Cromanated: The East Village Snack Dragon Taco Shack is closing

[Image via]

Snack Dragon proprietor Josephine Jansen broke the news to us yesterday. Her eclectic sliver of a taco stand and hangout at 199 E. Third St. just west of Avenue B will close for good on July 31.

A familiar reason and a familiar figure are behind the impending closure.

"[Landlord Steve] Croman wants to triple the rent to $3,900 for 100 square feet of public space and a tiny basement," she said. "They will not negotiate the lease."

For now, the Williamsburg Snack Dragon will remain open.

Snack Dragon opened nearly 10 years ago around the corner on Avenue B, in a vacant smoothie stand outside Ben's Deli. Jansen inexplicably ran afoul of the East Village Nightlife Task Force and had to close. She moved into her current space in August 2006.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Watch a lot of people speak out against Steve Croman and 9300 Realty

Summer greetings from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

From the EVG inbox...

Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street spent her 4th of July weekend visiting friends in New Jersey and in Saugerties. She thoroughly enjoyed sampling the local fare in Kingston (Asian Fusion with a French/Mexican twist) and in Palenville (Roast Beef sandwiches!).

But by far the highlight of her weekend was on Sunday when she went “swimming hole hoppin’” at three different places in and around Saugerties.



She’s a real water dog and was exited she could actually jump in the water unlike the Hudson and the East Rivers where she’s kept leashed and dry by her designated humanoids.

Miss Kita wishes everyone a happy, fun-filled summer!

On the next episode: Kita learns the true meaning of "the dog days of summer."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meet Kita

The further adventures of Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

The further (often truly) amazing adventures of Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

Happy holidays from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street has her first ever annual checkup

Holiday greetings from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

The Robyn is now fully exposed on East 3rd Street

Workers recently removed the construction netting and scaffolding at the new 33-unit rental at 316 E. Third St. between Avenue C and Avenue D ... offering the first look at The Robyn, named after nothing in particular.

Apartments at the Karl Fischer-designed building range in price from $2,100 for studios, $2,495 and up for one bedrooms and $3,375 and up for the duplex penthouses. Reps for the broker told us last month that 29 of the 33 united had been rented.

The elevator building features a roof deck, storage units, bike storage and a pet spa, among other amenities.

Meanwhile, the view from higher up… via EVG reader Bobby G.



Previously on EV Grieve:
33-unit, Karl Fischer-designed building rising at former home of Community Board 3 member

This Robyn laid some luxury apartments on East 3rd Street; pet spa included


[A look at the site in March 2013 via Bobby G.]

A glimpse of the recent past on East 4th Street

[EVG photo from February]

Earlier in the week we noted that workers had demolished the cool façade at 324 E. 4th St. ...

Yesterday, EVG Facebook friend Gyda Gash caught a glimpse of a mural leftover from Hanky's "Surplus Candy" art show here from January...





Here's a photo of the original via Hugh Burckhardt's photo site More Than Usual ...



As for No. 324, plans call for an additional three floors here for apartments between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Previously on EV Grieve:
2 new floors, gut renovation in store for empty tenement that last housed a Hanksy art show

At Hanksy's 'Surplus Candy' art show in an abandoned East Village tenement

Gut renovations underway at 324 E. 4th St., most recently the makeshift gallery for Hanksy and Co.

The unique façade of 324 E. 4th St. is gone

A look at (what's left) of Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport; also, it's 4Knots Festival time!

The Village Voice's 4Knots Music Festival is tomorrow down at the South Street Seaport ... you can find all the info about it here.

The main stage will be on Pier 16.

And have you seen Pier 17 lately, where the that mall and stuff was? I was randomly down that way last weekend.







It has all been demolished. I've been reading about the proposed redevelopment, which may or may not include a 50-story hotel/condo, but this was the first time I'd seen it for myself. (This Curbed post will bring you to to speed on the plans here.)

Aside from last weekend, I haven't been to the Seaport much, it at all, since Carmine's closed.

