Tuesday, January 17, 2017

JuiceGo awning arrives on 9th Street


[Photo by Steven]

As noted back in September, a shop called JuiceGo is opening at 333 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

And yesterday, the awning went up ...

JuiceGo is expected to open later this month, and will sell a variety of made-to-order cold-pressed juices, smoothies, salads and sandwiches. You can find the JuiceGo website with more info here.

Beer & Cigars replace Massage & Bodywork on Avenue B



The storefront is coming together here at 206 Avenue B... not sure what this place will be called (the descriptive Beer & Cigars has a nice ring to it) between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Aside from beer and cigars, the shop will be selling cigarettes, glass, vape, e-juices and soda, per the signage.

The storefront was previously the equally descriptive Massage & Bodywork...



H/T to the EVG commenter who mentioned this arrival back in this post...

Monday, January 16, 2017

Today in yellow-bellied Sapsucker sightings in Tompkins Square Park



So that's what was causing that incessant drumming today (jk!) ... photo by Bobby Williams

Today in large holes in the middle of 10th Street



The 10th Street water main replacement and sewer rehab continued today between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Thanks to EVG regular Daniel for the photo...

What are those green bicycle lights on Citi Bike?



Via the EVG inbox today...

As part of an ongoing commitment to safer cycling in New York, the Citi Bike program is installing an innovative new safety feature — the Blaze Laserlight on 250 bikes this winter, Citi Bike and Blaze leadership announced today.

This pilot program aims to make Citi Bike riders more visible to drivers and pedestrians, creating safer conditions on the road and providing greater peace of mind to all.

Extensive research on the Laserlight on London’s bike share fleet revealed that a cyclist with a Laserlight at night is even more visible than a cyclist in daytime.

The vast majority of London bus drivers surveyed said the light made it easier to notice and react to cyclists at night, while 75% of cyclists felt more confident cycling with a Laserlight.

“By incorporating Blaze’s lights into the bike, we aim to keep New Yorkers on foot, behind the wheel and riding a Citi Bike safer and to improve the rider experience overall so that people of all backgrounds are inspired to try New York City’s popular bike share program,” said Jay Walder, President & CEO of Motivate, operators of the Citi Bike program. “Bike share is an extremely safe way to get around, and we are proud to work with Blaze to welcome every rider to Citi Bike while helping our city get ever closer to our Vision Zero goals.”

New map offers look at area's civil rights and social justice history



Via the EVG inbox from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP)...

Civil rights and social justice are prominent in our minds as we begin 2017. And few places in America have made more significant contributions to civil rights and social justice struggles for African-Americans, Women, Latinos, Immigrants, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people than the Village, East Village, and NoHo. Now more than ever, it’s important to remember and pay tribute to that history and to the lessons learned from it.

So GVSHP is kicking off 2017 by creating a new Civil Rights and Social Justice Map of the Village, East Village, and NoHo – view it here. You’ll find well-known landmarks like the Stonewall Inn and Judson Memorial Church, locations key to the founding of the ACLU and the Young Lords, and the places where Lorraine Hansberry wrote and Bella Abzug lived. Learn the former sites of some of our city’s first African-American and abolitionist churches, as well as where the NAACP’s iconic “A Man Was Lynched Yesterday” flag flew. Find out where Billie Holiday first sang the anti-lynching anthem ‘Strange Fruit,’ where birth control began, and the spots key to the abolitionist journeys of both Abraham Lincoln and John Brown, among many others.

With nearly a hundred locations, the map just skims the rich surface of civil rights and social justice history in our neighborhoods. Know another site that should be included? Just email it and all information, along with sources, to info@gvshp.org – the map will be updated regularly.

Keeping the dream alive at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]

Via the EVG inbox...

Join us for a celebratory dinner and conversation in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.

Spoken word artists D Cross and Bettina Gold, and poet Eric Waters are all intimately acquainted with the criminal justice system. Each artist’s performance will be followed by another course of great food and time for planning specific actions to increase awareness of racism and to reduce the harm of mass incarceration in the U.S.

Free will donations gratefully accepted.

The event at the church (entrance is on 11th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue) is 6:30-9 p.m. Details here.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Sunday's parting shot



Photo on Second Avenue today via Derek Berg...

Week in Grieview


[Photo from yesterday by Derek Berg]

RIP Rita Lasar (Thursday)

East Village groups to Mayor de Blasio: Jared Kushner’s actions are not those of someone who "cares deeply about New York City" (Friday)

Community meeting set as dorm plans continue moving forward at the former PS 64 (Monday)

About Patisserie Florentine, now open on 10th Street (Tuesday)

Reader report: Concern over lax stray voltage warnings on East Village streets (Friday)

Out and About with Ali Sahin, owner of C&B Café (Wednesday)

A new community arts and performance venue on 8th Street and Avenue B (Friday)

Did Friterie Belgian Fries close on St. Mark's Place? (Thursday)

Remembering David Bowie one year after his death (Tuesday)

A great photo above Avenue A during the snowfall on Jan. 7 (Monday)

183 Avenue B, with potential to double in size, is for sale (Tuesday)


[Wrapping up a week of Ukrainian Christmas yesterday. Photo by Steven]

Meeting on Jan. 17 for shareholders living in HDFC buildings (Friday)

Water Witch Mercantile hasn't been open this year (Tuesday)

So long Citibank branch on Avenue A (Saturday)

Beyond Vape latest shop to depart St. Mark's Place (Friday)

The art of the deal at Taj Restaurant (Thursday)

New mural in the works for Houston and the Bowery (Thursday)

Make Sandwich opens on Fourth Avenue (Monday)

CB3 gives OK for East Side Tavern to take over the former Redhead space on 13th Street (Wednesday)

Two more Vietnamese food options (Wednesday)

Take heart, the Orangetheory Fitness is now open on Astor Place (Tuesday)

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Thoughts on the new Astor Place

jigsaw falling into place

A photo posted by S A M H O R I N E (@samhorine) on


I missed this essay from Justin Davidson in the current issue of New York magazine.

And the architecture critic, who provides some history of the space, is on board with the redesign, which provides "a blackboard full of possibilities."

Some excerpts:

Now, after several years of construction on the knot of streets and plazas, the fences have been peeled away like bandages, leaving a broad and orderly plain designed by the New York architecture firm WXY. New curbs confine traffic to sensible channels rather than let it slosh across a delta of conflicting lanes. Sidewalks have been broadened into pedestrian boulevards. Astor Place in 2017 feels like fresh turf waiting to receive its next deposit of history.

And...

Even as recently as a couple of decades ago, this area formed a junction of classes and lifestyles. Ukrainians wandered in from the borscht and pierogi joints on Second Avenue, squatters and punks from Tompkins Square Park and Alphabet City; addicts and alcoholics drifted up from the Bowery. At Astor Place, they met clean-cut newcomers, NYU professors, and aging hippies, along with the new wave of West Village bankers on their weekend slumming excursions.

The triangle no longer has that souk­like vibe, and no amount of street design can bring it back, but, with a combination of modesty and flair, WXY has literally paved the way for the next iteration.

Previously

A lunar landscape



A shot of last night's waning gibbous Moon with 95 percent illumination as seen from the East Village (via telescope)... Photo by Grant Shaffer

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Saturday's parting (snow) shot



Photo from Tompkins Square Park today via Derek Berg...

EV Grieve Etc.: 'F*@#d in the East Village' takes the stage; Katinka retains its charm


[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

Teen arrested after stabbing sister, mother in the Riis Houses on Avenue D (Daily News)

Lower East Side Tenement Museum president announces retirement (The Lo-Down)

Two-person comedic play "F*@#d in the East Village" on stage through Tuesday at The Wild Project on Third Street (Official site)

An online retrospective on Bullet Space: "An Art Squat in the 1980s and 1990s" (Gallery98)

An appreciation of the colorful shop Katinka on East Ninth Street (Off the Grid)

East Village-based artist designed a lapel pin and is donating 20 percent of proceeds directly to the Women's March on NYC (The Red Pantsuit Pin)

Some East Village hawk visitors (Laura Goggin Photographer)

This weekend: Four-part series of short films inspired by New York’s Downtown gallery culture (Anthology Film Archives)

The "ambitious Vietnamese cooking" at newcomer Hà Nội House on St. Mark's Place (Grub Street ... previously)

A robbery at the TD Bank on 1st Street (B+B)

City finally ready to move forward with Package 4 of the East River Esplanade (BoweryBoogie)

A cat hospital on the LES in the 1870s (Ephemeral New York)

A last meal at Le Train Bleu, the quasi-hidden restaurant atop Bloomingdale's (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

...and in local squirrel news...

50 Avenue A is no longer a Citibank branch



About 20 minutes after the Citibank branch shut down operations yesterday at 50 Avenue A, workers began removing the signage here between Third Street and Fourth Street...

Workers continued to haul out the remains of the bank branch today... while telling customers that they need to go to the Seward Park branch on Grand Street for banking business...



There is also a Citibank ATM inside the 7-Eleven on Avenue A at 11th Street (and a branch on First Avenue in Stuy Town)...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Citibank branch on Avenue A is closing

Wake up and smell the... oh



Good Saturday morning from 14th Street and First Avenue...

Friday, January 13, 2017

Hitting that perfect Beat



According to published reports today, Larry Steinbachek, keyboardist with the pioneering synth-pop trio Bronski Beat, has died of cancer. He was 56.

The UK band's debut record, the Age of Consent, holds up quite well today. Two singles from that release hit the top 10 in the U.K., "helping to bring LGBT themes to mainstream attention," as NME noted.

The above video is for "Smalltown Boy."

Meeting on Jan. 17 for shareholders living in HDFC buildings


Via the EVG inbox...

We want local HDFC folks to be fully informed about what is happening with the NYC Housing Preservation and Development and their proposed new Regulatory Agreement for ALL HDFC buildings citywide. Now is the time to get involved.



As the flyer shows, the meeting is Tuesday night at 6:30, Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

Find more information at the the HDFC Coalition website here.

