How to get involved with Gardens Rising this year

[EVG file photo of Orchard Alley on East 4th Street]

As previously reported, Gardens Rising is a Superstorm Sandy inspired, HUD-funded grant through New York State for flood control green infrastructure in local community gardens.

And now via the EVG inbox...

Meet the Gardens Rising Steering Committee
You are invited to the first public meeting of the Steering Committee!
Sunday, March 13 at 4 pm
Sixth Street Community Center
638 E.6th St between Avenue B and C

Gardens Rising has an excellent Steering Committee in place!
The selection process has just been completed.
We are very grateful to this very talented group of people who have volunteered their time and energies to help improve our community.

Welcome new members of The Steering Committee:

• Tessa Huxley, former Director of Battery Park City Parks Conservancy
• Brigid Keating, Senior Project Manager of NYC Economic Development Corp
• Jack Linn, long-serving Assistant Commissioner of the NYC Dept of Parks and Recreation
• Ilan Kutok, Director of Green Infrastructure NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation
• Carlos Martinez, Assistant Director, NYC GreenThumb (non voting member)

They join the five elected Steering Committee gardeners:

• Sarah Zaborowski, representing the Great North Group, which are the 12 gardens on 11th, 12th and 13th Sts.
• Shawn Dahl, representing the El Pueblo Group, which are the eight gardens on 7th, 8th and 9th Sts,
• Carmine D'Intino, representing the Middle Earth Group, which are the nine gardens on 4th, 5th and 6th Sts.
• Herman Hewitt, representing the Mundo Verde Group, which are the eight gardens on 2nd and 3rd Sts.
• Kristin Ellington, representing the Southland Group, which are the ten gardens below Houston St and west of First Avenue.

The Steering Committee consists of nine members elected and selected from the greening community and one non-voting member from GreenThumb. The Steering Committee is responsible for adopting a Master Plan for the construction of storm water abatement measures in our community gardens.

Please come and meet the Steering Committee and have your voice heard. Gardens Rising is a very public process. Your input is essential to the success of this project.

This time of night

New Order played a sold-out show tonight at Radio City... which is good enough reason as always to trot out this footage of New Order's first NYC concert, which took place at the Ukrainian National Home on Second Avenue between East Ninth Street and St. Mark's Place on Nov. 19 1981.

Here is the entire show...



Our friend Karate Boogaloo has more about this show at Stupefaction.

P.S.
And we will save Alex from having to leave this comment: It's not really New Order without Peter Hook.

Avenue A sinkhole no longer sinking (for now)

[Yesterday! Wednesday!]

Nearly two weeks after its debut on Avenue A and East Third Street... the city has filled in the sinkhole, as EVG reader John Iz has dutifully noted (he documented it for us here) ...



No official word just yet about how many pylons were swallowed lost during these two weeks.

Noted

@edenbrower spotted this in Tompkins Square Park this afternoon. We might need more paper.

'Still doing it:' A visit to Howl! Happening on East 1st Street

[Photo from January by Stacie Joy]

Today at The New York Times, Michael Musto writes a piece on Howl! Happening: An Arturo Vega Project, the gallery and performance space that opened last March at 6 E. First St. between the Bowery and Second Avenue.

Per the article:

“I want to remind people how great the neighborhood can be and reinvigorate it,” said Ted Riederer, the director of the gallery, which opened last year at a medium-size storefront at 6 East First Street, not far from the former CBGB, Sounds record shop and other departed East Village landmarks.

Exhibits rotate about once every three weeks, with openings that sometimes bring together the area’s cantankerous stalwarts.

An opening last October celebrated the Pyramid, the Avenue A club that was a hub of the downtown drag, music and art scene for much of the 1980s. At one point that night, the crowd cheered as the burlesque performer Paula Now flung her wig, which got stuck on the chandelier.

“Old-timers will say, ‘The East Village is nothing like it used to be,’ and I say: ‘Oh, really? Well, tonight we have performances with drag queens on the bar,’” Mr. Riederer said. “We’re still doing it.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the opening-night celebration for Punk Magazine

Dumpster of the day

Workers have been clearing out the former Hakata Hot Pot and Sushi Lounge spaces at 58 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue the past few days (the restaurants did not have their leases renewed) ... so if you're looking for any chairs from Sushi Lounge ... or maybe a Kirin Beer/Zen 6 sign...



...head here before the contents are carted off to a landfill.

As for Hakata Hot Pot, they have merged with sister restaurant Zen 6 at 31 St. Mark's Place one block to the west.

2nd Avenue residential complex now complete with renderings on the plywood

As you may know, there are city-approved plans on file for a 10-story retail-residential complex at 24 Second Ave. and East First Street. (Former home of a gas station and pretty good coffee, truth be told.)

