Memories of Homecoming 2021

For the premiere of the latest episode of her freewheeling reality series, "Story of My Fucking Life," local photographer and filmmaker Manon Macasaet (pictured below) put together an action-packed event in Sara D. Roosevelt Park this past summery Saturday, dubbed Homecoming 2021.

There was a very competitive basketball game for starters, which went into double overtime (not sure who won — please check the EVG sports section for a follow-up).

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was on hand and shared some highlights from Homecoming 2021... on the court and off... 

There were also short sets by two local bands — Clovis and Hello Mary (seen below)...

The evening concluded with the screening of episode 4, titled "Tales of Love Downtown." (Ray at Ray's Candy Store is among those featured in the episode.) You can check out the other episodes on YouTube right here.  

Help East Village Loves NYC feed 10,000 people in 3 days

East Village Loves NYC — the local volunteer group formed in the spring of 2020 to feed people in need during the pandemic — has laid out ambitious plans for a pre-Thanksgiving event: to prepare meals for 10,000 New Yorkers over three days.

Details via Instagram...

We are holding our biggest and boldest event ever! For our EARLY THANKSGIVING COOKATHON, we’re planning to feed 10k people! Our Love Kitchen will be running full steam three days in a row: October 23, 24 and 25! 

Want to get involved in the most ambitious event of the year? Visit evloves.nyc/thanksgiving and help us raise enough to make this happen!

Volunteer slots will open on October 1, stay tuned!

In its first year, East Village Loves NYC — which has attracted some 400 volunteers — cooked more than 100,000 meals for New Yorkers during the pandemic ... not to mention donated 325,000-plus pounds of groceries and 7,000-plus pantry bags.

The group's home base is at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C.  

Photo from May by Stacie Joy

Previously on EV Grieve:
• These East Village residents are helping feed families in Queens during the COVID-19 crisis

• East Village volunteers expand their outreach to feed more neighbors in need

• East Village Loves Queens expands: Meet East Village Loves NYC

• Volunteers at East Village Loves NYC prepare meals for Ramadan; celebrate 1st anniversary

Police seeking suspect who robbed the Chase branch at 255 1st Ave.

Several readers have noted this ... police say a man robbed the Chase branch on First Avenue at 15th Street yesterday afternoon (thanks to Steven for the photo). 

Here are a few details...

🚨WANTED for a BANK ROBBERY: On 9/23/21 at 3:03 PM, the suspect entered a Chase Bank, located at 255 1st Ave in Manhattan & displayed a note to the teller demanding cash. The teller complied & the individual fled with $1000. Any Info? Call or DM @NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/vXSEmr8htL

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 24, 2021

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's a new NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood and NYC... 

Jiang Diner owners taking over the former Jule's Bistro space on St. Mark's Place

The owner of Jiang Diner and Hot Kitchen is opening a new restaurant at 65 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue — the former Jule's Bistro space.

Tao An was on CB3's SLA docket last night for a wine-beer license for the space, going by Jiang Kitchen. (This item had received administrative approval, and An did not appear before the committee.)

According to the applicant's questionnaire posted on the CB3 website, Jiang Kitchen will feature 15 tables to accommodate 60 guests. Although the restaurant will serve beer and wine with meals, there is no bar for guests inside the space.

The hours: Sunday-Thursday from noon to 10 p.m. with an 11 p.m. close on Fridays and Saturdays. 

This pending arrival means the end of Jiang Diner on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The restaurant, which served Xinjiang-styled Northwestern Chinese food, closed for a summer break in late July. That space has since been cleared out. 

Jiang Diner opened in the spring of 2019 and drew praise for its big-plate chicken and other dishes.

An also operated Hot Kitchen, a Sichuan restaurant, at 104 Second Ave. at Sixth Street. After a solid start in 2011, some regulars felt as if the quality began to diminish. In 2018, Hot Kitchen transformed its menu and added traditional Sichuan Skewer Hotpot and BBQ. (Jiang Diner also briefly moved into this space, which is now for rent.)

Jules Bistro never reopened after the March 2020 PAUSE. Workers cleaned out the space last September.
 

The casual French spot, which opened in 1993, offered free live jazz every night... and with its French film posters on the walls and red leather booths, it provided a throwback getaway on St. Mark's Place.

Restaurateur Georges (Café Noir, Bar Tabac, Cercle Rouge) Forgeois said that there wasn't really much room for outdoor dining here and running the place with 25-percent indoor capacity at the time last fall wasn't going to cut it. 

H/T Steven

City fences off Allen Street Bathhouse to prevent trans artist from painting on its walls

On Tuesday afternoon, city workers arrived to erect a fence around the long-vacant Allen Street Bathhouse here at Delancey...

This was the city's latest heavy-handed tactic in the summer-long battle against unhoused trans artist Nadja Rose, who had been creating murals on the vacant bathhouse's walls and surrounding sidewalk space in recent months.

None of this pleased city officials (led by the Parks Department), who would dispatch sanitation trucks and the 7th Precinct to discard her belongings and art supplies. She would always return. There were also social-media reports that the city had her locked up "in the psych ward" several times. 

Observers (optimistically) wondered why the city couldn't use this as an opportunity to create some type of artist-in-residence program at this neglected space that has long been a favorite spot for taggers.

Her work prompted admiration from passersby here on the Allen Street Mall, a passage with an out-of-business Subway sandwich shop on one corner and a Starbucks on the other. (As for the old bathhouse, plans for a cafe in the structure date to early 2016.) 

Writer Jeremiah Moss has documented Rose's work here on Instagram...

 

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A post shared by Jeremiah Moss (aka Griffin) (@vanishingny)

There haven't been any sightings of the artist since the fence went up, we're told. But she did leave some parting messages...

Sweetie debuts on Avenue A

Sweetie debuted earlier this month at 85 Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

We don't know too much about the bar in the space below Somtum Der (try the tum pla too & kao mun!). The bar's Instagram description is "cocktails + music + fun."

Sweetie is open Thursday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m.

This subterranean space had been vacant since Elvis Guesthouse checked out at the end of 2016. 

Taqueria St. Mark's back in taco action

Taqueria St. Mark's reopened this past Friday at 79 St. Mark's Place just west of First Avenue. (Thanks to Steven for the photo!) 

This is the first time in nearly 18 months that patrons have been inside. Since the start of the pandemic, the bar-restaurant was only open briefly for takeout and delivery. Taqueria's Gramercy location remained in service. 

The haven for Lakers and Dodgers fans debuted here in March 2015, relocating from Orchard Street.

Wednesday's parting shot(s)

Halloween season is underway at Key Food on Avenue A. 

Related: Mallomars are on sale — 2 for $5.

At the sidewalk runway show on Ludlow Street for cumgirl8's latest collection

Photos by Stacie Joy

Every band has its own merch. Members of the stylish local band cumgirl8 up the ante with their own clothing line. 

And the trio — Veronika Vilim (below, middle), Chase Noelle and Lida Fox — recently debuted cumgirl8's second collection in a sidewalk runway show outside Café Forgot on Ludlow Street. (The band's friend, designer Carson Lovett, was also part of the creative team.)

This Vogue recap-interview from the other day has more on the show and inspiration behind it, which the outlet described as "a real New York moment that created a bridge between Y2K and today."

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was there and shared these scenes from the runway and of the crowd...

... and on hand along the runway ...

As for music, cumgirl8 — whose influences range from the Slits to Saint Etienne to diplo — just released "I Wanna Be," the first single off the forthcoming (Oct. 22 release) EP titled RIPcumgirl8. Find cumgirl8's music here.

The band is playing as part of the season finale at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club on Friday night. 

The 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival begins on Friday evening

There are 10 days of free events in the neighborhood's community gardens connected to the 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival.

This year's festival includes activities at dozens of gardens, each featuring various performances, concerts, workshops and other related events (dominos tournament!). 

The festivities begin with an opening-evening celebration at 6 at Green Oasis, 370 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and D.

Check the LUNGS website here for the day-by-day, garden-by-garden schedule.

A visit to Ergot Records

Ergot Records made its debut back on Friday at 32 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Adrian Rew, who's behind the experimental imprint of the same name, is the owner here ...

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the shop during the opening weekend. For now, Ergot Records will focus on second-hand records and cassettes, spanning an array of genres, including jazz, salsa, punk, disco, hip-hop and avant-garde.

Eventually, Rew, a resident DJ at the Lot Radio and former curator at the gallery Blank Forms, wants to add books and other literature and host in-store events. 

Here's a look around the shop, which includes several listening stations ... 

Rew, who previously worked at A-1 Records on Sixth Street, renovated the space with the help of a few friends. He signed a five-year lease on the storefront and plans to stick around for a while. We hope so too. 

Hours:

• Wednesday-Thursday: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

• Friday-Saturday: Noon-8 p.m. 

• Sunday: noon-6 p.m.

You can find the Ergot Records Instagram account here. 

After a few days away, barricades return to the Tompkins Square Park chess tables

For a few days over the weekend and until yesterday, the chess tables in Tompkins Square Park were free from the police barricades surrounding this area since Aug. 31. (Top photo from Sunday.)

The unofficial word from this corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A was that a Park regular moved and tossed the barricades.  

In any event, workers put barricades back into place yesterday...

... and fastened them together this time ...

Some residents had complained about the encampment here... with activity around the chess tables that included drug use and fencing stolen goods. The city had cleared out this space several times this summer, starting back in June.

Photos by Steven