Photo via Bobby Williams...
Friday, October 16, 2015
Meet the METZ
Tickets went on sale today to see METZ at the Bowery Ballroom this coming January. Until then, here's "Wasted" from the Canadian trio's self-titled debut from 2013.
Feltman’s of Coney Island bringing its hot dogs to St. Mark's Place starting today
After peddling hot dogs this past summer at a pop-up in Ditmas Park, the owner of the revived Feltman’s of Coney Island brand is bringng his franks to St. Mark's Place.
Starting today, Feltman’s of Coney Island owner and Brooklyn native Michael Quinn will be selling hot dogs at Augers Well, the bar at 115 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.
Per the Coney Island Blog:
Instead of serving $2 hot dogs as they did all summer Feltman’s will be serving up enormous franks for $5 each, along with their very popular homemade apple cider vinegar mustard, which will be whipped up daily in the Augurs Well kitchen.
Feltman's is named after Charles Feltman, purportedly the inventor of the hot dog as well as the restaurant that was located in Coney Island from 1870-1954. (Read more about Feltman at the Coney Island History Project here.)
Quinn reportedly still plans to reopen a restaurant in Coney Island... but, as the Coney Island Blog notes, "right now he’s having fun telling the Feltman’s story and creating brand recognition." And he will be doing so right next door to Crif Dogs. Of course Feltman's and Nathan's co-exited for more than 40 years in Coney Island...
A post with a view
[Click pic to go big]
Thanks to EVG regular jdx for this recent shot of the city, with Tompkins Square Park about right in the middle of the photo (didn't want to muck it up with the work of EV Arrow here) ... check out jdx's website here for more photos...
EV Grieve Etc.: New East Village restaurant roundup; Red-tailed hawk update
[All dressed up and nowhere to go on A ... via Michael Sean Edwards]
At a CB3 meeting, residents bristle at the de Blasio administration's proposed Zoning for Quality and Affordability (Gothamist)
East Village resident Blake Farber honored for his efforts moments after the Second Avenue explosion on March 26 (American Red Cross Greater New York Blog)
Second Avenue residents continue to rebuild lives after March 26 (The Villager)
Thoughts on Richard Hell's new compilation "Massive Pissed Love" (The Village Voice)
"15 essential" East Village restaurant openings (Zagat)
Tonight on East Third Street: "What's Your Freedom to Ya~!? Pop Up Art/Culture Jam" (Facebook)
Dora is up to something in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)
... on the topic of red-tailed hawks... here's Christo hanging out in Tompkins Square Park....
[Photo by Bobby Williams]
When Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers tore up the Village Gate in 1977 (Dangerous Minds)
Sietsema praises the vegetarian cuisine at Avant Garden on East Seventh Street (Eater)
At Berlin, a "sneaky cabaret" underneath 2A on Avenue A (The New York Times)
32K monthly for the Sixth Ward space on Orchard (BoweryBoogie)
CB3 backs plan for new management at Essex Street Market (The Lo-Down)
Robert Crumb on misogyny, America and art (The Observer)
A look at the new book "City on Fire," in which "one of its primary interests is the 1970s scene in the East Village and the anarchist squatters who inhabit an abandoned building there" (Time magazine)
A John Zorn benefit concert tomorrow night as part of a Harry Smith celebration (Anthology Film Archives)
Academy Records on West 18th Street is alive and well (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Rough Trade road trip (Flaming Pablum)
... and over on East First Street, there's a new mural by Brazilian artist Paolo Govea adjacent to the Tuck Shop between First Avenue and Second Avenue... Tuck Shop owner Niall Grant said the mural is presented in partnership with Sixpoint Brewery... who will be helping curate the space going forward...
... and "All Things Must Pass," a documentary on the rise and fall of Tower Records, opens today at the Village East Cinemas on Second Avenue at East 12th Street...
... and finally finally... why not one more wildlife pic for this post — a standoff in Tompkins Squrae Park...
