Week in Grieview

[Photo Wednesday p.m. via the EVG Instagram]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

An 83rd birthday celebration for Ray at Ray's Candy Store (Monday)

1983 to 2016: An East Village blizzard then and now photo essay (Friday)

Douglas Steiner's church-replacing condos emerge from the pit; plus new renderings (Wednesday)

Empire Biscuit is taking a sabbatical for the month of February; will retool for the apocalypse (Monday)

Out and About with Niall Grant, owner of the Tuck Shop (Wednesday)

The Alchemist's Kitchen takes over the short-lived NatureEs space on East First Street (Monday)

With CleaNYC, Mayor de Blasio declares war on litter, graffiti (Wednesday)

Northern Spy closes for good on Feb. 17 (Thursday)

Police looking for suspect in a string of area armed robberies (Monday)

NY Village Deli reopens in new First Avenue home (Tuesday)

Blythe Anne’s (the former Lula’s Sweet Apothecary) has closed on East Sixth Street (Tuesday)

Rumors: 348 Bowery will house new food market (Monday)

Ninth Ward closes for good on Feb. 14 (Thursday)

Updated: Ballaro has closed on Second Avenue (Friday)

An incentive to spend some time on East Ninth Street this month (Friday)

Cafecito has closed on Avenue C (Monday)

Take a look at the inside of Ben Shaoul's condos at 100 Avenue A (Thursday)

332 E. Sixth St. is for sale — air rights too (Thursday)

The Subway (sandwich shop) has closed on Fourth Avenue and East 12th Street (Tuesday)

The Marshal seizes Tut on East Third Street (Monday)

The former Poppy's Gourmet Corner is for rent (Wednesday)

If you are looking for Smoke & Beer on Avenue A, then this store is for you (Tuesday)

Bago hasn't been open recently on First Avenue (Tuesday)

A look at the residences coming to Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street (Wednesday)

The Baker's Pizza signage is up on Avenue A (Monday)

Mumbles has closed on Third Avenue (Wednesday)

NYPD makes real arrest while 'Law & Order' is filming nearby on Avenue A (Tuesday)

...and as a reminder, please do not recycle your holiday trees on a bicycle...


[Photo on East 7th Street by Derek Berg]

[Updated] These are likely the last days for St. Mark's Bookshop

This past Thursday, St. Mark's Bookshop launched a cash-only, 50-percent-off-everything (except cards and consignment books) sale.

You're correct in thinking that's likely not a good sign for the rent-challenged store's future. For starters, the clerks have been telling customers that they'll only be around for "a few more days."

And Bedford + Bowery spoke with the shop's lawyer, James West, who said that the bookstore was served with a Marshal's Notice about a week ago. They reportedly owe $62,000 in back rent to the landlord, the New York City Housing Authority. And there's more.

Per B+B:

“The people they owe money to are, among others, the State – there are some taxes due – but there are some other creditors, one of them was a book distributor. That was the pressure point.”

“The State doesn’t usually play games,” West added. “That was pretty much it.”

According to New York’s Department of State, a warrant was issued on January 21, 2016 for a $34,408.76 tax lien. The only way out of a tax warrant is to pay the bill in full or file for bankruptcy. Then, as Contant explained, as a result of losing a legal dispute with the book wholesaler Baker & Taylor (which boasts the title of “world’s largest distributor of books and entertainment”) a U.S. Marshal Auction has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 10.

Still, the shop, which has been in several locations since 1977, seems to find a way to hold on. Last Wednesday, The Awl had a post titled "The Mystery Money Keeping St. Mark's Bookshop Alive." There are apparently several investors, including longtime East Village resident (since 1959) and building owner Charles FitzGerald and a man named Rafay Khalid, "who covered the bookstore’s $22,000 down payment on its lease with NYCHA," per The Awl.

