Sitting empty on St. Mark's Place

While there has been a taker for the former Luca Bar, the spaces that housed its neighbors on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue remain empty.

Back in April, the State of New York seized sister bars the Belgian Room and Hop Devil Grill. The Ton-Up space at No. 127 has been empty since May 2014.

We looked inside the other day and noticed that someone removed the wall that separated the Ton-Up space...



... and the Belgian Room... to perhaps make for a larger bar-restaurant concept some day...



We haven't spotted any for rent signs on either the Belgian Room or Hop Devil Grill. And there aren't any work permits on file with the DOB to suggest any incoming new business.

And some equal time to the ex-Hop Devil Grill ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Belgian Room and Hop Devil Grill closed for nonpayment of taxes

Selling off the former Hop Devil Grill

[Updated] Graffiti legend Futura next up on the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall

As we noted on Tuesday, workers prepped the Houston/Bowery Wall for its next mural ... and the first sign of what's to come arrived yesterday...

BoweryBoogie hears that FUTURA (aka Lenny McGurr), the iconic graffiti artist from the 1970s, is next to work on the canvas here.

Per a profile in the Times from 2001: "In the early 1980's, he was one of the most sophisticated of the graffiti writers who moved aerosol art from the New York subway system to the embrace of the gallery world."

Also of note: In 1981, he toured with The Clash, painting live on stage as they performed throughout Europe. He also appears in the video for "This Is Radio Clash" and had other collaborations with the band.

Here's a documentary short on McGurr from 2013...



Updated 1:30 p.m.

Landlord Goldman Properties sent out a news release confirming Futura as the next wall artist. He will start tomorrow.

A partially opened gate at the Stage on 2nd Avenue

[Photo today by Steven]

There hasn't been much information about the status of the Stage at 128 Second Ave. The 35-year-old diner has been closed since March 30 here between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place during an ongoing legal tussle with landlord Icon Reality.

Today, though, several EVG readers noted that the gate was partially open, and a group of workers (one observer said they were wearing T-shirts for a plumbing company) were milling about out front. Another reader noted that the interior looked mostly cleared out, though the napkin holders and salt-and-pepper shakers remained on the counter.

Despite the possibly encouraging sight of an open gate, EVG correspondent Steven spotted owner Roman Diakun, who shook his head and said that there weren't any updates on the Stage's status.

In the aftermath of the deadly explosion across Second Avenue on March 26, Icon Realty accused the Stage of illegally siphoning gas, which was the basis for an eviction notice in April. Diakun has strongly denied the accusations, and sued the landlord to stop the eviction process... al the while, the diner has been shuttered.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The possibility that the Stage won't reopen on 2nd Avenue

City serves stop work order on Icon Realty-owned building for installing gas pipe without permit across from deadly 2nd Avenue blast zone (48 comments)

Petition to help reopen the Stage

Tenants at 128 2nd Ave. file suit against Icon Realty in housing court

Troubling talk about 128 Second Ave, and the long-term future of the Stage

[Updated] Report: Icon Realty serves the Stage an eviction notice

Stage owner Roman Diakun responds to allegations of illegally siphoning gas

Petition to help reopen the Stage

[Updated] The Stage is giving away its bulk food and supplies to charity

Report: The Stage is suing landlord Icon Realty to halt eviction process

The Stage is now crowdfunding to help in its legal fight with Icon Realty

Jets vs. Sharks tonight on Avenue B and East 9th Street

The hills will be alive tonight with the sound of.. oh, wait — sorry. Wrong musical!

The outdoor summer/fall film series continues tonight at Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on East Ninth Street at Avenue B.

For free out in the church garden tonight: "West Side Story."



The doors open 7:30. Film starts around 8.

And upcoming at Trinity:

Oct. 21 - "Ghostbusters II"

Updated 4:15 p.m.

In case of rain this evening, Trinity will show the film indoors...

Out and About in the East Village

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: Lisa Arbetter
Occupation: Editor, People StyleWatch
Location: Creative Little Garden, 6th Street between Avenues A and B
Time: 11 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 10

I was born in New York. My family lived in Queens at the time and it was the late 1960s, early 1970s. They moved us out fairly quickly. I only lived here for the first oh-so-formative 6 months of my life. My mom was from the Bronx and my dad was from Brooklyn and at the time we lived in Queens.

