Photos by Bobby Williams
Friday, April 18, 2014
Hey, it's Record Store Day tomorrow
As the headline says, Hey, it's Record Store Day tomorrow.
Here's a list of the special releases/limited editions that will be available (for a price) at participating venues. (Who's going for the Ray Parker Jr. 30th anniversary "Ghostbusters" theme vinyl?)
Among the local record stores taking part…
Kim's, opens at 8 a.m. — details here
Other Music, opens at 10 a.m. — details here
Turntable Lab, opens at 10 a.m. — details here
And at Academy on East 12th Street …
Academy Records East Village store opening 10am for @recordstoreday ! We have tons of RSD merch as well as a killer selection of used recs!!
— Academy Records NYC (@AcademyRecords) April 17, 2014Find the list of all the local venues here.
As always, we enjoy supporting local record stores year-round…Good Records NYC ... A-1 Records ... Sounds ... Rainbow Music...
That pre-Easter rush
[Photo by William Klayman]
Wow. Here's the line early this afternoon for East Village Meat Market on Second Avenue... where everyone is stocking up for Easter...
The Times featured the shop in the City Room yesterday...
The weeks before Easter are now the market’s busiest time of year, as this vestige of the old community continues to draw customers, many who once lived nearby, or who worshiped at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church. Long departed from the neighborhood, they, or their families, now travel hours to shop for holiday fare they say is difficult to find elsewhere.
The Tompkins Square Greenmarket is open tomorrow (but not Sunday) for the holiday weekend
From the EVG inbox...
The Tompkins Square Greenmarket will be CLOSED Sunday April 20th, and OPEN tomorrow, Saturday April 19th.
As of now, attending farms will be:
• Stannard Farm
• Meredith's Bread
• Rogowski Farm
• Red Jacket Orchards
Food Scrap Collection 8-1
Textile Recycling 8-4
Noted
[Image via NYU Local]
The former home of Bleecker Street Records, forced to relocate after a rent hike to $27,000, will next become a Starbucks. (Grub Street)
Making up for not getting the Bleecker Bob's space, perhaps?
A checkup for the Bendy Tree of Tompkins Square Park
Workers today are tending to the Bendy Tree, the elm next to the the Hare Krishna Tree in the center of Tompkins Square Park ... workers are giving the tree an MRI (???) to check for decay, etc.
Hope that Bendy is OK — it's probably our most favorite tree in the Park.
Hey, you darn kids! Get out of the tree!
[Photo the other day via Bobby Williams]
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition
[Disguises might help. Photo by Derek Berg]
Controversy as Steve Cannon leaves his longtime home at A Gathering of the Tribes (The New York Times)
Mamoun's raises price of their falafel sandwich from $3 to $3.50, Internet reacts (Gothamist)
The Easter rush at the East Village Meat Market (The New York Times)
Checking in on the hawks of Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)
Listen to R. Crumb and The East River String Band in the Soundcheck studio ... segment airs tonight at 9...
A look at "The Real Estate Show Was Then: 1980" (The New York Times)
Permits OK'd for the 7,895th new LES hotel, Ian Schrager's Public Hotel (BoweryBoogie)
Report: Cycling makes city streets safer (The Washington Post)
Long-stalled First Avenue site now has a brand-new rendering
[Image via Google circa Jan. 2013]
The long-dormant site on First Avenue adjacent to your favorite Rite Aid on East Fifth Street is back from the dead… After years of stops and starts and various renderings, plans are now in place for an 8-story development that will look something like…
New York Yimby got the first look at the plans yesterday. Per their report:
Permits indicate the development will span 34,055 square feet, with the bulk of the project dedicated to residential use. 8,456 square feet will be given to ground-floor retail, while the remaining 25,599 square feet will be divided between 27 units. 75 First Avenue will stand 80 feet in total.
