Plan to add condos to historic East Sixth Street synagogue back on

Tomorrow night, CB3's Landmarks Subcommittee will hear proposed plans about a "facade restoration" for the Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 415 E. Sixth Street.

Synagogue leaders have applied to add one story to the height of the structure, which is now part of the newish East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. (The proposed alteration is from the offices of Preservation Architect Joseph Pell Lombardi.)

There are flyers about the proposed restoration/addition posted nearby.



The proposal notes that the addition will be set back, and not visible to the public.



However, the plans don't get too specific about the interior portions of the building. (You can find a PDF of the plans here.) It appears the basement will contain space for a "community facility," with at least three or four residences taking up the remainder of the building. The plans also show the addition of an elevator.

Back in 2008, there were plans to demolish the Synagogue, which is just east of First Avenue. The plans, which called for a six-story condo, eventually fell through.

In 2010, more news surfaced about the historic building's deteriorating condition. Structure aside, the congregation dwindled to the point of not being able to attract minyan — the minimum of 10 men required by Jewish law — for some services. The hope was to add condos on top of the building to raise the money to upgrade the facilities. (Read The Villager's story on it from 2010 here.)



As the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has noted, "the landmark designation does not cover the interior of the building (few landmark designations cover building interiors, and religious edifices by law can never be interior landmarks). Landmark designation also does not control or regulate how a building is used."

After Wednesday's meeting, the application will be heard at the Landmarks Preservation Commission's public hearing on March 19. No time has been set yet for this. GVSHP has much more background information on all this right here.

On a month-to-month lease, 9th Street Bakery hopes to last through the summer

Back in January, we first reported that 9th St. Bakery, which has been around since 1926, will have to close due to a huge rent hike ... and a downturn in business.

EVG reader Dave M. from 13th St. originally told us the sad news. He provided an update from Oleg, who has owned the bakery with his wife Tetyana since the 1990s.

The bakery is currently on a month-to-month lease with the landlord, who will give them 30-days notice when he needs to terminate. It is not known whether the landlord is actively seeking a new tenant at this time. So Oleg thinks there is a good bet that the bakery may last the summer into the fall.

Good news for now, anyway.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: 9th St. Bakery is closing after 87 years (59 comments)

For further reading:
After 87 Years, Saying Goodbye to Ninth Street Bakery in the East Village (The Village Voice)

9th Street Bakery (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

My Mom and Pop: 9th Street Bakery (Off the Grid)


[At the shop in 1960, courtesy of Mort Zachter via the Voice]

How you can help Coney Island without leaving the East Village

[Photo of Joe Franklin and Dick Zigun from the Coney Island USA Spring Gala 2012 by Stacie Joy]

On Saturday night, Coney Island USA takes over Webster Hall for the organization's annual Spring Gala ... which is the premiere fundraising event for Coney Island USA. Per the press materials, the 2013 Spring Gala is The Burlesque Manifesto and will honor the role Coney Island USA played in beginning the neo-burlesque movement. (Find more details about the Gala here.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy spoke with Coney Island USA spokesperson Tim Pendrell about this year's event.

How has Coney Island USA (CIUSA) been affected by hurricane Sandy?

We had about 6 feet of water in our landmarked building and nearly half-a-million dollars in damage. The Sideshows by the Seashore Theater, Gift Shop, Freak Bar and Denny's Ice Cream were heavily damaged. Denny's was lost for good. Also, a large number of our staff live and work in the neighborhood.

Do you think CIUSA will be ready to open this spring?

We will definitely be open in the Spring. We've begun reconstruction and are on schedule to be open as long as donations from our supporters keep coming in.

How can people help out?

People can help out by going to our website and either making a donation or buying something from our Amazon Wish List. The most fun way to help out is by going to our Gala. We are also on occasion looking for volunteers, but we are at the point in reconstruction that we mostly need skilled labor.

What is the Burlesque Manifesto?

The Burlesque Manifesto is a theatrical production over 30 years in the making. It will only be a brief part of our Gala, but it will tell the true story of Coney Island USA's role in creating the neo-burlesque movement.

In 1982, our founder Dick Zigun published a call for a new burlesque movement with a raised consciousness. Gala goers will see him paste up an Art-Page titled "The Last Strip-Joint In New York (& Why There Should Always Be One)" and lead Funny Tribeca Feminists on a Times Square Sex Tour.

They will also see him mix it up with Morton Minsky... This performance stars the greatest sideshow and burlesque performers this city has ever seen and will be directed by David Kaplan, artistic director of the Tennessee Williams Provincetown Festival. One of the things that are really interesting is that this is a big part of the beginning of Coney Island USA and our work preserving Coney Island's past through performing arts and our museum programming.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the Coney Island USA Spring Gala 2012 (Slightly NSFW)

Live Fast on Clinton Street is closing March 29

[Via Live Fast]

Live Fast, the cool roll 'n' roll boutique at 57 Clinton Street between Stanton and Rivington, is closing on March 29. The usual reason: Landlord handed down a big rent increase.

Cecilia Anton opened the shop here that features an array of designers, independent and otherwise, in May 2005. In a message to customers, she wrote: "Keep in mind we will always be alive online and also looking for a new space ... after we get kicked out we will be vending at flea markets, tattoo and horror conventions."

Until the end, everything is 50 percent off at the store.

Find the store website here.

Possible Living Room to Second Street move on hold for now

This is one of the more intriguing items on this month's CB3/SLA committee agenda:

• The Living Room (ACP Project), 173 E 2nd St (op)

The Living Room on Ludlow Street, will be leaving their home of 10 years at the end of April due to a huge rent hike.

The owners of the live music venue recently held a successful fundraising campaign to help move to an undisclosed new home. As we reported last September, Klean & Kleaner, the laundromat at 173 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, was on the market for use as a bar or restaurant.

ANYWAY.

All this is apparently on hold for the moment. The Living Room is a scratch now for this month's meeting, which takes place on Monday.

New venture aiming to take over former Local 269 space on East Houston

We're also interested in the following item on this month's CB3/SLA committee meeting docket:

• To be Determined, 269 E Houston St (aka 188 Suffolk St) (op)

An applicant is looking to take over the Local 269, the live music venue that never reopened after an apparent flood last September.

There's a little more information about the proposed venture now on the CB3 website. (PDF is here.)

According to the paperwork, the applicants are looking to open an unnamed bar with proposed hours of noon-2 a.m. Monday-Wednesday; noon-4 a.m. Thursday-Sunday.

Unlike the Local 269, there won't be any live music at this new bar. There will be a jukebox, though.

There's food mentioned. The menu attached to the paperwork is very generic — chicken wings, Buffalo wings, sliders, hot dog, fries, etc. (However ordinary, perhaps it's nice not to have yet another place featuring, say, a pickling station or serving bacon-infused maple bacon with burnt ends.)

Where were we?

The paperwork notes that the applicants were previously involved with the Apocalypse Lounge (2004-2007) on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Well, we have no memory of this place. Here was New York magazine's write-up on it:

One gets the sense that the Apocalypse Lounge is meant to shock and astonish, but the whole thing comes off as more confused punk theme park than East Village "café artistes." Is it a dive bar, a college bar, or a trendy downtown club? Like some acid-inspired art project gone awry, floors are splattered with colorful paint and walls plastered with Polaroids, sparkles, and doll's heads — apparently there's even a Basquiat stuck somewhere in the muck ... the bar drew opening hype, but Page Six press can't save it from seeming a decade or two off: While the East Village is home to plenty of artists, these days they're neither starving nor hanging out at open-mike nights.

Meanwhile, the whole building here remains on the market. The owners are seeking proposals.

New menu, management for Thailand Cafe on Second Avenue

A sign on the gate at Thailand Cafe, 95 Second Ave. near East Fifth Street, explains the recent closure... as you can see, they'll be back Thursday... with presumably a different menu. And owners.



Can't say that I've ever eaten here. In a Thai food rut.

Party of 5: 'Gaffigan' filming today in the East Village

Comedian Jim Gaffigan is filming his CBS pilot around the neighborhood today. Expect trucks and crews and stuff on parts on East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place adjacent to Tompkins Square Park ... (Crews are also filming on the Lower East Side too.)



Per the sign up here on East Seventh Street, "the comedy revolves around Galligan as a happily married man and New York City father of five — as he is in real life."

In real life, he lives on the Bowery.

Noted

Spotted outside Pinkberry on St. Mark's Place this evening by @Ewingweb

Talon grip

In the late afternoon sun in Tompkins Square Park today... photo by Bobby Williams.

That touch of sun

Second Avenue near East Seventh Street.

