You have another chance to see Jennifer Connelly play a homeless person today

Crews return today to Avenue A/Tompkins Square Park to film scenes for "Shelter," the directorial debut of actor Paul Bettany ... and starring his wife, Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly.

They filmed in the Park last Tuesday... According to published reports, the drama is a "love story set among the homeless living on the streets of Manhattan."

Incoming: Cork 'n Fork on Avenue A

At 186 Avenue A, the former Kamui Den in is being prepped for a tapas and wine bar called Cork 'N Fork ...

According to paperwork (PDF) filed ahead of the June CB3/SLA meeting, the proprietor is Demetrios Klidonas, who has been in the restaurant business in Manhattan and Queens for three decades ... most notably Isadora's Cafe on East 52nd Street, which he ran from 1990 until 2008 when he sold his interests in the business. (Isadora's is still in operation.)

Plans showed 16 two-seat tables ... and a bar seating 10 people. No word on an opening date just yet...

Alphabet Scoop has reopened on East 11th Street

The seasonal ice cream shop near Avenue B has reopened after a lengthy delay ...

Back on March 19, the store's Facebook page noted the following:

Alphabet Scoop's spring reopening will be delayed due to the need to repair the steps to the store. We had an engineer examine them and they cannot be used until they are either repaired or replaced. They are the original steps, created in 1867 when the building was erected. Please pray that the project will move along quickly.

They finally got those new stairs... and they were just able to reopen last weekend...





They'll be open weekends only this fall... Per their Facebook page: "Already the Pumpkin Spice and Salted Caramel are big hits as well as a long-time favorite, Pistachio! $5.00 for a pint!"

The Father’s Heart Ministries runs the shop that employs at-risk youth in the neighborhood. (You can read an article about it at The Villager here.)

Photos by Shawn Chittle

Week in Grieview

[Photo from Ben's on Avenue B via Stacie Joy]

Neighbors come together for Giuseppi Logan (Tuesday)

Artichoke taking over The Hat on Stanton and Ludlow (Thursday)

An updated look at the Astor Place reconstruction (Friday)

Paint splattering van vandals (Thursday)

Cornell Edwards Way debuts (Monday)

Check out the new penthouses above 7A (Thursday)

"Blatant drug activity" on East Third Street (Tuesday)

A pedicab to Coyote Ugly from Times Square may cost this much (Tuesday)

At the 1st annual Nuyorican Poets Cafe Block Party (Sunday)

Time to repair this hydrant on East 3rd Street (Monday)

Headless giraffe! (Friday)

David McWater resigns from CB3 (Tuesday)

The Russ & Daughters Cafe is going to happen (Wednesday)

Looking at Centre-fuge cycle 10 (Friday)

Looking at "the Grand Canyon of East 4th Street" (Tuesday)

Rent is Too Damn High's Jimmy McMillan drops a new video (Tuesday)

A new owner for 504-508 E. 11th St.? (Monday)

Why Extra Place seems quiet (Tuesday)

Out and About recap (Wednesday)

Report: FDNY rescues partygoers from 2nd Avenue 'rooftop rager' after stairwell collapse injures 1

[Photo by Marc A Hermann for the Daily News]

From the Daily News today:

A rooftop rager dissolved into a rescue mission in the East Village early Sunday morning, when a stairway platform crumbled, leaving one man seriously injured after he plunged two stories and trapping more than 30 collegiate partygoers on the roof, authorities said.

Over 30 college-aged revelers had gathered on the roof of 159 2nd Avenue at E. 9 St. in the lower East Side on Saturday night for a moonlit soiree, witnesses said.

Also, the building is at East 10th Street, not 9th Street per the Daily News.

The injured student is in critical but stable condition at Bellevue.

And the reaction from the assembled revelers?

"We were having a party, just a bunch of people hanging out ... Some guy runs upstairs and says, 'Everyone quiet down, everyone shut the f--k up , someone might have died,'" said Martin Barshai, 20, a film student at New York University.

