As you may have noticed, today is St. Patrick's Day. As of 8:30 a.m., there wasn't a line [yet] for McSorley's over on Seventh Street. Everyone is at mass?
McSorley's opens at 11.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
March 17, 8:30 a.m., 15 E. 7th St.
As you may have noticed, today is St. Patrick's Day. As of 8:30 a.m., there wasn't a line [yet] for McSorley's over on Seventh Street. Everyone is at mass?
McSorley's opens at 11.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Ghost signage reveal at the former Raul Candy Store
Someone has removed the Raul Candy Store sign from 205 Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street.
And as this photo by Gojira shows, there's ghost signage now on the storefront for Gift Shop and Cosmetics. Raul opened here in 1981, so it's presumably from the previous tenant.
As for Raul Candy Store, Raul Santiago, 75, and his wife Petra Olivieri, 70, decided to retire, closing up on Feb. 28.
'Webster' call
Been awhile since we noted one of the 1980s-throwback murals on the gate at Mikey Likes It, 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street. Back on Tuesday, Andre Trenier created this mural of Webster to coincide with the ice cream shop's flavor of the month...
Saturday morning scenery
A sunrise shot from Avenue A and Seventh Street at Tompkins Square Park ... and last night's gentle downpour refreshed the restorative reflection pond along Avenue A...
Friday, March 15, 2019
Incoming
Incoming thunderstorms over #NYC.#fridaynight @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/dYHuBrtIRr
— Evan Kapitansky (@evan_kapitansky) March 16, 2019
Reptaliens: Resurrection
"Shuggie II" is the first single from Valis, the second record from Reptaliens that's out on April 26 via CapturedTracks.
You can also catch the psych-pop band on a bill at Brooklyn Steel on May 6.
The FDNY honors fire marshal Christopher T. Zanetis in plaque ceremony on 2nd Street
[Photo by Stacie Joy]
Today the FDNY and city honored Christopher "Tripp" Zanetis with a plaque dedication ceremony at Engine Company 28, Ladder 11 on Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.
[Photo by Stacie Joy]
Zanetis was a fire marshal and U.S. Air Force Major who was killed in a helicopter crash in Western Iraq one year ago today. He was 37. Zanetis was on leave from the department, where he had been a marshal in the Bureau of Fire Investigation.
After graduating from NYU, he was appointed as a firefighter in 2004, and was assigned to the station house on Second Street. He was promoted to fire marshal in 2013.
The way he lived his life will continue to inspire us all -#FDNY Chief of Department John Sudnik remembers FDNY Fire Marshal and @USAirForce Captain Christopher “Tripp” Zanetis pic.twitter.com/Q8Q2sYtXkA
— FDNY (@FDNY) March 15, 2019
[Via the FDNY]
H/T Salim!
Previously on EV Grieve:
The FDNY remembers fire marshal Christopher T. Zanetis on 2nd Street
A visit to Sixth Street Specials
Interview and photos by Stacie Joy
I’m crawling through a hole in the ground to meet Hugh Mackie, owner of Sixth Street Specials motorcycle repair shop. It’s the steep ramp underground where people bring their cycles to be diagnosed and repaired here at 703 E. Sixth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.
Apparently there is an upstairs shop, a place that doesn’t require hunkering my way down through an unlighted tunnel beyond two wooden doors (all while wearing a lot of camera equipment) but I missed the memo.
Downstairs the space is huge — it runs a reported 100 feet back — and it’s filled with cycles, parts, neatly stacked organized tools and many empty or nearly empty cups of tea. Mackie drinks a lot of tea.
Upstairs the shop is filled with more bikes, parts and tools, as well as artwork (including a signed Salvador Dali and pieces from one of Mackie’s kids) and mementos of Mackie’s many years racing and of his friends, especially Indian Larry. The place is filled with memories and stories, and Mackie is an excellent storyteller.
He introduces me to mechanic Fumihisa Matsueda, who is busy at work crouched by an Italian Laverda, lit with a portable task work lamp and a small space heater.
Mackie answers some questions I had about photos of my grandfather’s custom bikes from the 1930s, and casually continues the interview even after being stabbed in the finger by an engine part. He calmly wraps the bleeding digit with some electrical tape and tells me a bit about his history on Sixth Street.
