EV Grieve

Friday, May 17, 2013

Petition launched to 'Help Save the Children’s Magical Garden from Development'

Supporters of the Children’s Magical Garden on Stanton and Norfolk have launched an online petition. It reads in part:

Children's Magical Garden, a community garden in the Lower East Side, where magic has been happening for the past 30 years, has been torn in two. The property is half owned by NYC, and half owned by a developer.

On Wednesday, May 15th, the developer broke through the garden fence, dug through the center and fenced off their part of the garden. The community is understandably devastated.

But the gardeners are seeking a win-win solution: a land swap to give the developer another city owned property. The developer is open to that.

Your part can make all the difference. Please 1) sign the petition and 2) help us by calling 311 (or 212-788-3000 for out of towners) and offering the solution above.

This will make the the whole community garden permanent and back in the arms of her magical children in the Lower East Side.

Find the petition here. Meanwhile, The Lo-Down has the latest developments about the site here. Find our photos and video from Wednesday here.

[Image via the Children's Magical Garden Facebook page]

9th Street Bakery now selling its glass showcases

Yesterday, we reported the sad news that 9th Street Bakery will have to close in the next three weeks after their landlord ended the lease. And now owners Oleg and Tetyana are selling off pieces of the bakery. An ad appeared on Craigslist yesterday for the bakery's two dry-curved glass showcases.

A bakery has been at this location for 87 years. A juice/smoothie shop is apparently taking over the space.

Previously.

Selling off the remains of Veselka Bowery

Meanwhile, there is also a Craigslist ad for the remains of Veselka Bowery, which closed April 28 after nearly 18 months in business. Items for sale include a Hobart dishwasher, Vulcan range, can crusher, chairs, bar stools, work tables and hostess stands.

Find the listing here.

Previously.

Report: Opening date for Avenue A 7-Eleven pushed back to November

[7-Eleven plywood pic by Michael Sean Edwards]

The incoming 7-Eleven on the corner of Avenue A and East 11th Street looks like it will be, uh, incoming for an additional six months. The No 7-Eleven blog pointed out that the opening date has been pushed back from June to November, according to the company's franchise website.

Per the No 7-Eleven blog:

Ben Shaoul recently sold the building to Jared Kushner which may have something to do with the delay ... In the past few weeks workers have removed the flimsy plywood roof and replaced the dangerous wooden gangplank that surrounds the catastrophe corner.

If the November deadline holds, then construction will have gone on (and off) for 14 months. Wonder what the franchise record is ...

[A recent look behind the plywood by EVG reader OlympiasEpiriot]

Meanwhile, there is a also a new "No 7-Eleven" Petition. Find that here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] More from the anti-7-Eleven front on Avenue A and East 11th Street

Avenue A's anti-7-Eleven campaign now includes arsenal of 20,000 stickers

'No 7-Eleven' movement goes global with BBC report

7-Eleven alert: Are 2 chain stores replacing Bar on A and Angels & Kings?

First sign of the incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A

Trash & Vaudeville & Jimmy Webb

EVG contributor James Maher took this shot of longtime Trash & Vaudeville manager/buyer Jimmy Webb on Wednesday afternoon on St. Mark's Place ... which reminds me that I never linked to the article on T&V from the Times last week titled "The Shop That Punk Built."

An excerpt!

As the eras shifted, the store never lost its punk base but also incorporated the fans of whatever strain of rock was of the moment, surviving as the block was remade.

“We are true mom-and-pop, the bodega of rock ’n’ roll clothing,” Mr. Webb said. “It’s here because of truth and spirit, just like Iggy Pop giving it his best every night and going all the way until everything in your body is broken except your soul and rock ’n’ roll. We can move it to Mars and still live.”

B&H Dairy, the appetizing store and Famous Dave Schornstein

[Undated photo of the B&H via Tablet on Facebook]

Tablet had a post the other day on the B&H Dairy on Second Avenue ... Eve Jochnowitz, "a lifelong Greenwich Village resident, Yiddish scholar and Jewish culinary ethnographer," visited B&H to talk about the history of dairy restaurants and their forgotten cousin the "appetizing store." You can find that piece here.

