Week in Grieview

[Sunrise pic on Bond Street the other morning by Lola Sáenz]

A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street (Friday)

202 Avenue A has been gutted on its way to doubling in size to become the Topanga (Tuesday)

Thanksgiving-weekend fire temporarily shutters Bruno Pizza on 13th Street (Monday)

Tenant activists praise lead reform, urge for more protections from city against predatory landlords (Friday)

After 12 years in Bushwick, Grace Exhibition Space relocates to Avenue C (Thursday)

A Tompkins Square Park tree lighting reminder (Wednesday)

Last call at the Continental now set for Dec. 15 (Tuesday)

This week's NY See (Saturday)

There's improved pedestrian access for businesses along the L-train construction corridor (Monday)

Actual renovation work continues at the long-dormant 32 Avenue C (Wednesday)

Milk & Hops Astor Place closes (Friday)

Retail space for lease now at 131 1st Ave., which has a new owner (Wednesday)

Reader report: Christmas tree market's generator damages mosaic pole on 2nd Avenue (Saturday)

Construction watch: 688 Broadway, aka 1 Great Jones Alley (Monday)

A moment with former First Lady Michelle Obama on 7th Street (Saturday)

Cocoa Grinder softly opens on 1st Street (Monday)

In the West Village, Integral Yoga Natural Foods is closing after 45 years (Wednesday)

Relish this?: Amazon revives Carnergie Deli for a week to promote 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' (Monday)

You better watch out: Miracle on 12th Street pops up for the holidays (Thursday)

'tis the season... spotted at Doc Holliday's...



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Dante and Diego have been adopted, and are going together to a new home in Brooklyn!

Diego and Dante, the two labs that belonged to Chile, the longtime 12th Street resident who recently passed away, have been adopted together by a couple in Brooklyn.

This past Tuesday, Animal Haven, a nonprofit animal shelter, took the dogs away to find them a new home.

The folks at Animal Haven shared the photo below and this message on Instagram Wednesday:

Chile was one of those kind individuals who knew everyone on East 12th Street and, in turn, the neighborhood also cared for his beloved senior dogs, Dante and Diego. The threesome would sit together on a local bench welcoming neighbors home from a long workday. Together, they were unique characters that made the East Village welcoming and a true neighborhood. So it's no surprise that everyone came together soon after Chile's passing to make sure the dogs were safe and a call was made to Animal Haven for help.

When our community outreach team arrived yesterday to pick up the dogs, they were met by a handful of residents and friends of Chile. 💙💙💙 A group of eight friends walked the dogs to the transport car where photos were taken, hugs were given, and tears were shed.

A tipster says that NY1 will be featuring this adoption. I'll link to that clip once it's online. Updated: Here's the link to the NY1 piece.

Updated 12/5
Read an update here!

Urban Etiquette Sign of the day

Spotted on 12th Street and Avenue A... (thanks to EVG regular Trixie for the photo)...

A moment with former First Lady Michelle Obama on 7th Street

[Video screengrab]

Earlier today, former White House chef Sam Kass was thought to be the main event in a talk on healthy eating over at the Lower Eastside Girls Club on Avenue D and Seventh Street.

Then!

[A]s Kass detailed the former first family's nightly dinners, Michelle Obama entered, and the girls screamed, cheered and embraced in excitement.

Obama and Kass then served food to each individual girl before the group sat down for lunch and conversation.

That passage was from ABC 7. (This Vanity Fair piece has more details on the event.)

View this post on Instagram

#TFW a legend walks into your space! @michelleobama words cannot express how much today meant to us. TY for the heartfelt conversation and continuing to be an incredible inspiration to us. And @samkassdc TY for a delicious lunch w the best surprise guest we could ever hope for! #michelleobama #blackgirlmagic 🖤💪🏾👑

A post shared by The Lower Eastside Girls Club (@girlsclubny) on Dec 1, 2018 at 12:38pm PST

Yesterday, the Crown Publishing Group announced that Obama's memoir, "Becoming," has sold more than 2 million copies after 15 days, reportedly making it the year's best-selling book.

Also yesterday, Obama signed copies of the book at the Barnes & Noble on Union Square.

Meanwhile, around the Girls Club, word spread about the special guest (Obama, not Kass) ... and a crowd gathered outside. East Village resident Angeline Rodriguez shared this video clip...



"It was a really nice community moment, with everyone meeting or recognizing neighbors and talking about how much they admired Mrs. Obama's work," Rodriguez told me.