What Khalid and FitzGerald propose, and what they hope the city will agree to, is a new lease, with a new company — under a new name, Khalid said repeatedly — that will pay a higher rent than it is currently paying. In return, it will forgive the back rent. FitzGerald, any investors, and a management committee will direct how to allocate any funds raised, including whatever is left of the $200,000 Khalid said he’s already raised. “I think of this as a startup,” Khalid said. “St. Mark’s 2.0.”

Meanwhile, there's the 50-percent-off sale. The store is getting picked over, as you'd expect ... last night, I noticed one copy each of Richard Hell's "Massive Pissed Love," Romy Ashby's "Stink" and Kim Gordon's "Girl in a Band," to name a few titles that I have an interest in ... and there were several copies left of the latest Maximum Rocknroll and Mojo "Punk Anniversary Special" with a CD of "15 pre-punk nuggets" (Hawkwind!)...


[Photo from last night]

St. Mark's Bookshop is at 136 E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. They are open today (Sunday) from noon to 10 p.m.; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays.

Updated 2/8

Here's more via Publishers Weekly:

Jim West, a lawyer with his own firm who has been providing pro bono legal assistance to St. Mark's, explained that New York City would probably prefer not to see the execution sale happen. The reason, West explained, is because the cost of the auction would likely be higher than the money it will bring in.

If the execution sale does not happen, West said St. Mark's could stay open until March 9, which is the date of the next hearing about the back rent.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: St. Mark's Bookshop prepping fundraiser ahead of possible move to Avenue A.

Is this the new home for the St. Mark's Bookshop?

Report: St. Mark's Bookshop signs lease for East 3rd Street space

Renovations at the future St. Mark's Bookshop on East 3rd Street

St. Mark's Bookshop seeking buyers with an ownership interest

Report: Last stand for St. Mark's Bookshop

Report: Latest woe for St. Mark's Bookshop — possible eviction

Just picking up some breakfast before heading out to LaGuardia

Cooper Square and St. Mark's Place this morning... (and there aren't actually any docking stations at LaGuardia. Closest you'll get is 21st Street and 41st Avenue in Long Island City...)

Another smoke shop for Avenue A

Several readers have told us that a smoke shop is opening in the former D-Lish Pita space on Avenue A at East Sixth Street... we haven't been by when anyone has been working on the space... though the gate is partially open, revealing some of the items that will be for sale...





The store is next door to 99¢ Pizza, which opened in late December. As for smoke shops on Avenue A, Smoke & Beer opened between East 13th Street and East 14th Street earlier this month.

Anyway, it's nice that some new retail shops are opening ahead of the residential developments going up ... like this one... and this one.. and this one ... and this one.. and this one.

Pumpin' it up

Well, with Iggy Pop in the news of late with his Josh Homme collaboration... I went back to 1981 to dust this off from Iggy's sixth solo album, Party ("A bizarre train wreck of an album...") This is "Pumpin' for Jill."

An incentive to spend some time on East 9th Street this month

Several of the merchants on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue are having a block-wide sale this month.

Here's info that we received: "From now until Feb 29, come and take advantage of some great bargains. Each participating merchant will have their own take on the 9.99% off sale theme. Shop the block, score some fab deals, meet the neighbors, and even better, support small, local businesses."




[Images via Clayworks Pottery]

H/T EVG contributor Steven

EV Grieve Etc.: New breakfast sandwiches on Avenue A; International Clash Day all day

[Photo this a.m. in Tompkins Square Park by @emwexler]

Harry & Ida's on Avenue A unveiling breakfast sandwiches (Eater)

It's International Clash Day – listen online all day (KEXP)

East Village oral history with Robert Zerelli of Veniero’s (Off the Grid)

Landmarks rejects renovation of 348 Lafayette St. (NY Yimby)

Check out Marcia Resnick's "Punks, Poets and Provocateurs: New York City Bad Boys 1977-1982" (Howl! Happening)

Investors refinance a six-building portfolio in the East Village (The Commercial Observer)

