Pukk is closing for good after tomorrow night

The 11-year-old restaurant shuts down after service tomorrow evening, according to the sign on the door here at 71 First Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street.



Pukk's "vivid Thai–fusion cuisine" (per New York magazine) was a favorite among vegetarians. In a piece at the Voice back in June 2005, Robert Sietsema wrote: "In contrast to both the ho-hum vegetarian restaurants of the East Village and the mediocre Thai places found nearly everywhere else, Pukk is manna from heaven."

And, based on the sign to Pukk patrons, it appears there's a Spice opening here next month. (Pukk and Spice share the same ownership.) The Thai chainlet has been slimming down. The Fourth Avenue location closed in December. And the Spice on Second Avenue at East Sixth Street is on the rental market.

Puebla Mexican Food closes on 1st Avenue; Villacemita opens on Avenue A

As you know, Puebla Mexican Food is shutting down at 47 First Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street. There were several closing dates… last we heard, owner Irma Marin would keep the 25-year-old quick-serve restaurant open through Monday.

Not sure what happened to those plans, but Puebla has officially closed… back on Wednesday, per one EVG reader. The storefront has mostly been cleaned out.

A rent hike is apparently to blame for this closure.

Meanwhile, at 50 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street, Villacemita, serving Puebla Mexican cuisine, opens today at 4.


[Photo from last week]

Here are their menus… breakfast (served until 2 p.m.)…



… and dinner…





They have not yet posted their beer-wine menu.

After today, Villacemita's hours will be 7 a.m. to midnight every day.

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

Puebla Mexican Food is closing after 25 years on 1st Avenue (29 comments)

Noted

From the EVG mailbag:

"I saw this man running barefoot on Avenue A this morning. It was 29 degrees. It was wet and slushy. Concrete isn't exactly forgiving! I was shocked and kind of impressed."

Peter Cooper is now out of the box

[Photo last April by Dave on 7th]

As we noted yesterday morning, workers were starting to remove the Peter Cooper monument from its protective plywood.



So just for some closure, so to speak, Peter Cooper is now completely out of the box… free to once again watch over the park outside Cooper Union that bears his name…





Workers had covered Coop up for safekeeping during the Astor Place-Cooper Square reconstruction project, which will be done just as soon as the 4-5 guys working on it are done.

Essex Crossing's 15 minutes of Andy Warhol fame are up

Executives of the Pittsburgh-based Andy Warhol Museum announced last night that they will no longer be moving forward with their plans to build a 10,000-square-foot annex to anchor the new Essex Crossing development.

In a statement to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Eric Shiner, director of The Warhol Museum, said:

"The Andy Warhol Museum, which had been exploring its participation in the Essex Crossing development in lower Manhattan, has determined that it will not proceed with the project. Despite the efforts of both the museum and the developers, an internal study of business and other operational considerations led the museum to this decision.

"The Warhol will continue to participate in programs, exhibitions, and special projects in New York City through its longstanding collaborations with a variety of New York-based arts organizations.”

The museum was to be in Site 1 of the former Seward Park urban renewal site … in the Broome Street municipal parking lot, a complex that will include condos and a bowling alley.

As the Post-Gazette reported last May:

Delancey Street Associates will pay for the cost of building the museum branch, which has a target opening date of 2017. For the first five years of the museum's existence, the developers will pay for any operating deficits.

For their part, a spokesperson for Delancey Street Associates, told the paper:

"For the past two years we have worked closely with The Andy Warhol Museum to find a way to bring Andy home to New York's Lower East Side. We have dedicated tremendous time and resources and offered them a very generous multimillion dollar package to make this work. We found out today and are surprised and disappointed that they are unable to see this through. We are hard at work looking for another exciting use for this great space."

And why did Museum leaders consider Essex Crossing a good spot for the annex? Per the Post-Gazette:

The location appears apt. When Andy Warhola moved to New York in 1949, his first apartment was in Lower Manhattan on St. Mark's Place. The Lower East Side, where the branch housing his art will be built, teemed in the 1900s with immigrants whose lives of assimilation and struggle paralleled the experience of Warhol's parents, Andrej and Julia Warhola.

