Remembering Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locón

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the deadly Second Avenue gas explosion, which killed two men, injured two dozen people, and leveled three buildings (119, 121 and 123 Second Ave.).

There is a memorial plaque on site for the two men who died that day — Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locón.

Officials dedicated this plaque in May 2021. The Village Preservation advocated for its placement here on the new residential building at 45 E. Seventh St. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• RIP Nicholas Figueroa 

• RIP Moises Locón 

• Dedicating Moises Locón Way and Nicholas Figueroa Way on 2nd Avenue at 7th Street

At Cooper Union, a concert to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility this Friday

You can commemorate "Transgender Day of Visibility" this coming Friday, March 31, at "Shine On," a special concert at the Cooper Union hosted by Murray Hill.

Per the press materials:

"Shine On" is both a celebration honoring transgender and non-binary people and a call to action to fight against hate. The event is part of The Gardiner Foundation Great Hall Forum series, which explores contemporary societal issues and connects history from The Cooper Union's Great Hall, dating back more than 160 years, to the present.

The concert event, which features performances by actress, singer and activist Peppermint and the New York City Gay Men's Chorus, starts at 7 p.m. at the Great Hall, 7 E. Seventh St.

 

You can RSVP to the free show here. 

The Third Avenue side of the Foundation building highlights members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as works by some of Cooper Union's transgender alums.

Saturday's parting shots

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Frankfurters + ticket at Katz's ...

These East Village tenants, fearing displacement, to rally against their new landlord

Late last summer, news surfaced about the sale of 305 E. 11th St. and 310 E. 12th St. (above), adjacent multifamily residential buildings between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

The deal for the 89-unit buildings, owned by the Chissick family since the late 1960s, was for $58 million. 

Since then, we've heard from residents about significant rent increases, evictions, and alleged apartment warehousing at the buildings. 

As a result, residents here have advanced their efforts in recent months by forming the GoldinFinch Tenant Association. They are hosting a rally tomorrow afternoon (March 26) with the help of the Cooper Square Committee. (NYC Comptroller Brad Lander is also expected to be in attendance.)

Per a media advisory: 

Tenants, advocates and elected officials will protest the actions of private equity firm Meadow Partners, which purchased two multifamily buildings in the East Village. Shortly after the purchase, Meadow Partners and their operating partner 60 Guilders/620 MGMT began aggressively displacing long-term tenants and hiking up rents. 

The rally will call for Albany to enact "Good Cause" legislation to prevent arbitrary evictions and unconscionable rent hikes, as well as city-level legislation to curb the apartment "warehousing" and "frankensteining" that Meadow and other landlords are practicing.

 Many tenants have lived in the neighborhood for decades and have strong ties to the community. The tenant association ("GoldinFinch Tenant Association") is named after housing advocate Frances Goldin [a longtime resident here] and art critic Charles Finch. Those residents, as well as other notable tenants who lived in the building, will also be honored at the rally. 

Finch jumped to his death from his apartment on the 12th Street side last Aug. 24. He was 69. As The New York Times reported: 

Debby Lee Cohen, a neighbor who said she had known Mr. Finch for 40 years, said that besides his health, he might have been anxious about the future of the building, which had just been sold. He was a longtime resident who had a rent-controlled apartment. 

The rally starts tomorrow outside 310 E. 12th St. at 1 p.m.

The tenant association also shared this building fact sheet (click on the image for a bigger view)...
 

EVG Etc.: the 9 Lives of a 7th Street townhouse; the 17 NYC arts institutions with free admission

Photo on 7th Street the other evening by Steven (and there wasn't a fire) 

• LES fashion designer's homicide linked to fatal drug-facilitated robberies (ABC News) 

• The history of 64 E. Seventh St. includes Lou Reed and Yoko Ono (The New York Times) 

• Christo and Amelia are in the brooding stage in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography) 

• "[A]n experiment in queering fine dining" at HAGS on First Avenue (The New Yorker... previously on EVG) 

• Checking out Wild Rabbit Coffee on Seventh Street (Time Out... previously on EVG) 

• Women rob East Village couple of $8k worth of property (amNY) 

• A mother-daughter conversation about their home in Stuy Town and putting down roots (dwell)

• Workers at the Trader Joe's at Essex Crossing file petition to unionize (NY1) 

• Next on Musical Mondays at Village East by Angelika — "Victor/Victoria" (Official site) 

• How to get an NYC street co-named (THE CITY) 

• A list of free museums for New Yorkers to visit (Hyperallergic)

Saturday's opening shot

A view of Tompkins Square Park this morning...

A 'Grave' situation

 

The underrated San Diego-based duo Crocodiles (Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell) are back with a new album, Upside Down In Heaven, due out on April 7.

The video here is for one of the singles, "Love Beyond the Grave."

They'll be at Mercury Lounge on May 4.

Paying tribute to the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911

Tomorrow marks the 112th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

As in past years, volunteers have been taking part in the chalking project (organized by Street Pictures), writing the names and ages of the victims in front of the buildings where they lived on the Lower East Side.

For example, Julia Oberstein lived at 53 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street. (Top photo.) She was 19 years old. 

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in U.S. history ... causing the death of 146 garment workers (mostly young women) who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths.

The Triangle Waist Company was located on the northwest corner of Greene Street and Washington Place just east of Washington Square Park, where the commemoration ceremonies take place today (3/24). Find more details at The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition website.

A memorial, expected to be unveiled at the site of the fire, is in the works. Read more about it here.

[Updated] Suspect arrested after shooting at police on 4th Street between C and D

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated 3/25: ABC 7 has an update here on the suspect, 20-year-old Richard Mendez, who allegedly had threatened his brother with a gun.

-----

A 20-year-old man is in custody tonight after shooting at a police cruiser on Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D, according to published reports

Per CBS 2, "officers in a marked police car spotted the suspect waving a firearm." He then allegedly fired at the vehicle, striking it several times. The officers also reportedly returned fire. 

NBC 4's account of the story said the suspect "was ... menacing people with a gun" before the encounter with the NYPD near 330 E. Fourth St.

There were originally reports on the Citizen app that the officers sustained unspecified injuries. CBS 2 reported that "the officers were taken to a local hospital to be treated for ringing in their ears." 

Updated: 

According to the Post, the man was menacing his brother with a gun. It wasn't immediately clear if the suspect shot at the officers during the confrontation. 

Per the paper: "The suspect's brother was also arrested for an alleged robbery from Wednesday, according to sources."

Thursday's parting shot

New on Houston at the Bowery (SW corner)... wheatepaste of China's President Xi Jinping by DeGrupo... (shades of)

Highlighting 'Free The Nipple Day' on Avenue A

Photo by Stacie Joy

New outside 50 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street ... local artist Jim Tozzi with Bert's Tit, one of his regular characters through the years. 

Here's more about the work via an Instagram post by wall curator The Lisa Project: 

Happy Women's History Month 2023. This year we wanted to spotlight the now decade-old "Free The Nipple" campaign created by the multitalented artist/actor, equal rights activist, and snappy dresser Ms. Lina Esco. As "Free The Nipple Day" is Sunday 3/26/23. 

To celebrate we tasked Street and Sticker Artist Jim Tozzi to paint his brilliant work. His funny culture-mashing take on an iconic character, "Bert's Tit" was the perfect way to keep body equality in the conversation. 

But at the end of the day, we hope it makes you smile, laugh and remember a woman's body is hers, and hers alone…

Experimental Intermedia brings the films of Bradley Eros to Whitebox gallery

Text and photos by Daniel Efram 

On Monday evening, Whitebox gallery hosted a performance of films being presented by experimental film director Bradley Eros. 

Eros' expanded cinema pieces often combine film productions of others that have been remixed, re-edited and recontextualized, often eliciting new meaning and perspective. 

His works of expanded cinema have long been of note including multiple appearances at MoMA ("Spirit of the Eighties: Curated by Tessa Hughes-Freeland | MoMA" and "Big as Life: An American History of 8mm Films: Type X") and The Whitney Museum of American Art ("Optipus: The Owl Flies at Twilight," "Outer Space" and "Bradley Eros and Jeanne Liotta's Subverted Horseplay"), where some of his work is in its permanent collection. 

Eros showed 10 films, each with a wonderfully theatrical and experiential transition that the host guided us through using his often amusing and inspiring shadow play skills.

Experimental Intermedia has been presenting concerts and intermedia events primarily at its Soho location since 1968. This year's events have taken place at Shift (Williamsburg), Emily Harvey Foundation (Soho) and Whitebox (East Village). 

Updated: Unfortunately, the next show has been canceled:

 Longtime East Village multidisciplinary artist Lary 7 will perform the last Experimental Intermedia of 2023 at Whitebox, 9 Avenue B between Houston and Second Street on Sunday, March 26 at 7 p.m.

At the long-vacant former P.S. 64/CHARAS, more 'frivolous court actions to tie up the property'

Top photo by Stacie Joy from January; 2nd photo from last week by Duke9 

On Tuesday, the day before the foreclosure auction of the former P.S. 64/CHARAS at 605 E. Ninth St., developer Gregg Singer put the long-vacant property into bankruptcy protection, the latest maneuver in his nearly 25 years of being involved with the property between Avenue B and Avenue C. (First reported by PincusCo.)

Representatives of the coalition Save Our Community Center, CHARAS, former P.S. 64 (SOCCC-64) were planning on a celebration yesterday following the auction of the property "because it would have allowed the City to begin negotiations to re-acquire the building and return it as a cultural and community center to the neighborhood." 

Instead, per a statement from SOCCC-64: 

This is yet another in a long series of frivolous court actions to tie up the property and try and force a settlement that would allow Singer to violate the use restrictions on the building and construct a youth hostel that he is trying to pass off as a dormitory. 

On March 15, SOCCC-64, community leaders and residents hand-delivered a letter from local elected officials — including Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Congressman Dan Goldman, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and State Sen. Brian Kavanagh — to City Hall requesting a meeting as soon as possible to discuss re-acquiring the center. (Read more about the rally here.)

Meanwhile, as The Real Deal reported, Singer is also in litigation over the property with the city and former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

He sued in 2018, claiming a conspiracy blocked his efforts to redevelop the building. Singer is now seeking to amend the lawsuit.

The city had not owned the property since selling it to Singer during the Giuliani administration, yet the developer alleges the offer "prompted the city to go from a slow walk to a full stop by categorically and unconditionally denying" him building permits.

Singer's attorney filed a motion seeking to amend his complaint. The proposed amended complaint was filed under seal.

Singer said in a statement that the amended complaint "will lift the curtain revealing the city's actions under Mayor de Blasio."

The 135,000-square-foot landmarked building is zoned for "community facility use," Any conversion to residential housing would require a zoning variance. The long-standing Stop Work Order and Full Vacate are still on file with the Department of Buildings.

Singer wanted to turn the building into a dorm (more here), though those plans never materialized. (In past years, the Joffrey Ballet and Cooper Union were attached to the project.) 

In late December, New York State Justice Melissa Crane ordered the foreclosure and sale of the former P.S. 64 with a default, including penalties and interest totaling approximately $90 million.

The property that Singer purchased from the city in 1998 for $3.15 million fell into foreclosure last year and was reportedly in the hands of lender Madison Realty Capital.  

In October 2017, then-Mayor de Blasio's statement at a Town Hall put forth the idea 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." 

Some residents want to see the space used again as a community center, as it was during its time as Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Singer evicted the group on Dec. 27, 2001. There's a petition in circulation titled, "Save Charas Community Center! Stop the Private Auction!" Per the petition, which states, "Demand Mayor Adams use eminent domain to return the center to the people!" (You can find the petition here.) 

With more legal proceedings and what critics refer to as delay tactics ahead, the building will continue to sit empty for the foreseeable future. 

THE CITY has a recap on what's been happening to date here ... with comments from Councilmember Rivera.

A cheese slice is 99 cents again at 99 Cent Pizza on 14th Street

The price for a cheese slice is back to 99 cents now at 99 Cent Pizza, 246 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Workers switched the sign from $1.50 to 99 cents back on Monday. 

Like many other bargain joints around the city, management — citing an increase in costs on everything from flour to napkins — increased the price by 51 cents in late 2021/early 2022. 

This move comes days after the 2 Bros. outpost on St. Mark's Place raised the price of their cheese slice from $1 to $1.50... and before the new 99-cent joint opens on 14th Street just east of First Avenue (Updated: Certified open today, per Edmund John Dunn.)

Do we hear 98 cents from any of the other discount slicerias? 

Perhaps this bubble tea wasn't up everyone's Alley

That's apparently all for the Alley at 68 Cooper Square (across from Cooper Union) ... earlier this year, a "closed until further notice" sign went up on the front door...

There wasn't any further notice. This address is no longer on the Alley's website... and Google lists them as permanently closed. 

This was the first NYC location for the growing and Instagram-popular Taiwanese bubble tea chain, debuting late in the summer of 2019 to some long lines. There's now an Alley in Flushing.

March 21

Flashback to last evening... when EVG reader Russell K. hit the daily double... first on 14th Street and Avenue A (above)... and then Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place... it probably looked festive with some lights and tinsel... 

It was a nice way to start spring...

Report: Gregg Singer places the former P.S. 64/Charas into bankruptcy protection

The auction of the former P.S. 64/Charas/El Bohio Community Center will NOT be happening after all today.

Developer Gregg Singer has reportedly placed his long-dormant property at 605 E. Ninth St. into bankruptcy protection ... two months after New York State Justice Melissa Crane ordered the foreclosure and sale of the former school and community center between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

This development comes right as an auction for the landmarked building was set to take place today at the Hilton New York Midtown Fifth Avenue. 

Adam Pincus at PincusCo has the scoop: 

Singer claimed the five-story building has assets and liabilities both above $100 million, and that there would be funds to make payments to the more than two dozen creditors. Madison Realty Capital filed the pre-foreclosure action in 2018 that triggered the foreclosure sale, only two years after giving Singer a $44 million loan secured by the property. 

As of a February 2022 referee's report, the property had debts of $89.98 million.

As Pincus notes, "Singer's move to protect his ownership of the building is part of an extensive involvement of the courts over the years."

Now there will be more court activity to sort out the bankruptcy litigation.

Singer purchased the property during a city auction in 1998 for $3.15 million. Through the years, Singer wanted to turn the one-time P.S. 64 into a dorm (more here), though those plans never materialized, and the building has sat in disrepair, prompting the city to take emergency measures to seal it up in late 2022. 

Some residents want to see the space used again as a community center, as it was during its time as Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Singer evicted the group on Dec. 27, 2001. There's a petition in circulation titled, "Save Charas Community Center! Stop the Private Auction!" Per the petition, which states, "Demand Mayor Adams use eminent domain to return the center to the people!" (You can find the petition here.)

The 135,000-square-foot building is zoned for "community facility use," Any conversion to residential housing would require a zoning variance.

Ben’s Deli moving on without Ben on Avenue B

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

There’s an upbeat atmosphere at Ben’s Deli on Avenue B this Thursday night. 

Local tall man Bobby is playing a DJ set from atop a stack of milk crates and plywood as curious passersby duck into the store and dance to his synth-driven set of house and disco.

Driving this festive mood: it’s being announced that Ben Gibran has sold his eponymous deli and is retiring after almost 50 years in the business.

At one point, Ben, his wife, and five sons: Mo, Ahmed, Haas, Gamal, and Ali owned six delis (plus a pizza shop) in the East Village. The last of the storefronts at 32 Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street is in contract to be sold, and Ben’s keeping it in the family, selling it to a cousin, Sammy Ksem, who is present tonight...

... along with Haas (below) behind the counter ...

... and Mo...

... and Glenn, a longtime employee...

Also on hand: the new in-store vendor Los Tacos Poca Madre, which serves housemade potato chips, a tasty fruit salad with hot sauce — not to mention traditional Mexican food.

Meanwhile, people come into the store to celebrate Ben’s long tenure as a local business owner.

As much as I am happy about Ben’s retirement, I can’t help but also be a bit sad. I’ve known Ben since I was a teenager and knowing I won’t see him and his kids and grandkids here gives me a pang of sadness. 

Ben’s Deli has been a meeting place, a shelter in the storm (literally – Ben fed the neighborhood during the dark aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012), a place to grab a frosty drink, some munchies, a travel-size bottle of mouthwash/toothbrush/toothpaste combo pack, and back in the day: loosies, lotto tix, rolling papers. 

It’s had a starring role in the Netflix series “Russian Doll” and my heart. It always smells faintly of smoke; some products don’t have any business in a bodega — or do they? — and a revolving cast of characters who can explore EBT fraud, middle-of-the-night Maalox purchases, and a mix-and-match 6-pack of beer.

However, best of all is catching Ben “in the office” — his maroon Chevy Astro van parked out front. He’ll most likely be reading an expired Jetro Restaurant Supply Store brochure, chain-smoking and talking on his ancient flip phone.

While Sammy reports he has no plans to change the name, Ben’s kids won’t be working there anymore — and neither will Ben. Another familiar face, Uncle, a longtime employee, recently had a serious medical setback and hasn’t been able to get back behind the register. 

When I ask why now, Ben tells me he’s tired and old and just ready to stop working. “I can’t do it anymore, Stacie; it’s time,” he says, offering a comforting pat on my shoulder. He smiles.

An official retirement party is in the works. Stay tuned for details.

Find previous coverage here.

Anthology Film Archives hosting 'a long-overdue retrospective' of East Village artist Abigail Child

The work of longtime East Village resident Abigail Child is the subject of a five-day program starting Friday at the Anthology Film Archives on Second Avenue and Second Street. 

Per the series description: 

... Anthology hosts a long-overdue retrospective of the work of the moving-image artist, writer, and poet Abigail Child. A leading figure of the generation of experimental filmmakers that emerged in the late 1970s-early 1980s, Child has continued to make innovative and challenging work – in a dizzying variety of forms and on a wide range of topics – ever since. 

Child, who has often grouped her films into thematically and/or formally linked series, first gained widespread recognition with the seven films presented under the title "Is This What You Were Born For?" Created between 1981-89, these works inspired (and continue to inspire) a plethora of commentary, and have become modern classics.

Find the full list of films and times here. The theater is at 32 Second Ave. at Second Street. 

Child also shared a few photos with us... including this scene on Third Avenue from "Game" (1972) ...

... and Child filming on Avenue A at Third Street in the early 1990s for "B/Side" (1996) ...

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

A spring-time view of the Hare Krishna tree in the center of Tompkins Square Park...