The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion just made the best-ever New York City music video

The new record from the Blues Explosion, titled "Freedom Tower - No Wave Dance Party 2015," drops March 24 on Mom+Pop Music.

Ahead of that, the band unveils a trailer for the single, "Do The Get Down."

Our friend Alex at Flaming Pablum thinks that it "just might be the most NYC video of all time" ... noting it's "a visual love letter to New York City's colorful cultural past."

Indeed, check it out... and tally up the pop-cultural references (Alex did here)...



And Allen Cordell was the editor who put all this together...

New residential building at former 14th Street PO will feature a quiet lounge, private dining room

The new eight-story residential building coming to the site of the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office will include exercise and rec rooms, a quiet lounge and private dining room.

The Post reported on more details on the mixed-use building for 432-438 E. 14th St. just west of Avenue A.

Benenson Capital Partners, whose company has owned the site since the 1940s, is teaming with Mack Real Estate Group on the project.

Per the article:

The 134,000-square-foot, mixed-use building is being planned to fit seamlessly into this Lower East Side neighborhood. “We are working to develop something timeless from a design perspective and contextual from a scale perspective,” said [CEO Richard] Mack of the low structure that will have plenty of light and air.

Its 114 apartments are being targeted toward millennials, while its 15,400 square feet of ground-floor retail is right across the street from the people-packed Stuyvesant Town.

Construction is expected to start this spring, according to the Post. Demolition permits were ordered in October to bring down the post office and the former Stuyvesant Stationery shop next door.

SLCE Architects are listed as the designer of record. (Any renderings floating around out there?) That firm's résumé includes such high-profile projects as the Bloomberg mothership on Lexington Avenue and the Blue building on the Lower East Side.

Meanwhile, earlier in the week, we saw that the post office doors were open … beckoning us inside, perhaps to wait in line one last time for that package that the worker probably isn't even looking for in the back room…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Today in rants: the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

Meanwhile, at everyone's favorite local post office branch...

UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

First sign of more development on East 14th Street?

Asbestos abatement to begin at former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

Davey drill arrives ahead of rumored development at former East 14th Street post office

Former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office slated to be demolished

The former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office will yield to an 8-story residential building

Gena's Grill is back open, and that is a good thing

Gena's has reopened after workers renovated the small space here at 210 First Ave. near East 13th Street these past few weeks...

A steam table sits where the 6-seat lunch counter used to be...



Seems to speed up the to-go operation (not that it was slow previously) ... there are four tables...



... and the same inexpensive Latin fare as before...

Fat Sal's debuts neighborhood's first $2,400 pizza

EVG reader Dan Moran caught this pricing typo while ordering online from Fat Sal's on Avenue A…



Heh.

Per Dan: "Perhaps they fly to Italy for the Fresh Mozzarella?"

All-new 212 E. 14th St. seeks retail tenant

The gut renovating carries on over at 212 E. 14th St. near Third Avenue. Workers have added a sixth floor to the building nestled between the Jefferson's retail spaces (and Chickpea)...



New store for rent signs are up now on the sidewalk bridge … the listing isn't online, so if you are interested in the space, then you need to call…



The storefront was most recently the Super Saving Store, which closed in June 2011. Irving Klaw's Movie Star News, which specialized in celebrity stills and Hollywood pin-ups, had a store on the second floor at this address seemingly 1,000 years ago.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Residential, retail and an additional floor for 212 E. 14th St.

[Updated] Did the Pinkberry close on St. Mark's Place?

Slum Goddess noticed that the FroYo hotspot was closed last evening during business hours... and looking suspiciously closed for good.

The storefront at 24 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue remains closed today... the phone goes unanswered... and they seem to be off of Seamless...



Strange timing for a closure... just days before the 10th anniversary they've been touting on the front window ... (this sign is gone too...)


[Photo by Slum Goddess]

H/T Jordy Trachtenberg

Updated 4:58

A reader noted that the windows have been covered with paper…



Updated 1-22

BoweryBoogie reports that the Pinkberry on Spring Street has also closed.

