Report: Citi Bike to test a valet service on Avenue A and East 7th Street

[Worst PhotoShop ever by EVG]

That's the word from amNY:

Citi Bike is taking a page from restaurants and hotels by testing a valet service at a dock where people can avoid the frustration of trying to find a place to park their ride.

The weeknight valet service, which will launch at a dock on Avenue A and 7th Street on Monday, will be manned with at least two employees who will remove bikes once the dock fills up so that a couple of spaces will be always be available from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Perhaps this will help you avoid doing the "checking-all-of-the-Citi Bike-stations dance."

Reader report: 'my kids are in the car and I'm out of gas' scam guy back in action

From an EVG reader last night:

Tonight I was approached by the infamous "wife and kid are in the car" scammer on East 6th Street and Avenue A. It was about 10:30 p.m., and he asked me if I live in the area ... He then told me his wife and child were stuck in his car, and pointed across the street to an SUV, and said if he showed me his birth certificate and gave me his iPhone, could I...

I interrupted him there and said "I've heard about you," and began to walk away. "You bitch!" He screamed at me. I turned to look at him, more shocked and amused than threatened, and he yelled "You dirty bitch!" Then I yelled as loudly as I could: "WHY AM I A BITCH? BECAUSE I BLEW UP YOUR SPOT, YOU SCAM ARTIST?"

The reader said that his description matches one left by an EVG reader several months ago: He's in his 30s or 40s, slightly balding, about 5-9, 160 pounds with dark beady junkie eyes.

Last night, the reader also noticed that he has a tattoo on his right forearm — the name Rosa spelled out vertically in capital letters. Per the reader: "He could be white or Hispanic. He was also wearing one of those straw fedoras so many dudes wear in the summer."

A well-placed EVG source told us back in March that this man had been arrested at Penn Station.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village grifter alert: Beware the broken vodka-bottle scam!

East Village grifter alert: Beware the man with the sob story who offers you a wedding ring as collateral

Snowy afternoon grifter alert

Rendering reveal for new building going up adjacent to the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall

[EVG photo from Saturday]

As we first reported back on Saturday, workers erected a sidewalk bridge along the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall … obscuring the artwork in the process.

Approved plans call for a two-story structure to rise from the empty lot adjacent to the wall at 76 E. Houston St. and Elizabeth Street, which previously housed Billy's Antiques.

Renderings arrived on the sidewalk bridge Tuesday …





And from the looks of things, the mural wall will remain intact.



Meanwhile, through a handy blogging portal, you can still catch a glimpse of veteran Bronx graffiti artist Cope2's mural.



This does make it tough for wedding photos, unfortunately. Plan accordingly!


[EVG photo from June 21]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Deal off to bring Crif Dogs to the former Billy's Antiques space

The Houston/Bowery Mural Wall has been boarded up

A drive by Mousey's Bar on Avenue C in 1976

George Cohen shares another photo with us.

I took this from the taxi I was driving. I saw Mousey's Bar, a little island in a pile of rubble, i.e. Avenue C and 13th St. in 1976.

As I raised my camera to my eye, this guy comes to the door, sees me and grabs his crotch.

That was the shot.

Indeed.

Today, Campos Plaza stands at this location.

As for Mousey's ... according to Jimmy Peanuts, Mousey's had the best stickball team of any bar in the neighborhood.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile on St. Mark's Place in 1968…. (22 comments)

East 8th Street townhouse back on the market, now seeking $4.5 million

[Image via Leslie J. Garfield]

The townhouse at 356 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D is back on the market. Last time around, the house, not yet vacant, wanted $3.75 million. But times have changes. And so has the price and occupancy.

Per the listing at Leslie J. Garfield:

536 East 8th Street is a vacant townhouse situated between Avenue C and Avenue D. With an allowed FAR of 4.0, the building offers prospective purchasers the chance to develop the property to approximately 7,200 square feet.

The property is currently configured as a garden duplex with two floor-through units above measuring approximately 3,000 square feet. With a rapidly growing condominium and home sales market in the East Village/Alphabet City, the opportunity to develop either high-end apartments or a luxury home for use or resale is strong. Incredibly low taxes on the property make the opportunity for development additionally appealing.

Urban gardener

Perhaps you've seen this man from the East Sixth Street overpass ... tending a plot of lettuce, herbs and other things alongside East River Park and the FDR...

[Updated] Sketchy pink boxes starting to fit right in!

After less than a week on East Village streets, we noticed that people have welcomed those sketchy pink boxes to the neighborhood…



DNAinfo's Lisha Arino dug into these boxes, so to speak, and spoke to some property owners who said they had NOT given permission for the sketchy pink boxes to be installed on their land.

And the response from the company?

Our Neighborhood Recycling manager Bernard Jones insisted that the company, which has a warehouse in Jersey City, got permission from all property owners to install them.

“We tell them exactly what we’re doing and it’s up to them to say yes or no,” he said.

And what about the clothes, shoes, etc., that people leave in them?

[Jones] added that the company plans to resell donated clothing to other clothing vendors, as well as to companies that use the clothing to make rags. The signage, he said, makes it clear the organization is not a charity.

“It doesn’t say ‘donations.’ It says ‘recycling,’” he said.

The Department of Sanitation could not say whether the Our Neighborhood Recycling bins are illegal, per DNAinfo.

Updated 9:50 a.m.

BoweryBoogie reports that the Department of Sanitation has swung into action against the Sketchy Pink Boxes.

Updated 1:45 p.m.

A reader says that the box along the Verizon building on East 13th Street has been removed...

Previously on EV Grieve:
About those new sketchy pink boxes around the East Village

Then the eerie, after-storm glow

From East Sixth Street and Second Avenue … via EVG reader Vinny

[Updated] Zapped!

