Report: Fire on E. 2nd St. sends 4 residents to hospital

An early-morning fire on East Second Street near Avenue C left five residents with minor injuries, according to DNAinfo.

The fire started shortly before 4 a.m. on the top floor of 280 E. Second Street, per the FDNY. (DNAinfo lists the address at 264 E. Second St.) The FDNY had the blaze under control within 40 minutes.

MAN ALL HANDS 280 EAST 2ND STREET, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON ROOF,
— FDNY (@FDNY) October 3, 2013

MAN ALL HANDS 280 EAST 2ND STREET, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON TOP FLR, UNDER CONTROL
— FDNY (@FDNY) October 3, 2013

DNAinfo reports that four people went to local hospitals with minor injuries. A fifth person apparently "refused medical attention at the scene."

The FDNY is investigating the cause of the fire.

Anyone with more information?

The amazing murals inside King Tut's Wah Wah Hut

In recent weeks, we posted about 600 or 700 items on the Joe Strummer mural returning to the side of East Seventh Street and A on Niagara... which prompted an EVG Facebook friend to share the following photos from a previous tenant here — King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, open from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s...

East Village resident Laurie Olinder created these for the bar's interior... she recalled painting every wall inside the place in a course of a few days...





If you're on Facebook, then you can see more ephemeral on the King Tut's Wah Wah Hut group page right here ... such as photos of the front entrance at Seventh Street and Avenue A...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Blue Man Group and King Tut's Wah Wah Hut

More details on Root & Bone, opening at the former Mama's Food Shop on E. 3rd St.

[April 2013]

As we first reported on Tuesday, "Top Chef" alum Jeff McInnis was coming to open a restaurant called Root & Bone at the former Mama's Food Shop and Heart N' Soul on East Third Street and Avenue B.

Food & Wine had more details on all this yesterday. New "Top Chef" contestant Janine Booth is joining McInnis for this venture, slated to open in January.

Per F&W:

[T]he new spot will celebrate Southern foodways through dishes like caramelized brisket meat loaf with smoky plantain crème, sunchoke and house-made ricotta “tater tots” and Carolina Gold rice risotto with butter beans and pickled egg yolk.

Let's hope that they fare better than "Top Chef" alum Nikki Cascone, who opened and closed Octavia's Porch within six months right around the corner on Avenue B.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Note outside Heart N' Soul explains that the chef had a 'nervous breakdown'

Mama's Food Shop closes after 15 years; 'the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished'

Rumors: 'Top Chef' alum Jeff McInnis will help revamp former Mama's Food Shop space

From the tipline: Former Diablo Royale Este space will be home to a Greek restaurant

[From December 2012]

Neighborhood scourge Diablo Royale Este closed at the end of August 2012 after some ongoing issues with the State Liquor Authority ... and the space at 167 Avenue A has been on the market for nearly a year with at least two different brokers...

Now, word along here is that the space will soon yield a Greek place from restauranteur John Kapetanos, who operates Ethos Gallery, Ethos Meze and the Moonstruck Diners, among others.

A tipster says that the new restaurant will include a raw bar ... and serve seafood, ceviche as well as other traditional Greek fare. No word yet on an opening date. The listing was recently removed from the RKF site.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Diablo Royale Este owner blasts the 'blasphemous lies' of residents, invites the State Liquor Authority to investigate

Diablo Royale Este apologizes for 'Boats 'N Hoes' bash

For lease signs up now at the former Diablo Royale Este on Avenue A

Sarah Schulman on the East Village, street activism and the gentrification of the mind

[Photo of Sarah Schulman via MoRUS]

From the EVG inbox...

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 7:30 p.m. at The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS)

ON THE EAST VILLAGE, STREET ACTIVISM AND THE GENTRIFICATION OF THE MIND — A discussion of Sarah Schulman’s life, writing, and the history of East Village activism, art, and the gentrification of the imagination between Sarah Schulman and Benjamin Shepard.

Does social change come from institutions or from grassroots movements? And what of the legacies of AIDS, housing, and gardens activism in New York’s East Village? Did the city create these changes or did activists? And what is the legacy of these struggles? Will the efforts of regular people be lost to the gentrification of the imagination or can regular New Yorkers create their own history and institutions?

Schulman is the author of 16 books, most recently "The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination" (U of California Press) and "Israel/Palestine and the Queer International" (Duke University Press). She is co-producer with Jim Hubbard of the documentary feature film UNITED IN ANGER: A History of ACT UP, which they will be screening in Moscow at the end of October. Sarah is Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island and on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

MoRUS is at 155 Avenue C between 9th and 10th Streets. There is a $5 suggested donation for each event, but no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds.

More about Rite Aid's closure on E. 14th St.

As we reported on Monday, the Rite Aid at 516 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B closes at the end of this month... to yield to a new 8-parcel development on this block.

