Sub-zero wind chills don't prevent Zoltar from seeing the future

Hard at work outside Gem Spa this morning at 8:30, reports Derek Berg…

Ralph Feldman's East 8th Street

Ralph Feldman, a former FDNY fire marshal, died on Feb. 5. He was 79.

Here are some of the photos that he shared with us last fall from the block he lived on since 1969... few photos included building addresses or dates... though all were on East Eight between B and C, where he said there could be up to five fires a week in the abandoned buildings during this time period.

As he wrote for the Local in January 2012, "At the same time when the Bronx was burning, the East Village was burning. All of Brooklyn was burning. In the ’70s and ’80s, big portions of the city burnt down."




[1970]


[1982]





















The Villager has more on Feldman this week here.

Valuable lots to be sold in the neighborhood — in 1836

[Click on image for more details]

Something from the Museum of the City of New York.

Here's the description:

Valuable Lots to be Sold by Jas. Bleecker & Sons on Thursday 19th of May 1836

Map of area from 6th to 8th Streets betwen 1st and 4th Avenue.

Missing from the description: There goes the neighborhood!

Check out more from the Museum's collection right here ... and all available for purchase.

Reader report: A mixed reception for a potential new East 7th Street resident

A dispatch from EVG reader Leslie yesterday...

Like many in today's real-estate market, everyone's willing to look even further east.

Today, a familiar face was checking out homes on 7th between C and D and received a mixed reception. Some longtime neighborhood residents exhibited marked hostility; others had fingers crossed that this newcomer would choose to stay.

The well-wishers fantasized a new laser focus on reduction of the blocks rodent population.

But the haters, per eyewitness accounts, made their hostility known.

Multiple members of a local blue-jay clique jeered sharp jaay-jaays and repeatedly dive bombed youngblood hawk.

The clannish residents entered attack mode, pecking at his noggin as he sat placidly upon a branch pondering the new location.

Fans tried but failed to capture documentation of the skirmish (see photo below). Nest shopping stopped when a kit of pigeons circled 6th Street, ending the outing to the east.

At the Tompkins Square Greenmarket today

Just two vendors — Meredith's Bread and Pura Vida Fish — are braving the wind chills today. Also, from the Greenmarket folks: "Sangmin from the compost team will be here til 1 to collect your food scraps, but there is NO textile recycling today."

How windy will it get today?

[Photo on East 13th Street near First Avenue by paddy523]

From the weather people…

Winter Weather Advisory, Wind Chill Advisory
Statement as of 3:59 AM EST on February 15, 2015

...Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 1 PM EST this
afternoon...
...Wind Chill Advisory remains in effect from 6 PM this evening
to 9 am EST Monday...

• locations...New York City...Metro New Jersey...Long Island and coastal Connecticut.

• Hazard types...periods of snow...blowing snow and high winds into early this afternoon. Hazardous wind chills after midnight through Monday morning.

• Accumulations...snow accumulation of 1 to 5 inches.

• Winds...northwest 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph.

• Temperatures...3 below to 20 above zero.

• Wind chill...as low as 22 below due to temperatures 3 below to
16 above zero...and winds northwest 20 to 30 mph with gusts up
to 45 mph.

• Timing...the strongest winds will occur through early this afternoon. The lowest wind chills will occur after midnight through Monday morning.

And not the first time that we have used the Wind of the Century tag.

Love in the overnight

St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Avenue A. (People drew other things on cars as well, as usual.)

Photo by Michael Sean Edwards

Ray's now has onion rings

Last night, Ray introduced fried onion rings to his menu, per EVG regular Peter Brownscombe.

They are freshly cut and fried, not frozen...



113 Avenue A near East Seventh Street

Dallas BBQ is for lovers

The scene on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place via Derek Berg...

Are the red-tailed hawks building a nest on the Tompkins Square Library?

[Photo from the other day in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams]

As we noted earlier this week, red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora likely won't be able to build their nest on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street this year. So, they will need a new home for a nest.

To the EVG inbox this morning…

Sadly I don't have a photo, but I spotted a hawk, hopefully Christo or Dora, flying out of Tompkins with nesting materials in his talons. He was headed toward the library on East 10th between A and B and appeared to land in that general area. Maybe a new nest location on a building in the vicinity??

I guess we'll see!

Yes!

Saint's Alp Teahouse returns after renovation

Saint's Alp Teahouse, 39 Third Ave. between East 9th Street and East 10th Street, reopened yesterday after a nearly month-long closure for renovations…

Workers have upgraded the space…


[Image via Facebook

One regular told us that they added a few new menu items as well…

The art of noise

The fourth release from A Place to Bury Strangers is out on Tuesday. Here's a single from Transfixiation called "And I'm Up."

Raymond

A familiar presence selling flowers outside Key Food on Avenue A and East Fourth Street...

Photo by Stacie Joy

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

A look at Ash Thayer's book "Kill City: Lower East Side Squatters 1992-2000" (The Link)

Bowery Mission names new president and CEO (The Lo-Down)

Woman punched at Katz's for standing too close in line (DNAinfo)

Manny Cantor Center hosting a Survey of Working Artists on the Lower East Side (BoweryBoogie)

Art and ephemera connected to No Wave Film, 1976-1985 (98 Bowery)

Police looking for suspect in mugging on Essex and Hester (PIX 11)

An oral history of CBGB (Medium/Cuepoint)

A winter view of the Depression-era East River (Ephemeral New York)

"When you look at all the reasons why New York City has left such an indelible mark on the world, it ultimately has precious fuck-all to do with having been born here." (Flaming Pablum)

Q-and-A with John Waste of Urban Waste (Noisey/Vice)

Red Velvet Oreo Ice Cream coming to Davey's on First Avenue this weekend (Grub Street)

Update on residential conversion of 41 Great Jones (Curbed)

In case you wanted Andy Warhol-inspired Chuck Taylors (Tasting Table)

A surprising trip to Foley's on West 33rd Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Cops keeping surveillance on Washington Square Park visitors in real time (Washington Square Park Blog)

For your Valentine's Day: EVG's favorite love songs, sort of (Stupefaction)

... and "Law and Order: SVU" was back in the neighborhood filming this week, including at First Houses on East Third Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...


