The Swiss Institute debuts its inaugural exhibit at new East Village home

[Photo from last evening]

The Swiss Institute's inaugural exhibition officially opens to the public tomorrow on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place (the address is 38 St. Mark's Place).

Here's more about it via the Institute's website:

On view will be "Readymades Belong to Everyone" ... the third edition of SI’s Architecture and Design Series. Curated by Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen, the exhibition features more than 50 artists, architects and collectives from 16 countries with 17 new commissions.

The opening hours are noon to 8 p.m.

The building — 7,500 square feet in total — was a former Chase branch. The four levels include space for exhibitions, a research library, a bookstore run by Printed Matter and a rooftop terrace with art.

Michael Wang installing his work, Extinct in the Wild, on the roof of 38 St Marks Pl. #SIONSITE #swissinstitute

A post shared by Swiss Institute (@swissinstitute) on Jun 20, 2018 at 2:26pm PDT

Here's more background via a recent preview in The Wall Street Journal...

The nonprofit institution was created in 1986 by a group of Swiss expats looking to highlight their country’s artists and culture. That mission has since broadened to promote a diverse community of international artists, all the while charming the wider art world with its zeitgeist-tapping exhibitions.

Despite this success, Swiss Institute director Simon Castets yearned to find a permanent home base. After reviewing roughly 100 buildings and raising nearly $4 million, the French-born Castets and his board, chaired by philanthropist Maja Hoffmann, landed on a former Chase bank ...

“We used to be near Céline and Moschino,” says Castets, 34, of the Institute’s former Wooster Street space. “[We’re now] on one of the city’s most heavily trafficked corners. It changes the profile entirely.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chase branch on 2nd Avenue at St. Mark's Place has the potential to get 4x larger with new owner

The East Village is down 2 Chase branches

Icon wraps former Chase branch at St. Mark's Place with retail ribbon

'Good riddance' Chase, and — a development to watch in 2016

It will now be more challenging to tag the front of the former Chase branch on 2nd Avenue

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

A few more details on the Swiss Institute's move to the East Village

Printed Matter/St. Mark's opens today inside the Swiss Institute

[I spy Dallas BBQ]

The Swiss Institute, the arts nonprofit, officially opens tomorrow on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue.

And today, the Printed Matter/St. Mark's offsite location debuts in the lobby space.

Here's more via the Printed Matter website:

Printed Matter/St. Mark’s will present a mixture of contemporary and out-of-print artists' books, Printed Matter titles, and publications related to current Swiss Institute exhibitions and programs. Stay tuned for updates on St. Mark's-specific events and educational programming ... We look forward to joining the vibrant community of independent arts institutions and bookstores with this new space in the East Village.

And the bookstore hours:

Monday-Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday-Friday: 2–8 p.m.
Saturday: Noon-8 p.m.
Sunday: Noon- 6 p.m.

And here's a look at some of the titles that will be available (via this link here)...



Images via Printed Matter/St. Mark's

Previously on EV Grieve:
Printed Matter will have a bookstore inside the Swiss Institute's new 2nd Avenue home

Thursday's parting shot

A free show by Arcade Fire Slavic Soul Party late this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park... photo by Derek Berg

1st day of summer and the pool STILL isn't filled on 7th Street

Apparently some water-main woes here the last few days between First Avenue and Second Avenue... the block is closed to traffic.

Ignite

Ignite

June sun ignites the summer solstice

retreating slowly into darkening days

leaving in its wake sisters Hot and Humid

to argue who should show their prominent ways

start the A/C, resurrect the lightest linen

seeking shade insufficient, try lemonade

too hot for hot we had forgotten how the

sweltering sun rays exhaustion made

Some of our assumptions will arrive

others fall on stoney ground

this serious summer business

what is out there, a good time found.

•

peter radley

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's this week's NY See, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's comic series — an observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.

Boys' Club of New York selling East Village building; will remain open through June 2019

The Boys' Club of New York (BCNY) will be selling its Harriman Clubhouse building on the northwest corner of 10th Street and Avenue A, according to a recent letter to alumni from Stephen Tosh, BCNY's executive director and CEO.

An EVG reader, and an alum of the Boys' Club, shared a copy of the letter, which states that the building, which opened in 1901, will remain in operation through June 2019.