Anyway, you can see the former Pier 17 for yourself if you go to the day-long festival. And here's a map...


[Click on image to enlarge]

Branch comes down on Lunasa's outdoor space

A branch from a neighboring tree fell onto Lunasa's outdoor space this evening around 7:15, per EVG reader Adam Cushner ...





Everyone was fine here behind the bar at 126 First Ave. between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place ... though it did disrupt a birthday gathering.

1st books arrive at the new St. Mark's Bookshop

[Bookmobile?]

EVG reader Yenta Laureate spotted workers moving the very first books/periodicals into the new St. Mark's Bookshop at 136 E. Third St. west of Avenue A this afternoon... to be in place for a possible Sunday (soft) opening...

Rodeo Bar is closing; last show set for July 26

This past weekend, several EVG readers passed along word that the Rodeo Bar, billed as "NYC’s longest running honky-tonk," was closing at the end of the month.

It was unclear, however, if the Rodeo was ditching its free music program as part of a makeover ... or closing for good. No one at Rodeo responded to our queries.

However, the bar just posted this to Facebook today:

Dear Rodeo Bar patrons and music lovers,

We are deeply saddened to announce that after 27 years in business, Rodeo Bar and Grill is closing its doors after July 27, 2014.

Here at New York's longest-running honky-tonk, we stayed open during some of the city’s toughest times — Hurricane Sandy, the 2003 blackout, 9/11 — but recent rent increases, combined with a changing landscape, have made it impossible for us continue.

For the past three decades, Rodeo Bar has been home to thousands of bands, and we’re proud to have helped define the country, Americana and rockabilly scene in New York City for all these years. But more than that, we were supported by an incredible community of people from New York and all over the world who helped make this bar great. We can’t thank y’all enough.

For the rest of July, we’re open every night, and the music schedule is killer — and free, as it always has been. So come on down and join us for every show, every Shiner, and every moment with the horse trailer we call home. We’re going out with our boots on.

Much Love, and Until the Buffalo Sings,

Rodeo Bar

An EVG tipster told us that the building at 375 Third Ave. at East 27th Street is for sale. According to a listing at Buchbinder & Warren Realty, the asking rent is $58,333.

The last show is July 26.

Josie and the Windowsills

James and Karla Murray shared this photo of Josie keeping an eye on things along East 14th Street…

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

[EVG file photo]

The tenant-landlord drama continues at 170-174 E. Second St., the site of two walk-ups that developer/New York Observer publisher Jared Kushner picked up during his East Village buying spree.

Last night, CB3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee heard firsthand about allegations of tenant harassment and quality-of-life issues brought on by gut renovations.

Ahead of this meeting, The Real Deal and DNAinfo filed lengthy articles outlining what is happening now in the buildings.

DNAinfo put it this way:

Real estate scion Jared Kushner is using lawsuits, disruptive construction and neglect to force rent-stabilized tenants out of two buildings he owns in the East Village, as he converts them to high-end apartments, according to court documents and residents.

After the deal for the buildings was complete, Kushner's Westminster Management began handing out 30-day eviction notices, followed by buyout offers, tenants told DNAinfo's Lisha Arino. To date, tenants in just 11 of the 43 units in the two buildings remain.

Per The Real Deal:

[T]he Kushner ownership entity has also aggressively turned to the courts. Since acquiring the buildings, they filed suits in New York’s Housing Court against tenants in seven apartments among the 43.

Some have resulted in tenants vacating, while other residents have fought back.

According to The Real Deal, the average monthly rent per apartment was around $2,000 last fall. Today, StreetEasy shows nine active rental listings, gut-renovated apartments with an average price of $3,987 per unit.

As for those renovations, NYC's Housing Preservation and Development agency has issued 34 violations, which remain active. ("Eight of them are for the most dangerous kind of violation — for instance for repairs to a stone retainer wall — which are supposed to be repaired within days, but remain on the HPD website weeks after they were issued," according to The Real Deal.)