Meanwhile, EVG Facebook friend Jackie Friedrich shared this piece she wrote for the July 2, 1979 issue of New York magazine ... it looks at B&H reopening after closing for bankruptcy in September 1978... click on the image to read about the return of counterman Famous Dave Schornstein and others...

Jeremiah has a lovely history of the diner with archival photos from 2011 here.

The 13th annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash is Sunday at the Bowery Electric

Find tickets here.

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Previously on EV Grieve:
Mickey Leigh on his brother Joey Ramone's 'New York City' video

Looking for Joey Ramone Place

Maiden Lane now open full time on 10th and B

[Photo from April 28 by Shawn Chittle]

The folks at Maiden Lane passed along word that they received their liquor license yesterday... and are now open seven days a week — noon to midnight. (They were open for coffee and tea and stuff during the days going back to late April.) You can find their food and drink menu here.

The cafe took over part of the space on Avenue B and East 10th Street that previously housed Life Cafe.

And tonight...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Maiden Lane hopes to open by the end of the week for lunch service

Maiden Lane coming to East 10th Street and Avenue B

Here's what's coming to the former Life Cafe space

After 30 years, Life Cafe closes — 'until further notice' — in the East Village

Zoltar still sees a ball-less future

[Photo by EVG reader John S.]

Remember when Zoltar had a ball outside Gem Spa? (A crystal ball.) Ever since that unfortunate skateboard smash job last month, he has been without a ball. (Goggla was first to note this!)

How are we expected to trust his vision of the future without a crystal ball? Yesterday, he gave me a fortune that read "ignore the previous fortune."

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Tonight in random fireworks display

Woo! It's May 16! Anyway, that explosiony noise you heard tonight was not related to Con Ed. Rather! Fireworks!

Thursday, May 16, 8:30 PM: Pier 36 East River
Sponsor: XA Experimental Agency

[Photo by @Kellybrennan1]

Putting the docking stations to good use ahead of Citi Bikes

EVG reader Orchid spotted this tonight on East Fourth Street near Second Avenue... looks like the docking stations work! Oh, and let me know when 45 minutes is up!

Tompkins Square Park this afternoon

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Snoopy came home

Spotted on East 12th Street by Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C.

[Headline h/t]

Cement and 'peaceful support' today at the Children's Magical Garden

[Nicole Turcotte]

A reader sent us the following email this morning about the Children's Magical Garden, the scene of a showdown yesterday between a developer and residents:

"The developer's workers showed up with a truck full of cement and began cementing the fence in place despite promises yesterday that they would not do so."

The Lo-Down has a photo and more about this here.

Meanwhile, this afternoon from 2-4, residents will be gathering for "peaceful support" and banner making at the longtime garden on Stanton and Norfolk.

This story is receiving a lot of media attention. Aside from the outlets that we linked to yesterday, find more articles at:

Runnin' Scared

The New York Times

The Villager

DNAinfo

WNBC 4

NY1

The end is here for 9th St. Bakery

As you may know, 9th St. Bakery has been on a month-to-month lease, with hopes of lasting through the summer in the face of a big rent hike.

Unfortunately, Oleg, who has owned the bakery with his wife Tetyana since the 1990s, told EVG contributor Derek Berg yesterday that the landlord has ended the lease. The bakery must be out by early June.

A bakery has stood here the past 87 years.

And what will be taking the bakery's space? Some kind of smoothie/juice shop.

Perhaps Oleg will, in fact, start that delivery service.

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

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Plywood removal means full reveal at 51 Astor Place

Workers removed the remaining plywood around 51 Astor Place, and the front entrance and public plaza are now in full view...

And was there always a pay phone here? (And is this thing going to remain? Seems so unfabulous for the address.)

And I don't know why I took this shot.

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."