According to the letter, BCNY will look to rent space somewhere on the Lower East Side to continue with programming for Harriman members after the closure next summer. The letter also states that the sale of the East Village building will allow BCNY the opportunity to start new programs in other communities, including Brownsville, East New York and/or the South Bronx.



A few excerpts from the letter:

It is with sadness that I write to tell you that the Board of Trustees of the Boys' Club of New York has decided to sell the Harriman Clubhouse building...

As you know, when E.H. Harriman founded the Boy's Club in 1876, 10th Street and Avenue A was in the middle of a poor, immigrant neighborhood where most boys had little opportunity to learn and grow and nowhere to feel safe. He opened this clubhouse to give any boy on the Lower East Side a shot at a better life.

The neighborhood surrounding the building has changed dramatically since Mr. Harriman built this building, especially in the past few decades. The sale of the property now will allow BCNY to provide programming to an even greater number of boys and young men in more underserved communities. The Board will use proceeds of the sale to start new programs in Brownsville, East New York and/or the South Bronx. The Board has no plans to sell Gerry Clubhouse in East Harlem or Abbe Clubhouse in Flushing.

At least six new high-end luxury buildings have arrived near the BCNY outpost in recent years, including Ben Shaoul's 100 Avenue A, Extell's EVGB and Douglas Steiner's Steiner East Village.

In 2012, Steiner bought the former Mary Help of Christians property on Avenue A between 11th Street and 12th Street from the Archdiocese of New York for $41 million. The church and school were torn down.

No word yet what the BCNY building might fetch on the market... or what might happen to the 7-story building — complete gut renovation or full demolition to make way for a new residential complex.


[Boys' Club photo from 1934 via NYPL]

Updated 2:30 p.m.

Patch's coverage includes comments from Alice Maggin, the club's director of communication.

Today, the building is equipped with two gymnasiums, a swimming pool on the seventh floor and a rooftop space where a slew of athletic, music and art programs are offered to roughly 300 members, boys ages 7-to-21. Club officials have not begun talks with specific buyers yet, but aim to sell the space to a group with the community's needs in mind rather than a developer who would raze the structure.

"That building is built like a bomb shelter — thick walls of concrete and steel — if it were to be knocked down it would be hugely expensive," said Maggin. "It's a seven-story building with unique features, we're hoping that it could become something for the area."

Flamingos will sell clothing by the pound starting Saturday on Stanton Street

Flamingos Vintage Pound, which as the name implies, sells vintage clothing by the pound, is opening an outpost at 57 Stanton St. on Saturday (the hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.).

The location between Eldridge and Forsythe on the LES is the latest to open in NYC ... following recent debuts of two stores in Bushwick.

A post shared by FLAMINGOS VINTAGE POUND (@flamingosthriftstore) on May 7, 2018 at 7:45am PDT

According to the Flamingos website, there are are also stores in Miami and Houston as well as in Madrid and Barcelona. And per their Instagram account, they have plans on more: "Grand opening of 3 stores in 3 different areas in this wonderful city. This will make us one of the most important vintage clothing companies in NYC. We want to warn you that this is just the beginning, our intention is to open more stores around the US."

No mention anywhere what they charge by the pound.

Another broker for 20 Avenue A?

Yesterday, a worker removed the Eastern Consolidated "for lease" banner from 20 Avenue A... the long-vacant storefront at the southeast corner of Second Street.

Perhaps there's a tenant for the space. Vigilant EVer, who shared the photo, noted: "I'm hoping for something that isn't a condo sales office!"

More likely there will be a new broker for the address (the sixth or seventh for the space in three years). Eastern Consolidated recently announced that its shutting down next month.

The Chase branch closed here in November 2015. Last October, EastVille Comedy Club looked at taking part of the storefront. However, CB3 denied the application, citing, among other reasons, that this address was never licensed before and that it exists in a saturated zone. EastVille since relocated to Brooklyn.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The retail-wine bar possibilities for the former Chase space on Avenue A and East 2nd Street

The retail space at 20 Avenue A no longer looks like a bank branch

Another broker for the former Chase branch on Avenue A

Celebrate the Summer Solstice with free concerts at these 2 East Village community gardens

[Albert's Garden]

To celebrate the summer solstice tomorrow (Thursday!), several community gardens across the city are hosting free concerts as part of Make Music New York.

