Adam Sandler's 'The Cobbler' comes to the East Village this week

"The Cobbler" has been filming on the Lower East Side in recent weeks (see The Lo-Down, BoweryBoogie and DNAinfo for photos).

And now signs for the production are up on Avenue B between East Third Street and East Fourth Street (and elsewhere) for today ...

And there are more signs on Avenue B, East Seventh Street along the Park and East Eighth Street, Avenue C (and probably elsewhere!) for a Wednesday shoot...



The film, described as a "dramatic comedy," finds Adam Sandler "as a shoe repairman who integrates himself into the lives of the people whose footwear he fixes."

The cast includes Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi; Tom McCarthy directs.

Week in Grieview

[East 3rd Street]

Local politicians ask Santaconners to "adopt good neighbor principles" (Tuesday)

Is this the new home for St. Mark's Bookshop? (Monday)

Building plans filed for part of the former Children's Magical Garden (Monday)

There goes 100 Avenue A (Monday)

Former Bleecker Bob's space back on the market (Wednesday)

RIP Saul Leiter (Friday)

Renovations ahead of New York Sports Club's arrival on Avenue A (Wednesday)

Out and About with Jenny Adams (Wednesday)

Richard Hell narrates this new video on the NYC music scene (Tuesday)

RIP East Village Shoe Repair (Tuesday)

Casa Gusto space for rent on Avenue A (Monday)

The former Max space is for rent on Avenue B (Monday)

Shop local (Tuesday)

Holiday trees! (Thursday)

[Updated] Reader report: The 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place has closed

A St. Mark's Place resident passes along word that the 7-Eleven here near Second Avenue has closed. Workers are currently removing various machines from inside the store this morning.


[Via EVG reader Robert]

There are three trucks lined up along St. Mark's Place. The reader says there isn't much, if any, merchandise left on the shelves.

No official confirmation from any 7-Eleven reps. (Updated: Workers on the scene confirmed this afternoon that the store has closed.) Perhaps that closed sign yesterday was more permanent that originally expected. Or maybe they are just renovating the place. Or there are some other issues that would cause workers to temporarily empty the store of every machine and food product.

This location opened in April 2012.

Looking at Centre-fuge Cycle 11

Just taking a look at the recently completed Centre-fuge Cycle 11 ... the rotating outdoor gallery on the construction trailer here along East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...











Writer-blogger Jenny Adams (featured in this week's Out and About in the East Village) has more on one of this cycle's artists, Nicole Salgar, right here.

And as BoweryBoogie first reported, the Centre-fuge initiative has been renewed through 2014.

Find more info on the Centre-fuge Tumblr here.

Today's hawk; slightly stunned, but makes a recovery

Well, several people noted that this hawk had, earlier in the day, flown into the bus shelter on Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street… it looked pretty bad for a moment. The bird was lying on the sidewalk, apparently stunned, according to onlookers. But! The hawk recovered … and was spotted "eating a small rodent whole" in Tompkins Square Park a little later.

Photo via Bobby Williams

Reader report: Last day for Lucky's Dry Cleaner and Laundry

EV Grieve reader Brian Katz shares the following:

Lucky's Dry Cleaner and Laundry on 11th St. (520 East 11th St.), between Avenues A and B, owned and operated by Linda, one of the kindest people and representative of all that is wonderful about our village, will be closing today at 6 p.m. She has been run out due to a variety of circumstances (chiefly, a landlord who wants to break her lease and raise her rent while she returns to China to care for a family member) and must shutter her little shop, for good, today.

Not only has she offered her obvious business services to our immediate neighborhood, but she accepted mail deliveries for ALL her neighbors and never, ever expected anything in return.

Updated: Per the comments.. she will remain open through tomorrow now.

Guess who's back in town?!

Yes! Finally! The iconic Trailer Park Santa is back on his familiar RV on East 14th Street and First Avenue… much to the delight of area children (and maybe one website blog person)…



Let the photos begin!



And what do you think he does in the off-season?

PS
The trees have arrived outside the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery as well…

Yesterday's hawk — today

Photo from Tompkins Square Park yesterday by Bobby Williams

Noted

A reader noted that the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place was closed this morning… There was black plastic covering the windows… and a handwritten "closed" sign on the door offering no explanation… The reader said that it didn't appear to be anything noticeably, like broken, like a front window.

Striking a 'Nerve'

The Lines with "Nerve Pylon" from 1980.

Lights, action

Hanging holiday lights this afternoon outside Saifee Hardware on First Avenue and East Seventh Street...

Trees arrive ahead of Trailer Park Santa on East 14th Street

The trees have arrived at the stand on East 14th Street at First Avenue. But no sign yet of the familiar inflatable Santa, dubbed by no one in particular, Trailer Park Santa.

2012 flashback!

Meanwhile! As for other holiday tree options... you can actually find trees that will fit inside a normal apartment here at East Village Farm & Grocery on Second Avenue at East Fourth Street...



And expect trees soon on East Houston at Essex...



...and First Avenue and East 13th Street...



And the tree stand will arrive next week at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery.

Previously on EV Grieve:
In case you are looking to buy the ol' [insert your name here!] family holiday tree on Thanksgiving

RIP Saul Leiter

Longtime neighborhood resident Saul Leiter, "one of the first professionals to photograph New York City regularly in color," died on Tuesday. He was 89.

To the Times:

Where other New York photographers of the period were apt to document the city’s elements discretely — streets, people, buildings — Mr. Leiter captured the almost indefinable spaces where all three intersect, many of them within a two-block radius of the East Village apartment in which he had lived since the early 1950s.

Unplanned and unstaged, Mr. Leiter’s photographs are slices fleetingly glimpsed by a walker in the city. People are often in soft focus, shown only in part or absent altogether, though their presence is keenly implied. Sensitive to the city’s found geometry, he shot by design around the edges of things: vistas are often seen through rain, snow or misted windows.

There's a documentary about his life and work, "In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life With Saul Leiter," now on the film-festival circuit. (A DVD is forthcoming.) Meanwhile, check out the trailer here…

[Top image by Saul Leiter, via; H/T EVG reader Muzz]

Lucy's is on a holiday break

Oh! Stopped by Lucy's the other late afternoon only to discover… she is on holiday until next Friday. And these signs really do need a smiley face.

Introducing the Ramones guitar strap

From the EVG inbox...

Volume & Tone is pleased to announce the release of “The Ramone” guitar strap, created in collaboration with fan favorite, Richie Ramone of The Ramones. This Strap is the first in a series of Celebrity Strap collaborations that Volume & Tone is launching, with 30% of all proceeds going to one of our favorite charities “The Maxlove Project."

The Maxlove Project was Inspired by SuperMax Wilford, a six-year-old fighting brain cancer, MaxLove Project is a 100% volunteer-driven, grassroots nonprofit organization founded to help SuperKids thrive against cancer and life-threatening conditions. Their mission is to provide families fighting childhood cancers with accessible, practical, and kid-friendly whole-body wellness.

“The Ramone” was designed to look and feel like the Schott Perfecto, America’s finest and most symbolic leather motorcycle jacket. Outsiders and lone wolves like Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen wore early versions of the jacket, and later The Ramones wore it as their unofficial uniform, and cemented the jacket’s reputation as a symbol of Rebellion.

Price: $130.

Wish you were here, mostly

Happy Thanksgiving and all that.

In case you are looking to buy the ol' [insert your name here!] family holiday tree on Thanksgiving

You're in luck! You can find some at St. Mark's Market...



Whole Foods Bowery ($50 for a Fraser Fir!)...



...and a new treecomer on Second Avenue in front of Jupiter 21...




No trees just yet at the Trailer Park Santa stand on First Avenue and East 14th Street...



There are likely more stands up. Maybe outside Rite Aid on First Avenue?

Anyway! Buy early, discard early, and pretend it is leftover from December 2012... win a prize.

St. Mark's Birdbath

Alone together again

St. Mark's Place and Cooper Square this afternoon... via Bobby Williams.

Former Bleecker Bob's space back on the market

Bleecker Bob's was priced out of its longtime home on West Third Street this past year, closing for good in April.

And, as you may recall, a Forever Yogurt franchise was set to take over the space, even sporting an oh-so-cutesy record logo on the front door during the summer.

Apparently there won't be FroYo here, at least according to a Facebook update today from Bleecker Bob's:

wow....
today we give a big FUCK YOU to the assholes at Forever Yogurt who closed down a 45 year old landmark record store to build a bullshit froyo shop and now pulled out of the lease!!!

the storefront at 118 west 3rd is now for rent.

