The multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park are closed for painting

The multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park are closed starting today... through next Tuesday, Sept. 3. 

Posted signage notes this is to accommodate — gulp — painting... (and H/T to @tf_report!)

This area along Avenue A and 10th Street was closed from Oct. 16 to Dec. 1 for renovations, which included new asphalt and amenities, including a high-low fountain that kids and adults can use simultaneously, three new basketball backstops, and benches.

The courts reopened without any markings — save for around the basketball area. 

As you may recall, the original reconstruction diagrams included a walking track marked by blue paint and painted lines for kickball.

We learned about all this over the weekend, and there wasn't anyone available at Parks HQ to ask. 

So, with this painting, we may see the arrival of a marked walking path and kickball court, something that likely couldn't have been added during the more unpredictable winter weather months. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Big changes are coming to the iconic skate spot in Tompkins Square Park

German supermarket powerhouse Lidl is opening an outpost on the Lower East Side

Lidl, the German supermarket chain with 12,000 stores worldwide, is opening a branch on Grand and Clinton on the Lower East Side. 

On Thursday, Lidl US officially announced that it had agreed on lease terms with affordable housing nonprofit Grand Street Guild for the 23,000-square-foot space at 408 Grand St. that previously housed a Rite Aid. (There were rumors of this pending arrival earlier last week, per the East of the Bowery Instagram account.)

There are several Lidl outposts around NYC, including Queens and Staten Island. When the Grand Street grocery opens next summer, it will be the third in Manhattan. There's one in Harlem now, with a location opening in Chelsea. (And more groceries are on the way.) 

Lidl US first arrived in Virginia in June 2015. The U.S. expansion hasn't been smooth, per a June 24 post on Grocery Dive: 

Renowned across Europe for the potent mix of low prices and high-quality goods that defines its thousands of colorful stores, Lidl arrived stateside with deep pockets, a highly developed private label strategy and a disciplined focus on efficiently running a complex business in a highly competitive environment. 

But instead of steadily growing its U.S. footprint as it had originally intended, Lidl US has moved ahead in fits and starts, prompting questions about why its value-focused business model has trouble gaining traction on American soil.

This retail space is on the other side of Grand and Clinton from Target, which opened in August 2018. (And yes — there's a Trader Joe's nearby too.)

UWS hotspot Bánh Vietnamese Shop House opening a new restaurant in the East Village

The owners of the popular (and well-reviewed) UWS establishment Bánh Vietnamese Shop House are opening a sibling restaurant at 99 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

Signage arrived for Bánh Anh Em on Thursday. (Thanks to EVG reader Seth Treiman for the photo and tip!) 

The folks behind Bánh Vietnamese Shop House, which started as a pop-up during the pandemic "showcasing hard-to-find Vietnamese dishes in NYC," shared more details on Instagram: 

Bánh Anh Em is Chef Nhu Ton’s love letter to our culture, our country, our families and all the brothers and sisters we've met along the way. It's a reflection of the journeys Chef Nhu has taken, traveling countless times across Vietnam by motorbike, rediscovering and re-inventing herself, and deeply immersing in the craftsmanship of Vietnamese cuisine. 

We are profoundly grateful to the generations, the restaurants and the chefs who paved the way for us to be here today, and we hope to honor their spirit through every dish we craft... 

No word yet on a potential opening date.

No. 99 was previously home for two-plus years to Cutlets.

Sunday's parting shot

Photos by Steven 

Taking in the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival today this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park. 

And nearby on Avenue B, a plaque that hasn't been stolen...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included... (with a photo of the Moon and Kendall Jenner's elbow above the Bowery)... 

• Remembering Harold Meltzer (Wednesday)

• Prepping Theatre 80 for its next chapter on St. Mark's Place (Monday) 

• A new East Village home for Gizmo (Thursday) 

• That's all for the East Village Neighbors Community Fridge on 12th Street and 1st Avenue (Tuesday) 

• The new 24-story residential building on 14th and C begins its ascent (Tuesday) 

• Dedicating Raphael Sadonte Ward Jr. Way on the Lower East Side (Tuesday) 

• Why you'll be shopping at Key Food on Avenue A without hearing a random song from the 1980s (Sunday) 

• A second Rogue vintage clothing shop opens on the Lower East Side (Friday)

• Trash fire engulfs car on 4th Street (Saturday)

• On the CB3 docket this month: a new era for Lucy's, another operator for Lamia's Fish Market (Monday) 

 

• Veselka reopens front counter for dining-in customers (Monday) 

• About the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival (Saturday) 

• With help from some friends, The Hard Quartet pays homage to the Stones on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• 9th Precinct issues headphone-theft warning (Monday)

• At the annual Festival Calle 6 (Monday)

• Get well soon, Currant! (Tuesday) 

• Tree down on Avenue A (Wednesday) 

• This week in lines (Friday) 

• A look inside the shuttered Starbucks on Astor Place (Wednesday) 

• FYI: It's NYU's Welcome Weekend (Saturday) 

... and from our ongoing Classic Cars of Avenue C collection...

Astor Place Hairstylists is very much open

In recent days, there have been some unfounded rumors that Astor Place Hairstylists had closed, based mainly on the renovations happening in the ground-floor storefront (ex-Vitamin Shoppe) on the SE corner of Broadway and Astor Place. 

Yesterday, management put up a "We Are Open" banner on the construction plywood above the basement stairs (thanks, Michael Quinn!)...

They also posted a video on Instagram (see below) to ensure that people know it's business as usual here seven days a week (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

Astor Place Hairstylists, founded in 1947, faced an uncertain future during the pandemic. However, with help from some investors, they were able to sign a new lease in 2022. 

 Now take it away, Frankie...

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Astor Place Hairstylists (@astorplacehairstylists)

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

As seen on St. Mark's Place today...

About the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival

The 2024 Charlie Parker Jazz Festival artwork by Lily Qian 

ICYMI... The 32nd edition of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is this weekend ... the annual tribute to the saxophonist includes several free live jazz performances. 

The Saturday portion of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is in Marcus Garvey Park from 3 to 7 p.m. If you're planning a Manhattan road trip, find more info at this link. 

And we've mentioned the Tompkins Square Park portion of the fest tomorrow (Sunday). 

Here's part of Sunday's lineup: 

... the newly minted (2023) Jazz Master Louis Hayes is joined by some of the more impressive talents in modern jazz. Hayes, a one-time member of McCoy Tyner’s trio, has been leading bands since he was a teenager in 1950s Detroit, recorded with John Coltrane and Yusef Lateer, and did stints in quartets with Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderley, as well as time with the Oscar Peterson Trio. He’s supported by the 24-year-old Cameroonian-American jazz vocalist Ekep Nkwelle, a Juilliard grad and rising star of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Alexis Lombre, the Chicago-born pianist, vocalist, and composer whose 2017 debut Southside Sounds pays homage to her home’s artistic and cultural heritage. 

Find the full rundown here. 

Also tomorrow: From 8 p.m. to midnight, there's a Charlie Parker Jazz Festival After Party at Nublu on Avenue C. Details here. 

Parker, who died in 1955 at age 34, lived at 151 Avenue B from 1950 to 1954. That residential building, between Ninth Street and 10th Street, is landmarked.

FYI: It's NYU's Welcome Weekend

Founders Hall on 12th Street this morning

For your information, today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday) mark NYU's Welcome Weekend 2024, when new and returning underclassmen can return to the dorms. 

In the East Village, parking restrictions are in place around the various residence halls along Third Avenue between Ninth Street and 14th Street and on 14th Street and 12th Street. 

Also, the very large (added for the commenter so as not to be "glibly complicit"!) Citi Bike docking station on 11th Street at Third Avenue in front of NYU's Third Avenue North dorm is offline for the weekend. (Thanks, Seth Treiman, for the pic!) ... as is the one on 12th Street just west of Third Avenue.

As always, expect extra vehicular traffic, double/triple parking, and stressed-out parents and guardians.

Trash fire engulfs car on 4th Street

Reporting by Stacie Joy 

The FDNY responded to an early morning report of a sidewalk trash-bag fire on Fourth Street just west of Avenue A, which spread to a parked car.

Local Assembly Member Harvey Epstein shared these photos from around 6 a.m.

It's unclear what caused the trash fire or if someone intentionally set several stacked garbage bags ablaze.

Another EVG reader shared this photo ... after the FDNY combed through and spread out the contents of the trash bags and doused them with water... 

The car appears to be destroyed. There weren't any reports of injuries.

Endless Summer (aka Friday's Parting Shot)

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Early evening from Tompkins Square Park...

'Vision' quest

 

The London-based Crows have a new record coming out on Sept. 27. 

Ahead of that, here's the Interpol-ish track "Vision of Me."

Potty prep ahead of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park on Sunday

Photo by Steven 

A) The annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is Sunday from 3-7 p.m. in Tompkins Square Park. Find the lineup here. 

B) Speaking of lineups, here are the extra porta-potties for the event (as the TSP field house remains under renovation). 

C) is for Charlie Parker, who lived at 151 Avenue B from 1950-54.

EVG Etc.: Broken mailboxes at the Riis Houses; Erewhon-like smoothies at East Village Organic

Reader-submitted photo from along 7th Street 

• NYCHA mailboxes vandalized and broken for months at the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D without fixes (PIX11) 

• ICYMI: Cancer-causing chemicals still lurk under the Jacob Riis Houses 19 years after detection (The City)

• A last-ditch effort to stop Beth Israel closure (Gothamist)

• Mayor Adams on his low-profile DNC trip (City & State) 

• State greenlights NYC evicting more migrant families from shelters (The City) 

• The Sun Shy Spa on Sixth Street near Second Avenue accused of being a brothel (The Post) 

• East Village Organic on First Avenue is selling a similar "Coconut Cloud Smoothie" as those from Erewhon Market, the L.A.-based grocery chain (Gothamist) 

• How those Olympic muffins made their way to the East Village (Gothamist... previously on EVG) 

• About Odre, a new Korean restaurant from Hand Hospitality at 199 Second Ave. near 13th Street (Eater) 

• Props for Bungalow, the newish Indian restaurant at 24 First Ave. (The New York Times ... previously on EVG) 

• Writers, poets, musicians, et al, wanted for the open mic Saturday from 2-5 p.m. at 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden (Instagram link) 

• "Good One" is one of the best movies of the year — EVG ... Saturday's 7:30 p.m. screening includes a post Q&A with director India Donaldson (Village East by Angelika, 12th and 2nd)

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Village East by Angelika (@villageeastbyangelika)

A second Rogue vintage clothing shop opens today on the Lower East Side

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Above from left: Gabriel Celik, Kelsey Jenik and Sophia Romulo 

Today marks the grand opening of the second LES outpost of Rogue at 313 E. Houston St., between Clinton and Attorney. 

This offshoot of vintage clothing entrepreneur Emma Rogue's Allen Street shop offers more clothing options (this weekend with a bin sale of $5 to $20 items) as well as an events space.

This weekend also marks the official drop of the Rogue Zip-Off Jean Jorts (only 100 made), which promise to be a hot item.

Rogue, who was out of town when we stopped by, started selling clothes from her childhood bedroom on Depop and opened her first shop stocked with Y2K and 1990s vintage and secondhand at 53 Stanton St. in June 2021. 

She recently relocated to a larger space nearby at 154 Allen St., where she also showcases other up-and-coming designers. (You can read more about her in this Teen Vogue feature.) 

And info about the opening weekend...

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rogue (@roguegarms)

This week in lines

Photo by Stacie Joy 

We didn't think we'd see a line like the one for the Olympic Village muffins on Second Avenue on Saturday again, but then Kolkata Chai Co. said, "Hold my Chai oat milk soft serve." 

From 4-7 p.m. yesterday, Kolkata Chai Co. at 199 E. Third Street handed out free small cups of Chai oat milk (made with Oatly) soft serve. The line went down Third to B... north to Fourth Street ... and west on Fourth toward Avenue A. 

Per one EVGer: "CRAZY. People waiting hours for a tiny free Oatly oat milk soft-serve sample?"

Thursday's parting shot

Early evening sky view along St. Mark's Place...

A new East Village home for Gizmo

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

After months of searching, the owners of Gizmo have found a new storefront for their sewing supply and repair business.

Rosa Malmed and Hossein Amid recently signed a new lease for 626 E. 14th St. between Avenue B and Avenue C ... and just picked up the keys...

Rosa and Hossein previously looked at this storefront. They circled back to it after finding nothing else in the neighborhood that was within their budget and accessible for customers with mobility challenges.

The new space is in a salon that closed during the pandemic. When they arrived, it was still full of beauty supplies. The couple is currently boxing up the salon's remains to donate.

As renovations continue in the weeks ahead, the iconic Gizmo neon sign that hung in its longtime First Avenue window will return. The phone number (212-477-2773) and website are the same. Hours will be flexible initially, but the couple said they are considering opening five days a week from noon to 6 p.m. 

Rosa and Hossein wanted to express their gratitude for the community's support after news broke in January that they would need to find a new outpost for their longtime business. They are already planning a grand opening celebration. 

Hossein said they want to be open by the end of September, as he wants to be up and running before Halloween. 

"Halloween is my best day," he said. "I love Halloween and all the Halloween people." 

Rosa also confided that she loves Banksy and wants him to come and install a piece of artwork on the side of the building. "Banksy," she said, "if you are out there, I have the key and can make this wall perfect for you!" 

In the interim, much work is needed to prepare the space and move all their stuff from storage. They hope to get some neighborhood volunteers to lend a hand. 

Gizmo spent the previous 32 years at 160 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. Their landlord did not offer them a lease renewal (this on top of rent increases that made it increasingly difficult to stay here anyway). 

Meanwhile, the former Gizmo space remains tenant-free ...

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• That's all for now for Gizmo

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

This evening outside the Star Team, the skate shop starting year No. 2 at 436 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The Moon and Saturn in Aquarius

A dispatch this morning from Felton Davis of the Second Avenue Star Watchers. 

For starters, the moonflowers that he planted in June survived the oppressive heat of July. 

The one that blossomed yesterday evening in the cool air was a beautiful prelude to a magical night in which the day-after Full Moon chased the planet Saturn across the heavens ... and it was not easy to get both of them into a single photo. 

Saturn, at about 1 billion miles away, was a tiny jewel whose rings will flatten out by next April, and then it starts a new seven-year cycle of widening. 

Billed by Space News as an occultation, but not in New York City at ground level. And not everyone who stopped by could see the rings, only those who have taken care of their vision health.