On St. Mark's Place, Funzi's Pizzeria is a throwback modeled after grandmother's house

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Funzi's Pizzeria, now in soft-open mode at 36 St. Mark's Place, aspires to be an East Village throwback here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Hospitality vet Kevin Cox is behind the venture, which he calls "a passion project."

You've likely seen him hanging out in a lawn chair on the Funzi's patio in recent months...

Cox refers to this outdoor space as St. Mark's TV, "where you can watch real New Yorkers of all shapes, sizes, ages, fashions, etc. And there are no commercials. All while eating fantastic pizza."

Funzi's is named after Cox's youngest of three sons... seen here during a recent visit...

Cox calls the place "an ode to the East Village in the 1970s and 1980s," the design is inspired by everything he loves, especially a family member. "This is my grandmother's house — I tried to rebuild it," he said.

Other Funzi inspirations include artists, thrifting, weird inside jokes, and fine attention to detail. 

That detail is evidenced in the signage, hand-painted by artist Joe Lotto, the custom woodwork and stucco by Giovanni Martini, and chain-stitched uniforms by Jose Ballena.

Cox boasted that the Funzi's team "has arguably the best culinary prowess of any NYC pizzeria." Head chef James Jaworski previously worked at Nolita hotspot Pasquale Jones, then Brooklyn-based L'Industrie and Baby Luc's. He is joined by Chefs Aminu Tedla and Alberto Estévez — also vets from Pasquale Jones. 

"We are all happy that we were able to get the band back together to launch Funzi's," Cox said.

Cox hired some of his front-of-house after meeting them on the Funzi's patio... a few days after they purportedly crashed the Met Gala...

As for the pizza, the soft opening best-seller has been the burrata tomato/Rosso pie, with a crisp thin crust, herbaceous sauce, and "no slice flop."

Also available is a chicory pie with dandelion greens, cream, housemade pesto, and bacon lardons with a lemon squeeze finish. Cox and Jaworski refer to this as a green pie.

There is a vegan pie available, but no gluten-free options just yet.

For dessert, there's an ice box cake, whose flavors include a housemade lemon curd with coconut whipped cream and crushed wafers and a banana pudding flavor with a crème anglaise. 

During this soft opening, hours are in-flux... usually opening at 5 p.m., earlier on weekends...

If you're on Instagram, you can find Funzi's here.

Ink on A can use some help

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Updated July 11. The shop has closed.

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On a recent weekday afternoon in June, Ink on A is its usual bustling self. 

People are coming into the newsstand to buy newspapers, cigarettes, a cup of coffee, or a can of soda — or maybe one of the more oddball market items for sale (a tin of Port Royal sardines, anyone?) here in the pleasantly cluttered space on Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. There is also the usual assortment of characters inside or out, offering pointed opinions on various topics of the day.

As always, owner Ben "Benny" Dahud presides over the quintessential East Village shop from his perch at the counter...

In recent months, the future of this 33-year-old business has come into question. 

A private equity firm bought this block-long residential building and strip of retail last September for a reported $64 million. On the way out last fall, the building's previous landlord, who had run the place since the 1980s, informed Benny that he owed three years of real estate taxes, about $20,000. 

The new landlord, reportedly Derby Copeland Capital, through the entity Derby Alphabet Blues 5872, LLC, later took Benny to court. 

"And they didn't cash three of my rent checks," Benny said. "They disputed the checks — one was undated, one was incorrect, and whatever. They won in court. They won the judgment in a lump sum — three months' rent plus the real estate taxes. So more than $50,000 I owed right away. I didn't have a lawyer, so I signed the stipulation, a legal agreement. I paid 80% but hadn't paid the last 20%, and they took me back to court." 

The court again ruled in their favor, and Benny received a Marshal's notice earlier in the month. In addition, Benny said the agreement included a statement claiming that he watched someone urinating in the doorway to the building's Avenue A entrance and smiled — as if he approved of the action. 

"I didn’t do that," Benny said. "I come every day and clean the front."

Ink has another 18 months left on the lease, and Benny wants to stay. 

'I have no plans to move. I have been here 30 years," he said. "I don't want to go anywhere else."

He could use legal counsel and the negotiating skills of a nonprofit or advocacy group for small businesses ... or the diplomacy of a local elected official interested in keeping a longtime business in the neighborhood.

"I am hoping to get some help," he said. 

Meanwhile, Benny pointed out that the shop's extensive assortment of magazines — from high-end fashion pubs to supermarket-friendly tabloids — remain his best sellers. (Designers are said to particularly appreciate his harder-to-find titles.)

And don't sleep on the inexpensive self-serve coffee...

Beverages, beer included, and tobacco products are also popular items. During the pandemic, Ink added an assortment of household supplies and expanded its snacks offerings...

Ink is open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a midnight close on weekends. 

Stop by and say hi to Benny — he will appreciate the support...

[Updated] At 2nd and 2nd, activity in the lot that will yield an 11-story building

Updated 6/27

A Gemini Rosemont Development spokesperson confirmed what a commenter said. This project is on hold. Specifically: "The project is frozen and we are currently evaluating options for the site."

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There has been some activity in the empty lot on the east side of Second Avenue between Second Street and Third Street. 

In recent weeks, workers removed the wheatpaste-ad-filled plywood fencing and put in a chainlink fence. On separate occasions, we spotted two workers... once they picked up random bricks and stones and placed them in a dumpster... and then, days later, collected trash...

As previously reported (first here), there are approved work permits (as of last summer) for an 11-floor mixed-use building on the site of a former three-building parcel.

Gemini Rosemont Development is behind this 100,568-square-foot new building ... the development, using 42 E. Second St. for its address, will feature 88 residential units and 9,600 square feet for retail.

In 2020, Gemini Rosemont bought the former La Salle annex at 38 Second Ave. and Second Street. The $14.5 million purchase of the four-story building was the third of three contiguous plots they acquired. The Los Angeles-based commercial real-estate investment company closed on 42-44 Second Ave. and 46-48 Second Ave. (the former Church of the Nativity) in March 2020 for $40 million. 

As a reminder, here's the rendering for the development...

The incoming Shake Shack on the Lower East Side owes nearly $200k back rent: legal notice

From the outside, the new Shake Shack outpost looks ready to open on the SE corner of Rivington and Norfolk... the chain's first Lower East Side location of its burgers-and-fries operation.

News of this arrival dates to last July. (Signage arrived in November.) To date, this address has yet to appear on the Shake Shack website.

Meanwhile, multiple EVG readers pointed out the recent arrival of a legal notice on the front gate...

According to the 14-day notice, the landlord, ID'd here as 122 Norfolk Street, LLC, is seeking $194,974.79 "for rent for the Subject Premises."

The notice states that Shake Shack New York LLC has to pay the amount within 14 days from the date, listed here as June 13. (So that would make tomorrow, Tuesday, June 27, the deadline.) We reached out to the Shake Shack press department and will update this post if anyone responds.

This corner spot has sat empty since Schiller’s Liquor Bar closed after 14 years in 2017.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo of Ray at Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A by Roflo) 

 • Iconic gay dive bar the Boiler Room is closing later this year ahead of a move to a new East Village space (Tuesday) 

• About The Pastry Box, now open on 12th Street (Thursday)

• The Regal Union Square multiplex is not closing after all (Monday) 

• Openings: Caffe Corretto on 12th Street (Tuesday) 

• At the start of the 2023 Drag March in Tompkins Square Park (Saturday) 

• Someone placed an ad for AMC's 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' over the George Floyd mural on Houston and the Bowery (Monday)

• At MoRUS, a new exhibit explores the network of community fridges in NYC (Friday) 

• The arrival of the smart composting bins in the East Village (Thursday) 

• The Zine Fair has been rescheduled to July 8 (Friday) 

• Salter House bringing sustainable housewares and clothing to 2nd Street (Thursday) 

• Residents eager to track down the source of this 'loud mechanical sound' in the East Village (Saturday) 

• "Make Me Famous," a documentary on 1980s-era East Village-based painter Edward Brezinski, debuts  (Monday) 

• Watch Kim Petras (or her stand-in!) walk around the East Village in medieval-style armor (Wednesday) 

• A subway ride from Union Square to Coney Island on this day in 1987 (Tuesday) 

• Chrissy's Pizza taking over the former Superiority Burger space on 9th Street for its first pizzeria (Thursday) 

• Lower East Side venue Rockwood Music Hall crowdfunding to stay alive (Saturday) 

• The East Village Panda Express is hiring (Tuesday) 

• Reaching the top of the 21-story 360 Bowery project (Tuesday) 

• More unlicensed cannabis shops busted in the East Village (Thursday) 

• 1 St. Mark's Place looking a little close to beaming up (Wednesday)

• Closings: Sauced Up! on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• About the new tenant at 37 Avenue A (Wednesday)

• A Smoke House for Avenue A (Friday) 

• A transformation for the Ugly Duckling on 3rd Avenue and 13th Street (Tuesday) 

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

It takes 2

Photos by Steven 

Here are two of red-tailed hawk siblings at rest in Tompkins Square Park... enjoying the moment seemingly hiding amid the brush with parents Amelia and Christo keeping an eye from a distance ...

