Here's a sight for you

This is happening right now on East Eighth Street and Broadway ... tour bus missed didn't quite navigate the turn, as these photos via EVG reader 8E show...

Chico at C-town

Bobby Williams spotted Chico this afternoon brightening up the exterior of C-Town on Avenue C...

Facebook is moving into the neighborhood; Midtown South expands its boundaries, apparently

From The Wall Street Journal this morning:

Facebook Inc. is moving its New York office south and nearly doubling its space, marking the latest technology company to set up shop in the city's Midtown South neighborhood.

Facebook, a popular social media site where users share "Game of Thrones" spoilers, is moving into 770 Broadway at East Ninth Street, an area of New York also known, randomly, as Astor Place, the East Village, NYU, WeAs (West of Astor), LeLa (left of Lafayette Street) and Where is that Starbucks with the restroom?

Facebook reportedly signed a 10-year lease for 100,000 square feet at 770 Broadway, whose current tenants include AOL, J Crew and the Huffington Post. Facebook and its 200 New York employees currently must do with a 55,000-square-foot space on two floors at 335 Madison Ave.

The new space sounds like it will be very Facebooky.

Architect Frank Gehry will design the space, which will include a cafeteria with its own chef, smaller kitchens with snacks and drinks and an open floor plan.

Meanwhile, the new tenant-wanting office building at 51 Astor Place sits directly across the street.

Oh, and will anyone notice a difference with the 200 new tenants? Here's the Voice's take:

Facebook employees will probably just blend in with the existing NYU students, only they'll have nicer living arrangements and more expensive sneakers.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village — the new Midtown?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

Catching up with this report by Sabina Mollot on the Town & Village Blog ... she reported on Friday that "the union representing regional postal employees learned that the United States Postal Service had decided to proceed with a plan to relocate the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office on East 14th Street."

The USPS would lease the former Duane Reade on East 14th Street near First Avenue for retail services, such as stamp sales and P.O. boxes.

However, a USPS rep told Mollot that the decision is not final.

The lease expires at the current location next February. The landlord reportedly told the USPS that they have other plans for the building, which was erected in 1951.



Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Alphabet Plaza rising on D

We continue to monitor the progress at the incoming Alphabet Plaza, the 12-story mixed-used apartment building at East Houston and East Second Street/Avenue D ...

Actually, EVG reader Ray is monitoring the progress... where residents living in 11-13 Avenue D are slowly losing their southern views...

Early April!



May 20...



Yesterday...



Some day!

Via The Real Deal ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 12th-story 'Alphabet Plaza' in the works for Second Street and Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza ready to rise on Avenue D

Alphabet Plaza is rising on East Houston and Avenue D

Easy as...: Alphabet Plaza makes first appearance above ground

Alphabet Plaza starts to apply sun block

St. Mark’s Church Greenmarket Reopens today

From the EV Grieve inbox...

The St. Mark's Church Greenmarket, which has connected the East Village with local food and farms since 1981, reopens for the season on Tuesday, June 4. Vendors include:

• Kernan Farms Vegetables, including the first of the season’s asparagus and strawberries from Cumberland County, New Jersey
• Bread Alone Bread, pastries and pies made from local flour, from Ulster County, New York
• El Mirador Farm Vegetables, Mexican specialty produce, and herbs from Monmouth County, New Jersey (New Farmer Development Project Participant)

St. Mark’s Church Greenmarket
East 10th Street and 2nd Avenue
Tuesdays 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. from June 4 through November 26

* WIC and FMNP checks accepted at individual farmer stands.

* EBT/Food Stamps/Debit/Credit accepted at market info tent from 12p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Looking at the Fatburger opening in Murray Hill

And for some reason I was walking on Third Avenue just above 34th Street Sunday when I spotted the signage for Fatburger... Crain's reported last December that the 60-year-old Beverly Hills-based chain was planning on opening 10 outposts in Manhattan.

And apparently this one at No. 509 will be the first... looks close to being ready... and it looks nothing like the one I ate at in California once while on vacation about 100 years ago... this one has a bar ...



There used to be a Fatburger on Third Avenue near East 18th Street, where Robert Sietsema remembered that Matt ("Friends"!) LeBlanc once worked...

Fatburger is owned by Riese Restaurants ... who also owns Tad's Steaks. Maybe they'll open another one on Union Square ... Oh, and doncha think the East Village will be one of the 10 outposts for a Fatburger?

