Sunday, November 10, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Verso finds new Life on Avenue C
The folks behind Verso, the Italian trattoria on East Eighth Street and Avenue C, have revamped their space… it is now Life - Kitchen and Bar (it has nothing to do with the former Life Cafe that closed two-plus years ago on Avenue B). And they open tonight.
The new space looks to be more casual than Verso… and here's a look at the menu...
Friday, November 8, 2013
More Citi Bike docking stations for East 10th Street
This afternoon, crews are adding more docking stations to the existing Citi Bikes hub on East 10th Street along Tompkins Square Park, EVG reader John reports... He figures there will be 16-20 more bikes now.... which, among other things, will allow more opportunities to do the stationary workout along here.
Fares from the past: Take a cab up 1st Avenue in the East Village of 1971
We posted this archival video titled "NYC Taxi Ride up 1st Ave circa 1971" back in February 2011. Dirty Old 1970's New York City posted it on Facebook this morning... so we thought we'd revisit it as well... the ride starts just past East Houston Street north to East 14th Street. What do you recognize?
Noted
East 11th Street and Avenue A at the week-old 7-Eleven. A more direct message than the last one.
[Photo via VH McKenzie]
Serendipity to remain in Tompkins Square Park through April
[EV Grieve]
Back in June, we saw the arrival of "Serendipity," the life-sized sculpture of Christopher Gamble's silhouette in Tompkins Square Park. The silhouette is in honor of Gamble, who was homeless for nearly 28 years. Fanny Allié's creation was expected to be in the Park through this month.
However! Fanny let us know that the work will remain in the Park until April 25.
Soooo... given its stay through winter, it's likely good that someone saw fit to put a hat on the sculpture...
[Bobby Williams]
...which actually matches the leisure suit that someone put on it late last month...
[BW]
Gamble now lives in an apartment run by the Bowery Residents' Committee.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The street-smart style of Serendipity in Tompkins Square Park
Welcome to the East Village (waves middle finger)
On Tuesday, Jim Power unveiled his latest mosaic... on the southwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Avenue A. The folks at Crif Dogs put up $600 for Jim to repair the hole that was in the sidewalk ... and to prevent anyone from being injured.
We asked Jim about the mosaic's middle finger.
"[It's] a message to old Mayor Bucko and the new one, Mayor De Bozo," he said via email. "They are spending $16 million to block the neighborhood's entrance at Astor Place while our streets and sidewalks are in dangerous disrepair."
Meanwhile, find out more about how you can help Jim restore his Mosaic Trail on his blog.
A look at the 'Hip young crowd planting roots at Bloom 62'
[EVG file photo]
Real Estate Weekly files a puff piece on Bloom 62, Ben Shaoul's newish luxury rentals on Avenue B and East Fifth Street. According to REW, the 81-unit building is 82 percent leased some six months after making its debut.
To the article, titled "Hip young crowd planting roots at Bloom 62":
On a recent Friday, a group of young tenants was lounging on the terrace’s garden chairs, enjoying one of the last warm days of the year.
The smell of barbecue coming from the built-in outdoor grills and the blooming hydrangea summed up the building’s message: Just because you’re in Manhattan, doesn’t mean you can’t live as if you’re out in the country.
And what's the point of living in Manha... aw, forget it!
And!
The building’s brand new, polished exterior provides a stark contrast to its run-down East Village surroundings. Neighboring buildings are showing their age and sport the occasional graffiti over rusty fire escapes, leftovers of a time when the area was known more for its punks and basement clubs than for its fine dining.
But times have changed: “East Village” and “luxury rental” can now be said in the same sentence with a straight face. Coffee shops and restaurants are in abundance, and the Lower East Side, with its numerous clubs and bars, is just blocks away.
Oh boy.
The building's previous tenant was the 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which 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. Cabrini closed for good on June 30, 2012.
Now excuse us while we throw ourselves on the built-in outdoor grills.
Updated 10:22
Here Curbed's headline on this REW piece:
Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 Dances on the East Village's Grave
Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos
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
Q-and-A with Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare
Today in posts about turkey-stuffed donuts
From the EVG inbox...
NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Zucker Bakery in the East Village (433 E. 9th St.) today unveiled a limited series of gourmet turkey-stuffed donuts to celebrate Thanksgivukkah – the convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, happening for the first time in over 100 years this November. The donuts will come in four flavors, ranging from savory to sweet:
• Spiced pumpkin donut with TURKEY and GRAVY filling ($5)
• Spiced pumpkin donut with TURKEY and CRANBERRY filling ($5)
• Spiced pumpkin donut with CRANBERRY SAUCE filling ($3.50)
• Sweet potato donut with TOASTED MARSHMALLOW cream filling ($4)
Now on sale through the end of the year...
Nicknamed "stuff-ganiyot" — a play on the Hebrew word for donuts, suffganiyot (suf-gan-ee-oat) — the donuts are the brainchild of Zucker Bakery founder Yaniv Zohar and friend Gil Levy of ECommerce Partners, the web firm that designed and launched the bakery's e-commerce website.
Get free samples of these Thanksgivukkah-inspired donuts on Friday, November 8 between 4-6 PM at Zucker Bakery.
Single-level garage/workshop asks for $5.4 million on East 6th Street
[Via Google]
One-story structures seem to be a rarity/luxury in the East Village these days. Build! Build! On that blanket statement, the single-level building at 619 E. Sixth St. between Avenue
There's not a whole lot of info on the listing at Citi Habitats:
Currently set up as one story garage/workshop. Tenant will vacate with 90 days notice. Lot size 25.67x90.83 Max FAR 4 FAR as is .95. As of now Max buildable sf 9,464.
So you have some air rights there.
A neighbor here says that the space is home to a Japanese furniture designer. Public records show that the property went for $135,000 in 1993. Current asking price: $5.4 million.
I'll be back? Never too early to prep for 2016!
[Photo by VH McKenzie]
There's a new mural over on the wall on East Houston at Avenue B... courtesy of @ArtByJW.
So is he an Arnold fan? No! A bit of a goof, the mural is. "The best part was making people believe he really is [running]," @ArtByJW said via Twitter.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
[Updated] Tompkins Square Park loses its great gnarly squirrel tree, here before the Civil War
[Photo via @NCintheNYC]
On Oct. 12, the great old gnarled Black Locust on the East Seventh Street side of Tompkins Square Park caught fire (rather suspiciously, too) ...
There was hope that the remaining part of the tree could stick, so to speak, around.
GammaBlog points out that this was one of the few trees left in the Park that pre-dates the Civil War:
I knew it would at least have to be trimmed to avoid branches falling on people, but hoped they would leave the main body of the tree as a habitat for the squirrels and as a historical relic.
Nope.
This morning, crews arrived, as GammaBlog reports.
All that's left is a fucking stump.
[Bobby Williams]
For further reading:
RIP Gnarly Squirrel Tree (GammaBlog)
A memorial for Lou Reed at Tompkins Square Park
A memorial for the late Lou Reed arrived
Meanwhile, Laurie Anderson reflects on her 21 years with Reed in an essay published at Rolling Stone:
I have never seen an expression as full of wonder as Lou's as he died. His hands were doing the water-flowing 21-form of tai chi. His eyes were wide open. I was holding in my arms the person I loved the most in the world, and talking to him as he died. His heart stopped. He wasn't afraid. I had gotten to walk with him to the end of the world. Life – so beautiful, painful and dazzling – does not get better than that. And death? I believe that the purpose of death is the release of love.
Today in free ads for Microsoft
Just a quick note from Midtown South, where this checkmark arrived early this morning at Astor Place...
The checkmark, plugging a new Office product, points (heh) out that "This is the intersection where oddball and original meet." Perhaps it should say met instead of meet?
Honors for one of the most unique shops in the East Village
The East Village Community Coalition recently honored The Source Unltd Copy Shop with its annual Outstanding Pigeon award for their continued service and commitment to the neighborhood.
Since 1982, the shop at 331 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue has been a go-to spot for copies, office supplies, cards and postcards created by local artists... and some good old-fashioned community spirit.
EVG correspondent Stacie Joy stopped by the cozy storefront to photograph proprietors Santo and Margaret Mollica.
"The East Village is still one of the few places where you can just be, and come across all kinds of people from all over the world," Santo said.
How do they feel about being honored for their 30-plus years in the neighborhood?