How long have you been here?
The shop opened here in 1986, and I moved into the building [Mackie lives upstairs with his wife] in 1998. This building used to be a nail factory back in the day.
What made you choose the East Village as your shop’s home?
I’ve lived in the neighborhood since 1981. The location was abandoned empty lots back then, and squats, and the rent was good. In SoHo, lofts were filling up and artists were looking to the East Village. Typical East Village history.
We were the first business on the block that wasn’t drugs or prostitution back then. Artist Charles Keller lived on the third floor of this building and my friend Edgar lived in a blue van outside. We used to run an electrical cord to him in the winter so he could keep warm.
Do you still have customers from the early days on Sixth Street? What’s your typical customer like these days?
Very few from the old days are left. Sadly, they don’t live here anymore. The customer base changed. Still there are folks who ride vintage bikes all over the East Coast. They send their bikes here to be repaired. We make rent servicing new Triumphs. The company closed in the 1980s and revamped in the 1990s and is making new Bonneville models.
In Manhattan, if you need to service a bike you can’t do it yourself and can’t do it on the street. There are no more bike shops! Very few automotive places left at all. We’re one of the last shops. We also service older bikes to make our bread and butter. Millennials are the ones buying these new bikes. Those old enough to have graduated college and afford a bike — that helps keep our doors open.
How have you been able to stay in that space for so long with rents being what they are and buildings being sold left and right?
We have a good relationship with the landlord. It used to be back here you don’t ask for anything and the landlord doesn’t provide anything, you fend for yourself. Things are different now. Rent has gone up in quantum leaps. The landlord’s sons have taken over.
This building used to have four tenants, one on each floor. Now one is an Airbnb: things are subdivided and sublet, people taking in more roommates. When a tenant leaves or is forced out, the new tenant has to pay much more and then brings in other people to share the burden of cost. The building is overwhelmed now. Too many people flushing Bounty down the toilet pipes. Landlord profiteers and rent goes up.
As the neighborhood gets more and more gentrified, more agencies issues tickets and fines for repairs that are needed. This building has no super and I am on the ground floor so I end up having to patch things and fix those citations.
Any concerns about the shop’s long-term future?
Yes, absolutely! The last 10 years have been possible only due to the economic downturn/financial crisis in 2008. We’ve received a stay of execution.
What are your thoughts on the East Village of 2019?
It’s unrelated to what it was historically. Actually, that’s not the truth. It was built for immigrants. New people occupying everything. My own kids can’t afford to live here now.
---
Sixth Street Specials doesn't have a website or social media. If you want to know more about the shop, as Mackie tells me, just pick up the phone and call. “It’s a business, I answer the phone all the time!”
Cold case: New information sought in the 23-year-old murder of Second Avenue Deli owner Abe Lebewohl
[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]
There are new reward posters up on all four corners of Second Avenue and Fourth Street... the NYPD is seeking information about the murder of Abe Lebewohl on March 4, 1996.
On that morning, Lebewohl, owner of the Second Avenue Deli, was making a $10,000 bank drop — NatWest Bank at the time — on the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Fourth Street.
Here's more via a March 2013 ABC 7 story:
"That morning he never had time to get out of his van. They got him right before he got out of his van," said retired NYPD homicide detective Jimmy Piccione.
Piccione responded to the crime scene, just a few blocks south of the eatery whose owner had become almost as famous as his steady stream of celebrity visitors.
"It was 8:30 in the morning, I remember thinking there is going to be a witness and it's going to be solved quickly, and 17 years later, here we are," said Piccione. "That morning Abe pulls up to that parking spot right there but before he gets out, he's accosted by one or more persons. He's taken to the back of the van and he's shot. Someone drives the van to First Avenue."
Abe, dying, manages to crawl out of the van onto the sidewalk.
"A passerby says, are you okay, and he says, "They got me."
The gun was found 2 days later in Central Park. It was later linked to 3 different shootings, but never to Abe Lebewohl's murder.
"We've been to Las Vegas, New Orleans, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina. We went wherever a lead would take us," said Piccione.