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: Gala Darling
Occupation: Writer, Blogger, Teacher at galadarling.com
Location: 9th Street between B and C
Time: 2 pm on Thursday, Dec. 18

I lived in New Zealand till I was 23. I always wanted to live in New York City. When I was younger I could recite the dialogue from "Ghostbusters," and was always reading books that were set in NYC. I got really obsessed with the city. I remember when I was 12 sitting in the Wellington Public Library with a stack of New York travel guides and making lists of all the places I wanted to visit.

I always wanted to be a writer and when I was 13 or 14, my parents and teachers started to say things like, "You’ll never make any money doing that, so you should have a backup plan." My father wanted me to be a journalist or a lawyer and I just didn’t want to do that. I went to university when I was 16 because I thought it was what I was supposed to do. I went to university and I was like, "This is shit, I don’t want to do this. I don’t really know what I want to do and I don’t want to waste my parents’ money fucking around trying to figure it out."

I left. I was still living with my parents, and they told me, "You have to get a job." I got a job at a bank, selling home loans over the phone. It was the most boring job ever but I was making quite good money for someone who had no expenses. I would spend all my money on plane tickets to Auckland and back. Then I held a succession of random jobs: I sold newspaper advertising over the phone; I was a fiction buyer at a university bookshop; I worked on the sales desk in ISP; I did administrative, call-center shit — horrible stuff. Really soul-murdering.

Then I moved to Melbourne, Australia. I went for a job interview at a clothing store and they didn’t employ me. I was mortified because I had been managing a Lush Cosmetics store, and retail was one thing I was good at. So I made a list of things that were creative and enjoyable and would also support me.

Starting a blog was the cheapest and easiest thing to do. I wanted to start a magazine but I had no money so I thought, "I’ll start a blog and I’ll see how it works and then maybe it’ll work and I’ll transition it to a magazine." And it’s been so good that I don’t want to transition it to a magazine.

I started galadarling.com in 2006 but I had been journaling online since 1997, which is basically when I got an Internet connection. I was sharing my angsty poetry and all that stuff because I was a sad teenager. I would build websites on Geocities and Tripod and I had a RocketMail account. I didn’t realize it but that was job training for what I do now. I was always an Internet obsessive, and would get in trouble at every job for spending too much time online!

I started writing about style and fashion, and six months into it, I got an email from the editor of Cosmopolitan Australia. It landed in my spam folder, which I’m so glad I checked. She said, "We would like to give you a column in our magazine, we’ll give you the whole back page every month." Holy shit. You’re going to pay me to do this? So I started to do that and my profile rose quickly because of it. People would start to yell my name on the street, or tweet that they had seen me in public, and it was really crazy.

A lot of what I am doing with my website is helping women deal with fear. Everyone’s afraid of doing something that’s too bold or too risky. Most people would rather be unhappy than uncomfortable. If they’re comfortable but unhappy they’re okay with it, because it’s the uncertainty that people don’t like. So what I’m trying to get people to do is take that first step. You only really feel anxiety when you’re not moving or taking action; when you’re stuck and not doing anything; when you’re overthinking things.

And so my goal is to start getting women to take those steps, whether it’s being grateful, or using affirmations, or ritual, or journaling. There are so many ways that you can get there. But once you start taking those little steps, it’s not so terrifying. Once you’re in it, you don’t really have room to be terrified. You have to keep moving forward.

In 2008, I came over to NYC with my boyfriend at the time. The city was just so alive and so much energy. I felt like everyone here had a purpose and that they were here for a reason. It inspired me, because I was looking to find my purpose. We stayed for a week or two and at the end he had to London for work and then back to Melbourne. I said, "You know what, there’s no rush to go back to Australia, I’m just going to stay here for awhile."

I thought I would be here for a month, but it ended up being three months, which was the length of my temporary visa. By the time that three months was over our relationship was finished. I flew to Australia, packed up all my stuff, shipped it to my parents’ house, and started working out how to get a visa so I could live here. I got an O-1 visa and moved here for good.

