About the Heap of Ruins Garden Party tomorrow night on 6th Street and Avenue C

There's a garden party of sorts tomorrow (July 26) night on the northeast corner of Avenue C and Sixth Street — that long-empty lot dubbed Lot6C...



The poster out front offers details on what to expect from 6-9 p.m. via Monty Cantsin (aka Istvan Kantor) along with X Pitts, who has been curating this experimental trash-art garden ...



Via Cantsin's Instagram...

We have to meet and talk and make shit happen. This is the only place left, the remaining hideout, the urban guerrilla site where spirits rise high and revolutionary creativity rules, thanks to X Pitts, the poet, who successfully kept this lot alive... come and bring us some hope for the future, join the party, read your poetry! Neoism Now and Then!

View this post on Instagram

Monty Cantsin Speaks! X Pitts Reads! Friday, July 26, 2019, 6pm - 9pm at LOT6C LOT6C, located at the NorthEast corner of 6th Street and Ave C, is a unique experimental trash-art garden, a socio-archeological site managed by X Pitts, poet, archivist, community activist, a long time LES/East Village resident. This event is a collaboration between X Pitts and Monty Cantsin Amen, Neoist performance artist, Rivington School spokesman, well known for his revolutionary art interventions in NYC and throughout the world. For ten years X Pitts was a member of the homeless community at the Tompkins Square Garden. He is best known for reading/improvising revolutionary poetry and conducting discussions about survival strategy. Monty Cantsin aka Istvan Kantor is infamous for defacing museum walls around the world with his own blood. At LOT6C Kantor/Cantsin will give a speech, sing his Neoist anthems, set props on fire and pose the way only a heroic heretic would in front of a firing squad, blindfolded, embellished by detritus and holding in his last breath. LOT6C is located at the NorthEast corner of 6th Street and Ave C, in Lower Manhattan. Admission is free but donations are welcome. #xpitts #neoism #rivingtonschool #loisaida #nyc

A post shared by Monty Cantsin (@neoism.news) on Jul 17, 2019 at 2:57pm PDT

It appears this might be the last hurrah for the lot, a former gas station, which has been empty since the early 1980s. There have been efforts to build on the corner dating to 2003.

According to DOB records, there are now approved plans to construct a 6-floor residential building with space for an unspecified community facility. The city approved the plans in May. The specs were pre-filed in 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Hole watch 2017: Long-empty lot on 6th and C now waiting for 5-story building

Old Fashioned Pizza coming to 13th Street

EVG reader Jimmy shares this photo from 244 E. 13th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, where Old Fashioned Pizza is in the works for the former Thaimee Box space.

We don't know too much about this operation at the moment or what constitutes old-fashioned pizza.

And to recap a busy pizza week: Bruno Pizza announced that it will not reopen down the block after a fire closed it last November... Pizza Rollio is also officially gone from Ninth Street... while Nolita Pizza has debuted on Second Avenue.

Sorbet Cray Cray debuts today on A

The owners of the the Chikalicious dessert shop on 10th Street have revamped their Churro Cone space at 131 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.

After a few weeks in soft opening mode, Sorbet Cray Cray (!!!!) opens this afternoon. Florence Fabricant at the Times wrote about it earlier this month:

They use their homemade yogurt as the base, and add a made-to-order sorbet whizzed on the spot in a high-speed Pacojet blender. July’s flavors are rosemary, basil and watermelon. Next month, you’ll find lemongrass and honey-thyme. It will be open until late fall when they will open a more permanent outlet for the dessert nearby.

You can hit up the Cray Cray Instagram account here for more views of their "best-in-show, first-rate, silky smooth sorbets in proprietary sauce."

H/T EVG reader Annabelle!

Wednesday's parting shot

Discarded art featuring lyrics from "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.

Photo on Seventh Street today via Derek Berg...

What would Freud say?

Discarded items on Seventh Street near Avenue A include boxing gloves, a basketball and a copy of Freud's "On Dreams."

Photo today by Derek Berg...

You may now book a room for October at the Moxy East Village

Reservations are now being accepted for dates this fall at the Moxy East Village, the 13-story, 286-room hotel from the Marriott brand here on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...



