EV Grieve

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

1 year of Citi Bikes: 8.75 million trips, 100 accidents, 0 fatalities

[Photo today on East 4th Street by Derek Berg]

Turns out that the Citi Bike program hasn't been the death trap that some pundits predicted, according to Citi Bike.

The other day at Slate, Will Oremus took a one-year anniversary look at the program, with some number crunching provided by Citi Bike.

“Out of 8.75 million trips, we’ve had about 100 crash reports, of which about 25 warranted a trip to the ER,” Citi Bike spokeswoman Dani Simon told me. “To my knowledge there have been zero fatalities to date. I am keeping up my daily prayers that this trend continues.”

Meanwhile, the program has had its financial challenges. For instance, The Real Deal reported that Citi Bike owes NYC $1 million in parking revenue.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Full week one observations: No, really — how is the Citi Bike bike share doing?

And we're off: 1st Citi Bikes spotted in the wild; world doesn't end

[Updated] Inflatable rat pays visit to controversial Ben Shaoul building on East 5th Street

The inflatable union rat is out this morning at 515 E. Fifth St., where notorious landlord/developer Ben Shaoul has been fighting for a zoning variance that would make legal the illegal addition that his crew added back in 2006.

There's another hearing on the matter on July 15. (We'll have more about this later.) Meanwhile, we're not sure why the rat is here today, though, with Ben Shaoul involved, anything is possible.

Updated 10:30 a.m.

A tipster says that the rat in front of the building is actually part of a protest over non-union workers at 140 West St., where Shaoul is converting the top floors of the Verizon Building into condos. The rat will apparently be making the rounds of Shaoul-owned properties today.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 5 years later, another BSA hearing on illegal rooftop addition at 515 E. Fifth St.

Protest at 515 E. Fifth St. this morning, site of Ben Shaoul's illegal addition

The disappearing illegal penthouse of 514-516 E. 6th St.

Never-ending battle wages on over additional floors at 515 E. Fifth St.

Construction watch: 185-193 Avenue B

Time to check in again on 185-193 Avenue B, where a 7-story mixed-used residential building with 41 "dwelling units" is in the works for the corner here at East 12th Street. The building will include the new home of the Elim Pentecostal Church.

Workers have been pouring the foundation of late …

As we've pointed out in previous posts on this seemingly never-ending project, it hasn't always been easy. Nearby residents endured months of relentless pile driving and other building-rattling noise. There were complaints about cracks next door at No. 183.

Meanwhile, we finally got a glimpse of the boxy rendering. It remains in the construction office next door. (The renderings can usually be found on the plywood along the actual construction site.)

The rendering notes a completion date of October 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside the Charles

Former landmark countercultural theater now for rent on Avenue B

7-story building in the works to replace former countercultural theater/church on Avenue B

Construction site at 185 Avenue B remains shut down for now

[Updated] The 'insane' noise and pounding are back at 185 Avenue B

Plantworks has closed, but its garden center remains open for the rest of June

The 40-year-old Plantworks at 28. E. Fourth St. between the Bowery and Lafayette closed for business late last week, as Jeremiah Moss first reported.

The store, named the city's best plant shop by the Voice in 2009, was rent hiked out out here, with an increase that went from $15k to $34k a month.

A call to Plantworks confirmed that the outdoor Garden Center adjacent to the storefront will remain open this month Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plantworks 'probably closing and not moving'

Fights of a different kind coming to 9 Bleecker St., longtime home of the Yippies

[EVG file photo from April]

Back in January, workers began clearing out the 41-year-old home of the Yippies at 9 Bleecker St. near the Bowery. The three-story brick building has been the centerpiece in a long-running foreclosure battle. (Read this story in the Times from January for all the legal wrangling.)

Yesterday, EVG reader Thomas Anomalous spotted workers gutting the space. Someone had swept out old copies of The Yipster Times, one of two countercultural newspapers once published here.

As the Times reported in June 2013, Steven L. Einig, a lawyer for Centech, which holds the building's mortgage, "stated that Yippie Holdings, which bought Number 9 along with a nonprofit called the National AIDS Brigade, had failed for more than five years to make payments on the $1.4 million mortgage."

For their part, a lawyer for Yippie Holdings, said that the group was "compelled into foreclosure with payments being rejected" by Centech as part of a scheme or plan to take over the building.

The Yippies had to be out on Jan. 17 for new tenants while the fight continued about No. 9's ownership. As we first reported last November, the building was on the market as a rental.

According to that listing, the space — asking $22,500 in monthly rent — has been rented.

Bedford + Bowery reported that the space will be converted into a boxing gym.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Yippie Museum Cafe is in financial trouble

The Yippie Museum Cafe will reopen next Wednesday

A bad sign at the Yippie Museum

Last day for the Yippies at No. 9 — for now

Vive La Crêpe latest business to leave 110 University Place

Vive La Crêpe closed up yesterday between East 12th Street and East 13th Street. The mini-chain is reopening over on East Eighth Street next month, per the sign on the door.

