A view downtown at sunset via Bobby Williams...
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Pack your bags
[Photo by Steven]
A plastic-bag humanoid has taken up residence along the fence on Seventh Street at Second Avenue (the gas explosion site)... this is apparently one of the Citizens of the Anthropocene — the anthropomorphic race of plastic-bag humanoids that previously lived in the trees of Tompkins Square Park.
More might be on the way...
Grant Shaffer's NY See
[Click on image to go big]
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.
I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant
East Village resident Susan Schiffman documents the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenant: Caren, since 1987
Why did you move to the East Village?
It was so long ago, it’s hard to remember. All of my friends were living here, and we were hanging out down here. The first place I had was in Williamsburg, among the first wave of artists in 1984. I had a 9,000-square-foot loft I shared for $800. I floated around Brooklyn a bit and then I came here.
I’ve been in the East Village since the mid-1980s. Everything was going on here — it was an active art and music scene. There was a lot to do and you could afford to live here.
How did you find your apartment?
First I lived on 11th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue before moving here. I got both of the apartments through Chuck Walsh. He was a well-known realtor on Sixth Street.
I was working with a guy who was getting married. And it was, “Congratulations, whose apartment are you taking?” This was his girlfriend’s apartment. I got to take it over. My landlord didn’t even raise the rent. In exchange for doing work on the apartment the landlord kept the rent at the same price. I was married at the time. My old apartment was too small for the two of us. Even though this apartment is just 500 square feet, it is so much bigger than my old apartment.
What do you love about your apartment?
I love the light. That is the No. 1 thing. The light makes it feel more open and the windows face the street. I don’t think I could live in a space that was dark. It’s important to me. I like to feel time and the seasons moving, so it is important for me to see out.
Living in an apartment for so long you sort of rediscover what you love and don’t love about a place. There are days when I feel that my life is never changing. It's pretty much impossible to move unless you can afford to buy a place.
And then you have the flip side which is that I feel so grateful that I have this space. If I said prayers at night, I would pray that my landlord would live forever. I feel a real sense of gratitude, having this space. Being able to have it for myself and not need to have a roommate. It’s my little piece of the world in here.
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenant: Caren, since 1987
Why did you move to the East Village?
It was so long ago, it’s hard to remember. All of my friends were living here, and we were hanging out down here. The first place I had was in Williamsburg, among the first wave of artists in 1984. I had a 9,000-square-foot loft I shared for $800. I floated around Brooklyn a bit and then I came here.
I’ve been in the East Village since the mid-1980s. Everything was going on here — it was an active art and music scene. There was a lot to do and you could afford to live here.
How did you find your apartment?
First I lived on 11th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue before moving here. I got both of the apartments through Chuck Walsh. He was a well-known realtor on Sixth Street.
I was working with a guy who was getting married. And it was, “Congratulations, whose apartment are you taking?” This was his girlfriend’s apartment. I got to take it over. My landlord didn’t even raise the rent. In exchange for doing work on the apartment the landlord kept the rent at the same price. I was married at the time. My old apartment was too small for the two of us. Even though this apartment is just 500 square feet, it is so much bigger than my old apartment.
What do you love about your apartment?
I love the light. That is the No. 1 thing. The light makes it feel more open and the windows face the street. I don’t think I could live in a space that was dark. It’s important to me. I like to feel time and the seasons moving, so it is important for me to see out.
Living in an apartment for so long you sort of rediscover what you love and don’t love about a place. There are days when I feel that my life is never changing. It's pretty much impossible to move unless you can afford to buy a place.
And then you have the flip side which is that I feel so grateful that I have this space. If I said prayers at night, I would pray that my landlord would live forever. I feel a real sense of gratitude, having this space. Being able to have it for myself and not need to have a roommate. It’s my little piece of the world in here.
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.
Foot Gear Plus has closed on 1st Avenue
Foot Gear Plus is now closed on the southwest corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place.
As we first reported back on July 11, Tony Scifo, who opened the shop here in 1980, recently made the difficult decision to close his family-fun business on July 31.
Scifo told this to EVG contributor Stacie Joy:
"After several years of peaks and valleys in business there were just too many valleys. Companies now sell direct to consumers and once they started offering free shipping it was all over. This is happening everywhere, not just locally.
The landlord wanted us to stay. She offered us a fair price and she's been great. We just couldn't make it."
No word just yet on who the next tenant might be in this high-profile corner space.
Cinema of rock at the Anthology Film Archives this month
["Viva Las Vegas" at the Anthology Film Archives this month]
A rockin' month-long series kicks off tonight over at the Anthology Film Archives on Second Street at Second Avenue.
