Remember to vote today!

Polls are open today (Nov. 5!) from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in what promises to be a pretty slow day at the ballot boxes.

As City Limits points out, though: "Those voters who do show up will make important decisions on citywide offices, changes to the city’s governing structure and judicial posts."

Among those offices is public advocate. Letitia James, the previous public advocate, was elected as state attorney general in November 2018. City Councilmember Jumaane Williams won a special election in February, and is seeking to serve out the remainder of James’ term, which ends on Dec. 31, 2021.

Anyway, the office of the public advocate exists to be a watchdog, a check on the mayor. The public advocate is also the first in line to assume the title of mayor if something were to happen to said mayor.

City Limits has a nice voters' guide, which you can find at this link.

Behold your new Avenue A L-train entrances!

As we were first to report back on Sunday evening, the L train's new Avenue A entrances — the Brooklyn-bound side — opened to the public yesterday morning at 9.

But first! There were speeches and what not...





EVG regular Greg Masters, who provided the initial tip about the opening, shared these photos (the MTA noted that the station opened with temporary finishes)...





This work has been two-plus years in the making. According to MTA officials yesterday, the majority of work on the 14th Street sidewalk restoration is expected to be completed more than six months ahead of schedule.

When all the construction is wrapped up, the revamped 14th Street First Avenue station will have four new street entrances — two on either side of 14th Street at Avenue A as well as two new platform-to-street ADA elevators that will be ready next summer. (Find more details on this MTA advisory.)

Still no word on when the the north side (Eighth Avenue bound) entrances will open at Avenue A. Meanwhile, the luxury of having entrances at Avenue A and First Avenue will be short-lived.

According to the L Project Newsletter:

Now that the Avenue A side will be open, the 1st Avenue side will close on Nov. 11 for a few months for structural repairs. We have to make sure it looks as good (and has the structural strength too!) to match the new one. The same thing will also happen for the north side entrances. We'll always have two open at the station.

Now here are additional photos courtesy of East Village Tours...





Bedford & Bowery has a few video clips of the new entrances here.

Meanwhile, the L-train slowdown, which began on April 26, is now expected to be finished within a year — reportedly several months ahead of schedule.

What's going on at Joe's Steam Rice Roll?

[Photo Thursday night at 6:30]

Joe's Steam Rice Roll has not been open during the shop's usual hours here at 36 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue stretching back into last week ... and the gate remained down over the weekend without any notice to potential patrons.

There also isn't any notice of a temporary or permanent closure on the quick-serve restaurant's website or social media properties. The phone is currently out of service. No one has responded to an email query about this location's status.

Joe's debuted back in June, making this the third NYC outpost of the popular quick-serve establishment, which got its start in Flushing. (You can read more about the food at Joe's in this Hungry City column at the Times in January.)

As previously noted, No. 36 has seen a variety of quick-serve concepts come and go in recent years, including Cheers Cut, the Taiwanese mini-chain of fried foods ... Friterie Belgian Fries ... Fasta ("Pasta Your Way") ... and the $1.50 branch of 2 Bros. Pizza.

Previously.

A blast from the burrito past!

For the first time in a long time the gate was open on the southwest corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street yesterday ... bringing into the view the fairly well-preserved storefront of the previous tenant — Benny's Burrito's... the menus are still posted outside the front door...





Benny's closed here on Nov. 29, 2014 after 27 years in business.

The prime corner space has sat empty since then. At least one prospective tenant kicked the tires on the space in 2017. (The Benny's to-go spot next door, which closed in February 2015, is now the 99¢ pizza place called 99¢ Pizza.)

Anyway, no idea why the gate is finally open. The original rental ask for the spot was $22,000.

Mark Merker, who launched Harry's and Benny's Burritos in 1987, attempted a revival with Benny's Burritos & Empanadas at 86 E. Seventh St. in January 2018, but it didn't last.

Will the new East Village Trader Joe's open on this date in 2020?

[The incoming TJ's on 14th and A]

We reported yesterday that the incoming Trader Joe's on 14th Street at Avenue A is now hiring.

Now comes word from a reliable source that this Trader Joe's will open on Jan. 6, 2020.

The Trader Joe's website still lists this location at 432 E. 14th St. as "coming soon." TJ's corporate office typically keeps these opening dates a well-guarded secret. So we'll see.

