Report: Family of man killed by tire swing in Tompkins Square Park suing city

[Photo of memorial for Aleim Perkins by Bobby Williams]

Last Dec. 15, Harlem resident Aleim Perkins was playing with his 6-year-old niece in the Tompkins Square Park playground off East Ninth Street and Avenue A. He pushing an empty tire swing when it struck him in the face. He was rushed to Beth Israel, where hospital officials said the 39-year-old Perkins had died.

Now Perkins' mother and sister are suing the city for $10 million, the Post reports.

The family wants the Parks Department to remove all 53 of the hard-plastic swings in playgrounds citywide, according to the notice of claim filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

To the Post:

“You have to be horrified and make sure this never happens again,” said his mom, Rosemary Perkins, 60, who is suing along with sister Vernesha Perkins, 36.

If the city removes the swings, replaces them with safer ones or posts warning signs, the family will no longer seek monetary damages, they said.

A Parks official previously said that the city didn't have plans to remove any of the swings.

In published reports from December, witnesses said that Perkins had been aggressively pushing the empty swing when it struck him.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Witness to a tragedy in Tompkins Square Park

Report: City not removing tire swings from Tompkins Square Park

Report: Tire swing kills man in Tompkins Square Park

Out and About in the East Village, part 1

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: Stephen Shanaghan (pictured right), Arnoldo Caballero
Occupation: Owners, Pangea Restaurant
Location: Pangea, 2nd Avenue between 11th and 12th Street
Time: Wednesday, Feb. 18th at 5:30 pm

Stephen: I’m from Rhode Island. I moved here to go to NYU, where I studied psychology. People always asked me how I got into the restaurant business. I worked in them and Arnoldo worked in restaurants too. We were both going to NYU.

I had to work my way through school and I ended up getting my first restaurant job at Windows on the World. I had to make a fake résumé because I didn’t have any experience. They weren’t very strict about that at the time. I was a waiter. The only other restaurant that I worked in before I opened my own was Central Falls restaurant on West Broadway. The owner catered to the "Saturday Night Live" crew and staff. That’s probably where I got the bug.

Arnoldo: We took a year off and we traveled in Italy. We lived in Rome and Florence and spent loads of time in Sicily and Venice and we came back to America and started looking for jobs. I had majored in art history and I started to look for work and there was nothing available. We had saved just a little bit of money and one day we had this crazy idea.

We had compared Italian food in New York to what we had in Italy and we noticed that it needed an improvement. So we said, ‘Why don’t we do an Italian restaurant?’ We had gone to this restaurant in Sicily called La Spaghetteria, a basic, only pasta restaurant and the food was so amazing. Stephen said, ‘What if we just open a little pasta joint and we’ll call it La Spaghetteria in New York.’

S: We opened in a small storefront on 7th Street, right off of Avenue A, in 1984. We had a little bit of money and we called our friend and said that we wanted to open up a place, and he said, ‘Well what do you know about opening a restaurant?’ So we said, ‘We put ourselves through college working in restaurants, how difficult could it be?’

It was difficult. We were 26. It was spit and glue. We built most of the furniture. It had like 26 seats and a kitchen that only fit one cook and a person who would do dishes and help out. The food was very simple but real and good quality. Everything was cheap because Michael, our chef at the time who lived on Avenue A or B said, 'You’ve got to keep it inexpensive.’ That I think contributed to use becoming successful.

A: We were robbed 3 times. I remember the first time, when Stephen called me up and said, ‘This guy just came in and removed the front doors.’ That was our introduction to the East Village.

S: There were a lot of junkies around. We had one of these hokey alarm systems that would call us at home and say ‘a burglary in progress.’ It was supposed to go to the police station at the same time. It was Thanksgiving and the alarm went off at four in the morning and we both hopped in taxis coming from different directions. We actually cornered him in the middle and he had our big garbage can with the cash register and the mixer.

Arnoldo was trying to see what was taken and I go after the guy and chase him into Tompkins Square Park with some drunk, stoned people walking around. He pulled out an ice pick. No one was helping me. I was yelling out, ‘Help! Help!’ I pulled the [emergency response] box thing and it didn’t work. New York was in the broken state at that time. This junkie’s waving an ice pick at me. ‘Okay, I’m done.’

A: So we decided to get a gate and we called the gate company. This was the third time we had been robbed. And they said, ‘We’re really busy, it’s going to take a week.’ So we had to sleep in the restaurant in the backroom for a week. We called our friends and said, ‘Who wants to sleep with us?’ The landlord would turn off the heat at 1 in the morning and not turn it back on at 6. It was freezing in there. We used to bring our pajamas and keep the lights on and have a party with bottles of wine, just so the robbers wouldn’t come back. Then we would go to the Pyramid and get drunk at happy hour. It was so much fun.

S: [The clientele] was a total mix. Always has been. I always remember one of the first write ups that we had gotten, the writer said, ‘the Wall Streeters sitting next to the librarian, sitting next to the punk rocker.’ There was an article that came out about us in The New York Times and that’s what put us on the map. We opened in May and by the third week the phone just started ringing off the hook and my chef called me up and said, ‘We’re in the Wednesday section of the Times!’

It was this little paragraph that said, ‘La Spaghetteria is the hottest new restaurant downtown.’ It was two sentences. People were afraid to go over there. People were like, ‘Avenue A? Really?’ But they did end up coming over.

Next week: Opening Pangea and having prostitutes as upstairs neighbors

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

Hop Devil Grill/The Belgian Room closed now on Mondays; lack of football blamed

[Photo by Derek Berg]

The sister bars here on St Mark's Place just west of Avenue A have cut back on their days open.

As the sign on the door notes, the bars will be closed on Mondays for the foreseeable future.

"Like many restaurants in our neighborhood, it sometimes gets a little quiet on Mondays after the football season ends."

The note goes on to say something about staying in and ordering mediocre Chinese food. (Maybe try Hot Kitchen?)

Burkina (aka Got it 4 cheap™) closes on First Avenue

[Photo of Ahmed Sankara from February 2014 by Stacie Joy]

In early 2014, word spread that hip-hop clothing shop Burkina NYC was closing up shop on First Avenue near East Fourth Street.

However, their $5 fire sale was apparently so successful, owner Ahmed Sankara decided to sign a new lease in February ... and change the name of the store to Got it 4 cheap™ (or Gifu™), specializing in selling hip-hop and NYC-branded clothing for $5.99.

Apparently Sankara couldn't make it work any longer... EVG reader Creature let us know that the shop has been cleared out ... and the space is for rent...



Burkina moved here in the fall of 2011 after 16 years on East Houston.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Burkina renews lease for First Avenue

Burkina is now Got it 4 cheap™ on First Avenue

Empellón al Pastor wants to add sidewalk seating on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

[EVG photo from last October]

Empellón al Pastor, the third restaurant from Alex Stupak (Empellón Cocina, Empellón Taqueria), opened last October on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place.

There's now a online petition to drum up support for sidewalk seating for the bar-taqueria.

Per Change.org:

We are asking for your help with expanding our venue. We would love to offer you outdoor seating during the summer and need your support when presenting this idea to the Community Board. If you would like to see this expansion as much as we do, please sign ...

At last look, the petition, launched yesterday, has 23 signatures, including someone from Canyon Lake, Texas.

Community Board 3 approved the liquor license (a PDF of the minutes is here) for the address back in January 2014. According to one of the notarized stipulations for the approval, the applicants "will not commercially operate any outdoor areas."

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

CB3 OKs liquor license for Alex Stupak's new restaurant on St. Mark's Place

More about Empellón al Pastor, opening this fall on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Empellón al Pastor is now open on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place (39 comments)

[Updated] Pardon My French opens Monday on Avenue B

Updated 1:24: Edited to reflect that the restaurant opens this coming Monday, March 9

Pardon My French opens March 9 at 103 Avenue B near East Seventh Street in the space formerly known as Casimir.

Back in January, the bistro closed for a revamp, which included moving the bar into the north side of the space.

As Bedford + Bowery explained, one of Casimir's waiters, Antonin Brune, teamed up with owner Mario Carta to rework the menu and space. Per B + B:

Casimir fans can rest assured that Brune values the old-school feel of the interior, with its decorative tin ceiling and tiled archway leading to the bar. “It’s still going to have the same look with the low light and candles,” he said. “We don’t want to kill the atmosphere of Casimir, but the restaurant needed some love.