My grandfather on my father’s side worked in a vegetable market on the Lower East Side. My grandmother lived on Hester Street. Her family came from one of those towns that was Russia, and then was Poland, or the other way around. It’s a little confusing where she came from. It was the diaspora so people don’t know where they came from. The way she told it — and now this could totally be untrue — was that her family was incredibly rich and they had servants and everything. They had to be smuggled out of the country by their servants and then they wound up here and were very poor.

My dad likes to tell the story about why they left New York. One day they were making breakfast and they put the scrambled eggs next to the table by the window, and he turned around to get the coffee. By the time he came back with the coffee, there was soot all over the eggs. He was like, 'That’s it, we’re moving!' But I think it was more because everybody who had a family back then was leaving.

They took us to this small town outside Pittsburgh called Greensburg. My parents had grown up in these majorly Jewish neighborhoods and they had never been to Pennsylvania. They didn’t know where they were going. I think that they were shocked.

My dad was an entrepreneur. I don’t know where he found them, but he hooked up with these guys who were in Pennsylvania and they started this replacement window company. My mom had this funny Bronx accent and the town that I grew up in was incredibly homogeneous — a very Catholic small town. I remember my dad saying all the time, 'Life is not like this. Life is not like this. It’s like New York. You can't get The New York Times and the only bagels are Lender's.’ We were literally brainwashed into thinking life isn’t this, it’s New York. They would take us here once, twice, three times a year. It was never a question that I would live here. My brother moved here, my sister moved to Albany so we all sort of migrated back.

When I went to school, I was bound and determined to be a therapist. That was it, but when I got there I didn’t really like the program. I went to Syracuse and it happened to have a very good journalism school. I had always liked to write and at the time and I had always been this kid who loved magazines. I just didn’t think of it as a career.

So it happened that they had a program at Syracuse called Magazine and I signed up for that and was hooked. It was at the time when Tina Brown was editing Vanity Fair and it was a big deal. She was mixing celebrity with more high culture, articles on art with tabloid crime stories, but it was a sort of revolutionary mix at the time. She was making a lot of news and I thought it was very glamorous. I loved the idea that I could write and it could be about anything.

My first apartment was on 4th Street between A and B. I had moved in with a friend. It was a crooked apartment with the bathtub in the kitchen — that whole story. I couldn’t afford anything and I was living on an air mattress on the floor. My roommate had a very active social life and I wanted to live by myself so I found a place in Brooklyn. I’ve had four apartments in this city, two on 4th Street and two on Amity Street in Brooklyn. I moved back here in 2006 to 4th Street again. I love the neighborhood so much. There is so much diversity in everything. There’s diversity in the restaurants, the people, the ages, the races and the way people talk, the languages, the way people dress.

I got a job at InStyle around 2000. It was fairly new and the whole idea of the celebrity on the cover was a new thing at that moment. People didn’t care about models anymore. It was sort of like the bridge between the model, the supermodel period and the celebrity period. I then worked at Cargo, which was a short-lived men's magazine, during the whole metrosexual moment in time. Then I got hired at People StyleWatch to help launch it, then went back to InStyle, and now I’m at StyleWatch again.

I started this job about five or six months ago. It’s been crazy but it’s been so much fun. We rethought and redesigned the magazine over the last five months. It was more of a celebrity publication and now it’s more of a street-style publication. There are many blogs but it’s never been put into a magazine format. It’s the entire world. It’s every city, and pulling it together into trends, showing how people put outfits together, adding the service element, adding the shopping element, and also being able to show big beautiful pictures in layouts.

And what I love most about it is the diversity. Style is not one thing; it’s not one body type. All of us think many different things are beautiful, but in the media you see one sort of thing. Now we have a chance to show body diversity, racial diversity, and diversity of style. You see people that aren’t necessarily trendy or the newest thing, but they put their clothes together in such unique ways that it’s fascinating to look at.

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

Big Lee's makes it official on 1st Avenue

[Photo by Steven]

Spanky and Darla's closed back in the late winter at 140 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street.

The bar quietly reopened under new ownership earlier in the summer… not looking too different from the previous establishment, at least on the outside.

