Fresh & Co. now open on 4th Avenue

The kale-and-quinoa chainlet's 12th location in the city opened yesterday on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street … taking over the space previously held by (sad face) Pie Face.

You can check out the Fresh & Co. menu offerings here.

B.A.D. Burger says goodbye on Avenue A

The State of New York auctioned off the remains of B.A.D. Burger at 171 Avenue A near East 11th Street last Thursday… as previously noted, the State seized the restaurant for nonpayment of taxes back in early February…

Now there's a sign up on the front saying goodbye … and pointing diners to their Williamsburg location...


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

B.A.D. Burger opened here in late 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] State seizes B.A.D. Burger on Avenue A for nonpayment of taxes

State of New York auctioning off the remains of B.A.D. Burger on Avenue A

An anniversary for Webster Hall

Today marks Webster Hall’s seventh anniversary as a New York City landmark. And on this occasion, Off the Grid takes a look at the history of the building, erected in 1886 on East 11th Street and Fourth Avenue … for an outrageous sum of $75,000.

An excerpt of the history via Off the Grid:

By the 1910s and 1920s, Webster Hall became famous for its masquerade balls, following the success of a 1913 fundraiser for the socialist magazine The Masses. The parties, which attracted the bohemians of the Village and beyond, grew more and more outlandish–and the costumes, skimpier and skimpier.

However comprehensive, Off the Grid leaves one glaring omission in its recap: K-Fed rocking the house in 2006.


[Image via Stereogum]

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: Regina Bartkoff and Charles Schick
Occupation: Artists, Performers
Location: 292 E. 3rd St. between Avenue C and D
Time: 7 pm on Thursday, March 12

Regina: I’m from Howard Beach, Queens. I was an outsider there — no friends, just weird, not knowing why. There were no artists there. My mother was from Naples, Italy. My dad was Hungarian, Finnish, and from the Bronx and Harlem. They were just working-class people. I would say to my mother, ‘Where is everybody? Why is everybody inside? Even though I was a shy kid, I just felt like I didn’t belong there.

In high school I remember saying one thing and then kids going, ‘oh she’s weird.’ So I just got quiet, shy. I cut myself off. Back then there was obviously no Internet, so you were by yourself all of the time. Somehow I just got through school. I didn’t do well in school at all. I wasn’t a troublemaker, but I was just lost.

Charlie: I was born in Chicago in 1955. My dad was a civil service worker so it was almost like being an Army brat. He was working for the Army. For his first job we went over to Germany and I really kind of moved around a lot to different American communities. It was a pretty good time. It was middle class but the refrigerator was always full — prosperous. You didn’t really have to worry about anything. I was having a jolly old time with my friends.

We went back to Chicago and my dad lost his job after several years there. It was the same thing Regina was going through. I felt isolated. It was almost like the Howard Beach of Chicago — an Italian, Polish community. We kept moving and eventually my dad got another government job. We went over to some islands in the Pacific and I went to boarding school in Japan for awhile but I got kicked out. I was kind of a reckless kid. You were sort of free but you didn’t really think about it. Not really thinking about a career. The influence of the people of that time, the hippies, later the punks. Just living, seeing where it goes. I remember trying to go to college for a couple of months but I couldn’t sit still.

Regina: Right after high school, I was sitting on my front stoop and these two guys were walking through the neighborhood and covered with dirt. I grew up right next door to Aqueduct Racetrack, and they said, ‘We work with horses.’ ‘Horses? I love horses,’ never being around them, ‘They got girls down there?’ ‘Yeah, go to this barn and you can get a job as a hot walker. The barn was owned by Buddy Jacobson and his son and all the people working there were about my age. They taught me how to walk and feed the horses. I loved being around the horses. They felt like me, really nervous, high strung. I literally felt the ice cracking around my heart. I could be responsible for these young colts.

But the other thing was that I realized that people liked me for the first time. They were kind of outsiders too in a certain way. My first boyfriend was there, a little Puerto Rican kid, and my mom flipped out.

I would get up in the morning, spend all my time there, then come back. My mom called them bad people. She was very tough and very scary. At that time, when you were raised, we were beat a lot. I didn’t think that was so bad or unusual because everybody got that. But unlike the other Italian mothers in the neighborhood she didn’t know how to show her love for me. But she gave me a lot of her great strength as did my father and they both taught me to just get on with it and not to have self-pity.

