[Updated] In which we don't have any idea of what happened

So Bobby Williams spotted this blue tarp covering something in the middle of Tompkins Square Park this afternoon...

And just like that, two people showed up to uncover it...

... then a film crew appeared out of nowhere...

... and the actors...

...and they all left just as quickly once the rained kicked in.

Any guesses except what this really was are welcome.

Updated 10-3:

Oh, a blog friend says that it was a Bruce Weber commercial for Dior.

Noted

Um.

Going on until 3:30 today in Union Square. Per the Merrick Pet Care Facebook page: "Food worthy of a fork. This is the standard we hold ourselves to. Using only ingredients of the highest quality, it's food that elevates the bowl. It's food you will be tempted to eat." Top photo by Dave on 7th.

Same old rat story in Tompkins Square Park

Well, you've heard and seen this one before... this morning, while walking in Tompkins Square Park, I saw that someone had just plopped down about 10 pounds of bread chunks ... a few squirrels were nibbling on the feast...

... when the rats emerged from the nearby holes ...

Well, you can only really make out one rat in this photo...

And nearby...

Mickey Leigh on his brother Joey Ramone's 'New York City' video

You may have seen the new video for Joey Ramone's "New York City," which was released last Tuesday. (I first saw it over at Flaming Pablum.)

Ramone died in 2001; his posthumous album, "Ya Know" came out in the spring.

"We had to do something without the artist’s involvement, but that would pay homage to the artist," director Greg Jardin told Fast Company.

So Jardin took thousands of still photographs of Ramone's friends, fans and strangers throughout the city and "pieced them together to create a stop-motion tribute film in the spirit of the artist and the song," per Fast Company. (You'll likely spot a lot of familiar faces in the video.)

As you can see, the video starts in the East Village and first features Ramone's brother, Mickey Leigh, a longtime musician who also plays on "Ya Know?"

Via Facebook, I asked Leigh a few questions about the video.

What are your thoughts on seeing the final product — especially thinking back to how terribly hot it was during the filming in July?

I could not be happier about the way this video turned out. I love it! Director Greg Jardin did an amazing job. It's perfect for this song, and perfect for Joey. Fast, funny — the energy and feeling you get from it is just totally uplifting.

The love and respect all the people involved had for Joey emanates off the screen. Everyone had the right spirit, which is what inevitably got them through the shoot, as this was filmed during the most brutal heat wave in NYC on record. One of the producers actually did suffer heat stroke. But, thankfully, a few days later she was OK and back in action.

You do a lot to keep Joey's spirit alive as well as raise money for lymphoma research through the annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash. How does it make you feel to see the continued outpouring of affection/accolades with the new record and now the video?

Seeing that outpouring of love for my brother is what makes it all worthwhile for me. It's what enables me to keep going, and ward off the attacks and vicious insults hurled at me by the few blackhearted hatemongers too poisoned to enjoy what the vast majority of Joey's fans are so thrilled about. Their loss.

I do get a little appreciation from some of the more thoughtful people out there, and I appreciate that more than I can say right here. But, the display of sheer joy, and expressions of love for Joey from the overwhelming majority of his fans, far outweighs anything and everything else. They are just so happy to be hearing these new songs, and seeing this video. That's what it's all about for me.

A few signs of fall

As I first reported, it is now the fall. And I have done a lousy job of documenting this change of season...

[Pumpkins arrived last week at Sheen Brothers on Avenue B]

[Ditto at the Greenmarket at Tompkins Square Park. Photo by Bobby Williams]

[Time again for the annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog parade. Photo by Via ~ Joan]

[The leaves are turning color ever so slightly in Tompkins Square Park]

[Football fans are collecting their favorite gridiron great stickers from the Daily News ... and attaching them to a bench in Tompkins Square Park]

[Anheuser-Busch has unveiled its branded football cans]

[The TV networks are introducing their interesting, thought-provoking fall shows]

[Halloween City has unveiled its new scary masks]

East 9th Street buildings will soon be taller thanks to the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals

In August, a tipster told us that additional floors were in the works for a series of buildings owned by Terrence Lowenberg of Icon Realty on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... No. 329 ... No. 331 ... No. 333 ... No. 335.

However, at the time, the DOB hadn't approved any of the additional floors for these addresses dating back to early last year.

But that has changed. Off the Grid reported last Thursday that the Board of Standards and Appeals OK'd the rooftop additions.

[Via Off the Grid]

Per Off the Grid, which is the blog of the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation (GVSHP):

The owner of the remarkably intact tenements at 329-335 East 9th Street sought variances from the Board of Standards and Appeals to build additional floors without full compliance with the Multiple Dwelling Law which requires updated fire and safety measures when tenements are enlarged beyond 6 stories. These building have retained their cornices and façade ornamentation and are on a historic block of East 9th Street between 1st & 2nd Avenues that is also very much intact with buildings of cohesive scale and heights.

Despite the strong arguments against these additions being permitted from GVSHP, Councilmember Mendez, and the East Village Community Coalition, the Board of Standards and Appeals voted in favor of permitting these additions.

In addition, in another doozy, the Board of Standards and Appeals decide to allow illegally built additions to remain at the controversial 514-516 E. Sixth St. Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group is behind the enlargements.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Ninth Street parking lot will yield to 6-floor residential building

Perhaps 84 Third Ave. will have four extra floors?

Real-estate blogger Andrew Fine rounds up some facts and figures about the sun-blocking under-construction 84 Third Ave., the retail-residential combo coming to the space last held by Nevada Smiths and Yummy House.

The DOB OK'd the Karl Fischer-designed 94-unit, 9-story building with 72,000 square feet of residential, 9,500 square feet of commercial and 327 square feet (!) of "community space."

One mystery: He notes that the rendering that has made the rounds is actually 13 stories, a mere four over what the city approved.

In addition, two workers on the site told Fine that the building would be 13 stories. Maybe they thought no one would notice?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Those persistent rumors about 74-76 Third Avenue and the future of Nevada Smiths

The East Village will lose a parking lot and gain an apartment building

Former Nevada Smiths down to its last floor; city OKs work for new building

[Image via A Fine Blog]

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: Taureau owner bringing new concept to East Seventh St.; Local 269 looks done

A few weeks ago, we noted that Taureau, the BYOB fondue place at 127 E. Seventh St., moved away from the East Village. The eatery relocated to 558 Broome St. Meanwhile, workers have been sanding the floors and painting the exterior and what not.

Now our friends at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop a few storefronts away report that a familiar face is returning... the owner of Taureau, Didier Pawlicki, will open another French bistro in the space... and he hopes to have it up and running soon.

----------

[Last month]

Unfortunately, it looks like the end of Local 269, the live music venue on East Houston and Suffolk. A flood apparently KO'd their sound system. Per a reader: "Recently they were having a hard time making ends meet and paying their bills/liquor distributors and I once [saw] the manager carting in cases of beer from a local bodega."

And now, a "To be Determined" applicant is on the CB3/SLA October docket.

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And at the incoming Entrez on Second Avenue ... we won't have to worry about dueling phone numbers: Blue Glass notes that workers have painted the awning black... Meanwhile, they open in the next few days...

Report: Mendez office to crack down on crusties

[East 11th Street last summer]

In his current column in The Villager, Scoopy reports that City Councilmember Rosie Mendez is planning to crack down on the crusties. A report that Mendez's office recently issued to Community Board 2 last week said that she is aware of the complaints about the seasonal transient population, and is working with outreach teams to help get them off the street.

Per the report, as quoted by Scoopy: "The challenge in removing them is that people have the right to refuse services and to live in the street. Rosie is researching the laws that protect such transients with the intent of tightening up loopholes, so that in the future, these individuals will not have the opportunity to take over the sidewalks in the East Village and Lower East Side and thereby reduce the quality of life of residents."

We asked Mendez's copy of the report, but did not receive any response.

Lease a (soon to be former) Duane Reade

In May, a reader told us that the Duane Reade on 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue would be moving into the former HSBC bank space (right next to the CVS) on First Avenue... just north of East 14th Street...

As the Grievestrator shows, the move would look something like this...

And now a reader points us to the new listing (PDF) for the soon-to-be-former Duane Reade space...

That's a lot of space, which may be too much for our used mixed cassette tape/zine shop. Or our Egg Store.

The last time a big chunk of retail like this was available on East 14th Street, the space became an IHOP.

A few things... the retail listing only mentions the nearby chains-franchises... and one of them, the AT&T store the next block to the west, recently closed...

As for the new Duane Reade on First Avenue, you likely will have to wait... the interior is still a major construction zone...

TV show love outside Vazac's

"Golden Boy" cast members Theo James and Bonnie Somerville (yes, we looked it up) on Seventh Street and Avenue B today. The incoming CBS NYPD-related drama about the two best looking detectives in history filmed all over the place today... or so it seemed.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

First Avenue Pierogi & Deli is back open

A reader lets us know that EVG favorite First Avenue Pierogi & Deli is back open after a vacation-remodeling combo on First Avenue near St. Mark's Place. They closed in August, and we saw bits-and-pieces of the new paint and tile coming to the interior... as well as the new awning outside. The apologetic reader didn't go inside, though, because she was carrying a lot of bags. So we'll get a report on the new-look space some other time.

First look at Lehane's Tavern on Seventh Street and Avenue B

A new TV crime drama titled "Golden Boy" is filming around the neighborhood today ... including scenes at Vazac's, the old-reliable location for TV and movie locations...

Looks like the fake bar sign for the shoot reads "Lehane's Tavern." (I don't recall seeing that name on the upcoming CB3/SLA docket. Haha.)

Photos by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Bobby Williams]

RIP Neil Smith, CUNY prof and expert in urban gentrification (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

More on Pathmark's closure on the LES (The Lo-Down)

Sol Moscot leaving longtime LES HQ (BoweryBoogie)

The 'House of Death' on West 10th Street (Ephemeral New York)

Revisiting 'Stranger in Paradise' (Flaming Pablum)

Update on the case against Cro-Mags' Harley Flanagan (Brooklyn Vegan)

More about Jeepney, opening soon on First Avenue (Joonbug)

And in case you missed our post from Saturday... Steve's on the Bowery has closed. Reaction in the comments.

And an item from yesterday afternoon, when a reader noted several NYPD officers along Second Avenue between East Fifth Street and East Fourth Street... Per the reader: They were "bending over some guy who kept saying 'Fuck' over and over ..."

Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.

This past Tuesday, workers arrived at the Mary Help of Christians parking lot on Avenue A at East 11th Street to repair the eastern wall of the school at 420 E. 12th St. (We had photos here and here.)

According to the Department of Education, the structural defect, discovered Monday, "will require the immediate demolition and subsequent rebuilding of that wall." They expect the demolition work to take "several weeks."

Students from East Side Community High School (grades 6-12) and the Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School, who share the space at 420 E. 12th St., have been temporarily relocated to other schools.

We didn't have a chance to survey the scope of the project up close until this past weekend... and you can see in the following photos how extensive the work is...

Open Road Park next to the school is closed too, of course... so the skateboarders are also displaced ...

[Bobby Williams]

[Bobby Williams]

Meanwhile, parents of the displaced students are understandably concerned and upset... we spoke with a few parents, who commend East Side Principal Mark Federman for his leadership.

East Side students made it work last week... attending classes in hallways or the gym at PS 19 or holding study sessions at the Neptune on First Avenue...

[Images via @MarkEastSide]

On Monday, students had to leave the building quickly ... with the school sealed up, students don't have access to their supplies. East Side parent Jane Nina Buchanan wondered if any local business could help out with donating school supplies for the students. (Any queries should be directed to school officials via the East Side website.)

Meanwhile, some East Side parents have launched a website titled "No Way to Learn." The site's mission:

The school that we send our children to recently experienced a structural issue concerning the school building ... We don't know when our children will be allowed back into their school and we're not satisfied with how things are being handled in the meantime by the NYC Board of Education. We hope to share some of our stories, as well as essential information for the parents of East Side Community High School students, here.

Dollar Plus store opens below million-dollar condos

As we've noted (here and here), the East Side 99¢ shop was moving from East 14th Street to become the first retail tenant in the Copper Building.

And on Saturday, the Dollar Plus store opened here on Avenue B at East 13th Street ... where a handful of the 17 residences top the $1 million mark, according to Streeteasy.

... and last night, with the new sign above the front door...

Early renderings of the building do not show any discount stores in the retail space...

Finding the right retail tenant in upscale housing must be difficult. For instance, a 7-Eleven opened in the ground floor at 52E4 — the 15 stories of condo on the Bowery and East Fourth Street.

Regardless, the Dollar Plus store is a good one.