Avenue B, 2 p.m., Sept. 16

A view of the sun this afternoon along Avenue B between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

As you've likely heard, smoke from wildfires in the Western United States reached NYC earlier this week, giving the sky a hazy and milky look during the day.

Upper level winds continue to spread smoke from the West Coast #wildfires across much of the northern half of the CONUS, reaching well into the Atlantic Ocean! Skies will continue to be hazy as a result. Meanwhile, #HurricaneSally is impacting portions of the Southeast. pic.twitter.com/LadTkwIs21

— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) September 16, 2020

"Meteorologists expect the graying effect to be ... present until the smoke is eventually pushed off the coast by a cold front on Friday," Gothamist reported.

After 46 years, the Ukrainian Sports Club has left the East Village

The Ukrainian Sports Club of New York moved away earlier this week from the East Village after 46 years at 122 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Ulana Pryjmak, the Club's communications director, provided this background on the organization that hosted everything from banquets to book readings here...

For the last several months the location of the Ukrainian Sports Club of New York (YCK) has experienced extraordinary changes due to gentrification of our neighborhood thereby having very little interaction with its members. 

Moreover, our New York Ukrainians soccer team players find it difficult traveling into Manhattan. Our home base for our adult soccer games is in McCarren Park in Brooklyn, which is an area that would be a more appropriate and exciting new home for YCK.

In the past few years, we have taken several remarkable steps to remain here in Manhattan as this has been our home for the last 46 years. The YCK purchased the building at 122 Second Ave. in late 1974 upon selling our soccer field in Flushing, Queens. At that time, this building was a commercial one, fully rented, except for the ground and second floors with commercial and residential tenants on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors. 

The club has meant the world to thousands of people over the last five decades. It always welcomed members and their guests with a smile. It is a unique location in the heart of the East Village.

Upon entering the building, you would walk down a long hallway with blue and yellow stripes (symbolizing the colors of the Ukrainian flag), to a lobby that has an amazing mural of printed articles and photographs of the NY Ukrainians soccer teams over the years. 

On the other side is an impressive wall of outstanding trophies that their athletic teams have earned and show off with pride. Climbing up a few steps would be a classic and timeless no-frills bar, playing sports on any or all of their 3 TV monitors. 

Although we sold the building back in 2016, but remained in the back of the ground floor, the decision to move out of our Manhattan home has been a very difficult one. Our rental lease has expired and we are ready to find a new permanent location. We have many unforgettable memories here that we will hold on to forever.  

Rest assured, we have exciting changes ahead. We will continue to function with our respective adult and youth athletic programs during this transition and will wholeheartedly support you, our community, along the way. 

We will dearly miss our 122 Second Ave. home but look forward to finding another remarkable location for our organization to continue thriving for generations to come. 

Here are some photos from the move this week...
You can keep tabs on the Club via Instagram.

Reader report: Coyote Ugly looks to be taking the former Blind Pig space

As we first reported yesterday, Coyote Ugly permanently closed its home of 27 years at 153 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

Workers who were clearing out the space said that the saloon would be moving to 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

EVG reader Brian Van confirmed that Coyote Ugly was on this month's Community Board 6 agenda for a new license at 233 E. 14th St. — the former Blind Pig.

The Blind Pig, the sports bar/pub (home to Arsenal supporters in the English Premier League), closed after service in June 2019. As previously reported, the owners of the 13-year-old Blind Pig were hit with an untenable 50-percent rent increase.

In announcing the closure, Coyote Ugly CEO and founder Lil Lovell said that they there would be a new NYC Coyote Ugly. She didn't disclose the location, only saying that it will be “a little bit nicer” and have “better bathrooms.” 

Jewels is the new tenant for the former Ben & Jerry's space on St. Mark's Place

You may have noticed that Jewels recently moved a few storefronts to the east on St. Mark's Place ... they made the move to the larger space in early August, though the new sign just arrived for the body jewelry and piercing parlor here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (Thanks to Steven for the photo yesterday!)

