Thursday, May 23, 2024

Openings: The Onion Tree Pizza Co. on 1st Ave.

Photos by Stacie Joy

The Onion Tree Pizza Co. opened earlier this spring on the SE corner of First Avenue and 13th Street.

Chef Jay Jadeja and his wife Raquel have owned and operated several NYC restaurants in the past 20-plus years. They currently run The Onion Tree in Sea Cliff on Long Island's North Shore as well as its East Village sibling.
The interior includes an ode to The 27 Club — musicians who died at age 27, including Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison... (Chef Jay is a classic rock fan.)
While there's an extensive menu, the pizza, an Indian-Italian fusion focused on Napoletana and Romana styles, gets the most attention...
The Onion Tree Pizza Co., 214 First Ave., is open Wednesday through Thursday from 2 to 10 p.m., Friday from 2 to midnight, Saturday from noon to midnight, and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. 

More details here.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Busted & shuttered at the Grab & Go on Avenue B

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

A multi-agency raid took place today at several unlicensed cannabis shops in the East Village, including Grab & Go, 23 Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street.
We're told that this is the second bust this month at Grab & Go.

What was different this time: the officers sealed the premises and disconnected the gate afterward. 

"We're probably not reopening, but you might see us around the neighborhood," a store employee told us. "We'd miss our regulars." 

Law enforcement officials at the scene declined to comment.


As previously reported, a city law enacted last August holds commercial landlords responsible for renting storefronts to unlicensed cannabis shops.

Introduction 1001-B, known as Local Law 107 of 2023, prohibits owners of commercial spaces from knowingly leasing to unlicensed sellers of marijuana or tobacco products, imposing fines of up to $10,000 on landlords for violations.

Updated. 

Other busts today include at Hi Society, 97 Second Ave. ... and the one at 213 First Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street. (H/T William Klayer and Steven.)

A reader shared this from Hi Society, asking Bye Society?

A neighbor buys the landmarked Isaac T. Hopper Home on 2nd Avenue

For the first time in 150 years, 110 Second Ave., the landmarked Isaac T. Hopper House between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, has a new owner. 

The Women's Prison Association (WPA) had owned the property since 1874. The 8,372-square-foot property is a designated New York City Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Yesterday, Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, Hirschen Singer & Epstein LLP, and their client, WPA, announced that Self Reliance New York Federal Credit, which owns the building next door, will expand its East Village footprint by purchasing No. 110 for $7.4 million. 

The credit union, which provides financial services to the Ukrainian American community, plans to renovate and adapt the building for administrative and community needs.
The Hopper House most recently served as a 38-bed transitional shelter dedicated to formerly incarcerated and at-risk women and their children. 

In December 2020, the townhouse sustained significant physical damage from a six-alarm fire on the SE corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street. The fire destroyed the neighboring Middle Collegiate Church and displaced the shelter's residents and staff.

Following a review of the damaged property, "WPA determined that a sale of the property would be most conducive to the building's restoration and the organization's programmatic continuity." No. 110 arrived on the market in February 2023 with a $7.1 million ask

Here's some history of No. 110, built in 1837-1838, via Village Preservation
This three-and-a-half-story Greek Revival structure is a rare surviving house from when this section of Second Avenue was one of the most elite addresses in Manhattan.

The house at 110 Second Ave. was constructed as one of four houses built for brothers Ralph, Staats, and Benjamin Mead and designed in the Greek Revival style. Although the only one remaining of the original four houses, 110 Second Ave. retains much of its original details characteristic of a Greek Revival row house. 
The façade is clad in machine-pressed red brick laid in stretcher bond. It has tall parlor-level windows with a cast iron balcony, a denticulated cornice, and a brownstone portico with ionic columns supporting an entablature. In 1839, David H. Robertson, a shipbroker and tradesman, bought the house for his widowed mother, Margaret. Three years later, however, he declared bankruptcy. 

The house was foreclosed, and in 1844, it was auctioned and transferred to Ralph Mead. Mead was the proprietor of Ralph Mead and Co., a wholesale grocery business. He and his second wife, Ann Eliza Van Wyck, lived at 110 Second Ave. (then No. 108) from 1845 to 1857. After that, they leased the house but retained ownership until 1870. It was sold in 1872 to George H. and Cornelia Ellery, who then sold it in 1874 to the Women's Prison Association ... 
In 1992, the Hopper House was renovated and re-opened as a residential alternative to imprisonment for women. 

Meanwhile, with 70 employees and 50 volunteers, WPA continues to operate from its other community sites in New York City, jail-based offices on Rikers Island, and the Taconic and Bedford Hills State Correctional Facilities.

A Sustainable Village will be on the move this summer

Photos by Stacie Joy

A Sustainable Village will move from its storefront at 318 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue next month. 

Signage in the shop points to a closure after the business day on June 28.
The University Place outpost of the Zero Waste Shop and Refillery will remain open. 

Ownership (local residents Jaclyn Roster and Em Hynes) said they will look for another space in the neighborhood — one a little further away from their second location. 
A Sustainable Village opened here in September 2021.

A look around at the 'perfect woman' flyer knock-off industry

Like the 17-year cicadas, except just 10 years, the "looking for a girlfriend" guy (aka, Dan Perino), now on a quest for the "perfect woman," reemerged with new flyers (seemingly posted every few feet) at the start of May

And his comeback tour has spawned a cottage industry of sorts... some serious, some likely not ... and some we don't really know about...
Third photo: William Klayer 
Fourth photo: Robert Miner 
Sixth photo: Stacie Joy

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy

From an 80+ degree day on the main lawn in Tompkins Square Park...

Today in free, weird circus-y things

Photos by Derek Berg 

As seen on Second Avenue between Fifth Street and Sixth Street: 

FREE 
Wierd [sic] circus-y thing 
Please take

Noted

A promposal at the Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue and 12th Street. 

And do you remember the one about what biology students wear to prom? 

Designer genes.

At the annual Dance Parade and DanceFest

Photos by Stacie Joy

Let's head back to Saturday for some highlights from the 18th annual Dance Parade ... and post-parade DanceFest in Tompkins Square Park. 

Per organizers, there were some 10,000 participants and 100-plus styles of dance represented. (Side note: We did NOT see anyone doing The Aqua Velva or The Shugaloo.) 

EVG's Stacie Joy was stationed on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place as the parade came to a conclusion...
... and she was in and around Tompkins Square Park for the DanceFest that followed ...

The 37th edition of the Loisaida Festival takes place on May 26

Poster by Juan Carlos Pinto 

The 37th annual Loisaida Festival is happening on Sunday, May 26. 

This year's theme is "A Cultural Mosaic," which organizers say "beautifully encapsulates the diverse heritage and vibrant spirit of New York City's Lower East Side." 

The event, which unfolds along Avenue C-Loisaida Avenue between Fifth Street and 12th Street, includes more than 50 artisans and 10 food vendors. 

There's also a slate of bands and musicians on the main stage and elsewhere on the festival grounds. Visit this link for details.

Get ready for 3 days of the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts

If you're looking for some free arts and entertainment this weekend, Theater for the New City is the place to be. 

TNC has scheduled more than 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and filmmakers for its 29th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which will occur on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Indoor performances will occur daily from 6 p.m. to midnight, using two of TNC's four theaters. Meanwhile, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will set up on the closed-off block of 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue during another series of performances. 

You can find the complete list of activities (and times) at this link

Admission is free, though TNC will gladly accept donations. 

TNC is at 155 First Ave. at 10th Street.

A quick visit to Gnocchi on 9th

Photos by Stacie Joy

Gnocchi on 9th opened on April 13 at 315 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Since then, we've heard mostly positive comments about the quick-serve offerings, priced at $10 or less.
The pasta and sauce are brought in from elsewhere and heated inside the small space...
... and served up to go (there's no inside dining) ...
The shop is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.