With ribbon cutting, the cube on Astor Place is free — free!

A group of city officials and local elected leaders took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning for marking the end of the Astor Place/Cooper Square Reconstruction Project and the reinstallation of the Alamo/cube.

Officials then took the cube for a spin, as these photos via EVG correspondent Steven show...



As previously noted, plans for the $21-million, multi-year(s) project included reconfiguring/revamping the Astor Place/Cooper Square streetscape with new permanent plazas, additional seating, trees and a new design for Peter Cooper Park. (According to estimates, the city added 9,900 perennial plants and shrubs, and 60 trees.)



The cube is now free of the barricades that had surrounded it since its return on Nov. 1...


[Photo by Vinny & 0]



Updated 1 p.m.

From DNAinfo's coverage...

"We were able to take this area, reclaim some of it from the automobile, make it safer and more inviting," said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

"This was a big project and I know, looking at some of the elected officials and the community members, I know it took a long time and there was a lot of disruption, and I thank them for their patience. But now we will have beautiful public space, new benches and trees, water mains replaced underneath."

And a few more photos via EVG contributor Peter Brownscombe...

Out and About in the East Village

In this ongoing 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: Eric Paulin
Occupation: Musician
Location: Tompkins Square Park
Time: Thursday, Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m.

I’ve been coming down here a really long time, almost 50 years. I was born in the West Village. A few months after I was born, my parents moved to the Upper West Side, and we lived there until 1964, but at that time there was a lot of really bad crime coming down from Harlem, mostly related to drugs, so we moved to Forest Hills.

I’m a musician. I’m a drummer. My parents weren’t musicians, but they were very creative people. My mother was an abstract painter in the ‘50s and ‘60s, and my father was a photographer and artist. They were taking me to art galleries, to live concerts, to photographic exhibits, and to museums when I was 3 or 4 years old, in the late 1950s. My mother and father were very big on exposing us to that.

I moved into the East Village, down a block from here, in May 1979. I’m very appreciative of being able to live in a neighborhood like the East Village. I was playing a lot of gigs, rehearsals, and sessions down here, and I was very attracted to the modern jazz movement.

When I was in my late teens, I started to study and hang out with jazz musicians more, and that’s what got me into it. I appreciated all the people here. I had a lot of knowledge and history of this neighborhood, of the great jazz musicians, because I was always reading and asking questions to people who were a lot older than me.

The thing is that even after Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus lived down here in the 1950s because there were so many places to play, you had a lot of great musicians who recorded for Blue Note Records, Riverside Records, Prestige Records, Debut Jazz Records ... They were living down here because of the low rent and the opportunity. Their next-door neighbor was a guy they just did a record with for Blue Note Records in New Jersey a week before; the guy across the street is the new drummer who just came to town; the woman downstairs was a dancer; the guy above you was a poet. You were around all these creative people. This is the embodiment of the East Village for me.

My first experiences in the East Village were in the summer of 1968 at the Fillmore East. I was coming into Manhattan a lot with my older brother or my mother to see shows. People talk about the East Village being rough in the ‘80s and ‘90s. They have no idea how rough it was – it was very dangerous in the ‘60s. If you stood out and you looked like you had money or were an affluent person of any kind, you were targeted.

I have a lot of stories about seeing things in the street, scary stories about friends of mine coming here to buy records or see music or do creative things, who were hassled or physically accosted. Fortunately, none of that ever happened to me, but I saw a lot of music down here from ’68 until the Fillmore East closed in ’71.

I had a couple interesting experiences with the late, great promoter Bill Graham. I would see Bill quite a bit when I was either here to see a show or I would come early in the morning to get a concert ticket before I went to school.

He was a very tough guy, but he did a lot for music all over the world. He exposed a lot of people who went to the Fillmore East to great music... not just the classic rock and blues rock of that time, but he would also have, for instance, the Grateful Dead with Miles Davis opening for them, or some other rock group with the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk Quartet opening for them.

There are a lot of stories about Bill, but I have a lot of respect for what he did. He also did a lot for the neighborhood. He wasn’t just a concert promoter who made money and got in a limousine and went back to his townhouse. He cared about the neighborhood. The Fillmore East did a lot to keep us safe and to keep it clean, and he had a lot of pride in what he did. He was a good human being, but if you crossed him or if he thought you were being disrespectful to him, he could really let you have it.