[Photo by Derek Berg]
New city site let's you know about real-time transit delays and disruptive banging and pounding noises
The city is rolling out a new website — www.neighborhoods.nyc, now in beta — to provide up-to-the-minute updates on what's happening on your block.
We'll cut-and-paste this overview from Curbed:
The site reflects real time updates to transit, construction, and traffic alerts, 311 service requests, emergency notifications, event permits, and other data. The data is also displayed on a neighborhood map that can be used to look up things like restaurant grades, greenmarkets, and parks.
I checked on it last night to learn that there were delays on the 4 and F trains... that a sewer backed up at 111 Avenue C ... that "Rats were reported in a park at Avenue A and East 7 Street last weekend" ... and my favorite — "Disruptive banging and pounding noise was reported last Tuesday at 103 Avenue A."
Each neighborhood page includes details on the weather, garbage and recycling schedules, school closures and alternate-side parking.
The site, which went live on Wednesday, arrives via the Mayor's Office of Technology and Innovation and Vizalytics, a local tech startup. DNAinfo noted that the developers will continue to tweak the site over the next 90 days or so. Specific sites — with names like EastVillage.nyc — are expected in early 2016.
Variety shop taking over the AK Shoe Repair space on East 9th Street
[Photo by Steven]
A new business is prepping to take over the recently vacated storefront at 350 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
The sign shows East Village Tobacco (Tobbaco) & Variety Shop opening soon. And variety is right: Aside from some usual deli-type items, there's promise of perfume and cloth.
The space was previously home to A.K. Shoe Repair, which closed at the end of August. The proprietor said that he was no longer able to sustain the business after his landlord raised the rent from $2k to $4.5k a month.
According to TripAdvisor, this East Village pizzeria is the best restaurant in NYC
[EVG photo from July]
Since opening this past July at 130 St. Mark's Place, we've heard good things about Via Della Pace Pizza. (Eater gave them positive notices here.)
But is it the best restaurant in NYC? Heh. Well, according to reviewers on travel website TripAdvisor, it is... somehow, the 23, 5-star reviews catapults the pizzeria near Avenue A to the top of the list... No. 1 out of 11,525 ...
... and ahead of such wannabes as Daniel (with 1,711 reviews) ... and Faicco's Pork Store ...
H/T @WexlerRules!
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Revisiting 'Bettie Visits CBGB'
[Debbie Harry and Bettie Ringma]
Via the EVG inbox...
David Owen, the co-founder of London vintage booksellers IDEA Books Ltd, has chosen Marc H. Miller and Bettie Ringma's “Bettie Visits CBGB” as what he calls a “Superbook”: a rare work of exceptional cultural significance. Owen makes his point in an entertaining and evocative radio program just released by Radio Wolfgang.
A sound collage that mixes interviews with music, the program evokes the Bowery and the glory years of CBGB, using as its centerpiece this collection of 10 color snapshots in a handmade leatherette portfolio. The photographs in “Bettie Visits CBGB” show a young Dutch woman posing with Patti Smith, Blondie, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Richard Hell and other musicians ...
The program, produced by Olivia Humphreys, provides a human look at a remarkable five-year period of cultural history. Among those interviewed are Ringma and Miller, the creators of the portfolio; painter Curt Hoppe, their Bowery neighbor and collaborator; photographer Roberta Bayley, the doorwoman at CBGB; cartoonist John Holmstrom, the founder of Punk magazine; and Susan Springfield, the singer in the Erasers.
Miller, one of the creators of the portfolio, is founder of the website 98 Bowery and the related Gallery 98. To see pictures from the “Bettie Visits CBGB” series, click here. The radio program can be accessed on the website of Radio Wolfgang.
By the way, CBGB closed nine years ago today.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-and-A with Curt Hoppe: Living on the Bowery, finding inspiration and shooting Mr. Softee
Life at 98 Bowery: 1969-1989
Q-and-A with John Holmstrom, founding editor of Punk Magazine
John Holmstrom on the CBGB movie and the East Village of 2013
Report: Organic Avenue is calling it quits
[Photo by William Klayer from April 2013]
Eater is reporting that the juice-bar chain is shutting down all its locations in the city at the end of the business day today ... there's an OA on Third Avenue and East Ninth Street that opened in the summer of 2013.
