Is the end nearing for Odessa Cafe and Bar on Avenue A?

We've been hearing rumors since last summer that the Odessa Cafe and Bar's days were numbered at 117 Avenue A. Now the following item appears on the just-released CB3-SLA committee docket for June:

• 117 Ave A Food & Drink LLC, 117 Ave A (op)

There's no other information about the applicants at this point. There is, however, a newish landlord for the building. According to city documents, 117 Avenue A was sold last summer for just north of $3 million. The LLC for the buyer shares the same address as the notorious 9300 Realty (owned by Croman Realty).

And this is what we heard via Shawn Chittle last July: "There are two years left on the Odessa lease, but the hammer may fall sooner than that. Odessa owners are retired and a buyout is possible."

[Michael Sean Edwards]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Alder applies for a sidewalk cafe on Second Avenue

[Late March via @davidsokol]

Also on the June CB3/SLA docket: a sidewalk cafe license for Alder, the popular new restaurant from noted LES chef Wylie Dufresne. The restaurant opened on Second Avenue near East 10th Street in late March. CB3 approved the liquor license for Alder last August.

We'll have more on the rest of the CB3/SLA docket later.

Renovations begin at incoming Han Dynasty on Third Avenue

The plywood is up now at the long-empty space at 90 Third Ave., most recently home to Montein Thai between East 12th Street and East 13th Street. Eater had the scoop on what's coming soon here: "Philadelphia-based Sichuan master Han Chiang is bringing his hit restaurant Han Dynasty to New York City."

Per Eater: "Chiang has earned a whole lot of praise for his fiery Sichuan cooking in Philadelphia"

(And, oddly enough, only two doors away from 99 Miles to Philly.)

CB3 just gave its approval this month for a beer and wine license for Han Dyansty.

Closing night party: Motor City Bar is burning...

Here's more information about Motor City Bar's closing-night party that we mentioned back on April 30...



From the EV Grieve inbox...

The once vibrantly creative and bohemian Lower East Side is a thing of the past, with the final nail in the coffin coming next month, when Motor City Bar closes its doors for the last time. The bar is open over the next few weeks, so make sure you stop by for a few cocktails in the meantime.

On Sunday, June 23rd, come and celebrate 17 years of sex, drugs and rock n roll with some of the best people you'd ever care to meet. Come and give a long kiss goodbye to the amazing owners, bartenders, dancers, DJs, Detroit memorabilia, and those infamous bathrooms!

A big thank you to all those who have lived, loved, laughed, cried, danced, yelled, fallen down, met future partners, found jobs, been inspired, or just generally had a great time in this wonderful establishment these past two decades. To say it will be sorely missed would be an understatement. RIP.

Note: The bar will remain open until midnight on the 30th of June, when the keys are finally handed over.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Motor City Bar is closing on Ludlow Street

Motor City Bar to remain open through June

Bid deadline approaches on that building you can skin on East 11th Street

Back on April 11, we noted that 200 E. 11th St. at Third Avenue was now on the market. It is a rather dormy-looking building... but there is potential! As the Massey Knakal listing noted:

"[A] buyer may wish to expand the residential floor plate above and restore the building above by reskinning glass."

Like this.



And why revisit all this again? Because the bidding deadline on the building is today at 5. Plus, we just wanted to repost the photo of the rendering.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reimagining this 12-story East Village building, now on the market

Retail space at historic 330 Bowery now on the market

Back in February, workers wrapped the historic cast-iron building at 330 Bowery (at Bond) for exterior repairs ... meanwhile, the 5-year-old tenant here, Rogan, closed up its boutique in April, as BoweryBoogie reported.

Now that prime retail space is on the market...



No pricing info at RKF for the 1,020-square-foot space. The new retailer will have plenty of new neighbors... Intermix just opened next door at the former Steve's on the Bowery...



On the southwest corner of Bowery and Bond, a new storefront is expected at the former WaMu branch... and the first East Coast Patagonia Surf Store is opening across the street at the former CBGB Gallery one of these days...

New York State doesn't ♥ Everyman Espresso's logo

[Cheap-ass EVG Photoshopping]

In which we will learn about section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 USC 1125(a).

It's all about the "I [coffee cup] N Y" logo that Everyman Espresso on East 13th Street has been using these past few years.

The New York Times has the story.

Then, last month, came the letter from agents for the state’s Department of Economic Development.

It said, "Everyman Espresso’s unauthorized and confusingly similar use of the I ♥ NY® logo" violated federal trademark law and implied "a misleading designation of source, origin, endorsement, sponsorship or approval by the New York State Department of Economic Development of your merchandise."

So the Everyman owners ditched everything with the logo.

That wasn't enough for the state, whose attorney is requesting "an accounting of all gross revenues generated during the period when the I ♥ NY® Trademark was used" to establish Everyman Espresso's penalty.

The reaction from Everyman co-owner Sam Penix: "Basically, it's extortion. It's also ironic because we are being threatened by the entity that has vowed to grow our New York business."

Read the whole article here.

All is well at the World Famous Pee Phone™

Avenue A at East Seventh Street today. Photo by Bobby Williams.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Miracle on Avenue A™: World Famous Pee Phone™ has a phone again

Out of order: World Famous Pee Phone™, others, face a future without quarters, whiskey

When 20-ton cranes topple over along the East River

EVG reader Luke Dohner Av. C happened by this scene this morning along the East River at East 31st Street... the crane tipped over while repairing a bulkead near the Water Club restaurant...



The Daily News has a report on the 20-ton crane accident:

Workers said the crane, which was on a work barge, got stuck on a support beam when it suddenly crashed forward, sending its back wheels in the air. The scene slowed traffic along the FDR, while some passersby, including one pedaling a rented CitiBike, stopped to gawk and snap photos.

There were no reported injuries. And had this been the Post, the editors would have blamed the accident on the Citi Bike.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East Fifth Street]

Pino's Prime Meats on Sullivan Street in jeopardy (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Twin brothers reportedly assaulted near Sutra on First Avenue (BoweryBoogie)

Appreciating Sounds on St. Mark's Place (Flaming Pablum)

Appreciating "Do You Remember Rock ’N’ Roll Radio?" (The AV Club)

Full CB3 board rejects Soho House liquor application on Ludlow Street (The Lo-Down)

Was Adam Horovitz's former Spring Street home illegally demolished? (Curbed)

Get your East River String Band T-shirts with art by Robert Crumb (Slum Goddess)

More scenes from the Loisaida Festival (Gog in NYC)

Evicted chickens summering at the M'Finda Kalunga Community Garden (DNAinfo)

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: Matt Torres
Occupation: Construction Worker
Location: East 8th Street and Avenue C.
Time: 12:45 on Sunday, May 26

I’m 19. I just came out for the [Loisaida] festival. I heard it from out my window. I was born on 11th Street and Avenue C, not even in a hospital — right there in my grandmother’s building. I’ve been out here for years. I’ve been back and forth between Brooklyn and here but this is my home. Everyone knows my family in some type of way — most of my family lives around here.

My grandfather’s parents live over there on 2nd Street and my grandmother’s parents live over on 10th and B. They’ve been around here all their life. All their cousins, everybody. My grandmother’s father, he lives right down on Avenue D. He’s still alive. He went to PS34 on 10th Street. My family has been here all their lives.

It was alright growing up here. You did have your struggles but it was pretty good. Everyone gets along with each other and knows each other in some type of way. This is definitely a neighborhood. It’s different from any other place. It’s the diversity that’s interesting because you’ve got so many different people here.

I play sports around here, well I used to when I was growing up. I played for OLS [Our Lady of Sorrows], Felix Millan Little League. I played football, basketball, baseball, just about everything. Got trophies in all of them. I also have a little brother. He’s only 11 months younger than me but when people first started to get to know us around here they thought we were twins. We just had a lot of fun. Most of the fun happened on the basketball court.

I’m also a Sergeant here in the Explorers, PSA 4 [Police Service Area]. It’s a leadership program for 15 to 21-year-olds. We try to teach young people leadership and structure. We also make sure you’re doing good in school. We do competitions with other precincts around the city, with drills and things like that.

I was going to go to the Marines, but then I started getting tattooed, and the Marines don’t allow tats from the elbow down. So right now I’m in the construction business, operating construction machinery and things like that.

I’ve got LES tattooed on my hand right here.

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

Ivories, tickled: Pop-up piano returns to Tompkins Square Park on Saturday

[Song for Hope]

Starting Saturday, the Sing for Hope Pianos return to NYC streets.

Per the website!

In one of New York City’s most vibrant public art installations, 88 artist-designed pianos (one for each key on a piano) are placed in parks and public spaces throughout the 5 boroughs for anyone and everyone to enjoy.

And Tompkins Square Park will have a piano (pictured above) created by P.S. 34.

Our design was inspired by the composition notebooks we use in school. The front and back of the piano show the notebook cover, the sides are notebook paper and the legs of the piano are pencils. You will also notice that on the side panels of the piano, we have written "hope" in various languages.

The piano will be in the Park through June 16.

