Friday, October 23, 2020
Friday's parting shot
Sweetness and light
East Village-based Cults released a video (described as "like stepping into a too-sweet, too-pink Candy Land") this week for "A Low," another single from their recently released record Host.
Headline H/T
Delphine le Goff on her East Village storefront art and love of the neighborhood
What initially inspired you to create illustrations East Village storefronts this past spring?
Your Instagram posts are refreshingly upbeat during such a challenging time. How do you manage to stay focused on the positive?
As many of us, I became jobless. I normally work in visual merchandising and do store installs and windows so it's not something I can do from home.
I am super bad with computers — I don't even own one! So, when I want to share window design ideas with a client, I do a little sketch.
Being without my professional activity during lockdown, on a rainy day, I sketched my apartment.
I posted it on social media.
People reacted very well.
So I asked my friends to send me a picture of their favorite wall.
It's how it started.
Then, I got sick of sketching interiors.
So, during my long walks in the deserted streets, I took pictures of the buildings — the storefronts with the gate closed.
It was sad but beautiful at the same time.
I started to sketch the buildings.
Then, when businesses started to slowly reopen, my friend Meagan from East Village Vintage Collective talked about me on an East Village Independent Merchants Association call. She told on a Zoom meeting that I will sketch the businesses in exchange of being tagged on social media and if they wanted to buy it or trade I was cool with it.
It's how it started!
It was so amazing to see that people were excited about it, liked my drawings and that made them happy!
It was warmth for the heart. On both parts.
Is there something in particular about a storefront that might catch your eye?
First of, I love this neighborhood. It's a community here. I am a EV resident for six years now. And it's like Montmartre in Paris where I used to live. Everybody knows more than less of each other.
I think it's more a sentimental thing than an esthetical thing.
Plus, as a European, I love those brick buildings with the fire escape on the facade. (Dream comes true, I live in one of those buildings.) So, I would say, the sentimental aspect. And when you take the time to look at thise buildings, you discover that the window frames are sometimes different from one floor to another.
I also observed more of the beauty of the buildings walking in empty streets, or making line in front of a store.
We are used to be so fast all the time here. I take pictures of buildings and things I want to sketch.
I became obsessed with trash cans lately.
I started a series. It's called Trash in the City.
Making something ugly into something pretty. I like that.
What places and people — past or present — have inspired you?
I don't want to sound like a cliché, but I would say family and friends.
My parents did something super awesome — they are in France and I miss them. When I became jobless, I was very cautious about my expenses.
I wanted and needed markers to sketch.
Those art markers are expensive. There was this box of 72 for almost $200! My parents sent me money on PayPal so I could buy them.
My brothers have been supportive too.
My best friend, who has a corporate job and never stopped working, offered me markers too. It was great help! And it pushed me to draw even more!
And my EV tribe! I would not have made it without them.
We all have looked at each other during this tough time.
Your Instagram posts are refreshingly upbeat during such a challenging time. How do you manage to stay focused on the positive? I am glad you are asking this.
Well, I am a very lucky person. I see the glass half full!
I am not going to lie, I had a meltdown when everything closed one by one. When all my gigs disappeared.
But well, what can we do?
You can be miserable, or kick your butt and carry-on!
It's how I have been raised.
Luck won't knock at your door.
You have to find it, chase it. And try to keep it.
I started to sketch.
It kept me busy in a positive way.
I had long walks.
As a joke, I dressed up every day. A little provocation to people who were saying they didn't shower and wore sweat pants.
I dressed up for myself.
It makes me happy. And I took pictures. People loved it. So I kept doing it. It's as simple as that.
With Frank New, my good friend in the neighborhood, we dressed up to just walk to Tompkins Square Park or East River Park. We even dressed up for Easter! I had already made my hat for the Bonnet Parade that got canceled.
One day, I put my brain on happiness mode. And I tried to keep it this way.
Call it being in the denial, but it works.
I also do not own a television. I don't watch the news. I just know the big titles that I need to know to be a good citizen.
That helps.
