Portal No. 1 repaired on Avenue C; two more on the way

Last week, we noted that someone had vandalized Portal No. 1 on East Seventh Street and Avenue C... EVG reader Steven Matthews lets us know that it has been restored...



Meanwhile, the creators of the portals, Nicolina and Brazilian artist Perola Bonfanti, just started work on Portal No. 4 (there will be 13 in total) set to debut somewhere in the East Village this summer ... they passed along a sneak preview...







It will be the portal "of the material world, nature and sexuality."

Portal No. O is on East Third Street just east of Second Avenue. The portals are interactive, and by scanning the QR code on each one, "you will begin the journey to uncover their mystery."

Here's the website for the portals. Here's the 13 Portals Facebook page.

East Houston Wine & Liquor coming soon to Red Square

A new addition for the Shoppes at Red Square here on East Houston between Avenue A and Avenue B... a liquor store is taking over the space previously leased to a spa-salon.

New era for tree house living room on First Avenue

It appears the long saga of the tree house living room is over. And a new era begins.

First, a flashback. As you will recall, there were pleas to keep the space here tidy. It didn't work. Trash piled up.

Meanwhile, the tree house living room attracted a steady stream of media coverage... such as in New York magazine's "Neighborhood News" feature...

Now, after a frustrating few months of back-and-forth... the tree house team members have opted for...



...plastic flowers.



(And there are even lights for the garden!) Anyway, we hope that there won't be a need for a "this is your garden not a trash bin" sign.

Previously.

For your consideration

Jimmy McMillan campaigning on St. Mark's Place this afternoon. Photo by James Maher.

Not such a Smart Car after all?

EVG regular peter radley spotted this today on Avenue A at East Fifth Street. Anyone see what happened?

Week in Grieview

[East Seventh Street. Photo by Derek Berg]

New 6-story building in the works for East Third Street (Tuesday)

Jared Kushner is buying everything (Wednesday)

A new tenant for the Village Scandal space on East Seventh Street (Wednesday)

There is now a 3-story swingers club on the Bowery (Thursday)

Fly talks UnReal Estate (Thursday)

A rent hike for East Village Shoe on St. Mark's Place (Friday)

Jerry's Newsstand has at least another year on Astor Place (Thursday)

At the Pyramid with Jacquelyn Gallo (Wednesday)

East Second Street penthouse with a private pool and lawn (Tuesday)

Plans for market-restaurant at 125 First Ave. on hold for now (Wednesday)

Croxley Ales extension now open (Tuesday)

Renovations ready for P.S. 122 (Thursday)

Wow, this will be built on Norfolk at Delancey (Monday)

Rats now using forks in Tompkins Square Park (Monday)

Tweet smell of unhappiness in the East Village (Friday)

Alphabet Plaza rising on East Houston and Avenue D (Tuesday)

Look at the Rat Castle now! (Wednesday)

Memory of terrible movie continues to haunt the Bowery

Tonight, as Hollywood honors the alleged best movies of 2012... a moment to note that the billboard for "Playing for Keeps" is still up on the Bowery at East Fourth Street. The movie opened Dec. 7. By now, it's likely playing on TNT. Despite an outpouring of 311 calls from distracted residents and motorists who complain of Gerard Butler's hair and what appear to be smiles from a denture commercial, the ad remains...



There's a 4 percent approval rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes, who describe it this way: "Witless, unfocused, and arguably misogynistic, Playing for Keeps is a dispiriting, lowest-common-denominator Hollywood rom-com."

Saturday

Is it March yet? Photo by James and Karla Murray via Facebook.

Religious zealots target Zoltar again

As you can see, someone has slapped a sticker across Zoltar's name here outside Gem Spa... AGAIN. (See here.)



"Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on everyones [sic] soul."

Unfortunately in America today, fortune teller machines do not enjoy the same freedoms as everyone else, and find themselves at the mercy of religious extremists. Or, at the very least, the target of people brandishing "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on everyones [sic] soul" stickers.

Noted

At the M14 stop on Avenue A near East 11th Street. More from the Silent Pro 7-Eleven Collective?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Silent Pro 7-Eleven collective launches shock-and-awe counter-offensive

330 Bowery wrapped and ready

Seeing as I already did two posts about the construction of the scaffolding here on the Bowery at Bond... might as well finish the job. It took workers a week, but they have the historic cast-iron building here wrapped and ready for exterior repairs...

Beware the cone-eating sewer grate of Avenue B

At East Ninth Street at the entrance to Tompkins Square Park. Photo by Bobby Williams.