There was a very organic and open feeling about the neighborhood. You could meet interesting people in a coffee shop or on the street. I would be walking down the street with my cymbal bag and my snare drum on the way to a gig, and a guy would stop me and say, ‘Oh, you’re a drummer, yeah my wife and I knew Charlie Parker in the early 1950s,’ and you end up talking for 10 or 15 minutes.

For me [this neighborhood] was part of the whole picture. It was not only that they were such great musicians, but it was where they were living, and what their life experiences were at that time. I appreciate being able to live in a neighborhood like this.

In part 2 next week, Eric talks about busking in Washington Square Park in the late 1970s, playing in Tompkins Square Park in the 1980s, and loving the neighborhood today.

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

RIP Carmen Pabón

[Photo from Oct. 26]

City Council member Rosie Mendez's office shared the news that longtime LES activist Carmen Pabón has died. She was 94.

Here's more from an announcement via Mendez...

Carmen Pabón, who was born in June 1922 in Ciales, Puerto Rico, died Saturday night surrounded by her family.

Pabón migrated to New York City in 1946. She lived in the Bronx and worked in a factory. A few years later, she relocated to Manhattan and, in 1955, moved into NYCHA’s Lillian Wald Houses where she lived until a few days prior to her death.

Pabón, well-known for her humanitarian acts, was fondly referred to as the “Madrina of Loisaida” (the Lower East Side Godmother). She volunteered in not-for-profit organizations such as Charas/El Bohío and Loisaida, Inc. Among other things, she was active in the Committee to Save Charas and the Coalition to Save St. Brigid’s Church.

In the 1970s, Pabón became active in the community garden movement. With the help of other residents she removed the rubble from several empty lots located on the southwest corner of Avenue C and East 7th Street. The garden, named “El Bello Amanecer” (A Beautiful Dawn), bears the same name as a mural on the side of the building abutting the garden. She tended to the garden for several decades where she was known for feeding the homeless and providing social services referrals.

In the late 1990s, the City of New York under then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani conveyed many community gardens sites to developers for housing construction. The Lower East Side community lost Esperanza Garden located on East 7th Street and two of the three lots that comprised El Bello Amanecer Garden for the construction of the Eastville Gardens building. A year later, Pabón had to leave the garden to make way for construction equipment.

In 1999, a NYC Council land use hearing with then Councilwoman Margarita López determined that the lot known as Carmen Pabón’s Garden would be a permanent community garden with a not-for-profit garden association that would receive a 99-year lease. After many obstacles, the garden finally re-opened on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. Pabón attended the re-opening ceremony of the garden that was renamed in her honor — Carmen Pabón del Amanecer Garden.


[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Councilwoman Rosie Méndez said: “I will miss her dearly. All of Loisaida will. I am grateful that she was here for the re-opening of St. Brigid’s Church and that we were able to clear all the hurdles to re-open her garden. I was so thrilled that she was able to go to the garden and cut that ribbon.”

Funeral and wake arrangements:
• Wednesday, Nov. 16 4-9 pm, Ortiz Funeral Home, 22 First Ave.
• Thursday, Nov. 17, 9:45 am, St Brigid Church, 119 Avenue B at Eighth Street

You can watch a video biography of Pabon here...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Part of a community garden reappears 16 years after it was bulldozed

Switch Playground now open on 12th Street 'for the body and soul'

Switch Playground, a South African-based group fitness concept, has just opened its location on 12th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. (It's in the New York Central Art Supply's former warehouse space at No 130.)

Per its website, "Switch combines carefully selected aspects of cardiovascular training, functional training, boxing, plyometric training, core stability and power-flow yoga to create a perfectly balanced playground for the body and soul."

You can find more details and book classes here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
NYC's 'first playground' coming to 12th Street

Coyote Ugly opens its first location in Kyrgyzstan

Coyote Ugly, which opened on First Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street in 1993, currently has 22 locations in five countries.

And now, the bar has its first franchise location in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan.

Here are the details via Franchising.com:

“Locals and every Bishkek fun guide will be quick to point out that Bishkek has one of the most thriving nightlife scenes in Central Asia, filled with young people that hang out in clubs and small cafes,” said franchisee Daniyar Monolbaev, who already owns other bars, restaurants and cafés in Bishkek, and will also be developing several Papa John’s franchises in the area over the next few years. “I honestly couldn’t be more excited about bringing Coyote Ugly’s fun and unexpected antics to Bishkek.”

