Right? Here's a photo via EVG reader Avrin looking east toward Second Avenue from East Sixth Street...
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
It was photogenic outside today
Right? Here's a photo via EVG reader Avrin looking east toward Second Avenue from East Sixth Street...
A First Avenue Bansky branch?
EVG reader Thom spotted this on First Avenue and East Fourth Street last evening ... The sign reads "Laugh Now But One Day I’ll Be So Rich That I Can Do Graffiti Wherever I Want." And sponsored by Banksy of America. And the Banksy jab comes courtesy of TrustoCorp ... there's another sign in Williamsburg that reads "Bad Artists Imitate Great Artists Get Really Really Rich."
Animal NY has the scoop about all this here.
A 'Day of the Dirt' recap from La Plaza Cultural
This past weekend, La Plaza Cultural Community Garden and the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space came together to help restore the Sandy-wrecked gardens at La Plaza Cultural on Avenue C and East Ninth Street. (Read the background here.)
The folks from La Plaza provided some photos and a recap from Saturday's volunteer gathering.
Several dozen people showed up to move the 50 tons of soil around La Plaza and do a whole lot more. We cleared out the perimeter planting areas and covered them with clean soil, resoiled and reseeded the lawn area, filled in the newly reconstructed community plots, filled in individual plot holders' raised beds, cleared out 15 bags full of weeds and old plants, planted several new trees (with more to come), rebuilt the picnic table benches, and managed to eat 10 pizzas! And we used all of the soil..all 50 tons.
We had members, volunteers and friends from the neighborhood turn out to participate, and with a little cooperation from Mother Nature who provided a gorgeous day, I think that we all had a good time too.
We're very appreciative of everyone who came out and worked so hard! People started arriving at 7:30 am and we finally wrapped up at about 5 pm
St. Mark's in the morning
EVG Facebook friend Sam Teichman shared these photos along St Mark's Place — between First Avenue and Third Avenue — from a quiet Columbus Day morning...
Find more of Sam's photos at Flickr.
Memories of Di Bella Bros. on First Avenue
Back in April, we posted the ghost signage that EVG regular evilnyc spotted over at the Hamptons Market on First Avenue and East 13th Street ... it was the name of the former longtime tenant — Di Bella Bros., the beloved specialty foods market that opened here in 1925... A New York magazine article from August 1984 noted that Carmine and John Di Bella retired in the early 1980s ... and that they sold the business to Sue and Jason Shim, "who have mastered most of their recipes."
This past weekend, we heard from John C. Di Bella Jr., who had just come across the post. He said he was happy to see the positive comments about his family's market... he also shared some memories and history...
I worked for my dad and uncle Carmine during my teen years. I, too, have so many great memories. I learned how to speak Sicilian. I learned how to bone a prosciutto, make the famous stuffed peppers, stuffed artichokes, stuffed mushrooms and all the other recipes that I still know to this day.
I remember the room in the back of the store, which was filled with shelves with cheeses. We also had our own Olive Oil DiBella Bros brand, which was packed in the basement. I vividly recall the way they dressed with a tie and deli jacket. There was a warm and family feeling especially around the holidays.
The original Di Bella Food store was located at 273 Bleeker St. and was run and operated by the eldest brother Ben and youngest brother Mike while John and Carmine served in the U.S. Military. When they returned, John and Benny and Mike moved to 215 First Avenue and 13th Street. Carmine purchased his own deli in Corona, Queens, which was owned and operated by the former Gov. Mario Cuomo's parents. He later joined John on 13th Street.
The most important thing I learned from my dad and uncles were the strong work ethic which enabled me to go forward and become a successful businessman myself.
I am attaching a picture that I have of the store, which was taken sometime in the 1940s. You can see the old Di Bella sign and the Palermo Bakery, which made the best Italian bread in the world.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Di Bella Bros. ghost signage uncovered on East 13th Street
Someone has bought the former Olivier Sarkozy, Mary-Kate Olsen 'love nest' on East 10th St.
Built in 1854, 123 E. 10th St. is one of the finer houses in the neighborhood... Of late, the James Renwick-inspired home was known, perhaps dubiously, as the so-called "love nest" (per the Post, natch) for Olivier Sarkozy and girlfriend Mary-Kate Olsen.
But! As we noted back in July, the home was back on the market for just less than $7 million. Property records show that Sarkozy paid $6.25 million for the space. We have no idea if the half-brother of the former French president and Olsen ever actually lived here.
The for sale sign out front was recently removed... and Streeteasy shows that the single-family Anglo-Italianate townhouse was in contract as of early September.
No. 123 was on the market for nearly four years before Sarkozy bought it.
The lone tenant at 338 E. Sixth St.
