EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: Saints Tavern is purple; Organic Avenue is open

Haven't done one of these in eons. Behind!

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On St. Mark's Place, the newish Saints Tavern got a very purple makeover on Tuesday... (it used to be red)...


[Bobby Williams]

Of course, there is some precedent on the block for purple...



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After a long period of inactivity, workers have recently started renovating the former Spa Belles location on Second Avenue near East Seventh Street... prepping it to be a fucking Twister self-serve frozen yogurt shop ...



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Work continues at 115 Avenue C near East Eighth Street, where Apartment 13 will soon call home ... it's the new restaurant from Paul Seres, the former president of the New York Nightlife Association and a partner in The DL on Delancey and Ludlow... read more about it here. Meanwhile, workers finally removed the iconic sign from the last tenant — The Porch.



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In case you missed this one earlier... Fu Sushi closed on Avenue B between East 11th Street and East 12th Street last August. The Post reported back in January that a new Ethiopian restaurant is opening in its place ... called Haile Ethiopian Bistro, and owned by Menasie Haile and Gemada Hiwot. The signs have been up now for what, six weeks? Anyway...


[Dave on 7th]

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And the new outpost of Organic Avenue opened last Friday on Third Avenue and East Ninth Street... in the space of the former travel agency...



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.

If you don't want to buy 238 E. 4th St., then you can at least rent it — for $27,500 a month

The luxury home at 238 E. Fourth St. (just west of Avenue B) has been on and off the market the past year or so ... the 6,500 square-foot condo with paparazzi shield private garage, south-facing garden, "Open Eat-In Boffi Stainless Steel Chef's Kitchen with a Wolf Stove" etc. Allegedly Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz looked at it. The four-floor home remains on the market for a now-reduced price of $6.995 million.

But now, starting on July 1, you may rent the first four floors... for $27,500...



You can read the listing to see what you get on those four floors.

Also, this unit is not the penthouse that those Novogratz people with 38 kids designed. That apparently has been sold, per Streeteasy.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is this home fit for James Bond?

Dance Parade 2013 — and DanceFest — is Saturday

[Shawn Chittle]

The parade ends up in Tompkins Square Park for DanceFest ... where it "comes alive with choreographed performances, workshops and social dance–all free to the public. For 2013, there will be 4 stages: A Performance Stage, Family Friendly Stage and Teaching Stage. DJ Louie Vega will headline the Groove Area on stage with a live band."



This year, I'm dressing as either Mick Jagger or David Bowie from the "Dancing in the Street" video for the Fest ... Tough call!



Meanwhile! Flashback to last year... via Bobby Williams...

Find more info on 2013's event here.

Reminders: The 37th annual Ukrainian Festival is this weekend

One of our favorite neighborhood events...

The schedule:
Friday, May 17 · 4pm-11pm
Saturday, May 18 · 11am-11pm
Sunday, May 19 · 1pm-5pm

Our previous coverage is here.

[Updated] At the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY'

‏[Photo by @tenementcity]

We'll have more photos on the "Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY" later this evening ... the rally started around 6 at Cooper Union...


[Photo by @tenementcity]

Updated 8:30

Here are a few more photos from the starting point of the march on East Ninth Street our the former PS 64... which included members of Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Tiny Band and others.


[Bobby Williams]


[BW]


[Dave on 7th]


[Do7]

... all under the watchful eye of the NYPD...


[BW]


[BW]

...later at Cooper Union...


[BW]

Updated

Serena Solomon filed a story on the march and rally at DNAinfo. Read that here.

From the article:

March organizer Susan Howard said the eviction, followed by years of watching the building deteriorate, has been a “devastating blow."

"I don't think the owner knows how much damage he has done and how deep the hurt is," said Howard, who is also part of the group Save Our Community Center CHARAS-64 (SOCCC-64).

"It was a cross-pollination of so many people — activists and artists," Howard said of when the building operated as a community center. "You had [singing practice] in the plaza. You had AA meetings in the gallery, computer classes, English classes."

The Villager also has an article today on the march/rally. Find that here.

Per that article:

"There is no room, and no desire, and no way we will live with a dorm in our backyard," declared Councilmember Rosie Mendez, shouting to the crowd from a bullhorn. "Cooper Union needs to rescind whatever deal I believe it doesn't have so Singer can give us back our building," Mendez added.

Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh was equally strident.

"As a community, we have to at some point draw the line and say this is a battle we are not going to lose, and this is a fight we're not going to quit," Kavanagh said.

Cooper Union students mark 1-week anniversary of occupation of president's office

As of 11am EST, the Presidents office of the Cooper Union has been occupied for 1 week.

— Free Cooper Union (@FreeCooperUnion) May 15, 2013

On Monday night, Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha went up to the seventh floor to speak with the students who are protesting the school's decision to end its 111-year practice of providing a full-tuition scholarship.

Runnin' Scared has details on the meeting between the two sides here. Here's more background from Business Insider.

Previously.

Updated: Children’s Magical Garden under siege on the Lower East Side

The Children’s Magical Garden on Stanton and Norfolk is the scene of high drama this morning... workers are there to erect a fence ahead of developer Serge Hoyda's plan to build on a portion of the property... a handful of community activists are on the scene ... as well as city officials, the NYPD, workers and reporters...



We're sorting it all out now...

Read more about the background here at BoweryBoogie ... and The Lo-Down.

Updated 11:25

Police have cordoned off the area for the workers to put up the fence... there have been several confrontations between community members and a rep for the developer...







Community members and the developer's attorney...



... and a budding community activist...



Updated 12:30

According people on the scene, workers there to erect the fence are removing plants, etc. ...


[Nicole Turcotte]


[NT]


[NT]

Updated 1:03

Workers have finished erecting the fence around the portion of the land that Hoyda owns...


[NT]

The Lo-Down just filed a report from the scene that provides a lot more of the background information on this long-standing battle for the garden.

Updated 4:30

Gothamist has a story here. They note that Councilwoman Margaret Chin's office has called for the removal of the fence. Her statement:

The Children's Magical Garden is a community treasure, and we want to keep it in the neighborhood. We understand that the developer has a permit to build the fence; however, such sudden action is not the best solution and nor the act of a good neighbor, especially since there have been active, ongoing conversations to come to an equitable agreement. We asked the developer not to put up this fence, and now we ask them to take it down.

The garden has been here since 1982.

Updated 5:16

The Daily News checks in with a piece on today's development.

“We had no idea this was coming,” said Kate Temple-West, president of the Children’s Magical Garden board.

[First video on post via Nicole Turcotte, volunteer from MoRUS. Photos and video via MoRUS]

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: Markian Surmach
Occupation: Owner, Surma - The Ukrainian Shop
Location: 7th Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square
Time: 5 pm on Friday, May 10.

This store was founded in 1918 by my grandfather, who came through Ellis Island in 1910. The neighborhood was very different. It was very Eastern European and more solidly Ukrainian than it is now.

I was born in this neighborhood and lived here until I was 6, when we moved up to Rockland Country. And I moved back here when I was 18 for college and such. But because of the shop here and being a child in this family you were recruited to work every free moment that you had. Me and my sister spent almost every weekend in the shop growing up. So I was always in and out of the city most of the time.

I moved to Colorado for 15 years and lived a very different life. The objective of some people who live here is how to get out, so I moved and then I was brought back in again. My dad passed away [in 2003] and I got the call, “Okay, what are we gonna do now,” so I came back. I live a couple blocks away now. Moving back has been an adjustment but I love New York and I love the shop.

In the beginning the store catered to those who didn’t speak a lick of English, to help them assimilate into New York life. My grandfather was catering to people who needed virtually everything. It was like a PC Richards, in a way. The old Gramophone that’s up in the corner of the shop was cutting-edge technology at the time. That’s what he was selling. He even sold washing machines. You name it and he was selling it — everything that people needed to live in New York.

Over time, as people started settling in, the older generation wanted the younger generation to have a connection to the Ukraine. So then we started carrying things from the Ukraine to help keep that connection. And it’s just kind of continued from there. We ship a lot of things from there.

The store has moved now toward the arts-and-crafts route. We sell a lot of Easter Eggs that are very elaborate and intricately done. They’re called Easter Eggs because that’s kind of an Americanization of it, but they’re traditionally called Pysanka in Ukrainian, which means “to Write.” We sell lots of nicknacks and we still ship things from the Ukraine.

We get a lot of our clothing from Romania. My father started doing this back when the Soviet Union was not a friendly place. He started importing all these blouses from Romania because of the economic and political status in the Ukraine. Also, during the 60s and 70s and maybe the 80s, there were a lot of big-name people who shopped here, everybody from Jim Morrison to Led Zeppelin, the Mamas & the Papas, Judy Collins, and Donatella Versace did a big spread with our blouses. We’ve catered to the bohemian theme rather than just being Ukrainian, per se. People who shop here now are the ones who are looking for something different rather than just for something Ukrainian.

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

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Editor's note: The 37th annual Ukrainian Festival on East Seventh Street is scheduled for this coming Friday-Sunday.

Reader report: Yoga studio for 7th and B

Amaran, the imported home goods store, closed on Avenue B at East Seventh Street back in February. Reliable sources on the block have told us that a yoga studio will be taking over the space... No other details at the moment... Except that someone recently covered the interior windows...

Citi keeping the docking stations graffiti free

Say this about the bike share program — Citi crews (assuming?) seem to quickly respond to docking stations in need, like here on East Fifth Street and Avenue C...

Saturday!


[Bobby Lebrini]

Tuesday!