Oct. 6 is the first day for any availabilities ...



Here's hotel info from a recent news release:

Conceived by Rockwell Group as a vertical timeline, each floor of the hotel draws inspiration from a different era in East Village history, from the earliest settlers to the punk era to today. Moxy East Village offers 286 design-driven bedrooms, co-working spaces, tech-savvy amenities, and cultural programming that reflects the richly diverse fabric of the neighborhood.

The various rooms include walk-in rain showers, "retro" telephones and "personal screen casting technology" (aka Netflix, Pandora, etc.).

As for drinking and dining, as previously reported, Tao Group is the food and beverage operator and the Lightstone Group's partner at the Moxy East Village. Plans include a lobby bar and café, a 2,600-square-foot rooftop bar and a French-Mediterranean restaurant from chef Jason Hall.

... and here's the most recent hotel rendering...



...and what it replaced...


[Photo from May 2016]

The foundation work got underway here in August 2017. Workers demolished the five residential buildings that stood here in the fall of 2016.

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

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall

Curiosity about the anonymous buyer behind the sale of the Boys' Club Harriman Clubhouse

Last Wednesday, news arrived that "a wealthy, anonymous individual" had purchased the the Boys' Club Harriman Clubhouse on Avenue A and 10th Street.

We had heard rumors in previous weeks of such a transaction; and that the Boys' Club would continue to lease space here for another year.

As for the buyer, per Crain's:

Paul Wolf, a real estate broker and adviser who specializes in working with nonprofits and who represented the foundation, said the buyer wanted to remain anonymous. Wolf said the buyer was planning to sell the property, potentially at a substantial loss, to a nonprofit that would maintain its civic use.

"The goal is to keep this as a community facility," said Wolf, who is co-president of the firm Denham Wolf. "The intent is to sell it to a nonprofit at a lower price than the purchase price."

As the Daily News noted, "The buyer, who bought the land as a foundation, wants to remain anonymous, according to the sources, one of whom said he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of the deal."

The deal here has residents recalling the anonymous donor who came to the rescue of St. Brigid’s on Avenue B and Eighth Street in 2008, sparing the circa-1848 building from demolition and making it possible for the structure to be reopened as a parish church.

Per the Times in May 2008:

The Archdiocese of New York announced on Wednesday that a donor had come forward with an “unexpected but very welcome gift” of $20 million after a private meeting with Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the archbishop of New York.

The gift includes $10 million to restore the building, at 119 Avenue B; $2 million to establish an endowment for the parish “so that it might best meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people living in the community”; and $8 million to support St. Brigid’s School [ed note: closed now as of June 2019] and other Catholic schools in need.

We never heard definitively, but — via the rumor mill — the leading candidates behind saving the church were Irish-American philanthropist Chuck Feeney, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Donald Trump and Mel Gibson. (And Matt Dillon!)

Now various residents and readers are searching for clues behind the identity of the person who bought the Boys' Club building, which opened in 1901.

Public records show that the 7-story building was sold to 287 East 10th Street LLC c/o Denham Wolf Real Estate Services for $31.725 million, as per the "Details" document and page 12 of the deed accessed here.

According to public records, Boys' Club Executive Director Stephen Tosh represented the Boys Club in the sale. Carey Thope (or Thorpe) represented 287 East 10th Street LLC. It's unclear at the moment who Thope/Thorpe is. Interestingly enough, 287 East 10th Street LLC is not listed in the Division of Corporations - New York State Department of State database.



So the searching and guessing will continue.

Meanwhile, Sen. Brad Hoylman shared his thoughts on the developments here. He spoke out against a potential sale last fall with several other local elected officials who had concerns about the loss of the services the Boys' Club provides to the neighborhood:

"Whoever this angel investor is, I want to thank them on behalf of our community. They are saving a century-old community facility from being converted into luxury condos or a high-priced hotel, which sadly has been the real estate narrative for the East Village.

While I wish the Boys’ Club had never put the Harriman Clubhouse on the open market in the first place, I’m grateful to them for finding this angel investor that will allow young people and families in our community to continue to benefit from this splendid facility.