Christo and Dora at sunset (Gog in NYC)

C.O.W. Theatre on Clinton Street is closing (The Lo-Down)

The Spanish Delancey Seventh Day Adventist Church on Forsyth Street is seeking developers to purchase air rights from the organization (Curbed)

Plan now for the Totally 80s Movie Freak Out Part 2: Electric Boogaloo (Anthology Film Archives)

Kossar’s Bagels & Bialys back open today (The New York Times)

Tom Verlaine and Vesey Street (Flaming Pablum)

The Lower East Side BID is rebranding (BoweryBoogie)

Jesse Malin's punk appreciation (CBS News)

Attacker says "fuck you yuppies" and punches man on Delancey (Dnainfo)

Diversions: 27 years of MTV's "120 Minutes" now online (The AV Club)

And from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required):

In the older buildings that provide more than three-quarters of the city’s one million rent-regulated apartments, whose owners are barred by law from raising rents, taxes are also due to rise. The average tax on these buildings will rise 8.5%, including an 11.3% increase for Brooklyn landlords, a Wall Street Journal analysis found.

1983 to 2016: An East Village blizzard then and now photo essay

[1st Avenue near 5th Street from 1983 by Raphael Lasar]

Two Fridays ago, we shared photos that EVG Facebook friend Raphael Lasar took of the Blizzard of 1983 (the Megalopolitan Blizzard). This storm produced some 22 inches of snow on Feb. 11-12 that year.

We posted these photos the day before the blizzard (Jonas, if you'd like) dumped nearly 27 inches here on Jan. 23.

Following this, Cassondra Bazelow, an art director who lives in the neighborhood, went out and took post-blizzard photos at the same locations that Raphael did.

Here then, one location, two blizzards, 33 years apart...


[1st Avenue near 5th Street]


[1st Avenue looking north toward 6th Street]


[1st Avenue at Sixth Street]


[1st Avenue at East 3rd Street]


[2nd Avenue between East 6th and East 7th streets]


[Astor Place]


[Astor Place]


[Astor Place and the Alamo]


[St. Mark's Place between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue]

Previously on EV Grieve:
When the Megalopolitan Blizzard hit the East Village (and NYC) in February 1983

Updated: Ballaro has closed on 2nd Avenue

[Photo from Tuesday night]

The all-day cafe at 77 Second Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street has closed.

Several readers noted that the space was dark all week... and we received confirmation of the closure yesterday.

The low-key Ballaro, which served Italian coffee and pastries during the day, and beer, wine and small plates in the evening hours, opened here in May 2009. The owners also run Cacio e Pepe and Cacio e Vino nearby.

The owners also operated a short-lived bakery on East Fifth Street that, unfortunately, only lasted just four months.

As we first reported last August, the cafe made headlines after drunken Taylor Swift fans apparently terrorized the staff by demanding they play more of the pop star's music on the house stereo. (Not really a Taylor Swift kinda place, you know?)

Ballaro wrote about the incident on Facebook:

One of the women in the group took out her phone and said that she was going to make a viral video so no one would come to Ballaro anymore. Now this, more than anything, upsets me because Ballaro is a gathering place for neighbors, friends, lovers and strangers alike. We have a community that gathers in Ballaro and we all love and support each other and welcome anyone in our restaurant and bar. To possibly lose all that because of someone’s tainted point of view on social media, would be the worst thing.


My mission is to make everyone who enters through the front door feel like they are at home, because sometimes New York hardens even the best of us and we forget the true values in life: community and peace. 


Updated:

The owners passed along this message to us:

We want thank all of our customers and staff for the support and hard work over the past 7 years. With rising cost of operating a small business in NYC and the changes in the neighborhood, we could not longer stay afloat. Feel free to drop by our other restaurant Cacio e Vino across the street from Ballaro. Thank you again to everyone who helped to make Ballaro a place that will truly be missed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Why Taylor Swift fans treated the staff like shit at Ballaro on 2nd Avenue

A look at the new building coming to the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office property

[At the former Peter Stuyvesant PO on East 14th Street]

This week, we've looked at updated renderings for three new residential developments coming to (and near!) Avenue A. There's Douglas Steiner's 82-unit building at 438 E. 12th St. ... Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street ... and Ben Shaoul's 100 Avenue A.

However, there's one new development that we haven't heard much about of late — an 8-story retail-residential building featuring 114 units at 438 E. 14th St., site of the now-demolished former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office just west of Avenue A.

Benenson Capital Partners, whose company has owned the site since the 1940s, is teaming with Mack Real Estate Group on the project. Here's info from the Benenson Capital website:

Benenson and the Mack Real Estate Group have formed a joint venture to develop a mixed-use residential and ground floor retail property in New York City's East Village. The 80/20 property will provide both market and affordable housing units. The property is located less than a block from the L train and within blocks of Union Square, which is one of New York's busiest subway stations. Construction is expected to begin shortly and end in late 2016 or early 2017.

The listing, which features two retail spaces, includes a rendering — the first that we've seen — of the new building... this is on the East 13th Street side looking east toward Avenue A...


[Click to go big]

The residential entrance to the building will be on East 13th Street... while access to the storefronts will be on East 14th Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office slated to be demolished

The former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office will yield to an 8-story residential building

New residential building at former 14th Street PO will feature a quiet lounge, private dining room

'Ramones and the Birth of Punk' coming to the Queens Museum in April

[Image via]

In case you didn't see this yesterday. As The New York Times first reported:

On April 10 the Queens Museum will present “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk,” a retrospective exhibition that will examine the group’s influence on both music and art, as part of a spate of spring programming under the museum’s new director, Laura Raicovich, that focuses on Queens as a Petri dish of global culture.

The Ramones show, organized with the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, where a second part of the exhibition will open on Sept. 16, will include more than 350 objects, from the band’s archives and those of Arturo Vega, who designed the band’s logo; from artists like Shepard Fairey and Yoshitomo Nara; and from Mad magazine and Punk magazine, to demonstrate, as the museum says, how the Ramones “served as both subject and inspiration for many visual artists, resulting in a large body of works.”

Here's the Museum's official news release on the exhibit.

And via "Too Tough to Die" from 1984 ...

Double Wide

Photo of the Christodora House from Tompkins Square Park today by Grant Shaffer...

Report: Northern Spy closes for good on Feb. 17

After six years on East 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, Northern Spy is calling it a day.

Grub Street has this from co-owner Chris Ronis

We've had a great run and are very proud of what we accomplished in this space in the last six years, but 2015 was a tough year and we did not manage to pull the nose up to restore the flight altitude we once enjoyed. We're hanging it up while we still have the buttons on our pants. The upshot we have about two weeks left before it's lights-out for Northern Spy, with our final service being Wednesday, February 17th.

Eater has more here.

If you want to stop by for a last meal, then don't do it this evening...

Northern Spy will be closed tonight for a private event. We apologize for the inconvenience. See you tomorrow!

A photo posted by Northern Spy (@northernspyfood) on Feb 4, 2016 at 9:59am PST

2nd Avenue bar Ninth Ward is closing for good on Feb. 14; building rumored to be demolished

[EVG photo from 2010]

Ninth Ward, the New Orleans-themed bar at 180 Second Ave., is closing its doors for good after service on Feb. 14.

Here is their official message via Facebook:

Five years ago on Mardi Gras the Ninth Ward bar was born. After five wonderful years we are closing our doors. Please come by in the next two weeks and raise a glass to both Mardi Gras and Ninth ward!!

We will be closing on Sunday, February 14th - Valentine's Day. "It's not you, it's me"

According to a tipster, management informed staff on Tuesday night ... the rumor is the new (as of 2014) owners of the building between East 11th Street and East 12th Street have designs on a gut renovation that will eventually yield condos.

