Photos by Cecil Scheib
A view to the west this morning, where the rising sun reflected off the windows...
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Monday, January 27, 2025
L.A. Fire Relief shows continue at Berlin, the Bowery Electric and Heaven Can Wait
The New York music scene is coming together to raise funds for the fallout caused by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Each night's ticket proceeds will go directly to mutual aid efforts providing resources, support, and relief to those affected by the fires. In addition to live music, there will be DJ sets, tattoos, raffles, and more. Any ticket purchased will be honored at all venues day of show, capacity allowing.Shows continue tomorrow and Wednesday night at...
Today in skywriting
Thanks to Ms. Wildflower and Mark H. for the photos...
D.A. Bragg announces sentencing of shooter in gang-related murder on 3rd Street and Avenue D
Photos from May 2022 by Stacie Joy
A man who reportedly gunned down a rival gang member in May 2022 has been sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison.
On Friday, Manhattan D.A. Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced the sentencing of 20-year-old Zymir Humphrey for murdering 21-year-old Brandon Atkinson on May 15, 2022, on Third Street and Avenue D. That shooting set in motion a series of retaliatory deadly shootings.
According to court documents and statements, the case involved members of rival local gangs, Up the Hill and Down the Hill.
Per the DA's office:
In May of 2022, an associate of Up the Hill was the victim of a robbery and Humphrey, who was a member of Up the Hill, believed that the rival gang was responsible. Atkinson, although an associate of Down the Hill, was not part of the robbery.
As admitted in the defendant's guilty plea, on May 15, 2022, at approximately 11:15 p.m., Atkinson was at a deli near East Third Street and Avenue D. Humphrey traveled to the area, which was believed to be territory belonging to the rival gang, and shot Atkinson in the back of the head. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.U.S. Marshals arrested Humphrey in West Virginia in July 2022 and extradited him back to NYC. This past November, he pleaded guilty in New York Supreme Court to one count of Murder in the Second Degree.
"Zymir Humphrey shot and killed Brandon Atkinson in a cruel and vicious act of gun violence," Bragg said in a statement. "Senseless cycles of retribution continue to fuel gun violence that destabilizes our communities and, far too often, results in the deaths of young New Yorkers. As Manhattan district attorney, tackling gun violence remains my top priority."
Atkinson's death was part of a sprawling gang feud that also saw two local residents murdered in the Bronx. According to published reports, LES resident Nikki Huang, 23, allegedly had her purse stolen by a member of the Down the Hill gang. Huang, who was said to have friends in the Up the Hill gang, told them about the snatching.
As the Post reported, the payback started with Atkinson's death.
Later that night, two Up the Hill members were shot and wounded on Pike Street. Huang and a friend from middle school, Jesse Parrilla, 22, were also kidnapped and executed that night near the Pelham Split Rock Golf Course in the Bronx.
Parrilla, a former college basketball player who lived with his mother on 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, was said to be an innocent bystander. According to press reports, he simply gave a longtime friend a ride.
Three suspects have been charged for the murders of Huang and Parrilla. Those cases remain active. A fourth suspect remains at large.
Before the sentencing on Friday, Humphrey offered an apology. "I would like to apologize to Nikki Huang's family because, in all reality, she didn't have anything to do with [any] of this. Jesse's family also," the Daily News reported.
While being led out of the courtroom, Humphrey told someone in attendance to "smoke that weed," per press accounts.
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A memorial for Brandon Atkinson on the corner of Third Street and Avenue D from May 2022
Previously on EV Grieve:
• After deadly shooting, fearful residents speak out about the drug activity on Avenue D & 3rd Street
Madonna endorses Baz Luhrmann's new East Village bar Monsieur on 4th Street
The bar is reportedly owned and operated by the acclaimed Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann ("The Great Gatsby," "Elvis" and "Moulin Rouge!"), his Academy Award-winning production designer wife, Catherine Martin, and Golden Age Hospitality (The Nines, Le Dive, Acme, and Deux Chats).
In its first week, Madonna endorsed the establishment in an Instagram carousel featuring Luhrmann, Akeem Morris, Jeremy O. Harris, and others. Per the post: "When you're feeling down, go to Monsieur."
