Local blogger far too curious about the DBGB sidewalk cafe

On Monday, a local blogger blogged about the sidewalk cafe at DBGB on the Bowery. To date, the blogger had seen the outdoor cafe set up once.

Then! On Monday evening, the blogger noticed that the sidewalk cafe was UP and running; promptly causing the blogger to blog about that.



The blogger found it curious that Team DBGB would even bother putting out the sidewalk cafe on a typically slow evening — especially with hail-producing thunderstorms expected to pass over the city in the next few hours.

Then! Last night, on an evening the blogger described as "pleasant" to an acquaintance, there was no DBGB sidewalk cafe



To be continued, unfortunately....

C-4 is old, likely stolen

The Times has the latest on yesterday's big hey-we-found-a-bag-of-C-4 story:

The mysterious military-grade explosives that were found in an East Village cemetery over the weekend are more than a dozen years old and were most likely stolen from a military base, the police said Tuesday.

Bomb experts with the New York Police Department found that the eight bricks of C-4 explosive, totaling about 10 pounds, lacked identifying markers known as taggants, which manufacturers were required to include in the puttylike compound beginning in 1997, said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman.

Meanwhile, EV Grieve readers are trying help the police solve the mystery here.

The M15 Select Bus Service: 'people just need to give it a chance'

More comments are coming in regarding the new M15 Select Bus Service. (Streetsblog had a nice feature on the subject — via The Lo-Down)

A reader sent along this note:

Had good experience with yesterday (light use), not so good today (heavy and buses backed up). Take from 14th to 42nd.

Think it will be fine/better in a week or so after people who haven't been paying attention realize how works.

You can transfer from select to local (although seems a bit of a pain), but don't know what local bus driver would do if just tried to get on with a receipt for express — should have encoded for that instead of the paper transfer noted at the link, maybe can do in future.

There are kinks in the system that should have been worked out in the Bronx test project, but on the whole seems like a good idea and people just need to give it a chance, and then the MTA needs to revise accordingly.

Read more comments here.

[Updated] Claim: Sin Sin is closing at the end of the month

That's the word, anyway, in a thread passed along by a tipster at rapmusic.com. Per chazraps:

SinSin is closing at the end of the month.
Just got the word at noon today. Freestyle Mondays, and the battle, will be moving to another location in NYC, as well as starting in Prague this month. SinSin itself, however, will be shutting down. The final Freestyle Mondays there will be October 25th.

The embattled club on Second Avenue and Fifth Street has been facing mounting criticism from residents in recent months. Then there was the tragic story of 37-year-old Devin Thompson, who was shot twice outside the club on Aug. 22. He died from his wounds on Aug. 31. According to reports, Thompson and the two men police believe are responsible for the shooting were inside the club earlier in the evening on Aug. 22.

Updated: Grub Street reports that Sin Sin “has decided to close, re-open and go a different route. Like many venues around the city they too have to keep up with the times and cost of operating here.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
'The neighborhood will not rest until you are gone and Sin Sin’s license is revoked'

NYPD hosting meeting between Sin Sin and neighbors tonight

East Village noise wars new battlefront: Sin Sin/Leopard Lounge

Why the president of the East Fifth Street Block Association carries a baseball bat

Hotel Toshi takes over 325 E. 10th St.

Last week, we asked, What is going on with 325 E. 10th St.?



At that time, a prospective tenant told us that he had been approved for an apartment in the front building here along this picturesque stretch that faces Tompkins Square Park. Per the tipster: "We were told the entire building was no longer going to be listed for rent. This was while we were in the process of cutting checks for lease signing. Something is up with this building."

And, thanks to another tipster, we know the answer: The front building is apparently now part of the Hotel Toshi empire, the short-term apartment rental network with 18 buildings — totaling some 50 apartments in downtown Manhattan and Williamsburg.