A reader spoke with the head pharmacist and shared this info: The pharmacy will close for good here after tomorrow. All prescriptions will be automatically transferred to the newish Duane Reade on First Avenue at East 14th Street.

Per the reader: "Obviously this is for convenience since the Duane Reade is the closest drug store ... but if anyone wants to switch to another area pharmacy they can by calling the Rite Aid ... or even the Duane Reade after Friday and making arrangements."

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

Anton van Dalen's pigeons, connecting us back to nature above Avenue A

[Photo from January 2012 by Shawn Chittle]

In case that you haven't seen this... Serena Solomon at DNAinfo has a nice feature today on longtime East Village artist Anton van Dalen and his flock of snow-white pigeons that are a common site in the skies above Avenue A between East 10th Street and East 11th Street.

"The flying is spectacular, and of course it connects you back to nature in a way that many of us in the city don't have," said van Dalen, who moved across the Atlantic from Holland as a young boy, following World War II.

Van Dalen, who has always felt a deep connection to his birds, took up pigeon keeping after learning it from his father and his brothers when they lived in Holland.

Check out the video here too. Find Anton's art here.

Jerry's Artarama taking over former Utrecht Art Supplies space on Fourth Avenue

[August 2012]

After 30 years at this location, Utrecht Art Supplies moved away from 111 Fourth Ave. last year... during the summer of 2012 Utrecht had moved into a new store on East 13th Street between University and Fifth Avenue.

The space between East 11th Street and East 12th Street had been on the market... and now there's a new tenant: Jerry's Artarama. The 15-store art-supply chain, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., has signed a 10-year lease for 4,452 square feet of ground floor space. Asking rent for the deal was $125 per square foot, per a release announcing the deal.

Jerry's is expected to open in early December.

Today in photos of Louis C.K. on First Avenue and East 6th Street

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Crews are out along East Sixth Street this morning to film scenes for the FX comedy series "Louie." BoweryBoogie noted that the the Emmy-Award winning comedian was back from hiatus and filming around parts of the Lower East Side yesterday... crews will also be filming around Avenue A/East Seventh Street tomorrow, per posted signs... (Pig Newton is the name of Louis C.K.'s production company.)

Season four is set to premiere sometime in May 2014, per BoweryBoogie. (And is this a good time to mention that I've never seen the show?)

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. James is traveling this week. East Village writer and photographer Joann Jovinelly compiled today's post.



By Joann Jovinelly

Name: Sally Young
Occupation: Mixed-Media Artist, Political Activist and Preservationist, Photographer
Location: Sixth Street and Avenue B Community Garden
Time: 10:30 AM on Friday, 9/27

I’ve been in the East Village since 1980. Although I’ve lived in different apartments, it has always been in this neighborhood. I first came to New York in the 1970s to visit from my home in Detroit. A lot of artists were coming to New York at that time, a period in which you could actually come and buy lofts for 30 to 40K.

I came here to simply be an artist and I fell in love with this city. I had had a solo show in Detroit, but when I arrived in New York, I started designing costumes for theatre and dance troupes, which I did successfully throughout the 1980s.

I first ended up on the Bowery and First Street in 1980. The Bowery was pretty crazy at that time. People [living on the street] were burning wood in barrels to stay warm, and there were a lot of bums. I had no heat or hot water in my apartment, nothing but a wood-burning stove. I collected firewood at night with my daughter who was then 3-years old. I remember walking down Bowery … also right at the corner of Houston Street and the Bowery was a place that sold live chickens.

New York was really, really edgy and very exciting at that time. There was a lot of crime. You really couldn’t turn your back on anything because it would be taken. But the bums along the Bowery never bothered you; they were just hanging out. You know, they’d set up ‘living rooms’ with couches, end tables, and table lamps even though they had no electricity … just these random living rooms on the sidewalk made from stuff that was pulled from the garbage.

In 1981, I moved to Fourth Street and Avenue B, and though a real slumlord owned the building, I sometimes had heat and hot water. My rent was higher than others who had lived there longer, but those people were getting harassed. There was one woman, Carmen, who used to go around the building slamming a baseball bat in the hallways and in the stairwells all the time, saying, ‘Mother-fucking landlord.’ People were writing graffiti all over the building’s interior walls that said, ‘Lynch the landlord; Fuck his wife.’ [One of the reasons renters were so upset was because] the owners were placing junkies in the building in order to harass the renters.

Tenants started organizing. And even though I had moved to a new apartment, I still had friends in the building, so I helped out. There were a lot of artists and older folks there at that time. I was photographing the building and keeping a record of the violations because we were going back and forth in court.

We got together one day to try to get rid of the junkies. All the tenants gathered together out front. [At that time] there were marches all over the place. Everybody was getting involved. It wasn’t the way that it is now — where people move into the building and they are paying very high rent, and there’s a very big difference between them and you.