My first apartment was this sublet in the West Village. It was beautiful. The toilet was in the hallway, of course, and the shower was in the kitchen, but it was clean and minimal, and to me it was perfect. I remember just walking around the city in the summer, being so excited and practically buzzing with energy. There was a guy who would roll his piano into Father Demo Square and play it every night. My next sublet was on 13th between A and B. It was completely crooked, and there was a lot of taxidermy everywhere. Then I moved in with the guy I was dating, we got married, and we have been living in Alphabet City ever since.

My husband worked at MTV for 15 years and when he met me he was like, "You make money doing this?!" The thing I’m most happy about with my work is that I feel like I can evolve and that’s not just accepted, it’s encouraged. I can continue to change and be true to who I am and not have to fake it for people. Making it in a creative industry is hard — I think creatives are like cockroaches, we will always find a new way to persevere, to make it work — but the freedom is so incredible. I can’t ask for a more rewarding or amazing job than this.

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

The Save Manitoba's! crowdfunding campaign is underway

[Image via Facebook]

As first reported last week, Manitoba's at 99 Avenue B is in danger of closing.

Owners Handsome Dick Manitoba and Zoe Hansen wrote in part:

Due to a small wrinkle in the interplay between State and Federal law, Manitoba’s was recently forced to reluctantly settle a case with a private individual for a cumbersome amount that threatens the future of the establishment.

Our backs are against the wall. Our ONLY choice, after being advised by several very competent lawyers, was to settle.

Manitoba’s, its proprietors and patrons, are the very fiber of the East Village — The same East Village that is now being commoditized at an alarming rate and manifesting itself in the form of tenants in expensive apartments levying noise complaints at 8 pm.

This is a battle cry for help. Please don't let Manitoba’s meet the same fate as other business institutions that have recently been forced to close.

Understand this please — this situation is not part of what you would call, "business as usual." It's not a fine, and it's certainly not business mismanagement. We either pay, or shut down. Not one penny goes into the owner's pockets, or is being used to pay bills. All of it goes to settling this claim and keeping the bar open.

Manitoba's launched an Indiegogo campaign on Monday. If this is of interest, then you may find the crowdfunding page here with the various incentives.

Aside from Indiegogo, Manitoba's also mentioned concerts and auctions as ways to help raise the necessary funds.

According to several published reports, the campaign is a result of "a settlement with a man who has sued dozens of businesses under the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to court filings," as DNAinfo put it. The man, a former East Village resident identified as Luigi Girotto, 50, has reportedly sued at least 27 other businesses for failing to provide accessibility, according to court papers that DNAinfo obtained.

Gothamist has more on the story here.

City OKs 15-story mixed-use retail-residential building on 14th and C

[EVG file photo]

The city last week signed off on the necessary permits for the Rabsky Group to build a 15-story mixed-use retail-residential complex on the southwest corner of East 14th Street and Avenue C. (New York Yimby first reported on the approval last Friday.)

The demo permits to take down the former R&S Strauss auto parts store, which closed in April 2009, were filed last June.

What can you expect here some day?

A Karl Fischer-designed building, which will total 61,789 square feet. DOB permits show 8,578 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The remainder of the first five stories will host a community facility, which will span 18,937 square feet, and 50 apartments will sit above.


[EVG file photo]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Development back in play for East 14th Street and Avenue C

More details on the sale of 644 E. 14th St.

Here comes a 15-story retail-residential complex for East 14th Street and Avenue C

Prepping the former R&S Strauss auto parts store for demolition on East 14th Street and Avenue C

East Village-set 'Ten Thousand Saints' premieres at Sundance Friday

As you may recall, filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini filmed around the East Village last year for their low-budget adaption of the Eleanor Henderson novel "Ten Thousand Saints."

So if you happen to be in Utah ... the movie, which is set in the 1980s, premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.

Here is the film's description from the program:

Jude — named after a Beatles song by his hippie parents—spends his high school days in small-town Vermont getting high with his best friend, Teddy. Beneath Jude’s mind-numbing activities lurks a desire to reconnect with his estranged father, Les, who abandoned the family when Jude was nine. Desperate to keep her son out of trouble, Jude’s mother sends him to live with Les in New York City. In the roiling and raw East Village, Jude struggles to establish an identity within the cultural upheaval downtown and forms an unlikely surrogate family with Teddy’s straight-edge brother and a troubled, rich uptown girl.

The cast includes Hailee Steinfeld, Asa Butterfield, Emile Hirsch, Emily Mortimer and Ethan Hawke.

The most high-profile filming sequence took place on May 1... with a recreation of the Tompkins Square Park riots of 1988.

Here's a snippet of the riot re-creation video via our friends at Gammablog...



Thanks to EVG reader Perri Silver for the tip!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Filmmakers will recreate the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988 this Thursday night

Film crew recreates 'tent city' in Tompkins Square Park

Film crew uses 'D Squat' and phone booths to recreate an 1980s East Village on 6th Street

[Updated] First Avenue subbing for Avenue D today

Another 'riot' in Tompkins Square Park, this time for the cameras

Warwick and Framus Custom Shop closes on East 7th Street

Catching up to this closure... we recently noticed that the custom guitar-bass showroom at 76 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue had been emptied out... and multiple past-rent notices are taped to the storefront.

The renowned German brand's first New York location arrived back in the fall of 2009.

Notable Framus players though the years (the company launched in 1946, and took on the Warwick name following bankruptcy in 1995) include Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones and Messrs. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison of the Beatles, among many others.

The storefront was previously home to the Addukkan Moroccan crafts shop.

Reader report: Gunshots on East 12th Street at Avenue C

We've heard several reader reports of gunshots this afternoon and this evening on East 12th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C outside Campos Plaza.

The first report came around 2 p.m., where witnesses said they heard 6 shots.

There were reports of three more shots around 6 p.m.

An EVG reader tells us, "I heard shots and saw kids giggling and running... The silver van in the middle of the street was hit by a bullet."

Gingersnap's Organic is leaving the East Village for the West Village

The vegan, gluten free and raw food specialists will be closing up their nearly 3-year-old home at 130 E. Seventh St. later this week ahead a move to the West Village.

Per an email that they sent:

We're taking Gingersnap's across the great island of Manhattan and are opening a WEST VILLAGE location! We're sad to see our East Village spot go, but with all the space we're gaining in the new spot, we'll be better able to serve ALL of our customers!

To keep you feeling your best, this location will have an expanded smoothie menu with special elixir shots, more options at the coffee bar, warm soups, a greater breakfast selection, and much more!

Gingersnap's fans can find the new storefront — described as more of a "juice-bar-meets-coffee-shop" — at 113 W. 10th St., between Sixth Avenue and Greenwich.

And East Village customers can still get delivery via Seamless.

Prior to Gingersnap's, the storefront just west of Avenue A was home to Mikey's Pet Shop ...

Permit pre-filed for new 12-floor building at 79-89 Avenue D

[Google Street View]

Reps for L&M Development Partners pre-filed plans on Friday for a 12-story, mixed-use building here on the west side of Avenue D between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street. The space is currently home to Rite Aid and two long-empty storefronts.

The plans show a building with a total of 96,038 square feet (7,868 of them for the retail component). In total, the plans show 108 dwelling units.

The Real Deal reported last May that the developers could build to 96,400 square feet with an inclusionary housing bonus. So given the dimensions, we're assuming that some of the units will be set aside for that.

In a previous post about 79-89 Avenue D, a commenter said that the Rite-Aid would temporarily move to the still-empty retail space the next block up at Arabella 101 … then return once the new building is complete. (We haven't heard anything official about this.)

L&M Development Partners, one of the groups involved in the Essex Crossing development at the former Seward Park urban renewal site, previously acquired 79-89 Avenue D for $12.5 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Space that houses Rite Aid on Avenue D hits market for $22.5 million

Report: New 12-story, mixed-use building in the works for Avenue D

Space that houses 1st Avenue's Polish-American diner Neptune is on the market

The storefronts currently housing the Neptune and Lin's Laundromat at 192-194 First Ave. between East 11th Street and East 12th Street are on the market.

The listings at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank note that the rent for Neptune's 1,660 square feet is available upon request… and the possession of the space that houses the Polish-American diner was December 2014.

The spaces cannot be combined, per the listing.

The laundromat space is apparently "ideal for juice bar or cafe" …



Not sure if there's a need for another juice bar, given that Juice Press has two locations on East 10th Street between Second Avenue and Avenue A … not to mention Liquiteria on Second Avenue and East 11th Street and beQu Juice on East Ninth Street just west of First Avenue…

Will be sorry to see the Neptune eventually go. It has been here since 2001 (taking over the KK's space). It is always a hearty and inexpensive option… and, at least from our recent visits, rarely crowded. (We recall a Saturday night in December when the restaurant sat empty at 7:30.)

Not sure what happened here … a rent hike or just more of the neighborhood's changing culinary habits. (RIP Polonia, Kiev, Christine's, Leshko's, Teresa's…)

Saint's Alp Teahouse closes for a revamp

Saint's Alp Teahouse at 39 Third Ave. near East Ninth Street closed after business on Saturday… it's just for what the detailed sign on the door describes as "a minor renovation" …



That's about as detailed as a closed for renovation sign gets… Meanwhile, follow them on Facebook or Twitter for reopening news.

Saint's Alp last closed for a renovation back in May 2010.

Matty's makes it official on Avenue B

The transformation of Idle Hands to Matty's looks nearly complete at 25 Avenue B… someone painted the Matty's name on the space between East Second Street and East Third Street over the weekend. The bar officially opened on Dec. 12.



The owners ran a gay bar in Wilton Manors, Fla., called Matty's on the Drive that closed in late 2012 following a year-long legal case.

Here's a description of the place via Facebook:

Matty's NYC is the sister bar to the famed Matty's on the Drive in Wilton Manors, FL. Matty's on the Drive opened four years ago and has won awards including Best New Bar, Best Gay Bar, Best Signature Martini, and Best Neighborhood Bar to name a few. Matty's NYC will follow in it's sisters footsteps bringing the hottest music and videos, a friendly staff, and a clean, modern, upscale bar & lounge that everyone can enjoy 7 days a week!

Matty's recently unveiled a college night…



Some neighbors still want to know how this one slipped by CB3. Matty's was on last month's CB3/SLA agenda, though it wasn't heard before the committee. It was billed as a Corporate Change with 100 percent turnover in the corporate partners … and with operators from out of state without any track record of running a bar in NYC.

Thanks to @Salim for the top photos!

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bar called Matty's in the works for Idle Hands on Avenue B

Former Everything Bagels space now for rent on 3rd Avenue and NYU

The for lease signs have arrived at the bagel shop, which closed earlier this year in the storefronts of NYU's Third North dorm … on Third Avenue and East 12th Street.

The listing isn't online just yet.

And as we've pointed out, this is Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's third listing here along Third Avenue … two storefronts remain for rent in the base of NYU's Alumni Hall at East Ninth Street.



Previously on EV Grieve:
NYU neighbors Just Sweet and Everything Bagels have apparently closed on 3rd Avenue

New York Sports Club brands its new Avenue A home

One of the final pieces of the new New York Sports Club is in place at 28 Avenue A — the signage…



Now the gym here between East Second Street and East Third Street just needs some weights and treadmills and what not (or maybe all that has already been moved inside)…

The NYSC website now says this location will open in Winter 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New York Sports Club in the works for Avenue A

Sidewalk bridge and scaffolding arrive ahead of planned New York Sports Club on Avenue A

New York Sports Club says hello on Avenue A

Familiar Burger-Klein sign has disappeared from Avenue A

Here is the New York Sports Club building on Avenue A

Tuscan food specialist opening 1st U.S. outpost on 4th Avenue for some reason

[EVG file photo]

After nearly two and a half years since Dryden Gallery moved out, 129 Fourth Ave. is getting a new full-time tenant.

The Post reports that the first U.S. outpost of Mi Garba ("I like it" in Italian!) is opening here just south of East 13th Street.

And what will they sell?

The flagship 1,000 square-foot space, at 129 Fourth Ave., will include a restaurant with 10 tables. There will also be Tuscan food and wine for sale along with a boutique offering fashion items, including custom-made shirts and jackets.

The space was previously home to a pop-up gallery last May featuring model-photographer Amber Arbucci's breasts.

A Fresh & Co. is opening next door to the incoming Mi Garba on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street.