At Book Club on Third Street today, a pop-up featuring East Village-based florist Bloom Bloom ... pictured is Sophie Bromberg, the floral designer working for Bloom Bloom.
Best sellers were the Japanese sweet pea and the ranunculus (in various colors). Sorry, roses!
Updated 2/26: Unfortunately, the deal for a new Gizmo space fell through, and Rosa and Hossein are searching again for a new space. Details here.
As we first reported on Jan. 3, Gizmo is leaving its longtime home at 160 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street for a new EV storefront.
Wife-and-husband owners Rosa Malmed and Hossein Amid told me that while they have not secured a new space yet for their sewing supply shop, they are still "in negotiations" for a new storefront...
The last day here is Feb. 28. Until then, expect markdowns on fabrics, trims, and zippers (50% off) and discounted prices on other merchandise.
And be sure to check out the table out front ...
Rosa said she opened the shop 32 years ago because she needed space for her alterations business.
Hossein told us that their rent has increased to a point where the couple can no longer afford to stay here.
A for-rent sign hangs above 174 First Ave. (south storefront), marking the official end of Emilia by Nai here between 10th Street and 12th Street.
There's no mention of a closure on the restaurant's website or Instagram account. A "Closed for Private Event" sign had been on the storefront for months.
If you need a gift this Valentine's Day (TODAY), Book Club is once again hosting the East Village-based Bloom Bloom floral design studio at the shop-cafe on Third Street.
From 11 a.m. to whenever the flowers are gone, Bloom Bloom is selling grab-and-go wrapped bouquets and custom floral arrangements.
Book Club is at 197 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
This is the third year for the Feb. 14 collaboration between the two businesses.
On the ever-shifting budget pizza front, new signage arrived Sunday at 71 Second Ave., marking the change from 99¢ Fresh Pizza to $1.50 Fresh Pizza here between Fourth Street and Fifth Street...
As far as we can recall, this is the first price increase for the sliceria since its debut 10 years ago. (Bring back Cool Gear!)
And 99¢ Fresh Pizza isn't the only local slice shop to up the price by 51 cents. 99¢ Pizza debuted mid-March 2023 at 418 E. 14th St., just east of First Avenue. By June, their budget slice was going for $1.50.
However, it took ownership until this past October to make the change signage official. (Thanks to EVG reader Tom for this shot from the fall...)
For those of us who were here, it will be a winter storm discussed for generations, as more than three inches of snow fell in Central Park, the most since 2022. (We forgot to measure how much fell closer to home.)
By late this afternoon, there were widespread reports of damp sidewalks, soggy cardboard in broken recycling bags and photogenic puddles...
Meanwhile, any wet or untreated roadway will likely ice over tonight as temperatures drop below freezing. So try to stay within the salt path on the side streets...
So while the winter storm warnings turned out to be a non-event around Manhattan, other local areas and states were hit hard... and we heard from a few people who had their flights delayed or canceled.
Waking to a slushy snowfall this morning... as the entire NYC metropolitan area and northeast corridor remains under a Winter Storm Warning (the first in two years) until 6 p.m.
Readers have reported gusty winds and sloppy sidewalks... though not close to the 4-8 inches forecast (yet).
Meanwhile, flames were spotted coming from a manhole on the southbound lane of Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street ... as the salty runoff caused some sparks here... the FDNY was quickly on the scene.
Thanks to EVG reader Emma for this clip...
... and a shot with Con Ed and the FDNY via Derek Berg...
Updated 5 p.m.
We've heard from several readers about the stubborn (and dramatic) manhole fire ... the FDNY (with Con Ed) eventually had to clear out part of (half of?) the open-air curbside space at Kazuza Lounge...
Photo this evening outside Saifee Hardware by Stacie Joy
For the first time in two years, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for all of NYC from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow (Feb. 13).
Per the NWS: "Heavy snow and gusty winds are expected with snowfall accumulations of 4 to 8 inches."
A new docking station has arrived on the SE side of Third Street at Avenue A. (Thanks, Newman, for the photo!)
The station isn't listed on the system map yet, though a Citi Bike rep confirmed this is a permanent dock (and not, say, relocated here from another spot during construction).
Citi Bike, now in its 11th year, reportedly saw record-high ridership numbers last fall. Citi Bike also announced that the current number of e-bikes in the system will double by the end of this year, per Streetsblog.
Meanwhile, the docking station on Fifth Street at Avenue A is still MIA (since October) due to the Con Ed transformer work.
The team behind the popular Taiwanese-American Win Son Bakery in East Williamsburg will appear before CB3's SLA committee tonight for a liquor license at 23 Second Ave. between First Street and Second Street.
The bakery opened in September 2019 at 164 Graham Ave. at Montrose Avenue... several years after the Win Son restaurant debuted (to long lines).
Many of their goods have been celebrated, like the mochi millet doughnuts. The New Yorker called their Mortadella Pancake a perfect breakfast sandwich in November. You can check out the Win Son Bakery menu here.
Also on tonight's agenda: The AYS Hospitality Team (that includes Tabetomo on Avenue A) is behind two new concepts on the same block...
• AYS Libations LLC, 126 St Marks Pl (op) — the former East Village Social space ... (PDF here)
• AYS Libations LLC, 122 St Marks Pl (wb) — the former Holyland Market... (PDF here)
Tonight's meeting starts at 6:30. Find the Zoom link here. This is a hybrid meeting, and there is limited seating available for the public — the first 15 people who show up at the Community Board 3 Office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.
In a surprising move on Friday, workers put up a new ad for the Peter Jarema Funeral Home on the north-facing wall at 108 Avenue B and Seventh Street.