The bar's new neon signage arrived a few days ago — here's Big Lee's Saloon.

Big Lee is a former doorman/bouncer at Hogs & Heifers as well as Coney Island High on St. Mark's Place (he is also originally from Coney Island).

In times of age of high concepts, hand-carved ice and charcuterie boards … it's nice just to have a regular old bar open.

Bar Virage reopens Thursday with a new menu

If you walked by Bar Virage on Second Avenue and East Seventh Street the past two days, then you may have noticed the place is closed… just until Thursday as they prepare for the launch of their new menu. (Bar Virage describes their current menu as "French/Italian/Middle Eastern" influenced.)

They offered a sneak preview of one dish via Instagram…

Closed till Thursday. Get ready for a new #menu! And yes this will be on it. #Steak with mixed #potato mash and #redwine glaze. #nyceats #barvirage #nyfoodie

A photo posted by Bar Virage (@barvirage) on Sep 7, 2015 at 6:30pm PDT

Virage changed its name to Bar Virage in the spring of 2014 as part of a larger transformation, which included a remodeled dining room and new menu items.

A pop-up fashion thrift shop tonight at Rockwood Music Hall to aid the Bowery Mission

The next L.E.S. amis — described as New York's non-profit fashion thrift store — takes place tonight at the Rockwood Music Hall from 5-9.

Via the EVG inbox: "There will be vintage and new designer women's and men's clothing, and all proceeds go to The Bowery Mission."

Here's some background from the LES amis website:

LES amis was founded by fashion designer Jemima Janney. Born from a recognition of the huge amount of wastage in the fashion industry and a desire to help the many homeless of NYC.

L.E.S. amis collects NYC's best designer clothing from those willing to donate. All clothing sold at our pop up stores is high quality, designer, high fashion and affordable. (We're always up for a barter).

The thrift store coincides with NYC Communion Residency shows, a monthly, multi-genre showcase of local and national musicians. (You can gain access to the show with any purchase from the thrift shop.)

Rockwood Music Hall is at 196 Allen St. between Houston and Stanton.

You can read more about L.E.S. amis here.

Community Board 3 member, his wife and daughter's fiancé die in upstate car crash

[Image via Facebook]

Morris Faitelewicz, 58, and his 54-year-old wife Beth, who were well-known on the Lower East Side, died yesterday afternoon during a single-car crash on Route 17 in Sullivan County. Their soon to be son-in-law, 31-year-old Yehuda Bayme, also died. The Faitelewicz's three children — daughter Shani and sons Yaakov and Avi — were injured, but they are reportedly expected to recover.

"The family was a truly amazing Lower East Side family," friend Jacob Goldman told the Post. "Morris volunteered for everything. There was nothing that he was not involved in."

Morris was a former auxiliary police officer, a 9/11 first responder and a member of Community Board 3. Beth was a nurse at Beth Israel.

The family was on their way back to the city when the crash occurred. According to ABC-7: Morris attempted to move into the passing lane, but there was already a car next to his. He turned back but overcorrected, causing the car to run off the road and roll over several times before coming to rest.

The funeral for Morris and Beth is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10 at Bialystoker Synagogue, 7-11 Bialystoker Place (formerly Willett Street) between Grand Street and Broome Street.

Someone apparently felt compelled to take part of Stephen Colbert's face

Stephen Colbert makes his "Late Show" debut tonight... perhaps that was incentive for someone to tear off part of the Colbert poster on Second Avenue and East Seventh Street... or maybe it was one of the ads that included the "Free Kim Davis" scrawl...

The Houston/Bowery Mural Wall is now a blank canvas

The Ron English mural that arrived here back in April is no more…

So long All-American Temper Tot…



We haven't heard who's scheduled next for the wall…

[Updated] Bagel Seed bagels watch: Oven edition

[Photo by a reader from East 14th Street]

EVG readers have sent along exterior photos today showing the progress at Black Seed bagels, which is opening this month on First Avenue between East 10th Street and East 11th...

This shot offers a view of the oven...


[Photo by Vinny & O]

Right there...



According to a recent preview at New York magazine, Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite noted that the third Black Seed location (first in the East Village) will offer salads, bagel sandwiches and pastries ... including rugalach and rainbow cookies to honor the storefront's predecessor, DeRobertis bakery, which closed last December after 110 years in business.