As you will recall, the pop-up piano that visited Tompkins Square Park in 2011 was the worse thing to happen here since Daniel D. Tompkins decided to ... Oh, joking!

Here are some photos from Bobby Williams from July 2011...

[H/t @galadarling]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ivories on pop-up piano in Tompkins Square Park ready for tickling

Middle Earth has resumed with residual delays

EVG regular William Klayer spotted one of designer William Puck's "Lord of the Rings"-style mock MTA posters while waiting for the R on Broadway and East Eighth Street...



Now we should likely make some Frodo Baggins joke, though we don't know any.

Is this wall a remnant of the former cemetery under Mary Help of Christians?

Last week, local preservationists called for a complete archaeological evaluation of the grounds below Mary Help of Christians Church on East 12th Street. The site was once home to a cemetery, and the groups are concerned that some burial plots may remain.

Developer Douglas Steiner has plans to convert the property into a residential complex.

After the rally, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman made a discovery... he recently wrote about it on GVSHP's Off the Grid blog:

[R]eturning to our East 11th Street offices after yesterday’s rally, we saw something on the block we had seen many times before, but now, armed with the knowledge of the former cemetery’s existence, viewed in an entirely new light.

On the western side of the block, running between what is now called Open Road Park and the rear walls of the properties which line the 1st Avenue end of the block, is a mysteriously out-of-place stone wall. And this wall just may be the western wall of the long-vanished cemetery.

Berman makes his case with some archival maps of the street, like this one from 1867...



As he notes:

By 1867 the First Avenue frontage of the cemetery had been sold off and tenements built. So where this stone wall now stands was, from 1867 on, the boundary between the cemetery and the residential structures to the west.

You can read the whole post here. It's an interesting read, and possibly more proof that the city should conduct a search for remains before Steiner's project moves forward.

Early last year, preservationists submitted a request to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking them to landmark the church. The LPC denied the request. (Read about that here.)

Metro has an article on all this today as well. Find that piece here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Citi Bikes, work day 1

After yesterday's more leisurely Citi Bikes debut for riders with annual memberships... I decided to take a very unscientific look at the first working weekday for the bikes... I checked out the Docking Station at Astor Place (above) ... it was nearly empty the few times that I walked by ... (At the same time, docking stations near City Hall and Wall Street were reported full...)

An afternoon look at the docking station on East Seventh Street at Avenue A found a lot of bikes available ...


[Bobby Williams]

Crain's reported today that there were a few snafus in the system on Day 2, including that riders complained of problems docking their bikes.

Meanwhile today, WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show explored the question: Is the new bike share a practical – and fast — transportation option for congested NYC?

To find out, three WNYC employees left the same spot on Clinton Street and East Boradway, each taking different modes of transportation to get back to the station: bike share, cab and subway.

(Spoiler: the bike share won.)

You can listen to the segment here.

In other developments, there is already a Craigslist Missed Connection Post, per the Observer.

To date, more than 16,400 people have paid $95 for an annual membership, according to Crain's. BusinessWeek explores Citi's sponsorship angle in all this ("$41 million over five years is a rounding error for the company") ... while Motherboard explores who might be making money in all this.

Sunny weather on hold

Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.

And you'll likely see this post again at the end of the year during our gala "Worst EVG Headlines of the Year" fête.

Corner soul

Checking in on the façade repair at 112 Avenue A at East Seventh Street... the Joe Strummer mural should come out of all this OK...

Are you missing this cat?

This fellow was found this morning on East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A ... he has been cared for, though there aren't any tags, collar, etc. Let us know... we can put you in touch with the person who found him...

A classic Urban Etiquette Sign for the 'Birthday Girl on the Second Floor'

A tipster points us to the front door at 500 E. 11th Street at Avenue A.

Per the tipster: "As if the residents of this building weren't suffering enough from Kushner and 7-11 construction..."


[Click image to enlarge]

The sign reads in part:

"We understand that you may be on a different schedule than many of us, but we're not playing our music out of our windows when you're sleeping. No, we have an understanding of what it means to be a neighbor. This is not a dormitory (although, the changing nature of the East Village may, at times, look and sound otherwise)."

Pretty good! But will it actually do a bit of good? According to the tipster: "This is the second time a letter was posted pleading with said tenant to play nice."

What happened to the tree chair on East Sixth Street?

[From February via Bobby Williams]

I'd been meaning to write a post about the great tree chair of East Sixth Street ... located a little east of Avenue A.

However, I noticed during the weekend that the chair part is gone...



Anyone know what happened? Maybe in for repairs?

A neighbor here told me that a longtime resident created this... and that he was a little bashful about attention for this...