Men of steel top off 51 Astor Place

Do you notice something atop of 51 Astor Place...?

Per these photos by Bobby Williams, you can see that the workers have signed the top beam and placed a Christmas holiday tree here...they must have reached the top.

Anyway, say what you want about the incoming 51 Astor Place (like calling it a Death Star) ... there is something rather hypnotic about watching the workers' high-wire act...

As a bonus, a shot of the top of the crane here...

[EVG]

Photos by Bobby Williams.

The Standard East Village debuts its new awning

The Standard East Village is currently undergoing some major renovations on Cooper Square ... some progress to report. A new awning with the hotel's usual upside-down logo... I believe this entrance will lead to the new cafe ... at least based on the plans the Standarders submitted to CB3 in April.

[Click on image to enlarge]

Changes coming to Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street

On Friday, a tipster noted that the Forum had a "closed for renovations" sign on the door ... and the bar on Fourth Avenue near East 13th Street remained closed for the weekend...

Meanwhile, in April, a retail listing went up for the Forum's neighbors, the Dryden Gallery and Brothers Deli... (The Dryden moved to another block in August.)

Here's the latest from our tipster, who heard that:

"Dryden is to become a pizza place. Deal is done and they are building out now. Forum is to become another club .. Brothers Deli is leaving at the end of November. Negotiations are ongoing but it is almost certainly to become a restaurant."

Happy Columbus Day

[Via EVG reader Steven Matthews]

A happier day if you are off work today (like me) for the holiday... a reader asked if the flag went up outside Veniero's Pasticceria and Caffe on East 11th Street in honor of Columbus Day ... seems as if it has been up for longer than that...

Anyway, here's a photo of the place in 1969 ... it opened in 1894.

[Via Veniero's]

Week in Grieview

[East 14th Street yesterday. Photo by Bobby Williams]

Plans revealed for the former Life Cafe space (Wednesday, 26 comments)

Mickey Leigh on his brother Joey Ramone's "New York" video (Tuesday)

Affordable housing development coming to East 11th Street (Thursday, 46 comments)

City OKs additions to East Ninth Street buildings (Tuesday)

Angel Memorial House now for sale on Avenue B (Wednesday)

Mendez to crack down on crusties (Tuesday, 35 comments)

Dollar Plus store for million-dollar condos (Monday)

Mystery Lot building revealed (Wednesday)

Bowery retail inventory (Thursday)

Remembering the Frenchmen on First Avenue (Monday)

Can we expect a club like the DL on Avenue C? (Wednesday)

[Updated] Report: NYPD makes arrest in Tompkins Square Park sexual assualt

Police have reportedly arrested a suspect believed to have sexually assaulted a woman in Tompkins Square Park late Friday night. As DNAinfo reports, there are few details about the attack, which occurred near the entrance at East Eighth Street and Avenue B.

The Daily News describes the suspect as a homeless man, and that the victim, a 31-year-old woman, was sleeping on a bench in the Park when the attack occurred. (The News article isn't currently available online.)

DNAinfo quotes a hostess at an unnamed restaurant on Avenue A and East Seventh Street as saying, "This area is, no joke, not safe. There's not much security."

Updated:
1010 WINS reports that the suspect is Ruben Canales, 27.

Today in lines for Octoberfest at Zum Schneider

Octoberfest started last Saturday at Zum Schneider at Seventh Street and Avenue C ... and the lines remain as long today, via this picture by Goggla...

Zoltar is the greatest thing to happen to St. Mark's Place since ______________?

[Submitted by an EVG reader, Zoltar fan]

Zoltar, the all wise and knowing fortune teller, arrived at Gem Spa on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue on Sept. 23. Since then, it's all everyone a few people can talk about.

Have you been by?

Don't get too close.



That's the one thing. Get too close to Zoltar and he starts hitting you up. By the time I got to Gem Spa on this day, five people along here had already asked me for change, cigarettes or directions to Little Italy.

A few things to make your Zoltar Experience more pleasant.

1) Zoltar only accepts $1 bills. So no quarters or $2 bills in the well-marked $1 slot.

2) Despite the sign, the ATM is not inside Zoltar's box.

Open houses, gardens and cemeteries this weekend

As you may know, the 10th Annual openhousenewyork is going on this weekend ... more info is here. Among the local places open to the public — the New York City Marble Cemetery on Second Street, where the resident historians will be around to discuss the Cemetery's history and those interred here.

This weekend will also provide you the opportunity to take a first look at MoRUS — the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space at 155 Avenue C in the C-Squat storefront. MoRUS co-found Laurie Mittelmann said that while the space isn't finished yet, it's coming along nicely ... find more info here at the MoRUS website.

Finally, as a reminder, this weekend is the "Harvest Arts Festival in the Gardens" in community gardens on the Lower East Side. Find the list of participating gardens here.

Did you lose a cat?

A reader reports the following:

We found this beautiful cat, who had been living in the bushes at the 14th Street loop in Stuyvesant Town for quite some time. I personally saw him for about a month prior to getting him ...

We have taken him to the vet. He is healthy and sweet. Definitely was someone's pet. We would love to find his owner. If we don't find his owner soon we are looking for a forever home for him.

If the cat belongs to you ... let us know via the EV Grieve email ...

It must be Love

Julian Cope with "Greatness and Perfection of Love" circa 1984.

On Fourth Avenue, the Forum is 'closed for renovations'

Several EVG readers noted earlier this morning that gigantic Fourth Avenue bar the Forum has "closed for renovations." An unknown entity was on the September CB3/SLA docket last month ... though, as we recall, it was a scratch...

Perhaps unrelated, in April, a retail listing went up for the Forum's neighbors, the Dryden Gallery and Brothers Deli...

Have any tips about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email...

Trash talk

A reader noted the following this morning... the fellow here between 12th Street and 13th Street placed these garbage bags in the middle of Third Avenue...

Making it easier for the sanitation department?

(Giant red) Pillow talk

EVG reader Michele McVicar sent along this participant in this year's Art In Odd Places' (AIOP) exhibit along East 14th Street ... and here, between Avenue B and C, is the artist, Geraldo Zamproni from Brazil...

The opening reception is going on here outside Campos Plaza until 8 tonight... AIOP started today and runs through Oct. 15. Find the full program here.

Everything that you wanted to know about Halloween City but were afraid to look

We've been so excited [ed. note: not really] to visit the seasonal [ed. note: no shit] Halloween City in the Shoppes at Red Square [ed. note: don't call them Shoppes] on East Houston.

Anyway, the store is open, and we finally looked at some of the offerings to help make your Halloween planning a little easier. [ed. note: what are you, 12?] A quick note: An employee said that they were getting a lot more stuff in, so...

We conveniently broke the offerings down into categories... A few things: the employees were friendly, and the prices seemed a little ... high? Maybe the $5.99 for the Severed Bloody Fingers are a good buy — you can use them year round when you dine out.

-----The Realistic Disguises-----

-----The Accessories-----

-----The Electronics-----

-----The WTF-----

-----The Gaga-----

Just 26 shopping days left!

Looking at the Loews Village 7 marquee

[Via Cinema Treasures]

Have you noticed how beat up the corner of the Loews Village VII marquee is? Looks as if a truck ran into it.

I hadn't. I guess I normally walk on the other side of Third Avenue here at East 11th Street to either a) avoid the bros at Village Pourhouse or b) the construction along 74-84 Third Ave. (despite the tempting blogger portals).

Plus, I hate this theater. I'd rather stand in line two hours at the Rite Aid on First Avenue and East Fifth Street. (Which I think I have ...) The last time that I saw a movie here ("Congo" in 1995?), I was the only person in the auditorium who didn't order nachos. (OK, I was there in the spring. Saw something kind of dumb.)

Plus, well, the place just sucks. Yes? No?

And this is how Cinema Treasure announced the theater's arrival in 1991: "With funkier offerings at other East Village theaters such as the Village East and Cinema Village, Loews opened this multiplex with more mainstream fare in mind for a gentrifying neighborhood."

For details on what stood on this corner before, check out theses posts at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York here ... and here.

This weekend: Harvest Arts Festival in the Gardens

From the EV Grieve inbox... news release slightlty edited...

The "Harvest Arts Festival in the Gardens" will take place this weekend in community gardens on the Lower East Side. Each participating garden is designing its own unique and multidimensional arts program, and it’s going to be a very eclectic mix of music, dance, performance, and visual arts and workshops — from jazz to comedy to making mud balls to an art rumble competition. The Festival is free and open to all.

The Festival will kick off with an opening night party:
➢ Friday evening, October 5, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., at La Plaza Cultural, Ave C & 9th Street
The Festival will continue in community gardens:
➢ Saturday, October 6, from noon until 5 p.m.
➢ Sunday, October 7, from noon until 5 p.m.

The following 24 gardens have already signed on, and more are expected to participate:
• Dias y Flores, 13th St between Aves A & B
• Vamos a Sembrar, Ave B between 12th St & 13th St
• El Sol Brillante, 12th St between Aves A & B
• Children’s Garden, 12th St & Ave B
• Campos Gardens, 12th St between Aves B & C
• 11th St Community Garden, 11th St between 1st Ave & Ave A
• 11BC Garden, 11th St between Aves B & C
• Toyota Children’s Garden, 11th St between Aves B & C
• 9C Garden, Ave C & 9th St
• La Plaza Cultural, Ave C & 9th St
• DeColores Community Garden and Cultural Yard, 8th St between Aves B & C
• Earth People Garden, 8th St between Aves B & C
• Fireman’s Garden, 8th St between Aves C & D
• Green Oasis and Gilbert's Sculpture Garden, 8th St between Aves C & D
• Sam & Sadie Koenig Garden, 7th St between Aves C & D
• 6B Garden, Ave B & 6th St
• Generation X, 4th St between Aves A & B
• El Jardin del Paraiso, 4th St between Aves C & D
• Parque de Tranquilidad, 4th St between Aves C & D
• Orchard Alley, 4th St between Aves C & D
• Kenkeleba House Garden, 2nd St between Aves B & C
• Peachtree Garden, 2nd St between Aves B & C
• Le Petit Versailles, 2nd St between Aves B & C
• Children’s Magical Garden, Norfolk & Stanton Sts

The Harvest Arts Festival in the Gardens is being organized by LUNGS (Loisada United Neighborhood Gardens). For Festival updates go here.