However, in the estimation of Westminster, all is well here! Nothing to see! They released this statement to DNAinfo:

"In the six months since Westminster has managed the building, they have been in frequent contact with the building's residents, been consistently responsive to their concerns, and have quickly sought to address them."

Updated 7:55 a.m.

The Daily News files a Kushner-is-bad-landlord story today too. Quite a headline: Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner forcing residents out of East Village building so he can get higher rents: tenants

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside a classic East Village tenement before the whole building is renovated

Jared Kushner not done buying every walk-up in the East Village

Two East 2nd St. buildings sell for $17.5 million; will new owner still honor Allen Ginsburg?

Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

About the design of the new St. Mark's Bookshop

[Last night via EVG reader Russ]

If all goes well, then St. Mark's Bookshop will open Saturday Sunday in its new home at 136 E. Third St. west of Avenue A.

Meanwhile, the owners offered a sneak preview of their space designed by Clouds Architecture Office here. (Warning: Architect speak ahead!)

The book shelving is designed to stimulate the ocular experience. Vertical supports are pulled back to pronounce the horizontal edges of the shelving. Sharp corners are eliminated, smoothed into a continuous series of horizontal bands which allow the eye to glide around the space without visual friction. Vision is further privileged by adjusting the form of the shelving. Lower runs are canted so as to tilt book spines towards eye level of the viewer. Section titles are literally etched into the wood of the shelving to maintain the continuity of the lines.

St. Mark's Bookshop left their home of 22 years at 31 Third Ave. and Stuyvesant Street at the end of June.

Take a look inside the new condos of 227 E. 7th St.

For months we've been looking at the exterior of the new building at 227 E. Seventh St. just west of Avenue C.

We received the pricing last week ($1.45 million for floor-through two-bedrooms and up to $2 million for the garden unit and penthouse) for the six condos.

Now we can finally see the inside... at least via the listings, which are now online at Douglas Elliman.

Here are two shots ...





And here is Curbed's analysis:

With a facade of brick and oversized multi-panel windows, it blends, for the most part, into its surroundings. Now that the interiors have revealed themselves, it turns out that they, too, look pretty nice and inoffensive — the large windows give the living/dining rooms that luxury development feel and the backyard, while not large, is filled with grass and, you know, exists.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Asbestos abatement on East Seventh Street, then a new 6-story building

New building at 227 E. Seventh St. — revealed (28 comments)

Teaser site up for new East 7th Street residential building that people don't hate

[227 E. Seventh St. from September 2012]

IHOP on East 14th Street now has a sidewalk cafe

Hmm, pancakes on East 14th Street in the middle of summer...

Thanks to EVG regular Pinch for the photo... the 12-seat cafe apparently made its debut yesterday.

A really good time to open a bar for Argentina fans

[Reader submitted photo]

Several EVG readers pointed out that a new Argentine-based bar/restaurant has opened at 509 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B ... and fine timing given that Argentina and The Netherlands were playing for a shot at the World Cup finals vs. Germany yesterday. (Spoiler: Argentina won in penalty kicks.)

The new space is operated by the folks behind the Buenos Aires Restaurant at 513 E. Sixth St. For now, the new place has a limited food menu as well as wine and one brand of beer (Quilmes) ... and it is cash only.

EVG reader Riley McCormick, who first tipped us off about the place, stopped by and noted that the bar won't be open again until Sunday for the World Cup final.

A visual homage to a William Blake poem outside The Stand on 7th Street and Avenue C

[EVG photo from last month]

Here is some news from The Stand, the pop-up gallery of sorts on the southwest corner of East Seventh Street and Avenue C ... they will be sharing some of their space, per the EVG inbox...

ANON: A downtown New York contemporary photography gallery located on the corner of 7th St. and Avenue C. Part documentary, part fine art gallery, we show the motion and language of the city through photography and the physical space.

Please join us for our opening show tonight at 8 on the corner of East Seventh Street and Avenue C.

We will be presenting Jon-Paul Rodriguez's body of work titled "Some Are Born Two Endless Ninght." The work is a visual homage to William Blake's poem, "Auguries of Innocence."

