Avenue C is the place to be

On Monday, someone (or something!) mysteriously moved this haul to the east side of Avenue C near East 10th Street...


[Bobby Williams]


[BW]

... where it remains ... and, as Brett Pants notes, it has become a bit of popular spot for hanging out...



...just don't tell anyone about it...

RIP Taylor Mead

[Being crowned King of the Mardi Gras at a Lower Eastside Girls Club benefit last year. Photo by Greg Masters]

Lower East Side icon Taylor Mead has died after suffering a massive stroke last night in Colorado. He was 88.

In a brief farewell ahead of a full-length obituary, the Times refers to him as "the Warhol 'superstar,' Beat poet, stray-cat feeder and sweet face and voice of an era."


[Andy Warhol and Mead in 1975]

Here's a passage from a profile on Mead published last summer in The Paris Review:

When Taylor drifted to New York, after a stint in the poetry clubs of San Francisco in the late fifties, he found himself in the midst of a vibrant scene. “McDougal Street is where everything was,” he remembered. He fondly recalled night after night spent at the Gaslight, a basement café that no longer exists. Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso would read there often. Bill Cosby was a regular. “The police wanted to close the place because of Allen's and my language. The owner would sit there with a shotgun. This was the early days of New York. He sat down there with a shotgun! New York was so wild.”

Mead was a familiar figure in the neighborhood, whether performing at the Bowery Poetry Club or eating at his favorite restaurant, Lucien on First Avenue. He lived in the same apartment on Ludlow Street the past 34 years. Mead continued to live in his rent-stabilized apartment while the rest of the building that Ben Shaoul purchased last summer was converted to market-rate homes. (You can read more about that here.)

Mead eventually accepted a buyout in April and moved to be with his niece in Colorado, as BoweryBoogie noted.

Back to The Paris Review piece, which discussed how Mead found his home at Max's Kansas City in 1965.

After Max’s closed, things weren’t the same. Taylor spent some time at the Mudd Club, where he filmed a public-access television show and continued to read poetry and perform in theatrical productions at La MaMa Theatre; later, he spent time at Max Fish, before, as he claims, he was insulted by the bartender and forced to take his business elsewhere. The Mudd Club closed in 1983; La MaMa is a shell of its former self; Max Fish will, it’s being said, close in the next year due to escalating rents. People and places are gone for good, and during our conversation the East Village begins to sound more and more like a ghost town. Taylor is the last resident, the final holdout.

Papaya King is NOW OPEN on St. Mark's Place

As noted yesterday... at 3 St. Mark's Place...

Who is going to be The King's first customer in the East Village? Doors open at 10am. #thekingisreadytorock #eastvillage #puredeliciousness
— Papaya King (@Papaya_King) May 9, 2013

We thought Paul Kostabi was first in line as of last night. Or he was just waiting for the M8.


[Via Twitter by @nranra]

Retail plans revealed for 12-floor condo building replacing open-air market on Broadway

Time is running out on the open-air shops on Broadway near East Fourth Street... One vendor told a reader that he'd be shutting down very soon.

Curbed has been reporting on the 12-story terracotta and brick-faced condo building in the works for 688 Broadway. The Landmarks Preservation Commission reportedly raved about the new building last October. (Read that here. Read more about the luxury condos here.)

And now there's a new listing for the retail portion of the building at RKF:



The rendering shows a store called "Premium Goods." And the listing notes possession in the first quarter of 2015.

A quick look at DOB records show plans have yet to be approved at 688 Broadway. (The records show that the plans were disapproved in December 2009. Karl Fischer is listed as the architect of record on this application.)



As for the long-running, ragtag flea market that the condo building is replacing...



... back to the reader and the vendor.

I asked him where he would go. He said, "Nowhere. There's no place to go."

[Updated] Proposal to place a 'silhouette of a community member' in Tompkins Square Park

Here's an interesting item on tonight's CB3 Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, Landmarks, & Waterfront Committee docket:

• Proposed silhouette of a Tompkins Square Park community member to be located along a pathway on the east side of Tompkins Square Park from June to November 2013

There's a PDF with the following image...



There's no other information currently available ... we have the usual questions, such as who and why.

Anyway, we looking forward to hearing more about the proposal.

Hopefully it will last longer than the last installation in Tompkins Square Park...

[July 2011]

Walk Man lasted three days. Artist Scott Taylor removed the sculpture after someone (or thing!) rammed it and knocked it over, as DNAinfo reported.

The committee meeting tonight is at 6:30 — BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey St. between Chrystie and Forsyth.

