Another look at today's gorgeous sunrise via EVG Facebook friend Caz Lulu...
Friday, October 26, 2018
Break 'Free'
Here's a track from the Toronto-based Dilly Dally's September release titled Heaven. ... a bit of a Halloween vibe here in the video for "I Feel Free."
Walk This Way on 12th and A
Here's an in-progress look at a new wall mural on 12th Street at Avenue A... the Run DMC work is via Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra...
Kobra has been quite busy in NYC of late with his "Colors of Liberty" project. (The Run-DMC is not part of this project.)
Kobra recently completed the dual Michael Jackson mural on 11th Street at First Avenue.
H/T East Village Walls!
Updated 5:30 p.m.
EVG regular Daniel passes along these photos... with the panels being colored in...
Updated 10/28
Pinch provides a look from today...
Intermission is over at the Bowery Mural Wall; JR brings 'The Gun Chronicles'
Tristan Eaton's Intermission tenure is up at the Bowery Mural Wall.
Workers yesterday painted over the mural, which arrived back in June.
Before the next artist gets started (waiting on confirmation on who it will be), the canvas beckons... and, overnight, Pork arrived...
[Photo this morning by Lola Sáenz]
Updated 2 p.m.
Thanks to the commenter and everyone else who wrote in with the news that JR is working on the wall now... part of a collaborate project with Pace Gallery and Time magazine titled "The Gun Chronicles: A Story of America" ...
A St. Mark's sunrise
EVG reader Allen Semanco shares this photo this morning from St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue...
Reminders: The Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade is Sunday at the East River bandshell
The resurrected Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade — No. 28! — happens Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. in its new location, the East River Park bandshell.
A little background if you're confused: In August, organizers were forced to cancel the event after the Parks Department required parade organizers to take out a big $1 million insurance policy to cover the larger crowds that have attended in recent years.
That wasn't going to happen. So no dog parade.
On Oct. 17, City Councilmember Carlina Rivera's office announced that a deal had been worked out with the dog-run supporters and the folks at Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), who will hold the insurance policy.
The parade also moved to the bandshell to accommodate larger crowds. (Plus, there's an actual stage.)
Meanwhile, here a few photos of the bandshell that I took late Wednesday afternoon...
And some history of the bandshell (or amphitheater!) via the Parks Department website:
In 1941, an amphitheater was built in the park, along with an adjacent limestone recreational building, as part of an urban renewal project for the Lower East Side. During the 1950s, the amphitheater was the site of frequent free Evening-in-the-Park concerts. Joseph Papp (1921-1991), founder of Shakespeare in the Park and the Public Theater, staged Julius Caesar there in 1956. Local schools held their graduation ceremonies there, and the Group of Ancient Drama staged free-of-charge performances of classic Greek plays. In 1973 however, the amphitheater closed due to budget cuts. Vandals attacked the neglected theater and by 1980 it was unusable.
The bandshell reopened in late 2001 — with the help of Erin Brockovich.
And allow EV Bendy Arrow to show you where it is...
Or you could just watch it on ESPN with Katie Nolan.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Halloween Dog Parade in Tompkins Square Park this fall has been cancelled
Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade is back on; new deal puts the pups in East River Park and on ESPN this Oct. 28
East River Park Bandshell 1992-93
The new Donut Pub on Broadway is now HIRING
Just checking in on the status of the Donut Pub outpost opening on Broadway at Astor Place... they are now in hiring mode...
Not sure about the experience necessary...
In its fall preview, New York magazine had a November open here. Given that staffing is just underway, that doesn't quite seem likely.
The original Donut Pub opened on 14th Street and Seventh Avenue in December 1964.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Donut Pub opening an outpost on Astor Place
Goodbye Dojo
That's it for Dojo on West Fourth Street at Mercer... it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the restaurant was not going to reopen after sitting vacant following a Sept. 13 DOH inspection that closed its doors. (You can read the previous post here.)
The inspection turned up 62 violation points, which appeared to be correctable items before any follow-up visit.
In any event, the contents of Dojo have been removed ... and the signage has come down.
And a little cut-and-paste Dojo history:
Dojo began in the East Village, first with the Ice Cream Connection on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue in March 1970. Tony Yoshida's Japanese-inspired vegetarian cuisine came along in 1974. And via the Dojo website:
In 1982, Dojo took over the space next door and expanded even more. Then in 1991, Dojo in the West Village was created – both Dojo East and Dojo West were favorite local gems. Unfortunately in 2007, Dojo East was closed down due to high rent. BUT Dojo West is still going strong!
