Memorial for Spike in Tompkins Square Park

Lisa Julian (aka Spike or Lucretia) died after an SUV struck her on Third Avenue on March 27 …

Today, her friends created a memorial for her where she was likely best known — Tompkins Square Park…



Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously

2 vendors added to the Tompkins Square Greenmarket starting tomorrow

[File photo of Bread Alone taken at Union Square]

Via the EVG inbox...

Two farms added to the Tompkins Square Park Greenmarket lineup for this Sunday, April 6 — one returning, one new!

• B&Y Farms of Tioga County, N.Y. returns to the market with their Animal Welfare Approved pork, lamb, poultry and eggs, in addition to their yarn, fleeces and pickles.

• Bread Alone of Ulster County, N.Y. also joins the market, bringing their mostly certified organic breads and pastries.

The Bowery Workout

An EVG reader shared this photo and report from today on the Bowery between East Third Street and East Fourth Street…

"A group of people dressed in camouflage fatigues (mostly men) walking in a group led by a huge American flag ... then they all dropped to the ground and started lifting their backpacks and doing sit-ups(?) as someone counted 50 reps…"

Zoltar can see clearly now, the tags are gone

Last Saturday!



This Saturday!



It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

H/T Johnny Nash

That late 1970s show

[St.Mark's Place 1979]

Alex at Flaming Pablum uncovered a cache of photos from Patrick Cummins, a Canadian archivist. Of particular interest is his set of 250-plus photos on Flickr dubbed "NYC 78-83."

Let's quote Alex's post on the photos:

Everyone talks about how “gritty” New York City used to be, and it’s almost become this quaint little descriptor that people blithely toss around, but Cummins’ photographs hit you like a sooty, graffiti-slathered stone. His remarkably composed black and white shots of various city spaces can be chilling and stark, revealing a great city in decline. Suddenly, your eye fixes on some random architectural flourish or landmark, and you recognize the location. More than a few of these pictures had me positively gasping.

Here's a sampling of the photos from around these parts (his photos span from Harlem to Coney Island) …


[Looking east on Union Square from 1979]


[Bleecker at the Bowery, undated]


[Crosby and Bleecker 1978]

Jeremiah posted a selection of Cummins' photos on Thursday at Vanishing New York.

Find this set and a lot more at Cummins' Flickr account.

'Shoot' to thrill

Please welcome The Spits with "Don't Shoot" from 2003.

The Spits re-released their rarities compilation, "Kill the Cool," a few weeks ago.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[A sign of spring in Tompkins Square Park...]

Author Cari Luna on the squatters of the East Village (Jacobin via The Lo-Down)

A look at the possible development for the former Billy’s Antiques space on East Houston (BoweryBoogie)

Yet another push for Beastie Boys Square on the LES (DNAinfo)

A look inside the former Domino Sugar Factory (Curbed)

What tickets for the rides at Coney Island looked like 100 years ago (Amusing the Zillion)

Details about a memorial to honor Rene Ricard (Hotel Chelsea Blog)

Rough Trade NYC is hosting an interactive LCD Soundsystem gallery (East Village Radio)

$6 million in upgrades at the "dirty and dangerous" Aqueduct Racetrack (The Wall Street Journal)

And the Times has a feature on Jim Jarmusch:

Though he misses the wildness of those days (in the SoHo of the late ’70s, “I looked out my window at about 3:30 a.m., and I saw a man walking a llama down Prince Street”), “I’m not nostalgic,” he said. “Because New York’s only about change and conning everybody out of whatever they have. That’s just what New York is.”

---

... and via the EVG inbox... the Ruff Club at 34 Avenue A is hosting fundraiser this Sunday to benefit Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue ...

So what's the deal with 'Master Softee?'

Our friend Christine Champagne spotted this yesterday on East 14th Street and First Avenue. So when did Mister Softee become Master Softee?



Or is this just a rogue operation?

--

Rejected headlines: Master and Serve It

Watch this 10-minute documentary on the amazing street photographer Flo Fox

A friend introduced us to the work of acclaimed photographer Flo Fox several years ago. Her life and work make for a remarkable story... and Brooklyn-based filmmaker Riley Hooper has captured Fox in a 10-minute short titled "Flo: Portrait of a Street Photographer."

Here's the film's description:

This 10-minute documentary explores the life and work of photographer Flo Fox, who, despite blindness, multiple sclerosis, and lung cancer, continues to shoot the streets of New York City. No longer able to hold a camera, she instructs her aides to take photos for her. She’s an incredible woman with a feisty spirit, sharp wit, and dirty sense of humor.

We asked Hooper a few questions about the project.

How did you first learn about Flo?

I met Flo in 2011 as she was preparing a solo photo show at Gallery 307 in New York City (now the Carter Burden Gallery), where my friend was working. The gallery represents artists over the age of 60. I was immediately drawn to her photography. Her witty captions especially grabbed my attention. I think she and I have a similar sense of humor

What are your thoughts about Flo after having the chance to spend so much time with her?

There's obviously a lot of wisdom and inspiration to be gleaned from this story. On a personal level, it's sobering to think that Flo bought her first camera when she was about the same age as I am — and that four years later she would be diagnosed with MS. Yet it's inspiring to see that her positive outlook and intense passion for her work has allowed her to persevere. It's a motivating reminder to never take anything for granted in my life, or make excuses in pursuing my filmmaking. Those are, of course, cliched maxims. Yet they're ones I now resonate with on a deeper level, and I have Flo to thank for that.

Do you think they'll be more to Flo's legacy than just her incredible body of work?

Oh, certainly! I hope that people remember Flo not only for her photography but also for her incredible drive and positivity. She's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Hooper recently released the film.

You may watch it right here.

New York Sports Club says hello on Avenue A

As we first reported last April 29, New York Sports Club is opening a gym above Gracefully at 28 Avenue A.

And yesterday, a banner advertising the new gym went up on the scaffolding, as the above photo by EVG reader Jon shows. There is also a website now for this location with more details:

Avenue A & 3rd Street club opens fall 2014
We are pleased to announce the opening of our new Avenue A & 3rd Street club this fall. This 20,000-square-foot fitness gem will feature four floors loaded with brand new state-of-the art equipment and staffed with a team of the finest fitness professionals ready to help you get in the best shape of your life. Features will include a UXF® Training Zone, a cycling studio, a group exercise studio, and all of the first-class amenities that have made us a fitness leader for 39 years strong:

• State-of-the-art cardio equipment with personal interactive TVs
• Spacious free weight area featuring tons of equipment
• Energizing group exercise classes such as Spinning®, Pilates and more
• UXF Circuit Training
8 Certified personal trainers
• Towel service

We're still hopeful that the the familiar Burger-Klein façade remains on the renovated building. The furniture seller occupied the building as early as 1939. Read more about the history of the Burger-Klein building at Off the Grid.

This will be the second major gym to open in the East Village this year. There's also the Crunch coming the to Bowery. Or you can just do the Citi Bike stationary workout for free!

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMOR: New York Health & Racquet Club taking over the space above Gracefully on Avenue A (24 comments)

New York Sports Club in the works for Avenue A

Sidewalk bridge and scaffolding arrive ahead of planned New York Sports Club on Avenue A

If you don't like data, then move back to ... Washington, D.C.?

Oh, maybe you already saw this at Curbed on Wednesday... when they reported on the data that White Pages-style search engine Spokeo came up with regarding who is moving to NYC.

Here is Spokeo on what numbers they crunched:

Below is the Spokeo Mobile Migration Map, a visual representation of the most common out-of-state mobile numbers found in your selected city. All numbers are standardized to account for population. By identifying the origin of a mobile number and matching it to address records, Spokeo has pinpointed migration and settlement trends throughout the United States. The different colors represent the home states of transplants. Below the map, you’ll find a list of the top 20 U.S. cities from which new residents in [NYC] have relocated.

And here is that map... with New Jersey and Connecticut leading the way...


[Click image to enlarge]

... and for the cities... Washington, D.C.! San Francisco!


[Click image to enlarge]

Reaction on the survey from Virginia K. Smith at Brooklyn Magazine:

I’ve been saying for a long time that all the “GO BACK TO OHIO!!!” venom aimed at faceless gentrifiers is a crock. The real enemies are the hedge fund types or parent-bankrolled transplants from nearby wealthy suburbs, the kind of people who think condos are a perfectly nice place to live...

Report: Not everyone is happy about the pending arrival of Nublu's 2-story new home

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Construction continues at 151 Avenue C, the two-story building that Nublu will relocate to this fall …

And as The Villager reports this week, the 12-year-old music club's move up Avenue C is leaving some residents of neighbor C-Squat unhappy.

C-Squat resident Brett Pants told the weekly paper that he "sees a 'megabar, two stories high,' full of drunks, 'who at closing time will pour onto our streets to fight and piss and make a mess.' Fights outside the 99-cent pizza joint below his window are common."

Said Nublu owner Illhan Ersahin:

The nightlife operator said concern about noise at the soon-to-open location is news to him, and he looked quite perplexed that a quality-of-life complaint might be emanating from C-Squat.

His bar will not be on the lookout for loud students and, in a nod to the pre-gentrifying pioneers, Ersahin eruditely observed that the East Village “has a tradition of cultivating culture…from Jack Kerouac to Talking Heads.” His club, he insisted, is just following that tradition.

