Sunday, May 1, 2016

Week in Grieview


[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Ongoing concerns about demolition work and elevated lead levels in Toledano-owned buildings (Monday)

A new lease for Jane's Exchange on East Third Street (Thursday)

Hawklet watch is on now in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)

Beetle House Beetle House Beetle House (Thursday)

Historic copper door returns to synagogue-turned condos on Sixth Street (Monday)

Former Ricky's space rebranded and ready to rent on First Avenue (Monday)

Bluestone Lane officially opens at 51 Astor Place (Monday)


[Please mind the photographer! DB]

DumplingGo expected to reopen later in May (Tuesday)

At Thirstea Café tea shop (Friday)

Seventh Street returns to 1981 for filming of young Barack Obama movie "Barry" (Tuesday)

Part 2 of our interview with Alan Good (Wednesday)

Report: No Fun on Ludlow Street sues the LES Dwellers for defamation (Thursday)

Albert Trummer's hospital-themed cocktail lounge Sanatorium now open on Avenue C (Wednesday)

615 E. Sixth St. has been sold (Tuesday) Ditto for 85 E. 10th St. and 112-120 E. 11th St. (Friday)

Desi Snack closed for now on Fourth Avenue (Wednesday)

Capturing two lightning strikes at One World Trade Center (Tuesday)

Mars Bar flashback (Wednesday)

Trash & Vaudeville-less 4 St. Mark's Place sells for $10 million (Friday)

A sidewalk bridge arrives outside Peter Brant's incoming gallery space on East Sixth Street (Thursday)

Today's free concert in Tompkins Square Park rescheduled for next weekend



Given the rain expected this afternoon, the organizers decided to hold off until next weekend. The show will be rescheduled for either next Saturday or Sunday... We'll update when that date is set.

The Facebook event page for the show is here.

Report: Death of man on East 4th Street ruled a homicide 11 years later

On Sept. 15, 2005, firefighters found a badly injured Serafin Vasquez inside his fire-scorched apartment at 120 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. According to published reports, Vasquez had burns to his arms, legs and torso, and stab wounds to his head and body. He died six months later at age 60.

Now, per the Daily News:

The city Medical Examiner initially concluded the cause of death was undetermined.

In March of this year, a detective reviewing the case, which remained open, realized Vasquez’s death certificate failed to label the death a homicide, according to a police source.

The Medical Examiner’s said the case was reopened and the death was reclassified as a homicide in light of “investigative information."

No arrests have been made.

According to a Post article published on Sept. 17, 2005:

Cops said that Vasquez had been communicating until recently with a younger woman who was in jail on drug charges and that they thought he had sent her money.

She was being sought for interrogation last night.

Neighbors reported hearing a loud argument, in Spanish, coming from Vasquez’s apartment at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Then the smell of smoke began creeping through the hallway.

One building resident said that Vasquez "was a really great guy. He would help you out in a second. He was the best kind of neighbor."

Report: Rat complaints on the rise


[Photo by Derek Berg]

At this current pace, the city's rat complaint record set last year will fall in 2016.

Per the Post:

New Yorkers have made 8,335 rodent complaints to the city’s 311 hot line so far this year, up 18 percent from the same period in 2015, when there were 7,076 complaints, and 39 percent over the same period in 2014, records show.

As previously noted, our very own Community District 3 ranked No. 1 in 2015, according to the Health Department, as having the worst rat problem in Manhattan.

CB3 district manager Susan Stetzer discusses the issue in the Post:

She said rats in her district ... feast on garbage from eateries and scraps left in Tompkins Square and Seward parks.

“There are more mountains of garbage on the street waiting to be picked up. Our increased development does not have the infrastructure to support it,” she said.

“The worst locations are city-owned properties. The Department of Health cannot issue summonses and clean up and charge back to the property owner if necessary.”

In related news... the trash can had been missing from the container marked "Keep Council District 2 clean" for the past four days on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The East Village will be testing ground for a 'rat reservoir pilot'

Saturday, April 30, 2016

How to get a free map of Lower East Side Community Gardens



Community gardener Helen Avery has been working with the Parks Department to create a map of the Lower East Side Community gardens...

The maps are done, and Helen will be distributing them for free today from 2-4 p.m. at La Plaza Cultural (southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street) ... and Monday night from 6-8 at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C...

[Updated] Reader report: Police investigate stabbing on East 3rd Street



There are few details at the moment... Per an EVG reader: the NYPD is investigating a stabbing on East Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

There are three officers on the scene outside No. 59 and No. 61. There is blood on the sidewalk... and some droplets of blood leading to Second Avenue.

