The incredible plan to build 'Space Invader-esque residential towers' by the Williamsburg Bridge

A reader shares a link to a Wired article titled "Maps of Unrealized City Plans Reveal What Might Have Been."

The piece looks at city plans that (thankfully, in some cases) never came to be... all via Andrew Lynch's Tumblr called Hyperreal Cartography & The Unrealized City ... it's loaded with city maps "collected from libraries, municipal archives, and dark corners of the Internet."

Of some local interest... the above plans from the 1950s-1960s ... it was an idea hatched after Robert Moses didn't get his Lower Manhattan Expressway off the ground...

"[T]he Ford Foundation asked architect Paul Rudolph to envision an urban expressway that was better integrated into the city. Rudolph drew a futuristic city with soaring, Space Invader-esque residential towers around the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. The highway would wind beneath a linear city, and modular housing units would be connected by a pod-like monorail system."

Apparently these plans weren't entirely serious, but entertaining nonetheless.

Sort of like the renderings for the Domino Sugar Factory.


[Via Curbed]

Renovations start at future home of Mee Noodle Shop on First Avenue

As you may know, Mee Noodle Shop is returning to the East Village after a seven-year absence ... just a few storefronts away from its former home on First Avenue at East 13th Street.

Anyway, EVG regular dwg notes that renovations have finally started on the space, previously occupied until March by Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery.

In June, Mee's Joyce Chi told The Villager that the restaurant will be reopening in about five months. So if you want to do the math...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Starbucks confirmed for 219 First Ave., former home to Allen Ginsberg's favorite Chinese restaurant

Mee Noodle Shop returning to First Avenue (28 comments)

The Art and Music of Peter Missing on Avenue A

An exhibit featuring Peter Missing's work starts tonight at the Art on A Gallery at 24 Avenue A near East Second Street... up through Sept. 26.

There's a post opening-reception event at 2A at 9, with projections of The Missing Foundation on the wall across the street... The Facebook Event page is here.

Lantern Thai Kitchen closes on Avenue A; Bangkok-based Somtum Der coming soon

Lantern Thai Kitchen has closed at 85 Avenue A... and a sign for its replacement is up (you could actually read it if this photo wasn't blurry). The Bangkok-based Somtum Der will be opening here soon...



The eatery is the first in the United States for Thanaruek Laoraowirodge, who is growing a mini-empire of restaurants in Bangkok.

Here's a quote from him in BK (Bangkok) magazine:

"People in New York already have a good perception of Thai food. They are not just familiar with tom yam, but regional dishes too."

Here's a 3-star (out of 5) review of Somtum Der via BK:

Together with Chef Kornthanut Thongnum, Khon Kaen-native Thanaruek Laoraowirodge has brought his Isaan roots to the capital in the shape of this somtam-focused restaurant whose objective is to steer our taste buds back towards Northern Isaan, and away from the sweeter flavors that Bangkokians so cherish.

And!

Of the score of somtam varieties available, standouts include the tam sua Sakon Nakhon (B65), which comes with freshwater crab and kratin beans, and the tam pla tu khao man (B85), which comes with mackerel and is served with a comforting side of rice cooked in coconut milk. In very different ways, they’re both exemplary of what Thai food does best: balancing a range of flavors and textures. Of course, there’s also a long list of usual suspects, from laabs to tom saep, all equally well executed. We’re less impressed with the deep-fried or grilled meats.

Lantern Thai Kitchen opened in January 2012, replacing Cafetasia, which sported the 100-ounce beer tube.

The Lantern remains open on Second Avenue at 18th Street.

Avenue A 7-Eleven expected to be completed by yesterday

The gut renovation of the space that previously housed Bar on A and Angels & Kings has entered the 11th month... workers are fitting the address here on Avenue A and East 11th Street for a 7-Eleven, of course...

A quick check yesterday shows that the work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2013, aka yesterday.



At this rate, the crew will have the place ready by July 31, 2014.

However, this photo that Bobby Williams took on Tuesday shows some slight progress...



The 7-Eleven franchise website still shows that the store will be ready for Go-Go Taquitos® action in October. This location is still without an owner.

Previously.

Of rats and parties

You may have seen Gawker's "Vermin-Party Index" from yesterday afternoon... in which they examined more than 260,000 311 complaints classified as "vermin" or "loud party/music" from January 2010 to July 2013.

How did this area fare? Pretty good! (Well, good as in bad.)

No surprises here...

Top Party Complaint Neighborhoods:
Interior Williamsburg (11211): 3,544 complaints
East Village (10009): 3,106
Lower East Side (10002): 2,985

Overall though, when you combine the number of vermin and party complaints, we just cracked the top 20 in the five boroughs. The 10009 zip was 20th with 3,761 total complaints about rats and parties... and 10003 was 29th with 3,120 complaints.