Your view of the Domino Sugar Refinery from the Lower East Side might just look like this

Here are some photos from last year via Bobby Williams showing the Domino Sugar Refinery next to the Manhattan Bridge in Williamsburg ...



As you may know, developers plunked down (forked over?) $185 million to buy the site last summer.

Skipping ahead, the new renderings for the site were released over the weekend. Perhaps you saw them at Gothamist or Curbed.

If not, well — brace for impact.


[SHoP Architects via Gothamist]

Curbed has a lot more of the details. The whole thing should take about 10 years at a cost of $1.5 billion to make happen.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bombing the Domino Sugar Refinery

At the Domino Sugar Refinery

Morning rush

This a.m., by Bobby Williams.

Favorite East Village places: Ink on A

East Village-based photographer Gudrun Georges has a photo essay on one of our favorite places in the neighborhood — Ink On A, Avenue A between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street... She shared these photos with us...







Find the rest of her photos from Ink here, where she has more about Ink owner Ben Dahud.

TR Crandall Guitars opening soon on East Third Street

[Via @TRCguitars]

Signs are up at 179 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B for TR Crandall Guitars ... we asked them about the storefront via Facebook:

"We plan to be open full time starting April 8th. We specialize in fine quality vintage acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins and ukuleles. We will have an unequalled repair shop with master craftsman Tom Crandall at the helm."

Crandall is a 13-year veteran of Matt Umanov Guitars on Bleecker Street.


[Via @TRCguitars]

Claim: Nobu alum taking over Kajitsu space on East Ninth Street

Kajitsu, the highly-regarded vegetarian kaiseki restaurant, recently made the move from East Ninth Street to East 39th Street.

Now a tipster passes along word that a 15-year-alum of Nobu plans to take over the space for a restaurant featuring an upscale traditional Japanese menu. The new name is said to be Cagen. They will be applying for a beer-wine license at an upcoming CB3/SLA meeting.

Joe's Pizza opens today on East 14th Street

That's the word from Eater, who got a look inside the pizzeria on Friday. (BoweryBoogie has some interior shots here.) Eater notes that the pizza tastes exactly like what Joe Pozzuoli serves at the Carmine Street location. In other words, no 99-cent or $1 crap.



Joe's takes over the space last used by Naked Pizza...

On the topic of pizza on this stretch of East 14th Street... Cafe Amore still sits empty closer to Fourth Avenue...



The "for rent" signs that went up here in April have been removed, though.

Checking in on the $1 pizza war on First Avenue

Speaking of pizza... The third East Village 2 Bros. Pizza location opened on First Avenue near East 14th Street on Feb. 15 ... Flashback!



The sign battle has escalated here as this photo by Dave on 7th shows...



The 10-year-old Vinny Vincenz certainly has the advantage, serving a variety of homemade items (eggplant parmesan hero, woot!).

Per Eater's Greg Morabito: "The regular $2.50 slice is easily three or four times better than one of those crummy pieces of wet cardboard served at 2 Bros., or at any of the other dollar slice joints in the area."

Caffe Buon Gusto has been closed on Avenue B

Well, there's a long recent history here on East Fifth Street and Avenue B... We first reported Caffe Buon Gusto's incoming arrival in June 2009. However, through the years, the space became dormant, serving as a makeshift shelter and a canvas.

Then! Last April, new signage arrived... The Italian eatery did open in the spring... and the place never seemed all that busy... and while diners generally liked the food, we heard a few stories about the ambiance, like the Rangers game on the flat-panel TV behind the bar on mute with Yanni cranking on the house stereo.

In any event, Bill the libertarian anarchist and a few other readers have noted the place hasn't been open of late... calls to the restaurant go unanswered...

Heart n' Soul opening this week at the site of the former Mama's Food Shop

Several readers pointed us to the revamped space that previously belonged to Mama's Food Shop on East Third Street at Avenue B... (Mama's closed last July after 15 years.)


[Photo by @ThePeterHa]


[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Heart 'n Soul, which opens this week, will feature the "Coastal Southern cuisine" of chef Dave Conn, who spend a good part of his life in the South. Read more about him and his influences at the Heart 'n Soul website.

And here's their menu...



Heart 'N Soul is on this month's CB3/SLA committee docket for a beer-wine license. The landlord of the building also owns the adjacent Mama's Bar.