Noted

From Page Six today... under "Sightings"...

DANIEL Radcliffe, preparing to play Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, having his hair permed and dyed darker by Louis Licari at his Fifth Avenue salon.

DOB disapproves plans for former East Village Farms

According to the Department of Buildings (DOB) website, city officials have disapproved initial plans last Thursday to renovate the former East Village Farms at 100 Avenue A.

Here's the all-cap job description filed on Feb. 21, as we reported:

TO RENOVATE EXIST. HIGH TWO STORY BUILDING INCLUDING THE EXPANSION OF THE CELLAR FLOOR, THE RAISING OF THE ENTIRE SECOND FLOOR AND INSTALLING A NEW STOREFRONT. 2) TO ADD A NEW PARTIAL THIRD AND FOURTH FLOOR FOR ONE DWELLING UNIT WITH A ROOF GARDEN ON THE 2ND FLOOR ROOF ACCESSORY TO THE DWELLING UNIT.

The DOB files have Flushing-based Paul Mok as the architect engineer of record. According to the DOB, Mok was one of 20 NYC-based architects or engineers to find themselves on the "Voluntary Surrender of Privileges" list.

Mok's name also turns up in The New York Times archives. He was associated with the so-called "Leaning Tower of Flushing," a problem-plagued 15-story condo at 143-51 Roosevelt Ave.

As the Times reported on July 14, 1998, "there were constant leaks, and residents in the corner apartments started to complain about cracks appearing in their floors. Complaints to the condominium board, which was dominated by the developers, went largely unheeded. In 1994, a new board was elected and complaints were filed with the State Attorney General's office, along with lawsuits against the building's developers and builders. The Attorney General has a lawsuit pending against Paul Mok, the engineer and architect who designed Vista."

The Times noted that city inspectors found that the building "had been built as though it were a low-rise structure and that it had no steel structure for bracing."

Meanwhile, workers have removed most traces of the former East Village Farms, which closed last month.

[Bobby Williams]

Now, the place sits mostly empty... waiting for whatever the revised plans are...

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

Going deeper and deeper at the big Second Avenue sandbox

Every so often we like to jump the fence here at the former 9-17 Second Avenue... to check in on the progress of the hole... (Has it really been one month since our last look?)

[Monday]

[Saturday]

[Saturday]

Making its way below street level... as you were.

Also, we heard this story that, when people were cleaning up the Mars Bar, someone found a series of old tunnels below the bar that dated to the Civil War... We asked a few people who may know these kinds of things, and they chalk this one up to an urban legend.

Previously.

Through the years with 2 Cooper Square's retail

Back on Feb. 1, Bloomberg News reported that, for some reason, the investment arm of Kuwait’s social-security system — Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc. — bought 2 Cooper Square.

With this purchase, came some changes.

Like the ground-floor retail... early on, we had this classic bit of real-estate advertising... Subtle, gang!

Then RFK took over the retail leasing in July 2010 ... for the 22,764 square feet of retail/restaurant space ...

And now! Please welcome the new team...

We didn't spot any leasing information online just yet at CBRE ... In an event, to date, leasing the retail here has seemingly been a challenge the last two or so years...

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

Normal business opening on Seventh Street

Between Avenue A and First Avenue. There has to be a catch. So, for $695, you get a haircut AND a whole hog dinner with all-you-can-drink craft beer? Your hair is treated with black truffle oil and (old vines) sherry first? This can't just be a barber shop, right?

Anyway, as far as we know, it's just a barber shop.

Centre-fuge public art project debuts new work in Cycle 2

Oops. Crap. We forgot to mention this yesterday... the artists involved in Cycle 2 worked this past weekend on the trailer here on East First Street west of First Avenue... and the artists were finishing up early yesterday evening...

And for the whole background ... from the EV Grieve inbox...

Centre-fuge Public Art Project is proud to present Cycle 2, the second installation of art on the rotating outdoor gallery at First Street and First Avenue.

In mid-2011 a drab, gray trailer, serving as a temporary office for workers on the 2nd Avenue subway line, popped up on the South side of First Street. For one year Centre-fuge Public Art Project transforms the trailer into a rotating street gallery. Up to seven artists at a time create work on all visible sides of the structure with the art changing every other month.

The goal of Centre-fuge is not only to re-beautify this incredible block, but also to encourage the community to express itself in a public forum. With the closure of half of Houston Street, making underground way for the 2nd Avenue Subway line, the ever-growing presence of construction makes the block feel less like a neighborhood full of individuals and more like a work site full of barricades and jackhammers. The project is dedicated in memory of friend, creator and Lower East Side neighbor, Mike Hamm.

Artists represented in Cycle 2 of Centre-fuge are Claw Money, Eiknarf, John P. Dessereau, Julius Klein, Kenny Rodriguez and Yuri Velez, with a collaborative piece by Mastro and Ben Angotti. Centre-fuge is brought to you by founders Pebbles Russell and Jonathan Neville.

And for more information and bios of the Cycle 2 artists, please go here.

BoweryBoogie had coverage...

Previously.

Noted

St. Mark's Place this afternoon near First Avenue.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Hey now: Other Music launching its own record label

The Times is reporting this evening that Other Music, the record shop over on East Fourth Street near Broadway, is starting its own record label "with an eye toward showcasing underground music in New York and reissuing albums by foreign artists."

Per the article:

The new label, Other Music Recording Co., will be an imprint of Fat Possum, the Oxford, Miss, record label that has such bands as Youth Lagoon and Smith Westerns in its stable. Its first release will be a 7-inch vinyl record by an obscure Brooklyn indie-pop band called Ex Cops, coming out on April 24.

Read the whole article here.

Oh, wait! Pitchfork broke the news earlier this afternoon.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Weekend Stompers yesterday on Second Avenue]

The Lower East Side mistaken identity murder (Gothamist)

A new security system at 120 E. Fourth St. (Occupy East Fourth Street)

Velvet Underground & Nico turns 45 today (Westword)

'STAMPEDED' on East Second Street (The Lo-Down)

Q-and-A with a counter man at First & First Finest Deli (Racked)

More nightlife for Ludlow below Delancey (Crain's New York)

About the art fair at the Comfort Inn on Ludlow (ArtInfo)

Downtown diner Roxy Luncheonette in danger of closing (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Remembering Jack Kerouac on his birthday (Off the Grid)

Real-time NYC map app (Runnin' Scared)

Calvin Klein ad attracts anti-bulge notes on the Bowery (BoweryBoogie)

History of the Blarney Stone bars (Ephemeral New York)

Former burial society home rises from the dead on East Fourth Street

Nearly two years ago, we wrote about a new listing that appeared for two townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... 12 bedrooms in the two homes... and both buildings were going for $4.6 million.


As the Times reported in September 2010, this is was home to "an artists’ collective and burial society called the Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple, was started in the East Village in the late 1950s by the artists Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler."

Later, preservation groups fought a losing battle to landmark the 170-year-old buildings. The Landmarks Preservation Commission said the buildings didn’t merit landmarking status, giving developer Terrence Lowenberg and penthouse-making architect Ramy Issac the green light to add two stories to the top.

Anyway! Thanks to Dave on 7th for pointing out that workers have removed the construction netting on the new buildings...

...and a view from the rear...

...and a now-and-then of sorts...

The new 326-328 looks similar to Lowenberg's other East Village rehab — 147 First Avenue...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

Almost working around the clock on developing 326-328 E. Fourth St.

Met Foods removes the R

Renovations seemed to have wrapped up over at Met Foods on Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street...

As Jeremiah has written about, a Ratner's was located here for more than 50 years ... (Read Jeremiah's post here.)

The R from Ratner's remained inside the front entrance... given the renovations, it seemed unlikely that this sliver of history would survive...

Sure enough. From a reader:

Manager of the Met on Second Avenue explaining why they removed the R from the floor: "it was cracked and disgusting, you really should have seen it."

Workers put in a new floor here this past week...

And so far, that exposed piece of Ratner's old wall is still there.

Well, perhaps we should just be thankful that the store survived its fight against NYU. We could be looking at a dorm instead...

Does this mean you'll have to sever your arm with a dull knife to eat Pizza Roma?

Spotted outside Whole Foods Bowery... Referencing "127 Hours" to sell pizza seems a little ... odd.

2 men and a chair inside 35 Cooper Square

On Friday afternoon, Bobby Williams spotted two workers inside the gate at the seemingly dormant 35 Cooper Square space...

... perhaps they entered to prop up this chair. Rather like the look of this now. Still life. Or target practice.

Your chance to run a cafe and kiosk in Union Square

To be honest, we've lost track of exactly what was happening with the restaurant opening at the north side of Union Square Park in the retooled pavilion ... After lawsuits and squabbling and stuff, City Farm Cafe was supposed to open here this spring ... But, per the Times, that group withdrew from the deal last fall...

Yesterday, we noticed the following public notice in the Post...

It's a 15-year lease... with "compensation to the city" starting at $300,000 in Year 1, escalating to $453,777 by Year 15... Given how slow this whole process has been, a restaurant should be in place here in 15 years...

Coming soon to Second Avenue: Gelato

EV Grieve reader abrod passes along word of this incoming gelato shop on Second Avenue near East Fourth Street... previously home to Crembebe, a boutique specializing in kid's fashions...

Oh, and Gelato Ti Amo is part of an international Tuscany-based chain who only use products branded FSC, Forest Stewardship Council, according to the Gelato Ti Amo website.

Today in red-tailed hawks eating pigeons in Tompkins Square Park

It was a busy day for hawk watching today in Tompkins Square Park... where onlookers were watching a red-tailed hawk dine on a pigeon...

Eventually, another hawk came along and watched the action as well...

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Meanwhile, for no reason, in Times Square

From a very special correspondent who wanted to keep haunting us with Smurfs.

July 4 — ruined

On Thursday morning, we noted that the lights on the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree were still illuminated... and we said that we hoped they would stay on until July 4. (For no apparent reason.)

Uh, well, Thursday night — the lights were off. (Sorry — horrible picture.) And they remained off all weekend...

We took a closer look at the tree this weekend... and the lights are still attached ... so it's just a matter of plugging in the cord...

However, the NYPD has the tree under 24-hour watch to prevent this from happening.*

[* Not really. But we like to pretend...]

Artichoke expands on East 14th Street

Just two weeks ago, we noted that Curly's Vegetarian Lunch moved on, and the similar-menued 14 Carrot Vegetarian opened in its space on East 14th Street ... and just like that ... @SamStorer is back with this news: 14 Carrot is gone, and neighbor Artichoke has expanded...

Week in Grieview

[76 Third Ave. coming down]

A look at Mary Pupillo's 95 years in the East Village (Wednesday)

The scoop on the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation closing (Wednesday)

Restoring the Joe Strummer mural (Friday)

More about Bikinis opening on Avenue C (Tuesday)

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space coming to C-Squat (Monday)

A black-tie wedding reception at Katz's (Sunday)

Retna finishes work on the Houston/Bowery wall (Monday)

Jim Jarmusch is your East Village poets and poetry tour guide (Tuesday)

Why Steve Jobs is now a permanent part of Tompkins Square Park (Friday)

'World's most wanted hacker' lived on Avenue D (Tuesday)

Obscura opens on Avenue A (Sunday)

'Imagine a park' at 51 Astor Place (Tuesday)