Here's the Sing for Hope piano for Astor Place

[Image via Instagram]

Starting today, the NYC-based nonprofit Sing For Hope will once again place 50 colorfully decorated pianos in parks and other locations around the five boroughs through June 23. The program is now in its eighth year.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Tompkins Square Park will host a piano as in previous years. (Unless Sing for Hope forgot to add it to the piano map.)

However, Astor Place will have a piano titled "Community of Dreams" created by Joan Dilieto in collaboration with Hetrick-Martin Institute and SVA. Here's more about her:

Born and raised in NY, with studios in both Red Hook and Capri, Italy, Joan has been a painter for many years bridging both cultures into the texture of her work. With the roots of an islander, the sea is always present “as above, so below.” Painting beauty, painting fiction, a mythological narrative emerges. Rich with the ancient art of storytelling, a cast of characters led by the divine feminine lead us into their Byzantine world. Intrigue and identity converge with alchemy and transformation.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Our piano is a collaboration between School of Visual Arts and Hetrick-Martin Institute inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s quote “I dream of painting then I paint my dream.” The youth participants of HMI painted their dreams on tiles that are collaged together onto the rainbow flag. Collage as a metaphor for the extraordinary community of HMI, echoing Sing For Hope’s mantra of #artforall.

A new tenant — and landlord — for the landmarked 137 2nd Ave.

Several EVG readers have noted a new tenant is moving into 137 Second Ave. (next door to the Ottendorfer library branch) between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.

In January, The Real Deal reported that the Wing, a women-focused co-working firm, had leased the entire 22,000-square-foot landmarked building. An employee there confirmed to EVG correspondent Steven last week that the Wing was the new tenant.

We first reported that the building was for lease in April 2018.

Meanwhile, the neo-Italian Renaissance brick building has a new owner. According to a post @tradedny, the Cofinance Group, an international commercial real-estate investment firm, picked up the property for $18 million.

And now some dates in history: The building, the former German Dispensary that opened in 1884 before becoming the Stuyvesant Polyclinic in 1905, was designated a New York City Landmark in 1976. Learn more about its history and architecture at Off the Grid here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The historic 137 2nd Ave. — the former Stuyvesant Polyclinic — is for lease

On 2nd Avenue, renovations turn into a seizure by the Marshal at Hot Box

[Photo from April]

Hot Box has not been open in recent months over at 77 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

A handwritten note on the door stated that they were "closed for 'renovations'"...



During that time, there wasn't much, if any, activity inside the space...



And now that renovations sign has been removed... and there's a notice stating that the Marshal has taken legal possession of the space and turned it back over to the landlord...



The restaurant opened in May 2018, offering a quick-serve interpretation on traditional Chinese hot pot with a "signature burner system" for the table.

There isn't any word of a closure – temporary or otherwise — on the Hot Box website and social media properties.

Tough restaurant times at this address in the past two years. Ciala, which briefly served Georgian cuisine before switching to French food, had an inauspicious five-month tenure here.

Monday's parting shot

Photo on Fourth Avenue and 12th Street today via Derek Berg...

When appliances imitate art

Vinny & O spotted this discarded Frigidaire room air-conditioner thing this morning on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... adorned with the stick figure that's similar to what's on the side of Doc Holliday's on Ninth Street at Avenue A...



That mural, by UK street artist STIK and titled "Liberty," went up in September 2013. Stik is known to leave androgynous "stik people" behind wherever he visits.

Here are the next meetings for you to learn more about stormproofing plans for East River Park

Now's your chance to hear more from various city agencies and officials about the plans to stormproof the East Side of Manhattan (aka the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project).



Here's a list of upcoming meetings...

Community Open Houses
• Wednesday, June 5, 4-8 p.m.

and

• Thursday, June 6, 2-8 p.m.

Peter Cooper Village, 360 First Ave., lower level (entrance on the east side at 21st Street).

ULURP Public Hearing – Parks, Recreation, Waterfront & Resiliency Committee
Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.
PS/MS 188 – The Island School, 442 E. Houston St. (entrance at Houston/Baruch Drive)

CB6 Full Board Meeting
Wednesday, June 12, 7 p.m., 433 First Ave. between 25th Street and 26th Street (NYU School of Dentistry), Room 210

As previously reported, to stormproof the East Side and protect residents from storms the magnitude of Sandy, the city plans to "lift" East River Park by up to 10 feet when work starts in March 2020.

Creating the intricate flood protection system would see the city close East River Park for up to three and a half years, shutting down the current amenities, cutting down many of the trees and rebuilding the newly renovated running track, among other things.