[Photo by Brett Pants]

Meanwhile, not from the article … the arrival of Nublu means, unfortunately, that Speakeasy upstairs will be closing in the coming weeks. (We heard early May.) RIP to one of the last great neighborhood bars.

Previously on EV Grieve:
151 Avenue C: "This prime East Village location stands out as a rare opportunity for users, investors and developers"

Nublu moving up Avenue C; restaurant in the works for new space

Condo conversion 1 possibility as East 7th Street building hits market for $10 million

Here's a new listing for 52 E. Seventh St. at Sotheby's:

[T]he five-story building features 20 residential units. All apartments are in very good condition, most have been recently renovated or updated. The property sits mid-block between 2nd and 1st Avenues with close proximity to transportation as well shopping, restaurants, cafes, and all the other conveniences the East Village offers. Great opportunity to own an income producing asset or convert to condominiums.

Of special note, the Artists Ai Wei Wei [sic] and Xu Bing resided in the building separately in the 1990’s.

Price: $10 million.

Last September, there was a listing for a community facility space here via the Massey Knakal site. That listing is no longer active.

How you can celebrate the 100th birthday of William S. Burroughs in the East Village

[Burroughs in 1965 via the Evening Standard/Getty Images]

A monthlong celebration of William S. Burroughs in the East Village features an array of events at the Anthology Film Archive, the Stone and the Poetry Project, among other places.

Artists scheduled to appear to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth include Laurie Anderson, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Lydia Lunch, Bill Laswell, G Thirlwell, Thurston Moore, Anne Waldman, Steve Buscemi, Nick Zedd and John Zorn, among many others.

There are too many events to mention here… so check out the whole lineup at the WSB100 blog.

'Boardwalk Empire' returns to a familiar East Village location

Crews were filming scenes for "Boardwalk Empire" (the fifth and final season) today on East 12th Street… outside a familiar locale for the show — the great John's of 12th Street …







Photos by Bobby Williams

Previous EVG "Boardwalk Empire" coverage is here.

The Sunburnt Cow closes for good at the end of this month

[EVG file photo]

The Sunburnt Cow, the drunk brunch hotspot at 137 Avenue C near East Ninth Street, will close at the end of April.

Here is the message via the Cow's Facebook page:

Following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy we are sadly calling it a night…But let's make it a night to remember!!

Friday 25th, Saturday April 26th and Sunday April 27th.

DJ's all weekend, Come KISS the Cow Goodbye.

Almost exactly one year ago a listing for the place appeared on the Misrahi Realty website.

On March 28, the city OK'd a plan to renovate the entire building.

Per the DOB's all-cap job description: "INTERIOR RENOVATION OF FIVE STORY MIXED USE BUILDING AMENDED CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY WILL BE OBTAINED." The DOB lists Ramy Issac, no stranger to the East Village, as the architect of record.

In March 2013, the DOH temporarily closed the "Endless Brunch" hotspot after finding 56 violation points. Owner Heathe St. Clair "blamed the continuing recovery from Hurricane Sandy for his restaurant's dismal inspection report," according to DNAinfo.

The Moolife Group, owners of the Sunburnt Cow, closed Bondi Road in September 2012 after a six-year run on Rivington Street, as BoweryBoogie reported.

H/T @TonkaNYC

Previously on EV Grieve:
Renovations in store for 137 Avenue C, home to the Sunburnt Cow

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East 4th St. and Ave. B via Michael Sean Edwards]

More about plans for the new-look Astor Place (The Villager)

An update on the cracked columns at the Angel Orensanz Center (The Lo-Down)

Why you've seen large Faberge eggs around town (BoweryBoogie)

Owners of Drop Off Service on Avenue A opening new craft beer bar in Kips Bay (DNAinfo)

Charts: 48 hours in the life of Citi Bike (The Atlantic Cities)

Marketing materials tout "Join the gentrification!" in Brooklyn (AnimalNY)

"Anthology of American Folk Music" from 1952 reissued on vinyl (Boing Boing)

Concern over a proposed sidewalk cafe for The Fourth on 4th Avenue

There is a proposal for a sidewalk cafe at The Fourth, the ground-floor restaurant located in the Hyatt Union Square on Fourth Avenue at East 13th Street.

Community Board 2 heard the proposal for the sidewalk cafe with 13 tables and 26 chairs on March 20. Board members had some concerns about the configuration and size of the tables … as did a few nearby residents.

Some concerned residents shared a letter with us that they also submitted to CB2 as well as Councilmember Rosie Mendez's office.

Said one EVG reader:

Their proposal is laughable and preposterous in many ways. It calls for tiny, tiny tables placed perfectly next to one another on the extremely un-level sidewalk there to feign compliance with city laws. The idea that they will actually ask anyone to spend top-shelf prices to dine in these conditions is absurd.

Now let's quote from this letter, which goes into great detail about the way diners sit. Not to mention shoulders:

They have proposed six sets of (2) 19" wide tables pushed up against the wall and pushed up against each other. If these tables could be placed perfectly against each other, they would take up exactly 3'2" of space. Add to that the required 3' for a service corridor and their plan would take up every fraction of an inch available to them (based on their already inaccurate measurements). In reality, it is unrealistic to think that they could ever keep these tables pushed together.

Anyone who has dined at a restaurant knows that when 2 separate parties of 2 persons sit at adjacent tables, the tables are pushed apart (usually about a foot). The way this plan is written, if they push the tables apart by even a quarter of an inch, they are no longer in compliance with city regulations. If they had any intention of keeping the tables together, there would be no reason to request permission for 2 separate tables side by side. They would have requested only one table. They clearly intend to file the plan one way and then place the tables in a very different way.

So far we have only touched upon the size of the tables themselves and their ability to fit within the plans but let's not forget that people will be sitting at these tables and make their claimed placement of the tables impossible. This plan implies that 2 people could be sitting next to each other at this cafe, dining and enjoying cocktails and take up 38" or less of space.

The average width of a human shoulder is between 18" and 19". Even if you had people willing to sit shoulder to shoulder, touching each other, with the inside party's shoulder pinned against the wall, every time you had 2 people with shoulders that were above average, they would expand into the required 3' service aisle and no longer be in compliance with city regulations.

With this application, they are claiming that their diners will sit shoulder to shoulder while pinned against the wall to be in compliance. Even if diners were willing to sit that way (at a very expensive restaurant), would the restaurant then turn away anyone with above average or particularly large shoulders? Of course they would not and it would not even be legal to do so. Even in the best case scenario, it is clear that this cafe, as proposed, will not comply with city regulations. There is simply not enough room for 2 persons to sit side by side on this sidewalk and be in compliance with the law. What they have proposed is impossible.

And here is the proposed cafe configuration…



Those against the proposed cafe as it is now are suggesting that The Fourth reduce the number of tables to six. For their part part, CB2 denied the license. (Read a PDF of the proceedings here.) We understand that the application will now go before City Council next Thursday.

Said the EVG reader: "The City Council could potentially force changes to the plan ... It should be an interesting lesson in local politics to see how it unfolds."

Remembering Spike

[Photo by Lori Der Hagopian]

Early last Thursday morning, an SUV struck and killed a 47-year-old woman while she was crossing Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place. (To our knowledge, the NYPD didn't charge the driver; the woman was reportedly walking on a green light.)

A little later in the day, the media identified the victim as Lisa Julian. Some people didn't recognize that name, us included. More people knew Lisa as Spike or Lucretia, a longtime regular from Tompkins Square Park and Avenue A.

Here, two of the many people who knew Lisa/Spike/Lucretia share some thoughts...

I called her Lucretia — that's what she told me her name was when I opened The Stand. She was the first to welcome me, and would sit and make me laugh for hours.

Her life was a plight, but somewhere deep inside I believe it was the way she exactly wanted it.

She always told everyone she loved them, sometimes in a state, but she always knew what she was saying. She had a lot of love in her heart, and she will be greatly missed by all. — Lori Der Hagopian

---

After meeting Lucretia only once, each time we saw one another, she always remembered my name ... and in her old school, rock and roll punk style was gracious and curious to know how I was.

Her gaze was eye to eye. Tough and friendly — much like the neighborhood she called home. I was very sad to hear of her passing in such a frightening way. May she RIP. — Emily Rubin

What is happening with the Mono + Mono space?

[Last April 21 via EVG reader kke7st]

An early-morning two-alarm fire last April 21 ripped through 116 E. Fourth St., a single-level commercial building that houses Mono + Mono.

Now, nearly a year later, there hasn't been any sign of life at the restaurant that served Korean fried chicken and was known for playing a collection of upwards of 30,000 classic jazz albums.


[Photo from Tuesday]

An EVG reader who lives next door here between First Avenue and Second Avenue shared this photo (taken two weeks ago) showing the fire-damged roof...



The restaurant hasn't updated its Facebook page since May 7, where they wrote that "We're committed to reopening in a few weeks as your favorite East Village destination for 30,000 jazz albums, Korean fried chicken and soju cocktails. Thanks for your support. We'll be back stronger than ever!"

DOB records show an application on file with the city to "rebuild existing bar after fire damage, new HVAC system." The city disapproved the plan on March 18.

So it appears a reopening is in the works.., but it's just taking forever to actually happen.

Also, a "full vacate" remains in effect for the address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Early-morning fire at 116 E. Fourth St., home of Mono + Mono

(Kind of) An update on Mono + Mono