Spicy Moon preps new Bowery space with some hot pink

The owners of Spicy Moon, the vegan Szechuan restaurant with outposts in both the East Village and West Village, are opening a new space at 265-267 Bowery just south of Houston. (The owners also operate the three locations of Han Dynasty.) 

In February, they received approval from Community Board 3 for a liquor license for the ambitious-sounding new project. The owners plan to use the brewing equipment left behind by the former two tenants — Belse (closed in late 2022) and Paulaner (closed in early 2018). 

According to their application (PDF here), this Spicy Moon will feature 41 tables with 170 seats and a 16-seat bar. They are also planning on a breakfast service (no alcohol served for the morning hours). 

No word yet on an opening date... the interior is shaping up rather quickly, though. The exterior is also changing as workers painted the storefront pink as a base this past week ahead of any Spicy Moon signage. 

City issues curbside dining structure removal to Theatre 80 2 days after its owners were forced from the property

Photos by Stacie Joy 

On Friday, the Department of Transportation issued a "Termination" notice for the curbside dining structure outside Theatre 80/William Barnacle Tavern on St. Mark's Place — just two days after a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee locked the longtime owners out of the premises. 

The flyer states that this is the third Notice to Correct. The owners have 48 hours to remove the structure and the tables and chairs, or the city will do it and charge the business...

Several readers-residents shared the above notice, pointing out that it seemed cruel to issue this two days after the court-sanctioned removal of owners Lorcan and Genie Otway. It also showed a remarkable steely precision by the DOT, not known for staying on top of the multiple unused or abandoned streeteries around the neighborhood.

As previously reported, the Otways have been battling in recent years to save the space, which houses Theatre 80, a 199-seat theater, the William Barnacle Tavern and the Museum of the American Gangster.

The two-building property is set to be sold off to satisfy a $12 million loan that is in default via Maverick Real Estate Partners. As The Real Deal reported: "New York-based Maverick, led by David Aviram, has a reputation for aggressively buying up the troubled debt of real estate landlords — big and small — before raising interest rates to as high as 24%," which happened here.

The Otways have a three-week window to raise the rest of the money owed (some $6 million) ... and hope for an angel investor. 

New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs has also reportedly supported the theater's survival efforts. The office has already expedited granting a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status to Historic 80 Saint Marks Inc., opening them up to various grants.

More than 7,000 people have signed a petition to save the historical space between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Updated: There is a GoFundMe here.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from Tompkins Square Park at 7th and A...) 

• RIP Leonard Abrams (Tuesday) 

• A look at Theatre 80 last night before marshals seize the historic East Village venue (Wednesday) ... Theatre 80 is closed up for now (Thursday) 

• A visit with Chris Santana, the bookseller of Astor Place (Friday) 

• 'Around the Corner' with Bill Rice at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects (Thursday) 

• Food City coming to Avenue D (Tuesday) 

• This is the new projected opening date for Panda Express (Wednesday) 

• A sidewalk bridge for the vacant storefronts along Stuyvesant Street (Thursday) 

• Paper trail: Yaeji at Astor Place (Wednesday) 

• A new corner of the 'Star Wars' galaxy (Tuesday) 

• Funzi's Pizzeria next for 36 St. Mark's Place (Thursday) 

• ICYMI: Superiority Burger debuts in new East Village home (Monday) 

• Memphis Seoul unveils signage, storefront (Wednesday) 

• Report: Jimmy McMillan is back in his East Village apartment (Friday) 

• Captain Cookie takes a break on Astor Place (Tuesday) 

• About 325 E. 14th St., now on the sales market (Thursday)

• On Avenue A, Two Hands turns over to Korean Street Foods (Monday) 

... and a Holy Week discard on 13th Street at Second Avenue (thanks, Uncle Pete!) ...

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

St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery highlights gun violence this Holy Week

Once again this Holy Week, St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery installed an Anti-Gun Violence Memorial in the East Yard here along Second Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street. 

An EVG reader shared these photos from this past week.