The ownership here is also behind two other Second Avenue bars — Kingston Hall and Shoolbred's. In November, Nic Ratner and Robert Morgan got the OK from CB3 for a beer-wine license to open a cajun-style restaurant in the former 10 Degrees Bistro space on Avenue A.

The Ninth Ward, which serves Abita beer, Sazeracs, absinthe and other cocktails. opened in June 2010. The opening announcement reportedly elicited a strong reaction from Louisiana native Cajun Boy, who tweeted:

A New Orleans-themed bar in NYC called Ninth Ward has opened. Maybe I'll open a NYC-themed bar in New Orleans and call it World Trade Center

The opening was also discussed in New Orleans. Per an item in the newspaper Gambit: "As you might imagine, naming a NYC bar 'Ninth Ward' is fraught with complications, starting with the fact the Ninth Ward has never exactly been known as a hotspot for creative cocktails."

The address was, until 2010, Thai on Two.

Take a look at the inside of Ben Shaoul's condos at 100 Avenue A

Rendering Reveal Week continues... as a new website for Ben Shaoul's condoplex at 100 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street has been unleashed (h/t Curbed!).

As previously reported, the residences at the 6-story 8-story building start at $1.3 million.



Let's enter the lobby...



... and head on up to one of the residences...









Per the 100 Avenue A website:

100 Avenue A has 32 units, ranging from one to three Bedroom residences with four Penthouse units. Whichever you choose, your home will have stunning floor plans, light-filled layouts, and expansive windows for taking in the view outside. When your friends and family come over, they might even ask to move in.

• Bianco Dolimiti Honed Marble Bathroom Tile

• Waterworks Polished Nickel Bathroom Fixtures

• Kitchen Design by Effeti

• Sabia White Oak Herringbone Kitchen Floors

• Statuary White Marble Kitchen Countertops

• Calacatta Honed Marble Herringbone Backsplash

• Miele Refrigerator, Oven and Cooktop, Dishwasher, Washer/Dryer in all units

And what else can new residents expect in the building? Back to the website!

100 Avenue A has a private landscaped roof deck.

Things that it’s good for:

• Sunbathing and picnic-ing
• Looking up at the night sky
• Thinking happy thoughts about your apartment below
• Lounging and laughing with friends

Things that it’s not good for:

• Being inside

The building also has another roof garden on the second floor, so you can experience all these benefits twice over

And if you are still breathing, the newly launched site also offers insights into its naked-person marketing motif ...

When we began building 100 Avenue A, we wanted to create a place for people who strive to make their mark on the city. Working with the gifted architect Ramy Issac of Issac and Stern, we believe that we’ve realized that vision. The building stands proudly in the center of the East Village, a neighborhood with a storied past of iconoclasts.

Today, a new generation of residents are reanimating and updating the area’s transgressive traditions with their creativity and vitality. 100 Avenue A is the embodiment of the East Village’s ever-evolving identity. It’s for the brave and the bold: people who want the finest that New York has to offer, and who aren’t afraid to break conventions.

Developer Ben Shaoul bought the former theater-turned market at 100 Avenue A in the spring of 2013 for $15.5 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

New Facebook group is advocating for a Trader Joe's on Avenue A

Workers back demolishing what's left of 98-100 Avenue A

Rest assured, there isn't a fire in the hole at 98-100 Avenue A

Continued dewatering at Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A prompts visit by the FDNY

Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A emerging from the dewatering hole

Life next to 98-100 Avenue A

Condos at Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A will start at $1.3 million; high-end gym eyed for retail space

The retail space at Ben Shaoul's 100 Avenue A is available for $24.5 million; plus, naked model marketing clarification!

Trying to figure out what is going on at 98-100 Avenue A

Someone threw black paint bombs at the naked women condo ad along 100 Avenue A

332 E. 6th St. is for sale — air rights too

The six-story walk-up located on the south side of East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue is now on the market.