Updated 5-1

In the Daily Blotter today, the Post reports that two men, ages 24 and 25, got into an argument around 3:20 a.m. with "unknown men." One victim "was slashed in the left hand and over the left eye and the other was stabbed in the left thigh. The victims made their own way to Bellevue Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries."

No arrests and no further information.

Oh, here's your BMW — right there on the sidewalk



EVG regular Salim noted this scene on East Second Street between Avenue A and First Avenue... after the DOT resurfaced the street. Guess the BMW owner didn't move his or her car beforehand. Or maybe there's another reason for this parking job.

Previously

Learn the difference between the Marble cemeteries this weekend


[New York City Marble Cemetery on 2nd Street this spring]

Both of the cemeteries will be open to the public...

New York City Marble Cemetery, East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

• Sunday, May 1
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

New York Marble Cemetery, Second Avenue between Second Street and Third Street

• Saturday, April 30
Noon to 4 p.m.

• Sunday, May 1
Noon to 4 p.m.

Friday, April 29, 2016

[Updated] April 29



Spotted near the 9th Precinct on East Fifth Street this evening.

Despite the lack of a newspaper to vouch for the date, we spotted Officer Tubbs leaving the station house... and he verified the sighting...

Updated!



Further proof comes via EVG reader Carol Puttre, who also spotted the tree...

Updated2!

All of this is moot... because we spotted this one today on East Fourth Street near Second Avenue...

With a little Patience



Roxanne Clifford, who fronted the London-based Veronica Falls, is back with a project called Patience.

This video is for "The Church," her melodic first single.

There's something about Mary



Yesterday, an EVG reader noted the arrival of three statues of the Virgin Mary in the previously empty spaces outside Most Holy Redeemer-Nativity Church on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

EVG reader David sent these shots today...







Per David: "All three are the same — very worn-down-looking statues of Mary, but each has a very different surface. Is that supposed to look like marble? Quite surreal! I kind of like them..."

Billy Leroy shows his acting chops with 'Bourek,' opening today at Cinema Village

And starting today at Cinema Village on East 12th Street between University and Fifth Avenue... it's "Bourek," an independent comedy filmed mainly in Greece...and directed by New School faculty member Vladan Nikolic...



A familiar name/face has a lead role — William Leroy... aka Billy Leroy, who ran Billy's Antiques and Props on Houston and the Bowery for many years. He's not dead. He has been busy doing a little acting (as he did before the big tent folded) and appearing on a show for the Travel Channel.

Anyway, here's the "Bourek" trailer...



He'll be at the 7:10 p.m. screenings this weekend. Will be nice to see him around again.

EV Grieve Etc.: The Cake Shop receives a facelift; LES History Month starts Sunday


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Cake Shop getting a facelift on Ludlow Street; plus the return of vinyl (DNAinfo)

LES History Month starts Sunday (Official website)

The Streit's documentary's run extended at the Film Forum (BoweryBoogie ... previously)

Feedings at the hawk nest in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)

77-story mixed-use tower coming to 247 Cherry St., next door to Extell’s in-progress 80-story luxury condo (The Lo-Down)

Bruno, the pizzeria on East 13th Street, switches around its no tipping policy (Eater)

A look at Peter Missing's murals in First Park (Slum Goddess)

Walter De Maria's "I Ching" sculpture comes to upstate New York (The Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

Man sucker-punched on Delancey for looking like Shia LaBeouf (Gothamist)

Bouncer blames loss of libido on high temperatures at Rivington Street bar (Daily News)

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito backed an effort to reduce plastic bag use and waste (Crain's)

Behind the scenes of the Ramones first tour (The Creators Project)

After 65 years in business, Lee's Art Shop on West 57th Street is closing in the next month (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Diversions: When Joy Division met William Burroughs (Dangerous Minds)

... and plant sale alert on East 12th Street...



... and the Sixth Street Youth Program is now enrolling for the summer... find details at their website. (And on the flyer below.)



At Thirstea Café tea shop



Interview and photos by Stacie Joy

Winn O’Donnell and business partner Helen He have owned and run Thirstea CafĂ© tea shop since July of 2009 on East 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

It was one of those places that I always passed by but didn't know anything about the business. So I stopped by to meet Winn, learn a bit more about the shop and teas in general.



What prompted you to open a tea shop and cafe here?