[Photo by Yenta Laureate]

More about Taste Wine, coming soon to 50 Third Ave.

Back in December we noted that a new wine shop was in the works for 50 Third Ave. near East 10th Street.

Gary Landsman, the proprietor of the incoming Taste Wine, shared more information with us about the shop that he hopes to have up and running this spring.

About Taste Wine:

"The store will have a relatively small selection of wines. We don't think it makes sense to overwhelm people with choice — choosing which wine to buy can be difficult enough. We also intend to have a pretty comprehensive tasting program so people can try their wines much like we try on clothing. And we will have a wine tasting room in the back of the space where we will hold nightly and maybe even twice-per-night wine education/appreciation sessions."

About his background:

"From about 1999-2002, I was a part-time NYU business school student. I was trading stocks, and felt pretty empty inside. I got out and spent some time in the restaurant world where I fell in love with wine. Finally, in 2006, I sublet my apartment and went to Israel where I worked a harvest season at a small boutique winery in the Judean Hills. After the harvest, I went to Napa where I worked at a larger 'custom crush' facility through the winter.

I came back to NYC in 2007 and … I ended up getting a job in sales with a wine distributor … then after selling wine for a couple of years I was recruited by some new wine industry friends to help out with marketing for a wine importer/distributor.

But opening a place where consumers could comfortably find wine that suits them has been my dream for several years now. So I left my job at the end of 2013 and have been working on this project ever since."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Biomed Drugs & Surgical Supply Co. closing on 3rd Avenue

Report: Deal finalized to create public-private partnership for 6 public housing developments

[File photo of Campos Plaza]

The New York City Housing Authority reportedly finalized a deal earlier this week to sell a 50-percent stake in six Section 8-subsidized developments to L+M Development Partners and BFC Partners for $360 million, plus another $100 million in additional renovation investments.

The sale comprises 10 buildings and 874 units, including Campos Plaza on Avenue C and East 12th Street and East 4th Street Rehab between Avenue B and Avenue C in the East Village.

The Observer has more on the deal, made final on Tuesday:

The sale, which places the properties in the hands of the newly-formed Triborough Preservation Partners, a public-private partnership ... was carried out as a means of opening a variety of funding streams to address the Section 8 facilities’ decrepit condition — they are estimated to require some $113 million in maintenance and repair over the next 15 years — in the absence of federal dollars, which mostly dried up in the 1990s.

And!

Without the establishment of a public-private partnership, the new funding sources, which will supply financing for construction, operations and maintenance of reserves, would not have been available to NYCHA, which as a public entity is ineligible for the loans, tax credits and other financial instruments responsible for the fresh funds.

Shola Olatoye, the chair and CEO of NYCHA, said that her organization will retain approval and oversight rights with respect to all major decisions.

You can find more background on the story at Curbed. And The Wall Street Journal.

The Adele has a shuttle van

[Via Streeteasy]

The Adele is the new luxury 12-story residential building on East Houston and Avenue D (technically 310 E. Second St.).

Living this far east … well, you have some bus options (M9, M22 and the M14D) … or else face a short walk to the F … or maybe the 6 at Bleecker/Lafayette.

The distance from a subway line might be a deterrent for a potential tenant. Which is why, perhaps, there have been multiple sightings of an alleged Adele shuttle van in recent weeks.

Said one EVG reader, who has been keeping tabs: "I just saw the Adele subway shuttle again. Pretty sure that's what it is. The van was filled with seats but no people driving east on Bleecker. After a drop off at Broadway-Lafayette I presume. Oy vey. That's so Trump Plaza of them."

And finally Dave on 7th recently caught the Adele van in action...



A shuttle service isn't listed under the Adele's amenities on its website… and the van doesn't offer any further explanation about the Adele's puzzling marketing slogan: "In a city where everyone is always going somewhere, YOU'LL ALREADY BE HERE."

About that Bill de Blasio-tagged van on East 6th Street

The other evening we noticed this van with the Bill de Blasio tag on it parked on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Turns out the van belongs to Vit Horejs, artistic director of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre. He owns several vans, all named Molly, to transport theatrical equipment.

According to Bonnie Sue Stein, Vit's friend and director of the nonprofit organization 7 Loaves Inc/GOH Productions, the de Blasio tag arrived about two weeks ago.

"The van was not tagged for weeks when we got it, but as soon as one person started, it hasn't stopped," said Stein, a community organizer in the East Village for more than 30 years. "It's frustrating. Vit says he wishes they did a better job. It's not very well-executed. It's a mess. People have been laughing about the de Blasio tag. And one woman who saw it said we should sell the van to a museum because of the de Blasio tag."

New works from East Village artist Anton van Dalen go on display tonight in Chelsea

[Stromboli Pizzaman 2011-2012, oil on canvas, by Anton van Dalen]

Longtime East Village artist Anton van Dalen begins a month-long exhibition of new work tonight at the P.P.O.W. Gallery, 535 W. 22nd St. between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue in Chelsea. (The P.P.O.W. Gallery started its life in the East Village in 1983.)

The opening is tonight from 6-8. The work will be up through March 14. Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

And an Anton van Dalen sneak preview via his website…

Waiting for dinner at the Odessa

[Click on image to enlarge]

EVG contributor Michael Sean Edwards dines at the Odessa lunch counter…