Widely recognized as the most famous bar on the planet, Coyote Ugly thrives on booze, bar dancing and girl power. Each night sexy, sassy, tough-talking “Coyotes” go well beyond serving drinks; they ascend the bar to entertain the crowd with choreographed dance routines, songs games, body shots and much more that celebrate the wild side of American culture.

And!

“There was no part of me that ever thought my little dive bar in New York’s East Village would have taken off like this. And now it continues to steam roll into a global brand – from the United States to Russia, Japan and the United Kingdom to Kyrgyzstan,” said Coyote Ugly founder Liliana Lovell. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself as I watch Coyote Ugly’s fame continue to grow. I can’t wait to see where else we go.”

Currently

A noon-time look toward downtown via Bobby Williams...

Ribbon cutting for long-delayed Astor Place reconstruction project delayed by rain

Given the rain expected downpour, the official Alamo/Astor Place Ribbon Cutting Ceremony originally scheduled for today at 9:30 a.m. has been rescheduled until tomorrow (Wednesday!) at 8:30 a.m.

Here's the official notice about it (via an EVG reader)...



Per the notice from the Department of Design and Construction:

We would like to extend an open invitation to the community to attend our Official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for The Astor Place/Cooper Square Reconstruction Project and The reinstallation of The Alamo Cube.

The refurbished cube returned on Nov. 1 after nearly two years away during the Astor Place-Cooper Square reconstruction. The rain delay seems like a rather fitting end to a project that which was originally expected to be wrapped up in the fall of 2015.

Patisserie Florentine coming soon to 10th Street

Coming soon signage recently arrived at 280 E. 10th St. just west of Avenue A. Back in September, an EVG tipster said that the former Cafe Silan space here would become a French bakery.

That part looks correct. The website listed on the sign goes to Patisserie Florentine, the 3-year-old Englewood, N.J.-based bakery-cafe. We reached out to them to learn more about this venture, though we haven't heard back just yet.

Per the bakery's Facebook page:

Patisserie Florentine brings a little of France, Stateside; the French bistro setting is a charming fusion of rustic & modern offering a convivial friendly atmosphere. Chef Tomer Zilkha introduces approachable European delicacies using produce from The Garden State. The artisan bakery & petit bistro is managed by a passionate family of cooks & bakers & genuine hospitality is provided by our Baristas & Waitstaff.

Cafe Silan, which served a variety of coffee and house-made pastries, closed back in July after nearly 18 months in business.

Dean & Deluca vet bringing Fat Cat Kitchen to 14th Street

[Photo from the spring by KT]

Back in the spring, the Crystal Gallery Psychic Readings at 223 E. 14th St. met its destiny in the form of a city Marshal.

The space between Second Avenue and Third Avenue had been on the rental market.

Now comes word via the Commercial Observer of the new tenant. Björn Holm, a sous chef and the head of catering at Dean & Deluca’s store on Broadway and Prince, is opening a quick-serve restaurant called Fat Cat Kitchen.

Per the CO:

“Fat Cat Kitchen will offer the convenience of selling creative sandwiches, fresh salads, quiche, soups and home-style bakery items, plus a full coffee program in a warm, inviting shop with a knowledgeable, friendly staff and a frequently changing menu, offering consistency and variety that similar shops lack,” Swartz emailed.

Kati Roll Company now open on 2nd Avenue

The Kati Roll Company opened its doors yesterday for business at 128 Second Ave. near St. Mark's Place.



Here's a look at the menu... (thanks to Vinny & O for the photos)...



As Gothamist noted, the Kati crew will be offering free chicken and aloo rolls (while supplies last) tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The late, great Stage slated to become the Kati Roll Company on 2nd Avenue

McSorley's is back open this afternoon

[Owner Matthew Maher]

After filing the necessary paperwork and passing a follow-up inspection with the Department of Health, McSorley's was getting to reopen its doors this afternoon.

Owner Matthew Maher was out front around 4 with a small group of patrons waiting for the doors to reopen here on Seventh Street near Cooper Square... EVG correspondent Steven, who shared these photos, said they were expecting to be back open by 4:30...




[Owner Matthew Maher's daughter Teresa with Mike the bartender]

As we first reported on Thursday, the DOH temporarily closed McSorley's following an inspection on Wednesday.

