Well, the former Bounce Deuce (moment of silence -- no giggling!) on Second Avenue and Sixth Street is nearly transformed into...
Just what, I don't know. The signs last fall originally said a Pita Pan sports grill... I asked one of the workers here yesterday what kind of restaurant that we could expect... and he answered, "European." I said, "excuse me?" Then he said "German." Then he looked nervous and said that I needed to ask the owner.
Next!
And the new French creperie cafe on St. Mark's Place near Avenue A is now open...
And I no nothing about Hawkers, an eatery featuring, as the sign reads, "Southeast Asia street-style food," that recently opened on 14th Street near Third Avenue... (and only two Yelp reviews so far!)
EV Grieve reader T.E.V.B. reports that the new dessert place is now open at Third Avenue and NYU....the former site of Atlantic News...
"I picked up a menu, they serve bubble tea, shaved ice, crepes, other Asian-y snacks/desserts, etc. Similar to Saint's Alp Teahouse just up the block," T.E.V.B. reports...
By now, you've likely seen the "lost dog" flyers around the East Village... and other parts of the city that tell of Sammy's disappearance ...
Unfortunately, missing (or found) pet signs are fairly common. However, there's something different about these flyers ... they're everywhere, for starters... and new flyers seem to go up daily... Several readers have asked me if, maybe, Sammy, a Pomeranian, had been found...
Unfortunately, no... the latest flyers are now offering a reward...
I finally decided to call the number to find out more about Sammy... I spoke with Sammy's owner, who, along with her sister, has been working nonstop to bring home her beloved pet. She said that Sammy was definitely stolen... and that she has received several descriptions of a young male trying to sell a dog that looks like Sammy.
Sammy was last seen on June 29 on 21st Street and Second Avenue at 11:39 a.m.
As for the new flyers, she said there are three-four people putting up new notices every day in hopes that someone will make the connection. She has also posted signs in Chinese, such as this one on Houston at Avenue B ...
In the days and weeks after Sammy first went missing, she received a lot of leads -- many of them from the East Village ... of late, though, the calls are down to two-three a day. Many people think they've seen Sammy, but are a little vague on details...
--He was last seen on 21st Street and 2nd Avenue at 11:39AM
--He has a GREEN Leash, and a BLUE Collar. His Dog tag is a Blue DOG-BONE that says SAMMY and the owner's ADDRESS
--He weighs roughly 3 pounds
--He tends to bark at strangers, and is very picky about people picking him up
There is more information on the site, including flyers and photos...and a video.
"We won't stop until he comes home," she said.
Updated: 3:30 ... One of Sammy's owners checks in the comments section... she provides more background on how Sammy came up missing.... she says that he got loose, ran a block and was scooped up by a stranger... and that was the last they saw of him... "We are appreciative of those who have helped us thus far with our search. Any assistance is greatly appreciated, word of mouth or even a simple post of his flyer on your facebook or blog."
In recent weeks, I've had several conversations with readers about the ongoing renovations of First Avenue... in which a dedicated bike path and bus lane are going in (most people think the bike and bus lane additions are a good thing, especially among my cyclist friends, but...)
Anyway, work continued on the Avenue this past weekend...
Topic No.1
Have you looked at the parking instructions yet?
The floating lane? As EV Grieve reader Blue Glass said to me, "only an engineer could make street traffic so confusing."
Topic No. 2
The possible impact on local business. Foot traffic aside ... a lot of the stores here are the kind in which people are used to quickly parking and zipping in for the goods (especially during holidays, where cars are double-parked on 11th Street around to First Avenue for Veniero's) ... How will the stores accommodate customers who want to stop for a few minutes to make a purchase? Ditto for quick deliveries. The bus and bike lanes have removed some parking spots. Several shop owners are worried about the reduced parking options... look for a story on the topic soon from a local TV station...
Topic No. 3
Not everyone is really hip to the dedicated bike/bus lanes yet...
Here's an example of someone stopping for a quick pick up at Veniero's ... what you don't see here is the bicyclist nearly taking off the car door...
It will take some time here for everyone to learn to live with the changes... motorists...cyclists...pedestrians...merchants...cops...at least until the city paints in the green bike lane.
Updated: Noonish... As for the local news report I mentioned... NY1 has filed a report, East Village Businesses Find Fault With New Bus, Bike Lanes. To the story:
The new bus and bicycle lanes along First and Second Avenues are part of a major city traffic overhaul, but local business owners say the lanes are taking up parking spaces and creating obstacles for delivery trucks.
Business owners say the lanes, which stretch from Houston Street to 34th Street, force delivery men to walk into the bicycle lanes and forces them to run the risk of injury.
"My truck has to park away from the curb. Now my employees have to cross through an active bike lane and there's a possibility of being hit by a bicycle, and there's cyclists getting hurt. My driver's getting hurt," said hardware store owner Jim Doria.
"Should have the bike lane on the other side, the way it was before and parking would be on the same side," said business owner Jawad Rasul. "I think that would be a lot better for the bikers and for the store owners."
And the comments are getting going on this topic...
West Village resident Christopher Otto has created a new app for iPhones that uses GPS to show nearby cultural locations in downtown Manhattan. It currently has almost 350 locations, with links to Wikipedia and YouTube to provide more extensive information than could be included in the app itself.
"I was inspired to make it after reading 'Low Life' by Luc Sante while staying in a historic building in the West Village and finding myself forgetting what NYC was like before places like Superdive came along," Otto said in an e-mail. "My hope is that someone shopping in SoHo might read about Gordon Matta-Clark, or discover La Monte Young, and be inspired to do something interesting."
The app is free, though it includes iAds and Otto gets a small percentage of the iTunes and Amazon sales.
Speaking of First Avenue... I honestly meant to post this about a month ago... So, there was that steam leak at the northeast corner of First Avenue and 11th Street... went on 24/7 for months...(ConEd told nervous residents that there was no asbestos here...)
In late June, ConEd finished up the job... leaving behind a dead tree where the steampipe was working...
Last November, I noted that the second-floor retail space was now available in the Theatre Condos on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...
And, as the signage up there shows... we have a taker! (Hey, having four "for rent" signs must work!) Looks like this space will be home to "the best videogame store in New York" ...
Grab a few $1 slices at 2 Bros and make a night of it...
Cooper Union brass have apparently had enough of gleaming the coop... As Quartersnacks point out, the bank has been skatestopped with spiked metal bars running across the entire surface. "Drunk people will still climb on it, but skateboarders will not."
Well, balls.
And here is the review of the spot from QuarterSnacks:
Spot: Clearly a display of “progressive” architecture, this retarded appendage of the new Cooper Union building quickly turned into one of best skate spots in the area. The bank is an upwards triangle, fairly mellow, and made out of ridiculously smooth, polished concrete. It is narrow, and you will need to dip in and out of the corner when skating it, or simply pop a wallie over one of the many slanted pillars also extending from the building.
Bust — ♦♦♦♦♦ / Almost Immediate: Your time here typically will not last longer than five minutes, but forces greater than all of us have been known to intervene and grant sessions that last for up to a half hour. The spot is positioned right next to the front security desk, so odds are inevitably against you. Oh, and white people with liberal arts degrees will often stop by and ask you why you’re destroying such a magnificent work of art.
Marc H. Miller has told me about another major addition to the 98Bowery site.
ART/new york; A Video Magazine on Art (1981 - 1985)
Between 1981 and 1985, Miller and Paul Tschinkel collaborated on 17 ART/new york programs containing interviews with more then 50 artists. Miller wrote the narration and conducted the interviews. Tschinkel produced the series and worked the camera. The tapes were co-directed. (Tschinkel continues producing ART/new york programs.)
This is the story of the early years of a pioneering effort to provide video coverage of the New York art world. 98Bowery now includes segments from historic video programs with artist interviews and rare footage of exhibitions. Among the footage that you'll find:
-- Richard Serra & the Tilted Arc Controversy (1982-83) -- John Ahearn, "We Are Family", Public Sculpture Dedication, South Bronx (1982-83) -- Graffiti/ Post Graffiti – Opening at the Sidney Janis Gallery; Collaborative -- Painting Demonstration at the New York Society for Ethical Culture (1985) -- Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Fun Gallery (1983)
There are also audio excerpts from interviews with Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Brice Marden, Nam June Paik and Cindy Sherman.
[Photo of Haring via 98Bowery]
As you can imagine, there are stories behind every video here... I asked Miller to share an anecdote about one of the interviews...
"The posting of the Jean-Michel Basquiat tape is in part an attempt to reclaim my credibility. It is the original program that Paul Tschinkel and I made in 1982 and it captures a 21-year-old Basquiat just as he was coming into his own. It includes footage from his phenomenal Fun Gallery exhibition and about four minutes from a 40- minute interview. This may have been the happiest and most upbeat moment of his life.
"Unfortunately, after Basquiat died in 1988, my interview with him was released in its entirety without any editing. In retrospect, this was an incredibly naive and foolish thing to do. Buried within the interview were a few clumsy moments and exchanges in which I played the devil's advocate to elicit lively responses. Over the years, these are the moments that have received the most attention. It's something I've had to live with. I'm just happy after 20 years that I can get the original tape back out there."
Here's an excerpt of ART/new york program no. 30A: JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: An Interview, uploaded to YouTube by Tschinkel.
By the way, the new Basquiat documentary by Tamra Davis, "The Radiant Child," opens tomorrow at the Film Forum.
A few weeks back, The Scoopinator reported that the new NYC Icy on the other side of Avenue A has taken half of Ray's business (according to Ray) ... so... Slum Goddess yesterday noted that Ray is now selling -- icees...
Thanks to Slum Goddess for letting me borrow the photos! And be sure to read the rest of her post, which features a headline that I hope someone in the mainstream media borrows: Just read my fucking shit.
Anyway, will NYC Icy now start serving hot dogs or egg creams?
Thanks to EV Grieve reader Dan N. for the photo here on St. Mark's Place near Second Avenue... As he noted, "This kind of makes having bedbugs look like one wacky experience that all New Yorkers should love."
Since March 10, workers have been repairing the facade on the building at Seventh Street and Avenue A... which meant a sidewalk shed for Yuca Bar and Ray's... Yesterday, workers removed the sidewalk shed on the Seventh Street side...
Speaking of Seventh Street and Avenue A... almost time for the annual viewing of "Die Hard With A Vengeance," the Best Worst Bruce Willis movie... as you may or may not know, this cheeseorama includes a scene filmed in Tompkins Square Park and on Avenue A...
