Pitts (and company) performing this evening at ABC Beer Co.

[Photo of Pitts by Steven]

Pitts, a longtime East Village resident and poet/spoken word performance artist, is performing at ABC Beer Co. tonight at 7...



ABC Beer Co. is at 96 Avenue C between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

March madness

Sunday morning (3/12) forecast update - Blizzard Watches have been expanded westward into metro New Jersey for Monday night into Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/0Euv8y1wwA

— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) March 12, 2017

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Bobby Williams...

And don't forget to move your clocks forward an hour tonight...

Report: Video captures beating on Orchard Street early Friday morning

Video of horrifying attack on #LowerEastSide. If you recognize these guys, call @NYPD7Pct. #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/5tUrfrpiTr

— Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) March 11, 2017

Here's what unfolded via the Post:

The 24-year-old victim was being chased north on Orchard Street by two men who caught up to him between Stanton and Rivington just before 3 a.m. Friday, according to police.

His attackers repeatedly punched and kicked the man before escaping in a black car, cops said.

And from the Daily News:

The brutal beatdown happened so fast that security guards at nearby bars weren't able to break it up in time, said a man who witnessed the aftermath.

"Nobody could help this person. It was over that quickly," said Chad David, 51.

The video shows several people walking by the attack.

Per CBS 2:

The witness and others screamed at the assailants when the violence began.

“And they wouldn’t stop — just going on and on and on, like, and that’s when I was yelling: ‘Stop! Stop! He’s down! Just leave it! Go!’” the witness said.

No one dared to intervene physically.

PIX 11 says the victim is in serious condition.

Media accounts do not provide descriptions of the suspects. Police say they do not know what motivated the attack.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Updated 3/12

CBS 2 spoke with the victim's mother...

Held to the ground and beaten, surveillance video outside 156 Orchard St. shows the 24-year-old victim, William Franco, trying to cover his head while two men kick, stomp, and punch him into the pavement.

His mother lives about a block away from where the attack happened. CBS2’s Jessica Borg spoke exclusively with her Saturday, getting her reaction to the beating.

“Like any mom would be — worried, that’s it,” she said.

Police sources tell CBS2 Franco and the two men had gotten into an altercation at a nearby bar right before that attack. The police sources say Franco claims he never met the attackers before Friday morning.

“He probably don’t know them,” his mother said.

Updated 3/13

DNAinfo reports that the fight started at Pianos. The victim had reportedly been asked to leave the bar.

Per DANinfo:

The spat started inside the bar and music venue at 158 Ludlow St., where the 24-year-old victim and his attackers got into a fight early Friday morning and the victim was booted from the bar, police said.

The victim then waited outside the bar for the suspects to exit, at which point the brawl started up again, the NYPD said.

Friday's parting shot

Third Street near Avenue C today... thanks to @AllBlackCatsAre for the photo...

Someone left (or dragged) a piano to Tompkins Square Park today

At the entrance on Avenue B at Ninth Street... come, sing a song...



Photos by Lola Sáenz

Updated

Scuba Diva came across this scene earlier in the day...

Hanging in the 'Balance'

Depeche Mode have a new record coming out... and a tour, which includes dates at Madison Square Garden this September, to support the release. (Tix went on sale today.) The video here is from 1983 — "Get the Balance Right."

Because it's March 10 and snowing a little

FYI

Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg

Gym rats: Personal info of former David Barton members found on Astor Place

More bad news for members of the now-closed David Barton Gym on Astor Place.

NBC 4 had this report:

Paperwork containing the personal information of clients at a shuttered David Barton Gym ... was found strewn across the heavily-trafficked streets in the area Thursday.

News 4 cameras exclusively captured photocopies of identification cards, passports and visa information that had apparently been submitted with gym waivers for the luxury fitness chain.

It wasn't immediately cleared who tossed all this sensitive information on the curb.

The four David Barton Gym locations in Manhattan, including on Astor Place, shut down without any warning to its members or staff in late December.

Last month, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Club Ventures Investments LLC d/b/a David Barton Gyms.

The Astor Place space will become one of New York Sports Clubs' collection of Elite clubs.

H/T Pinch!

EV Grieve Etc.: Vanishing New York the book; Boss Tweed a goner

[Photo on Astor Place the other day by Derek Berg]

Suspect arrested in assault of four women on the LES (The Lo-Down)

There's a livestream viewing of the ACLU's launch of People Power tomorrow afternoon at Lucky, 168 Avenue (Details here)

An interview with East Village resident Fenton Lawless on his 1976 subway graffiti documentary (Mass Appeal)

Boss Tweed's on Essex appears to have closed (BoweryBoogie)

A look at the politically-charged play by Guillermo Calderón debuting Sunday at the Wild Project on Third Street (BOMB)

About Vanishing New York the book (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The Anthology Film Archives pays homage to queer cinema pioneer Barbara Hammer tomorrow (Official website)

Some history of 105 Second Ave., the former Fillmore East (Off the Grid)

The U.S., Canada and Spain win the honors for having the highest rates of severely cost-burdened renters (Bloomberg)

DNAinfo buys Gothamist (Gothamist... Jezebel)

That time in 1905 when a bar on Bleecker Street downplayed booze and played up soda, hot chocolate and ice cream sodas (Ephemeral New York)

French filmmaker Olivier Assayas's international trilogy at the Metrograph tomorrow (Official site)

The making of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" (Dangerous Minds)

On Sunday, Neighbors to Save Rivington House host an event addressing the lack of health care facilities on the LES (DNAinfo)

Report: Former NYU student paralyzed in fall from 2nd Avenue building awarded $29 million in suit

A former NYU student, who was paralyzed after a fall from a fire escape at 82 Second Ave. in 2008, won a $29 million verdict in court this week.

The Post has the details:

Anastasia “Sasha” Klupchak, who was an honors student and varsity soccer player, is guaranteed the $29 million from the building owner East Village Associates after her lawyer struck an unusual deal with defense counsel on Monday.

Called a “high low settlement” the parties agreed that if the jury came back with a verdict that was less than $13 million, the defense would pay $13 million; but if they arrived at a figure over $29 million, the landlord would cough up $29 million.

The pre-verdict deal means the award cannot be appealed.

Klupchak, 22 at the time in 2008, was visiting a friend at 82 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. She and her friend went out on the fire escape to smoke around midnight. When attempting to re-enter the apartment, "she fell through an unguarded opening in the fire escape platform." The 12-foot fall left her paralyzed from the waist down.

The landlord at the time, East Village Associates, was found liable "because a 1949 law prohibited the type of fire escape on the building." One of the six jurors found that Klupchak​ ​"was at least partially responsible for her injuries." She had been drinking on the evening of her fall, and the landlord's attorney said "that she treated the fire escape like a balcony instead of an emergency escape route."

Her attorney, Thomas Moore, noted that there was no provision in the lease that said tenants couldn’t hang out on the fire escape. He also got the landlord, Bernard McElhone of East Village Associates, to admit under cross examination that “tens of thousands of New Yorkers regularly” hang out on the structures.

Klupchak, who went on to pursue a Ph.D. in film studies at Emory, now teaches at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta.

As for the building, Icon Realty bought the property from East Village Associates in January 2013 for $3.1 million. Icon flipped the building in late 2015 to a South Carolina-based investor for $10.9 million.

“She cried with joy and [thanks]. She just kept saying, ‘I don’t believe it'” https://t.co/5FQCDjZFz6

— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) March 8, 2017

Google Street View image from 2008

The shadow pigeons of Avenue A

Video today by Grant Shaffer...

Previously

At the International Women’s Strike march in Washington Square Park

There were activities across the city yesterday related to the International Women's Strike ... more than 1,000 people (per media estimates) gathered in Washington Square Park late in the afternoon for a rally and march to Zuccotti Park ...

Per coverage at Gothamist:

Thousands of women and their allies gathered in Washington Square Park late Wednesday afternoon to demand equality and justice for all women, particularly those who are most at risk to the Trump agenda — immigrant women were joined by trans women, queer women, sex workers, nurses, and labor and Black Lives Matter organizers.

The rally, which capped off the Day Without A Woman strike, demanded justice for all, regardless of economic status. At one point the crowd closest to the Washington Square Arch chanted, "Feminism for the masses, not just the ruling classes!"

EVG contributor Derek Berg was at the start of the march, and shared these photos...

Extell's 14th Street developments are all grown up now

Let's check in on Extell's two, seven-story residential buildings going in on 14th Street from Avenue A to Avenue B... starting with a look on Avenue A toward the southeast corner...



... and from the entryway to Stuy Town...





...and looking at the end of No. 500 toward Avenue A...



... and two shots of No. 524, the smaller of the two buildings...





...and a view from the 13th Street side...



Together, the buildings will yield 150 residential units (of those, 32 will reportedly be below-market rate). The buildings will include outdoor space for tenants, such as: "gardens, ornamental grasses, a full bocce court, pergola covered dining with an open air grill kitchen, and framed hedge walls," per marketing materials.

There will also be 56,610-square feet of retail space. As previously reported, Target is leasing 27,306 square feet in No. 500's corner space for a small-format store expected to open in the summer of 2018.


[Fast-forward to the summer of 2018]

There's still a persistent rumor that a Trader Joe's will take the remaining retail space at No. 500.

The excavating started on the property in June 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units

Target offers details about its flexible-format store opening summer 2018 on 14th and A

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street


[2011]

Ciala bringing 'Georgian and European cuisine' to 2nd Avenue

A new restaurant-cafe called Ciala is in the works for 77 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

According to the application on file (PDF) at the CB3 website ahead of Monday's SLA committee meeting, Ciala will serve "Georgian and European cuisine." (Ciala is seeking a beer-wine license.)

The layout shows 17 tables with a total of 49 seats ... and a five-seat service bar. The applicant, listed as David Kurtanidze, is proposing hours of 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, including for the outdoor seating.



