Early summer on St. Mark's Place

Photos by Steven 

At the short-lived Mr. Kim tattoo and piercing studio at 22 St. Mark's Place, the covered entryway to the empty storefront became an inviting place to hang out in recent weeks ...

... until the landlord (presumably) had workers remove the roof and walls...

... sending the traveling crew to a different spot on the block here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

'East Village Rocks For Ukraine' this Saturday night

A group of local musicians are coming to host a fundraiser titled "East Village Rocks For Ukraine." 

The show takes place Saturday evening starting at 7 at the NYC Ukrainian Cultural Center, 136 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. 

Beer and wine will be available for purchase. Find ticket info here. Proceeds will go to relief efforts for the war in Ukraine.

Greenmarket season begins on Astor Place

The Astor Place Greenmarket returns today. 

GrowNYC's seasonal market is here Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 26.

Confirmed participants this first week: 

• Kernan Farms Vegetables — orchard and small fruit from Cumberland County, N.J. 

• Wave Hlll Breads — baked goods from Fairfield County, Conn.

Photo from last year by Steven

After 36 years in business, Ise Restaurant is closing its doors this month

The owners of Ise have announced that the Japanese restaurant will close its doors on June 28 at 63 Cooper Square, between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. 

Per a message on Ise's website: 

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closing of our restaurant. Our last day of business will be June 28, 2024. 

We want to extend our deepest gratitude to each of you for your support and patronage for 36 years. 

Serving you has been a privilege and joy, and we have cherished the many memories made here. Thank you for being part of our journey! 

The restaurant debuted in the Financial District in 1988 and eventually relocated to Cooper Square in the former Menkui-Tei space (also owned by Ise) in 2014.

Ise is open for lunch Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 2:30 p.m. and dinner those days from 5 to 9 p.m. 

H/T jba!

Asian Taste looks to be reopening this month

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Updated 6/14: BACK OPEN

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Good news for fans of Asian Taste.

The owners told me they received approval on the gas inspections from the city and ConEd and hope to be open in two weeks.

They said they "are eager to welcome people back."

The quick-serve Chinese restaurant on the NW corner of Avenue B and Third Street has been closed since late September. During an inspection of 199 E. Third St., Con Ed found multiple leaks and shut off the gas to the entire Steve Croman-owned building, including the businesses.

Monday's parting shots

In keeping with today's There Goes the Neighborhood theme... luring in the passersby with Color TV at Sophie's, 507 E. Fifth St. near Avenue A...

Today in 9th Street sinkhole repairs

Photos by Steven 

Today, workers began filling in the sinkhole that was entertaining us outside 315-317 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

In the process, the sinkhole expanded from a studio to a two-bedroom-sized unit...

... before getting the metal plate treatment...

40 years gone! Revisiting a classic New York magazine cover story from 1984

If you had a copy of New York magazine this week in 1984, you likely read Craig Unger's cover story, "The Lower East Side: There Goes the Neighborhood." 

Generations have said, "There goes the neighborhood," or various variations, like "The East Village is dead," and even more specifically, as Ada Calhoun has documented, "St. Marks is dead."

I first mentioned this piece on June 6, 2008, roughly seven months into EVG's existence. (It was the first EVG post that attracted much attention outside some amazing die-hards.) 

The copy below is from the 2008 EVG post. You can read the full article via Curbed here.

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The piece begins in the early 1980s with the rotting hulk of the Christodora House on Avenue B at Ninth Street and the young man eager to own it, Harry Skydell. 

Skydell's enthusiasm was indeed mysterious. The sixteen-story building he wanted to buy, on Avenue B facing Tompkins Square Park, was surrounded by burned-out buildings that crawled with pushers and junkies. It was boarded up, ripped out, and flooded...Early in the seventies, the city had put up the Christodora up for auction and nobody bid. 

The building was eventually sold in 1975 for $62,500. (Last I saw, two-bedroom units there—roughly 1,100 square feet—averaged $1.6 million or so.) 

The article discusses the influx of chain stores, art galleries and "chic cafes."

"And real-estate values are exploding" as a result. Said one longtime resident on the changes: "I've lived in my rent-controlled apartment for years and pay $115 a month. I live on the Lower East Side. The young kids who just moved in upstairs and pay $700 a month for the same space — they live in the East Village."

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Here are a few images/pages from the cover story... the photo below is on 10th Street, steps west of Avenue B... 

From parked cars to luxury condos on 9th Street

Plans are now on file to convert the former Little Man Parking garage (aka LaSalle Parking) into a six-story residential building on Ninth Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

According to the permits filed last week, the proposed development will feature 31,231 square feet of residential space for 18 units. (Per NY Yimby, that puts the average residence at 1,735 square feet — likely condos.) The newly created complex will also feature a rear yard and 10 enclosed parking spaces.)

Arcus Development purchased the space earlier this spring for $14 million. (Check out their luxury conversions here.)

There is also a new partial demoliton permit —"down to the first floor" — on file with the DOB.

The garage has been closed since late April 2023 after the Department of Buildings issued a vacate order on the property following the deadly collapse on April 18, 2023, at the Little Man garage on Ann Street in the Financial District.

Per the DOB vacate order: "The occupied parking structure with concrete framing observed to be in a state of disrepair at several locations in cellar level... crushed column base observed at several locations in cellar level ... vertical cracks observed inside elevator shaft and on masonry walls."

The address was offered as a "redevelopment project" last August. 

Budget Car Rental and Tori-Bien, a restaurant that specialized in Japanese fried chicken, were also forced to leave their retail spaces at this address due to the vacate order.

Garage Sale Vintage bringing its nostalgic vibes to the Bowery

Photo from November 2022

The East Village is getting another vintage clothing option — and one with beer and wine.

The owners of the chainlet Garage Sale Vintage have plans for a new outpost at 302 Bowery between Bleecker and Houston.

Per its website:

Garage Sale Vintage was founded on a passion for nostalgia. You'll discover curated items from vintage vendors across the US — from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and Y2K era. You can shop from an unbelievable selection of vintage records and vinyl.

There are also locations in Denver, Boulder and Nashville. (The above photo is from the store in East Nashville.)

While the other shops offer a full bar (margaritas being a specialty), the Bowery space seeks a beer-wine license. They'll appear before Community Board 2 tomorrow.

According to the application (PDF here), the store's cafe area will have four tables seating eight people and a 10-seat bar.

No. 302 previously housed Olde Good Things. This outpost of the architectural artifact dealer specializing in reclaimed building materials and antiques arrived here in 2013 and left in early January 2023. Lines New York, a "tattoo atelier," currently leases the space. 

Storefront renovations commence on the SW corner of the Bowery and Houston

Renovations are underway on the SW corner of the Bowery and Houston. Plywood arrived last week outside the long-vacant spaces at a building with multiple addresses (282-284 Bowery plus 87-91 E. Houston St.).

We don't know anything at the moment about what might be next here.

The last tenant at 284 Bowery was Cherche Midi, Keith McNally's French brasserie that closed in June 2018. (Before this, McNaly had unleased Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria.)

A for-lease sign arrived on the building in March 2023, only the second time we recall this space on the market in the past six years.  

This corner has also been a hot spot for street art these past six years. The construction plywood now covers the storefronts, obscuring murals that include the George Floyd tribute by @fumeroism that arrived in early June 2020.

There was also the recent arrival of this Marvin Gaye wheatpaste by @stikki_peaches...

Friday night with The Damned at Hammerstein Ballroom

Photos by Stacie Joy

On Friday night, The Damned returned to NYC to play a show billed as the Black Strawberry Ball at Hammerstein Ballroom.

With Rat Scabies back behind the drums, this version of the band who has seen many lineup changes through the years — David Vanian, Captain Sensible, Paul Gray (and joined by 1999-era recruit Monty Oxymoron on keyboards) — performed together for the first time since 1989. 

The setlist was heavy from the 1980s albums this core group helped create, including "Ignite" (Strawberries), "The History of the World (Part 1)" (The Black Album) and an EVG favorite, "Life Goes On" (Strawberries). Their familiar singles — "I Just Can't Be Happy Today," Neat Neat Neat," and "Smash It Up" came in loud and fast near the end of the two-hour set in front of an appreciative crowd. (The encore included "New Rose" and an MC5 cover, "Looking at You.")

As our friends at Academy Records on 12th Street noted in an Instagram post: 

Of course, we're all about recorded music on round pieces of plastic but please don't sleep on all the great live music that is out there. Like the Damned, who are still kicking ass after 48 years together and back with original drummer Rat Scabies! Living in NYC can be a real grind but then you get to experience things like this. 

At this point, there isn't a lot left for The Damned to prove (honors include being the first UK punk band to release an album, Damned Damned Damned, in 1977), and it would have been easy to lean on the hits and get back on the bus for the next stop. 

However, this show rolled merrily along, energetically propelled by the return of Rat Scabies, and the band sounded as energized as we've seen them on several tours. 

 A few scenes from upfront... starting with lead singer David Vanian...

... Captain Sensible...

... bassist Paul Gray ...

... Rat Scabies...

... and keyboardist Monty Oxymoron...

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• The Damned's Captain Sensible on the return of drummer Rat Scabies, the importance of the Ramones and the legend of CBGB

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week include (with a photo from St. Mark's Place on Friday evening) ...

• St. George Church reopens a refurbished Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street (Friday) 

• Mount Sinai submits updated plan to close Beth Israel on July 12 (Wednesday) 

• Block Association asking for removal of the 32-foot tall 5G tower at 129 Avenue C (Thursday) 

• At the annual Loisaida Festival (Monday) 

• 37 1st Ave., once home to some East Village music history, is now rubble (Monday) • The East Village, full of bars, gets an anti bar (Thursday)

• Hit play 'Job' heads from the East Village's Connelly Theater to Broadway (Wednesday)

• Openings: Sunday Dreamin on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• Soft openings: Sip + Co. on 9th Street (Tuesday)

• IHOP lops off its sidewalk dining shed (Thursday) 

• Dear Rufino has apparently moved on from 2nd Avenue (Thursday)

• Closings: Yakiniku West on 9th Street (Tuesday) 

• Reaching the top at the all-new 12-story building at 280 E. Houston St. (Tuesday) 

• A Williamsburg view of Manhattanhenge (Wednesday) ... and from Union Square (Tuesday) 

• Café Maud is the name of the new establishment in the former Dallas BBQ space (Wednesday) 

• Times Square-friendly business is now up and running on Union Square (Wednesday) 

• Budding Ninth Street sinkhole is now Citizen app famous (Tuesday)

Speaking of the Ninth Street sinkhole, it is showing some sedimentary layers. (This will be a great class field trip!) Thanks to Steven for the photo.    

Plant Bandit ON THE LOOSE

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Noting this urban etiquette signage on Houston at Attorney: 

Plant bandit spotted in the LES Lock up your dalphyniums [sic], your hyacinths and your lantanas! Bring your mint, basil and oregano in every evening...who knows what beautiful greenery he is going to take next?? 

May need to add herb and spice bandit to the description...

Films we want to see: 'Robot Dreams' with a story of friendship in the 1980s East Village

Image via NEON

"Robot Dreams," a dialogue-free animated feature, opened on Friday at the Film Forum. (Showtimes here.) 

We've seen the trailer (below!), though not the film... and are looking forward to it. 

The synopsis: 

New York City, 1980s. Dog lives an unassuming life among the bustle of the East Village. Feeling lonely, he orders Robot from a TV ad. Once assembled, Robot instantly becomes Dog's most steadfast friend. Together, they explore the city, rollerskating and roaming to a near-constant thrum of Earth, Wind, & Fire's "September."

The film by Pablo Berger (from the graphic novel by Sara Varon) scored 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. 

Berger previously lived in the East Village, noting to an interviewer: "The apartment where Dog lives has the same floorplan as my first apartment." (His apartment includes a video rental from Kim's and a trip to the Strand.) 

A few headlines about the film: "'Robot Dreams' Is a Radiant Ode to Friendship and 1980s New York" (TIME) ... "Animated ‘Robot Dreams’ captures feelings of love and loss in 1980s East Village" (Gay City News)

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Saturday's parting shot

A view of 66 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue... the longtime home of Abetta Boiler & Welding Service ... and a surviving single-level structure in the East Village (complete with signage with an old Manhattan phone exchange)... 

About the first LES Puerto Rican Parade & Festival

The first LES Puerto Rican Parade & Festival takes place today (Saturday, June 1). 

Here's more about the event, presented by El Grito:

This community pride event contributes to highlighting the visibility and contributions of the Puerto Rican community and breathes new life into our cultural traditions. Join us as we come together to celebrate!

The parade starts at 4:30 on Columbia and Rivington... and the festival gets underway at 5:30 on 12th Street and Avenue D.

First class: Time for the annual Arts & Science Fair at The Children’s Workshop School

The Children’s Workshop School is hosting its annual Arts & Science Fair tomorrow (Sunday!).

The poster promises arts, crafts, science, experiments, food and family fun. 

The fundraiser will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 610 E. 12th St., between Avenue B and Avenue C.

A vintage day on 12th Street

Today, the East Village Vintage Collective and SLCT Stock NYC are hosting a summer kick-off sidewalk sale on 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... from noon to 6 p.m., you'll find a dozen or so vintage-thrift vendors...

June's opening shot

First Park... first day of June... happy June... Happy Pride Month...