Kinofest NYC kicks off tomorrow; a weekend of films in the East Village

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Kinofest NYC is proud to announce its program for its fourth festival featuring films from Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries. This year's festival will include 10 screenings, presenting more than 25 short and 4 feature films from independent filmmakers from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the UK and the US.

The festival will kick off tomorrow at the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 E. 79th St, and will end on Sunday. Film screenings will take place at two East Village cultural institutions: The Ukrainian Museum, 222 E. 6th St., and the Anthology Film Archives at 32 Second Ave.

This year's festival will feature seven short films from the Kyiv-based collective called "Goodbye, Ukraine!" In 2012, this group of filmmakers completed an anthology of 34 short films that examine and explore the reasons why hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have left their country since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. According to a recent report by the BBC, 1.5 million Ukrainians have left their homeland in search of greater economic opportunities that are not available in Ukraine.

Go here for schedule and ticket information.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-and-A with Andrew Kotliar, festival director for Kinofest NYC

Video break: NYC in 3 words

Via Cokau Lab, an audiovisual studio based in ... Paris.

3 words about this video: Too much High Line! Damn, that's four! Too much Highline!

And maybe we should do an "East Village in 3 words" video...

h/t @guywasko

Out and About in the East Village — 2013 recap

We're taking a week off to provide a quick recap...

So! Here's a look back at our 12 subjects from 2013 ... many thanks to East Village-based photographer James Maher and everyone who has taken part in this series... we'll return next week with Out and About in the East Village ...

• Jan. 9 — Lee Schramm

• Jan. 16 — Chris Riffle

• Jan. 23 — Jane Kelton and Little Egg

• Jan. 30 — Paul Kostabi

• Feb. 6 — Cheryl Pyle

• Feb. 13 — Mike Bakaty

• Feb. 20 — Jacquelyn Gallo

• Feb. 27 — Reverend Jacqui Lewis

• March 6 — Manny Garcia

• March 13 — Annette “Mistress Evil” Moccaldi

• March 20 — Katie Kenney

• March 27 — Lucille Krasne

And here is a link to our profiles from 2012.

Boca Chica apparently won't be reopening on First Avenue; and the return of Golden Cadillac

[Via Facebook]

In late February, Boca Chica, the inexpensive Latin American restaurant on First Avenue at First Street, closed its doors, though perhaps only temporarily. As first reported by Serena Solomon at DNAinfo, two partners abruptly exited the business, and the remaining owner was "frantically searching for new partners." The remaining partner was hopeful to continue operations.

Apparently that won't happen here. Paperwork on file (PDF) ahead of Monday's CB3/SLA meeting show that a bar-restaurant called Golden Cadillac is in the works for the space.



There's extensive background about the proprietors at the CB3 website. Francis Derby, who was part of the opening team of wd~50 under Chef Wylie Dufresne and a one-time sous chef at Momofuku Ssam Bar, is listed as the executive chef.

Giuseppe Gonzalez, a veteran of Dutch Kills and PKNY/Painkiller, is listed as "head barman." James Tune, general manager of Pegu in Soho, is listed as the general manager.

The paperwork includes a sample menu...



... and renderings...



This isn't the first time that we've heard about Golden Cadillac. Time Out reported in November 2011 that the new venture from the above-mentioned folks was opening on East 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. But that never materialized, for whatever reasons.

At that time, Gonzalez described the look this way: "Remember that bar called Volpe's in 'Mean Streets'? That's the way Golden Cadillac's going to look — an old Italian social club, but with tons of Art Deco details."

Boca Chica opened in March 1989. As predicted, the high-scale evolution of this corridor continues.

Previously.

Have you seen the glass tower in the works for Lafayette and East Houston?

So there are BIG plans in place for the busy instersection of Lafayette and East Houston. The property owner has designs on demolishing the bar Puck Fair (ever been? I haven't) and the BP station, as DNAinfo first reported on Monday.

Plans for the 7-story, 60,000-square-foot office-retail space were unveiled Monday night during Community Board 2's landmarks committee meeting, as reported by Curbed.

Here we go.



And! An upclose view...



I just fell off the rendering's balcony.

There are still a lot of hurdles to get this through city planning and all that. Read the details at Curbed and DNAinfo.

Anyway, if it all works out, then these new tenants will have the best views of the Calvin Klein billboard — and its rotating batch of ballsacks and boobs — in the city...




[Renderings up top: dbox for COOKFOX]

New 6-floor apartment building under way on Avenue B

An EVG reader emailed us this photo... Workers have arrived to start digging in at the former Croxley Ales beer garden at 26 Avenue B. As we reported in November, the city has OK'd plans here for a six-story apartment building with ground-floor retail space.

According to documents filed with the DOB, the building will contain eight residential units ... not to mention provide ample opportunities to go next door for "unbeatable world famous wing deals."

The sign on the plywood states that the work will be completed here last month.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Former Croxley Ales beer garden ready for development

Things that I didn't notice before: The beer garden at Croxley Ales has closed

Deal apparently in place for former Croxley Ales beer garden

[Updated] 6-story apartment building ready to rise from the former Croxley Ales beer garden

Deal of the day: FroYo shop for sale on St. Mark's Place

Spotted on Craigslist:

Busy Self-Serve frozen yogurt shop in East Village for sale buy owner.

Store is located on St. Marks Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. Extremely high foot traffic area 7 days a week.

Great for frozen yogurt business or other fast food concepts.

Store has been in business since 2008. Absentee owner looking to sell.

9 years, 6 months remaining on new lease with new 2013 tax base year.

750 SF plus basement storage space. Plenty of space for outdoor seating as well.

Current monthly rent way below market at $6200.

The listing doesn't mention the shop by name, but it has to be Yogurt Station, which recently reopened after a several-months hiatus.

New sign in the works at Bowery Poetry

Duane Park opened in the former Bowery Poetry Club space last month... Duane Park holds forth Tuesday through Saturday while Bowery Poetry has the space Saturday afternoons, Sunday and Monday.

Meanwhile, yesterday, workers continued to assemble the space's new sign...

For a look at the Duane Park interior and menu, head on over to Eater.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Duane Park in the Bowery Poetry Club's future?

What is happening with the Bowery Poetry Club?

Bob Holman on the future of the Bowery Poetry Club

Looking at Friday's Spotlight Speakeasy at Alphabet City Sanctuary

From the EV Grieve inbox...

On Friday, Alphabet City Sanctuary, 638 E. Sixth St., is hosting its next Spotlight Speakeasy event ... a monthly performance series where local artists share their work in an informal yet intimate environment.

Doors at 8:30 pm
Show starts at 9 pm
Suggested donation: $10 (all proceeds go directly to the artists)

Lineup to include:

Nicole Callihan, poet

Sean McMahon, singer-songwriter

Bird Courage, featuring Erik Meier, Samuel R. Saffery and Sean McMahon

and a LIVE PAINTING with artist info to come!

Find the Facebook invite here.

Noted

Spotted by Bobby Williams today in Abe Lebewohl Park off East 10th Street...

Bleecker Bob's have a bid on space in the East Village

As you know, Bleecker Bob's is closing up shop at its longtime home, which will become a FroYo shop in the West Village.

However!

Perhaps the store will live on... in the East Village. Per BB's Facebook page this afternoon:

Dear Friends,
only a few days left until closing day!!!

BUT..... we do have a "bid" in on a space in the east village so keep your fingers crossed!!

Previously on EV Grieve:
[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

Bleecker Bob's is for rent

Bleecker Bob's won't be moving to the East Village — or anywhere else, for that matter

Deals of the day: This old tagged ATM

Spotted on Craigslist:



Is a tag considered "minor cosmetic wear"?

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Bobby Williams]

Cash mob Sunday evening at El Sombrero on Ludlow (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Comparing prices at neighborhood groceries (The Lo-Down)

Crif Dogs proposing a food truck at the former Billy's Antiques (Grub Street)

About the Downtown Music Festival (BoweryBoogie)

Ghost signage on First Avenue (Ephemeral New York)

Acid Flashback: The art of the Fillmore East (Off the Grid)

Goodbye Bar 82 (The Gog Log)

The Bloomberg administration has preserved more of New York City's architecture than any of his predecessors (The Wall Street Journal)

A look back at Cop Shoot Cop (Flaming Pablum)

Tentative re-opening dates for old-timers Bridge Cafe and Paris Cafe at the Seaport (Eater)

On Coney Island, Shoot the Freak is now Shoot the Clown (Amusing the Zillion)

... and springtime outside the great Enz's on Second Avenue...

Morning tweets

Someone tossing some nudes this a.m. on E. 6th St. twitter.com/evgrieve/statu…

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) April 2, 2013

John Penley plans campout at Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate offices this weekend

Longtime East Village activist John Penley is set to campout this weekend outside the offices of Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate on Broadway in Soho. (Set to start at 5 p.m. Friday.)

