Saturday's opening shot

A new mural for October outside the Second Avenue F stop... work by MOTOMICHI. 

P.S. 

There's a QR code on the wall if you want to try an AR-enhanced version.

Friday's parting shots

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Trinity Lower East Side (hello to Pastor Will above!) on Avenue B at Ninth Street is hosting its annual Blessing of the Animals on Sunday.

There will be a mass at 11 a.m. ... and a "brief" blessing in the garden afterward...

'Number' cruncher

 

Local trio Sunflower Bean is back with a new catchy EP titled Shake.

The video here is for "Lucky Number." 

You can catch the band live at the United Sounds NYC Festival on Oct. 25 in Red Hook. (The bill includes The Dismemberment Plan and Model/Actriz.)

At the Ukrainian Museum, conversation and connections about borders

This fall, New York-based artist Molly Gochman presents "UKR|RUS" and "Dispersed Geographies," which are "two sculptural multi-sited, city-wide installations accompanied by community events and activations, all meant to initiate conversation around borders and prompt reflection on the ongoing war, while simultaneously uniting the Ukrainian communities of NYC." 

Tomorrow (Saturday) from noon to 5 p.m., Gochman is hosting a Community Activation Event, a block party of sorts outside the Ukrainian Museum on Sixth Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square "that will serve as an opportunity to engage with her new works as well as participate in protests, workshops, and more." 

Meanwhile, you may have seen white vinyl pieces situated on sidewalks around the East Village. EVG reader Jacob Ford shared the photo below. Before we heard about "Dispersed Geographies," he tracked down the source of the sidewalk markings. 

Per the organizers:

"'Dispersed Geographies' translates the Ukraine-Russia border into a two-dimensional form, cut from white vinyl into segments. Using the sidewalk as a canvas, Gochman invites the public to interact with the city as a microcosm of the larger world." 

Read more about the project here. Find a Google Map with the pieces here.

"UKR|RUS" will be at the museum through the end of the year.

Oct. 4

A happy holiday to you on this first Friday of October!

Thanks to the dear EVG reader for sharing this from Avenue C and Ninth Street.

P.S.

Not sure if the cap on top means this tree is fireproof.

No last rites for the Rite Aid on 1st Avenue

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The Halloween displays at the Rite Aid on First Avenue and Fifth Street are a bit sparse...

As we've noted, the entire store is a little sparse... but this location will remain open...

Last month, Rite Aid emerged from bankruptcy. Per Reuters: 

Rite Aid will operate as a private company after it successfully completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy... The pharmacy has used its bankruptcy to close hundreds of stores, sell its pharmacy benefit company Elixir, and negotiate settlements with its lenders, drug distribution partner McKesson and other creditors. 

There's signage in the pharmacy department about this... thanking customers and stating that Rite Aid is not going out of business...

Hopefully, they can afford a head for Santa this year!)

6&B Garden’s 41st annual Harvest Fest set for tomorrow (Saturday!)

The 6th Street and Avenue B Garden is hosting its 41st Harvest Festival tomorrow (Saturday!) at the SW corner of Sixth Street and Avenue B. 

Here's what to expect via the EVG inbox... 

 ...from 2-7pm, with free food + music for our community + an enormous list of fantastic raffle prizes from our beloved local businesses (raffle tickets are still just $1 and go on sale at 12:30 p.m. outside the garden on Saturday) with all proceeds going to support the garden. The full list of prize donors can be found on our website, with even more updates forthcoming today and tomorrow.

Thursday's parting shots

Photos by Steven

The milled roadways of Second Avenue and Third Avenue are rough rides for motorists and cyclists... Citi Bikes especially have little bump sensitivity.

Still, you'd think someone would have noticed their bike seat went missing on Second Avenue and Ninth Street today ...

A fall Friday of live music in Tompkins Square Park

Free live music continues this fall in Tompkins Square Park. 

Tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, see a four-band lineup via Show Brain. 

The tentative times:

• 2:10-2:40 — Genre Is Death 

• 3:05-3:40 — Giveth 

• 4:05-4:50 — A Cloud of Ravens 

• 5:15-6 — Ecce Shnak

Monsieur Vo has closed on 2nd Avenue

Monsieur Vo has closed its doors at 104 Second Ave. on the NE corner of Sixth Street. 

Google and Yelp list the well-regarded Vietnamese restaurant as permanently closed. A since-deleted Instagram post noted the following: 

We're bittersweetly announcing that Monsieur Vo Restaurant will be closing its doors after September 21st. If you've been wanting to try our unique menu or if you've been longing for one last visit, now's your chance! 

Come celebrate with us and savor your favorite dishes one last time. Your support has meant the world to us, and we'd love to see you before we say goodbye.

We were tipped off to the closure by an EVG reader who pointed out the Marshal's notice on the front gate dated Tuesday, noting that the landlord is now in possession of the storefront...

The husband-wife duo Chef Jimmy Ly and Yen Vo opened Monsieur Vo here in September 2022. A restaurant rep told us at the time that "Monsieur Vo is the team's love letter to the Vietnamese men in their lives — including fathers, uncles, brothers — and the dishes they love to eat." 

Last fall, Monsieur Vo was one of 11 new establishments added to New York's Michelin Guide. 

The Second Avenue address was previously their spinoff Madame Vo BBQ, which debuted in 2018 ... though it didn't reopen after the PAUSE of March 2020. Pandemic aside, they couldn't reopen while that block was closed following the devastating fire that destroyed Middle Collegiate Church in December 2020. 

The couple still operates Madame Vo at 212 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (It's excellent if you haven't tried it yet.)

Signage alert: Halal Bites Pizza on 1st Avenue

Signage is up now for Halal Bites Pizza at 59 First Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street. 

Per the awning (with the melty font and Pac-Man knock-offs), this establishment will offer slices for $1.50. 

The business takes over for Giggles Convenience, whose notable awning featured a hat-wearing skeleton smoking a bong. The unlicensed weed shop was busted more than a year ago. 

Gothamist published a piece last week about all the illegal cannabis places shuttered, leaving behind pockets of empty storefronts in neighborhoods with no apparent timelines for new leases. Perhaps cheap slicerias are the answer.

And now, Austin Butler (in character) carrying a bag of laundry

Photos by Stacie Joy 

This afternoon's filming of the 1990s crime thriller "Caught Stealing" was centered on Sixth Street at Avenue A. Austin Butler's character is spotted depositing a garbage bag on the sidewalk and carrying a laundry bag (we're guessing TBH)...

He was also seen huddling with director Darren Aronofsky (an East Village resident with an impressive body of work)...

... and walking alongside the resurrected Benny's Burritos...

And a few other set pieces... featuring some familiar names from the past...

As we've been reporting, "Caught Stealing," based on Charlie Huston's novel of the same name, has been giving parts of Avenue A a 1990s look during the shoot, which is expected to last through Friday. 

The impressive cast includes Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Will Brill, Bad Bunny, Griffin Dunne, Vincent D’Onofrio and Action Bronson.

Why Dan Perino has been plastering the East Village with his 'perfect woman' flyers

Photos and text by Stacie Joy 

Dan Perino. 

If the name isn't quite familiar, perhaps his headshot is — or, more likely, his flyers. 

Ten years ago, Perino started plastering the neighborhood and other parts of NYC with flyers stating that he was "Looking for a Girlfriend," prompting various levels of contempt and curiosity. 

After a nearly 10-year hiatus, the flyers returned with the same headshot in the spring, this time "Looking for the Perfect Woman." 

In recent weeks, the messaging has evolved with declarations of "Starting my Gangster Rap Career" or "Looking for my Next Ex-Wife" ... and in a nod to the most recent presidential debate, "They're Eating all the Pussy in Springfield."

In a Facebook post, I wondered if Perino was OK. 

He responded and, after an exchange, agreed to an interview. 

Perino, 61, lives in the East Village. 

We met on the sidewalk near his apartment (sorry, ladies — I didn't get to go inside). He looks leaner than in his 2014-era headshots and now has a beard speckled with gray.

Perino had just been to an afternoon wine tasting, he confides. He showed up with a stack of flyers under one arm and a roll of masking tape on the other — always on the job.

Trying to narrow down 50 questions at once, I ask, What gives? 

"I was never looking for a girlfriend, never looking for the perfect woman. I was presenting a question to the public," he says. "I get a lot of answers. My goal was to question people, and I've gotten answers from Africa, Germany, all over the place ... people wanting to marry me. And famous people wishing me luck. If I found my version of what I was looking for, I wouldn't run away."

He continues. "I am entertaining the public. It's a social experiment, a study of human behavior and self-promotion. I'm an actor. This is performance art." 

Perino says that he made 70,000 flyers with his new series. He boasts he can post 300 flyers in an hour. He "pretapes" as he's walking, "so I can put the flyer up fast. It's a special way I pretape them." 

He goes out several times daily to post and beyond the East Village, flyering up all downtown areas. 

Perino estimates he's gotten over 5 million replies and claims to have kept a record of them. He gets calls, texts, and emails and has a separate phone for each.

If you message him, will Perino answer your queries?

"If it's a sincere question, I will answer it," he says. He estimates that sometimes he receives 100 texts an hour or 150 phone calls. He mentions constantly deleting voicemails. 

He says that since he's walking 15 to 20 miles daily and posting flyers, he's slimmer than in the original photos. Still, despite the years of looking for girlfriends, Perino remains single, and has only dated two women he met through his flyer posting. 

"I'm a workaholic. I get up at 5 a.m. or earlier and think about stuff. People don't do that anymore," he says. "I might create an art piece and then plan my day. And at 11 p.m. I'm still up, reading a book." 

So, what does Dan Perino do when he’s not creating and posting flyers? 

"I started out as a house painter and plasterer. And I still do that; I make a lot of money," he says. "I am also a visual artist and designer." He posts 16 different flyers for his painting and plastering business — using different fonts and styles to attract different clientele. (He started hanging flyers in NYC in 1979, he says.)

"You know, some flyers will have some misspelled words. Some have fancy fonts. I use different flyers for different responses." 

When I asked him if he printed his own flyers, he said no. He has a business he uses in Midtown that prints them, and he’ll pick them up and do the cuts himself. He uses a local storage place to store his extra materials and supplies. He also says he hires two designers to assist him with his creations.

Does he ever get a negative response when hanging his flyers on the streets? 

"A lot of middle-aged women took it hard. They said, 'How dare you?' and how could I be looking for the perfect woman if I'm not perfect? I tell them it's fun, opening a conversation; it's performance art," he says, claiming that businesses and restaurants like having his fliers posted outside as it draws interest.

So, what's next for Perino? 

"I'm working on a P. Diddy flyer, mentioning the baby oil."

The return of Hitchcocktober at the Village East by Angelika

An annual fall classic is back... as a selection of Alfred Hitchcock's finest will screen again on Wednesday nights this October Hitchcocktober at the Village East by Angelika. 

Here's this year's rundown, starting tonight: 

• Oct. 2 — "North by Northwest" 

• Oct. 9 — "The Man Who Knew Too Much" 

• Oct. 16 — "The Trouble With Harry" 

• Oct. 23 — "Strangers on a Train" 

• Oct. 30 & 31 — "Psycho" 

There are two screenings each night (and it is well worth seeing "Psycho" in the big auditorium, Jaffe Art Theatre). 

Find ticket info here. 

The Village East by Angelika is on Second Avenue at 12th Street.

