Villa Capri condos coming to Seventh Street

Big news on Seventh Street courtesy of Dave on 7th... changes are coming to 222 Seventh St. near Avenue C...

The following sign just appeared...

So it looks like a new building with additional floors... and by fall of 2012? Seems awfully ambitious... Looks as if the new owner bought the building in 2008. According to the Corcoran listing:

Four story building built in 1901 with an additional two stories of air rights. Currently configured as a three family with an owners duplex, and two floor through two bedroom apartments. Large south facing garden. Excellent opportunity to create a architectural dream home.

Streeteasy has the closing price at $3.2 million. We're tracking down more details on all this now.

Meanwhile, word is that this was the onetime studio of sculpturist Louise Nevelson. A look at Property Shark notes that she did own the building at one point.

Action-packed November CB3/SLA agenda: The Bean wants booze; so does Japadog

[Via The Bean on Facebook]

Woo. Here we go.

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, November 14 at 6:30pm — JASA/Green Residence, 200 East 5th Street at Bowery

Renewal with Complaint History

• The Porch (The Porch Inc), 115 Ave C (op)

The Porch closed up last month, as Dave on 7th pointed out. We heard that the Porch was moving and an Indian restaurant was taking over... perhaps from the same owners?

• Kelly's (Diddler Doyle Corp), 12 Ave A (op)

• Kenka (Hinomaru Inc), 25 St Marks Pl (op)

• Diablo Royale (East Village Café & Restaurant LLC), 167 Ave A (op)

Arrive early for a good seat. This will be dramatic, perhaps.

Applications within Resolution Areas

• Cafetasia (Cafetasia Inc), 85 Ave A (up/op)

Seeking 100-ounce vodka tubes too?

• Essbar (102 Ave C LLC), 102 Ave C aka 230 E 7th St (up/op)

Edi & the Wolf upgrading...

• Nublu, 151 Ave C (op)

Nublu temporarily moved to under Lucky Cheng's back in August ... as the Nublu blog said during the summer, "last week we got our liquor license taken away due to an anonymous complaint that we are too close to a House of Worship." You can read about it all here.

• Pouring Ribbons (Lead to Gold Inc), 225 Ave B (op)

Anyone know what's going on here... the White Noise space?

• To be Determined, 116 Ave C (op)

The former Lava Gina space.

• Japadog Inc, 30 St Marks Pl (wb)

As we first reported last month, Japadog, the crazy popular Vancouver-based artisanal hot dog stands, is opening its first NYC outpost here.

• Alphabet City Beer Co (Alphabet City Wine Co LLC), 96 Ave C (b)

Looks like a beer companion to Alphabet City Wine... 96 Avenue C has been a vacant storefront for some time... we'll have more on this later...

Alterations/Upgrades

• Cien Fuegos (Cien Fuegos LLC), 95 Ave A (alt/op)

• Peels Restaurant (Radley Realty Corp), 325 Bowery (alt/op/additional standup bar)

New Liquor License Applications

• Shoolbred's, 197 2nd Ave (op)

• Nevada Smiths (92 Nunz Walk Inc), 100 3rd Ave (op)

Maybe they're not closing after all!

• The Bean (54 2nd Ave Bean LLC), 54 2nd Ave (wb)
The Bean (147 1st Ave Bean LLC), 147 1st Ave (wb)

Interesting... What do you think about The Bean also serving wine and beer at its new locations?

• Nicoletta (Letta #1 LLC), 160 2nd Ave (wb)

A taker for the former Cafe Centosette space at 10th Street.

• Ichibantei LLC, 401 E 13th St (wb)

This is the the eatery that serves a range of Japanese "soul food" just east off First Avenue. A scratch from previous agendas...

• Golden Cadillac, 446-448 E 13th St (op)

The (now former?) Mug Lounge.

---

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations |up=upgrades

And now, First Park without the BMW Guggenheim Lab

Alos, a lot of people talk about how BMW/Guggenheim cleaned up the lot and curbed the rat population... Did BMW/Guggenheim hire exterminators to take care of this? Was it a city thing? It was never clear to me who was responsible. Anything preventing the rats from returning?


Photos by Bobby Williams.

Commenter comedy gold

Unfortunately, our busy social schedule prevented us from attending the Official Grande Opening of the new Upright Citizens Brigade theater/theatre on Avenue A and Third Street on Saturday night. On Saturday night, we drank alone again at the Blarney Cove.

Dave Itzkoff at The New York Times has an article on the opening, including details on the challenges of getting the space ready. (You know — Hot Chicks Room sign drama.) As for some of the entertainment Saturday night, Itzkoff noted:

A second show at 9:30 offered a grab bag of acts that were, in theory, supposed to keep their sets to five to seven minutes. Sue Galloway, who plays an ambiguously accented comedy writer on “30 Rock,” performed a character piece about a drunken office worker singing an aggressive version of “I Will Follow Him” at a karaoke night; David Cross, the “Arrested Development” star, read remarks posted on the East Village blog EV Grieve that complained about the Upright Citizens Brigade’s arrival. (“Go back to campus, you new jack cornballs,” one outraged commenter demanded.)

