EV Grieve

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Flooding at the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run

EVG correspondent Derek Berg notes this scene at the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run today... The area around the doggy pool is taped up like this ...

He recently spoke with a city engineer who was inspecting the area outside the dog run because of complaints of "flooding." He said that there was probably more water flow than the drains can handle.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[This morning on First Avenue]

At the Sun Bright Hotel on Hester Street, "where men pay $10 a night to live in tiny cells bounded by chicken wire" (New York Post)

The MoRUS Film Festival continues all this week (MoRUS)

Video for "Take A Look At That Baby" — from the forthcoming album by Eden & John's East River String Band... and featuring R. Crumb. (YouTube)

Remembering Ronnie Cutrone (The New York Times)

Interview with underground cartoonist Kim Deitch (Comic Book Resources)

A tourist films NYC in August 1980 (Flaming Pablum)

Stoops in the city (Gog in NYC)

Jimmy McMillan endorses Anthony Weiner (The Observer)

Beatbox championship yesterday at Drom (NY1)

Saturday, August 3, 2013

End of day

Photo by Bobby Williams

[Updated] Today in Tompkins Square Park

The Bambi Killers — always a favorite... and it was the band's first show of 2013...

And David Peel & the Lower East Side...

And the Damn Kids...

And they were just three of the bands to perform today during the 25th Annual Tompkins Square Park Riot Reunion concert this afternoon... more bands are on the bill tomorrow afternoon.

Bambi Killer photos by peter radley. David Peel photos by Bobby Williams. Damn Kids photos by Edward Arrocha.

We hope to have more photos and video to post later... still collecting it...

Spirit of Capt. America

Tompkins Square Park today. Photo by Bobby Williams.

[Updated] The Shadow returns

Chris Flash let us know that The Shadow has returned... "Our last issue was published EXACTLY five years ago — we'll be publishing every 3-4 months from here on," said Flash, the publisher.

You can find copies of the underground paper, which debuted in 1989, this weekend during the 25th Annual Riot Reunion shows in Tompkins Square Park.

Updated:

Stores carrying The Shadow include: St. Mark's Books, East Village Books (St. Mark's, between First + Ave A), Gem Spa, Blue Stockings, MORUS (Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space) at 155 Avenue C, and more to come.

Per Chris: "The Shadow is all about neighbors supporting local businesses that support the community. We need more stores and venues to sell The Shadow."

[Via Facebook]

[Updated] Lula's Sweet Apothecary apparently reopening today

[From May]

Back in May we noted that Lula's Sweet Apothecary, the popular vegan ice cream shop on East Sixth Street, had been closed for a reorganization.

Fast forward to today.

So happy Blythe Boyd, founder of @lulasweet is opening her new vegan shop at 3pm today at 516 E 6th (A/B). See you there! @evgrieve
— VegChic (@VegChic) August 3, 2013

There's no mention of a reopening just yet on Lula's Facebook page or website.

Updated:

As we understand it, the shop will have a yet-to-be-determined new name.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Divorce could force closure of Lula’s Apothecary on East Sixth Street

A new sign at Lula's Sweet Apothecary, which remains closed on East 6th Street

For conversation starters, there's always a Bud Light Lime Display Tree

So there's this. A tipster shared this Craigslist post dated July 28 ... Per the all-caps post, it's a "GREAT DISPLAY RACK AND CONVERSATION STARTER."

Seeing as it's Craiglist, you never know if this is for real... Also, the address for pick-up is the St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery.

In any event, not sure if this would start a conversation as much as stifle it...

Takin' it to the streets like the Doobie Brothers

Summer Streets started today...like here on Fourth Avenue at East 12th Street... Per the SS website:

With nearly 7 miles of open streets, 5 rest stops and a seven-block-long art installation in the Park Avenue Tunnel – open to pedestrians for the first time in history – there is plenty to explore at Summer Streets. And remember, everything at Summer Streets is free!

And sorry about that headline. Hey, it's free!

Here is the CBGB movie soundtrack

You may have seen this yesterday ... Omnivore Recordings is releasing the “CBGB: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” on Oct. 8. (The first pressing is reportedly on translucent pink vinyl.)

And, via Billboard Magazine, here's the track listing:

Life During Wartime – Talking Heads
Kick Out the Jams (Uncensored Version) – MC5
Chatterbox – New York Dolls
Careful – Television
Blank Generation – Richard Hell & The Voidoids
Slow Death – Flamin’ Groovies
I Can’t Stand It – The Velvet Underground
Out of Control – Wayne County & The Electric Chairs
Psychotic Reaction – The Count Five
All For the Love of Rock ’n’ Roll (Live) – Tuff Darts
All By Myself – Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
California Sun (Original Demo) – The Dictators
Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth – Dead Boys
I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up) – Joey Ramone
Get Outta My Way – The Laughing Dogs
Sunday Girl (2013 Version) – Blondie
I Wanna Be Your Dog – The Stooges
Sonic Reducer – Dead Boys
Roxanne – The Police
Birds and the Bees – Hilly Kristal

Thoughts?

As Billboard noted, after premiering at the CBGB Festival, the film opens Oct. 11 in New York, Los Angeles and other select cities.

H/T @saywhatagain

Bag from the past

EVG reader Lara Kubovcik spotted spotted a familiar site on First Avenue and East 11th Street yesterday... this Tower Records bag... the store on East Fourth Street and Broadway closed in 2006 (as well as the one on the Upper West Side) ... which reminds me to drop my Gimbels bag on the street one of these days...

Friday, August 2, 2013

Noted

Ahh! Friday night in the #eastvillage. Guy holds gf head as she pukes in front of @SaintsAlp teahouse, 11pm @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/nZedWyZ4d8
— Tenement City (@tenementcity) August 3, 2013

Rare bird

Here are shots of a Black Crown Night Heron ... a rare bird to be found in Tompkins Square Park... photos by Bobby Williams...

Feeling 'Blue'?

Lene Lovich with "Blue Hotel" circa 1982.

Village Fishmonger starting Monday night delivery service to Tompkins Square Bagels

As we've noted, Tompkins Square Bagels owner Christopher Pugliese has expressed interest in opening a fish market somewhere in the East Village.

Until that happens, here's an interim solution... Starting Monday night from 6-8, Tompkins Square Bagels at 165 Avenue A will serve as a pick-up location for anyone who orders from Village Fishmonger.

Samantha Lee, an owner of Village Fishmonger, which launched last fall, said that they are "a sustainable seafood company in NYC that sources local and responsibly harvested seafood."

It works like Community Supported Agriculture, delivering locally harvested seafood to members on a weekly basis. Tompkins Square Bagels is VF's first East Village pick-up location. (They also do a series with the Washington Square CSA at the St Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery Greenmarket on Tuesdays this summer.)

You can find more details about how all this works at the Village Fishmonger website.

Lee, a former East Village resident, told us that "there is a need for more access to better seafood product, which we definitely felt when we lived in the area."

Headless stuffed animal body found in Tompkins Square Park

EVG reader Chris M. made this ~~grizzly~~ grisly discovery this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park. No one has been blamed — yet.

Checking in on the new front gate at Tompkins Square Park

There was welding activity yesterday at the Park's front gate on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place ... the one that dude in a station wagon apparently crashed into on June 27.

The above photo shows (half of) the gate this morning. (And it may not actually be a new gate, just new here.) Anyway! It appears the gate is working — it prevented this bottle of Stella from entering last night... (or early this morning).

The disappearing Mary Help of Christians

An East Village resident has been keeping tabs on the destruction at the former Mary Help of Christians lot... workers are taking down the rectory on East 12th Street first to make way for the new residential development...

Wednesday...

Thursday...

...three stories gone by the end of the day...

...and the garage with the familiar Mary Help of Christians mural is gone. Here's a last look yesterday... next to the machine that eventually crushed it...

And from the ground, a few end-of-day-shots via Bobby Williams... not much else to say.

This weekend: 25th Annual Tompkins Square Park Riot Reunion concerts

The 25th Annual Tompkins Square Park Riot Reunion concerts continue this weekend...

Bands performing Saturday:
-Porno Dracula
-Coffin Daggers (Featuring Victor of Nausea)
-David Peel
-ISM
-Bambi Killers
-Hammerbrain

Sunday:
-Iconicide
-Urban Waste
-Nihilistics
-Sic F*cks
-Reagan Youth
-Antidote

Here is the Facebook event page for more details.

If you can't make these, then there's also a concert Sunday night at the Pyramid...

Also, the Tompkins Square Park riot is one of the subjects covered during the first film festival from The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) tomorrow and Sunday ...

August 3: 25th Annual Tompkins Square Riot Reunion Films!
Featuring "Your House is Mine" (filmmaker Carolyn McCaughey in attendance!), "Squat or Rot" and a Paper Tiger TV special on the demolition of the 5th Street squat.
Paper Tiger TV details.
@ MoRUS (155 Avenue C)

August 4: 25th Annual Tompkins Square Riot Reunion Films!
Featuring a special historical slideshow presented by Seth Tobocman and "Tompkins Square Park: Operation Class War on the Lower East Side"
@ MoRUS (155 Avenue C)

For more details about the film festival here.

Karl Fischer-designed condos seem to be a big draw on East 12th Street

[Yesterday]

The listings went live in late June for 427 E. 12th St., home of the Karl Fischer-architected condos between Avenue A and First Avenue... There's still work left to do here, as you can see.

In any event, there are 10 units that range in price from $850,000 for a one-bedroom home to $2.395 for the penthouse. And for some reason we looked at Streeteasy and saw that of the eight units on the market, five were already in contract.

Not sure what the big draw is here (epoxy finishes?) ... Nice amenities, sure.

[Some day at 427]

To the listing:

Residences feature sleek concrete floors with epoxy finishes and floor to ceiling double pane windows. Several residences are complimented with a private outdoor space that range in size. The custom designed chefs kitchen is finished with walnut veneer and satin lacquer cabinetry, Caesar stone countertops, back painted glass, and is fully equipped with stainless steel appliances by Fischer & Paykel. Bathrooms are appointed with oversized bathtubs, custom built vanities, glass enclosed frameless showers, and Duravit & Kohler fixtures throughout.

At any rate, residences will need those double pane windows during the impending construction at Douglas Steiner's massive new development down the block.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Karl Fischer designing new East 12th Street residence

427 E. 12th St. back from the dead?

Workers making a pit stop at incoming Karl Fischer-designed building on East 12th Street

Listings arrive for Karl Fischer-designed luxury homes at 427 E. 12th St.

What it costs to get away to the country on East 9th Street

If you have a lot of money and yearn to escape to the country without leaving East Ninth Street, then — well!

This house between Avenue A and First Avenue might be for you!

To the Town listing:

Country-House-in-the-City + location, location, location! Prime East Village Entire 4 story historic Manhattan Townhouse + Enormous densely green garden on one of the best East Village blocks. Walking distance to Astor Place, Union Square and major subway lines. This 6 bedrooms & 4 bathrooms house can be a 1 family or 2 family. Features include gorgeous floor to ceiling French windows, Classic parlor floor dining/living room with high ceilings, diagonally laid Victorian wood floors & the French windows... large, sunny extra atelier or work room. Available furnished or partially furnished. Country House in City is perfect description.

This unique house has been featured in Law & Order and movies.

And the asking price? $14,000. [Added: A month to rent.]

Or you could just take Metro North to, say, Sloatsburg for the weekend.

Here comes Jillery

As we noted back on June 21, Jillery, the jewelry and home accessories shop, is moving from its current home on East 10th Street to the corner of East Seventh Street and Avenue B.

The 10th Street location closed yesterday... and the folks from Jillery have been filling up the new shop... and, as this photo by Dave on 7th shows, they're working on the exterior as well.

No opening date for the new location just yet. (Per the Jillery Facebook page: " Hopefully we will be open soon. We are working on it!")

The corner spot was last home to most recently home to Amaran.

Report: 90-year-old Blatt Billiards leaving Broadway

Blatt Billiards, a pool table manufacturer, is leaving its longtime home at 809 Broadway near East 12th Street. As The Real Deal first reported yesterday, the building is changing hands for $24 million. The deal includes an additional 7,045 square feet of air rights.

Blatt was a longtime tenant here before buying the building in 1972. The manufacturing portion of the building will move to New Jersey while Blatt looks for a showroom in Hell's Kitchen, per The Real Deal.

The closing is expecting to happen early next year. The new owner is only ID'd as 809 Broadway Associates.

As The Real Deal noted, the building is "one of the last relics of the area’s manufacturing past."

There's now a 7-Eleven conveniently located next door.

Remembering the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge

On Monday, Gothamist had a post on the new Brooklyn Roasting Company that opened at the former home of the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge ... at Flushing and Washington Avenues opposite an entrance to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

We had been to the place, which was built in 1907, a few times... and, despite being way out of bounds in terms of typical EVG coverage, we decided to write about it in November 2010 upon hearing that the bar closed.

An excerpt.

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[A]t first glance inside the Navy Yard, the place seems like your average rundown neighborhood bar. A few regulars are milling about, playing pool. The bartender is cordial. (I'm sort of blending the different trips into one post here....it was always the same.) WBLS is on a little too loudly on the radio. The TV is also on seemingly just as loud — one of those CBS shows that I've never watched on Thursday nights. (CSINCS?)

Eventually around 10 p.m., a lot more women are suddenly in the bar... they walk in, talk with the bartender, spend a lot of time in the women's room. Soon, there are anywhere from five to 10 women va-va-va-vooming around in lingerie, bikinis, etc. Oh! They're all very outgoing, especially when there are just two of you in the bar.

Every few minutes Delicious or Cinnamon or Diamond walks up and asks again if you'd like a dance. No thanks! Two minutes later... There's not much of a chance of sitting here for, say, a few hours drinking without purchasing a $10 dance. (And they don't have change for a $20, oddly enough.) So just sit there in your stool at the bar for the lapdance and wonder why Laurence Fishburne decided to do CSINCS.

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Oh, and here how the place is looking today...