I’m hopeful that the unnamed foundation will work with Community Board 3, elected officials, and other local stakeholders to ensure that community organizations have a place in the new building and that the Boys’ Club, which is reportedly taking space in the building, will decide to stay in this location and continue to provide the essential services it offers to boys and young men."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Conspiracy theories: Who was the anonymous donor behind St. Brigid's $20 million donation?

More speculation on the 'saint' who saved St. Brigid's

Local elected officials urge Boys' Club officials to postpone sale of the Harriman Clubhouse

Boys' Club of New York selling East Village building; will remain open through June 2019

During noon rally today, local elected officials will seek postponement of Boys' Club building sale

[Updated] Exclusive: The Boys' Club of New York puts the Harriman Clubhouse on the sales market for $32 million

Boys' Club fast tracks sale of East Village clubhouse as final bids are due Oct. 30

RUMOR: The Boys' Club building on 10th and A has a new owner; will remain in use as a nonprofit

The Village East screening Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood' in 70mm

When Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood" opens tomorrow (July 25) at City Cinemas Village East, it will be just one of five theaters in the country to show the film in 70mm.

Tarantino's well-reviewed ode to 1960s Los Angeles and the movie industry stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and Al Pacino, among others... and it continues the filmmaker's commitment to celluloid. (Here's a 70mm explainer.)

His last film, "The Hateful Eight," also played here in 70mm in the Village East's Jaffe Art Theatre. ("The Master," Dunkirk" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" are other films to screen here in recent years in 70mm.)

You can find ticket info for the theater, Second Avenue at 12th Street, at this link.

Tuesday's parting shot

A sunset shot from Avenue B this evening courtesy of @cecilscheib ...

Meanwhile, on Avenue B...

Report: the M14A tops the slow-bus charts

The M14A, a familiar route for East Village residents that connects the LES to the West Village, was cited as having the slowest bus service in the city.

As amNY reports, the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and TransitCenter announced today that the M14A is the recipient of the 2019 Pokey and Schleppie Awards, which highlight the slowest and least reliable bus service in the city.

Per amNY: "With an average speed of 4.3 miles per hour, the M14A moves slower than a manatee, which can glide through water at a crisp pace of 5 mph."

It's possible that those M14A times will speed up with the July 1 introduction of Select Bus Service along this route.

Mount Sinai Beth Israel offers more details on new East Village hospital, plans for the former Rivington House

[Where the new 7-floor hospital will rise on 13th Street]

Mount Sinai Beth Israel officials yesterday released more details on their "$1 billion downtown transformation."

For starters, they have submitted an application to the state Department of Health to close and relocate Mount Sinai Beth Israel from its current location on First Avenue and 16th Street to Second Avenue and 13th Street.

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, which includes a new 7-story hospital on 13th Street on the lot where a now-demolished 14-floor building that housed training physicians and staff once stood.

Per the Mount Sinai Beth Israel news release yesterday:

Demolition for the planned site of the new Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital was completed earlier this year and, pending approvals, Mount Sinai anticipates breaking ground in early 2020.

Expected to open in 2023, the new hospital will feature all private inpatient beds, cutting edge cardiac and neurologic interventional services, an operative platform, and a state-of-the-art emergency department. It will be integrated with the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, allowing for enhanced Ophthalmologic and ENT clinical services, including a 24/7 eye trauma emergency department, and access to state-of-the-art imaging, pharmacy, and laboratory services. In the meantime, the current MSBI hospital and emergency department will remain fully open and accessible until the opening of the new hospital.

And a new rendering of this facility — this is the view of Second Avenue from 13th Street... showing existing structures as well as the revamped current facilities and new hospital...



Also announced yesterday, more details about use of the former Rivington House:

Included in the $1 billion Downtown plan is a $140 million commitment to create a comprehensive, community-oriented behavioral health center: The Mount Sinai Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center.

The new facility, located at the site of the current Rivington House, will offer downtown residents a holistic approach to mental health and become a one-stop location for psychiatric, addiction, physical health, and social service needs. ... The site will not include methadone treatment services.

The sale of the Rivington House, a six-story, 119-year-old building at 45 Rivington St., "represents one of Mayor Bill de Blasio's biggest black eyes," as Gothamist once put it.

In February 2015, the Allure Group paid $28 million for the property, promising that 45 Rivington — the former Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation — would remain a health facility. In November 2015, a city agency lifted the the deed in exchange for the Allure Group's $16 million payment to the city. Allure then reportedly sold the property for $116 million to a development group with designs on a condoplex for the property that overlooks Sara S. Roosevelt Park, unleashing an outpouring of outrage.

The condo plans never moved forward. Crain's first reported on Mount Sinai's plan to lease the space last December. (The move caught Rivington House advocates by surprise.)

In reporting on yesterday's expansion news, Crain's noted that since acquiring Beth Israel Medical Center in a deal with Continuum Health Partners in 2013, "Mount Sinai has lost a significant amount of money on the medical center's East Village and Brooklyn campuses." How much? "Those campuses lost $104.6 million last year on $904.9 million in operating revenue. That was an improvement from a $124.2 million loss in 2017."

Find more info on the Mount Sinai Beth Israel restructuring at their FAQ page.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An empty lot awaits the future home of the new Mt. Sinai Beth Israel Hospital on 13th Street

Permits filed to demolish Mount Sinai's 13th Street residential building

Mount Sinai Beth Israel files plan for 7-story hospital on 13th Street

Coffee and Calexico for 2nd Avenue

Get ready for a Coffee and Calexico combo on Second Avenue between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. (To be clear, these are separate businesses who are just new neighbors.)

The new outpost for the Calexico chainlet that we've been writing about this past year (here and here) at No. 99 is ready to open. Signs on the front note that the Cal-Mex restaurant is closed for private parties at the moment...



Updated: A reader says that Calexico is now in soft-open mode.

Meanwhile next door, the 787 Coffee shop is coming together... the Coffee signage just arrived (H/T Steven!) ...

UPDATE 7/26: 787 is now open



As reported on July 8, this marks the second 787 outpost for the East Village. The shop, which grows and roasts its coffee in Puerto Rico, arrived on Seventh Street near Avenue A last October.

Chinese Graffiti has not been open lately on Avenue A

Multiple readers have noted that Chinese Graffiti has not been open during announced business hours of late. They were closed the past two weekends.

There isn't any message on the door here at 171 Avenue A about a closure — temporary or permanent. Yelp lists the Asian-American gastropub as closed as does Resy. Chinese Graffiti's phone is not in service and its website is offline. Nothing on its social media properties either.

Chinese Graffiti just opened here between 10th Street and 11th Street on March 8. It drew praise from Gothamist, who noted Chinese Graffiti's more offbeat menu items such as the Pork Belly Cotton Candy.

No. 171 may be ready for doomed restaurant location status. Recent ventures 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 always brings this up... No. 171 was once the 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.

Pizza Rollio has closed on 9th Street

[Photo by Steven]

Pizza Rollio has closed after 10 months in business, and the space is for rent here at 437 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. The shop had been dark in recent weeks, and the real-estate signage arrived last week to make it official.

The pizzeria specialized in super-thin, arugula-topped pies served in long strips. The owners operate similar establishments in the Philippines. They also have outposts on West 18th Street and in the Plaza Hotel Food Hall.

This storefront on Ninth Street was previously the longtime home of the salon Crops for Girls.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Pizza Rollio bringing its skinny slices to 9th Street

RIP Paul Krassner

Paul Krassner, who "epitomized a strain of anarchic 1960s activism," per the Times, died yesterday at his home in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. A cause of death was not revealed by his family. He was 87.

The Brooklyn native, the founder The Realist, one of the earliest underground humor magazines, had deep roots in the East Village.

From his obituary in the Times today:

Encouraged by [Lenny] Bruce, Mr. Krassner often took to the stage, delivering comic monologues at nightclubs like the Village Gate. He and his East Village friends also dreamed up pieces of public tomfoolery.

In one, in 1968, a group of 60 hippies chose to turn the tables on tourists streaming into the East Village to gape at its scruffy, longhaired denizens. With cameras dangling from their necks, the hippies hired a Greyhound bus for a sightseeing tour of the tidy middle-class neighborhoods of Queens.

In 1967, Mr. Krassner, [Abbie] Hoffman and friends formed an organization to meld hippies and earnest political types. Mr. Krassner dreamed up the name Youth International Party — Yippie for short.

And from the Associated Press:

An advocate of unmitigated free speech, recreational drug use and personal pornography, Krassner’s books included such titles as “Pot Stories For The Soul” and “Psychedelic Trips for the Mind,” and he claimed to have taken LSD with numerous celebrities, including comedian Groucho Marx, LSD guru Timothy Leary and author Ken Kesey.

Check out a few highlights from his long, active life over at Boing Boing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Last day for the Yippies at No. 9 — for now

Ruby’s Cafe bringing its Australian vibes to the former Martina space on 11th Street

Ruby's, the popular all-day café with two NYC outposts, will open a new location at 198 E. 11th St. at Third Avenue — in the former Martina space.

There's a Community Board 3 notice on the door now for an upcoming SLA committee meeting (no date has been released for the August meeting). The Australian-inspired Ruby's Cafe is applying for a beer-wine license for the space. (Martina also had a similar license)...



A rep for Ruby's confirmed their arrival here in an email to me, noting: "We can't wait."

Ruby's first opened in 2003 on Mulberry Street between Prince and Spring (they expanded next door in 2014) ... with an additional cafe on Third Avenue between 30th Street and 31st Street arriving in 2016.

Martina opened in August 2017 in this newly created space at 55 Third Ave., aka Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor residential building on the corner. The pizzeria, from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, never caught on, and closed this past March.

Thanks to the anonymous reader who shared the news of the Ruby's CB3 notice!

Nolita Pizza debuts on 2nd Avenue

Nolita Pizza debuted over the weekend at 128 Second Ave. here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

EVG regular Lola Sáenz shared these photos from Saturday...



We're told that Tony Salihaj (far left), one of the owners here, was also an owner of the well-regarded Bleecker Street Pizza. (He made headlines in September 2015 for creating a papal pizza ahead of the Pope's visit to NYC.)

In an email, Salihaj said that Bleecker Street Pizza was sold, and that he was very happy now to be in the East Village.

Aside from pizza, they offer dishes such as baked ziti and chicken parm and a variety of salads. You can find their website here with more menu items. (The website lists a Kenmare Street location as well.)

Kati Roll Company closed here in April after two-plus years selling Indian street food.

The longtime previous tenant at the address, The Stage, the 35-year-old lunch counter, closed in March 2015. Stage owner Roman Diakun had been involved in an ongoing legal/eviction battle with Icon Realty, who took over as the landlord. (You can read that background here.)

Updated 7/26

The signage has arrived...


[Photo by Steven]

1st sign of the San Loco signage on Avenue C

As a reminder — San Loco is opening soon at 111 Avenue C between Seventh Street and Eighth Street... the San Loco sign is now out front...



We first reported on the news in late April. You can find more background at that post.

As previously noted, the quick-serve Tex-Mex restaurant debuted on Second Avenue in the East Village in 1986. Owners Jill and Kimo Hing recently posted about that first San Loco on Instagram... here's a photo from 1986 at 129 Second Ave. (and next to B&H)...



San Loco would later move across Second Avenue to this spot.

Previously on EV Grieve:
It's official: San Loco is returning to the East Village

San Loco plotting an East Village comeback?

1st of 2 Flamingos Vintage Pound shops has opened in the East Village

The Flamingos Vintage Pound opened this past weekend here at 143 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. (Thanks to Steven for the photo!)

In an interesting move, this is the first of two Flamingos outposts to open in the East Village. Another one is coming soon to 11th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



Apparently they are opting for smaller storefronts as opposed to opening in a larger, more expensive space.

These are the latest locations for FVP, which as the name implies, sells vintage clothing by the pound. FVP opened on Stanton Street last summer. The company, now in its 10th year of business, has multiple stores in Europe, as well as in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and Brooklyn.

Until December 2017, the First Avenue space was home to the bar-restaurant portion of Paquito’s. The quick-serve Mexican restaurant still operates a newly remodeled outpost next door.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looks like a Flamingos Vintage Pound is coming to 1st Avenue