A few scenes from Tompkins Square Park today

Photos by Bobby Williams.

And now, your IHOP plywood on East 14th Street

Previously on EV Grieve:
And the hits keep on coming! IHOP opening on East 14th Street

8 days left for Joe's Locksmith on Second Avenue

As we first reported back on June 13, Joe's Locksmith in the doomed 9-11 Second Ave. address would close for good on June 30.

However, Joe Filini Jr. was able to squeeze out a few more days of business here before the space is demolished for a 12-story luxury high rise with 65 units. He has eight days left here now.

As the sign shows, he is not moving the business. (There were reports that he was relocating to Brooklyn.)

Meanwhile, speculate all you want about what this means for any nearby businesses...

The Times has a lengthy piece today about the residents and history of the buildings here. Best passage:

The building’s impending fall was roundly lamented. “It’s going to be suburban people with babies and a Banana Republic and a Gap and one of those candle stores on street level,” grumbled the set designer and performer Machine Dazzle, who was wearing a homemade sheath and towered over other partygoers in Lucite heels that pushed him to 6 feet 8 inches.

In any event, Jeremiah covered a lot of the history already in posts from last month. There are links to all his work on the subject at the bottom of this post.

'Good morning sunshine'

Those were the words of a chipper EMT upon coming across an unresponsive L.E.S. Jewels on the corner of Avenue A and East Fourth Street. As multiple readers noted, Engine Company 28 and two ambulances arrived on the scene around 11 a.m.

The EMTs told onlookers that LES Jewels was fine. "He's OK, he's OK," one said.

Afterwards, Jewels' corner companion urinated on the sidewalk.

Happy Hour at the Mystery Lot!

And all night long! Woo!

A happy ending for a lost dog

Spotted on Second Avenue at First Street. And no snickering about that headline!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

From Astor Place to East 14th Street. Or maybe it's the other way around...

Noted

Photo taken last evening on 10th Street and First Avenue by Atron.

A mangled tree on Avenue A

Anyone know what happened to this tree on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place?

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Rooftop moon TV watchers over Avenue A

Photo by Shawn Chittle.

Cattle call

The Go-Betweens from 1983.

Today in great disguises for robbing a bank!

Earlier today, an EV Grieve reader sent along the following email:

"Not sure what's going on, but for the past 2 days, there has been an ARMED GUARD outside the Bank of America on 2nd Ave and 4th Street. Khaki pants, white polo shirt and a GLOCK on his belt. Just standing there."

Well! As DNAinfo reports, the man in the photo behind tried to rob the bank on Monday. He left empty-handed. "He is described as in his 40s, 5-foot-5 tall and weighing 180 pounds. He has dark hair and was last seen wearing a white shirt and carrying a black backpack."

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

The Scribbler of East 10th Street weighs in on the bike lanes (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Volunteers paint the TSP chess tables (Neither More Nor Less)

Someone FINALLY created an EV Grieve animated gifs Tumblr (EVGif)

An interview with Jimmy Webb at Trash and Vaudeville (Runnin' Scared)

Eddie Huang opening 2nd Baohaus in the Thai Me Up space on East 14th Street (Eater)

Inside Hotel Toshi's operation (The Villager)

Remembering Manhattan's "Radio Row" (Ephemeral New York)

CB2 denies new location of gay bar; neighbors cite fears of 'sex acts in doorways' (Grub Street)

The HOT! Festival continues at Dixon Place (The Lo-Down)

Blog anniversaries to note! Flaming Pablum turns 6 ... BoweryBoogie celebrates No. 3.

And EV Grieve reader Claire notes two of the dogs for adoption at Social Tees on East Fourth Street...

And this in from East Village residents The Bayside Tigers, "the 90s-themed party band." (Britney Spears! Backstreet Boys!) After playing in small places such as King's Head Tavern (they have a stage?) about 12 months ago, the band is headlining at The Gramercy Theatre tonight.