Two East Village gardens are part of the official list (via the EVG inbox):

• Albert’s Garden, 16 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery

This year we welcome back Just (Jazz) Friends, a New York City-based ensemble playing vocal and instrumental jazz standards focused on the American Songbook, with occasional forays into Pop/R&B classics from the 1960s and 1970s.

Albert’s Garden, started in 1971, is one of the oldest community gardens in Manhattan ... it features a goldfish pond and a striking wall mural by the Belgian street artist Roa.

Time: 6-8:30 p.m.

• Le Petit Versailles Garden, 346 E. Houston St. near Avenue C

Listen to live, improvised music played in conversation with “Lost Notes From Home” — a superimposed video and 16mm filmed vignettes produced by Mark Street, whose work has appeared in the Tribeca and Sundance Film Festivals.

NYOBS is playing from 4:15 to 5:30. NYOBS is Michael Cacciatore, Peter Cramer, John Michael Swartz and Jack Waters. An alternative experimental free association "kitchen" band born at Punk Island 2014.

Time: 4-9 p.m.

This link has the full list, including some gardens on the LES.

Report of a fire at 110 2nd Ave.

There was a report of a fire early this evening at 110 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... at the landmarked Isaac T. Hopper House, which serves the Women's Prison Association as a halfway house.

Despite a large FDNY response, there wasn't a mention of it on the Department's official Twitter feed.

Thanks to Duke Todd for the photo!

The warm and fuzzies in Tompkins Square Park

Christo and Amelia's two 2018 offspring are going on 3 weeks old now... Steven shared this photo, showing two fuzzy hawklets peering out from the nest...

Head over to Goggla's site for more photos, including some impressive hawklet wingspan shots.

Report: AG selects management firm to oversee Steve Croman's real-estate holdings

The State Attorney General has reportedly selected Michael Besen’s New York City Management to oversee Steve Croman's real-estate empire, which includes 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village.

As the Commercial Observer first reported yesterday, New York City Management, a division of Besen & Associates, will operate Croman’s Manhattan portfolio for five years.

Part of Croman's settlement agreement included identifying an independent property management company for his residential properties, overseen by 9300 Realty.

Per the Observer:

The AG selected NYC Management after rejecting two other companies that Croman proposed, [an AG] spokeswoman indicated. She didn’t know the date NYC Management was selected, but said tenants were notified of the decision in April.

During the period when NYC Management is running the buildings, Croman may only have “incidental interaction with tenants of the subject properties,” as per a December 2017 consent decree.

According to a media advisory from the AG's office last December:

The independent management company will oversee operations and institute new policies at the Croman properties to ensure full compliance with the law and correction of all past violations. It will also post a comprehensive set of Tenants Rights in every building it manages.

The monitor will provide quarterly reports to the Attorney General, which will include at minimum any complaints received from tenants and actions taken; the total number of rent-regulated apartments that became deregulated during the reporting period, the reason for deregulation, and all supporting documents; and the monitor’s assessment as to whether Croman has complied with the consent decree.

Croman recently spent eight months in jail for mortgage fraud. His civil case ended in December when he agreed to pay $8 million to the tenants he was accused of bullying out of their rent-regulated apartments.

Last month, residents in two LES buildings that Croman owns said that maintenance issues and neglect of the properties had gotten worse while he was in prison, as The Lo-Down reported.

Besen will take control of the Croman properties on July 1, per the Observer.

Perhaps Besen will collect the back rent that Ben Shaoul owes Croman on Avenue B.

E Smoke Shop will remain on St. Mark's Place

The E Smoke Shop will continue keeping you in lottery tickets, cheap cigars and water pipes on St. Mark's Place... signage is up on the shop on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place announcing their upcoming move down the block toward Second Avenue ...



E Smoke Shop is vacating ahead of the demolition of this corner. As previously reported, a seven-story, 66,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail is slated for this property. Permits were filed on March 15 to remove the low-rise buildings at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Avenue.

The E Smokers arrived in early 2014, taking over New Corner Magazine (or King's Magazine).

And a quick flashback (to before 2009) for a look at DJ Lenny M's Music World, the mix-tape emporium that had a kiosk on the Third Avenue side...



You can find DJ Lenny M on Facebook these days.

Previously on EV Grieve:
What happened to DJ Lenny M?

