Tenants crowdfund to aid East Village super critically injured in high-speed car collision

Past and present tenants of 305 E. 11th St. and 310 E. 12th St., adjacent multifamily residential buildings between First Avenue and Second Avenue, have come together to help their longtime super who was severely injured after being struck by a speeding car while visiting his native Albania.

According to a GoFundMe campaign, Haxhi Haxhaj, a super here for 30-plus years, was on his annual trip home last month when he was hit while crossing the street near the family house in Kosovo.

Per the campaign:

He ...  is currently in a medically induced coma, facing a long and difficult road to recovery. His wife, Sadete; children Gentiana and Elbasan (who grew up in our building); daughter-in-law and granddaughters are now with him. 

Haxhi is no ordinary super. Available night and day, he keeps our building spotless and can be seen every morning sprucing up our 12th Street sidewalk and beloved tenants' garden. 

A doting husband, father and, most recently, grandfather, nothing makes him happier than sharing a recent photo and story of his granddaughters. Please help us support this hard-working and devoted man with his extensive medical needs and his family with travel and living expenses abroad. 

According to organizers, he was taken by a medivac flight to a hospital in Istanbul, where he remains in a coma.

You can find the crowdfunding campaign at this link.

Here's the next business for the former Grassroots Tavern space on St. Mark's Place

There's finally a new tenant for the long-empty retail space at 20 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

A worker on the scene told EVG contributor Derek Berg that this lower-level storefront — the longtime home of the Grassroots Tavern — is becoming a doggy daycare center.

And that's all we have at the moment.

At least five brokers have tried to lease the space since the Grassroots Tavern closed here after New Year's Eve 2017 after 42 years (upstairs tenant Sounds shuttered in 2015).

At least two potential tenants have kicked No. 20's tires (including this pub concept that signed a lease), but nothing has materialized since January 2018.

As noted, No. 20, the Daniel LeRoy House, was built in 1832. It received landmark status in 1971 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Past lives of this subterranean space — info via Daytonian in Manhattan — include a theater saloon called Paul Falk's Tivoli Garden in the 1870s... in the 1930s, the Hungarian Cafe and Restaurant resided here before becoming a temperance saloon called the Growler.

In case you felt like seeing this exhibit featuring a classic Lower East Side bagel shop

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Starting today, you can check out the latest immersive art show from U.K.-based artist Lucy Sparrow — a bagel shop where everything is hand-sewn out of felt. 

CLLCTV NYC on Third Street at Avenue B is home this month to Feltz Bagels, described as "an artistic homage to the city's legendary culinary delicacy and the neighborhood bagel joints of the Lower East Side." 

Here's a look at the exhibit, which debuted in August at TW Fine Art in Montauk. (You can read more about Sparrow in this WWD piece.)

Visitors can purchase the felt creations, including hand-sewn bagels in all varieties...

CLLCTV is at 209 E. Third St., just east of Avenue B. The space is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Oct. 31. 

P.S. 

Be sure to check out the backroom... decked out as a corner deli-smoke shop-liquor store...

... even with some felt contraband...

The saga continues...

Photo today in Tompkins Square Park by Steven ... (see this post for the background).

Why the benches were removed from across the street from the 9th Precinct

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Last Thursday, citing safety and quality-of-life issues, including an increase in unhoused residents, the 9th Precinct removed the park benches from across the station house on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Sources from the Precinct told us that they've fielded complaints and witnessed activities including drinking, drug use and sex work. (Sources said the benches were also serving as makeshift toilets.) All this despite the presence of dozens of NYPD vehicles parked in the vicinity.

The NYPD asked people to unlock their bikes from the benches and fence as well... the posted flyers describe this operation as a "cleanup."

The incidents occurred outside the playground for PS 751 Manhattan School for Career Development on Fourth Street. The benches are the school's property, and officials there were said to be in agreement with their removal.

Benny (below), a resident who lives in a building on Fifth Street adjacent to the benches, approved of the removal, stating that he has seen the drug activity here. Benny has two kids and said he's "scared to walk by sometimes."

Precinct sources said they'd consider introducing a limited number of chairs and tables here at some point in the future... though it remains to be seen where the funding for such additions might come from...

Tenants and businesses are now without gas at 199 E. 3rd St.

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

On Thursday, Con Ed inspected 199 E. Third St., the building on the NW corner at Avenue B.

The posted notice states that workers found multiple leaks and shut off the gas to the entire building. 

