Saturday, August 30, 2014

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!



Ah! And YOU thought it was going to be just another dreary Labor Day Weekend hereabouts! Not SO. The action will be here on Fourth Avenue between 14th Street and like Astor Place.



And for real — doesn't seem as if there were not as many street fairs as in previous summers? By our count, this is No. 5 since May. We could have missed one. Though did we ever leave town this summer?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Noted



East First Street at Second Avenue

Friday, August 29, 2014

Are you Gruesome tonight?



The UK-based Joanna Gruesome plays the final Seaport Music Festival of the summer tonight ... they are on at 8 ... Brooklyn's Big Ups open at 7. It's a free show. (Oh, and the stage is at Water and Fulton.)

Brooklyn Vegan refers to Joanna Gruesome's music as "twee/punk-inspired." That description works for us.

The East Village will be testing ground for a 'rat reservoir pilot'


[EVG file photo]

From NPR:

When Caroline Bragdon, a rat expert with the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, walks through the East Village, she's not looking at the people or the storefronts. Her eyes point down, at the place where the sidewalk meets the buildings and the street. "If you look really carefully, you can even see their hairs," Bragdon says, pointing to a little hole in the sidewalk next to a sewer grate. "When we see something like this, what we say to each other is, 'This catch basin is hot.' You know, 'This is ratty.' "

By that measure, this is one of the hottest neighborhoods in New York City. And it's one of the testing grounds for the city's new "rat reservoir pilot" — an initiative to try to reduce the rat population in neighborhoods with chronic infestations. Part of the plan is to hire extra exterminators and to seal up holes in sidewalks, parks and other public infrastructure. Rats can squeeze through the tiniest opening "in doors, in windows, in sidewalk curbs, in any building infrastructure," says Bragdon. "Rats only need a hole or a gap the size of a quarter to enter."

Woo! Maybe we can think of some other 'reservoir pilots' for the neighborhood!

Read/listen to the full report here.

H/T EVG reader Andréa

115 Second Ave. storefront for lease


[EVG file photo]

An EVG reader who is looking for retail space found a listing for 115 Second Ave. (The PDF is here.)


[Click on image for more details]

The address is currently home to Moishe's Kosher Bake Shop. (The Moishe's website says it has been here since 1978; other sources date the bakery to 1972.)

The listing via Jud Leasing, and last updated on Monday, notes that this is a "great location for restaurant, fast food venting in place." The occupancy for a new tenant is "arranged."

In September 2012, The Local reported that Moishe's was going to renovate the ground-floor space, dividing the bake shop into three sections that would include a café. The floors above Moishe's, which previously had been for lease, were also set for a renovation.

However, there were never any work permits filed for the building, according to DOB records.

BBQ with a view for $12k a month



Starting Nov. 1, you can rent this three-bedroom penthouse at 110 Third Ave. near East 14th Street.

Here are more details from the listing, which arrived on Streeteasy at the beginning of the month:

The open Chefs kitchen features Volcanic Basaltina counter tops and Subzero and Bosch appliances, including dishwasher and washer/dryer. The master bedroom features an on-suite bathroom with his and her sinks and an 8’ Mr. Steam full body spray showers and sound system. This condominium is a phenomenal residence for anyone looking to live at the top of a prestigious New York City luxury building with a full time concierge and doorman. In addition, this luxury building has a fully equipped fitness center, illuminated contemplation garden, and cold storage for Fresh Direct.



Going rate for the great BBQ views and Mr. Steam — $12,000 a month.

Expect to see a lot of the Ramones in the future



Jeff Jampol, who co-manages the estate of the Ramones, told the following to Billboard:

“The 40th anniversary of the Ramones is coming up in 2016, that’s when the first album came out. So we have a lot of projects leading up to that. We’re looking at a documentary on the Ramones, we just secured a ton of footage, much of which has never been seen before,” he says. “It came from the Ramones on the road over the years in the Seventies and a little bit in the Eighties, from a gentleman who had shot them, his name is George Seminara.”

The documentary is just one of several projects in the works. Among the others are a theatrical play, a book and a film, which already has Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese attached.

Billboard also reported that Linda Ramone, who controlled Johnny's half of the band's estate, and Joey's brother Mickey Leigh, who oversaw Joey's half, are now cooperating as a happy family after years of behind-the-scenes feuding.

Read the rest of the Billboard article here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mickey Leigh on his brother Joey Ramone's 'New York City' video

The Sunshine Hotel is shrinking on the Bowery

[Photo from July 2012 by Bobby Williams]

Catching up to this item from The Commercial Observer on Monday.

Owner Roseann Carone is downsizing the Sunshine Hotel space, converting the second and third floors of the SRO at 241 Bowery into commercial lofts. The space is adjacent to the New Museum and above Mathieu Palombino's Bowery Diner/Chez Jef on the ground-floor.

The Sunshine Hotel residents, which now number 30 to 40, occupy the complex's neighboring building at 239 Bowery near Stanton Street.

According to the Observer, the three-story 241 Bowery had 34 beds on the second floor and 52 beds on the third floor. The residents apparently had not been using the space that workers will be converting into office space. The Sunshine Hotel is one of the remaining Skid Row Bowery holdouts that has been on deathwatch the past 10 years.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-and-A with Michael Dominic, director of 'Sunshine Hotel'

Repost: Q-and-A with Michael Dominic, director of 'Sunshine Hotel'

Given the recent news about the Sunshine Hotel downsizing its space to make way for commercial office tenants … we thought we'd replay this post that first appeared here on July 19, 2012.

------


In 1999, filmmaker-photojournalist Michael Dominic set out to document the residents at the Sunshine Hotel, one of the few remaining flophouses on the Bowery. He wanted to know more about the men who had been living there, in four-by-six-foot cubicles topped by a ceiling made of chicken wire, with no particular place to go.

Dominic's ensuing documentary, "Sunshine Hotel," released in 2001, received a slew of festival awards and played on the Sundance Channel. The independently funded film was recently released on DVD for the first time. On this occasion, Dominic answered a few questions via email for us.

Have you been back to the hotel in recent years? Have you received any updates about the people who you featured in the film?

I pass by the hotel all the time but haven't been inside since 2002. But I have kept track of the changes to the hotel and the area. As far as I know, none of the residents that I knew are still living there. Many I know for a fact have died. The owners have stopped allowing new tenants and there are only a handful living in one section of the building now. [Updated: Dominic has learned that two of the men in the film, Bruce Davis and Tyrone, are still living at the hotel.]

The sister of one of my subjects in the film named Vic contacted me recently. He died in 2006, but she only found him again after nearly 50 years through my film. She and her brothers were able to gain some sort of closure after a very long time of believing he was a missing person. It was a moving experience.


For you, what are the most profound changes of the Bowery during which the film is set and the Bowery of today?

The Bowery is ever changing. Now it's on an upswing. On the ground floor of the Sunshine Hotel there is a new restaurant and an art gallery. It looks like they're planning another restaurant as well on the corner. As soon as the last of the tenants leave the Sunshine, I'm sure that they will convert the buildings into luxury housing.

When I shot Sunshine Hotel back in 1999, the Bowery was already what I thought of as gentrified. But now, looking back, that wasn't anything. Certain parts have been completely rebuilt and there's really nothing left of the old strip as far as the goings on. There are expensive restaurants, hotels and apartment buildings — and there isn't a single actual flophouse on the Bowery anymore.

Is that a bad thing? Times change and probably a long strip of drunken homeless men running through the center of the Lower East Side isn't the best idea. Still, when I look at the Whole Foods on the corner of Bowery and Houston, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.



The DVD release allows a new audience to experience the film. What would you like people to take away from "The Sunshine Hotel"?

People should remember what NYC was. They should remember it as something unique and beautiful, albeit seedy. We as a city have overdone it on clean-up. We have lost character. I hope that my film caught a little of the last of that era of New York, "when the Bowery was the Bowery."

[Nathan Smith, the hotel's manager]

Some 13 years later, what has stayed with you about making this film?

Nathan [Smith — the hotel's manager]. His friendship. He died 10 years ago, but rarely a day goes by that I don't think about him.

[Yesterday outside the Sunshine... photo by Bobby Williams]

You can buy the DVD here ... it's also available on Amazon. Dominic is now working on a documentary titled "Clean Hands," which chronicles the residents of La Chureca — Nicaragua’s largest, most dangerous garbage dump.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Today in photos of 2 Lamborghinis posing on 2nd Avenue



Captured today by Bobby Williams.

Just makes us miss @EVLambo all that much more, though not really.

How the Bowery will soon be 'wholly unrecognizable'


[Photo by Nathan Kensinger]

Today over at Curbed, photo journalist Nathan Kensinger takes a look at the ever-changing Bowery ... providing 20 updates on current or upcoming developments.

Despite the luxurification the past 10-plus years, "this 'land rush' is only now reaching its peak, and in the next few years, the already altered landscape of this once scrappy, iconic boulevard will become wholly unrecognizable."

The post includes a quote from EVG as well as Jeremiah Moss.

An East Village then-and-now photo project featuring 1984


[222 E. Third St. then and now]

Earlier this week, East Village resident Daniel Root shared a new photo project with us, a Tumblr titled EV NY: 30 yrs and now.

The site is pretty straightforward. Per its description:

Photographer Daniel Root documented the East Village in 1984. Today, he revisits the locations and documents their current state.

In addition to the then-and-now shots, Root added a photo of the contrasting scenes at the sites.




[119 Avenue C]

How did all this come about?

"I have been living here since the summer of 1984," Root told us via email on Tuesday. "At the time a friend of a friend wanted to write a book about the changing East Village and she wanted some photographs to pitch the book. The book was never written. Last year it occurred to me that those photographs were about to be 30 years old and I thought to hang them approximately where they were shot. The Tumblr site was a relatively recent addition prompted by a friend."


[174 Avenue A]


[141 Avenue A]


[307 E. 8th St.]

"I think what struck me the most while looking at the 'then vs now' shots is how much cleaner, neater and orderly things looks now," Root said. "On the other hand, a number of places don't look that different. For example, the Pyramid and the southwest corner of Tompkins Square Park."

Find more of his then-and-now shots here.

What it will cost to live behind Katz's


[EVG photo from Sunday]

As we pointed out on Monday, the long-delayed condo project is ready for sales action at 179 Ludlow St. (In 2008, the Voice dubbed the long-stalled building "The Rat Castle" thanks to its rodent infestation at the time.)

The Real Deal got the scoop on what to expect:

The building will contain six floor-through condos above the ground-level retail space. Each of the units on the second through fifth floors is nearly 1,100 square feet with balconies at the front and rear and loft-style elevator access. The second-floor unit also has access to a private garden. Prices start at $1.65 million.



Hopefully the aroma of Katz's pickles won't bother these folks.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Notorious 'Rat Castle' being pitched as 'Swank' on Ludlow Street

'Rat Castle' condos now on the market

Neighbors can now remember what this East 10th Street townhouse looks like



The one at 110 E. 10th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue… the one that has been enveloped in scaffolding and a sidewalk bridge for what, four years? (We saw an application for a sidewalk bridge date to 2010.)

The Italianate townhouse, built in 1867, is getting a gut rehab … converting the building into two residences.

