6th Street Kitchen space for rent

This past Jan. 4, a fire destroyed the 6th Street Kitchen between Avenue A and Avenue B. (You may read our coverage here.)

[EV Grieve reader Jamie]

At the time, owner Chris Genoversa had hoped to reopen. In early spring, chef Andrew Kraft moved on to a new gig on the Upper West Side. With that announcement, the 6th Street folks said "the space is still boarded up but we’re optimistically hoping for something fantastic there in the future."

This is how the space looked in September...

[Dave on 7th]

And this week, "for rent" signs appeared over the rolldown gate...

We reached out to Genoversa for comment last night.

Demolition returns to 11-17 Second Avenue

Last Wednesday, a worker at the site of the demolition of 9-17 Second Avenue suffered a leg injury after being struck by falling debris.

The city promptly issued a full stop work order...

Yesterday, the city rescinded the stop work order ... (hope that you can speak DOBese...)

Bobby Williams noted the crews back on the scene yesterday...

Seems to be just a shell left here ...

Noted

Spotted recently on the gated driveway outside 52E4 — the 15 stories of condo on the Bowery and East Fourth Street.

Back in 15 minutes? What happens if we have an important delivery for John Legend that can't wait?

Report: Jury deliberations begin tomorrow in slaying of Edgard Mercado

In September 2009, police arrested 22-year-old Davawn Robinson and charged him for the murder of Edgard Mercado, a CUNY professor who lived on Avenue C near East Eighth Street. According to the Post this evening, deliberations are set to start tomorrow morning. Robinson is accused of strangling Mercado. Robinson, who faces one second-degree murder count, has claimed that Mercado wanted to be strangled while having sex and that the death was accidental. Gay City News has more on the trial here.

Lunch date

Today in Tompkins Square Park. By Bobby Williams.

Going deep at the Schwimmer's for that 6-story new home

Work continues at 331 E. Sixth St. ... where we continue to speculate that the land under the formerly historic, now-demolished townhouse is the property of David Schwimmer. (A refresher on why this may belong to the "Friends" star here.)

Goggla passed along this photo. And we took a look at the site ourselves yesterday. The workers are digging deep... any deeper and they'll be in Hollywood soon...

There are permits galore now on file with the DOB... we're looking at "the erection of a 6 story one family building."

According to permits, Cooper Union grad (and current Trustee!) Leslie Gill is the architect of record. (No sign of the renderings yet, but we look forward to seeing them!) Among the many projects during her distinguished career, she did the master planning for Warner Bros. Records, Los Angeles. (Did you know that "Friends" was filmed on the Warner Bros. lot from 1994 to 2004?)

Meanwhile.

A caller told the DOB on Nov. 30 that workers are "doing unsafe demolition and it is causing his building to shake and it may cause structural damage."

And now, a comment someone left on Nov. 25 on one of the other Schwimmer posts:

You know what the difference between LA and NYC is (having lived in both places I can speak with some some degree of knowledge)?

In LA they don't give a rat's ass about the character of the neighborhood. There's very little consideration given to architectural context, and they have very few buildings that have been around since the 1850s.

Here we take some pride in the fact that our neighborhoods have some character, and saying that someone can do 'anything they want' with an old building may be technically true, but is completely out of the spirit of what makes this city different and why neighborhoods like the LES/EV what they are.

If someone comes in and buys a perfectly nice old building (and one that might actually be landmark-worthy) and then razes it to put up some monolith that has no relationship to the what's around it, well, then that person is, um, well, an idiot.

Having some knowledge of the world that Mr. Schwimmer comes from, it's not strange that he did what he's doing, because in his world oversize garish houses on small lots is what you DO. You could really care less about what your neighbors do or think or even what their house looks like.

Here, however, that's really annoying and I'd even go so far as to say dramatically uncool. Welcome to NY, David. It's clear you're just an interloper with more cash than sense.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is David Schwimmer the 'Friends' star who now owns the demolished 331 E. Sixth St. townhouse?

Outrage over total demolition of historic East Sixth Street townhouse

[Updated] Hospital Productions closes on East Third Street

Hospital Productions, the specialty record store that peddled black metal and noise music, has evidently closed up its shop at 60 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Someone has cleaned out the store and there's that "for rent" sign in the middle of the front window...

I first noticed the sign when it was above the store last month.

Via email, I asked the Hospital folks on Nov. 15 if they were closing/moving. They told me they were "just working on a huge inventory project."

When I saw that the store was empty, I sent another email asking if they were moving or only selling items from their label online ... I received the following: "I am currently out of the office until 2012. Thank you for your patience."

UPDATED: East Village Radio provides more background and color on just how unique this store was...

Hospital was a store like no other in this city, selling a wide-range of fringe music and sound-art from a variety of genres. Established by Dominick Fernow as an extension of his tape label bearing the same name in 2006, Hospital’s early life as a retail outlet was spent in the basement of Jammyland—a record store specializing in dub and reggae. In those days, you’d walk down the aisle of Jammyland while the clerk eyed you suspiciously until you hit an almost totally vertical ladder to descend into Fernow’s foxhole filled with noise, black metal and experimental cassettes, LPs and CDs. Jammyland eventually left, and Hospital ascended from the basement and took over the ground level storefront at 60 East 3rd Street.

Silent night, dark knight: Where are the Tompkins Square Park holiday lights?

On Sunday, we attended the annual tree lighting in the Park ...

Flashback!

[Bobby Williams]

And as this dark, grainy photo shows... the lights are off... they were off Sunday night and last night...

Perhaps it is as simple as someone isn't plugging in the lights? Other theories (or facts!) are welcome...

The night that the music died on East 14th Street

EV Grieve reader joe spotted this old beaut outside the Crocodile Lounge on East 14th Street last evening...

He couldn't find a date of manufacture, but the 10-year warranty must have expired.

This week; Theatre 80's documentary series and short films from Occupy Wall Street

From the EV Grieve inbox...



Theatre 80 and WingFlix present a documentary series of films from around the world and shorts from Occupy Wall Street. Tickets are $10 and may be ordered online here. Come in and have a drink at Theatre80’s William Barnacle Tavern and talk to the filmmakers. Charles Krezell curates this series.

Tuesday, December 13 @8.00pm

“The Orange Chronicles” 2006, documentary 98 minutes Ukraine

The 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine was a massive demonstration of people for democracy and against electoral fraud. Millions braved freezing weather conditions to fight against stolen elections.

THE ORANGE CHRONICLES is a powerfully moving and unique examination of Ukraine's Orange Revolution from the perspective of an intrepid Ukrainian-American filmmaker, recording the build-up to what turned out to be one of the most astonishing bloodless political turnarounds in recent history. Filmmaker, Damian Kolodiy will attend.

Wednesday, December 14 @7:30pm

“Granito, how to nail a dictator” 2011, documentary 103 minutes, Guatemala, Spain, U.S.

GRANITO is a story of destinies joined by Guatemala’s past, and how a documentary film intertwined with a nation’s turbulent history emerges as an active player in the present.

Thursday, December 15 @7:30pm

“Bigger than the Beatles, Obama and the Peeps” documentary 81 minutes, Washington, D.C.

Bigger than the Beatles takes you to Washington, D.C. for the week of January 20, 2009, and Inauguration of Barack Obama. It captures the energy and spirit of that historic event as seen through the eyes of Everyday People.

Because you want to know that the 7-Eleven on the Bowery has added more signage

However subtle...

Could be worse, right?

Previously.

In other East Village signage news...

Signs have recently appeared on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street at the incoming L’asso EV ...

From the people behind Mott Street pizzeria L’asso.

And on Avenue C at Ninth Street, the sign is up for The Wayland, the bar taking over the Banjo Jim's space....

3 scenes from Tompkins Square Park today

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Today in discarded books on Second Avenue

EV Grieve reader AC wonders if someone dropped this along here Saturday afternoon... Or it was a subtle hint that went unheeded...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

More details about Friday night's shooting at Campos Plaza (The Lo-Down)

Q-and-A with some of the holiday tree vendors in the East Village (NY Post)

Hotel Chelsea trying to boot residents (DNAinfo)

Good news for some Coney Island boardwalk businesses (Amusing the Zillion)

Another victim in the ongoing High Line luxurification slaughter (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

You can't copyright yoga poses (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

MJ Armstrong's closes on First Avenue and 19th Street (NY Post)

The holiday windows at old-timer Zitomers (Nonetheless)

Dinner at Gallagher's Steak House (Marty After Dark)

The Bean is open — and busy

Just after 9 a.m. at Second Avenue and Third Street, where The Bean opened today... photos via jdx...

A bid to protect the integrity of 315 E. 10th St.

On Friday, we reported that Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group bought 315 E. 10th St. from The Educational Alliance. Renovations are currently taking place to convert the building into residential use. There is also a pending permit to add an extra floor to the existing structure.