As a thank you, all the commenters who chimed in on the Upright posts will receive replica fruit plates that the guests enjoyed there Saturday night.

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 (47 comments)

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

'Hot Chicks Room' sign will now bring ruin to compost

More photos from yesterday's Halloween concert in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Halloween concert in Tompkins Square Park today

By Dave on 7th...

Happy Halloween from Billy's Antiques

Houston and the Bowery....

Reminders today: Concert in Tompkins Square Park, tribute to Bob Arihood

Also, as we mentioned, the organizers are going to have a table set up with a memorial for Bob Arihood. The organizers are looking for photos to mount on a huge poster board that they'll have at a special table for Bob. These can be shots of Bob and/or photos that Bob has taken over the years....

You can print them out from Neither More Nor Less or Nadie Se Conoce and bring them along...

Starting soon...

Local man decides to hack off arm while enduring a 127-hour line at Rite-Aid

Yeaahhhh. Our friend Goggla posted this photo the other day from everyone's favorite Rite-Aid on First Avenue at Fifth Street....

And Happy Halloween...

11th and B circa 1983

BoweryBoogie was first to post this video a few weeks back... it's a short circa 1983 by French filmmaker Marie Martine ... mostly filmed on Avenue B and 11th Street...

The video has been making the rounds... thought we'd also post it... the video is 20 minutes, so dig in...

11th & B from J. Sprig on Vimeo.

The Sunday morning flea markets along Avenue C

Meanwhile, here's a clip from August 1993 with much lower production values... but interesting nonetheless ... the old flea market on Avenue C at Eighth Street...

Also today during the HallowNor'easter

Bobby Williams braved the elements... meanwhile, we were too busy finishing the bath water left in the tub from #Irene.

Live team coverage of the HallowNor'easter begins now

Despite the devastating storm that's hitting our area... we are able to provide live team coverage of the HallowNor'easter that has crippled the tri-state area ... live team coverage begins earlier today with Dave on 7th...

Hawk eyes

A few recent photos from Tompkins Square Park via Bobby Williams...

Today's sign of the apocalypse: 'Sex and the City' slots

After a few hundred years of false starts, the Resorts World New York casino is now open at EV Grieve favorite Aqueduct Racetrack... and, as you may have heard, among the more than 2,000 slot machines...

[James Messerschmidt/NY Post]

AHHHHHHHHHHH.

According to the Post:

Players hit a button that spins traditional slot-machine reels adorned with images of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, along with a limousine icon, the “Sex and the City” logo, and other items from the show.

Hitting a row of bonus logos spins a separate electronic wheel, which features symbols for each of the show’s stars.

Players can win the top award if the wheel lands on a suitcase — the symbol for Carrie’s boyfriend, Mr. Big — and they pick correctly from one of three suitcases displayed on screen.

Bonus photo from the Racino opening...

[James Messerschmidt/NY Post]

And now, a supermodel shopping at an East Village record store

Thank you to everyone who sent along the link to this video... of supermodel Bar Refaeli talking about something or another while shopping at A-1 Records on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue ....

Today in gambling action in Tompkins Square Park

Bingo! No, wait — blackjack! Uh...

By Bobby Williams.

Earlier today in Washington Square Park

By Dave on 7th.

Face dances

Grace Jones from 1981.

Sunday: Free Halloween concert in Tompkins Square Park

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Join us for yet another Halloween time party in Tompkins Square Park! Watch as the sun sets on another season of DIY punk shows in Tompkins Square Park and ring in the Mischief Night together! Get away from all the commercialization of Halloween going on out there and enjoy a totally free event in the park.

Featuring:
Reverend Billy + His Earthalujah Choir (4 pm-5 pm)
Morgan O'Kane
John Dolan, Popeye & the C-Skwat Happy Hour

In addition to the performances, the organizers are going to have a table set up with a memorial for Bob Arihood. The organizers are looking for photos to mount on a huge poster board that they'll have at a special table for Bob. These can be shots of Bob and/or photos that Bob has taken over the years.

Wow. Tough call. I couldn't narrow it down to one from the five-plus years of Neither More Nor Less. However, I keep coming back to this one from June of Jewels and Tim.

I may pick some other favorites before the show... anyway, you can print them out from Neither More Nor Less or Nadie Se Conoce and bring them along...

Mass tomorrow for Bob Arihood

The mass is at 5:30 p.m. at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Cleaning out the Grieve menu drawer

There is a drawer in our apartment full of menus. Hundreds. It's absurd, because we always end up ordering from Odessa.

So I cleaned out the drawer because: a) it wouldn't close and b) we're going to rent it out. The space will fit a small futon and maybe something else pliable from IKEA. No Pets. No brokers please. $1,350 a month. Perfect for students on a budget, models from Europe and people who like sleeping in drawers. Must like menus.

As for the menus... nothing too old... but it is a snapshot of how quickly some places come and go...

An appreciation: Breakfast at Stage

For no particular reason... too often we mourn instead of appreciate around here at EVG...

Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Outside the historic St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery

Welcome to St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, the oldest site of continuous worship in New York City and the second oldest church in Manhattan. Not only is the St. Mark’s campus a beautiful collection of buildings and burial grounds, its unique and interesting history is quintessential New York. The site is officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a New York City Landmark in 1966.

The St. Mark’s Church and its yards are just a few reminders of the once vast “bouwerie,” or Dutch plantation, which Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Amsterdam purchased in 1651 from the Dutch West India Company. When Stuyvesant died in 1672, his body was interred in a vault under the family chapel he’d had built in 1660. In 1793, Stuyvesant’s great-grandson, Petrus Stuyvesant, donated the chapel property to the Episcopal Church with the stipulation that a new chapel be erected and on April 25, 1795, the cornerstone of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery was laid.

Via.

A case to co-name East Sixth Street after Miriam Friedlander

One item on Monday night's CB3 agenda — co-naming East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue after Miriam Friedlander...

Briefly, she was the longtime city council member who represented the area from 1974 to 1991. Friedlander, who lived at 314 E. Sixth St., passed away in 2009. She was 95. Read her obituary here at The Villager.

John's of 12th Street has a new awning

John's Italian restaurant on East 12th Street is certainly a neighborhood treasure... Jeremiah pointed out at the beginning of the year that the 100-plus year-old restaurant is now offering vegetarian fare...

All fine... Anyway, EV Grieve reader James C. Taylor noted that they've made this part of their awning now too...

Before!

Now!

Not sure exactly when it went up... noting it nonetheless...

Via Twitter, they told us "Just trying to mix in some 'new school' with the 'old school.'"

Veselka Bowery kinda looks open

Bobby Williams took these shots yesterday afternoon while walking by the long-time-coming Veselka Bowery on East First Street, which owner Tom Birchard described as a "toned-down Ukrainian Balthazar" in an interview with The Feast.

Perhaps it's just a test run... meanwhile, nothing official about an opening on Veselka's Facebook page or Twitter feed...

Saddened that Cooper Union is helping to destroy the neighborhood

From the EV Grieve inbox ... reaction from the Cooper Square Committee about Cooper Union's rejection of a rent decrease for St. Mark's Bookshop...

[JVNY]

While Cooper Union's negative decision is a disappointment, the Cooper Square Committee remain committed and vows to increase its efforts to ensure that the St. Marks Bookshop will not become another casualty of the economy. Cooper Union is the landlord for the St Mark's Bookshop.

On Tuesday, October 25, 2011, three separate meetings took place regarding the St. Mark's Bookshop. The bookshop is one of the few remaining independent bookstores in NYC and it is in severe financial crisis. It has requested a rent reduction of $5,000 from the monthly rent of $20,000, which would allow it to continue operating and serving the community.

The first meeting was an impromptu meeting of three representatives of the Cooper Square Committee and Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha, initiated when the Committee delivered 43,630 signed petitions to his office in support of St. Mark's Bookshop.

The second meeting took place later in the day between the owners of St. Mark's Bookshop and T.C. Wescott, a Cooper Union Vice President. During this meeting, it was confirmed that Cooper Union would not agree to a reduction in rent.

The third meeting took place at the bookshop with Jamshed Bharucha and T.C. Wescott shortly after the bookstore owners returned to the bookshop. At this follow-up meeting they reiterated that they could not reduce the $20,000 monthly rent.

Joyce Ravitz, chair of the Cooper Square Committee, a Lower East Side neighborhood preservation organization, notes that Cooper Union originally offered the St. Mark's Bookshop favorable terms on its lease in 1993 as a good will gesture at a time when the Cooper Union's expansion of its dormitories had angered the neighborhood. The rent has since gone to $20,000 with built-in yearly raises.

Property values have skyrocketed in this neighborhood partly because of institutions like theaters and bookshops. We had hoped Cooper Union would play a role in stabilizing and preserving the character of the Lower East Side, and are saddened that it seems to be choosing to help destroy it.

It's ironic that Cooper Union touts its proximity to neighborhood bookstores as one of its attractions.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah Moss has started a petition to boycott any business that moves into the space at 31 Third Avenue should St. Mark's Books be forced to close. You can find the petition here.

As he writes:

Sign the petition if you love St. Mark's Books. Sign it if you just love books. Sign it if you're sick and tired of watching New York City's cultural touchstones go down the toilet day after day. Sign it if you miss the East Village before it became a frat house. Sign it if you don't like the way Cooper Union contributes to real estate overdevelopment in the neighborhood. Sign it if you hate having a bank on every corner and a chain store on every other.

Iconic St. Mark's lions not going anywhere — just being obscured by new trash cans

Oh, just a quick follow-up from Tuesday's post on the iconic lions at 96 St. Mark's Place... they're just partially being buried behind a new trash contraption, that's all...

[Photo by Nat Esten]

An appreciation: Yonah Schimmel's dumbwaiter

Stopped by Yonah Schimmel on Houston the other day... always a pleasure...

The dumbwaiter has been in operation for more than 100 years...

How many other dumbwaiters are still in use in NYC bars/restaurants? Old Town has the oldest in operation... Are there others?