Stromboli Pizza and Bamboo Tori closed in the early spring … the newsstand moved across the street.

All this activity is to make way for a new residential complex at the building, which currently still houses Japonica, the parking garage and Bowlmor Lanes. (In January, the Post reported that demolition for a new building will likely start this summer.)

There hasn't been anything official from developer/landlord Billy Macklowe, CEO of William Macklowe Company, about the future of the building. And there's nothing on file about a renovation/demolition at the DOB.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Bowlmor Lanes will convert to condos, like everywhere else around here

Sixth Street Community Center CSA launches for the summer/fall

From the EVG inbox …

For 14 years the Sixth Street Community Center CSA has provided its members with the freshest and best tasting produce available from local farms. Since 1996, more than 200 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs are provided January to December from our partner farms, Hepworth Farm in Ulster County, New York and Catalpa Ridge Farm in Sussex County, New Jersey.

Head over to the the Sixth Street Community Center's website for more details.

Saint Mark's Church Greenmarket reopens today

[Image via]

Let's to to the EVG inbox…

GrowNYC’s Saint Mark’s Church Greenmarket will reopen on Tuesdays beginning today. Located at East 10th Street and 2nd Avenue, this year Mi Ranchito, a New Farmer Development Program participant, will join the market and bring fresh vegetables, Mexican specialty produce and herbs from Monmouth County, New Jersey.

The Saint Mark’s Church Greenmarket, an East Village stand-by for fresh, local foods since 1981, will run until Nov. 25.

Farmers attending:

• Bread Alone Breads and pastries, some certified organic, from Ulster County, N.Y.
• Mi Ranchito Farm Vegetables, Mexican specialty produce, and herbs from Monmouth County, New Jersey
• Kernan Farms Vegetables from Cumberland County, N.Y.
• GrowNYC’s Food Scrap Compost Collection: 8 am – 2 pm
• GrowNYC’s Textile Recycling: 8 am – 4 pm

Hours: Tuesdays 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

[Updated] Looks like Coyote Ugly will make that Grand Reopening tomorrow night after all

[Photo by EVG reader John]

Workers have been cranking out the renovations at Coyote Ugly. The 21-year-old bar at 153 First Ave. closed for renovations last Tuesday … with a grand reopening set for tomorrow.

The inside was a gutted mess late last week … but crews worked the weekend to get the place ready for more Midnight Margarita Nights and Lynyrd Skynyrd. (Or vice versa.)

Anyway! Signs are up now announcing the reopening.

And here's a bonus view of the interior as of Saturday…

[Photo by William Klayer]

Updated 1:48

Gothamist notes that the wall of bras behind the bar... will return!

Monday, June 2, 2014

Severed party head on a stick trend continues

@evgrieve more severed heads on this lovely summer day in the hood. pic.twitter.com/oWKGiyPwxP
— Eden Brower (@edenbrower) June 2, 2014

On East Sixth Street today... and there have been other severed party head on a stick sightings around ... we'll leave it at that, for now...

BP station on 2nd Avenue closes this month

Late last month we heard a rumor that the BP station and MRM Auto Repair at 24 Second Ave. at East First Street would close in the coming weeks.

This has been confirmed. On Saturday, workers were hauling away equipment for MRM …

… which is relocating to West 38th Street …

A BP employee told us that the gas station and snack shop will close by the end of the month.

As we've pointed out, the East Village will no longer have any gas stations within a year or so. In March, Hakimian Property filed plans to erect a 9-story mixed-use building on the site of the Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C. (The station was expected to be open until next year.) And nearby, the BP station on East Houston and Lafayette will be home to a new luxury development one day.

As for what's next for the BP property on Second Avenue, the word is a boutique hotel. There aren't any building plans on file with the city at this time.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

The East Village will soon be down to 1 gas station

The Mobil on Avenue C is still going strong — for now

You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C

Plans filed for new 9-story building at site of Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C

RUMOR: Gas station going, boutique hotel coming on Second Avenue? (31 comments)

Gino's short-lived retirement

[Photo by James and Karla Murray]

Back in early April, Gino DiGirolamo announced that he was retiring after 50 years working as a tailor.

Turned out that the retirement came about after the landlord at 520 E. 14th St. asked for a $1,000 monthly rent increase, an amount that Gino couldn't afford. So Gino set a May 31 closing date for his delightfully cluttered Royal Tailor shop …

[Photo by Michael Paul]

[Photo by Michael Paul]

But! Well-wishers who stopped in to say goodbye to Gino's shop over the weekend heard some good news …

[Photo by Michael Paul]

Gino has found a new storefront where he can continue his trade…

Now he has not signed the lease yet at 434 E. 11th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue … but he said that he has a verbal agreement and hopes to be up and tailoring again in a few weeks here…

Gino moved to East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B in late 2006. Previously his shop was on Avenue A near East 12th Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A pile of clothes at the Royal Tailor

After 50 years in business, Gino DiGirolamo is closing the Royal Tailor shop

Report: Rent hike forced Gino to retire and close his Royal Tailor shop

Dok Suni calls it a day after 21 years on 1st Avenue

The standby at 119 First Ave. near East Seventh Street closed for good after service Saturday night.

The folks at Dok Suni thanked patrons for their years of patronage (owner Jenny Kwak still runs Do Hwa on Carmine Street) …

A new operator will be taking over the space, offering a Korean-style menu featuring items like crispy pig ear with jellyfish and mother-in-law chicken wings.

We first reported on this coming closure back on May 6.

Après closes 3 weeks after debut; Unidentified Flying Chickens on the way in

[Photo from early Friday evening]

Wow. After a splashy, well-publicized revamp, Après has closed for good, Eater first reported Friday afternoon.

Apiary, the nearly 6-year-old restaurant at 60 Third Ave. near East 11th Street, closed for renovations in early May … reopening May 8 as Après with a new chef and a "modern, vegetable-centric menu."

What happened?

It was "a difference in vision between the chef and management," managing partner Jenny Moon told Paper, who also has the scoop on what's next for the space: the first Manhattan branch of the well-regarded Jackson Heights-based Unidentified Flying Chickens.

Here is New York magazine on the place:

Unidentified Flying Chickens finesses its fowl in a winning style that is all the rage in Seoul. Perdue birds are coated with highly spiced batter, deep-fried in vegetable oil, drained of excess grease, and fried again. This technique cooks out the schmaltz and crisps the tasty crust.

So the Third Avenue space will be revamped (again!) "into a more casual spot with 18-20 craft beers on tap," according to Paper.

Liquiteria opens today on 4th Avenue

At East 13th Street. The original Liquiteria opened on Second Avenue and East 11th Street in 1996.

Meanwhile, next door, Desi Shack debuts later next week.

It will be the second Manhattan location for the quick-serve Pakistani restaurant.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village-based Liquiteria taking over beloved Gray's Papaya space

Liquiteria coming soon to former Blimpie space on 4th Avenue

A new look for the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Sidewalk bridge collapses on the Bowery

[EVG photo from Thursday]

The sidewalk bridge arrived last Wednesday ahead of the demolition of Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street.

Earlier this evening, a portion of the structure came crashing down, nearly blocking the entrance to the 7-Eleven next door… and spilling into the street…

EVG regular Pinhead shared these photos … and said that the FDNY responded within 2 minutes … thankfully, no one was injured …

The Residence closed in August 2008. It will be torn down to make way for a 13-floor residential building.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

Week in Grieview

[The Santacruzan pageant yesterday on East 10th Street via Bobby Williams]

RIP Karen Kristal (Monday)

David Scwhimmer helps the NYPD in male prostitute stabbing case (Monday)

Out and About with retired police officer Christopher Reisman (Wednesday)

A look at The Robyn, new luxury rentals for East Third Street (Friday)

NYPD looking for this guy who allegedly took $11,000 from Immaculate Conception Church on East 14th Street (Thursday)

Crab Shack coming to St. Mark's Place (Friday)

Plans for I Cipressi on Avenue A don't work out (Tuesday)

A Feast/Google Glass post mortem (Wednesday)

Another story from the Cadillac with the Tiger in it (Thursday)

So long Tree Chair of East Sixth Street (Friday)

Fixing the East 9th Street bike lane (Friday)

Coyote Ugly closes for renovations (Wednesday)

What's next for the Odessa Cafe and Bar? (Thursday)

Plywood action at East Third Street lot (Wednesday)

Gutting Surprise! Surprise! (Tuesday)

'There goes the neighborhood' — 30 years later

Just realized that this issue of New York magazine was on newsstands 30 years ago this week… so here's a look back at the issue via an EVG post from June 6, 2008 ...

That's the headline for the May 28, 1984, New York magazine cover story that I recently came across. The piece begins in the early 1980s with the rotting hulk of the Christodora and the young man eager to own it, Harry Skydell.

Skydell's enthusiasm was indeed mysterious. The sixteen-story building he wanted to buy, on Avenue B facing Tompkins Square Park, was surrounded by burned-out buildings that crawled with pushers and junkies. It was boarded up, ripped out, and flooded...Early in the seventies, the city had put up the Christodora up for auction and nobody bid.

The building was eventually sold in 1975 for $62,500. (Last I saw, two-bedroom units there — roughly 1,100 square feet — average $1.6 million or so. Of course, they're rarely available.)

The article talks about the influx of chain stores, art galleries and chic cafes. "And real-estate values are exploding" as a result. Said one longtime resident on the changes: "I've lived in my rent-controlled apartment for years and pay $115 a month. I live on the Lower East Side. The young kids who just moved in upstairs and pay $700 a month for the same space — they live in the East Village."

There are so many interesting passages in the article by Craig Unger that I'd end up excerpting the whole thing. So it's below. You can click on each image to read it. Meanwhile, what do you think would be the headline for this story today?