Hawkarazzi, busted...

Later, testing out the wings...

... and exploring...

Goggla has new photos of the three red-tailed hawk fledglings here.

At the start of the 2023 Drag March in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The 29th edition of the Drag March took place last night — a kick-off to NYC Pride Weekend. 

Once again, a fabulous group of generation-spanning participants gathered in Tompkins Square Park for the march across Ninth Street to Sheridan Square and the Stonewall Inn. 

As East Village-based writer Jeremiah Moss wrote on Instagram: "The Drag March remains wonderfully sweaty, scrappy, queer, vaguely '90s, and still very East Village."

Residents eager to track down the source of this 'loud mechanical sound' in the East Village

A longtime resident shares this... 

Early last week we noticed a loud mechanical sound coming somewhere from the rear of the strip of buildings on Avenue A between 10th and 11th, 10th Street between A and 1st and 11th Street between A and 1st. 

Unlike most commercial AC units that cycle on and off, this sound is incessant, and it sounds like a cross between an AC unit and a refrigerator. Occasionally there is a mechanical grinding noise as well. The noise doesn't stop, is loud, and is making it impossible for us to have our windows open and is making it difficult to sleep. 

Unfortunately, we do not have a solid idea where the noise is coming from so, we can’t contact the business or landlord responsible. If we knew where the noise was coming from, we have some ideas on how to address it.

If you are experiencing the same issue or know where the noise is coming from, please reach out to us at LongtimeLesRes@gmail.com. We can work together to hopefully get this resolved.

Lower East Side venue Rockwood Music Hall crowdfunding to stay alive

Rosewood Music Hall, 196 Allen St., between Houston and Stanton, is in danger of closing after 18 years of providing multiple stages for independent and emerging musicians. 

As Variety reported, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles launched a #PreserveRockwood benefit concert series that begins on Friday. 

The venue also announced a GoFundMe campaign yesterday to help stay in business. 

Per the appeal: 

Like many small, independent music venues across the country, Rockwood is struggling to stay open. Without the support of artists, the music community and fans of music, Rockwood is in danger of permanently closing, shutting off a vital place for independent and up-and-coming musicians to develop their artistry and give fans the opportunity to discover new music in a live setting. 

You can find the campaign here. Find details on the benefit shows at this link.

Saturday's opening shot

A reader report of a downed limb on 12th Street just east of Avenue A... and on a tree with a notice for a pesticide application in recent days...

Sweetness and 'Light'

East Village-based duo The Acute just released a new video (world premiere!) for their track "Light Change" from last year's EP, Alien Theatre. 

Read our Q&A with the band here.

Headline H/T

About 'Hey, Queer!,' the Dyke March after party at the Bowery Electric

"Hey, Queer!" takes place tomorrow (Saturday) at the Bowery Electric ... billed as "the only live RockNRoll NYC Dyke March Afterparty." 

A host of bands (including the Queers of Noise Supergroup doing your favorite covers) and DJs are on the bill. 

The event is from 7:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. Find ticket info at this link. The Bowery Electric is at 327 Bowery between Second Street and Third Street. 

This year, the 31st-annual NYC Dyke March steps off from Bryant Park at 5 p.m. tomorrow. Details here.

The Zine Fair has been rescheduled to July 8

The third-annual Zine Fair, organized by Printed Matter/St. Mark's and 8-Ball Community, has a new date — Saturday, July 8. 

Given the chance of rain tomorrow (June 24), the Zine Fair is moving from St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue to Performance Space 122 at 150 First Ave. and Ninth Street. 

Per the organizers: 

While we are disappointed that the Fair won't take place at its home on St Mark's Place, we cannot imagine a better alternative than Performance Space, a fellow arts nonprofit in the heart of the East Village. We are so grateful for their support and generosity in hosting the EVZF this year.

Printed Matter and 8-Ball Community will provide more specifics about what to expect on July 8 in the days ahead.