This morning in lines for German beer

Oktoberfest begins today at Zum Schneider on Avenue C and East Seventh Street... and EVG reader John noted a 30-person line at 9:41 a.m. ...



Doors open at 11. First keg is tapped at noon. (And what is German for Woo?)

Noted

East 10th Street and Avenue A this morning. Hurry, this offer won't last...

Noted

@evgrieve someone took a poop in front of Chase at Astor Place this morning & it was certainly human pic.twitter.com/Zw9PNmtmSg

— Bomarr Blog (@bomarrblog) September 28, 2013

Officials confirmed that this is not part of the Astor Place reconstruction.

10th Annual FAB! Festival takes over East 4th Street today

[Photo by Whitney Browne via the FAB website]

From the EVG inbox...

FABnyc will present the 10th Annual FAB! Festival today from 1-5 pm on East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery. This one-day-only arts explosion features FREE performances and exhibits for all ages. Attendees can sample tasty bites from local food vendors while enjoying dance, theater, and music by artists from across the Lower East Side (and beyond!). All performances will take place across numerous indoor and outdoor stages and sites on East 4th Street. Full lineup here

Deceptive perceiving

The Buzzcocks from 1977 with "I Don't Mind."

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Shopping on Broadway via Bobby Williams]

Boutique priced out of the LES finds cheaper digs on Madison Avenue (DNAinfo)

Amy talks about her brief marriage to LES Jewels (The Villager)

Video recap of Portals 10-12 (GammaBlog)

Are these the 10 best restaurants on the LES? (Fork in the Road)

Aren't there enough Chinatown bus services? (The Lo-Down)

Yay? Bloomberg threatens to stop holding news conferences (The Wall Street Journal)

Remembering the Ludlow Street Cafe (Flaming Pablum)

History of The Village Voice (Off the Grid)

Manganaro's Hero Boy is saying put (The Commercial Observer)

RIP the original Blarney Stone (Grade "A" Fancy)

An open letter to The DL from LES Dwellers (BoweryBoogie)

Appreciating the Mayfair Barber Shop (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Williams Burroughs sings! (Dangerous Minds)

... and a reader notes that workers are hoisting some solar panels or something to buildings atop East 12th Street between A and B this morning... You always take pictures of cranes...


[Source: men installing solar panels with crane]

Tonight: LUNGS Harvest Fest Opening Night Party

From the EVG inbox...

Please come to the opening night celebration of the Second Annual LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens) Harvest Arts Festival tonight at LaPlaza Cultural at East Ninth Street and Avenue C. Come and bring your friends, drink and dance and have fun with us.

The schedule for Friday is:

5-6:30 For kids, with Circus Amok

6:30 Tompkins Square drummers

7 Welcome remarks featuring Rosie Mendez, Scott Stringer and Brian
Cavanagh

MUSIC
7:30 to 8:15 Eric and Friends

8:15 Pierre Monney

9:00 Mike Cobb & the Crevulators

Find more details about LUNGS here.

An updated look at the all-new Astor Place

[EVG file photo]

The reconstruction around Cooper Square and Astor Place is upon us... Yesterday, officials shipped out the, uh, official news release about the project (which we didn't receive!*) ... and Curbed has the details ... as well as some slightly updated images  ...


[New trees help block out Chase branch]

The plan remains the same ... which includes enlarging Cooper Park, streamlining the street grid and creating new permanent pedestrian plazas. Not to mention adding 60 additional trees. Curbed notes that the work will cost $16 million. The work will start at East Fourth Street, "where new drainage catch basins, curbs and sidewalks are being constructed."

And the project will work its way north over the next two years.

Meanwhile, there hasn't been any official word about what will happen to Jim Power's mosaics that adorn Astor Place.

Per Serena Soloman at DNAinfo yesterday:

"They should not be removed," said Power, who plans to put up signs saying the mosaics are in danger.

"We are being pushed around by this so-called redesign. This is our neighborhood," he said.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

* Our fax machine has been out of paper since 1999.

Headless giraffe makes another baffling appearance around 5th and B

As we understand it, there have been numerous recent sightings of this headless stuffed giraffe around the vicinity of East Fifth Street and Avenue B... the creature, who desperately needs a nickname, a branding campaign and more social media exposure (for starters, at the least), was spotted last night outside Bloom 62, Ben Shaoul's nursing home-turned upscale rental.

The headless stuffed giraffe likely represents the duality of man, though, as of our press time, that hadn't been confirmed.

[Thanks to @melissa_dilger for the photo]

Ludlow Street 10 years later; plus, a report on what's taking the Max Fish space

In a blog post yesterday, photographers James and Karla Murray take a walk down Ludlow Street and compare the storefronts to just 10 years earlier...

Many casualties of course... Max Fish... Pink Pony ... Ludlow Guitars... with El Sombrero next... Of course, you can always count on the enduring images from Katz's.

Find the now-and-then shots here.

Updated 6:09 a.m.

Meanwhile, BoweryBoogie has the scoop on what hopes to take over the Max Fish space... the second outpost of Sweet Chick — "a casual southern-style restaurant that offers a menu dominated by fried chicken and sides like waffles, biscuits, and slaw."

They opened the first outpost on Bedford Avenue back in February.

The Stuyvesant Stationery shop closes Monday after 23 years in business

As noted here a few weeks ago, the Stuyvesant Stationery shop on East 14th Street near Avenue A lost its lease... and they close for good after Monday (probably a good time to stock up on inexpensive wrapping paper, among other sidewalk-sale items) ... the store has been here for 23 years...


[Photo by Cheryl Pyle via Facebook]

Ken from Ken's Kitchen pointed out that the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office sub-leased the space to the Stationary shop. The USPS will be moving out next spring.

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

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

First sign of more development on East 14th Street?

Looking at Centre-fuge cycle 10 on East 1st Street

Yesterday, EVG roving photographer Bobby Williams checked out the latest cycle (No. 10 already?) of Centre-fuge, the rotating outdoor gallery on the construction trailer here along East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



Visit the Centre-fuge Public Art Project Tumblr for a rundown on all the artists who took part this time around... As BoweryBoogie noted Wednesday, Centre-fuge will end its run in January 2014 with the arrival of Cycle 11.





Previously.

Autumn at the Tree Chair of East Sixth Street

It is alive... here between Avenue A and Avenue B...



Previously.

Photos by Bobby Williams.

For those about to Oktoberfest

From the EVG inbox... in case you are interested in Oktoberfesty things... starts tomorrow at Zum Schneider on Avenue C and East Seventh Street ...

NYC's most authentic Oktoberfest party is now in its 13th year.
Sing and dance the Polka with Mösl Franzi and the JaJaJa's
Drown yourself in a Mass (Stein) of original Oktoberfest beer, including Andechs Festbier and HB Traunstein Festbier
Get your loved one an original Oktoberfest Lebkuchenherz (gingerbread heart)
Enjoy our special Riesen-Wiesn-Brezn (giant pretzls) and Wiesn Hendl (whole broiled chicken)

Free Admission
Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!
Dates with live music and DJ:
Saturday, Sep. 28, 11 am - Tapping of first keg at noon!
Sunday, Sep. 29, 1 pm
Monday, Sep. 30, 5 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 5 pm

Saturday, Oct 5, 1 pm
Sunday, Oct 6, 1 pm
Monday, Oct 7, 5 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 5 pm

Saturday, Oct 12, 1 pm
Sunday, Oct 13, 1 pm

Residents meet to discuss increased drug use/sales along E. 3rd and E. 4th Streets

Last night, concerned residents met at P.S. 15 with local leaders and 9th Precinct reps to discuss the "proliferation/spread of drugs" on East Third Street and East Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D...

Resident Steven Matthews was in attendance, and left this as a comment on our earlier post about the meeting:

The meeting went well. There were approximately 36 people there, including someone from the 9th Pct and the DA's office. Almost everyone had a story, of drug use taking place in their vestibules, dealers operating out of renovated but unoccupied building, dealers having keys to the NYCHA buildings and operating out of them, founding members of community gardens (El Jardin) who have all but abandoned it because of drug dealing in them... And they came from all through the neighborhood, from 3rd and 5th Streets as well as both avenues. Many of them said they heard about the meeting from this blog, so hats off to EV Grieve!

There will be a follow-up meeting in two weeks. In that time, people with sales/use taking place in their buildings will approach the owners and try to get the building registered in the city's Tresspass Affidavit Program. And everyone was urged to call 911 when they see drug sales/use taking place. The 9th Pct rep said that despite the number of stories people had, there have been very few calls, so they were not aware of the severity of the problem.

DNAinfo and NY Press were both there; I'm sure they'll have stories today.

We'll link to those articles when they are posted...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Emergency meeting called to discuss 'the blatant drug activity' on E. 3rd St. (29 comments)

Paint splattering van vandals strike again

Back in January, we noted the above on East Seventh Street near Avenue A... at the time, we weren't sure if it was some kind of van-owner-created art... or vandalism. (Turned out to be vandalism, or whatever you'd like to call throwing paint bombs at vans.)

Fast-forward to yesterday... a resident reports the following...

"This is my van and I found the lovely work this morning. Odd thing is that I moved the van into that spot at 4:30 am and didn't notice it when I left on foot at 11 am."

The resident discovered the splatter upon returning three hours later.

"The paint was still warm and came off a bit when I came back at 2:15 pm. The police [officer] said he noticed it earlier and was wondering if that was intentional. (Ha! No.)

Such a pain in the ass."

There's something about filming in the East Village; Little Orphan Annie likes Citi Bikes

Film crews are out in force this morning along Avenue A and East 11th Street, among other locales... signs point to a Columbia Pictures release called "Moonquake Lake" ... which is apparently code for the remake of "Annie."

Per various Internet reports, the movie started filming in NYC yesterday .... Quvenzhané Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") plays the title role while Jamie Foxx plays Benjamin Stacks (aka "Daddy Warbucks").

Citi Bikes apparently also have a starring role, based on this photo of Wallis yesterday...


[Via]

Which may explain the new, presumably temporary, Citi Bikes docking station on East 11th between A and First Avenue...



Columbia reportedly plans to release this film on Dec. 19, 2014.

Updated 10:18

A few photos from the set on East 11th Street via Shawn Chittle...

Penthouse life above 7A will cost you $16,995 monthly

[Aug. 21]

Since fall 2011, the building that houses 7A on the corner of East Seventh Street and Avenue A has been undergoing renovations... including converting some existing commercial/studio space to residential use and reconstructing the existing penthouses.

Workers started removing the construction gear from the building on Aug. 21.

And now, two of the penthouse units up there hit the rental market yesterday.

Brace.







Per the Corcoran listing:

Enter from your own private landing into this sunfilled corner loft with direct Empire State and Thompkins [sic] Square Park views from every room. This boutique Pre-War elevator building has been masterfully transformed into 1,850 square foot full-floor 3 bedroom 2.5 baths homes offering condo level finishes, 11 Floor-to-Ceiling windows, and exposed brick throughout. Open kitchen with Viking range, Bosch dishwasher, and poured concrete coutertops. Individual climate control in every room. Gracious 12' x 25' master suite with walk-in closet, marble baths with radiant floor heating, separate laundry room.

And here's a floor plan for you:



The two listed units are going for $16,995 and, for poorer people, $14,995.

The view you'll get for the $$$$....



Public records show that the University of the Streets sold the building to Park Corner Development, LLC in September 2011 for $5 million.

CB3/SLA October highlights: Artichoke taking over the Hat; taker for Max Fish & Motor City spaces

The big news from the October CB3/SLA committee meeting agenda is that Artichoke Pizza has designs on taking over neighborhood staple El Sombrero (aka The Hat) on Stanton and Ludlow. CB3 released the agenda last evening.

BoweryBoogie quickly reported the following:

We spoke with the Mexican restaurant and confirmed that the Hat, on the block since 1984, is indeed set to close. However, the Artichoke deal is reportedly not yet finalized. Apparently the owner has, in so many words, had enough and simply decided to cash out the business.

Sad but not surprising news... going back to Jeremiah Moss' post in February, in which he spoke with Regina Bartkoff, a waitress at The Hat since 1988.

"The rent has been steadily going up and they have a lease for a few more years, but in 2012 we took a nose dive. We have been losing our regular customers steadily, due to them not being able to pay the rents on the LES and being forced out. It just keeps going down."

We asked Bartkoff via Facebook last night for an update. She said she originally heard that they'd close in November. But the end will likely come sooner. "I think it's just the last days and I'm going down with the ship."

On the topic of Ludlow Street mainstays closing ... there is an application on the agenda for the Max Fish space. Not much is known right this moment about the mystery applicant:

• To be Determined, 178 Ludlow St (op)

Know anything about the applicant? Let us know via the EVG email.

Updated 10:18

Oh! And there's also a taker for the former Motor City space. Missed that on the first pass. (H/T The Lo-Down!)

Here's the info for now on that:

• JMDR 127 Ludlow LLC, 127 Ludlow St (op)

As for the meeting:

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, October 7 at 6:30 pm and 8:30pm (two sessions)
Community Board 3 Office - 59 East 4th Street

We'll take a look at the rest of the agenda later...

[Image via]

Today in videos lampooning Citi Bikes

Posted last Thursday by the folks at Above Average. And filmed in the East Village.

May have been funnier (or more relevant!) back in, say, early June.

Still...

H/T THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.

How green is your street or building?

From the EVG inbox...

I thought your readers might enjoy Rentenna's new NYC Green Heat Map which shows the density of trees in Manhattan, as well as the borough's biggest parks and all of the current active farmer's markets.

Rentenna ranks every rental apartment building on a scale of 1-100, based on a multitude of factors, including transit, amenities, and now our new Green Score which takes into account the apartment's proximity to parks and farmers markets. The Green Map takes it a step further by incorporating the tree density per block so renters can find that beautiful tree-lined street they always wanted.

Here is the site if you're interested.

And from the look of the mappy thing, the East Village is pretty green. Now if we could only get MORE parking spots for cars! (Bwahahaha)

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East Houston Street via Michael Sean Edwards]

At the memorial for LES Jewels (More than Usual ... The Villager)

Bubbles and a model in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

[Video] Crime in Union Square circa 1982 (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Plywood arrives outside future home of fucked-up looking condo on Norfolk (The Lo-Down)

A barren SPURA in 1979 (BoweryBoogie)

Keynoter speakers announced for the CBGB Music & Film Festival (News release via MarketWired)

The former Elk Hotel space seeking millions in potential rent (The Real Deal ... previously)

Progress on the 2nd Avenue Subway (Gothamist)

Creating some new bike lanes on Sixth Avenue (The New York Times)

... and a video via the group Right of Way...

The Russ & Daughters Cafe is going to happen

The appearance of a "Russ & Daughters Cafe" on the CB3/SLA's September docket stirred up plenty of interest ... though it was seemingly short-lived after the item was scratched from the agenda.

But!

At the Times today, Florence Fabricant reports that R&D plan to open a 65-seat restaurant in February at 127 Orchard St. "It will serve all their specialties, including items like blintzes and gefilte fish," per the Times.

Out and About in the East Village — An early fall recap

Every so often we'll take a break and recap the East Village residents who we've profiled each Wednesday here ... Many thanks to East Village-based photographer James Maher and everyone who has taken part in this series... Here's who you may have missed during the latter half of the summer... Back next week with someone.

July 17 — Michael Duggan

July 24 — Elizabeth Cunningham

July 31 — Elissa Jiji

Aug. 7 — Hannah Rad

Aug. 14 — Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba and son Jake, 10

Aug. 21 — Kathy Von Hartz

Aug. 28 — Angel “Petroleum” Luis Roman

Sept. 4 – The Baroness

Sept. 11 — Sven Furberg

Sept. 18 — Christopher Tanner

Night falls on Karl Fischer's incoming unit on East 3rd St.

We've been keeping tabs on 316-318 E. Third St., the future home of a Karl Fischer-designed, 33-unit apartment building between Avenue C and Avenue D ... However, we haven't been by recently ... and were surprised to see it cut such a full figure at night ... especially looking at it from East Houston... (Wasn't this just a pit the other day? Seems like it.)



It will look like this one day...


[Brody/Amirian]

Meanwhile, in unrelated matters, neighbors on this same block have reported an uptick in drug sales and use... there's an emergency meeting tonight at PS 14 to address the issues.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Another parcel of East Village land ready for development

Landmarks Preservation Commission rejects hearing for 316 E. Third St., paving way for 7-floor condo

Emergency meeting called to discuss 'the blatant drug activity' on E. 3rd St.

Army & Navy Bags reportedly spared from crippling rent hike

Some possible good news for fans of Army & Navy Bags, the 40-year-old shop at 177 E. Houston St. between Orchard and Allen.

DNAinfo's Serena Solomon reported yesterday that the shop will likely be able to remain open after its landlord Serge Hoyda agreed to a lower rent increase than he had initially offered.

Last month, Hoyda said he would nearly triple the $3,800-per-month rent for the 300-square-foot space, as BoweryBoogie first reported.

The new leases isn't a done deal. The landlord is still drawing up the papers. There was also a demand to "improve the front of the store to look more like other tenants along the block, including the pricey new restaurant Preserve 24, Russ & Daughters and American Apparel," Solomon wrote at DNA.

[Image via Yelp]

East Houston storefronts start to get CVS'd

Oh, just noting that work has picked up over at that blando building on East Houston between Mott and Mulberry...



Soho Billiards closed here back in the fall... and the Subway and dry cleaners cleared out in August. All this to make room for a CVS, as BoweryBoogie first reported.

Could have been worse. Could have been a [_________].

Previously on EV Grieve:
Retail space that included Soho Billiards is up for grabs on East Houston Street

Tonight in photos of a mannequin that someone discarded on E. 5th St.

[Via Twitter]

Yes! Slum Goddess spotted this right now on East Fifth Street near First Avenue. Hurry!

Seeking 'Shelter' in Tompkins Square Park

[Bobby Williams]

Films crews were set up today in Tompkins Square Park for "Shelter," which marks the directorial debut of actor Paul Bettany ... he is directing his wife, Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, in a drama called "Shelter." According to published reports, the plot is "a closely guarded secret," though he did tell The Telegraph earlier that the film is a "love story set among the homeless living on the streets of Manhattan."

They filmed on Astor Place on Saturday...



The Daily Mail has more photos and stuff here.

As for the filming in the Park, we didn't get any paparazzi shots... though Bobby Williams did find Jennifer Connelly's stand-in...

Noted

A scene today in Tompkins Square Park via EVG contributor Derek Berg ... a resident humanely caught a rat in her apartment... and released it into the wilds of Tompkins Square Park...