I posted the news on Twitter yesterday. Seems as if a lot of people have Dojo memories.
Wow. I have been eating here for nearly 30 years. (Always the soy burger with that amazing carrot ginger dressing) Went here the night of our jr prom rather than do whatever kids usually do. And when I was most poor, it was so affordable. https://t.co/9VCCtv4aLm
— Dusty Rebel (@TheDustyRebel) October 25, 2018
My heart will weep for carrot ginger dressing and cold sesame noodles forever. https://t.co/UgOUuLvv7l
— Morgue Shanahan (@the818) October 25, 2018
Sending thoughts and prayers to all my NYU History peeps. https://t.co/xQSybpplit
— Thomas Fleischman (@TomFleischman) October 25, 2018
RIP the one place in NY that catered to both my brokeness and my vegan-ness at age 17 in the summer of 2002. https://t.co/tTR3Ymde5Y
— Judy Berman (@judyberman) October 25, 2018
Today in my-city-is-gone, the closure of a signature Gen-X first-date emporium. As @mehpatrol put it, "Pour out some carrot-ginger dressing." https://t.co/NRbWeOzyJJ
— Sam Sifton (@SamSifton) October 25, 2018
...and even if you frequented the place...
the number of mediocre meals i had here with TISCH friends right after moving to NY. incalculable. https://t.co/VqwLTaBBfS
— w.e.b. da boyyy (@rodb) October 25, 2018
Carrot ginger dressing on every fucking thing on the menu. RIP. Also, it was gross. https://t.co/DrGyJuV9W4
— gabe mckinley (@gabejamckinley) October 25, 2018
I ate here every week for 3 years. The food was awful. https://t.co/9voja5F7S2
— Charlie Lait (@charlielait) October 25, 2018
Previously on EV Grieve:
Dojo looks to have closed for good
Concern for Dojo, which has now been closed for 2 weeks
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Nobletree Coffee is the next tenant for 37 St. Mark's Place and 2nd Avenue
Also, breaking!
Signage is in progress this afternoon at the long-empty storefront that is 37 St. Mark's Place (at Second Avenue).
Workers are putting in the Nobletree Coffee signage...
We mentioned last week that coffee of some sort was (probably) coming here.
The Brooklyn-based Nobletree has several locations in NYC, including in the Dekalb Market Hall and Westfield World Trade Center.
Here's a small part for their about:
Nobletree’s name reflects the coffee tree’s alluring history and is a nod of respect to those who first transported coffee trees from their native home in Ethiopia to the tropics of the Atlantic. Today, Nobletree Coffee continues that tradition of respect by valuing everyone involved in growing, roasting, and preparing coffee as team members united in working toward the common goal of delivering a superior product to the most discerning consumers.
Nobletree is also affiliated somehow with the previous tenant, DF Mavens, the vegan ice cream shop that closed in January 2016 after opening in December 2014. (The coming soon signage arrived in October 2013.)
Before the Mavens, the prime corner space was the cafe Eastside Bakery (.net?). And there was Roastown Coffee before that. And the Gap a long time ago.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Coffee probably for St. Mark's and 2nd Avenue, and the rent is still due at the former DF Mavens
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 and city. This week's panel is from Washington Square Park.
I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant
East Village resident Susan Schiffman has been photographing 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: Sheila, since 1991
What is your background?
My parents raised us in New York and when they retired they moved to North Carolina. My dad still lives in North Carolina. He retired from the MTA and my mother retired from the Board of Ed. I grew up in Queens and went to Stuyvesant High School when it was on 15th Street. I loved Stuyvesant. It was the first time I was around kids who were geeky like me and we didn’t have to worry about getting beat up. Except when we left.
The first day of school they told the freshmen “don’t ever go below 14th Street.” We couldn’t wait to go below 14th Street. It was scary but there were really great bakeries and thrift stores. That is when I fell in love with thrift shopping. There were methadone programs around Stuyvesant and all the junkies would mess with us. Not in a bad New York street menacing way. They would just curse at us and try and get us to buy liquor for them. There was a liquor store on the corner.
When I was in high school in the late 1970s, the drug being used in the neighborhood was heroin. When I moved to the East Village in 1991 it was crack. The crack vials would crunch under your shoes like snow. At least a crack addict would say “good morning” to you. Now I say good morning to these young tenants and they look at me like “why are you talking to me?”
Why did you move to the East Village and how did you find your apartment?
I was living in Harlem and I found a rat in my closet. I went to the super and I said “oh my g-d there’s a rat in my closet and he said “get a cat.” I said “are you kidding me?” I did get a cat because I did love my apartment. The cat started attacking me. The cat was probably pissed off at me. “Why do you have me in here trying to kill this rat? You terrible woman.”
