Scenes from Save Tompkins Day

Photos by Stacie Joy

Monday was a day of celebration on the ballfields/TF at Tompkins Square Park... a day that marked the one-year anniversary of the city's decision not to put artificial turf on the northwest corner of Tompkins... sacred ground for generations of skateboarders.

The skate community marked the day by bringing in a variety of vendors for a flea market of sorts in which all the money was being donated to at-risk local businesses and BLM-related causes. (Organizer Adam Zhu, an East Village resident, reported in an Instagram post that more than $10,000 was raised on Monday.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these portraits from the afternoon in Tompkins...






































...and on the TF...

The formerly mysterious 84 2nd Ave. no longer looks mysterious at all

Workers have removed the construction netting and scaffolding from outside 84 Second Ave. ... providing a look at the refurbished building here between Fourth Street and Fifth Street...



As we've been posting forever, No. 84 is in the midst of a gut renovation that will take the building from its current 5,829 square feet to 8,439 total square feet with a horizontal enlargement in the rear of the property. The modified No. 84 will feature new retail space as well as four residences.

This property has changed hands twice in recent years. Highpoint bought the building for $7.8 million in the spring of 2018. According to public records, the building sold in May 2016 for $5.1 million. The Sopolsky family had owned it for years.

As we've noted several times through the years, the address has a dark past, which includes the still-unsolved murder of Helen Sopolsky, proprietor of the family's tailor shop who was found bludgeoned to death in 1974, per an article at the time.

The storefront had remained empty since her death.

The plywood rendering shows the all-new No. 84 looking something like this...



Previously on EV Grieve:
• Plywood and a petition at 84 2nd Ave.

• Workers clearing out the mysterious 84 2nd Ave. storefront

• Renovations proposed for mysterious 84 2nd Ave.

• Mysterious 84 2nd Ave. sells again, this time for $7.8 million

• There are new plans to expand the mysterious 84 2nd Ave.

• Renovations underway at the (formerly) mysterious 84 2nd Ave.

• A rendering and vintage erotic playing cards (NSFW) at the under-renovation (and mysterious!) 84 2nd Ave.

Monk Thrift Shop has closed

The Monk Thrift Shop at 97 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue is out of business. The shop had not been open since the COVID-19 PAUSE... and the space was recently emptied out.

The hit-or-miss Monk debuted here in the spring of 2010 ... in the former home of house, funk/soul and techno vinyl specialists Dance Tracks (RIP 2007) ...



The Monk outpost remains open in Williamsburg.

Openings: Km1 brings Caribbean cuisine to 1st Street

Km1, short for Kilometro Uno, recently debuted on First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... focusing on "food from the Greater Antilles islands, with comforting dishes like mofongo, yucca fries, and shrimp served out of a half-pineapple on deck," per Eater.

And The Infatuation recently had a preview:

In addition to burgers, ceviche, and honey-glazed jerk wings, the menu has a bunch of Dominican dishes like a vegan pastelon layered with mushrooms and coconut sauce, and some extremely crispy mofongo with skirt steak and a light tomato broth.

And no liquor license at the moment...



Km1 is at 58 E. First St. Open daily 5-11 p.m. Phone: (646) 669-7547.

This address has seen several quality restaurants come and go in recent years. Esperanto Fonda lasted nine months here, closing in May 2017. Before that, this was home to BARA for two years and Prima for three years. The Elephant, a Thai restaurant, was previously here for 17 years.

Earlier today on Avenue Bee at 2nd Street

Via the Citizen app...

Don't let this get your goat!

Don't be surprised by the sight of goats if you happen to be biking or jogging past Stuyvesant Cove Park in the days ahead.



Solar One, the environmental nonprofit that manages Stuyvesant Cove Park on the East River between 18th Street and 23rd Street, came up with a unique way to combat the overgrown weeds in the green space... 20 goats from Green Goats of Rhinebeck arrived today to eat all they want within a fenced-in area in the Park.

EVG readers Louise & Danny shared the photos in this post today.

Here's more via Solar One:

New York City's parks are proving to be yet another unwitting victim of the pandemic crisis. Short staffing, budget cuts, and reduced volunteer opportunities have left many of our green spaces to their own devices, and the weeds have been having a (literal) hay day.

Compounding the issue is the fact that as New York residents have needfully turned to parks as safe outlets for socialization and recreation, they have also, sadly, left excessive trash and trampled plantings in their wake.

"It’s just a lot for our two person team to handle," says Candace Thompson, the manager of Stuyvesant Cove Park. "Mother Nature really got the jump on us with the weeds this spring and I feel like we’ll never catch up on top of everything else."

Which is why that particular park has decided to hire some help of the non-human variety. ... During their tenure, the goats will be charged with a simple task: eat everything in sight.

Solar One ... hopes this will assist park staff in minimizing excessive plant biomass while also fertilizing the soil for next season, all in just a few short days. While goats may seem an unorthodox fix to a weed problem, foraging animals have long been used in sustainable agricultural practices to manage overabundant species, and Green Goats in particular have been lending their services to public spaces and institutions across the greater New York area for over 15 years.

One thing — beware of petting the goats...

Lui's Thai Food will not be reopening

As previously reported here, longtime East Village resident Pimnapa "Lek" Sunthatkolkarn, the chef/owner of Lui's Thai Food, was hospitalized in mid-August.

While Chef Lek was discharged from the hospital, she will continue to need medical treatment. And sadly, she has had to permanently close her restaurant at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

She opened Lui's in 2013 after running Holy Basil on Second Avenue near Ninth Street.

