Eatery odds-n-ends: College Night at McDonald's; renovation at Saint's Alp; mannequins at Spitzer's

Bar Paya on Second Street near Fourth Street is coming along... Grub Street has more details on this Peruvian restaurant.



The new smoothie place on First Street near First Avenue looks like this...




McDonald's on Third Avenue near St. Mark's Place has a College Night?



Saint's Alp Teahouse on Third Avenue at NYU has signed a new 10-year lease and is remodeling their place...




Something is going into the former Shiki Kitchen on First Avenue near St. Mark's Place...



The Film Academy Cafe at the former Starbucks Astor Place east location is now open...



...and serving bread, evidently, from Balthazar...



Ryan's Irish Pub on Second Avenue now has a live DJ weekend nights?



Sure, this is from February, but I just stumbled upon it...the Sony Mannequins do dinner and drinks at Schiller's (OOPS! Spitzer's!)

Home with Novogratz-designed penthouse now in full view

December!

And now... Hello 238 E. Fourth St.! Well, over here between Avenue A and Avenue B the former one-level construction company razed to become home a multi-million-dollar penthouse by the world-famous Bob and Cortney Novogratz is now in full view...





Is this a garage for a mini-Cooper? (There is a driveway left from the Construction Company that had this address before....)



The owner of 238 E. Fourth St., design writer Sue Hostetler, will live on the first four floors.

The upper-level, "magazine-ready" penthouse is going for $3.75 million... Dunno if that price includes periodic visits by the "9 By Design" troop...

Former Miracle Grill garden not-so-suddenly looks like a condo

Has it really been nearly three years since the Miracle Grill/Imagine garden was ko'd...? This space will soon be home to a six-story, eight-unit residential building that was designed by Andrew Fredman. (Jeremiah reported on this for Curbed back in August 2008...)

Anyway, workers removed the construction netting this past week, giving us a better idea of what Seventh Street's new neighbor will look like...





And, for the record, I echo Jeremiah's sentiments about this space: "Not that I had great love for the Miracle Grill, but I'm sad to say its garden is about to sprout a condo that's taller than its neighbors."

Previously on EV Grieve:
92 Seventh Street gets a sidewalk shed

B&H gets its canopy but loses a sign

We have good news and bad news about B&H... last week we mentioned that workers removed the canopy...and now, a new one that looks very familiar replaced it...



However! EV Grieve reader Dan was walking by on Saturday when two workers were removing the B&H sign. He took the two photos below. Will B&H simply refurbish the old sign or put up something new?




And here's B&H as it awaits a new sign...




[Photo above via the Voice]

Happy campers? The Free Willie Nelson gets some competition on East Third Street

The Free Willie Nelson RV has become a familiar site on East Third Street near First Avenue...



Now, it appears to be getting some competition... I spotted this beaut the other day on the same block... (the Free Willie Nelson was parked east of First Avenue...)




Also, someone purporting to be the owner of the Free WIllie Nelson recently left me this note:

Thank you for your kind remarks about the Free Willie Nelson. Unlike every other vehicle parked in the streets of manhattan the Free Willie Nelson gives back to the community with a nice deck on the rear where people can sit and smoke, eat a snack, sit in the sun and watch the world go by, or chat. Often my friends come by and we sit inside and jam. It's worth noting the Free Willie Nelson is the same size as my apartment, there by doubling my living space. Unlike my apartment it costs about $800 per year to own and it transports up to sixteen people out to the Mermaid Parade, Floyd Bennett Field, Dead Horse Bay, Wood-stock or away from ground zero on that terrible day.

This summer we are talking about putting on a rooftop garden.

I know that not everyone is going to get it or like it but if you take a man in the street poll, except for the people who want the parking spot, most all really like it.

This is a ride for the nomadic spirit, the open road and a romantic time in our history when people weren't afraid to boldly just go.

For the record: Mark me down for getting it and liking it.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Everything that you've ever wanted to know about the "Free Willie" Nelson RV on Third Street (and no -- he's not inside...)