The bar, said to open in 1854, has had A grades from the DOH in previous years. This time around, though, inspectors found evidence of rats/mice in the basement, according to the inspection report.

Maher blamed the never-ending Cooper Square reconstruction for the presence of the critters after work was done in the building's basement.



Updated 4:30

The doors reopened...



...and Mike serves the first beers...

Village View ends talk of privatization (for now)

Back in August, there was news that the residents/shareholders of Village View, the 1,200-plus-unit Mitchell-Lama co-op, were mulling over whether to withdraw from the affordable housing program.

As one resident/reader told me: "Most residents have been strongly opposed to privatization and flyers with information on its consequences have been prepared and distributed by residents in English, Spanish and Ukrainian."

On Friday, residents received a letter from the Village View Board president...



The takeaway:

"[A]s a result of the negative feedback the Board has received the last few months regarding privatization, the Board met ... and passed a motion: to cease any further discussion of privatization, including a feasibility study, unless and until such time there is a clear indication from a large percentage of shareholders that there is an interest in learning more about privatization. We hope that shareholders can now come together and move forward in a peaceful manner."

According to the resident/reader, the initial discussions came about "due to a few pro-privatization Board members."

Next steps?

"We soon are going to vote for a new Board and many candidate statements explicitly state opposition to privatization," the resident said. "To our EV neighbors, rest assured that many of us here are ready to fight to keep this development affordable."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Village View residents considering going private (84 comments)

Updated (POSTPONED): The 'Alamo Cube Ribbon Cutting Ceremony' scheduled for tomorrow

[The pinhole filter]

The weekly Astor Place Reconstruction newsletter (h/t to the EVG reader for this one), distributed back on Friday, notes The Alamo Cube Ribbon Cutting Ceremony taking place this week... specifically tomorrow (Tuesday!) at 9:30 a.m. ...


[Click for detail]

Of course, this may not actually happen. The advisories stated the return of the Alamo several times this past summer and in September. The refurbished cube returned on Nov. 1. For now, until presumably the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the sculpture remains behind barricades. Per a sign at the scene: "there remains a final phase of onsite restoration needed." Then! "Once complete, the barricades will be removed."

Updated 6:30 p.m.

Due to inclement weather expected tomorrow (Tuesday!), the ribbon-cutting ceremony has been postponed until Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.

Activity again in the empty lot at 89 1st Ave.

[Photo Friday by Michael Hirsch]

Several times (here and here, for instance) in the past few years, workers have come into the long-empty lot at 89 First Avenue between Fifth Street and Sixth Street and whacked down the weeds/trees growing in the space.

All this usually — and understandably — brings out the "here comes the new development" thoughts. There still aren't any permits on file with the DOB noting any new-building construction.

As you may recall, we heard a rumor in the fall of 2014 that there were preliminary plans in place to build a 7-floor residential building here. In September 2015, workers were on the property drilling and soil testing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Will this long-empty lot on 1st Avenue yield to affordable housing?

Drilling and soil testing commences at the long-empty lot at 89 1st Ave.

East Village Burritos & Bar is now Spicewala Bar Indian Cuisine

[Photo Friday by EVG reader Steph]

On Friday morning, EVG reader Steph wrote in with news of [another] name change for the restaurant on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and First Avenue.

Please welcome Spicewala Bar Indian Cuisine...





So, to recap.

The space that houses East Village Burritos & Bar, on the corner, and Apna Masala next door on the Sixth Street side, have been closed since late September. A sign on the door point to "construction work."

After Banjara left the corner in 2013, Figaro Villaggio, an Italian bar-restaurant, opened in January 2014. They later changed the name to Figaro Cafe Bistro Bar & Grill and, by November 2014, gave up part of the space to an Apna Masala. (All from the same owners, as we understand it.)

Then in March 2015, Figaro Cafe Bistro Bar & Grill changed its names/concepts to La Esquina Bar & Grill ... then the name evolved to La Esquina Burritos and Bar ... and eventually East Village Burritos & Bar. And now, Spicewala Bar Indian Cuisine.

Meanwhile, the Apna Masala signage remains up... for now.

Future Swiss Institute gets the plywood treatment on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

On Friday, workers started putting up the plywood around the former Chase branch on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...



As previously reported, the Swiss Institute, a non-profit cultural center currently located on Wooster Street, has signed a lease for the whole building...



