Today in photogenic squirrels in Tompkins Squirrel

Another day, another squirrel doing something adorable (or terrifying, depending on your opinion of squirrels) in Tompkins Square Park...

EVG Senior Squirrel Correspondent Steven spotted this squirrel enjoying some sap from a tree near Avenue A and Ninth Street...





Naturalists have noted that when a squirrel's stash of pinecones and nuts gathered during the summer and fall run low, they will often turn to sap for an energy boost... sap as well as pizza, crackers, bananas, pumpkins and Hershey's Cocoa.

Noted

As of this morning, this fuzzy artwork — on two sheets of plywood — sat outside 19-23 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... it's not immediately clear what this is (or was) It was placed out here sometime late on Saturday, as far as we know...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Guess/theories are welcome (and LinkNYC, Lady Gaga or Tom and Gisele have been eliminated as suspects).

A look at the Moxy Hotel coming to 11th Street

Demolition work continues at 112-120 E. 11th St., where five walk-up buildings are coming down to make way for the 13-story hotel for Marriott’s Moxy brand here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Meanwhile, we hadn't seen any renderings for this 300-room hotel aimed toward the Millennial set. Stonehill & Taylor are the architects of record. (They designed the one going up in Chelsea.) However, their website didn't have anything on the East 11th Street property.

Turns out that we were looking in the wrong place. CityRealty had the first look back in December ... via Flintlock Construction...


[Rendering via Flintlock Construction]

Thoughts?

Work permits on file with the city show that the hotel will be 78,361 square feet — about 250 square feet per room. In addition, the permits show a lounge in the hotel's basement along with an "eating and drinking establishment with accessory terrace." The application also shows a lounge and another eating and drinking establishment on the first floor/lobby (not sure if these are connected) ... as well as a "grab n go" food and drink space. There's also another bar-restaurant planned for the top floor.

The permits, first filed in September, are still awaiting the city's approval. They were disapproved (again) on Friday, per the DOB.

Local residents, preservationists and local elected officials have all spoken out about the demolition of the "landmark-elegible" buildings and loss of housing.

The Moxy website shows that the 11th Street hotel is expected to open in late 2018.

And if you're new to the Moxy brand, here's more via its website:

Moxy is a boutique hotel with the social heart of a hostel. A free-spirited place where you can do all that crazy fun stuff you’d never think of doing at home, together with likeminded spirits you’d otherwise never have met.

Yes, the WiFi is speedy and the cushy beds are freshly made, but more importantly, the bar is always open and the crew is always on. Whether you’re staying for the night or just a nightcap, you’ll see why it’s no place like home.

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

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

At the Moxy hotel protest on 11th Street last evening

Tsukimi bringing sushi to 10th Street

Sushi is coming to the small, subterranean space at 228 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Applicants for Tsukimi are on this month's CB3-SLA agenda for a beer-wine license. (The meeting is tonight, though this item won't be heard in front of the committee.)

According to the questionnaire (PDF here) on the CB3 website, Tsukimi will be open from 6 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Sunday. The space will have four tables seating eight people plus a 10-seat sushi bar.

The application shows the Tsukimi Kaiseki Menu (9 courses) at $85 per person.

The applicants also run SakaMai, which opened in 2012 on Ludlow Street.

No. 228 was home until last September to Dieci, which closed after 10 years in service.

196 Orchard's 'Culture & Cuisine'

An EVG reader asked if we had seen the stencils on the plywood at Ben Shaoul's incoming luxury condos on Houston and Orchard...



Residences ... culture & cuisine... It's part of the branding for the building, which will include a two-level Equinox (gym). The 196 Orchard website includes a 46-page digital publication/advertorial called "The Orchard Review." (You can access it here.)

Turn-of-the-century tenements with patina facades house biodynamic wine stores. The corner slice joint rubs elbows with the starred cuisine of Wildair and Contra. And a perfect date night is sharing a Katz's pastrami followed by a scoop of black sesame from Il Laboratorio del Gelato.