Updated 2:30

Serena Solomon at DNAinfo has more about this project, which is in honor of Christopher Gamble, who was homeless for 28 years.

A life-sized sculpture of his silhouette is currently being created by French artist Fanny Allié to be installed at Tompkins Square Park, a place where Gamble spent many days and nights.

And!

The sculpture will consist of a metal outline of Gamble, according to Allié.

"I like it because it has some hope. It's a positive," the artist said, of the silhouette's open stance with arms outstretch to the sky, like “he is about to fly."

Gamble now lives in an apartment run by the Bowery Residents' Committee.

Read the whole article here.

Details on the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY' happening next Wednesday

[November 2011]

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY
Wednesday, May 15
March starts at CHARAS/El Bohio, 605 E. 9th Street @ 5:00
Cooper Union rally starts @ 6:00

Join us for a march and rally to return old P.S. 64, formerly CHARAS/El Bohio Community & Cultural Center, to our community! Meet at the former site of CHARAS/El Bohio for the march at 5:00 and Cooper Union for the rally at 6:00.

With speakers: CHARAS co-founder Chino Garcia, Council member Rosie Mendez, Assembly member Brian Kavanagh, Senator Brad Hoylman, Students For a Free Cooper Union, & music by members of Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Tiny Band and others.

Developer Gregg Singer, who purchased old P.S. 64, formerly CHARAS / El Bohio Community & Cultural Center at 605 East 9th Street, at public auction in 1999, has once again filed plans to convert our former school and community center into a 500 bed dormitory & youth hostel. In plans filed recently with the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Department of Buildings, Singer claims to have a signed lease with Cooper Union for 200 of the proposed 500 bed facility, though no lease has been submitted. In addition, Singer must submit proof that all beds have been leased by an educational institution for a ten-year period.

It is time to ask the City to return the building to the community!

Join us on May 15, & spread the word! Meet at the former site of CHARAS/El Bohio for the march at 5:00 and Cooper Union for the rally at 6:00.

Find the Facebook events page here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

El Diablito Taqueria is now open on East 3rd Street

Several readers have told us that El Diablito Taqueria opened yesterday on East Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

We didn't grab a menu just yet. Two readers have already tried it ... and gave the place high marks. Per one neighbor: "So far so good. I had the chicken burrito for lunch. Looking forward to trying their breakfast menu (breakfast burrito) since they open early."

They are opening every day from 10:30 a.m. to midnight.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A few more details on El Diablito Taqueria, opening this spring on East Third Street

(Kind of) An update on Mono + Mono

[Via jdx]

Mono + Mono at 116 E. Fourth St. remains closed since a two-alarm fire swept through the restaurant during the early-morning hours of April 21.

Difficult to tell the extent of the damage from outside. And we haven't seen much activity walking by every day...





Here's a look at the damage the next day via Occupy East 4th Street...



We understand that several apartments next door at No. 114 remain uninhabitable.

As for Mono, this sign remains on the front window...



Yesterday, they provided an update via Facebook:

Fans of @MonoMonoNYC, here's the latest update.

Due to the recent fire, we're now renovating the restaurant.
We're committed to reopening in a few weeks as your favorite East Village destination for 30,000 jazz albums, Korean fried chicken and soju cocktails.

Thanks for your support. We'll be back stronger than ever!

Cheers,
MONO+MONO Team

Of course, not everyone is excited about a return...


[Photo via Occupy East 4th Street]

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Early-morning fire at 116 E. Fourth St., home of Mono + Mono

First Citi Bikes docking station casualty*

An EVG reader noted early last evening that someone (or something) broke/smashed (accidentally or otherwise) the glass on the Citi Bikes docking station that arrived a day earlier on East Sixth Street at Avenue B...



A worker in an unmarked van was on the scene replacing what needed to be, uh, replaced, per the reader.

---

* As far as we know. We heard that a truck ran into a docking station on East 11th Street, but never saw any photographic evidence to support this claim.

Workers remove tree that survived 51 Astor Place construction

Along Third Avenue between East Ninth Street and Astor Place, one tree remain throughout construction of 51 Astor Place... Having survived all that, a worker was spotted yesterday...




[Stephen Popkin]

...removing the tree...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Workers chopping down trees at 51 Astor Place

Good evening

This evening by Bobby Williams.

May 8

Our very own Bobby Williams spotted this beauty late this afternoon near East Houston and Second Avenue... the quick-thinking photographer also calmly found a Daily News for authentication purposes.

And there's a happy ending: the tree was just mulched and mashed into Vegan Bowery Burgers at Whole Foods.