Piccione retired from the NYPD in 2011. In 2015, he joined his ex-NYPD partner, Jeff Salta, who had just retired and joined the Manhattan DA's office as an investigator.
As the Daily News reported this past March 4, the two remain determined to make an arrest in this case.
The Second Avenue Deli (Second Avenue at 10th Street) closed in 2006 thanks to a rent hike. There are two other locations now in the city, run by Abe's brother Jack Lebewohl with his sons.
Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.
Report: MTA commits to a shorter work day for the 14th Street L-train rehab
[EVG file photo]
Residents along 14th Street between Avenue B and First Avenue may now have less evening L-train construction noise to endure.
As Town & Village reports, the MTA has agreed to reduce the hours of operation as it continues to prep for the L-train slowdown next month.
Per their report:
Neighbors have said work often ends at 11 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, although the MTA has said it tries to stop any noisy work by 10 p.m. But on Tuesday night, the MTA’s chief development officer overseeing the project, Janno Lieber, committed to stopping work by 7 p.m. at a meeting held by Community Board 3’s Transportation Committee.
“We’re constantly looking for ways to minimalize the impact of our work on neighbors, and they understandably have been asking for shorter hours,” Shams Tarek, a spokesperson for the MTA, told Town & Village.
Tarek added that the MTA wanted to first consult the contractor to make sure doing this wouldn’t lengthen the duration of the project, which includes the creation of an Avenue A entrance to the First Avenue L station. The new schedule of 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday to Friday, with possibly shorter hours on Saturday is effective immediately.
Other L-train details are still being decided, such as the possibility of exit-only stations at First and Third Avenues once the L-train slowdown officially starts later next month.
Meanwhile, on the topic of the L-train work along this corridor... a resident who lives adjacent to the construction zone, recently shared these videos from 8 p.m., showing that not everyone on the site may be all that busy after hours ...
In the first one, the operator of this diesel hydraulic excavator attempts to right a tipped rubber trash can...
...and here's the excavator trying to be a broom...
... and not sure what's happening here...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction
From bad to pretty bad: MTA releases more details on the new L-train rehab plan
Van Đa brings modern Vietnamese cuisine to 4th Street starting tonight
Van Đa makes it debut this evening over at 234 E. Fourth St. just west of Avenue B.
The project, from restaurateur Yen Ngo and Gramercy Tavern alum chef Hannah Wong, focuses on the food of Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and Hanoi.
Eater had a preview:
The duo is resisting traditional versions of pho or banh mi on the menu, with Ngo instead harking back to the food of her youth in Vietnam that she doesn’t often find here.
The menu is split into three sections of food from those three cities, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in south Vietnam; Hue, in the middle and which was once the royal capital of the country; and Hanoi up north. Ngo says that the food of central Vietnamese city Hue is very time-intensive and complex, though with gentle flavors, and she’s not seen many versions of it here. One example is shrimp and pork tapioca dumplings, which are made from tapioca flour and steamed in banana leaves. Dishes from other categories include stir-fried pho noodles and lemongrass beef tartare.
You can find their menu at this link.
The two-level space has been several restaurants in recent years, most notably The Cardinal, the Southern-style restaurant from chef-owner Curtis Brown.
Chinese Graffiti now open at 171 Avenue A
[Photos by Steven]
In other new openings, Chinese Graffiti debuted last Friday at 171 Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street.
The restaurant, described as an Asian-American gastropub, is open for now from 5-11 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; until midnight Thursday-Saturday.
Here's a look at the menu on display...
You can find some food shots on the Chinese Graffiti Instagram account here. No word at this moment who's behind this venture.
Recent restaurants here include Chao Chao, which closed without any notice to patrons in May 2017 after six months in business. Chao Chao evolved from Soothsayer, which opened in January 2016. Soothsayer, from the same operators, also closed without any notice to patrons at the end of September 2016.
And because someone will bring it up... No. 171 was once the onetime home of Rat Cage Records and 171A, the illegal club-turned-rehearsal studio that produced records by Bad Brains and the "Polly Wog Stew" EP by the Beastie Boys.