Per the signage: 

Our commemoration this year is represented by the deaths of Women of Color who encountered violent and fateful interactions with law enforcement, and gun violence in general...

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

Today in Tompkins Square Park...

Good Friday at St. Brigid-St. Emeric

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Parishioners from St. Brigid-St. Emeric on Avenue B observed Good Friday yesterday with a Stations of the Cross processional that started outside the church...

... and the Way of the Cross procession continued on Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...

... the procession continued along Avenue C and then on Seventh Street...

... before a return inside St. Brigid-St. Emeric...

The many lives of 64 E. 7th St.

The Greek Revival brownstone — now a single-family residence — at 64 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue has long captured the attention of David Hajdu, a cultural historian, critic and educator (and the staff music critic for The Nation). 

He wrote about the circa-1840 building in a widely-shared piece in the Times. There's now a separate article about No. 64 at Places, the journal of public scholarship on the built environment. 

Hajdu writes: 

From the first wave of immigration from Europe to lower Manhattan, through the rise of the Beats and avant-garde performance art in the mid-20th century, to the gentrification of recent years, the same building on East 7th Street has encapsulated one era after another after another. 

Past occupants of 64 E. Seventh St. include: 

• The parsonage for St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church

• The newspaper Russky Golos ("Russian Voice") 

• The Les Deux Megots coffeehouse, whose readings featured Allen Ginsberg, Paul Blackburn and Carol Berge 

• The Paradox, taking claim to be the world's first macrobiotic restaurant where both Yoko Ono and folksinger Loudon Wainwright III worked 

• Books 'N Things 

• Tokio 7 (moved across the street)

Both articles are related to the world premiere of The Parsonage, a recorded album about the history of 64 E. Seventh St. Hadju and a group of musicians will perform live on April 27 at the Museum of the City of New York. 

Per the MCNY site: 

The Parsonage, which takes from the worlds of jazz, classical, and "post-classical" music, makes its debut on April 7 from Sunnyside Records. The song cycle features libretto by cultural historian David Hajdu and music by eight composers: Darcy James Argue, Theo Bleckmann, Regina Carter, Ted Hearne, Kirk Nurock, Renee Rosnes, Sarah Kirkland Snider and Dan Tepfer.

Saturday's opening shot

Morning view along First Park on First Street...

Friday's parting shot

Thanks to Cecil Scheib for this sunset shot tonight...

The power of the dog

 

Last night, Australian sax/drums duo Party Dozen made their first (noisy!) NYC appearance... opening for Algiers at Racket. 

Looking forward to hearing more from them. 

The video here is for "Macca The Mutt," featuring Nick Cave. (Sadly, Nick was not at Racket last night!)

A visit with Chris Santana, the bookseller of Astor Place

Photos and text by Stacie Joy 

When we last checked in with Chris Santana, the bookseller of Astor Place had just released a rousing Christmas song. 

It's unseasonably cold out the next time we see him. 

"I set up the stand when it's 45 degrees or above and the wind isn't whipping," he says.

He has been at it now for two years at the start of this spring here on the corner of Third Avenue and Astor Place underneath the sidewalk bridge of Cooper Union's Foundation Building. 

"Cooper Union has been nice about it, and as you know, my First Amendment rights include selling literature or art without the need of a license," Santana says. "The hardest part of the whole gig is going all over the city digging for books, although there's a certain thrill involved. But the main thrill is making people happy when they get a book that we both think they'll really dig."

There's one constant at his stand. 

"I have an ongoing hand in the dissemination of The Urantia Book, and I’ve been at it for 40 years," he says. "It's a very challenging book, and it takes a degree of cool along with enthusiasm to introduce it. The last thing I want to do is come off as proselytizing when it comes to such an important book, and the bookstand has proven the best way I’ve found to introduce as casually as whoever is interested allows."

He also has a copy of his book, "The Drunken Tourist" ...

Santana has no set schedule for the corner nor a social media account with any updates.

Regardless, he's always a welcome presence. "See ya 'round campus," he says.

