Tributes set in stone in Tompkins Square Park

Catching up on an article from The Villager before the new issue comes out tomorrow.

Bonnie Rosenstock wrote about the Make Your Mark in the Park program at Tompkins Square Park. The East Village Parks Conservancy created the program eight years ago to honor residents and help fund the Park’s gardener and elm tree watch.

There are currently 155 pavers around Temperance Fountain, with another 24 set to be placed later this spring. Each stone costs $250.

The article prompted me to look at the various tributes, which I hadn't done in several years ... and I spotted the name of someone I met in the neighborhood about 14 years ago.

Johnston, a writer for Time Out, died of colon cancer on Oct. 26, 2008. You can read more about him here.

Mayhem for muffins? Former Sin Sin space becoming a bakery, probably

The owner of 85 Second Ave. — once home to Sin Sin — said the space will likely be home to a bakery, DNAinfo reports.

"It's not going to be a bar," assured Alex Shkolnik, who owns 85 Second Ave. "It's never going to be something like was there."

Shkolnik claimed this time around he would not work with Sin Sin's owners, who unsuccessfully tried to transfer their liquor license last year to a new group of operators.

Instead, he explained, Shkolnik's son will take over the space and open a restaurant featuring items like baked goods, coffee and juice.

"They're going to do probably a bakery there," he said, noting that it would serve "health food."

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

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

A look at "Bloomberg's New York: Class and Governance in the Luxury City" (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

New bedbug site for NYC (Runnin' Scared)

Cuomo restores senior center funding (The Lo-Down)

Amato Opera still on the market (DNAinfo)

Life without a belt (Nadie Se Conoce)

Payless ShoeSource moving into retail space of fancy 130 Delancey building (BoweryBoogie)

Luke's Lobster opening on Wall Street (Eater)

And two events this week via the Lower East Side History Project:

"Time and Space on the Lower East Side: 1980/2010"
w/ photographer Brian Rose

Tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Mid-Manhattan Library
455 5th Avenue, NY NY 10006 (at 41st Street)
Subway: 7 to 5th Avenue or B, D, F, M to 42nd Street/ Bryant Park
FREE!

In 1980, photographers Brian Rose and Ed Faustry embarked on an ambitious project to photograph a number of buildings, storefronts and streets of the Lower East Side. Tonight at the Mid-Manhattan Library, Brian Rose will be discussing his fantastic new book, Time and Space on the Lower East Side, which offers dozens of beautiful "then and now" images.

We posted this photo by Brian last year.



On East Fifth Street between C and D. Rose was standing near Fourth Street

"The Bowery: A History of Grit, Graft and Grandeur" Book Party W/ presentations by Eric Ferrara, Rob Hollander & David Mulkins

Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The BRECHT FORUM
451 West Street (West Side Highway at Bank Street)
New York, NY 10014
Subway: L to 14th Street
Sliding scale admission: $6/$10/$15/Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers
Refreshments served.

94 St. Mark's Place on the market, and what will it mean for Under St. Marks?

Here we go. Per the Massey Knakal listing:

The residential rents currently average $1,700/month, which is about 20% below current market levels providing great upside. With the exception of one RS unit, all apartments are FM, making it possible to improve unites [sic] and increase rents in the short term. The theater is on a month to month lease, so this could be a prime investor or user opportunity.

The theater in question is, of course, Under St. Marks, which has operated here as an experimental spot since the 1970s. The space is currently operated by the Horse Trade Theater Group. (We have an email out to them about all this.)

Investment properties (the asking price is $5.75 million) and experimental theater spaces certainly don't seem to go hand-in-hand ... making this potentially bad news down the road for Under St. Marks... and another loss for the neighborhood's creative spirit.

South Brooklyn Pizza asks for signatures, calls CB3 'infamous'

South Brooklyn Pizza is on the April CB3/SLA agenda. They're expanding to open a restaurant next door at 122 First Ave. in the former Ruben's space. (Eater first noted this takeover last September.) They're asking for a beer-and-wine license.

And so the South Brooklyn Pizza folks are collecting signatures of support, as the sign in the window shows... pointing out they are "going in front of the infamous community board three."

One neighbor said that South Brooklyn Pizza will also be looking to open an outdoor space. There was opposition to a liquor license for the new pizza place last June.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Opposition to South Brooklyn Pizza's liquor license

A quick look back at a Mars Bar moment

We noted on Sunday that there's a new mural up outside Mars Bar.

And now a quick look at the previous mural... one of our all-time favorites... the "Mars Bar Moment" by Jane Knox that she started on Feb. 18.

Vandals struck a few weeks later...

...then someone cleaned it up, kind of...

To many more Mars Bar moments.

What celebrity will be having a 'Close Call' in the East Village?

EV Grieve reader Creature sends along this photo from Avenue A and Sixth Street... A film shoot today for "Celebrity Close Call"??

Not familiar with that one... According to Bio.com:

For many celebrities life can be a dream — critical acclaim, a world of adoring fans, and unimaginable wealth. But in a split second everything can disappear. In this riveting one-hour special we'll talk with stars Jane Seymour, Erik Estrada, Leif Garret and Coolio, each forced to face their own mortality in shocking, unexpected twists of fate. These celebrities' true stories should be obituaries, tragic endings to phenomenal lives. Except for one thing: every single one of them lived to tell the tale.