Vogue had a sneak preview of Monsieur in an online post on Jan. 16:
When touring the space — formerly gay club The Boiler Room — Luhrmann spied a stained glass window. It was a lightbulb moment. He and Martin were in the throes of visual research for their upcoming film, Joan of Arc, visiting castles in Cologne and studying suits of armor. What if the bar took the form of a gothic medieval lair meets rock-and-roll club?And so, the fictional namesake proprietor of Monsieur was born: a man of the Middle Ages, who, like Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, mysteriously never ages as he moves through the centuries adopting various personas until he becomes a nightlife impresario. "This was given to Monsieur when he first started out in a foreign country to remind him that he was a bellhop," Luhrmann says, pointing at a bellhop figurine. "Even though he tells people vaguely that he’s from royalty, he knows that he was a bellhop."Next, Martin got to work to distill that sprawling vision into a series of rooms. She sourced Jacobean revival chairs from Chairish and 1stDibs. She found modern-day tapestry makers. She even discovered a sculptor named Cardboard Dad on Instagram and commissioned him to make a cardboard suit of armor, which she then put in an aquarium case. ("It was going to be a real aquarium with armor and jellyfish," says Luhrmann, who believes Monsieur also had a previous stint as a pirate. Martin gently pointed out the impracticality and suggested this as an alternative — "I love it darling, brilliant, but absolutely impossible to do," Luhrmann says she told him.)She crafted cabinets of curiosity and commissioned an artist to make a stained glass window where the aforementioned pet chimp Thibault reads The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Meanwhile, Neidich collected photographs by New York nightlife legend Dustin Pittman to hang on the walls. Then he developed the menu. It includes shrimp cocktail, jamon iberico, grilled cheese, and (fittingly) croquettes monsieur with osetra caviar.
Luhrmann's involvement with the new bar surprised a few residents we talked to after the Vogue piece came out. For the record, no one was particularly upset by this — just curious about what the clientele would be like and how scene-y it would be even though Luhrmann told Vogue "we're not naturally incl,ined towards hanging out with the establishment." (Still, Madonna arriving the other night in a black town car to a menu of croquettes monsieur with osetra caviar, served in a space dubbed a "medieval lair," doesn't exactly scream "neighborhood spot" for the locals.)
After 30-plus years as a dive-y neighborhood bar with a pool table and jukebox, The Boiler Room closed last April ahead of a move to a new space on Second Avenue. (Management said the building's landlord at No. 86 had them in a two-plus-year court battle over pandemic-related back rent payments.)
Golden Hospitality's Jon Neidich and Craig Atlas received Community Board 3's approval for a new liquor license for the address in January 2024. The questionnaire on the CB3 website includes a letter from Neidich describing the still-unnamed venue this way: "In terms of concept, we are looking to create a great neighborhood spot which welcomes guests of all orientations and genders, and like Boiler Room is welcoming to all."
There wasn't any mention of Luhrmann's involvement at this time.
Golden Age Hospitality is renovating Lucy's at 135 Avenue A for its next EV project. In a letter to the local block association, Neidich told them that their "involvement is solely premised on preserving an East Village institution: Lucy herself will very much still be a part of this project (and will still be behind the bar!). We will not be changing the concept or design of the space (we will be adding some soundproofing in the ceiling and an ADA bathroom)."
Schmackary’s coming back
Photo by Seth Treiman
Schmackary's is returning to the neighborhood.
Signage is up at 127 Fourth Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street for an outpost of the bakery offering a variety of cookies, brownies, etc.
The business was previously at 35 Cooper Square between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. After a July 2019 debut, they didn't reopen following the pandemic PAUSE of March 2020. (That Cooper Square space is now Librae Bakery.)
According to the brand's Instagram account, this outpost will open on Feb. 1. The company also has locations on West 45th Street and in Englewood, N.J.
No. 127 was last home to MiGarba, the Italian cafe that closed in December 2020 "due to New York [COVID] restrictions and unsustainable rent." A Glosslab was set to take the storefront, but the signage eventually disappeared.
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Week in Grieview
• A visit with Anne DeVita (Wednesday)
• Reports: 20-year-old East Village man dies in stabbing on the Lower East Side (Sunday)
• Cat power: Crowdfunding to keep Ollie's Place open on 9th Street (Monday)
• Taking a look at the all-new Baker Falls, now in soft-open mode on the Lower East Side (Wednesday)
• An afternoon with Ray (Thursday)
• The now-former Korean Street Foods space is for rent on Avenue A (Wednesday)
• A look at East Village boutique Pink Lion, a recent arrival on 9th Street (Thursday)
• From repairing to storing cars: A new era for the former Ludlow Garage (Friday)
• Tacombi is not reopening on 12th Street (Tuesday)
• Signage alert: Smashed on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday)
• Openings: Tiki Tiki on First Avenue (Tuesday)
... and if you've joined or migrated to BlueSky in the new year, you can find EVG there...
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Sunday Morning opens this... Sunday morning on Avenue B
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
The cinnamon-roll specialists at Sunday Morning are set to debut tomorrow (Sunday!) morning at the cafe, 29 Avenue B, between Second Street and Third Street. (First reported here.)
Co-owners Armando Litiatco (below left) and Ahmet Kiranbay were testing a batch yesterday ...
They'll be offering eight varieties (menu here).
Per their website: "Our cinnamon rolls are made in the classic American style. A soft, pillowy, save-the-center-for-last kind of roll."
There are various coffee drinks available, too.
Hours tomorrow: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Afterward, the hours will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
If there is a huge-ass line on 10th and A in the East Village, then Danny & Coop's must be open
Opens at noon today and tomorrow. Moving forward, the shop will be open every weekend starting Fridays at 5 p.m.
Thanks to the reader for the line pic yesterday!
Friday, January 24, 2025
Friday's parting shot
In 'Memory' Of
NYC's Pop Music Fever Dream — veterans of Show Brain's summer shows in Tompkins Square Park —just released this new video for their song "Elegy for Memory" (from the Songs for Emotion EP).
PMFD will be playing the New Colossus Festival around the neighborhood in early March. Check them out if you can.
From repairing to storing cars: A new era for the former Ludlow Garage
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
The decades-spanning business at Ludlow Garage has officially come to an end.
The keys to the building at 151 Attorney St. between Houston and Stanton are now in the new owner's possession. As we reported in November, he will use the space as a private garage for his luxury car collection, with a state-of-the-art security system. The new owner will keep some exterior signage here for "decorative use only."
Owners Jerome Vasconcellos (below right) and his brother-in-law, Mario Marques, wrapped up 50-plus years in business and are ready to enjoy retirement. (Ludlow Garage was on Ludlow between Rivington and Stanton before moving to Attorney Street in 1982.)
They invited me inside for a last look...
Despite the neighborhood's continued transformation in recent years, the single-level shop persevered for decades, serving as a steadfast reminder of the community's more blue-collar roots.
While the garage and repair shop are closed, their body shop across the street at No. 152 remains in operation and managed by a few long-term employees.
Per their recommendation, Mario and Jerome's customers looking for a tune-up, state inspection, electrical, transmission, and brake work can get their vehicles serviced by Edwardo and Domingo at Cibao Auto Repair, located uptown at 73 E. 130th St.
You can read our previous post for more about the business and why the two decided to retire.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Thursday, January 23, 2025
A two-evening tribute to Gary Indiana at Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives is on the SE corner of Second Street and Second Avenue.
An afternoon with Ray
Photos by Stacie Joy
This month, Ray Alvarez turns 92, and 2025 marks the 51st year in business for his NYC institution — Ray's Candy Store.
I stopped by the shop on Avenue A and spent a recent afternoon with Ray as he diligently worked on orders of deep-fried Oreos (sorry, we can't share the recipe!), beignets, and other specialties of the house...
... and chatted with customers...
Ray's Candy Store is at 113 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.
Reminders: The next informational session about the former P.S. 64/Charas/El Bohio Community Center is TONIGHT
Photo by Stacie Joy
In case you missed our post about this last week:
"We're hoping to see a diverse group of community members join us," Q Impact Solutions founder Quamid Francis, who led the first discussion on Oct. 25, told EVG. "We anticipate that a plurality of the same information will be covered, as there are no new
significant updates to share at this time. Still, we thought of having another session to accommodate community members who missed the last session during the day." (See our recap post here.)
Speakers include representatives from Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Denham Wolf Real Estate, who will speak on behalf of the property's buyer.
Per the invite:
Whether you're a longtime supporter or new to the cause and neighborhood, this informational session will provide valuable updates. Don't miss the opportunity to connect with your fellow community members and engage in meaningful and collaborative discussions!
Previously on EV Grieve:
A tribute to David Lynch at Village East by Angelika
Updated: The screenings are all sold out.
Just-announced screenings:
• Blue Velvet
Friday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.
Tickets
• Mulholland Drive
Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.
Tickets
• Eraserhead
Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.
Tickets
Village East by Angelika is on Second Avenue at 12th Street.
A look at East Village boutique Pink Lion, a recent arrival on 9th Street
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Pink Lion is one of the newer businesses to open along the eclectic block of small specialty shops on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
I recently stopped by to talk with Debbie Mangual, the owner, and Alex William, the shop's marketing and strategy director.
Mangual, originally from New Jersey, always dreamed of owning a shop in NYC... and it all came to fruition with the clothing boutique's opening at 318 E. Ninth St. this past fall...
Why did she choose the East Village?
"I love the vibe ... the mix of cultures, young people with their own style. The East Village gives 1980s-1990s vibes," Mangual said.
Daily hours: 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
You can follow the shop on Instagram here.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Wednesday's parting shot
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