We have always loved the East Village. We were happy to find a storefront here. We wanted to open up a cafe as tea lovers and wanted to share our sense of taste and style. We have always loved how the East Village has a lot of mom-and-pop shops. We love the vibe of all the specialty stores and wanted to create one of our own.

How have things changed on your block and in the neighborhood during that time? How do you feel about the changes?

People come and go. Last time I counted, 16 stores have changed on our block since we opened. We get a little sad when regulars move away, but many of them still come by when they visit.

There are always a lot of changes in the neighborhood. After seven years, we’re pretty used to it, and we’re happy to see how the neighborhood evolves. We know many of our customers very well, and have seen them change jobs, get married, or have kids in these past years. It’s really nice to be able to see so many familiar faces grow together with us.

And sometimes we hear unfortunate news: Several weeks ago, we lost one of our most frequent customers who lived across the street. He would come in several times a day. I didn’t see him for a day and had a weird feeling. I texted him to check up on him and didn't get a response, which wasn’t normal. I knew something was wrong, then I found out he died. That day, I cried for an hour.

Who is the typical Thirstea customer?

There isn’t one, which is what makes them all so interesting. We could write a book of stories about how many different kinds of people have been in and talked to us over the years: 90 percent of people are awesome, 8 person are tolerable and 2 percent are in a special category. Some people drink tea purely for health benefits, and others drink it just for taste. There are a lot of dimensions to tea.

We have customers of all ages and professions who have been coming here for years. We’ve had reiki practitioners, drug dealers, secret service, a lie-detection expert, a television director, a liquids mathematician, undercover police, a priest, a porn star, corporate executives, a shoe designer, an origami expert and morticians, among others.

Natasha Lyonne from “Orange Is the New Black” used to come in a lot. She’s a total New Yorker with a dry sense of humor. She would order drinks with, “Give me one of those matcha situations,” and it always cracks me up. My favorite comedy director Dave McCary used to come in also but moved away. I get most excited to meet comedians because I used to do standup and improv. We were thrilled to meet Amy Sedaris, Fred Armisen and Todd Barry in our shop.



You have a large selection of teas; how do you guide tea newbies toward selecting the appropriate one? Do you teach your customers how to prepare tea?

I try to be as helpful as I can. I show them what we have. It’s very casual ... We don’t try to be snobby and pretend we know everything about tea. We like to chit chat and find out what our customers need and match them with something they’ll enjoy. I have had tens of thousands of conversations with customers about tea; I teach and also learn from them. People have even brought me stuff from foreign countries. I love selling teas to people if I think they’ll enjoy them at home.

What is the shop’s best-selling tea/drink?

Our best-selling drink is Taro bubble tea. Another specialty at our store is that we carry lots of teas by the cup, so we sometimes make off-menu bubble teas for regulars who are into quality teas with their tapioca. With these folks, I use my old bartending skills to create one-of-a-kind bubble teas, a service that people can only get at Thirstea.

What’s next for Thirstea?

We hope to continue to do what we do best, which is to satisfy all the tea drinkers out there, one cup at a time, and to make more friends along the way. We want to make more connections with the people we serve and share more stories with each other, and ultimately build a bigger and better Thirstea community.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Matcha Cafe Wabi now open on East 4th Street

Bright ideas: A lighting shop for East 7th Street

Exploring 2 like-minded small shops on East 6th Street

Celebrating 25 years at Paul's Da Burger Joint

Backyard, Avenue C style

A new listing arrived this week for a "true" four bedroom apartment at 19 Avenue C between Second Street and Third Street.

Kind of a starter apartment. Get four friends (or more!) and split up the $4,400 monthly fee.

There are plenty of selling points, such as the "tons of closets" and "tons of light." And more! Per the listing at Streeteasy:

I have a beautiful TRUE 4 bedroom (doesn't need to be converted) DUPLEX apartment on the edge of the LES and East Village. There's a LARGE PRIVATE BACKYARD for the apt. The apt has 1 AND A HALF BATHS, hard wood floors, tons of closets, and gets tons of light/ numerous windows. There is a BACKYARD for laying out/ grilling etc.

Behold the backyard...



From this photo supplied to Streeteasy, it looks more like a concrete pit than a backyard. Wonder if you can plug any drains and fill it with water for a pool?

Updated: 6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million


[No. 85 via Streeteasy]

Last fall, we heard from a resident who lives at 85 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. Rumors were circulating that No. 85 along with adjacent buildings at 112-120 E. 11th St. were in the process of being sold.

Tenants were also suspicious when they only received offers of a one-year lease renewal instead of the usual two years, per the resident.

On Wednesday, the resident came home to find the following letter shoved under the door... confirmation of the sale...



According to public records, Pan Am Equities sold the properties to an LLC for $56 $127 million. The LLC (US-DEV Associates II) in public records is traced to Lightstone, "one of the largest and most diversified privately held real estate companies in the United States."

What the transactions means for current resident is unclear... other than that they will likely be receiving further correspondence containing words like "hereto."

112-120 E. 11th St. is a row of five low-rise buildings with 76 rentals. 85 E. 10th St. features five floors with 75 units.

Updated 5/4
Oh! The deal was actually for $127 million, per the Commercial Observer.

Report: Trash & Vaudeville-less 4 St. Mark's Place sells for $10 million


[Photo from March]

4 St. Mark's Place, the landmarked building whose first owner in 1833 was Alexander Hamilton’s son, has a new owner.

The building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue arrived on the market last fall for $11.9 million.

Since then, the longtime commercial tenant here, Trash & Vaudeville, moved to 96 E. Seventh St. in March. The four free-market apartments on the floors above are apparently tenant-free now as well. (Which might explain this.)

The Commercial Observer (H/T Curbed!) had the news of the deal:

Since it has no tenants, “it is in effect a blank canvas, offering the buyer a unique opportunity to renovate the building and realize a tremendous amount of upside,” Eastern Consolidated’s Ron Solarz...

No word just yet on who the buyer is. (The deal hasn't hit public records yet.) Trash & Vaudeville owner Ray Goodman was a minority partner in the ownership of the building.

Also known as the Hamilton-Holly House, 4 St. Mark’s Place was built in 1831 and designated a New York City landmark in 2004. Col. Alexander Hamilton Jr. bought the townhouse in 1833 and shared it with his wife, Eliza, his widowed mother, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, her daughter Eliza Hamilton Holly, and son-in-law Sidney. Sidney and Eliza went on to open the first bong shop (just for minced tobacco) on the block.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: After 40 years, punk rock mainstay Trash and Vaudeville is leaving St. Mark's Place

4 St. Mark's Place is for sale

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Noted



An EVG reader had a WTF moment this afternoon while taking in this rickety-looking scaffolding that was constructed on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...





There are work permits on file for interior work here at 346 E. Ninth St. ... but nothing outdoors. Probably just a quickie job. Maybe just walk on the other side of the street.

Report: No Fun on Ludlow Street sues the LES Dwellers for defamation


No Fun, a bar-restaurant at 161 Ludlow St., has filed a $2 million defamation lawsuit against community group LES Dwellers, the Post reports today.

The bar says the group ran afoul of the law when it papered the neighborhood with fliers falsely claiming that it didn’t have a certificate of occupancy and was running a rowdy nightclub. The move was part of an unsuccessful bid to torpedo No Fun’s liquor-license renewal application, documents state.

“Defendants narrow-minded intolerance and disdain for people who do not share their values and worldview (yet patronize their local businesses) is the driving force behind their quest to destroy any neighborhood establishments that they believe are patronized by the ‘bridge and tunnel’ crowd,” the bar’s owner, John Pierce, seethes in the suit.

LES Dwellers founder Diem Boyd told the Post that "this complaint is meritless legal harassment."

No Fun was raided last fall in a coordinated NYPD multiagency sting on Ludlow Street, as BoweryBoogie reported.

Per the Post, the bar between Houston and Stanton has been fined almost $20,000 by the State Liquor Authority in the last years.

Previously on EV Grieve:
'11 Minutes of Hell' on the Lower East Side (56 comments)

Tim Burton-themed bar Beetle House now in sneak previews on East 6th Street



Beetle House is in soft-open mode now at 308 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The signage that arrived this week is surprisingly pedestrian for a bar-restaurant "with an atmosphere and menu inspired by the works of Tim Burton."

In fact, the sign looks a little similar to the previous tenant, Confessional, which closed in March...



Anyway, people won't be coming for the signage... but the drinks... Such as!


Bar previews began last night. The official Grand Opening is May 6. (It's cash only until then. And by reservation only?)

Just look for the guy dressed as Beetlejuice out front and you found the place...


[Photo by Vinny & O]

And looking more lively here...


Beetle House is operated by the proprietors behind Stay Classy, the Will Ferrell-themed bar that opened last October on Rivington Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tim Burton-themed bar opening in former Confessional space on East 6th Street