Unfortunately, as we've seen, these situations take a while to resolve. So, for now, residential tenants of this Steve Croman-owned building will need to use hot plates to cook and get used to cold showers.

Meanwhile, Asian Taste on the corner will be closed for the foreseeable future...

Sadly, this also means that Luigi Iasilli will experience a delay in launching his new project, Potenza Centrale, in the same building.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• The owner of Max restaurant is returning to Avenue B with a new pizzeria 

Retail spaces at the historic 4 St. Mark's Place are now for rent

Both retail spaces at 4 St. Mark's Place near Third Avenue are now available. 

According to the listing at Meridian Captial Group, the upper and lower spaces (each at 2,500 square feet) can be leased separately. 

And the asking rent for each storefront directly across St. Mark's from the new 9-story office building:

• Upper-Level Monthly Rent — $29,000

• Lower-Level Monthly Rent — $26,000 

All uses considered!

The upper level has been vacant... as we can recall, Chi Snack Shop and the Imogene boutique were the last tenants circa 2019. Wanyoo, Asia’s largest gaming café chain, was in the lower level for a minute but never reopened after the pandemic's start in March 2020. A bar-cafe called Lava Ground was the last leaseholder, a business that seemed to be open every few weeks.

Until February 2016, 4 St. Mark's Place housed Trash & Vaudeville for 41 years. The store relocated to 96 E. Seventh St. in 2016.

The Hamilton-Holly House (aka 4 St. Mark's Place), built in 1831, was once owned by Alexander Hamilton’s son. The building, which changed hands for $10 million in the spring of 2016 for $10 million, also underwent a gut renovation and expansion.

House of Munchies debuts on 1st Avenue

The former smoke shop at 111 First Ave. south of Seventh Street recently transformed into House of Munchies, a "420 friendly" establishment offering a variety of accessories and snacks ... similar to the ones offered at other smoke shops, including the one a storefront away on the corner. 

No. 111 was previously Village Smoke & Vape, and before that, 111 Convenience Store ... until late 2012, it was 111 Convenience Store, which sold newspapers and postcards out front... with a variety of Polish-language periodicals.

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

Prepping Search & Destroy on St. Mark's Place for Halloween today...

So that tire clamp on Avenue A got the boot

A lot of people noted the lone tire sitting on the sidewalk on Avenue A and 10th Street this past Thursday... with the boot still attached to the wheel. 

We don't know what happened to the vehicle...or the tire... however, EVG reader DP did spot the tie-locking clamp... which someone tossed into Tompkins Square Park...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with an Avenue A building view)... 

• The 12th annual Harvest Arts Festival is underway (Thursday) 

• A farewell to Big Lee and the Hard Swallow (Thursday) 

• Cheers to The Whiskey Ward (Tuesday) 

• 2 men arrested for allegedly dealing drugs outside an NYPD block meeting (Friday)

• Police seeking help ID-ing 12 suspects in late-night robbery on Avenue C (Tuesday) 

• Scenes of standing water in Tompkins Square Park (Friday) 

• Lenny Kaye at the Tompkins Square Library branch (Saturday)

• Openings: Spice Brothers on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) ... Bar Miller on 6th Street (Wednesday)

• Trek cycles off the Bowery (Monday) 

• Signage alert: Kolachi at 130 1st Ave. (Monday) ... Conor's Goat on Avenue A (Monday) 

• Buffing out the Basquiat plaque on Great Jones (Wednesday)

• The Wegmans signage has arrived on Astor Place (Tuesday)

• Casa Bond next for 334 Bowery (Monday) 

• The fullest of full reveals at 699 E. 6th St. (Wednesday)

• Construction watch: 180 2nd Ave. (Tuesday) 

• A psychic for this block of 5th Street (Monday)

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There are a lot of free activities today in East Village community gardens

As a reminder (and now that the sun has returned), the 12th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival is underway, featuring free activities at dozens of East Village/LES community gardens.

Check the LUNGS website here for the day-by-day, garden-by-garden schedule. 

Meanwhile, the fall fundraiser for El Sol Brillante is TODAY (Sunday, Oct. 1) from "noon to moon" at the community garden on 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... and rescheduled from yesterday — same times for the live music...

Check this link for the activities in other community gardens.

About today's free concert — a Staten Island invasion! — in Tompkins Square Park

Six Staten Island-based bands are playing a free show this afternoon from 2-6 in Tompkins Square Park. 

Per the invite: 

This show was put together to try and bridge the gap between the forgotten borough of Staten Island and the rest of the boroughs in NYC. It seems that bands and fans will travel to Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and even Pennsylvania, but not to Staten Island for shows. 

