Saturday, September 2, 2023
Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill is now the East Village Mini Market
Photos by Steven
Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill abruptly closed this past week at 153 Avenue A near 10th Street... and just like that, the new business signage is up for the East Village Mini Market.
A tipster said the new owners took over and fired the previous staff. The incoming market, we're told, will focus more on smoking-related products... gone are the sandwiches and deli case from TFDG's days ...
There was a similar abrupt switcheroo here in early 2012 when the Avenue A Mini Market abruptly closed to make way for Tompkins Finest Deli.
Bong World is officially cashed on 14th Street
An eviction notice arrived on Wednesday...
... and the interior of the shop is in the process of being packed up...
... a few items remain, including a topless and armless female mannequin in an orange camouflage hat...
Bong World debuted here to some fanfare in March 2022.
Several readers have asked for recommendations for other local businesses that sell smoking accessories.
Unfortunately, we're unaware of any other place in the immediate area that sells, say, rolling papers/trays, dab rigs, bubblers, or exotic Cheetos snack collections sourced from China, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and India.
Saturday's opening shot
Not sure at the moment if this is an officially commissioned work (probably: updated confirmed YES) via Goldman Properties.
After the art kept getting bombed in the spring of 2022, Jessica Goldman Srebnick, co-chair of Goldman Properties and curator of this wall, put the space on hiatus. And the street took over in the interim.
Someone quickly tagged the collage of murals...
Friday, September 1, 2023
Let the 'Goodtime!' roll
After two buzzy records, the Nashville-based Be Your Own Pet called it quits in 2008.
Here then, 15 years later, the band is back with Mommy, which shows BYOP staying true to their garage punk roots.
The video here is for "Goodtime!"
The New Up & Up Laundromat has closed on Avenue A
Photos by Daniel Carlson
Multiple EVG readers have shared the news that the New Up & Up Laundromat at 13 Avenue A between Houston/First and Second Street has closed.
Starting yesterday, workers were spotted removing the equipment from the longtime business...
The space is for lease, though we haven't spotted any listing online just yet.
About the VIP portable toilet in Tompkins Square Park
Photos by Steven
Several readers have asked about the luxury portable trailer — VIP to Go! — that has been near the Seventh Street entrance between Avenue A and Avenue B this past week.
Perhaps the city found some extra budget $$$ and is treating us to some upscale facilities while the field house is closed for renovation?
Haha! No!
The facilities remain here after the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival on Sunday. These were brought in for the use of the musicians backstage.
But, they remain... and are unlocked... as an intrepid EVG correspondent discovered... 
By the way, this model is the two-station Rolls Royce restroom trailer. Per the description: "Impresses everyone who sees it with its clean, simple white exterior that opens to a beautiful, warm wood interior and all the luxuries of home."
Anyway, enjoy it while you can.
A new Indian restaurant for the former Little India on 6th Street
Photo by Goggla
A coming soon sign for a restaurant serving Indian cuisine has arrived outside 324 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue... and next door to the shuttered Raj Mahal.
And just last week, we noted that the block was down to one Indian restaurant, Malai Marke, when there were more than 25 at one point in its Little India heyday.
We don't know at the moment who's behind the new establishment.
Koo'k just closed at No. 324 after eight years in service.
Thursday, August 31, 2023
6 posts from August
• Asylum seekers are no longer staying at the former St. Brigid School in the East Village (Aug. 28)
• 9th Street parking garage being offered for redevelopment (Aug. 21)
• These 6 East Village buildings will be demolished for a new development on 3rd Avenue (Aug. 14)
• At the opening night of the O'Flaherty's Café (Aug. 12)
• These are longtime food writer Robert Sietsema's 10 favorite East Village meals (Aug. 10)
• RIP Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street (Aug. 3)
Miles away: the Moon and Saturn in Aquarius from Third Street
Aquarius is low in the sky, and the glare from the streetlights on East Third Street made it very difficult to make out Saturn, some 800 million miles distant. Thanks to everyone who stopped by...
The long-neglected 6 Avenue B is for sale
While the gut renovation of the 6-story building on the NW corner of Houston and B continues, a listing for the property is active.
Some details:
• Building is currently being gut renovated and is near completion.
• The building consists of 10 free market apartments ( 5 two bedrooms, 5 three bedrooms) & a ground floor retail space.
• Retail store is approximately 1500 sf with 14-foot ceiling heights.
No mention of a price.
An LLC linked to Penn Capital South, whose portfolio includes multiple EV properties, bought the building in February. According to public records, the building changed hands for just $1.05 million. However, the new owners also had to pay $4.2 million in real property transfer and real estate transfer taxes.