Meanwhile, you still have the 14-screen Regal Cinemas theater with electronic reclining seats to look forward to at Essex Crossing.

RIP Lisa Colagrossi

We were sorry to hear about Lisa Colagrossi, a WABC-TV reporter. She suffered a brain hemorrhage while returning from covering a story Thursday morning, according to the station. Colagrossi, a mother of two, was 49.

She was in touch with us several times through the years about East Village-related stories. She was always friendly and professional, and showed a genuine interest in stories in this neighborhood.

Her colleagues remember her here.

The first day of spring, 2015

Along Tompkins Square Park today via Bobby Williams...

Broadcast news

Warp Records recently re-released the handful of records and compilations by Broadcast, the English electro-pop band. (Other Music on East Fourth Street has them.)

Lead singer Trish Keenan died of pneumonia in January 2011. She was only 42.

The above song, "Come On Let's Go," came out in May 2000.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Along 2nd Avenue yesterday via Derek Berg]

Subway riders are generally not happy with the MTA's service (The New York Times)

Where you can find authentic Algerian fare in the East Village (Fork in the Road)

A visit to Cobblestones, now in its 34th year selling vintage clothes on East Ninth Street (The New York Times)

Nawlinz, a New Orleans-themed pop-up restaurant, has opened inside Durden, the bar at 213 Second Ave. and East 13th Street (PRWeb)

Will the mayor's plan endanger LES building height limits? (The Lo-Down)

Another look at Ash Thayer's new book "Kill City: Lower East Side Squatters 1992-2000" (Dangerous Minds)

The "Broad City" walking tour of St. Mark's Place on Google Street View (Fusion)

Essex Crossing demo underway (BoweryBoogie)

Why NYC employees work the longest hours (Crain's)

Even Starbucks is struggling to pay Manhattan rents (The Commercial Observer)

About Chloe Sevigny's "Guide to Being a New Yorker" (Flaming Pablum)

Two survivors amid the gleam of the High Line and Hudson Yards (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

What remains of the East River’s long-gone slips (Ephemeral New York)

Subway Inn reopened last night in its new home (Eater)

The countdown is on until Coney Island opens for the season (Amusing the Zillion)

and via the EVG inbox...

La MaMa presents "Prophetika: An Oratorio," directed by Princess Grace Award-winning stage director Charlotte Brathwaite from March 20 through April 5. In this multidisciplinary work, Brathwaite joins forces with composer/pianist Courtney Bryan and installation artist Abigail DeVille in a visually spectacular work with original music that draws influence from the music and writings of Sun Ra and Alice Coltrane, and sacred music from various traditions. Find more info here.

Nearly 1 year later, Peter Cooper starting to emerge from his box

[File photo via NYC Parks]

Workers boxed up Augustus Saint-Gaudens' sculpture of Cooper Union founder Peter Cooper last April ... for safekeeping during the ongoing Astor Place-Cooper Square reconstruction project.

EVG reader Katie B. has been keeping tabs on the boxed Cooper, which overlooks the Cooper Triangle Park ... and notes that he is slowly starting to emerge from underneath the plywood...


[Click on image for more detail]





Eventually the Park, which closed in November 2013, will look like this...with new seating and plantings as well as upgraded lighting (minus the ghosts probably)...



As for the statue, the official dedication took place on May 29, 1897. Check out the NYC Parks website here for more background.

Kabin has closed on 2nd Avenue

Last Friday we noted that the 10-year-old Kabin Bar & Lounge at 92 Second Ave. was on the market… we heard that the bar between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street would remain open through March.

However, that wasn't the case. According to BoweryBoogie, the bar closed after service on Tuesday.

The listing at the Newmark Grubb Knight Frank site points out that the rent is negotiable for the 2,100-square-foot space.