East Third Street bonus sighting: Driving with Dandy, Ears and Patches

It's always a bonus to also spot the old Shriners ambulance on the same block...





Haven't seen it in a little while, though.

For second consectutive month, Superdive transer off the CB3/SLA docket

Superdive was originally on tonight's CB3/SLA docket for a full transfer of their liquor license.... no more, though, as a look at the updated rundown shows...



Just like last month!



Meanwhile! The smashing good times continue at Superdive!

January!



Saturday!




Sunday!



Pretty soon they should just remove the glass and go with the open air look...

Chipotle puts up huge banner in attempt to be clever, socially responsible

Huh? First Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

Bread and Butta is hiring

We've been following the saga of Bread and Butta on Avenue C near 11th Street for the past year or so... Prospects didn't look so good there for awhile...but, as EV Grieve reader Brad212 noted, the coffee shop is hiring...




Perhaps they want to hire the Gorilla Coffee staff?

[Top photo via Brad212]

Reminders: Losing the Fun this Tuesday

Author David Freeland hosts a stellar panel of historians, experts and urban planners to explore what happens to the city when a neighborhood’s cultural soul is stripped away to make way for luxury housing and bland architecture. Details here. (The event was originally scheduled in February... but the snowpocalypse took care of that...)

Outside St. Stanislaus this morning

The tribute for the fallen Polish leaders remains outside St. Stanislaus on Seventh Street.

'East Fifth Bliss' filming on First Avenue today

"East Fifth Bliss," based on former East Village resident Douglas Light's novel, films today on First Avenue and parts of 12th and 13th Streets... And Slum Goddess will be an extra for scenes being filmed next week...




And Peter Fonda has joined the cast ... playing alongside Michael C. Hall, Lucy Liu and others...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-and-A with 'East Fifth Bliss' author Douglas Light

About the building that inspired the novel 'East Fifth Bliss'

Graceland looking empty

Walked in Graceland on Avenue A and Second Street the other night... looking rather barren ... the shelves up top are empty...




Has anyone heard any updates on it closing?


Previously on EV Grieve:
Graceland is closing in the next 10 days

Record Store Day under way

And we're off... noticed a few people waiting in line at Kim's on First Avenue a little bit ago...



Here's the Record Store Day Web site.

Or maybe on the M15

Via Karate Boogaloo at the New York Nobody Sings.

Save the Date: May 8 Kids' Art Bike Parade in Tompkins Square Park

For additional information, visit The East Village Community Coalition Web site.

No anarchists today at Theatre 80

An update on today's fourth annual NYC Anarchist Film Festival via Facebook:

Because of the distractions related to the raid we are curtailing the program to just Judson Church from 5 pm onward till nighttime. We have an amazing program this year of regular and immersive films created by global justice filmakers from all over the world.

For those of you who are concerned about the safety in light of recent police harassment, I would urge you to come out in spite of these threats — we can not allow illegal police state tactics to limit our ability to communicate with one another. The only way to effectively stop this kind of behaviour is not to allow them to sabotage our communication forums.

The Program for this years festival:
5pm - Experimental Videos - Video art engaging the idea of self, creativity and our relationship with the state

6pm - We are Everywhere - Anarchist Projects, Actions and Narratives from around the world. Videos from Mexico, Palestine, Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia

7pm - Squat Me - films about reclaiming private and public space for the common good. Followed by discussion

8pm - Enviromental Justice - Films dealing with enviromental justice issues from Nigeria to Copenhagen to United States.

9pm - The Police State - Films about suppression of resistance movements in United States and elsewhere. Democracy 101 a film about the police tactics during the G20 protests in Pittsburgh last september.

10pm - Insurrection Now - From New York To Greece - Fuck the Police - Includes presentation about current occupy everything projects in california and Immersive Film about the Anarchist Rebellion in Greece

11pm - Surprise Real Time interactive audio perfomance by members of VOID collective from Athens and other guests.