Meanwhile, 110's sister townhouse at 106 remains wrapped in its construction gear… the building is undergoing a similar gut renovation…



Some neighbors have long been annoyed by the never-ending site of the sidewalk bridges, stalled construction and temporary campers here…

From Cafe Rakka to Dojo Izakaya on Avenue B



Workers continue to transform the former Cafe Rakka space at 38 Avenue B into Dojo Izakaya, which the Post described as "a Japanese gastropub."



It will be the latest restaurant from chef David Bouhadana, who opened Sushi Dojo in June 2013 at the former Polonia on First Avenue.

The inexpensive long-timer Cafe Rakka got Cromanated last November here near East Third Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chef David Bouhadana looking to open Dojo Izakaya in former Cafe Rakka space on Avenue B

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Tweet of the day

Subway Inn continues to live to serve another day


[EVG file photo]

Heading out of the neighborhood for a sec ... Via the EVG inbox...

On behalf of the entire Salinas family, I would like to applaud Civil Court Judge Jennifer Schecter for her heroic decision earlier today, which for the second time in less than 10 days, stayed all eviction proceedings against our family business. I would also like to take this opportunity, to once again thank the thousands of New Yorkers who have signed our petition and have sent us notes of encouragement to help my family stay strong through this very trying ordeal.

What my family has learned through this struggle to save our business (which has been in our family for more than 4 decades) is that this fight had struck a nerve in the heart of many New Yorkers. This is no longer a fight JUST about my family and our livelihood, it is about saving the character and charm of Olde New York by preserving our building, which has served both famous as well as everyday day New Yorkers proudly for more than 77 years.

We also would to commend the work and support of the New York City’s Landmark Preservation Commission, Councilman Dan Garodnick, and State Senator Liz Krueger for standing behind our fight and their willingness to meet and help us as we continue to try to save this treasure.

Thank You,
Steven Salinas

Here 's more background on the situation here on East 60th Street.

Updated 4:23 p.m.
According to Eater, Subway's lease is up in February.

Updated 8/28
Here's an important update on the legal wrangling via DNAinfo ...

The World-Wide Group’s lawyer offered Oct. 21 as a new move-out date, but Subway Inn lawyers refused and asked for Nov. 30, saying it would take time for the Salinas family to find a new place to relocate their business.

Claude Castro, who represents Subway Inn, also asked that the Salinas family be able to take the decades-old neon sign, as well as the bar’s furniture when vacating the space. The World-Wide Group’s lawyer refused.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Should we start worrying about the Subway Inn?

Report: The Subway Inn will close next month

Noted



Spotted on Avenue B ...photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C...

Birds of a feather on St. Mark's Place



EVG reader Shaun Stewart shared this photo of a new mural that went up on the south side of St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Anyone know who the artist is? The mural went up on Monday.

And find more of Shaun's photos on his Tumblr, NYC City Graffiti Fishing.

Updated 4:38 p.m.

Thanks to Bucky Turco at Animal NY for letting us know that the artist is DALeast.

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: Ellen Turrietta
Occupation: Bridal Shop Owner
Location: 7th Street between 1st and 2nd
Date: 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 20

I grew up in Las Vegas. I could walk to the Stratosphere. My dad was an electrician and my mother had 11 children. I lived in a very conservative household in the City of Sin, right by the strip. We used to drive him to work every morning and basically watch the strip get built.

I moved here six years ago in my teens. I was 19. I had a suitcase. I didn’t know anybody and I worked in a café and I slept there at night. It was called Net Café on 14th and 2nd Ave. It was an Internet café. It was in the hole but the owner wanted me to manage it and pull it out because he liked my personality. My home was a public space, so there seems to be this theme.

I came here for many reasons. When you want to do stuff you come to New York. We don’t even know what it means. New York is romance. I’m very attached to the romance of surviving in New York City, or thriving here, or just being here.

I was doing these, not really paint parties, but paint parties. I just started covering myself in paint. What was I thinking? I was having a hard time leaving the apartment because I’m a very private person. Then I started painting myself and leaving my apartment. I’ve known everyone since I started painting because I was able to leave my apartment. Everyone met me covered in black. I started covering myself in ink and coming outside. Then other people started playing with me. Everywhere I touched people you could see the inkblots. I started to see the way I was interacting with people was very informative. I was covered in ink all of the time and I had it dripping out of my ears so I could paint people and then people started coming and playing with me. It became almost like a church. Everyone came and would paint each other and paint the walls and cover each other. And everyone started looking like the same color and falling asleep in my home, stuck to each other with paint, and peeling it off. The latex and the glitter and the confetti would build and build. It was an incredible exploration.

I went from knowing no one to having interactions with people in my home. It was kind of like a family structure. We were all participating in each other’s projections — me as the mother figure and them as my children to some extent but also kind of like my siblings because I’m from such a big family. So many motherless obviously were attracted to the way that I host a home, which is that everybody is welcome, of course. Bring you and all of your perversions. It was the house of Satan. I was covered in toxic ink from my chin down to my toes. The more that people needed to me touch the more they let me consume them in toxic ink that dripped out of my ears. It was dark, like demanding that they participate in my depravity if they want to be friends with me. That’s to be friends with all of me. To have your bed be filthy with ink is to have me in your home.

It was dark and then we switched to paint, which was much friendlier. And then baby powder and now sand. Obviously we got kicked out, because what I started I couldn’t stop. People were coming in and out, bringing paint out. Paint on the floors. Everywhere you touched you could see. Everybody was here and I couldn’t clean it up as fast as they were coming in and out. It was beyond my control. I created something that I couldn’t control. And help… I can’t even control myself. I wouldn’t want anybody to ask me to control myself even in their home, so how could I ask my children to? Be free.

So it actually became out of control and they asked me to leave. I said yes because I agreed that we were out of control. But I always get asked to leave. If this keeps happening I’m obviously the problem, you know, so of course I leave. Perhaps I’m out of control or maybe I’m just smart. I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t believe in saying no to anybody, which can be destructive to my home, but whatever. I don’t know. This is what I believe.

There is something about 7th Street. All will agree. I’m running a bridal shop here. I make things for everyone. I had the street in my living room and then I had my living room on the street. I wasn’t paying rent and so people were bringing furniture from the block and I was creating a living room every single day. This started two weeks ago. It was first a free leather shop, then a free barber shop. I had the kids here making mustaches out of shaving cream, letting them cut my hair because I could just weave in more dreads, the way my hair is right now. I was shaving heads and legs. It was just a blast. And to touch people and to play with each other is just so much fun. I saved her [the pigeon] on the block. I found everything on the block. Everything I need is right here.

Then it became a bridal shop, because we’re all getting married, you see. Everybody is getting married. Will you marry us? We’re all going to marry each other because I love everyone. That’s why I was evicted, so I think that we should make it official, because we are family. The party is Sept. 6 — save the date. It’s going to be at the beach and anyone who doesn’t have a gown, come to me. I am open from 12 to 6 everyday. I’ve been making wedding gowns and tuxedos for everybody. I’m dressing everybody. It’s all materials that people brought me — black and white unused things. I’m using all recycled material and everything is free. I’m going to town boy. Welcome to the bridal shop. I look forward to marrying you.

Some people are new, some people are old. I believe that marriage is about love and I think we’re a family and I think we need each other because we’re not with our families. Maybe that’s why we were able to come to the island of Manhattan. Manhattan is the motherland and we’re the natives reclaiming the island. By abstaining. That’s how we’re going to get it back.

I guess what I would like to say is that I’ve found that giving things away for free and not asking for anything in return has been very sustainable because people feel loved by me and want to support me. Because they’re overwhelmed. I love it because I need that, obviously. This is sustainable, what I am doing here. Freedom is sustainable, it’s crazy! And I’m learning more about it each day, because I even doubt myself and I continue with the concept. So it’s been somewhat religious.

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