According to WABC 7: "Officials say the building has a lot of college aged students in the building that do a lot of 'partying.'"

Here is WABC's report:



The Post has a lot of photos here. Their headline: "NYU rager goes horribly wrong after roof collapse"

Updated 9-30

The Post reports today that an NYU student jumped on the landing, causing it to collapse, according to unnamed sources.

The LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival continues today

[The 6BC Botanical Garden]

The second annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival in the Gardens continues today in a community garden near you... Here's a detailed schedule (PDF).

One programming note: Jim Power broke his right hand last week when he was thrown from his scooter after hitting a pothole on East Ninth Street and Avenue A ... Regardless, he wanted people to know that his free mosaic workshop today from 2-4 will go on as scheduled at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden. "So everyone who would like to be introduced to the art of mosaics please come on down for a wonderful afternoon," he said.

At the 10th Annual FAB! Festival

FABnyc presented the 10th Annual FAB! Festival yesterday afternoon on East Fourth Street ... our friend editrrix was there and shared these photos... (Find more of her work here)

The Halal Guys are apparently opening their first restaurant in the East Village

Food-cart favorites The Halal Guys expanded to the East Village on Sept. 19 with a cart on the northwest corner of East 14th Street and Second Avenue...

Now, as a few readers noted, the former deli at 307 E. 14th St. (immediately adjacent to the new cart) has new signage noting a Halal Guys restaurant ...We don't have any further details at the moment...

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Halal Guys are now open on East 14th Street and 2nd Avenue

This morning in lines for German beer

Oktoberfest begins today at Zum Schneider on Avenue C and East Seventh Street... and EVG reader John noted a 30-person line at 9:41 a.m. ...



Doors open at 11. First keg is tapped at noon. (And what is German for Woo?)

Noted

East 10th Street and Avenue A this morning. Hurry, this offer won't last...

Noted

@evgrieve someone took a poop in front of Chase at Astor Place this morning & it was certainly human pic.twitter.com/Zw9PNmtmSg

— Bomarr Blog (@bomarrblog) September 28, 2013

Officials confirmed that this is not part of the Astor Place reconstruction.

10th Annual FAB! Festival takes over East 4th Street today

[Photo by Whitney Browne via the FAB website]

From the EVG inbox...

FABnyc will present the 10th Annual FAB! Festival today from 1-5 pm on East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery. This one-day-only arts explosion features FREE performances and exhibits for all ages. Attendees can sample tasty bites from local food vendors while enjoying dance, theater, and music by artists from across the Lower East Side (and beyond!). All performances will take place across numerous indoor and outdoor stages and sites on East 4th Street. Full lineup here

Deceptive perceiving

The Buzzcocks from 1977 with "I Don't Mind."

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Shopping on Broadway via Bobby Williams]

Boutique priced out of the LES finds cheaper digs on Madison Avenue (DNAinfo)

Amy talks about her brief marriage to LES Jewels (The Villager)

Video recap of Portals 10-12 (GammaBlog)

Are these the 10 best restaurants on the LES? (Fork in the Road)

Aren't there enough Chinatown bus services? (The Lo-Down)

Yay? Bloomberg threatens to stop holding news conferences (The Wall Street Journal)

Remembering the Ludlow Street Cafe (Flaming Pablum)

History of The Village Voice (Off the Grid)

Manganaro's Hero Boy is saying put (The Commercial Observer)

RIP the original Blarney Stone (Grade "A" Fancy)

An open letter to The DL from LES Dwellers (BoweryBoogie)

Appreciating the Mayfair Barber Shop (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Williams Burroughs sings! (Dangerous Minds)

... and a reader notes that workers are hoisting some solar panels or something to buildings atop East 12th Street between A and B this morning... You always take pictures of cranes...


[Source: men installing solar panels with crane]

Tonight: LUNGS Harvest Fest Opening Night Party

From the EVG inbox...

Please come to the opening night celebration of the Second Annual LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens) Harvest Arts Festival tonight at LaPlaza Cultural at East Ninth Street and Avenue C. Come and bring your friends, drink and dance and have fun with us.

The schedule for Friday is:

5-6:30 For kids, with Circus Amok

6:30 Tompkins Square drummers

7 Welcome remarks featuring Rosie Mendez, Scott Stringer and Brian
Cavanagh

MUSIC
7:30 to 8:15 Eric and Friends

8:15 Pierre Monney

9:00 Mike Cobb & the Crevulators

Find more details about LUNGS here.

An updated look at the all-new Astor Place

[EVG file photo]

The reconstruction around Cooper Square and Astor Place is upon us... Yesterday, officials shipped out the, uh, official news release about the project (which we didn't receive!*) ... and Curbed has the details ... as well as some slightly updated images  ...


[New trees help block out Chase branch]

The plan remains the same ... which includes enlarging Cooper Park, streamlining the street grid and creating new permanent pedestrian plazas. Not to mention adding 60 additional trees. Curbed notes that the work will cost $16 million. The work will start at East Fourth Street, "where new drainage catch basins, curbs and sidewalks are being constructed."

And the project will work its way north over the next two years.

Meanwhile, there hasn't been any official word about what will happen to Jim Power's mosaics that adorn Astor Place.

Per Serena Soloman at DNAinfo yesterday:

"They should not be removed," said Power, who plans to put up signs saying the mosaics are in danger.

"We are being pushed around by this so-called redesign. This is our neighborhood," he said.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

* Our fax machine has been out of paper since 1999.

Headless giraffe makes another baffling appearance around 5th and B

As we understand it, there have been numerous recent sightings of this headless stuffed giraffe around the vicinity of East Fifth Street and Avenue B... the creature, who desperately needs a nickname, a branding campaign and more social media exposure (for starters, at the least), was spotted last night outside Bloom 62, Ben Shaoul's nursing home-turned upscale rental.

The headless stuffed giraffe likely represents the duality of man, though, as of our press time, that hadn't been confirmed.

[Thanks to @melissa_dilger for the photo]

Ludlow Street 10 years later; plus, a report on what's taking the Max Fish space

In a blog post yesterday, photographers James and Karla Murray take a walk down Ludlow Street and compare the storefronts to just 10 years earlier...

Many casualties of course... Max Fish... Pink Pony ... Ludlow Guitars... with El Sombrero next... Of course, you can always count on the enduring images from Katz's.

Find the now-and-then shots here.

Updated 6:09 a.m.

Meanwhile, BoweryBoogie has the scoop on what hopes to take over the Max Fish space... the second outpost of Sweet Chick — "a casual southern-style restaurant that offers a menu dominated by fried chicken and sides like waffles, biscuits, and slaw."

They opened the first outpost on Bedford Avenue back in February.

The Stuyvesant Stationery shop closes Monday after 23 years in business

As noted here a few weeks ago, the Stuyvesant Stationery shop on East 14th Street near Avenue A lost its lease... and they close for good after Monday (probably a good time to stock up on inexpensive wrapping paper, among other sidewalk-sale items) ... the store has been here for 23 years...


[Photo by Cheryl Pyle via Facebook]

Ken from Ken's Kitchen pointed out that the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office sub-leased the space to the Stationary shop. The USPS will be moving out next spring.

Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

First sign of more development on East 14th Street?

Looking at Centre-fuge cycle 10 on East 1st Street

Yesterday, EVG roving photographer Bobby Williams checked out the latest cycle (No. 10 already?) of Centre-fuge, the rotating outdoor gallery on the construction trailer here along East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



Visit the Centre-fuge Public Art Project Tumblr for a rundown on all the artists who took part this time around... As BoweryBoogie noted Wednesday, Centre-fuge will end its run in January 2014 with the arrival of Cycle 11.





Previously.