Per the Facebook invite:

SHAOUL AND HIS REAL ESTATE COMPANY HAVE BEEN AN EVIL CORPORATE REAL ESTATE WRECKING AND GENTRIFICATION CREW IN THE EAST VILLAGE. THE WORST OF THE WORST !!!!

While Shaoul has been a widely criticized developer in the East Village for years, the recent revelations about actor-poet-writer Taylor Mead's living conditions were the impetus for this event.

Articles in The Villager and the Post and at BoweryBoogie have outlined the 88 year old's current living conditions while the Shaoul-owned building on Ludlow undergoes a gut renovation. (Mead, a former Andy Warhol star, had lived in the rent-stabilized apartment for 34 years and didn't want to leave.) According to the account in the Post, "Plaster falls from his walls and roaches crawl up his legs. The kitchen sink doesn’t work."

"It’s going to kill him,” said Clayton Patterson, a neighborhood activist and longtime friend. “This is elderly abuse. It’s pretty Third World when you think about it."

As Curbed put this particular episode, Shaoul is "up to his old tricks. Or, more specifically, his old trick — forcing stubborn, rent-stabilized tenants out of the apartments he owns by having their buildings demolished around them."

Penley had this to say to us via a message on Facebook:

"I am demanding at the protest that he give Taylor a renovated ground-floor apartment in Taylor's building rent free for the rest of his life and provide Taylor with home-care assistance. He just made so much cash speculating and flipping buildings on the LES that doing something humane like I suggest he do would be a very small gesture."

Shaoul has recently sold large parcels of his East Village buildings to developer Jared Kushner. Shaoul is currently converting the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Avenue B and East Fifth Street into residences.

Penley recently held a campout to call on NYU to help house the homeless.

Public plaza outside 51 Astor Place taking shape

Workers continue to create the plaza area in front of 51 Astor Place, the in-progress 12-story office building at the gateway (from the west) into the neighborhood ... the trees arrived for the space a few weeks back... we took a quick look inside yesterday, and spotted the granite seatbacks .. among other things, the plaza will feature plantings, bike racks and a piece of public art.

Here are some of the renderings showing the public plaza from one of the earlier meetings on the development...





Previously on EV Grieve:
The demolition of 51 Astor Place means the end of the New York Film Academy Café here

[June 2011]

Some East 2nd Street residents want a laundromat, but not a Living Room

The Living Room received another lease extension for their current home on Ludlow Street, as BoweryBoogie reported yesterday. Third extension in as many months for the live music venue.

Meanwhile, the folks from The Living Room are moving forward with plans to find a new home on East Second Street. As we reported last September, Klean & Kleaner, the laundromat at 173 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, was on the market for use as a bar or restaurant.

This potential Living Room move was a topic of conversation during a recent community meeting. Co-owner Jennifer Gilson attended that meeting, and made her case on why the Living Room would be a good neighbor, such as shows for kids, use of the space for neighborhood fund-raisers and no pub crawls.

However, from the meeting, East Second Street residents said that they are "vehemently opposed to the possibility of The Living Room" in that space for a variety of reasons, including:

• East 2nd Street is a residential side street whose residents include a large number of seniors and families with young children.
• As a residential street, we already endure excessive noise due to late night crowds from the many bars and restaurants already on our block and nearby.
• While we believe The Living Room is a wonderful part of the cultural fabric of New York City, its presence at 173 East 2nd Street will severely and negatively impact our quality of life.

The Living Room will go before the CB3/SLA committee next Monday. Gilson told BoweryBoogie:

Of course there’s a good chance that if they block our liquor license, another less-neighborhood friendly business with less community history will take the space.

[On April 8] I will argue why after 15 years of enhancing the quality of life by hosting great music, kids shows, fundraisers, theater, etc., I should be able to stay in my neighborhood, which I helped to transform, and not be pushed to Brooklyn…

One 18-year resident of the block told us in an email that he didn't have problems with The Living Room, "but I'd much rather keep the place as a laundromat."

Of course, the landlord has different ideas...

A few more details on El Diablito Taqueria, opening this spring on East Third Street

El Diablito Taqueria is coming soon to East Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, as we noted on Jan. 21. And they are on the CB3/SLA committee agenda this month for a beer-wine license.

According to documents (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website, the shop will have just and a handful of tables... with a counter primarily for to-go orders. El Diablito Taqueria looks to have hours of 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturdays; with an 11 p.m. closing time on Sundays.

Here are a few interior shots from El Diablito's Facebook page...







The folks from the taqueria told us via Facebook that they hope to be open next week, but that date is pending...

Previously, this address was home to the wholly unique Hospital Productions, the specialty record store that closed late in 2011. ... not to mention reggae specialists Jammyland...

Soho Billiards eyeing move to Red Square

When we saw the following item on this month's CB3/SLA docket — NYC Billiards Club Inc, 250 E Houston St (op) — we didn't realize that this was the former Soho Billiards. The 22-year-old pool hall closed late last fall, as we first reported.

In any event, documents on file ahead of Monday's committee meeting show that the ownership is the same... and they are looking at taking over space in the Shoppes at Red Square between Avenue A and Avenue B. (It would be the space that Sleepy's used before they moved into the Blockbuster location.)

The new location would have hours of 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday; to 4 a.m. on Friday Saturdays, documents show. There would be one 10-foot bar (no food) with a total occupancy of 74 people.

As far as we can remember, there was a pool hall along here before the Blockbuster...

Muji opening on Cooper Square this April 12

As you may have heard, a Muji store — its fourth in Manhattan — is opening on Cooper Square ...

Workers told Bill the libertarian anarchist that the Japanese import, which sells various home goods and clothing and stuff, will indeed open here at 54 Cooper Square on April 12...

...and an interior shot from Friday via Muji's Facebook page...

[Updated] Here is your new Community Board 3

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer today proudly announced the appointment of 76 new members to Manhattan’s 12 Community Boards. This year’s appointees continue the trend of increased diversity among board members and include small business owners, including those recovering from Hurricane Sandy, NYCHA residents, clergy members, parent leaders and a fifth generation New Yorker. A full list of appointees can be found here.

Here's the rundown for our own CB3...



...if we can count, there are 8 new members, whose names are in bold in the list below...



The Lo-Down has more information about the 8 new members here.

The Lo-Down notes that one of the new CB3 members is Teresa Pedroza, the grandmother of Dashane Santana, the 12 year old who was killed while crossing Delancey Street last year. She was successful in calling on new safety measures for this notoriously dangerous stretch of Delancey.

[Photo of Teresa Pedroza from last May by Shawn Chittle]

Here is the Anthology Film Archives as the 27th Precinct

The exterior is converted to film a scene for the TV pilot "Ironside," as noted earlier today...

[Thanks to EVG Facebook friend Maud Dinand for the photo]

Nobu chef Toshio Tomita opening Cagen on East 9th Street

A tipster told us last month that a 15-year-alum of Nobu plans to take over the former Kajitsu space on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. (Kajitsu moved to East 39th Street.)

Nobu chef Toshio Tomita will open Cagen on East Ninth Street, according to CB3 documents. (PDF) The space will house 10 tables, seating 33 people, and will serve dinner from 5:30-11:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturdays.

The documents on the CB3 website include menus... showing two full meals — one for $85 and one for $120...





Cagen reps will be applying for a beer-wine license at next Monday's CB3/SLA meeting. The 9th Street A-1 Block Association has entered into a "memorandum of understanding" with the applicant.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Nobu alum taking over Kajitsu space on East Ninth Street

Here's Jupiter 21, now in orbit around Second Avenue and East First Street

This past week the remaining scaffolding and construction netting came down at Jupiter 21, the apartment-retail complex at Second Avenue and East First Street... so now you have a really good idea of what it looks like, save the street-level plywood...





Per the J21 press materials:

The building will ultimately have 65 units: 13 affordable condos, 52 market-rate studio through two-bedroom rentals, and two commercial condos. Nine of those affordable condos "have been reserved for the tenants of the original buildings displaced by the new construction" ...

And a look behind the plywood... where there will be a fucking bank ... and maybe a Mars Bar 2.0?



Anyway, here is the rendering. How did they do?

Previously on EV Grieve:

What's next for the now-former Bar 82 space on Second Avenue

As we first reported on March 22, Bar 82 was shutting down at the end of the month ... We never did hear any official word why the neighborhood spot on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Place was closing...

Last night was the bar's grand finale ... Meanwhile, a tipster hears that the landlord does not want another bar or restaurant in the space... and is looking for "dry goods" as the basis for a new tenant.

Per the tipster: "So, Duane Reade? Chase? We could use a Chase on this block ..."