I am not saying I am right, but it works for me.
There always something beautiful and positive (in most things).
An other tip to be positive: say yes to (almost) everything. Support your friends.
If someone ask you to join them at a art show, a concert, a whatever, just say yes and go!
Life can be beautiful and full of experiences. Look around you, contemplate life.
Even watching a bird. A weird bug is cool!
I have a friend who sometimes mocks me because I am too positive!
What is your favorite part of living in the East Village?
The people. The old-school vibe. The solidarity. The spirit. The independence.
The trash. The graffiti. The filth. The artists. The bars. Tompkins Square Park.
My block. The East River Park. The hippies. The punks. The misfits. The fact that I run into everyone in the street to chit-chat. The bohemian spirit. The brick buildings. The fire escapes. The fact to be part of something. My neighbors. The red-tailed hawks. My nest. The feeling to be in the best neighborhood you can possibly imagine.
I will get the zip code tattooed one day.
Los Tacos NYC debuts today on 7th Street
The folks who operate 787 Coffee down the block are behind this taco operation, which will be open from 10 a.m. (breakfast!?) to midnight daily. No sign of a menu just yet. You can find their Instagram account at this link
This storefront was previously Future You Cafe, which closed in the spring as a result of the pandemic.
H/T Steven!
Lois will close on Sunday with hopes of reopening in the spring
Owners Nora O'Malley and Phoebe Connell discussed the decision in an Instagram post:
We've had a blast the last few months, hanging with you on our "patio." If you've dined with us this summer, you know that we've changed a few things while still trying to keep the Lois vibe alive, and, most important, all of our Lois family safe and happy.
After careful consideration, we've decided that indoor dining as it stands today does not meet our standards of safety, so we will be closing for the winter to regroup. Hopefully that will put us in a position to come back in the spring for outdoor dining.
Let's be honest, things are changing every day and no one knows how they're going to change next. We understand that @mayordiblasio and @nygovcuomo believe that year round outdoor dining + 25% indoor can save this industry, but the reality is much more complex.
We are truly a small business, and we currently do not have the financial resources to upgrade our ventilation system or build private igloos. We support every incredible operator in this city, however they choose to run their businesses — this is simply our reality.
We deeply hope that we’re able to return again in the spring, and dreaming of drinking with you again is what will get us through the winter, but the reality is that we just aren’t sure. That’s as transparent as we can be with all of you who have made the past 5.5 years a dream come true. Please come out and help us say so long, not farewell.Lois opened in March 2015... Grub Street named it one of the neighborhood's best bars in 2016.
Image via the Lois Facebook page. H/T Vinny & O!
The UPS Store delivers a grand opening on 1st Avenue
This outpost is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week, with shorter weekend hours (8-6 on Saturday and 11-5 on Sunday).
Until March 2018, this storefront next to the McDonald's had been a chronically empty Subway® (sandwich shop) for six years.
Thanks to Steven for the photo!
City Gourmet Cafe has not been open lately
An addition to yesterday's post-PAUSE status check.
There hasn't been any official notice about a closure, though the phone is out of service.
City Gourmet Cafe opened back 1989, and had been a reliable spot for all-day breakfast, smoothies, sandwiches and Middle Eastern staple like lamb shawarma.
(H/T Pinch!)
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Grant Shaffer's NY See
Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around NYC ... and, more recently, observations on current events...Documenting 166 Avenue A through the years
I always enjoy receiving correspondence from Anton van Dalen, the artist who has lived on Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street for decades. Here's the latest dispatch:
Sending you photos of our home at 166 Avenue A, of its over the years evolving facade appearance. The photos cover a span of now almost 50 years of my observing and documenting our neighborhood.
Came to this address in 1971. Before we lived at 123 Rivington St. near the corner of Essex Street.
Initially I just watched and listened to the street life, its sidewalk theater with joyous salsa music.
It was not the New World that I had imagined as child growing up in Holland — no streets here paved with gold.
Rather streets paved by the colors of many cultures.
On first arrival our new home looked abandoned, hardened by history, burned out house next door.
