Taking a look at the latest blight on the downtown skyline

I've been so distracted by Harrison Ford's gargantuan cranium of late that I haven't even noticed the 13-story Great Jones Hotel creeping up the downtown skyline...




Ah, here it is upclose at 25 Great Jones Street at Lafayette. One day it will be home to all sorts of fancy eateries and bars and stuff.



Born to Fit? Heh! Tell that to the understandably pe-od neighbors... (Curbed has a full report on the public meeting on Jan. 19.)



And last year around this time, I snapped photos at 25 Great Jones announcing the hotel would be completed in February 2010...




Meanwhile, next to the Hotel, plans were announced last December for that narrow lot that once housed the Jones Diner... it's a (surprise!) glassy, six-floor retail/residential building...If you've been following this story, then you know how the Hotel is essentially eliminating greatly reducing the natural light into Chuck Close's studio here on Bond Street...



(In fact, I saw Close and his assistant enter the building the other day... I was going to ask him about the latest developments, but decided against it...)



So you'd better enjoy the graffiti in this lot while you can...

25 Great Jones in 1935

Via Curbed.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves: Stuy Town mistaken for Lillian Wald housing projects

From the Corrections & Amplifications in The Wall Street Journal:

A Tuesday Money & Investing article about New York's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complex was incorrectly accompanied by a photo of the Lillian Wald housing project on Manhattan's Lower East Side, which was misidentified as the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper property.

[Avenue D photo via Flickr. Stuy Town photo via.]

Lonely balloon ushers in open house guests at 229 E. 13th Street

At the dormy new rentals on 13th Street near Third Avenue, someone finally removed the "for rent" banner that continued to get tangled up...



For open houses this week (two bedrooms for $3,300; one bedrooms for $2,595), the folks in charge employed a lonely, air-deprived balloon to entice passersby...





Previously on EV Grieve:
What's doing at 229 E. 13th St.?

Report: Former Pizza Shop becoming a bar

Thanks to Eater for noticing this...I would have missed it too... As Eater noted yesterday ... this piece of news was buried in an other otherwise ridiculous piece in the Post on hipsters hanging out at rat-packy piano bars: Jesse Malin is planning to open another bar next to Niagara at Avenue A and Seventh Street.



As you may recall, this space was home to the Pizza Shop, which closed in November. As co-owner Kevin Cole said in the EV Grieve comments: "We closed ... because the rent was too high. We struggled every month to make it... someone gave me an offer on the space and i decided it was best to take it."

The rent was a little more than $10,000 month.

Looking at vintage World Trade Center ads

Our blogging friend This Ain't The Summer of Love had a post earlier this week on vintage advertisements that featured the World Trade Center. For example:




Horrifying in retrospect. Not sure why anyone ever thought that this was a good image for such ads. ("I got it! Let's have a giant hand crush Michael Keaton using the World Trade Center!" ) Perhaps we can make the case that buildings should never be used as the centerpiece for an ad campaign...

We're gonna need some more dorms

NYU has announced another year of record-breaking admissions, reaching a total of 38,037 for the pool of regular and early decision applicants. For the class of 2014, NYU anticipates enrolling 4,500 students in New York. (NYUnews.com)

[Image via]

Stromboli Pizza continues its transformation

At Stromboli Pizza on St. Mark's and First Avenue, as seen here several years ago...



...the work continues on the sidewalk cafe... in November...



early January...



... and last night, in which the place was closed for the renovations...



[Top photo via]

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Neither More Nor Less and Slum Goddess were on hand for Ray's 77th b-day bash

Looking at "a non-delirious New York" (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Remembering First Avenue's La Focacceria (With Leftovers)

Kew Gardens in the 1940s (Blah Blog Blah)

Iggy Pop has a great voice (NPR)

Kosher pita joint shuts it down on East Houston (BoweryBoogie)

When EV rents were $40-$70 a month (Ephemeral NY)

B-day wishes for Legs McNeil (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

From the forgot-to-follow-up-on-this department... A reader asked if I knew anything about a fire on Third Street and Avenue B last week... No, but I did see this Thursday evening on that block...



And if I catch the jokester who put this mag front and center at my newsstand of choice....

