Monday, August 18, 2014

Au Breve Espresso remains 'closed for renovations' on Cooper Square



We noticed that Au Breve Espresso at 51 Cooper Square closed earlier this month … for renovations…



Two weeks later, it doesn't appear that too much renovating has been happening here…



So far, there isn't any mention of the temporary closure on their website, Twitter feed (which hasn't been updated since Dec. 24) or Facebook page (last entry is from last Sept. 22).

Au Breve opened in November 2011.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Week in Grieview


[E. 9th Street outside La Plaza Cultural]

About the rooftop parties at Icon Realty's 205 Avenue A (Tuesday, Thursday)

Deal for East Village treasure John's of 12th Street is off (Tuesday)

Tenants suing Steve Croman on East 8th Street (Friday)

Jim Power begins removing his mosaics from Astor Place ahead of reconstruction (Thursday)

Billionaire Peter M. Brant buys Walter De Maria's amazing East 6th Street home and studio (Tuesday)

Out and About with Gary Bell (Wednesday)

Remembering Robin Williams on East 13th Street (Friday)

The ancient ruins of 98-100 Avenue A (Thursday)

Laundromat replaces laundromat on Avenue B (Monday)

Hibachi Dumpling Express opens in former 2 Bros. space on First Avenue (Wednesday)

Shakespeare & Company closes for good at the end of the month (Friday)

Lovecraft Bar NYC now open at 50 Avenue B (Tuesday)

Check out the new mural by Paul Kostabi on East Second Street (Monday)

Korilla BBQ confirmed for Archie & Sons space (Monday)

More reports of ATM skimming (Thursday)

Heavenly Market coming to Third Avenue (Monday)

Prima closes on East First Street (Monday)

Aug. 25 is the last day for Kim's Video and Music (Tuesday)

Birthbath Bakery has apparently closed for good (Monday)

14 photos of the East Village from the 1980s (Friday)

So much for "Taxi Driver 2" (Sunday)

You can still rent the Le Souk space on Avenue B (Friday)

T.G.I. Friday's closing on Union Square (Monday)

… and one more look at the supermoon via EVG regular Grant Shaffer…

Basics Plus is now open on 3rd Avenue



The windows at Basics Plus at 91 Third Avenue are filled with oven mitts, household cleaners and power drills!

The housewares store with several NYC locations opened Friday here on the northeast corner of 12th Street. They took over the space last held by Surprise! Surprise!, which closed after 25 years in business on April 27.

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

Reader report: Basics Plus moving into the former Surprise! Surprise! space

Basics Plus confirmed for former Surprise! Surprise! space on 3rd Avenue

[Updated] Fire this morning at 92 St. Mark's Place



The FDNY responded to a fire this morning just before 8 at 92 St. Mark's Place east of First Avenue.



Firefighters smashed the windows and cut away the window guards of the ground-floor apartment as they quickly had the situation under control.

We saw one soot-covered resident, a male in his late 20s or early 30s, wearing only shirts sit down next door on the steps to Physical Graffitea. A next-door neighbor brought him a blanket. Paramedics brought another woman out of the building and treated her on the scene for smoke inhalation, according to witnesses.







First Avenue was temporarily closed to northbound traffic at East Seventh Street. At this point, we do not know the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage. As far as we know right now, there were not any serious injuries.

Updated Aug. 18, 6 a.m.

The Post reports that the FDNY reduced two unconscious women from the fire. They are both "hospitalized in serious condition with smoke inhalation."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, "but sources said investigators are focusing on the theory that smoking may have caused the couch to burst into flames."

Here's No. 92 early last evening...



Top photos via @evgrieve

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Today's hawk (with bonus lunch shot)







Photos today in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams...

Thoughts on unchaining NYC


Jeremiah Moss of Vanishing New York has an op-ed in the Daily News today titled "De Blasio, unchain the city now." An excerpt follows:

It’s time for the mayor to step up and take action against the destruction of the city’s character.

Start by following the example of San Francisco, where City Hall tightly controls “formula retail,” as in big chain stores. If former Mayor Giuliani could keep adult businesses from operating near one another, then de Blasio can keep national chains from doing the same.

Starbucks and Marc Jacobs should not be allowed to have multiple stores within a few blocks, and we don’t need Walgreens down the street from CVS.

Then, pass the Small Business Jobs Survival Act to create fair negotiations of commercial lease renewals, so landlords can’t use insane rent hikes to evict dependable business people.

Give fines to landlords who leave commercial spaces vacant, creating blight while they wait for the right price.

While general commercial rent control may be unworkable, we can protect what little remains of the city’s oldest and most beloved small businesses by creating a selective rent control program.

