... someone put up a sign in the window making it official... and telling people to visit their original Thompson Street location... via a photo by @JorgeO ...
Monday, November 21, 2011
Quantum Leap makes it official
As we reported, Quantum Leap, the vegetarian restaurant on First Avenue near 12th Street, closed last Thursday due to a rent hike...
... someone put up a sign in the window making it official... and telling people to visit their original Thompson Street location... via a photo by @JorgeO ...
... someone put up a sign in the window making it official... and telling people to visit their original Thompson Street location... via a photo by @JorgeO ...
Sahara East is back open
As we pointed out last Wednesday, the state closed down Sahara East on First Avenue for "nonpayment of taxes."
EV Grieve correspondent blue glass noted that they were able to reopen again this past weekend.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
City unveils new mattress and TV lanes on First Avenue
Of course, some jerk walking his mattress the wrong way nearly knocked me down.
Photo yesterday by blue glass.
What do you do if your Aston Martin Vantage Volanté breaks down on Houston and The Bowery?
Billy Leroy, the proprietor of Billy's Antiques, passes along this anecdote from last night ... at the crossroad of the world — Bowery and Houston.
So this fellow has a $100,000Aston Martin DBS 1984 Aston Martin Vantage Volanté that breaks down. As Billy notes, instead of calling a tow truck, the man decides to have a buddy tow him with a few feet of twine ...
As you might expect, it snapped.
So Billy was nice enough to lend the man a chain from his tool room at Billy's Antiques.
Billy notes that the man was kind enough to return the chain.
And the Ghosts of the old Bowery strike again.
So this fellow has a $100,000
As you might expect, it snapped.
So Billy was nice enough to lend the man a chain from his tool room at Billy's Antiques.
Billy notes that the man was kind enough to return the chain.
And the Ghosts of the old Bowery strike again.
DOH temporarily closes Atlas Cafe
A visit by the DOH on Friday has knocked out Atlas Cafe over on Second Avenue... 87 violation points.
Have you found a clear, pretzel-shaped acrylic sculpture?
Also, a record for adjectives in a headline.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
About the First Street Green Cultural Park
Now that the BMW Guggenheim Lab has moved on to confront comfort in Berlin, what's happening to the lot? Gothamist got the scoop yesterday from the volunteers at First Street Green:
The lot-turned-park will host dance, sculpture, painting, readings, music, performance, film, and annual competitions to build temporary canopies to house all of those things.
There's a kick-off party on Dec. 10 ... as Gothamist noted, First Street Green will unveil a "wishing wall" ... where you can suggest ideas for the space. (And preferably ones that don't involve liquor licenses ...)
Bobby Williams took the photos here yesterday... workers are putting in a new gate and what not.
Ave. A Deli & Food is now open
And now, 893 posts about Graceland later ... Here at Second Street, the corner deli opened on Thursday night... bringing closure to the drama that included Graceland closing, Frank's fast-food eatery not getting CB3 approval and 7-Eleven threat theatrics...
We'll have complete live team coverage — Assignment: Ave. A Deli & Food — all weekend, though I wouldn't count on it.
And now, a photo of the floor that I accidentally took...
Breaking: Workers removing more scaffolding at St. Brigid's
A note from our far-flung correspondents
From Dave on 7th, walking on 14th Street:
I just need to report that at 1:30 on Friday night, the IHOP is basically full.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Today in photos of model Kate Upton in Tompkins Square Park
Shooting a commercial today with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model ... thanks to @MichaelTSanchez for the photos...
Quantum Leap is closed
Rggulars of Quantum Leap on First Avenue passed along word this week that the vegetarian restaurant would have to close after getting socked with a rent hike. Yesterday was their last day.
@robbyohara passes along word (and the above photo) that the restaurant has been closed all day ... there's no note for customers... and that workers were removing supplies from the basement...
Frances Goldin could kick a cop in the balls and not get arrested, probably
Frances Goldin, founder of the Cooper Square Committee and catalyst for getting the rent reduced at the St. Mark's Bookshop, was among the many Occupy Wall Street protestors yesterday. The 87-year-old literary agent is a longtime activist who has been arrested nine times. She is quoted in a feature at MSNBC today:
"And I was sure I'd be arrested today, but the cops were determined because of the bad publicity for them, to not arrest an 87-year-old woman."
"I said [to an officer], 'What if I socked you in the eye?,' and he said, 'I'd give you a free shot,'" Goldin said. "'Well, what if I kneed you in the groin?,' and he said, 'No, you're not going to get arrested!'"
And here she is on NBC New York...
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition
Helping Caffe Vivaldi (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Occupy Wall Street's Day of Action yesterday (Daily Intel ... Runnin' Scared ... The Gog Log)
Clayton Patterson at the Zuccotti Park evacuation (BoweryBoogie)
How the NYPD doles out credentials to the press (The New York Observer)
Danny Hoch on Broadway, gentrification (Gothamist)
You guide to New York City's hidden mews (Curbed)
Here comes Santa Claus.... right down Avenue A, sort of
I was the only one who noticed a man in a Santa hat sitting near a holiday movie ad today. A reader submitted the above shot...
Prepare to welcome The Standard East Village
Page Six has the following news today (via Eater):
André Balazs is turning the Cooper Square Hotel into The Standard East Village. Sources say the high-flying hotelier’s deal to buy the beleaguered East Fifth Street Cooper Square gem will close today. Sources added that, under Balazs and his partners, the 105-room hotel's public spaces will be reconfigured, its rooms refurbished and its restaurants overhauled over the course of the next year. The property will be The Standard's more "intimate and residential" location than its boisterous site straddling the High Line...
And, in an exclusive, we have obtained The Standard's plans for renovations right here... Not yet confirmed for authenticity...
Is this finally the end for the Mary Help of Christians Catholic church on East 12th Street?
From a parishioner at Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street:
There are rumors that the church and school property are being sold by the Spring ... I'm afraid that NYU is buying it and going to build dorms.
We haven't heard much about this space in the last three years. Those in the know in the community are most certain that NYU isn't involved. (We asked NYU spokesperson John Beckman, though we haven't heard back just yet.)
Still, there is some precedent for the worry. In February 2004, the archdiocese sold St. Ann’s on East 12th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue for a reported $15 million. There is now a 26-story NYU dorm at the site. But that was before the 111-block rezone.
Let's go back a few years. In May 2007, The New York Times reported that the 109-year-old Roman Catholic church would close as part of a realignment by the Archdiocese of New York. Per the Times:
While this East Village church will continue to have two Sunday Masses for the immediate future, they will be overseen by a different church, Immaculate Conception on 14th Street and First Avenue.
In September 2008, The Real Deal reported that "Two thirds of a 15,000-square-foot East Village playground ... is under contract in a quiet, all-cash sale for $10.4 million."
The playground — home to the weekend flea market — is divided into three ownership lots, according to The Real Deal. Two of the parcels are (or were) owned by a Roman Catholic order called the Salesian Society. The Archdiocese owns the church located on a 13,000-square-foot lot.
Joseph Zwilling, spokesperson for the New York Archdiocese, didn't respond to an email seeking comment.
Meanwhile, for whatever reasons, the parishioners are hearing the rumors of the church's demise once again. Perhaps with the continued progress at St. Brigid's on Avenue B — one optimistic estimate had the church's renovations complete by the end of next summer — Mary Help of Christians is becoming expendable.
The church in 1920 via the NYPL Digital Gallery ...
St. Brigid's is looking oh so 1848
So, as you probably know, some of the construction netting and plywood came down Tuesday on the north wall of St. Brigid's on Avenue B and Eighth Street... Yesterday, workers peeled back just a little bit more of the netting... exposing even more of the under-renovation church... Bobby Williams took a look...
As The Villager reported this past July, the church will have its original 1848 look... Per the paper:
Bobby also sent a view of the new roof...
And as a bonus — a view of the church from Tompkins Square Park circa the early 1870s ...
Here's the caption for the photo from The Villager:
As The Villager reported this past July, the church will have its original 1848 look... Per the paper:
Both the west and north facades (what everyone from the street sees) of the building are going to be sheathed in cast brownstone slabs, more or less restoring the look of what was there when the church was first built in 1848. They are working on this now, and roughly a quarter of the north wall has already been installed. The original north wall had to be completely demolished and rebuilt as part of the process of restoring structural stability to the church. This necessitated filling the entire church interior with scaffolding in order to support the roof during this reconstruction. But it was a big improvement over the original repair plan to simply re-stucco the existing facade.
Bobby also sent a view of the new roof...
And as a bonus — a view of the church from Tompkins Square Park circa the early 1870s ...
Here's the caption for the photo from The Villager:
A photo from around the early 1870s showing St. Brigid’s Church with its spires on Avenue B and, in foreground, a gazebo in Tompkins Square Park. Around this time, the park was stripped and leveled to turn it into a parade ground for the 7th Regiment. The gazebo had been likely the reviewing stand for the military brass. After much public outcry, in 1878, Tompkins Square was redesigned and rebuilt as a public park.
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