"When I was a kid, my old man sat me down and he said, 'Son (cause he used to forget my name sometimes), there are three things that can help you have a good life: One is to have faith in yourself as well as The Lord; two is to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst; and three is to be charitable toward others and they, in turn, would be charitable toward you," Santo said.
"And me and Marg have always tried to live and work by that code," he said. "So it's nice to have it recognized as working."
[Santo and Margaret with Curtis, who is named for Curtis Mayfield]
Don't mind the fake dead horse on the set of Steven Soderbergh's 'The Knick'
[Photo via The Lo-Down]
As you may have heard/read/seen/smelled yesterday, parts of Orchard Street and the Lower East Side were transformed into the early 1900s for "The Knick," a Steven Soderbergh-directed miniseries starring Clive Owen.
Perhaps our favorite photo from the shoot came via Reddit ...
You can find more photos at BoweryBoogie ... The Lo-Down ... Gothamist... and DNAinfo.
Filming continues today.
520 E. 11th St. is for sale
There's a new listing for the building between Avenue A and Avenue B. Not many details on that listing via Habitatman NYC:
Six Story Walk Up Apartment Building with 27 Residential units & 3 Stores. Plus Laundry Facilities in the basement.
No mention of "air rights" ... and there isn't any copy like "will make for a lovely single-family mansion once you toss out the pesky residents."
Asking price: $18 million.
[Image via Trulia]
SFW: This East Village apartment is 'sexy,' though we don't know why
Here's is a Craigslist ad for a pretty-average looking one-bedroom apartment. The headline describes the place as "sexy." Perhaps it is, though you wouldn't know it from the description:
New renovation
Perfect location near Whole Foods Trader [sic] and all transportation
Sun drenched with windows a [sic] plenty and Skylight
Queen sized Bedroom
Ample closets with Overhead stotage [sic]
Exposed Brick
And the unit is
H/T @SerenaSpeaks
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
[Updated] Today's Empire Biscuit update
Co-owner Yonadav Tsuna says that they've bulked up their production, brought on a professional baker to streamline the biscuit-making, and smoothed out the service to get those biscuit sandwiches out as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, the Empire Biscuit Help Wanted ad remains on Craiglist, if you are qualified:
Empire Biscuit is hiring experienced line and prep cooks
We're looking for experienced line cooks and prep cooks. All shifts are available. You'll work with familiar and exotic, high quality, seasonal ingredients. You'll have the opportunity to smoke, pickle, and cure. You'll make sweet and savory jams and jellies. We're looking for precision, speed and cleanliness. Please see our menu at empirebiscuit.com. If you don't dig it, don't apply. We're a new restaurant. If you kick ass, you'll grow with us. Please send your resume. We hope to hear from you.
And no word just yet when they will remain open 24 hours a day.
Updated:
Gothamist has a feature on the shop today titled "Inside Empire Biscuit, Finally Ready To Meet East Villagers' Drunken Demand."
Per co-owner Yonadav Tsuna:
"We had some people here Saturday night crying outside," he said, when asked about the necessary closure late last week. Tsuna and his business partner Karl Wilder were inundated with so much early business that they were forced to lock up and hire additional staff in order to keep up with demand. "We're doing five times to ten times more than we thought we would," Tsuna said with a nervous grin.
On Broadway, Blatt Billiards building will be much taller with a glassy face
Catching up to an update about Blatt Billiards, a pool table manufacturer, who will be leaving its longtime home at 809 Broadway near East 12th Street. The 126-year-old loft building sold for $24 million in May. And the new owners have big plans here, as The Real Deal reported, by nearly quadrupling the building's height with the addition of three apartments.
IDM Capital filed plans to boost the height of the 55-foot building at 809 Broadway to 199 feet, adding 10 stories to the five-story structure.
And!
The new building is expected to have about 22,000 square feet of commercial space, 10,400 square feet of residential space and a 167-square-foot wedge set aside for community facilities, the DOB filings showed.
It all goes as planned, the building will look like this:
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.
By James Maher
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
By James Maher
Name: Melissa Hotchkiss (and Jess)
Occupation: Poet and Marketing and Business Development
Location: 5th Street Between 1st and 2nd
Time: 5:45 on Saturday, Nov. 2
I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 24 years this coming January. I’m from Vermont. I’m not sure why I came here. I majored in art history and I wanted to get into gallery work. I had been working in a photography gallery in New Mexico and they had New York contacts, but I didn’t have a job when I came over here. I sort of landed here and then figured it out. I’ve worked for three art and photography dealers and I could not have ever gotten into writing poetry if I did not work with photography for a number of years in my 20s. It taught me a whole new way of seeing.
It was hard at first just landing here. I remember it like it was two minutes ago. I remember getting here, I had these black suede short boots and I was on the corner of 4th Street and 1st Avenue and I’m walking and I just loved it and then I stepped on a mouse that was mangled and dead. For some reason I remembered being so exhilarated by that. I mean, I didn’t kill it. It’s the daily benign craziness that I love.
I’m a poet. I’ve been writing poetry for 21 years. Technically I’m a poet with a stressful day job. My day job is business development at a large accounting firm, but in my off-time I do the editing work and my own poetry. I got a master's in creative writing. I love the East Village and I feel like capturing it. I take a lot of photographs as well, although I love to take one good picture a year. I’ve even done stand-up comedy. I’ve lived like this semi-bohemian life but not in the full way that I used to.
I have one book out called "Storm Damage" and I’m one of the editors for Barrow Street, which is a poetry journal started in 1998. We also create books. It’s almost been 15 years. Barrow Street is named after the street in the West Village where the Greenwhich House Music School is. Prior to that I ran a reading. I have a hard time describing my writing. Right now I’m doing short poems and I’m continually working on my second book. My poems are very spare and I have a lot of East Village poems.
I’m also in a poetry group workshop where we go and share our work, called the Urban Range. One of the elements within our group is the idea of urban poems. The whole sense of urban in the poem or the poets’ psyche. It’s not as if it’s some revolutionary idea, since many people live in urban areas, but that’s part of the group I’m in.
The stories I have are mostly about my apartment building, due to bad neighbors. I live above Downtown Bakery. I’ve been eating there for 24 years — mostly breakfast. I feel like I’m the old lady in the building but I’m not. I outlast almost everybody except for a few others that have been there a long time. It’s one of those buildings where 90 percent is turnover. There was the guy who didn’t understand why at 3 am, blasting his stereo wasn’t a problem. One time I asked him to turn it down and he said, ‘But I just got a new stereo.’
Lately, there was the couple who would fight a lot. At first I could only hear the women and never the guy but then I started to hear the guy. At least he was standing up for himself. I couldn’t escape it — white noise, earplugs. So one night at 2 or 3 am I wrote a note, “I’m sorry you fight so much but the next time that happens I’m calling the police.” I never heard them fight again.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
Apartments in order for this haunted beauty on East 10th Street
104 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Second Avenue is one of the more intriguing buildings around. Possibly once haunted, the rather dilapidated building was part of reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb's portfolio. (Jeremiah Moss has a nice history of the space, where playwright, poet and performance artist Edgar Oliver most recently lived, here.)
It hit the market in March 2011 for $5.6 million... the listing disappeared then reemerged for $3.9 million. Per the original listing:
Built in 1879, this magnificent, sun-drenched residence is a restoration enthusiast's dream project.
The building offers an unparalleled opportunity to design the home you've always wanted. Its current features include four floors, eight fireplaces, skylight, original moldings, a quaint south-facing garden, an English basement with a separate street entrance, plus a basement below. With additional air rights, this building is primed for vertical expansion, offering opportunities for a roof deck, duplex unit, and more.
Anyway, somewhere along the line, the dream home idea apparently died. There is now a sign noting "apartments" out front. (There isn't a listing yet for the address on the Town website.)
For the outside, it appears the building still needs a good deal of work, though we wouldn't mind seeing it stay like this. (Well, maybe a coat of paint.)
Public records show that the building sold in February to an LLC for $3.5 million.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The charmingly shabby interiors of 104 E. 10th St
The new Westside Market on Third Avenue will have Wi-Fi
Last Monday, we posted the news that Westside Market NYC would open in the base of that Westside CEO George Zoitas, whose father John opened the first store in 1965, shared more details on the new space with The Commercial Observer.
Customers who visit the store will be able to connect to Wi-Fi from electronic devices including smartphones and tablets. In addition to installing Wi-Fi, the company is using technology to create faster checkout counters and an advanced security system.
Trader Joe's, take note.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Westside Market coming to the East Village, 15 comments
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