Updated 8/23
Via Steven, here's a Monday morning look at the water ... which still appears level to yesterday...
The sun returns tomorrow for four straight 90-plus days...
Sunday, August 22, 2021
[Updated] Flooding seen in Tompkins Square Park
Week in Grieview
• ICYMI: Proof of vaccination now required for restaurants, bars, theaters and more (Wednesday)
• Report: Madison Realty Capital moving to foreclose on leasehold for 3 St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)
• The NYPD is collecting donations for earthquake victims in Haiti (Monday)
• Good news-bad news about the water-main work on 7th Street and 1st Avenue (Monday)
• Animal collective: Pillow-Cat Books coming to 9th Street (Monday)
• Spellbound: Spooksvilla + Friends moving to 309 E. 9th St. (Thursday)
• Kestrel maneuvers to rescue this fledging along Avenue B (Tuesday)
• Report: Superiority Burger moving into the former Odessa space on Avenue A (Friday)
• Cure Thrift Shop opening later this month in new space on 3rd Avenue (Monday)
• In the midnight hour, East Berlin will start a weekly film series (Tuesday)
• Last weekend for Tea Drunk on 7th Street (Friday)
• Express yourself: A look at the new FedEx space on Houston (Friday)
• The expanding and shrinking pedestrian passage on St. Mark's Place at 3rd Avenue (Wednesday)
• Stuyvesant Deli Grocery debuts on 14th and A (Wednesday)
• Rakka Cafe has not been open lately (Wednesday)
• Where are they now? Catching up with Gem Spa's former Zoltar in Bushwick (Thursday)
• Like a diversion: Former local resident celebrates a birthday (Monday)
And we've seen signage on storefronts around the neighborhood as businesses take a late-summer break...
The Tompkins Square Park Greenmarket is CLOSED today
H/T Steven
Saturday, August 21, 2021
With Henri approaching, Key Food still stocked with the essentials
EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by to check in on essential items... the shelves were well-stocked... Milk! Eggs! Bread! Beer!
And the music was topical as well... Stacie heard Blind Melon's "No Rain" while there... a choice that inspired a sing-along in the snacks aisle...
Today in photos of random trophies in Tompkins Square Park
Regarding Henri
As of 11 a.m., Henri is now a hurricane, and warnings have been issued for parts of Long Island, Connecticut and Rhode Island...
In NYC, we're under a tropical storm warning... with strong winds and heavy rains arriving overnight...#Henri has strengthened to a hurricane and is headed for Long Island and southern New England. Hurricane and Tropical Storm Warnings have been extended eastward. Here are the 11 am EDT Key Messages. See https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB for details. pic.twitter.com/lRb61AnHaj
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 21, 2021
Gothamist has a nice recap of all this here.We are continuing to monitor Tropical Storm Henri. Here’s the latest:
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) August 21, 2021
-New York City is under a Tropical Storm Warning. We expect strong winds and rain to begin late tonight and last through tomorrow.
Watching the neighborhood like a hawk
Goggla spotted the Park's resident red-tailed hawks here on Thursday evening ... watching over the land like hawks...
As Goggla documented, it was a challenging summer for the pair.
Two of their three offspring did not make it this year. Thankfully the surviving juvenile is doing well, hunting rats and trying to beat the heat. Per Goggla in an email: "They seem like a couple who has sent their kid off to college, and they're now kicking back, waiting for whatever is next."
HBD Joe Strummer
Mural by Dr. Revolt and Zephyr in 2003 ... and as seen outside Niagara this morning on Seventh Street at Avenue A.
Now enjoy this clip of Strummer playing with the Mescaleros on Letterman in October 2001...
Friday, August 20, 2021
Friday's parting DM
Updated 8/21
A reader shared this from the @stoopingnyc Stories feed... apparently, the ostrich emu wasn't doing much running in its stuffed state...
Case closed! 🕵️♂️
And another view via @aczar ...
Updated 10:38 a.m. THE PLOT THICKENS!
The Emu(?) was around all day yesterday but disappeared overnight. I’m intrigued by the fact the it started the day with a Santa hat though. pic.twitter.com/gSWPefjPJ5
— Richard Frank (@Thtguyrich) August 21, 2021
Pace yourself
Parquet Courts this week announced details about their new album, Sympathy For Life, due out in October. Read more about that here.
The first single from the Brooklyn-based band's forthcoming record is "Walking at a Downtown Pace" ... as seen in the above video.
Rather random Avenue A fruit stand randomly gone
Any comments about their produce?
Today in photos of severed stuffed zebra heads on 5th Avenue and 9th Street
Report: Superiority Burger moving into the former Odessa space on Avenue A
Photo yesterday by Stacie Joy
The former Odessa space at 119 Avenue A has a new tenant.
Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld at Grub Street report that Superiority Burger has signed a lease for the former diner between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.
For starters, Brooks Headley, owner of the all-vegetarian quick-serve spot, tells the outlet that he's not changing a thing:
"Odessa has always kinda been my dream space," he says. What's so dreamy about it is that besides being big, it comes completely furnished and ready to go. "It's not old and dusty and gross and needing upgrades," he says. "I find it completely beautiful — the soda counter, the satellite bar, the cash register station. I don't plan to change it at all."
Superiority will be making the short move around the corner from Ninth Street in the months ahead:
Headley says that he'll need to order some new kitchen equipment and anticipates that it will take at least five months — probably more, what with supply-chain issues — until the new Superiority opens its doors. The plan is to launch dinner service first and then open for lunch and breakfast (yes, breakfast!). He will likely surrender the ancillary kitchen space he leases on 9th Street but keep the original store for purposes yet to be determined.
