Thursday, October 13, 2022

Picture this: an art gallery for 5th and B

Top 2 photos by Stacie Joy

Renovations continue inside and out on the NW corner of Fifth Street and Avenue B... where an art gallery called Gratin is in the works for the space... 
We don't know anything else at the moment about what to expect here from the new gallery... which marks the second art space to open along this corridor after Half Gallery debuted in 2020 on the NW corner of Fourth Street and Avenue B.

The arrival will likely make at least one upstairs resident happy... back when the storefront was on the market in the spring... 
... there was a sign in the window reading: "No Cafe. No Food."
Oda House, which served the rare-for-Manhattan Georgian cuisine and other Mediterranean staples, closed here in August 2020 after seven-plus years in service. Caffe Buon Gusto was here for a bit after the corner market Zips.  

Openings: Le Burger on 5th Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

Le Burger has debuted at 540 E. Fifth St., just a little west of Avenue B. (First noted here.)

As the name implies, the restaurant serves a variety of burgers (see the menu below) ... and they offer wine and draft beers.
According to the questionnaire from July's CB3-SLA meeting, ownership previously ran the now-closed UES spots 1742 Wine Bar and Giorgio's Brick Over & Wine Bar.

For now, the space is open from 5 p.m. to midnight. No sign of a website yet, though Le Burger is on Instagram.
Black Iron Burger was in this space for nearly six years before closing in 2019

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

As seen on Avenue A today... a cab with a checkered past...

Lighting up the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy

The mobile lights are ON this evening on Seventh Street and Avenue A at the entrance to Tompkins Square Park.

The solar-powered lights via the Parks Department arrived last Friday morning ... a day after a delivery man was slashed in the face during an attack around 3:30 p.m. 

This is the first time that we've seen the lights illuminated...
 
This corner of the Park around the chess tables has drawn complaints from residents who've reported fights, drug use and the sale of stolen property... the Parks Enforcement Patrol and NYPD have placed barricades around the chess tables multiple times in recent years. 

City removes charred and tagged Acura from Houston Street

This morning, the city removed the remains of the charred and tagged Acura from Houston Street at Allen... EVG regular Salim caught the transport in action as the car (and one in a similar state) headed north on First Avenue just past 14th Street.

The driver of the Acura crashed it into a pole early Sunday (4:50 a.m.) at Houston and Allen. After the collision, the car caught fire. We're told no one was injured.

[UPDATED] Remembering Manny the Peddler

Photo from 2020 by Brian Boulos 

UPDATED: Despite what the signs say, the service for Manny is on Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. at Most Holy Redeemer.

Manny the Peddler, a decades-long presence along Avenue A, recently passed away. 

Manny, aka Emmanuel Howard and a father of four, sold second-hand items here for more than 40 years. Although the city often came by and dumped all his sale items, Manny remained resilient and continued to run his sidewalk shop. 

We don't have any further information about his passing. He was believed to be in his early 80s. There is a small memorial (since removed) where he was often seen arranging his items for sale on various tables between Second Street and Third Street ... (thanks to Carl Bentsen for these photos) ...
There is a requiem mass for Manny on Saturday afternoon at 2 at the Parish of the Most Holy Redeemer on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...
Here's more about Manny via a profile at The Local East Village from 2011:
He worked as a print shop delivery boy, metalworker, lathe operator, carpenter, and handyman, and around 1979 he began vending in front of the Con Edison substation on Sixth Street and Avenue A. It became a bonanza. 

"People used to come down from upstate and buy out the whole table for six, seven hundred dollars," he says, and then give him their business cards so he could call when he had good stock. Mr. Howard says he once made $4,500 in a week; he had never had that kind of money before. 

With a pocketful of connections, he could sell whatever people brought to him, and the temptation got too much. In 1997 he says he spent nine months of a six-year term on Riker's Island for possession of stolen goods. He suffered a heart attack while in jail and served the rest of the time on probation. 

"I messed up big time on that," he laments, and has since returned to selling donated items from neighborhood residents, many of whom he's done odd jobs for over the years. 

"Manny is organic to the neighborhood," says a café owner on Avenue A ... explaining that his spot is like a public space, connecting people from different backgrounds. "I see people gathered around the tables, all different layers of society. I think it is very healthy to have that."

A 14th Street storefront is available to rent for the first time in 63 years

The east storefront at 626 E. 14th St. is available for the first time since 1959.

A for-rent sign recently arrived on the front window between Avenue B and Avenue C at the now-closed Sun's Laundry.

Robert Lee opened the dry-cleaning business with his father in 1959.

Mr. Lee was 84 in August 2020 when he and his family decided to close up shop, one of the city's last Chinese hand laundries.

Both Gothamist and NBC News had features on Mr. Lee following his retirement. 

Openings: ĂŤxta on the Bowery

ĂŤxta debuted last week at 299 Bowery between Houston and First Street. (First mentioned here in August 2021.)

This is a second coming for ĂŤxta, which had a two-year run on East 29th Street from 2005 to 2007. Restaurateur Mike Himani, whose credits include a Chickpea in Penn Station and Nisi Mediterranean in Times Square, told Eater that he lost the location due to the terms of the sublease.

Here's more from Eater:
For Ixta's reprisal, Himani [brought] on executive chef Francisco Blanco from Mexico City. Blanco, who cooked at Le Cirque and Eataly’s Manzo, will fine-tune a menu of southern Mexican and Oaxacan dishes at Ixta, while mixologist Jenny Castillo will create tequila- and mezcal-based cocktails.
The restaurant is open daily from 5-11 p.m. You can find the menu here. And some Instagram pics here.

Daniel Boulud closed DBGB at this address in August 2017 after an eight-year run. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Where to find some unique masks for Halloween

Tomorrow (Wednesday!), 3rd & B'zaar unveils a unique collection of Halloween masks — with a local flavor — via artist Leopold Masterson. 

The hand-drawn/painted (watercolor, pencil and ink) creations are all signed by the artist ... and feature an array of pop-cultural icons, in-the-news-cycle names and some local residents (behold the Stacie Joy Mask!). 

The masks may be worn out and about (there's a space for eyes) or kept in the bag with jokey titles as a collectible. 

The seasonal marketplace — titled Fall Into the City — is open from 1-7 p.m. at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

Expect another batch of new masks before Halloween.

The remains of a charred Acura on Houston


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Here are the remains of an Acura that crashed into a pole early Sunday (4:50 a.m.) at Houston and Allen. After the collision, the car caught fire. We're told no one was injured. (Thanks to everyone pointing out that this is/was an Acura.)

The car is now parked on the north side of Houston just below Houston (facing the wrong direction) ... where the shell has attracted some tagging attention...
Two people have been killed by motorists along this corridor in the early morning hours this year... Raife Milligan, 21, and Andy Gil, 21.

A sidewalk returns to full view and use along St. Mark's Place

Yesterday we reported that workers were finally removing the sidewalk bridge outside 19-23 St. Mark's Place. 

EVG reader KT Hendrickson shared these night/day photos showing the triumphant return of an unencumbered sidewalk between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...
The bridge had been up for some six years. As we understand it, work on the 8-story building was wrapped up last summer ... and apparently, a COVID-era backlog with the city caused delays in the signing off on the work.

A familiar new rendering for 3 St. Mark's Place

Yesterday, workers placed an updated rendering on the plywood at the NE corner of St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue. (Thanks @unitof for capturing the moment!)

After a 10-month hiatus, foundation work restarted in the late summer ... when the developer, Real Estate Equities Corp. (REEC), received a $70-million loan for the project. 

REEC plans on 53,000 square feet of office space and some 7,700 square feet for retail. The new rendering shows that version ... though the final look isn't too different from what was revealed several years ago...
As previously reported, a 10-story office building had been in the works here. In October 2020, the City Council's Zoning Subcommittee voted down REEC's application to transfer air rights from the landmarked 4 St. Marks Place to the new building across the street.

With the air-rights transfer, REEC would have been allowed to build 8,386 square feet larger than the current zoning allows.

The building, officially 1 St. Mark's Place, is slated for a July 2024 completion. 

Our previous post has more details about what has transpired here to date. 

Dumpling Lab, recipient of a new Bib Gourmand, has closed on 9th Street

After nearly a year in business, Dumpling Lab has closed at 214 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (Thanks to Steven for the photos.)

The space had been dark recently, and Google listed them as "permanently closed."

Dumpling Lab management confirmed the departure in a text, stating: "we will be looking for another location to reopen in the near future."
The restaurant, which drew inspiration from chef Xiaomei Ma's native Tsingtao, China, was from the same team behind Hunan Slurp on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. 

And lousy timing on the closure, as Dumpling Lab just made the 2022 Michelin Guide's list of 18 new Bib Gourmands.

Empanada Mama debuts on 14th Street and 1st Avenue

The quick-serve Empanada Mama location opened for business this past Friday on the NW corner of First Avenue and 14th Street. (We've been tracking the progress here since May.) 

Here's a look inside (before it opened for the day) ... there are two self-ordering kiosks...
There is also a cashier taking orders, so that option of paying by cash is available. 

During this initial soft-opening phase, the outpost is open from noon to 10 p.m. daily. Eventually, they will keep hours of 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. 

This is the fourth NYC space for Empanada Mama, which Socrates Nanas launched in 2005.

Papaya Dog closed here last fall, ending a 16-year-run of slinging cheap eats from this corner.

Will we be posting a lot of snow photos this winter?

Seventh and A a few winters ago

AccuWeather unveiled its Winter 2022-23 snowfall outlook for the country yesterday.

So what can we expect in NYC? AW is forecasting seasonal snowfall totals of 18-23 inches here, which would be below average for NYC... with between six and nine "days of accumulating snow."
And a lot of snow likely won't make a difference for public schools. New York City School Chancellor David C. Banks previously announced that there will be no snow days during the 2022-2023 academic year, NBC News reported

In a show of solidarity with the students, we will take the days off for them.

Glosslab nails down new 4th Avenue storefront

Mani-pedi chain Glosslab is opening an outpost at 129 Fourth Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.

This will be the 10th location in NYC.

Mi Garba, the pleasant wine bar/cafe, closed here in December 2020 after five-plus years in business.  

Monday, October 10, 2022

Jeremiah Moss to discuss 'Feral City' at Book Club Thursday night

Photos by Stacie Joy 

This past Friday evening at the Strand, East Village-based writer Jeremiah Moss launched his new book, "Feral City," with a reading and an animated conversation led by Lucy Sante.
This Thursday night, Moss will be at Book Club Bar for an author event with Robert Galinsky

Per the invite: "What happens when an entire social class abandons a metropolis? This genre-bending journey through lockdown New York offers an exhilarating, intimate look at a city returned to its rebellious spirit." 

The event starts at 8 p.m. at Book Club, 197 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Scenes from National Pierogi Day at East Village Meat Market

Photos by Stacie Joy 

On Saturday, East Village Meat Market celebrated National Pierogi Day... with all sales from the pierogi going to Ukrainian relief efforts. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the longtime shop, 139 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street, toward the end of a very busy business day... where there were just a few customers left before closing up... 
... she was greeted by longtime manager Andrew Ilnicki ...

Miracle on St. Mark's: Sidewalk bridge coming down outside No. 19-23

Photo by Steven 

Workers from the Department of Miracles are out this morning... removing the long-standing sidewalk bridge from 19-23 St. Mark's Place. 

The structure outside the 8-story retail-residential complex between Second Avenue and Third Avenue has been up for nearly six years. Google Street View shows that it arrived sometime between September 2016 and September 2017. (Thanks to the reader who checked that!)

Monday's opening shot

Thanks to EVG reader Jeanne Krier for today's sunrise pic... and today is Indigenous Peoples' Day... NYC public schools are closed, and many offices are closed too for the day.