At the start of the 2025 Drag March in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Marking its 31st year, the Drag March launched Pride Weekend last evening with its always festive procession to the Stonewall Inn. 

Participants gathered in Tompkins Square Park before stepping off at Avenue A and Ninth Street to begin their journey to the West Side. 

Spirits were high, and the turnout was strong; the weather was a blessing (it's usually 87 swampy degrees), and I had a blast taking photos.

City pools are now OPEN

Photos by Stacie Joy 

City pools opened for the summer yesterday. 

I stopped by the three local pools ... starting with Hamilton Fish at Houston and Pitt...

Hamilton Fish is also one of the few city pools offering exclusive Adult Lap Swim sessions from 7 to 8:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. (Walk-in registration required July 7 to Aug. 29.) 

Next, on to the Tompkins Square Park mini pool (yes, Tompkins has a mini pool) reserved for kids and their guardians...

... then Dry Dock on 10th Street between Avenue C and Avenue D, by far the most crowded on opening day (granted the temps barely got into the 70s)...

City pools are open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a 3-4 p.m. closure for cleaning and maintenance.

Today (Saturday!) on Avenue B

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Loisaida Open Streets (@loisaida_oscc)

Also: The DOT is proposing a street improvement project on the Avenue B Open Street between East 14th Street and Houston Street. Find the survey here. 

(H/T Edmund John Dunn)

Saturday's opening shot

At the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park. 

And cutting and pasting this Saturday forecast from The Weather Channel: "A shower or two possible this morning with partly cloudy skies for the afternoon. High 83F. Winds light and variable."

Friday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

We'll have more photos from the start of the Drag March in Tompkins Square Park later this weekend...

'Tell' it like it is

 

Brooklyn's Big Girl is one of the bands on the bill this Sunday afternoon (June 29, 2-6 p.m.) in another free Show Brain-sponsored show in Tompkins Square Park.

The video here is for "I Can't Tell" from their EP Dye.

Pride Weekend 2025

Photo from 2024 by Stacie Joy 

The 31st edition of the Drag March will get Pride Weekend underway this evening, starting in Tompkins Square Park at Ninth Street ... with the annual walk-march-protest to the Stonewall Inn. 

Participants will start gathering in Tompkins after 7 p.m. 

Tomorrow, the NYC Dyke March will step off from Bryant Park at 5 p.m. ... heading south to Washington Square Park. This year's theme: "Dykes Say No to Fascism." 

Visit the NYC Pride website for a complete list of Pride-related activities this weekend.

Demoliton awaits the longtime sidewalk vendor space on St. Mark’s Place

Workers yesterday erected plywood around the building extension on the southwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue, ahead of the demolition of the structure. (H/T Steven!) 

As we reported on June 9, the longtime vendors here left earlier in the year... as the building's new-ish landlord planned for removal. 

For decades, vendors sold items like (cheaply made) sunglasses, floppy hats, wigs, (cheaply made) umbrellas, and novelty holiday fare from the kiosks. They were a familiar and welcome presence here. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• A belated farewell to a familiar fixture of St. Mark's Place

The war on the roses

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

There will be no roses 

The Rose Murderer is nipping them in the bud

Friday's opening shot

From 6th and B... school is out for the summmmer.

Hawkward teen phase: Young red-tailed hawks settle into Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven 

The three juvenile red-tailed hawks continue to explore their new home in Tompkins Square Park, seemingly unbothered by this week's inferno. (There are puddles to help.) 

The young ones are entertaining, learning how to use those things called wings...

Here's a recent photo of a post-clumsy exchange between mother Amelia (on the left) and one of the offspring... they are looking at the dinner rat that plummeted to the main lawn.

As Goggla documented (here and here), the hawklets are honing their skills, from learning to hunt ... balancing on tree limbs ... and staring down pesky squirrels. 

This is the first brood for Amelia, the resident female red-tailed hawk in Tomkins Square Park, and her new male companion, aka M2. This marks Amelia's eighth season raising chicks in Tompkins. 

Gnocco celebrates 25 years on 10th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Gnocco is celebrating 25 years in business at 337 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

Owner Gian Luca Giovanetti (above) started serving Northern Italian comfort food in this space in July 2000.

The native of Modena, Italy, previously owned family restaurants and bars there before relocating to NYC. Longtime East Village residents will likely recall his other neighborhood establishments, including Cafe Pick Me Up on the NW corner of Avenue A and Ninth Street, and Perbacco on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

Giovanetti said that Gnocco has always been about more than meals. "It's about moments that mark joy, offer comfort, and bring people together," he said. 

I stopped by the other day, just before dinner service started...

Open daily... Monday-Thursday noon to 10 p.m.; noon to 11 p.m. on Friday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday.

Taqueria Diana has apparently closed on 2nd Avenue

Taqueria Diana has been closed for the last 10 or so days at 129 Second Ave., between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. 

Tipsters report that the space has been cleared out, and delivery is no longer available via the usual apps. There isn't any notice about a closure — temporary or otherwise — on Taqueria Diana's website and social media. (The phone is not in service.) 

The quick-serve taco shop debuted in July 2013. 

News of a closure may not come as a total shock — the building has a newish landlord. In a sale announced last July, Ryco Capital purchased the three buildings at 127-129 Second Ave. and 36 St. Mark's Place from Jonis Realty (which is run by Citi Urban Management, also owned by the Helegua family) for $29 million. 

Next door to Taqueria Diana, Misoya shut down in April. Eim Khao Mun Kai, a celebrated Thai-style chicken-and-rice specialist in Elmhurst, is in the works for that space.

Openings: Empire Gourmet Deli on Avenue C

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Empire Gourmet Deli debuted yesterday at 27 Avenue C between Second Street and Third Street... (and oddly, just a building away from the recently opened 6ixth Borough Deli).

They offer your usual deli-market fare... plus they sell beer...

... and a variety of sandwiches, burgers, wraps, paninis, fresh-squeezed juice, etc.

The previous tenant was Space on Ave C, a smoke shop that was busted and shuttered.

Too hot to handle: Fire truck sinks into this Lower East Side street

Photos by John Huntington 

From today on Eldridge at Grand on the Lower East Side... in the stifling heat, the front tire of a truck from Engine Company 9 on Canal Street sank into the street...

Officials called it a sinkhole... the truck was eventually safely removed ...