The draft environmental impact statement — 900-plus pages — for the East Side Coastal Resiliency project is currently available for review and comment. My previous post here has more details on the review process and links to relevant materials.

Last fall, the city unveiled an updated plan, which took residents, community leaders and local-elected officials by surprise after years of outreach and groundwork. The revamped plan — released without any community input — is radically different than what had been discussed, and its expected cost will increase from $760 million to $1.45 billion. City officials have said in various presentations that this approach will provide a reduced construction time, resulting in an operable flood protection system for the 2023 hurricane season.

Meanwhile, community coalition group East River Alliance has a petition in circulation calling for a change to the plans.

The Eddy is closing June 17 on 6th Street

On Friday, the owners of the The Eddy on Sixth Street and Wallflower in the West Village announced that the two restaurants will close this month.

Via the EVG inbox, here's the letter to patrons from (presumably) Chef Brendan McHale and partner Jason Soloway:

This is a love letter to our friends, neighbors, guests and colleagues:

We have some bad news. We are closing Wallflower and The Eddy. Wallflower’s last night of service will be Saturday, June 15th and The Eddy’s last night of service will be Monday, June 17th.

It was a gut-wrenching decision, but one that we needed to make for several reasons, none of which are interesting or important.

This is what's important to us:

First, we always endeavored to do it the right way and were never interested in taking shortcuts. And we intend to stay that way until we close. Media recognition was always greatly appreciated, but what mattered to us most was the passionate and enthusiastic response from our guests. We are pleasers, and nothing pleases a pleaser more than happy guests. We consider ourselves fortunate to have had our fair share of them.

Second, it's important to thank the many people who have worked at both restaurants. There are so many to thank that it would be unfair to point out any individuals as it was always about being a team. It was their dedication, talent and charm that enabled us to execute the vision of refined, fun and zero-pretension neighborhood restaurants. Quite simply, without them, we were nothing.

Third, we are deeply grateful to our many guests. We hosted weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and countless celebrations. Knowing how many remarkable dining options there are in NYC, we have always been humbled that so many people chose to spend their special occasions with us.

We want to take the next 2+ weeks to show our appreciation to you for allowing us to occupy a small footprint in the NYC dining landscape for the last 5+ years. As such, starting tonight and continuing until we close, we are offering all guests a 25% discount on their check (no minimums, no maximums, no questions asked) at Wallflower and The Eddy.

Thank you, thank you, thank you and we hope to see you one last time (or if we’re still on your “list”, for the first time!) over the next couple of weeks.

XO - Wallflower and The Eddy

The Eddy — "a neighborhood restaurant serving seasonal global cuisine" — opened in April 2014 here between First Avenue and Second Avenue in space that was previously home to the Toucan & the Lion and Mara's Homemade.

Here's what Pete Wells had to say about the 30-seat Eddy in a one-star review at the Times in June 2015:

The Eddy ... is one of those restaurants that gets so many little details right that your main course can be a little shaky and you can still walk out happy. That’s a rare thing, no accident when it happens, and the reason all those seats are so often full.

Optyx has closed at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary

An EVG reader reported that Optyx, the eye-care center on 14th Street and Second Avenue, has not been open of late.

Sure enough, the shop is empty. An Optyx rep confirmed that this location had closed, but didn't provide any further information...



Optyx, with multiple NYC locations, was in the retail space of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. That facility is expected to be renovated at an unspecified future date. And there isn't any eyeglass storefront in renderings for the new-look building on 14th Street and Second Avenue...




[EVG file photo]

As previously reported in the fall of 2016, the Mount Sinai Health System is in the midst of its years-long project to rebuild Mount Sinai Beth Israel, transitioning to a network of smaller facilities throughout lower Manhattan.

The plans include an expanded facility on 14th Street and Second Avenue. A 7-story hospital will also rise on 13th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Moneyball: Is A-Rod your new landlord?

Alex Rodriguez's post-baseball résumé also includes NYC real-estate investor.

A-Rod, whose career included an unprecedented 211-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, is the new owner of "a 21-unit rental tower" in the East Village, the Post reported.

No word on the address of the building. (If you happen to know, then please hit us up in the tip line.)

Per the Post:

For the East Village purchase, A-Rod partnered with NYC real estate veteran Barbara Corcoran, who founded one of the city’s biggest brokerages and is now known for investing in business on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”

Through their company A-Rod Corp. — and funded by their personal fortunes — the celebrity duo plan to aggressively build up a portfolio of multifamily buildings across the city. They declined to share the address of their first joint buy, which has retail at its base, but say it is already generating “immediate returns.”

“Our first investment was a sweetheart deal, and we jumped at it,“ adds Corcoan, who got to know Rodriguez when he appeared on “Shark Tank.” “It took almost six months to negotiate, but Alex is incredible with this stuff. I thought he just hit balls, but he runs numbers.”

While this is his first NYC purchase, the former Yankee has a large real-estate investment portfolio that dates to 2003.

Dig Inn confirmed for 13th Street and 4th Avenue

The southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street has been a revolving door of quick-service concepts in recent years.

Dig Inn is up next. On the previous post about this address, an EVG commenter mentioned that a Dig Inn was coming soon. Making it official, Dig Inn shows up on CB3's SLA June docket for a beer-wine license for this location.

The health-conscious fast-casual chain, founded in 2011, has nearly 30 outposts in the NYC and Boston area.

This has been a challenging corner for businesses since the longtime deli was rent-hiked out of here in November 2012. The space has been home to Fresh & Co. and Pie Face and, most recently, Sandwicherie in the past five years.

CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice shutters on St. Mark's

The CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice branch at 33 St. Mark's Place has closed.

This wasn't really a surprise given the recent arrival of for-rent signs outside the cafe here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

No word on why this location of the Taiwan-based chain shut down...



Increased rent? Five hundred other places around selling the same things?

CoCo debuted here in September 2013, taking over the space from the short-lived (ONE MONTH) Iris Cafe.

Before that we had Rockit Scientist Records here.

The spot won't be vacant long: The broker posted on Instagram that she had leased this to an unnamed new tenant.

Previously on EV Grieve:
CoCo Fresh Juice & Tea now open on St. Mark's Place; also, mascot alert

Rockit Scientist Records to become a bubble tea shop on St. Mark's Place

Week in Grieview

[Tompkins Square Park on Saturday]

Posts from this past week included...

Say hi to Sam, your new Ottendorfer librarian (Wednesday)

Resurfaced roadways on 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue to have offset crossings (Tuesday)

A visit to City Fun on 1st Avenue (Thursday)

Report: One of the red-tailed hawk chicks dies (Saturday)

[Updated] Reader report: Police SUV strikes cyclist on 1st Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

Metropolis Vintage has left 3rd Avenue; new Broadway space opens (Tuesday)

Photos: At the 32nd annual Loisaida Festival (Sunday)

Cemetery wall knocked down during post-fire work behind 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

The Donut Pub outpost on Astor Place debuts (Wednesday)

Il Mattone's East Houston outpost is now open (Tuesday)

Final demolition phase for 1 St. Mark's Place; more questions about lobbyists attached to project (Wednesday)

I don't see you over there — yes, you!: Zoltar is MIA outside Gem Spa (Friday)

Noting the arrival of the Poppy Seed Bagel Sparrow's Nest in Tompkins Square Park (Sunday)

Happy returns: Anna's new East Village storefront debuts (Friday)

Nobletree Coffee abruptly shuts down on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Friday)

An update on the former Moishe's Bake Shop (Thursday)

Films on the Green coming to Tompkins Square Park for two Friday nights this July (Friday)

Rafael's Barber Shop on the move around the corner (Thursday)

Joe’s Steam Rice Roll puts up the signage on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

MAD Toast House bringing bubble tea and toast to 9th Street (Friday)

7th Street townhouse with rooftop pizza oven and basketball hoop sells for $15.75 million (Tuesday)

Demolition watch: 99-101 E. 2nd St. (Stop Work Order edition) (Friday)

Piccolo Cafe closes on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday)

---

Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter, where you'll find tweets like this...

Saturday night live on 2nd Avenue pic.twitter.com/je9J47BzSx

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) June 2, 2019

Spencer Tunick brings #WeTheNipple to Astor Place in message to Facebook and Instagram

Spencer Tunick has orchestrated another mass photo shoot, this time on Astor Place early today.

Tunick has joined forces with the National Coalition Against Censorship for a project called #WeTheNipple. As artnet noted last month, "the effort is a direct challenge to Facebook and Instagram’s community guidelines, which prohibit nudity, regardless of artistic merit."

Tunick, who has organized and photographed more than 120 large groups of nude people around the world, has been at odds with the two social media platforms in recent years.

As he told Esquire in April:

"I get it. I don’t want my daughters on an Instagram full of pornography. But there has to be a way artists can have a voice to show their works. There has to be some formula, whether it’s the YouTube way where you’re reviewed and there’s an 18-or-older button that’s pressed. Or, for starters, equalize the male and female nipple and not deem the female nipple as violent."

And this morning on Astor Place, Tunick and between 100 to 200 nude models gathered to send a message to Facebook, who has offices at 770 Broadway (somewhere above the Kmart!).

Per the Instagram post on the action:

"These are all male nipple stickers covering female presenting nipples and male nipple cards covering all the participant’s genitalia. There is no reason for Facebook or Instagram to censor this video or block from hashtags."

View this post on Instagram

#WeTheNipple Art Action in front of @Facebook and @Instagram offices this Morning. #StopCensorship These are all male nipple stickers covering female presenting nipples and male nipple cards covering all the participant’s genitalia. There is no reason for Facebook or Instagram to censor this video or block from hashtags. @NCACensorship @chadsmithofficial @bravoandy @pagmi #AndresSerrano @theadamgoldberg @RonKuby #FuckCensorship Link in Bio.

A post shared by Spencer Tunick (@spencertunick) on Jun 2, 2019 at 4:18am PDT

H/T Carol from East 5th Street!

Updated 4:30 p.m.

Here's some more coverage of the action (thanks Daniel!)...

• The Daily Mail

• CNN


[Image by Fay Fox via]

Noting the arrival of the Poppy Seed Bagel Sparrow's Nest in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams...

Saturday's parting shot

The scene at 9 this morning outside the Grafton on First Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... where the faithful were on-hand six hours before the Champions League final pitting Liverpool vs. Tottenham (and three hours before the pub opened).

The Reds were rewarded in the end, as Liverpool, with its attacking trio of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, prevailed 2-0. (I actually cut-n-paste that from somewhere else.)

Photo by Derek Berg.

Noted

Derek Berg spotted an Apple Maps car out on Seventh Street at Second Avenue.

Derek and I recall seeing Google Street View cars around the neighborhood... but this is our first Apple Maps car sighing.

Not sure if the driver was on duty or, say, looking for a place to park to hit the street fair ... or maybe just passing through.

This past week, Apple announced that it was driving across Canada throughout the summer to capture road details, signage and landmarks for "an improved Apple Maps experience."

From an April 25 post at MacRumors:

Apple Maps vehicles have been collecting mapping data in the United States since 2015, with over 45 states at least partially surveyed to date. Apple will begin surveying Alaska, South Carolina, and Tennessee between March and July, according to an update to its recently revamped Apple Maps image collection website.

Didn't spot anything about surveying NYC.

A street festival for your Saturday

[Photo by Vinny & O]

Vendors and other volunteers are prepping for the Cooper Square Committee's annual Third Avenue Festival, which takes place today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

As noted in previous years, this is one of the better street fairs.



Aside from some of the usual stuff (see photo below), the festival features a variety of live performances from a stage at St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue. The acts include Kate Brunotts, Chanese Elifé, the Rod Rodgers Dance Company, Bill Popp and the Tapes and Cherry Sol.



With all this, Third Avenue is closed from Sixth Street to 14th Street.

Report: One of the red-tailed hawk chicks dies

[Photo from May 20 by Steven]

Sad news from Tompkins Square Park. Goggla is reporting that one of Christo and Amelia's two chicks has died.

A cause of death is not known at this time.

This marks the third consecutive year that a red-tailed hawk offspring has been lost.

Per Goggla:

We lost a fledgling last year to a combination of rodenticide and West Nile virus. The year before that, another fledgling died and tested positive for West Nile. It's not possible at this time to say what killed this chick, but the same dangers still exist in our environment. The Parks Department does not use rodenticide in Tompkins Square, but it is used all over the neighborhood on private property and in some community gardens. West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes, so any standing water is a breeding ground for them.

This year's chicks hatched around April 20.

Previously on EV Grieve:
1 of the 2 red-tailed hawk fledglings in Tompkins Square Park dies from secondary poisoning

6 posts from May

[Fleet Week on 1st Avenue at St. Mark's Place by Derek Berg]

A mini month in review...

• Say hi to Sam, your new Ottendorfer librarian (May 29)

• [Photos] Dancers in the Park: DanceFest 2019 (May 18)

• Trader Joe's finally confirms that a Trader Joe's is opening on 14th Street at Avenue A (May 15)

• Sidewalk bridge collapses at explosion site on 2nd Avenue; box truck culprit, witnesses say (May 10)

• A visit to Gem Spa (May 10)

• RIP Felicia Mahmood (May 3)

It is alive

Run Around The Sun, the new LP by the Glasgow-based duo Sacred Paws, is out today on Merge Records. The video here is for "Almost It."