Read the whole piece here.

You are no longer welcome!



Oh! Just noticed that the Welcome to the East Village/Modelo ad on East 12th Street at Avenue A has been blacked out…



The wall previously displayed an ad for the new season of the HBO television program "Girls."

Given that this appears to be an ad wall now … what ad would you like to see next? (Serious responses are OK.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Welcome to the East Village — home of beer

Reminders tonight: Memorial for Tommy Ramone at Bowery Electric



Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of the Ramones, died July 11.

Previously.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Do it clean



Here's Echo & the Bunnymen live in Spain from 1984 with "Heads Will Roll." The band, now Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant with four other musicians, is touring in support of "Meteorites," their 12th studio album ... they'll be at Irving Plaza tomorrow night and Sunday night. Saturday night is nearly sold out...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition


[Cat photo from Cooper Square these days]

The history of Temperance fountain in Tompkins Square Park (Off the Grid)

Scratchbox Project coming to First Street Green Art Park this weekend (BoweryBoogie)

MoMA and the Warhol Museum will digitize all of Andy Warhol's film and video work (Dangerous Minds)

The hawks are being kinda boring in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

Delancey Street building sells for $10 million more than 2012 price (The Lo-Down)

Does Stuyvesant Square have the oldest iron fence in NYC? (Ephemeral New York)

Di Fiore Marquet Cafe closes after 22 years on East 12th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

"Gentrifiers, When Do You Call 311?" (The Brian Lehrer Show)

"We Are Mari Pepa," which explores the "lives and loves of a group of school-age punk rockers in Guadalajara," makes its NYC premiere tonight (Anthology Film Archives)

And if you happen by Ninth Street Espresso (the one at 341 E. 10th St. near Avenue B), then you can check out the work of East Village artist Stacy Harshman ... her show, "Defiant Flowers," is up through Aug. 29.

14 photos of the 1980s East Village


[Northeast corner of 1st Avenue and 6th Street/John Fensten]

In recent months, EVG Facebook friend Susan Fensten has posted photos that she and her father, John Fensten, took around the city in the 1980s. Of particular interest to us: The shots of the East Village from that time period.

Susan, who grew up in the neighborhood, gave us permission to post these photos. (Unfortunately, we do not have exact dates and locations for all these.)

Updated to note proper photo credits.


[West side of 3rd Avenue between East 10 and 11th Streets/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north from East Fifth Street/John Fensten]


[Random wall from 1984/Susan Fensten]


[Tompkins Square Park/John Fensten]


[East 5th Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[First Avenue/John Fensten]


[Union Square/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north on 3rd Avenue at East 13th Street/John Fensten]


[Astor Place/John Fensten]


[Avenue A near East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[Behind East Fifth Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[Leshko's on Avenue A and East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[East 4th Street with the Merchant's House on the left/John Fensten]

Report: Steve Croman facing another lawsuit from East 8th Street residents



As previously reported, two tenants at 309 E. Eighth St. are suing their landlord, Steve Croman of 9300 Realty, claiming that he has has engaged in a "campaign of harassment, abuse and neglect" since taking over the property between Avenue B and Avenue C in December 2012.

Now five tenants have filed suit seeking a halt to construction at No. 309, as The Real Deal reported.

According to the suit, filed Aug. 7, the five tenants claim that the landlord has engaged in gut renovations of multiple vacant apartments at the building since 2013, causing the ceilings to collapse in several occupied apartments.

The renovations at the 17-unit building also caused a gas leak that resulted in a month-long gas suspension, according to lawyers for the tenants.

"I would say that this case is symptomatic of what is going on in the Lower East Side today," said attorney Sadia Rahman, who represents the five tenants. "Violations like the broken front door and broken cornices have been in place for years, but owners instead are investing considerable sums of money into vacant apartments so that they can be deregulated and rented at market value."

As the Daily News reported on July 26, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched a probe into Croman's potentially illegal tactics. On July 25, the Daily News reported that Schneiderman slapped a cease-and-desist order on Falconite, who "tenants say has engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation to force them out."

Meanwhile, Croman and his wife Harriet, an official with 9300 Realty, have been enjoying another August in the Hamptons. On Tuesday, Page Six reported that the Cromans "created a Playboy-themed bash ... complete with a replica of Hugh Hefner’s famed grotto in the center of a tent. Completing the theme, pale pink carpeting surrounded a dance floor."

In her Gimme Shelter column at the Post yesterday, Jennifer Gould Keil noted that the Cromans paid $650,000 this month to rent a Water Mill home "while their own beach mansion, in Sagaponack, is being built."

As for the Playboy bash, "some of Croman's guests told Gimme Shelter they wondered what the couple is celebrating."

Chico creates a mural in memory of Robin Williams on East 13th Street


[Photo by Michael Paul via Facebook]

Longtime LES graffiti artist Antonio "Chico" Garcia finished this up yesterday at B Cup Café on East 13th Street and Avenue B.

And here's a shot of the finished mural last night at 9:30 via EVG Facebook friend Kathleen O'Regan...


Former Le Souk space 'needs a real restaurant operator'



Save for a few mysterious parties, Le Souk has been dead and gone now five years this October. (The State Liquor Authority terminated Le Souk's liquor license in October 2009.)

Since then, the space has been empty (much to the delight of neighbors) ... and on and off the market several times. We spotted a listing for the space at 47 Avenue B between East Fourth Street and East Third Street back in July 2011. The asking price then was $25K.

For rent signs arrived along this Avenue B corridor earlier in the summer. And now the listing has arrived on Craigslist. Let's check it out (Bolding via EVG):

This is a restaurant space that has an atrium in the back, the ansil/flute are in place. there is 6,627 square feet on two floors that could be divided for the right tenant. The asking rent is $331,350 per annum and $27,612.50 per month. This place needs a real restaurant operator. there was a liquor license at one time the new tenant would have to apply for a new one. Tenant will pay their proportionate share of real estate taxes as well as their own utilities which will include water, gas and electric. ownership would be willing to split up this site.

The photos at Craigslist are worth flipping through to admire the ancient ruins of Le Souk. Let's carbon date that disco ball.

Meanwhile, the former Max space at 51 Avenue B also remains on the market. Asking rent is $10,000 a month. This space has been vacant for 20 months.

Previously

Report: Shakespeare & Company closes for good at the end of the month


[EVG file photo]

As we first reported back on April 7, Shakespeare & Co. had lost the lease to its longtime home at 716 Broadway.

Now comes word that the bookstore will officially close at the end of this month, an employee told Gothamist.

Per Gothamist:

Right now, books and other merchandise are on sale at the Broadway store for 30 to 50 percent off. Go purchase some, and experience the soon-to-be-extinct joy of turning real, paper pages.

The current asking rent is $50,000 for the storefront between Washington Place and Waverly Place. A broker told The Commercial Observer that is likely two or three times what Shakespeare is paying now.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Shakespeare & Company loses lease on Broadway

Shakespeare & Company space is for lease on Broadway

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Today at Tompkins Square Park



Yonkers-based artist Jeffrey Reid was back with his large portraits outside Tompkins Square Park at Avenue A and East Seventh Street.

We've seen his portraits of the First Family, Donald Trump, Spike Lee, the Mona Lisa, etc. (Here and here.)

He was showing new work today, though.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Workers back demolishing what's left of 98-100 Avenue A



The demolition has picked up again at 98-100 Avenue A, where Ben Shaoul is building a 6-floor residential building with 29 apartments.

Work had come to a stand still here between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street for several months … but workers are back knocking over the carcass of the former theater-turned grocery. You can see the remnants of the auditorium in these photos from EVG reader Erika…





Demolition started last November. At this rate, the new building should be up by, say, 2021. Not that anyone is in a hurry for another brick box from Ben Shaoul.



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

Reader report: More about being aware of ATM skimming


[Photo from July 18]

An EV reader has a follow-up to our July 19 post "Beware ATM Skimming these Beware ATM Skimming signs say."

It seems as if a friend and I were both taken by this scam recently. We've both woken up to fraud alerts from Chase in the past week that our debit cards have been used elsewhere in the City.

Given that we both reside in Alphabet City, frequent the same places, and were still in possession of our cards, it suggests that it was indeed a scamming operation to steal the card data and produce dummy cards. Chase confirmed as much over the phone when I spoke with them. I'm very careful about using my card, so wherever the operation is it must be pretty stealth. We think it happened somewhere along Avenue C.

Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: 'Midnight Cowboy'


[Where's Joe Buck?]

The Films in Tompkins series ends tonight with the Oscar-winning "Midnight Cowboy" from 1969.



Anyway, you know how it works. The films start at sundown... and there will be local bands or DJs performing from beforehand. And think about mosquito repellent.

Updated: Former First Avenue Pierogi and Deli space for rent



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

We noticed a "for rent" sign in the window the other day. The listing isn't online just yet at the Quality Living website. So we don't know what the asking price is for this prime real EV real estate…

And we miss the food at First Avenue Pierogi and Deli.

Updated 8-16
The asking rent is $6,500.

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