Weekend recap: Downtown Auto & Tire has left the Bowery

From yesterday:

This probably isn't much of a shocker... we've been watching the doomed corner of the Bowery and Great Jones the past few years... waiting for the day that Downtown Auto & Tire packed up and left ... there's no place for a auto repair shop on the new luxurious Bowery

As for what's possibly coming next ... one commenter said, "Rumor has it the garage is going to be used as a private garage by a guy who is a car buff."

That's possible in the short-term ... there are also retail rumors, one friend of EV Grieve said that Eddie Bauer passed on the space, and that Quicksilver was now kicking the tires on the corner, so to speak...

Two years ago, 348 Bowery (Downtown Auto), 350 (former Gallery 151) and 352 were on the market... 352 is now home to the furniture brand Environment. At this point, we're not sure if the new tenant would take 348 and 350... or just the corner lot... We're working on tracking down more details...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Please meet the next corner of the Bowery primed for something luxurious

The last days of the Downtown Auto and Tire?

The Bowery to get a South Beach diet

Making Faces at the Downtown Tire & Auto Center

Demolition under way inside the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel

Work is under way inside 154 Second Ave., the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street. Plans call for several new floors here for "luxury rental apartments" ... as well as nearly 4,600 square feet of ground-floor space "perfect for: retail store, restaurant," per the listing.

Here's a look at the interior demolition late last week via EV Grieve reader Terry Howell...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants

5C Cultural Center and Cafe closed for 'spring cleaning;' more landlord woes?

The 5C Cultural Center and Cafe on Avenue C and East Fifth Street has been closed the past six weeks or so... There weren't any signs up with an explanation for the closure and brown paper over the windows... a few weeks ago, 5C founder Trudy Silver told us they were closed for spring cleaning...

There's a sign up now ...

Meanwhile, 5C has been involved in an ongoing eviction battle with the landlord... Time Out covered the eviction battle here ... Co-owner Bruce Morris wrote about their ongoing landlord troubles in The Shadow here.

Here's an update on the 5C website:

From Bruce, Trudy, Silvia, Elaine, and Ian
Board of Directors – 5C Cultural Center and Managers of 5C Cafe

We apologize for not getting back to you sooner.
Here’s an update on 5C's sixteen-year legal battle:
On November 17, 2011, following four days of testimony a jury recognized that we have been wronged and awarded us $707,000.

Of course, what we really wanted was to get back our sixteen years in the form of an extended lease.

Then on March 8, 2012 Judge Eileen Rakower ordered a new trial saying that the jury’s verdict "is contrary to the weight of the evidence." In other words, the jury that included a brain surgeon did not know what they were doing!

Yet we are positive and have reached out to the landlord for a new lease as settlement to avoid a re-trial.

On the brighter side:
We are spring cleaning and sprucing up 5C
Better lighting, wifi, more seating…
Re-open soon with same loving service and more inspiring performances!

The Lakeside Lounge closes after tonight

As you probably know, the Lakeside Lounge closes up after tonight on Avenue B near East 10th Street. (A few people on Twitter seemed surprised by this news this past weekend.) The first report of the closure came a few weeks ago via a post at New York Music Daily.

And thanks to WNYC for including a "blow-torch" quote from me in a post on the Lakeside closing. (Quote: "I don't want an $18 cocktail made with a blow-torch.")

[Photo by Maggie Owens]

A call to 'fuck this wall up'

Spotted on the plywood outside the incoming 12-story apartment building where 9-17 Second Ave. used to be...

Welcome to Burger Town?

Came across this article at Bloomberg Businessweek ... it's about Hilary Mason, a chief scientist at Bitly, the link-shortening service ... and a side project of hers called "menu hacking."

Anyway, this jumped out at me:

The 33-year-old wrote a program to crawl the Web and download menus from New York eating places. It took her down a rabbit hole of restaurant exploration. She didn't figure out the perfectly average spot, but she learned that there are 173 different burgers to order in the West Village — but 363 in the East Village, and at lower prices.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Does the East Village have enough places now to order hamburgers?

[Image via]

Gates of fury

This Bruce Lee mural went up yesterday on East Seventh Street at Avenue C. Does anyone happen to know who the artist is?

Lights out

From yesterday afternoon... someone has removed the crosswalk sign on the northwest corner of Avenue A and East 12th Street... plus, a man passed out in front of Ost Cafe... Photo by Dave on 7th.

[Updated] And now, 3 photos of a really large crane on Union Square

We were so busy admiring the crane here next to the Zeckendorf Towers on East 14th Street near Irving Place, that we never got the official word what the workers were doing... heard a dad explain to his son that the workers were hoisting AC units to the roof...

Anyway, you always take pictures of large cranes. Thanks to everyone who sent in photos, including Dave on 7th...

An EV Grieve reader just sent along this shot of workers packing up the crane late this afternoon ...

