Party tent down

As we like to do, we were taking in the view via the blogger portals along Avenue A … where those condos are going in between East 11th Street and East 12th Street…

This caught our eye(s) …



What went on here? What's with the party tent in the pit?

The moon at the moment

The view tonight from the East Village via Grant Shaffer

Chairman of the Bored

Hey, it's Iggy Pop from 1979 with "I'm Bored."

At the Village East Cinema

[EVG photo from last week]

I've been meaning to write something about the historic theater — my favorite in the neighborhood — on Second Avenue at East 12th Street.

Oh, for starters, something that I was unaware of: Screenings before noon every day are $8, $6 off the usual price. (They also have $1 films for kids and parents in the mornings. "The Wizard of Oz" was playing this week.)

Anyway, that great analog marquee has been carrying the "historic auditorium reopens" message for weeks now. But most of the movies I see here, though, tend to be in the small theaters on the lower level.

I finally sucked it up to see whatever might be playing in the big room upstairs. So, the other morning, I was one of the four people who paid his or her $8 to see — eep! — "Terminator: Genysis" in the historic auditorium…







The renovated auditorium reopened on May 22. Here's more about the refurbishment via the Evergreene Architectural Arts website:

Built in 1925 as the Yiddish Art Theatre, the City Cinema Village East is one of a handful of Moorish Revival-style buildings in New York City. Intended to house Maurice Schwartz’s Theatre Company, the property ultimately becoming a multiplex in 1992.

In early 2015, EverGreene conservators conducted a historic finishes investigation, analyzing and documenting the condition of the ornamental plaster ceiling. Craftsmen removed 75 large plaster elements from the ceiling from which they cast new ornament in our New York City studio. The design decision was made to stabilize the extant ornament and craft and decoratively finish new ornament to be compatible not to restore the ceiling. This lends a “conservation” aesthetic to the Village East Cinema.

Using both traditional and mechanical methods, craftsmen installed new plaster elements into the ceiling and consolidated extant ornament to reinforce the support structure. Decorative artists removed and cleaned flaking paint from the ceiling and inpainted the newly-installed ornament to match the existing palette, seamlessly integrating new with old.

Here's a shot of the restored ceiling via the Evergreene website (they have more photos here).



You can read more about the theater's history at Vanishing New York.

And now you do you want to discuss "Terminator: Genysis"?

How does rent in the East Village stack up against other neighborhoods?

[Click to go big]

The folks at real-estate startup Zumper released a report on the most and least affordable neighborhoods to rent in (specifically one-bedroom apartments)...

In the infographic above, you can see how the East Village stacks up vs. other neighborhoods. For rents lower than the East Village's $2,725 in Manhattan, you could go south to the Lower East Side ($2,550) or head up to Central Harlem and West Harlem, both with a median of $2,100 for a one bedroom, and Washington Heights at $1,750.

Meanwhile, Zumper provided data on how the East Village rates against the city as a whole...

The new lights on the Con Ed substation

Several residents who live on East Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B have told us about a group of people — anywhere from three to 12 at times – who have been sleeping on the sidewalk along the Con Ed substation this summer… according to residents, they pack up and leave early in the mornings.

One resident said that they have worn out their welcome, though declining to go into details on what this meant exactly. (The reader did say the EMTs have had to pay several visits in the morning.)

So perhaps this is why workers earlier this week installed new lighting on the substation (new lights actually went in all around the structure on A and East Sixth Street)…





There are three new lights in total (only two in the reader-submitted photo below) on the East Fifth Street side …



However, as of Thursday night, only one of the three lights seemed to work on East Fifth Street …



If the lights were put up to deter anyone from sleeping here, then they didn't work. Several people still spent the night under the new light in the middle the past few evenings.

The B-Movie King at the Anthology Film Archives this weekend

B-movie titan Roger Corman will be appearing tonight and tomorrow at the Anthology Film Archives on Second Avenue to introduce a few of his classics — "X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes," "A Bucket of Blood" and "The Tomb of Ligeia."

The Wall Street Journal had an interview with the 89-year-old Corman yesterday. You can read that here. An excerpt as way of an introduction:

Among the 400-plus movies Roger Corman has produced or directed, there are titles more memorable than the films, such as “Attack of the Crab Monsters” and “Teenage Cave Man.”

But there also are early efforts from a string of famous directors and actors whose careers he helped to launch. They include Francis Ford Coppola (“Dementia 13”), Martin Scorsese (“Boxcar Bertha”), Peter Bogdanovich (“Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women”) and Jack Nicholson, whom Mr. Corman first met in a method-acting class.