They quickly took over 24 St. Mark's Place after Ben & Jerry's officially closed at the end of July. 

This also marks the first non-food/"dry" business at the address in nearly 50 years. No. 24 was the Ice Cream Connection in the early 1970s before the owners of Dojo opened the Japanese restaurant here in 1974. 

We've also had a Caffe Bene and Pinkberry and a few other things I'm forgetting here.

H/T Upper West Sider!

Pop's Eat-Rite debuts on St. Mark's Place

Pop's Eat-Rite, a plant-based burger joint from the Good Night Sonny-Wild Son team, opened yesterday at 123 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. (First reported here.) 

Pop's is serving a classic smashburger, made using Impossible Meat. 

Per their website: "Our meatless menu is our updated take on a classic burger stand, with fries, veggie sides, vegan donuts, soft-serve, smoothies and frozen lemonade and will be entirely free of animal products. "

You can find the menu online here. Or gaze at this...

Moving forward, the quick-serve stop with a to-go window will be open from noon to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.

Earlier in 2019, the team at Endless Group Hospitality had plans for a steakhouse at No. 123 (most recently Mr. White). However, CB3's SLA committee nixed a full-liquor request for that spot in March 2019.

College Food Pantry now being offered at the Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish

College Food Pantry, which aims to help "address food insecurity among college students of all ages and backgrounds," opens this afternoon at the Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on Avenue B and Ninth Street (pictured above).

Here's more via their website:

The College Student Pantry is a food pantry program providing groceries for any college or graduate student who needs them, regardless of financial situation or institutional affiliation. The idea for the pantry arose out of a recognition among students at NYU and the New School that student food insecurity is a significant and growing problem in New York. 

Students need to make an appointment for pickup. (Walk ups are OK too.) Moving forward, the service is available for students on the first and third Wednesdays of the month between 3 and 5 p.m.

The Pantry is in partnership with Trinity's Services and Food for the Homeless (SAFH) and PRiSM Progressive Student Ministry

The idea came from talking with community members and student activists who wanted to do something to address the needs of their fellow classmates. At NYU, more than 20 percent of students reported financial hardship affording food in 2018; at CUNY, 48 percent of students surveyed in 2019 had been food insecure in the past 30 days.

"I know it seems like a rite of passage to live off of ramen noodles, but we aren’t here to romanticize that kind of experience," an SAFH rep tells me. "The reality is that living off of ramen noodles and dollar pizza slices is not healthy. When your cupboards are bare and you skip meals to make your paycheck or student loan last, it’s not a good thing. Student food insecurity is a widespread issue, but the romanization of 'being young and poor' makes it an often obscured one."

SAFH has been serving meals to those in need in the neighborhood for more than 30 years.

Another day, another discarded microwave with a note

As seen on Seventh Street: "Have had this microwave since 2019 [Ed. note: or 2014????]. It works fine. A little rusty on the inside." Photo by Derek Berg. 

Previously. 

Showing a lot of heart on Avenue B

The other day someone spray painted a stupid message — not worth repeating — on the plywood of an empty storefront here on Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street.

Before long, Ian Dave Knife came along and painted an array of hearts over the words and added some much-needed color on the space...

Updated to note that Ian Dave Knife was the artist responsible for the hearts!

Final public hearing on a larger 3 St. Mark's Place coming soon

 

The final public hearing on the application to allow the air rights transfer to increase the size of the office building under construction at 3 St. Mark's Place is expected to happen on Sept. 24. According to Village Preservation, the hearing originally scheduled for today was postponed. 

Per Village Preservation:

In spite of overwhelming public opposition, in late August the City Planning Commission (consisting of appointees of the Mayor, the five borough presidents, and the Public Advocate) voted unanimously to approve the air rights transfer, adding thousands of square feet to the planned boutique tech office tower at this corner, long dubbed "the Gateway to the East Village."

