Wednesday, October 14, 2009

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition



News about Hot Dog (arrested for pounding a door with an onion?), Cut Man Eddy and the Mosaic Man (Neither More Nor Less)

"Oliver Twist-like kid burglar" responsible for rash of East Village thefts? (NY Post)

Art show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Bicycling with David Byrne (New York Times)

Bloomy buys BusinessWeek (MediaBistro)

World's longest article on Amanda Burton (New York Observer)

Stuy Town may default (Lux Living)

Sifton's review of DBGB starts with "HEY, ho, let’s go!" (New York Times)

Finally, I missed the report on Eater that Birdies on First Avenue near Ninth Street has closed and moved (or maybe the other way around). The storefront is for rent.

Bazaar in retail space of million-dollar condos with gated driveway "aims to bring a sense of authenticity" back to the Bowery

Thanks to the fliers plastered on the windows on the ground floor of E2E4, we now have a little more information about what the Bowery Bazaar is going to be all about between Third Street and Fourth Street...



Well, if you can make out the photos below..."A new bazaar set to open in the heart of Manhattan's oldest thoroughfare: The Bowery."

Hmm. A few other snippets...

"A hip, new indoor market set to open on the Bowery this November 1..."

"The bazaar is already creating a lot of buzz."

"The Bowery Bazaar will merge antiquity with modernity in a wonderful melting pot of trendy design, unique memorabilia, and antique pieces."

"...welcomes up-and-coming artists, young designers, and enthusiastic collectors to exhibit their goods. Just down the block from the Bowery Hotel and Cooper Square Hotel, the bazaar will be open to the public at large."

"The Bowery Bazaar aims to bring a sense of authenticity back to a part of Manhattan that's been transformed from central throughway, to a gritty nab, and back again."




Previously.

The East Village has a new landmark



According to an e-mail alert from The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation yesterday afternoon:

Today the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to landmark the 1838 Isaac T. Hopper House at 110 Second Avenue in the East Village, a designation strongly supported by GVSHP. This impressive Greek Revival house located between 6th and 7th Streets is a rare intact vestige of the earliest stages of the East Village’s urban development. Since 1874 it has also served as the home of the Women’s Prison Association (WPA), a reform organization seeking to better the lives of women who have been through the criminal justice system. The house is named for Isaac T. Hopper, the Quaker Abolitionist and reformer who founded the WPA. Hopper’s daughter, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, was the first president of the WPA.


Read the entire history here. (PDF)

Of course, there's plenty left in the neighbor to preserve.

Zine talk tonight at ABC No Rio


Zines and Beyond: Independent Publishing in the Real and the Virtual

7 — 9pm (free)

Panelists: Michael Carter, Jim Fleming, Fly, Billy Miller and Seth Tobocman

ABC No Rio invites speakers with a wide range of backgrounds in zines, comics, radical book publishing and independent social networking sites to share their experiences and explore the role of DIY publishing. The five panelists will present their own experiences with independent media as well as consider its role for the distribution of political content in both the digital and print form.

You can learn more about the speakers here.

[Image via]

Sunburnt Cow building was peddled on Bid in the City

I read about Bid in the City -- eBay for real estate, as it has been said -- back when it launched this spring. After seeing some commercials for it on TV (ESPN!) this past weekend, I thought I'd check out the site...



I looked to see what had been offered in these parts. And what went on the block in June? 137 Avenue C, which, among other things, is home to stand-in-line-for brunch hotspot the Sunburnt Cow.



Original Price:$3,200,000
Starting Bid:$1,450,000
Closing Bid:$1,605,000

I have no idea how any of Bid stuff works. But, at first glimpse, this seems like a pretty good deal. It's a four-story building with six apartments and the Cow, in which patrons are dared to drink as much as possible in two hours for $20.



According to the property taxes, the building is worth $2.6 million.

Speaking of the Sunburnt Cow, have you seen my collection of Moo Mobile photos?











Previously.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

In the end, New York's historic first world trade center on Pearl Street razed for a condo, parking lot and goodburger

Well, nearly six years after first hearing about the project, the destruction of the historic swath of 211-215 Pearl Street between Gold Street and Maiden Lane in the Financial District — home to the city's first world trade center — is nearly complete. First, a brief bit of history about this space
per Pearl Street Revival:

The three neo-Classical business buildings at 211-215 Pearl St. are the last remnant of the Pearl Street dry goods district of the early 19th century, and are a valuable relic of New York and the nation's early commercial history. The city sold a very large portion of what commercializing Americans bought. The combination of overseas commerce and burgeoning domestic trade established New York as the commercial capitol (not just the biggest seaport) of the United States after 1815, and Pearl Street was the center of that trade.

211-215 Pearl Street is also tribute to merchants and manufacturers like William Colgate "who's entrepreneurial daring would set New York on course for becoming the world-class city that it is today".