Previously on EV Grieve:
A quick look inside the new restaurant coming to 171 Avenue A
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Thursday's parting shot
Spring fever on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue ... photo by Durk Snowden...
Tonight: A discussion on the East Village in the 1960s
Happening tonight from 7-9 at Howl! Happening — "Cary Abrams: The East Village in the 60s" ...
Panel Discussion with Penny Arcade, Agosto Machado, Ben Morea, and Robert Watlington
Many fondly look back on the 60s as the heyday of the East Village when throngs of youth descended on the neighborhood. Diggers arrived from San Francisco and opened a free store on East Tenth Street, Bill Graham turned a local theater into the Fillmore East, be-ins were held in Tompkins Square Park, and artists and craftsmen offered their wares in local shops.
The arts flourished during the period, as many influential theater, poetry, and dance groups formed which helped reshape American culture — and continue today. St. Mark’s Church became a focal point for poets, political activists, radical community organizing, and dance and theater groups. Ellen Stewart started Café La MaMa, presenting theatrical works in a basement on East Ninth Street. Rock music from the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to The Group Image bellowed from the Tompkins Square bandshell at free concerts.
While the era has become mythologized over time, this evening Howl! Happening invites a panel of intrepid souls who lived in the East Village during the 1960s to reflect on their experiences.
Check the Howl! Happening website for more details and info on the panelists. The Howl! space is at 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.
East Village students taking part in tomorrow's National Youth Climate Strike
The National Youth Climate Strike takes place tomorrow (background at this link) ... and we've heard from a parent and school administrator that students from the East Village — Little Missionary's Day Nursery, Sara Curry Day School and the Earth School (and maybe others) — will be in Tompkins Square Park tomorrow morning from 8:45-9:30 to voice their support in the national conversation around climate change.
As Gothamist recently reported, more and more NYC students are coming together to press lawmakers to put an end to climate change.
Noted
As we posted yesterday, crews prepped 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue for a circa-2015 Christmas scene for a "Mr Robot" shoot tomorrow.
There has been some grumbling in general about the number of film and TV shoots in the area... and an EVG reader wonders if this is one way for someone to make his or her feelings known — removing one of the posted film-production signs to use for the dog, and then leaving it behind ... spotted along 10th Street where "Mr. Robot" will be filming...
Report: New York Attorney General intervenes to stop eviction of tenants in Raphael Toledano-owned building on 13th Street
[Photo at No. 444 from May 2015 by Stacie Joy]
Updated to include the Gothamist post.
Landlord Raphael Toledano is still causing grief for East Village residents.
The controversial landlord, who bought up dozens of East Village properties only to foreclose on many of them later, is still reportedly the owner — via an LLC — of 444 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.
According to published reports, Toledano filed for bankruptcy on the building, and is attempting to reject the rent-stabilized leases for a number of residents in the building, as NBC 4 first reported.
Per Gothamist, Toledo/the LLC is asking for a bankruptcy court to terminate the tenants' leases, on the grounds that a proposed $8.2 million sale of the property can't go through while the rent-stabilized leases are in place. (The Gothamist piece has a lot of good details not reported elsewhere.)
Now, however, New York Attorney General Letitia James and a handful of housing officials from the city and state have intervened to help the tenants, eight of whom have been withholding rent due to inadequate heat, broken or defective plumbing, garbage in the hallway and rodents, as Patch noted. (The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development website lists 68 outstanding violations.)
James and the housing officials joined in an action in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of tenants at No. 444. Here's more via a media advisory from the AG's office:
Both the City and State are opposing the building owner's application to reject tenants' leases, an application that is a thinly-veiled attempt to flout rent regulation laws and displace tenants.
"Bankruptcy Court should not be used as a tool to unjustly oust rent-stabilized New Yorkers from their homes," James said. "In filing this motion, my office is working to ensure that the tenants are not displaced. Housing is a right, and we will continue to use every legal tool available to stand up for tenants and to enforce their rights."
Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera pointed out Toledano's ugly past as a landlord.