Hookah Bar becomes a Brow Bar on East 3rd Street

The long-empty space at 61 E. Third St. has a new tenant here between First Avenue and Second Avenue — Pinky's Brow Bar … the kind of bar that won't likely be making any waves seeking a liquor license for the address.

The previous tenant here, Cafe Khufu, a hookah lounge, caused some debate when seeking a beer-wine license in 2012.

Thanks to EVG reader Marjorie for the photo!

Noted

EVG reader Michael spotted this earlier today on Second Avenue and East 10th Street… your basic end table holding a ice block with some kind of facial or pubic hair in/on it…





We are currently entertaining theories...

A big show at Peter Brant's new East Village exhibition space?

Something big seems to be happening over at 421 E. Sixth St., the under-renovation exhibition space that art collector Peter Brant bought last year.

There has been a lot of activity on the building's Seventh Street side between Avenue A and First Avenue ... where there is a rear driveway and side alley.

Per Dave on 7th: "Peter Brant must be putting on a big show. Saw staging being loaded in yesterday and today they are running in a TON of power from these CAT generators. That's rock concert size shit going on here. Maybe a fashion show. Not a film."

Maybe we will all be invited?

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

NYU has a new president

[Image via NYU]

The Board of Trustees of New York University today announced the appointment of Vice Chancellor Andrew Hamilton — the University of Oxford’s senior officer, a noted chemist, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the former Provost of Yale — as the 16th president of New York University. He will officially take up his duties in January 2016.

Professor Hamilton’s selection follows an eight-month, international search process conducted by a Search Committee of trustees, faculty, students, and administrators. The Committee — which began the search with over 200 nominees — unanimously recommended Professor Hamilton to the Board of Trustees. (NYU official new release)

--

CAS senior and student member of the Presidential Search Committee Jules O’Connor said she was confident the committee had made the right choice.

“I think that he will do great things at the university and the whole committee really felt that throughout the entire process he was really the one who encompassed a lot of the qualities, if not every quality, that we were looking for: a strong leader, a great visionary, someone who is really willing and able to keep moving the university forward,” O’Connor said. (Washington Square News)

--

When the new president, Andrew Hamilton, leaves his post at Oxford University to join N.Y.U. in January, he will be walking into a set of complex challenges. He will be leading a university with aggressive expansion plans, both internationally and in New York, where those plans are tied up in a court battle. (The New York Times)

--

Andrew Berman, the director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and a critic of Mr. Sexton’s expansion plans, expressed cautious optimism.

“Relations between NYU and its neighbors are at an all-time low, largely over issues related to the university’s drive to expand,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine there’s any place to go but up.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Conversion of former dorm to rentals with 2 new floors underway on 3rd Avenue

Workers arrived yesterday to begin erecting the scaffolding and sidewalk bridge around the former SVA dorm on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and 10th Street.

There are now partially approved plans on file with city to convert the building to rentals (luxury) and add two floors.

As The Real Deal reported last November, Slate – a Midtown-based development firm – and RWN Real Estate Partners want to reposition the building as a high-end rental property. The group was apparently able to obtain the 8,000 square feet in unused air rights to add the new floors above the existing structure.

From the looks of the various permits on file, the building will house 41 units with an "outdoor tenant recreation area" on the second floor.

SVA students moved out after the spring 2014 term .. with the students now using a newish residence on East 24th Street at First Avenue.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village now down a dorm

High-end rentals and additional floors coming to the former SVA dorm on 3rd Avenue

Former Bourgeois Pig space for rent on East 7th Street

[EVG photo from late January]

The Bourgeois Pig closed for good in late January at 111 E. Seventh St. As Eater reported back in November, a rent hike was behind the 10-year-old bar's East Village closure.

There's now a listing via Sinvin (the PDF is here) for the storefront between Avenue A and First Avenue ... "perfect for any use, food or retail"...



The asking rent is $10,500.

As for The Bourgeois Pig, the wine-cheese bar opened a new location at 127 MacDougal St.

Previously.

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]