Last October, we spotted a rendering for the new project... though not at the website of the architect of record (RSVP Studio) but rather the website for mortgage lender Ladder Capital.

Now renderings grace the plywood surrounding the construction zone...



Turns out it is the same rendering we saw last fall... Hello!



As New York Yimby first noted last July when the developers filed the permits, apartments will begin on the second floor, with four to five units per floor through the sixth story. The seventh and eighth floors will host two duplexes, and the ninth and tenth floors will hold one penthouse duplex with a private roof deck. Amenities include a shared terrace and recreation space on the second floor, and a fitness room, storage and bike storage in the cellar.

Permits show some 45,000 square feet for the 31 residences (rentals? condos?) … and another 5,700 square feet for the commercial space. (A vintage clothing store? Zine shop? Used CD exchange?)

Plywood aside, there hasn't been any new construction here to date, as a look through the handy blogger portal shows...



The BP — which was the second-to-last gas station left in the East Village — closed here in July 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMOR: Gas station going, boutique hotel coming on Second Avenue? (31 comments)

BP station on 2nd Avenue closes this month

The 2nd Avenue BP station has closed

Report: 50,000 square feet of condos coming to the former 2nd Avenue BP station

Permits filed to demolish former 2nd Avenue BP station

More about the 10-story building taking the place of the former BP station at 24 2nd Ave.

A look inside the last East Village gas station

Check out the new 10-story building for the former 2nd Avenue BP station

A ballerina for 2nd Avenue

Residents at 37 Avenue B are still looking for their 'fair share' of the rent from Credit Union

On Tuesday, two banners arrived on the upper floors of 37 Avenue B at East Third Street... the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union (LESPFCU) is the retail tenant ...

The hand-painted sign on B reads "Save Our Home/Salva nuestros hogar" ...



... while the banner on East Third Street reads "LESPFCU do the right thing, save our home" ...


[Reader-submitted photo]

This is a continuation of an effort that the residents of the 37 Avenue B HDFC started last June.

HDFC board members released a statement reiterating their version of the situation.

The residents of 37 Avenue B HDFC are calling on the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union to pay their fair share or move out. Their building is broke because the Lower East Side Peoples Federal Credit Union, which occupies the 5,000 square foot commercial space rewrote their own lease in 1996 to skip paying future mortgage payments, and real estate tax increases.

They saved $350,000 due under the original lease and the HDFC building is FLAT BROKE

We have to borrow money to pay the real estate taxes or lose the building. The building needs at least $400,000 in necessary capital improvements but there is no money even for basic repairs.

According to the board members, the Credit Union has refused to accept responsibility for the situation. The Credit Union pays $3,478 a month for 5,000 square feet. The HDFC says the market rate is $15,000 per month.

Credit Union officials have yet to comment on the situation at 37 Avenue B.

H/T Stacie Joy!

Previously on EV Grieve:
At 37 Avenue B, residents want their Credit Union retail tenant to pay more rent

Someone stole this poster from Theatre 80

We noticed this posted outside Theatre 80, 80 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue, the other day.

Theatre 80 proprietor Lorcan Otway is understandably plenty upset that someone took this poster for a play directed by his father from the lobby.

He wrote about it on Facebook:

TO WHOEVER STOLE THIS POSTER FROM THEATRE 80 You have taken something with no economic value, but caused immeasurable pain to members of the Otway family. There is no other copy of this poster. You have taken a token of memories few other people share...

And so moving forward...

We have had to remove from the lobby valuable historic pieces, which we shared with the public, and which have been enjoyed by people from around the world.

There is a reward for the return of the poster.

Rent the former Cock space on 2nd Avenue

[Image via RES]

The Cock moved north a few blocks on Second Avenue to the former Lit Lounge space back in December.

Now the Cock's former stomping ground at 29 Second Ave. between East First Street and East Second Street is for rent. (A for rent sign hasn't appeared on the empty storefront just yet.)

Here's the deal via RES Commercial:

This is an amazing opportunity to be just North of Houston Street in a location where the East Village meets the Lower East Side. Any tenant can easily capitalize on being en route to the only subway station in the neighborhood which is located at the Whole Foods anchored intersection of Houston & 2nd Avenue.

Coffee bar, quick serve café, retail or full service restaurant would all do well to operate in such a fantastic location. Potential to lease the 2nd floor along with the ground for a total of over 2,800 sf of space with double height frontage. Current tenant has a full liquor license in safe keeping and will cooperate on a transfer.

The rent is available upon request.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Confirmed: Lit Lounge is closing on 2nd Avenue

New, confusing signs up at the former Lit Lounge space

Reports: Prep school teacher arrested for having sex with 16-year-old girl in bathroom at Lit Lounge

[Updated] The Cock is heading to the former Lit Lounge space on Thursday

3rd Avenue storefront now suitable for framing

One of the empty storefronts on Third Avenue between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street is getting a new retail client.