Here's video of Cooper Union students entering the president's office this morning

As you may have heard, some 50 students, faculty and staff at Cooper Union started a sit-in inside the office of school president Jamshed Bharucha this morning.

While the video isn't exactly action-packed, you get the idea of their commitment to the cause at hand ...

Live updates here:
Twitter

Facebook

Ustream

Noted

Anyone see/hear what happened here on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue? Photo by Chelsea "Flower Child" Hill.

Papaya King opening TOMORROW on St. Mark's Place

[April 25]

The King just made it official on Twitter:



They are also on this month's CB3/SLA docket for a beer-wine license.

Here's Ralph Gardner Jr. talking about them a few years back at The Wall Street Journal:

I almost feel foolish describing Papaya King and its franks, so familiar I assume it is to just about anybody who has landed in New York more than 15 minutes ago. But for the record, it serves an arguably unimprovable hot dog. Slightly spicy and garlicky, its casing explodes in your mouth to release its mouth-watering contents.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Papaya King coming to St. Mark's Place

Developing: Students take the president's office at Cooper Union

From the EV Grieve inbox...

For Immediate Release:

50+ students, faculty, and staff are maintaining a ‘sit-in’ inside Jamshed Bharucha’s office on the 7th floor of the Foundation Building of the Cooper Union. As students we have reclaimed the President’s office in response to the Administration and the Board of Trustees announcing the implementation of tuition for the incoming class of 2014 — desecrating a 154 year old tradition of meritocracy and free education. We stand together with the extended Cooper community in opposition to this decision; we reaffirm all of the previous and future actions of our fellow students and allies.

Safety Statement/Statement of Purpose:

“This is a non-violent direct action, you are not being held in this room, you are free to exit when you please. Jamshed Bharucha, we are here today to deliver you a statement of No Confidence from the School of Art, we no longer recognize your presidency at Cooper as legitimate and in so doing we commit to re-claim this office in the interim until a suitable administrative alternative is secured.

Live updates here:
Twitter

Facebook

Ustream

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: Jeff Underwood
Occupation: Owner, Continuum Cycles and Bike Shop, Continuum Coffee.
Location: Avenue B, between 12th and 13th.
Time: 4:30 on Friday, May 3.

I moved here from North Carolina in 1999. I’ve ridden bikes my whole life but more seriously since I moved to New York. I raced BMX when I was a kid and rode mountain bikes in North Carolina.

I worked in social work in harm reduction. I helped start the first syringe exchange in harm reduction in the state of North Carolina in 1993. Harm reduction is based on meeting people where they’re at as drug users. Instead of telling people they have to get clean, it’s more about telling them, “you know what, today you are going to use a little less, or you’re going to actually clean yourself before you inject and you’re going to use a clean, new syringe.” Any positive change.

You meet them where they’re at and eventually work to make themselves better and healthier. The concept is weird for people but it works if you do it right. I had my own problems with drugs and ended up addicted to heroin and cocaine and living on the streets for a few years. I lost everything. This was a year after I got here. I lost my girlfriend, I lost my dog, I lost my job. I was in a new city with no family and I relapsed and lost everything.

I had to figure out a way to make a living so I got a job as a bike messenger and I also had a book stand on Avenue A between 5th and 6th. Bike messengers are people from all walks of life. It’s terrible money and it’s a very dangerous job. And people treat messengers like shit. Everyone does. But I was used to that so the job seemed okay.

Working at the book stand, a lot of people would bring me books and stuff and one day someone brought me a bike and said, “See if you can sell this, I’m going back to my hometown.” I fixed the flats on it, cleaned it up a little bit and made $100 on it immediately. So I made business cards and started putting them on the beat up bikes lying around with my pager number from the messenger service, to page me if they wanted the bike fixed or to sell it. That’s how I started. Then I went to a flea market and started working at a shop.

I then got a job in my field again doing homeless outreach. Actually, I was homeless, sleeping by the river, going to a drop-in center, getting showered, cleaned up, putting on my Bowery Residence Community shirt, and running around in vans picking up homeless people at night. They had no idea I was homeless.

I started seeing the positive parts of not using. And it’s interesting because my girlfriend, now of almost 10 years, was working as the coordinator of the Lower East Side syringe exchange. We applied for the same job and she got it. She was Columbia University educated, knows everybody in the field, harm reduction superstar. I was kind of the blue-collar harm reduction superstar junkie. Then she ended up being my boss because I was working as a stipend worker there and we used to come to Tompkins Square Park together to do outreach and that’s where we started hanging out and fell in love.