At the track I also discovered books. One of the kids had "The Catcher in the Rye." I went home and read it, I just said, ‘Oh my god, this was written for me.’ That opened up the world for writers. If you don’t want to be alone, start reading. I started discovering Kerouac, Salinger, Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse, Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams. That made life so much better, but I still didn’t think about being an artist or a writer.

Charlie: All kinds of crazy things happened, but I ended up in Los Angeles for a while with stronger and stronger feelings of wanting to find a life’s work. Really the only thing that made sense to me were the arts. I didn’t even know which one, but somehow I just drifted into acting and I got deeper into that. I always wanted to go to New York. It seemed like the most exciting place in the world to me. The films that were coming out of there in the 1970s — “Taxi Driver,” “Dog Day Afternoon” — I thought I belonged there. They had this service if you could deliver somebody’s car to New York, it’s a free ride. So I drove cross-country with a friend of mine to New York in this Cadillac.

I had gotten into painting in California — totally undisciplined, but not in the sense that you don’t work hard. You sort of dive in. As much as I liked acting, you’d get into some play and you didn’t even like it or the part and I just had no discipline or tolerance to wait that out. Our whole lives have been sort of the do-it-yourself. Even now. I just sort of dove in, not really trained to draw, but the image would come out of the paint. You’d keep doing it and doing it and doing it and exploring that.

Regina: I didn’t want to be at the track forever and I didn’t know what I was doing, so I left and took the A train to Manhattan and got a job at WABC Radio. I don’t know why I did that. The whole thing started again. I had no friends and they thought I was weird and I was so depressed. I missed being outside. I felt my soul shrinking.

Next week: "I had a job at Phebe’s and then at an all-night restaurant, where I met Charlie. I didn’t like him at first."

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

-----

The exhibit Inner Cities continues through March 28 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. Gallery hours are 2-5 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment.

About the memorial for Donna Harris Saturday at Maryhouse

[Makeshift memorial for Donna Harris on Avenue A]

Donna Harris, a homeless resident of Avenue A/Tompkins Square Park these past five years, died on March 2. She was 52.

There's a memorial gathering for her at 7 p.m. this coming Saturday (March 21) at Maryhouse, 55 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Per Felton Davis of Maryhouse:

This will not be a formal ceremony, but an informal sharing of stories about a woman who lived through many difficulties and made a unique impression on many in the neighborhood, maintaining cheerfulness in all kinds of weather, always ready to give as well as receive, and in no hurry to leave the Park for life in a boring institution. Please come and meet Donna's family, so we can all pay our respects and take note of her untimely passing.

[Flyer photo on Avenue A via Bobby Williams]

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Donna Harris

[Updated] Mitali East has closed for good on 6th Street

That's it for the always-reliable Indian restaurant at 334 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue that opened in 1973.

The sign posted to the front door sends would-be patrons to Haveli, their sister restaurant around the corner on Second Avenue...



And this makes three Indian restaurants now in one at Haveli. Banjara moved here in late 2013.

You can read more about Mitali East closing in our previous posts here and here.

Updated 1:24 p.m.

Workers are now dismantling the space...


[Photo by Michael Hirsch]

What you can rent the former Benny's Burritos location for on Avenue A

Benny's closed for good here at East Sixth Street back in November. The Benny's to-go space next door closed then on Feb. 28.

At the time there were some rather generic-looking for rent signs hanging above the storefront… and we never did spot a listing online for the space.

Anyway, there's now a new listing at Bond New York.

A few details:

Fully Operational Corner Location Restaurant. Super Desirable East Village Avenue A at 6th Street...
No Key Money!!!

1,300 sq ft main dining space & Kitchen. Plus a 1600sqf Basement set up as a full prep kitchen with 2 walk-in boxes

Also seating for 9 tables/18 chairs outside the cafe.

Asking rent: $22,000.



We asked about the to-go space next door. Here's what a Bond rep told us: "The to-go space can be combined or rented separately ... together with the main space it would be an additional $5,500 and stand alone it would be $6,500."

The to-go space is 450 square feet upstairs and 600 square feet downstairs. It has also its own kitchen and walk-in fridge downstairs.

So.. doing some math… both spaces together: $27,500.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Benny's Burritos is closing; will offer take-out only service (50 comments)

Images via the Bond New York website

More about Taberna, the Portuguese restaurant opening in the former Yaffa Cafe space

[Photo by Allen Semanco]

We've been keeping an eye on the former Yaffa Cafe space at 97 St. Mark's Place, where the owners of St. Dymphna's down the block are opening a restaurant called Taberna here between Avenue A and First Avenue. (In January, CB3 OK'd the beer-wine license for the new venture.)

DNAinfo's Lisha Arino talked with co-owner Eric Baker, whose business partners — wife Patricia Martins and sister-in-law Raquel Martins — are both Portuguese, about what you can expect.

The restaurant will serve small and shareable Portuguese dishes like caldo verde — a traditional potato-based soup with shredded kale and optional chorizo slices — and bacalhau — dried and salted cod.

Yaffa's illegal back patio, which was partially responsible for its closing, will be turned into a garden, Baker said, and windows will be built into the back of the restaurant so customers can look at the landscaped area.

Gothamist wasn't too keen about this small-plates news yesterday:

Because the world East Village needs more sockless men gesticulating over a gram of food at 4 in the afternoon.

After a major overhaul, Baker hopes to have the space open this July.

Yaffa Cafe closed after 32 years last fall, as we first reported.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Yaffa Cafe is officially gone; back garden dismantled

More about Yaffa Cafe closing

St. Dymphna's owners look to take over the former Yaffa Cafe space on St. Mark's Place

Villacemita opens Saturday at 50 Avenue A

The new Mexican cafe opens Saturday at Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street. Workers removed the paper from the windows yesterday... a few readers told us that the space looks quite nice inside ...

The photos a reader tried to take for us are admittedly a little dark and blurry...





The cafe's website doesn't have the menus posted yet. You can find the website here.

The previous tenant here, Native Bean, moved to 36 Avenue A at the beginning of the year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Villacemita, serving authentic Puebla Mexican cuisine, announces itself on Avenue A

An ADA workshop tomorrow for East Village businesses and residents

Via the EVG inbox today…

The East Village Community Coalition with the East Village Independent Merchants Association are hosting a workshop tomorrow targeted to local business owners regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and practical solutions to increase accessibility to East Village businesses. Residents are also encouraged to attend.

We invite you to join in a conversation about access and your business. This event will be facilitated by East Village resident and wheelchair-user, Alexandra McArthur. Our discussion will explain the benefits of making simple, inexpensive changes to storefront entryways to improve access. Kleo King from the Mayor's Office of People with Disabilities and Ted Finkelstein from the Commission on Human Rights will join the discussion.

Wednesday, March 18, 10 am-11am
Cafe Mocha, 116 Second Ave. at East Seventh Street

Questions or to rsvp: email

Adventures in trespassing at 190 Bowery

[Via Wikipedia Commons]

In case that you haven't seen this video making the rounds today ... Bucky Turco, editor-in-chief of ANIMAL New York, made his way inside 190 Bowery, the historic Germania Bank Building on the corner of Spring Street.

He was able to breach security several different times to document the mysterious (and now mostly empty) six-story, 72-room, 37,000-square-foot building as it awaits its likely condo fate. Aby Rosen of RFR Realty purchased the place from photographer Jay Maisel for a reported $55 million. (RFR is currently marketing the building's first and second floors for retail use.)

Check out the result of Turco's expedition inside in this video...



... and over at the ANIMAL website here.

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

A sign of spring, sort of

EVG reader Pinch spotted the second-story facade that flips open like a garage door, uh, open today at 224 E. 14th St. near Third Avenue. We've actually never seen the retractable wall open before (ditto for Pinch).

5 car collision on Avenue A this morning

Happened just before 11:30 a.m. at East Second Street... with the cab apparently colliding with the back of one car, which caused a chain reaction of fender bending... no word about any injuries... thanks to EVG reader Mayra Diaz for the photo...

Here's what Peter Brant wants to do with his new exhibition space on East 6th Street

We finally have an idea of what art collector Peter Brant plans on doing with the renovations of 421 E. Sixth St., the former home-studio of artist Walter De Maria here between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Tonight at 6:30, CB3's Landmarks Committee will discuss a Certificate of Appropriateness application for the building that Brant bought last year for $27 million. (The address falls in the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.) Brant told the Times last October that he plans on opening an exhibition space here.



Among other things, the proposal calls for:

Exterior work includes the restoration and repair of the existing brick facade, replacement of the existing windows with new thermally broken steel windows to match existing, new window openings on the west and north facades, a new occupiable roof terrace with a new glass skylight. there is an increase in height of the bulkhead to accomodate the elevator and the addition of a roof mounted hvac unit which will be screened from view on all four sides.

Here's a side-by-side look… showing the existing building (left) and the proposed front...





Some of the most noticeable changes would occur on the lot's East Seventh Street side … where there is currently a wall/rolldown gate leading to the back of the property…



… that would be converted into a garden space… (no word if this space would be open to the public, or just guests of the Brant Foundation).



In addition, Brant's reps are calling for a rooftop terrace and a garden to the west of the building, currently an empty lot that was also part of the sale…



You can find a PDF with all the proposals (diagrams! renderings! photos!) right here.

If you want to see if all for yourself, the 6:30 meeting tonight is at the JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. at the Bowery.

The building was a Con Ed substation built in 1920. De Maria, who died in July 2013 at age 77, bought it in 1980 to use as a home and studio.

Previously on EV Grieve:
About that "giant-robot laboratory" on East Sixth Street

RIP Walter De Maria

What is your East Village dream home?

Walter De Maria's 'giant-robot laboratory' going for $25 million; inside is amazing as you'd expect

Walter De Maria's home/studio on East 6th Street is now on the market for $25 million

Rumor: The Brant Foundation buying Walter De Maria's E. 6th St. studio for an exhibition space (19 comments)

Confirmed: Peter M. Brant buys Walter De Maria's amazing East 6th Street home and studio

1st permits filed for renovation of Walter De Maria's former home-studio on East 6th Street

A soft opening at the Brant Foundation's new space at Walter De Maria's former East 6th Street studio

More about the 1st show at Walter De Maria's former home-studio on East 6th Street

How East 6th Street mainstay Mitali East lost its lease

As we first reported back on Saturday, the owners of East Sixth Street mainstay Mitali East have lost their lease.

According to posted signs in the restaurant between First Avenue and Second Avenue, Mitali East "is being forced to close" courtesy of the building's new owner, Steve Croman of 9300 Realty.

And now Mitali East has posted a letter outlining how the 42-year-old Indian restaurant lost their lease.

It's a little complicated... here's part of the letter:

It all started in 2010 when we had modified a lease agreement with the Previous landlord due to business becoming slow after the 2008 financial meltdown. Which we followed and paid by according to that modified lease agreement.

Fast forward to June 2012 and our building was sold by the old landlord to 9300realty (aka 334 east 6th LLC). 9300realty was made aware of our modified lease agreement from us and the old landlord. 9300realty who became our new and current landlord honored the modified lease agreement from June 2012 to November 2013 for about 18 months. Not sure why after 18 months 9300realty decided that they would not abide by the modified lease agreement.

It may have to do with the fact that at that point they had almost bought out most old tenats in the building and renovated the apartments to higher rents.

On December 2013 we got a notice that our rent would increase to the pre-modified amount. We reminded 9300realty about the agreement we had and they knew about when they had bought the building, but they didn't adjust it accordingly. Since then we have been paying according to the modified agreement monthly which they cashed and they had been billing the old amounts. We kept in contacting them to adjust the amounts to reflect our balance due as $0.

So basically this is how things followed: these ARE NOT THE REAL figures for rental amounts just make believe amounts to show an example.

In this example we will use 9,000 as the modified amount and 15,000 as the old amount. Basically it went like this. During this whole time our amount due was $0 if modified lease agreement was applied.

• December 2013 Rent paid 9000 they billed 15,000 difference 6,000
• January 2014 Rent paid 9000 they billed 15,000 difference 6,000
• February 2014 Rent paid 9000 they billed 15,000 difference 6,000

This pattern went on until April 2013 when they added up the differences of the 4 months and added April 2013 rent to file nonpayment proceedings in housing court. Even though our rent due balance was $0 since it was paid up to date.

There's a lot more. You can red the whole thing here.

Back on Friday, we heard that they would be closing any day now. Mitali East was not open as usual yesterday. Calls to the restaurant were met with a generic outgoing message. So perhaps that's it. The restaurant is open for business today.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Landlord Steve Croman denies new lease for 40-year-old Mitali East on 6th Street

Workers remove 10 trees from long-empty 1st Avenue lot

[Last September]

A tipster told us last September that there were preliminary plans in place to clear out this long-emtpy lot at 89 First Ave. between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street ahead of some kind of development. (The rumor was a 7-floor residential building that included affordable housing.)