Most of my friends lived in the East Village. One Saturday I got up, took the train downtown and walked over to the Village Views Realty. I had a friend who lived on that block. I walked into the realty office and a woman named Martha was there. She said, “yeah we’ve got something you might be interested in." We got up and walked over here. I could tell that the floor slanted but it was love at first sight. I definitely wanted the apartment.
By the time we got back to Village Views Realty there were three people waiting to see the apartment. I took it right away. I felt like I got the last rent-stabilized apartment in NYC because the neighborhood starting changing so fast. Like this block changed so quickly. It went from squalor to luxury with nothing in between.
It went away so fast. I knew it was over in 1993 or 1994. I was doing my laundry. I came home and Kate Moss was sitting on the step out front smoking a cigarette. “Excuse me,” I said, “I need to get in.” She said, “oh, I’m sorry love” and got up. Wow, Kate fucking Moss. “What are you doing here?”
We used to have really cute boutiques on this block. They all had to move. A combination of rents rising and retail changing. I have such cute stuff from those stores that don’t fit anymore. There was a girl down the street who had a boutique where she would sit and sew and make clothes and sell them. If you had an idea she wouldn’t make it for you, she would show you how to make it. She’s gone. I guess Kate Moss was down here shopping picking up some cute stuff. That was the beginning of the end. Everytime I went out I would see something new.
Westminster, Jared Kushner’s property management company, runs my building now. I have to say the maintenance got better after they bought the building though I've heard and believe all the horror stories of other Westminster buildings. They do very aggressive renovations. But unlike my previous management company when something breaks, it gets fixed right away. I have an awesome super. Shout out to Ruben. We had a terrible super before. I had horrible landlords before. It was my first experience going to housing court — they never fixed anything, ever. Westminster has brought some stability but people don’t stay. The young people don’t stay.
What is the story with the angels?
Before when I was living in Harlem, I had an awful boyfriend. He was demonic. My sister gave me angels to protect me from him. It kind of caught on and a lot of friends started giving me angels. All of those are gifts. I’ve never purchased an angel for myself. I can’t put any more figurines up.
When all of your stuff is showing you want to like what you see. I have weeded down to the books I like and the pictures I like. I don’t have all of my pictures up. That picture is when I met Betsey Johnson in Bloomingdale's. I was such a big fan of hers. When I moved down here I had this fantasy that Betsey Johnson would open up a store in the East Village and I would be the manager of that store. It didn’t happen.
What do you love about your apartment?
I love the exposed brick. The bathtub is in the kitchen, which is quaint.
I have had such good memories here. When I first moved here I was in my 30s. I had a lot of parties here. It would be unbelievable the amount of people I could fit in here. People would have a good time. They would actually stay. It was a good neighborhood for that. I was near the clubs. Post or pre club, people would come here.
From my 40s, I have very romantic memories, I had some good relationships, it’s a romantic little spot. Now in my 50s it’s more of a work space. I don’t do that many parties anymore and I’m not in any romantic entanglements at this time. So I work out a lot. I do all kinds of different exercises on YouTube. Everything folds up. I push that chair against the fireplace, this goes over here. I put my yoga mat down and go.
I like the architectural details. It’s shabby in here but in my mind’s eye I can see that around the cornice in the bedroom, if I had the time I could paint this a color and that a color.
I was freelancing and then I took a job with a nonprofit, and when I got laid off it was 2011. There were no jobs. I was doing public relations. I had worked at big corporations all of my life. We had a social media department but by 2011 they expected a PR person to tweet and do everything. I didn’t know how to do that. I’ve learned how to do that now because those are the kind of skills you learn by doing. I knew the best way to find a job was to start working.
I went over to the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, MoRUS, on Avenue C. I started volunteering with them. At MoRUS, we do walking tours of the gardens on Saturdays and activist spaces on Sundays. We have an exhibit now for political punk. How punk music intersects with politics. Usually we have pictures of direct actions that happened over the years that gave rise to the community gardens and the squats. We also show photos of how the neighborhood looked before.
Eventually I got a job. I work in Union Square so I walk to work. I make very little money but I don’t care. You can’t put a price on being able to walk to work. I can meet my needs fortunately because I have a rent-stabilized apartment. I’m an administrative assistant now. I was a senior director at one point. I didn’t realize the level of stress I had at that job. I don’t want to do PR ever again. I do customer service now. I like helping real people solve real problems.
If I didn’t have a rent-stabilized apartment I would probably have to move to North Carolina.
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.
Nai Tapas Bar now open in new East Village location
Nai Tapas Bar's move from First Avenue to Second Avenue is now complete... the restaurant opened last Thursday at 85 Second Ave. (at Fifth Street).
The new two-level Nai has more light and space ... their Instagram account provides some interior views...
The flamenco shows live on here as well, with two performances every Thursday and Saturday night. Visit the Nai website for details.
Nai moved from their subterranean home of eight years at 174 First Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street back in the summer.
The previous tenant at 85 Second Ave., Bareburger, relocated to Orchard Street in the spring.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Nai Tapas Bar moving from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue
Hitchcocktober movie of the week — 'The 39 Steps'
The Hitchcocktober movie of the week is... "The 39 Steps" tonight at 8... at City Cinemas Village East on Second Avenue at 12th Street.
The plot of the 1935 thriller via IMDB:
A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring which is trying to steal top secret information.
... and an (updated) trailer...
Hitchcocktober wraps up on with a Halloween-night screening of "Psycho."
Find advance ticket info here.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Wednesday's parting shots
Crews today transformed Via Della Pace on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue into Hobart & Blackwell...
... this was apparently a reshoot for "The Goldfinch," the adaptation of Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel starring Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, Luke Kleintank, Ansel Elgort and Finn Wolfhard, among others. (Crews filmed here during the winter as well.)
The drama has an Oct. 11, 2019 release date.
Photos by Derek Berg
Noted
EVG regular Peter Brownscombe shared this from the corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A by the Samuel S. Cox statue...
This is the story of how Geoffrey Weglarz died on 12th Street, and why it took a week to find him
[Photo on Aug. 31 by Blair Hopkins]
On Aug. 31, police found the body of a man in a car on 12th Street just west of Avenue B ... and steps away from Joseph C. Sauer Park.
Michael Wilson at the Times files a lengthy piece on 61-year-old Geoffrey Corbis, who changed his surname from Weglarz, a software engineer who took his life in the car by ingesting a vial of poison. His body remained in the car for a week.
The chain of events serves as a stark reminder that even in 2018 Manhattan, a city that lives beneath the nonstop gaze of countless surveillance cameras, one that for years has urged its citizens, if they see something suspicious, to say something, it is still possible for a dead man in a parked car on a busy block to go unnoticed for days.
The events leading up to and following that August day also unspool a story about a distressed man’s plan to raise some fast cash, thwarted by circumstance, and his grim resolve in his final hours to end his life, detailed in farewell text messages to his loved ones.
What's especially striking and heartbreaking is that his family asked the police for help in finding him, but they were met with resistance — and bureaucracy.
You can read the article to learn more about how the Connecticut resident ended up in the East Village. (It's a lot to summarize.)
Weglarz lived in NYC for many years, and worked at the software company Hyperion with Yale, Harvard and Brown among the schools who were his clients. As the article noted, he was married and had a son, and later lived in a 19th-century house in Fairfield, Conn. Following a series of mergers in the software industry, he ended up at Dell, but eventually grew tired of the travel. Now in his 50s, he struggled to find work, having applied for nearly 500 jobs. He was divorced earlier, and shared custody of his son.
Weglarz, who had been growing despondent over job prospects and financial difficulties, apparently drank the vial of poison used for euthanasia in his car on 12th Street on Aug. 24. (Earlier he told his sister that he bought the vial on the dark web.)
On that day, he texted Sal Biagini, a friend in New York. Concerned by the tone of the texts, Biagini called 911. The NYPD traced Weglarz’s phone to the closest address, 520 E. 12th St. However, they didn't take notice of the car parked nearby. Other neighbors and city employees also overlooked the man slumped behind the wheel.
Traffic officers who write parking tickets most likely passed by him at least twice, on days that his car was parked illegally. Officers looking for violators on street-cleaning days — on East 12th Street, those days were Tuesday and Friday — routinely ignore vehicles when the driver is sitting inside. Mr. Weglarz’s vehicle received no tickets on the Tuesday or Friday when it was parked illegally, suggesting an officer might have seen him and assumed he was just another idle driver.
A week passed before he was discovered.
The episode left Mr. Weglarz’s family furious with the police. They don’t believe the chances were high that their brother could have been rescued after ingesting the poison, but they said he should not have been left there for a week.
The police spokesman, J. Peter Donald, said officers did what they could with the information they had, including canvassing city hospitals. “Unfortunately, those efforts did not locate Mr. Corbis,” he said.
Mr. Weglarz was cremated in September. His sister plans to scatter his ashes in Manhattan, home to many successes in his acting years and where he began his computer career, long before the day he parked his car on the street and never left.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Body found in car on 12th Street near Avenue B
News roundup: At the SBJSA hearing Monday
[Image via Facebook]
As you may have read, the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA), which seeks to protect small businesses against massive rent hikes, had its public hearing before City Council on Monday.
Per Vanishing New York: The SBJSA gives existing commercial tenants several basic rights, including: 1. the right to renew the lease, 2. a minimum 10-year extension, and 3. equal rights to negotiate a fair rent, with third-party arbitration if an agreement between tenant and landlord cannot be reached.
In 1986, then-City Council member Ruth Messinger first introduced a version of SBJSA, though it never came to a vote. In 2009, the bill came up for discussion at the City Council committee level, but then-speaker Christine Quinn declined to bring it to a full vote, as Curbed noted.
City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez introduced the latest SBJSA.
Here's a rundown of coverage on the eight-hour hearing:
• SBJSA Hearing (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
• John Banks Clashes With Corey Johnson Over Commercial Rent Bill at Marathon Hearing (The Real Deal)
• Small Business 'Survival' Bill Debated at City Council Hearing (amNewYork)
• What Can NYC Do To Stop Small Businesses From Dying Out? (Gothamist)
• De Blasio Administration Opposes Commercial Rent Control Bill (The Post)
• Commercial Rent Bill Not ‘Silver Bullet’: Council Speaker (Commercial Observer)
• City Council Debates Small-Biz Bill at Heated Hearing (Curbed)
• Landlords, Activists Clash as City Council Mulls Small Business Jobs Survival Act (Bedford & Bowery)
• Speak to Speaker Johnson (The Brian Lehrer Show)
• What Restaurants Need to Know About the Bill Trying to Save Mom-and-Pops from Rent Hikes (Eater)
• NYC Council Hearing Exposes Opposition to Commercial Tenants’ Rights, Impacting Artists and Galleries (Hyperallergic)
And Jeremiah Moss talks more about the SBJSA in this EVG podcast from the summer.
210 1st Ave. is for sale; and a visit to Gena's Grill
A listing arrived earlier this month for 210 First Ave., a 6-story residential building between 12th Street and 13th Street.
There's not much posted with the listing at Douglas Elliman: "Great Building With 20 Rental Units, Two Stores ... 7 Free Market Apts And 13 Rent Stabilized."
The asking price: $17 million.
Coincidentally (or not), on Oct. 3, the Marshal seized one of the two retail businesses here — Papa John's.
And it doesn't appear that this outpost of the pizza chain will reopen... the space has been gutted...
[Photo by Steven]
Old-timer Gena's Grill is the other business at the address.
Hopefully a sale here won't impact Gena's.
Last week, Robert Sietsema highlighted Gena's in his "Cheap Eats" feature at Eater. Here's part of his lunchtime post:
Behind the counter are steam-table tubs containing the café’s daily dishes. There’s no printed menu, so check the chalkboard outside before you walk in. The other day the offerings included stewed pig’s feet, paprika roast chickens, and a codfish casserole. Available every day, though, is the roast pork leg or shoulder called pernil.
I chowed down on the braised pork ribs, the meaty bones cooked with onion, green pepper, and garlic. It came with a mountain of yellow rice and black beans, but I could have picked white rice and red beans. The full plate set me back $8.70 — indeed, all the luncheon size plates cost less than $10 ...
Gena's is open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Check out their menu at this link.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Gena's Grill is back open, and that is a good thing
The Marshal seizes Papa John's on 1st Avenue
Court papers served at Shinbashi Sushi
As we noted in late August, Shinbashi Sushi hadn't shown any signs of life over at 85 First Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
A comeback for the restaurant seemed unlikely (it never looked all that busy to begin with) ... yesterday, EVG reader Jonathan Michael Fung spotted some legal documents taped to the front door of the still-closed restaurant showing the owners owe nearly $29,000 in back rent. (And this is the second round of legal documents spotted at the address, as Eden B. noted last month.)
Shinbashi Sushi opened in the spring of 2016 ... and we've never heard anything about the place. The Yelp reviews range from "Excellent excellent excellent excellent!!!" to "WHATEVER YOU DO...DO NOT EAT HERE!"
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Noted
The city has unveiled its new #KeepNYCTrashFree campaign on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place...
Not sure at the moment who's responsible for this street art ... (and thanks to Christine Champagne for the photo!)
Updated
Thanks to the readers who shared the artist's name...
Updated 9 p.m.
That didn't last long, as Christine noted...
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