Friday, April 25, 2014

RIP Derek Lloyd


[Image via PS 122]

Derek Lloyd, a popular figure in the local theater community, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack. He was 45.

Officials at PS 122, where he worked as director of production, released the following statement last evening:

There are those in theater who are content to make things possible. Derek made them better.

Thousands of artists, and tens of thousands of audience – whether they knew it or not – benefited from the passion, love and care with which he approached getting live performance on stage. This was matched only by the passion for his wife, Mary Rose-Lloyd, his family, his cats, his cooking and the Mets.

He was a mentor and teacher to hundreds of young technicians and artists, a designer, a sparkie wrench head techie of the highest order. Derek raised the bar of what PS122 could do for its artists, and enabled them to create stronger, better work. He pushed us all to be better and to do better. With little equipment and very modest infrastructure he made PS122 somewhere people wanted to work, wanted to create. He said yes to impossible dreams.

Performance Space 122′s current transformative renovation would quite simply not be happening without him. Derek spent the last seven years dreaming of what could be in these new spaces, and was a passionate advocate for the possibilities they offered.

Derek was a true, loyal friend to many. A big, gruff hugger who unashamedly teared up when he saw injustice. Not all will understand this but as we say – he had a heart as big as Phar Lap’s.

We will miss him, and are poorer for his loss.

Here is his official bio at PS 122's website:

Derek is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. After 10 years of working with some of Australia’s best experimental theater and dance companies he began touring Australia, China and New York. Shortly after re-locating to the US, he took a position as a technician at Performance Space 122 in 2000, eventually becoming its Director of Production ... Derek has had the great honor of working with the exciting and challenging artists that PS 122 presents, and looks forward to taking PS 122 into the future.

Memorial services are pending. However, there is an informal gathering of friends Sunday from 7:30 pm on. Friends are meeting at Dixon Place for the announcement of the Tom Murrin Performance Award (a friend and colleague to Derek) and proceed from there up First Avenue to the East Village. Follow Little PS’er Nyc on Facebook or @PS122 on Twitter to meet en route.

The Marshal seizes South Brooklyn Pizza; space is now for rent



The landlord has taken possession of the South Brooklyn Pizza space at 122 First Ave. Closing/moving signs arrived here on Tuesday. The Marshal's notice is dated yesterday.

The space has been cleared out ...



... and is now for rent.



Despite signs indicating a move to another East Village storefront, an employee told EVG reader MP that they didn't have a new space.

In August 2012, the company behind South Brooklyn Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Surprise! Surprise! closes Sunday: 'So sorry we have to go'


[Photo by Cheryl Pyle via Facebook]

The end is nearly here for Surprise! Surprise! The housewares store that has anchored the northeast corner of Third Avenue and East 12th Street for more than 25 years has been rent hiked out of here, as we first reported in February.

The store closes after Sunday...



Everything is 50 percent off... with the promise of deeper discounts this weekend...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Surprise! Surprise! will close at the end of April (42 comments)

A quick look inside the former 7A



There has been activity of late at the former 7A space on Avenue A and East Seventh Street … where workers are renovating the interior for a new restaurant-bar-cafe … various EVG tipsters told us that the place will be the second outpost of restauranteur Paul Salmon's Miss Lily's along with a Melvin's Juice Box.

A rep told Eater last month that the new place will "pay homage to the cafe history of 7A," but it will also have "elements of Melvin's Juice Box and Miss Lily's."



EVG regular Dave on 7th sent along the above photo showing how the interior is shaping up.

7A closed after nearly 30 years on Jan. 26.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Some part of 7A will stay in the new 7A's name

Details emerge about what's next for former the 7A, Odessa Cafe & Bar spaces

[Updated] Reader report: 7A will close at the end of the month

Renovations underway at former 7A space

[Updated] Rumors: 7A space will become a 2nd outpost of Miss Lily's and Melvin's Juice Box

The Wechsler's space is for rent on First Avenue



There will soon be some high-profile vacancies on the east side of First Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... with the upcoming closures of South Brooklyn Pizza (now closed) and Kim's ...

