The only free-standing single-family mansion in Manhattan can be yours (for $30 million)

Seems reasonable to me! Considering what you get at 351 Riverside Drive at the northeast corner of 107th Street, the home known as the Schinasi Mansion. According to New York Architecture, the Schinasi mansion was built in 1909 for Morris Schinasi, an immigrant from Turkey who made his fortune introducing Turkish tobacco to the United States. There's plenty of fascinating history about this space.

This is info on the place from Brown Harris Stevens, who featured the pad in their spring-summer 2009 "Important Residential Properties" catalog:

This magnificent mansion, built in 1909 by William Tuthill, the architect who designed Carnegie Hall, is presently the only free-standing single-family mansion in Manhattan. It is an exquisite French Renaissance jewel box executed in pristine white marble, boasting deep green roof tiles and bronze grills on the balconies and at the main entrance. The building is 41' wide and 73' deep, surrounded by private grounds, and located on a corner lot overlooking the Hudson River. The Interior is approximately 12,000 square feet, comprised of four stories plus an English basement. An extraordinary amount of unique original detail has been retained and the mansion has superb views, with luminescent sunlight glass windows. Exterior space is approximately 3,400 square feet. There are numerous fireplaces, a library, and other grand public rooms. Truly a European palazzo.

Among other features (like FIVE kitchens!), the mansion had a tunnel down to the Hudson River for bringing in tobacco. Unfortunately, this has been sealed up. (Or so they claim!)

According to a May 1997 article in the Times:

In 1979, Hans Smit, a law professor at Columbia University, bought the building, and has been working on the restoration for almost two decades. In an interview last month, he said he was now "just a couple of inside doors" short of a complete interior restoration. The new exterior iron doors are among the final touches on the exterior restoration. The outside is presentable, but not pristine. "If I really fix up the outside, the undesirable elements will pay attention" Smit says. "When I bought it, most people said, 'You're a raving maniac.'

But it's the best investment I ever made."

I'll say! After Morris Schinasi died in 1930, the place became a finishing school for girls. According to an April 2007 article in the Times: "By the 1960s, the mansion had been bought by Columbia University as part of a larger land purchase. At different times, its tenants were an Episcopal private school, a publication called the Digest of Soviet Press and a day care center.

"Then in 1979, Dr. Smit noticed the house while biking and bought it from Columbia for $325,000. He has been working on its restoration for nearly three decades."

Also, as the article points out, Smit "has never lived in the house but rents it out for movie shoots, including the Woody Allen film 'Bullets Over Broadway,' and holds pizza parties for his students there. His son, Robert, also a lawyer, has lived in the home since the early 1980s after he graduated from college, sharing it with his two daughters in a much more relaxed style than the original owner."

The New York Sun reported in September 2006 that Smit lived in the house when he wasn't at "his home in upstate New York, or his Chateau in Burgundy, France." By the way, his son is Robert Smit, a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Anyway, as far as I can tell, the house, er, mansion, was put on the market for $31 million in 2006. The price was lowered to $20 million. Now, it's back up to $30 million. In 2007, there was reportedly interest in the property by a foundation seeking a headquarters and a British men’s club.

Oh, and there's a video tour here. As your hostess, Felise Gross of Brown Harris Stevens, says in the video, it will be another 100 years before another property like this hits the market. So hurry!

For further reading:
Morris Schinasi and the Manisa Children's Hospital (Turk of America)

People who viewed 351 Riverside Drive also viewed...former William Randolph Hearst mansion in Beverly Hills for $165 million (Yahoo!)

Easter Sunday at the Blarney Cove

Who keeps playing the Joe Cocker on the jukebox? Like Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" is any better. Jimmy figures you can live to 100 by drinking and having sex. Maria says she doesn't drink or have sex anymore. But she has a short beer after her shift. Jimmy figures he has another 10 years. Or at least two years, he admits. The Yankees lose. Who's this closer for Kansas City anyway? He's quite good. Now it's John Denver and "Take Me Home, Country Roads" -- first the live version, then the studio recording. Can you skip the jukebox, or is that rude? Is the person in the green hoodie a man or a woman? (Doesn't anyone notice the sideburns?) Ah, Leonard Cohen. Squiggy is asking who won the NCAA men's basketball tournament. "North Carolina." Angel Cabrera wins the Masters! Who is he again? He's from Argentina, not Nicaragua. By the way, does anyone know that the heat is on in here?

Extra Place is now officially a Dead End

As the new city sign on the left shows...
Previously on EV Grieve: The End of Extra Place

An independent film shoot at Sophie's

On Saturday morning, there was a small film crew assembled in front of Sophie's. Perhaps Bourdain was back for seconds?




Uh, nope...I asked one of the fellows standing there what was happening...he said it was a small independent film. This was their first day of shooting...and they were expecting to be done for the day by the opening 2 p.m. bell at Sophie's.

Overpowered by Funk

Filmmaker Paul Dougherty passed along the link to his most recent creation, White Collar Funk 1. (A sequel to his July 2008 video White Collar Funk.)