Tops? The 11226 zip (Flatbush) with 7,574 complaints, of which 5,847 were rat related.

Head over to Gawker for all the charts and what not.

H/T RyanAvenueA

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: A theater sign for Archie & Sons; Everyman Espresso returns

And here's the sign for Archie & Sons... a 1950s-style luncheonette opening very soon at 23 Third Ave. The original Archie's operated on Long Island for nearly two decades...

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And a new sign for the incoming Han Dynasty on Third Avenue near East 12th Street...

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[Photo via Facebook by John C. Hume]

Everyman Espresson on East 13th Street closed for a "face lift" back in late June... it reopened yesterday ... in the lobby of the Classic Stage Company.

The sun also rises at 3 a.m.

Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C points us to tonight's forecast at The Weather Channel... where something extraordinary will happen ... as he noted on Facebook, "If you're still up at 3 a.m. ... be sure to look up at the sun poking through the clouds."

Noted

East Houston and Elizabeth.

What the hell was that?

We waited to post these photos until we spoke with NASA, NORAD, the U.S. Military and the World Weekly News.

Bobby Williams took these photos from his East Village apartment last night. Here is his description via email: "This flew by about 9:38 pm. Heading north then turning east."

Aside from anything related to the Hoboken Hoof or Amanda Bynes (just getting those guesses out of the way!), any ideas what this is/was?

AAA Amici Pizza has closed

AAA Amici Pizza on Third Avenue at East 12th Street has closed... there was apparently an auction on site yesterday. EVG regular Muzz talked to the owner, who said that the pizzeria was rent-hiked out of there. And they will not be looking to open anywhere else.

A rent hike isn't much of a shocker given the towering new retail-residential building going up at 84 Third Ave. across the street... and the incoming high-end Han Dynasty opening right next door...

"It's too bad, because it was another place where you could get a good meal — especially for takeout — for under $10," said Muzz. "The old way of doing business in the EV is just being hammered out, block by block."

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: Elissa Jiji
Occupation: Writing Tutor, Member of 4th Street Food Co-op
Location: 4th Street between 2nd and Bowery
Time: Noon on Saturday, July 27

I’ve lived in the neighborhood for around 20 years. I grew up on the Upper East Side. I work at John Jay College as a writing tutor; I’ve always been a fan of words.

I’ve been coming downtown since I was a teenager — we’d go out dancing here all the time. I remember the elevator at Danceteria — that teeny, tiny elevator. I remember when Keith Haring was drawing his drawings in the subway. I miss those places. A couple weeks ago, I was out for a bike ride by the river. We were pulling this sound bike behind us, and stumbled on somebody’s nighttime birthday picnic on the pier. We had a spontaneous dance party with a bunch of people we'd never met — including a three-generation family, all dancing together with their abuela and all of us. This community can surprise you in that way.

I only learned how to ride a bike 10 years ago, in Tompkins Square Park, on the basketball courts. Eventually I branched out from going around in a circle in the basketball court to going around in the Park, and all the older Chinese ladies were going past me and people on the benches were giving me the thumbs up. It was one of the best things I ever did, and now I ride my bike everywhere. I commute to work at Columbus Circle.

This neighborhood feels very much like a neighborhood, and even still, with all the chains and banks and with things disappearing, it still retains its neighborhood aura. This block has a lot of small businesses on it, and a lot of that is the tenant-owned Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association, which is our landlord. Several buildings on the block are part of the Cooper Square MHA. They support small, independent businesses. They're very supportive of us, and they like having us on the block.

I’ve been working at the co-op for maybe 15 years. My sister, who lives next door, said, “You should join that food co-op on 4th Street.” It took me awhile to listen to her, but she was right. Once I did, I really liked it. I like being part of something where we make decisions together.

I’ve done a bunch of different jobs at the co-op, from reconciling the till, to training new members to running the meetings. It’s nice not to be bound by having to make a profit; we really try to make stuff affordable. We’ve had a couple of major renovations and projects where we’ve questioned, are we actually going to be able to pull this off, or are we gonna kill each other in the process? It will be two years this fall since we completely ripped out the floor to put in a concrete one, and put in the motors for the refrigeration down in the basement. It was a huge project. Did the stuff fit through the door during that renovation? Apparently not — we had to cut away the lintel and replace it.

The co-op is open to the public and entirely member run, which is not the case with every or even most co-ops. We don’t have a paid staff, and it’s important to us that everybody from the neighborhood can shop. We also give discounts to a bunch of different categories of people — seniors and students, people shopping with EBT cards, and then our members. I think we have between 75 and 90 working members at any given time. There are a fair amount of students and people who were recently students. There are teachers, artists, musicians, at least one nurse, web developers and a cabinet maker. We probably have the highest workload of any co-ops with working members: we’re there two hours a week.

