Sunday, November 25, 2018

Reader report: SUV takes out part of the sidewalk bridge on Houston and Avenue B



EVG regular Salim shares this photo from earlier this morning ... showing the aftermath of an SUV colliding with the sidewalk bridge on the northwest corner of Houston and Avenue B.

No word on the cause of the collision or injuries. (We've heard from readers through the years noting how dangerous the East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection is.)

The NYPD remains on the corner ... and the area is cordoned off... likely awaiting a new sidewalk bridge for outside the long-empty 6 Avenue B...



Previously on EVV Grieve:
Is something finally happening to the long-vacant, mysterious 6 Avenue B?

Resident: July 4 collision highlights dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Christmas tree yearbook photo



The trees arrived this holiday weekend at stands all around the neighborhood (like the usual places, 14th Street at First Avenue, Houston at Essex, Astor Place between Lafayette and Broadway, Second Avenue at Seventh Street, etc.) ...

The nice folks at Tree Riders NYC on Second Avenue at 10th Street outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery always have the tallest/largest ... with some reaching 18 feet...



And they have a 25 footer on the way... in case you have Cathedral-type ceilings or plan to decorate a lobby.

RIP Chile



A longtime resident of 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B recently passed away.

A neighbor on the block shared the news.

He was originally from Chile, and everyone called him Chile. He has lived on the block for decades, and he had two sweet dogs, Diego and Dante, who are now in need of a home.

He had sold his apartment and was going to go back to Chile with his dogs in late October. However, the neighbor noted that he had health problems, and he wound up in the hospital just days before he was supposed to leave. He eventually went into palliative care.

Back to the neighbor...

I feel sad that he didn't make it home to Chile. He had a cat, too, but he had already given the cat to a neighbor on the block because it was going to be hard enough for him to deal with getting the dogs from the plane to where he was going in Chile. They were his babies. He loved these dogs and would want them to go to a good home.

Everyone who walked down East 12th Street between A and B would have met him and Diego and Dante at some point.



Updated 11/28

Animal; Haven is looking for a new home for the dogs now.

Updated 12/2

Diego and Dante have both been adopted! Going to a new home in Brooklyn!

Updated 12/5

Read an update here!

The pop-up bar before Christmas: Miracle on Ninth Street returns for 5th season


[Image via Facebook]

For the fifth consecutive year, Miracle on Ninth Street — a Christmas inspired pop-up bar — is open for the season (as of yesterday) inside Mace, the cocktail bar at 649 E. Ninth St. at Avenue C.

And what started on Ninth Street is now worldwide. Per Facebook:

Miracle Owner/Cocktail Kingdom Founder & CEO Greg Boehm, Beverage Director Nico de Soto, and Manager Joann Spiegel have partnered with over 80 renowned bars (and counting!) across the world to launch sister pop-ups in cities as far-flung as London, Panama, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, and many more.

Miracle on Ninth is open through Dec. 24, with the following hours: 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday and 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Noted



From earlier this week... Fake ad for "Ivamka Trump's Sweatshop for Women" spotted on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... "A Presidential Parody" via Maia Lorian and Abe Lincoln Jr. ...



Friday, November 23, 2018

Buying a 'Round'



The Germs' "What We do Is Secret," the 20-minute EP originally released in 1981, received the Record Store Day Black Friday treatment today ... with remastered tracks on blue color vinyl.

The audio track here is their version of "Round and Round," written and first recorded by Chuck Berry.

Grant Shaffer's NY See


[Click on image for more detail]

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 elsewhere.

Black Friday Deal of the Day

[Updated] Report of a fire at 204 E. 13th St.



The FDNY responded to a report of a fire this morning at 7 on the top floor of 204 E. 13th St., a four-story building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.



A resident on the block shared these photos and video...









No word at this moment on injuries or the cause of the fire. The resident said that the FDNY quickly extinguished the fire in the apartment, which appears to be gutted.

According to Streeteasy, the building, owned by Steve Croman, has three residential units. Bruno Pizza is in the retail space.

Updated 11/26

Bruno Pizza, will be closed for the foreseeable future.

"There is extensive water damage in the restaurant," owner Demian Repucci told me via email. "But the biggest thing is that ConEd shut off the electricity, gas and water to the whole building.