Citibank branch closes today on Avenue A



Back on Oct. 12, we shared the news that the Citibank branch at 50 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street was closing in January.

And today is closure day — 3 p.m. to be exact.

The Citibank signage directs patrons to use the branch on Grand Street in Seward Park moving forward.

There has been an E.A.B. branch here since at least the early 1990s (if anyone can recall for sure). Citibank bought E.A.B. in 2001.

I asked a Citibank customer service rep here back in December about the closure. He said he didn't know anything — he was filling in from another branch — other that that the bank decided not to renew the lease upon the completion of its terms.

While we were talking, a woman who had been patiently waiting in a short line asked the teller if they had any 2017 calendars. The teller apologized and said that they didn't have any calendars. The customer said that she would return the next day to see if any calendars may have arrived. Meanwhile, a man — a regular on Avenue A and in Tompkins Square Park — sat sleeping in one of the chairs in the waiting area.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Citibank branch on Avenue A is closing

East Village groups to Mayor de Blasio: Jared Kushner’s actions are not those of someone who 'cares deeply about NYC'



On Monday, President-elect Trump officially named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a senior White House adviser. Later that day, Mayor de Blasio praised Kushner during an unrelated press conference.

"About the person of Jared Kushner — I respect him a lot," de Blasio, who has opposed Trump, told reporters, as reported by Politico. "He's certainly someone I’ve been talking to over these last weeks. He's someone I intend to stay in touch with on behalf of the people of New York City. He's someone who really cares about New York City and is someone that would be very helpful to us. So I’m certainly pleased he’ll be in that role.

"And I can say clearly compared to many other people who've been named to other positions, I find him to be a lot more reasonable and a lot more moderate."

The mayor's praise and endorsement drew a response from two East Village-based community groups. Here's s a copy of the statement signed by Steve Herrick, executive director of the Cooper Square Committee, and Risa Shoup, executive director of Fourth Arts Block released yesterday:

Mayor de Blasio seems hopeful that his friendly relationship with Jared Kushner may be of some benefit to New York City, but our community has not benefited at all from Kushner’s ownership of close to forty buildings in the East Village.

Kushner has brought nothing but unaffordable, luxury housing to this community and to NYC at large. While we are in the grips of an intense housing crisis, and homeless rates are at an all-time high & virtually every regulated tenant in the city is facing harassment, Kushner has converted scores of affordable rent regulated apartments into luxury housing that rent for $3,000-$5,000 per month. In doing so, Kushner has faced allegations of harassment and lack of essential services repeatedly. Numerous articles have chronicled Kushner’s bad-acting over his four years of ownership here in East Village.

We say to the Mayor that Jared Kushner’s actions are not those of somebody who “cares deeply about New York City.” We say that Kushner’s actions have contributed greatly to the loss of affordable housing. Furthermore, if the Mayor stands by his words and thinks Jared Kushner is “reasonable and moderate,” we suggest the Mayor come meet with Kushner tenants in the East Village to hear what they’ve been through under his ownership.

There haven't been any shortage of tenant horror stories since Kushner started buying up properties here in 2013.

The Village Voice spoke with some of those tenants for a piece titled "Jared Kushner's East Village Tenants 'Horrified' Their Landlord Will Be Working in the White House."

Per the article:

"Trump's appointment of Kushner is in keeping with his cabinet selections of amoral billionaire crooks, liars, and thieves," says another East Village rent-stabilized tenant, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. "This guy's company preys on the feeble and infirm, lies, charges illegal late fees, puts tenants at risk in myriad ways, whose overall message to tenants is a shrug and a 'you get what pay for' re: heat, gas, hot water, modern plumbing, and electricity."

"We felt the complete lack of empathy and compassion from our landlord," she adds. "The whole country’s going to experience what we’ve been going through."

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Jared Kushner buys $130 million portfolio of East Village rental buildings

Report: Jared Kushner paid $49 million for 7 more Ben Shaoul-owned properties in the East Village

More about Jared Kushner's East Village buying spree

Soon, we will all be writing our rent checks to Jared Kushner

Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Jared Kushner's East Village tenants wish he'd resolve issues closer to home

Reader report: Concern over lax stray voltage warnings on East Village streets

An EVG reader shared these three photos from several side streets...

Per the reader: "One of these pictures represents a tow zone. The other two represent a Con Ed shock warning that could electrocute you, your child or your dog. Can you tell the difference?"


[4th Street east of Avenue B]


[5th Street between A and B]


[2nd Street east of Avenue B]

Back to the reader:

"Minimal snow fall each winter brings multiple shock warnings to the East Village yet Con Ed refuses to adequately warn the public despite numerous requests, protests, City Council hearings, injuries, deaths and lawsuits.

"The problem is that no one walking up and down the block (or in and out of those buildings) with their kids or dogs has any idea that they are walking into an electrical hazard that could shock or kill them. All they see is the same caution tape used to signal wet paint or parking restrictions."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Beware of 'stray voltage' here on Avenue A and East 2nd Street

Resident shocked about Con Ed's nonchalance over stray voltage