Hard to keep a good plywood peepee down

Someone (Hello, Penistrator!) really wants to draw a big dick on Shepard Fairey's mural on Houston and the Bowery... here's the latest...





Previously!

July 12!

[Photo credit: DNAinfo]

July 13!


July 18!


July 19!


Previously on EV Grieve:
Shepard Fairey plywood penis getting painted over

The street has a message for Shepard Fairey

We'll always have Craigslist

Seeking Sexy TOPLESS Female to deal poker at my party - Sat. 7/31** (East Village)
Date: 2010-07-19, 5:10PM EDT

Hey there. About 10 of my good friends and I are getting together on the night of SATURDAY, JULY 31 to play some poker and smoke cigars, and thought it would be a nice gift to my friends to hire a young, sexy woman to deal for us - TOPLESS. We are nice, respectful, fun (and funny) 28 year olds from Long Island. Looking for a fun girl who can handle a deck of cards and would deal texas hold'em poker for TWO HOURS (10PM-Midnight) on Saturday July 31. $100 cash for the 2 hours - easy money! Liquor and a cigar are included!

If you think this would be fun and are down for a sexy and funny night, then email me! PLEASE INCLUDE PICTURES! (Face + body).

Thanks guys...

Coming this fall to Avenue A: Tompkins Square Bagels

Last Monday, I pointed out that a bagel shop may open at 165 Avenue A in the former Monk Thrift space... that it would be from the people who own the Bagel World stores in Brooklyn.

Well, Christopher Pugliese who runs those shops has confirmed the opening. As he said: "We're going to bring the bagel back to the East Village."

Pugliese, who has lived in the East Village the last four years, shared a lot of information with me (including the rent amount: $9,000 monthly) ... so here are some excerpts:

---

If all goes well, we should be open by October the latest. When David's closed, I was very angry/disappointed. That's when the seed was planted to open a shop. I was kind of on the fence about it for a while. After I learned about how David's was pushed out by Hot and Crusty, I was motivated and on a mission to open.

----

My partners and I grew up in Brooklyn and we've been making bagels since we were kids. We're going to hand roll and kettle boil our bagels. The whole place is going to be old school NYC. We're naming it Tompkins Square Bagels. We're all big into NYC history. We'll have a full deli with cold cuts, home made cream cheeses, lox, whitefish, etc. I'm going to bring in a chef to do some simple breakfast, brunch and dinner food.

----

We are going to try to keep the prices really low in hopes of becoming more of a local neighborhood folks kind of spot. I'm hoping to work closely with the schools and Boys and Girls Clubs in the area, be active in the community, sponsor different events, and hire kids from the neighborhood.

---

We have three shops in Brooklyn and none of them sell beer or cigarettes. I won't here either. We won't seek a liquor license. That said, I now understand why Alphabet City is overflowing with bars and restaurants yet at the same time lacking the most basic of neighborhood businesses; butcher, bookshop, fish market, etc. The only way anybody can afford to pay the insane rents that landlords around here are asking is to sell something you can markup as much as liquor.

---

Honestly, some nights I get really freaked out about whether or not I'm making the right decision. None of my shops pay anywhere near that amount [of rent] and I'm in great areas: Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Fort Greene. If we're not extremely popular right from the get go, we probably won't last a year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bagels for Avenue A?

Protect our community gardens

Below is a list of steps to take NOW in the fight to save our gardens:

1.Call and write your City Council member and tell him/her to "permanently preserve our community gardens by passing a law designating our community gardens as parkland." For complete City Council Member contact information go here.

2. Attend the Aug. 10 Public Hearing of the Department of Parks & Recreation and Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Proposed Rules governing Green Thumb Community Gardens at the Chelsea Recreation Center. Time to be announced soon. Check out the Parks Department's website for hearing details.

Here's the New York Times article discussing these proposed
rules.

3. Hand out the Save Our Gardens flier: download here.

4. Spread the word. Ask your friends, family and everyone who enjoys our gardens take each of the above steps.

SPREAD THE WORD.

Living local: Here comes the 123 Third Ave. sales center!

So the new condo going up now on the corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue (East Union Square!) looks to be ready to unveil the sales office ... it's on 10th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue... (near the home of the 10th Street Scribbler!)

Given the paper on the front windows, it's likely not open just yet...




Still. Let's take a look inside!

So. First things... I guess "Live Local" is their catchphrase of choice. I mean, you're technically living local no matter where you live, right? (Curious if anyone suggested, say, Livin' la Vida Local?)



And what does living local entail? Well! Whole Foods! The Strand! Paragon! The Coffee Shop!



... and Gramercy Tavern? That's a mere six-plus blocks away! (And phooey on your Union Square Cafe, Danny!)




... and they subscribe to the Times...(Take that Wall Street Journal!)

I guess it all makes sense now why the 123 ad went up here back in January ...



Still no prices just yet on the 123 website.

(Updated) Burgers for this Seventh Street stable?

Mohammed Falafel Star on Seventh Street near Avenue B closed up back in March... and there was action behind the plywood for months... and now, workers have removed the plywood... and check out what the new eatery coming here looks like:




Hmm... interesting looking stable/dungeon combo... The folks next door at the dry cleaners say the space will be a burger joint... and there is a liquor license pending here...