As Serena Solomon at DNAinfo reports, his landlord "has gutted all of the surrounding units, cut off water and electricity, and flooded the area with construction workers who make a terrible racket."
"It is a nightmare," said Denis, who can only get to his fourth-floor apartment by stepping around an active work zone. "I really feel like Chicken Little with the sky falling in."
He successfully took landlord Nurjahan Ahmed to housing court earlier this year to restore his electricity and water. Ahmed told DNAinfo that she had no choice but to temporarily turn off the services because the circa 1900-building needed repairs.
1010 WINS had a report on this last night as well.
Construction watch: 154 Second Avenue
Just a spot check on the progress at 154 Second Ave., the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel that will house luxury rentals and ground-floor retail between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.
EVG reader Terry Howell provides another update from the building's backside.
"The back view looks pretty much like the front view. Can't see thru the netting for clearer idea of what's inside. Progress is slow but steady."
Still no word on what the concrete deck will be. (Can you technically have a rooftop rager on a party patio?)
Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'
Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants
The walls come tumbling down at 154 Second Avenue
Monday, October 14, 2013
For another look at the early days of CBGB
Marc Campbell, vocalist of the Nails, is none too pleased about the new CBGB biopic... and at Dangerous Minds today, he offers up an antidote.
For a grittier and more honest view of the early days at CBGB, check out Ivan Kral and Amos Poe’s 1976 cinéma vérité, low-budget (but beautifully shot) The Blank Generation. With its post-dubbed sound and chainsaw editing, the movie doesn’t work as a strait-on, conventional documentary but it does capture some important rock and roll history, a time when rock was starting to feel again.
You can head on over to Dangerous Minds to watch the film if you'd like...
[Image via Dangerous Minds]
Reader report: Someone dumped the turtles from the Ninth Street Community Garden into a hole
[At the garden last spring via Bobby Williams]
An EVG Facebook friend shared a WTF story from over at the Ninth Street Community Garden at Avenue C. Last week, someone gathered the garden's turtles ... and dumped them into a hole in the back of the garden. Thankfully, Garden volunteers recovered the turtles. None of the turtles were apparently hurt.
Per our Facebook friend: "So sad that someone would do that ... those turtles are a bit of a main attraction. Hopefully they'll be left alone."
Bharucha and Banksy
Here's more about the additions from the weekend to the Banksy installation on East Seventh Street and Cooper Square ... via the EVG inbox...
Free Cooper Union is pleased to present the repentance of Jamshed Bharucha.
“Cooper Confessional” depicts Cooper Union’s overpaid and visionless President, Jamshed Bharucha, as he confesses his transgression from a historically merit-based full scholarship model, to an expansionist tuition agenda. Hearing Bharucha’s lament is Peter Cooper, who founded the Cooper Union in 1859 and established the mission of the institution as necessarily providing free education to all admitted students while educating against the evils of debt.
This collaborative work is flanked by an image of the infamous Jamshed the Giant, who insists that must students PAY for years of financial mismanagement and administrative bloat at the Cooper Union, along with the title of the Free Cooper Union Player’s latest drama, Free Cooper: The Musical, which is the sequel to the group's debut hit The Politics of Destruction.
As Banksy notes, “there's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place,” and with that in mind, and with many more plans for direct action, we continue to fight against tuition at Cooper Union and the rising tide of student debt.
Oaxaca Taqueria opening a new location on East Seventh Street
Based on the new signage here along East Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue... it appears that the fifth NYC location of Oaxaca Taqueria is coming soon...
Oaxaca Taqueria expanded from Brooklyn into the East Village and Extra Place in December 2010... This space was previously home to the Butter Lane cupcakes classroom.
...and the taco revolution continues in the East Village... with the recent arrivals of Tacos Moreles on East Ninth Street... Sembrado’s Tacos al Pastor on East 13th Street ... Taqueria Diana on Second Avenue ... El Diablito Taqueria on East Third Street... and the incoming Otto's Tacos on Second Avenue...
[Updated] Activity at the dormant Pride & Joy BBQ
On Saturday, we saw workers hauling out trash and what not from the dormant Pride and Joy BBQ entrance on East Second Street... As we first reported last November, celebrity BBQ chef Myron Mixon was going to open a restaurant/saloon in the former Lucky Cheng's space. (Read that post here.)
However, a lawsuit between Mixon and his partners threw the opening in doubt.
So, does the sight of workers dumping trash from inside the restaurant mean that the BBQ concept is dead?
We asked Hayne Suthon, who owns (and lives) in the building on First Avenue and operates Lucky Cheng's, now on West 52nd Street, what was happening with the restaurant.
"[The remaining partners] are moving forward without Mixon to open soon," she said.
Perhaps they've paid the ConEd bill too.