Anyway, the available condos here in the 11-story, 94-unit building range from a 551-square-foot studio for $1.075 million to a 2,069-square-foot three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom apartment asking $5.995 million.

Work is still in the foundation stage, as a look through the blogger portals show...



Sales for the residences launched back in September. A few weeks ago, the Lo-Down asked a Ben Shaoul spokesperson how sales were going here. The response: "While sales have been robust with multiple units placed under contract since launching sales in mid-Fall of 2016, the Sponsor is not disclosing specific figures at this time."



Previously on EV Grieve:
Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston

Katz's is now the last business on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard

Send a salami to your boy next door in the condo

Sunday's parting shot

Avenue A and Sixth Street this afternoon...

Mid-afternoon mannequin break

Remainder from the 1/2-off sale?

Photo on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place by Steven...

Week in Grieview

[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

At the 'Lower East Side Rally Against Hate' in Tompkins Square Park (Monday)

Condos at Rite Aid's new neighbor on First Avenue will range from $1 million to $6 million (Thursday)

Rookie officer stationed at the 9th Precinct dies in car crash (Friday)

Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen is now open daily on Seventh Street (Monday)

Out and About with Lola Sáenz (Wednesday)

Report: East Village landlord Raphael Toledano close to losing prize Chelsea building (Tuesday)

Today is the last day for Turntable Lab before move to new 10th Street storefront (Thursday)

East 12th Osteria closes on 1st Avenue, moving to the West Village (Monday)

New bakery on the way for the Whole Foods Market® Bowery (Monday)

Mandolino Pizzeria has opened on 13th Street (Tuesday)

An appreciation: the Village East Cinema (Friday)

Pichi & Avo wrap up new work at the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall (Monday)

Todd Hase brings custom furnishings to Seventh Street (Wednesday)

Report: Anyway Cafe robbed at knifepoint (Wednesday)

There's a new barber shop on Ninth Street (Thursday)

Sugar Cafe closes after service today (Wednesday)

98 Favor Taste signage arrives on St. Mark's Place (Friday)

Reader mailbag: A call to keep the lights on the holiday tree in Tompkins Square Park (Friday)

Mr. White bringing 'new Southern cuisine' to St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

Progress at Little Tong Noodle Shop, coming soon to First Avenue (Friday)

Seat saved for Merrick Garland on Astor Place (Tuesday)

Checking in on Artichoke's new 14th Street home (Tuesday)

Gramercy Cafe closes; Gramercy Kitchen coming soon (Monday)

That last day of January when it snowed a little bit (Tuesday)

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The 9th Precinct remembers Officer Bianca Bennett

The flag remains at half staff at the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Bianca Bennett, a rookie police officer, died Wednesday night in a car crash while off duty with a fellow officer...



According to the Daily News, "speed definitely played a part" in the crash.

Noted

Idling on Second Avenue and 12th Street this evening...

Today in photos of a squirrel eating a banana in Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Steven... previously

EV Grieve Etc.: Details on the LGBTQ Solidarity Rally; About the Bowery Presents deal

Details on the LGBTQ Solidarity Rally outside the Stonewall Inn tomorrow afternoon at 2 (Facebook)

NYU Anti-Fascists vs. the Proud Boys at NYU last night; 11 arrests (Gothamist)

Ex-con arrested after stealing jeep from the East Village (DNAinfo)

A look at Economy Candy in the 1980s (Ephemeral New York)

Black History Month in NYC: 15 historic sites to visit (Curbed)

C&B Café at 178 E. 7th St. near Avenue B turns 2 tomorrow (Instagram ... previously)

AEG deal to buy half of Bowery Presents does not include Bowery Ballroom or Mercury Lounge (Pitchfork)

This weekend: "Beyond Cassavetes: Lost Legends of the New York Film World (1945-70)" (Anthology Film Archives)

Nation senior editor Lizzy Ratner tells Jared Kushner's family story in a personal meditation on her own family's passage to America, which parallels that of Kushner's (The Nation)

Hanging around with some hawks (Laura Goggin Photography)

IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: We've only got three more days at our 7th St location before mov… https://t.co/17dcXiaXI5 pic.twitter.com/sWYPr4Xzpr

— TurntableLab NY Shop (@TurntableLabNYC) February 3, 2017

Troubles at the the Cornelia Street Cafe (Off the Grid)

An interview with Tod [A] of Cop Shoot Cop (Flaming Pablum)

The American Political Items Collectors show is Sunday in Seward Park (The Lo-Down)

There goes the Carnegie Deli sign (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

If you feeling like going out Sunday night but not have to be subjected to the Super Bowl, here's one option: Jimmy's No. 43 at 43 E. Seventh St. is offering a break from the game — no TVs with "old-time folk singers in the back room."

Or there's always a screening of the 1977 Paul Newman comedy "Slap Shot" down at the Metrograph on Ludlow Street Sunday night at 8:45 ...

Only 'Yesterday'

There's a new release of demos from 1982 by the Glasgow-based pop duo Strawberry Switchblade ... these New York Dolls fans only released one proper record in the day, which included the catchy "Since Yesterday" (circa 1984), which is apparently about nuclear war. Enjoy!

RIP Officer Bianca Bennett

With heavy hearts we morn the loss of Police Officer Bennett #dynamic #nypdcadet #nypdexplorer #nypdtraffic #NYPD #finest pic.twitter.com/ZtGxC5qO7s

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) February 3, 2017

Officer Bianca Bennett, who worked at the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street, died in a single-car crash in the Bronx on Wednesday night, according to published reports. She was 27.

Per the Post:

Sources say Bennett was a passenger in a red Dodge Durango driven by a fellow off-duty officer, who lost control and ran off the roadway. The SUV flipped and burst into flames.

The other officer reportedly sustained trauma and burns to both of his legs. He remains in critical condition at Jacobi Hospital.

The rookie officer was set to marry her high school sweetheart in April.

Thank You everyone for the outpouring of support during this difficult time as we prepare to say goodbye to a true shining star #NYPD pic.twitter.com/Wr1xpgZ3Qh

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) February 3, 2017

An appreciation: the Village East Cinema

The Village East Cinema on Second Avenue at 12th Street is one of my favorite places to see a movie here or anywhere.

And the theater was the subject of a recent feature at 6sqft, which provides a history of the space as well as details on the restoration of the main auditorium's ornate ceiling.

Per the post, which features photos by James and Karla Murray:

Village East Cinema was once known as The Louis N. Jaffe Theater, built in 1925-26 by the Brooklyn lawyer, developer and prominent Jewish leader Louis N. Jaffe. Jaffe built the theater as a permanent home for the Yiddish Art Theater to be devoted to the work of Maurice Schwartz, a renowned Yiddish speaking actor known as “Mr. Second Avenue.”

The Yiddish theater produced many of the creative figures of the 20th century American stage, including actors, directors, writers and designers, and had a major influence on theatrical form and content.

And!

Yiddish theater was performed at the Jaffe Art Theater from 1926-1945, but the theater itself changed its names numerous times and housed many different Yiddish theater companies. The theater later showed vaudeville productions and was used an off-Broadway theater venue, housing the original productions of “Grease” and “Joseph & the Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which both went on to Broadway.

The theater also was used to show burlesque, dance, concerts, and movies but finally closed in 1988. The interior was converted into a complex of seven movie theaters in 1991 in a way that retains most of the original spaces, but with new uses.

Read the whole post here.

The piece also notes that the theater is on both the State and National Historic Registers and its façade and interior including the lobby and domed auditorium are designated New York City landmarks.

A few other FYI things... all screenings before noon are just $8. And on Thursdays, moviegoers 55 and over can get $8 tickets for all times.

And there's a 75th-anniversary screening of "Casablanca" on Feb. 14.

Coming next week:
I went to the AMC Village 7 and got vertigo looking at the carpet...



Previously on EV Grieve:
At the Village East Cinema

98 Favor Taste signage arrives on St. Mark's Place

The signage arrived yesterday on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue for 98 Favor Taste, as these photos via EVG Senior Signage Correspondent Steven show ...