NYY points out that the site's developer is Orange Management, and the project's designers are HTO Architects and NO Architecture, who provide this eye-rolly description on their website:
The facade responds to the contradictory fire codes for the building envelope. The east façade can freely open up, maximizing natural daylight. The glass on the north facade is a gradient of glazing apertures, each floor changing the percentage of opening from low to high corresponding to more sought-after views above and more stringent fire ratings below. The roof HVAC bulkheads are clad in a metal lattice framework for a vertical garden, adding desirable lushness and evaporative cooling to the roof deck.
Plans here have evolved through the years with various developers and architects. A rendering from 2007 showed a 14-floor development looking something like... (pre the the 2008 rezoning) ...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Developer: A shorter building in the works now for 75 First Avenue
High-rise for 75 First Avenue back in play
Reader report: AlphaBet Cafe will not reopen
[April 1]
AlphaBet Cafe closed on April 1 … signs on the diner at East 14th Street and Avenue B pointed to a renovation/remodel …
[April 1]
However, yesterday, EVG reader Patrick heard from the building's landlord that AlphaBet Cafe will NOT be returning… the gate was up and workers were inside cleaning out the space. The landlord said that the Cafe owners had been behind in rent … and they voluntarily turned over the keys ahead of an eviction.
The landlord indicated that he did have an interested party in the restaurant… and hoped to have it rented in the coming weeks.
The folks at AlphaBet Cafe seemed to have a tough time last year … the DOH closed them down several times for various infractions …
Previously on EV Grieve:
AlphaBet Cafe is closed for renovations
Maria's Cafe returns for weekend-only business
[Last Saturday]
Maria's Cafe left its longtime corner stand at East Third Street and Avenue C back in January for a new gig in West Harlem.
Last week, some people were surprised to see Maria's back open here for business. Maria said that they're still at the place in Harlem during the week, but they'll be open on Saturdays and Sundays for the foreseeable future.
As a neighborhood tipster has told us last year, several of the small buildings here at the southeast corner of East Third Street and Avenue C will be demolished in the near future to make way for a new residential complex. (There's still nothing on file with the Department of Buildings to indicate any impending demolition.)
Anyway, enjoy Maria's strong coffee and inexpensive breakfast fare while you still can.
Thanks to EVG reader Billy for the tip!
Previously on EV Grieve:
Maria's Cafe is leaving the East Village for West Harlem
Concern for 32 Avenue C
Revisiting Luigi's 3rd Ave. Pizza
[Last Saturday]
Ghost signage for Luigi's 3rd Ave. Pizza recently appeared on the northwest corner of Third Avenue and East 12th Street. Via the magic of Facebook, we found two photos of Luigi's when it was open in the early to mid 1980s…
The photos are by John Fensten, whose daughter Susan Fensten shared them with us.
The corner space is now being fitted for a Funkiberry Premium Frozen Yogurt shop.
Previously on EV Grieve:
DOUBLE ghost signage discovered at 88 3rd Ave.
[Updated] The Eddy, coming soon to East 6th Street
Our menu comes from New York's farmers markets, Long Island fishing boats, country fields and the wondrous meanderings of spirited travelers with passionate palates. We're crushing seafood, roasted meats, crazy good wine and cocktails. We present a wine list broad enough for you to come by and enjoy wine with us every night or you can order something you can't get anywhere else in the world. We're Italian influenced, American executed and entirely New York.
Updated 5-14
The Eddy's Jason Soloway wrote in to say: "I just wanted to let you know that we have had no contact with Time Out, did not write the blurb and it does not represent The Eddy. It appears that Time Out incorrectly pulled this description from another restaurant."
For a more accurate view of the restaurant, visit this post at Tasting Table.
Back to original post...
According to paperwork filed ahead of the December CB3/SLA meeting, Jason Soloway, a partner in the Wallflower on West 12th Street, and Brendan McHale, a former chef at Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar on Second Avenue, are the principles of the new venture.
The address was previously home to the Toucan & the Lion and Mara's Homemade.
Howl! postponed: 'It's sad is what it is'
[Photo from 2013 via Bobby Williams]
This past Sunday, Howl! Festival officials said that the annual gathering in Tompkins Square Park had been indefinitely put on hold.
