Monday, August 6, 2018

EVG Etc.: More L-train shutdown talk; high praise for Bali Kitchen on 4th Street


[Photo in Tompkins Square Park yesterday by Derek Berg]

Tonight: MTA hosting public meeting on environmental impact of the L-train shutdown (WNYC)

A visit to Bali Kitchen on Fourth Street. "It’s a boon not only to the neighborhood, but to a city that, despite its wide-ranging dining options, only has about a dozen or so restaurants devoted to Indonesian cuisine." (The Village Voice)

CNN will air the remaining "Parts Unknown" episodes this fall, including the one Anthony Bourdain filmed in the East Village and Lower East Side (Los Angeles Times... previously)

Mighty Quinn's BBQ, which opened on 2nd Avenue and 6th Street in 2013, launching franchise opportunities to take brand nationwide (QSR — H/T Eater)

City cooling centers are open (NYC.gov)

Former East Village chef busted again for exposing himself to a subway rider (The Post)

Ghost signage on the Bowery (Ephemeral New York)

Screenings of Dennis Hopper's fever-dream "The Last Movie" from 1971 — also in a new digital restoration (Metrogaph ... "one of the great lost films of the 1970s")

...and tomorrow, East Village-based singer-songwriter Riley Pinkerton releases her debut full-length album, "Nothing Ever Is." She and her band are playing a record-release party at the Mercury Lounge tomorrow night with Mother Feather...

Chelsea Thai debuts on 1st Avenue


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]

Chelsea Thai, a longtime favorite in that neighborhood, opened in its new home at 192 First Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street back on Friday.

Founder-chef Saruj Nimkarn (pictured above) relocated here after 21 years in the Chelsea Market. (He closed that space in January.)

You can find the menu (PDF!) here.

This Instagram post from January 2017 has more about Nimkarn...


Previously on EV Grieve:
Chelsea Thai coming to former Neptune space on 1st Avenue; Filipino fare for Avenue A

Cleaning up the Relaxation Garden on Avenue B and 13th Street



Several Parks Department workers descended upon the dormant Relaxation Garden on 13th Street and Avenue B and removed trash and debris this past Thursday.



As the Post reported, the GreenThumb garden, part of the city’s urban gardening program, had been locked up the past two years during renovation work next door. During this time, the space had become infested with rats — thanks in part to the NYCHA-controlled trash compactor adjacent to the lot.


[Photo from yesterday]

Per the Post:

For about four hours, the workers hauled away trash and construction debris from the lot at Avenue B and East 13th Street, cut down a tree, pruned shrubs and hacked at weeds.

“It’s going to come back as a community garden. We can’t say when,” a Parks Department worker told The Post.

The workers also removed the GreenThumb-branded Relaxation Garden sign from the fence.

Meanwhile, the construction at the building next door, 207 Avenue B, remains at a standstill. The city issued a Stop Work Order in March 2017 because the contractor of record withdrew from the project. That Order is still in place as of Friday.



The Parks Department was reportedly working with 207's landlord to expedite the work so that the garden can reopen.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Rats running rampant in the Relaxation Garden on Avenue B and 13th Street

The Ottendorfer Library is now closed for renovations



As noted last week, the Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, closes starting today for upgrades that will keep the branch out of commission until early 2019.

According to a message to patrons from branch manager Kristin Kuehl, workers will be installing a new fire alarm and life-safety system. "Due to the building's age and landmark status, the project is expected to take six months," Kuehl wrote.

A little history of the building:

The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library opened in 1884 as New York City's first free public library. Designed by German-born architect William Schickel, this landmark building combines Queen Anne and neo-Italian Renaissance styles with an exterior ornamented by innovative terracotta putti. The branch was a gift of Oswald Ottendorfer, owner of the New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung newspaper.

Ottendorfer patrons can head on over to the Tompkins Square branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B for all your library needs. Check out their free activities (link here) for August.