TGIF: A 90s Party with The Bayside Tigers and Just The Tip
Gramercy Theatre
10pm
$10

And proof of that...

The Bean opening a second location across from the Strand on Broadway

EV Grieve reader/contributor jdx notes this sign in the window at the Bean on First Avenue and Third Street. Perhaps at this location?

Stuy Town unveils new studios

Oh, just a worker taking a break on 14th Street and First Avenue outside Stuy Town.

Photo by blue glass.

East 9th Street, 8 a.m., July 15

Photo by John Marshall Mantel.

Innocent East Village neighborhood invaded by sin, lousy ad slogans

I'm sorry to interrupt your summer Friday to let you know that there is pornography and sin among us. Sin! Not to mention lousy advertising slogans. So once again, it's time to rally the troops to protest this, this... this.

[Last photo by Dave on 7th]

A petition will be circulating shorty about something or another.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Other East Village signs someone can take issue with

The Phoenix is remaining the Phoenix, though a few changes are in the works

The Phoenix is also on Monday night's CB3/SLA docket for a liquor-license transfer. The gay bar with a well-stocked jukebox on East 13th Street near Avenue A is in store for some possible changes.

Brenda Breathnach is one of the principals who may take over the space here. Via email, she told me that the bar will still be called The Phoenix and "cater to the local gay and lesbian community."

As for changes, she'd like to host an occasional open mic poetry reading and perhaps a session of traditional Irish music. (She is going to add soundproofing to the space.)

Overall, she described it as "a cafe-style tavern for the community to chat in and hang out to meet new people and make new friends."

Any other changes? "I intend to clean it up a little with nicer bathrooms."

Live in the house that inspired the art for 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie'

Yes, that's the bonus trivia question that comes with this lovely house at 264 Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

According to the Corcoran listing: 'Felicia Bond lived in the Garden Duplex when she illustrated the renowned children's book 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.'"

Otherwise, the rest of the place:

This incredible East Village three unit townhouse has great bones and endless possibilities! Currently set up as a parlor floor duplex with back yard and two floor through apartments, this classic townhouse is a great investment property or could be made into your own single family home! 48 Hours Notice required to view.

Asking price: $3.2 million. Perhaps a young writer will be inspired to write or illustrate "If You Give a Pub Crawler the Last Shot of Patrón" here.

DNA profile on Avenue C

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Robert Galinksy for sending us this photo he took this past weekend on Avenue C. This man has a tattoo of his DNA strands and the DNA strands of his boyfriend ...

Avenue A, midnightish, July 15

Photo by Shawn Chittle.

This evening in models awkwardly posing outside the Christodora House

Police provide descriptions for suspects in recent armed robberies

The other day, we noted an item from the Post about a double mugging on 11th Street near Avenue B.

The police blotter in the new issue of The Villager has more information on two other armed robberies that occurred on June 27. (You can read The Villager for those details.) The same men are suspected in all the robberies.

Here are the descriptions of the alleged suspects via the paper:

One suspect was described as Hispanic, between 20 and 25 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, having a long, black ponytail, wearing blue jeans and a baseball cap and armed with a handgun. The other suspect was described as Hispanic, between 20 and 30 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing about 200 pounds, and wearing blue jeans and a dark shirt.

When Lenin was told to go fly a kite

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Tom for this photo... a view looking to the south toward Red Square on Houston ...

...and if you zoom in a bit...

And if you have a photo or two to share, we'd love to see them/post them... You may send to grieve98@gmail.com

Banjo Jim's space to become home to an 'artisanal neighborhood cocktail bar'

Banjo Jim's is on the docket for Monday night's CB3/SLA meeting. Banjo Jim's opened in December 2005, and the small space quickly became a well-known spot for live (and inexpensive) Americana, bluegrass and jazz music.

Lisa Zwier-Croce named the space for her husband, the musician James Casmire Kaminski Croce (Banjo Jim), who died in a car accident in January 2003.

However, we understand that Lisa is moving on, and Rob Ceraso and his business partner hope to get the OK for the liquor-license transfer.

