project...

This is what an empty lot on East Ninth Street near Avenue C looked like on Jan. 28, 2012

This year, we'll post photos like this of various buildings, streetscenes, etc., to capture them as they looked at this time and place... The photos may not be the most telling now, but they likely will be one day...

Noted

EV Grieve reader Spike sent along this deal of a lifetime from over at Billy Hurricane's on Avenue B...

So basically: "For just $50 (a steal), you and up to 24 friends can have an hour-long party with five drinks per person, plus a large sampler of buffalo wings, Cajun tater tots, and sweet-potato fries."

Per the offer at Gilt City, this is 90 percent off the ticket price of $525.

Let's do some math — that's 125 drinks in 60 minutes for $50.

Hurry, though — the offer at Gilt City ends this morning at 10.