Ruby/Dakota opens on 2nd Street: Gallery is a tribute to family legacy and personal healing

Photos by Stacie Joy

Ruby/Dakota debuted late last month at 155 E. Second St., just east of Avenue A.

Hannah Studnick operates the gallery and performance space.

"It has been a lifelong dream of mine to open a gallery in Alphabet City, the neighborhood my maternal grandfather was born in, the same place where my first cousin returned many years later and founded C-Squat," Studnick told EVG. "After my twin sister Emma's untimely passing in 2018, my whole world broke open. I slowly started moving toward this physical and emotional space of 'Gallerist.'"

The retail space, whose tenants have included the previous home of School for the Dogs, was the lone storefront that Studnick saw on her EV retail tour.

"In the end, the gallery found me. It was the only space I looked at," she said. "I knew from the moment I walked in this was Ruby/Dakota, a name that manifested from a distant memory — the names my mother would have given us if she had chosen more wisely."

The gallery's first group show, "Home is You, Right Now," is up through Sept. 6. 

Here's a look at opening night back on July 25.

Featured works include "East Village Date Night" by Lee Smith...

Other artists in the show include Kate Awalt-Conley ...

... Sacha Alexandra ...

... and Julia Justo ...

Ruby/Dakota is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays and Mondays are by appointment. The gallery's website has contact information and details on other events in the space. (If you're on Instagram, you can find updates here.)

"I do this for my twin sister Emma, my family, myself, and most importantly, the living artists of New York City, who do deserve our support, who make this place alive, and the greatest city on earth, naturally," Studnick said. "Through this room of my own, I am able to tell the truth as I see it and allow so many wonderful artists to share theirs, too. It is an honor and a privilege. I am so grateful to be here. "

Midday mannequin break

As seen today on Ninth Street at Stuyvesant Street... thanks to the EVG reader for the pic!

Little Poland appreciation post

We've always appreciated the no-frills, old-school dining experience at Little Poland, located at 200 Second Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Little Poland, around since 1985, is the last of its kind in this neighborhood. Its longevity is a testament to its quality and reliability. (Remedy Diner is fine, but it's no Little Poland.) 

We stopped by between the lunch and dinner shifts on a recent summer day. There were a few people at tables by the front windows (and eventually, two brave souls sat outside in the heat). 

There's quick and efficient table service, decent prices and breakfast specials until noon (well, 11:59 a.m.) And, per the menu: "The food we serve is as good, as music of Chopin." (We know that extra comma.)

Next year marks the diner's 40th anniversary. We need more places like Little Poland, and we hope that it can celebrate many more anniversaries here.

Little Poland is open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Get them a call: (212) 777-9728.

Have you been to the new location of Sammy's Roumanian Steak House?

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Sammy's Roumanian Steak House returned to the Lower East Side to much fanfare in April. 

However, since opening at its new home, 112 Stanton St., between Essex and Ludlow, we haven't heard too much (where are the reader reports?) about the NYC institution that spent 47 years through the start of the pandemic serving up ice-encased vodka, smeared pitchers of schmaltz and enormous platters of meat from the lower level at 151 Chrystie St. 

Sammy's announced its closure in January 2021, vowing to return to the neighborhood. 

In June, Matthew Schneier, chief restaurant critic at New York Magazine, wrote that "things are as they ever were." 

These photos are from before Sammy's opened for service for the evening—even before the bottles of schmaltz were placed on all the tables and Dani Luv fired up the keyboards.

It's hard to replicate a classic, as Schneier noted. 

All is not identical. Sammy's now finds itself at street level, though it approximates the cave quality of the original by covering its front windows. The room is long, narrow, and black, like a high-school black-box theater, albeit with some of the worst acoustics I have ever experienced in a restaurant. It was so hard to hear that everyone at my table spent the entire meal screaming in vain at one another, in the great Jewish tradition. 

Still: "Forty-nine years after its founding, Sammy's is a tradition unto itself." Sammy's expanded the hours of service earlier in the summer. 

The listed hours are Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday: 4-11 p.m., with an 11:30 p.m. close on Fridays and Saturdays.

Sammy's does reservations (recommended) the old-fashioned way: 1-646-410-2427 or sammys157@yahoo.com

The plague of plaque thefts

The stories about the memorial plaque thefts around the neighborhood are generating national attention. 

The New York Times had more details on the noon-time theft of the marker outside the historic New York Marble Cemetery on Second Avenue. 

"The heist took 13 minutes 58 seconds, from the moment the man in the gray T-shirt appeared to the moment when he walked away, having slipped the loot into a backpack he slung over his shoulder." 

We posted a photo of the alleged suspect captured on surveillance video here. 

(Thanks to the Times for linking to our coverage of previous plaque thefts. It's nice to see, as too many local news sites pretend they were the first to report on a story. Also, H/T Bayou.) 

The Associated Press also has a piece specifically on Village Preservation-placed markers, the one outside the one-time home of the Fillmore East that we first reported on ... and one on 13th Street for Anaïs Nin.

Another honoring Elizabeth Blackwell at the former home of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children at 58 Bleecker St. was removed but left on the sidewalk for whatever reason. 

As you likely guessed, there is a market for scrap metal, "part of a disturbing trend that includes the theft of a statue of Jackie Robinson from a park in Kansas," according to the AP. 

Meanwhile, in the comments on Tuesday, an EVG reader noted the double plaque theft from outside the accounting-legal office at 55 Avenue A (see photo above). 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• The summer of stolen plaques continues with thefts at New York Marble Cemetery, the former Club 57

On 2nd Avenue, the arrival of pothole-warning reinforcements

As the prospering pothole enters another month (flashback) on Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, attempts to warn incoming traffic continue in earnest. 

First, there was a trash receptacle, then an orange reflective traffic cone, and then someone added some wood pallets. After a vehicle crushed part of a pallet, there's now an orange barrier. 

Pretty soon, the city just may fill it in.

Noted

A reader-submitted photo from the Bowery and Great Jones today...

A visit to Groove Garden, a community music studio on Avenue C

Photos and story by Stacie Joy 

You can't miss the brightly painted, all-green slender storefront at 89 Avenue C between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. 

I paused to admire the façade before heading inside to talk to musician and songwriter Rob Taube, owner of community music studio Groove Garden.

He's surrounded by kids, all participating in the Song Camp program. Some are tucked into the sound booth, a couple at the drum kits, and even more crowded around a mic. 

It's a hot, swampy summer day, but the energy in the small space is contagious. I took a few photos and waited until the recording session ended before chatting with Rob about what brought him to this location, his passion for music, and why he loves the neighborhood.

On his start as a music teacher: 

Somewhere in the 2010s, I decided to take on a few music students and produce some recordings to help make ends meet. I had no idea what the resulting influx would be, and soon, I had more students and musical clients than I could handle in our tiny apartment, which was now constantly overflowing with players and singers. 

On finding a home for Groove Garden: 

Funds were tight, but the NYCHA rental guy guided me to this small space tucked between two brick buildings on Avenue C. It was naturally soundproofed due to the bricks, and it had an old closet space in the back with some odd pieces of wood and junk in it, which I immediately saw as a potential sound booth. It was kind of an "if you build it, they will come" moment. 

And over the last seven years, they have come to take music lessons, write and record songs, rap, and jam — so much so that it's hard to keep up. I'm not here 24/7, but I am more like 12/7, teaching them, recording them, and performing with them live and on their tracks. 

On spreading the word about his business: 

100% of my business comes from word-of-mouth or from people who walk by and say, "What is this place?" So often, they are creative artists who need a place to create, and the fact that I'm right here in a storefront makes the whole process so accessible they actually can wind up with their stuff out there in the world when otherwise it would have died in the vine as they went about their lives. 

On being in this neighborhood:

For me, this could only happen in the East Village, where there is such a crazy quilt of businesses and characters that someone like me, who has lived as an outsider, can thrive.

Even when I lived elsewhere, I loved this neighborhood for its eccentric characters, and now I'm one of them — how amazing is that?

 

You can hear some of the finished products from the studio at this link... and this link.

Visit the Groove Garden website here.

Elisa's Love Bites closes its 9th Street storefront

Photo by Steven 

Several readers have noted the for-lease sign hanging in the window at Elisa's Love Bites, the gluten-free dessert shop at 441 E. Ninth St. just west of Avenue A. 

The storefront is now closed... though, based on a recent Instagram post (see below), we're guessing that the business will continue in service online at the very least. 

After nearly four years in Brooklyn, owner-pastry Elisa Lyew moved to this storefront in March 2020. Elisa's Love Bites had its fans (the imported coffee from Panama was a hit). 

You can follow the shop's link tree or Instragram for any business updates.

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Elisa's Love Bites (@elisaslovebites)

Tree branch down on 10th Street

Last night's storm brought down a tree limb on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. (Thanks to Louise Segev for the photos). 

No word of any injuries... and it doesn't appear that any of the parked vehicles sustained damage...

More crap weather is expected on Friday when the remnants of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debby arrive.

It will be a dark and stormy night

NYC is under various warnings this evening, with heavy thunderstorms expected in the area. 

Per The Weather Channel, NYC is under a flash-flood warning until 7:45 p.m.

And were were just at Key Food on Avenue A and Fourth Street where they played a solid pre-storm set featuring Eddie Grant, Fleetwood Mac and Irene Cara. What a feeling!

Updated: Virginia is safe and back with her family

Updated 

Per Trinity: "Thank you to all who shared our posts with your networks! We are so grateful to know where she is and are happy for her safe return to her family! Thank you for your love and support!"

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Trinity’s Services (@trinitysafh)

Trinity Lower East Side is on the SE corner of Avenue B anb Ninth Street.

The summer of stolen plaques continues with thefts at New York Marble Cemetery, the former Club 57

The brass plaque on the front gate at the landmarked New York Marble Cemetery is the latest to have been ripped off around the neighborhood. 

A rep at the oldest non-denominational cemetery in New York City, 41 1/2 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street, told us this happened at noon this past Thursday.

Here's a look at the gate and plaque as they were...

The cemetery rep said the plaque had a value of $650 in 1999. 

They also released a photo from a surveillance video showing the alleged plaque thief... (they filed a police report and shared this image)...

Readers have also noted other missing plaques this past month, such as outside P.S. 15 on Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D...

... and at 57 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue, someone swiped the plaque commemorating Club 57 ...

Earlier this summer, we mentioned the theft of the bronze Christodora House plaque outside the building at 143 Avenue B on Ninth Street. In June, someone stole the brass plaque dedicated to former Tompkins Square Park supervisor Harry Greenberg from along the Ninth Street pedestrian walkway. The plaque commemorating the Fillmore East at 105 Second Ave. near Sixth Street is also gone. 

Per the New York Marble Cemetery rep: "We caution other historic sites to be aware of this vandalism."

These thefts are certainly not unique to the East Village. The rash of thefts in Los Angeles, for instance, "is fed by the high price of scrap metal. The plaques are comprised of bronze – which is made up largely of copper, a hot commodity in the stolen metal market." 

On July 9, The New York Times published an article titled "Metal Thieves Are Stripping America's Cities." 

2 members of Team USA are featured in this local band's new music video

The new music video from local band Midnight Machines has a timely Olympics connection: the clip for "Burning Me Down" features two professional fencers and members of Team USA, Kasia Nixon and Jess Savner. Savner will compete this week in the Paris Games in the Pentathlon event. 

Krikor Daglian (who has contributed photos to EVG) and Krisana Soponpong are Midnight Machines, who find inspiration from a range of artists, including LCD Soundsystem, CHVRCHES, The Rapture, Phoenix, Christine and the Queens, Bloc Party and Daft Punk. 

"The song is about the complex theme of desire and whether it's better to stay safe in a situation you've known or 'burn it all down' by chasing after something new and exciting," said director Charlie Gillette. "While the lyrics explore the intricate emotions of longing and passion, I wanted to transform the abstract notion of desire into a tangible and exhilarating narrative, portraying a compelling duel between two master fencers."

You can check out the video, which was filmed in April, right here...

 

The band plays at Rockwood Music Hall on Thursday night at 9. 

Coming attractions: Korean rice bowls for 309 E. Houston St.

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Renovations are underway at 309 E. Houston St. between Clinton and Attorney, where a quick-serve restaurant specializing in Korean rice bowls is in the works. 

The business, DupBopBro, is owned by life partners Gene and Veronica Choe. You can learn more about what to expect at their website (parts are still under construction). No word on an opening date.

The last tenant here was the specialty sandwich shop Tramezzini NYC, which closed last summer after six years in service.

14th Street's twinkling lights tree returns to its roots

The Mystery of the Mysteriously Illuminated Tree on 14th Street has reached an unsatisfying conclusion.

As noted on July 23, someone adorned the tree outside Beauty Bar and Coyote Ugly with a cascade of twinkling lights complete with two wall-style switches here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

In any event, the tree, as of last week, is now free of its cloak of white lights.

No one claimed responsibility, but an anonymous EVG commenter reasonably explained that the Union Square Partnership created it as a festive tester tree. Per the commenter: "They are considering lighting up a bunch of trees on 14th Street for the holidays."

Some readers enjoyed the pre-holiday lights spectacular... while others stated tightly wrapping a tree in strands of lights is harmful.

For now, the tree is back to just being a tree...

H/T Brock Michael Napoli

Noted

An EVG reader shared these photos from this morning on 10th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C... where there's a chalk campaign about the overflowing trash... and trash dumped on the sidewalk... with a "10th Street pride" message...

Perhaps the city's new official trash can, NYC Bin, will alleviate these kind of problems?

The end and beginning of curbside dining

Photo outside Ruffian on 7th Street on Thursday by Derek Berg 

The deadline for restaurants to apply for the city's new outdoor dining program passed Saturday at midnight. 

If you didn't apply for Dining Out NYC, your curbside dining structure needed to come down, per the Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the program.

⚠️Attention Restaurant Owners with Outdoor Dining⚠️

Today is the last day to apply for Dining Out NYC or you must remove your outdoor dining setup.

Applications must be submitted before midnight.

Learn more and apply at https://t.co/7vrQgVYexi pic.twitter.com/8NnpHo3DnY

— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) August 3, 2024

In the past week or so, we have seen at least a dozen restaurants remove their pandemic-era curbside structures, including Gnocco on 10th Street just west of Avenue B, which in June 2020 was one of the more attractive-looking spots with its plants and umbrellas.

Many structures remain, as you've noticed. Perhaps these establishments applied for Dining Out. According to the DOT, they received fewer than 3,000 applications as of Saturday afternoon, per Gothamist. 

That's in contrast to the 13,000 participating in the temporary program in 2020. We spoke with an employee of one such place that didn't apply and still had its structure up outside. The employee didn't seem too concerned that a stretched-thin DOT would be out in force the first few days after the deadline passed.

Well, you have to figure the city is seeing $$$. Back to Gothamist: "Establishments that fail to do so would face a $500 fine for the first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense until the outdoor setup is removed." 

As previously noted, the significant change with the new guidelines is that enclosed, year-round roadway dining structures will no longer be permitted. The revised regulations stipulate that roadway cafes must now be open-air, easily portable, and simple to assemble and dismantle. 

Additionally, these establishments are restricted to operating only from April through November. Lastly, Nov. 29 marks the conclusion of the roadway dining season under the permanent program, and all roadway setups must be removed until the spring. (Sidewalk cafes are permitted year-round.)

The application review process for roadway dining can take up to five months and for sidewalk dining, up to six months, CBS 2 reported. And, "Within 30 days of approval or by November, they need to submit a plan to meet the DOT's new outdoor dining guidelines."

Meanwhile, we'll be curious to hear the reaction to the new structures. 

Shiso Omakase could serve as a litmus test on Ninth Street between Second and Third Avenue. 

A new curbside space went up earlier this summer outside the under-renovation building (and adjacent to a portable toilet for the construction workers). This is how it looked before completion.

Notices — since removed — were posted on the structure stating that the setup had been approved by the DOT and was "not illegal as the building (214 E. 9th St.) falsely claimed." 

Then! 

The dining platform should not and can not be tampered with. By doing so, you will be bringing forth a lawsuit against you and any members involved, including the building." 

The letter says the structure is valued at $17,500. 

And to repeat later: 

Under no circumstances may the dining structure be damaged, removed or tampered with in any way, shape or form or you will be charged with a felony offense by the NYPD as well as bringing forth legal charges against you, your company, and the building.

Community Board 3's SLA committee has two items on its August agenda related to outdoor dining — a sidewalk cafe for Bowery Meat Company on First Street (which, if memory serves, had one before the pandemic) and curbside dining for Motel No Tell on Avenue A at 13th Street. Those items will not be heard during the meeting, however.