"The owner of 444 East 13th St. has spent years illegally harassing the tenants living in these rent-stabilized apartments, and this legal maneuver is just the latest shady tactic to remove these long-time New Yorkers from their homes," she said in a statement. "Bad actors across New York need to be put on notice — our government is in the business of protecting and expanding rent-regulated apartments, and I certainly will not sit idly by while harassment takes place in my District."
James and Rivera both took part in a rally outside 444 E. 13th St. yesterday, as PIX 11 reported.
For years, these residents have stood resilient in the face of attacks by their predatory landlords. Today we rallied to send a message that greed is not a case for displacement & won’t be tolerated. Thanks to @TishJames @MTorresSpringer @NYSHCR & @GOLESNYC for standing united. pic.twitter.com/SaCzvXCtz5
— Carlina Rivera 利華娜 (@CarlinaRivera) March 13, 2019
This is the address where many people first heard about the twentysomething Toledano. In the spring of 2015, tenants at No. 444 accused Toledano, and a management company he reportedly hired (then later fired), of harassment and intimidation.
There are tape recorded conversations where a rep for Goldmark Property Management reportedly said, among other things to a rent-stabilized tenant: "I'm here, really, to help you. Because if it were up to the owners, they would just drop dynamite on the whole building and everyone would figure it out."
(The Times published the audio recordings here... Gothamist posted them here.)
In May 2016, Toledano agreed to pay a little more than $1 million to settle claims that he harassed the tenants, according to The Real Deal. The Times reported that most of the the tenants are "low-wage workers of Mexican descent who pay modest rents for the neighborhood and have lived in their building for decades."
In previous years, Toledano purchased 28 buildings in two separate portfolios from the Tabak family for a total of $140 million. Experienced real-estate players raised red flags about Toledano's heavy reliance on debt, per The Real Deal.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'
Cleaning up 444 E. 13th St.
Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano
Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust
Tree Bistro is returning after October fire
Tree Bistro has not been open since the six-alarm fire this past Oct. 3 at neighboring 188 First Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street.
That fire wiped out Tree Bistro's backyard garden ... and caused other damage inside the restaurant.
Now EVG regular Lola Sáenz reports that the space is under renovation, and will reopen later this spring.
Uogashi, the Japanese restaurant in the retail space at 188 First Ave., didn't fare as well, and is not expected to return. The Uogashi website, now offline, had listed "permanently closed" under their hours of operation.
Officials said they believe the fire, which injured 17 people, including 14 firefighters, began inside Uogashi. An exact cause has not been made public.
Meanwhile, Fiaschetteria Pistoia returned to service on March 6 after a late December fire badly damaged its space on 11th Street near Avenue C ... while the storefront housing Yakiniku West at 218 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue is under renovation. The Japanese restaurant's Facebook page states that they plan to reopen some time this year after a fire in the building last April.
The Black Emperor has arrived on 2nd Avenue
An EVG reader shared this shot... showing the exterior of the incoming Black Emperor at 197 Second Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.
We wrote about this incoming bar-restaurant back in October when the applicants were to appear before CB3 for a new liquor license.
The Three Kings Restaurant Group, whose résumé includes bars and restaurants in the Bowery Hotel and Arlo NoMad Hotel, among other establishments, was behind this venture.
However, as Eater reported in early January, partners Dale Talde, David Massoni and John Bush dissolved Three Kings, with each of them going off on his own for new projects.
No word yet who is running Black Emperor ... or if they will be sticking with the "Asian fusion tapas" menu pitched to CB3.
Shoolbred's closed here in June 2017 after nearly 10 years in business. This address was Jade Mountain, home of the great Chow Mein sign, until 2007.
Todaro Bros. is closing April 2, ending 102 years of business
An EVG reader alert (H/T Val!) from outside the usual coverage zone... Todaro Bros., the Italian grocer at 555 Second Ave. between 30th Street and 31st Street, is closing on April 2.
The owners of the 102-year-old establishment shared the news on social media on Tuesday...
No mention if this impacts their Enoteca Wine Bar next door.
Todaro Bros. moved to No. 555 in 1961 (a few blocks from its original location), and long offered products that you couldn't find anywhere else ... the arrival in recent years of a Fairway directly across the street as well as a Trader Joe's on Third Avenue and 32nd Street couldn't have helped business.
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