Workers fulfilled those clearing-out plans yesterday, as this photo by EVG reader Michael Hirsch shows…



By Michael's count, workers took down 10 trees.

To date, there's nothing on file with the city for anything on this property.

The lot's owner, Florence Toledano, also owns the 2Bn2C sculpture garden on East Second Street.

Perhaps coincidentally (or not), someone recently cleaned up that space too…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Will this long-empty lot on 1st Avenue yield to affordable housing?

Previously outside 89 First Ave….


[Photo by Michael Hirsch]

Lois now serving draft wine on Avenue C

[Photo via the Lois Facebook page]

Lois made its (her?) official debut yesterday at 98 Avenue C between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street.

The bar, which specializes in wine and beer exclusively on tap, is the creation of longtime friends Nora O’Malley and Phoebe Connell — the managers, respectively, of next-door neighbors Alphabet City Wine Co. and Alphabet City Beer. (As they point out, kegged wine costs less than its bottled counterparts. No glass bottles or labeling equal lower production costs, and lower cost for the consumer.)

You can read more about the space via Grub Street.

Find more details at the Lois website.

Lois is open seven days a week; Monday-Saturday from 4 p.m. until midnight, and Sunday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Lois is also available for private classes and events.

The sad, strange saga of Tony Franzese continues

[NYPD photo from 2012]

On Sept. 28, 2010, an air conditioner fell six stories and landed on the Winebar canopy on Second Avenue at Fourth Street before striking Tony Franzese on the sidewalk.

Franzese, who lived in the building and had been out walking his dog, was badly injured, and he later filed a $21 million liability lawsuit against the landlord ... and then he disappeared several months later.

As the Post reports today, a now-homeless Franzese has turned up again... and apparently doesn't want to pursue any legal matters ... much to the chagrin of his lawyer.

Franzese, 73, remains severely traumatized and is now insisting he wants nothing to do with the seven-figure negligence payout that would easily be his if he would just agree to come to court, his frustrated lawyer told The Post.

Instead, on Monday, the lawyer is going to Manhattan Supreme Court — alone, but on Franzese’s behalf — in hopes that he can convince a judge to compel the detective who found Franzese to bring him in off the streets.

Franzese is too mentally troubled to make decisions without a guardian or conservator, the lawyer argues.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former East Village resident injured by falling air conditioner remains missing

1 week left for Ess-A-Bagel at its current 1st Avenue location

You have until Sunday to stop by the bagel shop just a little north of here on First Avenue at East 21st Street. Ess-A-Bagel will be closed starting on March 23, per a note on display for customers inside the shop.

As the Town & Village Blog first reported on Jan. 16, Ess-a-Bagel was being forced out of its longtime home. However, according to a statement that the landlord's reps sent us, Ess-A-Bagel’s owners "repeatedly refused to meet us between their below-market rent and current market value."

Whatever transpired between the two sides … Ess-A-Bagel is leaving its home here of 39 years… perhaps staying close by…

Don't worry fans of Ess-a-Bagel's 1st Ave location, our delicious hand rolled bagels are just moving down the block!! #NYC'sBest=EssaBagel

— Ess-A-Bagel, Inc. (@EssABagel) January 17, 2015

The note to customers emphasizes that they will not be leaving the area ... with a Grand Reopening coming at an undisclosed location.

No word yet where the new Ess-A-Bagel might be… The former home of The Frenchmen is apparently a possibility, according to a tipster.

Meanwhile, Ess-A-Bagel fans are leaving notes on the wall...



Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Landlord forcing Ess-a-Bagel from its longtime home (46 comments)

Mercadito has officially closed on Avenue B

As noted last Thursday, the Marshal served eviction papers to Mercadito … and while we've seen these situations work out between the landlord and tenant a few times, that's not the case here. Mercadito has closed for good at 179 Avenue B between East 11th Street and East 12th Street.

While there isn't any mention of a closure on the Mexican restaurant's website or social media properties, the phone has been disconnected … and the Avenue B location has been removed from the company website...



Said one EVG commenter, "They closed because their lease was up and they were going to triple the rent. Hard to imagine another restaurant that would be profitable given how popular it was."

In any event, that appears to be it for Mercadito's NYC presence. Mercadito Grove in the West Village closed last fall. And Mercadito Cantina at 172 Avenue B closed in January 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
About Mercadito Cantina closing: 'Open letter to EV Grieve and CB3'