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 NYC.

Another Year Without a Trailer Park Santa Claus on 14th Street, though there is a bear

EVG regular Pinch shares this top photo from the Christmas tree vendors on the northwest corner of 14th Street and First Avenue.

In what may be a first for this spot, there's an inflatable bear on the scene this year. (We need to check the EVG microfiche to be sure.)

And unlike previous years, the tree vendor does not have the Cousin Eddie-style camper parked on 14th Street (because of the new SBS lane?).



Also, the Santa inflatable is new and clean, unlike the grubby ol' St. Nick — Trailer Park Santa Claus to some — that had been greeting the corner in recent years...


[On loan from the EVG Permanent Collection]

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Year Without a Trailer Park Santa Claus

Grubby ol' St. Nick inflatable makes triumphant return to 14th Street after 2 (long) years

Another year without grubby ol' St. Nick on East 14th Street; what to tell the children?

New, improved inflatable Santa arrives on East 14th Street tree lot

Dec. 1

At Gem Spa today...

6 posts from November

[Crate digging outside A1 Record Shop on 6th Street]

A mini month in review...

Take a Stand at this holiday market on 7th and C (Nov. 23)

Snowvember pain: Multiple reports of trees down (Nov. 15)

The boutique office building replacing the Sunshine Cinema will be 'unbounded by walls' with an outdoor space called Houston Alley (Nov. 15)

Vacant lot at 14 2nd Ave. sells for $7 million; will yield to 10-floor condoplex (Nov. 8)

The Mars Bar lives! (in a penthouse suite in Times Square) (Nov. 7)

A visit to Yoli Restaurant on 3rd Street (Nov. 2)

Sniff 'n' the Beers

Amyl and the Sniffers released a new video this week... a live version of "I'm Not a Loser," which showcases lead singer Amy Taylor's energetic stage presence... look for the Australian band's full-length debut in the New Year on Flightless/ATO/Rough Trade Records.

EVG Etc.: Catching up with Christo and Amelia; saving the Strand from landmarking

[The red-tailed hawks on the Christodora via Goggla]

Thanksgiving with Christo and Amelia (Laura Goggin Photography)

The Strand doesn't want its building landmarked (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

A feature on John Casey, owner of Casey Rubber Stamps on 11th Street (CBS 2 via YouTube)

These East Village spots are fueling "New York's Taiwanese New Wave" (The New Yorker)

The fight to make cash-free cafés illegal in NYC (Grub Street)

Citi Bike tripling the size of its fleet in the coming years (Streetsblog)

The mayor scraps plan for mega-jail down on Centre Street (Curbed)

The Lower East Side of Lillian Walk (6sqft)

EVG contributor Daniel Efram is raising funds for a one-off Curiosities book prototype (Kickstarter)

If you enjoy action-packed 1980s B-movies set in a dystopian future, then consider "2019: After the Fall of New York" (Dangerous Minds)

Meanwhile, on Twitter...

@evgrieve why would someone throw this perfectly good boob out?? pic.twitter.com/MQql4uwupG

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) November 29, 2018

... and an EVG regular shared info on this festive event tomorrow evening at 7:30 not too far away — 155 East 22nd St., between 3rd Avenue and Lexington...

A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street

As we mentioned on Tuesday, the Tompkins Square Library branch is hosting its second annual East Village Arts Festival starting tomorrow and running through Dec. 15.



In total, the library, located at 331 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, is hosting 36 public programs for all ages, including performances, lectures, workshops, author readings, and films, as well as tables from local organizations, and art installations by 15 local artists and groups. There are also several walking tours.

This link has all the different programs each day through Dec. 15. This link has more info about the Gallery Walk.

Ahead of the start of the festivities tomorrow, EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the library on Tuesday morning as the staff was setting up for the day as well as continuing planning for the East Village Arts Festival....


[Branch manager Corinne Neary]

Here's the staff on duty (from the left) Olga Estevez, Gerritt Reeves, Neary, Nefertiti Guzman, Romulo Paez and Roxmin Lopez...













Stacie also took the time to walk around parts of the four-level library — which has been serving the neighborhood from this location since 1904 — before it officially opened for the day...

Tenant activists praise lead reform, urge for more protections from city against predatory landlords

On Tuesday, members of the Lead Dust Free New York City coalition marched through parts of the Lower East Side and East Village, stopping at three buildings — 113 Stanton St., 57 Second Ave. and 233 E. Fifth St. — "where shoddy renovations have released lead dust into the air."

