More about Max Fish maybe moving to Brooklyn

At The New York Times today, Cara Buckley has more on the probable move of Max Fish to Brooklyn.

Owner Ulli Rimkus gave her this via text message: "We are trying to move to Williamsburg. Nothing certain, except that we have to move." She declined to answer more questions. And this: She "later shooed a reporter out of her bar."

And what do longtime neighbors at Katz's and Russ & Daughters think?

They "met the news with resignation bordering on nonchalance. The rapid gentrification of the neighborhood made the bar's departure feel inevitable, they said.

"Everything else is gone," said David Manheim, 38, a waiter at Katz's. "Why shouldn’t Max Fish be gone too?"

Previously on EV Grieve:
The art evolution of Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish

From Tin Pan Alley to Max Fish

From froyo to eyebrow threading on First Avenue

For a few months last year, 159 First Ave. served as home to NLYU Yogurt ... before hosting a 2-for-1 boxes of Fruity Pebbles closing sale in October... the place had been for rent... one day we noticed the for rent sign was down, the next day, an eyebrows threading salon opened...



Your move, 7-Eleven...

Getting a Handle on a FroYo empire

[May 2012]

Speaking of FroYo... TheStreet.com has an article on 16 Handles' expansion plans. The self-serve froyogurters opened their very first store right here on Second Avenue back in the innocent days of 2008...

And today! Per the article:

It now has 37 locations across six states through franchising. It plans to more than double that amount by the end of 2014.

16 Handles has some big shoes to fill though. Frozen yogurt sales topped $760 million in 2012 with TCBY, Red Mango and Pinkberry controlling half of the industry, according to IBISWorld.

In the Q-and-A, founder and CEO Solomon Choi says that he plans "to be at a 100 stores by end of next year and at 150 stores [by 2015] and also in a couple different countries at that point.

$760 million? Maybe we should open a FroYo place too...

3:35 a.m.

By Bobby Williams.

And if you look closely, you can see an outline of a penis... Oh, wait — that was Mars! Never mind!

This about sums it up

Avenue A and East Third Street today... via Bobby Williams...

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

[August 2012]



Reps for developer Douglas Steiner filed permits today to demolish the now-vacant parcel of Mary Help of Christians that includes the church, school and rectory, according to DOB records.

Steiner, owner of the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Steiner Studios, bought the property last year for $41 million, as the Local reported in November. Aside from the three properties mentioned above, the deal included the former flea market lot.

[August 2012 by Bobby Williams]

Rumors of development here have been swirling since 2008, when The Real Deal reported that the Archdiocese of New York had sold two-thirds of the playground space along Avenue A had been in an all-cash deal for $10.4 million. That deal never materialized.

This is roughly the area of development that we're talking about... the church, adjacent school and rectory, and playground where vendors used to set up for the weekend flea markets... (the three buildings on the southwest corner of 12th Street and Avenue A aren't owned by the Archdiocese...)

[Via Off the Grid]

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and other community groups submitted a request to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking them to landmark the church. The LPC denied the request. (Read about that here.)

No official word just yet on what new residential-retail development will rise here. There was some talk of an 80-20 split to include affordable housing.

Given the demolition permit, it doesn't appear that part of the church will be incorporated into the design of the new building, much like NYU did by sort of including the façade of St. Ann's into the entrance of the 12th Street dorm.

The church opened in 1917.

The church in 1920 via the NYPL Digital Gallery ...

BMW drives into the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams showroom on Lafayette

EVG reader Joe Burrascano just sent us these photos... around 2 p.m. on Kenmare and Lafayette...





... the BMW ended up inside the showroom of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, the home furnishings company. No word on injuries.

And this can be a tricky intersection... More info when it's available...

Stupid infidelity survey shows that cheaters prosper at Momofuku

A website called Ashley Madison — "the most famous name in infidelity and married dating" — asked its users to name the city's most popular "cheaters restaurants" ... and tallied up the 10 most popular affair restaurants, as published by the Post today...



As you can see, Momofuku on First Avenue ended up at No. 6 on the list. Why? Who knows! Of course, Momofuku does mean "lucky peach," as their website shows.

The last interesting empty lot in the East Village

Now that The Mystery Lot on East 13th Street is officially A Luxury Lot... we're nearly out of abandoned lots that are rather mysterious around here... save for this lot... the one off Houston/East Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...







This lot still holds some surprises, such as hosting the occasional crucified bear ... We don't know much about the lot (making it all the more mysterious!) ... just that the owner isn't interested in selling off the parcel... Still, enjoy it while you can.

Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at the dwindling number of East Village lots

The May CB3-SLA docket: The Living Room back on for E. 2nd St.; more pizza for 1st Avenue

It's another action-packed CB3-SLA committee docket for May... CB3 released it early yesterday evening...

First! The time and place:

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, May 20 at 6:30pm — University Settlement Neighborhood Center
189 Allen Street (btwn Houston & Stanton Sts) (north of main entrance)

And now, a few of the highlights...

Sidewalk Cafe Application
• Heart N' Soul Restaurant (Mama's Bar LLC), 200 E 3rd St (unenclosed)

What replaced Mama's here back in March at Avenue B...

Applications within Saturated Areas

• Donostia (EV Cafe LLC), 155 Ave B (wb)

Interesting. This is the former Zee's Pet Shop next to Sheen Brother's ... asking rent had been $2,500.

• East Village Social (TDDG Inc), 122-126 St Marks Pl (op)

• Ludlow House (Soho-Ludlow Inc), 139 Ludlow St (op)

Previously.

• Papaya King (PKNY2 LLC), 3 St Marks Pl (wb)

Beer for the King?

• Zen 6 Ramen New York LLC, 186 Ave A (wb)

Looks like some ramen at the former Kamui Den ... they closed back in February.

Alterations

[Photo by esquared™]

• Affaire (Chow Main Corp), 50 Ave B (alt/op/additional stand-up bar)

Asking for an upgrade to full liquor.

New Liquor License Applications
• The Living Room (ACP Project), 173 E 2nd St (op)

Back on the agenda. Read the background here.

• Han Dynasty (Han Dynasty NYU Corp), 90 3rd Ave (wb)

• Goats (Goat Brothers Inc), 213 2nd Ave (op)

Currently Nightengale Lounge.

• Risotteria Melotti (Melotti USA LLC), 309 E 5th St (wb)

This is what is taking over the short-lived Ballaro Bakery near the 9th Precinct...

• Masombrado LLC, 432 E 13th St (op)

Someone is quickly moving into the former Masak space...

• Bruno Pizza LLC, 223 1st Ave (op)

WOW. Someone is quickly moving into the former Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery space... and this will make THREE pizza places almost right in a row here... (And maybe this is a pizzeria from Bruno di Fabio? Just throwing it out there...)

• Everyman Espresso (Everyman Espresso LLC), 136 E 13th St (wb)

Beer and wine to woo back Katie Holmes? Or at least have to serve before and after plays at the Classic Stage Company...

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)
• Fat Buddha (Lo Eng Inc), 212 Ave A (op)

• Mama's Food Shop (Mama Bar LLC), 34 Ave B (op)

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations

DOH temporarily closes Papaya Dog

Ugh. The DOH paid a visit to Papaya Dog on East 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday ... and apparently didn't like what they saw during the inspection. The report isn't yet online...

Photo via James and Karla Murray.

About the swimming pool rumor at the former Cabrini Center

Last week, some neighbors adjacent to the former Cabrini Center were hearing rumors of an outdoor pool at the incoming luxury apartments on East Fifth Street and Avenue B... perhaps what would be the end product of all that jackhammering out back.

However! A resident spoke to the construction manager at the site of the former health care facility for elderly patients ... According to the manager, they are putting in an "at grade" recreation area, with benches and a little lawn/garden.

Per the resident: "We'll see."

Previously.

Organic Avenue coming to Third Avenue

EVG regular William Klayman pointed out yesterday that there's a new tenant arriving at the former travel agency on Third Avenue and East Ninth Street... a new location of Organic Avenue, which is, according to their website:

[T]he leading provider of organic cold pressed juices, raw food cleansing programs, snacks, superfoods, truly natural beauty products, healthy lifestyle education and community building events. The company helps people learn how to transition and maintain a healthy lifestyle that is pleasurable and sustainable, while also friendly to people, animals and the environment.
Organic Avenue is controlled by Weld North, an investment company concentrating on education, health and wellness, consumer services and marketing businesses.

They have nine locations now in Manhattan, with three more on the way soon... Seems like a good fit for the office crowd/workers arriving soon at 51 Astro Place next door?

School of rock

From the EV Grieve inbox... via a parent at the Children's Workshop School on East 12th Street between Avenue B and C ...

This year's annual Schoolapalooza event for the Children's Workshop School is at the Clemente Soto Velez Center on Suffolk and Rivington tomorrow night ... and will feature Lisa Lisa (of 1980s Cult Jam fame) and the Demolition String Band. There will also be a silent auction ... find more details here.

Children's Workshop has seen more than $500K in budget cuts over the past five years, and we completely depend on this event to bridge the budget gap every year.

And in case you were curious, Lisa Lisa, born Lisa Velez, is the sister of school principal Maria Velez-Clarke.

'Newsroom' flash!

You may have sign the signs up like this one on East 12th Street... Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom" will be filming in parts of the neighborhood today and tomorrow...

Dave on 7th, who took the photo, asks, "Wonder what big news event they'll be recreating?"

Oh, and the second season starts on HBO on July 14. Guest stars this season will include Jane Fonda, Patton Oswalt and Marcia Gay Harden.

Another show that I've never seen. Anyone?

[Updated] Max Fish is apparently moving to Brooklyn; eyeing August close date

Well, the EVG inbox is filling up with news that Max Fish will be moving from its Ludlow Street home to... Metropolitan Avenue, according to this online petition, first noted this evening by The Lo-Down.

Per the petition:

‘We’ll Take the Spirit and Everything Else With Us’ -Ulli
The Lower East Side institution and cultural icon Max Fish will be moving. We are seeking a 2pm - 4am liquor license for the following address:

132 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

If you've enjoyed time at The Fish please sign and share this petition. And if you live or know anyone that lives within 500 Feet of either 132 Metropolitan Ave or 99 North 1st St in Brooklyn, please contact me directly at: tmq777@gmail.com.

Several people have been sharing the petition on Facebook. No other info is immediately available, such as when Max Fish would close up on Ludlow Street... where it opened in 1989.

In December 2010, reports surfaced that the demand of rising rent costs might lead to Max Fish's closure. However, by January 2011, owner Ulli Rimkus had received a lease extension.

Updated:

The petition is also posted on the Max Fish Facebook page... word we received from the Max Fish camp is that they're eyeing an August closing date on Ludlow Street ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
The art evolution of Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish

From Tin Pan Alley to Max Fish

Because every New York mayor needs an anthem

You may have seen this video making the rounds earlier today (Gawker, Politico) ... St. Mark's Place resident Jimmy McMillan who's running for mayor representing the "Rent is Too Damn High" party ... it comes courtesy of Animal New York...

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Bryan Alejandro Scott
Occupation: Speech Pathologist, Dancer / Dance Teacher
Location: Matilda, 11th Street between Ave B and C
Time: 5 on Wednesday, April 17

I’ve been in the neighborhood for 29 years. I’ve lived in the same place on 12th and C the whole time. I’m a creature of habit. I was born in London and I used to live in Queens, where I went to high school. Part of my life was in London and part of it was in Queens.

We got to the city and I felt that this was one of the greatest neighborhoods. It was slightly unexplored. Most people didn’t even know that anything existed past 3rd Avenue, but we did. Plus it was affordable for us. I feel like some people made it out to be like it was so bad and dangerous, Alphabet City, but I don’t think it was unlike any other community. If you were looking for trouble you could easily find it, but if you were careful about what you did you were safe. There was a lot of respect for neighbors. People worked; people had families; people did their thing. There wasn’t a lot of activity on Avenue C. It was very quiet.

I feel like I’ve always been a jack of many trades. I’ve worked all kinds of jobs. I went to school for speech and language pathology and communication disorders and when I got out of college I worked for the International Paper Company in business as a marketing sales rep.