And yesterday's post has more about the two-plus year background on this new location.

Update on the Bean's Broadway move

A quick update to yesterday's post on the Bean opening up an outpost on the northwest corner of Broadway and Ninth Street.

The Bean that's currently on Broadway at 12th Street is relocating to this larger spot (thanks to the commenters for pointing this out!)


[Photo by Steven]

As noted in yesterday's post, the Ninth/Broadway storefront was a Starbucks until this past January.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Bean is taking over the former Starbucks space on 9th and Broadway

Monday's parting shot

A morning view looking south on Avenue A at 10th Street via Vinny & O...

[Updated] B&H Dairy closed for a few days for renovation work

[Photo by Steven]

In case B&H Dairy was in your tuna-melt plans today or tomorrow ... the 80-plus year-old lunch counter at 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place is closed for a quick renovation. Their Instagram account describes it as "some light renovation."

Owners Ola and Fawzy hope to be back open on Wednesday, though it could be Thursday. They'll provide updates on Instagram.

Updated:

B&H reopened on Thursday at 2 p.m. ... aside from some modifications (and new wallpaper) ... they also have a new lease!

This dog was found this morning in Tompkins Square Park

Per a reader:

The dog was found with a necktie as a makeshift collar and a chain as a makeshift leash. No real collar or tags.

The girl who found him asked around the dog park if anyone recognized him, but none of us did. He didn't look that old and seemed in decent shape (like he had been taken care of) so maybe he was lost vs. abandoned.

The person who found him will take him to a vet to see if there's a chip...

Updated:

The vet didn't find a chip. The dog is currently in a loving foster home.

Enz's Boutique has closed on 2nd Avenue

As of yesterday, Enz's Boutique has ended its long tenure in the East Village.

Owner-designer Mariann Marlowe has run the rockabilly and retro clothes shop at 125 Second Ave. for the past 18 years after relocating from St. Mark's Place. (The store dates to the 1970s on Grove Street.)

Marlowe told EVG correspondent Stacie Joy that she has enjoyed serving her clientele, including various musicians and artists through the years, but has grown tired of the hostile retail climate and the daily rigor of running the shop.

She has had to manage a variety of issues outside the shop here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place in recent years, including the new-building construction next door, the presence of travelers on the nearby corner and even an impromptu Amazon distribution center on the Avenue.

However, Marlowe isn't leaving the retail business entirely. Starting on Nov. 16, she'll have a kiosk at the new Turnstyle Underground Market in the Columbus Circle Station. You can also find some of her designs at Jimmy Webb's I Need More boutique on Orchard Street.

And who knows, you may even see her back in the East Village one day.


[Photo of Marlowe from 2014 by Stacie Joy]

Updated: Jeremiah Moss has more shop history here.

Opponents of the latest plan to stormproof East River Park will rally at City Hall today ahead of committee vote

This afternoon (Nov. 4), the City Council Subcommittee on Landmarks, Sitings and Dispositions will vote on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), the $1.45 billion proposal to protect the East Side from future storm and rising sea levels.

Ahead of that, opponents of the plan, which will see parts of East River Park closed and buried in the years ahead, will rally on the steps of City Hall at noon.

Via the EVG inbox:

East River Park Action, a grassroots group formed to save the park, along with allies, have gathered thousands of petitions against the destructive flood control plan. They will deliver the petitions to the mayor’s office and City Council members. One group collected nearly 2,000 signatures from NYCHA residents, who have been portrayed by city officials as supporting the plan.

“We wanted to shut that argument down,” said April Merlin, who organized the drive. Her group found that people in Jacob Riis, Baruch, and Lillian Wald Houses across the FDR Drive from the park readily signed.

The group will also perform a satirical skit to represent the thousands of community stakeholders who they say are being ignored. “We’ve been testifying at hearings, demonstrating, and calling and writing our elected officials in overwhelming numbers. Yet our Council members are supporting this terrible plan,” says East River Park ACTION founder Pat Arnow.

The group supports adapting an earlier community-developed plan that provides flood control with minimal destruction of existing parkland and biodiversity.

On Oct. 2, the de Blasio administration announced more changes to the city's stormproofing plans for East River Park. Instead of the entire Park shutting down for three-plus years starting in March, the flood protection construction will be done in phases, with all of East River Park remaining open until next fall.

