The Dorothy Day takes to New York Harbor

On Friday, the city officially commissioned the newest member of the Staten Island Ferry fleet — the Dorothy Day. 

The $85 million state-of-the-art ferry is named for Day, the activist and journalist with ties to the Lower East Side, where she worked with the poor and founded The Catholic Worker. (The St. Joseph's House is on First Street and Maryhouse on Third Street.) 

City officials said that Day regularly rode the Staten Island Ferry to reach her cottage on Staten Island's South Shore and is buried in Pleasant Plains. According to officials, the ferry will serve passengers for the first time later this year.

Today we officially commissioned the Dorothy Day, the third and final new Ollis-class #StatenIslandFerry. The $85 million state-of-the-art ferry is named for Day, the legendary 20th-century Catholic peace activist who lived and worked #onStatenIsland. pic.twitter.com/i1fC0I6mJG

— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) November 4, 2022

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was a convert to Catholicism who led the Catholic Worker movement. Day has been submitted to the Vatican as a candidate for canonization by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

📷: Day's granddaughter joined us for the Commissioning Ceremony pic.twitter.com/b5m9AFHJ2m

— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) November 4, 2022

Meanwhile, here's a video of the launch and sea trial from September ...

   

The Church of the Nativity at 44 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street was Day's home parish. Several years ago, parishioners asked the Archdiocese of New York to build a shrine for Day within Nativity. 

The Archdiocese later sold the property to developers, who demolished the church and neighboring structures to make way for an 11-floor mixed-use building that will rise on the east side of the avenue ...

Top image via Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc./Nativity lot photo by Felton Davis

Sunday's opening shot

The season of giving thanks, from St. Mark's Place at First Avenue...

Noted

As seen on Seventh Street near Avenue C... and there's a sudden urge to watch "Road House" tonight.

EVG Etc.: City Council approves redistricting; Anna Delvey launches dinner series

Fall at Albert's Garden on 2nd Street 

• Your Election Day questions answered (NY1) 

• Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera and others speak out about the warehousing of rent-stabilized units (The City) 

• NYC migrant crisis highlights long standing homeless shelter issues (Gothamist) 

• City Council approves redistricting maps (City & State ... Village Preservation) 

• Sietsema checks out MayRee on First Street (Eater ... previously on EVG) 

• Pete Wells says that the French-influenced Claud on 10th Street "is one of the most impressive places to hit the East Village in several years" (The New York Times ... previously on EVG)

• The Thrillist guide to the East Village (Thrillist) 

• Under house arrest, Anna Delvey is launching a dinner series out of her East Village apartment (Eater)

• The "Meet Me in the Bathroom" doc is now playing at the IFC Center (Official site... previously on EVG) 

• UFOs on the big screen (Anthology Film Archives) 

• Glendalis is the protagonist of this 10-year photographic voyage on the Lower East Side (i-D) 

• Scarlett Johansson and David Yurman hosted a shopping soiree to benefit the Lower Eastside Girls Club (Vogue) 

• The noise and traffic are constant complaints from the neighbors near Clinton Street and Grand Street (PIX11) 

• Goggla captures the fall bird migration (Laura Goggin Photography) 

• Heidi Klum's Halloween worm costume at the new Moxy Hotel on the Bowery inspired some good memes (Hyperallergic)

Saturday's opening shot

Clocks go back one hour at 2 a.m. with Daylight Saving Time ... so if you're reading this post tomorrow, it will be 8:17 a.m. and not 9:17 a.m. 

And the new clocks at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (above!) on 10th Street and Second Avenue arrived in September 2018. 

On Nov. 12, 1955, lightning struck the clock tower, which generated 1.21 gigawatts of power.

Hello again

Photo for EVG last year by Stacie Joy 

Big week for local band Hello Mary... the trio — bassist Mikaela Oppenheimer, guitarist Helena Straight and drummer Stella Wave — announced the release date for their debut LP — March 3, 2023. 

They were also profiled in Rolling Stone in a piece titled "Say Hello to the Next Great New York Rock Band." 

And then there is a brand-new single-video... this is "Spiral."

   

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Hello Mary takes the stage at Webster Hall 

• An afternoon out with Hello Mary

About the 'First Mondays' reading series at Performance Space New York

Performance Space New York's series, "First Mondays: Readings of New Works in Progress," continues this fall. 

Here's more about what to expect from the series, organized by writer-historian Sarah Schulman, on Monday, Nov. 7, and Monday, Dec. 5: 

On Nov. 7, in an event Schulman dubbed "House Favorites," First Mondays features what Schulman describes as "a literary cornucopia of writers' writers, for readers who love writers." They include Lambda Literary Award and Arab American Book Award winner Rabih Alameddine ... poet and former director of the Asian-American Writers' Workshop Ken Chen ... and experimental poet, prose writer, and scholar of critical pedagogy and queer theory Sara Jane Stoner... 