This location always seemed pretty desolate most times — a surprise (initially, anyway) given its proximity to NYU dorms and the Death Star ... the photo here shows the place from a visit during the afternoon on Aug. 18...
The empty shelves weren't due to high sales volume.
Racked had more on the company's financial troubles back in August:
It's believed that Organic Avenue’s operational losses were at about $600,000 a month between all its stores by May 2015; it lost a whopping $1 million during its worst month, January 2015, including private equity fees to Weld North. Out of the company’s ten locations, only three are profitable, sources say, because of poor location choices.
Racked was told that most of Organic Avenue’s losses came from waste. Its foods and juices come with a short shelf life, and must be tossed after three days: it’s not uncommon to walk by an Organic Avenue at closing time and see bags and bags of untouched food being tossed.
This retail strip on Third Avenue between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street will even be more desolate now... perhaps prompting more speculation about Duane Reade taking over the entire block.
Report: Associated owners not having any luck shopping for a lease renewal on East 14th Street
The other day, an EVG regular was shopping at the Associated on East 14th Street in Stuy Town. Word there was that ownership was currently renegotiating a lease renewal ... but that management "didn't feel confident they will get a renewal they can afford."
Well, turns out that the Town & Village Blog has been on this story.
In post from Sept. 29, Sabina Mollot reported that while the end of the store's 15-year lease is still two years away, principal owner Joseph Falzon has been asking about a renewal because he wants to renovate the store.
As he told Town & Village, Falzon "wanted to make sure the store had a future before making the investment, which he feels is necessary given competition from places like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods in Union Square."
Apparently, though, Stuy Town landlord CWCapital Asset Management hasn't been interested in such conversations.
To Town & Village:
“I called up last June and said, ‘It’s time to talk about a lease. We’d like to revamp the store,’ and at that time they just ignored me,” said Falzon. He continued to call but was told to ask again closer to when the lease would be up. But Falzon didn’t want to wait, explaining, “The store needs a face lift right now.” In a recent conversation, when he asked, “’When the time comes for a lease renewal will you talk to us?”, the answer from a company rep was that he “wasn’t at liberty to say right now,” Falzon said. “Our feeling is that the landlord doesn’t want us to renew when it’s up. We’re good tenants. We pay our rent. I don’t know if it looks hopeful.”
Additionally, recently, a representative from a competing supermarket who Falzon declined to name, has also approached CWCapital about taking over Associated’s space.
“He offered double what we pay and they said no,” said Falzon. “I don’t know if they have plans for it. They’re not telling us, anyway.”
In April, the owners of this Associated closed Met supermarket on Third Avenue and East 17th Street after a rent increase. That space remains vacant.
Some day, the East Houston Reconstruction Project will end, but not anytime soon
The East Houston Reconstruction Project, which started in the heady early summer days of 2010, is now reportedly three years behind schedule.
On Tuesday night, reps from the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) provided CB3's Transportation & Public Safety/Environment Committee with an update. BoweryBoogie was there and filed a report.
An excerpt:
Blame the delays on unforeseen obstacles and the ensuing quibbling between city agencies and utility companies over responsibility. Apparently such “unforeseen utility interference” requires “specialty work” that can only be handled by one company over another. For instance, Con Edison or Verizon called down to relocate certain equipment or maintain abandoned gas mains before the water piping infrastructure goes in. But no one involved owns up to the responsibility when there are delays or issues encountered.
Per BB, the latest completion date is now September 2016, and with a price tag hitting $88 million. Head to BoweryBoogie here for the full story.
The DDC is reconstructing/replacing combined sewers, trunk main, water mains, catch basins, fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc., etc., along East Houston Street, from the Bowery to the FDR Drive.
[Photo of Ed Strians by EVG]
Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming soon to East Houston: Construction, hell, rodent control stations
Long-threatened East Houston reconstruction starting this month
East Houston Street construction will be a living hell for an extra year
Attention business owners with bicycle deliveries
City Council member Rosie Mendez is sponsoring this workshop Tuesday afternoon at Cooper Union for business owners relying on bike deliveries.
