Temporary traffic light down at Houston and Norfolk

Well, that was a helluva 10-minute storm...

A reader delivers this report:

That quick storm that blew through the neighborhood tonight knocked down a huge temporary traffic light/street lamp pole and attached wires on Houston St in front of the Red Square building. DOT has been doing work here as part of the Houston St construction project and put up these temporary light poles a couple of months ago. As usual, looks like they went with the cheapest contractor and subsequently got shoddy, unsafe work. You can see the knocked over pole in the middle of the pictures. It looks like it wasn't secured to anything, and the concrete base was blown right over by the wind from the storm. The gold SUV across the street swerved to miss the falling wires and hit another pole, but shortly after drove away. Luckily no one else was hurt.

So will workers just prop the pole back up and leave it to fall over again the next time a thunderstorm rolls through?

Houston temporarily closed between A and B

And samo notes that Houston is closed between A and B due to the downed temporary light pole...

The rainbow, from ConEd to the Bowery

EV Grieve reader AC is first to check in with a rainbow photo...

...and from @bio623

... and @saywhatagain

... and @czilka ...

... and John Iz...

... and Han Shan from Third Avenue and 11th Street ...

...and Curt Hoppe...with a photo from the Bowery...

...and from Steven Hirsch...

And this shot by @Section215 gives us a nice perspective on the double rainbow...

...And a shot from the FDR by @nsanchis

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Part of the old Ratner's revealed at Met Foods (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Black-and-white photos of the Second Line parade for dba's Ray Deter (Neither More Nor Less)

Some of Charles Cushman's NYC color photos from the 1940s (Stupefaction)

A death in Tompkins Square Park Monday afternoon? (BoweryBoogie)

NYC to get more Midwestern with arrival of first Steak 'n Shake (Eater)

Celebrating the summer with live music (The Village Voice)

And now the Strokes with their new ad for Dramamine® ...

Rent the former Le Souk space for $25,000 a month

Back in late May, we noted that part of the former Le Souk space on Avenue B was on the market. Or maybe it was the whole space. We couldn't tell!

In any event, there is a listing for the the space.

Here's the description:

Rent: $25,000 Per Month Size: 6,480 Sf On Two Levels / 3,240 Sf On Each Former Restaurant / Nightclub Space. 32 Feet Of Frontage. Prime East Village Happening Location. Loaded With Egresses And Bathrooms. One-Of-Kind Interior Designs And Layout. Tons Of Day & Night Foot Traffic. Huge Skylight Exposed Wood Ceilings And Large Wide Open Areas. Prime Residential Neighborhood. *Perfect For Restaurant, Spa, Warehouse, Liquor Store, Hardware Store, Any Use Considered

Warehouse? Hardware store? Excuse us for a moment. (Haha!)

However holds the lease must promise to continue holding mysterious late-night parties and after-prom bashes...

But this building on Avenue C, add a 'dream penthouse'

Here at 94 Avenue C near Sixth Street, this four-story building is new to the market for $3.3 million. As the listing shows, this is the latest East Village building for sale in which the owner could build an additional floor. Per the ALL CAPS description:

RAISE THE ROOF, BUILD A MEZZANINE AND ADD A FLOOR, TO CREATE A DREAM PENTHOUSE OF ABOUT 2000SF PLUS TERRACES! GREAT FOR INVESTORS, USERS, FAMILYS OR FRIENDS!

Other properties in which you are encouraged to add a floor are here on Seventh Street ... and Avenue B ...

Meanwhile, the former Singas Pizza here on the ground level is for rent for $5,000 a month.

A vision of Times Square's future in 1986

EV Grieve reader Sarah passed along these scans from a spring 1986 issue of Psychotronic, the B-movie magazine ...

(The images are actually connected, but we couldn't make that work as well here...)

The first image is a nightmare vision of the "future" Times Square, which, as Sarah notes, is exactly how the actual Times Square turned out ...

and a photo of the St. Marks Cinema as it was nearing the end of its run...

For more on the St. Marks Cinema on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place, go here.

Update:

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Beatrice the Cat for splicing these images together for us...

Local 'blogger' wrong about 'butchered' willow tree

Last Dec. 10, a local (hyperlocal?) "blogger" reported on a willow tree that workers cut back on Eighth Street near Avenue C. ("Butchered" was the actual word.) Several readers assured the local blogger that the tree would, some day, come back.



Meanwhile, seven or so months later, EV Grieve Willow Tree Correspondents Bobby Williams and Dave on 7th have noted that the tree is looking healthy again.

Not quite back to as it was before, but on the way, perhaps.



Previously on EV Grieve:
The willow trees of Loisaida

11th Street condo owners want to chop down this willow tree

Places in the East Village that take Bastille Day seriously (guillotine alert!)

Jules on St. Mark's Place, of course.

Lights! Tables! Extra Place ready for action

As we've been noting (and noting and noting), Extra Place has been undergoing an extreme makeover lately... As these photos from yesterday afternoon show, the Place is ready for action ... and, perhaps, more than one food vendor...

Let there be light!

And, an Extra Place flashback to 1978...

[Top Image via Forgotten New York]

And for grins ... from November 2006...

Earlier this evening on St. Mark's Place

Sorry to say that we don't know what was happening here. But it just looked funny. The Red Bull promo car was probably speeding.

Today in sneaky ConEd product placements

Photo by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

"The booting of the Footmen is another sign that the city's gritty soul is on the run." (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

CB3 opposes plans for the outdoor plaza at the new 51 Astor Place (The Local EV)

Aerialist Seanna Sharpe's Williamsburg Bridge performance last night (BoweryBoogie ... The Lo-Down ... Gothamist)

A contentious co-op board election at Seward Park (Curbed)

Uncovering murals at the former Famous Amadeus on Eighth Avenue (City Room)

7 ways to Celebrate Bastille Day in New York City (Runnin' Scared)

And blue glass checks in with a few updates on East Ninth Street... This location of Tangdance is closing...

... and several weeks ago, Verameat opened her first shop at 315 E. Ninth St.

What are the rights of residents when it comes to an interruption in water service?

The Houston Street Corridor Reconstruction continues... scheduled to wrap up in 2013 (heh — right!)...

A resident who lives along Second Street between Avenue C and D has a question about water shut-off regulations as they pertain to projects by the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC).

According to the reader, "usually my building gets maybe a 12-hour notice for shut offs that will happen the next day from 8 am - 4 pm. They've even done this on a Saturday."

The water interruption affects all buildings on the north side of Houston/Second Street and Avenues C and D.

Last Wednesday, however, the resident said that officials gave them very short notice before shutting off the water all day, which interrupted plans and other business matters. Apparently officials can give less than 24-hour notice for any emergency construction, and all construction can be considered emergency for any reason (via 311).

The resident and the resident's neighbors have filed multiple complaints with the city and the field supervisor. One small victory — getting a couple days notice for the shut off last Tuesday, to then be followed up with no notice regarding Wednesday morning's interruption.

"We (my neighbors and I) are prepared to be flexible to support the infrastructure updates, but we need more notice and some input on timing and regularity.

Said the resident, "Can't help but think that if I lived on Park Avenue, the City might have a little more consideration for the tenants. Do I really have no rights as the City tells me?"

Anyone with any advice?

On Avenue A, a bagel oven for Tompkins Square Bagels

Yesterday, Tompkins Square Bagels at 165 Avenue A near 10th Street took a big step toward its opening date with the delivery of a bagel oven and dough mixer ...

Christopher Pugliese, part owner of Court Street Bagels in Cobble Hill, is eyeing an Aug. 1 opening ... we'll have more on all this later...

Previously.

Claim: Tompkins Square Park is 'Heroinville'

The Villager has an article in this week's issue about Asylum, a group of travelers who hang out in Washington Square Park. The members claim that the NYPD leaves them alone since they're not bothering anyone.

Which leads us to this passage:

However, Hollywood claimed that this isn’t the case in Tompkins Square Park where rumors are that the police have driven some homeless people out of the park permanently.

“The hard drugs are in Tompkins,” said Hollywood.

Russell, another Washington Square Park regular, added.

“I don’t go to Tompkins Square Park because there’s a f---ing bad vibe there. It’s Heroinville!”

Police officers make it extremely hard for the homeless to stay in Tompkins Square Park anyway. They tend to confiscate transients’ belongings as well as harass them incessantly, the transients say.

“You can’t even lie in the grass,” Russell said. “Just because we are homeless doesn’t mean we don’t have rights!”

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Newsstand in the works for the Bowery and Second Street

Tomorrow night, CB3's Transportation & Public Safety/Environment Committee meets... and among the items on their agenda: Newsstand Application: SE corner, Bowery & E 2nd St.

Interesting... though it will likely be one of those lifeless Cemusa boxes filled with digital advertising.

Meanwhile, about six blocks up on Astor Place, the city is trying to toss Jerry Delakas and his newsstand of 24 years.

New shop carries on proud tradition of St. Mark's Place

As we reported last April 1, Cherries, the porn adult gift shop on St. Mark's Place had closed...

Smart money was on a frozen yogurt shoppe taking over the space... a rare commodity in these parts.

But seriously, the new shop has emerged...

Fu Sushi gets the OK to reopen

After several failed attempts, the DOH let Fu Sushi on Avenue B reopen. On Friday, the DOH revisited, and gave Fu nearly a clean bill of, um, health — just two violation points... that's down from the 99 points that shuttered the place back on June 23. So the the restaurant was able to reopen for the weekend.

After three damning stories, what are the chances that the New York Post notes that Fu Sushi has reopened?

Previously.

C coffee shop quickly closes on East Third Street

On April 18, C cafe opened at 256 E. Third St. near Avenue C. And on June 28, C closed.

Per a Yelp reviewer:

Great while it lasted. The owner was a drummer/arranger/classical pianist ... He wanted to run the place in his spare time because his second passion was coffee and he was making a great living as a producer and sideman. Unfortunately for us, his spare time ran out.