From the EVG archives: Asylum seekers at the former St. Brigid School

Photo last week by Stacie Joy

Admittedly, the search function and various templates on the Blogger platform make finding EVG posts older than a few days a little cumbersome. So, from time to time this year, we'll highlight and link to articles surrounding a topic. 

Today, we're starting with the ongoing coverage of asylum seekers at the former St. Brigid School on Seventh Street at Avenue B. 

On May 30 (link here), we were the first media outlet in the city to cover the school's use as a respite center (and, as far as we know, the only outlet with photos from inside the facility).

Subsequent coverage includes (complete list here):

• EV Loves NYC looks for support and a partnership with the city to aid in feeding asylum seekers

• Distro disaster: City rejects warm homemade meals for hungry asylum seekers in the East Village, opts to serve moldy rolls 

• Missed meal deliveries and a need for basics: the developing situation at the East Village respite center for asylum seekers 

• At the former St. Brigid School, a generous outpouring of community support for asylum seekers 

• Despite the city's endless bureaucracy, East Village residents continue to aid asylum seekers at the former St. Brigid School 

• How these East Village volunteers finally made Wi-Fi a reality for asylum seekers 

Unfortunately, the situation here is only getting worse,  as more and more asylum seekers are reaching their 30-day limits at shelters across New York City, and they line up in the cold outside St. Brigid so they can be placed back into new shelters.

One way to help is to donate to East Village Loves NYC, the volunteer-run nonprofit that has helped feed people in need throughout the city since the early days of the pandemic. More details here.  

Peter Hujar will get his 'Day' in upcoming film

Ben Whishaw to star in Ira Sachs’ new biopic of photographer Peter Hujar https://t.co/yYANYWazrW pic.twitter.com/vkzsQ58dCB

— Dazed (@Dazed) January 11, 2024

A biopic of the late East Village-based artist-photographer Peter Hujar is in the works... Deadline first reported that Ben Whishaw has the lead in the film directed by director Ira Sachs (the two worked together in the 2023 release "Passages.")

Per Dazed: 

"Peter Hujar's Day" – which had apparently been scheduled to begin shooting in November 2023 but was delayed due to last year's strikes – will... be an "intimate" film about the renowned photographer. Hujar’s story promises to make a compelling film. He lived as he worked – unflinching, unsqueamish and uncompromising, equally drawn to the stark beauty of the human condition as he was to the danger of the abandoned West Side Hudson River piers (a notorious cruising location). 

Hujar lived and worked above the Louis N. Jaffe Art Theater (today, the Village East by Angelika) on Second Avenue at 12th Street. Read more about the space where Jackie Curtis and David Wojnarowicz lived before and after Hujar right here.

And you're interested in more on the subject... "Peter Hujar's Day" is also a book that contains a transcript of a conversation between Hujar and Linda Rosenkrantz. Per the description: Rosenkrantz asked Hujar to write down everything he did one day on Dec. 18, 1974. 

A highly recommended book.

 

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Saturday's parting shot

Midtown views from the East Village showing one of the 38 cloud formations today...

Protection for 2 young trees on 14th Street

Props to the East Village gardeners (from Down to Earth and El Sol Brillante on 12th Street) who today installed these tree guards around two unprotected young trees on 14th Street at Avenue A...

H/T Alexis Adler

Remembering when it snowed

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A few snow shots from the Instagram account @newyork1990s (thank you Gregoire Alessandrini!)... above on Houston at Avenue B... and below on Astor Place...

 

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Friday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

Hey, it's Christo... one of the resident red-tailed hawks on the hunt in Tompkins Square Park this afternoon...

'Temple' rocks

 

Great triple bill this evening at the Knitting Factory at Baker Falls on Avenue A... headliners the Veldt (who we've been listening to a lot lately) with openers Iceblynk from Queens and Dead Leaf Echo, an underrated group from Brooklyn. 

The video here is for Dead Leaf Echo's "Temple" from 2017.  

Noted

Photo by Charles Hutchinson

The Christmas tree body bag as seen on First Avenue near St. Mark's Place...

Classic East Village lunch counter B&H Dairy looking good with new awning, storefront and neon signage

The new awning arrived earlier this week at B&H Dairy, the circa-1938 lunch counter at 127 Second Ave. 

As previously reported, B&H received a storefront facelift between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place at the end of December, thanks to a Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the new doorway and front windows plans.) 

Also new: The B&H neon sign is hanging in the front window for the first time in three decades.

Now let's go get some blintzes...

Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

This evening in Tompkins Square Park ... where another strand of lights on the tree seemed to have gone out (since Dec. 26) ...

Wonder bringing its 'fast fine' delivery and food-hall concept to Stuyvesant Street

You know longer need to Wonder what's next for 8-14 Stuyvesant St.

Wonder Group, the food and restaurant company founded by e-commerce mogul Marc Lore, is bringing its new-era delivery and food-hall concept to the space.

A Wonder spokesperson confirmed that the brand plans to open in this location between Ninth Street and Third Avenue in the spring. According to @TradedNY, Wonder signed a 12-year lease for the 6,800-square-foot space going as 2 Stuyvesant St. 

Wonder currently operates 10 locations throughout New York City and New Jersey, offering pick-up, delivery, and dine-in (ordered via touch screens) from a collection of chefs that include Bobby Flay, Marc Murphy, Jose Andres, Nancy Silverton and Marcus Samuelsson ... and restaurants such as Tejas Barbeque, Di Fara Pizza and Barrio Cafe. 

At-home diners can choose their meals via a "super app." Per the Wonder rep: "All cooked made-to-order out of a single kitchen, with the ability to order from multiple restaurants in a single delivery order and delivered to customers in under 30 minutes." 

Wonder started its business delivering via trucks but later evolved to the food-hall concept housing multiple brands and food styles. Last fall, Wonder acquired meal-kit pioneer Blue Apron.

This lease ends the 18-plus months of speculation over what might be next for this high-profile stretch of retail.

Workers spent part of last year renovating the two-level property.

As previously reported, Village Yokocho, Angel's Share and Panya closed in these spaces in April 2022. Another restaurant, Sharaku, in the corner space at 14 Stuyvesant St., shuttered earlier in the pandemic. (Sunrise Mart in a separate building next door on the second floor also shut down.)

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.)

ICP teams up with the Nuyorican Poets Café for open mic series

Image by Gabrielle Ravet via ICP 

After celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Nuyorican Poets Café closed on Nov. 1 for a long-awaited $24 million, three-year renovation project on Third Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

As previously reported, the Nuyorican staff was planning on staging pop-ups and collaborating with other New York institutions during the renovation. 

Starting on Jan. 18, the International Center of Photography (ICP) is bringing the Café's iconic poetry events to its Essex Street space. 

Here's more about the Nuyorican Poets Café x ICP: 1,000 Words Open Mic Series via the EVG inbox... 

Visit on Jan. 18, March 7, and May 9 for a series of open-mics with a photographic twist and share your poetic take inspired by images and ICP exhibitions. 

The first Nuyorican Poets Café x ICP: 1,000 Words Open Mic Series installment will take place on Jan. 18 in ICP's cafe while the galleries are closed for installation. This event is free to attend, with registration in advance strongly encouraged (link here). 

How It Works 

• 6 p.m. — check in. The open mic list is open for all attendees, sign up onsite, first come, first served. Each performer is encouraged to provide one photograph to perform in front of — please have your image ready to share via email upon arrival. 

• 6:30 p.m. — performances begin. Each performer is allowed 3 minutes. 

• 8 p.m. — end of performances.

A look at Area 140 First on 1st Avenue

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Area 140 First has recently been in soft-open mode at 140 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. 

LES resident Michael "Durgy" Durgavich is behind the new bar. He served as a silent partner at the previous establishment here, the Hard Swallow, which closed in the fall after the sudden passing of co-owner Leroy "Big Lee" Lloyd, who was 51. Maria "Sasha" Lloyd, his wife and business partner, decided to move on from the bar business. 

With Area 140, Durgy has kept its predecessor's neighborhood bar vibe, saying, "We want a warm and welcoming atmosphere."

I recently stopped by the space, where I also met bartender Saragh Reilly...

Sam Diaz created these sci-fi murals in the back of the bar...

Area 140 First is open from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday through Friday, with a 1 p.m. start on Saturday and Sunday. 

You can find their website here.

Openings: Crazy Burger on Avenue C

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

A new quick-serve smash burger option has opened on Avenue C with the debut Monday of Crazy Burger.

Mustafa, the owner (below left), and Isaac were at the counter here at 193 Avenue C at 12th Street when I visited on Tuesday...

They report that the early bestsellers are the cheeseburger and the Crazy Impossible, which is not an Impossible Burger patty — instead, a smash burger with grilled onions and cheese, pickles and secret sauce, no bun, served with french fries. (See the menu at the end of the post.)

Everything is 100% Halal. And while there is nothing vegetarian on the menu, Mustafa says he plans to add an item soon. 

Here's a look at the space, which has several tables for dining.

... with murals by Juaname Yeen ...

Daily hours: Noon to midnight. You can keep tabs on Crazy Burger via Instagram.

