Why is the Pizza Shop closed?

Tonight on Avenue A near Seventh Street...



...and how long has the Cabin Down Below been made public for mere mortals?

The Bowery, 9:55 a.m., Nov. 14

Noted

From Page Six today:

New York's homeless could be kept warm this winter in expensive furs owned by Ruth Madoff -- if PETA has its way. The anti-fur campaigners have written to US Marshal Roland Ubaldo asking for the Madoff skins to be donated to the homeless. More than 100 Madoff items will be sold off today at the Sheraton New York to reimburse the Ponzi scammer's thousands of vic tims. PETA's Dan Mathews said in a letter to Ubaldo, "By donating them to the homeless, you'd be able to highlight the difference between need and greed."

Report: "the tide seems to be turning for young galleries of the East Village and Lower East Side"

Bloomberg News had this report the other day:

Wandering around Manhattan’s scruffy Lower East Side galleries, I kept hearing three words rarely uttered in the more polished Chelsea district these days: Everything is sold.

The global financial crisis punctured the art bubble last year, drying up cash and driving up caution. Now the tide seems to be turning for young galleries of the East Village and Lower East Side.

“It’s like the Dow,” said art dealer Simon Preston, who runs a gallery on Broome Street. “When it goes down, people are looking for new markets.”

Mr.Magoos

The Blue Magoos from the Bronx.

Stuy Town rally tomorrow

Via Stuy Town Lux Living:

First film set for Theatre 80: "The Brooklyn Heist" opens Nov. 27

Lorcan Otway checks in with news of the first film to be screened at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place....

"Projectors in, screen up, a few of us watched a film last night, great sight lines, even from the front side seats, as the screen is set back about fourteen feet or more, (I'll have to measure and let you know...) image looks wonderful... so here is the news about the opening..."

“The Brooklyn Heist” will be released on Nov. 27. From the press materials:

Desperate to improve his life, New Yorker Fitz concocts a scheme to rob a wealthy and hated pawnshop owner. Unknown to Fitz, his gang of cheerful incompetents faces competition from two other crews who plan to hit the joint on the same night. Each group has a unique, hilarious style in this satire on heist capers that uses stylish cinematography, editing and art direction to explode filmic stereotypes. A stellar cast including Danny Masterson (“That ’70s Show”), Leon (“Get Rich or Die Tryin’”) and Dominique Swain (“Lolita”) brings to life this stylish spoof of the beloved heist comedy genre.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Films to return to Theatre 80

Saving what remains of the neighborhood

Community activist Susan Howard has a column in this week's issue of The Villager. It begins:

What is a neighborhood? A place where you feel a sense of belonging as you walk down the streets? Where you know your neighbors and local shopkeepers? Where your children go to school? Where you play, garden or just shoot the breeze? Where you can sit on the stoop, in the park or in a neighborhood hangout and listen to music, gossip and lore?

That’s the way I remember the Lower East Side, before all our vacant land was sold for the development of luxury housing in an 80/20 scheme. Before it was marketed to the white upwardly mobile as a cool place to live. Before the speculators arrived to scoop up the existing buildings to turn them into luxury rentals and condos, and before many of our squats and gardens were bulldozed for more of the same. Before the largest tract of land, once promised for artists, low-income housing and community facilities, was sold in another 80/20 scheme for the development of a luxury community, Avalon Christie, before the high-rises, hotels, high-end eateries and boutiques.

Sure, it may just look like a hole in the ground now...

This abandoned hole-in-the-ground project at 427 E. 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue has been on the market...



At one point five residential floors were going to be added to the existing storefront. Dunno what happened to those plans. Here's the listing:

East Village residential rental development opportunity, with FOUNDATION already in place. The foundation was poured prior to the June 2008 421-a deadline, enabling the full property tax exemption benefits. This site has plans for a six story (plus cellar and roof), 12 unit, rental building, w/ a total of 12,952 gross SF (10,741 SF above grade, 2,211 SF below grade). A Condo plan is also available. Another option is to file an “alt plan”and develop the property to custom specifications while still maintaining the 421-a tax benefits. This is a unique project for a developer or user and is ready to go. Priced at $178 per gross buildable square foot, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

Here's what it could look like!

And now, my collection of bus/truck booty

Why does this annoy me?

On St. Mark's Place.

Rectory also part of St. Brigid's renovation

We've noted the progress on the renovations at St. Brigid's. However, we never heard if the plans including repairing the rectory next door to the church on Avenue B.

The other night, we noticed that lights were on inside the rectory.




So we asked Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, what was happening with the rectory.

The rectory is part of the renovation. It will be fully restored and will serve several functions, one of which will be the home for the pastor. The current church I attend does not have a rectory and the priest rents an apartment [nearby]. It will be a luxury to have a rectory.

P.S.

We've always liked this aerial shot that Gothamist published back in 2006....




Previously.

Great homes for sale: 1840s townhouse on East Ninth Street going for $4.3 million

One of my favorite buildings in the neighborhood has been on the market for several months now... This 1840s townhouse on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A is going for $4.3 million. Here are some listing details:

When it comes to historic houses, remember: They aren't building any more of them. This is a three-story town house with basement, 20 feet wide, built in the 1840's, with a large, leafy backyard. Period details include French doors, wide plank floors and exposed ceiling beams. Currently zoned as a 3-family home but could be configured as a 1-family or a 2-family. House is partially renovated and is currently occupied. Only 2 sales of this property in the past 75 years.

In 1998, it sold for $640,000.

An appreciation of Chico's work

We noted some of Chico's new work last week... After the spay/neuter sign disappeared, figured that I may want to chronicle some of Chico's work... As he has said, Chico figures that he has done 7,000 murals around the city the past 30 years. Here are a few of those murals.