Mr. Corman ... could have single-handedly invented drive-in movies in the 1950s, when a postwar eruption of teenage culture created a new audience for entertainment at its most sensational. The B-movie impresario kept apace with the times, however, tapping into social trends—and wildly profitable and influential movie concepts—for a career that spans seven decades.

The Anthology is on Second Avenue at East Second Street. Find out more about the screenings here.

And to get you in the mood…

Take a photo vacation in 1980 New York City

[Houston and 2nd Avenue from April 1980 by Ed Sijmons]

Earlier this month, a reader sent me a 1980 NYC photo essay from the Tribeca Citizen.

Here's the premise. In the spring of 1980, Ed Sijmons and LouiseLH of Amsterdam visited New York City and took hundreds of photos ... and Sijmons recently posted them on Flickr... and passed the links on to the Citizen.

While the above photo of East Houston and the Bowery is the closest they came to the East Village, there are plentiful shots from all over the city, from the Lower East Side, Chinatown, the Financial District, Midtown... even some in Coney Island.

If you have some time to browse, then you can head over to Sijmons’s Flickr page. Look for the albums marked "NYC 1980 part1" (as well as parts 2, 3, and 4).

Vinyl reissues for Liquid Liquid

Thanks to BoingBoing, we learned that the influential Downtown NYC post-punk dance band Liquid Liquid is getting the re-release treatment this week via the Superior Viaduct label.

Here's more from Superior Viaduct:

Liquid Liquid emerged from New York City's vibrant Downtown scene in 1981. Their three EPs, all originally released on the legendary 99 Records, would heavily influence dance-oriented indie rock of the early aughts (LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records, et al.)

Superior Viaduct is honored to present these first-time vinyl reissues of Liquid Liquid's classic records (self-titled, Successive Reflexes, and Optimo) in their original 12-inch format as well as an archival LP of rare recordings by the pre-LL bands, Liquid Idiot and Idiot Orchestra.

Other Music looks to have them in stock ... Not sure about our friends at Academy Records on East 12th Street just yet...

In the meantime, you can watch the video above for "Cavern" from 1983 ... with that baseline that went on to do "White Lines."

Your dreams of living in a penthouse cottage above Kiehl's are dashed for now

Back in June we noted that those cottage-style penthouses atop the building that houses Kiehl's on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and 13th Street were on the market with an asking price of $4.4 million.

Well, the place is now in contract, Curbed reported today:

When reached for comment, Corcoran listing broker Tamir Shemesh couldn't give up what the three-bedroom pad is selling for, only that it's "going for a very good price" and that "both the seller and buyer are very happy." We'd be happy, too, if those were our new digs.

Well, maybe this cabin will return to market.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Live in tranquil cottages overlooking … 3rd Avenue (but still)

10 Degrees Bistro now 'renegotiating terms with the landlord' on Avenue A

On Monday, the Marshal paid a visit to 10 Degrees Bistro at 131 Avenue A … noting that the landlord has taken legal possession of the restaurant between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street.

While that sign remains up on the closed-for-now bistro's front …



… there's a new sign explaining that 10 Degrees is closed for maintenance…



10 Degrees also took to Facebook yesterday to explain the situation…



So perhaps all this will be worked out soon enough… and they'll be one less vacant space along Avenue A.

Meanwhile, their sister property, 10 Degrees Bar, remains open around the corner on St. Mark's Place.

The former Le Jardin space is for rent on Avenue C

While there isn't a sign up yet, the former Le Jardin space at 115 Avenue C is now for rent.

According to the listing at Eastern Consolidated, the asking rent is $11,576 a month. However, there is also an undisclosed sum for key money for the 2,200-square-foot space between East Seventh Street and East Eighth Street. The location includes outdoor seating on the ground floor and a terrace upstairs.

The low-key French bistro lasted 10 months here, closing in June. The previous tenant, the restaurant Apartment 13, made it one year.

The Málà Project coming soon to 1st Avenue

Been meaning to take a look at what's coming to 122 First Ave. between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place… the paper has been up in the windows noting a venture called the Málà Project …



There's not much info on their Facebook page, except for: "An upbeat and energetic Chinese food shop, featuring traditional and exotic Chinese street foods in a playful setting."

The owners were on July's CB3 SLA committee docket for a beer-wine license. (No vote was necessary on this application.) Per their questionnaire (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website, they will offer "Chinese appetizers and entrees served family style."

Their listed hours are 11 a.m to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; until midnight Thursday-Sunday.

The previous tenant, South Brooklyn Pizza, closed in April 2014. Last fall, the owners of the International explored moving into the space, though those plans never materialized.