The plan has been making its way through the city’s uniform land use review procedure in recent months, as we've been reporting (see select links below). If the subcommittee votes for the plan this afternoon, then it will go to the Land Use Committee on Nov. 12 and to the full City Council on Nov. 14.

Meanwhile, on Nov. 14, officials from the Department of Design & Construction are scheduled to present the latest details on the plan before Community Board 3's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront & Resiliency Committee. That public meeting is at 6:30 p.m. in the BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey St. between Chrystie and Forsyth.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Dutch consultant files report on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (Oct. 11)

• More details on the city's new plan to keep East River park partially open during flood protection construction (Oct. 3)

• At the march and rally to save East River Park (Sept. 21)

• An annual reunion in East River Park (Aug. 4)

• A visit to East River Park (July 10)

Haveli-Banjara has not been open lately on 2nd Avenue

[Photo from Saturday night]

The Haveli Banjara Indian Restaurant at 100 Second Ave. remained dark for the second weekend.

A tipster told us that they are closed for good. A "Sorry we are closed today" sign has been on the front door here between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. (This is one of those inconclusive, vague-yet-specific signs that provides hope that the place isn't actually done for, like they might be back open tomorrow...)


[Photo by Steven]

In any event, there's no other message on the restaurant's website about a temporary or permanent closure. The phone goes unanswered.

In November 2017, the staff told patrons that they would be closing in early 2018, with the hopes of finding another location nearby. However, that obviously never happened.

One EVG source said that the previous landlord died. The building has been on the market since September 2017. The current asking price is $7.2 million, down from an original price of $8.6 million.

Haveli is/was the oldest Indian restaurant in the East Village (that is/was STILL in business), opening in 1987. Banjara moved in here in November 2013.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Haveli Banjara Indian Restaurant said to be closing and relocating early next year

The incoming Trader Joe's on 14th Street at Avenue A is now hiring

A sign is up inside the Trader Joe's on Union Square announcing that the new location at 432 E. 14th St. at Avenue A is now hiring. (Thank you to Erika for pointing this out!)

This is the next step in the long evolution (May 2017!) of the new EV TJ's...



Still looks as if there's a way to go before this TJ's is ready. Here's a look inside the space on Friday... there's some TJ-esque paneling up, but otherwise, it's still pretty boxy-y inside...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Trader Joe's finally confirms that a Trader Joe's is opening on 14th Street at Avenue A

All about EVE, the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office-replacing rentals on 14th Street

Claim: A Trader Joe's won't be coming to new development at 14th and A after all

Trader Joe's: No current plans for grocery at 432-438 E. 14th St.

Looks like there's a Trader Joe's coming to 432-438 E. 14th St. after all

[Updated] The Bean is taking over the former Starbucks space on 9th and Broadway

The Bean is continuing its local expansion... signage is up on the northwest corner of Broadway and Ninth Street for another outpost of the coffee shop...



This is a bit of a role reversal too, as a local cafe takes over a space previously held by a Starbucks.

The Starbucks stopped here back in January ... after a conversion from the Starbucks-owned Teavana in 2016. (This corner space previously housed Silver Spurs, the diner that closed in December 2013 after 34 years in business.)

In the fall of 2011, Starbucks moved into the the Bean's flagship cafe at First Avenue and Third Street. The Bean had been on a month-to-month lease there, and the landlord gave them a 30-day notice to leave late in August 2011.


[EVG photo from 2011]

As for the Bean, they opened a new location at 31 Third Ave. at Stuyvesant Street (the former St. Mark's Bookshop) in 2017.

Updated

Per the comments, the Bean is relocating here from the 12th Street and Broadway location...


[Photo by Steven]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Today's sign of the apocalypse: Starbucks taking over The Bean's space on First Avenue and Third Street

Mi Casa Latina closes after 10 months on 14th

For rent signs hang in the front windows of 250 E. 14th St., marking the official official end of Mi Casa Latina's 10 months here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...



The Marshal has already dropped by too...



Anyway, they had a promising open in January with quick-serve a.m. items like coffee and muffins for the commuting crowd as well as a variety of fresh juices and bowls of açaí. There were also steam tables with reasonably priced lunch specials. Perhaps a little too ambitious with the fresh offerings — a lot of inventory for what appeared to be scant patronage.

No. 250 previously housed PokéVillage, which closed in March 2018 after 16 months in business.

Openings: 5 Napkin Burger Express rolls out its counter service

That 5 Napkin Burger Express is now up and running on the southwest corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue, as EVG regular Pinch pointed out this past weekend.

As we told you earlier, the 5 Napkin Burger downsized its dining room on the corner to create space for this quicker-serve option.

The Express shop does include a few stools/tables for dining in with your burger, fries and napkins. Breakfast and late-night items are in the works. For now, the current hours are 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

Sunday's parting shot

After the NYC Marathon ... photo in Tompkins Square Park today by Derek Berg...

New Avenue A L-train entrances open tomorrow; 1st Avenue station will close next for renovations

[Photo by Brian Carroll]

The MTA is throwing open the doors to two of the Avenue A entrances to the L train tomorrow (Nov. 4!) at 9 a.m.

Earlier today, EVG regular Greg Masters got a look at the platforms, in the making for two-plus years (and on the wish list for decades) ...





Earlier this evening, the L Project Newsletter sent out a special missive about the opening, noting that the first two entrances opening are on the south side of Avenue A (Brooklyn bound) at 14th Street. To help commuters navigate the new entrances, the L Project team will be out to answer questions and point you in the right direction.

No word on when the the north side (Eighth Avenue bound) entrances will open at Avenue A. The MTA hasn't yet issued a news release about tomorrow's opening. (We hear one is on the way. We'll post info from that once it arrives.) Updated: Here's the MTA press release.

Meanwhile, the luxury of having entrances at Avenue A and First Avenue will be short-lived.

Back to the L Project:

Now that the Avenue A side will be open, the 1st Avenue side will close in about a week for a few months for structural repairs. We have to make sure it looks as good (and has the structural strength too!) to match the new one. The same thing will also happen for the north side entrances. We'll always have two open at the station. Look for signs tomorrow for more info.

Compost pumpkin patch

Post-Halloween scene at the compost bins today at the Tompkins Square Park Greenmarket...

Week in Grieview

[When it rained every day last week via Derek Berg]

Posts from this past week included...

RIP Susan Leelike (Wednesday)

Police say these 4 suspects beat and robbed a man for $1 on 3rd and C (Wednesday)

200 new trees will grow in the East Village (Monday)

Details on the preservation and rehabilitation of 243 affordable housing units in the East Village (Tuesday)

Photos from Halloween night along Avenue B (Friday)

After 10 days, Bertie is found alive and well on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

Pols call on Parks Department to save local community gardens at risk over new licensing agreement (Friday)

After Basquiat: the next exhibition coming to the Brant Foundation on 6th Street (Friday)

Squall Screaming, new work by peter radley (Thursday)

Have questions or concerns about the new Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital on 2nd Avenue? (Tuesday)

NYPD looking for suspect who tried to force his way into woman's apartment near 7th and A (Tuesday)

Kent takes over Vanessa's Dumpling House on 14th Street (Monday)

A Halloween-themed NY See (Thursday)

Hot Kitchen closes on 2nd Avenue (Thursday)


[A 5th Street scene via riachung00]

Joseph C. Sauer Park closed now for year-long renovation (Monday)

B Bar & Grill is still open (Tuesday)

Yakiniku West looking to reopen soon on 9th Street (Tuesday)

Looking for information on a hit-and-run (Thursday)

Your chance to own a meat grinder and commercial juicer from the former St. Mark's Market (Thursday)

The Caswell-Massey pop-up shop has officially popped up on the Bowery (Wednesday)

A look at the incoming Williamsburg Pizza on 14th Street (Monday)

The Wild Son is on the gate (Thursday)

Steamy Hallows, the Harry Potter-themed coffee shop on 6th Street, closes after Halloween (Wednesday)

So long Dean & Deluca (Monday)

Man caught with a brick in the backyard of the home linked to David Schwimmer on Sixth Street (Sunday)

Daytripper has not been open lately (Monday)

... and the new cold-weather gear has arrived at Gem Spa on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...


[Photo by Steven]

In other merchandising news, the Strand has a new hoodie available ... and the B&H Dairy t-shirts are back in stock.

---

Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter