Updated: Someone already defaced Banksy's East Village street installation

[peter radley]

Banksy unveiled his latest NYC street installation yesterday on East Seventh Street and Cooper Square... And as this photo by @svvalera shows, someone has already defaced his "Concrete Confessional."



This marks the third of his pieces to be defaced during his month-long residency in NYC.

Updated 12:24

More about this via Angus Johnston at Student Activism:

Sometime last night or this morning, the priest in the painting was given a bushy white spray-paint beard which rendered him a dead ringer for Peter Cooper, the founder of the Cooper Union. At the same time, the cross that adorned his neck was replaced with a giant Flavor Flav style clock with a red face and hands set just prior to midnight, the symbol of the Free Cooper Union activist movement.

And there's apparently another confessional showing someone who looks like Cooper Union President Jamshed Baruscha... with a Free Cooper Union tag...


[Photo by @KOKO820]


[Photo by @bobcooley]

East 5th Street bliss

Between Avenue A and Avenue B this morning...

We keep posting photos of the sky

[Click on image to enlarge]

This is actually from yesterday morning ... via Bobby Williams.

[Updated] Tree fire in Tompkins Square Park

Shortly after 6 ... There's a tree fire mid-block on the East Seventh Street side of Tompkins Square Park. The FDNY is there and on it, per Dave on 7th and Jose Garcia.

Updated:

A photo and video via @NCintheNYC ...



...and video...



Updated 10-13
GammaBlog has more on the blaze... noting that the tree in question was the great old gnarled Black Locust ... check out more photos here.

And a photo of the gnarled tree yesterday via Bobby Williams...



Haven't heard about any official cause of the tree fire.

[Updated] The latest Banksy is on East 7th St.

If this is of interest... the latest Banksy street installation around the city is on East Seventh Street outside Cooper Union... just follow the crowd to see "Concrete Confessional."


[Photo by capnyc via Instagram]

Top image via Banksy.

Updated:

More photos via EVG regular jdx ...





...and peter radley...





Check out some more photos over at EVG friend Roger_Paw right here.

[H/t @erikakaz]

Free today in Tompkins Square Park: 'Hangin With Satan'

Spotted this at the Park entrance. Don't know anything about it. Per the "Satan" Facebook page:

Hangin with Satan explores an alternative way of looking at the world and ourselves. Told through Satan himself this story challenges the current paradigm that god is the one and only ruler who passes the last judgement on all of us. What if we were taught that we all were gods. That we posses the powers and knowledge within ourselves to fully control our own destinies without going out of ourselves looking for power and guidance. In every human being, there lies a blueprint for their life as well as a record of their past and the past of the world.

The play is set in the Park as well. Starts at 5 p.m.

Noted

Spotted on the Vitamin Shoppe's front door on First Avenue and East 14th Street... can't recall seeing many "unapproved for menacing" signs before...

This morning

St. mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Meanwhile, in Tompkins Square Park this morning...

A boy walks his goat. (It was all for some video shoot.)

O Romeo, Romeo...

Romeo Void with "Never Say Never" from 1982.

Noted

A bikenapped Citi Bike on East 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B? Photo by EVG reader Philipp.

City approves Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone

[Click image to enlarge]

Back in April, CB3 member Chad Marlow, and the group that he founded in 2011, the Tompkins Square Park & Playground Parents’ Association (TSP3A), kicked off a neighborhood safety initiative.

The group applied to the Department of Transportation (DOT) to have them create what the group is calling the "Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone" (TSACSZ).

The TSACSZ, in short, is an effort to improve pedestrian safety for children and all others who live/work/play in the proposed 0.38 square-mile zone by reducing motor vehicle speeds. Per Marlow, the slow zone program takes a well-defined, relatively compact area, and reduces its speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour, with further reductions to 15 miles per hour near schools.

Now that I've buried the lead Marlow just learned today that the DOT has approved the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone. Per a DOT letter to Marlow, the implementation will take place some time in 2014.

In an op-ed in The Villager last spring, Marlow also revealed a personal reason behind this proposal. In 1995, a drunken driver struck Marlow's father, an accident that left him with quadriplegia and a severe brain injury. His father died 13 years after the accident. (Read the entire op-ed here.)

We asked Marlow via email for his reaction to the DOT's decision:

"I am beyond grateful to the Department of Transportation for approving the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone. I am equally filled with gratitude for all of the community groups, elected officials and members of Community Board 3, whose support for the proposal was instrumental in making it a reality. Most of all, I find myself thinking of my father, Richard Marlow, and how something positive has finally come out of the years of terrible pain and suffering he endured after being hit by a speeding, drunk driver in 1995. I dedicate this effort to his memory."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Call for an East Village 'slow zone' (34 comments)

Why is Vella Market closed?

[Photo via @andrewketler]

Several readers have pointed put that Vella Market has been closed on Avenue B and East Fourth Street... There isn't a note on the gate about a temporary closure... and their phone just rings and rings... Anyone hear anything about Vella? We rather like/liked this place, which just opened in April.

The previous tenant, Kate's Joint, the 16-year-old vegetarian eatery, closed in April 2012.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Photo along Avenue A by Michael Sean Edwards]

Airbnb attacks "vague" New York hotel laws (Ars Technica)

Rebecca Flint Marx bids farewell (for now) to Russ & Daughters (Medium)

At the new home of the Lower Eastside Girls Club (The New York Times)

A lawsuit to stop the NYCHA land leasing plan (Curbed)

The Open Call deadline for Emerging Artists on the LES is Sunday (The Lo-Down)

Check out the Hua Mei Bird Garden in Sara D. Roosevelt Park (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

One year in the life of the East Village/LES Historic District (Off the Grid)

The Bowery can still attract kitchen supply stores (BoweryBoogie)

The markets along Hester Street in 1905 (Ephemeral New York)

A good find: Music video with The Senders on the LES in the late 1980s (Flaming Pablum)

A favorite lonely place (Gog in NYC)

Sarge's looks to have longer to go before opening (Eater)

Looking at Peter Semple’s "Dandy," featuring Nick Cave and Nina Hagen, from 1988 (Dangerous Minds)

...and Au Revoir Simone pays homage to Martin Scorsese's "After Hours" ...

51 Astor Place has its 1st tenant! 51 Astor Place has its 1st tenant! 51 Astor Place has its 1st tenant!

[EVG file photo]

You may have heard the news from Crain's yesterday afternoon: 51 Astor Place has its very first tenant!

1stdibs, an online auctioneer that specializes in the sale of high end vintage goods ranging from furniture to fine art, has agreed to a deal to take the 12-story building's entire third floor, a 42,232-square-foot space, for 15-years.

Woo!

And there may be more celebrating in the near future. Developer Edward Minskoff said, "We're very close to another deal. And we're in negotiations with six other tenants."

The 400,000-square-foot development opened in May without any signed tenants.

Meanwhile! The reaction from Twitter?

.@evgrieve With their first rent bill, of course!

— 51 Astor Place (@51deathstar) October 11, 2013

Previously on EV Grieve:
3 retail spaces available at 51 Astor Place

51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower

East Village — the new Midtown?

[Updated] Get dirty this weekend at La Plaza Cultural

From the EVG inbox...

La Plaza Cultural Community Garden & the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space Join Forces to Give Land a Fresh Start After Superstorm Sandy

Saturday, Oct. 12, Noon
Sunday, Oct. 13, Noon

What: “Day of the Dirt” Garden Restoration

Where: La Plaza Cultural Community Garden (Corner of 9th St and Avenue C

Why: La Plaza Cultural Community Garden will be receiving 50 yards of soil (1,350 square feet!) and compost to distribute around the garden to help recover from Sandy.

How: We will be moving the soil manually by wheelbarrow and spreading it with people power. If you want to volunteer, just show up! Gloves, rakes, other tools will be provided on site.

Who: We need volunteers of all ages to help by:

● hauling soil in shifts

● helping spread it with rakes and shovels

● planting grass seed in the freshly laid lawn area

● helping to transplant plants that we want to save

● removing items in the way of where we're laying the soil

● gathering stray bricks

We’re giving La Plaza a fresh start after Sandy, and we really need those who can make it to come out and help us restore this special place.

Updated 11:45 a.m.

The soil has arrived, as this photo via Shawn Chittle shows...

CB3 hearing on illegal rooftop additions at 515 E. 5th St. re-scheduled for another month

The illegal rooftop additions at 515 E. Fifth St. were on the docket for Wednesday night's CB3 Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee meeting.

The Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) had previously ruled that landlord Ben Shaoul needs to remove the 6th and 7th floors. However, his attorneys are requesting that the city grant a zoning variance to "permit the constructed enlargement, minus the penthouse, to remain."

And how did this go? A tenant reported that "the landlord pulled out of the CB3 hearing at the last minute. They have re-scheduled it for next month."

In 2008, the BSA decreed that the additions were illegal and should be removed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Never-ending battle wages on over additional floors at 515 E. Fifth St.

People miss the trees at the Astor Place subway plaza

As we noted the other day, workers, for whatever reasons, removed the trees from the Astor Place subway plaza ahead of the Astor Place-Cooper Square revamp... most readers here and on Facebook were pretty much WTF about it... EVG regular Terry Howell shared this shot of the trees as they looked in January 2011... Anyway, plans show about eight trees will be planted here in the revamp...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Revamped Astor Place subway plaza apparently won't need its existing trees

Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

An updated look at the all-new Astor Place

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place

Important questions of our time

When did Joey Pepperoni on First Avenue start serving breakfast? And tacos? And wings? (We hadn't noticed!)

Also, has anyone tried any of the non-$1 pizza items?

Anyway. Just the latest (or not) development in the grim First Avenue $1 pizza wars.

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

Checking in on the $1 pizza war on First Avenue

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

Hare Krishna cultural center introducing vegetarian buffet starting tonight

The Bhakti Center is launching the Bhakti Buffet starting tonight at the Hare Krishna cultural center at 26 First Ave.

Per the Center's website:

The Bhakti Buffet serves the guests of the Bhakti Center and is open to the public. The buffet is run by Chaitanya Kapadia, Krsangi Chander, and Mathura Rico, all of whom were born and raised in the bhakti tradition and see their service as a labor of love. Following the standards of bhakti-yoga, all preparations are pure vegetarian/vegan and are prepared following immaculate standards of cleanliness while bearing a bhava or mood of devotion. In other words, the food is cooked with love.

The menus include traditional Indian dishes as well as international favorites that are both delicious and healthy. The prices are affordable and the portions are hearty.

Generally the buffet will include…
1 special entree
2 vegetable dishes
1 or 2 rice dishes
1 soup
2 salads
1 drink

PRICING
$12 – the entire buffet
$8 – any three items
$6 – soup and salad
$3 – dollars any single item

"The concept is to provide healthy, fresh, wholesome vegetarian food at a very reasonable cost," the Center's program director David Ramella told Serena Solomon at DNAinfo, who first reported on the opening on Monday.

The Center ran a cafe here for two years, but closed it in 2011.

The cafe is open Thursday and Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Because we have not posted a photo of an abandoned Citi Bike in 2 months

@nyev_eliza spotted this along East 13th Street this morning...

Meanwhile, back on Aug. 9...

Mudspot Café opening at the First Park kiosk next month

Looks like the Mudtruck will have another sibling in the family.

Back in July, S'MAC decided to discontinue its service at the First Avenue kiosk. At the time, Caesar Ekya, who owns and operates S'MAC with his wife Sarita, said that they were hoping to find another vendor to assign the lease to here off of East Houston and East First Street.

And they have: Mudspot Café will soon be operating from this location.

"Yes, it's happening," Mudspot General Manager Yasmina Palumbo confirmed to us via email. "[We're] hoping to open sometime in November."

Ekya said that sales at First Park were sluggish, and that they needed to focus on their original location on East 12th Street and new branch in Murray Hill. He had said finding another vendor for First Park was preferable to turning the lease back over to the city, which would then open up a potentially lengthy bidding process.

"It would have been in everyone's best interest if we assigned the lease instead of giving it back to the city," Ekya said."And Mud was the best fit for that location."

S'MAC opened the satellite location here in January 2012. Prior to this, Veselka had the space for five years until June 2011. Mudspot's original location on East Ninth Street will remain.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about S'MAC's decision to leave First Park

What about 'Mildred Fierce'?

EVG contributor Joann Jovinelly saw a performance last weekend of Ryan Landry's play, "Mildred Fierce," a musical black comedic parody of the 1945 film classic, "Mildred Pierce," starring Joan Crawford. Joann shared a few photos as well as a quick review:

While there's plenty of room for campy humor, the zingers go beyond the obvious, making for a well-rounded and thoughtful production that is sophisticated and subtle as well as over-the-top absurd. Much attention was placed on the details as well as the polished dramatic performances and musical dance numbers featuring the Gold Dust Orphans. There was a good dose of creative puppetry, too, and a cache of clever surprises.

"Mildred Fierce" plays on Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 27 at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.

Construction watch: 227 E. 7th St.

A quick look at 227 E. 7th St. near Avenue C, where a 6-floor building is growing upwards of 5 floors now ... As we previously reported, DOB permits show that each floor will contain one residential unit.

One day.


[Via BuzzBuzzHome]

A previous day.

[September 2012]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Asbestos abatement on East Seventh Street, then a new 6-story building

New bike racks seemingly randomly arrive

These just arrived along Avenue B between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street (maybe for the Gruppo delivery guys?) ... Dave on 7th, who took this photo, also noticed a new rack on Avenue A. Anyone else spot new bike racks around the neighborhood...?

Tales of Washington Square Park tonight at Bluestockings Books

From the EVG inbox...

Thursday, Oct. 10 @ 7 pm
Bluestockings Books, 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington
Reading + Discussion: Cathryn Swan’s "Tales of Washington Square Park (and a few other places)"

The official release for "Tales of Washington Square Park (and a few other places)," a book/zine written by Cathryn Swan, the editor of the Washington Square Park Blog, featuring some of her favorite stories from the blog. The event will feature a reading by Swan, conversation about the famous Greenwich Village park and more, and discussion of New York City’s privatization of public space.

Swan is the founder of the Washington Square Park Blog, an independent website which began in 2008, just as the park’s controversial redesign construction began. She also writes articles at the Huffington Post and is writing a book "The B-girl Guide to Living Your Life in Earth, Animal & People-friendly ways."

Why was the fountain moved 23 feet east to line up with the Arch at Fifth Avenue after 137 years in its previous location?

Did cars really run through the Arch?

Why did Henry James hate the Arch?

Answers to these questions and more!

From Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Jacobs, Bob Dylan to today, the park remains the heart of Greenwich Village. It is a constant reminder of the magical commons in the midst of the privatized city.

Find the event page here.

Report: Convicted sex offender attempts kidnapping schoolgirl on Avenue B

A convicted sex offender attempted to kidnap a 13-year-old girl as she walked to school this morning on Avenue B, the New York Post is reporting.

The man, identified as 35-year-old Jose Mendoza, reportedly pulled alongside the teen in a black SUV and said "hey, you’re beautiful." The teen continued to walk "but the man became more aggressive and tried to pull her into the car."

The teen was able to escape. Police reportedly arrested Mendoza when the girl spotted him in the area 45 minutes later. The NYPD charged him with attempted kidnapping. Per the Post: Mendoza is on the state's sex offender registry "and considered a level 2, or medium-risk."

If it's October, then it might be time to throw away last season's Christmas tree, probably

Dave on 7th spotted the above on East Sixth Street today... what was, most likely, or not, a Christmas (holiday) tree. "The branches are in the bags," Dave on 7th hopefully pointed out.

Fine. But where is the verification/authentification/random -tion word to prove that this is actually from today?


[Boosting the circulation]

OK, fine. But where is the stump and the bags with the remains of the Christmas (holiday) tree? We called him out on this, said something like FAIL, though in a jovial way that may have been misinterpreted via email.

"Actually, not a fail. Note the same car across the street."

OK. Hold all tickets. This might take awhile.

Current record for Christmas (holiday) tree discarding: June 29-30.

Revamped Astor Place subway plaza apparently won't need its existing trees

[Image via Curbed]

As you know, the long-awaited revamp is happening at Astor Place and Cooper Square these next two years... The plan includes enlarging Cooper Park, streamlining the street grid and creating new permanent pedestrian plazas. Not to mention adding 60 additional trees. Also among the changes: a new-look subway plaza with raised flower beds, more seating and wider sidewalks... and trees ... per the rendering above...

Unfortunately, the existing trees here were either in the wrong place or just not fit for the new-look Astor Place. Several readers were shocked to find that workers had chopped down the trees (Birch?) along here...


[Photo via @EVPinhead]

To echo what @EVPinhead put on Twitter about this: #WTF

Updated:

Here's another view via EVG reader John M.



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

An updated look at the all-new Astor Place

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village. James is traveling this week. East Village writer and photographer Joann Jovinelly compiled today's post.



By Joann Jovinelly

Name: Sally Young
Occupation: Mixed-Media Artist, Political Activist and
Preservationist, Photographer
Location: Sixth Street Community Garden
Time: 10:30 AM on Friday, Sept. 27

Part II (Read Part I here)

Beginning in 2005, we started to see a lot more redevelopment [in this neighborhood]. A huge glass hotel went up on the end of my street, the Cooper Square Hotel. We began to see the scaffolding go up around the buildings and then the buildings came down. That was when I started photographing like crazy, both on film and digitally. That was also around the same time the Cooper Union Hewitt building came down; I was photographing it every morning, photos that I eventually assembled in an accordion book.

I was looking at what was going on my block, East Fifth Street, and I noticed that there was a Federal house there, 35 Cooper Square, and it was still standing. I became very interested in Federal houses and the [older] architecture of New York.

In 2006, I set up a stand in front of my apartment building as part of the Art in Odd Places exhibit where I gave away my photo postcards. And I created a book with wooden pages that people could flip through to learn more about the architecture in the neighborhood. That is how I got my Deconstructing Bowery book together.

Eventually, I wrote a history of 35 Cooper Square from the time it was built in 1826, information that was used to help unsuccessfully landmark the structure, which was demolished in 2011. Even though there were major protests to save that building, the landmark proposal was rejected.

Another address I researched, 135 Bowery, which was built in 1817, had been slated for preservation and approved, but it was sold off to build “affordable” office space. In that case, just one council member had overturned the decision to preserve the building in order to provide the aforementioned offices, but the new owners lied, tore the building down, and immediately put the lot up for sale. In 2007, a group of other concerned citizens, myself included, formed the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors to preserve what’s left of the Bowery’s architecture.

I know that when artists come in, eventually gentrification follows, but today we’re talking hyper-gentrification. For instance, now there are areas on West Fourth Street that are so heavily congested with students that you can barely get through the block. I remember a few years ago before the big explosion of NYU, and there were signs up in the West Village that said, ‘Do you think this neighborhood is safe enough for NYU students?’ and I kind of wanted to flip that around and ask, ‘Do you think that the neighborhood is safe enough to withstand NYU development?’ I saw that question as a reversal, much before all of the redevelopment began happening.

The concerns of the newcomers today are far different from those waves of people who came to New York in past generations. We were involved with our community; most of today’s newcomers are not. We had rent strikes. We were committed. There were a lot of problems; there was a lot of crime. Most of those areas were just bombed out. We were under siege. All we could do then was work together. That’s around the time, in the early 1980s, when we stared creating the gardens like the Sixth and B Garden. While this is among the most protected of those green spaces in the neighborhood, others are still at risk.

In the 1980s, people bonded together, and that bond literally grew this neighborhood. Look at all these beautiful places that you can still enjoy. These days, newcomers moving to the neighborhood have slick, renovated apartments for which they pay a great deal. They’re often living with a bunch of people. But there are few among them who are actually fully invested in the East Village; instead they are in transition. They aren’t living here to put down roots. For years, I never saw a moving van on my block; now I see them all the time.

Read Part 1 of our interview with Sally Young here. Check out Sally's website here.

Joann Jovinelly is a freelance writer and photographer who still calls the East Village home.

Never-ending battle wages on over additional floors at 515 E. Fifth St.

[EVG file photo]

A familiar address makes an appearance at tonight's CB3 Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee meeting:

• BSA 266-13-BZ, 515 E 5th St: request variance of ZR23-145 to legalize enlargement of a 6-story family dwelling

To quickly rehash a few previous posts: Back in 2008, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) decreed that developer Ben Shaoul's additions to 515 E. Fifth St. were illegal and should be removed. Work on the additional 6th floor and penthouse commenced in 2006 after the Buildings Department approved the enlargements ... however, the additions were later found to skirt certain fire and safety regulations, per published reports. (Read more about the ruling at the Post and Curbed.)

In recent years there have been protests ... and hearings...

In early September, attorneys for a handful of 515's longer-tenured residents argued that not only was there no legal basis for granting Shaoul vesting under the old zoning laws, there was also no guarantee that he would use this opportunity to correct the violations of the Multiple Dwelling Laws that exist in the building. The BSA upheld this argument.

However, Shaoul's attorneys are appealing the BSA's decision. You can find volumes of legalese about all this right here. (PDF!)



To make a long legal document short, Shaoul's attorneys are requesting that the city grant a zoning variance to "permit the constructed enlargement, minus the penthouse, to remain, which is in character with the surrounding neighborhood." (According to the documents, the estimated cost of removing the sixth floor and penthouse is $452,000.)

In 2010, the BSA told Shaoul that he needed to remove the seventh-floor penthouse at a nearby property at 516-516 E. Sixth St. (The BSA said that the sixth-floor addition could stay.) Workers finally started removing the penthouse, which was never occupied, last month.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 5 years later, another BSA hearing on illegal rooftop addition at 515 E. Fifth St.

Protest at 515 E. Fifth St. this morning, site of Ben Shaoul's illegal addition

The disappearing illegal penthouse of 514-516 E. 6th St.