Farewell to Dress Shoppe II

For the first time in 20-plus years, 83 Second Ave. is without retail tenant Dress Shoppe II. 

The storefront was cleared out last week... with the signage coming down on Friday. (H/T Lola Sáenz.)

As previously reported, the Indian clothing boutique closed on Jan. 30 ... wrapping up a challenging few years for owner Saroj Goya, who did her best to keep the shop going after her husband of 50 years, Purushottam Goyal, died in September 2019. 

There were some well-reported financial challenges, and thanks to the efforts of Humans of New York and New York Nico, there was an outpouring of support to help Saroj make arrangements on the back rent and to take care of herself as she underwent treatment for breast cancer. (In the previous post, you can read more about the closing and the financial arrangements with the landlord, the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association II.)

The business dates to 1978, first starting on Broadway, per this 2016 feature in The New York Times.

Moving forward, you can still find Dress Shoppe II's unique offerings via Etsy (link here).

 Here are a few photos of the warm, colorful shop from a previous visit by EVG contributor Stacie Joy...

Hopefully, Cooper Square will find something just as unique to fill the storefront ... (we're good on smoke/vape shops!) ... 

Eileen Fisher has apparently closed on 9th Street

Updated Feb. 17: The closure is now official.

Since late August, the Eileen Fisher store at 314 E. Ninth St. has been closed between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

According to an outgoing message on the shop's phone, this is a temporary closure for "building maintenance." (One local said it was related to a mold issue.) Rumors were circulating late last week that this shop has closed for good. This location is not listed on the Eileen Fisher website, and Google notes it as permanently closed. 

This was Fisher's first location, opening in 1987 (per this New Yorker feature on her from 2013). Her brand grew to 50-plus shops around the country and sales in various department stores.

Manhattan Sideways wrote this about the Ninth Street outpost: "[I]t is not even owned by the larger corporation behind the other shops, but rather by Eileen Fisher herself. Sample garments are sold here – some that never made it into production. Many of the pieces found here are different from what is in the rest of the line each season." 

Thanks to Steven for the photo

For rent signs for the empty storefronts on the SW corner of 14th and 3rd

After nearly 10 years on the SW corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue, 5 Napkin Burger closed in mid-January ... joining sister restaurant Tamam Falafel, which shuttered at the end of 2021. 

You can't help but speculate about the future of this high-profile corner with single-story structures — seemingly ripe for development. (As mentioned before: Not sure what kind of air rights there might be with the newer 21-floor 110 Third Ave. on one side and NYU's 17-floor Palladium Hall on the other.)

Anyway, for now, there are low-key for-rent signs on both retail spaces...

And yes — BRING BACK DISCO DONUT.

A Dream Lounge for 13th Street

Several readers noted this recent arrival to 100 E. 13th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue... a space called Mocha Dream Lounge...

Its Instagram account describes this "Private Room" as "Where we make your culinary dreams." This space is an outpost of Mocha Red Steakhouse + Mixology Bar ("A Tulum meets Wynwood experience"), which opened around the corner on Fourth Avenue last summer...

100 E. 13th St. was previously the nail salon Côte.

Sunday's parting shot

Today is wheatpasting... photo on Seventh Street and Second Avenue by Derek Berg...

'Law & Order' makes triumphant return to East Village streets

If you've watched even 15 minutes of the Winter Olympics on NBC, then you've likely seen a promo for the return of the original "Law & Order" on Feb. 24.

Expect to see part of the East Village in the upcoming season. The L&O crew will be setting up for a shoot on Tuesday along Avenue A and various side streets between 10th and Third, per the posted signage. (And vehicles need to be moved tomorrow by 3. Photo below by Steven.)

This 21st season will once again feature Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy ... new cast members include Odelya Halevi as ADA Samantha Maroun, Jeffrey Donovan as Det. Frank Cosgrove and Hugh Dancy as senior prosecutorial assistant Nathan Price. 

The Emmy-winning series originally ran for 20 seasons on NBC, from 1990 to 2010, with 456 episodes, spawning 36 four spinoffs and a movie. The franchise has been a regular presence on EV streets during its run.

And for some nostalgia, here's the intro to the "Law & Order" pilot episode from 1990...

  

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a reader pic of the ConEd sky the other morning)... 

• RIP Hanne 'H7L' Lauridsen (Friday) 

• Thayer is opening a bookstore and cafe at 99 Avenue B (Monday) 

• A new I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Wednesday) 

• Notorious East Village landlord Raphael Toledano faces 5-year real-estate ban (Tuesday) 

• Brindle Room is making an East Village return this spring in new 11th Street home (Wednesday) 

• A reminder to keep Two Bridge's Diner in your dining plans (Tuesday) 

• Reader report: USA Super Stores (U-S-A!) coming to the former Duane Reade on 3rd Avenue and 10th Street (Thursday) 

• A look at the B Bar & Grill demolition on the Bowery (Thursday) 

• Gallery Watch: 'Falling Through Flatland' by Chris Hood at Lyles & King (Tuesday) 

• Astor Place Wegmans watch, automatic sliding doors edition (Tuesday) 

• The Bronx Brewery East Village opens (Friday) 

• As the bank branches turn on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• Local photographer opens door of former Tut at 189 E. 3rd St. (Wednesday) 

• Now Yoga moving to online-only classes next month (Wednesday) 

• Openings: A trio of quick-serve vegan options (Monday) 

• Enchantments is ready to cast a spell in new home on Avenue B (Tuesday) 

• Pizza Girls coming soon to Avenue B (Monday)

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics. 

The city's mobile units offering COVID-19 vaccines today on Avenue A

The city has two Mobile Vaccination Buses on Avenue A today between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street... here until 6 p.m. with Pfizer vaccines for age 5+.

No appointments necessary ... and no lines this morning...

Thanks to Steven for the photos.

Sunday's opening Instagram post

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gregoire Alessandrini (@newyork1990s)

A scene from early 1994 on Houston Street looking west toward Avenue B ... post/photo by Gregoire Alessandrini. (We've featured his images in the past, like here.)

Saturday's parting shot

Tompkins Square Park today via Derek Berg...

44 Union Square to be filled with pet sounds

After a loooong renovation that included an addition of a glass dome, 44 Union Square (aka 100 E. 17th St. and the Tammany Hall Building) has a retail tenant. (Thanks to @gramercy_local for the above photo and initial tip!) 

Per published reports (Commercial Observer and The Real Deal), Petco has signed a lease for a 3-story space, taking 30,000 of the 73,000-square-foot landmarked building. The animal and pet supply chain will be relocating from 860 Broadway on the other side of Union Square. 

The previous retail tenants, a magazine shop and Frank's Wines & Liquors, closed in 2016...

The 17th Street side housed two cultural institutions, the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theater. 

As Jeremiah Moss wrote in 2016 about the building's upcoming renovation: "What sort of businesses do you think will replace these small businesses and cultural institutions? Well, almost every single thing around Union Square Park is a national shopping mall chain. ... Those that aren't, like Blue Water Grill, tend to be upscale."

Now we know. 

And address history, per Wikipedia: "The neo-Georgian structure was erected in 1928–1929 and designed by architects Thompson, Holmes & Converse and Charles B. Meyers for the Tammany Society political organization." 

2016 pic by J. Moss

ICYMI: That oddly configured Walgreens is closing on Union Square

This has come up a few times in emails and in comment threads...So!

As posted on Jan. 24, the Walgreens on the SE corner of 14th Street and Fourth Avenue is closing on Feb. 17, per the window signage. 

Walgreens customers can then go to other Walgreens, Duane Reades or Duane Reade by Walgreens locations, including the outpost at 1 Union Square. (For the sake of journalisming, we walked from the soon-to-close Walgreens to the Duane Reade — 50 steps!)

This corner Walgreens was renovated and expanded into the space above the quick-serve restaurants on Fourth Avenue back in 2010...

What could possibly fit in this space now (?).

Saturday's opening shot

Sunrise from the Ninth Street entrance to Tompkins Square Park. 

The sun makes a return today... the exclusive EVG forecast (via AccuWeather) calls for sunny to partly cloudy skies and much colder; breezy this afternoon with highs around 28°. Tonight's low is 17°, with the EVGRealFeel® of 12°

Teenage fanclub

 

Catching up to this Pom Pom Squad release from late December 2021... in which the NYC band shared this cover and frame-by-frame video reproduction of Nada Surf's "Popular" from 1996. 

Also, Bandcamp Fridays are back ... in which the music platform waives its revenue share for the day.

East Village weekend ski report

The winter sports season is alive and well on 11th Street near Third Avenue... back later with the powder report (at first glance this looks a little grabby). 

Thanks to Goggla for the pic!

RIP Hanne 'H7L' Lauridsen.

Photos by Stacie Joy from 2014 

Longtime East Village-based multimedia artist Hanne Lauridsen died Sunday at age 84. 

A friend said that the Danish-born Lauridsen, also known as Hanne H7L, "peacefully passed away in her home on East 11th Street, cared for by loving neighbors and surrounded by her art." (A cause of death was not revealed.)