Area preservation groups had already been alerted to this possible development. Leaders from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the Historic Districts Council, the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative and the East Village Community Coalition sent a letter dated Dec. 6 to Robert Tierney, chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). The letter reads, in part:

It has come to our attention that a permit application has been filed with the Department of Buildings to add a 5th floor to a 4-story building at 315 East 10th Street located within the calendared East 10th Street Historic District. We urge the Landmark Preservation Commission to intervene to ensure that these permits are not issued prior to designation.'

As you know, this block north of Tompkins Square Park was selected by the LPC as an historic district due to its high degree of intactness and distinctive architecture. This mid-block building is very much intact and such a modification would certainly negatively impact its character and the defining features of this building, which research completed by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation indicates dates to 1847. The level of architectural integrity for this 160-year old building at 315 East 10th Street is incredible, with details including an ornate galvanized iron cornice, window hoods and doorway frieze and entablature still intact.

Per the GVSHP, because the proposed district has been calendared by the LPC, the city has the power to stop the permits from being issued if they act quickly enough.

So far, though, the LPC has seemingly been unsympathetic to East Village architecture. Witness the demolition of, among others:

• 326-328 E. Fourth St.

• 316 E. Third St.

• 35 Cooper Square

• 331 E. Sixth St.

Click here for a petition to help save 310 E. 10th St. from further development. And this about more than simply saving one building... this is about preserving the integrity of the entire north side of East 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. If the city allows this addition, then there won't be much stopping any developers from doing the same to other buildings along here in the future...

How was your SantaCon?

[Image created by Shawn Chittle]

So we heard a lot of negative anecdotes about SantaCon on Saturday. Actually, we didn't hear anything really positive about the whole experience. Several people chastised us in emails or DMs via Twitter about the good that SantaCon provides — that some of the bars that SantaConners visit donate a portion of their SantaCon proceeds to Toys for Tots.

Well, that's nice. Of course, it's difficult to tell who is actually taking part in the official SantaCon and who is simply wearing a Santa suit and being obnoxious.

On Sunday, we heard more grumblings about the Santas from various bartender friends and residents and ...well, a quick recap of some of the comments that we received....

Stephanie Ratcliffe said...
I don't think we'd complain if they dressed like Ramones.
DECEMBER 10, 2011 3:27 PM

Shawn Chittle said...
It would be great if they instead did a SantaCon at area hospitals, bringing small gifts and smiles to the children in pediatric ward. 

Little children, for whom Santa means so much. 

Little children, who are victims of cancer, fire, crime, abuse, and violence. 

Little children, for whom Christmas and holidays are really all about anyway. 

Imagine what good all these Santas could do. 

Until that day, this event is a colossal waste of humanity and a menace to society.
DECEMBER 10, 2011 3:44 PM

Anonymous said...
In a way I envy the revelers that is to say I sometimes wish I too could just indulge in hollow meaningless merry-making and have fun with it. But that is assuming the people are actually having a good time in their heart of hearts.
DECEMBER 10, 2011 4:00 PM

Alex in NYC said...
Maybe the concept of "SantaCon" was mildly amusing about a decade ago, but now it's just another abject display of fatuous douchery (see also Halloween). Pathetic and sad.
DECEMBER 10, 2011 4:14 PM

Anonymous said...
or you could just remove the stick from your ass, relax, and realize santacon is only one day a year.
DECEMBER 10, 2011 5:42 PM

Anonymous said...
Oh, for God's sake. Didn't we all used to love the E Village because people could feel free there to be weird? Now you're full of fear & loathing about people who are being weird in a way you personally don't approve of? Why don't you all just grow up — and move away to some gated community where everyone is just like you!
DECEMBER 11, 2011 1:11 AM

argie said...
This was a rough day! It also highlighted how many of these fraternity/sorority types have moved into my building in the last couple of years...there were 2 post-santacon parties going on here until very very late...uuuuggggghhhhh....I actually heard people chanting "Chug it! Chug it! Chug it!"

It's Sunday morning now. Hope they all have vicious hangovers.
DECEMBER 11, 2011 7:37 AM

LvV said...
Anon 1:11, regarding old vs. new East Village residents, I think the issue is that there is a big difference between being a true misfit or weirdo as a person, and acting "weird" for one day. 

Also, mass public drinking isn't really weird behavior, even if it's done in silly outfits. This type of event seems like a staple of fraternities/sororities and sports fans, two of the least-weird groups I can think of. What about SantaCon is strange or oddball or transgressive?
DECEMBER 11, 2011 9:09 AM

Anonymous said...
This infestation spread west as well. I had the unfortunate experience of running into many of them all day around Washington Square Park. 