Updated 12:30
It opens next Tuesday, per Eater.

Reader report: Supercuts leaving St. Mark's Place

A tipster passes along word that the Supercuts here on St. Mark's Place is closing down at the end of this month. "No word on why or what would be replacing it," per the tipster. A stylist said folks in the area could go to the location at 66 University Place (between 10th Street and 11th Street) ... and that some of the St. Mark's stylists will relocate to that branch.

Kiehl's now has its own Captain America comic

[Via Kiehl's/Marvel Comics]

Kiehl's has hooked up with Marvel Comics for its own Captain America: Transformation & Triumph comic book, USA Today reported yesterday.

Apparently Kiehl's president Chris Salgardo is a big comic book fan/geek and reached out to Marvel about a partnership.

The comic is available in the store and online to coincide with the launch of a "Heavy Lifting" moisturizer, an anti-aging skin treatment for men.

And the plot (of the comic book, not the anti-aging skin treatment for men):

Written by William Harms and featuring artists Angel Unzueta and Ty Templeton, the story takes place in Cap's past but also his present, where he battles Cobra, a member of the Serpent Society, attacks the original Kiehl's store at 3rd Avenue and 13th Street ... thinking that the remnants of the old super-soldier serum are in the basement.

Not to spoil it, but Cobra eventually has to move after a developer buys his building and terminates his lease.

Oh! And a look at the comic book ...

Kiehl's Captain America Exclusive Preview

And how was your commute?

A scene this late afternoon at the Union Square 4/5/6 titled Man Urinates on Subway Tracks ... via @manhattan_matt

Oh, and good. There's video.

Free films back in Tompkins Square Park with Rushmore, Easy Rider & Rocky Horror Picture Show, plus more

Looking at 'Bowery Bombshells — Great Ladies of the Lower East Side'

Low Life 7: Bowery Bombshells — Great Ladies of the Lower East Side marked the Grand Finale during this weekend's Howl Festival in Tompkins Square Park... EVG contributor Stacie Joy was on-hand yesterday to capture the sights, sounds, wigs, fishnets...



Sweet Lorraine of HyperGender Burlesque



Vangeline Theater



Velocity Chyaldd of BadAss Burlesque





Nicholas Gorham and Shredding Wench Factory



Kat Mon Dieu and Gothic Hangman





Rachel Klein Theater



Scooter Pie





Shredding Wench Factory



Heather Litteer/Jessica Rabbit Domination





Founder of Vangeline Theater

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Thanks to The Jackie Factory NYC for another great show. Read more about the event here.

The Blarney Cove will close for good at the end of June

Well, we knew this one was coming. As we've been noting, many businesses on East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B are either relocating or closing to make way for some yet-unspecified development.

Bartenders at the Blarney Cove are now telling patrons that they will close at the end of the month. It's not relocating. (How could this ever be replicated elsewhere anyway?)

It Was Her New York wrote about the Blarney Cove and this stretch of East 14th Street yesterday.

[T]he further east we got the worse things look. It was like Close Encounters of the Third Kind when Richard Dreyfuss slips into the restricted area and all these dead cows are lying around.

Every store was empty with 'For Rent' or 'Going Out Of Business'. The cheap place was gone. 40 years of buying necessary and unnecessary affordable shit, gone.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

Bargain Express has closed on East 14th Street

Zoubi, famous East Village cat, needs dental surgery — and your help

Longtime East Village resident Leslie Sternbergh Alexander told us about a crowdsourcing fundraiser for Zoubi (aka Lula), the friendly store cat from Village Magazine at 102 Second Ave. ... "now living with East Village hippies Adam Alexander and Leslie Sternbergh Alexander."

Here's the situation via GoFundMe:

East Village hippies' famous 20 year-old cat, known for decades as the friendly store cat at 2nd Ave. & 6th St. before her retirement & adoption by her old friends indigenous east village hippies Adam & Leslie, appears to need dental surgical attention ASAP — including blood work & other prep tests necessary for older cats before general anesthesia's use ... we believe our goal's a fair estimate for her imminent care, we're blessed with fine local vet resources, & we thank you in advance for sharing our love of excellent cats with your generosity.

The goal is $3,500. And what do you get in return for the help? Well, some pretty cool things from these artists. For example, for $50: "Your choice of one of Adam & Leslie's original mid-80's late Punk Era nightclub invitation postcards - Authentic East Village collectible nostalgia!" For $500: "Framed Original Adam Alexander Fractal Art or Photographic Print." Check out his work here.

Find the GoFundMe site here.

Pricing for apartments at former Cabrini Center revealed; 4-bedroom unit for $7,600 at Bloom 62

Several units from Bloom 62, developer Ben Shaoul's luxury apartment building that replaced the former Cabrini Center on East Fifth Street and Avenue B, appeared on Streeteasy this past weekend. There are six listings, ranging from a one-bedroom unit for $3,450 all the way up to a four-bedroom unit for $7,600.

The listings all basically showcase the same amenities. Here's the one for the four-bedroom pad:

Brand New Listing in Pristine New Building. Huge 4 Bedrooms with Tons of Closet Space. Amazing Deal. This Apartment will not last!

Apartment Details:

-Brand New Renovations
-Very Spacious Layout
-Queen Size Bedrooms
-Beautiful Spa Style Marble Bathroom
-Wide Plank Hardwood Floors
- Closet Space!

Kitchen Features:
-Chef’s Kitchen
-Plenty of Counter Space / Cabinet Space
-Stainless Steel Appliances (Dishwasher, Refrigerator, Microwave)
-Granite Counter top

WASHER & DRYER

New Doorman bldg Features:
AMENITIES

24 hour doorman
Gym & exercise facility with weight room
Secured landscaped courtyard entrance
Standard storage
Laundry room
Bicycle storage
Landscaped roof deck with showers, Weber grills, & teak sun-deck
Yoga room with music system
Handicap accessible

According to Streeteasy, the apartments are available starting June 14. The previous tenant here was the 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — that provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The center opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 employees. The facility closed last June.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's Bloom 62, the luxury apartments replacing the Cabrini Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

Betola Espresso Bar is moving to Brooklyn

A tipster let us know that Betola Espresso Bar on East Sixth Street has closed. Here's the message on Betola's Facebook page:

Some bittersweet news, Betola is officially closing on 6/1 but we are moving to Brooklyn! Stay tuned for new location details. THANK YOU friends, family and coffee lovers for all the love and support! We hope to see you at our new spot soon!

Betola, an unpretentious spot with friendly owners, opened here at 514 E. Sixth St. almost one year ago. While higher rents are usually the culprit, it wasn't the case here. Apparently the owners got the proverbial deal that they couldn't refuse to move to a larger space with a sweet rent.

Latest weapon in the First Avenue $1 slice wars: Dancing Pizza Menu Woman

@evgrieve the pizza wars have taken a disturbing turn: vine.co/v/b3z6xiMx5QM

— David Fitzgerald (@david_fitz) June 1, 2013

Spotted outside Joey Pepperoni's this past weekend.

When will it end? Full-frontal nudity? Then what about the children?

Previously on EV Grieve:
First Avenue $1 Pizza Wars — now with draft beer

Checking in on the $1 pizza war on First Avenue

The Immigrant Tap Room is now open on East Ninth Street

EVG reader MP notes that the Immigrant Tap Room is now open on East Ninth Street...



As we first reported in January, Jason Corey (pictured above) was opening a bar extension next door to The Immigrant ... he called the new space "a low-key locals hangout bar extension."

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: Neon signage for Wafels & Dinges; Entrez becomes Farfasha

Several readers have pointed out the recent arrive of neon signage at the incoming Wafels & Dinges on Avenue B and East Second Street... W&D founder Thomas DeGeest, an East Village resident, told us that he doesn't have an exact opening date yet ... "It's definitely gonna be June," he told us.

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Entrez Bar & Grill opened on Second Avenue last fall... and it has randomly, quickly been converted into a hookah bar called Farfasha ...



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Pinalito City closed for renovations in April, as BoweryBoogie reported. Anyway, still under renovation... just noting the Chico plywood now here on East Houston and Clinton...

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Pho 32 and Shabu recently closed at 13 St. Mark's Place... and something called Pan is taking its place very soon... no details on this just yet.

Budget now open on East Ninth Street

As you can see, there's now a Budget car rental place adjacent to the parking garage here on East Ninth Street. And look what you can upgrade too!



Just need to find a docking station!

The storefront has been vacant for more than four years ... since M Sonii, the vintage boutique, lost its lease here...

David's Shoe Repair has left the East Village

As reported earlier, high rents sent David's Shoe Repair packing from its longtime home on East Seventh Street to ... West 35th Street...



Previously on EV Grieve:
For rent sign appears at David's Shoe Repair