[Steven Matthews]

Reminder: 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY' tonight

Reposted from last week...

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.

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

Join us tonight, & 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.

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And here was the scene last night at MoRUS on Avenue C ... making signs for the march...













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

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

Report: The Joffrey Ballet School will lease 2 floors of the former PS 64 for student housing

Reader report: b4 coming to East Fourth Street

A quick note about the new restaurant taking over the space last held by Piccola Positano at 235 E. Fourth St. near Avenue B... EVG reader Alexis Weiss hears from the folks there that the space will be called b4 (for Fourth Street and Avenue B) ... classic American fare with a brunch service... they're looking at a possible lunch service too... with an early summer opening date...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Piccola Positano has apparently closed on East Fourth Street

[Photos by Alexis Weiss]

'Ludlow Street Masacre' continues: 27-year-old rehearsal space below Max Fish next to close

Spencer Wilking at the Voice reports that the 27-year-old rehearsal space under Max Fish at 178 Ludlow street will have to close this summer... Ken Caldeira and Sal Principato (vocalist for Liquid Liquid) opened the space in 1986.

But the end is very near. Landlord Arwen Properties has told Max Fish and Principato that they'll both need to vacate the building by early summer. (That's different from the August date we heard for Max Fish, who's moving to Brooklyn.)

"They're in no mood to bargain because they stand to make a killing in the anticipation of the hotel," says Principato, referring to the Hotel Ludlow, the latest boutique hotel that will soon open next door to Max Fish. "We're a liability. Who's gonna pay those big bucks with a bunch of musicians in the basement?"

As Wilking wrote: "Call it the Ludlow Street Massacre — the rehearsal space, Pink Pony, Motor City, and Max Fish, all closing."

Read the whole article here.

[Image by Spencer Wilking]

Noted

Tompkins Square Park today... via Bobby Williams...

May 14

EVG reader Chris spotted this late this afternoon along East 10th Street by the Park... While there isn't a newspaper included to date the shot, we checked in with our friends at the Astronomical Applications Dept., U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. They confirmed that the Altitude and Azimuth of the sun as seen in the photo lines up with the projections for this date.

Bummer

"Sorry I hit your bummer"? Anyway, nice of the worker to leave a note with a phone number and his license plate... Would have been too easy to simply drive away, leaving behind a dented bumper. Spotted on East 11th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C today by Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Zoltar entreating the children, by Bobby Williams]

Future of Katz's looks solid (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Not everyone wants to see Beyonce's bikini-clad privates (BoweryBoogie)

The green community gardens of the East Village (Gog in NYC)

At look at Preserve24 on East Houston near Allen (The New York Times)

Suspect wanted in shooting of cop on LES nabbed in Virginia (The Lo-Down)

Fewer pot busts in NYC (Runnin' Scared)

The sites and and sounds of the East Village, but no cats (Slum Goddess)

And tonight... via the EV Grieve inbox... at 7:30, the Tryptych Reading Series presents filmmaker poets Stephanie Gray and Jonas Mekas. Gray will also show super 8 film. At: Envoy Enterprises, 87 Rivington (bet Orchard & Ludlow)

Tinto Fino is closing on First Avenue

Several readers have told us that Tinto Fino, the speciality wine shop at 85 First Ave. (just north of East Fifth Street), is closing... here is part of the note that the owners sent to its customers...

A Tinto Fino Farewell

To our Beloved Customers of Tinto Fino:

Those of you that have not been by the shop in the past few weeks are perhaps wondering why it seems like you haven´t heard from us in a while. Please know and understand how incredibly difficult it has been to form the words it takes to tell you all, our amazing clientele and friends, that with great humility and infinite sadness, Tinto Fino will be officially closing its door Friday, May 24th.

A small business like Tinto Fino faces many obstacles over the course of its life, which in our case is seven years. This past year has proved to be particularly challenging, and sadly, we’ve come to realize that Tinto Fino will not be able to overcome the accumulative woes and blows it has faced throughout this incredible journey of becoming your neighborhood wine shop.

Amazingly, we’ve sold a LOT of Spanish wine here, thanks to all of you, our loyal customers. Truth is, we’ve been only kept alive, in every way, by your constant support, patronage and love for what we do. The relationships this store has developed and so effortlessly nurtured are the most valuable asset it ever had — we have nothing but love for this amazing community of neighbors and wine lovers.


Please note our upcoming hours of operation:

Tuesday, May 14th – Friday, May 17th, 1pm – 10pm

May 18th - May 22nd – CLOSED

NEXT Thursday May 23rd & Friday May 24th, 1pm-10pm

Tinto Fino's LAST TWO days of inventory clearance and Memorial Day Stock up/Sip up. OR just an excuse to stock up for the long weekend and give Tinto Fino a proper goodbye.
Wine (and likely, tears) will be flowing!