Find more info at The Stand's website here.

Ethos Meze East Village is now open on Avenue A

The Mediterranean-themed restaurant quietly opened on July 2 here at 167 Avenue A ... it's an offshoot of Ethos Meze on Third Avenue and East 36th Street.

We don't know much else about the place ... and haven't seen any previews at the food sites...



What we do know is that it took over the space that previously housed neighborhood scourge Diablo Royale Este, which closed at the end of August 2012.

Has anyone tried Ethos Meze East Village?

Previously on EV Grieve:
For lease signs up now at the former Diablo Royale Este on Avenue A

Updated: Car fire on Avenue A and East 7th Street

[Photo via @RTSNYC]

From the EVG Twitter hotline... About 12:15 or so...


[Photo by @jansichermann]

Anyway! All is well. The FDNY is here.


[Photo via @RTSNYC]

Updated 1:10

A few more photos courtesy of EVG reader Leah Milstein...







And now some video via @RTSNYC ...



...and more video from Leah ...

Report: Growing soon in the former Plantworks garden center — an NYU building

The 40-year-old Plantworks at 28. E. Fourth St. between the Bowery and Lafayette closed for business in May, and the adjacent garden center shuttered last month.

Now Curbed has the scoop what's coming next:

NYU, which leased the lot to the garden center, wants to do a massive renovation of its Academic Support Center at 383 Lafayette Street and expand it into the East 4th Street lot.

The expanded building will rise 4 floors on the former Garden Center property.


[Rendering photo by Evan Bindelglass via Curbed]

The Landmarks Preservation Commission heard the pitch for the renovated 383 Lafayette building (previously home to Tower Video) and annex yesterday.

And their reaction?

New LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan said there was much that was positive about the proposal and that restoration and enlargement of the existing building would be "helpful" to the area.

The LPC was reportedly close to approving the project, but asked for a few modifications.

This stretch of East Fourth Street will be active again with construction, with NYU and the new 8-floor hotel to rise next to the Merchant's House Museum.

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

Out and About in the East Village 2014 recap

During this summer lull, here's a look back at our interviewees so far from 2014 ... many thanks to East Village-based photographer James Maher and everyone who has taken part in this series... we'll return next week with Out and About in the East Village ...

Jan. 15 — Barbara Sibley

Jan. 22 — Alex Harsley, part 1

Jan. 29 — Alex Harsley, part 2

Feb. 5 — Tom Clark

Feb. 12 — Dawn Haberman

Feb. 19 — Mike Stuto

Feb. 26 — Dina Leor

March 5 — Eric Danville, part 1

March 12 — Eric Danville, part 2

March 19 — Margery Teplitz

March 26 — Pamela Joy

April 2 — Recap

April 9 — Jon Gerstad

April 16 — Oops!

April 23 — Bill Gerstel

April 30 — Karen Fleisch

May 7 — Kathy Kemp and Kimberle Vogan

May 14 — Alan and Beverly Lefkowitz

May 21 — Yehuda Emmanuel Safran

May 28 — Christopher Reisman, Part 1

June 4 — Christopher Reisman, Part 2

June 11 — Anthony Rocco

June 18 — Tim Floyd Young

June 25 — Kate

[Updated] Stray voltage warning along Ben Shaoul's Avenue A project

Con Ed has has put up cautionary tape and cones outside the rotting carcass of 98-100 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street.



So be careful!

As for the address, there hasn't been any much activity in about six months at developer Ben Shaoul's incoming retail-residental complex. There are now approved plans for a 6-floor building with 29 apartments.

Meanwhile, the area under the sidewalk bridge has served as a makeshift shelter for a handful of people...


[Photo by Edward Arrocha]

Updated 7:01 p.m.

The warning signs are gone ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished

Asbestos abatement continues at 98 Avenue A, Ben Shaoul's latest East Village trophy

Ben Shaoul's proposed new Avenue A building will be 8 stories with a roof deck

Meanwhile, 98-100 Avenue A is lying in ruins