In announcing the reopening, Eater said to expect "dishes like creole-style cod fritters, roasted bone marrow with thyme, roasted lamb shoulder, and sea bass in a creamy French white sauce."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Adieu Casimir

The Post helping sell the landmark 190 Bowery for prime retail use

A reader shared this with us from yesterday's Post … a full-page ad for 190 Bowery, the historic Germania Bank Building on the corner of Spring Street.

Aby Rosen of RFR Realty purchased the six-story, 72-room, 37,000-square-foot building from photographer Jay Maisel for a recently reported $55 million. (Maisel bought the property in 1966 for $102,000.)

RFR is currently marketing the building's first and second floors for retail use. Maybe something that might appeal to Post readers.

190 Bowery was designated a New York City landmark on March 29, 2005. As for the rest of the building, no word just yet what might happen to the upper floors. Condos? Hotel?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Take a last look inside the mysterious 190 Bowery

Checking in on the line this afternoon for National Pancake Day outside IHOP

[Photo via @JenniferKellow]

There have been lines here on East 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (IHOP Way) pretty much all day.

Why?

Since beginning its National Pancake Day celebration in 2006, IHOP restaurants have raised almost $16 million to support charities in the communities in which they operate. On March 3, 2015, guests from around the country will celebrate a "Decade of Giving" with the tenth annual National Pancake Day at IHOP restaurants and enjoy a free short stack of Buttermilk pancakes. In return for the free pancakes, guests will be asked to consider leaving a donation for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals© or other designated local charities.

Previously

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Avenue A and East 7th Street this morning by EVG]

The Mosaic Man suffers a head injury in scooter accident (BoweryBoogie)

Toxic dust lawsuit on Stanton Street (The Lo-Down)

The East Village Polish community is coming together to help a paralyzed man return to his native Poland for treatment (Fundly)

Visiting all the dog-and-papaya places left in Manhattan (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The line outside IHOP on East 14th Street for National Pancake Day (Eater)

The LES locations from the 1948 film noir classic "The Naked City" (Scouting NY)

Christo and Dora are [redacted] but where is their nest? (Gog in NYC)

A previously unpublished interview with Allen Ginsburg from 1977 (Dangerous Minds)

Bobby Hellen, chef of GG's on East Fifth Street, discusses the pizza that inspired him as a kid on Staten Island (NY1)

The final days of LES natives and convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (Ephemeral New York)

LES murals from 1984 (Flaming Pablum)

The forthcoming Mumford & Sons record has a song titled "Tompkins Square Park," described as "a vaguely Strokes-y breakup song" (Rolling Stone)


[Drawing by Regina Bartkoff]

... and the opening for Inner Cities is tomorrow evening from 7-9 at 292 Gallery ... the exhibit features photos by Romy Ashby, drawings by Regina Bartkoff and paintings by Charles Schick. The gallery is at 292 E. Third St. between Avenue C and Avenue D. The show runs through March 28. Gallery hours are 2-5 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment. Tomorrow night's opening includes music by Felice Rosser from Faith.

Former funeral home on 2nd Avenue begins afterlife as rentals with furnished roof deck

[EVG photo from September]

The rentals for the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel arrived on the market yesterday.

The folks at neighborhood favorites Icon Reality are behind the newly six-story structure at 152 Second Ave. between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street. Seems like a long time coming for the building: The demolition work here started back in April 2012.

Streeteasy has 12 listings, ranging from the one-bedroom jobbie for $3,500 to five-bedroom duplexes asking $9,500.

Here's more about the building via the Icon site:

Grand Opening of 152 2nd Avenue. Brand New Luxury Apartments Designed by Paris Forino

All apartments have access to the building's Large Landscaped and Furnished Roof Deck!

All apartments in this Brand New Designer Boutique Building Feature:

Whitewashed Oak Floors
Limed Brick Walls
Private Balconies
Intricate Mosaic Tilework
Oversized Windows
Queen Sized Bedrooms
Central Air
Washer/Dryers in every unit
Bicycle Storage
Free Storage Lockers

(Not mentioned in the amenities: Being directly across the street from the 13th Step.)

Will be interesting to see how the roof deck goes over with neighbors. The roof deck at Icon's 205 Avenue A is well-known to the NYPD, who, according to one resident, come by "almost every weekend" during Rooftop Rager Season.

Oh, and here are some photos of the units and rooftop via the Icon site...











Meanwhile, the retail space at 152 Second Ave. remains on the market.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants

The walls come tumbling down at 154 Second Avenue

Friday night's rooftop party at Icon Realty's 205 Avenue A (49 comments)

At 205 Avenue A, where the NYPD stops by 'almost every weekend'

Here's how 152 Second Ave. looked in the summer of 2011…

[Via Off the Grid]

Here's what the address looked like in the 1940s, via Vanishing New York...

The East Luxe is 70% rented; Petco confirmed for retail space

People apparently want to live in The East Luxe, Ben Shaoul's new 20-unit rental building at 31-33 Second Ave.

According to a release via reps from brokerage firm Platinum Properties, 70 percent of The East Luxe between East First Street and East Second Street has been rented "in just 8 weeks on the market."

Here is more info from the release:

Two of three four-bedroom rental units were just released starting at $6988 (this is net effective pricing after one free month) and the building will be offering a third four-bedroom unit onto the market in mid-March for April occupancy. Renters will have the opportunity to select from 3 different 4-bedroom layouts; 2 out of 3 of the units have 14-ft. ceilings.

And!

Completely renovated and redesigned by developer Ben Shaoul, the elevator building has landscaped roof deck with views of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan Bridge. Each unit is appointed with condo finishes offering washer and dryer units in each apartment, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and marble bathrooms.

And here are a few interior shots via Platinum…







In addition, Platinum announced the previously reported news that Petco has signed on to be the retail tenant in the building's 3,500-square-foot storefront.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ben Shaoul planning a 3-story addition at 31-33 Second Ave.

Bracing for 3 new floors at 31-33 Second Ave.

Checking in on the work in progress at 31-33 2nd Ave., where Ben Shaoul is adding 3 new floors

Ben Shaoul's bland new 2nd Avenue building is called The East Luxe

More about The East Luxe, Ben Shaoul's new 20-unit rental on 2nd Avenue

[Photo of 31-33 2nd Ave. from 2009 by LuciaM via Panoramio]

Proto's Pizza has closed on 2nd Avenue

We're sorry to see that the pizzeria here at 50 Second Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street has closed. We liked the pizza served up by Brooklyn native Rob Proto.

Now for rent signs are hanging in the window. The space that belonged to Yoo's Convenience Store — home of New York's "best coffee" — remains vacant next door.

Proto's opened in May 2012.

Taqueria St. Mark's set to open Thursday

The former Taqueria Lower East Side is ready to start life anew as Taqueria St. Mark's at 79 St. Mark's Place just west of First Avenue.

Taqueria Lower East Side had to find a new home after developer Ben Shaoul bought up the corner of Orchard and East Houston for a new luxury development. BoweryBoogie reported that the 4-year-old Taqueria closed at 198 Orchard St. after business on Sunday.

Here's more on them via Fork in the Road: "Taqueria, an offshoot of a Jersey City restaurant, amassed a stable of neighborhood regulars during its run here, thanks to its cheap fare, solid margaritas, and excellent tacos. For our money, it makes some of the best carnitas in town."

Fork in the Road said that you can expect "the same line-up of tacos, tortas, and platters plus margaritas and Mexican beer" on St. Mark's Place.

With this opening, will the neighborhood finally have enough taco/taqueria options?

After the Typhoon Lounge closed at 79 St. Mark's Place in May 2012, the space has been home to the quick succession of Saints Tavern and Kamikaze & Co.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Taqueria Lower East Side relocating to St. Mark's Place

Looking for a Serious Decent Character

Boarding Room flyer of the day/week… spotted the other day on Avenue C and East Second Street…

Noted

A reader shared this from along First Avenue between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street… What should we do with this information? Turn around?