And by contrast, a storefront church on the other side, often crowded with multigenerational Puerto Rican families.
Today our Puerto Rican community is marginal, as neighborhood's demographics radically changed.
As my below succession of photos illustrate, the creeping ongoing gentrification of our neighborhood.
I consider myself a documentarian of the East Village, yet I am a participant and spectator to its evolution.
Began documenting my street surroundings in 1975, urged on by wanting to note and remember these lives.
Came to realize I had to embrace wholeheartedly, with pencil in hand, my streets with its raw emotions.
Also the everywhere discarded bloody heroin needles on sidewalks stunned and urged on my thinking.
The drug dealers, the junkies, the police, the firefighters, were then the unquestioned royalty of our neighborhood.
Then came hopeful efforts by gardeners in garbage-strewn abandoned lots, squatters, community organizers.
They were able to redirect our devastated neighborhood toward again being a community for many.
So my documenting became more and more informed by the stories of my neighbors' acts of activism.
And a commitment on my part to be true to those lives, of their raw heartfelt emotions, birthed on the street.
Their truth telling kept my work honest, brought authenticity to my documentation, so critically important.
That my work needed to join the raw birth, speak for, this sad beauty born on our streets, and not to forget.
Postscript:
One of Anton's drawings, titled "Street Woman on Car" (1977) and posted at the top, has been acquired by the Whitney. That drawing is included in a show there now titled "Around Day's End: Downtown New York, 1970-1986." This exhibit closes on Nov. 1.
Anton is pictured below with the exhibit's curators, Laura Phipps (left) and Christie Mitchell (photo by Grace Keir).
And details on the drawing: "Street Woman on Car" (1977). Graphite pencil on paper, sheet: 22 3/4 × 29in. (57.8 × 73.7 cm). Purchased with funds from the Drawing Committee 2016/7. © Anton van Dalen
Previously on EV Grieve:
Post-PAUSE status check
By late June, bars and restaurants were allowed to launch sidewalk and curbside dining. (And bars had to start serving a "substantive" meal.) By late September, these establishments could start serving indoors — at 25-percent capacity.
Many bars and restaurants have had to close permanently, with dwindling revenues, scant clarity and leadership from elected officials and city agencies and, in some cases, unforgiving landlords. We've documented many of these closings.
However, there are still many places that remain closed — perhaps continuing to wait it out ... or having closed without making the news public.
The following list features places that EVG readers have specifically asked about in recent weeks/months. It's not meant to be a comprehensive rundown of every bar-restaurant currently not open in the neighborhood.
This list also doesn't mean a closure is permanent. (The Library, for instance, continues to be active on Instagram, looking forward to days ahead.)
• A & C Kitchen, Avenue C
• Bar Veloce, Second Avenue (above)
• The Belfry, 14th Street
• Blue & Gold, Seventh Street
• Brindle Room, 10th Street
• Champion Coffee, 14th Street
• City of Saints Coffee, 10th Street
• Crocodile Lounge, 14th Street
• d.b.a., First Avenue
• Doc Holliday's, Avenue A
• Double Down Saloon, Avenue A
• Drexler's, Avenue A
• Drop Off Service, Avenue A
• Drunken Dumpling, First Avenue (Google says permanently closed)
• Finnerty's, Second Avenue
• The Library, Avenue A
• Little Poland, Second Avenue
• Madame Vo BBQ, Second Avenue (Madame Vo is open on 10th Street)
• Milano's, East Houston
• Nostro, Second Avenue
• Paper Daisy, St. Mark's Place
• Prune, First Street
• San Marzano, Seventh Street
• Thirsty Scholar, Second Avenue
• Tile Bar, First Avenue
• 310 Bowery, the Bowery
• Tom & Jerry's, Elizabeth Street
• Williamsburg Pizza, 14th Street (other locations are open)
There's another Avenue B flea on Saturday
Once again, you can expect to find some handmade jewelry, books, records, vintage clothing, etc. This link has the full list of vendors. (And yes — I ❤️ ANARCHIST JURISDICTION NYC will be selling t-shirts.)
The first Avenue B flea was held on Oct. 10. You can check out Stacie Joy's photos from the afternoon right here.
Openings: All The King's Horses Cafe on 12th Street
The cafe is currently serving Partners Coffee as well as pastries from King Street Baking Co. in Brooklyn and Balthazar.
Next spring, the owner has plans to expand the cafe service into the space next door.
For now, the hours are Tuesday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with an 8 a.m. start on weekends.
You can find their Instagram account here.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Lucy's is back open on Avenue A
Blanche’s Lucy’s Tavern — aka Lucy’s — reopened last week here at 135 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.
Proprietor Ludwika "Lucy" Mickevicius had been on her usual late-summer hiatus (though slightly longer this time around)... EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the other night and found Lucy stationed behind the bar...
Best Price Deli & Grocery closes on Sunday, and they can use some help emptying the store
An EVG reader and Best Price regular shared this about the situation at the shop:
They’re an awesome grocery with great owners and staff and will be very missed!Everything is currently buy one, get one free, which you can’t beat. The — very unreasonable on all fronts of the situation — landlord has told them they want the place completely empty when they move out, which means they not only need to get rid of the inventory but also the shelves and fixtures,So here's a shoutout to help them clear their stock and maybe find a new home for their shelving, counters, refrigerators, etc. They will need to trash anything that is left over, which is not only wasteful but also costly for them when they’re already getting the short end of a shitty stick.
About the Mask-Querade event on 7th Street Halloween afternoon
It's happening on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 2-4 p.m. on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
A few details via the EVG inbox...
Children accompanied by a parent or guardian are invited to trick or treat safely and socially distanced, with masks being required. Adults will be able to sit in designated viewing stations to watch children with complimentary mulled wine and spiced cider.
Costumes are welcome, but not required. Masks and social distancing protocols will be enforced by volunteer community members as well as staggered entrance and exit times for participants.
We are looking for volunteers to hand out candy. If anyone is interested, then please send us an email at Speakup@OverthrowHospitality.com.
DeRossi owns several restaurants on that block, including Avant Garden and Ladybird.
Teso Life signage arrives on St. Mark's Place; T-swirl Crêpe makes an EV return
Per the Teso Life Instagram account, the shop "offers the widest selection of quality accessories, beauty and lifestyle products from Japan.
Meanwhile, next door, signage also arrived for a familiar name: T-swirl Crêpe ...
The Crêpesters previously had a spot on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. That outpost — part of a small chain with multiple NYC locations — never reopened after the PAUSE. T-swirl will also be sharing part of the space of the former St. Mark's Market, which closed here in October 2019.
Thanks to Steven for the photos!
2 new floors for 21-23 Avenue B
Workers are adding two new floors to the existing structure here between Second Street and Third Street, as the rendering on the plywood sort of shows...
Documents filed with the Department of Buildings show approved permits (dated July 1) to "split existing old law tenement building into two separate buildings."
The approved work permits also show that the residential space for No. 21 and 23 — to feature seven units in each building — will increase to 6,300 square feet (condos?)... In total, there will be 2,000 square feet for commercial tenants.
According to public records, Icon Realty picked up the properties in the fall of 2018 for $10.3 million.
Beetle mania: Tim Burton-themed bar-restaurant expands on 6th Street
Beetle House, the Tim Burton-themed bar-restaurant on Sixth Street, is expanding its footprint here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
Reps for the place virtually appeared before the CB3-SLA committee on Monday night. According to the questionnaire on file at the CB3 website, Beetle House will move into the adjacent space at the address.
Zach Neil opened Beetlehouse in 2016 ... and later expanded in other markets (Los Angeles, New Orleans).
Beetlehouse has been closed since the PAUSE went into effect in March. However, their Instagram account promises that they "will be open by Halloween."
This expansion also officially marks the end of Cherin Sushi N Ramen's time at the address. They had been closed since March as well.
Previously on EV Grieve:
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