Here's a quick overview:
This extensive film series — inspired by David E. James’s extraordinary book, “Rock ‘N’ Film” — ranges from major and minor studio productions to independent documentaries and avant-garde projects. Borrowing its structure from the successive chapters of “Rock ‘N’ Film,” this series functions as a kind of illustrated edition of James’s definitive book, and demonstrates how intertwined the cinema and popular music have been since the inception of rock ‘n’ roll.
Among the titles playing during August:
Richard Brooks
"BlackBoard Jungle"
Fred F. Sears
"Rock Around the Clock"
George Sidney
"Viva Las Vegas"
Richard Lester
"A Hard Day's Night"
Michael Wadleigh
"Woodstock"
Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg
"Performance"
Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin
"Gimme Shelter"
Mel Stuart
"Wattsstax"
D.A. Pennebaker
"Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars"
Find more details about the films and the schedule here.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
The Chipotle on St. Mark's Place has permanently closed
Permanently closed signs now adorn the front doors of the Chipotle outpost at 19-25 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
An EVG tipster shared this news...
Chipotlers are instructed to visit the nearest location at 55 E. Eighth St.
I don't recall when this Chipotle opened. 2003? 2004? 2008? (The first one opened in the city on 44th Street and Third Avenue in 2003, per the Times.)
Chipotle recently announced that the company was closing 65 U.S. locations as part of a brand restructuring.
This article has some history of the buildings that stood here previously.
EVG Etc.: Combatting wheelchair-ramp scams; searching for serial package thief
[14th Street near C the other morning]
The owner of Via Della Pace on Seventh Street is organizing local businesses to lobby City Council and the mayor for help with wheelchair-ramp scams (The Post)
NYPD searching for this suspect wanted for package thefts in buildings across Lower Manhattan, including in the East Village (Patch)
Jeremiah Moss on Target's CBGB storefront tribute: appropriating neighborhood icons is at the heart of planned gentrification (The Village Voice)
Hunan Slurp Shop gets high marks from Adam Platt (Grub Street ... previously)
Manhattan DA will no longer prosecute marijuana arrests (WNYC)
When the Young Lords announced the founding of their New York Chapter in Tompkins Square Park in July 1969 (Off the Grid)
A vigil for the Rivington House on Aug. 8 (The Lo-Down)
LES ferry line starts service on Aug. 29 (BoweryBoogie)
An interview with Kim Gordon and Bill Nace of Body/Head (Gothamist)
Mapping the city's lost movie theaters (Curbed)
Koreatown has been overrun by chains (Eater)
A charming Iggy Pop in this French TV interview from 1988 (Dangerous Minds)
... and via the 9th Precinct ...
The #NYPD is asking your assistance in identifying these two individuals in regards to a burglary that occurred on Saturday July 21 inside of 44 Avenue B.
— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) August 1, 2018
If you have any info we ask you to call #800577TIPS #EastVillage #NYC pic.twitter.com/AxUbWnw58q
A new mural to keep an eye on at Great Jones and the Bowery
A very early WIP here on the southwest corner of the Bowery and Great Jones...
Thanks to Lola Sáenz for the photos...
The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system
[Photo yesterday by Steven]
The Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, closes on Monday for upgrades that will keep the branch out of commission for at least six months.
Here's the message via branch manager Kristin Kuehl...
The New York Public Library's oldest branch, the Ottendorfer Library, will close temporarily on August 6 to install a new fire alarm and life safety system. The 8,000-square-foot Ottendorfer Library opened in 1884 as New York City's first free public library.
The upgrades at Ottendorfer Library will strengthen the well-being of a historic New York City building as well as further support nearly 135 years of library service to the Lower East Side community.
Due to the building's age and landmark status, the project is expected to take six months. The branch ... will reopen in early 2019. While Ottendorfer Library is closed, patrons are advised to use the Tompkins Square Library at 331 East 10th Street.
As for the Tompkins Square branch between Avenue A and Avenue B ... check out their free activities (link here) for August.
Illegal hotel row mural defaced again in First Street Green Art Park
Someone has twice vandalized the illegal hotel row mural since its arrival in First Street Green Art Park back in May.
The folks at the Cooper Square Committee shared this with me on Monday:
On June 27, tenants from East 1st Street rallied alongside affordable housing activists and elected officials to celebrate the completion of a community mural project, which called attention to the high concentration and negative effects of commercially operated, short-term apartment rentals facilitated by platforms like VRBO and Airbnb. These amateur muralists were shocked, but not surprised, to find that their project had been vandalized for the second time since they had begun work on the mural in early May.
On both occasions their mural was the only artwork in the First Street Green Art Park to be hit by the vandal, and the muralists allege that their messaging about the negative impact of short-term rentals on the community, as well as information on what tenants can do if they believe an illegal hotel is being operated in their building, were intentionally obscured.