Yeah, we know about the ridiculous toll, but there's also a FREE ferry that serves beer! To be honest, Staten Island does suck, but every borough has its areas that suck as well. But we have Mother Pugs Saloon, an awesome dive bar with an old-school vibe in an area that doesn't suck...

So I put together some bands to represent Staten Island and play a free show at Tompkins Square Park ... in hopes of bridging the gap and getting bands to possibly exchange shows with bands from other boroughs and for fans to see bands we have here.

Saturday's parting shot

"Sissy" (this one) as seen in Flloyd's current show, "Dicks and Divas," at Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. 

The exhibit is up through Oct. 22.

The gallery is open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

6 posts from September

A mini month in review... (and awaiting the unveiling of Beastie Boys Square on 9/9 via Stacie Joy) 

• Here's the first look at the new building slated for 50-64 Third Ave. (Sept. 15) 

• The former P.S. 64/Charas is now headed to a bankruptcy sale (Sept. 13) 

• At Fucking Awesome with Chloë Sevigny (Sept. 13) 

• Welcoming Beastie Boys Square to the Lower East Side (Sept. 11) 

• A memorial for Dennis Edge in Tompkins Square Park (Sept. 7) 

• Neighbors come together to create a streetscape on 9th Street (Sept. 3)

Lenny Kaye at the Tompkins Square Library branch

Photos and text by Robin McMillan 

On Thursday evening, Lenny Kaye, longtime guitarist with Patti Smith, sang his own song — "World Book Night" — to reopen the refurbished Tompkins Square Library branch, express his love for books, and promote his own new work—"Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll."

In each chapter, the 76-year-old musician covers the "moments" as a witness and an ardent researcher. For the record, those "transformative moments" are: Memphis '54, New Orleans '57, Philadelphia '59, Liverpool '62, San Francisco '67, Detroit '69, New York '75, London '77, Los Angeles '84/Norway '93 (yes, Norway — think black metal), and Seattle 1991. 

Kaye covered everything from his first performances with Smith — at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in 1971 — to listening to his friends play his favorite East Village clubs to his love for artistic change and progress.

This was the first in a series of East Village arts-scene evenings at the Tompkins Square Library, 331 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. Next up: Writer (and tour guide) Jesse Rifkin and jazz maestro Matthew Shipp will discuss "The East Village in Music and Words" on Oct. 26, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• The Tompkins Square Library branch reopens TODAY; a conversation with Lenny Kaye on deck

Lights, cameras, filming notices — action!

This is the first filming notice — before May, a ubiquitous part of the streetscape — that we recall seeing in months since the start of the strike this past summer. (Spotted on the Bowery bear Bleecker.) 

"The Dutchman" stars André Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz and Stephen McKinley Henderson ... in this psychological thriller based on the Obie Award-winning play by Amiri Baraka. 

Per Deadline, this film has previously received a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement. 

And some more background on the film via Deadline: 

Set on a New York subway, "The Dutchman" centers on an encounter between a well-to-do Black man and an enchanting white woman who match wits in a sexualized game of cat and mouse that leads to a violent conclusion. The searing confrontation amplifies the dimensions of racial conflict in America in this adaptation of the stage show first presented at the Cherry Lane Theatre ... in March 1964, which was later adapted into a critically acclaimed 1966 film starring Shirley Knight and Al Freeman Jr. 

Hollywood's writers strike ended on Tuesday after nearly five months. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists continues.

Noted

Photo by Stacie Joy

Fall arrived at Key Food on Avenue A this past week... just one sign of the Halloween season around the grocery.  (And why would someone with straw hair smoke a pipe?)

Saturday's opening shot

A grand entrance on 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

Scenes of standing water in Tompkins Square Park today

Top photo by Joe; all others by Steven 

There were plenty of reports showing flooding and damage throughout the city during today's storms... as remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia prompted flash flood warnings.

Central Park had nearly 6 inches of recorded rainfall, per media reports. Closer to home, there were many clips showing flooding along the FDR near the Williamsburg Bridge. 

We saw a lot of standing water in Tompkins Square Park, but thankfully no downed trees...

The area near the chess tables at the entrance to Seventh Street and Avenue A seemed to have the most flooding...

Whether by roads or public transportation, getting around today was a maddening experience. As Gothamist reported earlier: "Commuters and critics alike said their experiences reflected poor planning by city and state officials and severe lack of communication in the face of a cascading situation."