When 5 Napkin Burger opens, how will we get our Jeff Boss for president news?

We got a tweet the other day from the folks at 5 Napkin Burger, calling themselves "very soon-to-be neighbors."

So very soon, the plywood will come down here on Third Avenue and 14th Street...

...and when that happens, the campaign team for Jeff Boss will need to find a new wall...

Bye Bye CBGB

[Bruno Hadjadj via Clic Gallery]

From the EV Grieve inbox ... you know there are rumors that some new-era CBGB will resurface fairly soon... a reader passed along this information about the original CBGB via a news release from the Clic Gallery...

BYE BYE CBGB is a final goodbye to one of the last relics of New York punk rock and 1970s/1980s underground culture. CBGBs is a place that continues to thrive on in the collective unconscious; a historic landmark that belongs just as much to teenagers buying their first Ramones album as it does to those who attended the first Ramones gigs in 1974. It was in this dingy little rock den on Bowery and Bleecker that the seeds of punk rock germinated before transforming worldwide counterculture forever.

On October 14th, 2006 people came from all other the world to say “Bye Bye” to CBGBs before the club shut its doors for good. Indoors, there were 48-hours of star-studded performances, but it was the emotionally-charged going-ons right outside the club’s doors that captivated multimedia artist Bruno Hadjadj. Using sketches, photography, and videos, he immortalized the anonymous throngs who queued up outside to pay their final respects. For two days people dedicated poems, artworks, mementos, and performances to the legacy of the greatest rock club of all time. Hadjadj’s resultant body of work not only tells the tale of an era coming to an end, but also pays testament to the incredible endurance of CBGBs influence.

“Bye Bye CBGB” is comprised of black and white prints and silver prints mounted on light boxes with the flickering electric lights animating the figures. The accompanying sketches are rendered with a mix of ink and pencils.

February 2 - February 28, 2012
Clic Gallery NYC
255 Centre Street

Tough day for an already-dead rat in Tompkins Square Park

Bobby Williams, who took the photos, notes that the rat was already dead when our friend ate him...

Today in $500,000 cars parked on Avenue A

Well, it could be in the $400,000 range depending on the features of this Maybach 62S. We popped the hood to check out the Mercedes-sourced 5.5-litre twin-turbo V12 engine that accelerates from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in about 4.8 seconds.

Actually, we didn't do that. We plucked that info straight from Wikipedia.

Photo by Matt LES_Miserable.

[UPDATED] DOH temporarily shutters that expensive club place that you'd likely never go to on East Houston

Earlier today, Julie Shapiro at DNAinfo reported that the DOH temporarily closed Open House, the newish club on East Houston just east of Avenue A. On Friday, the inspectors found 38 violation points, including "Live roaches present in facility's food and/or non-food areas."

The previous week, inspectors issued 52 points for violations including mice, roaches, contaminated food and issues with the bathroom and plumbing, DNAinfo pointed out.

Meanwhile, as Eater noted today, Stay Open just got some exposure via a feature in the Styles section of last Thursday's Times... the day before the DOH visit.

That article noted that people were grumbling about a two-hour wait to get in on a recent Friday. A few other excerpts from the Times:

Young women shed their furs and puffy coats to reveal sparkly dresses and tight miniskirts; their male counterparts sport button-downs and fleece. “It’s not a very cool crowd, but it would be a safe place to bring my brothers,” one patron said.

Ouch.

And!

Bottle service is encouraged, with flavored vodkas starting at $250 and a magnum of Dom Pérignon capping things off at $1,200.

UPDATED 2-7
Per Eater, Open House is back open.

Noted

This afternoon, Gothamist has an item plucked from the Times real-estate section this weekend... In a letter to the paper, Frank M. on East 28th Street makes his case for a new name for Kips Bay.

Being both underrated and generally affordable ... Kips Bay is a superbly innocuous neighborhood close to -- well -- almost all of the hip neighborhoods that are both overrated and expensive. ... We are trying to get Kips Bay renamed "NoEVil" (North of the East Village) to capture its cachet -- but without having to pay for it.

UPDATED:

Our apologies... we didn't see that Alex had this item this morning at Flaming Pablum! With a Television reference!

Noted

First Avenue at 11th Street.

Graffiti-free Verizon building lasts less than one week

Last Tuesday, evilnyc passed along photos of Graffiti Free NYC cleaning up the East 13th Street side of the Verizon building at Second Avenue...

evilnyc just sent this shot of that wall today...

[Updated] Mainstream media confirm that David Schwimmer owns destroyed 331 E. Sixth St.

[Matt LES_Miserable]

The New York Post checks in today with a story on 331 E. Sixth St., the formerly historic townhouse that we've been writing about hereabouts for the past six months.

The Post gets "sources" to confirm the David Schwimmer connection.

Schwimmer bought the home through a limited-liability company, 331 East 6th Street Townhouse LLC. Although his name is not attached to the deal, sources briefed on the purchase confirmed that Schwimmer is the owner.

In addition, Schwimmer, the LLC manager Gary Kress and 331 East 6th Street Townhouse LLC all share the same Santa Monica, Calif., address.

Schwimmer, Kress and the project’s architect all didn’t return calls for comment. But future neighbors were willing to sound off.

Indeed!