Report: Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Ave. fetching $50 million for development site

Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building

Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

End is nearing for the businesses on the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

ICYMI: Art bookstores are 'alive and well' here

The New York Times Style Magazine on Sunday took notice of the recent art bookstore additions in the neighborhood ... a piece titled "The New York Neighborhood Where the Art Bookstore Is Alive and Well" takes a look at Codex on Bleecker at the Bowery ... Karma on Third Street ... the relocated Mast on Avenue A ... and the incoming Printed Matter at the Swiss Institute on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

The lead...

The alternative art scene found a home in the East Village in the early 1980s. Artist-run collectives and unconventional exhibition spaces started to fill the empty storefronts; before long, however, the slept-on real estate became bank branches and chain coffee shops. But, as of late, the East Village has been reclaiming its reputation as a cultural haven with a series of new independent art bookstores.

This is the link.

And there is one baffling passage in the article ... in the section about Mast (h/t Dave on 7th)...

In 2010 [Brian Leitgeb] and his wife, James McKee, opened Mast Books in Alphabet City, built around a few large and extraordinary personal book collections he had purchased. And last week, Mast moved to a larger location just down the block, marking its official entrée into the East Village.

Blue Quarter debuts in the back of Local 92 on 2nd Avenue

A post shared by Blue Quarter (@bluequarternyc) on Jun 2, 2018 at 10:05am PDT

A rather hidden new 35-seat bar serving tea-infused cocktails opened last evening in the back (through the blue door) of Local 92, the Middle Eastern restaurant at 92 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

Blue Quarter, which occupies previously unused space at Local 92, is run by Max Green and Sother Teague, who worked at Amor y Amargo on Sixth Street at Avenue A.

Here's part of Eater's preview:

At Blue Quarter, Green pivots from bitters to tea cocktails. One called Unfinished Story incorporates matcha, coconut, lime oil, and tequila, while a Soon to Ripen includes earl grey tea, coconut water, paprika, and scotch. Black tea and mint tea also make appearances, and one drink arrives in a vintage tea pot. All of the nine cocktails are $15, and a few wines and beers round out the drinks.

Blue Quarter is open Tuesday-Thursday from 5 p.m. to midnight; until 1 a.m. on Friday-Saturday.

NYPD seeking info on this missing man, last seen on 10th Street

The 9th Precinct just released this info on a missing person...

The #NYPD is asking your help in locating this man reported missing by his family.
Eduardo Rivera
Male Hispanic 5’5” 72 years old
Last seen on Wednesday June 13 at 7:30PM on East 10 Street in the #EastVillage #NYC
If you have any information we ask you to call #800577TIPS pic.twitter.com/98STpAlXVk

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) June 19, 2018

Video: Father John Mistry's early-morning stroll through the East Village

The video for Father John Misty's song "God's Favorite Customer" came out today... it's the title track from his new album, out now on Sub Pop and Bella Union.

And the video is set entirely in the East Village, with a forlorn-looking Misty (aka Josh Tillman) slowly making his way from Seventh Street and Avenue A to Third Street and the Bowery.

If you want some analysis of the song and video, directed by his wife Emma Elizabeth Tillman, then you can head over to Stereogum.



H/T Jon!

This 3-story building on 6th Street is for sale (air rights included)

There's a new listing for 743 E. Sixth St., a three-story building between Avenue C and Avenue D.

According to the listing, the property is vacant ... and features a garage-studio on the ground level (the former Manny's Auto Repair) ... and a single-family residence on the second and third floors. (This PDF of the property includes some interior shots.)

Per Cushman & Wakefield: "This is a perfect opportunity for a user or developer. There are also 4,430 square feet of air rights available allowing for a buyer to build up and/or extend back."

Asking price: $4.5 million.

New playground at P.S. 19 now ready for action

The official opening of the revamped playground at P.S. 19 on First Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street took place yesterday morning.

As noted in the previous post on the renovation:

The playground will feature a synthetic turf field, a painted track, play equipment, trees, a garden area with an outdoor classroom, a green-roof gazebo, junior basketball, benches, game tables, student art and an outdoor ping-pong table.

It was designed as a green infrastructure playground, and will capture hundreds of thousands of gallons of stormwater each year.

The playground is open to the community until dusk, after school and on weekends and holidays — just not when in use by P.S. 19 or any of their after-school programs.



This all-new playground happened with funding by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and (now-former) City Council member Rosie Mendez in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land.


[Click on image for more detail]

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on the all-new playground coming to P.S. 19