Anyway. The Rockrose-owned condo is up and it appears to be running. Now just the small matter of the ground floor retail. Which appears to be set with coming-soon signage for a double food whammy — goodburger and a Pret deli.






As Pearl Street Revival noted, "Pearl Street was considered the city’s richest street and the highest valued mercantile establishments were located on this particular block."



Now, of course, it looks like any other block of a suburbified city.



For further reading:

3 Buildings From 1830's Threatened By a Tower (New York Times)

Lot still vacant where Pearl St. artists lost homes (Downtown Express)

Shaky Pearl Street Building Now Even More Endangered (Curbed)

Champagne Tuesdays at Superdive: "I'm pretty certain that everyone in the bar had just recently moved to New York"

Well, you know, we haven't made it over yet for Superdive's Champagne Tuesdays just yet... A reader almost got in.



However, blogger Fired 'n' Fabulous was there. Here's an excerpt of her report:

As soon as I stepped foot into the bar, I instantly wanted to turn around and run as fast as I could in the opposite direction. It was so crowded, and the hodgepodge of people was really just...weird. Ya know in the movie "Clueless" when Cher walks through the school campus with Tai and explains all the different cliques? That's what it felt like (minus the cool kids). Probably the most annoying group of people I witnessed were the Upper East Side frat boys with their faded T-shirts, backwards caps and flip flops. They were totally out of their comfort zone, and this, no doubt, was their first time making it down past 42nd Street. Guys, do a favor for all of us and stay uptown where you belong.

I'm pretty certain that everyone in the bar had just recently moved to New York, and this was their first big night out. It had to be. They were just so gosh darn excited about everything. And there was one guy behind me that was talking extremely loud to a group of people about "having sex all day long." Whoa, cool man. Is that his get-laid tactic? Does he think that's a turn-on? Let's hope for his sake that's not the only Ace up his sleeve, or else he's gonna have one lonely winter.


Photo via.

Tree used for missing persons flier now missing

For several weeks now, there has been a "missing persons" flier attached to the tree right on Avenue A at Ninth Street. I don't recall all the details — a young man had not been seen for some time. Very sad.

Walking along A the other day, I saw that the tree with the missing persons flier was now missing too.


Spa games on 13th Street

On 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue....

First, this spa on the north side of the street lost their lease....



...and they're moving up the street where Upland Trading used to be.



I bring this up because... at first glance, the renovations at Upland Trading had a bar/cafe vibe. But a worker at the site assured me it was just the spa moving up the street.

Happy holidays!



Or maybe these holiday lights on First Avenue near Fourth Street have been up for a long time and I just noticed them Sunday...? Just being honest. Anyway, let's just skip Halloween and Thanksgiving and get to the Big Stuff!

Monday, October 12, 2009

A sad note



Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.

Updated! Mysterious, low-flying helicopter returns...

I moved this post up top from yesterday afternoon... getting more reports that the thing is back hovering over the neighborhood this afternoon...




Circling now for like 20-30 minutes. Doesn't look like a police helicopter. I followed it to Avenue C after seeing it fly over Tompkins Square Park...

Previously.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition



"Planning commish Amanda Burden has rezoned a fifth of the city, championed good design and driven developers nuts" (Crain's)

Saturday afternoon in TSP (Neither More Nor Less)

Slutty Halloween costumes for girls (Runnin' Scared)

An Ellis Island tour (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

TMBG celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Flood" (Rolling Stone)

The following photo was taken by Slum Goddess in one of the women's stalls in the Tompkins Square Park restrooms...



As she notes: "There seems to be a war brewing between the East Coast and West Coast Junkies in the park."

What's behind the German-themed plywood on Second Avenue?

So that plywood that shares the same colors as the German flag... on Second Avenue and Second Street.





Will soon be home to Heartbreak Cafe, which will apparently feature German/Swiss fare. And they were up for a beer/wine license this past March. A liquor license is pending. One of the names on the liquor license belongs to Christos Valtzoglou, the owner of the Greek eatery Pylos on Seventh Street.


How bazaar!: First retailer coming soon to E2E4 on the Bowery




Hmm... The Bowery Bazaar. Between Fourth Street and Third Street on the Bowery. Street level at the 15-story tower. I sent an e-mail to the address listed here to find out exactly what this will be. No response yet.

Previously.

A good question




As we pointed out Saturday, Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue was closed off while a crane brought in stuff for the Economakis family tenement-to-mansion conversion.

And a reader brought up a good question about some neighbors down the street who may not appreciate the street being blocked off for eight hours:

any word from the hells angels?

Looking at the work that will "enable St. Brigid's Church to last another two hundred years"

Work continues on St. Brigid's on Avenue B at Eighth Street...Can't tell a whole lot from the outside...



Here's the latest message from Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's:

"The entire foundation is being strengthened; this will enable St. Brigid's Church to last another two hundred years."

He also posted these photos of the work being done in the lower portion of the church...