“All the new people are yuppie transients. If I see David Schwimmer on the street, I’ll be sure to give him my two cents!” said Charlett Hobart, a retired independent contractor who has lived on the block for the past 37 years.

“People who have been living here a long time don’t like new people coming in” and tearing down old buildings, she explained.

Updated:

One nugget from the Post story that we didn't mention first time around...

Schwimmer, 45, snapped up the property for $4.1 million in 2010 — and the city Landmarks Preservation Commission send him notices on March 31 and May 27 of last year that it could get landmark status by the end of 2012, said commission spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon.

But by September 2011, the building was gone, just four months after the city’s latest letter was sent to Schwimmer’s representatives.

So, just to spell this out, Schwimmer or his people knew that the building was under landmark consideration, yet they hurried and destroyed it anyway.

Let's go back and look at the questions that we asked on Sept. 8:

We're wondering why:
• With all the available upscale townhouses on the market in the city, why did he buy this historic building only to tear it down?
• Didn't his people think tearing down this historic townhouse would raise the ire — and suspicion — of neighbors?
• What was so special about this particular location? Proximity to Indian food?
• How often will a busy person like Schwimmer actually even stay here?

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

RIP Bob Spedalere

A few friends of the Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place passed along word that Bob Spedalere, a longtime bartender there, died last Thursday. He was 65.

We don't have a lot of details, though we understand that he had been in the hospital. There is a wake today at Provenzano Lanza, 43 Second Ave., from 2-5 p.m. and 7- 9 p.m.

It's likely that you saw Bob with his beloved dog Zach walking around St. Mark's Place ... or maybe even in the Grassroots. (Zack died several years ago.)

Been a difficult time for Grassroots regulars. John Leeper, another longtime bartender there, died last November.

[Photos via Facebook]

RIP Connie Bush

There's a memorial for Connie Bush outside 220 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. Bush, the director of the Cornelia Connelly Center, died last Monday after a battle with breast cancer. She was 57.

She co-founded the school for girls from low-income families back in 1993.

Per her obituary:

Connie played with the Bronx Symphony Orchestra and traveled to Europe each winter to play violin with the Manhattan String Quartet. She spent weeks each summer cooking meals for 82 girls and counselors at the Camp Holy Child in Lake Placid, NY; and frequently sped back to Northeast Pennsylvania after working a seventy hour week to prepare a gourmet dinner complete with Martha Stewart accompaniments for her family.

You can read more about her life and work here.

The beginning of the end for 76 Third Ave.

Work crews have started emptying out the remains of 76 Third Ave., most recently Yummy House...

The temporary parking lot has been chopped up to make room for the construction stuff...

Will this finally be our chance to find out what's behind those windows? Look, in the lower window — the curtains are gone!

And the future here...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Those persistent rumors about 74-76 Third Avenue and the future of Nevada Smith's

The East Village will lose a parking lot and gain an apartment building

With a rubble yell: Here's 51 Astor Place these days

Just a quick post to document what's left of 51 Astor Place... the former Cooper Union engineering building...

First, a great photo by Michael Sean Edwards...

Meanwhile...

...and spotted on the plywood surrounding the pit...

Previously.

East Village signs of the times: Bye Polonia, Joe's Bar and Octavia's Porch

Someone removed part of the now-closed Polonia sign on First Avenue...

...where right next door the sign is working at the new Subway...

...on East Sixth Street, someone took down the remaining letters for Joe's Bar...

...and on St. Mark's Place, the sign is up for the incoming panuozzo place...

Finally, on Avenue B near East Third Street, the Octavia's Porch sign is gone... presumably on its way to the Bad Restaurant Name Hall of Fame.

This will be the second location of the Park Slope-based Mexican eatery Fonda.

Noted

Per @hattmayes — "in front of the NYU dorm. People flooded the street and some guys in speedos jumped on a cab."

And the Giants win the pennant ...

Crowds take to Third Avenue and 11th Street after the Giants beat the Patriots.

Via @AndrewPettit

The calm before the Super Bowl

Photos late this afternoon by Bobby Williams.

A challenging new way to play ping pong in Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Suddenly, everyone is a New York Giants fan!

As you may have heard, the New York Giants are playing the New England Patriots tonight at 6:30. The winner will be crowned this year's Wimbledon champion.

And as you might expect, there are plenty of bandwagon jumpers... Like, do you recall seeing signs that this Duane Reade on 14th Street near First Avenue was the official pharmacy of the Giants during the regular season?

And where were these savings at Trader Joe's earlier?

Anyway, we looked around at various specials for tonight... didn't find anything that stupid. Did you?

Last day for East Village Farms

Today is the last day for East Village Farms on Avenue A. A lot of things are on sale. (But not everything — saw some annoyed people who thought their items would be half off.) All the beer is 30 percent off, and they have a pretty good selection. (At 30 percent off, it's now about the same price as Key!)

Anyway, took a few shots of the store's well-worn exterior before it's wiped away...

Employees here have said the landlord plans to tear down the building. But we've never heard this officially from the landlord. And there still aren't any permits of any kind on file with the DOB. So expect the space to sit empty for some time.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished

Tacos Morelos is back on Avenue A and Second Street

Oops. Meant to note this earlier. Did anyone see them Friday or Saturday? The cart was out of commission last week while the Taco Morelos folks waited for a new permit or something.