Lunch break

Lunch on a steel beam wheatpaste, new on Fifth Street via SacSix ...

EV Grieve Etc.

A few items to note from the past few weeks...and yesterday...


[Photo by Steven]

CJ. Tattoo is opening soon at 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

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The Caracas Arepa Bar at 93 Seventh St. appears to be shaping up, at least from the outside...



The restaurant suffered extensive damage during an early-morning fire last September. No word on a possible reopening date, but there is noticeable progress. The Caracas to-go space at No. 91 continues in service.

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Across Seventh Street... Comparti New York signage has been on the door the past few weeks at No. 102...



The space, last home to XyZ Pintxos y Botanas, will be home to a tasting room via Comparti Catering, described as "a full-service catering and events resource."



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East Village Bikes has taken over the Recycle-A-Bicycle space at 75 Avenue C between Sixth Street and Fifth Street...



Good photo opps atop the store van...



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The brown paper fell down inside the storefront for rent at 198 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street...



...offering a glimpse inside the former Empire Biscuit, which closed about 17 months ago...



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And from yesterday, sigange arrived for La Pizza Di Tramonti, the new pizzeria coming to 130 St. Mark's Place near Avenue A...



Still no word who's behind this venture...


[Photos by Steven]

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Also yesterday! Workers continued removing the extensive sidewalk bridge and scaffolding that had covered the corner storefronts on East Houston at Allen...



Sugar Cafe shut down in February... some sort of combo house of nightlife horrors is in the works for the rehabbed spaces...

'Enjoy the Royal Tenenbaum lifestyle' at the price-reduced Kate Spade house of 12th Street

[Image via Sotheby's]

Last June, we noted that this lovely single-family townhouse at 215 E. 12th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue was on the market for $16 million.

The place is owned by a co-founder of the Kate Spade brand (and dubbed the "Kate Spade House" by The Real Deal) ... by October, the ask had been reduced to $12 million.

And now! As Curbed noted Wednesday, there's a new broker and price — $9.95 million. Time to pounce?



Here's the new pitch via Sotheby's:

25 feet wide and voluminous interiors set this home apart from the pack. Vast parlor floor with 13½ foot ceiling height, two fireplaces and floor to ceiling windows allows for ballroom sized entertaining space.

5,000 square feet of interior space with additional FAR that may allow for an additional 5,000 square feet.

Many options for next owner starting with garden level apartment/den. 1-2 bedrooms with 2 full bath and kitchen has separate entrance and Garden access.

Glorious double parlor floor with eat-in kitchen and staircase to the garden level.

Third floor currently has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and could be the ultimate master suite.

Fourth floor has 3 bedrooms, full laundry, full bath and large sky lighted den.

Enjoy the Royal Tenenbaum lifestyle or develop into a one-of-a-kind mansion.

The Royal Tenenbaum lifestyle????



Public records show that the home last changed hands for $4.3 million in 2007.

A look at the MTA's new @LinkNYC on wheels

Back on April 18, Gov. Cuomo announced that the first of 79 new buses equipped with Wi-Fi service and USB ports have arrived for service in Manhattan.

Per the MTA news advisory on this:

After the initial delivery of 3 buses this week, units will arrive at a rate of approximately 3 to 5 buses per week. All 79 buses will be in service by the end of this year and will be based at the MTA’s Tuskegee Depot, running on the M14, M15, M101, M102 and M103.

Anyway, I finally saw one out in the wilds ... on Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place... Go Big Blue!





Per the MTA:

The addition of Wi-Fi provides a new level of connectivity to New Yorkers, bringing ease and convenience to those working, reading emails, or checking in on their social media accounts without impacting their cellular data plans. The number of USB ports on buses will range from 35-55, depending on the make and model, and will be conveniently located throughout the bus.

As for the non-blue-and-gold buses, the MTA is retrofitting the existing fleet with the same "digital-age amenities" as the new ones.