H/T EVG correspondent Steven

What is this?

At the site of the incoming condos on Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street… some people see a pile driver … while some people see a bird's head.

Photo via Goggla

Free Shakespeare in Tompkins Square Park

[Photo by EVG contributor Steven]

The Hip to Hip Theatre Company is putting on a free production of William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" in Tompkins Square Park tonight and tomorrow evening at 5:30 ... as well as Wednesday, Aug. 26... it's part of the New York International Fringe Festival.

Tomorrow is the last day for Zibalee on East 13th Street

[Image via]

After five years, first as Jellyfish then Zibalee, the clothing store for kids closes for good after the business day tomorrow at 244 E. 13th St.

Owner Adam Kirszner told us a little more about the situation at his shop between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

"It wasn't exactly the usual story of an impossible rent hike, although rent was no picnic and the real-estate taxes were particularly onerous. More like the growing realization that there was only so much growth that a business like mine could possibly have, especially considering my non-retail-y mid-block location and my low-margin wares," he told us via email. "And so many little annoying things that would add up to take a toll — SantaCon/St. Pat's/Halloween foolishness hurts most EV businesses that aren't bars. As you know, it's pretty much over for independent bricks-and-mortar retail around here, with increasingly rare exceptions."

Meanwhile, through tomorrow, there are some big sales on kids' clothing. (Find more details at Zibalee's Facebook page.)

And what might be next at the address?

"Brace yourself for another salon — nails, I think — coming soon," he said.

2 East Village Chase Bank branches are closing for good on Nov. 12

Earlier this summer, we reported that the retail spaces housing both the Chase branch on Avenue A at East Second Street and the location on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place were for rent.

Now, in letters that Chase customers received yesterday, bank officials announced that both branches will close after the business day on Nov. 12...





According to the letters, the branch at 130 Second Ave. will consolidate with the location two blocks to the north at No. 156 while the Avenue A outlet will merge with the branch at 106 Delancey.

The asking rent on the Second Avenue Chase space is $72,000 a month, per the listing. The rent is available upon request for the Avenue A storefront.

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos of the letters!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chase space on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place is for rent

The retail space at 20 Avenue A is on the market

10-story building now in the works for 255 E. Houston St.

[EVG photo of No. 155 from 2012]

Permits are now on file for a 10-story residential complex at 255 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk.

The new building joins the 10-story, almost-complete 179 Suffolk St. next door ... in the ever-changing East Houston Street skyline.


[EVG photo from June]

No. 255 E. Houston St. previously housed the day-care center Action For Progress. They were displaced in the spring of 2010 when construction next door at 179 Suffolk St. destabilized the building. (BoweryBoogie has more on that situation here.)

Here are more details about the new building via New York Yimby, which first reported on the filing yesterday:

Whenever the building bites the dust, it’ll be replaced by 53 apartments and community space. Those apartments will be divided across 47,020 square feet of residential space, and the average unit will clock in around 887 square feet.

The first floor will include 4,600 square feet of community facilities and indoor and outdoor recreation space. There are fewer, larger units on the higher floors, starting with eight units on the second floor and finishing with four units a piece on the eighth through tenth floors. The building will rise 112 feet into the air and encompass 51,623 square feet of interior space.

The property's owner is Samy Mahfar, who's up for multiple Landlord of the Year Awards. (See here and here and here.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Next for 255 E. Houston St.: Community facility/school/medical building?

Is a Beer Factory in store for the former Spice space on 2nd Avenue?

[EVG photo from June]

The Spice location on Second Avenue and East Sixth Street closed at the beginning of June.

Now Goggla spotted a sign from the new tenant — Beer Factory LLC...



So the sign does say "store," so perhaps it's a retail-first operation (like Good Beer on East Ninth Street or ABC Co. on Avenue C) ... The LLC is registered to an attorney's office in Astoria.

Or maybe it's a wacky fake sign like Robot Daycare or a laundrobar (oh, wait that was real!) to throw off the neighbors and assorted bloggers to what is really coming next.

Glasgow Vintage Co. has apparently closed on East 9th Street

The Glasgow Vintage Co. has cleared out of its retail space at 331 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue… one source on the block believes they left on Monday…



There isn't any mention of a closure on the vintage clothing store's social media properties.

The store, which has a 21-year-old flagship location in Glasgow, just opened last September.

In reporting on the lease deal last year, the Commercial Observer noted that the rent here was $6,500. The broker told the Commercial Observer that the deal is significant "because it’s the 'highest price per square foot on the block,' and it's a 'new international operator reconfirming the growth of East Village boutique retail.'"

Photos via EVG contributor Steven