PureGym officially takes over Blink Fitness

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

PureGym officially launched 50-plus locations at former Blink Fitness outposts across NYC and New Jersey on Dec. 4 ... including the East Village stop at 100 Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

New signage arrived here on Friday, making the transition official.

The company has been steadily upgrading and rebranding the former Blink locations to reflect PureGym's model: 24/7 access to what it calls premium equipment at an affordable price point. (The Avenue A location was 24/5, open all night on weekdays but not on weekends.) 

Per a rep: PureGym locations feature a full suite of strength-training equipment — free weights, barbells, racks and assisted machines — along with cardio offerings such as treadmills, ski ergs and rowers. 

Coming soon, however, is a new feature that's already generating some chatter elsewhere: the so-called "entry pods." 

At various locations around the city, members must step into a tube-like portal and scan their membership ID QR code in the PureGym app to access the gym. (Hell Gate recently explored the rollout of these portals.) 

Asked whether the East Village location will be getting the same setup, staff said yes — likely within the next month.

Whether the entry pods ultimately feel futuristic, dystopian, or just mildly annoying remains to be seen — but they're on the way.

Check the website for membership options. 

PureGym is a global operator with some 2.4 million members across more than 700 gyms worldwide. The company operates corporate-owned gyms in the U.K., Denmark, Switzerland and the U.S., along with franchise locations in the Middle East. 

Previously

Scenes from tonight’s 34th annual Tompkins Square Park tree lighting

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The 34th annual tree lighting in Tompkins Square Park took place tonight, continuing one of the East Village's enduring December traditions. 

This year's event, held from 4–5 p.m., was once again sponsored by C&B Cafe and featured the Carolers of Olde New York from Theater for the New City, who filled the park with seasonal favorites. Veselka provided refreshments, helping keep things warm as neighbors gathered around the tree. 

An enduring staple of December in the neighborhood — and a reminder that some East Village traditions are still going strong...

... And some more scenes...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo Tuesday from Tompkins Square Park) 

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• Trinity’s SAFH launches winter coat drive (Dec. 10) 

• East Village venue Drom hopes to keep its beat alive with a 2-night fundraiser (Dec. 8) 

• Residents push to save historic Most Holy Redeemer church (Dec. 9)

• Invader’s Lou Reed mosaic was stolen — an East Village resident brought it back as a wheatpaste (Dec. 10) 

• Residents say ‘do not disturb’ to Holiday Inn rooftop bar proposal on the Lower East Side (Dec. 8) 
• Afterword Bookshop debuts on Sixth Street (Dec. 13) 

• About the ‘Vape TY Deposit Box’ on 6th Street (Dec. 12) 

• At the Romy & Michele Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance at Club Cumming (Dec. 12)

• La Salle Academy unveils NBA-designed court at its newly dedicated Dan Buckley Memorial Gymnasium (Dec. 10) 

• Bluestockings Cooperative hosting final closing sale Saturdays through December (Dec. 12) 

• First frost fallout on 1st Avenue (Dec. 7) 

• Turns out Green Line’s latest ‘shutdown’ on Avenue B was self-inflicted: Witnesses (Dec. 7) 

• Lori Jayne moves out of the Time Out Market on 14th Street (Dec. 9) … Smashed Express moves into the Time Out Market (Dec. 10) 

• Soft openings: Himawari Café on 1st Ave. (Dec. 8) 

• New Korean–Italian restaurant seeking beer & wine license at former Black Seed bagels space (Dec. 8) 

• Another short-lived stint on St. Mark’s: Chocolate DIP appears to have closed (Dec. 8) 

 ... and life imitates art on Second Avenue (photo by Derek Berg)...

Day 1 of the Cookie Walk

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Day 1 of the 2025 Cookie Walk unfolded yesterday at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on Avenue A and 10th Street. 

The annual neighborhood tradition brought a steady stream of visitors down to the church basement, where long tables were packed with dozens of homemade cookies and desserts. 

As always, the setup was straightforward: grab one of the provided boxes (or three) and circle the cookie-lined tables, filling them with your favorites along the way.

This year's Cookie Walk carries added significance. St. Nicholas recently marked its 100th Anniversary Jubilee, and the parish is celebrating the milestone with 100 varieties of cookies, while keeping the event's familiar, low-key format intact. 

New for 2025, the parish has also created a children's storybook inspired by the Cookie Walk, a tale that begins and ends in the East Village, with a few stops in Manhattan in between. 

Day 2 continues today, from noon to 3 p.m. — or until everything is gone. 