As Paul notes on YouTube, "In the summer of 1975 while working on E. 23rd St. I'd take a porta-pak out at lunchtime for people watching and capturing street scenes. The area, not *that* different from today, was east of the Flatiron building (district) and was/is kind of a office area, lacking the glamour of midtown (hence the tape name). A little like today, it harkened to an earlier era. It was grey and gritty and I liked it just fine. Besides the office workers, some "street" types came from a welfare hotel(s) east of Lexington. I'm pretty shy so I couldn't bring myself to follow or go up to people, so I did a kind of surveillance. For those reasons many of the shots are very short. Anyway taken together you get a feel for a NY street at the time. Enjoy."

Previous Paul Dougherty videos posted on EV Grieve can be accessed here.

Ulterior motives

On Avenue C.

Noted

From the Times today:

Much Vilified, Financial Titans Find a Friend in Bloomberg

By DAVID W. CHEN

The mayor’s refusal to echo the chorus of anti-business criticism is refreshing to the financial community, but critics say he is too cozy with his business-class brethren.

Dumpster of the Day

Avenue C at East Seventh Street.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

From a party to a protest: Bob Arihood has photos and a narrative from Saturday night's CATastrophe event (Neither More Nor Less)

Six Years Ago Today: Mainstream media Hailed "End" of Iraq War (Editor & Publisher)

Heroin is cheaper than a six-pack of beer (CNN)

Why young Americans still want to move to NYC (New York)

Discussion: What was the hipster? (New York Observer)

Plastic and rubber on Canal (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A 1930 street fair on East 12th Street (Ephemeral New York)

The return of Chico?

Back on March 5, we did a post on a new mural by Chico/Tats Cru at Houston and Avenue B. It was our impression that this was Chico's last work before moving to Florida.



Well, maybe not. Spotted this on Houston and Avenue B...at the exact spot of their last mural....

The Remaking of Pelham 123

We did a little moaning hereabouts at this time last year over the remaking of one of our favorite NYC films, "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three."

Anyway, the posters are up and the trailers are out for the Denzel-Travolta remake coming June 12. We don't feel much better about this.



And the original trailer from 1974...



For further reading on EV Grieve:
New York City subway films of the 1970s

More on the EV ATM skimmers

The Post yesterday had more on the ATM skimmers found at two East Village banks.

"I was at the Chase Bank on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 10th Street, where the old Second Avenue Deli used to be," said 34-year-old New Yorker, Sean Siebel. "I was on my way to get a haircut and stopped to get cash but noticed something was wrong with the ATM card slot."

When Siebel, who works for Microsoft, inserted his card the machine produced an error message. "Then my card came out really slowly like it was being obstructed," Siebel added.

He jiggled the card slot to try to get his card out and the plastic front piece, which he thought looked odd, came away easily in his hand. "It was just stuck on with tape -- there was a magnetic-card reader inside and a USB port."

Siebel said he took his find inside the bank and asked for help. Maria Pascuas, the assistant branch manager, "immediately freaked out," he said, telling Siebel she had heard of similar devices elsewhere but not in New York City.

Pascuas then called Chase security and sent Siebel on his way. "I asked her if she wanted my details and if I should file a police report but she said no," Siebel said.

The Consumerist first broke the story. Here are some other ATM-skimmer links.

And isn't easier to just crash a van into the ATM and haul it off...?

For further reading on EV Grieve:
Avenue ATM (aka, how many stupid ATMs does one block need?)

The R&S Strauss signs are gone

Last Monday we noted that R&S Strauss on 14th Street and Avenue C had been sold... And now, the signs have been removed...

There's no such thing as a free lunch....

OK, so I looked. Based on this ad on East Seventh Street at First Avenue, went to NBC's new New York Locals Only Web site.



Anyway, while there, you can vote on the city's "best 'old' bar," McSorley's or Old Town.

Coming soon on Avenue B: "Exclusive Smoke Shop and Deli Corp."

The Tibetan specialty shop Lhasa Boutique on Avenue B near Fourth Street closed up in February. Replacing it: Looks like another convenience store.




This addition will bring the empty storefronts total down to 21.

New Armani Exchange campaign captures exactly the mood of how we look, feel, live

What lies beneath?

Have you taken the interactive tour of the Seward Park/LES area yet? A good spring activity. The Villager did a piece on the project last October. Dunno, though, if Kicking over the Traces ask this question: Why hasn't the largest tract of vacant city-owned property below 96th Street been touched in decades?

The woman who "captured graffiti’s golden and assaultive years"

The Times has a feature on Martha Cooper, the photographer who captured the prolific NYC graffiti artists of the 1970s-1980s. As the paper notes, her 1984 book “Subway Art,” created with Henry Chalfant, a photographer and filmmaker, "captured graffiti’s golden and assaultive years."

The above photo from 1980 by Cooper at the East 180th Street subway platform in the Bronx.

Dueling Easter egg hunts

Some chicks and a bunny on Avenue A

At Lucy's.

To your Easter

Something for the 33-and-under crowd this Easter

At the New Museum, 235 Bowery. The Younger than Jesus exhibit started last Wednesday.

