[Updated] Another East Village corner market closes; 13 and counting for the last year or so

The Fuji Apple deli on First Avenue at 12th Street is the latest corner market to close.

The deli shuttered on Monday. (The space has been on the market — "perfect for any use.")

So many deli/markets have either closed or gone upscale in the last year or so in the East Village that I've lost track...Some of the replacements are just too bland and even more expensive with the ambiance of an airport terminal...

Anyway, let's try to piece this together.

Olympic on First Avenue at 13th Street closed and will become an upscale market...



Roger's Garden on First Avenue between First Street and Second Street closed for renovations back in early January... and is now a new food courty-looking place ...



The market on the corner of Seventh Street and Avenue C closed and reopened as a Wholesome Foods...


[Photo by Bob Arihood]

On Avenue C near Eighth Street, the market/deli just off the corner closed and reopened as a Yankees Deli 2...

Christine's on 10th and C moved and reopened with more upscale items...

Jay's on Avenue C and 11th Street closed and reopened as the Yankees Deli...

The market on 12th Street and Avenue C remains closed...

The East Side Gourmet Deli on the southeast corner of Avenue B and Fourth Street closed and reopened under new ownership...



Across the street, Finest Pizza and Deli closed last June.... and reopened as the East Village Finest Deli......



The Houston Deli & Grocery on Avenue A and Houston closed to make room for the new fancy Union Market...

The market that took over half of the Dunkin Donuts space on Second Avenue closed and is now part of the liquor store.

And how could I have forgotten this... Graceland on the corner of Avenue A and Second Street...



I'm sure there are more just from the last year (not including the fire-stricken Stuyvesant Grocery on A and 14th Street or East Village Farms on Second Avenue and Fourth Street.) Let me know what I'm forgetting...

A few clarifications about the new 24-7 diner on Avenue A

Keith Masco followed up with us after our post about his new 24-hour diner coming to 171 Avenue A.

The menu we were working from the South Williamsburg location was outdated. There are no BBQ shrimp pancakes or chicken-fried burgers. "These were ruled out very early in the game ... and although Matzoh Brie is still on there, the only other really eccentric thing on the menu is our Brooklyn Bolognese, which is mac and cheese topped with Sloppy Joe. And it's addictive," he said.

You can find the most current menu at Menu Pages here.

One last thing... the Avenue A location will be known as BADBURGER... Masco and his business partner, Steve Lynn, have split the two concepts. Lynn will keep the B.A.D. name in Brooklyn.

Is this East Village artist a threat to the sanctity of the MTA’s intellectual property?

East Village artist (and EV Grieve commenter) VH McKenzie has created a series of oil paintings on discarded MetroCards subway cards, which she sells in her Etsy shop.

Which, apparently, didn't go over well with the MTA, who found out about it... and, in response, issued the following letter:

“While we at the MTA are flattered that you recognize the value of our brand to consumers, please understand the MTA has a well-established product licensing program which markets authorized versions of such products. While we have no record of your firm requesting or being granted such authorization, we are prepared to initiate discussions with you about acquiring a license from us.

The MTA’s intellectual property is protected by applicable copyright law and trademark law. The manner in which your web site markets these items, such as your reference to New York City subway, implies involvement and/or endorsement of your business and products by the MTA.

The MTA considers its intellectual property to be a valuable asset which we protect from dilution and confusion in the marketplace. The MTA obtained and maintains its registered trademarks, copyrights and intellectual property in the public interest. It is important for the MTA to be able to communicate with the public about its services, as well as operate its established licensed products program, without unauthorized users of its intellectual property creating confusion.

Please reply to me by email or in writing to acknowledge receipt of this notice, and to indicate your intention to remove this item from Etsy and cease any sales of the item...

OK!

As she wrote on her Tumblr:

My big bad oil paintings, on the surface of discarded MetroCards subway cards, are apparently a huge threat to the sanctity of the MTA’s intellectual property. Unless, of course, I want to throw down some big cash and pay for the privilege of referencing the MTA in any way.

That ain’t gonna happen.

And she wonders if the MTA is aware of the recent Single Fare 2 show on the Lower East Side, an exhibit of some 1,300 artworks all presented on MetroCards subway cards. (Jeremiah wrote about it here.)

In any event, VH told me that she removed the "before" image of the MetroCards subway cards on her Etsy site, which showed the full gold color with the MTA logo and added a huge paragraph of legalese at the end of each listing supplied by a lawyer friend.

Anyway, I guess this is one way for the MTA to close up a $100 million budget gap — make local artists pay a licensing fee.