Survey: East Village residents are spending 56% of their incomes on market-rate apartments

A new Streeteasy survey suggests that NYC could be nicknamed the Big Rent Burden. Per the survey on market-rate rentals:

As a classic rule of thumb, a rent-to-income ratio of 30 percent or lower is considered “affordable,” meaning that renters spend 30 percent or less of their monthly income on rent – freeing up the majority of their income for other costs of living and savings. Even when considering that residents of large cities will typically spend more of their incomes on rent than in less amenity-rich areas, New York is in a league of its own. The median asking rent in New York City is expected to reach $2,700 in 2015, amounting to a staggering 58 percent of median income in the city according to StreetEasy estimates. High rent prices are only half of the picture, though. Stagnant income growth, short supply of rental units, and rapidly increasing rents is making New York City one of the most expensive and challenging rental markets in the country. According to census data, New York City rent prices grew at almost twice the pace of income between 2000 and 2013, meaning that over time rent has taken up a much larger piece of New Yorkers’ incomes.

Streeteasy's interactive map shows you the percentage of income residents are paying in rent by neighborhood. In the East Village, it's 56 percent ... with the Lower East Side checking in at 81 percent. As The Wall Street Journal notes, "The report offers a glimpse into one aspect of the much-studied question of affordability in the city, looking at the median income of people who live here compared with the more than 140,000 listings that StreetEasy analyzed from its site." You can read the whole survey here.

DumplingGo is a go on 2nd Avenue

On Thursday, a reader told us that workers were putting up the signage at DumplingGo, the new, um, dumpling place opening on Second Avenue at East 12th Street…

...and the place was open for the weekend...



DumplingGo is part of the NYVA Restaurant Group — "an owner, operator, and proud franchisee for multiple brands."

Per the the DumplingGo website:

The DumplingGo franchise is conceived from a mix of Asian and Western business and culinary experiences. The Restaurant concept reflects the eclectic flavors and multicultural pallets of an interconnected global society.

With 20 years of business experience in the New York tri-state area, the founding partners have isolated a niche market in the fast-casual dining space. Our market research suggests that Dumplings are a growing market in metropolitan cities around the world and present a unique opportunity for a franchisor.

Perhaps their market research would have noted that there are already two choices for dumplings on this block. Mimi Cheng's Dumplings opened up right across the Avenue last July. And there's Plump Dumpling down on Second Avenue and East 11th Street.

Anyway, you can find the DumplingGo menu here. There's now another location on West Third Street with two more on the way in Manhattan.

The previous tenant here, Shima, abruptly closed in January 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How about some more dumplings?

Juice Press on East 10th Street (the one near Avenue A) closes for renovations

And this is a legit closed for renovations, not one of those "closed for renovations" tactics (examples here and here and here) …

Not sure exactly what is being renovated here. (We thought it might also serve as a JP test kitchen.)

One tipster on the block heard that the JP was expanding into the vacant storefront next door… but that rumor hasn't been confirmed.



There are approved work permits on file with the city for "interior renovation with partition and plumbing works" on the first floor.

This Juice Press location opened in June 2011.

Former space housing 1st bar for pregnant women returns to market on Avenue A

[EVG photo from September]

The corner retail space on Avenue A and East Fifth Street served as an advertising repository last October for some bar-finding app disguised as Gestations — "NYC's first bar for pregnant women."

The storefront has sat empty since East Village Pharmacy moved from here to 41 Avenue A in early 2011.

And now there's a new broker for the space…





So far, we haven't spotted the listing online at the Tower Brokerage website. And is the space next door that housed Twist for lease as well?

In any event, this is a good block for independent retail here between East Fifth Street and East Fourth Street … you have a coffee shop/cafe (Croissanteria), a housewares shop (Lancelotti), a used bookstore (Mast), a magazine shop (Ink on A), a gift shop (Alphabets), a dry cleaners … not to mention the lottery place and the liquor store.

Previously on EV Grieve:
No, 'NYC's first bar for pregnant women' isn't opening on Avenue A

People behind Gestations still pretending to be opening a bar for pregnant women on Avenue A

The Nite Owl opens for night owls and probably other people

North River's transformation into the Nite Owl looks complete at 166 First Ave. near East 10th Street.

Several EVG readers told us that The Nite Owl was open for business on Saturday evening...



Said one reader: "Not a single table and chair left. All high tops with stools and the bar. So much for a restaurant."

The Nite Owl is serving food. Here's a look at the menu on display outside… featuring bar-food items like chicken nuggets, smoked deviled eggs, burgers and tacos…





We first noticed North River closed after service on Feb. 21… a sign on the door said there "there are changes afoot at North River." North River, which served American-style comfort food from chef Adam Starowicz, opened in December 2013.