Related reading:
Department of Bad Exhibition Titles: "Younger Than Jesus" at the New Museum

Happy "Gang Initiation Day"

"A violent Easter ritual has Times Square businesses beefing up security as they brace for a surge in post-Auto Show gang activity this weekend. Easter Sunday -- which has become known as "Gang Initiation Day" because of the parade of hoods wearing Bloods colors who swarm the area -- has scared tourists and store owners alike." (New York Post)

Noted

Doing yoga with your dog. (The New York Times)

[Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times]

Though somehow, this still seems really expensive (call me when it drops to $29,999)

From the Times:

Bargain seekers, nostalgists and ascetics, take heart: the $200,000 apartment has returned to Manhattan.

And breathe easy: the location is not Yorkville or bust. At these prices, you’d be excused for imagining a box perched on the West Side Highway — or at the very least, a treacherous trek to the subway. Instead, you’ll find properties in Carnegie Hill; Avenue B in the East Village; Tudor City; and the East 50s, 70s and 80s.

Brokers and sellers expressed mild shock — and in some cases outright chagrin — that prime Manhattan property can now be had for a fraction of an A.I.G. bonus.

“When was the last time I saw these prices?” said Dan Danielli, a broker at Halstead Property. “Not in a long time. Let’s put it that way.”

"Oh, you know, it's bank, nail salon, bank, nail salon, bank, nail salon"

I missed this piece in the Observer yesterday titled, "Chloe Sevigny, Miss East Village, Waxes on Changing Nabe and Embattled Beatrice"

It's about Ms. Sevigny being at the 158th-anniversary party for Kiehl's.

A few snippets:

"If Kiehl's were a woman, she'd be Chloe!" the president of Kiehl's, Chris Selgardo, declared to the Daily Transom. Mr. Selgardo, a bulky, muscular man with a thick black beard, was dressed casually in jeans, a muscle shirt and a blazer. "We love Chloe. Someone like Chloe, she's just so East Village."

And!

Given that Ms. Sevigny and the store are both residents of the East Village, we asked Mr. Selgardo how he felt about his little apothecary being surrounded by all the shiny glass buildings sprouting up in the area. (One Ten Third, for instance, which has gone up directly across the street.)

"Yes, that was new, that was definitely new," he replied. "The Village has changed, but it's not so bad. New York is cleaned up. But, I think, more so than any other part of the city, it remains very spirited and very interesting. But, you know, I don't want to see a Pottery Barn on the corner."

And Ms. Sevigny? How does the 34-year actress think the neighborhood has changed?

"Oh, you know, it's bank, nail salon, bank, nail salon, bank, nail salon," she replied. "The Subway across the street from Veselka, it's just an eyesore. The bigger chains coming in everywhere, it's depressing. You know what really bugs me about the neighborhood, actually? The students! The N.Y.U. kids and they've opened an SVA dorm near my house, so now it's even more."

Konged

The 1976 version of "King Kong" is playing on AMC these days. It's fun in that hey-here's-an-awful-movie-playing-now-on-AMC-and-don't-Jessica-Lange-and-Jeff-Bridges-make-a-nice-couple? kind of way.

Noted

The LES legend continues...Yes, it's Lady GaGa:

"I do have a bit of a rock and roll heart even though I'm a pop artist. But I'm a different kind of punk. I like clean, sophisticated lines and detail, which is why I love Chanel and Versace!"

"If people are inspired by my looks, then I love that I'm affecting culture. But I do think that whatever your influence you have to be careful to execute properly."

Have a good Friday

Things that will get you in the mood for Easter if...

...you like chocolate crosses...



...or Flamin' Jesus shots...(at the Double Down on Avenue A)

At St. Brigid's: That sinking feeling

In his most recent letter to parishioners (dated March 25), Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid’s, reported that the steeples at the church on Avenue B at Eighth Street will not be replaced as previously reported.

Torres also reported that the church's entire foundation needs to be stabilized. Why?

"The church sits on what is basically porridge," he wrote. "There is no bedrock until you reach 92 feet. There is also an underground stream which runs very close to the property."

However serious, Torres said he's confident the problem "is being addressed by well-qualified people with experience and knowledge in restoration."

This is the No. 1 bar in NYC?

Something called The Clubplanet Nightlife Directory has named its top-10 bars of NYC. And No. 1 bestest of the best bars?

#1 Best Bar in NYC
Elsa
217 East 3rd Street
New York, NY 10003

Just when you think East Village will forever stay in its un-gentrified hip-ness, a snazzy, upscale place like Elsa opens, as if the be-seen type of bars simply spilled out of the over-packed Lower East Side, and nestled in the surrounding neighborhoods. Well, the better for East Village scenesters. One thing is sure— if you like your drinks well-mixed, Elsa is the place to be, mostly due to its signature cocktails, courtesy of the best bartending pros, which is why its made our list as one of the best bars in New York City. And in case you were wondering about an appropriate outfit — you can get tailored on the spot two days a week. Elsa is styled after a tailor shop, but those old-school sewing machines are not a simple decoration. Now, we’ve already heard about linking the idea of shopping and drinking (boutique lounges), or drinking and doing your nails (Beauty Bar), but drinking while waiting for your hand-made jacket, that’s quite a new take on New York watering holes’ versatility.