Hopefully Cuomo and Co. will come to their senses and bring back the two-tone green ones...


[Image via the MTA]

The Second Avenue Street Fair is tomorrow (Saturday!)

As far as street fairs/festivals go around here, the annual one hosted by Middle Collegiate Church is a good one, with the community spirit absent in those just with the funnel cakes and tube socks.

Via the EVG inbox...

Join us for our annual Second Avenue Street Fair on Saturday, May 6, 12-5pm! Children and families can enjoy activities like a bounce-house, tie-dye t-shirt making, sidewalk chalk, bubble station, Japanese calligraphy, and more!

From 1-5pm, hear live music on the Middle Church stage featuring celebrated East Village musicians, including the Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir and Village Chorus for Children & Youth. Voter registration and election information will also be available on our block. It’s an all-day party with Middle Church, filled with art, justice and music — you won’t want to miss it!

And this is not the first street festival of the season... that happened on April 9 with the Astor Place Festival ... and there was the Broadway Festival on April 15 on Broadway from 14th Street down to Eighth Street...


[Photo of what you missed on April 15]

H/T EVG reader Marjorie

Tonight's Astor Blaster Silent Disco is postponed

Astor Blaster POSTPONED TO FRIDAY JUNE 9TH 6:30pm - 10:30pm. We might have the best beats, but we can't beat the rain. With rain forecast for Friday we've RESCHEDULED Astor Blaster to FRIDAY JUNE, 9th, 6:30pm-10:30pm. Join us then for warmer weather, HOT beats, DJ's and one SIZZLING summer shindig. Stay tuned for updates! #AstorBlaster #AstorPlace #astorplacecube #disco

A post shared by Astor Place NYC (@astorplacenyc) on May 3, 2017 at 1:56pm PDT

The Earth School Spring Auction is Saturday (and for a good cause)

The Earth School over on Sixth Street at Avenue B is holding its largest fundraising event of the year on Saturday evening. The Department of Education cut funding for enrichment programs like P.E., music and overnight camping trips a few years back. So the Parents Association raises funds to make up for the deficit. Here are details via the EVG inbox...

This isn't just any adult school fundraiser. This is an underground party with plenty of food & drinks to get you warmed up, live and silent auctions, one-of-a-kind art, live music and later a DJ for dancing the night away! Some of the items up for grabs during the silent and live auctions: NY Marathon Entry, Field Level Tickets to a home Yankees game, Camp Speers One-Week Summer Overnight Camp, One Cup Of Coffee for Life from Madman Espresso, and so much more! All proceeds benefit the kids at The Earth School.

Venue address: Saint Nicholas Hall, 157 Avenue A (corner of 10th Street)
Event dates and times: Saturday, May 6, 6-10pm
Event prices: Admission is $30 (pre-sale at link) and $40 at door (ticket includes food and 2 bar drinks).

Breaking: 2 Bros. Pizza unveils new sign, branding on St. Mark's Place

In today's top news story, workers replaced the 2 Bros. Pizza sign at 32 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

EVG 2 Bros. Correspondent Steven got (maybe) the first look at the new brandage for the dollarsliceria ...





Insta reaction: The shape of the logo looks a little coffin-ish. Anyone else?

One more look...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

An appreciation of shop cats and small businesses tonight on Orchard Street

Via the EVG inbox...

To honor the positive impact of local businesses on Animal Welfare, “Shop Cats of New York” author Tamar Arslanian has teamed up with vegan boutique MooShoes, 78 Orchard St. between Broome and Grand, to host a happy hour with vegan drinks and snacks tonight from 6:30-8:30. In the spirit of the evening 10 percent of all sales during the event, along with $10 from the sale of each book will benefit the local charity Positive Tails Inc.