At that time, even though we were paying more rent (maybe $300 a month) other people were paying much less, like $100. We were trying to help our neighbors who were very afraid. They were getting eviction notices and some didn’t speak English. They were being harassed. Many times I went to court to help explain things and make sure that they didn’t get ousted from their apartments. We were all trying to take care of each other.

To be continued... next week...

Joann Jovinelly is a freelance writer and photographer who still calls the East Village home.

Check out Sally's website here.

This is what it might be like living inside the Alamo on Astor Place

Per the clip that appeared Monday on YouTube:

Dave is a creative writer who lives inside the iconic Astor Place Cube in New York City. The cube's 8X8 panels add up to 64 square feet which adds up to 512 cubic feet. For Dave, who is 5'8", that is plenty of space to move around, write, cook, sleep, work out and even play guitar. Dave uses a bicycle generator to power up the lights and a handful of electronic gadgets.

Cute enough, though it's not for real... per Business Insider:

The video appears to be an elaborate advertisement for WHIL, a company that promotes meditation in the business community, started by Lululemon Athletica founder Chip Wilson and his wife Shannon (a logo for WHIL appears at the end of the video.)

Report: Another Stop Work Order for incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A

Early last month, the arrival of three AC units adjacent to the incoming 7-Eleven at 500 E. 11th St. (aka 170 Avenue A) prompted the city to serve a partial Stop Work Order. The units, installed an estimated 14 inches from residential windows, "shake the back of the neighboring building," according to the DOB.

Yesterday, the No 7-Eleven blog reported that the city served another Stop Work Order on the site, this time for blocking fire escapes.



As far as we know, this is the second time the site was hit with a Stop Work Order for blocking exits... on Sept. 21, 2012, the city served a Stop Work Order for "BLDG CONSTRUCTION WORK BLOCKING SECONDARY MEANS OF EXIT."

Despite the Stop Work Order, residents saw the workers continue to go about their business yesterday.

Construction of the convenience store is now in its 13th month.

Previously on EV Grieve:
3 new AC units at incoming 7-Eleven prompts Partial Stop Work Order

A Stop Work order at Avenue A's incoming 7-Eleven

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

Cafe Rakka closed for renovations on St. Mark's Place

The always reliable Middle Eastern spot at 81 St. Mark's Place is currently closed for renovations... (and this is an actual renovation, not code for, say, we're getting the hell out of here before the landlord figures out that we left in the dead of night ...)

The Avenue B location near East Third Street remains open for your design-your-own combo platters...



Also, Cafe Rakka is on this month's CB3/SLA agenda... paperwork on file points to a corporate name change...

The Standard East Village would like you to finish your book in one of their rooms

[EVG file photo via Paul Kostabi]

This from The Paris Review yesterday:

The Paris Review is partnering with the Standard, East Village to find a Writer-in-Residence. The idea is this: in January, a writer with a book under contract will get a room at the Standard, East Village, in downtown Manhattan, for three weeks’ uninterrupted work. Applications will be judged by the editors of The Paris Review and Standard Culture.

Ah, so the catch is that you have to have a book under contract.

As Richard Lawson put it at The Atlantic Wire:

[S]o you can't submit the Torchwood fanfic that you've been meaning to self-pub. No sir, this is only for legitimate writers. (As deemed by a small group of publishing people in New York City, anyway.)

Thoughts on this opportunity of a three-week lifetime for an author with a book deal?

E. 7th St. penthouse featured in 'architectural magazines the world over' wants $4 million

The penthouse at 128 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue hit the market this week... Guess we didn't really know just how nice it is up there...





Here's the listing from Halstead:

This East Village Penthouse, with spectacular views and an unforgettable roof terrace with 360 degree city views, is the ultimate in luxury living. Three years of painstaking renovation resulted in a remarkable home that has been featured in architectural magazines the world over, as well as in print and media campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and celebrity photo shoots.

Features include a chef's kitchen, wood-burning fireplace, laundry room, dramatic sky-lit staircase leading to a magical roof terrace, central air and top of the line lighting and fixtures. With approximately 1700 sf of interior living space and a full floor private roof deck, no detail has been overlooked in this modern loft living masterpiece.

Make this your sanctuary in the city.

Asking price: $4 million, aka the price hereabouts for "the ultimate in luxury living."

Updated: AlphaBet Cafe closed again for now [NOW BACK OPEN]

Last month, AlphaBet Cafe on East 14th Street and Avenue B had to close for "difficulties with the gas," according to a sign on the restaurant's front gate. (While that reason may be true, there was also a DOH-mandated closure — 55 violation points.)

The Cafe reopened the next week... only to close again last Friday — again via the hand of the DOH. Documents on file with the city show inspectors handed out 76 violation points ... including for the following:

• Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours.

• Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.

Yesterday, a reader spotted workers collecting their things from the space. According to one worker, AlphaBet Cafe is not going to reopen, that the owner has had enough. Calls to the restaurant go unanswered. And there isn't a note on the gate about any closure. We do hope that they return — always a good, inexpensive option here.

Updated 10/3



A reader spotted the owner here late Wednesday afternoon ... working and putting up new signs in the windows saying closed for repairs/renovations ... Perhaps a good sign for a reopening here.

Updated 10/5

The restaurant is back open. A reader just had breakfast there. A restaurant employee here did tell a local resident last week that the Cafe would not return.

Report: Zagat survey names Mighty Quinn's NYC's best new restaurant

Mighty Quinn's opened in late December over on Second Avenue and East Sixth Street ... And Ryan Sutton at Bloomberg reports this afternoon that the barbecue spot run by a former hedge funder was named New York's best new restaurant by the Zagat survey. (The survey is based on the responses of 48,114 participants.)

Never been here ourselves. Perhaps you have?

More details on the first restaurant from The Halal Guys

As we noted on Saturday, the Halal Guys are opening their first brick-and-mortar (ugh, hate that phrase) space on East 14th Street by Second Avenue... this on the heels of their food-cart expansion right out front.

Serena Solomon at DNAinfo has more details on the restaurant, which is expected to open early next month.

According to co-owner Khalid Ahmed:

He plans to work with a chef to develop new meat-free recipes that will only be served at the East 14th Street restaurant, which he said may also contain a juice bar.

Prices at the store will mirror the prices at the carts, with dishes such as chicken over rice going for $6 at all locations, Ahmed said.

In addition, he's still contemplating adding seating... or keeping it a to-go operation.

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

New sand for the Tompkins Square Park dog run

EVG regular Derek Berg passes along an update from the Tompkins Square Park dog run, which will be closed today and tomorrow so that workers can spread new sand around the place...



... per the sign up top, the large dog run will be open in the evenings ... and the small run will re-open once volunteers can spread the sand...

Updated: Lower Avenue B residents concerned over proposed new bar-restaurant

A restaurant called Brownstone Bar & Grill is on this month's CB3/SLA docket to take over the space last held by Affaire, the French bistro and lounge, which closed at 50 Avenue B last August. (Brownstone, whose CB3 application lists a menu of "Caribbean/Southern food," was originally on last month's docket ... but was a scratch.)

And Brownstone's possible arrival has sparked concerned neighbors to join forces to possibly speak out against a liquor license for the address. There are now flyers hanging in buildings and along Avenue B.

According to the flyer:

Help Stop a New Rowdy Late-night Club from Opening in Our Neighborhood!

We’ve all worked together for several years to force the closure of several late-night clubs that severely degraded the quality of life in our neighborhood. It’s been a long, hard struggle. The last one, Affaire, closed at the end of this summer. Now someone new wants to re-open a boisterous club in that location (50 Avenue B, near East 4th Street.)

We can’t let that happen! All that we’ve worked hard for and accomplished is risk!

WHAT’S BEING PROPOSED:

• The new occupant wants to operate a club for up to 200 people that will stay open until 2 a.m. on Mon.-Wed. nights, and until 4 a.m. on Thurs.-Sun. nights.

• The place will be known as Brownstone Bar and Grill. It plans to feature 8 video screens, play recorded music both as background and as “entertainment”, and host special events.

WHAT DOES THIS SOUND LIKE TO YOU?

Le Souk and Carne vale all over again!

WHAT’S NEXT:

Community Board 3’s SLA and DCA Licensing Committee will be considering an application by the operator for a liquor license at their next meeting – that will be our time to show up and speak out! You can read the full application here.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Show up at the CB3 Committee meeting to express your opinion and stand up together with each other – Mon. Oct. 7th at 6:30 p.m., at CB3’s offices, 59 E. 4th St. (between 2nd Ave. and the Bowery.)

• Write a letter to CB3 to express your opinion on this matter. Be sure to personalize it, and to talk about your experiences with such places as a neighborhood resident. You can send it to the office, or email it to info@cb3manhattan.org

Neighbors are meeting with Brownstone reps on Thursday night. Here are details on that:

Thursday Oct. 3 @ 7:30 p.m.

535 E. 5th Street (bet. Aves. A & B) in the ground floor Community Room

Hosted by the East 4th St. Block Association

Come meet and ask questions of the operators

Some neighbors here between Fourth Street and Third Street still shudder at the mere mention of Le Souk, which finally closed in 2009 after a lengthy battle with the SLA. (Of course, there were those various mystery parties at the space in recent years.)

Some residents fear a return to the bonkerish partygoing along here last seen in 2004-2006... a stretch that Eater dubbed "Hellmouth" back in 2006.