And on Dec. 5... 

In an ongoing commitment to presenting alumni of Performance Space, First Mondays features an evening of new work-in-progress by Chris Cochrane — an innovator of improvisational new music and co-creator of THEM with Ishmael Houston-Jones and Dennis Cooper — with his collaborators Viv Corringham and Miguel Frasconi. 

The "First Mondays" readings start at 7 p.m. (a livestream option is also available). Events are free with RSVP ... which you can do here or here.

The readings take place at Open Room, Performance Space New York, 150 First Ave. (at Ninth Street), 4th floor.

How long will this booted Dodge Durango sit here on 11th Street?

An EVG reader shared this photo... of a new-model Dodge Durango — parked with a boot — on 11th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.

The boot arrived toward the end of September. The next day, the reader and a friend saw a young couple very thoroughly washing the vehicle inside and out. 

We assumed maybe they were killing time while waiting to have the boot removed. Hours later we came by again and the vehicle had been stripped clean of license plates, registration information, VIN, etc. 

The vehicle has sat here without plates and with deflated tires all of October.

Heading into November, the reader wonders how much longer the SUV will sit here. Perhaps it needs to be towed into the Avenue A bus lane to garner some city attention?

Just what the doctor ordered? MedRite Urgent Care debuts on 14th and 3rd

The MedRite Urgent Care is now open on the SE corner of Third Avenue and 14th Street. (Signage arrived in February.) 

The walk-in clinic has more than 20 locations around NYC and the metropolitan area. The hours here: Saturday-Sunday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

And the new outpost is about 60 steps away from the CityMD location on 14th Street. 

As for the new MedRite storefront, this space has been on the retail market since the Capital One® branch moved away in July 2016. 

Thursday's parting shot

A black-and-white view this evening from Seventh Street and First Avenue...

Noted

Photos by Derek Berg 

Thanks to the magic of TV-making, there's a new medical cannabis dispensary on Avenue A... temporarily taking the place of Avenue A Deli & Grill just south of St. Mark's Place for a scene today...

Crews for "Law & Order," an American police procedural and legal drama TV series now in its 47th season, were also spotted on Avenue B and Eighth Street.

Citing a reorganization, Mikey Likes It Ice Cream closes Avenue A location

As part of a brand reorganization, the Mikey Likes It Ice Cream outpost is now permanently closed at 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

Founder Michael "Mikey" Cole and his team made the announcement in an Instagram post ... with word of a new flagship store coming in the spring...

To all of our fans and supporters, we are so happy and excited to announce that Mikey Likes It Ice Cream is currently reorganizing the company to expand our products and services to the global market. Also, during this transition, we will be opening new locations, and our new Mikey Likes It Ice cream Flagship store in the spring of 2023.

The post stated that the Avenue A store closed following the constant "day-to-day battle and hardship" during the pandemic. 

We were just not able to recover fast enough and come to terms with our current landlord. Although we greatly appreciate the efforts to accommodate our needs, we understand how the pandemic itself hurt all business owners.

Although a bittersweet moment, we are very grateful for what this store has given us as a family. Over the years, we have had the opportunity to meet so many people from various walks of life and have been able to create friendships that we would’ve never had without having this store. 

We have become a staple in the community and have enjoyed watching the children of the community come to the store as children and grow into mature, responsible adults. From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank all of our customers and staff that have been loyal to Mikey Likes It Ice Cream over the years. 

Cole started the business from his parent's Stuy Town apartment, where he grew up. He later opened his first outpost here on Avenue A in 2013 and expanded to Harlem. You can read our 2013 interview with Cole here.

Ice cream aside, we enjoyed the changing artwork on the rolldown gate in the first few years ... where Andre Trenier created one of his 1980s-inspired murals corresponding with the shop's flavor of the month... favorites included Grace Jones... Teen Wolf ... Tootie from "Facts of Life" and ... Prince. 

Until a new outpost opens, you can still find Mikey's products for delivery online.

Image from the summer via @mikeylikesiticecream 

The 9th Precinct touts a big drug bust in Tompkins Square Park

We've heard from residents discussing the uptick in drug sales and drug use in Tompkins Square Park in the past, oh, two years or so. (The comments in this post, for instance.) 

In a tweet on Tuesday, the 9th Precinct announced the following bust in Tompkins Square Park, which yielded "242 vials of cocaine and 108 decks of heroin."

A sign of police activity to come? 

Per the tweet: "We heard your complaints about the drug activities going on in the park and we’ve deployed more resources to the park area."