During exterior renovations last June (first reported here), workers sandblasted away the former ad for the funeral home that's on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
According to work permits on file with the Department of Buildings, the landlord had approved plans to remove the "deteriorated metal cornice" and "build up and maintain existing brick parapet."
Here is the result of that work last summer...
The decades-spanning ad touted "Air Conditioned Chapels," and there was a smaller sign for "Vazac Hall Catering" (and "Fine Food"), a nod to the business before the current and longstanding tenant Vazac's/the Horseshoe Bar/7B... (photo below by Stacie Joy from 2019)...
I reached out to Danny Buzzetta, the owner/managing director of Peter Jarema.
He figured the old ad had been there for at least 60 years and still featured the phone number listed as OR 4-2568 (letters representing 6 and 7 with the known constant of the 212 area code).
Buzzetta said that someone affiliated with the restoration contacted him last year, saying that after the building finished the brickwork, he wanted to put up a new sign as an ode to an East Village "legacy" business. (We're still determining if this was someone from the landlord, Gibraltar Management Company, or the contractor. We're chasing down that lead now.)
"Honestly, I was shocked because I was very upfront that I don't have the money to pay for this, and as appreciative as the thought was, I never actually thought it was going to happen," Buzzetta said. "But lo and behold, here we are!"
We previously tried to figure out how long the ad was here. As we understand it, the corner bar dates to the mid-1930s. The funeral home was established in 1906, per its website.
As far as we can tell, the ad is for Treadway Shoes (at 67 Avenue B?). A 1980s photo from the Municipal Archives shows the funeral home ad in place, though it's obviously older than that, given the presence of the dated telephone exchange.
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.
While this is primarily a delivery and to-go business, this outpost will include a dine-in option.
A Wonder spokesperson said they are targeting a spring opening.
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.)
Signage for Yummy Hive arrived Saturday on the SW corner of 10th Street and Second Avenue.
The logo promises "deli and sips,"... and workers previously told us this would be a corner deli-type place. Seamless has a Yummy Hive menu for the address, and it features a robust selection of breakfast and lunch items. A look inside also revealed a salad bar.
Workers said the space should be open in two weeks.
This storefront has been empty since Capital One® left in 2019.
Signage is up for YGF Malatang at 92 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.
Per the brand's Instagram account: "The restaurant specializes in malatang, a type of hotpot very popular in the streets of China, often confused with ramen. But make no mistake, malatang is a totally different concept."
The chain is said to have more than 6,000 outposts in China, Japan and Korea ... this is the first in NYC.
This Third Avenue retail space has been empty for years, since Beijing Express quickly closed in 2019.
The new Bank of America branch is shaping up at 119 Second Ave. at Seventh Street... and now with temp signage ...
... and a look inside...
As we reported last Oct. 4, BoA will be the first retail tenant at the condoplex.
According to an email from the bank:
Come see us at our new location. We have ATMs, banking, lending and small business associates, as well as financial advisory specialists, ready to help you with your banking needs. Opening date: 03/11/2024.
This arrival means the closure of the BoA at 72 Second Ave. and Fourth Street, a space that has served as a bank branch since the building went up in the late 1920s as the Industrial National Bank.
Updated 2/14
NOW SIGNAGE OFFICIAL... (thanks to Steven for the pics)...
The Queen Latifah actioner will be around Stuyvesant Street, Ninth Street ... and large swaths of First Avenue between St. Mark's Place and 14th Street, and Second Avenue between Seventh Street and 10th Street, among other blocks, per the signage.
Also spotted: An "Equalizer" van!
And let's just flashback to the intro to the Edward Woodward years (1985-1989)... when New York was New York!
Watching this is like reading a crime piece in the Post...
... and a hand for that opening theme by Stewart Copeland of the Police...
Posts this past week included (with a sunrise photo from 4th and A)...
• Remembering longtime East Village resident Merle Ratner, killed by a tow truck on 10th Street and Avenue C on Monday evening (Tuesday)
• DA: Man who attacked Ray outside Ray's Candy Store sentenced to 10 years in prison (Wednesday)
• Exclusive: Lucy discusses the future of her iconic East Village bar (Thursday) ... New landlord serves Lucy's with a termination notice on Avenue A (Monday)
• City unveils the final rules for the permanent outdoor dining program (Monday)
• "Goodbye to the Brick and Mortar" at the Tompkins Square Library (Wednesday)
• These East Village tenants held a dance party to call out their landlord's sewage treatment (Sunday)
• The long-empty 6 Avenue B set to begin a new residential era as The B (Tuesday)
• Report: East Village home with the Cape Cod-style cottage on its rooftop is in contract, dammit (Tuesday)
Anthology Film Archives is screening the U.S. theatrical premiere of "Brighton Beach," a long-lost documentary from 1980 by directors Susan Wittenberg and Carol Stein.
The documentary is not just a peek at the neighborhood during that time — its inclusion of archival footage and photographs from throughout the 1900s renders it a 20th-century retrospective. Brighton Beach neighbors Coney Island, which for decades was New Yorkers' epicenter of summertime recreation. Footage spanning every era depicts different generations of beachgoers, bygone rides like the Parachute Jump or Human Pool Table in action, performers like the Barry Sisters at the Amphitheater, or more niche events like a beauty contest for elderly women.
It's catnip for history nerds, and the visual conversation between past and present makes for a fascinating study in how neighborhoods evolve. That more than 40 years have elapsed since the initial release only deepens this conversation — now, the entire thing is a period piece.
The 60-minute film is playing through Thursday. Details here.