The Tompkins branch is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system

Paper Gutter brings books, mix tapes and art to Essex Flowers


This is happening today from 1-9 p.m. at Essex Flowers, 19 Monroe St. down in Two Bridges...

Paper Gutter

Vortexity Books and Book Row Present a day of Book Selling, Mix-Tape DJs, Live Performances, Art and Poetry Readings

• 3 p.m. Performances by: Carolyn Lockhart Schoerner, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
• 7 p.m. Readings by: Nicole Wallace, John Coletti, Peter BD, Alissa Bennett

Artwork by: Ryan Foerster, Mattie Goedecke, Adam Opet, Yusuke Okada, Caroline Schub, Yoni Zonszein, Sara Glick

Tape Mixes From: BOB, Jezenia, Adam Opet, Bene and Matt

Small Presses: Heinzfeller Nileisist, Ratstar Press, Bunny JR. Tapes, IMP, Dripper World, Papertown Company, Noa Danish, Discipline Press, Vortexity, Solution, Black Tower Editions, Adventures Ltd. Press, F Magazine, Matt Kenny and more.

Additional performances, readers and presses TBA!

Nobody Is Perfect has closed



Nobody Is Perfect closed its doors for good in late July here on Fourth Street near Avenue B.

"The gas in the entire building, including the apartments and the restaurant next to us, has been shut down for six months," proprietor Mario Carta explained in an email. "We were unable to provide a decent menu to our customers during that period of time and that affected our business knowing that we were open for less than a year trying to build a clientele in the neighborhood."

Carta, who also runs Pardon My French at 103 Avenue B and Chouchou at 215 E. Fourth St., opened the Italian restaurant in the spring of 2017.

He also noted that the Community Board 3 denied their sidewalk cafe application that "could have helped us stay open."

In issuing the denial in May for the 16-table sidewalk cafe, CB3 officials said that the restaurant received 45 311 calls since it opened, 18 of which required a visit from the NYPD, according to the official minutes of the meeting. (PDF here.) Five residents (as well as a rep from the East 4th Street/Lower Avenue B Block Association) also spoke at the CB3 meeting, stating that Nobody is Perfect "plays excessively loud music and allows cheering and chanting associated with its weekend boozy brunches," which was in violation of its license. (There were other complaints too, such as leaving the restaurant's front windows open past 10 p.m.)

Nobody Is Perfect was the fifth restaurant to try this address in the past 10 years. B4 closed in June 2016 after nearly three years in business ... and previously Piccola Positano, Tonda and E.U. gave the space a go.

H/T Alexis!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Team behind Avenue B's Pardon My French eyeing 2 spaces on 4th Street

Ben Shaoul's former Liberty Toye sales office is now for rent on Avenue B



The former sales office for Ben Shaoul's Liberty Toye condoplex is now for rent at 44 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street.

According to the listing at Steve Croman's 9300 Realty, the asking rent on the 1,500-square-foot space is $9,995 per month. The listing notes that this is "one of the hottest areas in NYC" and "Food Use is okay."

Before Shaoul's Toye team took over the long-vacant space last fall... the address was a laundromat.

Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate reportedly sold the nursing home-turned-residential building at Fifth Street and Avenue B for $85 million. (There isn't isn't any sign of this transaction yet in public records.)


[Photo from November]

Legal documents arrived on No. 44's front door earlier this summer stating that Shaoul owed the $9,300 base rent for March through June ... for a total of $41,345.91.

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Week in Grieview


[Eduardo Kobra's Michael Jackson mural on 11th Street at 1st Avenue]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

1 of the 2 red-tailed hawk fledglings in Tompkins Square Park dies from secondary poisoning (Monday)

Tompkins Square Parkgoers irate after finding notices for use of controversial weed killer (Friday)

The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system (Wednesday)

The 23-year-old Starbucks on Astor Place is now closed for 'a major renovation' (Tuesday)

The latest installment of I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Thursday)

About Fiona Silver's 'Thunder and Lightning' (Monday)

Foot Gear Plus wraps up 38 years on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

This week's NY See (Thursday)

The Chipotle on St. Mark's Place has permanently closed (Wednesday)

July — August by peter radley (Friday)

Cinema of rock at the Anthology Film Archives this month (Thursday)

Pinks Cantina opening in the Bowery Market (Friday)

Activity in the former DF Mavens space (Tuesday)

Silky Kitchen in soft-open mode on 13th Street (Monday)

This block of 1st Street is trailer free for the time being after 6-plus years (Saturday)

Pado bringing 'Modern Japanese Cuisine' to 2nd Avenue (Monday)

Illegal hotel row mural defaced again in First Street Green Art Park (Wednesday)

Film Forum reopens after months-long revamp (Wednesday)

Pizza for 20 Avenue A (Monday)

Report: Rats running rampant in the Relaxation Garden on Avenue B and 13th Street (Monday)

407 E. 6th St. is for sale; one of the 'most sound-proofed properties in NY' (Tuesday)

Former Santander space for lease on Avenue A (Monday)

Beetle House founder brings ridiculous milkshakes to 6th Street with Cake Shake (Wednesday)

... and of interest from the LES ... the Lo-Down first reported this past week that the 186-year-old Federal row house on the corner of Grand and Ludlow is for sale...



The landmarked property is the longtime home of Ideal Hosiery, who plans on relocating to a yet-to-be-disclosed location.

-----

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On Avenue B, East Village Fruit and Vegetable is gone, gutted



East Village Fruit and Vegetable closed at the end of the month on Avenue B between 13th Street and 14th Street.

As previously reported, the lease was up, and the owners couldn't make the increase in rent work. According to a longtime patron, the store owners also said that they wouldn't be able to compete with the new Target, which features a large grocery selection, on 14th Street at Avenue A.

In any event, workers have emptied out the space...



No word on a the space being for rent... or what might replace the previous longtime business...

Day 1 of the Tompkins Square Park police riot anniversary shows



Yesterday marked Day 1 of the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Aug. 6, 1988 Tompkins Square police riot.

Steven shared a few photos of the bands, including Jennifer Blowdryer...



... and Sea Monster...





... and Jeff Perlin of Breakdown...







Back at it this afternoon with more guest speakers and bands...

2 — D.I.Y.ing Breed
2:45 — Zero Content
3:20 — Skitzopolis
4 — David Huberman
4:20 — Team Spider
5 — Choking Victim

After the show, there's a multimedia presentation at the Museum Of Reclaimed Urban Space (MORUS), 155 Avenue C, starting at 7 p.m., "linking two generations of resistance" featuring comic slide shows by Eric Drooker and Seth Tobocman, with music.

Saturday, August 4, 2018

East Village Vintage Collective is celebrating 3 years on 12th Street this weekend

All weekend long at 545 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B...


Their anniversary will be next month.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the East Village Vintage Collective

Living in the plastic bag age



Just noting another one of the Citizens of the Anthropocene — the anthropomorphic race of plastic-bag humanoids that previously lived in the trees of Tompkins Square Park... this one is on St. Mark's Place east of Second Avenue...



Thanks to EVG reader Chris Rowland for the photos!

This block of 1st Street is trailer free for the time being after 6-plus years



Workers have removed the trailer that has sat here on First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue these past seven years.

A reader who lives nearby said that crews will be starting water-main work on this block.



Since January 2012, the trailer served as an outdoor gallery via the Centre-fuge Public Art Project.

Centre-fuge was up to Cycle 23. (The art has not changed here since last August.)

The trailer was supposed to be relocated someplace nearby (I didn't walk around looking for it. Yet!)

Perhaps it will return to this spot. The Department of Transportation uses the trailer as an office for the East Houston Reconstruction project that is due for completion in 2077 (give or take a decade).

Anyway, here's a look back to May 2014... when Lexi Bella created a collection titled "Heroines of the Lower East Side" as part of the first Lower East Side History Month...

