The 'Snappy' new show at O'Flaherty's

Photos by Stacie Joy

The latest exhibit is up and running at O'Flaherty's, the gallery-performance space at 44 Avenue A and Third Street. 

EVG's Stacie Joy stopped by the opening last weekend for Christian Ludwig Attersee's "Snappy Armpits and More." The show features work from the Austrian artist dating to 1965, many pieces never shown before in the United States. (The artist was also present for the opening.)

First up, O'Flaherty's gallerist Billy Grant and owner Jamian Juliano-Villani ...

The exhibit will be here through Jan. 15. Hours Wednesday-Sunday from 2-7 p.m.

Rockwood Music Hall 'getting back to basics,' closing its Stage 2 space

The financially troubled Rockwood Music Hall announced that the venue at 196 Allen St. is "getting back to basics" and closing its Stage 2 space in the complex between Houston and Stanton.

Here's part of the announcement from Wednesday: 

After careful consideration, we've come to the realization that the best way to secure Rockwood's future is by getting back to basics. That means focusing on the heart and soul of our venue, which is the original room: Stage 1, and relinquishing Stage 2. 

Stage 1 is where it all started 19 years ago, it's where Rockwood's reputation was built and what allows us to pursue our mission of creating a community that supports emerging artists. We will be sending off Stage 2 with three nights of The Lone Bellow from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. The Lone Bellow got their start at Rockwood and are celebrating their 10th anniversary ... 

We offer a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported the campaign to save this NYC cultural institution. Because of you, Rockwood can continue to provide a space in NYC where artists launch & grow their careers and where unforgettable musical moments are made.

Stage 2 opened in 2010 and was the larger space with a 175-person capacity. (Stage 1 holds 50 people.)

In June, the indie venue launched a GoFundMe (which raised $124,670) to help stay open after financial difficulties during the pandemic. Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles also launched a #PreserveRockwood benefit concert series.

According to reports, the club closed two other venues in the Rockwood Music Hall complex, Stage 3, and its bar space earlier this year. 

Signage alert: Hen House on 1st Avenue

Photo by William Klayer

Signage for Hen House NYC went up on Wednesday here at 120 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Owner-chef Antony Nassif's quick-serve spot has been in soft-open mode serving Lebanese shawarmas, pita sandwiches and platters (menu here).

Nassif launched the business at Smorgasburg and also has a stand at the Barclays Center for the first half of the Nets season. 

If you're on Instagram, you can follow Hen House here.

The retail space at 120 was previously Raíz Modern Mexican, the plant-based, fast-casual restaurant that closed over the summer. 

Scaffolding and sidewalk bridges coming and going along Avenue A

Because many people have pointed this out... on Tuesday, workers removed the scaffolding and sidewalk bridge from around the building on the SW corner of Avenue A and Seventh Street.

... and on the corner building at Second Street and Avenue A... where there are now floating tags on that south-facing wall where the scaffolding was ...

Workers had been doing roofing and façade-repair work for the past five months. 

The Petopia on the corner remains closed for emergency repairs (courtesy of the construction). 

While the sidewalk bridge is gone from the corner... workers have been extending it along Avenue A outside the city-owned First Houses between Second Street and Third Street.

Brick by brick: Historic steeple removed from the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church

A photo from yesterday morning shows that workers have whittled down the steeple at the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church façade on Second Avenue at Seventh Street. (Thank you to everyone who shared photos — there seems to be a lot of interest in this.)

Demolition got underway on Monday... with attention focused on the steeple starting on Tuesday. 

The steeple housed the church's historic Liberty Bell, which was preserved and is temporarily at the New York Historical Society.

Work is expected to last up to three months here... with a new sanctuary rising again someday for Middle Collegiate.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Workers prepping to remove the remains of the fire-damaged façade at Middle Collegiate Church

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

A Thanksgiving Day message to stop throwing eggs on 9th Street

Photo by William Klayer 

Spotted on Ninth Street and First Avenue... 

Happy Thanksgiving

Are you throwing eggs at the people in the encampment, or do you know who is? Please ask them to stop. 

Likewise, whoever has been throwing eggs at buildings 400, 402, 404, 406... please stop.

Fall classics

Scenes of fall from around the neighborhood over the past six weeks.. starting and ending in Tompkins Square Park...

Thursday's opening shot

Photo by Stacie Joy

Happy Thanksgiving from Key Food... where Green Pigeon Peas are aplenty... (BTW: Should you need anything, the grocer on Avenue A and Fourth is open 24/7 per usual)...

Wedneday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Chair art on the NE corner of Avenue A and Fifth Street...

EVG Etc.: Veselka continues its support of Ukraine; CBGB memories 50 years later

Reader-submitted EV skyline pic

• Perspectives on NYC's budget crisis (The City) 

• Veselka has raised more than $400,000 to support humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine ... and has employed former Ukraine residents who came to the U.S. (NY1) 

• Teen arrested in fatal stabbing of an unhoused man in Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side (Daily News ... ABC-7) 

• A look at the Fair Housing Framework, the affordable housing legislation passed earlier this month by City Council (City Limits) 

• Support for Mayor Adams is sinking amid federal investigation, poll shows (Gothamist) 

• If you want to speak out against having a 32-foot 5G tower on Seventh Street and Avenue B (Village Preservation) 

• Kushner Companies sold a multifamily property at 504-508 E. 12th St. for $19.5 million. An entity controlled by Sabet Group bought the 50-unit property (The Real Deal) 

• This Broadway building owner takes retail landlord to court ... 1 Great Jones Alley located on Broadway near Fourth Street (Habitat) 

• A look at the slate of films featured in the month-long World Cinema Project courtesy of Martin Scorsese and others! (Anthology Film Archives) 

• A new exhibit at Brooklyn Museum, Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, includes REBEL FUX by longtime East Village resident Kate Huh (Official site) 

• A quick review of Kolachi on 1st Avenue (The Infatuation... previously on EVG) 

• Rice to Riches is opening on Ludlow and Rivington (Eater) 

• Ex-Rolling Stone Press director Jonathan Wells recalls his first visit to CBGB (Reader's Digest) 

• Street closures and info about the Thanksgiving Day Parade (NY1)

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

Happy holidays from our fire hydrant to yours...

Full sidewalk returns to Cooper Union's Foundation Building

Photo by Jacob Ford 

Workers this afternoon have removed the barricades from outside the NW corner of the Foundation Building on Cooper Square after three months of sidewalk/concrete repairs ... looks pretty smooth for skating!

[Updated] Steeple watch

Multiple readers shared this dramatic view this morning from atop the steeple at Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue at Seventh Street...

... the top three were from an anonymous reader... the next two are via Cecil Scheib...

... and by Jason Trucco...

Yesterday marked the first day of demolition at the fire-damage façade. 

As Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church, previously told us, this is a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers will be sifting through the remains of the building, initially completed in 1892, to save any of the limestone and ironwork for use in the new sanctuary that will eventually rise on the property. 

The façade’s arch will reportedly remain untouched. 

The six-alarm fire that started in the empty apartment building next door early on Dec. 5, 2020, destroyed many of the church's historic elements, such as the Tiffany-stained glass windows. (The church's Liberty Bell was preserved and is temporarily at the New York Historical Society.)

Demolition work is expected to last two-to-three months.

Updated: 

And a look by the end of the day... via Jacob Ford...

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Workers prepping to remove the remains of the fire-damaged façade at Middle Collegiate Church

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

Openings: Potenza Centrale on Avenue B

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Luigi Iasilli debuted Potenza Centrale, his pizza-focaccia takeout spot, last Tuesday at 38 Avenue B near Third Street (arrival first reported here). 

This is despite the fact Con Ed had to shut off gas to the building earlier this fall. Luigi says it will probably be months (lousy news for neighbor Asian Taste) before it's restored.

He explains that he's waiting on Con Ed and the fire department to sign off on the work so gas can be restored. In the interim, he's using electricity to cook.

Menu items include the unusual purple potato focaccia...

Coming soon: an eggplant parm dish and fresh pasta to make at home. 

Also, I have it on good authority that if you ask Luigi, he will sell you some of his famed, highly hydrated, and fermented dough so you can try your hand at pizza at home. 

Fresh mozzarella made in-house and housemade sauce are also available. 

Luigi was the owner of the well-liked Max restaurant, which closed 10 years ago at 51 Avenue B,

Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, with a 1 a.m. close Friday and Saturday.

You can follow them on Instagram here.

Sharaku Japanese Restaurant emerges from plywood frozen in 2020 time

We continue to be curious about what's next for the empty storefronts at 8-14 Stuyvesant St. Workers have been renovating the spaces on this strip between Ninth Street and Third Avenue.

Now, the plywood is off the space at 14 Stuyvesant, and it almost looks as if the previous tenant, Sharaku Japanese Restaurant, was still here...as they were from 1984 to the early days of the pandemic in 2020...

As previously reported, Village Yokocho, Angel's Share and Panya closed in the other spaces in April 2022. Sunrise Mart also shut down in a separate building next door on the second floor.

This post has more background. 

Demolition underway on the fire-damaged Middle Church façade

The top 3 photos by Jacob Ford; the rest via Derek Berg 

Workers today began to remove the remains of Middle Collegiate Church's fire-damaged façade at 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... the first day of what is expected to be a two-to-three-month job...

This afternoon, around 3:30, church leaders and members of the Middle community gathered to mourn the sanctuary that they called home.

"This is a really important day," said the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (above and below in the red hat), the church's senior minister. "The beginning of something new but the end of something old."

As previously reported, church leaders said they must remove what remains on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by the church, the culmination of an 18-month review, there was too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property. 

The church structure was destroyed during a six-alarm fire early morning on Dec. 5, 2020. The fire reportedly started inside 48 E. Seventh St., the five-story residential building that once stood on this corner. FDNY officials blamed faulty wiring at the under-renovation No. 48 and said the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious." 

By December 2024, officials hope to create a new worshiping space for up to 225 people in a two-story structure adjacent to the church and their property at 50 E. Seventh St.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Workers prepping to remove the remains of the fire-damaged façade at Middle Collegiate Church

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished