Near 130 First Ave. and St. Mark's Place. Just five days after a woman fell and smashed her face last Friday evening.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Accident waiting to happen happened
The crack between 273 and 275 Mott Street starts near the roof and shoots down more than 20 feet. It's a few inches wide already, and city officials want to know if all the rain is forcing the split even wider.
A complaint prompted firefighters to evacuate residents of 16 apartments in the two walk-up buildings for more than three hours. Megan O'Toole only moved in last month. I wish someone had told me about that when I moved in," she said.
A Sushi restaurant and clothing store were also evacuated during what should have been the busiest and most profitable part of the day.
"I wish I had the store open for the last two hours so we could be making money and not sitting out here," manager Anne Barker said. Some residents were relieved that building inspectors were taking a closer look.
Back on Mott Street, inspectors are giving the building a clean bill of health. The crack has been here on the facade for years and sensors are already installed to monitor whether it's widening. Just after nine, everyone was allowed back inside.
On an intersection in downtown Manhattan, the ever-present hordes of teenage fans are mingling with firefighters and the film crew — all less than 100 feet from a building that is dangerously close to falling down!
But while R-Pattz and co. bravely soldier on amid the flashing lights of the emergency services, on-set sources admit the melee is a nightmare for the crew.
"It's causing a hold-up for the shoot. We can't get anything in or out of here," said one gaffer-tape wielding worker.
Onlookers tell OK! that R-Pattz himself is taking the most recent near-disaster to strike his movie, following last week's near-miss with a taxi cab, in stride.
"Robert is concentrating on his scene," said one observant fan. "But most of the crew are staring nervously at the crack in the building and talking about whether it will fall down or not."
But if, heaven forbid, the building were to fall down, the top would land a couple of feet from Rob's dressing room trailer.
Dear Concierge,
I’m looking for a good dive bar. In Manhattan, dive bars are either too div-y (bikers, professional boozers) or too sporty (yellers, Buckhunters). I live downtown, but I’ll go anywhere a Metrocard can get me. Things I’d like: interesting beers on draft, low-key/friendly crowd, passable pub grub, not too crowded/discovered and a general feeling of authenticity. Thank you!
Eric Asimov, The Pour columnist for the Dining section and a connoisseur of spirits high and low, weighed in with his favorites: East Village Tavern on Avenue C — a year-old craft-beer place that updates its cask and tap lists daily on its Web site — and Rattle ‘N’ Hum, another new craft-beer spot a pint’s throw from Madison Square Garden that serves food like Rattle ‘N’ Hummus.
Proprietor Joe Birdsong said the 2,200-square-foot space (formerly occupied by the Clockwork Orange-themed Korova Milk Bar)... is still awaiting his community-approved liquor license, which he hopes to receive once the State Liquor Authority's present moratorium on new licenses expires next month.
For now, patrons can sip coffee or tea as they browse the cafe's prerequisite bookshelves.
Mr. Birdsong, who, in order to some day sell alcohol, pledged to operate primarily as a bookstore, said he has, in fact, sold some books, particularly back on Christmas Day.
Rapture owner Joe Birdsong expects to receive his license to sling suds any day now, as the State Liquor Authority’s four-month-long freeze on processing such permits expired with the change in the calendar year.
The bohemian-style café’s entry into the booze business won’t technically exacerbate what many S.L.A. critics have denounced as a citywide proliferation of liquor licenses in recent years. Mr. Birdsong is simply taking the existing license from the location’s prior tenant, the Clockwork Orange–themed Korova Milk Bar. Keeping the license at that address was of particular concern to the building’s landlord, Mr. Birdsong said: "The owner doesn’t want to lose the value attached to it."
Not that Rapture’s ownership would choose to emphasize the alcoholic content of its business plan, penned by Mr. Birdsong. In fact, his proposal barely mentions the venue’s "extensive and unique beer and wine menu," even though his pending permit would grant him the freedom to serve Jägermeister shots or far stiffer drinks, if he wanted to. A wise strategy. Given the city’s current bar-wary climate, prospective restaurateurs and tavern operators are subject to an ever-increasing degree of scrutiny.
Even a self-described "nice little neighborhood Internet café–bookstore–performance space" is not immune, as Mr. Birdsong found out when he appeared this past September before local Community Board 3, a panel that specifically singled out Avenue A as a bad example of area bar sprawl. In order to garner community approval for his own "limited bar," Mr. Birdsong had to promise in writing that his proposed literary hangout would not someday morph into a troublesome, boozy nightspot.
Specifically, he was required to submit a "signed notarized stipulation" that Rapture would "operate as a bookstore with the service of alcoholic beverages incidental to its operation as a bookstore" and "with the predominant space being used for bookshelves," according to the minutes of that meeting.