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Monday, August 23, 2021
Monday's parting shot
More details on the East 7th Street fire victims seeking help from their former landlord
The Post has some new information on the story.
[T]wo of Popcorn's tenants, mother and daughter Zwenyslawa and Chrysanna Woroch, are living in a former hotel turned homeless shelter, their lawyer, James Fishman, said."They had no place else to go," Fishman said.The Worochs paid $617 a month for their rent-controlled apartment, which had been in the family since 1957.The pair filed suit in April against Popcorn's LLC, which owned the property, seeking to have Popcorn, or a subsequent owner, "take any and all actions necessary" to restore their occupancy of the apartment and maintain their rent-regulated status.Popcorn argued in legal papers that since there is no building, she had no obligation to do so."If that were true, then any landlord that wanted to terminate rent-controlled or rent-stabilized tenancies could just simply allow the building to either be burned down or not repair it or whatever," Fishman said. "That can't be right."
The insurance company for four other tenants is also suing Popcorn's LLC for $186,301 in damages, the Post reported.
The misery for the tenants started in February 2020 when a fire displaced the building's residents. No. 48, which included retail tenants Via Della Pace and Cafe Mocha and eight apartments, was under renovation this past fall and was vacant at the time of the December fire, which also destroyed the Middle Collegiate Church next door.
The FDNY previously said that faulty electrical wiring was to blame for both fires. Workers demolished the building on Dec. 7.
According to legal documents cited by the Post, tenants were offered $200,000 each to give up their rights to their apartments in early December.
Photo today by Steven
Duane Reade, fully visible again on Avenue B
Thanks to Stacie Joy for the pic!
Ray gets his day on Humans of New York
Photo from early 2020 by Peter Brownscombe
Brandon Stanton at Humans of New York has been featuring several East Village business owners of late (Mary O's ... Dress Shoppe II ... Mikey Likes It ... McSorley's).
And now ... one that doesn't need any introduction: Ray at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A...
Sunday, August 22, 2021
[Updated] Flooding seen in Tompkins Square Park
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...
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
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