Occupy Wall Street at Washington Square Park today

Part of #SolidaritySunday

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Hanging up the skates for the winter?

Ninth Street and Avenue C.

Photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Avenue C.

Week in Grieview

[13th Street and Third Avenue]

7-Eleven coming to St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Looking at the demolition of 9 Second Ave. (Tuesday)

Another look at the theater inside East Village Farms (Wednesday)

CBGB redux? (Wednesday)

RIP Mike Hamm (Friday)

Campaign to be vigilant about the construction at 315 E. 10th St. (Friday)

Marketing the Mystery Lot (Saturday)

Justine Joli helps Ray celebrate No. 79 (Monday)

Last night at the Holiday

The current incarnation of the Holiday Cocktail Lounge closed for business after last night... Matt LES_Miserable sent along a few photos taken in the early evening... We heard that the place was packed for a good part of the night...

And now, the speculation begins as to what is taking over the space...

The Blockbuster on East Houston is closing

Several readers emailed us this weekend with news that the Blockbuster on East Houston (part of the Red Square strip) is closing. Well, we've heard this before as far back as December 2009. BoweryBoogie heard the rumors too.

Plus, the store has been on the block for a year now, via JDF Realty... (And it appears Sleepy's is part any lease deal here...)

"All uses considered" according to the listing.

However, a Blockbuster employee confirmed the closure. The employee said that this Blockbuster has ended its rental service. (Yesterday people could only pick up one-day rentals.) The location will stay open through February for a liquidation sale, the employee said.

On Jan. 12, Dish Network Corp CEO Joe Clayton told Reuters that the company will be closing more U.S. Blockbuster stores across than it had originally planned, and will turn the remaining outlets partly into Dish customer-service points.

Dish bought Blockbuster last May in a bankruptcy auction for about $320 million, per Reuters.

And so, the DVD rental business is just about dead. Two Boots on Avenue A seems to be the only place left in the neighborhood to rent DVDs. Even the Blockbuster kiosk inside Duane Reade on 14th Street near First Avenue is gone.

Mondo Kim's is long gone... Cinema Classics is long gone... Intervideo Electronics on First Avenue will become a Subway (sandwich shop).

Of course, you can check out DVDs from the Ottendorfer and Tompkins Square Park branches of the New York Public Library.

A tribute to Louisa May Alcott on Avenue B

Heidi Klum's shitty week continues

Spotted on Third Avenue and Ninth Street.

Stolen bicycle

Spotted on 14th Street and Third Avenue.

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Today in Tompkins Square Park. Photos by Bobby Williams.

h/t Jim Kerr.

Last call at the Holiday Cocktail Lounge tonight

As we first reported Thursday, the iconic Holiday Cocktail Lounge is closing tonight. The building at 75 St. Mark's Place has been sold, and the people who have been running the bar since Stefan died in February 2009 are out.

And while the place had started creeping into sports bar territory (featuring the Jagerettes!) at times, we'll still really miss the Holiday.

There are all sorts of silly/absurd/funny rumors making the rounds. We'll hold off on those for now.

If you happen to go tonight, then please let us know how it was... (You have photos too?) Perhaps they'll even be another bar brawl out front, as Eater noted Thursday night.

[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

Ken Mac at Greenwich Village Daily Photo first reported on Thursday that Bleecker Bob's would be replaced by a Starbuck's... (Jeremiah followed up on it, and received a lot of comments...)

An EV Grieve reader points us to the Bleecker Bob's Facebook page, where they posted the following yesterday afternoon...

So, they are not closing — just moving. Store spokesperson J.K. Kiptzer, partner of owner Bob Plotnick, told WNYC yesterday that they hope "to find something a little more affordable in the next few months on the Lower East Side." Read more about this possibility at Jeremiah's this morning...

So. Let's help them out. Here's one idea: Avenue A at Fifth Street ... former home of East Village Pharmacy, who moved down the Avenue...

The number on the for rent sign: (212) 473-6349.

Anyone? There is plenty of space available around here...

UPDATED:

We just heard from Ski, assistant manager at Bleecker Bob's.

"The spaces we've checked out so far in the east village are 650-800 square feet at a cost of about $4000 a month. Something like that would be doable."

Watch a red-tailed hawk snatch a rat in Tompkins Square Park

The other day in Tompkins Square Park. Uploaded to YouTube by KiddBowery.

Marketing the Mystery Lot

So you know developers are turning the long-empty Mystery Lot off 14th/13th Streets near Third Avenue into condos... The Real Deal reported yesterday afternoon that the developers "hired Jacqueline Urgo, president of the Marketing Developers, to promote the property, which is slated for groundbreaking this summer."

Jackie! (Jac? JU?) have WE got some marketing ideas for you! Let's talk! [motions with pinky-thumb to ear as if holding a phone].


More on this later. Meanwhile, the future Mystery Lot address is officially 211 E. 13th St. And another tidbit from Real Deal:

The project will feature a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, plus 4,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space on East 14th Street. Amenities include a gym, lounge and roof deck with an outdoor kitchen. Buyers will have a chance to purchase private storage and roof terraces.

And on a clear day, you'll be able to smell bacon.

Reader report: Small fire on St. Mark's Place

Several readers passed along word that firefighters were on the scene late last night on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Looks as if the FDNY was at 20 St. Mark's, high above the Grassroots.

Photo via @IrisBlasi who noted: "Fire on St. Marks. (Seems to be put out; everyone ok)"

Storm clouds on First Avenue

...and at the future home of Starbucks at East Third Street...

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Ughybargy

Fitting song for the week. Squeeze with "Another Nail in My Heart" from 1980.

Neighbors asked to be vigilant about construction at 315 E. 10th St.

As renovations continue at 315 E. 10th St. in the East 10th Street Historic District*, neighbors are being asked to be vigilant about how the work is being done... EVflip sends along photos of these signs spotted on East 10th Street today... (Technically, the sign asks for people to be "vigillent" ... we get it...)

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bid to protect the integrity of 315 E. 10th St.

Landmarks Preservation Commission expedites hearing on East 10th Street Historic District

Workers quickly start dismantling roof of historic 315 E. 10th St.

[Updated] Reader report: Renovations begin in earnest at 315 E. 10th St.

In the shadows of old Astor Place

Photo of Jerry Delakas, the newsstand guy of Astor Place, taken last night by James Maher.

Read more about Jerry's plight at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

On a cloudy day, you can see Fourth Avenue (for now)

The now-demolished 51 Astor Place courtesy of EV Grieve reader peter radley.

Coming soon.

Noted

In "The Hunt" column this week at The Times, two third-year NYU law students go through the trials and tribulations of finding off-campus housing...

"Michael said, 'I don’t care if I am in Alphabet City, as long as I have a nice apartment,'" [real-estate agent Julia] Perez said. That was unlike most of her apartment-hunters. "Everyone wants to have a nice apartment on Second Avenue."