The best part was when about four of them chatted around me and began to spray silly string on one another. 

One of the silly string victims got angry because he was on his phone at the time trying to find out where the next bar was and his fun dudes with the cool 'tudes were distracting him.
DECEMBER 11, 2011 10:14 AM

Anonymous said...
Anon 1:11: This is not "weird" in the great way the E. Village used to be before yunnies arrived, but idiotic. And illustrates how brainless assholes with no imagination or creativity to be authentically "weird" and interesting have taken over the neighborhood. Yesterday was like a bad acid trip.
DECEMBER 11, 2011 11:08 AM

Her, Suzanne76 said...
i ditto a wise sentiment posted earlier in this section: 

BOMB 2ND AVENUE 

and i live a few feet off 2nd avenue...but i realise it is the only option to save the east village.
DECEMBER 11, 2011 11:43 AM

LiberationNYC said...
Binge drinking en masse dressed as Santa and letting a Twitter account dictate your destinations isn't weird, it's the most uncool thing I can think of. 

We shouldn't have to move to the suburbs or a retirement community if we don't like it - THAT'S WHY WE MOVED HERE. To GET AWAY from people like this.
DECEMBER 11, 2011 11:59 AM

HippieChick said...
Grieve, I think that was because SantaCon seemed so much more widespread and intrusive and loathsome this year. Or maybe it just seemed that way because I had to be out in it, stuck in a cab on Second Avenue, with drunken Vandals in Santa suits some fit all too well and staggering chicks in elf costumes that they really should NOT have been in pounding on my cab trying to get in. I fended them off with my cane (yeah, try walking through that vomitous morass of louts with a cane and boot due to recent injury and having them practically knock you over...NOBODY stood politely aside and one little blotto bitch practically pushed through me coming out of Village Farm...I blocked her until I had finished screaming at her and then stomped her foot with my cane) and wished it had been a sword. It's bad enough when we're kept captive in our own apartments on weekend nights by the drunk peeing vomiting hordes, but this is outrageous. Next year...pepper spray! Hey, if the fuzz can do it so can I.
DECEMBER 11, 2011 4:10 PM

Meanwhile, just 362 days until SantaCon 2012.

Why Diablo Royale Este is back open

Diablo Royale was back open for business this past weekend on Avenue A ...

The Mexican-style cantina had been closed for renovations, according to the sign on the door...

(We noticed that someone had removed the sign the following day.)

On Nov. 14, the CB3/SLA committee voted not to renewal Diablo's liquor license... the bar has drawn the ire of some neighbors since it opened in May 2010. According to the State Liquor Authority (SLA), the bar's license expired on Nov. 30.

However, they are back open for the time being. Under the State Administrative Procedures Act (SAPA), bar-restaurant owners can continue serving alcohol for four months while the SLA hears their appeal to have their liquor license renewed.

Earlier this year, the CB3/SLA committee turned down the request for a renewal from Heathers and TenEleven ... and in both cases, the bars received a renewal from the State Liquor Authority.

[Top photos by Shawn Chittle]

Reminders tonight: CB3/SLA committee meeting; plus, several scratches

The CB3/SLA committee meets tonight at 6:30 ... there have been several changes since we looked at the original agenda.

As you can see from the updated docket, there are several scratches, such as Nevada Smith's bid to take over space at 100 Third Ave. and Nublu to return to Avenue C.

Also, we were curious about following item:

Alterations/Upgrades: Death & Co (Little Hands Playcafe Inc), 433 E 6th St (alt/op)

According to CB3 documents (PDF!), D&C is looking to change their hours of operation ... extend the closing time by one hour to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday; to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The Bean opens today at the Crazy Landlord building

Third Street and Second Avenue. Featuring mosaic signs by Jim Power.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Bean opens Monday on Second Avenue; mosaic signs going up now

The Bean will be the Crazy Landlord's new tenant on Second Avenue

Sao Mai now open on First Avenue

Quantum Leap closed on Nov. 17. Workers at the vegetarian restaurant on First Avenue near 12th Street had told regulars that their landlord hiked the rent.

And now, the restaurant that took over the space is open ... several readers noted that the Vietnamese eatery called Sao Mai opened Saturday...

[Via Gamelan]

...and Saturday night...

[via EV Grieve reader Marina Matatova]

We'll definitely try it soon... let us know if you eat here in the meantime...

Also on First Avenue: BaoBQ opens this week

On First Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street... the latest from Michael "Bao" Huynh, which we pointed out in October...

As the sign shows, they're opening this week — as soon as they hire a few people...