A short film by Grant Shaffer... shot today on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
August 22nd 2018
August 22nd 2018
Emerging from a Summer
that never seemed able
to pass that over bearing
mix of: too hot, too humid,
too wet, too long, just too …
will we now be teased by
a breeze, a night
cool enough to sleep
false security, maligned teasing
summers cruel little joke
what did I expect
an unreasonable summer of old
foolish I know, just call me a
Pollyanna. In the summer sweat,
hopefully, in the Winter shiver.
•
peter radley
A look at the East River Park Track, due to reopen next month
[Reader-submitted photo from Sept. 18, 2017]
Last Sept. 18, the Parks Department shut down the the East River Park Track at the FDR and Sixth Street — without any advance notice — for a year-long renovation project.
Well, here we are almost one year later... and according to the Parks Department website, the construction is 84 percent complete.
A look at the track yesterday shows that work is wrapping up... with noticeable progress... and few, if any, alarming signs (like, say, mounds of dirt on a muddy track)...
The $2.8 million initiative was set to "reconstruct the synthetic turf soccer field and resurface the running track," per the Parks Department website, which includes this rendering highlighting all the improvements...
[Click on image for more detail]
A Parks Department official said the track will reopen on Sept. 10 [Updated 9/12: That didn't happen] ... with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to follow.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The East River Park Track is now closed for renovations; September 2018 reopening expected
Cholo Noir is currently closed 4 renovations
Several readers have noted that Cholo Noir has been closed since at least Aug. 19 here on Sixth Street just east of Avenue A ... Handwritten signs arrived on the front back on Aug. 22 noting a closure for (4) renovations...
There's no mention of the temporary closure on their website or social media properties. Their phone is currently not in service.
Cholo Noir, a Chicano-inspired bar-restaurant, opened in July 2017.
As previously reported, CB3 twice denied a liquor license for the proprietors in 2016 ... among other reasons, there are 20-plus full on-premises liquor licenses within 500 feet of the address. CB3 members also didn't see much public benefit from the concept on a mostly residential block in a nightlife-saturated neighborhood.
Given the amount of work that they already put into the space, ownership went to the State Liquor Authority for a license.
In 2014, the owners received $15,000 by winning the New York Public Library’s New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Another no for Cholo Noir
'Low and Slow' on 6th and A
Shinbashi Sushi hasn't been open lately
Over at 85 First Ave., the gate has been down lately at Shinbashi Sushi between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. There aren't any notes on the storefront to note a closure for one reason or another... and the phone is currently not in service.
Shinbashi Sushi opened in the spring of 2016 ... and I've never heard anything about the place. The Yelp reviews range from "Excellent excellent excellent excellent!!!" to "WHATEVER YOU DO...DO NOT EAT HERE!"
Before the sushi arrived, the small space sat empty... the previous tenant was the wine shop Tinto Fino, which closed in May 2013.
And... several years earlier...
[Photo from 1997 by EVG reader Dave Buchwald]
... it was Mod World, the boutique that had a 12-year-run here between 1994 and 2006.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
A good happy hour
$2 cold brew at the Juicy Lucy's stand on First and First... 4-6 p.m. Monday though Friday.
Health scare for remaining red-tailed fledgling in Tompkins Square Park
[The fledgling with its eyes closed on Friday via Steven]
We've already lost one fledgling (due to rodenticide) this summer in Tompkins Square Park ... and back on Friday and Saturday, things weren't looking good for his sibling.
Goggla was on the scene for a good portion of the weekend, even helping Ranger Rob try to capture the fledgling for evaluation.
Here's part of Goggla's report from yesterday:
The fledgling spent all of Saturday perched high in the trees, remaining very still with his eyes closed and his head often dropped forward. I really didn't think he'd make it through the day and prepared for the worst.
Then, around 7 p.m., he opened his eyes and looked alert. He flew to a bench where he looked unsteady, but still managed to catch a rat. After eating, he flew to a low branch hanging over the main lawn and stayed there until dark.
But by Sunday morning...
I returned ... and was relieved and elated to see the entire hawk family — fledgling, Christo and Amelia — flying around the park. They all perched together in their favorite locust tree on the east side of the park and the fledgling loudly harassed his parents for food for several hours.
Find more about this health scare here.
[Fledgling photo by Steven]
-----
This fledgling has proven to be quite precocious this summer. I was going to post this early last week...