Flight

Somewhere near East 10h Street today. Photo by Bobby Williams.

He's a Magic man

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band with "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby" circa 1972.

FREE HOT DOGS AT JAPADOG

Right now on St. Mark's Place... photo via EVG Facebook friend Bonnie DeWitt...

A one-year customer appreciation day...



Thanks to EVG Facebook friend Robert Mazze for the above photo...

Lyric Diner Coffee Shop neon survives renovation on Third Avenue

Back in August, we noted that the Lyric Diner on Third Avenue at 22nd Street had closed for renovations... Our friends at the pcvstBEE blog report that the owners reopened the space this week... it's now a Greek restaurant called Taverna.

Some good news. Despite the major renovations, the owners are keeping the cool Lyric Diner Coffee Shop neon on the East 22nd Street side, as this photo from @ThingsWendySees shows...



As for their food, you can check out their new menu here.

Study: Tweets show there are 'pockets of unhappiness in the East Village'

Per the Post:

Researchers from the University of Vermont mapped out the city’s happiest areas using a complex formula that can pinpoint tweet locations and rate their relative “happiness” and “sadness” based on certain key words.

Key words like "sun" and "yoga" (yay! happy!) and sad words such as "hate" and "hell." (How about "another fucking rent hike"?)

(Also. Tricky: A word like "Woooooo!" could be seen as happy or sad, depending on who is on the receiving end of the Woooooo!, if researchers had actually measured Woooooo!)

The data found that the largest concentration of happy tweets came from the Times Square region. (Tourists: duh)

Elsewhere?

While most of Manhattan south of Central Park had people tweeting happily, there were pockets of unhappiness in the East Village, Chelsea and the area around City Hall. There were also a large number of sad tweets coming from the area around the United Nations.

No word if researchers measured emoticons.

An East Village resident to root for during the Academy Awards on Sunday night

"How to Survive a Plague" is one of the five films nominated for Best Documentary Feature in the 2013 Academy Awards.

Here's the official synopsis:

"How to Survive a Plague" is the story of two coalitions — ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) — whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.

France is a longtime resident of East Seventh Street. He has been writing about AIDS since 1982, and as a journalist, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, and New York magazine.



"How to Survive a Plague" marks his directorial debut. He's currently working on a book about the AIDS epidemic for publication later this year. In an interview published yesterday at Time magazine, he talks about what it was like to hear the news of the nomination:

It was thrilling. I guess probably everybody would say that, but for me the thrill was that we ran this massive outreach and education campaign around it. And all of this is an effort to give the film a life of its own and to establish it in the marketplace of ideas so that people will turn to it for this history. And an Oscar nomination gives it that much more standing and makes it more probable that it will reach wide audiences for a long time.

Here are some different ways to see the film, which is now on DVD.

Also, thanks to the commenter for pointing out this interview on The Brian Lehrer Show. And Claude Peck left the URL for his review in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

H/T Dave on 7th

Reader report: Will a rent hike force out East Village Shoe Repair on St. Mark's Place?

[Via StyleBubble UK]

A tipster passes along word that the cobblers at East Village Shoe Repair on St. Mark's Place may be forced to close or relocate after the landlord hit them with a big rent hike. While nothing is final just yet, they are apparently not very optimistic. (This article from 2006 noted that their rent was $4,000 a month for the 100-square-feet of space.)

A cobbler has been in this space since 1985; Belarus natives Eugene Finkelberg and Boris Zuborev took over in 1994. (Finkelberg is the original owner's nephew.) Aside from quality repair work, the two are well-known for their custom shoe creations... the spot to get the EV creepers.


[Via StyleBubble UK]

A post from April 2010 on Style Bubble notes:

" ...characters like Boris and Eugene are diminishing in cities... that encounters in grimy holes where they gesture to their faded albums with shoe polish fingers are few and far between... I maybe over-romanticising but I did feel ever so slightly enrichened by a visit to this particular shoe repair joint..."

Not sure what kind of tenant the landlord is aiming for in such a small space ... Of course, as previously noted, with 51 Astor Place and its 12-floors of incoming office workers looming in the background ... I wonder about the future of the remaining hole-in-the-wall-type shops along the block...



Bonus Barney.

[Photo by Bob Arihood from 2010]

For further reading:
EV Creepers (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Watch a vintage Miller Lite commercial filmed at Vazac's

Hey, it's former NFL greats Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus in a Miller Lite spot from 1984 ... filmed at Vazac's/7B/Horsehoe Bar (whatever you prefer) ... Anyway! Less filling!

Thanks to @VaughnVance for finding this.