Per the tipster: "The front building at 325 E. 10th St. has been taken over entirely by Hotel Toshi. There is a resident directory in the lobby that confirms this. The rear apts. have individual names but the front building says 'Toshi, Inc., Toshi, Inc., Toshi, Inc' for every unit."

The rear building with the studios will remain residential....

The arrival of a Hotel Toshi in some neighborhoods hasn't always gone so well. In a May story from The Brooklyn Paper titled "Neighbors say Hotel Toshi is a horrorshow hostel":

A hipster hotel that occupies part of a converted loft building in Williamsburg has become such a crash pad that some renters are moving out.

Tenants of a six-story building on Driggs Avenue and S. Fifth Street are accusing the operators of Hotel Toshi of creating a nuisance by allowing their transient guests to throw rowdy late-night parties.

Tenant activism led to the departure of a Hotel Toshi back in June, as NYC the Blog reported.

Curbed has also been covering the various Hotel Toshi sagas through the years. You can read all that here. Perhaps 325 E. 10th St. will become another saga to follow...

So how did the C-4 end up in the cemetery?

Following up on yesterday's explosive discover at The New York City Marble Cemetery...From the Times:

Now the quaint old cemetery in the East Village is the site of another mystery, this one still unfolding, after a volunteer on Sunday discovered a decaying garbage bag filled with 10 pounds of military-grade C-4 explosives, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Monday.

Mr. Kelly said he did not believe the aging explosives were linked to a terrorism plot. No ignition devices or primers needed to detonate the C-4 were found. But how the explosives ended up interred near a 19th-century vault is still anybody’s guess.

Right! So! What is YOUR guess?

A reader report on the M15 Select Bus Service

EV Grieve reader Mike shared his experience from the new M15 Select Bus Service yesterday ...

Paid for my ticket at 2nd and 42nd. The crowd was minimal but grew quickly. We waited over 10 minutes for a bus. The MTA employee said they are supposed to come every five minutes.

After paying for my paper ticket with my unlimited monthly, the regular local bus came, but I couldn't use my metrocard there as I just used it to buy a select ticket.

When the bus finally arrived it was jam packed. It sat for a few minutes as people were standing in the doorways. Everyone was irritated and each stop was a nightmare due to the super crowded condition. Exiting and entering was difficult for all riders.

Attached is a picture of the crowded condition... the entire bus was this full.

"MTA can't get it right every time. I'm hoping this is an anomaly.. it can't get any worse!"

The Penistrator is ruining The Libs Project

Here on 13th Street and Fourth Avenue... you ask for some libs, you get some Penistrator — or a clever imitator....




Also....

On second thought...

On Sept. 7, I ran an item on Cafe St. Mark's taking over the defunct Red Mango space on St. Mark's Place... Well, that didn't last long... there are now "for lease" signs on the space...



I don't know if they ever even made it open here...

How the bomb scare is impacting the Second Avenue bike lane

Take it slow starting at Third Street....

An update on the biggest news story of the day

DBGB put out its sidewalk cafe! DBGB put out its sidewalk cafe! DBGB put out its sidewalk cafe!



Previously on EV Grieve:
Where is DBGB's sidewalk cafe?

East Village makes The Drudge Report

Uh, woo? Anyway, The Drudge Report links to the Daily News piece on the bomb scare...

Haven't seen this much activity on Second Street since Angelina Jolie filmed 'Salt'

Here are a few current on-the-scene photos on Second Avenue and Second Street via blogger Adrianna Grezak ... (see her site here).






Remember when Angelina Jolie was here to film 'Salt'?

What the Marble Cemetery looks like when the bomb squad isn't around

The Marble Cemetery on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue remains a huge crime scene now ... We're getting word that more police have arrived... Earlier today, a worker found some explosive material ... Per WNBC: The explosives are the kind used at construction sites; no ties to terror or other threats...

Anyway, during quieter times... here's what the cemetery looks like...

So much for the slow news day: Non-explosive explosive device found in Marble Cemetery

[DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro]

Whoa... we've been getting all kind of reports about the bomb squad on the scene on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Here is the Daily News. And the Post. And here's more from DNAinfo:

An explosive device was found in an East Village cemetery on Monday, causing nearby residents to be evacuated from their homes, police said.

The device, which was found in Marble Cemetery on 2nd Street between First and Second Avenues just before 11 a.m. on Monday, did not explode — and could not have exploded — because it did not contain enough material to do so, the NYPD confirmed.

It was not immediately clear exactly what the device was.

The cemetery is not usually open to the public, but the site was open for tours as part of this weekend's Open House NY program on Saturday and Sunday.

Police shut down the block on which the cemetery is located and anticipate its closure through the middle of the afternoon while the bomb squad survey the area, according to NYPD on the scene.

Fight night

We heard reports are two ugly brawls last night from readers...

One, on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue:

hey, there was a fight at Krystal's Bar 81 last night. some guy was on the street screaming, "come and fight me bitches," etc. etc., and a bunch of guys obliged, came out of 81, beat him down to the sidewalk, ripped his shirt off, kicked him. he stayed on the sidewalk screaming, drunk, offering to kick the ass of every one who walked by. finally the cops came and he ran.

Did anyone hit him with a shamwow?

Also!

Walking past Irving Plaza last night around 8:45 I heard a lot of commotion and saw a lot of people looking at something. At first it seemed like a street performance of some kind. I walked up and there was a large crowd in the outdoor seating area of SideBar, cheering something that I couldn't quite see right next to that outdoor seating. There were a number of people on the east side of the street too, including a bunch of Con Ed workers. I asked what happened and was told there was a fight. I saw a young guy get up off the ground near the SideBar outdoor seating. He raised his hands and there was more cheering/yelling. Just then a squad car arrived, followed by two more for backup. There were at least six cops on the scene. The cops spent some time talking to the shirtless guy, a girl (who didn't seem like she would have been in SideBar) and a bouncer. There was more yelling from the crowd, and people giving the cops info. The girl was eventually arrested and put in the back of a squad car. She continued to adamantly plead her case. I took it that she and the shirtless guy were the ones who fought. Two young guys — apparently friends of the shirtless guy — came over to speak with shirtless guy and the cops. One was wearing a Pats jersey, the other a Cardinals jersey. The guy with the Pats jersey took it off and gave it to the shirtless guy. A passerby shook his head and told me this is why you shouldn't go to bars. You never know what will happen. As I went across on 15th, I noticed one of the glass doors of SideBar was shattered. Not sure if that had something to do with this, though someone was gesturing to it and describing something to one of the officers. Further down 15th, I was passed by a number of people who had come from SideBar. Everyone was talking about the fight.

Peel's hasn't started a Biker's Brunch

A reader wondered why all the Hells Angels were hanging around the Bowery and Second Street yesterday... The reader, unwisely making a joke that I'm foolishly repeating, thought that the group members were waiting for entry at Peel's...



The correct answer: the Biker Bash next door at the Bowery Electric...

Where is DBGB's sidewalk cafe?

[Via Eater]

On Sept. 29, Eater noted that DBGB on the Bowery debuted its brand-new sidewalk cafe ...

And I haven't seen the outdoor seats since then.... even in this nice weather we've been having...





Meanwhile, other eateries like Gemma and Pulino's have been catering to people who want to eat on the Bowery...




Just seems odd to me that the DBGB-ers would go to all this effort and not capitalize on it ...

Updated: Tables are out tonight!

Rag and Bone is tired of bad graffiti

Rag and Bone, which took over the former Cafe Colonial on Houston and Elizabeth, is now looking for a design for its outside wall on the southeast corner...





BoweryBoogie noted the wall had been tagged with the ever-present "You would" back in August...

The wall looked like this back in May when the Colonial said goodbye...



Personally, I like the spontaneity of street art ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cafe Colonial owner says Pulino's opening helped triple her rent

Future of 276 Elizabeth apparently doesn't include the Cafe Colonial