Here's the listing viaCushman & Wakefield:

The building consists of 12 residential units, of which 9 are vacant and 3 are rent-stabilized. There is upside in potentially adding an addition using the 2,950 SF of air rights, increasing the below market rents, and bringing the building to 100% occupancy. The property is located within two blocks of neighborhood hot spots such as Tompkins Square Park, Upstate, The Eddy, and Mayahuel.

In addition, the building is within walking distance to the 2nd Avenue F train stop and the Astor Place 6 train stop. This is a rare opportunity to acquire a prime multi-family asset with substantial upside in the heart of the East Village.

Price: $8 million

Image via Cushman & Wakefield

The Great Cardone and Strongman team up for Earth School fundraiser

Via the EVG inbox...

The Great Cardone & Adam Realman AKA "Strongman" will be teaming up on Friday (tomorrow!) at 6 p.m. in The Earth School Auditorium!

This is a new and VERY exciting first time EVENT!

Cardone will perform his death-defying "Milk Can Stunt" where he escapes from a gigantic milk can filled with water — the most dangerous stunt to date and the first and only man to perform the milk can escape at Coney Island.

Strongman will be performing his ultimate feats of strength by bending steel with his bare hands and performing other classic Strongman stunts.

During the brief intermission you can sample some of the delicious treats made by the family and friends of the children of the Earth School

Food, beverages and popcorn will be sold in the lobby and all of the proceeds go to the much-needed support of our wonderful school.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; showtime is at 6 p.m.
Adults: $10; kids 12 and under are $5. There's no admission fee for kids under the age of 3.

The Earth School is located at 600 E. Sixth St. at Avenue B (auditorium entrance is on Avenue B at East Fifth Street)

With CleaNYC, Mayor de Blasio declares war on litter, graffiti

[Random 1st Avenue photo from last month]

Mayor de Blasio today announced the formation of CleaNYC, "a holistic effort to keep communities clean in all five boroughs."

Per ABC 7:

The effort will include stepped up Graffiti-Free NYC efforts, sidewalk power washing in commercial corridors, the expansion of Sunday and holiday litter basket collection service, and high shoulder/ramp cleanup.

Graffiti-Free NYC will remove graffiti from private and public structures, power wash sidewalks and remove stains from street furniture. The new Graffiti-Free NYC trucks will be equipped with power inverters, allowing the equipment to run without using the engines or gas-powered generators.

Per DNAinfo:

"This is so important for the lives of everyday New Yorkers for whom their neighborhood is the center of their life," de Blasio said. "It's so important for our small businesses, it's important of our economy. And the people of this city deserve nothing less than the cleanest city we can make it."

Under the plan, announced a day ahead of the mayor's State of the City address, the Department of Sanitation will increase litter basket pickups on Sundays and holidays by 40 percent in heavily trafficked areas starting April 1 by adding 20 more trucks.

Per a city news release announcing the initiative, CleaNYC will cost $4.2 million in expense funds in Fiscal Year 2017, and $2.5 million in capital funds.

[Updated] Mumbles has closed on 3rd Avenue

[Photo via]

Stepping away from the East Village for a moment... Mumbles, the bar-restaurant on Third Avenue at East 17th Street, has closed after 22 years in business.

The owners left a note on the door about the closure...

It is with great regret that Mumbles will be closing its doors. We have appreciated all of the loyal patronage, and have always felt to be a welcomed fixture in the community. For the last 22 years we have totally enjoyed all of the great relationships that we have established in the neighborhood. There are many reasons for the decision to sell, and it wasn’t made without great thought and sadness. We thank you all for the great memories and friendships that were established here.

Updated 10 p.m.

La Follia will be moving into this space from Third Avenue and East 19th Street ... According to the Italian restaurant's website: "We will be serving our same delicious menu plus artisanal wood fired Pizza and our great regional Italian wines." So what will be going into La Follia's prime corner space?