As we recall, the space was last Sethi's Wholesale Paper Goods Corp.

Wednesday's parting ahot

Photo by Steven 

Workers today were removing some of the signage outside the Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place ... after the one-month run of Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Rachel Bloom's "Death, Let Me Do My Show." (The production ran from Dec. 7 to this past Saturday.)

No word on what might be next for the venue.

As noted... "Stomp" ended its 29-year run at the Orpheum early in January 2023. The first post-"Stomp" production, the burlesque "Star Wars" parody "The Empire Strips Back," closed back on July 20 — one month earlier than planned.

"Death" seemed like a throwback to the theater's days in the 1980s, when the Orpheum was well-known for Off-Broadway productions such as Sandra Bernhard's "Without You I'm Nothing," Eric Bogosian's "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll" and John Leguizamo's "Mambo Mouth" (not to mention "Little Shop of Horrors").  

RIP Vinie Burrows

Vinie Burrows, an acclaimed actress and activist who lived in the East Village in Village View along First Avenue, died on Dec. 25. She was 99. 

From her obituary:

Burrows began her Broadway career in the 1950s, starring alongside Ossie Davis in "The Wisteria Trees." She continued to perform on Broadway for several years, appearing in such shows as "The Green Pastures," "The Skin of Our Teeth," and "The Blacks." But Burrows became frustrated with the narrow range of roles available to Black women, and she left Broadway to pursue a solo career in one-woman shows. 

Burrows' one-woman Off-Broadway show, "Walk Together Children," was critically acclaimed and continued as an international tour after its initial run. She went on to perform other one-woman shows, including "Sister! Sister!" "Dark Fire" and “The Great White Way: The Story of Rose McClendon." 

In 2020, she was honored with an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. Burrows was also an activist who represented the Women's International Democratic Federation at the United Nations.  

As the Amsterdam News reported, Burrows "once noted that her greatest role in life was the one she performed for truth and justice." 

She has been the subject of several tributes in recent days...

Vinie Burrows, an actress who made her mark on Broadway in the 1950s but who grew frustrated by how few choice roles were available for Black women and turned her focus to one-woman shows exploring the legacies of racism and sexism, has died at 99. https://t.co/qakbhiKE74

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 5, 2024

... including this piece in The New Yorker titled The Many Lives of Vinie Burrows. 

Here's a video message from Burrows from April 2020...

   

Burrows is survived by her son and daughter, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

East Houston Street Wine & Liquor is headed to a new larger space across East Houston

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

After 10-plus years at 250 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, East Houston Street Wine & Liquor is moving to a larger storefront — directly across the street. 

On Monday evening, I stopped by the current shop, which will likely close today, and talked with General Manager Leo Kiteishvili (below left) and Assistant Manager Ryan Tejada. (Store owner Rhea Duggal was not in.) 

"We are leaving the East Village for officially the Lower East Side — right across the street," Kiteishvili said.

The new shop at 253 East Houston St. (the former Participant Inc. performance venue, which relocated to Elizabeth Street) is expected to be ready today...

The space is "bigger, brighter, with lots of storage," Kiteishvili said.

The new shop will have tastings, educational sessions and events. 

"This is a very welcoming neighborhood," Kiteishvili said. "We've had tremendous growth here." 

The lease at East Houston Street Wine & Liquor is up in September, and they hope to sublet the space "to an artist, a gallery or a pop-up shop" for the next few months. 

By the way, the lifesize cardboard cutouts seen around the store of George Clooney, the Rock, Kendall Jenner, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, etc., will also be making the move...

You can follow East Houston Street Wine & Liquor on Instagram here.

New mats for the outdoor fitness area at Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven

Several readers have noted this in Tompkins Square Park ... the fitness area adjacent to the basketball courts in the 10th and B corner is currently barricaded off (not the most elaborate security system)...

... while Parks workers install some new heavy-duty weatherized mats...

As we recall from the last time we were there to see how many pistol squats we could do in 60 seconds (answer: zero)... the old mats were well-worn. 

Also, Parks staff did not know when the work would be complete.

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy

Some classic Stevie Wonder hits flowing this afternoon from the turntable at C&B Café on Seventh Street...

The porta potties are MIA in Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Steven 

Has anyone seen the porta potties in Tompkins Square Park? The toilet triplex near Ninth Street and Avenue A outside the ballfield/skate area is no longer in the spot. 

Park workers we asked didn't know anything about their whereabouts. Hmm!

The porta potties first arrived last May... before an August relocation.

As previously reported, the restrooms in the Tompkins Square Park field house are now closed as part of an 18-month renovation underway.