"We're trying to figure out the situation and what it will take to get back up and running."

Take a Stand at this holiday market on 7th and C



The Stand, the small gallery space on the southwest corner of Seventh Street and Avenue C, is hosting a holiday market starting today (Black Friday!) at noon.

Here's info via the EVG inbox...

Join us for our East Village Stand Holiday Market Nov. 23 - Dec. 24 on the corner of Seventh Street and Avenue C.

Opening Reception & Performances: Friday, Nov. 23, 6-8 pm. A shakuhachi zen flute performance by Till Behler

Participating vendors at the East Village Stand Holiday Market include:

• Bottleworks, bottle lamps, pendant lights and glassware by Joe Harrigon

• One of a kind handmade picture frames by Anne Edris

• Taconic Trading Company spiced pepitas and Applewood smoked sea salt

• eulenspiegelchocolatelab cookies and chocolates

• Black Lives Matter holiday themed jewelry and ornaments by Carla Cubit

• Artwork by Baum Earth Elements

• Handmade natural products by Body Vanity

Find updates via Facebook. The Holiday Market is expected to be open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday (not counting the 6-8 opening reception tonight...).

Green paint arrives on the new 12th Street bike lane



On Wednesday, crews painted the new eastbound bike lane on 12th Street... I spotted them between Second Avenue and Avenue A ...







The bike lane for 13th Street arrived at the beginning of the month.

Meanwhile...


As previously reported, the city put in a bike lane on the north curb of 12th Street from Seventh Avenue to Avenue C, and the south curb of 13th Street from Greenwich Avenue to Avenue B separated from traffic with a painted buffer ahead of the April L-train closure.

The bike lanes are just one of the ways the city hopes to keep people/commuters moving during the 15 (or so) months that the Canarsie Tunnel under the East River gets repaired.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Prepping for the new protected bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets

Bike lane line work continues on 12th Street

DOT puts down the green paint on the new 13th Street bike lane (except for one mysterious spot)

Steamy Friday



EVG regular Salim shares this photo from Tompkins Square Park this morning... with the always photogenic Con Ed power plant in the background. As of this writing, it's 18 degrees, which according to the Weather Channel "feels like" 12.

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Thursday's parting shot



Late afternoon on Avenue B via Vinny & O...

Thanksgiving morning



From Tompkins Square Park...

Today in last-minute dessert-related needs



As on previous Thanksgiving days... Sweet Generation, 130 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, is open today until about 4:30 p.m. (or while supplies last).

Owner Amy Chasan shared a list of available items, including pumpkin, pecan, traditional apple and apple crumble pies ... cupcake packs (Cranberry Black Sesame, Bourbon Chocolate Caramel, Caramel Apple Crumble, Pumpkin Spice) ...cookie platters ... pumpkin breads, etc.!

Sweet Generation, who turns 4 in January, partners with several nonprofit organizations and local high schools to create an internship program that teaches baking, food safety, customer service, work readiness, and entrepreneurship to teens and young adults from low-income communities.

Meanwhile, down First Avenue between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, the 59-79-99-cent shop is open for last-minute table-setting needs... probably find some Easter stuff in there too...

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Nov. 21



Today seems like a good day to toss the Christmas tree from last Christmas... as tree vendors are setting up around the neighborhood, with the chance to buy a new one just hours away...

Thanks to EVG reader Bill Spector for sharing this from 11th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Report: NYCHA tenants on Avenue C have been without heat and hot water since Thursday


[Photo on 6th Street from October 2017]

The temporary boilers that arrived after Superstorm Sandy nearly became permanent sitting here for five years on Sixth Street at Avenue C outside the NYCHA-owned building officially known as Lower East Side Rehab Group 5. (The Daily News once reported that a temporary boiler costs $5,000 a month to rent.)

However, a new boiler arrived last fall, thanks to funding from FEMA. Still, by January, residents in the building said that they rarely have heat or hot water, according PIX 11, who noted that the work there was "serving as a model for 17 other projects."

Today, the Daily News reports that the residents have been without heat or hot water now since Thursday's snowfall.