Friday, August 3, 2018

The great 'Escape'



An audio version of "I Can't Escape Myself," the first track from the Sound's 1980 debut album Jeopardy. An under-appreciated band.

Breakdown and Choking Victim headline Tompkins Square Park police riot anniversary shows this weekend



Via the EVG inbox...

Come and commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Aug. 6, 1988 Tompkins Square police riot. This will be the first of a two-day event (Aug. 4-5), followed by another two day commemoration on Sept. 8-9.

After the Sunday show in the Park, there will be a multimedia presentation at the Museum Of Reclaimed Urban Space (MORUS), 155 Avenue C, starting at 7 p.m., linking two generations of resistance. Comic slide shows by Eric Drooker + Seth Tobocman, with music.

There will also be a screening of "By Any Means Necessary," a classic documentary on the Tompkins Square Movement. Additional speakers and performers to be announced.

Here's the lineup for the shows in Tompkins Square Park:

Saturday, Aug. 4
2 Jennifer Blowdryer
2:45 Professor Louie
3:30 Iconicide
4:15 Sea Moinster
5 Breakdown

Sunday, Aug. 5
2 D.I.Y.ing Breed
2:45 Zero Content
3:20 Skitzopolis
4 David Huberman
4:20 Team Spider
5 Choking Victim

Guest speakers will include:

• Father Pat Maloney
• Activist attorney Norman Siegal (formerly of the N.Y. Civil Liberties Union)

Find more info and any updates here.

Ahead of the event at MoRUS on Sunday ... there's a sneak preview of their political punk exhibition tonight from 6-9. (The museum is between Ninth Street and 10th Street.)



July - August



July - August


Day long with light
                      heavy with heat

sounds of laughter
       shaved ice blocks

children’s eyes bright
            their colored treat



lawns decorated with bodies
      some moving
some not

some turn slowly
      as a burger on the grill
sizzling hot



  oppressive  flushed face
   
shade a premium

             beating the heat
       
wearing brightest lightest clothes
  
becoming summer’s damp
    embrace



until
                  the nights draw in

summer will conspire
                                   holding us in its fire

resigned we
                                   will try not to let it win.


     •
     peter radley



Report: City Council committee approves tech hub for Union Square; no zoning protections for now


[Tech hub endering via RAL Development]

The City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises yesterday unanimously approved the mayor's proposed 21-story tech hub for the former P.C. Richard property on 14th Street at Irving Place, according to published reports.

This was the second-to-last stop in the months-long approval process tour — the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) — for the Union Square Tech Training Center, which would include educational facilities, with scholarships "to make the tech industry more accessible to a wide range of New Yorkers."

The 240,000-square-foot building would also include space for fledgling companies, market-rate offices "to attract established, industry-leading corporations to the ecosystem" and a food hall, per a release from the city's Economic Development Corporation, which is lobbying for the tech hub

As previously reported, a number of residents, activists, small-business owners and community groups are concerned that the rezoning necessary for the project would spur out-of-scale development on surrounding blocks.

District 2 City Council member Carlina Rivera, who holds the crucial vote for the zoning changes to make the project a go, has said that she'd sign off on the tech hub only if the city agreed to downzone the surrounding area. (She threatened a no vote during a Council subcommittee hearing last month, as the Lo-Down reported.)

However, yesterday, Rivera voted for the rezoning without any protections.

According to Crain's:

Rivera indicated that while she voted yes at the committee level, she is still working on securing some sort of rezoning or study for the surrounding neighborhood.

"I am doing this so that I can continue negotiations with the mayor's office toward the possibility of reaching a deal that would satisfy all impacted communities," she said before giving the thumbs up. Her district includes the project site, so she expects her colleagues to follow her lead, per council tradition.

Her move disappointed and angered some local residents, who shared their thoughts on Twitter...







There were positive reactions as well...





Meanwhile, here's more reaction from yesterday's vote. From Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation:

It is deeply disappointing that the Council would approve this rezoning without anything even remotely resembling the protections for the surrounding neighborhood that had been under discussion. This will turn Greenwich Village and the East Village into extensions of Silicon Alley and Midtown South, with more out-of-scale and out-of-character tech office buildings and condo high-rises going up in the area.