Previously

Updated 9-9

Apparently the Black Seed owners do not want any passersby to take interior photos of how the space is shaping up…



EVG reader Lola Sáenz walked by this afternoon… when she stopped to take a photo from the sidewalk, the workers told her no photos… the woman in the chair was also on the scene. Per Lola: "I talked to her she was nice and explained that it was the owners' idea. I asked her who hired her, and she said the construction company."

We're not sure how many people are stopping to take photos. We received three photos yesterday from three different readers … who said they were curious about the space and/or looking forward to Black Seed opening…

First look at the new Puebla Mexican Food in Essex Street Market

Photos and text by Stacie Joy

When we last saw Irma Marin in March, she was shuttering her much-loved, 25-year-old restaurant on First Avenue due to rent/landlord issues.


[EVG photo from March]

As we first reported at the time, Marin was looking into possibly opening a Puebla Mexican Food stall at the Essex Street Market.

Here's some good news for those who love her burritos, tacos and tortas, not to mention her guacamole, mole, and salsa — she’s
back.



Marin and her family were able to secure a new spot at the Essex Street Market ... and we got a chance to see her last week right after she received approval for the space.





Marin says she’ll have a similar menu to her restaurant at 47 First Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street. She'll also be offering delivery via the usual sources — Seamless, Grub Hub, Delivery.com, etc.

The current space, which will have several stools for diners, is a place-holder where she can vend until sometime in 2018, when the new Essex Street Market is slated to open. Marin and her family have been promised a spot at the new location.

As of now, she is several weeks out from opening her new Puebla Mexican Food. She said that she can’t wait to see her old customers again — and to meet some new faces.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Puebla Mexican Food is closing after 25 years on 1st Avenue

You'll now have until March 23 to visit Puebla Mexican Food on 1st Avenue

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

About Puebla Mexican Food's abrupt closure, and future at the Essex Street Market

More about Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar, coming soon to East 6th Street

[Photo from Aug. 25 by Michael Hirsch]

Gandhi, the 31-year-old East Sixth Street mainstay, closed for good at the end of July.

As we pointed out on Aug. 5, Shane Covey, co-owner of Upstate around the corner, and Adam Elzer, operating partner at Sauce Restaurant, Supper, Lil Frankie's and Frank, are opening a new restaurant here on East Sixth Street just west of First Avenue.

Covey shared a few more details about his plans.

For starters, he's not closing or moving Upstate, the small seafood-centric restaurant with a rotating list of craft beer at 95 First Ave.

"I built that place with my Dad and my chef and I spend just about every waking moment in there and couldn't fathom moving it," Covey said via email. "I put Upstate in the East Village with the sole purpose of being a part of the community. It's a neighborhood place, and it's function is to be part of the community."

And why the new space?

"The problem is we turn so many area people away that it is driving me nuts." So he had been looking for someplace nearby to open what he describes as a neighborhood fish place.

And then the Gandhi space became available. He decided to team up with his friend Adam Elzer on the new venture.

"He asked what I was going to call it. I wasn't sure, so I paused. Adam said, 'let's name it after our fathers.' So Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar it is," Covey said.

He said that Edwin and Neal's will be "a mirror image of Upstate."

"I am just going to emphasize the raw bar aspect. At Upstate I have a full liquor license, but I don't serve booze. I like the craft beer aspect," he said. "So that is what we will be doing at the former Ghandi space. I want to source the freshest seafood and beer and make sure people can afford it. Makes no sense being a local joint if the locals can't afford it."

Ramen Zundo-ya opening first U.S. outpost on East 10th Street

The exterior is shaping up at 84 E. 10th St., where Ramen Zundo-ya is opening its first U.S. restaurant here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Tatsuya Hashimoto launched Ramen Zundo-ya in 2002… there are now 15 locations throughout Japan.

There are also global plans, as he lays out on the Ramen Zundo-ya website:

For the first step to share our ramen with the world, our first international shop is to be opened in New York in 2015. We also plan to open 1000 international franchised shops. I strongly believe that ramen is not only for Japanese but for the world. A strong willpower, a good fortune and confidence, have always been my saving grace. It is also on this journey that I came to realize how lucky I am – to be surrounded with most precious people such as my family, my staff and mostly the customers of Ramen Zundo-ya.

Also from the website… this chart Ramen Zundo-ya's ramen…

Images from Summer 2015

June

At the NYC Drag March in Tompkins Square Park ...


[Photo by editrrix]

-----

East Village Radio returns ...


[Photo by James Maher]

-----

Closing time at the Odessa for the night ...


[Photo by Michael Sean Edwards]

-----

Santa hijinks ...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

-----

Not even Manhattanhenge on St. Mark's Place ...


[Photo by @Knickerbock4Lif]

-----

July

Ray returns after heart valve replacement surgery ...


[Photo by Peter Brownscombe]

-----

Christo and Dora's new offspring ...


[Photo by Fenton Lawless]

-----

An Avenue A purse snatching ...



-----

A patrol tower arrives in Tompkins Square Park ...


[Photo by ‏@urbanmyths]

-----

Noted ...


[Photo by William Klayer]

-----

August

A penthouse fire on Third Avenue ...



-----

At the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park ...


[Photo of Ron Miles by Stacie Joy]

-----

A new mural by Os Gêmeos on Second Avenue



-----

A grand reopening at B&H Dairy


[Photo by Derek Berg]

-----

Those Taylor Swift fans...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

-----

At Camp Out New York Post ...


[Photo by John Penley]

-----

A late afternoon thriller on East Houston and Avenue C ...


[Photo by Naomi Paulin]

-----

At the Tompkins Square Riot Anniversary concert ...


[Photo by John Penley]

-----

Another summer ...


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Zoltar's true identity revealed

EVG reader MA makes the discovery outside Gem Spa this evening...

The Between the Seas Festival returns to the East Village

[Image via Facebook]

Via the EVG inbox…

Between the Seas, the only festival in New York celebrating Mediterranean performance, returns to the Wild Project for its fifth year.

This year, the festival presents some of the most acclaimed and innovative performers from the Mediterranean region. Program highlights include: the English language premiere of "The Dictator" by Lebanese playwright Issam Mahfouz, an absurdist exploration on the nature of tyranny; Catalan artist Borja Gonzales on a performance piece based on puppetry and sand drawing; Italian dance company Esperimenti in a sparkling performance inspired by Italian songs of the 1960s and 1990s; and the fiery flamenco dancer Rebecca Tomas.

Between the Seas runs from Tuesday, Sept. 8 through Sunday, Sept. 13. Performances are at The Wild Project (195 E. 3rd St. between Avenue A and Avenue B). Tickets are $20 unless otherwise noted (students/seniors $15 with valid ID). Tickets can be purchased by calling OvationTix at 212.352.3101 or online here. You can find the full lineup at the Between the Seas website here.

Read our interview last year with Aktina Stathaki, the artistic and producing director of Between the Seas, right here.

What went wrong at Cooper Union

Catching up to a long look at the recent turmoil at Cooper Union … via a piece by Felix Salmon at Fusion titled "How one of America’s last free colleges screwed its students and betrayed its legacy."

There's a lot going on to try to summarize for a post here … so here's a quickie overview:

Cooper Union’s finances are dreadful, and the fact that it charges tuition is a dereliction of everything Peter Cooper stood for. George Campbell, Jamshed Bharucha, and Mark Epstein should be shamed for what they did. It will take something approaching a miracle, or at least a couple of hundred million dollars, to get Cooper Union back to where it was.

Salmon also points out that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's 55-page report into what went wrong at Cooper Union "should be required, and sobering, reading for anybody who cares about higher education in America." (You can download a copy of the report via the Fusion article. Some good Labor Day reading.)

Organic Grill reopens Wednesday

Back on Aug. 17, Organic Grill closed for what was expected to be two weeks while the landlord made some sidewalk repairs.

We noticed that the veganish restaurant remained closed here at 123 First Ave. between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place… These jobs always seem to take longer to complete… now the reopening word — Wednesday at noon.

We will be reopening 9/9 at 12pm! Come join us for complementary drinks to welcome us back! #organicgrill #reopen #og #nyc #eastvillage #xo

— Organic Grill (@TheOrganicGrill) September 5, 2015