“Shop Cats of New York,” published by HarperCollins, highlights over 30 New York City small businesses that, in addition to helping the local economy, have opened their doors to create loving homes for cats that might not otherwise have one. Sisters and Queen natives Erica and Sara Kubersk founded MooShoes, one the shops featured in the book, where they have a long history providing permanent homes to felines while also fostering animals in need. Current resident felines Marlow and Georgie will be guests of honor during the celebration.

Find more details here.

East Village tenants pay landlord Raphael Toledano a visit at his Upper West Side home

Members of the Toledano Tenants Coalition (TTC) visited the Upper West Side home of Raphael Toledano last Saturday "to bid farewell to the junior speculator landlord" whom they’ve battled for the last two years, ever since he purchased more than 20 East Village buildings, according to a statement from the group.

Tenant organizations from around the city associated with Stabilizing NYC joined the protest. Some participants wore Toledano masks and carried signs that riffed on his boastful quote last summer to The Real Deal: "I'm worth a fuckload of money, bro."

There was also some dancing.



As previously reported, Madison Realty Capital has replaced the 27-year-old landlord as the property manager of 15 East Village buildings while a deal to transfer the ownership is worked out. In late March, the LLCs that Toledano used to purchase the 15 buildings in the Madison Realty portfolio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Toledano purchased 28 buildings in two separate portfolios from the Tabak family for a total of $140 million in the fall of 2015. Since then, he has been accused of a variety of predatory practices.

In addition, 20 of his buildings were tested for toxic levels of dust. Last spring, Toledano agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged that he harassed rent-regulated residents at 444 E. 13th St. He also apparently ruined Thanksgiving last year for a few East 12th Street residents.

Here's more from a statement on Saturday's Toledano rally:

Tenants believe the time has come to make Mr. Toledano feel less comfortable at his home since, according to tenants, he has seen fit to do the same to them. Tenants report that Mr. Toledano has on at least two occasions refused to meet face to face with them and elected officials to discuss issues of importance to tenants, and so tenants say they are voicing their concerns directly to Mr. Toledano at his home.

[Saturday's] protesters assert that Mr Toledano has not met his obligations as a responsible landlord, forcing tenants to live in vermin-infested buildings without cooking gas and creating construction chaos as he haltingly renovates buildings.

[Photo by Nina d'Alessandro]


[Photo by Jim Markowich]

The Times reported this past Sunday that Toledano was selling off his other East Village properties that are not part of this 15-building portfolio in foreclosure. Per the Times:

[Toledano] said he was in contract with an investor to buy a $200 million portfolio of properties in the West Village, a neighborhood where he said tenants were less organized.

I kind of want to get out of the East Village walk-up business, to be honest," he said, without a hint of remorse. "There is so much scrutiny of the buyouts."

Responding to Toledano’s statement to the Times, the TTC vowed to help West Village tenants to resist him. One sign at the rally read "You can’t hide in the city, Raphael Toledano, We will find you!"


[JM]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Foreclosure notice arrives on Raphael Toledano-owned building on 12th Street

Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Cleaning up 444 E. 13th St.

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Foreclosure notice arrives on Raphael Toledano-owned building on 12th Street

Report: Raphael Toledano files for Chapter 11; $145 million deal for EV portfolio is off the table

Raphael Toledano tenants take to Midtown streets to speak out against their landlord and his lenders

Veteran restaurateur Sushil Malhotra opening Old Monk in former Babu Ji space on Avenue B

Sushil Malhotra, founder of Curry in a Hurry, Akbar Dawat and Café Spice, among others, is opening Old Monk at the former Babu Ji space on Avenue B at 11th Street.

Malhotra confirmed the news in an email. He described it as an "exciting Indian concept coming up soon." In a follow-up phone call, he said that "it's definitely going to be a fun place." He said they were still working out details on decor and pricing, and wasn't quite ready to share more details.

Malhotra and his team, which includes chef Navjot Arora (a partner and executive chef at the well-regarded Chutney Masala Indian Bistro in Westchester County), are on this month's CB3 SLA committee docket for a beer-wine license for 175 Avenue B. (This item will not be heard during the committee meeting on May 15.)

The listed hours for Old Monk are 5-10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1-11 p.m. on Saturday, and noon-10 p.m. on Sunday.

Westchester Magazine had a profile on Malhotra from 2012. Per the article:

The last time you had a yen for Indian cuisine, Sushil Malhotra probably satisfied your craving, albeit indirectly. Have you ever had a fantastic meal at Chutney Masala in Irvington or taken clients to dinner at Dawat in Manhattan? Maybe you’ve picked up lunch at the Café Spice booth in Grand Central’s Dining Concourse. And if you frequent Whole Foods Market, you may have savored the Indian food from its hot bar.

You can thank Malhotra for all of those culinary delights. The Irvington resident also can be given major credit for bringing upscale Indian food to the United States. In fact, the food from Malhotra’s empire, Café Spice, is now so popular that he can hardly keep up with the demand.

Malhotra grew up in India and moved to NYC in 1966 at age 17. Per the article: "He and his father opened a small spice business that supplied South Asian spices, chutneys, and crispy breads to New York City’s curry houses. The Malhotras stored their spices in their Jackson Heights garage, and Sushil used his weekends to join his father in dropping off chutney and spices to Indian restaurants in Manhattan and Queens." In 1976, he quit engineering to become a restaurateur.

Old Monk's arrival also marks the end of Babu Ji, which went dark in early March. A sign, since removed, at the door noted that they were "taking a break."



The closure followed a report by Eater's Ryan Sutton outlining details of a second wage-theft and overtime lawsuit against owners Jessi and Jennifer Singh.

Babu Ji opened in June 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Babu Ji on Avenue B hit with another wage lawsuit

A quick look at Fiaschetteria Pistoia on 11th Street

[EVG photo from March]

Been meaning to note the arrival (in early February!) of Fiaschetteria Pistoia, which serves Tuscan cuisine at 647 E. 11th St. near Avenue C.

Now seems like a good time. Yesterday, Eater critic Robert Sietsema gave it very positive notices. As he notes, "this improbably located spot was founded by Emanuele Bugiani, whose family owns Fiaschetteria La Pace in Pistoia, a trattoria 30 kilometers northwest of Florence."

A few excerpts:

The most purely Tuscan pasta is a broad noodle here called by its generic name of maccheroni in a chunky wild-boar sauce. All are quite fantastic...

And!

The décor at this restaurant might be termed East Village rustic, including the usual rickety tables, tin ceilings, and crumbling walls, forming the local equivalent, I suppose, of a rural osteria in the Tuscan countryside. Posters of canned food products dating from the 60s adorn the walls, perhaps the work of some Italian Andy Warhol. In the back corner is a pasta-making machine, and one of the cooks frequently steps out of the kitchen to tend it, making pastas that, if not all Tuscan, are uniformly delicious.

You can never go wrong with a classic Tuscan dish: Spaghetti Chitarra with Pomarola. #FiaschetteriaPistoia

A post shared by FIASCHETTERIA "Pistoia" (@fiaschetteriapistoia) on Feb 9, 2017 at 12:00pm PST

The restaurant is open Tuesday-Sunday from 6-11 p.m.

This space was previously home to Matilda then I Coppi Di Matilda.

Reading report: Knife-wielding man arrested on 9th Street

A reader shared this from this evening on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue: "Million cops came out of nowhere and arrested a guy. Crazy scene."

Police at the scene said that the suspect, who appeared to be a minor, was threatening to stab people on St. Mark's Place. Witnesses said that police found "a huge knife" on the suspect following the arrest.

H/T EVG reader Ryan

Today in photo shoots on 7th Street and Avenue A

I do not know what this is for ... or if that guy in the background is part of the shoot...



Meanwhile, inside Tompkins Square Park...