There aren't any permits on file with the DOB as of this morning about the renovation of this space. According to the previously distributed news advisory on the relocation:

Swiss Institute has hired Selldorf Architects to oversee the transformation of its new building. The 7,500 square foot space features four levels – basement, ground, second floor, and roof. The design for the building will create spaces for exhibitions, projects and public programs, a library, a bookstore, and a usable rooftop.

ARTnews floated a rumor that there will be a biergarten on the building's roof. A little early for more confirmation on that.

The Chase merged with the location two blocks to the north last November.

Steven took the above photos on Saturday... by yesterday, the ads had arrived...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Swiss Institute moving into the former Chase branch on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Vivi Bubble Tea coming to former Organic Avenue space on 3rd Avenue

Several Organic Avenue locations reopened late this past spring, as someone decided to revive the brand. (As Eater put it, OA was "being pumped full of life-restoring elixirs by a coven of benevolent kale sorcerers.")

The OA on Third Avenue at Ninth Street was not among the returning storefronts. At least for, say, bottles of Sweet Greens and to-go platters of Chikn' & Sweet Potato Waffles. Signage has arrived noting the arrival of the latest Vivi Bubble Tea franchise...



This location looks to be called the St. Mark.



Vivi now has 30 locations across the US of A.

The entire Organic Avenue juice-bar chain abruptly shut down last October. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

As for bubble tea. Saint's Alp Teahouse, purportedly the first teahouse to bring bubble tea to New York City, closed nearly directly across the street last fall.

The supermoon in the wild

People are talking about the moon ... and taking photos of it. Per NPR:

It's the nearest supermoon in almost 70 years — and we won't see another like it until 2034.

"When a full moon makes its closest pass to Earth in its orbit it appears up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter, making it a supermoon," NASA says.

And!

In the U.S., we'll get three chances to see the moon at its brightest and biggest, from around sunset Sunday to Monday's predawn and sunset. On both days, the moon will rise around sunset.

EVG reader SylviaG shared these photos from today...





Keep an eye out for Felton Davis with his telescope on Third Street and Second Avenue outside the Bean.

Week in Grieview

[Yesterday morning on A and St. Mark's]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Report: Man sentenced to 14 years for three sexual assaults in the East Village (Monday)

Porchetta has closed on 7th Street; owners searching for new location (Tuesday)

A look at the 12-floor retail-residential building coming to 79 Avenue D (Tuesday)

DOH temporarily closes McSorley's (Thursday)

Election day (Tuesday ... and the aftermath)

The Redhead closes for good in January (Monday)

About the Alamo spinning again without barricades on Astor Place (Tuesday)

A look inside the Kati Roll Company on Second Avenue (Tuesday)

Rendering (and porta-potty) watch: 75 1st Ave. (Friday)

Worrying about Healthfully (Friday)

On Avenue A, Soothsayer is now Chao Chao (Friday)

Turntable Lab latest business to vacate 7th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue (Thursday)

Luxury rental building sells for $10 million on Fifth Street (Tuesday)

Wowfulls bringing Hong Kong egg waffles to East Houston Street (Monday)

Here's your Tim Ho Wan full reveal on 10th Street and Fourth Avenue (Monday)

Live above the (soon-to-depart) Citibank at 50 Avenue A (Friday)

It takes a Poke Village (Monday)

Cheers to the East Village couple who got married at McSorley's

McSorley's is currently closed by order of the DOH. However, that didn't stop an East Village couple from still getting married inside the bar as planned on Friday.

Per the Post:

East Village residents Kevin Golden, 44, and Catherine Talabac, 52, had been planning their big day since March. “McSorley’s is just one of my favorite places. I live two blocks away, and I always gravitate here,” said Talabac. “I asked if they do weddings there and they said no. But when I asked if we could, they said ‘ f – – k yeah.’ ”

“Some girls dream about the Plaza,” she said. “That wasn’t me.”

McSorley's can't serve any beer at the moment. So! "[T]he party moved over to the nearby Copper Still for a drink afterward." (And the dinner party was next door on Seventh Street at Porsena.)

Bartender/McSorley's historian Shane Buggy thought it was the first time a wedding ceremony had taken place inside the 162-year-old bar on Seventh Street.

“We’ve had plenty of proposals, but I can’t ever recall an actual ceremony,” he told the Post.