The previous tenant here, Ballaro, which served Italian coffee and pastries during the day, and beer, wine and small plates in the evening hours, closed after seven years in February 2016. (Ballaro made headlines after drunken Taylor Swift fans apparently terrorized the staff by demanding they play more of the pop star's music on the house stereo in August 2015.)

The CB3-SLA meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. (corner of the Bowery).

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Sister Jane officially opens Friday on 13th Street

An EVG reader shared this photo from yesterday... showing workers putting up the signage for Sister Jane East Side Tavern on 13th Street west of First Avenue...

And just in time for a soft opening last evening ... before a grand opening tomorrow.

Later, EVG reader Samantha S. sent along a photo from inside...



Per Samantha: "Love it so far — the owner is so nice and the menu looks fantastic! Solid beer and wine selection. No cocktail menu (yet). Should be a good spot!"

Michael Stewart, a co-owner of Tavern on Jane at 31 Eighth Ave., is also behind this venture, a neighborhood bar/restaurant, in the former Redhead space.

Previously

Haile Bistro expected to reopen next week on Avenue B

We recently noted that Haile Bistro, the Ethiopian restaurant on Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street, had been closed of late without any explanation.

Now, though, there are "closed for renovations" signs posted on the front windows ... noting a reopening on March 14...



A comment on the previous post from a former owner states that another family member will now be running Haile, which opened in 2013.

Noted

Several readers passed along photos of these posters that went up overnight, such as here on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...



The poster has quotes from audio recorded in 2005 and released last fall by The Washington Post, where Trump is heard talking to Billy Bush from "Access Hollywood."

No word at the moment about who plastered the neighborhood with these Thanks to the commenter — these are via Marilyn Minter ... coinciding with International Women's Day.

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: Merle Ratner
Occupation: Labor Rights Organizer at the International Commission for Labor Rights
Location: Avenue A Between 3rd Street and 4th Street
Date: Thursday, March 2 at 3 p.m.

I’m from the Bronx. I lived here in the early 1980s ... I moved back here about 30-something years ago because I wanted to live in a multiracial, working-class neighborhood.

It was not gentrified like it is now. There were a lot more working-class and poor people, and not as many restaurants. There were also not so many vacant stores. Every store was filled — there were more mom-and-pop places. I liked Bernstein’s on Essex. It was a kosher deli with Chinese waiters. They had the best pastrami. It was an interesting place.

Then and now it has been a politically active area – anti-gentrification struggles later, always anti-war struggles, anti-racism struggles, and LGBT struggles. It’s a traditionally immigrant area, from here down to the whole Lower East Side. It’s where my grandparents came when they came from Odessa in the early part of the 20th Century.

It’s a very diverse community culturally and politically – it’s very progressive. I went to the rally against Trump here in Tompkins Square Park, and every time there’s a demonstration in Washington or New York there’s a huge contingent from this area that go. So I like to be among working-class people, although that’s changing a little bit. But the projects are here. They’re not going anywhere. We’re going to fight to keep them here. It’s a neighborhood where I feel comfortable.

There’s also a long tradition with the labor movement. A lot of labor activists have been active here and still stay here, and Trump is trying to kill the labor movement. That’s a particular struggle, for unions and labor rights. I think that if we don’t organize as workers and fight, not only for labor union rights but for a different society, an alternative to capitalism, we’re all going to go down.

I work for the International Commission for Labor Rights, but I’m also on the board at the Laundry Workers Center, which organizes low-wage immigrant laundry and food service workers, and has a big struggle with B&H Photo Video, which is trying to move a lot of the jobs of the Union-organized shop to New Jersey. So that’s an important struggle.

My family has a history — my grandmother, when she came from Odessa, was the first woman business agent at the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, and my mother was a member of Local 1707 Day Care Workers. I have a picture in my house of my grandmother, it must have been in the 1920s, with a long skirt with a bustle, the very traditional thing that women wore, holding a picket sign with her friend that said, ‘Don’t be a scab.’

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

This looks to be the new residential building coming to 71 4th Ave.

[Not this, below]

Through the years we've seen a handful of renderings for the 10-story retail-residential complex coming to the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 10th Street (officially 71 Fourth Ave.).

It looks as if we finally have a winner ... CityRealty pointed out that the local architecture-development firm, NAVA, had this rendering on its site...


[Image via NAVA]

The building, says CityRealty, is "an energetic design of cantilevers, setbacks and cutaways."

We spotted another rendering of it last year...



To recap, there will be retail on the ground floor and 12 dwelling units above. The residential portion encompasses more than 24,000 square feet, so those units will presumably be condos. Floors 2-5 will each have two units while 6-8 will each have one unit while a two-level duplex to top things off. The plans also show a rooftop "recreation space" ... with more outdoor space on the ground level. Residential perks include a media room, an exercise room and storage for seven bikes, according to the permits.

Residents will also have views of the lines at neighbor Tim Ho Wan.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Demo permits filed to raze southeast corner of 4th Avenue and 10th Street

The 'tremendous retail potential' of East 10th Street and 4th Avenue

10 stories of condos in the works for the long-vacant corner of 4th Avenue and East 10th Street

With new building OK'd, corner of 4th Avenue and 10th Street finally ready for razing