It's also is the kind of place where you see your neighbors all the time, and their kids, and their dogs. Our neighbors, some of them are so sweet. This one lady comes in every time there is a Yankees game — she’s got her lucky chocolate bar that she has to get. You know when there’s a game on because she comes in for it.

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

Report: East Village curb-crash driver pleads 'not guilty' during arraignment

Shaun Martin, who prosecutors say was drunk "and high on PCP" when he drove his car onto a Second Avenue sidewalk last month, pleaded not guilty during his arrangement in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday, the Post reported.

According to documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court, Martin, of Bayside, Queens, is charged with speeding through the East Village in a white Nissan Altima at approximately 6:50 a.m. on June 19, while impaired by phencyclidine, commonly referred to as PCP, and methamphetamine. The defendant allegedly cut across three lanes of traffic and drove onto the sidewalk, striking multiple objects including a fire hydrant, phone booth, and tree, before crashing into a flower stand attached to a deli on East 4th Street and Second Avenue. Two of the deli’s employees were hit and seriously injured in the crash. Both victims suffered broken bones, and one suffered serious brain trauma.


[Image via Neighborhoodr]

After the wreck, the Post reported that the 32-year-old Martin allegedly asked a cop, "Am I dead?" and, "Was I driving?"

Also from the Post:

He also whined to an EMT, "Don’t call my mother, she’s going to be upset," court papers said.

According to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., the charges against Martin are:
-Aggravated Vehicular Assault, a class C felony, 2 counts
-Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony, 2 counts
-Driving While Ability Impaired By Combination of Drugs and Alcohol, a class E felony, 1 count
-Driving While Impaired by the Use of a Drug, a class E felony, 1 count
-Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Seventh Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 1 count

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Car smashes into East Village Farm & Grocery on Second Avenue; 6 reported injured

Crowdsourcing campaign for injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker raises nearly $19,000

Details on the first MoRUS film festival

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) is hosting its first film festival starting on Saturday.

Jackson Smith, who organized the event along with another volunteer, Byron Kaplan, shared some thoughts on the festival.

"The film fest was born from the idea to screen documentary films about housing and community gardening on the Lower East Side; films that resonate with the museum's mission of preserving the history of reclaimed space," he said. "Around this slate of films are titles seldom screened for the public. We rounded out the program with shorts and features that offer glimpses into a pre-gentrified Lower East Side."

Here is the rundown of films and shorts:

August 3: 25th Annual Tompkins Square Riot Reunion Films! Sponsored by The Shadow, producers of the 25th Annual Tompkins Square Riot Reunion Show.

Your House is Mine, Squat or Rot, and a Paper Tiger TV special on the demolition of the 5th Street squat.

Venue:
Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space
155 Avenue C

August 4: 25th Annual Tompkins Square Riot Reunion Films! Sponsored by The Sh@dow

Tompkins Square Park: Operation Class War on the Lower East Side and more!

Venue:
Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space
155 Avenue C

August 5: Not For Sale, directed by Yael Bitton

Venue:
La Plaza Cultural
Garden at Avenue C and 9th Street

August 6: L.E.S., directed by Coleen Fitzgibbon; B/Side, directed by Abigail Child; and Heart of Loisaida, directed by Marci Reaven and Beni Matias

Venue:
La Plaza Cultural
Garden at Avenue C and 9th Street

August 7: Featuring More Than Flowers, directed by Laura Beer; Loisaida, Avenue C, directed by Maeva Aubert; and a Paper Tiger TV special on the demolition of Esperanza Garden

Venue:
6B Garden
Avenue B and 6th Street

August 8: 7th Street, with filmmaker Josh Pais in attendance

Venue:
6B Garden
Avenue B and 6th Street

August 9:Landlord Blues, directed by Jacob Burckhardt

Venue:
Orchard Alley Garden
4th Street between Avenue C and Avenue D

August 10: No Picnic, directed by Phil Hartman

Venue:
Orchard Alley Garden
4th Street between Avenue C and Avenue D

There are a limited supply of all-access passes available for $20. The schedule and venues for 1st Annual MoRUS film fest were announced today by the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS). Tickets for 8-day festival of films underscoring a theme of “reclaimed space” are available here and at The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, 155 Avenue C between 9th and 10th Streets. Tickets are available at the door for a suggested donation of $5 per film. Museum hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays from 11 AM - 7 PM.

For all screenings, doors will open at 7:30 PM with films beginning at dusk. Selected screenings will feature discussions and Q&A with filmmakers and other speakers. Refreshments and popcorn will also be available

For more more info about each film here.