Remembering Bingo Gazingo

My friend Karen Lillis passed along a link to me the other day about Bingo Gazingo, described by the Times in 1997 "as the near-toothless underground performance sensation." The author of such songs as "I Love You So Fucking Much I Can't Shit" died on New Year's Day from injuries that he suffered after getting struck by a cab. He was 85.

Life Just Bounces had a lovely tribute to the man:

You'd hesitate to call him a celebrity by any stretch of the imagination, but New York street/performance poet Bingo Gazingo's obscurity likely served as an aid to his singular imagination and oddball creativity.

With his often crude, spiky, agitated and hilarious rants about sex, dementia, and, especially, popular culture, Gazingo (born Murray Wachs in Queens in 1924) was a Monday night regular every week at New York's Bowery Poetry Club. He was struck by a taxi on his way to one of these very events, presumably on December 28th, and died on New Year's Day.

As Karen told me, "Bingo was wildly unique, and relentless at what he did."

The Times wrote about Bingo in Janaury 1997:

As a young man, he says, he worked as a logger for Broadcast Music Incorporated, or B.M.I., the music licensing agency, sitting over radio play lists with a blue pencil, identifying songs for which the company was entitled to royalties. And then, he says, he disappeared into the United States Postal Service, where he worked for decades sorting mail and loading trucks. "Doing that is like spending 20 years in one day," he says.

But through it all, he says, he never abandoned his dream of being a songwriter. He wrote ballads, novelties, show tunes, country-and-western songs, anything he thought would sell, and left them at stage doors at the Roxy, the Paramount and the Strand, in a time-honored tradition "to try to get my songs to the artists."

"But they never took one of my songs," he says, waving his hands at the memory. ''I thought I would be discovered or something, but it doesn't work that way."

I always intended to go see Bingo one of these Monday nights, but I never did. Wish I would have taken the time to meet this NYC original....

Here's Bingo in action at the Lakeside Lounge in 2006...



And at the 6 stop at Astor Place...

$4 million Carriage House will "rejuvinate" while the location will "seduce" you

A new listing came out this week.... Let's take a look at this offering on Fifth Street near Cooper Square, via Corcoran:

SECLUDED CARRIAGE HOUSE. A rare offering! private rear townhouse. This 25' wide threestory plus finished basement rear carriage house has recently undergone a meticulous andtasteful architect designed renovation. From the ground up, only the finest custom finishesadorn this fantastic modernist home. The property's serene setting which boasts both a private and charming courtyard as well as a large rooftop terrace will rejuvinate you. To seduce you, a dynamic Bowery meets East Village locale is downtown's new hip and exiciting neighborhood. You will want to make this gem your oasis in the city!

And here's a look at the $4.25 million home....







According to StreetEasy, the house was on the market for $4,995 million in 2008... Given the proximity of this serene oasis in the city to the Cooper Square Hotel, you'll likely have to enjoy that outdoor space in the winter...when the hotel's penthouse party terrace isn't in use...

A Building retail space still on the market

After looking at Monday's A Building post (lobby back open, penthouse continues to come down in price), a reader sent along a note saying that the A Building's retail space on 14th Street was still on the market.

Indeed!



According to the listing at Tower Brokerage(PDF):

New luxury store front at the base of a newly constructed 96-unit luxury condominium. Approximately 1,400 sq. ft. and located at the intersection of 1st Avenue & East 14th Street. 25’ of glass frontage and only steps from the 1st Avenue L-train subway station.

Neighbors include: CVS Pharmacy, Chase Bank, Starbucks, Associated Supermarket, Beth Israel Medical Center, Payless Shoes, Strawberry, Grey Papayas & Stuyvesant Town

Rent: $10,500 per month

As the reader noted, given the rent and list of neighbors, only a chain will be able to take this space...

Pork place

It appears that This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef is now open on First Avenue near Ninth Street...



...at the former site of Birdies.

More details on Day of Ray

The Save Ray's organizers have announced a few more details about the benefit for Ray's Candy Store:

Day of RAY! Saturday February 6th from noon - 6pm
Benefit show at Sidewalk Cafe! Come see every musician, comedian, poet and performer this neighborhood has to offer.
$5 donation entrance fee at the door, no drink minimums.
15% of sales made from the show going toward the cause.

