RIP Anton van Dalen

Photo by Anthony Lindsey from the documentary, "Anton: Circling Home"

Longtime East Village-based artist Anton van Dalen passed away in his home on June 25. He was 86.

P·P·O·W, the gallery that had represented him over the years, announced that he died of natural causes in his sleep. 

Some background on his life and work:

Van Dalen was born in Amstelveen, Holland, in 1938 to a conservative Calvinist family during World War II. He began rearing pigeons at 12, seeking solace in the companionship of a community outside the instability around him. 

Enraptured by the magic of their flight, van Dalen saw his own migration journey, from Holland to Canada and ultimately to the United States, reflected in the migratory nature of the birds.

After arriving in New York's Lower East Side in 1966, before ultimately settling in the East Village, van Dalen served as witness, storyteller, and documentarian of the dramatic cultural shifts in the neighborhood.

While active in the alternative art scene in the East Village during the 1980s, van Dalen began his career as a graphic designer. Working as a studio assistant to Saul Steinberg for over 30 years, van Dalen learned the stylization and design aesthetics that would ultimately ground the visual language he used to discuss the culture around him.

Van Dalen became known for his Night Street Drawings (1975–77), a monochrome series of graphite drawings documenting the surrounding Lower East Side with tenderness and empathy, including vignettes of car wrecks, sex workers, crumbling buildings, and more.

As poet and critic John Yau wrote, all of van Dalen's work arose "out of a meticulous draftsmanship in service of an idiosyncratic imagination merged with civic-mindedness."

Van Dalen lived at 166 Avenue A — the PEACE house — between 10th Street and 11th Street since 1971. He documented the changes there in this post for EVG. 

His flock of snow-white pigeons from his rooftop loft were a common site in the nearby skies. (Photo from 2015 by Grant Shaffer.)

We had the great pleasure of meeting van Dalen several times, first over a dinner at Odessa. We appreciated his kind, thoughtful manner and deep affinity for the East Village. He shared several dispatches with us over the years (see the end of this post for a selection). 

Van Dalen was especially upset about the 2013 demolition of the Mary Help of Christians church, school, and rectory on Avenue A between 11th Street and 12th Street, which made way for the block-long Steiner East Village condoplex. 

He shared this photo and sketch for a post in August 2013.

The  neighborhood's transformation was a common theme in his work, as seen in his one-man performance piece "Avenue A Cutout Theatre," which featured "a portable model of his house, which he uses as a staging ground for telling the story of the evolution of the East Village."

He first performed the Avenue A Cut-Out Theatre in 1995 at the University Settlement House on the Lower East Side. The performance has been shown at numerous institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art and The New York Historical Society. 

As he wrote in a post for EVG in October 2020: 

I consider myself a documentarian of the East Village, yet I am a participant and spectator to its evolution. Began documenting my street surroundings in 1975, urged on by wanting to note and remember these lives. Came to realize I had to embrace wholeheartedly, with pencil in hand, my streets with its raw emotions.

Van Dalen is survived by his older brother, Leen van Dalen; his two children, Marinda and Jason; their spouses, René van Haaften and Ali Villagra; and three grandchildren, Cleo, Aster, and Diego.

P·P·O·W said that memorial service announcements will be forthcoming.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• One East Village family's protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine 

• Documenting 166 Avenue A through the years

• Anton van Dalen, drawing in isolation

• Anton van Dalen's Avenue A Cut-Out Theatre 

• Down On Avenue A, 1922 

 • On St. Mark's Place, 'this parable of neglect' 

• Anton van Dalen's pigeons, connecting us back to nature above Avenue A 

• The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

The SOS Chefs storefront will be closed until early September

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The SOS Chefs retail space will be closed starting tomorrow through Sept. 3 at 104 Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street...

However, per the signage, web orders and wholesale delivery "will continue as usual." 

Ownership promises they will be back with "new and exciting finds." 

Atef Boulaabi launched the business in 1996... and her shop she runs with her husband Adam Berkowitz is now "a cornucopia of seasonings, spices and condiments" for adventurous cooks and chefs.

Dua Kafe is on a vacation

And in case a visit to Dua Kafe was in your plans this summer... the restaurant serving Albanian cuisine at 520 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B is on holiday ... starting last week and returning on Aug. 9.

Owner Bobian Demce, who moved here from central Albania in 2001, told Washington Square News back in the spring why he opened Dua in 2018: 

"Albanians in New York own a lot of the best restaurants in the city: steakhouses, Italian, Greek, French, you name it. But they never had the courage to open a place for their own culture, our own food — and it's very good. So that was the inspiration."

Other plaques that are currently missing in the East Village

A tipster tells us that someone swiped the bronze Christodora House plaque outside the building at 143 Avenue B at Ninth Street... it has been missing, we're told, since at least June 25...

We're not sure how old the plaque is/was outside the 16-floor building, which was built in 1928 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. 

This is the latest plaque to go missing in the East Village in recent weeks (see here ... and here... and here). 

H/T Cecil Scheib for the older plaque photo

Juvenile red-tailed hawk getting the washing and drying down in Tompkins Square Park

An EVG reader spotted one of the young red-tailed hawks bathing in the water spray in the Avenue B playground in Tompkins Square Park...

... and later, this 2024 offspring of resident red-tailed hawks Amelia and Christo went into drying mode... standing and flapping its wings...

The hawks continue to be quite active this summer. As Goggla noted yesterday, one even made it to the cross of St. Brigid's.

Mary O is bringing her scones to 7th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Mary O'Halloran, proprietor of Mary O's on Avenue A, is opening a scone shop at 93 E. Seventh St., just east of First Avenue, later this month. 

Mary O's Irish Soda Bread Shop: Scones To Go will feature O'Halloran's specialty that she started making and selling by the box during the pandemic.

The scones became a big hit, helped by Roger Clark's visibility at NY1 and a hugely successful fundraising effort via Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York. 

The new shop's main attraction is soda bread scones, which she makes from her mother's recipe in Ireland and serves with jam. She's also offering coffee via Superlost in Brooklyn. 

"A lot of effort went into selecting the right coffee to go with the scones," she explained the other day. "This coffee doesn't need sugar to taste good. And it's roasted in NYC. The coffee complements the scone."

The shop will initially be weekends-only, opening by 7 a.m. and going until they're gone.

"Every scone is made by me. My hands. And because I make each one, there is a limited amount available," O'Halloran said. "So when they sell out, they sell out." 

Her scone shop team includes Alan Chiang, "assistant scone master," Cara O'Halloran, one of Mary's daughters, and Meredith Franks, "assistant scone mistress."

O'Halloran has six kids, all familiar faces at her Avenue A restaurant. 

"It wouldn't be a Mary O's spot without a kid in it," she said with a laugh. 

Mary and her team were conducting a training session when I stopped by.

This space was most recently 75 Degrees Bakery...

Meanwhile, Mary O's will continue as it has for the past 14 years at 32 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street, where scones will still be available.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Thanks to Humans of New York, Mary O's will be making scones for the foreseeable future 

• Scone mania: At Mary O's, an Irish blessing and 20,000 pounds of self-raising flour

H Mart is expanding on 3rd Avenue

A well-placed source tells us that H Mart is expanding its footprint on Third Avenue, moving into the vacant corner space at 10th Street.

Renovations are currently underway inside the storefront. We've reached out to H Mart for more information and will keep you updated as the work progresses.

The corner spot became available when Lois Cleaners recently moved a block north between 11th Street and 12th Street.

The Asian-American supermarket opened here in June 2019.

With this addition, H Mart will be the sole retail client in the block-long base of NYU's Alumni Hall.

A visit to Cakes by Klein on St. Mark's Place

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Cakes by Klein debuted last month at 102 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

I stopped by the other day to talk with proprietor Hanna Klein, who has lived in the East Village and now the Lower East Side in recent years ...

As I snapped photos of Klein meticulously decorating a blue hydrangea-themed bridesmaid cake, the air was filled with an unexpected calm. It made me curious — was the silence for my benefit, or was it her usual ambiance?

When I asked, she revealed that her typical soundtrack wasn't silence but rather the chilling narratives of serial killer podcasts!

This is her first retail location (she was a home baker before this). During the week, the space operates as a commercial kitchen where Klein fulfills custom orders. 

While this is a made-to-order business, given the foot traffic on the block, Klein will host occasional popups on the weekends when her husband is available to assist her. (She was married in the spring, and yes — she made her own wedding cake.)

Her menu includes iced coffee, slices of cake, and cookie sammies...

The pop-ups also provide her with an opportunity for customer feedback, such as favorite flavor combos, etc., which she uses to shape her menu and improve her offerings. 

"I like turning people's ideas in their brains into cakes," she said. "Everything is better with cake." 

For the latest updates about our weekend hours, follow the Cakes by Klein Instagram account. You can also visit the Cakes by Klein website for more information.

Signage alert: Crepe City on Avenue A

ICYMI: Signage is up for a food-and-beverage option called Crepe City, which will open soon at 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street.

The quick-serve spot will offer crepes, waffles, shakes, bubble tea, etc.

You can kep tabs on them via Instagram. Updated: The grand opening is Saturday (July 6) at 2 p.m.

After operating most recently as an unlicensed weed shop, this storefront was home to the first outpost of Mikey Likes It Ice Cream from 2013 to 2022. 

Monday's parting shot

Felton Davis of the Second Avenue Star Watchers shared this photo from early this morning, taken from Avenue A and Fourth Street, showing a "fantastic conjunction of the Crescent Moon and Mars about 4 degrees apart in the pre-dawn glow of Key Foods."

Felton did say he touched up a faint-looking Mars a bit and tweaked the contrast to show some detail on the surface of the Moon, though Key Foods remained untouched!

July 1

Thanks to @evans.nic for this photo this evening. On 12th Street near Second Avenue, someone has discarded a Christmas tree that looks December fresh ...

Spotted at 8:37pm 7/1/2024 on 12th St near 2nd Ave. A flourishing Christmas tree on July 1 @evans.nic

Noted

All of the first-of-the-month loads of trash and discarded furniture around the neighborhood, this one on Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street is the most impressive... Thanks to Steven for the photo...

With larger new kitchen, EVLovesNYC expands to feed more New Yorkers

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

After an extended search, mutual aid group EVLovesNYC has found a kitchen space that fits its growing organization and mission. 

EVLovesNYC recently began cooking every Sunday at Rethink Food's state-of-the-art community kitchen at 116 W. Houston St. between Thompson and Sullivan. (Rethink Food is a nonprofit "creating a more sustainable and equitable food system by working in partnership with a network of local restaurants, community-based organizations, and food donors.") 

According to organizers, the move allows EVLovesNYC to scale up production numbers and expand its reach throughout NYC while maintaining its Sunday meals in the East Village, Tompkins Square Park, and with regular distribution partners throughout the city. 

The volunteer-run group's modest origins date back to spring 2020 when a handful of friends got together to prepare meals for neighbors from a small East Village apartment kitchen. 

Early on, Ali Sahin, the owner of C&B Cafe on Seventh Street, donated his kitchen on Mondays so the group could cook its meals. By June 2020, they had outgrown the space and started assembling deliveries at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

More than four years and 500,000 meals later, EVLovesNYC is still preparing meals — beef, chicken and vegan, made with attention to allergens and religious practices — for distribution.

I spoke with Tyler Hefferon (below right), EVLovesNYC's executive director, about the group's new kitchen and how it impacts its mission.

You've been looking for one for a while now. How did this come about? What is your agreement for using the Rethink space? 

We were put in touch with Matt Jozwiak [founder and CEO] of Rethink Food through East Village Neighbors Who Care. This mutual aid group receives hot meals from both EVLovesNYC and Rethink Food to support the number of clinics and services they offer to asylum seekers. 

After a short call with the Rethink team, we discussed EVLovesNYC using Rethink Food's new Community Kitchen on the weekends. Their staff is usually only active in the space Monday through Friday, and we have full access to their kitchen and equipment on Sundays. 

You’ve been in the new space for a few weeks now. How has it been cooking in the new kitchen? 

Like any new kitchen, there has been some getting used to the new layout, but in general, we are excited about the number of cooking surfaces, which will significantly increase the speed at which we can produce meals!

At the Sixth Street Community Center, we have been limited to six stovetop burners and a five-rack convection oven, capping us at around 2,500 meals per day. To put it in perspective, we now have 24 stovetop burners, a griddle, two deep fryers, four gas-powered ovens, and a tilt skillet at our disposal. Not to mention a loading dock for our distribution partners to pick up meals, an additional 800 square feet of prep and meal-assembly space, and a refrigerated compost room. 

Our core volunteer team worked in small groups in June as we familiarized ourselves with the space, but we are excited to open the space to online volunteer signups on July 7.

Will you continue to use the space at Sixth Street Community Center? 

Yes. Our lease was up for renewal, and we were unable to afford the increased cost of the space. In an effort to continue our partnership, we signed a three-month agreement effective July 1 with a less drastic increase, but with an understanding that we would cap our production at the Sixth Street Community Center to 1,300 meals per week so that they may lease the kitchen to other organizations. 

While this forces us to cut our Sunday operations, we still plan on using the space for smaller events throughout the week. 

Will you still be doing distributions in the East Village? If so, what are the dates, times and locations? 

We will be sending hot meals from our new kitchen every Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. in an effort to not disrupt our food distribution in front of the Sixth Street Community Center and Tompkins Square Park every Sunday from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

We will also continue supporting East Village Neighbors Who Care's services during the week, including the Free Store at Hope Church every other Monday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and services at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery every Wednesday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

We are also working with Rethink Food to add additional distributions in Tompkins Square Park on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. 

The new industrial kitchen is enormous. Does this increase the quantity of food you can produce? What about types of cuisines? 

Yes! We are proceeding with caution as we get acclimated to the logistics of the new space and have a better sense of what quantities we can handle financially, but our real-estate situation had been the major cap to our meal production every Sunday.

Realistically, we will start increasing our quantities to support additional distributions around the city starting in October. If we can figure out how to make it happen financially, we could gradually increase our production to 4,000-5,000 individually packaged hot meals every Sunday. 

The new equipment, such as the fryers and tilt skillet, absolutely opens doors to new cuisines. As we familiarize ourselves with all of the fancy prep equipment, we can eventually incorporate new complexities into our recipes that we've been avoiding just to be efficient with our volunteer prep team's time.

How can the community support EVLovesNYC going forward? 

As exciting as doubling our meal counts sounds, we hope that our fundraising can keep up to pace! If you are in a position to donate to our kitchen warming fund, do so here. 

Watch for July volunteer shifts [link here] if you want to join us at the new kitchen. 

There is nothing more valuable than spreading the word and sharing our work and mission within your network. Any interaction with our social media accounts helps our visibility exponentially. You never know who may be able to help.

[Co-founder Mammad Mahmoodi]

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• These East Village residents are helping feed families in Queens during the COVID-19 crisis 

• East Village volunteers expand their outreach to feed more neighbors in need 

• East Village Loves Queens expands: Meet East Village Loves NYC 

• Volunteers at East Village Loves NYC prepare meals for Ramadan; celebrate 1st anniversary

These 2 East Village trees are still entombed in concrete

We've heard from several EVG readers about these two tree pits... the top one is outside 521 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. We mentioned it on May 7, and multiple readers said they called 311 about the entombed tree. 

Meanwhile, building management maintains that this has reduced the rat population. 

Elsewhere, there's another soon-to-be-dead tree outside 47 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, a spot that residents said they have reported to the city.

Any others to report?

Signage alert: Stuytown Pharmacy on 14th Street

Photo by Pinch 

Signage went up Friday for Stuytown Pharmacy at 329 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

There's nothing inside the white-box space (most recently home to Hair Trendz) just yet. We haven't spotted any information online about the business.

This arrival comes as more chain drugstores are shutting down locations. Last week, we noted the desolate Rite Aid still hanging on at First Avenue and Fifth Street. (CNN shared this headline on Friday: Why Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid are closing thousands of drug stores across America.)

While another independent drugstore is a welcome addition to the neighborhood, its business hours, which may not be conducive to everyone's schedule, could potentially be an inconvenience.

The hours listed on the front door are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, and closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Smiles everyone: New-age dental studio setting up shop in 2nd Avenue condoplex

Tend is opening one of its new-era dental "studios" in the retail space at 24 Second Ave. at First Street. 

The brand has multiple locations in the United States, including a dozen in NYC. 

Tend got its start in late 2019. Here's how TechCrunch covered it at the time: 

Tend sees an opportunity to reinvent the dentist's office. How? Through tech-heavy dental "studios" that "prioritize" your comfort by featuring sleek waiting areas that it promises you'll almost never need to use and by offering "Netflix in your chair" that you will enjoy while wearing the latest and greatest Bose headphones. (Tend says it will get your favorite show queued up before you arrive for your appointment, which you will breezily book online, and whose prices you can learn in advance, so you don't suffer sticker shock later.) 

 And! 

It all sounds faintly ridiculous, but also nice, especially contrasted with traditional dentist offices, which tend to be both highly antiseptic and astonishingly vague about pricing. 

This is the second permanent tenant for the condoplex on the NE corner of First Street. Liftonic opened a studio on the lower level earlier this year. 

The ground-floor retail space — the former BP station property — has seen a variety of pop-up concepts in the past few years, including a Mathieu Lehanneur showroom. 

Meanwhile, another East Village condoplex remains tenant-free. The 11,000-square-foot retail space at the base of Steiner East Village on Avenue A between 11th Street and 12th Street is now in its sixth year of emptiness.

And someone has called this out with a sign noting "Storefront Vacant for Six Years" ... with the number of the RIPCO brokers leasing the space... (thanks to the reader for this photo)