“This is a harsh living condition,” said tenant Neicee Johnson, saying she has no heat and barely any hot water.

She wakes each morning at 5:45 a.m. to boil a pot of water on the oven and turn on two space heaters. Her family, which includes two teen children, sleeps with multiple layers of clothing and blankets.

“We barely hang out in the apartment,” she said. “We are hardly ever home. We go to the local library or community areas until it is time for us to come home.”

Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera is quoted in the article... she is also tweeting about the situation...



Back to the Daily News:

Resident Clara Rivera, 91, has also been shivering in her apartment since the snowstorm last Thursday.

“The house is really cold. They give nothing here in the morning or night,” said Rivera, who has asthma and arthritis. "We're dealing with this every day. I'm not going to die from this cold!"

There were an estimated 6,366 NYCHA tenants throughout NYC with the same problem, according to an online “service interruption” tracker, as the News pointed out.

A tradition almost as traditional as Thanksgiving itself



The familiar Thanksgiving signage arrived just a little bit later this year than usual over at the Odessa, 119 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place ...



The complete dinner price remains the same as in recent years — $18.95. (Management bumped it from $15.95 to $18.95 for Thanksgiving 2014.)

Neither here nor there but this link takes you to Veselka's Thanksgiving menu.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Odessa breaks out the Thanksgiving Special signage

It now seems like Thanksgiving with the Thanksgiving Special at the Odessa

Odessa unveils Thanksgiving Special; complete dinner still $18.95

Thanksgiving at Odessa

Still the best Thanksgiving deal around

1 idea for a last-minute Thanksgiving meal

No Romaine holiday



Key Food on Avenue A appears to be romaine-lettuce free after yesterday's urgent CDC safety alert...

CDC is advising that U.S. consumers not eat any romaine lettuce, and retailers and restaurants not serve or sell any, until we learn more about the outbreak. This investigation is ongoing and the advice will be updated as more information is available.

• Consumers who have any type of romaine lettuce in their home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick.
• This advice includes all types or uses of romaine lettuce, such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and bags and boxes of precut lettuce and salad mixes that contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad.
• If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.
• Wash and sanitize drawers or shelves in refrigerators where romaine was stored. Follow these five steps to clean your refrigerator.
• Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell any romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing romaine.

CDC officials believe that it may be contaminated with E. coli. To date, 32 people, including 13 who have been hospitalized, have been infected with the outbreak strain in 11 states, according to the CDC.

Meanwhile, Key's sale on the Urban Meadow handle roasters continues... two varieties going for $2.99.


Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Scenes from a (re)marriage: Comedy classics at the Anthology Film Archives


This holiday weekend (and through Nov. 29), the Anthology Film Archives on Second Street at Second Avenue is screening a classic series titled "Stanley Cavell & the Comedies of Remarriage."

Cavell, a writer, philosopher and scholar, published several books on pop culture during his lifetime (he died in June at age 91), including "Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage" in 1981.

Per the Anthology: "Cavell astutely identified and brilliantly analyzed the hidden micro-genre that he called the 'comedies of remarriage,' a group of classic Hollywood romantic comedies whose unassuming wit belied their capacity for sustained, penetrating analysis."

Here's a look at the classic romantic comedies screening in the days ahead (find more details here) ...

Frank Capra
"It Happened One Night"
Nov. 23 at 6:45 PM
Nov. 25 at 6:15 PM

Leo McCarey
"The Awful Truth"
Nov. 23 at 9:15 PM
Nov. 25 at 8:45 PM

Howard Hawks
"Bringing Up Baby"
Nov. 24 at 2 PM
Nov. 28 at 6:45 PM

George Cukor
"The Philadelphia Story"
Nov. 24 at 4:15 PM
Nov. 26 at 9 PM
Nov. 29 at 6:30 PM



Howard Hawks
"His Girl Friday"
Nov. 24 at 6:45 PM
Nov.r 26 at 6:45 PM

Preston Sturges
"The Lady Eve"
Nov. 24 at 9:15 PM
Nov. 27 at 6:45 PM
Nov. 28 at 9 PM

George Cukor
"Adam's Rib"
Nov. 25 at 4 PM
Nov. 27 at 9 PM
Nov. 29 at 9 PM