Saturday's parting shot

Saying hello to Yoda outside Book Club on Third Street... photo by Stacie Joy...

What the hail? A moment from this afternoon's storm

From B&H Dairy's outdoor space on Second Avenue when the hail was coming down ... pic by Derek Berg.

NYC remains under a severe thunderstorm watch until 7 p.m., per the NWS. Things are more dicey for parts of Long Island, where a tornado warning is in effect until 3:30 p.m.

Go 'Crazy' at this group show at the Theater for the New City

Theater for the New City is hosting a new group show titled "Just Act Normal, That's Crazy Enough Already." 

The official opening is today (Saturday) from 2-6 p.m. in the theater's gallery, 155 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

The show is up through Jan. 3. The gallery is open during the week for viewing as well.

Thanks to Lola Sáenz for the flyer!

Live music this weekend in Tompkins Square Park

A handful of bands are scheduled to play free shows in Tompkins Square Park this weekend.

Here are flyers for today's show...

... and for tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon...

Sets times are roughly between 2-6 p.m. on both days. Check the Shows in Tompkins Square Park FB page for updates.

Also, today during the show, the community group Colectiva Verde is hosting a drive (jackets, coats and sweaters, and health supplies) for unhoused residents...

Paving the night away

City-contracted crews last night finished paving Avenue B from midblock between Fourth and Fifth down to Houston. 

EVG Milling & Paving Correspondent Stacie Joy captured what no one just yet is referring to as "the Social Event of the Fall."

The crews completed the work by midnight.

H/T Salim for the live-tweeting!

Friday's parting (spoiler) shot

A scene from the B&H Dairy 2022 calendar shoot today on Second Avenue (as explained here) ... photo by Derek Berg...

Boxing Bush Tetras

 

Today is a good day to celebrate Bush Tetras, the local post-punk pioneers who formed in 1979.

Today marks the release of the career-spanning box set "Rhythm and Paranoia: The Best of Bush Tetras," which features 29 songs across three LPs pressed onto 180-gram vinyl and remastered by Carl Saff, plus a 46-page book with photos, an original essay on the band by Marc Masters, and shorter essays by Thurston Moore, Nona Hendryx and Topper Headon, among others.

As you may know, Dee Pop, the band's longtime drummer, passed away on Oct. 9. According to an announcement by the band, he died in his sleep. He was 65. 

Don Christensen, who played in Bush Tetras for a time in the 1980s as well as the Contortions and the Raybeats, will be taking over on drums ... as there's a record-release show tomorrow night at LPR on Bleecker Street. 

BTW, Stereogum has an interview with the band's two veteran members, Pat Place and Cynthia Sley, right here. 

Now to the video... Wharf Cat Records recently released a remastered version of "Too Many Creeps" from 1979... a song and video (filmed along the Bowery) that remains an all-time EVG favorite.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Things that go boom in the night: As Bush Tetras prepare for their 40th-anniversary show

On Sunday, a rally for the restoration of 2 East River Park structures

The Lower East Side Preservation Initiative (LESPI) has been working to protect the circa-1938 Art Deco Track House and Tennis Center Comfort Station in East River Park. 

Both structures are eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places by the New York State Historic Preservation Office. However, the city plans to demolish them and replace them with new, more generic structures (seen in the rendering above) as part of the $1.45-billion East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project.

Sunday at 2, the LESPI is hosting a rally to protest the city's plan to demolish the structures.

Via the EVG inbox...

For two years LESPI, our neighbors and fellow preservationists have been advocating for the city to save these two National and State Register of Historic Places eligible buildings, which by law require that preservation must be seriously considered as a component of this federally-funded work. 

Instead, the City has stonewalled, offering only to photograph the buildings before demolition. People are fed up with the City Administration's lack of responsiveness and will rally Saturday to make themselves heard. 

LESPI's rally is co-sponsored by the following organizations: Art Deco Society of New York, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Friends of Corlears Hook Park, Friends of the Lower East Side, Friends of Terra Coca, Historic Districts Council, New York Landmarks Conservancy, and Village Preservation. There will be several speakers at the rally.

The rally takes place at the Brian Watkins Tennis Center Comfort Station, just north of the Williamsburg Bridge. 

In November 2020, the full Community Board 3 passed a resolution calling to restore the two structures.  

