Monday, May 28, 2012

First Avenue bus bulbs on the way

Catching up on a few items that I meant to post last week. (Or maybe the week before.) Such as!

Over on First Avenue between First Street and Second Street ... the MTA is, as the sign shows, building sidewalk extensions (bus bulbs!) for the M15 and the Select Bus Service...


...the sign says something about completion during the fourth quarter of this year...


As Streetsblog puts it: "Bus bulbs — sidewalk extensions into the street at bus stops — keep bus shelters and ticket machines out of the way of pedestrian traffic. And by allowing buses to load passengers without having to pull to the curb and back into traffic, they also make for faster rides."

... Meanwhile, no word on how this is slowing down the limo departure times outside Lucky Cheng's...

Today in photos of things splattered on the sidewalk


Cooper Square at Sixth Street. Perhaps I'll start a separate site for this kind of thing.

Celebrating 28 years of saying 'There goes the neighborhood'


We trot this one out every so often... It's the cover story from the May 28, 1984, New York magazine ... The article talks about the influx of chain stores, art galleries and chic cafes. "And real-estate values are exploding" as a result. Said one longtime resident on the changes: "I've lived in my rent-controlled apartment for years and pay $115 a month. I live on the Lower East Side. The young kids who just moved in upstairs and pay $700 a month for the same space — they live in the East Village."

Find the whole article here.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Zaitzeff closing Avenue B location


A tipster passes along word that the family-run Zaitzeff burgers is shutting down its Avenue B location that opened in 2007 after tomorrow... the Zaitzeff locations in Murray Hill and the Financial District will remain open...

Just a few scenes at the Loisaida Festival today

A few moments from the 25th anniversary of the Loisaida Festival today on Avenue C... via Jacob Anderson ... always one of the best street festivals around...




Ivy Irizarry-Rivera, right, of Ivy Jewel, was one of the few vendors based in the neighborhood... (Many of the other vendors were from the outer boroughs, according to festival officials...)


Above, Sixth Street resident David Joffe gives a demonstration of one of his trinkets for sale...

Avenue C gold rush


During the Loisaida Festival today... photo by Bobby Williams...

Reader report: Fire on Avenue C yesterday

We heard reports of a fire yesterday afternoon on Avenue C... a reader passed along these photos with some details...


Just before 4 p.m. yesterday, the FDNY responded to a report of a fire at 56 Avenue C near East Fourth Street ...Per the reader: "Smoke was pouring onto Avenue C for over an hour and a big crowd gathered. I feel badly for any building residents or neighbors who will return home wondering why their homes are water logged and/or smelling of smoke."





We haven't heard the official cause of the fire. A new cafe called Bikinis is slated to open in one of the retail spaces at 56 Avenue C, which is the former Nublu Records office.

Do you have any further information on what happened here? Let us know via the EV Grieve email

[Updated] In case you were going to go look at those baby tigers today...

[Photo by BB]

It's closed, via Matt LES_Miserable ... As Gothamist pointed out on Friday, two five-month-old female Bengals (Sonia and Tanya) were part of Norwegian artist Bjarn Melgaard's "Ideal Pole" exhibit at the Ramiken Crucible gallery on Grand Street.

[Katie Sokoler/Gothamist]

No word on why the exhibit is closed. Or if the tigers will be back. They were scheduled to be there until June 3. Gothamist wrote, "We've reached out to the Humane Society of the U.S. to find out what the rules are about this sort of thing, because that cage looks too small to us."

Updated 3:31 p.m.:

Gothamist received a statement from the Human Society of the United States. Part of the statement:

The baby tigers on display at the Ramiken Crucible gallery were prematurely removed from their mothers, transported to New York from a game farm in Ohio that has been cited for failing to meet minimum standards of the federal Animal Welfare Act, and are confined to a tiny barren cage inside an art gallery.

Week in Grieview

[Toys for sale on Avenue C today]

Water store opening on East 10th Street (Monday)

Searching for the loudest block in the East Village (Friday)

Development lot for sale on Avenue D (Monday)

No Astor Place is an island (Tuesday)

The smallest art gallery in the East Village? (Wednesday)

Iglesia Pentecostal Sarepta cut in half for now on East Sixth Street (Monday)

Union Market update (Wednesday)

A former bank branch is becoming a Duane Reade (Friday)

Bistro Cafe & Grill opens (Tuesday)

From farm to sidewalk (Saturday)

Why there's a dining room set in the middle of Avenue B

Crews arrived early this morning for a shoot on 10th Street and Avenue B... a crew member said it's a short film titled "1956" ...


The NYPD is redirecting traffic on Avenue B ... several motorists have been grumbling ... (Avenue C is closed between Sixth Street and 12th Street for the Loisaida Festival ... so apparently driving and parking is a bit of a hassle for the time being. More of a hassle than usual...)

Anyway! Here's the street set...




...and as is customary, someone needs to be passed out asleep on the film set...




Smile


The Penistrator strikes a Banana Republic ad on First Avenue near 12th Street...

25th anniversary of the Loisaida Festival is today


Starts at noon on Avenue C, between 12th Street and Sixth Street... The Festival website is here.


Find some previous EVG coverage of the Festival here.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Rain in the almost summertime


By Bobby Williams.

An almost summer day in Washington Square Park


OK, OK... it feels like summer...

By Bobby Williams.

Today in Tompkins Square Park


Photo by Bobby Williams.

The KISS Army expands


East First Street at Houston. Fleet Week.

5th annual Bike Noise show tomorrow in Tompkins Square Park


Via the EV Grieve inbox...

+ FREE + ALL AGES + PUNK + BIKES +
Sliding Scale Productions Presents

Swaggerin' Growlers
Wombat in Combat
The Will
Wood Spider
and
Team Spider

Show starts at 2.

And some Wombat in Combat from the Park in summer 2010 to warm you up...

Noted

Mayor Bloomberg owns 11 homes. (Capital NY)

Today in photos of a pile of raw chicken on Avenue B


From farm to sidewalk? Several readers have noted this at East Third Street. Via EVG reader Steven...


Given the temperature, the chicken should be ready to turn in about 15 minutes.

Cat found!


Nice to see a cat found instead of lost...