[Updated: Melanie has an interior shot... and hears that it will be a Mediterranean restaurant]

Lady Gaga in 'Pizza Face'

Thanks to the reader for this shot at ApizzA on Avenue A. (Oh, it's no 'Poker Face'...)

Mail call at former Permanent Brunch

The mail is starting to stack up outside the now-shuttered Permanent Brunch/Permanent Brunch & Burger/Steak Shoppe on First Avenue ...



Anyone have Lesly Bernard's forwarding address?

Looking at DBGB's new decorative planters

I hope that they don't leave these outside unattended all night...

Pet World closing on East Third Street

Dogs day afternoon

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Blue Glass for this shot from First Avenue...

Rat epidemic at 355 E. 10th St.

NY1 has a story today about the rat epidemic inside 355 E. 10th. St. between Avenue B and Avenue C... Per their story, tenants say:

"the rodents are in the halls, elevators, walls and ceilings all day and night.

They say some rats are even eating right through the walls.

Workers removed at least two dozen dead rats on Friday.

"It's very bad. It's so bad that certain people can't even sleep because you're terrified. I mean this lady had 24 rats in the front of her kitchen. How can you live like that?" said one tenant.

Meanwhile, I'd still like to know what's happening in that longtime empty lot next door to 355 ... the one guarded by the Astroturf-based fence...

Looking forward to NEXT Saturday in Tompkins Square Park

Save the date... will have more reminders on what promises to be a great afternoon in Tompkins Square Park next Saturday....

The SHADOW Presents: The Headless Horsemen, David Peel + The Lower East Side, Rapid Deployment Force, Sexual Suicide, BANJI and *Star Fucking Hipsters* [Surprise speakers and more bands to be announced]

To get us in the mood... some Sexual Suicide from last summer...

As the Shepard Fairey mural turns...

Thanks to a reader tip... we now know the plywood peepee has been partially covered with new art here on Houston and The Bowery...





Here's a shot of the new art going up via *niCOle* on Flickr...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Shepard Fairey plywood penis getting painted over

The street has a message for Shepard Fairey

World's largest Duane Reade now open on Union Square

Well, I'm not sure if it is the world's largest... but this store is huge. Anyway, the Duane Reade is now open next to the Nordstrom Rack in the old Virgin space...



...check out the big bank of fancy video monitors on the right too...



They opened yesterday...



...and are advertising "breakfast, lunch and dinner" in an attempt to nab the masses going to Whole Foods... Oh fresh baked goods!



I would have stayed longer, but in five minutes, three different super-duper-friendly Duane Reade employees asked me if I needed help finding anything...
Yes! The exit!

Saturday afternoon at Zum Schneider without the World Cup

OK, so it was also early afternoon and hot ... not to mention a summer Saturday... was more crowded later, of course...

Anyway, I had been used to seeing this the last month on weekend mornings ...

Noted

Spotted along Avenue B.

It's another Saturday night and...

The street has a message for Shepard Fairey

Previously on EV Grieve:
Shepard Fairey plywood penis getting painted over

You'll need to find somewhere else to stand in line: Prune is closed for brunch this weekend!

Anyway, never been...given the lines out here weekend mornings, must be good or...?

This morning on Avenue B

Noted

From Page Six today:

Now we know what Mayor Bloomberg and Diana Taylor have in common -- they were both party animals. In a speech yesterday at Dartmouth, Taylor's alma mater, Bloomberg said, "I remember having nothing but fun in college." The Post's Jennifer Fermino reports Bloomberg also said Taylor told him she skied constantly while attending the New Hampshire university, but he thinks she "drank a lot [and] probably smoked a lot." Bloomberg, who went to John Hopkins, confessed to a dismal academic record: "If you think I don't have 'Animal House' on my iPad, you are wrong," he said.

This disarming man: Larry David on Fourth Avenue

Filming "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on Fourth Avenue and 12th Street a little bit ago... thanks to EV Grieve reader Shaps for the shot.

Oh yes it is

Cathedral preservation meeting ends in deadlock; mediator next

Jill at Blah Blog Blah attended last night's CB3 meeting regarding the preservation of the Historic Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Martyr on East Second Street. In a comment, she reported:

[T]he two sides are really at odds, which is so strange because ultimately they want the same thing — to preserve the church they love.

The meeting ended with both sides agreeing to go to a mediator to try to work it out.

Apparently there is a group that helps with financing and all the red tape that the church is worried about. But the anger seemed to go beyond that. What I got from the speeches was that the church members feel like they felt like they are being invaded by strangers who want to proclaim landmark status on the building without engaging the occupants of the building. Like their opinion on the matter was an afterthought.

However, if this fight has been going on since before the rezoning (which is why they say they can't add an addition even if they want to), then the 8-story addition was probably a real threat, and the landmark status was meant to stop them, so engaging them wouldn't have made much sense then, as it was a strategy to stop them from proceeding with their plan.

I wonder if it is possible to could get landmark status in spite of what the church members want. It seems to me that if the EVCC et al are worried that the church, or their future congregants will try to change the building in any way (8 story addition not withstanding) then they are exactly who landmark status is meant to protect the building from.

Patrick Hedlund has more on the story at DNAinfo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking for support of the proposed landmarking of the Historic Russian Orthodox Cathedral

[Cathedral image courtesy of Barry Munger]