The family owned OJ Gallery, a custom frame shop, is moving into the space previously occupied by the women's clothing boutique Project 36.

Here's the news release that we received from Eastern Consolidated:

Eastern Consolidated’s Retail Leasing Division has arranged a 10-year, 500-square-foot lease at 36 Third Avenue in the East Village for OJ Gallery, a 35-year-old family-owned business. The gallery is relocating from 462 Avenue of the Americas where it has thrived for the last 10 years.

Ravi Idnani, a Director in Eastern Consolidated’s Retail Leasing Division, and Kendall Novak, Associate Director, represented OJ Gallery. Walker Malloy’s Rafe Evans and Gary Schwartzman exclusively represented the owner.

“The space at 36 Third Avenue between 9 and 10th Streets was an ideal location for OJ Gallery,” Novak said. “After running a successful business at 462 Avenue of the Americas for so many years, OJ Gallery wanted a new location nearby in order to serve its long-time customers.”

The only OJ Gallery we could find online is on East 57th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

These Third Avenue storefronts previously housed Excel Art and Framing Store, which lost its lease and moved up Third Avenue between East 11th Street and East 12th Street.

Report: Record number of tourists to NYC will continue breaking records

[Photo on Astor Place last June by Derek Berg]

Not necessarily neighborhood specific. But perhaps of interest. In case you missed this in The New York Times today.

It has been a decade since former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg decided to ramp up New York City’s efforts to attract more tourists, and city officials say there is no end to the influx on the horizon.

In Berlin on Wednesday, Fred Dixon, the chief executive of New York’s tourism-marketing agency, NYC & Company, plans to announce a forecast of 59.7 million visitors this year. That would exceed last year’s record of 58.3 million visitors by 2.4 percent and keep the city on pace for a goal of drawing 67 million annual visitors by 2021

Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for economic development, said their goal is get tourists to explore other parts of NYC.

Tourism officials are hoping to persuade out-of-towners that “the cool thing to do is to get out of Manhattan,” Ms. Glen said. “You’re sort of a loser if you come to New York and just go to Times Square.”

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: Parker Dulany
Occupation: Musician, Singer in Certain General, Painter
Location: St. Mark's Place at Avenue A
Time: 4:15 p.m. on Monday, March 7

I moved to the city right after school to be a painter, and I ended up being in a band. I moved right here. It was pretty exciting and pretty scary. I came in 1979. I’ve lived right here, appropriately enough in the building [that has] the hot dog that says Eat Me.

I had an art opening almost immediately, about a week or two after I got here. I was lucky enough to be given a chance to show with Club 57, which is that little church [at 57] St. Mark's Place. Ann Magnuson ran it. She gave me my first chance. I didn’t know it, but I had landed… it was sort of like the elite downtown people, with Keith Haring and Jean Michel-Basquiat. I just happened to be one of the people in the show.

I didn’t really know how good my fortune was. That led to being in a lot of openings all over the place. My work is pretty expressionistic. It kind of didn’t fit at all with what they were doing. I mean, they liked it and everything like that. They kind of looked at my stuff and they didn’t know what to make of it.

Then about a year later, I ended up being in a band called Certain General. I had never sang before the band, and now we’ve been around for 30-something years. We made it quite big in Europe, and so we’re going over in about a month.

My ex-girlfriend used to live ... on Avenue B. So in 1981, we would all go and walk across the roofs on Avenue B and climb into the abandoned building, which is now the luxury Christodora House. We would climb the rubble to the roof and nude sunbathe above the apocalypse, with the bridges, World Trade Center, Tompkins Square and the Empire State Building at our naked feet, sort of "Bonfire of the Vanities" shit, listen to the Clash or Spandau Ballet on a beatbox. It was very decadent.

The safest street in the East Village was Seventh between Avenue B and C, because that was heroin strip and there were lookouts everywhere. Anyone came down that street, they were on you. The dealers didn't want any trouble. We didn't do dope, but we rehearsed at Tu Casa, a legendary studio that was on B and 6th.

One time, my guitarist [in Certain General] ran into the studio and said he had been mugged, and both of his guitars had been taken. Everyone fanned out, alerted the locals and ran around the neighborhood. We eventually found the culprits. The guitars were so heavy that the [thieves] couldn't run fast enough to get away and were pooped and sat down. They weren't strong enough, because they were — two teenage girls. I think one of the girls had a knife, but Jesus — teenage girls! Oh my God, it was fucking funny. We give the guitarist shit to this day. We didn't even call the cops it was so embarrassing.

I was just walking through the Park to listen to those kids singing and it was reminding me. I played in Tompkins Square, with the biggest concert ever. It was in 1981 maybe, and it was called Avenue B - the Place to Be, and it was us and the Bush Tetras, and a bunch of other bands. There used to be a bandshell over there. It was a more formal stage. I really liked that. It was a big crowd. It’s on video. It was pretty cool, I have to admit.

I think I’ve always been about just making something. I just can’t be bored, and I’d rather make something than buy something. It was the whole DIY, do it yourself — everything was do it yourself. We just wanted to make something, that’s all.

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

Asking rent for the former Stage Restaurant — $15,000 a month

[Image via Icon Realty]

Last Wednesday, Stage Restaurant owner Roman Diakun announced that he was permanently closing his 35-year-old diner at 128 Second Ave. between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. (You may read more about it here. As we understand it, he had four years left on his lease.)

Now landlord Icon Realty, who had been trying to oust the Stage in court, has listed the 600-square-foot space (with another 600 feet in the basement).


[Click to go big]

The listing notes that the space is "perfect for a restaurant, cafe, or all general retail uses." The asking rent is $15,000 a month.

The Stage gate has been up since Feb. 29. Despite being closed for nearly a year (March 30), it looks ready for business...


[EVG photo from Sunday]

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation: Breakfast at Stage

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

The possibility that the Stage won't reopen on 2nd Avenue

[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

The Stage Restaurant will not be reopening

'Gentrification in Progress' tape arrives at former Trash & Vaudeville and Stage Restaurant spaces

Yuca Bar remains closed

[Photo yesterday by Steven]

The bar-restaurant on the corner of Avenue A and East Seventh Street is still closed after Sunday evening's fire on an upper floor. (Unofficially candles in an apartment were to blame for the blaze.)

There's no word yet when Yuca Bar might reopen. EVG correspondent Steven said that "the interior is a wreck."

Indeed, workers have cleared out all the tables and chairs from the dining room...



And a worker was spotted dragging out large trash bags of damaged items to the curb. Still no word on the Yuca website or Facebook page (which hasn't been updated since May 2015) about a temporary closure. The phone is back in service, though there isn't any answer or outgoing message.

As for the building's tenants, Steve Herrick, the executive director of the Cooper Square Committee, left this comment on our post:

If any residents of 133 E. 7th St. can reach out to Cooper Square Committee at 212-228-8210, we can help you access resources including temporary housing. We can also help the displaced tenants to organize and get your building repaired as soon as possible.

'Epic Launch Spectacular' tonight for 100 Avenue A

[Photo from yesterday]

This landed in our inbox for some reason...



Meanwhile, listings for some of the 32 units at Ben Shaoul's condoplex between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street arrived on Streeteasy last week. Per the marketing copy, "100 Avenue A is a vibrant new style of premium condominium living not yet seen on Tompkins Square Park."

Previously

Half the size but still Fabulous at Fanny's

[EVG photo from Feb. 24]

As we noted a few weeks ago, Fabulous Fanny's had to give up part of its storefront at 335 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

While the vintage eyeglass shop remains alive and well, the vintage clothing side is gone.

New York Business Journal has more on the store and owner Ken Finnegan. (His business partner, Stanton Blacker, retired last year and moved to Florida.)

Per the article:

He just signed a new five-year lease that tripled his rent for half the space.

Previously, Fabulous Fanny’s sold vintage clothes in 300 square feet and operated the eyeglass store in the other 300 feet. But the rent rise forced him to shrink the store in half, which is in the process of being rented out. Finneran has heard rumors that a wireless carrier or hair salon was interested.

Jared Kushner purchased 329-335 E. Ninth Street and 325 E. 10th St. in April 2013 for $28.75 million.

On the positive side, the store will be around for at least another five years.

Fabulous Fanny’s offers what few other stores or opticians can: eyeglasses that span three centuries. That unique offering has contributed to Fabulous Fanny’s success, 15 years after it moved to the East Village from the Chelsea Flea Market and Chelsea Antique Center.

Meanwhile, the for rent sign for the former clothing side of Fanny's arrived the other day.


[Photo by Steven]

Per the listing at RES Commercial, all uses will be considered, though vented food use is not possible. The rent is available upon request.

On East Sixth Street, TonkatsuYa is in soft-open mode (and Awash has a new awning)

After just a few months in operation at 328 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, the Sri Lankan restaurant Banana Leaf closed. Its replacement, the Japanese restaurant TonkatsuYa, is now in soft-opening mode, per the sign outside ...

They are serving a limited menu for now...



And further toward First Avenue, Awash Ethiopian Restaurant has unveiled a new awning...



The old red-and-white one was looking awfully worn after the ongoing gut renovations in the apartments above.


[Undated photo via the Village Voice]

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!

Now serving at B&H Dairy...

Ola and Mike at B&H Dairy, 127 Second Ave., between the lunch rush today...

Photo by Grant Shaffer

Noted

Spotted by @georgygirlnyc on East 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...