Openings: Nosh Up on St. Mark's Place

Photo by Steven 

Nosh Up is in grand-opening mode now at 24 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

The deli-market sells fresh-made sandwiches, grilled paninis, salads, quesadillas, etc. 

Posted hours are 6 a.m. to midnight. (There's also a Nosh Up Deli & Grill in Astoria.) 

The business takes over for Jewels, the body jewelry and piercing parlor. The address has a lot of recent history—Ben & Jerry's! Pinkberry! No. 24 was also the Ice Cream Connection in the early 1970s before the owners of Dojo opened the Japanese restaurant here in 1974 (RIP 2007).

Are you Ready for a 24/7 self-service, autonomous golf simulator studio?

Who says NYC is no longer a 24/7 town? 

Ready Golf Club is set to open this fall at 300 E. Fifth St. just east of Second Avenue. 

According to its website: 

Ready Golf Club ("RGC") is a self-service, autonomous golf simulator studio that provides customers access to practice and play over 300 courses in an enclosed indoor space. Our mission is make the world's best golf simulation technology accessible to everyone. 

And! 

Our facility comes equipped with two full-sized bays, outdated with the industry standard Trackman Indoor Optimized (iO) system. Using radar, infrared, and high-speed imaging the iO provides cutting edge real-time data - including 3D spin and spin axis. 

And it's open around the clock...

Members received discounted pricing on the digital links...

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ready Golf Club (@ready_gc)

The space was most recently Love Thy Beast, the dog boutique that moved to a larger space in Brooklyn in September 2022.

Tuesday's parting shot

Crossing Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place early this evening... no sign of Second or Third Avenue on the DOT's Weekly Resurfacing Schedule (crews milled the avenues the week of Sept. 16). 

Vehicles are currently parked where the bike lanes were (despite notices not to park there) on Second Avenue. The bike lanes will return with the resurfacing...

Celebrating the life and work of longtime East Village artist Anton van Dalen

Anton van Dalen with his pigeons from the documentary "Anton: Circling Home." 

 Photo by Anthony Lindsey. 

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

P·P·O·W, the gallery that represented him over the years, is hosting a celebration of his life and work this Saturday afternoon from 2-4 at the SVA Theatre, 333 W. 23rd St., between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue.

Organizers encourage folks to RSVP, which you can do via this link. 

As P·P·O·W stated: 

Immigrant, humanist, artist, activist, educator, and lifelong pigeon keeper, Anton van Dalen dedicated his life to documenting the Lower East Side's evolution from dilapidation to gentrification in paintings, drawings and sculptures that, as the critic and poet John Yau states, "arose out of a meticulous draftsmanship in service of an idiosyncratic imagination merged with civic-mindedness."

Cyber Cafe joins Kim's Video and Benny's Burritos in 1990s throwback for 'Caught Stealing'

Photos by Stacie Joy 

A late-1990s-looking Avenue A and Sixth Street will be the epicenter of filming this week for the Darren Aronofsky-helmed crime thriller "Caught Stealing." 

Filming is expected to continue here tomorrow through Friday. 

Yesterday saw the arrival of the Cyber Cafe signage on A to go next to Kim's Video (RIP 2004).

... and the prop folks added more details to the resurrected Benny's Burritos (RIP 2014) on the corner...

The crew also continues to work on the Nenos Pizza set on the Sixth Street side at A (Amor Y Amargo). It's not quite our Nino's from Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.

Also spotted on Sixth Street for the shoot... a REVS COST tag... (we already noted the Obey Giant wheat pastes on Sixth).

The film stars Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Bad Bunny and, most recently, Action Bronson. 

The plot, based on Charlie Huston's novel, per IMDB: 

Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson (Butler) unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Kim's Video is the latest of the departed Avenue A businesses to return for a set piece

• On Avenue A, Benny's Burritos returns for the movies 

• Dressing up Avenue A for a 1990s crime thriller