[Hat tip to Esquared at Nonetheless]

Flowers for Cornell

Cornell Edwards, who opened The Flower Stall at 143 E. 13th St. in 1967, recently passed away... and people have been coming by and leaving flowers and drawings in his honor...

Monkey business

EV Grieve reader Deb K. passed along this piece of art by UK underground graffiti artist Bortusk Leer ... spotted somewhere on East Ninth Street...

251 E. 13th St. getting Milk Barred?

As Eater has reported, Momofuku Milk Bar applied for a liquor license at 251 E. 13th St. across the street from the current Milk Bar location. Per Eater: "The folks at Momo Milk are considering taking up the space, for an expansion or to move the operation."

The CB3/SLA committed approved an MBII license in February. "When the committee questioned the need for a bakery to have a full liquor license, representatives eloquently spoke out about their need being mainly for baking purposes, and for a boozy milkshake. They would simply serve two types of beer for patrons who did not wish to have dessert," Eater reported.

So apparently the MB11 team is moving forward with plans to expand. On Wednesday, workers arrived and removed the old hair-salon canopy from the 251 storefront.

The DOB issued work permits for "replacement of storefront" last week.

Iconic blizzard bike gone missing

This iconic photo became one of the iconic shots of the iconic Blizzard of Dec. 26, 2010....






A little later ...



And now! EV Grieve reader AC notes that the bike has gone missing...

Perhaps just taking out to get a seat....?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: Q-and-A with the bike that became an iconic symbol of the 2010 Holiday Blizzard

Into the sunset

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Under St. Marks featured on NY1 today

Find the story here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Horse Trade Theater Group launches campaign to buy 94 St. Mark's Place

[H/T to @mbrosen]

[Updated] April 7

Rob D. spotted this on Houston today between Avenue A and Avenue B. And how about that newspaper for verification? "Didn't have a paper handy so I used my Petopia receipt. Hope it suffices in the eyes of the coalition."

Hmmm...

Via Skype, I spoke with an International Coalition of Tree Tossing in the Spring (ICTTS) official who is currently investigating the authenticity of a 300-year-old tree found in Frankfurt (Germany). After hearing the explanation, the official said, "The Coalition respects and appreciates Rob's resourcefulness. There is something rather MacGyver-like about this. Of course we are also big Richard Dean Anderson fans."

Meanwhile, one reader thought that using a newspaper for verification purposes was a little "old fashioned" given that no one reads newspapers anymore. The reader asked if someone could use the front page of The Daily on an iPad instead.

The short answer, via the ICTTS: No.

Updated: Interesting development... EV Grieve reader Josh has now come forward with a similar sighting ...

But.

"Took a picture, but like Rob, no newspaper proof that it was today. If you look at the file name, which is generated by date and time, you get some solid proof! I don't care about this to the extent I would go changing file names... or do I?"

We're now sending this via a Coalition-immunity pouch to the ICTTS lab at or around Langley.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

There are a lot of rats on the Lower East Side (Daily News)

And what happens in 20 years, after ‘N.Y.U. 2031’? (The Villager)

St. Mark's Place streetscenes (Nadie Se Conoce)

About NYC's lack of growth (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Who isn't a sucker for really big dogs? (BoweryBoogie)

Buy Tatum O'Neal's LES condo (Curbed)

Reading Allen Ginsberg’s Moloch (Patell and Waterman’s History of New York)

Not guilty plea in 14th Street parking assault case (The Local East Village)

New tenant for for former Cinema Nolita space on Mulberry? (NYC the Blog)

Edgar Allan Poe’s Upper West Side farmhouse (Ephemeral New York)

Macaulay Culkin stars in a bizarre new Adam Green film (NME)

Reminder: A Rally for Information Freedom this afternoon at City Hall. (More info here)

And Blue Glass noted that workers dismantled the exterior of Cafe Centosette on Second Avenue and 10th Street yesterday...

Live like a model, for the most part, on Avenue B

In other really important news today.... Jennifer Gould Keil has this item in the Post real-estate section today:

You might not be equipped to become a supermodel, but you can live like one for $7,995 a month. Lily Donaldson, the striking face of Burberry, wants to rent out her uber-cool East Village two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment on Avenue B, directly overlooking Tompkins Square Park. And she seems motivated to make a deal — the price has just been reduced from $8,500. Donaldson, who has also worked for Dior, bought the 1,700-square-foot apartment for $2.2 million in 2008 — a hefty $1,294 per square foot in Alphabet City. Fit for a model, the master bedroom offers lots of closet space and a separate dressing area.

Anyway, check out the listing.

The kitchen hardly looks used!

[Lily photo via]

Discovery Wines moving to Avenue B

Discovery Wines is one of the businesses that will be displaced with the arrival of Union Market this fall on Houston and Avenue A. Discovery's lease is up on May 31.

However, we've learned that the store won't be going too far. Tim at Discovery Wines confirmed that they signed a lease for 16 Avenue B at the corner of Second Street.



"We're leaving 10 Avenue A at the end of May and, if all goes as planned, then we'll hit the ground running in June at the 16 Avenue B space," Tim said via email.

And perhaps some neighbors will be relieved to hear this news. Previously, two different restaurant-club hybrids had tried to open another bar at 14-16 Avenue B. (As you may recall, one venture called for a 3,000 square foot Italian restaurant, catering company and lounge "with an occasional D.J.")

The space at 14 Avenue B apparently remains on the market. Nail salon perhaps?

More on 14-16 Avenue B here.

More on Union Market here.

More on the former Tonda space: breakfast and a celebrity pedigree

We've been curious about what's coming to the former Tonda space on East Fourth Street. Our previous queries were met with a "we're still in development ... no comment" from one of the principals.

The entity, currently known as 4AB, goes before the CB3/SLA committee on Monday. Turns out CB3 posted the questionnaire from the 4AB folks on the CB3 website.

Not a whole lot more details... However! Some interesting nuggets of info... Like, the plans call for one bar with 12 seats... And the hours of operation:

Monday-Thursday, Sunday: 7 a.m. — 2 a.m.
Friday and Saturday: 7 a.m. – 3 a.m.

What else... No TVs (or hookah pipes!) ... No DJ or bands... just "small, background speakers."

And at least one of the names of the applicants seems familiar...

Perhaps this is the same Byron Bates who worked as the GM of the one-time Chelsea hotspot Bette, the place owned by Amy Sacco that brought out the bold-faced names (Scarlett Johansson! George Clooney! Uma!). The place closed in June 2008.

Here's a piece on Bette from Diner's Journal.

And if this isn't the same Mr. Bates... well, see you Monday!

[Updated] City makes McSorley's wipe away 100 years of history, remove Minnie McSorley

The dust busters at the DOH told McSorley's that management had to clean up the bar's famous wishbones, placed there by doughboys headed off to war...

Per Dan Barry's article at the Times:

So, with heavy heart, the proprietor, Matthew Maher, 70, climbed up a small ladder. With curatorial care, he took down the two-dozen dust-cocooned wishbones dangling on an old gas lamp above the storied bar counter. He removed the clouds of gray from each bone. Then he placed every one of the bones, save for those that crumbled at his touch, back onto the gas lamp — where, in the context of this dark and wonderful establishment, they are not merely the scrap remains of poultry, but holy relics.

And!

[T]imes have changed: old New York and new New York remain in conflict, and old New York is losing. For example, lounging cats had been a furry part of the McSorley fabric since Lincoln. But word recently came down from City Hall: no cats. A longtime regular, Minnie, has been barred as a result.

Save Minnie!



We reached out to Minnie via Facebook. She told us the following.

"I actually contacted Mr. Barry hoping he'd do a follow-up to his previous column on the wishbones. He asked about my current status, and I explained that Mr. Maher has said I'm not allowed into the bar during drinking hours...officially. Since the only heat I want coming down is from the stove, that's the fact as it must be reported and as we must maintain.

It's a sad turn of events about the bones."

East Fifth Street Block Association will oppose new 'craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant'

Since Sin Sin shuttered last fall, life on that corner of Second Avenue has been much more pleasant for residents of East Fifth Street (and Second Avenue!) and members of the East Fifth Street Block Association.



However, as Grub Street reported on March 25, the folks behind Dempsey's and Sláinte are taking over the Kurve/Rhong Tiam space across the street from Sin Sin.

Owner Tom O'Byrne is planning on a craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant called Coopers. "The food will be in the American comfort-food mode with some twisted-up Irish dishes mixed in for good measure," he told Grub Street.

O'Byrne has met with members of the East Fifth Street Block Association. While O'Byrne has stressed that he will run an organized and professional establishment, some residents still have concerns about the late hour and yet another bar along that Second Avenue corridor. Currently, the kitchen will stop serving food at midnight, and the bar will close at 3:30 (2 a.m. on weekdays). Which is why Block Association members will be speaking out against approval of a license here during Monday's CB3/SLA meeting.

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

What year is this?

Toad the Wet Sprocket? Gallagher?

Pardon me why I go watch "LA Law."

"There Will Be Blood" on Avenue A

Several people have passed along word that 2A is projecting "There Will Be Blood" on the wall across the street tonight... with sound on upstairs at the bar...

[Photo by RyanAvenueA]

[Via @alexisea]

Perhaps it will become a regular thing... seems as if they did this some years back too...

Mirror, mirror on the car...

Interesting side-view mirror on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue tonight...photo courtesy of John Iz.

Reminders: A Rally for Information Freedom tomorrow afternoon at City Hall

A Rally for Information Freedom, in support of Bradley Manning, Julian Assange and the hacktivist group Anonymous, will be held at City Hall tomorrow at 3 p.m. John Penley has been instrumental in organizing the event, which will feature speakers such as Barrett Brown, Jennifer Blowdryer, Jim Fouratt, Heidi Boghosian and Gregg Housh.

Runnin' Scared has more on the rally here. The official news release is here.

April 6

Well now. Our friend Goggla spotted this on Bleecker and LaGuardia a little earlier...

And she knows the rules. "I don't have a newspaper, but I have witnesses!" Per an International Coalition of Tree Tossing in the Spring (ICTTS) official: "We may, indeed, call the witnesses to the stand if need by. So count this as officially counted."

The Lady Gaga Easter bonnet perhaps?

At Change of Season on East Ninth Street. Photo via EV Grieve correspondent Blue Glass.

Noted

Despite the fact that workers removed the sign... a tipster passes along a note that someone placed outside the UCB HQ on Avenue A today...

Likely just a gag or a jab... Or both! A GagJab!

Cornell Edwards, 1932-2011

Several readers have told us the sad news that Cornell Edwards, who opened The Flower Stall at 143 E. 13th St. in 1967, has passed away. We don't have many details at this time.

[Top photos via EV Grieve reader Ann]

According to a short profile on Edwards in City Snapshots from 2008:

After graduating with a degree in English from NYU in 1954, Edwards had trouble finding employment in the city. Not deterred from his dream of coming to New York and never looking back, Edwards eventually put an old knowledge to good use. Growing up in Norfolk, Virginia with a mother who sold annuals, Edwards was well versed in the world of plant life.

Services will beheld Sunday afternoon at Mother A.M.E. Zion Church, 140-146 W. 137th St. The viewing is at 2, and the service starts at 3.

[Photo by John Galayda via One Horse Town. Reposted with permission]

When Hotel Toshi took over an East Village building

There's a terrific piece in the last issue of The Villager titled Toshi checked in and turned our lives upside down. In the article, Nancy Koan discusses the horror show that resulted from Hotel Toshi taking over units in her unnamed tenement building.



A few of the many choice excerpts:

When a new owner bought the building in the summer, the air grew increasingly tense. Suddenly, there were “suits” in and out and a sense of danger. We, the core tenants, were basically looked upon as if we were antiquated machinery that should be replaced by new, shinier mechanisms, especially ones that could and would pay a higher rent. A few people heard whispers of buyout, but basically none of us knew what was going on.

And after Toshi took over some unit...

Now, day and night, tourists were dragging their suitcases up the stairs for a stay in real New York for half the price of a proper hotel. The people were very nice, but they were so pissed off at what they found, that they complained to us, the regular tenants, endlessly. The hallways were still in their original deconstructed tenement look, much different from what the visitors expected. In fact, the workers were laying down a kind of cement on the floors, which created a horrid dust. Unfortunately for me, the cement was laid so high, I couldn’t open my front door, and New York’s Bravest firemen had to come and break up the cement so I could exit my apartment.

After a lot of outreach, the tenants were successful in pushing Toshi out. But not without a price.

Perhaps in retaliation for our activism, we, the old, worn-out tenants, found ourselves without heat or hot water during the coldest days in November and December. The new management company says it was because a new boiler had not yet been properly fitted; either way, we were without working heat or an available superintendent.

Now our little group is in court, trying to get an abatement for the hardships we’ve endured and hoping to get violations in the building and our apartments rectified. Buyouts are still being whispered about, but for the time being, we are holding on.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Hotel Toshi takes over 325 E. 10th St.

Read the whole Villager article here.

Our long neighborhood nightmare is over! The 'Hot Chicks Room' sign is gone (sort of)

The sign came down yesterday...

[Photo by RyanAvenueA]

Actually, workers just flipped the sign around... you can still see the hot pink letters...

In any event. Long live the Hot Chicks Room sign!

And from the EV Grieve gift basket (sorry, not available in cargo shorts)

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Your 'Hot Chicks Room' sign update

[Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade

Breaking: UCB will remove the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign!