Monday, August 11, 2008

At the former site of the Miracle Grill garden

In a post last month, I wondered what was happening at 92 E. 7th St., in what used to be the garden dining area of the Miracle Grill.

Jeremiah has the not-so-surprising answer at Curbed, where he's a guest editor this week. (Hint: it has six stories and eight units....the new condo, not Jeremiah!)



EV Grieve is starting to take photos of sunsets and stuff

Can a record of John Tesh covers be far behind?

[Now with locations -- thanks for the prompt, Ken Mac!]

Second Avenue between St. Mark's and 7th Street looking east.


Second Avenue near 7th Street looking south.

Third Street near Avenue A looking east.

Seventh Street near Avenue B looking east.

Oops...I don't remember....I think Houston near Essex looking west.

Sixth Street near Avenue A looking west.

Avenue B near Seventh Street looking northeast.

Seventh Street and Avenue B looking east.


Houston near Essex looking west.


Known or understood by very few; mysterious; secret; obscure; esoteric

The French-Carribbean place taking over the space that belonged to Bao 111 on Avenue C now has a name...Arcane.


On 51st Street between 8th Avenue and 9th Avenue

How we began to [heart] New York

Here, a high school student looks at the origins of the "I [heart] New York campaign. I give her a B- for her project. She seemed to have problems reading the cue cards.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

First sign of winter



Third Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street. Aug. 10.

Shouldn't be long now until the Christmas decorations are up at PC Richard & Sons!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

No fun? (Hardly): Iggy and the Stooges at Terminal 5

Iggy and the Stooges played last night at a sold-out Terminal 5, that place on the west side on 56th Street and, oh, Weehawken. I'm not much of a concert reviewer...so. About all I can muster at the moment is that it was a great show. And Iggy was probably having more fun than anyone else in the place. He never stood in one place more than four seconds. Per usual, he invited everyone on stage during "No Fun." Here's a snippet of the song that I filmed:



Zeronea shot this footage of "I Wanna be Your Dog," where we lose the former Christodora House resident in the crowd for a minute.



And here's a link to a Stooges clip from 1970...love the local broadcaster trying to make sense of it all...

(By the way, as you may have read, the band had their gear ripped off in Montreal on Monday. It hasn't been recovered.)

Life on Mars Monday


On 7th Street and Second Avenue. Another TV shoot to screw things up. And. Life On Mars?

I prefer this version of Life on Mars...

Friday, August 8, 2008

For Friday evening, The Big Takeover

Bad Brains. CBGB. 1982.

Paying homage to Joan Crawford on Avenue A


Another item from Eater:

The PR behind the new project in the old Julep space, writes in with an update: "This September owners Josh Boyd, Darren Rubell and Jordan Boyd (owners of Plan B and Gallery Bar) launch what they call the LEV's (Lower East Village) first piano bar and cocktail lounge....Varney designed the late Joan Crawford's homes and dedicates the space to her."

LEV?

A bartender at the Library told me a piano bar was opening in the old Julep space on Avenue A. I honestly thought she was joking, though.

Say goodbye to Marion's


Eater bring us the bad news: Bowery pioneer Marion's is closing now for good.

Read their tearful goodbye note here.

You may need some boots for this walk


As you know, there's a public hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday in Vanderbilt Hall at NYU's School of Law to discuss the 141-block rezoning of the East Village and Lower East Side.

Ramping up to that, the Daily News went on a walking tour of the neighborhood with Amanda Burden, who chairs the city planning commission and will lead Wednesday's meeting.

Here are a few excerpts from the article:

She looks at each neighborhood block by block, lot by lot. To her, the city is a jewel that needs constant care and safekeeping.

"Each neighborhood has its own personal DNA," says Burden, who had an immediate impact on the city when she took her position in 2002 by allowing restaurants, bars and cafes additional sidewalk space for outdoor dining. "It's my job to find it and save it."

To understand communities, Burden walks miles of city streets. Armed with a tape measure, sunglasses and comfortable yet stylish shoes (she is, after all, a former socialite), the planning commissioner eyes building heights, studies the flow of people and contemplates how an area's past relates to its present and future.

"It's my job to affect the process for the betterment of the people who live here, shop here and own businesses here," says Burden, pointing to the row of iron fire escapes that give a sculptural frame to the brown brick tenement buildings of the lower East Side.

"I picture myself part of the community. Here, there is a vibrant commercial and residential history. We want to keep ground-floor retail and ensure nothing can be built that will take away from the symmetry of these historic buildings. The magic here is in the density of people using these streets and living together."

"This wasn't here two weeks ago," Burden says, sneering at a vacant lot. "There was a building. Once you lose a building, you lose character and history. The Bloomberg administration is about growth and preservation. This is why we have to act fast to change the zoning, so developers aren't allowed to come in here and build whatever they chose. I don't mind a building that is in context with the others, meaning the same height with architectural guidelines, but small streets shouldn't have large development."

Orchard St. bustles on a Sunday afternoon. People shop, eat outside and ride bikes on narrow streets. Some construction sites show tall buildings made of concrete with no ground-floor retail.

"I'm biased toward skyscrapers," says Henry Brown, a physics student at City College who moved to the neighborhood from St. Louis. "I like them. I don't like ugly buildings. But even if they rezone, won't all these modern stores still look different than the old ones?"

"The essence of the East Village is tree-lined cool streets, small boutiques and community gardens," Burden says, walking along Avenue B toward Tompkins Square Park. "That's its DNA. Once you break it down to that fabric, you can act. Here, we want five- to seven-story buildings and small retail on the first and second floors. And we have to ensure these gardens stay put. No other community has this asset."

EV Grieve FYI: Martin Scorsese edition



Oscar winner Martin Scorsese is in negotiations to direct HBO's drama pilot "Boardwalk Empire." Scorsese already is exec producer on the project, based on Nelson Johnson's book, which chronicles the 1920s origins of gambling mecca Atlantic City. [Hollywood Reporter, via MediaBistro]

After four days of notes from EV Grieve, might as well do one more


I'll be at Curbed for one more day...

"New York is now a museum, a relic"


"Now we end up with this nice, beautiful city, but like Rome or Athens, they were never a leading cultural center again. New York now is a museum, a relic. It's over. I'm not saying you can't be corporate, be picked up here like Britney Spears, but the whole avant-garde, Allen Ginsberg-world can't ever exist here again." -- Clayton Patterson talking to the Observer

Previous Clayton Patterson coverage on EV Grieve is here.

Hawaiian Nights in Midtown

A taste of Hawaii in New York in the 1950s and 1960s...


And today...






[1950s ads via Arkiva Tropika, where a lot more like these came from]

Hmm...was this filmed in the East Village?

At Ninth Street and First Avenue.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Things that I never thought I'd do

Wait in line for expensive pizza.



Doesn't look like much, to be honest. But it was really good.

EV Grieve continues to leave notes from EV Grieve



Well, I'll be on Day Four of the guest stint at Curbed. Here's some of the posts from there the past three days...

The Awful Tooth About This Corner of Chinatown

Future Thoughts: Remember When There Was a Gas Station in the East Village? One That Only Charged $4.35 a Gallon?

Beyond Gentrification

Long, Hot Summer At the Christodora

Development Plans on Pearl Street Now Short Term

Also, the Seller Needs Your Help to Transfer What Remains of a Total Contract Sum of $283,600,000 Out of Nigeria

Jumping on the BLT Bandwagon on St. Mark's Place

Gross Out Tuesdays: A Sign for Every Secretion

Auto Parts Store Fighting More Than One Battle

Recalling a Pre-Gentrified East Village in Black & White

Proposed New East Village Synagogue Looks Suspiciously Like Apartment Building

Well Zippity Doo Da, Tribeca: You're No. 1!

BREAKING WORLDWIDE EXCLUSIVE: Sinkhole filled on Avenue B and 7th Street





EV Grieve's complete sinkhole coverage here.

When will it be time for Pussy Galore in the headline?


As I've mentioned, I only follow the Sean Connery/neighbor-on-71st-Street fued to see how the Post can work in a James Bond reference. So today!:

SON OF 007 FOILS NEMESIS 'DR. NO'
By DAREH GREGORIAN
August 7, 2008

Previously in the Post:

007 IN A FIX OVER TOWNHOUSE
By DAREH GREGORIAN

July 30, 2008
Sean Connery's downstairs neighbors are proving to be a bigger headache for the former James Bond than Dr. No, Blofeld and Goldfinger combined.


'HOUSE ARREST' AT THE CONNERYS'
By MELISSA JANE KRONFELD and CHUCK BENNETT
July 26, 2008
Sean Connery's family nemesis - his neighbor "Dr. No" - was at it again yesterday.

JUDGE POINTS 'SCOLD' FINGER
CONNERY & FOE SPANKED
By DAREH GREGORIAN
MOLD FINGER:Dr. Burton Sultan (left) accuses Sean Connery of causing water leaks and other mayhem at their East Side condo.
December 27, 2007
A Manhattan judge has had enough of a court feud between Sir Sean Connery and his neighbor, and is urging the James Bond star and his arch-enemy Dr. Sultan to make peace.

Remembering the Sic F*cks


Girl About Town has the story on Tish and Snooky, "the legendary ladies of St. Mark's Place." "[F]or a short time in New York City in the late 70s, the sisters were part of local band Sic F*cks, who played their trashy style of glam punk at CBGBs and ruled the East Village."


[UPDATED: Sorry, I had Sick F*cks earlier...not Sic F*cks!]

Tish and Snooky at the Limelight, 1986.