A report issued in May 2018 by City Comptroller Scott Stringer notes that Chinatown and the Lower East Side are home to a high concentration of short-term rentals. Tenants living in buildings where illegal hotel operations are common allege that illegal hotels reduce affordable housing options and compromise tenant safety and quality of life — the lucrative prices that short-term rentals fetch contribute to displacement pressure on long-term tenants, and tenants' lives are often grossly disrupted by the influx of tourists and strangers who are able to access their building.
Residents in buildings where these operations are common claim they are routinely woken up in the middle of the night by confused guests ringing their buzzers and travelers carrying luggage up and down their stairs at all hours of the night. Others have woken up to find vomit in building common areas.
The tenants who worked on the mural are currently planning their response, and are looking for support from members of the community who are also concerned about illegal hotels' detrimental effects on the community.
Here's a video about the mural project...
`
[Photo from late June]
Beetle House founder brings ridiculous milkshakes to 6th Street with Cake Shake
Cake Shake USA has arrived at 514 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
The shop's Instagram account simply notes: "Cake Shake USA COMING SOON TO NYC AND LA!"
Cake Shake is the creation of Zach Neil, the entrepreneur behind the Tim Burton-themed Beetle House on Sixth Street as well as the now-closed Will Ferrell bar Stay Classy on the LES and the short-lived 'Merica NYC on Sixth Street.
Neil shared a few posts via his Instagram account showing Cake Shake's vegan concoctions... such as this pop-mocha shake with vegan chocolate cake, handmade caramel corn, caramel, vegan whipped cream, etc. ...
Cake Shake will also serve over-the-top non-vegan items too, such as the Shake Rattle and Roll, aka the “Elvis” chocolate cake with peanut butter, chocolate ice cream, maple glazed bacon, banana, freeze dried banana cubes, fresh caramel and chocolate straws...
Cake Shack had a soft-opening sneak preview Saturday evening. No word on when they will be open full time.
The space was most recent recently an office for restaurateur Ravi DeRossi and DeRossi Global (they moved a short distance away) ... and Betola Espresso Bar before that.
Film Forum reopens today after months-long revamp
[Image via @FilmForumNYC]
Over on West Houston, the Film Forum reopens today with a fourth screen and new seating, among other improvements. (The movie house closed back on May 2 for the upgrades. Read more about the changes here.)
The re-opening day lineup includes the start of a Jacques Becker retrospective and the biopic "NICO, 1988."
Meanwhile, enjoy this time-lapse clip of the renovations...
The Film Forum has been in its Houston Street space between Sixth Avenue and Varick since 1990. It was established in 1970.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Activity in the former DF Mavens space
EVG DF Mavens correspondent Steven spotted workers inside the former DF Mavens space this morning on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place...
Workers weren't too chatty about what they were working on ... perhaps a new tenant is taking over this prime retail spot?
DF Mavens, the vegan ice cream shop, closed in January 2016 after two years in business... and the storefront has remained tenant free and for-lease-sign free since then.
Every so often, a past-due rent notice arrives on the door.
The 23-year-old Starbucks on Astor Place is now closed for 'a major renovation'
The Starbucks on Astor Place went dark yesterday (h/t to the tipster!) ... as workers covered the windows...
... to mark the start of renovations ... actually "a major renovation," per the Starbucks signage...
According to the approved work permit on file with the city (and in the DOB's ALL-CAP STYLE: "FILING FOR RENOVATIONS TO EXISTING STARBUCKS STORE. DUCT WORK, SPRINKLER HEADS, PLUMBING FIXTURES, AND RELATED GENERAL CONSTRUCTION."
The estimated cost of this work is $985,000, per the DOB.
Apparently this location — a popular spot outside the downtown 6 for its restrooms — was in need of an upgrade, at least according to some of the one-star reviews on Yelp.
For instance ...
This Starbucks is always full and the tables and chairs are always taken and theirs always a line to use the bathroom although that is next to the subway station entrance and across from a department store, this location needs lots of improvements and make the place more cozy for people.
And...
First, it's desperately in need of a renovation: 1) All the tables are scratched and worn. The chairs are the same, plus most of them are ready to fall apart. 2) The roof leaks when it rains. 3) The bathrooms look like they run a cockfighting ring out of them.
This outpost opened in the spring of 1995 (RIP Riviera Cafe!) As The New York Times noted then, this 5,000-square-foot, 80-seat Starbuck's was "the chain's largest outlet in Manhattan."
Per the Times on April 2, 1995:
The Astor Place Starbuck's has floor-to-ceiling windows and a vaulted ceiling. "We've been looking at opening stores that are a larger format, using the architecture of the site to its fullest potential," said Kat Spellman, a company spokeswoman. It is the 11th Starbuck's Coffee in Manhattan; several more are planned in the next year.
Today, there are 317 Starbucks in Manhattan, according to the Center for an Urban Future.
The tipster who passed along this temp closure news noted that the Astor Place Starbucks was expected to reopen on Sept. 6.
407 E. 6th St. is for sale; one of the 'most sound-proofed properties in NY'
The five-story townhouse at 407 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Avenue A is now on the sales block.
Cushman & Wakefield has the listing, which notes that the building can be converted into a single-family home. Also, according to the listing, the recent renovations here apparently made it a very quiet place to live...
Originally built in the early 1800s this townhouse now consists of 4 high-end residential apartments, all of which are free market, and thus the building is positioned for an easy conversion to a single family home. The garden floor (a few steps down) and 2nd floor consist of a beautiful and spacious duplex apartment that has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 laundry rooms and an 800SF rear yard/garden. The 3rd, 4th and 5th floors consist of 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartments.
As a bonus, the basement has a large open finished storage space (approx. 700SF) with rear yard access. From 2014-2016, the property underwent a high-end gut renovation, including steel superstructure, high efficiency heating/cooling, full insulated hurricane windows (eliminating the need for security gates), all LED lighting, complete closed cell urethane insulation, soundproofing, steel superstructure with foundation footings/grade beams, silicone integrated roof coating on top of new EDPM roof system, separately metered utilities/systems are new from the street throughout the building, all exterior walls are protected with brick ties/rods.
The result is one of the best built, most energy efficient, sound-proofed properties in NY. This property is ideal for an investor to operate the building as a 4 family (plus bonus space) and utilize the air rights down the road, or for an owner/user who can occupy all or a portion of this gut renovated gem.
Asking price: $9.5 million.
The building has been on the market several times through the years, most recently in July 2012, when it was seeking $3.5 million. Public records indicates that the property sold for $3.6 million in December 2012. That sound-proofing really pays off.
Mexican restaurant back on for 157 2nd Ave.?
[Photo yesterday by Steven]
A for-rent sign remains on display in the front window at 157 Second Ave., which was most recently Yuan Noodle.
And for a few days, there was a notice from the State Liquor Authority (SLA) about a new applicant seeking to sell liquor here between Ninth Street and 10th Street ...
[Photo Saturday by Steven]
In May, applicants from Butter Midtown — doing business as E&Y Hospitality LLC — received CB3's OK to open a Mexican restaurant here.
However, the SLA notice has since been removed at No. 157. So the Mexican restaurant's status remains unclear at the moment.
Despite the application on file at the CB3 website back in May, Yuan owner Jacob Ding told Eater that his restaurant was not closing. Yuan shut down nearly two months later after a year in business.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Yuan Noodle may be yielding to a Mexican restaurant on 2nd Avenue
Report: A Moxy Hotel planned for the Bowery
[Google Street View]
There's yet another new hotel coming to the Bowery.
As The Real Deal reported yesterday, the Lightstone Group is in contract to buy 151 Bowery ... and will use the space — currently a lighting store at the southeast corner of the Bowery at Broome — to building their fourth Moxy Hotel in NYC.
The seller, Emmut Properties, previously had designs on an 8-story condo-hotel combo for the buildings at 151-153 Bowery (aka 331-337 Broome). Presumably the Moxy, Marriott's so-called millennial-friendly brand, will rise on this full parcel.
The 13-story Moxy East Village recently topped out on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.
Other new Bowery hotels include the citizenM at 189 Bowery and Sister City at 225 Bowery.
Monday, July 30, 2018
About Fiona Silver's 'Thunder and Lightning'
East Village-based singer-songwriter Fiona Silver released her latest single today, a very personal track titled "Thunder and Lightning."
She talks about the song in an interview published at Bust:
"Thunder and Lightning" is a really special song to me. There are times when inspiration strikes, and it feels otherworldly — this is one of those rare times for me. I was struggling to cope with the loss of my older brother, sitting in the room he was born — where we grew up together in my small East Village apartment — and I wrote the lyrics to this song. It was about a year ago, right before my album was going to come out, and I took a phrase from the first line of the song and titled my album Little Thunder as a precursor to this track.
I knew I wanted everything about this recording to be significant and special to me. I had come to Memphis for the first time on tour and met Boo Mitchell (a Grammy award-winning producer) outside of the venue I played at, by chance. A few months later I came back to Memphis to record with him at Royal Studios, where his father recorded all of Al Green’s records.
Check out the song here.
Silver is currently on tour with Gary Clark Jr. ... they'll be out in Prospect Park on Aug. 9.
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