Howl! officials issued a media alert about the situation yesterday…
HOWL! Arts Inc. regrets to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances HOWL! Festival 2014 originally scheduled for May 30 through June 1 has been postponed. New dates will be announced as soon as available.
For more than a century, the East Village has been home to poets, jazz musicians, Vaudeville and Yiddish theatre, artists, rock stars, performance artists and diverse communities who have added their rich cultural heritage to the mix. Building on this tradition and inspired by long time East Village resident Allen Ginsberg’s epic poem, HOWL! Festival was founded in 2003 to lionize, preserve, and advance the art, history, culture, and counterculture unique to the East Village and Lower East Side.
“We're a small, all-volunteer organization and we’ve successfully produced the Festival in Tompkins Square Park for the last 12 years.” says HOWL! Board member Bob Holman. “This year the Parks Department permit application process was so complicated and difficult that when we had no conclusive answer by the beginning of April for our Festival in May, we knew we'd run out of time. It's sad is what it is: for the community, for families, and for local artists.”
Named the Village Voice’s Best Outdoor Festival 2011, HOWL! Festival is the quintessential community event dedicated to preserving the past and celebrating the contemporary culture of the East Village and Lower East Side. HOWL! Arts Inc. embraces poet Allen Ginsberg’s insightful, iconoclastic, and irreverent legacy to inspire and galvanize new artists and audiences. Presenting poetry, music, dance, theater, fine art, and intersections of popular culture and artistic expression, HOWL! Festival encourages the public to join in the creative process and to experience first hand the value of a creative life, the heritage of social justice, and the flourishing of diverse cultures that are the signatures of this vital community. For additional information please visit howlfestival.com
HOWL! programs include Art Around the Park, Kids Art Around the Park, the HOWL! Out Loud Kids Carnival and stages which present Ballet, Modern Dance, Tap, Latin Expression and more; Theater, Vaudeville, Performance Art, Poetry, Spoken Word, and Music of all genres.
HOWL! Festival is 100% free for and open to all in what the festival proudly dubs a cash-free zone.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Shot of the day
Removing graffiti from the docking station on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue earlier today.
Photo by EVG contributor Derek Berg
Planting the median along East Houston Street
An EVG reader notes that crews are out this morning planting, um, plants and stuff in the East Houston median near Avenue C...
Per the reader: "It's quite an elaborate operation."
The city estimates that the ongoing East Houston Reconstruction Project between the Bowery and the FDR will be complete by December 2015. (Find an update here, PDF)
Previously on EV Grieve:
Today's quiz: How tall will the weeds in the East Houston median grow by the end of summer?
[Updated] Speculating about future development at the Town and Village Synagogue
As we reported last Oct. 1, the Tifereth Israel Town and Village Synagogue on East 14th Street is for sale for possible development.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing about a potential landmark designation here at 334 E. 14th St. this past March 25. (The LPC will accept public comments until 30 days from this date.)
Preservationists and some local residents want to see the 150-year-old building designated by the city as a protected landmark.
For their part, synagogue members downplayed the importance of the building’s architect during the hearing, as The East Villager reported.
"Synagogue members stressed that landmarking would raise costs just as a plan is underway to modify the structure to better serve community needs through a daycare center, disabled access and L.G.B.T.Q. services," according to The East Villager.
Meanwhile, there's speculation among some neighbors about what might be in the works here. According to one neighbor, the Claremont Group will be developing the neighboring building at 332 E. 14th St., which currently houses Metro Bicycles in the retail space. (Public records list the buyer as an LLC with an address that matches the Brusco Group, an afflilate of Westside Management Corp.)
The neighbor's theory is that the new owners of No. 332 will secure the air rights to the synagogue … or, if the back of the synagogue space is not landmarked, the space can be sold to create some kind of L-shaped residential building.
As evidence of what is possible here, the neighbor points to the battle in Chelsea, where local politicians, preservationists and residents have been protesting a proposed 11-story glass tower that cantilevers over the French Evangelical Church on West 16th Street. "The church's air rights were sold to Einhorn Development Group several months ago in an effort to garner funds to refurbish the ailing 1835 house of worship," per Curbed.
[Rendering of West 16th Street via Curbed]
As the neighbor wrote to the LPC, "Please grant landmark designation to BOTH the front and back buildings of the Town & Village Synagogue, in order to avoid desecration of a religious structure similar to what was done to St. Ann's Church on East 12th Street by NYU's awkward attempt to preserve literally 'a piece of it' in front of a 26-story tower."
Updated 1:56 p.m.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation clarified some facts about what’s possible on the site:
As of now, it’s not known whether the synagogue will be landmarked OR what the new owner of the bicycle shop is planning. We do know, however, that the height of any new development on this stretch of East 14th Street will be capped by the present C1-6A zoning rules. Because of this area’s contextual zoning, the height limit is 80 feet, or roughly eight stories, with a street wall maximum of 65 feet, regardless of whether one purchases “air rights” from the synagogue. These limits would make such a purchase almost certainly pointless.
If the main building of the synagogue were landmarked, but its heretofore-unknown “back building” were not, an L-shaped building conceivably could be built around it — up to 80 feet.
There are a number of differences between this situation and that of the French Evangelical Church on West 16th Street, or of the NYU development behind the old St. Ann’s Church on East 12th Street. One is that neither of those churches were designated New York City Landmarks. The other is that the zoning for those sites allowed much larger development than can take place here. If Town & Village were to be landmarked, an adjacent building would not be allowed to cantilever over the synagogue without the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s review and approval.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] East 14th St. synagogue on the market for conversion to residential, commercial use
[Updated] East 14th Street synagogue up for sale considered for landmark designation
199 Second Ave. is for sale — 'bring your architect!'
This 5-story townhouse at 199 Second Ave. between East 12th Street and East 13th Street is now on the market.
Aside from the retail, currently the salon Tease, No. 199 has four "authentic floor-through income producing lofts with soaring ceilings and timeless detail."
Some other details per the listing at Stephen P. Wald Real Estate:
This property offers a tremendous opportunity with great upside and has not been on the market for over 40 plus years.
And!
Current rent rolls are substantially below market value, bring your architect!
And the price: $7.45 million. And save some money for the architect.
Portico restoration begins at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery
The scaffolding went up Monday at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, where workers will be testing and repairing the portico for the next several months.
Here's more via the church's website:
In June of 2012 St. Mark’s won a grant for $135,000 from Partners in Preservation towards the restoration of the historic cast iron Bogardus portico. The portico is the gray “porch” that frames the entrance to St. Mark’s. The portico includes the cast iron frame and pillars and the stone floor.
With the initial grant of $135,000, we have been able to raise some additional funds and plan to raise even more to both restore the floor of the portico and repair the cast iron plinths, pillars and balcony. The image on this page is what they look like now. The stone is worn and chipped, and the iron is rusted and failing in some areas.
In addition, we have received approval from the city of New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to develop an accessibility ramp with rails. That sentence should have been longer because getting this approval was an epic journey, but now that we have it, we have another epic journey ahead.
Our next steps are to raise the money and schedule the construction. You will see some construction this Summer (2014) because we have to spend the PiP winnings this Summer, but if we have not raised enough money to do all the work, you will see construction again until we have a restored and accessible entry to the church. The building will be open and functioning during construction.
Meanwhile, here's how you will need to access the church, as this rather awesome sign explains...
Because we haven't posted anything about the IBM Watson building in like 3 weeks
The April issue of The Real Deal takes a look at how the leasing came together for 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building … if you're interested …
The building still has some 75,000 square feet to lease … not to mention the three retail storefronts, which total roughly 15,500 square feet.
Developer Edward Minskoff "estimated that the last of the office space would be spoken for in about 45 to 50 days. The building is seeing about five or six tenant showings a week, sources said."
Said Minksoff: "There is an old saying that an ugly building that is 100 percent leased is beautiful, but a beautiful building that is 100 percent leased is gorgeous."
And now we're off to brush up on our old sayings…
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