[Photo by Goggla]
Goggla has an excellent update on the fledgling in Tompkins Square Park, who is enjoying exploring every nook and crazy of his surroundings... learning the trade from his parents Amelia and Christo...
Read all about it here.
Meanwhile, in other red-tailed hawk activity... Zak Wojnar shared these photos on Aug. 16 from Essex and Canal, across from Seward Park ... showing a juvenile red-tailed hawk dining on a pigeon on a fire escape ...
Previously on EV Grieve:
The red-tailed fledgling is having the most fun in Tompkins Square Park
Tuesdays at Sophie's
Kyle de Vre is never without a camera. So it made sense that de Vre, an East Village resident who has worked at Sophie's for the past four-and-a-half years, would put his camera to use while behind the bar.
During his Tuesday afternoon bartending shifts, de Vre started taking portraits of patrons seated in the comfortably worn bar on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.
The results can be seen in a new photo book, appropriately titled "See You Next Tuesday," which he'll release in a limited edition next Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Sophie's.
As he writes about the project on his website: "All of the subjects positively impact the neighborhood in one way, shape or form. Community is important and these are the types of people that make this neighborhood special."
I asked de Vre a few questions about the book.
What compelled you to start taking photos of patrons from behind the bar?
I had brought my camera to Sophie's a few times over the first two-to-three years that I worked there. I mostly took street photography as well as photos when I travelled. I got a new camera early last year, which was great for taking portraits — something I had never really done before.
So I started taking it into the bar every Tuesday because I knew I would have subjects to shoot. There was just enough light in the bar that I could [take photos] without a tripod or flash on Tuesday afternoons.
At what point did the idea for a book come about?
A friend was on the phone and I just started taking photos of him from behind the bar. Although the images weren't the greatest, the idea and framing were there.
So the next week, [my friend] Kayla came into the bar to chat with someone. I asked her if I could take her photo from behind the bar — more so along the lines of a traditional portrait. I shot four images of her while she drank her gin and tonic. When I saw the photos, it just kind of clicked in my head — why not start taking photos of everyone I know who visits me on Tuesdays.
What is your favorite thing about - or any day — at Sophie's?
The Tuesday day shift was just my first shift at Sophie's. Every day at Sophie's is pretty much any old day at Sophie's — and that's why I like it.
The "See You Next Tuesday" book launch is Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 9 p.m. at Sophie's, 507 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. All photos by Kyle de Vre. Posted with permission.
A new look outside for the 11th Street Bar
Over on 11th Street, Vinny & O shared these photos of the new awning outside the 11th Street Bar between Avenue A and Avenue B...
Back in the late spring, Dan Sweeney, a bartender at the pub these past seven-plus years, took over the ownership (along with his partners, Diarmuid and Meghan Joye).
Sweeney told EVG correspondent Steven in May that they weren't planning on many changes, aside from a new awning. So check that one off the last.
The bar also has a new website (unveiled yesterday), which you can find here. The 11th Street Bar has also continued its free live-music programming five nights a week.
Previously on EV Grieve:
A (familiar) new owner for the 11th Street Bar
Report: DOB fines Kushner Cos. for falsifying dozens of permit applications
As The New York Times first reported, the DOB cited Kushner for 42 violations in which it submitted false permit information in those 17 buildings, "where many of the tenants were protected from steep rent increases and eviction."
Landlords are required in New York City to disclose whether tenants in their buildings are rent regulated to obtain a construction permit. This requirement is designed to safeguard rent-regulated tenants from harassment. Unscrupulous landlords sometimes push out rent-protected tenants so they can sharply increase rents on those units.
A DOB spokesperson told The Real Deal that "the falsifications were a matter of not disclosing the existence of rent-stabilized tenants." Among the properties: 331-335 E. Ninth St. (pictured) and 211 Avenue A.
In a statement to TRD, the Kushner Cos. blamed the misfiled paperwork on a third party. Per that statement: "No fines were assessed against the company [yesterday]. There were some violations issued for paperwork errors of the same type identified back in March and as we noted then, the company relied on third party consultants for the preparation of these forms and if in error they have been corrected or will be. In no case did the company act in disregard of the safety of our tenants."
The Associated Press first reported in March about the Kushner Cos. allegedly routinely filing false paperwork with the city declaring that it had zero rent-regulated tenants in buildings it owns when, in fact, they had hundreds.
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump, resigned as head of the Kushner Cos. after joining the White House as a senior adviser in 2016. His father Charles Kushner is currently running the company. The published reports note that the false applications were filed while Jared was at the helm.
Also yesterday, the DOB confirmed that they’re investigating complaints by tenant advocates against an investment group led by Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal lawyer, for similar violations.
Per the Times:
At 172 Rivington Street, for example, the Cohen group indicated that there were no rent-regulated tenants in the 20-unit building, after the company purchased it in October 2011 for $2.1 million. But records indicated that there were 19 protected tenants there, but only 11 remained after the Cohen group sold the building three years later for $10 million.
As the Times noted, neither Cohen nor the Kushner Cos. have been cited for tenant harassment.
Monday, August 27, 2018
The big chill: John Carpenter's version of 'The Thing' screens Wednesday at the Village East
John Carpenter's suitably tense version of "The Thing" from 1982 with Kurt Russell screens in 35mm on Wednesday evening at 7 as part of the Village East's SciFest.
Here's a look at the horror-science-fi combo set in Antarctica...
And the legendary Ennio Morricone scored the theme...
Advance tix are available here. The Village East is on Second Avenue at 12th Street.
Tonight!: Read and share stories in the Green Oasis Garden gazebo on 8th Street
[Image via Facebook]
Via the EVG inbox...
Join the Green Oasis Garden’s Little Library book & story share on the full moon
• Share what you are reading and/or tell a story
• Donate or swap a gently used book* for the little library (optional)
7-9 p.m. at the Green Oasis Garden gazebo, Eighth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.
Monday, Aug. 27 (a day late, we know...)
Tuesday, Sept. 25
Wednesday, Oct. 24
All ages - 12 and under with an adult please
*Children’s, teen, eclectic, Arabic, Chinese, French, or Spanish books appreciated
... and the info in flyer form...
Local elected officials urge Boys' Club officials to postpone sale of the Harriman Clubhouse
As I first reported on June 21, the Boys' Club of New York (BCNY) plans to sell its Harriman Clubhouse building on the northwest corner of 10th Street and Avenue A.
In a letter to alumni, Stephen Tosh, BCNY's executive director and CEO, said that the 7-floor building, which opened in 1901, will remain in operation through June 2019.
Per the letter:
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 Daily News obtained a copy of the Feb. 24, 2015, BCNY board meeting minutes, in which Tosh stated that "enrollment was actually rising sharply, based on an increase over the preceding five-year period, mainly among boys and young men from low-income families."
Per the News:
At that point, the board had hired CBRE, a real estate investment firm to assess the value of its three city properties, and some board members indicated a desire to sell Harriman even then and use the proceeds for income or another facility in a different neighborhood, possibly East New York, Brooklyn. "Real Estate is a source of capital," the minutes note.
It was in that meeting that Tosh told the board the Harriman Clubhouse had experienced a "47% increase in attendance over five years and the majority are from low-income families."
Tosh told the News that the 47 percent increase "came only after we invested significant resources, including picking up boys from a number of elementary schools." He added: "This is still well below the attendance levels from the 1980s and 1990s, when the neighborhood was very different."
This revelation from the minutes upset local state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who told the News:
"Contrary to the claims of declining enrollment, the minutes show that the clubhouse has seen a surge in attendance, particularly from boys and young men from lower-income families. It confirms that if anything, there's a growing need. The Boys' Club should be building on its legacy, not selling out to the highest bidder. The last thing this neighborhood needs is another luxury condominium or expensive hotel."
Last week, Hoylman and other local elected officials sent a letter to the organization, asking them to put a hold on their plans to sell the clubhouse in order to gather community input and explore other options to keep the facility here.
Sen. Hoylman's office shared a copy of the letter with me. It reads, in part:
As representatives of the area, we were disappointed to have learned initially about the sale of the Harriman Clubhouse at a very late stage in the decision-making process. In order to ensure that your decision was fully informed by the community you serve, we strongly urge you to postpone placing the Harriman Clubhouse on the market until you convene a community meeting to take public input on your plans to sell the Harriman Clubhouse and present your plans for remaining services in the community.
The meeting’s agenda should include the following:
1. Membership profile by measures such as age, area of residence, etc.;
2. A transparent overview of organizational finances;
3. Overview of past outreach efforts to increase membership among boys and
young men at various age levels; and
4. Options and strategies that would allow your organization to remain in the current facility.
We strongly value your mission to empower boys and young men by providing effective programs and a supportive community. As you are well aware, the Harriman Clubhouse has been a vital part of our neighborhood for more than a century. Therefore, the decision to sell such an important community asset must only be taken after rigorous analysis and extensive public consultation.
Aside from Hoylman, the letter was signed by Gale Brewer, Manhattan borough president, Carlina Rivera, District 2 City Councilmember, Harvey Epstein, New York State assembly member, and Alysha Lewis-Coleman, chair of Community Board 3.
Tosh told the News that they are reviewing the letter while remaining "deeply committed to serving our current members with programming on the Lower East Side."
Previously on Ev Grieve:
Boys' Club of New York selling East Village building; will remain open through June 2019
An empty lot awaits the future home of the new Mt. Sinai Beth Israel Hospital on 13th Street
Over on 13th Street, EVG regular Pinch notes that the former 14-floor building here between Second Avenue and First Avenue that housed training physicians and staff of the nearby New York Eye and Ear Infirmary is now just an empty lot.
Workers have wrapped up the demolition phase ...
The property — previously 321 E. 13th St. — will be home to part of the new, 70-bed Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, with a 2021 opening at the moment...
Find more info on the Mount Sinai Beth Israel restructuring at their FAQ page.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mount Sinai's 13th Street residential building
[No. 321 in 2016]
Churro Cone by ChikaLicious bringing another dessert option to Avenue A
Signage is up at 131 Avenue A for Churro Cone...
... which includes a look at their ice-cream offerings stuffed into churro cones (these were big a few years back at ChikaLicious Dessert Club on 10th Street. Updated: See below: Turns out this is via the folks at ChikaLicious) ...
Churro Cone also marks the third new business for the storefronts at 131 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. Thai Direct opened next door last week... and ramen restaurant TabeTomo is on the way.
Updated 3 p.m.
Per the comments... this is a relocation for the folks who ran Dessert Club ChikaLicious on 10th Street (Chikalicious Dessert Bar will remain where it is)... And Churro Cone debuts on Wednesday...
New lobby unveiled at 250 E. Houston St.
After nearly five months of renovations, the all-new lobby has emerged from behind the plywood at 250 E. Houston St., the former Red Square here between Avenue A and Avenue B.
The Dermot Company, which bought the 13-floor building for $100 million in 2016, has stated they are "creating a more updated style and fit for the cool East Village neighborhood" with the renovations at the retail-residential complex with the Tibor Kalman-designed rooftop clock.
The main entrance is apparently the first step in this updated direction, which includes some new retail tenants. On that note, as reported in April, Y7, growing hip-hop yoga chainlet, signed a 10-year, 2,000-square-foot ground-floor lease for one of the retail spaces.
Eventually, No. 250 will look something like this rendering...
[Rendering of the all-new 250 E. Houston St.]
Previously on EV Grieve:
Rumors: Red Square has been sold
New ownership makes it official at the former Red Square on East Houston
Apartment listings at 250 E. Houston look to offer glimpse of former Red Square's future
Long-vacant retail space hits the rental market at 250 E. Houston St.
Former Red Square lobby gets the plywood treatment on East Houston
[EVG photo from June 2017]
The DOH temporarily closes the Ainsworth on 3rd Avenue (again)
Updated 8/29: The Ainsworth is back open.
Several EVG readers, via email and on Twitter (h/t @JCooper911), pointed out that the Ainsworth East Village on Third Avenue and 11th Street was closed over the weekend ... which coincided with a DOH inspection on Friday.
The note on the front door, which covers the DOH's yellow closure sticker, states that they are closed for maintenance to get "the place ready for football season!"
The DOH temporarily sidelined the EV Ainsworth back in February. According to public records at the time, inspectors issued 86 violation points. The top violations included: Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. (They need one for serving those wings dusted with 24-carat gold.)
On Friday, inspectors issued 102 violation points. The top there violations listed, per the public report:
1) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
2) Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours.
3) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
In February, the Ainsworth also covered up the DOH notice...
[Reader-submitted photo from February]
The Ainsworth, part of a growing chainlet of upscale sports bars, opened on Third Avenue at the end of December. Unrelated, the building — at 64 Third Ave. — was recently purchased by a Canadian investor.
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