In July 2020, longtime manager Dennis Vassilatos said that Odessa was shutting down after a prolonged slump in business due to the pandemic. (Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995. The original Odessa, the longtime favorite that dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door in August 2013.)
However, closer to the last day, co-owner Steve Helios told Gothamist that Odessa was only closing temporarily, that the space would be renovated. (The building's landlord is Odessa partner Mike Skulikidis.)
The space has sat untouched since then.
Earlier in the summer, Louis Skibar, whose Toloache Restaurant Group revived the classic UWS diner Old John's Luncheonette, which dates to the 1950s, was said to be eyeing Odessa.
Superiority opened in the East Village in June 2015.
Last weekend for Tea Drunk on 7th Street
Per the tea shop's Instagram account:
With our current lease expiring ... August 21-22, will be the last days for Tea Drunk’s East Village location. Please hold that tear; this is not an end but a new beginning. Despite the highly challenging year due to COVID, Tea Drunk quickly pivoted and continued to stay connected with our tea community through our Educational Tea Club and an array of other online endeavors...Tea Drunk will continue on with a variety of collaborations here and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, if you need any fixtures...
Express yourself: A look at the new FedEx space on Houston
EVG correspondent Stacie Joy shared these photos yesterday of the FedExers' more modern-looking storefront...
Thursday, August 19, 2021
On the CB3-SLA docket tonight: Ixta for the former DBGB space on the Bowery
Tonight is the second of the two CB3 SLA committee meetings for August.Here's a look at a few of the applications on the agenda:
• Ixta (LLC to be formed by Mike Himani), 299 Bowery (op)
This looks to be tonight's big-ticket item. Restaurateur Akbarali Himani is seeking a full liquor license for Ixta, a Mexican restaurant proposed for the former DBGB space at 299 Bowery between First Street and East Houston (top pic).
According the the public documents on the CB3 website, Ixta would be open Sunday to Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with hours of 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
The space in the Avalon Bowery complex is quite large, with a capacity of 194 patrons, who would be treated to "live Mariachi performers."
Himani has been running a variety of restaurants in NYC and Long Island the past 30 years. His current credits include a Chickpea in Penn Station and NISI Mediterranean in Times Square.
Daniel Boulud closed DBGB here in August 2017 after an eight-year run.
• The York, 186 Ave B (op)
Hospitality vets James Hurst and Hayden Tobin are looking to open The York here at 186 Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street.
The York would be open daily from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. and serve a menu featuring "American comfort food," per the questionnaire at the CB3 website. The sample menu items include several burgers, sandwiches and brunch entrees.
This address was most recently Very Thai, which had a nearly three-year run until late 2019 ... after taking over from Barbone.
• ACES (Fine Food and Spirits Inc), 197 2nd Ave. (op)
This is a carry-over from the July meeting for the former Black Emperor space between 12th Street and 13th Street.
You can read about it here. The Aces questionnaire is at this link.
Tonight's meeting starts at 6:30 in the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. There's also a Zoom option via this link.
Spellbound: Spooksvilla + Friends moving to 309 E. 9th St.
Spooksvilla is the name of her brand of "witchy female-focused stoner art." She's been selling her wares, including bath salts, candles and cards, from two storefronts away at No. 305 since earlier this summer.
You can follow along on Instagram.
Meanwhile, the tenant on the other side of the stairs at No. 309, Dejavu Boutique & Tailoring, moved out yesterday after 13 years in business. The shop's UES location remains open.
Where are they now? Catching up with Gem Spa's former Zoltar in Bushwick
Archival photo from the vast EVG Zoltar collection
In May 2019, local card-carrying members (hi!) of the Zoltar Fan Club were heartbroken to learn that their favorite Animatronic Fortune Telling Machine had been removed from outside Gem Spa on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.
As we learned in June 2019, Zoltar's owner found a new home for his words of wisdom outside OMG Pizza in Bushwick.
And that's the last we heard about the situation... until now.
At the Times, Alex Vadukul has an update on Zoltar ... as well as a conversation with local businessman and arcade owner Carlo Muraco, who seems to have a lock on the NYC Zoltar market.
First, Vadukul speaks with some passersby outside the pizzeria in Bushwick about this Zoltar's past.
"I definitely put a few bucks into that thing when I was drunk," said Patrick Reid, 30. "After skating in Tompkins we'd meet up on St. Marks and pull up to it, maybe hang out a bit in front of it before heading off to the next adventure. He told me once I could walk a path to greatness, but I think he's bad juju.""It's bizarre this remnant of Gem Spa has ended up here in nowhere Bushwick," said Amrit Dhillon, 26. "It's interesting to see how New York eats itself up and spits itself out again, like a living organism."Saddam Alsaidi, 27, who works at the pizzeria, knew of Zoltar's past life across the river. "I know he used to be famous in the East Village," he said. "He was a big deal."
The article also gets into the disagreement that led to Zoltar's Gem Spa ouster... as well as comments from Parul Patel, who had been running the corner shop for her father until the official closing in May 2020.
"I'd only heard he’s out there in Bushwick," Ms. Patel said. "It's nice to know there's a piece of us still out there in the city. Even though he's not in the East Village anymore, he is a real living artifact of Gem Spa."
You can read the article, which includes several links to EVG's deep reservoir of Zoltar posts, right here.
Zoltar first arrived at Gem Spa on Sept. 23, 2012.
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Wednesday's parting shot
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