Downtown Auto & Tire has left the Bowery

This probably isn't much of a shocker... we've been watching the doomed corner of the Bowery and Great Jones the past few years... waiting for the day that Downtown Auto & Tire packed up and left ... there's no place for a auto repair shop on the new luxurious Bowery ... this was a grubby leftover in the shadows of 2 Cooper Square, the Bowery Hotel and 52E4 — the 15 stories of condo across the street.

As the sign shows, they've moved to First Avenue. (That's 117th Street. They may need to change that "downtown" part of their name...)

The space hit the market in May 2010 ... In July 2010, a few people were hoping to open the first New York branch of Segafredo Zanetti Espresso Café, the Italian-style coffee bar, on this spot. They went before CB2, who rejected the proposal, which included a patio with a retractable roof with soundproofing ... and sound-resistant sliding doors. (You can read our coverage of the meeting here.)

During that meeting, a rep from the New York Nightlife Association called Downtown Auto & Tire Club "junky." During her time to speak, Zella Jones, founder of the NoHo/Bowery Partnership, spoke out against the proposal. "We like that garage. We use that garage. The garage reminds us of what was." Later she said, "We are losing our businesses that don't serve alcohol."

Amazing that the place lasted until April 2012. We'll have details on what's next here later...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Please meet the next corner of the Bowery primed for something luxurious

The last days of the Downtown Auto and Tire?

The Bowery to get a South Beach diet

Making Faces at the Downtown Tire & Auto Center

East Third Street, 9:48 a.m., April 29

Plant sale today at El Sol Brillante

Walk this way?

These footprints appeared the other day on Tompkins Square Park... Not sure what this is promoting...

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Noted

East 10th Street/Stuyvesant Street near Second Avenue today.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Report: Cake Shop facing eviction on Ludlow Street

[Image via the Cake Shop website]

Word is spreading that Cake Shop — the cafe/record store/bar/music venue — is facing an imminent eviction on Ludlow Street... Brooklyn Vegan had the scoop yesterday... (We read about it at BoweryBoogie.)

Here's a piece of an email making the rounds via the Cake Shop's Andy Bodes:

Calling all millionaires: cake shop needs a month-long returnable bridge loan, due to possibly bogus fines from last year, at their deadline this Monday, or we face eviction. the amount we’re looking for is 10k, to pay off these fines once and for all. we’d need it in the next 72 hours. & reminder this is a short term loan. full explanation provided, with intere$t and perks, if this appeals to you, and you’d like to help us out & continue & grow. thanks. xo.

Noted

Via EV Grieve reader Augie... A man on Suffolk Street this afternoon checking under the cushions of a sofa in the trash for change...

Celebrating the new issue of Sensitive Skin tomorrow night at the Bowery Poetry Club

The new issue of Sensitive Skin is out tomorrow. And the issue includes: "a rare interview of William S. Burroughs, conducted by Allen Ginsberg. Includes previously-unpublished photographs of Burroughs by Ruby Ray, as well as a portfolio of Ruby's famous punk photos (Sid Vicious, X, Flipper, etc)."

Find more info on the issue here.

To celebrate the new issue, Sensitive Skin is having a reading at the Bowery Poetry Club tomorrow night at 8 featuring performances by John S. Hall, Mike Hudson, Chavisa Woods, Todd Colby, Carl Watson and more. There will also be a performance of East of Bowery by Drew Hubner, with projections by Ted Barron and music by Kurt Wolf (Pussy Galore).

Former East Village resident injured by falling air conditioner remains missing

[Via EaterNY]

On Sept. 28, 2010, an air conditioner fell six stories and landed on the Winebar canopy on Second Avenue at Fourth Street.

Here's how the Post illustrated the accident:



According to published reports, the AC bounced off the canopy and hit 67-year-old Tony Franzese, who was walking his dog as he does every morning, in the head. He suffered severe head injuries, and the EMTs took him to Bellevue Hospital.

The Post reported that Franzese, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, had been evicted from his apartment... and was due to leave the building on Sept. 30.

And that's the last we heard of this accident. Until yesterday. The Post reported that Franzese had filed a $21 million lawsuit against the landlord. However, according to his attorney, Franzese vanished about a year ago.

It gets a little complicated. The NYPD brought in a "John Doe" to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital on Tuesday. An NYPD sergeant photographed the man and fingerprinted him for the Missing Persons Bureau. A few days later the officer saw the Post article about the missing man and realized that the patient at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt was Franzese. The NYPD returned to the hospital only to discover that officials had already released Franzese.

The officer who took his photo told the Post, "He's extremely incoherent. He couldn’t even say his name to me. He couldn’t formulate words." Apparently he "suffers from bi-polar disorder and serious brain injuries."

Here's the photo of Franzese from the hospital:

Per the Post: "But because authorities now have his fingerprints and have connected them to his identity, they hope Franzese will be found when he turns up at another hospital."

The Penistrator (or a clever imitator!) has a message for John Varvatos

Our friend Roger_Paw sent along this photo from yesterday... a message for John Varvatos on Allen Street between Stanton and Houston ...

Hanging around today

Photos by Bobby Williams