The group, including organizers from the Cooper Square Committee and Icon Tenants United, Tenants Taking Control and the Alliance of Croman Tenants, also praised elected officials for introducing laws aimed at protecting them and urged them to continue pushing for more lead reform.











Here's more background via a news release from the Cooper Square Committee...

Known collectively as the Stand for Tenant Safety (or STS) Laws, they included a new, Real Time Enforcement statute, as well as a tenant bill of rights that must be posted in buildings where construction takes place. They also created a new position within the Department of Buildings, called the Office of the Tenant Advocate.

This year, the City Council is looking at 25 more new bills to further protect tenants from lead exposure. The thrust of some of these bills is to break down the silos that current separately the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the Department of Buildings and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Marchers demanded that these laws also be enacted to further prevent the erosion of affordable housing in New York City.

As in other cities around the United States ... New York is being inundated by a hyper-gentrification tsunami that has been permanently pushing middle- and lower-income tenants out of their homes. Some landlords, hungry for quick returns, continue to pursue the practice of predatory equity, which worsens the city’s affordable housing crisis. These same landlords typically ignore safe work practices while renovating their buildings.

All photos courtesy of Tenants Taking Control

Previously on EV Grieve:
Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Ongoing concerns about demolition work and elevated lead levels in Toledano-owned buildings

Get the lead out: Tenants call for protections from lead dust during renovations

Today is the last day for Milk & Hops Astor Place

[Image via]

After three-plus years at 779 Broadway near Ninth Street, the Milk & Hops outpost is closing after service today.

In a Facebook post, the owners of the beer-cheese shop chalked up the closure to "irreconcilable differences with property management."

And for this last day: "all draft beers will be Buy One, Get One Free until the kegs kick. Additionally, all cans and bottles will be 30% off."

Milk & Hops Chelsea and Milk & Hops Ramen Bar on the Upper East Side will continue in business.

H/T EVG reader Eric!

Thursday's parting Instagram post

Avenue B Cleaners between Fourth Street and Fifth Street abruptly closed in September after reportedly suffering a bout of Cromanitis.

The space is for rent... and sitting empty and looking creepy with the ceiling fan still in motion while waiting for a gastropub tenant to open and close in less than a year.

Anyway! From our friend Adrian Wilson... (press play)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adrian Wilson (@interiorphotography) on Nov 29, 2018 at 5:36pm PST

EVG Etc.: Gay East Village couple say they were verbally and physically assaulted by Uber driver

Gay couple who live in the East Village say they were subject to hate-filled tirade by Uber driver; one passenger dragged along Fourth Street by car (NBC 4 ... New York Post ... Daily Mail)

Three top NYCHA executives lied about elevator inspections (Daily News)

Alleged shoplifter waves box cutter at Target employee on 14th and A (Town & Village)


[The Bowery Boys on Great Jones]

Spike Lee retrospective coming to the Metrograph on Ludlow (Gothamist)

A preview of Ravi DeRossi’s new vegan outpost on Seventh Street, Fire & Water (Grub Street)

Architects offer their opinions on the NYC of Amazon, "and it’s terrifying" (Fast Company)

Updated 9 p.m.

Robert Plotnik, the owner of Bleecker Bob’s, the Village record shop that was forced to close in 2013 after 46 tears in business, has died. He was 75.

The owner of Academy Records on 12th Street posted this remembrance...

View this post on Instagram

RIP to Bleecker Bob, a true legend on the NYC record store scene and probably the most singular character among that very idiosyncratic bunch. I first got to know Bob and his wise cracking sarcasm as a teenager in the late 70s as I soiled my fingers flipping through his grimy reused record sleeves. I also quickly learned that he loved an equal dose of sarcasm in return and our interactions were some of my first tastes of what it meant to be a real New Yorker. When I first opened my store in 2001 it was a real badge of honor when he came to check it out and told me it didn't suck too bad. Catch ya on the B side Postscript: Around 1990 I went into Bob's with copies of my band's demo tape. Bob: "Who's gonna buy this shit?" Me: (pointing to $1000 Stones record on the wall) "I dunno, who's gonna buy that shit?" Bob: Ok I'll take five

A post shared by Academy Records NYC (@academyrecords) on Nov 29, 2018 at 2:21pm PST

Previously on EV Grieve:
[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

Bleecker Bob's is for rent

Bleecker Bob's won't be moving to the East Village — or anywhere else, for that matter

Bleecker Bob's have a bid on space in the East Village

After 12 years in Bushwick, Grace Exhibition Space relocates to Avenue C

Grace Exhibition Space, a gallery with a focus on performance art, is making its Avenue C debut tomorrow night... in a rather offbeat and nondescript location — sandwiched between a dry cleaners and the Avenue C pharmacy between 11th Street and 12th Street. (No. 182 to be exact.)