More details to follow. If you want to help out in any way, then please get in touch with Leah at:

boyslikebarbies@gmail.com

And, you know, there's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

Meanwhile, John Penley has posted photos to his site from Saturday's Save Ray's rally, including this one of Biker Bill...



See more photos here.

What's available at the Christodora House

Someone who sort of knows what he/she is talking about recently told me that apartments at the Christodora House -- everyone's favorite symbol of gentrification in the neighborhood -- rarely hit the market.

Really? So I took a look to see what might be available... According to StreetEasy, there is one unit for sale, one unit in contract and two apartments for rent.

First, the unit that's in contract. Curbed wrote about the newly renovated one bedroom apartment back in October.



The fourth-floor unit with 1,042 square feet was listed by Corcoran at $1,348 million last Sept 15. It was reduced by 4 percent to $1,295 million on Oct. 31. It went into contract for the $1,295 million on Jan. 7.

The other unit for sale in the building is a 400-square foot studio going for $535,000 on the ninth floor. (Good for $1,338 per square foot.) It just hit the market last Tuesday. Here's the listing with some lousy photos.

In addition, there's a 500-square-foot one bedroom apartment on the 12th floor that available for a short-term rental from March 1 to May 31. It's going for $2,750 per month. Here's your view, in part:



And lastly! There's a 1,000-square-foot one bedroom apartment that's now $3,600 a month (down from $4,500). Or you can buy it for $1,450 million. According to the listing, it can also be combined with the unit next door for 2,000 square feet of luxury.



By the way, the entire Christodora was sold in 1975 for $62,500.

[Sketch via Michael Casey]

The CB3/SLA agenda looks to be a doozy in February

After a few ho-hum meetings the past several months, there's plenty here on the agenda to chew over...

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, February 8 at 6:30 pm -- JASA/Green Residence - 200 East 5th Street at Bowery
Meeting agenda is here.

Let's take a look! (And my comments are in bold...)

Renewal with Complaint History
Banjo Jim's (Banjo Family LLC), 700 E 9th St (op)
[We need more places like Banjo Jim's...]

Sidewalk Cafe Application
Cafe Mocha, 116 2nd Ave

188 Ave A Take Out Food Corp, 188 Ave A
[This is Kool Bloo at 12th Street... they want a sidewalk bar...? Can't wait to hear what Jill has to say about this!]

Applications within Resolution Areas
Sigmund Pretzel Shop Inc, 29 Ave B (rw)

SPOT (ACO Bakery Inc), 13 St Marks Pl (rw)

St Marks PHO Corp, 13 St Marks Pl (rw)

Moon Pie Pizzeria, 31 Ave C (up/op)

Eat Pisode (Eat Pisode Inc), 123 Ludlow St (rw)

Cafe Allumette, 182 Ave B (rw)

Casa de Chabela Corp, 40 Ave B (op)

T Poutine LLC, 168 Ludlow St (rw)

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades
Corp to be Formed, 14 Ave B (trans/op) (Butterfly)
[We reported on this bar coming here back in December...at Second Street]

88 Orchard (Robusto NYC Inc), 88 Orchard St (alt/rw/extend license to sidewalk cafe)

A&D Wine Corp, 65 2nd Ave (trans/op) (Crem Caffe)

93 Art LLC, 93 3rd Ave (trans/op) (Lit)

The Horse Box (Corp to be Formed), 218 Ave A (trans/op) (Cricket & Eddie)
[This was one of the five bars for sale in the neighborhood...rent was going for $5,200 a month]

Matsu Kado (Gaira Food Inc), 104 2nd Ave (trans/rw) (Spice)

Freemans (Freeman Holdings LLC), 191 Chrystie St (alt/op/expansion to 2nd floor, 2nd floor service bar, kitchen prep in basement)

Blvd Crash Mansion (199 Bowery Rest Group LLC), 199 Bowery (alt/op)

Corp to be Formed, 103 2nd Ave (trans/op) (Bounce Deuce)
[This is the Pita Pan place... the signage has been up...]

AR Restaurant (40 Mulberry Restaurant Inc), 40 Mulberry St (trans/op) (Antica Roma Restaurant)

Nomad (Sandwich Shop Inc), 78 2nd Ave (alt/rw/new bar, new handicap bathroom, install air conditioning, install gas oven)
[Ah! This is why the former Indian Curry Mahal was gutted...]

Barramundi (Torquay NY LLC), 67 Clinton St (alt/add/op)

New Liquor License Applications
Rivington Wine & Cheese Inc, 95 Delancey St (op)

Max (Luigi Iasilli), 36 E 2nd St (rw)

Zaitzeff (Ziatzeff 3 Corp), 194 E 2nd St (op)

Porchetta (Porchetta LLC), 110 E 7th St (eb)
[Have a beer now with your salty pork!]

New Lang Qi Zhong Hing Seafood Inc, 30 Market St (eb)

Chickpea (Chickpea at Houston Inc), 147 E Houston St (rw)

Cafe Amore Pizza (Cafe Amore of NY Restaurant Inc), 104 E 14th St (rw)

Corp to be Formed, 77 E 4th St (rw)

Kumo Restaurant (JRH Restaurant Group Inc), 214 1st Ave (rw)

Tallgrass Burger (Tallgrass Burger Company Inc), 214B 1st Ave (eb)
[214 First Avenue is the former Elvie's Turo-Turo]

Bring out your poof and fist pumps for the Jersey Shore Pageant

Sidebar, a bar that no one you know ever goes to, is hosting a Jersey Shore Pageant Thursday night at 7 where you can show off your poof, fist pump, fake tan, blow out and what not. Sounds like any other night around... (Via ChiChi212)

Harrison Ford's giant head continues to give Nolita the creeps

OK, it has been giving me the creeps when I've been walking on the Bowery at Great Jones of late... Here's the view looking west from the Bowery....



"Hello, I'm Harrison. I'd like to put you to sleep..."

On the menu tonight at Ray's: Cheesecake

As Bob Arihoood has reported, it's Ray's 77th birthday today ... and they'll be festivities tonight at Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A and Seventh Street... A stripper or two are said to be there for a dance at 11 p.m.

Bob also has some good news:

Today we can report a little good news . A professional negotiator is now at work establishing communications between the buildings managing agent and Ray . Today we can say that this process has begun ...

Bob took that photo above during Ray's 76th birthday bash... more photos here.

Kiss Alive on Wall Street

At the New York Stock Exchange today, Kiss rang the closing bell... And I got there about 30 seconds too late to see the gang emerge from inside for a photo opp... So I stood there like a dork with a few other dorks who were trying to coax Gene Simmons out from the luxury limo liner...to no avail.



...the door closed and the band was off...




Here's some NYSE video from the Closing Bell.

Weekend at Ray's

On Friday night, Lilly O'Donnell and Haley Moss Dillon, who helped organize a Save Ray's fundraiser via PayPal, presented Ray with a check for $1,000, the total collected to date. I asked Lilly how Ray responded to the check. "He was a little taken aback, but very sweet and thankful, as always! He smiled more than he has in the last week or so."

On Saturday night, Black Ops Bob and the Slacktivists held a protest/fundraiser/street party in front of Ray's...




As Slum Goddess wrote:

People stood across from Ray's with signs and candles and chanted at people to buy stuff to help Ray. I wasn't sure if this would scare people away and hinder business, but business was really good for Ray and Ray was very happy about all the support and love shown.

For more photos from the evening:

Neither More Nor Less

East Village Corner -- Musings by Melanie

Then, Sunday by the Pee Phone on Seventh Street and Avenue A...



Other Ray's-related activities:

Sidewalk Cafe, 94 Avenue A at Sixth Street, will be hosting a benefit show on Saturday, Feb. 6 for Ray's Candy Store. More details to follow. If you want to play or help out in any way, then please get in touch with Leah at:

boyslikebarbies@gmail.com

There's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

Despite gazillion dollar new building, Cooper Union already forced to use trailers for classrooms

NO, NO, I'm only kidding! Jeez! But, from a distance, this site did give me pause the other morning....until I got up closer...




Here's a look at the portable public park housed inside the Coachmen Travel Trailer.