"The space has sentimental value to me," Ceraso said via email. "Not only have I been coming to Banjo's for bluegrass for the last five years, but my wife and I also celebrated our wedding across the street at La Plaza Cultural Garden four years ago ... with musicians that I met at Banjo's."

Ceraso, who runs White Noise on Avenue B with Timothy Falzone, provided us with details about what they have planned for Banjo Jim's. The working name — The James Daniel.

"We are calling ourselves an 'artisanal neighborhood cocktail bar,' which I know is a mouth full," only because I couldn't think of another label that necessarily fit what we'd like to create," Ceraso said. "Cocktail bar in the sense that we will offer beautifully rendered cocktails, putting care into ingredients and making as much as we can from scratch."

"Neighborhood bar in the sense that we are trying to do what we do with the same spirit of creativity mixed with a tinge of rebelliousness that has existed in the neighborhood for the last 60 years or more. We're not putting ourselves on [that] level, but if we can do our thing with the spirit of creativity that existed ... then that would be cool with us."

A few other details...

Food:
"We'd like to push the limits a little of what you can create with a small convection oven and a couple of induction cooktops," he said. "It will be a learning experience for us and I'm sure everything won't be awesome, but I can promise it will be interesting and made with care."

Live music:
"We thought it would be great to be able to honor it with an occasional "Banjo Jim's" night of music. We're thinking of something weekly or monthly as well as possibly having some piano and fiddle, etc. for happy hour from time to time. Whatever we end up doing it will be pretty low-key. We would always plan it for earlier than later and we aren't getting any of the amplification equipment from Banjo's. All we're hoping to hang onto is the old piano."

The block:
"We love the block, the two gardens around us and the neighborhood. To us it embodies the same bohemian sensibilities that used to exist everywhere downtown. [Avenue] C seems like it's becoming the last refuge for everyone escaping the craziness and fratty takeover of the LES. We'd like to be part of that refuge and maybe help to remind people a little of what the spirit of the neighborhood still is to a lot of us."

In closing...

"If we're doing our thing right, neighbors can come in and talk about and enjoy some food, drink, music and neighborhood culture."

[Banjo Jim's photo via Down Home Radio]

Noted

Avenue A at Second Street last evening...

Thanks to our friend BaHa for sending these photos along.

[Perhaps better viewed while watching this. Don't worry — it's not ZZ Top.]

Gang warfare tonight in Tompkins Square Park

Tonight marks the third of the free music-movie nights in Tompkins Square Park. This evening's picture show: The Warriors.

And of course, the most terrifying gang The Warriors encounter: The Punks in a desolate Union Square Station! Those fellows in roller skates, rugby shirts and denim overalls.

This must be what it's like to get into a tiff at a Gabe Stulman restaurant...

Hey ho!

And the rest of the summer's lineup...

July 21 — Star Trek
July 28 — Arthur
Aug. 4 — Pope of Greenwich Village
Aug. 11 — Kickass
Aug. 18 — Rosemary’s Baby
Aug. 25 — The Godfather
Sept. 1 — Stake Land

Here's the official website for the summer movies.

A loft on the Bowery — with a catch

Here we are at 354 Bowery Apt. 5 ... between Great Jones and Fourth Street... This loft is going for $1.1 million.

Here's the listing. See if you can spot the catch!

This is a rare opportunity to get 1200 sqft on the Bowery!!!

Unbelievably large, entire floor, penthouse loft on a 5th floor of a walk-up building. The space is now setup as one bedroom and can be converted easily to a two bedroom or even 3. The loft gets great light thanks to its big windows and two exposures east/west, and more than that, 2 skylights with the option to create a 3rd one. Also an option to a third exposure (south).

The loft just got new pipes and new electricity , and 2 fireplaces that could operate again with a little bit of work. The apartment currently is under construction so a bit of a mess inside, and is missing the rear wall (part of the building’s plan to rebuild the rear wall).