Miss Kita by the sea

Postmarked Nov. 11, 2021:

Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street took advantage of the last good beach day to head out to the Rockaways to catch some rays and waves. She remains on the lookout for the great influx of vaccinated European tourists everyone has been talking about but reports that if true they are definitely not coming in by sea.

Will tonight B the night that the city finishes paving Avenue B?

OK, just to see this one out... the city is expected to finish paving the milled Avenue B this evening/overnight (a job started on Tuesday).

The new pavement ends randomly in the middle of B between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. 

Also, EV Arrow points out what you may have already noticed through the years — the Kate's Joint flag still flies high (sort of) at 58 Avenue B...

The vegetarian cafe closed in Aprii 2012.

Be B&H Dairy famous for ALL of 2022

Today (Friday) at 3 p.m., B&H Dairy is shooting their annual friends-and-family photo for the lunch counter's 2022 calendar. (Gabi Porter is shooting today's calendar cover.) 

This tradition started in 2017 here at the 83-year-old B&H. 

If you're worried about the weather ... the skies are expected to clear early this afternoon, per the exclusive EVG forecast. 

B&H is at 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. (B&H also has some nice t-shirts and hats for the upcoming gift-giving season.)

Friday's opening shot

This morning on Avenue A ... photo by Derek Berg. 

Speaking of downpours, according to the National Weather Service, light rain is expected through the early afternoon ... at which time clearing skies are in the forecast. 

Meanwhile, not to alarm you, but in the all-cap style of the NWS: "...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING..." 

So if you are on Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, Peconic and Gardiners Bays, and South Shore Bays from Jones Inlet through Shinnecock Bay, you can expect south winds 15 to 25 kt with gusts up to 30 kt and seas 2 to 4 feet. There may be a few occasional gusts to 35 kt today.

Please plan your maritime activities accordingly. 

Thursday's parting shot

We're not into the paparazzi scene here (or anywhere!) ... however, we do like Laura Dern and appreciate her body of work ("Blue Velvet," "Rambling Rose," "Wild at Heart," "Inland Empire," etc.) Seen on Avenue A at Third Street today by Derek Berg.

City removes tent encampment from 7th Street outside Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy

Starting late yesterday morning, another agencywide city sweep took place on Seventh Street between Avenue A and Avenue B along Tompkins Square Park. 

This time, however, instead of allowing the dozen or so residents of the makeshift tent encampments to pack up their possessions and move along (and only to return to the same spots a few hours later), city workers either confiscated or discarded their belongings. 

A posted Department of Homeless Services flyer stated that a clean-up of this area would start on or after Nov. 9. As EVG contributor Stacie Joy documented in this post, a similar sweep took place this past Friday, though the people who were sheltering here returned after city workers left.

This particular action only targeted people who have been staying along Seventh Street in recent months. Authorities did not address the encampments inside Tompkins Square Park.

The sweep started at 11 a.m. with officers from the NYPD, Parks Enforcement Patrol and the Business District Recovery Initiative detail. They struck down tents of anyone not on-site to protect their belongings. 

We're told that there were several confrontations at the outset of the sweep. (Stacie didn't arrive at the scene until after this.) One resident of the encampment was arrested and placed in an ambulance.

In addition, police arrested a mutual aid worker for "obstructing governmental administration Class A misdemeanor" for standing with/protecting a resident's tent. This individual was arrested at around 1 p.m. after exchanging words with the NYPD and released with a desk appearance ticket at around 7:30 p.m. 

During the afternoon, the assembled officers bagged the belongings from the tents. 

Some property was bagged and tagged, likely being stored at the NYPD's Erie Basin evidence warehouse in Red Hook, where the owners will need clearance from a judge plus ID to reclaim. 

Most items, however, were just thrown in the trash. The items were bagged and tossed directly into a waiting sanitation truck. In one case, an entire tent with its belongings was rolled up and discarded...

Lt. Jermaine Oden of the 9th Precinct oversaw yesterday's sweep. He told Stacie that "due to the pandemic, items were contaminated and not able to be saved." They "had to be destroyed." 

The corridor along the Park on Seventh Street was clear by late afternoon...

Afterward, Stacie saw one of the officers crying. "I felt bad for him. I do not think anyone was unaffected by this."

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Documenting the city's 'clean-up' along Tompkins Square Park on 7th Street 

Italian specialty shop Via Della Scrofa debuts on 4th Street

Via Della Scrofa, the new Italian food market via Giovanni Bartocci, is now open at 60 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. (Thanks for all the reader tips about this debut!)

We haven't stopped by just yet. According to the shop's Instagram account: "You can find everything from Tombola to Chinotto and much more!" Via Della Scrofa is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Bartocci will also be reopening Via Della Pace in its new space down the block at 87 E. Fourth St. in the weeks ahead. Our previous posts — here and here — have more details. 

Ahimsa Garden is leaving the East Village

Ahimsa Garden is leaving the East Village for Midtown East. 

Signs up at the Indian restaurant that serves vegetarian food at 265 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue shows an upcoming move to East 38th Street. Per the sign: "Thank you for all your support. We are blessed with such an awesome community."

AG, an offshoot of the Thompson Street location at the time, opened here in August 2017.

Thanks to the EVG reader who shared this photo!

A look at Tiger Lily Kitchen, opening soon on 3rd Avenue

The space looks to be shaping up for Tiger Lily Kitchen (TLK), opening soon at 58 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street.

Hospitality veteran Michelle Morgan opened Tiger Lily late last year as a takeout and delivery operation at 293 Third Ave. in Gramercy Park. This larger space allows for her to offer indoor dining.

Here's more about TLK via the restaurant's website:

Our founder, Michelle, realized her dream of starting her own project during the hospitality industry shift in 2020. She took this time to reconnect to her roots and what blossomed was a mixture of her mother's Hong Kong-style cooking and the familiar food of her childhood. With these inspirations she built the TLK menu, including food that is not only comforting but healthy, nourishing, and accommodating to allergies, intolerances, and dietary choices.

You can check out the TLK menu here... and visit the TLK Instagram here. 

This space was previously home to the Boilery, part of a chainlet with multiple outposts in the city that closed sometime late last year.

H/T Steven!

Wednesday's parting shot

Elvis is everywhere... like on Seventh Street this morning. Pic by Derek Berg.

Speaking out for the return of the former P.S. 64 to the community

Photos by Stacie Joy

This past Saturday afternoon, local elected officials, residents and supporters commemorated the 20th anniversary of the eviction of the Charas/El Bohio Community & Cultural Center at 605 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Several speakers, including longtime neighborhood activists and past and present elected officials, called on the city to take action to immediately "stop the destruction of the building," the former P.S. 64

Developer Gregg Singer, who bought the property from the city during an auction in 1998, has wanted to turn the building into a dorm called University Square. The DOB continues to maintain a Stop Work Order on the property. 

In years past, there has been a call for the return of the building for community use. The building became the Charas/El Bohio Community Center after the school left in 1977. The group was eventually evicted in December 2001 when Singer took over as the landlord. It has sat empty these past 20 years, causing locals to be concerned about its crumbling façade.  

Given this movement some hope: Mayor Bill de Blasio's statement at a Town Hall on Oct. 12, 2017, that the city would take steps to reacquire the building. According to published reports, the Mayor said he'd work to "right the wrongs of the past." Those plans have never materialized.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy was there on Saturday...

"What happened to CHARAS should never happen again, especially to an institution that served the community for so many years," said Carlos "Chino" Garcia, co-founder of Charas. "This was not just the destruction of a facility that served artists, community organizations and residents, but the total destruction of a community." 

"In 2017, my neighbors and I were so thrilled when Mayor de Blasio announced he would work to help get CHARAS El Bohio back," said John Blasco, District Leader, 74th AD Part A. "Since then, we have not had any support from the administration to make this a reality. The pandemic has had a detrimental impact on programs and services for all New Yorkers. If there was ever a great time to bring back a cultural community center to Loisaida, that time is now."

"On the 20th anniversary ... we're renewing our call to Mayor de Blasio to take action on his 2017 promise," said Assembly Member Harvey Epstein. "As someone who personally attends meetings at Charas, I know the historic and vital impact this previous cultural center has on our community. If de Blasio fails, I'll stand ready to call on the next administration to take action."

Previously on EV Grieve:

• A walk around inside the long-abandoned — and ghoulishly beautiful — P.S. 64

A new chapter at the 11th Street Community Garden with debut of a lending library

Members of the 11th Street Community Garden have debuted a free community library outside their space between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Residents are welcome to drop off books and pick up a few in exchange.

"We ask that if a book is taken, another book is eventually returned in its place," said garden member Connor Davis. 

11th Street is the latest community garden to set up a lending library. La Plaza Cultural also has several at their space on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street.