Last that we saw, the space for going for $17,000 a month. (Alex has a photo of the rather homemade "for rent" sign here.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bleecker Bob's is for rent

Bleecker Bob's won't be moving to the East Village — or anywhere else, for that matter

Ev Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[On East 4th Street, photo by Michael Sean Edwards]

Last-minute volunteer opportunities for Thanksgiving Day (DNAinfo)

A list of free Thanksgiving meals across the LES (BoweryBoogie)

An update on the renovations at HiFi on Avenue A (the HiFi Blog)

The new 84 Third Ave. could have been a lot taller (Off the Grid)

A look at the new Vape Lounge (NYU Local)

A review of Somtum Der on Avenue A (The New York Times)

The Jefferson Market's future (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Remembering the K Cafe (Flaming Pablum)

When it was really fucking cold the other day (Slum Goddess)

The Roseland Ballroom will be demolished to make way for a 50-story building (New York Post)

Snapshots of the Rolling Stones on tour in the U.S. in 1965 (Dangerous Minds)

Finally, in case you wondered what a party for the tech set at the Russian & Turkish Baths on East 10th Street looked like. Photos from this event have been making the rounds, so... ValleyWag said that the party "fell just short of Stefon-level absurdity. There was, however, enough wood paneling and strung out girls in bikinis to remake that Fiona Apple video."


[Find more photos by Nicky Digital here]

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

Name: Jenny Adams
Occupation: Writer/Photographer
Location: East 7th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave
Time: Monday, Nov. 25 at 1pm.

I’m from Birmingham, Ala. I grew up there and then went to the college of Charleston. I grew up in the south, went to college in the south and planned to live in the south my whole life. I wasn’t really the adventurous type until after college. And then I moved to Montana on a whim. Somebody had an extra bedroom for rent for $200 a month. My lease was up so I decided to move there for six months. Once I did that it opened the door to the idea that I could do it.

So I moved to New Zealand and lived there for a year. I was 23 and waited tables and worked on a vineyard for spare change, picking grapes for 60 cents every 5 pounds. That’s what a lot of the backpackers do. And then I started running out of money so I moved to Thailand for a few months. I wasn’t working but I had $1,000 left — and you can live for a really long time on $1,000 in Bangkok.

When I went broke, I came back to America. I was not happy. My parents said, ‘You’ve got no money and you’re being a delinquent.‘ I wanted to be a writer. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. My mom’s a writer, my aunt’s a writer and my grandma’s a writer. Of course I had that whole ‘I want to be a writer’ thing but you can’t just go out and write. You have to have a background. My mom actually owned a magazine at the time, so I was like, ‘Sweet, you’ll just give me a job,’ and she was like, ‘No, you have no experience and you don’t know what you’re doing.’ It was the best lesson I’ve ever had. I just expected her to hire me.

So I enrolled in grad school at the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, in 2006 and I worked in an office in Mississippi for three years as a writer. It was a little painful but it ended up being a good experience. And then things started to happen. I moved back to Alabama and my mom gave me a job. I also got a writing job in Alabama working for a nightlife magazine. I’ve always been in the nightlife segment of writing. It started out with the industry, behind the scenes, stuff for the trade magazines. And then I broke into the consumer side, reviewing bars and spirits.

I lived in Alabama from ‘07 till ’09, when I moved here. I was sick of Alabama and was thinking about moving to New York. I knew nothing about the city, but I said I wanted to move to the East Village because that’s where all the writers lived. So I moved into an apartment on Avenue D. I had never seen anything like it. I vividly remember the first person I saw on heroin. I had never seen anyone just outside on heroin, just freaking out on the sidewalk. Before I had moved here I hadn’t seen poverty in the same way. Alabama, where I lived, was super green and clean and safe. Everybody had a sprinkler and two kids and a dog. And then I moved here and was like, ‘whoa.’ At first I thought I wasn’t going to be there very long. Maybe I’d move someplace less ‘crazy.’ But now I love it and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Sandy was a surreal time but it was also one of the best times I’ve ever had. Everybody worked so hard during the day and then at night you made new friends because you didn’t have a phone. My building got hit hard. We had tons of water in the basement. Our super lived down there in a livable space. It was completely flooded and his stuff was all destroyed. Sewers backed into the building. It was just a mess. He lost everything.