Here are a few scenes, starting with Cookie Walk organizer and storybook author Kim Busel (right) and storybook illustrator Tiffany Canjura...

Bridge views

Thanks to Roger Bultot for sharing this Manhattan Bridge view this morning from the LES... with the Brooklyn Bridge through the snowfall in the distance...

Sundays at 11

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A post shared by Save Most Holy Redeemer Historic Church (@savemostholyredeemer)

Find the petition about landmarking here. You can follow the Facebook group Save Most Holy Redeemer Historical Church here.

 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• At what may be the final Mass at Most Holy Redeemer

• At the prayer vigil for Most Holy Redeemer 

• Push continues to landmark East Village's historic Most Holy Redeemer 

• Most Holy Redeemer to halt regular masses this fall amid uncertainty about its future

• Grassroots effort to preserve Most Holy Redeemer grows with weekly vigils

Sunday's opening shot

Tompkins Square Park in the light snowfall this morning (accumulation anywhere from 2-5 inches in the NYC area) ... the snow is expected to taper off by noon, with the sun eventually making an appearance... perhaps some of the snow will stick around for the tree lighting here today from 4-5 p.m.

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

Caroling in Tompkins Square Park today...

Afterword Bookshop set to debut TODAY

Afterword Bookshop opens today (Saturday!) at 216 E. Sixth St., just east of Cooper Square. 

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily ... let us know if you go. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• People keep sending us photos of Afterword Bookshop, opening soon on 6th Street

MoRUS celebrates 13 years today

Via the EVG inbox... 

MoRUS 13th anniversary party 

Saturday, Dec. 13 

5–10 p.m. 

155 Avenue C, between Ninth and 10th streets

Join us at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space for our 13th annual anniversary party. Enjoy live music and drinks as we celebrate 13 years of flipping the negative into positive action. 

Schedule of events:

• 5 p.m. — Radical Bookstore zine release

Live music 

• 6 p.m. — Jada 

• 7 p.m. — Nocona George & Foley 

Live underground comix presentation 

• 8:30 p.m. — Seth Tobocman The prolific graphic artist shares his radical artwork and storytelling. 

Music and dancing to follow 

Bar open all night

Get tickets.

Saturday's opening shot

Early morning view from Seventh Street at First Avenue. 

It looks and feels like snow out there today... and the NYC area is under a winter storm advisory... and you are advised via AccuWeather that snow and flurries will start late this evening, accumulating an inch or two overnight ... expect slippery conditions on sidewalks and streets and staircases, etc.

Friday's parting shot

Tomorrow (Saturday!) is the last day for "Shooting from the Heart," a selection of work from June Leaf (1929–2024) at the Gray Art Museum, 18 Cooper Square across from Fifth Street. 

Per the program: 

Armed with indefatigable energy, an inventive mind, and a wry, closely observing eye, Leaf nimbly navigated the planes of the real and the imagined, holding a mirror up to essential truths while reminding us of our shared humanity. 

She had a studio at 7 Bleecker St. (where she lived with her husband Robert Frank) ... and she spent some of her time in a remote fishing village in Nova Scotia. 

The gallery is open tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's well worth the visit.

Hearing 'Aidan'

 

The shoegaze-y, psych-rock debut record from the Alabama-based duo Sister Ray Davies is now out... the video above is for the first single, "Aidan."

About the ‘Vape TY Deposit Box’ on 6th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

If you’ve walked past 431 E. Sixth St. lately between Avenue A and First Avenue, you may have noticed a small "Vape TY Deposit Box" mounted outside the building. 

It's part of an ongoing project by Laura Tighe, who runs Smilers, the gallery that opened in No. 431 earlier this year. 

Tighe has been quietly collecting empty vape cartridges from neighbors and passersby; the box is available 24/7 for drop-offs.

The cartridges will eventually make their way into a long-term installation Tighe is developing upstairs: The New York Vape Room, a rooftop, greenhouse-like structure built around the city’s discarded vape culture.

So if you've ever wondered who’s gathering those spent cartridges on Sixth Street, it's an artist at work.

Bluestockings Cooperative hosting final closing sale Saturdays through December

Bluestockings Cooperative is winding down operations — and inviting the neighborhood to stop by for a series of final closing sales to both offset the shop's remaining debts and raise funds for a prisoner-solidarity organization. 

The sales take place over the next three Saturdays — Dec. 13, 20 and 27 — from noon to 5 p.m., at 116 Suffolk St. between Rivington and Delancey. 

Organizers describe the events as a chance to "celebrate and grieve" the closing of the long-running, community-minded space. And nearly everything is up for grabs: books, appliances, merchandise, furniture — it's all gotta go, per their announcement. 

Masks are required. 

If you've ever attended a reading, a meeting, a workshop, a film screening, or just browsed the shelves at Bluestockings over the years, this is one last opportunity to stop by, show support, and help the team close out this chapter.

As we first reported on Nov. 28, the storefront is now for rent.

The listing at the Meridian Capital Group website notes that all uses will be considered for the 2,500-square-foot space, "perfect for comedy club, wine bar, gallery, vintage clothing, or fitness." Asking rent: $13,950 

Bluestockings announced on Sept. 22 that it would be closing as a business at the end of 2025, marking the end of a 26-year run as an independent feminist bookstore, café, and radical community space. The retail space closed in September, while the online shop remained in operation. 

In a statement, the worker-owners and staff said daily operations are no longer sustainable, citing health, financial and structural challenges. There was pushback to the narrative, as reported here. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Worker-stewards push back after Bluestockings' abrupt closure

At the Romy & Michele Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance at Club Cumming

Photos and interview by Stacie Joy

Every Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m., Club Cumming on Sixth Street hosts the long-running "Romy & Michele's Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance" — a no-cover, pop-forward hang built around friendship, community and the occasional Post-It request. 

The weekly party is helmed by East Village resident DJ Bright Light Bright Light (Rod Thomas), who has been spinning the tea dance for nearly a decade and brought it to Club Cumming when it opened in the fall of 2017. 

We stopped by on a recent Saturday and asked Thomas a few questions about why he named the event after the 1997 comedy "Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion" (which co-starred Club Cumming owner Alan Cumming), how Post-Its became part of the dance-floor ritual, and why hosting this gathering in the East Village still feels a little magical.

How did the Romy and Michele Tea Dance come about? 

I chose the Romy & Michele's Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance name because I love the film so much. I thought it would be fun to do a silly, lighthearted tea dance whose name lets you know it's about having a blast with your friends, whatever anyone might think, and that it's deeply rooted in a love of pop culture. 

So people can request songs on a Post-It (in the film, the leads, Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow, claim they invented Post-Its), and it's a nice way to make people feel like they can hear their favorite songs in a warm, friendly space. 

When people are requesting songs on Post-Its on the wall, they see what others are requesting, and it's an easy icebreaker. I've seen people laugh at some song choices and get so excited if someone's requesting the same song as them, which happens! So it's been lovely seeing friendships form over the years. 

For me, music is all about connection and community, so being able to run an event that helps create and nurture community is a real proud moment for me. A real joy!

Why does hosting this event in the East Village matter to you? 

Before I moved to NYC, the East Village was like a holy grail of pop culture history to me — seeing it in films like "Party Girl" especially — and all the music history I'd hear about. It feels amazing to be part of this area of the city. It's so creative and so full of life.

You can follow the Romy & Michele Party Instagram account here.   

Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg

Citi Bike Santa on the Bowery today...

SantaCon 2025 arrives Saturday. Prepare accordingly.

SantaCon 2024 outside Solas on 9th Street. Photo by Stacie Joy. 

In case you were blissfully enjoying the holiday season, SantaCon 2025 takes place on Saturday. 

The annual pub crawl — an alleged charitable event, per published reports — kicks off this year at 410 a.m.at 140th and Broadway. From here, the entire tri-state area is effectively under a red alert.

A $17 "donation" gets you a Santa Badge and access to participating bars, mostly in Midtown West and East. And, as always, the East Village remains a main attraction.

Most of the participating local venues remain the same...

• Amsterdam Billiards & Bar, 110 E. 11th St. at Fourth Avenue 

• 10 Degrees Bar, 121 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue 

• The Laurels, 231 Second Ave. at 14th St. 

• Coyote Ugly, 233 E. 14th St., between Second Avenue and Third Avenue 

• Solas, 232 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (serving as a "Huge Venue")

• Bull McCabe's, 29 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue 

• Doc Holliday's, 141 Avenue A at Ninth Street 

• Horseshoe Bar/7B, 108 Avenue B at Seventh Street 

New this year: 

• Sly Fox, 140 Second Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

As we've seen in previous Cons, bars not on the official list also participate, including Downtown Social on Second Avenue at Ninth Street and Eastpoint on Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street. 

Per EVG's Stacie Joy last year: "Though not incident-free, the 2024 edition of SantaCon showed signs of being more manageable than in previous years. For some, that may be a holiday miracle in itself." 

Can we make it two miracles in a row?