The commercial bike law was approved in October 2012 (and went into effect in April 2013) after complaints about bikers speeding and weaving down sidewalks
Per the law: Commercial bicyclists are now required to carry an identification card and wear helmets and reflective upper body clothing with the business' name and cyclist's ID number on the back.
Hitchcocktober movie of the week: 'North by Northwest'
As we continue to cut-and-paste... Hitchcocktober continues tonight at the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue at East 12th Street.
Tonight at 8! "North by Northwest"
And upcoming:
Oct. 22 — "Marnie"
Oct. 29 — "Rear Window"
You can buy advance tix online here.
Moishe's Bake Shop has a new front window
[EVG photo from April]
In previous posts (here and here, for example) about the new sign at Moishe's Bake Shop, several commenters wondered when the longtime bakery on Second Avenue would replace the graffiti-etched front window.
Well, you might be happy to know then that Moishe's recently installed a new front window, as this photo via EVG contributor Derek Berg shows…
For whatever reasons, the shop near East Seventh Street has always seemingly been a graffiti magnet… Here's a photo from 2001 by James and Karla Murray…
Fonda debuts sidewalk cafe
An EVG reader noted that the new sidewalk cafe is now operational outside Fonda, the Mexican restaurant at 40 Avenue B near East Third Street. (The sidewalk section apparently officially opened this past Saturday.)
CB3 signed off on the cafe application during its August meeting.
And this is how the sidewalk seating looks with people…
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Reports: Contractor under investigation for 2nd Avenue explosion guilty in unrelated bribery case
He reportedly admitted to paying an undercover investigator $600 last year to dismiss building violations at the properties. In admitting to the charges, he received three years probation, 200 hours of community service and a $4,000 fine.
Per the Daily News:
Kukic's lawyer Mark Bederow said he believed prosecutors refused to offer his client a misdemeanor deal, like they had for other defendants, because of his ties to the March blast on Second Ave., in which authorities were probing whether a rigged gas line was the cause of the deadly inferno which leveled two buildings.Per the Post:
Investigators are looking at potential murder charges and Kukic and five others are the prime suspects, the Post exclusively reported in April.
“Although [this case] has nothing at all to do with the terrible accident in the East Village, the district attorney sought to punish him for that,” said Bederow.
Kukic is cooperating with the investigation into the explosion, the lawyer said.
@NYPDTWEETTOWER recognized for serving and protecting the Twittersphere
Back in July, the arrival of the NYPD Patrol Tower in the middle of Tompkins Square Park prompted the launch of the (fake) @NYPDTWEETTOWER account... documenting the daily travails of Officer Tubbs and his tweeting partner as they kept watch over the land...
PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POSTING PHOTOS OF THE TWEET TOWER ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH THE HASHTAG #ASSHATS.
— NYPD TWEET TOWER (@NYPDTWEETTOWER) July 25, 2015Now, in its annual Best of NYC issue, The Village Voice has named @NYPDTWEETTOWER the best local Twitter account.
For about a week, @nypdtweettower gifted its few hundred followers with gems like "TO WHOEVER CALLED 311 TO REPORT A 'PIECE OF SH*T TRANSFORMER' IN TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK: NOT FUNNY" and "APOLOGIES TO THE OLSEN TWINS. WE HAVE A HARD TIME TELLING BOHO FROM CRUSTY." When the police department folded up the tower and hauled it away a week later, @nypdtweettower piped down — for the most part, anyway. Mission accomplished.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Why yes — the Tompkins Square Park patrol tower now has a (fake) Twitter account
Reader mailbag: What's with the burning wood smell?
Has anyone written to you to say there has been a burning wood smell in the East Village since this morning? I opened the windows in the back of my apartment late this morning, and I got a big whiff of the smell. I have been out for a few hours and just got home, and now my whole apartment smells like burning wood! But I don't hear or see anything in the back of the building.
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