Any thoughts on what celebrity will be using the East Village as a backdrop to his or her near-death experience?

The High Line gets the 'National Geographic' treatment

The April National Geographic is on newsstands today, and the issue includes a feature on the High Line (not to mention snow frogs!)...

Anyway, here's a link to the feature ... where you can find a few more photos like these...

And here are a few passages from the accompanying essay by Paul Goldberger...

Almost a decade after the Giuliani administration tried to tear the High Line down, it has been turned into one of the most innovative and inviting public spaces in New York City and perhaps the entire country.

And!

New York is a city in which good things rarely happen easily and where good designs are often compromised, if they are built at all.

For another take on the new High Line, read Jeremiah Moss's essay at Vanishing New York.

[All photos by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel/National Geographic. Cover credit: National Geographic]

Speaking of wildlife...

EV Grieve Wildlife Correspondent Bobby Williams and others were on the scene yesterday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park...

...as our red-tailed hawk dined on a rat.

FDNY battles apartment blaze at 309 E. Ninth St.

The FDNY was on the scene tonight at 309 E. Ninth St. just east of Second Avenue ... where firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze that started in a fourth-floor apartment...

No word yet on injuries or the extent of the damage. Firefighters had tossed several charred pillows out on the sidewalk.

Here's a photo a little earlier via @Bincerli

Avenue B, 5:57 p.m., March 28

East 10th Street, 8:39 a.m., March 28

Photo by Steven Hirsch [Posted with permission]

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

More thoughts on rent deregulation (Save the Lower East Side!)

How to deal with your man in Tompkins Square Park (Nadie Se Conoce)

Beware the fake real estate agent (Runnin' Scared)

About urban graffiti knitters (Fast Company)

About penis graffiti (The Grumbler)

DOH shutters original Ray's (Eater)

A look at the Single Fare 2 show (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

A recap of the Little Italy Unity Rally (BoweryBoogie)

Is your super the next reality TV star? (The Lo-Down)

At the CD release party for Eden and John's East River String Band (Slum Goddess)

A burger at Whitmans on East Ninth Street (Marty After Dark)

Person from Browns Mills, N.J. upset by new CK ad on Lafayette and Houston (CBS)

Buy a nice corner of the Bowery

Here's you chance to become a Bowery real-estate baron and reap the gold! Per the RKF website, you can invest in the space at the Bowery and Bleecker...

Per the listing (PDF):

The market has experienced a revitalization in recent years and presents a vibrant mix of new residential, retail, hotel, cultural, dining and nightlife offerings.
The property features:

• 6,600 sf on two levels: 3,400 sf on the Ground Floor and 3,200 sf in the Lower Level
• 129 feet of wraparound frontage
• Two existing liquor licenses in place
• Fully built kitchen

This is a rare opportunity to purchase an income-producing retail condominium on the Bowery with an existing liquor license in-place.

No word if the "Star Wars" pinball machine is included.

Last day for Houston Deli & Grocery

As I first reported last month, Brooklyn's Union Market will open a fancy new shop on Avenue A and Houston that will include a beef-aging facility and personal shopping services...

Meanwhile, the current tenant at 240 E. Houston St., Houston Deli & Grocery, closes today...

I stopped by during the weekend. I asked about the closing date. The owner, shaking his head and fighting back tears, said several times, "They wouldn't offer us a lease..."

Not much left...

New hope for 35 Cooper Square

During the weekend, workers arrived at 35 Cooper Square to begin removing the sewer and water from the property...

[Photos by Bobby Williams]

...the next steps in the demolition of the historic building... However, there is some positive news about the home via David Mulkins, chair of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors (BAN). City Council member Rosie Mendez's office has brokered a meeting between developer Arun Bhatia and BAN members to discuss possibly sparing the building.

Meanwhile, as we pointed out five weeks ago, workers have left the roof exposed to the elements. You may write to the developer's rep, Jane Crotty (Jane@gacnyc.com), and ask them to put the protective covering back on the rooftop.

Updated: DNAinfo reports the meeting is set for April 12.

Nevada Smith's turning red

Here on Third Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street.

Before!

Saturday!

Sunday!

Perhaps the new exterior will put to rest the years-old rumors that they're moving to a bigger space?

Cat adoption center opens on East Ninth Street

Atomic Passion, the vintage clothing shop on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, closed early last spring.



The space remained vacant until a few weeks ago... after some renovations, it appears the new tenant is ready for business.

It's Ollie's Place, a branch of the Mighty Mutts organization and veteran Murray Hill cat adoption center. A fire knocked them out of their 26th Street location. (No cats were harmed — you can read about it here.) And here's the Ollie's Place website.

They're open 6-8 pm Monday through Thursday, and from 12-6 pm on the weekends.

Village Sheeple

A new sign by Timothy Dark outside Billy's on East Houston...

Retail comings and goings and comings

On Seventh Street, Fab 208 has closed one shop in preparation of moving across the street to smaller quarters... The new store opens Friday.

And East Village Pharmacy has relocated from Avenue A and Fifth Street to its new home down the block on Third Street...

Now we can speculate what is coming to Fifth and A ... the "for lease" sign says no restaurants, but food OK...