Now they were very conservative and I think you can tell from the Liberace vest that I’m not. I did the best I could. I was an in-style conservative, but selling paper, for me, I’m not putting it down, but I couldn’t see myself doing it for 20 or 30 years. I also worked in Paris for a year as a makeup artist, I worked for the city as a health coordinator, and eventually I got back into school at NYU and got my masters in speech pathology.

I started late with dancing. I was a gymnast when I was young but it got expensive. I was in high school and I was doing fairly well and I went to gymnastic camps where everybody was into it. But then my coach thought I might benefit if I took ballet class. So I did and from there I developed a love of dance. So I pursued it.

I did some auditions for some plays and through a play I got involved in a workshop for dance and that’s really how I became a Dunham technique, which is a type of modern technique from Katherine Dunham, and eventually got into a Dunham based dance company and performed in Theatre Row from around the 90s through around 2002. I stopped, not because I got too old, but because the director died.

The Dunham technique is a combination of ballet, African and Caribbean movement. It’s a modern technique usually done to drums. Katherine Dunham was the first black female to have a dance company in the United States and she was a person that led the way for many others. People like Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe and Eartha Kitt took classes at the Dunham School.

I’ve parlayed my career from being a dancer to a more of a choreographer and mentor. I started teaching dance out of the lobby of my building. Those kids are probably 25 years old now. I started teaching straight out of college and I progressed to the school system. I now work at the Children’s Workshop School on East 12th street as a speech and language therapist during the day and one day I went to the principal and I said, “Hey I have this idea, I would like to start a dance company.”

It started as a small experiment, working with special-ed kids. I thought that the kids who had emotional or behavioral problems, if they learned dance and found something that they liked, then their academics would approve. And it did. I do think the arts needs to be back in the schools. I think it will help many children embrace the educational process.

Now we’ve got an after-school program and we meet once a week for two and a half hours and we are ready. The kids are ages 7 to 11. I teach them the Dunham technique, jazz, and other modern techniques. They have to do reports on different people. I want them to know a little bit of everything. We’re called the Experimental Dance Group, EDG.

This year, I’m doing my first fundraiser, which is going to be [tonight, April 24] here at Matilda. It’s a really good family restaurant and the owner’s daughter is actually part of my dance company. This affair is to raise money for costumes and the cost that’s involved with doing what I do because I’m not funded by the school. And it’s a way of giving young people something positive to feel about themselves.

The fundraiser is a disco theme. I love disco; disco was a great time. People don’t realize that disco brought a lot of people together. All races, sexuality, all levels of income. It was a fun, fun period. I don’t know why people got into hating disco. That’s not for this interview, but if you ever want to go into that with me, I can talk to you about that.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Note: Matilda Restaurant hosts Disco With EDG, a disco-themed fundraiser for the Experimental Dance Group tonight at 5. Matilda is located at 647 E. 11th Street at Avenue C. With a $20 donation, guests will receive two drinks and samples of the restaurant's Tuscan-Mexican menu.

Proposed dorm for former 35 Cooper Square looks to be 4 floors taller

[December 2012]

Nearly two years ago, the historic, circa-1825 building at 35 Cooper Square was quickly demolished.

As we first reported last Aug. 21, developer Arun Bhatia filed paperwork for a 9-story dorm for an unspecified school in this space.

The proposed plans called for a 9-story dormitory with 43 rooms ... plus retail on the ground floor. In total, the building would be nearly 35,000 square feet (at a height of 117 feet).

And that was that. The plans continued to be "pending" with the DOB.

Until this week, when subsequent paperwork filed with the DOB yesterday show a 13-story dorm in this space instead...



Perhaps if they wait a little longer they can get it up to 18 floors.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Here's what's coming to 35 Cooper Square: 9-story dormitory

Straight to hell: Keeping a watchful eye on the Joe Strummer mural

Workers continued putting up the scaffolding and construction netting at 112 Avenue A and East Seventh Street yesterday ...


[Bobby Williams]

DOB permits point to "facade repair" on the building.

As long as that doesn't turn into "oh, we accidentally painted over the Joe Strummer mural."



And we're off to a fine start... Per Dave on 7th, the workers "ran the conduit for the scaffold lights uncaringly across Joe's face. Prophetic?"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Joe Strummer gets a splash of Niagara

Joe Strummer gets a new look, skyline

[Updated] Joe Strummer would have been 60 today