Now a tipster tells us that the Wechsler's Currywurst & Bratwurst space at 120 First Ave. is for sale ...

Description
MOTIVATED SELLER!
FULLY TURNKEY 30 SEAT RESTAURANT iN PRIME EAST VILLAGE
120 First Avenue (7th Street & St. Marks)
Ground Floor: approx. 850 Sq Ft with a full basement.
Rent: $9,004.07 per month
Key Money:Upon Request Lease:
Approximately 6 years remaining on the Lease.
Vented Full Kitchen, Walk in box, storage and office. Current business operates with a Wine & Beer License and has 30 seats. Backyard not currently being used but is part of the Tenant's Lease.

Here is a PDF of the listing here via Bond.

Wechsler's opened in April 2009.

The Sunburnt Cow closes for good after this weekend



As previously noted, The Sunburnt Cow closes this weekend after 11 years at 137 Avenue C near East Ninth Street.

Owner Heathe St Clair recently posted this message to the Sunburnt Cow Facebook page:

It is very sad for me to say The Cow is closing!
It took 2 years and 5 attempts in different locations around NYC to open. The weekend after we did finally open was the blackout of 2003. We made the best of it with candles an outside BBQ, local musicians played and of course we had ice cold beer. Looking back we really couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the neighborhood.

The Cow has been a gigantic part of my life and a dream come true. She has taught me so may things, introduced me to more people than I can remember. She's been integral in so many coming together and finding love, some lasting, some fleeting but love none the less.

She played music that made you dance in a time the law said "NO" Somehow we got away with it when so many got caught. We brunched better than any and probably still do! I remember back then so many of my restaurant friends asking me how I thought I was going to make money from the "Endless Brunch". Now it seems every restaurant in NYC is offering bottomless brunch. I have to shout out Stingy Lulu's who I stole the idea from.

And there will be various DJs and what not this weekend…



The city approved a gut renovation and additional floor for the building here at No. 137 last month. (Good luck tossing another floor atop here. Several readers have noted that the building leans a bit… )

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

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

Today in TV shoots around the neighborhood

First up! "Unforgettable," a CBS crime drama about something or another, filming on East Seventh Street and probably elsewhere…



Then! A new series called "Flesh and Bone" is filming where it says on the flyer …



And the plot painfully mirrors EVG's early days:

Claire, a talented but emotionally troubled dancer, joins a company in New York City, and soon finds herself immersed in the tough and often cutthroat world of professional ballet.

Except for the parts involving "Claire" and "talented" and "emotionally" and "dancer" and "professional" and "ballet."

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Cooped up


[Photo by Dave on 7th]

We've been meaning to note that the statue of Peter Cooper in Cooper Square was boarded up this past week for the Astor Place reconstruction project … So, noted!

BoweryBoogie noted this today as well … and BB also has a shot of the statue circa 1900.

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

An updated look at the all-new Astor Place

New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units

[EVG file photo via Google]

Developers pre-filed plans yesterday for the two new retail-residential buildings that will take up a good chunk of East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

As previously reported, Gary Barnett of Extell Development purchased eight parcels — consisting of 222 Avenue A and 504 - 530 E. 14th St. (excluding No. 520) — in a 99-year lease worth $35.14 million. The renderings that accompanied the retail listings for the space look like …


[500 E. 14th St.]

... and this...


[524 E. 14th St.]

We have not seen the final renderings just yet. Paperwork on file with the DOB lists Richard J. Metsky of Beyer Blinder Belle as the architect of record. (The firm's many high-profile projects include the restoration of the Beacon Theater, City Hall and the Chrysler Building, among others.)

Now here are details via the DOB about No. 500:

• 7 stories with 106 dwelling units. In total, the proposed building is 138,388 square feet — 100,349 for residential; 20,039 for retail.

And here are details about No. 538:

• 7 stories with 44 dwelling units. In total, the proposed building is 50,509 square feet — 40,397 for residential; 10,112 for retail.

So that's 150 residential units total in nearly 189,000 square feet of space. For comparison's sake … Douglas Steiner's new residential building waiting for city approval at the former Mary Help of Christians lot boasts 158 apartments in 118,321 square feet. The Steiner project will also contain 22 affordable units.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

East 14th Street corridor now nearly business-free ahead of new development

Here is the future of East 14th Street and Avenue A: 7 stories of residential and retail

City OKs permits to demolish the empty storefronts along this section of East 14th Street

Here is the next new section of East 14th Street

Sidewalk bridge arrives for start of demolition on East 14th Street; last chance for Blarney Cove sign

Miracle on St. Mark's! Sidewalk bridge comes down 6-plus years later!



What a scene late yesterday afternoon on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue … where workers quickly removed the 6-plus-year-old sidewalk bridge from the south side of the street.

According to the DOB, the city issued the permit for the sidewalk bridge in February 2008. As far as anyone can recall, no work had ever been done on the buildings at 32 or 34 St. Mark's Place.



Among other things, the removal of the sidewalk bridge gives "The Doorshitter" of St. Mark's Place less cover … if he ever decided to return…

Oh, and THAT'S what the front of 2 Bros. looks like…

Previously on EV Grieve:
St. Mark's sidewalk shed celebrates fourth anniversary

Happy 5th Birthday to the sidewalk shed of St. Mark's Place!

Virage is now Bar Virage, which reopened last night



The retooled Virage reopened last night at Second Avenue and East Seventh Street. As you can see the place is now called Bar Virage… to match the name, the space now has a more bar-centric feel — the 20-plus-seat bar is now in the middle of the former dining room …


[Photo from late yesterday afternoon]

And there are changes on Virage's menu as well. While several of the restaurant's Middle-Eastern options (hummus, chicken kebab, etc.) remain, there are expanded offerings … such as lamb sliders with goat cheese, arugula and tomato served alongside fries ($14) and Medi tacos with homemade laffa bread and featuring chicken shawarma, shrimp or skirt steak ($12). The new menus are not online just yet.

The 14-year-old Virage closed for renovations on March 24, as we first reported.

City Council approves smaller sidewalk cafe for The Fourth on 4th Avenue

As previously reported, several nearby residents had concerns about a proposal for a sidewalk cafe with 13 tables and 26 chairs at The Fourth, the ground-floor restaurant located in the Hyatt Union Square.

Community Board 2 issued a denial for the cafe back on March 20, even after reps for The Fourth agreed to 12 tables and 24 seats. Residents wanted the number of tables here reduced to six (with 12 seats) to better fit the space on Fourth Avenue at East 13th Street.

Flashback to our post:

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.

City Council weighed in on this yesterday ... and the residents were able to get the smaller 12-seat cafe, per their wishes.

"I'm still skeptical as to how they might implement it to be greedy with space," said one resident, who noted that District 2 Councilmember Rosie Mendez was "a helpful mechanism to effect this change."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Concern over a proposed sidewalk cafe for The Fourth on 4th Avenue (20 comments)

No hotel but 6 condos for dormant NoHo building



There's new condo life for that concrete and cinderblock tower on Great Jones and Lafayette. Once conceived as a hotel back in the heady years of 2007-2009, the building has sat dormant for years … while changing ownership and what not.

The Commercial Observer had an update yesterday on 22 Bond Street aka 25 Great Jones Street, noting that developers are transitioning the unfinished building into six condo units.

Here's a look at a rendering…



Find more history of this project at Curbed.

Speaking of history, here's what Great Jones and Lafayette looked like in 1935


Previously on EV Grieve:
Your chance to buy a boutique hotel on Great Jones

At Biomed Drugs & Surgical Supply Co., closing soon on 3rd Avenue

As Biomed Drugs & Surgical Supply Co. continues its going-out-of-business sale at 50 Third Ave. near East 10th Street, Jeremiah Moss pays a visit to the store.

Biomed was one of a dying breed of surgical supply shops, the place to go if you needed a bedpan or a sling or some rubber catheter tubing, a knee brace, a sitz bath, crutches, or a wheelchair.

They still have an impressive selection of podiatry products, including bunion regulators and hammer toe cushions.

High rents did the store in, the cashier told Jeremiah. And what might be next? The cashier figures "a chain, a restaurant or a bar — they're the only ones that can afford the rent."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Biomed Drugs & Surgical Supply Co. closing on 3rd Avenue

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Bar Veloce hostage crisis from 2002 is dramatized for TV tonight


[June 2002 via the New York Post]

In June 2002, an unemployed Brooklyn barber named Steven Johnson armed with three pistols, a 30-inch sword and kerosene held 40 patrons hostage at Bar Veloce on Second Avenue. (Read the account of this at the Times right here.) Three people were shot in total.

And this ugly rampage gets a documentary-style re-creation on the Investigation Discovery network tonight at 10. (Channel 23 on Time Warner cable.) Here's the description for this episode of "House of Horrors: Kidnapped" titled "A Madman Walks Into a Bar" —

When a crazed gunman storms into an East Village bar, Ann-Margret Gidley and her friends scramble for a way to escape. Trapped in a back room with no way out, Ann-Margret must summon a strength she didn’t know she had to take down the shooter.



In March 2013, a judge sentenced Johnson to 240 years in prison. In closing, Johnson reportedly told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel FitzGerald, "I'd just like to say, fuck you and suck my dick."

Tonight's sunset



Photo by Bobby Williams

More (TV) crime drama in Tompkins Square Park today



Crews were out early this morning setting up shots for NBC's "The Blacklist" ...



... and a little later, there was some fake FBI action as well as star James Spader (seated in hat and glasses)...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

"The Blacklist" shut down part of the Park last Wednesday as well ... followed by the "Law and Order: SVU" shoot in the Park on Friday. (Plus that Richard Gere film has been doing scenes in the Park...)

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.



By James Maher
Name: Bill Gerstel
Occupation: Musician
Location: Two Boots Pizza, 3rd Street and Avenue A.
Time: 12:10 pm on Saturday, April 19.

Happy Record Store Day. I got too much. I went to Kim’s and Other Music. I got my fun. I got my one obscure find. Everybody’s looking at all the new releases, the new special releases, of which there are some good ones, but I found this Al Kooper-produced band called Appaloosa that I’ve never heard of. That’s Record Store Day. Also, I’ve been reading the history of Stax Records, so I got Otis Redding’s first album and I got an Elvis Presley recording at Stax.

I grew up in California and I moved here in 1980. I was playing music in California. Van Halen and the Knack were real big then, and Television and the Talking Heads were here, so moving just seemed like a no brainer. I had to be here. I’m a drummer.

When I first arrived, I lived near Christopher Street in the West Village for a bit and then I lived on Gansevoort Street, which was just like meat trucks and hookers and transvestites turning tricks in the middle of the night. I got my first place in the East Village in 1986. I lived on 1st Avenue above Gringer Appliances, which is still there. I think that will always be there because they own the whole building. The owner’s not trying to gouge anybody. He’s not a great landlord but he’s not a horrible landlord either. So I stayed there and I was super of the building for awhile, which meant I just swept floors and hung out for the oil delivery. I really didn’t have to do much. Then we moved to this block in 1997.

I used to have a day job working for a music company putting out a cassette label. I was sort of marketing, promotion, radio distribution and everything. It was very small and for years it was just cassettes. But I haven’t had a day job in 20 years.

I was playing music all over the place. In the East Village, I played at A7, which is now Niagara. It was just a dirty punk club and if they didn’t like you they would sit on the stage. I played Brownies and I was in the band 3 Teens Kill 4 for several years, so we played at the Pyramid Club a lot and did a little touring.

I now play with Emily Duff [The Emily Duff Band]. It’s sort of like Americana, Bluesy, R&B stuff — great songs. I’m also in a cover band in New Jersey and that’s how I make money, because everybody wants to just hear a jukebox; nobody wants to pay for live music. I did a lot of Irish music for years and now I do classic rock covers — Bowie, the Rolling Stones. It’s more fun playing originals, but I don’t mind playing covers.

One of my favorite nights was playing at the Continental … and Johnny Thunders was headlining. We were opening for Johnny. It was a cold, snowy night and so he had a big overcoat on. He was leaving at the end of the night and somebody in the backroom was like, ‘Johnny, Johnny!’ I think they were going to pay him or whatever it was. He was all nervous and running out, and he stopped abruptly and two frozen chickens fell out of his trench coat that he was stealing from the kitchen. He passed on getting paid and just left.

The venues are disappearing in the city but there are a lot in Brooklyn. It’s really hard in the East Village now cause the demographic is changing. It’s crazy. When I first came here, everybody was going to the West Village. I would work over on Bleecker Street and everybody would go there looking for Mary Travers and Bob Dylan, and now everybody comes over here looking for Johnny Thunders. It’s just the lifecycle. It’s inevitable and with rents going up and now property taxes have gone up astronomically. I’m a rocker and I play music, but I’m also a homeowner, so I notice all of that as I grow older. Now we’re just part of the city.

There are things that I don’t miss. I don’t miss the danger of it. I wish it was a little more edgy, but I got mugged a couple times and I’m glad I’m not worrying about that anymore, and I don’t have to step over junkies and my son doesn’t have to step over junkies. Although he did see junkies when he was 6 years old, going, ‘What? How’s that guy doing that?’ It was a great place to have a kid because the parks were nearby and there were lots of kids and lots of people like me around. There were a lot of us that didn’t leave. You can take them to museums or to hear music. He’s seen stuff that he’ll never see anywhere else. My son has got a gig a two. He’s a guitarist and not a drummer, fortunately, so we can play together.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Former Christodora House gym and (fabled) pool for sale



For years now there has been talk of doing something with the derelict community space in the Christodora House on Avenue B.

There were plans 10 years ago to turn the space into residential units, but the Christodora House board reportedly eventually withdrew the application to receive a zoning variance. (The pool, gym and other adjacent rooms are zoned for community use.)

In any event, the gym and pool area arrived for sale yesterday at Massey Knakal. Here is the listing:

Located on the northeast corner of Avenue B and East 9th Street, the subject property consists of 2 community facility condominium units located on the ground floor and lower level of 143 Avenue B a/k/a the Christodora House. The ground floor unit was a former gymnasium with ceiling heights of approximately 22'. There is a small outdoor terrace to the north and two doors on East 9th Street that have been boarded up. Both doors could be reopened and collectively serve as an exclusive entrance for the two units. The lower level is a former pool and could either be put to use or filled in for an alternative use. The two units have a 501C filing status (Not-for-profit) and are therefore restricted to community facility use only. The building sits directly across from Tompkins Square Park and adjacent to the former Public School 64 which closed a number of years ago and is currently being converted into a mixed-purpose building including dormitories for the Joffrey Ballet School and Cooper Union.

Price: $2.5 million.

For starters, the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center is NOT "currently being converted into a mixed-purpose building." That is developer Gregg Singer's wish. The city has yet to approve any of those plans.

As for the gym and pool…

Here is the pool as it looked in 1928 … via the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.


… and here are photos that we happened to have of the pool and gym taken much more recently…







Scoopy at The Villager got a look at pool back in 2008. Here's part of his description: "It was 8 feet deep at one end and sloped up from the center to a shallow depth at the other end. From the looks of it, it hadn’t been used for 50 years."

South Brooklyn Pizza is closing … and moving



EVG reader MP spotted this sign last night at South Brooklyn Pizza … apparently the pizzeria, with four locations in Brooklyn, is closing here at the end of this week … and moving to an undisclosed new space.

There isn't any mention yet on South Brooklyn's Facebook page about this new East Village location. (An employee told MP that they were still looking for space.)

Shortly after opening at 122 First Ave. between East Seventh Street and East Eighth Street in April 2010, South Brooklyn Pizza began expanding into the space next door formerly occupied by Ruben's Empanadas. There was a legal battle over this move, which Jeremiah Moss covered here. (It was never easy for South Brooklyn. There was also opposition to the pizzeria's liquor license. And what became of those "Fondle Parties"?)

The expanded dining room opened in August 2012.

Also in August 2012, the company behind South Brooklyn Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In any event, this will be a lonely stretch of First Avenue … next-door neighbor Kim's is also closing in the months ahead.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Opposition to South Brooklyn Pizza's liquor license