The nonprofit, founded in 2006, relocated here from Bushwick.



A 2011 feature on Grace in Brooklyn Rail noted that it is "the sole gallery in this city that shows specifically, in its most intentionally narrow definition, Performance Art."

Here's more about them via their website:

Grace Exhibition Space is devoted exclusively to Performance Art. We offer an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid career or established ... our events are presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer. This is how performance art is meant to be experienced and our mission is the glorification of performance art.

Here's what's happening tomorrow night at 6:

PERFORMEANDO is the first transcontinental Performance Art platform focusing on featuring works of performance artists who identify themselves as Latin, Latina/o, Latinx or Hispanic living and working in the United States.

After its last presentation in Berlin, Germany, PERFORMEANDO, returns to New York City this Fall with the program "Somatopias" to be presented in Manhattan's Lower East side at Grace Exhibition Space (November 30) with public interventions — weather permitting — at the passage way 12th Street and Avenue C. "Somatopias" centers around notions of corporal adaptability, transformation, (dis)placement, and physical (re)location as explored, expressed and presented by selected artists.

Find more details here.

Moxy East Village reps to appear before CB3 in bid for liquor licenses for new 11th Street hotel

As previously noted, the incoming Moxy East Village will have four eating-drinking establishments — "for guests and locals" — here on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Here's what's planned for the 13-story hotel in partnership with Marriott, according to a recent news release: a cellar-level restaurant and lounge, a lobby bar and lounge area, "an elevated twist on a traditional Grab & Go," and "an outdoor rooftop amenity."

Reps for the hotel are expected to appear before CB3's SLA committee on Monday evening to seek liquor licenses for these various concepts. (As of now, the questionnaire with more detailed information on the bars and restaurants has yet to be posted on the CB3 website. Update: The questionnaire is here. I haven't had time to go through it all just yet... The TAO Group, which operates about 500000 venues, including the Moxy Times Square, is the bar-restaurant vendor for the EV location as well.)

The Moxy is slated to open in late 2019. The Lightstone Group bought the five-building parcel of apartment buildings that stood here and had the properties demolished in the fall of 2016.

The committee meeting starts Monday at 6:30 p.m. Location: The Perseverance House Community Room, 535 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

[Updated] The DOH temporarily closes the Málà Project; 'bursting pipe party in basement'

Updated 11/30
The restaurant is back open.

The Málà Project, the well-reviewed restaurant serving Chinese Dry Pot at 122 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, is currently closed following a DOH inspection on Monday...



According to public records, the inspection turned up 91 violation points. (Per the DOH, a score of 28 or higher earns a restaurant-cafe a C score.) Among other critical violations, the inspector found "Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas."

A rather jaunty sign arrived above the DOH's Yellow Sticker offering the following explanation for the closure...



"We are having a bursting pipe party in the basement and will remain closed till further notice."

The Málà Project opened in December 2015 and recently added an outpost in Bryant Park.

You better watch out: Miracle on 12th Street pops up for the holidays

[Miracle on 12th Street]

For the fifth consecutive year, Miracle on Ninth Street — a Christmas inspired pop-up bar — opened inside Mace, the cocktail bar at 649 E. Ninth St. at Avenue C.

Mace owner Greg Boehm is behind the holiday pop ups, an empire that has grown to 80-plus worldwide.

And as 12th Street residents learned yesterday, there's also a Miracle on 12th Street that just popped up for business between Avenue A and Avenue B in the former Double Wide space...



Boehm also took over the lease from Double Wide, which closed back in March after seven years in business.

Apparently the address will serve as a pop up before the planned cocktail lounge opens. Unlike the Ninth Street location, the 12th Street bar will take reservations for five people or more during the holiday.

Said one local resident: "I feel duped as a neighbor. They sold this as an upscale cocktail bar that was going to be quiet as opposed to the loud shit show that we had to endure when it was Double Wide."

And if you need another holiday pop-up choice, Boehm's bar Boilermaker on First Avenue at First Street is now a tiki-themed Sippin' Santa (as it has been this time of year since 2015).

Wednesday's parting shot

Flashback to 2010 tonight on Avenue B near Fourth Street...