We broke up for like 6 months, which is when I opened up the store. She called me and I was like, “What? Here I was thinking that you were freezing on the streets. I’m crying at night thinking you were a junkie on the streets and here you are opening a store.”

For me, when you say how did I get clean or off drugs, basically everyone just told me to go fuck myself and I couldn’t deal with the rejection anymore. That was the worst thing in the world. No trust. And now everyone trusts me. The difference is insane. And it’s in the same neighborhood, which is even crazier. Usually people have to leave.

We sell bikes all over the world. We’re not just a bike shop. Continuum Cycles is a bicycle company, Continuum, a Bicycle Shop is the space that you see, I fix bikes, we sell new and used bikes, and then Continuum Coffee is our coffee shop.

I opened the coffee shop a week before the hurricane. We lost a lot, that’s all I have to say. But it’s Spring, we’re here. We have a lot of locals, families, kids. It was funny because no one came in the first few months. They were just walking by not even knowing that we had a cafe here. So I put up the sign for an after-school special for dollar hot chocolate and boom. It was crazy.

I think [a bike share program] is a great idea. Obviously, I do — I own a bike shop, I love to bike, I tell people they should sell their car and buy a bicycle. I also don’t understand the makings of this program enough. So I’m kind of ignorant when I’m complaining.

My first question was, why did it have to be such a huge corporation, and then they told me, “Because the city was not going to pay for it.” Okay, so why couldn’t they say, “New York Bike, sponsored by Citibike,” and not with all big blue letters.

Who knows ... after one year of people riding these heavy bikes they might think, “I want my own bike.” It might help us. I hope that it’s successful. The only thing we can do is sit and wait and see what happens.

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

Fire reported at incoming Pride and Joy BBQ on East Second Street

[This morning around 7]

There were reports of an early-morning fire on East Second Street... from the official FDNY Twitter feed...

MAN ALL HANDS 99 E 2 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON ROOF, UNDER CONTROL
— FDNY (@FDNY) May 8, 2013

The address is part of the incoming Pride and Joy BBQ, where workers continue to renovate the space. The fire apparently started in the East Second Street side part of the complex (most recently home to Bento Burger) where Pride and Joy will operate a take-out/lunchtime cafe during the day and bar at night.

Hayne Suthon, who owns the building, is out of town at the moment. A neighbor told her that she spotted "flames on the roof and tons of trucks. There were at least 15 firefighters on the roof at one point."

The FDNY quickly extinguished the blaze. No word at the moment on injuries or extent of the fire.

Suthon told us via Facebook: "I don't think there's a lot of damage."

Updated 7:20 a.m.

This blurry photo represents the only sign of a fire from the outside ...

Landmarks Preservation Commission asks to see modified plans for former PS 64

[Photo via MoRUS]

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) heard public comments yesterday regarding the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street. Developer Gregg Singer will need approvals from the LPC in order to make changes to the exterior of the landmarked building for his proposed 500-bed dormitory. (Those changes include adding a raised courtyard space.)

Several people testified against the proposal, including City Councilmember Rosie Mendez and representatives from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the East Village Community Coalition, who want a better plan for the space — one that serves the community.

One person in attendance said that the commissioners responded positively to the architect's plans for renovation. The commissioners did not vote on the proposal and made suggestions to the applicant to modify the plans... the next step will be a public meeting where the amended plans will be presented. (The public can attend this next meeting, but not speak for or against the plans. Date to be determined.)

The former PS 64 is also on the agenda for tonight's CB3 Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee meeting, which is at 6:30 — Seward Park Extension, 56 Essex St. (between Grand and Broome Streets).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

Alphabet Plaza starts to apply sun block

Just about a month ago, the incoming Alphabet Plaza, the 12-story mixed-used apartment building at East Houston and East Second Street/Avenue D, made its first appearance above ground.

Here, EVG reader Ray shares a different perspective... the first shot is about the same time one month ago..



... and now as of yesterday...



As you can see, residents living in 11-13 Avenue D are slowly losing their southern views.

The Real Deal had a rendering of the new building back in November...



As The Real Deal first reported:

The owner is Kahen Properties, which purchased six lots on the corner of Avenue D and East 2nd Street for $21 million in December [2011] ... Kahen is planning to spend another $30 million on the project, where apartments will rent in the $2,500 to $3,600 range. The building will also include some affordable units, along with a rooftop terrace, gym and doorman.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Will Avenue D finally turn into Avenue C?

Listing appears for Houston and Avenue D development

Report: 12th-story 'Alphabet Plaza' in the works for Second Street and Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza ready to rise on Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza is rising on East Houston and Avenue D

Easy as...: Alphabet Plaza makes first appearance above ground