So I went uptown and got on GoFundMe to raise $1,000 for my super. I didn’t even have emails of anyone in my building but I said let’s try. And we had $600 within 45 minutes. I left it up and the next morning it was at $2,000. We raised close to $12,000 in 6 days. So I gave the super $1,500 and ended up distributing the rest of it out throughout the neighborhood. I did not realize, to give away $12,000 piece by piece, is a lot of work. We went and bought blankets for people. We went to the soup kitchens. All my friends helped. Most of it was $100 here and $200 there, going to buy groceries and shipping them to the Rockaways.

A couple of the supers who worked in the lower-income buildings on East 12th somehow found me and were like, ‘Our building have a bunch of elderly and they’re really poor and don’t have anything.’ So we went down to Target and bought 55 jackets and blankets. Just to watch these supers … take it upon themselves to find me and other people to help get them blankets and space heaters … was a really cool moment.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Sidewalk bridge and scaffolding arrive ahead of planned New York Sports Club on Avenue A

A sidewalk bridge arrived Monday outside Gracefully at 28 Avenue A.

And yesterday, workers started erecting scaffold outside the familiar Burger-Klein façade, as this photo via EVG reader Jennifer Kellow shows...



As we reported on April 29, New York Sports Club has plans to open a gym above the market. In May, CB3 approved "the BSA special permit application by New York Sports Club to operate a physical culture establishment/health club at 28-30 Ave A on the 2nd thru 5th floors with entrance on the 1st floor."

Meanwhile, though, the application is still waiting the OK for the Department of Buildings, who stamped a "disapproved" on the first round of plans in April.


[EVG photo from spring 2013]

Furniture seller Burger-Klein occupied the building as early as 1939. Read more about the history of the Burger-Klein building at Off the Grid.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMOR: New York Health & Racquet Club taking over the space above Gracefully on Avenue A (24 comments)

New York Sports Club in the works for Avenue A

Have an early Thanksgiving at the Stage today

Today at EVG favorite the Stage Restaurant at 128 Second Ave. … turkey served with sweet potato stuffing, one vegetable, mushroom gravy, cranberry sauce, pie or cake, and coffee of tea — $14.25.

And tomorrow you can compare it to the Odessa's Thanksgiving special.

East Village resident organizes SantaCon Detour, a SantaCon without the drunks and various amateurs

East Village resident Abby Ehmann, who helped organize the original SantaCon here, is behind SantaCon Detour, which she discussed with DNAinfo yesterday:

"It's a SantaCon for people who have been doing it for 10 or 15 years and are tired of it being co-opted by busloads of college kids from upstate or drunken 22-year-olds from the suburbs."

The alternative SantaCon Detour seeks to recapture what Ehmann and others described as the event's countercultural roots as a "dress-up, anti-shop-'til-you-drop culture jam," and not "a bar crawl" or "puke fest."

And!

"If you're a 22-year-old, you're going to see [Detour SantaCon] is going to be a bunch of 50-year-olds," she said. "We wouldn't want them, and they wouldn't want us. They want to be with slutty Santa elves. They want to be drinking in the streets and jumping on taxis."

SantaCon Detour is now in its second year. It will start at the same location as the main SantaCon on Dec. 14, but then the group will go do their own thing.

According to the SantaCon Detour 2013 description at Wherevent:

If you joined up with us last year, you know the program: Trying to SAVE SantaCon by having our own, smaller contingent … This year I plan to, again, hijack a hoard of my Santa friends after the initial meeting location and take them to a spacious place with seats and some brunchy type food (and booze, of course). From there Santa will be on the move to a few fun photo ops and end in the early evening at a venue with drinks and dancing.

[Stock photo by Maria Dryfhout]

Meaty Le Village replaces veggie Table Verte on E. 7th St.

We were surprised the other day to see a new French bistro called Le Village open since Nov. 23, per the sign) in place at 127 E. Seventh St. ...



The new menu is long way from the self-described "vegan-focused French vegetarian bistro" that was Table Verta. There isn't any mention of a change in concept/closure on the Table Verta social media platforms.

Table Verta opened in October 2012, and was the sister restaurant to the previous tenant — Taureau, which relocated to Broome Street.

Local politicians call on SantaCon ' to adopt good-neighbor principles'

[Dave on 7th, from 2011]

From the EV Grieve inbox…soundbite alert!

Coalition of Local Elected Officials Calls on SantaCon to Adopt Good-Neighbor Principles

New York, NY – Today, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, along with State Senators Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron, Assembly Members Richard Gottfried, Deborah J. Glick and Brian Kavanagh, and City Council Members Daniel Garodnick, Rosie Mendez and Margaret S. Chin, announced a set of principles organizers must follow to rein in the annual scourge known as SantaCon. During this massive pub crawl, thousands of participants dressed as Santa Claus overwhelm neighborhoods, violating numerous laws and regulations and creating major hazards to public safety along the way.

The coalition of officials recognize that SantaCon may be a short-term boon to a select group of local businesses, but it imparts many adverse impacts, such as vomiting in the streets, public urination, vandalism and littering. In a letter sent today, the officials requested that SantaCon adhere to the following three principles:

1) Make public and follow defined routes;

2) Ensure respectful participants; and

3) Implement a comprehensive safety plan.


“What should be a frivolous and lighthearted event has become little more than a costumed parade of drunken lawbreaking,” said Senator Hoylman. “Any large event in New York has to be respectful of its surrounding community. To avoid ending up on the naughty list again, SantaCon organizers must adopt these principles and maintain an orderly event.”

The coalition letter reiterated a request that Senator Hoylman made to SantaCon organizers last month to work with local Community Boards and the New York City Police Department to identify ways the event can significantly mitigate its impact on the communities it visits. Despite assurances from SantaCon organizers that they would work with the NYPD, no details have been made public.

“For hundreds of years merry-making in taverns, beer halls and bars has been part of the fabric of life in our city, but there’s nothing merry about a costumed, abusive crowd wandering the streets spreading mayhem,” said Senator Liz Krueger. “If SantaCon’s organizers want to spread cheer instead of fear in our neighborhoods this holiday season, they’ve got some work to do.”

“’A group of drunks in Santa suits walk into a bar’ might sound like the start of a joke, but there's nothing funny about SantaCon,” said Assembly Member Richard Gottfried, who represents Hell's Kitchen/Clinton. “If the organizers and participating bars can't protect the public, the police and the State Liquor Authority need to act.”

“Our communities have suffered by the actions of participants of SantaCon for too many years. While I appreciate patronage to small, local businesses, this event does so at the expense of public health and safety of participants and community members. A thoughtful, public plan must be established and made available,” said Assembly Member Deborah J. Glick.

“Dress as Santa to go drinking if you must, but you’d BETTER be good, for goodness sake,” said Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh.

“Anytime we have a large, organized event in New York City, we need to ensure that the NYPD and local communities know what to expect,” said Council Member Dan Garodnick. “We are looking to the organizers to develop a plan that allows the fun to continue while respecting the rest of the community.”

“We have made a list of guiding principles for this year’s SantaCon—and we’re checking it twice. While everyone appreciates holiday cheer, it is important that the organizers and participants respect the surrounding neighborhood and work toward a festive but safe event,” said Council Member Margaret S. Chin.

Reactions?

Watch Richard Hell narrate a video on the New York music scene

All Saints and Dazed & Confused have teamed up to present a video on the NYC music scene… and narrated by punk rock pioneer and author Richard Hell.

Aside from Hell's thoughts, the 7-minute video features performances by 7th-grade rockers Unlocking The Truth, ethereal duo Starred and the indie folksters Widowspeak.

Here's a soundbite from Hell, who may be talking about the music scene … as well as life here in general:

"Things always change. And New York teaches you that. It's healthy to know that and to learn not to be sentimental or nostalgic because you can't stop it."

Check out the video...

For those about to shop

The East Village Community Coalition has compiled the seventh edition of their Get Local! Guide to locally owned and operated stores. You can find it here (PDF!)

Per the EVCC website:

Spending your money locally helps small businesses thrive in the East Village.

Local shopping also:
• Keeps more money in our community
• Creates local jobs with fair wages
• Sustains small business owners who defend our neighborhood’s identity
• Spending your money locally helps small businesses thrive in the East Village.

The newly available 7th Edition lists more than 450 local merchants and is available in shops and cafes in the neighborhood.