Via @greally — Lightning strikes concentrated around the East Village.

And here is one of the strikes captured by James and Karla Murray ...



Updated 10:11 p.m.

Two more strikes via James and Karla...





Updated 7:30 a.m.

And via EVG reader Andrew … using the iPhone's slo-mo cam...

Report: Financial help on the way to stabilize, expand the Citi Bike program

Dana Rubinstein has the scoop at Capital New York.

While the deal is still said to be tentative, this is how it is expected to go down:

REQX Ventures, a company run by individuals affiliated with Equinox and Related Companies (the real estate company that owns Equinox) would buy at least 51-percent of [Alta Bicycle Share, Citi Bike's operator.]

And let's keep cutting-and-pasting:

It would ... help resurrect a system that has lost millions of dollars over the course of its short existence, thanks to bad software, Hurricane Sandy and the sheer scope of running the largest bike-share system in the country, one with more than 100,000 annual members and more than 14 million miles on its odometer.

In New York City, where bike-share users now pay $95 for an annual membership and $9.95 for a day pass, REQX would have the freedom to raise rates without city approval, though the contract might include some sort of percent-per-year cap on the size of those hikes.

Public housing residents and some credit union members would retain access to a discounted rate of $60 per year.

One more piece from the article: The Citi Bike operating costs "exceeded expectations by about $9 million through last September."

There are many more details here.

H/T Gothamist

Locked bike, street sign meet untimely end

Boo. Anyone see what happened here on East 10th Street at First Avenue?



Photos via BagelGuy...

Noted

EVG reader MP spotted this outside Mudspot Café on East Ninth Street this morning.

[Helpful background]

Out and About in the East Village

... will return. Taking the July 4th week off. Slackers!

End of the road: Golden Cadillac closes tomorrow night

Golden Cadillac, the 1970s-themed bar that opened in the former Boca Chica space on First Avenue at East First Street, is closing after service tomorrow, Zagat reports.

The too-concepty bar, which just opened this past November, served snacks like knish fondue and drinks such as the Hot Buttery Nipple.

The same ownership will return with a new concept here in the months ahead, per Zagat.

Any suggestions for new concepts?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Boca Chica apparently won't be reopening on First Avenue; and the return of Golden Cadillac

Last day for First Avenue Pierogi and Deli

[EVG file photo from December 2011]

As we noted back on June 16, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli is closing. Today is the last day.

After 30 years here at 130 First Ave. near St. Mark's Place, proprietor Wieslawa Kurowycky and her family decided to retire.

While a rent hike can't be blamed (the Kurowycky family owns the building), sales have fallen in the past few years, as DNAinfo pointed out.

Otherwise ... per DNAinfo:

Kurowycky said she is looking forward to relaxing and spending time with her family.

“We’ve had a good run and it’s time for us to leave [and] take a break,” she said.

The shop will be missed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 30 years, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli is closing

529 E. 13th St. is on the market

There's a new listing for this walk-up building between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Per Massey Knakal:

The building has 11 residential units of which 3 are Rent Stabilized and 8 are Free Market. The ground floor has 3 apartments. Floors 2 through 5 have 2 apartments per floor all of which are identical in size. The building has a new gas boiler (approximately 2 years old) and most of the Free Market apartments have been renovated recently ... The subject provides an opportunity for an investor to purchase a well maintained apartment building with remaining upside potential in an area that is quickly appreciating in value.

Asking price: $7.8 million.

Finger-painting Bounty ad namechecks the East Village

EVG reader RobbieTheK spotted this ad the other day on the 2 train.

Finger painting playdates in East Village Apartments are tough
Bounty is tougher

So, East Village apartments are small, making them difficult (tough!) to have people over to finger paint? Is that the point? Are we talking children, or like, young adults on a date?

If we are taking children, then it would be tough for me to have a playdate in my EV apartment, mostly because all my friends who decided to become parents moved to Brooklyn/Queens/elsewhere because they couldn't afford the rent here any longer.

Anyway, don't you think there are tougher things to do in and around an East Village apartment that would require paper towels, Bounty or otherwise?

Rooftop ragers in East Village buildings with crumbling staircases are tough
Bounty is tougher

'Charming studio in the heart of the East Village' will eventually have a kitchen

We're just looking around at apartments and came across this listing for a place on East 12th Street ... described as a "Charming studio in the heart of the East Village!!!"

Eventually, sure! Once the kitchen arrives, definitely.



Staging tragedy aside, the listing is upfront about the place "being gut renovated!"



With a promise of new appliances and cabinets on the way, the place will probably be pretty nice for $1,850. Anyway, just be happy that you have a ceiling now.

Tonight's East Village sunset is sponsored by Geico

Photo by Bobby Williams

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Napoleon rides the L train today via Grant Shaffer]

Jade Mountain closes on Delancey, with mega development on the way (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Feeding time for the fledglings (Gog in NYC)

LES arts guide for July (The Lo-Down)

A suitor for Sutra on First Avenue (BoweryBoogie)

More on the first restaurant by The Halal Guys on East 14th Street (DNAinfo)

The latest Cheap Eats guide from New York magazine (Grub Street)

Will Historic Districts stunt affordable housing growth? (Gothamist)

149 Bob Dylan acetates found in a closet at 124 W. Houston St. (Brooklyn Vegan)

Details on the annual Johnny Ramone tribute in Hollywood (Billboard)

Inside the condo converted dress factory at 66 E. 11th St., featuring Vitamin C-filtered showers (Curbed)

... and there's a new mural on the roll-down gate at Lit Lounge on Second Avenue...


[Photo today by Derek Berg]