The restaurant comes via Liju Lin, who has run the 99 Favor Taste restaurant in Sunset Park since 2011 ... and the Grand Street location since 2012.

The restaurants specialize in traditional Korean-style barbecue and Chinese hot pot meals.

Upon opening on Grand Street, the Voice gave 99 Favor an enthusiastic review... calling it "a feastly orgy: trays heaped with raw meats and fishes, feathery greens and fungi, boiling and bubbling pots, and popping and sizzling meats top every table. Diners crowd around, heads-down, slurping noodles and soup with chopsticks, only looking up to tend the meat, cooking at arm's distance away."

These storefronts have been vacant going on five years now. Timi's Gelateria Classica™ closed at the end of 2011 in one of the spaces… while Michael "Bao" Huynh's Baoguette Cafe shut down at summer's end in 2012.

Previously

Reader mailbag: A call to keep the lights on the holiday tree in Tompkins Square Park

[Photo from Tuesday]

EVG regular Jose Garcia writes in:

I've been wondering whether you think there might be any sympathy for keeping the holiday tree in Tompkins Square Park lit beyond the holiday season.

Not sure who (Parks Department?) is responsible for it but for me at least it's become something of a beacon of hope and the beauty of our neighborhood given the toxic political atmosphere.

I'm guessing it would be a matter of costs and also perhaps it would be unhealthy for the tree?

The lights usually remain illuminated until some time in February... like in 2009, it was Feb. 7... in 2014, it was Feb. 17.

It was pretty nice to see it lit up that one St. Patrick's Day.

Some temporary signage for Abraco on 7th Street

Earlier this week, a temporary sign arrived outside the newish home of Abraço at 81 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Abraço owners Jamie McCormick and Elizabeth Quijada moved into this larger space from across the street from their former address back in September...

Perhaps the new sign will help those who think that Abraço closed at 86 E. Seventh St.



We've heard from a handful of people, who saw the for rent sign at No. 86 in recent months, asking when/why Abraço was no more.

The cafe, now in its 10th year of business on the block, has an active Instagram account showing some of the daily specials.

Progress at Little Tong Noodle Shop, coming soon to 1st Avenue

[Photos by Steven]

A worker has been painting the exterior of the former Schnitz space this past week on First Avenue at 11th Street...



As we first noted in late December, a self-described "fast causal" restaurant called Little Tong Noodle Shop is set to take over the corner spot.

The applicants were OK'd for a beer-wine license last month. (This item was not heard during the committee meeting on Jan. 9.) According to the questionnaire (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website, the restaurant will be open daily from 11 a.m to midnight. The owners also plan on operating a four-table sidewalk cafe with 12 seats from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Simone Tong, who worked for Wylie Dufresne’s now-closed wd~50 on Clinton Street, is the chef. While work continues on the First Avenue space, Tong is hosting several preview dinners this month at Jimmy's No. 43 on Seventh Street, as Bedford + Bowery reported.

Meanwhile, here's a look at how the interior is shaping up via the restaurant's Instagram account...

Day 14. Aka- let's hide the WC. #noodles #chineserestaurant #chinesefood #yunnan #ricenoodles #eastvillage #nycfoodie #nycfood #nycrestaurants #eeeeeats #newyork #newyorkcity

A photo posted by Little Tong Noodle Shop (@littletongnyc) on Feb 1, 2017 at 2:04pm PST

No word yet on an opening date.

Schnitz, which served old-fashioned schnitzel sandwiches with unconventional toppings, was in operation from March 2014 to August 2016. Something Sweet, the family-owned bakery, was here until July 2012.

Previously on EVG:
Little Tong Noodle Shop taking the former Schnitz space on 1st Avenue

Last-minute things to do on Groundhog Day: See 'Groundhog Day'

The Bill Murray comedy from 1993 is playing tonight at 7:30 at Gobbler's Knob the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue at 12th Street. Tickets are $10 each and available here.