242 vials of cocaine , 108 decks of heroin and $834 were recovered from a drug dealer at Tompkins Square park by our public safety team. We heard your complaints about the drug activities going on in the park and we’ve deployed more resources to the park area. pic.twitter.com/5su2K9bVxd

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) November 1, 2022

Mug & Cup space is now in possession of the landlord on Avenue C

Photos by Stacie Joy

We hadn't seen Mug & Cup open for several months here at 115 Avenue C between Seventh Street and Eighth Street.

There's now legal documentation on the door... the Marshal has taken possession of the storefront on behalf of the landlord...

The coffee and juice shop opened last November after a long build-out of the retail space. This was the second outpost for Mug & Cup, which got its start in East Flatbush. 

No. 115 had been vacant for the past few years as the building was sold and gut-renovated. The retail space has been empty since Le Jardin Bistro closed in June 2015. Previous ventures here included Apartment 13 and The Porch.

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo by Steven

As seen on the plywood at the worksite on St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue: 

Every Ten Minutes Stop Working and Take Smoke Break. 

Every Employee Must Take Approximately 30 Smoke Breaks Per 8 Hour Work Day.

Late afternoon fall foliage report

From the Ninth Street and Avenue A entrance to Tompkins Square Park...

Demolition complete on the Bowery for the New Museum annex

Demolition is complete at 231 Bowery, the former 6-floor building that stood next to the New Museum here at Prince Street.

This space will eventually yield to the New Museum's 8-story annex...

News of the annex, which will nearly double the New Museum's size to 115,277 square feet, dates to 2016. 

Here's more about the new building designed by OMA, Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas ... via the OMA website:

The sleek, angular volume will connect laterally to the original museum and house three gallery floors, a cafe, a bookstore, offices, community and educational program space, art storage, and outdoor terraces. 

As a reminder, the renderings (via OMA) for the new structure ... as first seen when the plans were announced in June 2019... 

No. 231 on the Bowery was home to Daroma Restaurant Equipment until the spring of 2011 when they moved down the Bowery (and the owner pleaded guilty to tax fraud). The New Museum bought the building for $16.6 million in September 2008. According to The New York Times, the address once provided "raw studio space for seminal New York artists like James Rosenquist and Tom Wesselmann."

The New Museum opened on the Bowery in December 2007. No word on an opening date for the annex. 

Details about smashing pumpkins (not the band!) at La Plaza Cultural

This Sunday, you can bring your Halloween pumpkins, gourds and Jack-o-Lanterns over to the annual Pumpkin Smash... taking place from noon to 3 p.m. at La Plaza Cultural on the SW corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C.

Reps from the NYC Compost Project will be there to turn those (likely rotting) decorative items into compost for city parks and green spaces.

The event is rain or shine, and there are other family-friendly activities planned during the Pumpkin Smash.

Thanks to Steven for the photo!

Activity at the former Associated on 14th Street

For the first time in a long time, there have been signs of activity at the former Associated space on 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue in Stuy Town.

Asbestos Abatement signage went up earlier in October... (and the Wrong Language police checked in later)...

As you may recall, back in February 2021, Stuy Town management informed residents that Chef's Local Harvest, a 10,000-square-foot grocery store, would open in this space (this year).

The family-run market is owned and operated by father-son duo Paul and Aaron Fernandez, who helped create the Union Market chainlet (as seen on Avenue A and Houston) and Ideal Marketplace in Chelsea. 

Here's more from the announcement to residents in February 2021:

Paul Fernandez has operated best-in-class supermarkets in New York City for the last 40 years and has worked to provide quality service and products throughout his career. He grew up in Little Italy after immigrating to the United States at 14, and is a founding member and principal in the Union Market chain, as well as America’s Food Basket Banners. 

Chef's Local Harvest will feature a combination of fresh produce, fish and meat, in addition to a wide selection of prepared food and grab-and-go options via a café, deli and more. 

The space will also conveniently include an entrance directly connecting to the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village community, providing quick and easy store access for our community. The store will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. 

We're told that this is all still going to happen... and that there's a discussion about some kind of entertainment/performance space in the store... with an outdoor cafe and a new entrance at the mezzanine level. (The deal included 7,300 square feet of the usable basement, per The Real Deal.)

As we understand it, given the unique situation of the interior of the Stuy Town-Peter Cooper Village being zoned as R7-2, any type of commercial enterprise must be a "resident amenity." Hence, any liquor license has to be a "club" one only for "residents and their guests." 

Associated closed in December 2019. Joseph Falzon, the store's owner, previously told Crain's that a confluence of factors had cut business nearly in half. For starters, construction on 14th Street for the L train obscured the supermarket with a 12-foot fence for nearly two years.

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Admiring this MTA employee's jacket along Avenue A...