Councilmember Rivera publicly pledged during her campaign that she would not vote for the Tech Hub without the comprehensive neighborhood protections which have been under discussion for more than two years. This falls very far short of that pledge she made to her constituents.

RAL Development Services, who's partnering with the city on the project, released this statement:

[Yesterday's] vote is an important step forward for the innovative and inclusive Tech Training Center at 124 East 14th Street. We are dedicated to developing a new property model for inclusive community and economic impact, embracing and interacting with its local community and in permanent support of emerging and existing local entrepreneurs and industries.

We look forward to continuing our dialog with the community and local officials, working together to make sure the Tech Training Center responds to the community’s needs and becomes a vibrant addition to the iconic Union Square area in Lower Manhattan.

The final City Council vote will take place on Wednesday.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

P.C. Richard puts up the moving signs on 14th Street; more Tech Hub debate to come

Preservationists: City schedules next public hearing on tech hub without any public notice

City Council's lone public hearing on the 14th Street tech hub is tomorrow

Tompkins Square Parkgoers irate after finding notices for use of controversial weed killer


[Photos by Steven]

On Wednesday, we heard from several residents who were upset to find these flyers posted along 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B (and elsewhere around Tompkins Square Park)... offering "notice of pesticide application."

The Parkgoers who emailed us said that there was less than 24-hours notice given for the use of Monsanto's controversial Roundup Promax pesticide ... being applied to tree pits, cobblestones, blue stones, hex blocks and curb lines in the Park.



In 2015, the IARC, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, stated that glyphosate — the weed killer's key ingredient — was "probably carcinogenic to humans." However, in May 2016, Glyphosate was given a clean bill of health by the UN's joint meeting on pesticide residues. Monsanto has also said that it's product is safe.

Regardless, several countries have banned the use of the product. And it has been in the news of late as a former Northern California school groundskeeper is suing Monsanto over his terminal cancer. (A reported 4,000 other people are looking to sue the weed and seed maker for similar allegations, per Fox News.)

According to readers who had contacted the Parks Department, officials responded that they cancelled this application, and would not use it in the future in Tompkins Square Park.

Workers do not use rodenticide in the Park. As for Roundup, an interactive map created by Rev. Billy and the Coalition Against Poison Parks several years ago did not show its use in Tompkins, though it is applied in other Parks in the five boroughs.

Pinks Cantina opening in the Bowery Market



Pinks Cantina will be the latest vendor to join the Bowery Market, the year-round open-air food court at 348 Bowery and Great Jones.

The taco shop is an extension of Pinks Bar & Grill, which opened in the fall of 2014 on 10th Street near First Avenue.

The Cantina is taking over the space last held by Dosa Royale, which lasted less than a year here.

The Market launched in July 2016 with five vendors. Alidoro, the only original tenant, recently vacated its space (as did Oaxaca Comida Calle). The remaining vendors are Sushi on Jones, Fruitsand and L’Arte del Gelato.

Pinks Cantina had been planning on opening a taco shop on Chrystie Street last fall. Not sure what the status is of that location at the moment.

Reminders: Time for Summer Streets



Summer Streets is back for its 11th year starting tomorrow (Saturday). As in previous years, the Department of Transportation turns Park Avenue ... and Lafayette, Astor Place and Fourth Avenue into vehicle-free zones from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. for these next three Saturdays.

This year's them is "Finding joy in unexpected moments."

Activities taking place at Astor Place include the BF Bouldering Wall & Obstacle Course and Gazillion Bubble Show’s Bubble Garden and the Oh-Shit-I-Just-Want-to-Cross-Fourth-Avenue-to-Sell-These-Books-Back-at-the-Strand Dodge 'Em.



Previously on EV Grieve:
This year's Summer Streets celebration includes rocks and bubbles on Astor Place