[EVG flashback] These are a few of the photos you'll find when you search for "Carrie Bradshaw" on Flickr

Yesterday, Curbed noted that 64 Perry Street is now on the market... For worse, this 1866 West Village rowhouse serves as the stand-in for Carrie Bradshaw's home on "Sex and the City." This item reminded me that! For some reason, I left the neighborhood to do this post, which first appeared on June 2, 2008...

Part of the Sex and the City tours includes a stop at this Perry Street townhouse in the West Village. Yes, this is the stoop that the Carrie Bradshaw character sits on in the show. (Actually, five different stoops were used; this one most frequently, I'm told by someone who really likes and knows the show.)

According to Forbes: The show, which made a fifth character out of New York City, attracts fans to the Big Apple in droves, and locals cash in. Location Tours offers a three-hour bus tour that stops at shops and bars that have appeared on the show. The tour costs $40 a head, and its owners say it attracts as many as 1,000 people a week. Destination on Location Travel offers "set-jetting" weekends in New York, where groups of up to twelve women are shuttled around town and given the fantasy that they're one of the four Sex characters. The price: a hefty $15,000 per person.

Incoming Mediterranean-style bakery needs barista on East Ninth Street

On occasion, as a bit of a community service, we'll run postings of local businesses that are hiring... we'll see how it goes...

Zucker, the new bakery opening at 433 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, is hiring as the sign above shows. Read more about the place here.

Noted

From an article by Sheila McClear in the Post today about passionate or, perhaps, snobby baristas...

It was after the third “act of violence” at Ninth Street Espresso in the East Village that owner Ken Nye held a staff meeting. The strict policies of the coffee shop — including the refusal to sell espresso to go — had so enraged one customer that he threw a tip jar across the store in protest.

Now, the to-go espresso “is not a die-hard rule — it’s just a very strong suggestion,” says Nye

Restaurant named after horses gets its sign on The Bowery

Double Crown, that big place on the corner of Bleecker and the Bowery, served its last meal on Aug. 20. The owners decided to revamp the place, as Diner's Journal first reported.

And for signage fans, workers put up the new sign yesterday...

Contrary to popular belief, the restaurant is not named after a law firm and bail bondsmen ... but rather a pair of New York racehorses that attracted national attention about 140 years ago, Diner's Journal noted. Saxon won the 1874 Belmont Stakes. Parole won the 1877 and 1878 Saratoga Cup.

RIP Nelson Perez

Spotted these flyers on Avenue C and Avenue D today.

Today in photos of rat traps on East 10th Street

[Bobby Williams]

The fast and the furious

Per EV Grieve reader Blaine this morning: "Here is a busted-up police cruiser on Sixth Street near [Cooper Union]. The airbags are deflated, and there are bits of headlights strewn on the ground. An officer in another (fully intact) car was taking notes."

Anyone?

Breaking: Yarn cart found de-yarned on the Lower East Side!

EV Grieve reader Lulu made the grisly discovery this morning at Rivington and Norfolk...

Looks to be a different yarn-covered cart — an Agata Olek original — that has been seen in the company of a local man of late.

[Bobby Wiliams]

An East Village pep talk

Here's a recent email from a longtime resident who may be losing the East Village faith:

"The neighborhood has really been getting me down lately and I was wondering if you would ever post a pep talk, pointing out its good points. I'm not enjoying much about the East Village lately, but I can't leave because my apartment is rent-stabilized. Three high rises have been built within 50 feet of me within the last dozen years and God forbid I have to walk my dog on a Friday or Saturday night. The sidewalks are so clogged with drunken frat guys I can barely get through. I've also been mugged in the last few years so I don't necessarily think it's safer, either."

Thought we might make this a group exercise. Given what has closed of late, and what might be closing... Anyway, we sometimes talk about the stuff around here that we don't like ... how about sharing the things that you do like? Things that make the neighborhood the special place that it is.

And we're not approving any comments in which someone attacks a person's choice for things that they like. Unless it concerns Frogurt. Or cargo shorts.

A Building finally ready for balcony repairs

Thirteen months ago, workers erected a sidewalk shed outside the world-famous, pool-party palace on East 13th Street...

And yesterday! Workers started putting up the scaffolding...

There were a handful of complaints on file with the DOB:

FAILURE TO MAINTAIN BALCONIES THROUGH-OUT BUILDING

And!

FACADE - DEFECTIVE/CRACKING

According to a new DOB permit, workers will be doing "balcony repairs."

As The Real Deal reported in April 2010:

Beneath the two-year-old building's reputation for hosting raucous rooftop pool parties lies a reality worse than the most killer hangover — flooding, crumbling balconies, alleged mismanagement of the condo board's funds and two unresponsive developers who have left owners banging their heads against mold-ridden walls, claim several residents who forwarded dozens of documents detailing these issues to The Real Deal.

Why the wait? Perhaps to give the A Buildingers another summer of fun?

Last night at Life Cafe, perhaps

Michael Sean Edwards was at the Life Cafe Sunday night, when it closed "until further notice."

Here are a few scenes from the evening...

Owner Kathy Kirkpatrick saying goodbye to a longtime regular Patrick McDonald ...

Council member Rosie Mendez stops by to say goodbye...