[Video by Nelson Sullivan]

Some vacation



You should never put "vacation" and "school" in the same sentence.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Things that EV Grieve found lying on the sidewalk on Second Avenue and 3rd Street

Another note from EV Grieve



Still doing a little writing over at Curbed this week.

Looking back at the blackout of 2003

GammaBlog gets a jump on the fifth anniversary of the 2003 blackout, which occurred Aug. 14, with this video (which doesn't always seem to work here...you can hit GammaBlog's link below for the video...):


Northeast Blackout 2003 - NYC from GammaBlog on Vimeo.

Police beat


As the sign shows, the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue held an event for the community featuring games for kids, free pens and pencils from the DA's office, safety tips and cops on stilts.

Oh, I didn't ask them about this. Or this.



The black lips


I'm so easy. Deface a movie poster, and I'm going to take a picture of it.

Oh, and speaking of the Black Lips.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Seth Rogen backlash begins

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Water Street, 5:11 p.m., Aug. 5

"Entire blocks were filled with little more than rubble and bricks"


[Photo by Q. Sakamaki]

The Times features photographer Q. Sakamaki today, who has a new book out on Tompkins Square Park. (I did a short piece on it for Curbed today, too, and there was quite a bit of feedback on the topic...)

Upon arriving in the city in 1986 he settled in the East Village, where he was alternately charmed and horrified by what he found. Dilapidated and abandoned buildings lined the streets. Entire blocks were filled with little more than rubble and bricks. Heroin was sold in candy stores, and gunshots sounded in the night. In the morning he sometimes spotted the bodies of people who had been killed or had died of overdoses.

Also, in this week's issue of the Voice, Lynn Yaeger goes on a walking tour of the neighborhood with Sakamaki.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the Tompkins Square Park riots in black and white

Coming soon to an egg cream near you: hazelnut and cappuccino (but not at Ray's)


[Image by rollingrck via Flickr]

Now Alison Nelson, a lifelong New Yorker and the owner of the Chocolate Bar is trying to revive the egg cream with a bit of a twist. With the opening after a relocation to the East Village, she is introducing egg creams in new flavors: hazelnut, cappuccino and another classic New York flavor, black and white (which is half black chocolate and half white chocolate, like the classic cookie). “I was hoping to reinvigorate the egg cream phenom that existed in the early 1900s maybe every diner and soda shop will have it,” Ms. Nelson said. “I wanted to reintroduce the egg cream to a whole generation of people.” (City Room)

[Updated: At 9:07 p.m., I changed the photo I had up of Gem Spa for Ray's. Much better. Was trying to show a real old-school place that had Egg Creams...]

Watching Manhattan (and other movies) in downtown Manhattan


Downtown Express has the story on Movie Nights On The Elevated Acre, which happen every Tuesday in August. Starting tonight. As the paper reports: "The Elevated Acre is a rooftop plaza offering stunning views of the East River, the Brooklyn Heights Esplanade, Red Hook, and the old Ferry Terminal. A seven-leveled concrete amphitheater with a sloping, lushly landscaped garden, the Acre, like the selection of movies screened this summer, is imaginatively conceived."

The schedule:

Tonight: On the Town

Aug. 12: Manhattan

Aug. 19: Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss


An EV Grieve reminder

I'll be doing a little writing over at Curbed.com this week.

Tonight: Captured at Webster Hall


[Image by Clayton Patterson]

Clayton Patterson is the artist and documentarian who has been chronicling the changes in the Lower East Side since he first set up shop here in the early 1980s. Some of his 100,000 photos and 10,000 hours worth of footage went into Captured, which plays tonight at Webster Hall.

Here's a trailer for the film:



Also, Patterson, who grew up in Canada, was featured in yesterday's Toronto Globe and Mail.

Patterson never had much trouble gaining access to the sort of people who might normally be suspicious of a camera in their midst - drug dealers and users, gang members, others on the margins of society - in part because he shoots without judgment. But Captured shows that newcomers to the neighbourhood -- like developers putting up $3-million condos on the Bowery -- are suspicious of his camera.

Previously on EV Grieve:
When I go out my door now, I don’t see anyone I know. I see the loss of a community.”

Wishing you a happy National Underwear Day



As the National Underwear Day Web site says:

Since its inception in 2003, National Underwear Day has been received by the media and the public with great enthusiasm. In the past, we've invaded Times Square each August with scores of gorgeous models to run what started out as a renegade sidewalk fashion show and later became one of the most highly-anticipated fashion events of the year.

This year, to commemorate the sixth anniversary, we're bringing the celebration indoors to the glamorous Espace venue, where a growing crowd of National Underwear Day loyalists, including media and international tastemakers, will enjoy an evening cocktail party atmosphere and a full-fledged fashion show.


You heard it. Full-fledged!

[Photo of Becks from the High Line via the High Line blog]

Looking across at Manhattan in 1939


The Manhattan skyline looms overs the tenements of the Red Hook housing project in the Brooklyn borough of New York in 1939. (AP Photo)