This was one of the abandoned buildings owned by the estate of the mysterious team of Arthur and Abraham Blasof, both long deceased. However, No. 6 has been generating some income with the cell-phone towers on the roof.
The liquor store in the retail space closed when the owner passed away in the fall of 2009 at age 89. (Chico created the tribute to her on the gate in February 2010.)
As we've pointed out (here and here), the building was in dismal shape and needed significant work to bring it up to code. Before the renovations, the DOB had cited No. 6 for emergency repairs several times in recent years.
Openings: Salter House on 2nd Street
Photos by Stacie Joy
Salter House, a shop offering sustainable housewares and clothing, opened an outpost earlier this month at 34 E. Second St., just west of Second Avenue.
Former East Village residents Sandeep Salter and her husband, Carson, opened the first Salter House in 2017 in Brooklyn Heights.
Here's more about the EV storefront via ArchDigest...
Dating back to the 1900s, the former tenement building has a series of past lives, from a headquarters for a revolutionary political group in the '70s to the Russian music bar previously known as Anyway Cafe."One of the things that we really loved when we cleaned up the space was this floor from when it had been a barber shop," says Sandeep. "It's lived so many lives, and when you spend time in here, you can feel that. It’s this charming cellar spot that’s been a storefront for 200 years and has seen so many things."During the demolition period, which took nearly three months to complete, they uncovered original cobalt and white metro hex tiles from the 1930s underneath low-quality layers of linoleum tile, glue, and cement. "Once we saw that, it changed our whole idea of what the space would look like, and we just went with that," Sandeep recalls.
And here's a look inside the 450-square-foot shop...
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 7 p.m.
Plywood report: The Commodore at 14 Avenue C
This past December, CB3 approved a full liquor license for the space (previously licensed) for the operators of the retro bar-fried chicken joint that opened on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg in 2010.
Eater reported a late fall opening here.
Recent tenants included Sanatorium, the hospital-themed cocktail lounge ... and the hookah lounge C Lounge.
Plywood report: El Pulpo at 51 Avenue B
The questionnaire (PDF here) on file at the CB3 website includes a menu, showing more high-end items (i.e., wagyu beef huarache and potato tetela with caviar) and a list of specialty cocktails.
It's hard to believe that the last tenant here, the Italian stalwart Max, closed 10 years ago.
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
A Fresh new look for CTown on Avenue C
And Jose Garcia provided an update on the supermarket that's getting a Fresh rebranding ...
So far, the renovations are contained to the outside. Perhaps an interior makeover is in the works too.
CTown shopper Edmund John Dunn reports "Under New Management — Much more selection at better pricing!" signage at the grocery.
After 2 bagel shops, Cuban cuisine is next for 238 E. 14th St.
Photo by Pinch
Signage is up now for Tina's Cuban Cuisine at 238 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
This will be the fourth NYC location for the quick-serve restaurant offering — as the name suggests! — authentic Cuban cuisine.
The arrival of Tina's marks the end of two consecutive bagel shops at the address.
Bagel Market opened in February before the gate stayed down three months later. In an Instagram message, the owners of the chainlet said there was a leak from the unit above the kitchen, "and it destroyed our oven." They were looking to reopen here.
The previous tenant didn't have much better luck here. The Bagel Boss chainlet opened a location in July 2021, and they closed several months later in October for, per management, "gas and electric problems" in the building. Bagel Boss never reopened here.
Hopefully, the building issues have been resolved for Tina's.
Dim sum joint looking closer to being a go (go) on 1st Avenue
The signage is lit up now... there are also hiring notices on the front window for part-time help...
As previously noted, this will be the second outpost of the Michelin- and Zagat-rated restaurant... after the flagship space at 5 E. Broadway in Chinatown that opened in 2000.
The soft opening is expected SOON.
7 floors of steel for 1 St. Mark's Place
The developer, Real Estate Equities Corp. (REEC), picked up the 99-year leasehold for the corner lot for nearly $150 million in November 2017. The previous assemblage, which included retail tenants such as Korilla BBQ, the Continental and McDonald's, was demolished in 2019.
Smoke shop comings and goings
The shop sells the usual — drinks, exotic snacks and smoking accessories. (No cannabis-related products.)
As far as we can recall, this storefront — directly next to the incoming 21-story office building — has been vacant for years. (Hecho en Dumbo was next door at No. 354.)
Meanwhile!
St. Marks Convenience & Smoke Shop at 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue has closed... for rent signs now hang on the storefront (thanks to Steven for the photo).
There are also new smoke shops on 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue and Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Among other things, the unlicensed shop sold cannabis-related items and had drawn the scrutiny of law enforcement officials... who busted the business multiple times.
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