Even if you didn't know Lauridsen, you likely saw one of her art cars parked on the street...

... or cross-country skiing in one of her leopard outfits whenever there was a snow cover on the streets. (She was immortalized in The New York Times one snowy day outside Tompkins Square Park here.) 

This bio outlines her expansive career that saw her exhibit in galleries in the United States and Europe.

We'll update this post if there's information about a celebration of her life.

The Bronx Brewery East Village debuts tomorrow (Saturday!)

Top photo by Jason Greenspan 

The Bronx Brewery East Village opens tomorrow at 64 Second Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street. (First announced in March 2020.) 

A rep for this outpost of the Bronx Brewery, which opened in 2011, shared this info about the multi-level EV location:

[T]he space’s focal point is the pilot brewery system, a fully-functional brewery in the center of the seating area that will be used to expand their popular Y-Series ... limited-release, often experimental beers brewed in collaboration with creatives ranging from activists and musicians to artists and entrepreneurs. 

The series will continue to provide a platform to celebrate and spotlight the community, contribute to charitable organizations and support the diversity of the city. Past Y-Series collaborations have benefited organizations like SapnaNYC (serving low-income immigrant South Asian women), the Humane Society, community gardens and Callen-Lorde (providing healthcare services for the LGBTQ community). The Y-Series beer roster for the new location is currently being developed and will prioritize local East Village/LES talent, including local artist ClockWork Cros and Mikey Likes It. 

And!

The space features corrugated steel accents and exposed i-beams, a nod to the industrial setting of the original Bronx location ...  A concrete-topped bar with perforated metal sheeting anchors the front taproom area, with neon lights in the design of the NYC subway map overhead. 

The back seating area is on a catwalk overlooking the pilot brewery system; guests can watch beer being brewed in real time as they eat and drink, taking in the sounds and smells of the brewhouse and cellar hop additions. 

Aside from the 14 beers on tap, the Bronx Brewery East Village will also feature the first U.S. location for the Swedish brand Bastard Burgers. (The food will be available for delivery a few weeks after the launch.) You can find the BB menu here. 

The Brewery's hours of operation: 5-11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays with a midnight close on Fridays; noon to midnight on Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays. Find more info on this location at this link. 

No. 64's retail space has been vacant since NYC Velo moved next door to No. 66 in the spring of 2016. 

Second interior pic by Charlie Bennet

Thursday's parting shot

Welcome to the jungle... a moment on Fourth Street today via Derek Berg...

Reader report: USA Super Stores (U-S-A!) coming to the former Duane Reade on 3rd Avenue and 10th Street

You may have noticed the paper on the windows at the former Duane Reade by Walgreens on the SW corner of Third Avenue and 10th Street... and maybe the arrival of some boxes and what not inside ...

We've been curious what might be going in here... Record store? Zine shop? An EVG tipster shared the following: This will be the second EV location of USA Super Stores. 

An outpost seemingly came out of nowhere this past November on the NW corner of Houston and Avenue D — site of a former Duane Reade by Walgreens. (There's also a USA Super Stores on the UES — AT A FORMER DUANE READE! PATTERN DETECTED.) 

USA Super Stores have a little bit of everything, from groceries to housewares to clothing — all at discounted prices. ("Cozy Fuzzy Sleep Pants" — $5.99; a 4-pound bag of Domino Sugar — $2.99.) 

No word on an opening date. One day it will just be open! 

This Duane Reade by Walgreens on the corner of Third and 10th closed in early March 2020 ... several years after expanding and gobbling up several small storefronts, forcing Excel Art and Framing Store and East Village Cheese (which was never the same) to relocate.

A look at the B Bar & Grill demolition on the Bowery

The demolition of the former B Bar & Grill space on the SW corner of Fourth Street at the Bowery continues.

EVG reader Robert Miner shared these photos, showing that workers have mostly wiped out the former outdoor courtyard (and Taco Bar!) ...

All this is happening to make way for a 21-floor office building on the property. (We got a first look at the Midtown-friendly monstrosity here.) 

As for the B Bar, the one-time hot spot (circa the mid-1990s) was expected to close for good in August 2020. However, the place never reopened after the PAUSE in March 2020. 

We first reported on this new project in January 2021. Find more background at our last post or below... 

Previously on EV Grieve:
• CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development

• B Bar & Grill lays off its staff without severance

• Permits filed to demolish the former B Bar & Grill on the Bowery

• First sign of the B Bar & Grill-replacing 21-story office building on the Bowery