Here's the walk-off line from EVG contributor Stacie Joy's interview with Lek in March 2019:

Lek has a cheerful disposition and laughs a lot. As I am leaving she tells me, "Eat, then dance. Have fun!"

Lek's friends and neighbors launched a crowdfunding campaign several weeks ago to help her and her family with expenses. You may find the GoFundMe link here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Friends and neighbors come together to help Chef Lek at Lui's Thai Food

• A visit to Lui’s Thai Food on 4th Street

These 2 buildings on Avenue A are getting taller

The two-story extension has come into view in recent weeks here at 15 Avenue A between First Street and Second Street (if EV Arrow can help)...



As previously reported, there are approved plans on file with the city for a gut renovation and extension of the currently vacant building. No. 15 is receiving two new floors, moving from four to six... with five residential units (likely condos) in the making.

The new retail tenant was expected to be a wine bar from Bushwick-based pizzeria Roberta's. No word if that is still the case.

The retail space at 15 Avenue A was previously the Family Dental Center, which moved down to Essex Street in 2017. The retail listing at the time noted that this would be a "great location" for a restaurant.

... and up Avenue A at Sixth Street, work continues on adding a floor to No. 94-96...



As we reported in May 2019, the new owner of No. 94-96 filed plans with the city for a one-floor extension at the building that previously housed Sidewalk Bar and Restaurant.

And that floor is coming into view (depending on where you're standing...)



The retail tenant on the ground floor, the bar-restaurant August Laura, is open during non-construction hours.

Other recent Avenue A extensions include No. 202.

Closings: Broken Coconut, Snowdays, Blockheads, By Name

A roundup of some recent restaurant-cafe closings during the COVID-19 crisis...

• Broken Coconut, 15 E. Fourth St. between Lafayette and Broadway

For-rent signs are now in the window of the Instagram-friendly (#EatPretty) health-focused cafe that served items like quinoa parfaits and coconut chia. Broken Coconut opened in September 2017 in the storefront that was Other Music for 20 years.

Scott Sartiano, the nightlife impresario who founded 1Oak and Butter, is behind the venture. The BC outpost in Equinox Hudson Yards is open.


[Snowdays photos by Steven]

• Snowdays, 241 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue

The dessert shop specializing in Asian-inspired shaved frozen cream (aka snow cream) has been cleared out...



The business, originally called Snowdays Shavery, opened here in August 2014. While there hasn't been any official notice of this closure, the storefront is on the rental market. (H/T Upper West Sider!)



• Blockheads, 60 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street.

That's all for the East Village location of the big burrito specialists from the folks who launched Benny's. As the above photo shows, someone has painted over the Blockheads signage on the now-empty storefront.

And as we've seen with other restaurants with multiple NYC locations (Mermaid Inn, 99 Favor Taste, Oddfellows, Ravagh Persian Grill), the East Village has been scratched in favor of outposts in other neighborhoods. Blockheads is running operations on the Upper West Side, Midtown East, Midtown West and in White Plains.

Blockheads opened on Third Avenue in July 2015. Blockheads did not respond to queries about this location.



• By Name, 324 Bowery near Bleecker Street

The "art-inspired cafe concept" sold a variety of fruit-milk teas and bento boxes, opening in the summer of 2019.

There wasn't any notice of the closure, with the By Name website going offline.

This space was once Agozar!, the Cuban bistro-bar that closed in November 2017. The other part of the former Agozar! is now Codex, which sells used and new books with a focus on literary fiction and art.

---

There are at least a dozen other spaces that are dormant... spaces that readers-residents wonder if they will reopen. Waiting for confirmation on these — from either ownership or in some cases a for-rent sign. Some places that were shutdown the past six months are returning. Ainsworth, the high-end sports bar on Third Avenue at 11th Street, looked permanently shuttered with St. Patrick's Day notices on the doors. However, they are reopening later this week.

Today in photos of a discarded meat slicer on 1st Avenue

EVG reader Noah Shannon shared these photos from First Avenue at Sixth Street...



The abandoned slicer looks too carefully placed to be randomly discarded. Perhaps the Cuomo Administration left this to remind bars and restaurants that they must offer "substantial" menu items with curbside service?

An end-of-summer appreciation: The grocery cart garden

We've enjoyed watching the flowers flourish inside the grocery cart garden on Fourth Street at the Bowery during these summer months...

A BLM tribute in Tompkins Square Park

Someone placed 10 tombstone-shaped signs in Tompkins Square Park paying tribute to the unarmed black men and women who died (or were injured) at the hands of police across the country in recent years.

Represented on the east side of the main lawn are Breonna Taylor, Daniel Prude, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Elijah McClain, Michael Brown and Jacob Blake, who is now paralyzed from the waist down after being shot seven times by a police officer in Kenosha, Wis.



Photos by Steven

Uncle Leroy’s Sidewalk Sale coming to Tompkins Square Park today

[Photo from 9/7/19 by Stacie Joy]

One year ago today skateboarders celebrated the city's decision NOT to place artificial turf on the ballpark/TF in the northwest corner of Tompkins Square Park.

East Village resident Adam Zhu, who grew up skating here, launched a petition in late June 2019 to spare the asphalt from the fake turf ... and eventually gathered more than 32,000 signatures from people who wanted to preserve this important part of the skate community and youth culture. The outpouring of support was enough to change the minds of the Parks Department.

Today, skaters are celebrating this anniversary by bringing in Uncle Leroy’s Sidewalk Sale (background here via Vice about these sales that have been happening at McGolrick Park in Greenpoint this summer) to the space to raise money for at-risk local businesses and BLM causes.


[Invite via @z.h.u1]

The sale takes place from 1-6 p.m. today.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to the TF in Tompkins Square Park

And via Quartersnacks...