Wednesday, May 23, 2012

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Dog swim in Tompkins Square Park 1-1:15. Photo by Bobby Williams]

450 years later: CB3 OKs Seward Park plan (The Lo-Down ... Curbed)

B & H, Stage and 10 other great NYC lunch counters (Eater)

Here's the CBGB festival lineup (The New York Times)

Hope for another Prime Burger, set to close this weekend after 47 years in Midtown (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Urban crabbing (BoweryBoogie)

A look at the Zum Schneider in Montauk (EastHamptonPatch)

Hello to Paul’s Daughter & Ruby’s Bar on the Coney Island Boardwalk (Amusing the Zillion)

AC Milan vs. Real Madrid at Yankee Stadium this August (Gothamist)

... and is someone tossing a street sign on East Fifth between Avenue A and Avenue B?

[Via Erin and Maile on 5th]

The Stand

In recent weeks you may have noticed the arrival of a Bruce Lee mural on the shed/storage space outside Wholesome Foods on Seventh Street and Avenue C...


The space is now home to the Stand, a gallery "presenting works by Street, Homeless and Unknown Artists."

There are limited hours — 8 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday through Sunday.



In an email to us, proprietor Lori Der Hagopian said that she plans to keep The Stand open indefinitely. You may know her from her Strange Bird Productions. In 2007, she exhibited work in a two-inch-square ad space in the art section of The Village Voice.

So something of this scale may not be such a surprise. Per an article from September 2007 in The Brooklyn Rail:

Rather than endlessly — often enviously — decry the market-driven arrivistes so overexposed in Chelsea, consultants minting bullion from gullibility, Strange Bird practices instead the lost art of invisibility, even a science of silence.

Here's some of the art she has featured on the Strange Bird Tumblr.

We plan to do more about The Stand. Just wanted to let you know about its existence in the the meantime.

[Top two photos by Dave on 7th]

The Mystery Lot gates are open!

A reader walking along the 13th Street side of the Mystery Lot last night noticed that the gates were open... and the gates remain open this morning... now is your chance to go inside one last time, maybe ...




Unverified reader tip: A fight broke out in the street and spilled into the Mystery Lot last evening. Any readers know what happened here...? (Please let us know via the EV Grieve email.)

The front door at St. Brigid's


Yesterday, from behind the plywood along Avenue B.

Mid-summer now at the earliest for Union Market on Avenue A and Houston


There are signs of progress on Avenue A at Houston, where, in recent weeks, the construction netting and sidewalk sheds have come down ... In any event, it has been slow going. On Feb. 4, 2011, we first reported that the Brooklyn-based Union Market was opening an outpost here... The official news release and signage pointed to a fall 2011 opening...

Some readers have been asking for an update. Per a Union Market tweet last Friday:

Construction issues have held us up for months. Mid-summer looks like the earliest now. Details soon on our website

Previously on EV Grieve:
About Union Market coming to Avenue A and Houston

How is your Houston Street Corridor Reconstruction going?


Speaking of East Houston... On Monday, we posted information from DNAinfo's report that the $60 million Houston Street Corridor Reconstruction project would not be completed until the summer of 2014. (One year later than planned.)

The DNA article focused on business owners (the Subway in the Red Square shops is reportedly hurting) and traffic ... We asked readers who live along here for any construction horror stories.

Here are a few of the responses:

RyanAvenueA said...
The intersection of A and Houston, where 1st st begins, is still a pedestrian nightmare. Drivers aren't sure where to go which slows down the intersection so that someone eventually ends up flooring it through a red light. A couple months ago I saw a big truck take out one of the construction barriers. As for Subway's decline, I have to imagine the fact that there's now 40 other Subways in walking distance means some of your customers probably live closer to the competing stores.

---

Anonymous said...
challenging to walk around. inevitable that some poor pedestrian will get hit by a passing car. i don't wish that to happen but i just have a sixth sense about disasters...

---

Anonymous said...
Cycling across Houston at A is a weird dash-now-and-hope-for-the-best exercise...mostly because cars don't know where to go most of the time, so bikers are left to dodge.

[Updated] A solidarity march for students in Montreal

Clayton Patterson shares these photos from last night... a group marched through part of the neighborhood in a show of support for the ongoing student protests in Montreal... (read the background here). ... the group (more than 100 strong by Clayton's estimation) arrived at Union Square at 10 p.m. ...





One reader said that the NYPD closed Tompkins Square Park early last night to prevent any groups from congregating there...

Updated 12:34 —
Colin Moynihan at the Times has a piece in the City Room this morning about the Park's early closure...

Updated 9:57 p.m. —

Here is an article from Animal titled "NYPD locks 100 people inside Tompkins Square Park to keep Occupy out." Here is the link.

Local resident wins national baking contest


Oh, I'm just running out of headlines to describe the ongoing brown-paint battle alongside Verizon on 13th Street at Second Avenue... how it's looking now...

Previously.

Today in photos of books that no one dug out of the trash on Avenue A


At East Fifth Street. Anyone?

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Baoguette Cafe back open on St. Mark's Place


Last Wednesday, the DOH temporarily closed Baoguette Cafe on St. Mark's Place with 80 violation points... Anyway, just a quick note (post?) to say that they are back open... (The DOH website didn't have the Baoguette entry updated just yet...)

Photo by Bobby Williams.

[Updated] EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[An empty Avenue A late last night. By Shawn Chittle]

CB3 votes on SPURA tonight (The Lo-Down)

A silent film set on Astor Place (Flaming Pablum)

Old photos of the LES (Curbed)

Nolita House closing on East Houston (Eater)

Jewel Bako alum opening sushi place on East 12th St. called Bugs (Grub Street)

The Public Theater getting high-end dining, drinking options (Gothamist)

Busting an illegal gambling ring on East Broadway (BoweryBoogie)

The death of a Ninth Avenue block (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

A cab ride will likely be more expensive (The New York Observer)

Joey Ramone's second posthumous album, "...ya know?," is out today... Here's the video for "Rock 'N Roll is the Answer" released on Record Store Day last month ...



...and a reader passed this along... Bareburger on Second Avenue at East Fifth Street has a comedy night... featuring Janeane Garofalo (and others!) tonight...

Sales pitch or warning?


Dave on 7th spotted this at King's Court Realty on St. Mark's Place the other day...

The 'island' of Astor Place

[Via Curbed]

Catching up with a piece from Bloomberg yesterday about the incoming 51 Astor Place.

Developer Edward Minskoff said that he is seeking between $88 and $115 a square foot — rates that approach "the highest rents for top-quality space in Midtown Manhattan, the most expensive U.S. office market, as a booming technology market fuels demand for trendier areas."

Per the article: "Office demand in New York is shifting from the glossy skyscrapers of Midtown preferred by banks to the quirkier mix of neighborhoods to its south that’s home to Chelsea warehouses, Soho galleries and the punky shops on St. Mark's Place where Joey Ramone and Madonna refined their fashion sense."

Minskoff went on to say that he "expects a company will pay for the opportunity to plant its flag in the East Village the way Google asserted its presence in Chelsea."

Per the article: "The Google building is a good building, but it’s a big factory building," he said. "It doesn't knock your socks off. Fifty-one Astor is like an island. It’s very, very visible."

And how!

So years from now we can revisit the "the quirkier mix of neighborhoods" to see how they fared during this post-Midtown boom.

We've been curious how the Death Star at 51 Astor Place will impact the surrounding area... Does the quirky have any chance for survival? For instance. What becomes of street vendors or street art on Astor Place? (Regardless of how you might feel about the street artists or street art.)

[Bobby Williams]

[Bobby Williams]


Or will the 51 Astor-Sculpture for Living glass-tower combo be too much to overcome? Will everything be crushed underfoot? Or, perhaps, 51 really will be an island safely moored off shore from the rest of the neighborhood ...


Previously on EV Grieve:
51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower

East Village — the new Midtown?

Bistro Cafe & Grill now open on First Avenue


... on the southeast corner at Second Street... the awning tells you just about everything the place will serve... wraps, burgers, salads, gyros... let us know if you try this place.

Previously.

Here's a springtime view of the Steve Jobs tree in Tompkins Square Park

Last November, workers from Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project planted a Dawn Redwood tree in honor of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs... the plaque recognizing Jobs went up in March.

Meanwhile, we realized that we hadn't stopped to look at the tree this spring when the lawn was empty... Anyway, here's a springtime view...


Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMORS: Memorial tree for Steve Jobs planned for Tompkins Square Park

Mystery Lot wisdom



Photos by Bobby Williams.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Report: Space that houses Rite Aid on Avenue D hits market for $22.5 million

[Google Street View]

That above stretch of retail that includes a Rite Aid on Avenue D between Seventh Street and Sixth Street hit the market today for $22.5 million, The Real Deal reported. The site is earmarked for a residential development that "could potentially rise 12 stories" — particularly with "the creation or preservation of affordable housing."

In a news release announcing the sale, Eastern Consolidated's Alan Miller said, "The residential portion of the building will, no doubt, provide spectacular views of Manhattan as well as views of the East River and beyond."

Read The Real Deal piece here.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[In the rain in Tompkins Square Park last week ... by Bobby Williams]

Million-dollar parking space at 66 E. 11th St. (New York Post)

Break-dancing in Tompkins Square Park [video] (The Gog Log)

Mystery tenant leases former HSBC branch on First Avenue at 14th Street (pcvstBee)

The Mosaic Man's new cups of Joe at the Bean (BoweryBoogie)

Thefts continued at 9th Precinct even with security detail (New York Post)

Breaking glass during renovations at 118 E. Fourth St. (Occupy East Fourth Street)

Momofuku Milk Bar opening a Montauk branch (Eater)

NYU's class of 1932 (Ephemeral New York)

Looking at the new McHale's (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Hotel Chelsea lobby phone booths are history (Living With Legends)

A reader sent along this poster spotted yesterday on East Fourth Street... not much information...


A reader reports that the new gelato place on Second Avenue below East Fourth Street is now open...

[Yesterday morning]

...and last Friday we noted that renovation work had started on the bar/restaurant at the Standard East Village. We were really wrong. The workers and wood that we saw turned out to be for the NoHo Design District Festival at the Hotel... We apologize for the mistake...

East Houston Street construction will be a living hell for an extra year


The $60 million Houston Street Corridor Reconstruction started in the fall of 2010... with a scheduled wrap date of next spring.

But!

DNAinfo learns that various complications have added another year to the project — pushing the expected completion date to the summer of 2014.

Per the article:

The news came as an unpleasant surprise to many Lower East Side and East Village business owners, who said the work from the Bowery to the FDR Drive ... has turned the street into a nightmarish obstacle course for drivers and pedestrians, driving away customers and hurting their business.

The franchise owner of the Subway sandwich shop in the Red Square shops "said he's considering closing the location after losing about 50 percent of his customer base because of the narrowed sidewalk, obstructed crosswalk and other construction headaches outside his door."

The article focuses on business owners and drivers... how about residents who live along here? Anyone with any construction horror stories?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming soon to East Houston: Construction, hell, rodent control stations

Long-threatened East Houston reconstruction starting this month

[An EVG East Houston file photo]

Claim: David Schwimmer will inspect his new East Sixth Street home this week


The word on East Sixth Street is that David Schwimmer is supposed to stop by some time this week. He'll be checking out the progress at his incoming home at 331.

Meanwhile, we heard the swimming pool rumor again. A tipster told us this at the start of construction. Probably not a big surprise that the home would include an indoor pool. We didn't see anything showing a pool in the DOB permits, though we could have missed an update.


In any event, a neighbor reports that late last week workers hauled out two dumpsters full of dirt from the basement, where the pool will allegedly be ...