Updated 1:30 p.m.
DNAinfo is reporting this afternoon that Pride and Joy BBQ just received a liquor license to open a "220-seat 'draft house' and 'honky-tonk' featuring three bars and about 20 TV screens.
During the SLA hearing last Tuesday, lawyer Ravi Ivan Sharma argued for, and received, a 4 a.m. closing time for the BBQ space. Last December, CB3 approved the license but with a midnight closing time during the week and 2 a.m. on weekends.
"That's not what the applicant bargained for when they took on a very expensive lease," Sharma said.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Myron Mixon's Pride & Joy BBQ now in the works for the former Lucky Cheng's space
Fire reported at incoming Pride and Joy BBQ on East Second Street
Myron Mixon lawsuit puts opening of Pride and Joy BBQ in question at former Lucky Cheng's space
More about the timing of the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone
[Click image to enlarge]
On Friday, CB3 member Chad Marlow learned that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone. (Read the background about all this here.)
Here's an update. According to StreetsBlog, there were 74 applications for slow zones citywide. In total, the DOT selected 15 of the zones to be rolled out over the course of the next three years. Turns out the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone is in the highest priority group, and is set for implementation next year. Other neighborhoods receiving a slow zone next year are Norwood in the Bronx, Clinton Hill/Bedford Stuyvesant and Brownsville in Brooklyn, and Jackson Heights, Queens.
The DOT says the applications were evaluated on criteria including crash history, community support, and proximity of schools and senior or daycare centers, as StreetsBlog reported. Slow Zones will include signage, a 20-mph speed limit and speed humps.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Call for an East Village 'slow zone' (34 comments)
Lighting store coming to East 7th Street
The D.L. Cerney boutique closed up after 28 years last November ... a sign in the window at 13 E. Seventh St. point to the new business coming soon... your neighborhood lighting store...
The sign shows that the store will sell light bulbs and customized lamp and light fixtures... and offer lamp repair services... Which reminds me that I actually don't own a lamp.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Someone apparently took a car door off the Banksy mobile on Ludlow Street
[Image via Banksyny]
This Banksy mobile showed up on Ludlow Street on Wednesday... part of the artist's month-long NYC street residency... as perhaps expected... someone took a piece of the installation (the back door on the driver's side) ... as this photo via Justin McWilliams of the East Village shows...
Banksy's piece on East Seventh Street was quickly altered ...and his some of his other work has been defaced as well this month...
Week in Grieview
[Photo by Derek Berg]
New dorm a go for Cooper Square (Tuesday)
City OKs East Village Slow Zone (Friday)
About that "nasty" kiddie pool on the roof (Tuesday)
Registered sex offender arrested for attempted kidnapping on Avenue B (Wednesday)
Mudspot Café coming to the First Park kiosk (Thursday)
New vegan brunch at The Bhakti Center (Thursday)
Workers cut down trees at Astor Place subway plaza (Wednesday)
Out and About with Sally Young (Wednesday)
The Living Room closes after Oct. 26 (Wednesday)
Duane Reade is expanding on Avenue B (Monday)
Part of St. Mark's Place is now Sara Curry Way (Monday)
The never-ending saga of the illegal rooftop additions at 515 E. Fifth St. (Wednesday)
There's a new coffee shop on East Fifth Street (Monday)
A look at "Mildred Fierce" (Thursday)
People liked this cat painting (Tuesday)
Retail space at 205 Avenue A hits the market (Wednesday)
Plans for new bar-club at 50 Avenue B on hold for the moment (Wednesday)
The future of East Houston and Ridge (Monday)
Not a lot of people like the CBGB movie (Tuesday)
A look at the incoming Root & Bone on East Third Street (Monday)
Extending the Second Avenue bike lane (Tuesday)
One dead Christmas tree (Wednesday)
Updated: Someone already defaced Banksy's East Village street installation
[peter radley]
Banksy unveiled his latest NYC street installation yesterday on East Seventh Street and Cooper Square... And as this photo by @svvalera shows, someone has already defaced his "Concrete Confessional."
This marks the third of his pieces to be defaced during his month-long residency in NYC.
Updated 12:24
More about this via Angus Johnston at Student Activism:
Sometime last night or this morning, the priest in the painting was given a bushy white spray-paint beard which rendered him a dead ringer for Peter Cooper, the founder of the Cooper Union. At the same time, the cross that adorned his neck was replaced with a giant Flavor Flav style clock with a red face and hands set just prior to midnight, the symbol of the Free Cooper Union activist movement.
And there's apparently another confessional showing someone who looks like Cooper Union President Jamshed Baruscha... with a Free Cooper Union tag...
[Photo by @KOKO820]
[Photo by @bobcooley]
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