Photos by Bobby Williams

EV Grieve Etc.: Christo & Dora's latest offspring; history of urban squatting

[Photo on 10th Street via Derek Berg]

Longtime LES resident John “DJ Apache” Mercado dies (The Lo-Down)

Another kid for Christo and Dora in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)

Oxford University professor Alexander Vasudevan on "The Autonomous City: A History of Urban Squatting" (Curbed)

East Village landlord Jared Kushner didn't disclose various business ties or that he owes $1 billion in loans (Business Insider)

A look at Out East on Sixth Street (Eater ... Grub Street)

Multilevel Mexican Clubstaurant vying for former Preserve 24 space on East Houston at Allen (BoweryBoogie)

Some visitors to the bubble tea pop-up shop on the Bowery are disappointed by the experience (Gothamist)

How Target ended up at Essex Crossing (The Lo-Down)

Someone stole rose bushes from First Park (The Post)

The 13th annual New York Polish Film Festival runs tomorrow through Sunday at the Anthology (Official site)

A trip to Phil's Stationery on East 47th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Coming this summer: "New York in the '70s" series (Film Forum)

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: This longtime resident wanted to share his story but asked to remain anonymous
Occupation: Retired
Location: St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Avenue A
Date: Monday, May 1 at 3:45 p.m.

I’m from Europe. I immigrated here from Greece when I was 5. I came to the Lower East Side, about less than a mile from here. There were a lot of Greek immigrants at that time. It was OK – a lot of people in the neighborhood knew each other, and there was a big Greek community up until about the 1970s. A lot of the old timers started dying and moving out and Chinatown started expanding. There are only a handful of families left now. I’ve lived on the Lower East Side my whole life.

My father had a merchandize business on the Lower East Side, selling housewares, glasswares, cookware. A friend of mine knew the super of a building. He controlled who was going in and out, so I spoke to him and he said, ‘I can keep an apartment aside for you.’ They were much more available then.I started out at $225 a month – it was more than amazing.

I moved in around 1979. I was just glad for a place to stay that I could afford. I lucked out and soon after I moved in, the super friend of mine, I told him, ‘I think I’m thinking of moving out,’ and he said, ‘You know what? Don’t you dare move out. The rents are going to be much higher and you’re going to regret it.’ So I figured, let me listen to the voice of experience, because somehow he had an inkling of what was to happen, and it turned out exactly right. I’m glad I listened to him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be around here.

When I was in my 20s, and my father’s business was still open, friends from the neighborhood used to go to a place called Adam and Eve. It was on Waverly Place, right near NYU — a big hangout place for students and people in that age group. We used to go there and just drink pitchers of beer and get smashed there, but the difference was that we weren’t out to cause any trouble or be annoying or anything. We used to just sort of hang around with each other. We didn’t get involved with anybody else there.

After I closed my father’s business, I went to work in Century 21 in Brooklyn, and later in the wholesale jewelry business in Chinatown. I stayed there quite some time, 18 years, and then around 2001, the business started going down so I got laid off and I went to work in Midtown in the big jewelry district on 47th Street. I went to work for another wholesale place but much bigger, much busier. The boss and the manager realized right away that I had more experience than most of the people working in there. He grabbed me right away. It’s hard to find somebody to do that kind of work. They had a big mail-order all over the country. Crazy boss, very strict, very paranoid and stuff but I learned how to deal with it.

There were a whole bunch of drug dealers right on that corner where the bar Good Night Sonny is. It used to be a cleaners and they used to congregate and sell that stuff on the corner. They put the guy right out of business because his customers were too afraid to drop stuff off and pick stuff up. I would avoid that side of the street – it was horrible. When Giuliani became mayor, he started cleaning up a lot of the street traffic – one of the few good things that he did. That improved the situation a lot. Didn’t solve it because they just packed up and moved to another neighborhood.

The neighborhood was like the Haight-Ashbury of the 1960s in a way. The East Village became like that and is still like that to an extent. Everything goes, total freedom, and a mixture of people. A lot of freedom just in the sense that you could be whatever you wanted and nobody would look down on you.

A lot of the old-timers have died or moved out or whatever and the yuppies started moving in. You can’t blame them for doing it, but since they’re willing to pay more ... the landlords just took advantage of it and started charging higher rents.

I would prefer it if the rents weren’t up so high but there’s nothing I can do about that. It’s unfair — it’s pushing out the working-class people and the poor people, and the students come in and they’re not thinking of long term. They just stay a year or two until they finish school. Landlords love that because then you can increase the rent by law, so the rents just keep on going up. It’s going to reach another housing bubble I think. I see a lot more signs around, apartments for rent, than I saw the year before.

The high rents have also been pushing out small business. It’s been very hard for any little business to survive. Along this block there’s a high turnover, especially further down. Some of the stores don’t even last a year, and then they’ve got to get out. That’s a horrible situation, because it can’t be that they’re all doing something wrong. It’s just that they can’t make enough. Nobody wants to work for the landlord.

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

A map to track the city's 280 miles of sidewalk bridges

[A fine sidewalk bridge on St. Mark's Place]

The New York Times takes a look at the 280 (!) miles of sidewalk bridges or sidewalk sheds that line the five boroughs.

Though intended to protect passers-by from falling debris, these eyesores known as sidewalk sheds have often become a blight, drawing a barrage of complaints from residents and businesses that they block light and views, attract crime and litter and impede foot traffic along congested sidewalks.

On the positive side, sidewalk bridges make for handy places to drape paintings of naked women with 100 Avenue A written on their bodies to help sell condos...



Anyway, while City Council is considering some legislation targeting scaffolding that stays too long, the DOB has unveiled an online tool to track the city's sidewalk bridges/sheds...

It has taken stock of scaffolding and created an online system to better track the structures at a time when there are more of them than ever as older buildings need work and a construction boom produces more towers. In a sweep last year, building inspectors checked every piece of scaffolding and while most needed to remain for safety, about 150 were ordered dismantled because work had been finished.

The new map marks every building with scaffolding with a color-coded dot showing why the structures went up: red for buildings deemed unsafe, light blue for repairs, dark blue for new construction and green for maintenance work. Clicking on a dot reveals more details, including the date a permit was first approved. The older the scaffolding, the larger the dot.

You can play with the map here.

This is just a screengrab...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Now, for real, final pieces of 6-year-old sidewalk bridge come down on St. Mark's Place

90s Forever on 9th Street this month

[Photo by Steven]

Stylist and vintage-thrift enthusiast, Amanda Dolan (pictured above), founder of Spark Pretty, is opening a 1990s-inspired pop-up shop at 333 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The shop opens tomorrow (Thursday!) through May 30.

New MoRUS exhibit features LES posters and flyers from the 1980s and 1990s

Via the EVG inbox...

Taking it to the Streets!
The Art + Design of Posters and Flyers on the Lower East Side in the 80s + 90s

Before Twitter and Facebook people had to use the streets to organize, their messages wheatpaste postered right on a pole. It was the era of 'xeroxcracy' and the streets were the gallery walls. These political posters and fliers raised awareness and helped organize community for grassroots political change. The posters range in subject from defending the squats and community gardens, taking on gentrification and the rich, police brutality, gender equality, environmentalism and anti-nuclear war activism. The floors of the museum will be stenciled to resemble the sidewalks of the past.

OPENING: Thursday, May 4 at 7-9 p.m.
HOURS: Tuesday, Thursday-Sunday 12-7 p.m.
Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space
155 Avenue C, between Ninth Street and 10th Street
Show runs until Thursday, June 29

Stenciling the floor for the upcoming poster and stencil show eighties and nineties Lower East Side at the Museum of reclaimed Urban space opening on May 4th

A post shared by Museum of Reclaimed UrbanSpace (@morusnyc) on Apr 30, 2017 at 8:35pm PDT

Find more details here.

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Bobby Williams