Also, I didn't realize that Town & Village had already covered this closing. Here's a belated link to Sabina Mollot's article. T&V spoke with owner David Feldman:

“I decided to sell and there’s a multitude of reasons,” said Feldman. “Business hasn’t exactly been great. It’s the end of a neighborhood staple and people are going to be upset, but just because it’s a little cold out or it’s raining, you’ve still got to support your neighborhood businesses.”

Business had been “a challenge” for the past five years, he said, with family-oriented businesses like his being pushed out as the Gramercy neighborhood got younger.

“The young influx — we got some, but I don’t know if it’s past its time. All of the young people want trendy places.”

H/T BagelGuy

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: Niall Grant
Occupation: Owner, Tuck Shop
Location: 1st Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue
Time: 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb 1

I’m from the center of Dublin. I was 22 when I came to New York in 1993. I was kind of messing around after dropping out of high school and then I came home one day and my mother was smiling strangely at me. There was a big envelope from the U.S. government on the counter. I had won the Green Card Lottery. My brother, who was here at the time, entered me and it was one of those where you were allowed to send as many entries as you’d like. I sent about 40, but it happened to be the one that my brother sent off because he got my middle name wrong.

Back then a lot of people won the Green Card Lottery. We all wanted to get out of Ireland. I was always going to get out, whether it was London or Australia. A lot of my close friends did as well. I’ve had friends here who I’ve known since age 7. We all came here and lived together and went into different fields. It certainly made it easier.

My brother was living in Williamsburg at the time. So I lived with him for a couple of months, and then I came to the East Village. It was still nice and affordable back then. The bars and the music scene and the restaurants drew me here — everything. It was full of great fun.

I had been working in restaurants since pretty much dropping out of high school. I just started working in restaurants because I needed to pay the rent. I worked at Elephant & Castle in Greenwich Village, which is still there. From there, I went to another part of that restaurant family, which was Keens Steakhouse. I spent about eight years working there in the 1990s. It was very lucrative and lots of fun. You finished work at 11 at night and started at 11 a.m. the next day. Then I opened a bar and a nightclub with my roommates on East Third Street ... before opening up this place in 2005.

I used to have an Australian business partner and we worked very well together. We started the business on a handshake and ended on a handshake three or four years ago. After Sandy, he didn’t want to bother taking the business out of debt again and he wanted to move to California. That’s where the Australian side came from. My side was that I’m Irish but I didn’t want to open an Irish bar. I wanted to do something different. The pies are international. We have a Thai chicken pie, which you might not get in Ireland, but you would get in Australia. And in Ireland and England there’s a meat pie culture.

I love this street. After 11 years here, I know everybody’s face. There are still a lot of the same old faces. All these guys hang out in front of the place. Some have been here for maybe 30 years. You see people grow up. It’s great to be part of a community like that. It’s nice seeing the whole family grow up upstairs. The street hasn’t changed that much, although it has gotten more quiet since we moved in. There’s less nightlife but we’re doing more lunch business and we’re focused on that more.

We’ve also had a place in Chelsea Market for about five years. We’re planning to expand that soon. We’re hoping to sign a new deal with Chelsea Market next week and then we’ll knock that out pretty quickly because the rent is massive. We’re going to have to turn it around quickly and start making money. We’re about to open in a big space across from us, which will allow us to have a second kitchen, which will produce vegetables for here and there. Here we’re bursting at the seams. We can’t do anything more.

I married a girl from the Lower East Side. We met in a bar on Orchard Street eight years ago and had a son a few years later. She’s a New York Times bestselling chef, Doris Choi. She’s taking over part of the vegetable menu and is going to put her influences on it. She’s very healthy. So we’ll have the good and the bad of my pies and her veggie, raw foods. So that’s what we’re going to do in Chelsea and we’re bringing that over here too.

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