Exit 9 reopens on Avenue A

After 16 years at 64 Avenue A, Exit 9 decided to move. June 19 was the last day here for the gifts-and-novelties shop... Yesterday, Exit 9 reopened at their new, larger shop at 51 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street...

Memorial for the Free Willie Nelson

This evening on Sixth Street near Avenue A ... where the RV caught on fire this morning...

Meanwhile, as EV Grieve reader Creature notes, Free Willie's friend, Old Flat Top, came over to console it...

This afternoon on Avenue A

The Yarn Cart Tour continues... it is making the rounds... photo by Bobby Williams.

First Twitter celebrity endorsement for St. Mark's Bookshop

It's Britta Perry from NBC's "Community." Yes, I had to look that up...

Previously.

[Thank to EVG reader Mike for the tip]

A message about landlords on Life Cafe's chalkboard

As we reported last night, Life Cafe on 10th Street and Avenue B is closed "until further notice" due to a landlord dispute...

And on Life's outdoor chalkboard today ...

Breaking: The Free Willie Nelson is caught on fire!

Oh no! The Free Willie Nelson — the RV that usually parks around the neighborhood — caught on fire this morning. It was parked on Sixth Street near Avenue A.

What will this mean for his 50-state quest?

Thanks to @joshchambers for the photos!

This morning at the Mystery Lot

Uh-oh! Workers arrived at the scene ... However, well-placed Mystery Lot sources believe the work is being done on the Kiehl's building on the corner of 13th Street and Third Avenue here... and not the Mystery Lot... Photo by Shawn Chittle.

After 30 years, Life Cafe closes — 'until further notice' — in the East Village

I first posted this last night... Yes, Jonathan Larson wrote "Rent" here while hanging out in the early 1990s, a topic we'll explore a little later. Headline: Inspiration for "Rent" felled by landlord dispute.

[Photo by Faces]

We've heard these rumblings for weeks... now it's official: Life Cafe on Avenue B and 10th Street is closing after 30 years. Perhaps for good.

Per the Life website:

Dear friends,

On this auspicious day of 9/11/11, after 30 years in business, I am closing Life Cafe East Village this evening “until further notice.” I’m doing this due to issues around building repairs the landlords were supposedly going to complete one year ago. Until the landlords complete the repairs, I will remain closed. We anticipate a rebirth of Life Cafe sometime in the near future. Thank you for your loyal patronage over the years.

You are welcome to stop by as my guest today and raise a glass with me to Life!

Because Life is worth Loving.

Kathy Life

Michael Sean Edwards took these photos of what might be Life's last night in recent months. [Apologies — I misunderstood Michael — these weren't from tonight]

Here's a post we ran back on Sept. 15, 2009...



Nice piece on BushwickBK about Life Café, which recently celebrated its seventh anniversary in Bushwick. Co-owner Kathy Kirkpatrick opened the first location, of course, on 10th Street and Avenue B in 1981. Here's a snippet from the article:

[T]here were also many hardships in running a café that could barely stay afloat. Kathy held an office job in midtown and all the work was straining her marriage. The couple split in 1984 and David wanted to sell the café. Kathy refused and resolved to run it by herself, just as New York City sank into the crack epidemic and the East Village swarmed with unpredictable junkies.

"It was hard for us working in a little neighborhood café, forced to do drug intervention, something we weren’t trained in or prepared for," she said. "We had people shooting up and OD-ing in our bathroom and things were getting pretty ugly."

[Photo via Cactusbones]

Early word on the new-look Phoenix on East 13th Street

The Phoenix, the gay bar on East 13th Street, is under new ownership. We discussed that here. One of the owners told us that they intended to clean the place up a bit while still catering the the local gay and lesbian community. Earlier in the month, the new owners closed the bar for a few days for some revamping. Phoenix regular Lux Living stopped by the new-look bar and filed this report.

I went to the Phoenix Friday night for the first time since their new makeover and though the changes aren’t dramatic, it feels like the cast of "Trading Spaces" has been hard at work. Frank, not Hildi.

They took out the Galaga arcade machine and the jukebox — genius move taking control of the music away from the patrons. They painted the front of the bar a sky blue and plastered the walls with all of the clichéd and junky signs the Catskills has to offer. New tables include two milk jugs with a board on top (?) and an old-fashioned sewing machine (??). Gone are the peanut/candy machines and the ledges that held the HX magazines and postcards for gay-related events and such. On the plus side they refinished the floor so it no longer smells like vomit and beer and the pool table is still there.

I wasn’t there long enough to use the loo so I don’t know if they painted over the shark in the bathroom. If they did, I’d be bitter.

The bottom line is that one of the area’s last remaining gay bars has been transformed into a lesbian brunch fantasy that probably should have been left in Cherry Grove or possibly in the dorm room of the Sarah Lawrence fantasy from whence it came. Gone are the blood red walls and dark orange ambient lighting. Here to stay are the finest eBay deals on authentic set pieces from Ted Danson’s personal collection from "Cheers." If ever there were a Jersey Turnpike Bennigans patiently awaiting its passport to the Isle of Lesbos, the new Phoenix is undoubtedly it.

[The old bathroom shark, which may or may not still be here]