Report: Jimmy McMillan is back in his East Village apartment

Photo from February 2013 by James Maher 

Jimmy McMillan is reportedly back in his longtime East Village apartment.

The last time we heard about McMillan, the founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party who made a name for himself by running for a variety of offices, including NYC mayor and New York State governor, he was fighting to keep his apartment of 40 years on St. Mark's Place ... and all while recuperating from an apparent stroke at the Veterans Administration nursing home in Queens. 

Gothamist caught up with McMillan, known by his slogan: "The Rent Is Too Damn High." After years-long battles with his landlord, the two sides have apparently resolved the case.

McMillan now uses a wheelchair and walker as he rebuilds his balance and leg strength. He paces the living room of his garden apartment, back and forth from his couch to an exposed brick wall. He also walks along St. Mark's Place with the help of a home health aide who visits for a few hours each day.

And...

"I'm glad he's home,” said his niece Tennille McMillan, a designer who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where rents are spiking. "It's been interesting to see how he saw what was going to happen before it was happening. In 2010, people thought he was exaggerating, but now we're here.'

She said she hopes he continues to speak out, "but he has to pay his rent."

Read the full article here. 

Friday's opening shot

Photo by E. James Smith 

On Avenue A, Superiority Burger, which opened this past Saturday night as we first reported, is now hiring. Do you have what it takes???

Updated 

Closers ...

Theatre 80 is closed up for now

Photo by Stacie Joy

Yesterday saw Lorcan and Genie Otway, the longtime owners of 78-80 St. Mark's Place, ordered off the property here between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

As previously reported, the Otways have been battling in recent years to save the space, which houses Theatre 80, a 199-seat theater, the William Barnacle Tavern and the Museum of the American Gangster.

The two-building property is set to be sold off to satisfy a $12 million loan that is in default via Maverick Real Estate Partners. As The Real Deal reported: "New York-based Maverick, led by David Aviram, has a reputation for aggressively buying up the troubled debt of real estate landlords — big and small — before raising interest rates to as high as 24%." And per the Times: "The firm, according to court documents, has closed over 130 distressed debt transactions, with a total value of over $300 million." (Our previous post has more background.) 

Several readers said they expected a more dramatic show of force — tickets/seizure notices, court paperwork and padlocks. 

As EVG contributor Stacie Joy observed, a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee was on-hand with a man in plain clothes. The two changed the locks on the commercial spaces and the residential building at No. 78, where the Otways lived. They are no longer allowed to be on the premises, though the other tenants can continue living here.

Still, it wasn't any less traumatic for the Otways. Lorcan had lived here since age 9 when his father bought the buildings to create an Off-Broadway theater in 1964. They were seen leaving the premises with some belongings in a rental truck.

The Otways have a three-week window to raise the rest of the money owed (roughly $6 million) ... and hope for an angel investor. (Lorcan has also said the IRS was being surprisingly helpful.)

New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs has also reportedly supported the theater's survival efforts. The office has already expedited granting a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status to Historic 80 Saint Marks Inc., which will open them up to various grants.

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 people have signed a petition to save the space. Organizers have also asked supporters to contact Gov. Hochul to intervene.

Updated: There is a GoFundMe here.

A sidewalk bridge for the vacant storefronts along Stuyvesant Street

On Tuesday, the EVG inbox lit up as workers erected a sidewalk bridge along 29 Third Ave. (home of the Bean) and the empty storefronts at 8-14 Stuyvesant St. (H/T Steven for the first photos)...

Work permits at the DOB show a pending permit for "retail store white box interior renovation." (We have also not seen any for-lease signs here. Those may arrive after the renovations.) 

This is the first activity we've seen here since the previous tenants moved out last spring.

As previously noted, it was nearly a year ago that news first surfaced — via a tweet by Alex Vadukul, a correspondent for The New York Times — that Tony Yoshida's four businesses along Stuyvesant Street between Ninth Street and Third Avenue were expected to close. Village Yokocho, Angel's Share, Panya and Sunrise Mart were all gone by the end of April. 

Cooper Union, which leased the buildings from their owners and had subleased them to the Yoshida Restaurant Group for more than 25 years, said it was the tenants' decision to move on. (This post has more background. Yoshida had not paid rent since 2020.)

There haven't been any public statements on what the landlord, believed to be 29 Third Ave Corporation c/o Casabella Holdings, LLC, has in store for the spaces. A Cooper Union rep told us previously that no new building is planned on this site. 

'Around the Corner' with Bill Rice at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects

Bill Rice (1931-2006) "was one of the central figures in the various bohemian enclaves that gathered and overlapped in the Lower East Side of the 1960s," per Brooklyn Rail. 

Rice lived on East Third Street for more than 50 years and opened a gallery there in the 1980s.

Starting this evening, you'll have the opportunity to see the work of the artist, actor, and scholar at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, 208 Forsyth St. between Houston and Stanton. 

Here's more about the exhibit, "Around the Corner" ... 

Bill's depiction of New York with his Proustian attention to detail creates a kind of visual mythology of the city. He gives equal attention to the bodies and lives of men he loved as to the landscape of taxis, automobiles and storefronts which inhabit his paintings, drawings and notes, interacting with the city through a distinctly erotic gaze. In centering the tangible and the visual Rice creates an ode to the city like a more "out" version of Whitman, using his memory and experience to construct a narrative of his surroundings.

I am interested in what happens around the corner of the surface. My paintings are not designed to be viewed only from the front. The edges are important, I like the feel of paint and canvas and paper. Ideally, I would like to invest the rectangle — the basic unit in any cityscape — with the sensuality, color, texture I find in the streets. — Bill Rice 

The opening reception tonight is from 6-8. The show runs through May 13. Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, noon-6 p.m. or by appointment

Funzi's Pizzeria next for 36 St. Mark's Place

Signage is up at 36 St. Mark's Place for the next quick-serve tenant — Funzi's Pizzeria.

We need to find out who the operators are...  as well as the opening date. The signage simply states, "Funzi Hath Arrived."

This was a quick turnover at the address between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Oh K-Dog & Egg Toast just closed here at the end of February.

Funzi's marks the seventh food concept at No. 36 — Oh K-Dog & Egg Toast, Joe's Steam Rice Roll, Cheers Cut, Friterie Belgian Fries, Fasta and the $1.50 branch of 2 Bros. Pizza — since 2015. 

About 325 E. 14th St., now on the sales market

Photo by Steven

The four-floor building at 325 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue is now for sale with a $5.5 million ask. 

According to the Post, which first reported on the sale, the mixed-use property includes four free-market apartments and one retail space, most recently the Crocodile Lounge, which didn't reopen after March 2020. "The entire retail footprint, including the basement, will be delivered vacant." 

And air rights are available too. 

Owner Marie Perugini reportedly inherited No. 325 from her grandfather, who purchased it in 1932. 

Dayton in Manhattan has an extensive history of the building, such as the decades when it operated as a "theatrical boarding house." 

Two boarders who were most definitely not involved in the theater arrived on April 3, 1902. Signing in as Mr. and Mrs. Harry Place, the couple were, in reality, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, known to authorities as the outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch," Sundance Kid, and his wife, Etta Place.

Perugini, the current owner, told this to the Post:

"An expansive character-laden empty space houses echoes of history, romance, and former intrigue. Perhaps you can sense the presence of those who haven’t quite left. The purchase of this unique property is the foundation for a future that is alive & bright."

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Photo ops outside 50 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street ... previously

Paper trail: Yaeji at Astor Place

Photos by Stacie Joy 

In case you were wondering about the line at the Astor Place newsstand outside the downtown 6 on Sunday afternoon (are people reading newspapers again?) ...

Turns out that Yaeji, the Brooklyn-based singer-DJ-producer, was using the space to offer up the first vinyl (and CD) copies of her latest release, With A Hammer ... 

A newsstand made sense, as she was giving out some zines too ...