7B in the movies

[Paul Newman in The Verdict]

A reader shared this video... a fan of 7B/Vazac's posted the clip on Vimeo last December... a montage showing the various TV shows/movies filmed at the bar on Avenue B and East Seventh Street through the years...



... it includes classics such as "The Godfather Part II" ... "The Verdict" ... "Serpico" ... and some crap like "What Happens In Vegas" ... regardless, a perennial shoo-in for Best Supporting Bar.

The Yippie Museum reopens tonight

As we noted last week, the Yippie Museum reopens tonight at 9 Bleecker Street... while the space won't be serving any food or coffee or tea, there will be an array of performances and events... some familiar faces will be at tonight's 8 reopening... including David Peel, John Murdock, Brent Lengel and Aron "The Pie Man" Kay.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Yippie Museum Cafe is in financial trouble

The Yippie Museum Cafe will reopen next Wednesday

How to get your money's worth from a Citi Bike

Julius Klein shared this photo from Sunday afternoon along St. Mark's Place... they're gonna need a bigger basket.

Workers arrive this morning to prep Mary Help of Christians Catholic church for demolition

An update on our Mary Help of Christians post from this morning.

Workers are now on the scene putting up the scaffolding and construction netting around the church on East 12th Street... as these photos by EVG reader Greg Masters show... the church, which opened in 1917, is the last building on the property to be prepped for demolition...







...and an East Village resident shares an aerial view...





Previously.

Part of the former rolldown gate at the Mars Bar is now art in this East Village apartment

East Village resident Ori Carino's mural on the rolldown gate outside the former Mars Bar was a familiar site in recent years on East First Street.

The bar, and other buildings along here on Second Avenue were demolished in the fall of 2011 to make way for the 12-story Jupiter 21.

One nearby resident, a fan of the bar and of the mural, wondered what was going to happen to the gate when workers tore down the building. At this point, Mars Bar owner Hank Penza had already removed the bar, jukebox, etc.

The resident shared some background:

They were going to destroy a building to build condos ... that had beautiful graffiti covering the exterior walls and security garage rolldown. I contacted the developer to see if anyone had requested the rolldown, as it was assumably detachable from the building and could be preserved. I offered to pay if needed and he said he would contact me when they had taken it down. I'd have to make arrangements to transport it offsite.

They called me the day before Thanksgiving [2011] to tell me that I had to pick it up the day after Thanksgiving at 8 a.m., otherwise it would be turned into scrap. I had not made any arrangements. I needed help moving it, a truck to move it in and a place to store it — at 11 feet by 12 feet, there wasn't a wall large enough wall to display it on in my two-bedroom apartment.

After some frantic searching, I discovered that Moishe's offered free pick-up with three months of storage, solving all my problems in one swift motion.

However. The three months turned into 18 months, "so in many ways I did end up paying a fair chunk after all." Now, though, the resident has more than half of the former gate on his apartment wall. The remaining pieces are in his aunt's basement for the time being.



He also was able to salvage another piece of the gate.



We asked the resident about why he saved it.

"I love street art — graffiti, stickers, tags, etc. Most of the pieces I'd love to have on my own walls are unattainable — permanently affixed, illegally done [and] commissioning a piece from the artist is too expensive," he said. "I had never heard of someone getting one of these in this fashion, but I had nothing to lose. It worked out alright, but my eyes might have been a bit bigger than my stomach because I didn't have a space to hang it — eventually I will."

Some facts and figures to depress you about rent

The Furman Center at NYU released the annual State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods report yesterday... a sprawling mass of data on rent, rent regulations and many other things to do with rent... as well as demographic statistics...

Here are a few sobering passages straight from the report's news release:

In the six years since the recession, data paint a mixed picture of New York City’s recovery...

The city’s housing market showed signs of recovery — including sustained employment growth, rising home sales, and increased housing prices—but also showed increasing affordability challenges for New York City renters.

Since the recession, stagnant incomes and rising rents have led to an increase in rent burdens. In 2011, 24 percent of New Yorkers were moderately rent burdened (spending 30 to 50 percent of their income on rent) and 31 percent of New Yorkers were severely rent burdened (spending 50 percent or more of their income on rent), according to the report.

Between 2007 and 2011, a period when house prices citywide fell by 20 percent, the median monthly gross rent citywide increased by 8.6 percent, from $1,096 to $1,191. During that same period, median household income decreased 6.8 percent, dropping from $54,127 to $50,433.

The report for Manhattan is broken down into 12 community districts, with the East Village presumably landing in the Lower East Side/Chinatown bracket. (Find that PDF here.)

A few stats from that report...


[Click image to enlarge]

You can find a PDF of the report for Manhattan here.