However, to proceed, the transfer needs the blessing of City Council, and local CM Carlina Rivera already publically stated her opposition in early March. 

As we've been reporting in recents months, work has already commenced on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place, site of a future 10-story office building with an aggressive February 2022 completion date.

With the air-rights transfer, developer Real Estate Equities Corporation (REEC) would be allowed to build 8,386 square feet larger than the current zoning allows.

Regardless of an extra 8,000 square feet, construction will still happen. As Gothamist reported in early March, the project's architect, Morris Adjmi, emphasized a building of a similar height size would be built as-of-right.

REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the properties here for nearly $150 million in November 2017.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• New building plans revealed for 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

• Concern over potential air-rights transfer for new office building on St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue

The original Coyote Ugly outpost closes; new location expected on 14th Street

The original Coyote Ugly at 153 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street has closed ... EVG regular Lola Sáenz spotted workers clearing out the space yesterday...

The saloon was said to be moving to new space on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. We're waiting on confirmation of the address. [Update: Looks like the former Blind Pig space.]

Meanwhile, the bar's CEO and founder, Lil Lovell, made the announcement on Saturday about the closure of the very first Coyote Ugly:

We are living in unprecedented times. In comparison to the global pandemic, violence stemming from racial inequality, the raging wildfires, etc., my news is comparatively small— but it is deeply personal and I would like to share it.

The original Coyote Ugly Saloon, on 1st Avenue in New York City, has closed its doors forever. We have been shuttered for 6 months in accordance with New York State Covid-19 restrictions and simply cannot continue to pay the rent. I want to thank all of the former employees, customers, friends, and family that made that little bar so very special. I celebrated so many memorable milestones within those walls. The bar — and you — will forever be part of who I am.

At the end of the video she teases a new NYC location — one with "better bathrooms."

Coyote Ugly opened here in January 1993...  the bar started expanding in 2001, first in Las Vegas, then later with several global franchises... spurred on perhaps by the cheesy cinematic classic of the same name. 

Funny fundraising business for the Sixth Street Community Center

There's a funny new way to help raise money for the Sixth Street Community Center.

An East Village resident is behind an ongoing series of outdoor comedy shows that serve as a fundraiser for the Center between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

The next show is tomorrow (Sept. 16) night. You can follow @sixthstreetcomedy for details. 

The first show — with very limited capacity — took place last week in a private backyard somewhere in the neighborhood. Seth Herzog hosted the show, with sets by Mark Normand, Jared Freid, Wil Sylvince, Corinne Fisher, Nimesh Patel, Derek Gaines and Liz Miele. Here are a few scenes...

Photos by Matt Salacuse

Reaching the top at Zero Irving (aka tech hub)

Here's what is turning out to be a monthly look at 124 E. 14th St., aka Zero Irving (and formerly the Union Square Tech Training Center and 14 @ Irving ... and tech hub for life!) ... workers are apparently up to the tippy top here at Irving Place...

The latest Zero Irving e-newsletter (14th @ Irving Construction Update #36, and, by the way, #2 is already a collector's item) states the following updates:

Superstructure Concrete
The project’s superstructure contractor will be completing the 23rd floor slab the week of 9/7. They will continue to place stairs at the top of house, in addition to mechanical pads, curbs and the buildings parapets. Upon completion of this miscellaneous concrete the contractor will begin demobilization. This will include cocoon removal, removal of shoring and decking material and other demobilization tasks.

Cellar
The project’s electrical contractor is finishing installation of Switchgear Room equipment and feeder conduits in coordination with Con Ed’s site visits. End line boxes will be completed, along with overhead conduits throughout the cellar. Con Ed is anticipated to complete their pulls and tie-ins to switch gear room. The project is expecting permanent power by October 2020.

General Site
The project’s mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection contractors continue work on site to install sleeves and layout embeds and all other materials being placed into the deck on the 23rd floor. 

The newsletter makes mention of the 23rd floor. The official press release about the project lists this as a 21-floor building. Other news stories mention 21 floors too. The work permit lists 22 floors. Perhaps this 23rd floor mentioned is bulkhead-related. 

The 21-23-story building, developed jointly by the city’s Economic Development Corp. and RAL Development Services, will feature 14 floors of market-rate office space as well as "a technology training center and incubator, co-working spaces and state-of-the-art event space ... on the seven floors beneath," per the Zero Irving announcement issued last October. Food-hall specialists Urban­Space officially signed the lease for 10,000 square feet on the ground level last month.

The new building — long contested by local preservationists and community groups (see links below) — sits on the former site of a P.C. Richard & Son on city-owned property.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

• Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

• City Council unanimously approves tech hub; some disappointment in lack of zoning protections 

• The conversation continues on the now-approved tech hub for 14th Street

• P.C. Richard is gone on 14th Street; preservationists want answers about tech-hub commitments

It's full, wrapped in plastic: A Big Belly on B needs emptied out

An EVG reader shares these Big Belly photos from outside Sheen Brothers on Avenue B at 10th Street... the solar-powered trash can is full... and to prevent people from continuing using this for trash, or even stacking stuff on top, someone basically wrapped it with plastic and posted multiple notes ...

The Big Belly trash cans arrived here in July 2017 as part of the city's $32-million plan to combat vermin in rat-popular neighborhoods, like this one.

H/T Pete Martell!

Today's special guest at the Tompkins Square Park dog run

 Say a prayer! EVG regular Greg Masters spotted this today (Praying Mantis, right?) hanging out at the dog run in Tompkins Square Park...

CB3 wants your input on 2021 budget priorities

 Community Board 3 shared this information...

What parks need reconstruction? What programs need funding? Help us assess the needs of our community.

Every year the Community Board submits a list of capital and expense budget priorities to city agencies. This hearing is your opportunity to have input into these district budget priorities. Tell us how money should be spent in Community Board 3.

Organizations, groups, and individuals representing all segments of the community are encouraged to participate.

CB 3 Public Hearing — FY 2022 Budget Priorities

Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Online: https://zoom.us/j/94839426844
By Phone:  +1 646 518 9805, +1 929 205 6099
Meeting ID:  948 3942 6844

Farewells: Funny Face Bakery has outgrown its East Village space

[Photo Friday by Lola Sáenz]

A for lease sign now hangs in the front window at the former Funny Face Bakery space on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

However, it's a more-positive closure: Funny Face, which specializes in hand-painted face cookies of actors, politicians and various celebrities, is moving to a larger location outside the neighborhood.

Per a recent Instagram post:

Funny Face Bakery is moving up and moving out. We are so fortunate to have outgrown the space that has treated us so well for the last four years. It’s a bittersweet goodbye closing the doors to our East Village store. We survived the rain, but now we need to use it to grow.

No official word on the new location, though a source on the block said it will be in Brooklyn.

Sarah Silverman opened the bakery — originally called Cupcake Market — here in April 2016.

However, in a rebrand coinciding with a new online shop, Cupcake Market evolved into Funny Face last fall.

Turns out cupcakes weren't the big seller here. In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, her hand-painted face cookies of the candidates quickly became hot items.

She soon started creating custom portrait cookies for her customers to celebrate birthdays and other special events... as well as launching a line of intricately designed cookies accurately (and eerily?) depicting various celebrities and movie characters (as seen below with "It" and "Hocus Locus")... and hiring a group of artists from Pratt and SVA to help with the design.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Funny Face Bakery (@funnyfacebakery) on Nov 3, 2019 at 6:15am PST

H/T MP and Derek Berg!

Saramsam is a new Filipino restaurant from Ravi DeRossi on 7th Street

Saramsam, a Filipino restaurant from Ravi DeRossi, is now open at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. Here's more about it:

Saramsam means "casual dining" in Ilocano, the third-most spoken native language of the Philippines. Hailing from the city of La Union, Executive Chef Raj Abat says he wanted to create a restaurant that was Filipino down to its core — in its warm hospitality, nostalgic ingredients, and informal, communal style of dining. The twist? As part of proprietor Ravi DeRossi’s plant-based Revolution Hospitality Group, we serve Filipino cooking that’s entirely meat free.

[T]o create the menu, Chef Raj looked directly to the flavors of his own childhood — the funk of fermented bagoong shrimp paste, the sour tamarind of sinigang soup. From a plant-based sizzling “sisig” to an adobo of roasted mushrooms, we’ve got something for Filipino food experts and newcomers alike to discover.

You can find the menu and other details here. Saramsam is open for sidewalk dining Wednesday from 5-11 p.m. and from noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday. 

 

This is the third concept that DeRossi has tried in the space, following Fire & Water and Night Music. His other establishments include Death & Co. Ladybird and Amor Y Amargo.

Before this space at No. 111 was converted for restaurant use on Seventh Street, it was the Village Style Vintage Shop until the fall of 2016.

Report: Cloister Cafe granted temporary restraining order to reopen

Cloister Cafe will reopen tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 15) on Ninth Street after a judge granted it a temporary restraining order against the State Liquor Authority, Page Six reported. 

The SLA had suspended the Cloister's liquor license for alleged social-distancing infractions here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue last month. 

According to the SLA report that led to the suspension:

Investigators found the restaurant operating as a nightclub and hookah lounge with a live DJ, documenting numerous patrons ignoring social distancing with lines of customers congregating in front of the premises without facial coverings, at least twenty patrons consuming alcohol indoors under a fixed roof, and no receipts for food purchases.

For their part, Cloister Cafe claimed that the SLA didn't properly investigate the alleged violations — and just copied the claims from a Gothamist article.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Cloister Cafe owner sues state over suspended liquor license

Sunday's parting shots

Spotted on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B this evening... a little guilt with this freebie... (thanks to Steven for the photos!) ...

Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week included... 

• Lui's Thai Food will not be reopening (Tuesday) 

•  Scenes from Save Tompkins Day (Wednesday) 

• The formerly mysterious 84 2nd Ave. no longer looks mysterious at all (Wednesday) 

• At the start of the NYC Deep Playa Bike Ride (Monday) 

• A BLM tribute in Tompkins Square Park (Monday) 

• Ki Smith returns home, and debuts Ki Smith Gallery on 4th Street (Friday) 

• "Open" your eyes to this nighttime walk through the East Village (Friday) 

• These 2 buildings on Avenue A are getting taller (Tuesday) 

• Goats! (Tuesday) 

• Openings: Km1 brings Caribbean cuisine 1st Street (Wedensday) 

• ICYMI: Cuomo says indoor dining can resume in NYC on Sept. 30 — at 25-percent capacity (Thursday) 

• Development watch: Novum EV (Thursday) 

• Swiss Institute is back open on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Thursday) 

• Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices opens on today on Avenue A (Friday) 

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday) 

• A deli for the former deli at the long-vacant storefront at 118 1st Ave. (Thursday) 

• Monk Thrift Shop has closed (Wednesday) 

• Closings: Broken Coconut, Snowdays, Blockheads, By Name (Tuesday) 

• Checking in on Checkers (Thursday) 

• An end-of-summer appreciation: The grocery cart garden (Monday) 

... and for these stressful times, Ash, the owner of Villainess, the secondhand designer black clothing store and event space at 181 Avenue B,  is hosting a socially distant and limited capacity crystal bowl sound bath on Wednesday evening. RSVP: villainessnyc@gmail.com

 ... and from a Citizen user was apparently having fun with this report...

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