Someone is vandalizing the glass at 51 Astor Place

The other day, EVG regular Terry Howell noticed that workers were gluing sheets of clear plastic to the ground-floor windows on the Fourth Avenue side of the currently empty 12-story office building ...

"I asked them what's the purpose of the sheets, thinking that maybe the owners wanted to tone down the blinding glare and reflections from the building," said Terry, learning that "nothing civic minded was going on."

Turns out that people are scratching graffiti and what not on the windows. The sheets are a "protective covering" to prevent such acts from happening again in the future...







Apparently the abandoned building look isn't really in fashion here…

SantaCon organizers tweet helpful hints about being a good Santa (spoiler: 'No means no')

SantaCon is fast approaching (Saturday!) … and the SantaConning organizers have been taking to Twitter to remind participants of the proper decorum while staggering around dead-ass drunk enjoying the festivities.

The tweet advice included!

Dirty ol' Santa or Ho Ho Ho, just remember No Means No. #TheSantaCode #NYCSantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 9, 2013

And!

Don't fuck with KIDS. Don't fuck with COPS. Don't fuck with BAR STAFF. Don't fuck with NYC! #TheSantaCode #NYCSantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 7, 2013

And!

You better not puke. You better not pee. You better be good on the streets of NYC! #TheSantaCode #NYCSantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 7, 2013

Helpful? We'll find out! The group is reportedly starting SantaCon this year in Tompkins Square Park at 10 a.m.

[H/T Eater]

Here's how you can apply to be a community board member

Do you like long meetings? Do you enjoy having your name or photo appear on local blogs? Do you like neighborhood block associations? Then do we have a job for you!

No, no — we kid because we love… here's your chance to be part of your local Community Board … and be "representative voices" of your community.

From the EVG inbox yesterday...

The Manhattan Borough President's Office is currently accepting applications for community board membership. Community boards represent their neighborhoods on crucial issues such as development, land use, historic preservation and city service delivery. Serving on a board is an incredible opportunity to be at the forefront of sound community-based planning.

To find out more about Manhattan's community boards, learn how to apply for membership, or download an application, click here. Applications are due by February 1, 2014.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Stringer
Manhattan Borough President

Reader report: East Village Shoe Repair relocating to former home of David's Shoe Repair

East Village Shoe Repair closed for good at 1 St. Mark's Place last month.

However, a closure may be short-lived. Proprietor Boris Zuborev told a reader that they would reopen in the space that housed David's Shoe Repair on East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue… high rents chased the 35-year-old David's to Midtown back in the spring...



As for the former East Village Shoe Repair… next-door neighbor Unique Collection has taken over the space on St. Mark's near Third Avenue...

How rats get fat

Noting a new sign along Tompkins Square Park… around the East Ninth Street entrance at Avenue A ... a popular site for people to dump a few tons of bread for the pigeons…

Of course, some Park regulars like the rats fat.

It was a dark and foggy day...

Looking downtown… photo by Bobby Williams

Sources: It might snow tomorrow

Item! Snow in New York... in December! Novel!

Depending on the source, we could see between 1-3 inches...

...or between 3-6 inches...

Either way, we will have a chance to rebuild the mini Straw-Through-the-Head Snowman in Tompkins Square Park.

Champagne wishes

East Houston and First Avenue last night via EVG contributor James Maher. (Find more of his photos here.)

The legal battle over the estate of Johnny Thunders

The New York Post brings news of the complicated legal battle that has taken shape over the estate of Johnny Thunders, the one-time New York Doll, Heartbreaker and Avenue A resident.

At the time of his death at age 38 in April 1991, Thunders — born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. — apparently had about $4k to his name. However, his sister in Queens, the administrator of his estate, parlayed that sum into several hundred thousand dollars through the years.

Since she died four years ago, none of his heirs have reportedly received any payments.

Per the Post:

Thunders’ half-Swedish daughter, Jamie Michelle Susanne Genzale, 26, was set to take over as administrator of the remaining $160,000 when all hell broke loose.

Jamie, a single mom working as a shop clerk in Stockholm, couldn’t afford the $75,000 bond that’s required by the court for her oversee the payments — so no one has been paid in four years, her Swedish lawyer told The Post.

But Thunders’ sons, Vito and Dino Genzale, are now suing to bar her from controlling the funds.

Vito , 36, of New York, has done stints in the state’s toughest lockups, including Attica and Sing Sing, for drug dealing.

Dino, 34, of Texas, has a rap sheet that spans 16 years and four states with charges ranging from marijuana and cocaine offenses to robbery, theft, indecent exposure and assault.

And now the sons are trying to track down their mother as well, whose last-known address was in Springfield, Ohio, to get her on their side in the ongoing legal fight.

Previously on EV Grieve:
On the phone with Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls

After 18 years, Il Bagatto has closed on East 2nd St.; but you can still get their food next door

Il Bagatto has closed on East Second Street. The restaurant took its usual summer break in late July … and never reopened.

The owners, husband-and-wife Julio Pena and Beatrice Tosti di Valminuta, made the official announcement on Friday in an email to its friends and regulars… the good news is that their sister cafe, Il Posto Accanto, remains open next door… and Il Bagatto's food is still available there for delivery.

Here is the official closure notice:

After 18 years filled with hard work, joy, so many new friends and some tears, we are closing down our first child and beloved... Il Bagatto

BUT we are all here, right next door at Il Posto Accanto!

B is still cooking, Julio is still hosting and you will recognize our wonderful family of staff that has been with us since forever both in the kitchen and on the floor.

Come to visit and support our family venture at 190 East 2nd street, have your favorite Il Bagatto dishes and let the staff help you navigate the Il Posto Accanto full menu.

I am positive you will find new favorites to add to old ones.

A listing for the Il Bagatto and Il Posto Accanto spaces at 190-192 E. Second St. near Avenue B showed up on the RKF site back in January … no word on the status of that...

In the newest installment of how to steal a bike and destroy a tree in the East Village

An EVG reader who lives on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B shared this story about a young tree on the south side of the street … late Saturday night, "there was still a living tree there, and a bike stupidly locked to it."

And then yesterday morning?

The tree was basically snapped and half… and the bike was gone…



"Unbelievable; that tree was doing so well until someone thought it was a good idea to destroy it to steal an old bike," said the reader. "What an awful loss to our block."

Figaro Villaggio announces itself on First Avenue

Signs are up now for Figaro Villaggio, the Italian wine bar-restaurant taking over the Banjara space on First Avenue and East Sixth Street. (Banjara is now sharing space with its sister restaurant Haveli on Second Avenue.)



We're assuming the Figaro folks will be painting the restaurant's exterior… because the existing Banjara blue and the new Figaro colors are currently clashing.

Figaro Villaggio is from the same owner as La Pasta Bistro Grill on MacDougal ... and the same owner currently has a Figaro Bistro Grill on Second Avenue between 50th and 51st...

And Figaro Villaggio is on tonight's CB3/SLA committee docket for a new liquor license. The paperwork (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website show proposed hours of 10 a.m. - 1 a.m. Sunday-Thursday; until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

No word on an opening date. A look inside reveals that there's a lot of work to do.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Banjara space yielding to Figaro Bistro Grill, 15 comments

Banjara moving soon to the Haveli space on Second Avenue

Happy news for Lucky's Dry Cleaners and Laundry on East 11th Street

At the end of November, we reported that Lucky's Dry Cleaner and Laundrys would have to close… in part because the landlord apparently wanted to break proprietor Linda's lease while she took an indefinite leave of absence to care for a family member in China.

However, EVG reader Brian Katz happily passes along an update on the situation here. Linda's landlord is allowing her to leave to attend to her family while also allowing her to transfer her store (for the duration?) to her good friend who has more than a decade of experience running a laundry and dry cleaners.

Craigslist ad of the day

We'll keep this in the ad's all-cap style… and presented without comment...

LOCATED IN MANHATTANS HIPSTER TERRITORY!!! YOU NEED NOT SAY MORE ABOUT THIS GEM....!!CAN YOU IMAGINE WALKING TWO OR THREE BLOCKS TO CLASSES... HANGING OUT LATE NIGHT....THEN WALKING HOME.... DOING THE DOUBLE HEEL TAP IN THE AIR!!! HAHAHA!!! JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED!! "I THINK THIS SPELLS SATISFACTION FOR ME AND MY ROOMIE!!!!

Uh, WOOOOOOO?

[H/T Bagel Guy]

OK, here's 84 Third Ave. without the scaffolding and stuff

Hey! It's our now weekly look at 84 Third Ave., the Karl Fischer-designed 9-story retail-residential complex at East 12th Street… now without any construction netting, scaffolding, etc.

Check it out. It doesn't cost anything to just look…





Photos by peter radley

When it snows

Well, we mostly survived the Great Snowstorm of Dec. 8.™

And no snowfall, however light, could go without someone scrawling the outline of a penis on a car. Dave on 7th and others noted an array of crude snowffiti along East Seventh Street and Avenue B and Avenue C...

Well, if this kind of thing will continue to happen (oh, and it will) … then we might as well make it look pretty...



Thanks to Luke on 7th for the above image.

And now, the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree

After this afternoon's tree lighting ceremony…

Photo by peter radley

Week in Grieview

[Dr. Jones I presume? Yesterday on 2nd Avenue]

John's of 12th Street has a new owner (Thursday)

Visit the East Village of 1967 (Tuesday)

7-Eleven closes on St. Mark's Place (Sunday … Wednesday)

SantaCon will start on Dec. 14 in TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK (Thursday)

Out and About with Rew Starr (Wednesday)

Comet watching in the East Village (Monday)

AC plummets from the Christodora House (Friday)

Vicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches has closed (Wednesday)

10-story building in the works for this East Houston corner (Monday)

East Village gift ideas (Friday)

A decrease in the number of chain stores in zip 10009 (Wednesday)

Red Hook Lobster Pound coming to the East Village (Tuesday)

Saved by the Book underway at St. Mark's Bookshop (Tuesday)

Cafe Rakka closes; Rakka Cafe reopens (Monday)

Mudspot Café now open in First Park (Thursday)

A St. Mark's Place scene: A Mercedes, some pot and the Bieber on the stereo (Tuesday)

A new restaurant taking over the Toucan and the Lion space on East Sixth Street (Friday)

Just another Saturday night and ...

East Fifth Street Stretch Hummer Sweet Action.

Reminders: The 22nd annual Tree Lighting at Tompkins Square Park is today

From 4-5 … details are on the flyer below...


[Bobby Williams]

Previously

Peter Stuyvesant Post Office now also open to ruin your Sundays this month

The Sunday hours continue this month at the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office on East 14th Street. (And apparently not everyone could agree on the hours, as you can see that 2 p.m. got changed to 1 p.m.)



Regardless! We all know how much fun it is going here. (A reminder here and here.)

And people, as people do, have taken to Yelp to offer their opinions on this branch … the overall average rating: 1 star!



Here's one recent 1-star review:

This place is hell on earth. I'm writing this review whilst standing in line- it's now been over an hour waiting to pick up an express international courier package I never received a notice for (with everyone else that's been screwed over by usps in this area)

I feel like it's a Survivor TV show challenge- survival of the postal service fittest. I'm watching people concede the line after waiting TOO long, hungry babies crying, there are the elderly sitting on the floor due to body aches, there are loud fits and nervous breakdowns from customers at the service box when rude staff aren't helpful after they've been waiting a half life for a stamp.

2 hours later, I need to pee. And I'm still waiting.

In any event, this is likely the last holiday season here … as this branch is supposedly closing in the spring. The USPS will lease the former Duane Reade on East 14th Street near First Avenue for retail services, such as stamp sales and P.O. boxes.

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

Concern mounts for snowman on Second Avenue

Passersby are troubled by the snowman continuously nodding off on the job here on Second Avenue near East Houston…





How do you explain this to the children?

Tonight's sunset

Photo by Jason Hammonds

Today's (hungry) hawks

Above, on East 11th Street off First Avenue via Greg Matherly of Reciprocal Skateboards…

And in Tompkins Square Park via Goggla… (find more hawk highlights from today here)



… and Bobby Williams…

A SantaCon warm-up?

In Tompkins Square Park this afternoon… The fellows told EVG contributor Derek Berg that they had nothing to do with SantaCon, which is next Santarday … Gotta be careful to be a Santa around here apparently...

A SantaCon warm-up?

Strummer's Greetings

Looking festive here on East 7th and Avenue A…

'Pop-up art show' tonight at the former PS 64

We continue to wait to learn about the dorm fate of the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street.

Meanwhile, Joselyn McDonald, a first-year MFA Design and Technology graduate student at Parsons the New School for Design, is hosting a video projection installation outside the building tonight at 6.

"I don't have a political agenda in doing this, rather, I wanted to do a video art installation for the community, and the fate/history of CHARAS was suggested to me time and time again by the members of many community organizations," said McDonald, an East Village resident. "It's really just a celebration of the rich history of the community. I think PS 64 is a strong focal point for letting that narrative unravel."

She plans to project "historic and contemporary images and video of PS 64 on the façade of the front of this esteemed school and community center. PS 64's role in the community, represents to [me] the way physical places can become essentially another integral member of the community."

And there will be snacks.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

[Updated] At the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY'

Landmarks Preservation Commission asks to see modified plans for former PS 64

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

Hold it now

On East Fourth Street yesterday afternoon… photos by EVG contributor Derek Berg… and we have no idea what the shoot was for...

Cab, East 14th Street, rain

Jesus Saves

The Jesus And Mary Chain with "Never Understand" from 1985.

This air conditioner fell from the Christodora House today

Dang. EVG regular Jose Garcia was on the scene on East Ninth Street just east of Avenue B around noon. "It came perilously close to hitting a pedestrian. Totally freaked everyone out."

According to Jose, it appears that the AC unit came from near the top of the building — roughly three floors down from the roof.

Previously

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[East 9th Street at Second Avenue]

Sara D. Roosevelt Park is planning a "touch-and-scent" garden for the visually impaired (DNAinfo)

Q-and-A with St. Mark's Bookshop co-owner Terry McCoy (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Fighting back against the chain invasion (Off the Grid)

The future of one of the Bowery's oldest existing buildings (BoweryBoogie)

A lot of Lou Reed bootlegs (Dangerous Minds)

Trouble for Rev. Billy after his toad bank protest (The Villager)

Cashing in on a Grand Street building (The Lo-Down)

Reader mailbag: Do you have any suggestions for East Village-related holiday gifts?

Pretty straightforward question.

But there are many variables or something. Like! Who the gift is for. Do they live here now? Did they used to live here and are a little nostalgic? Blah blah. (In the reader's case, the gift is for his girlfriend who he shares an apartment with…)

I suggested buying a print from the Museum of the City of New York's archives. As an example. Here is the view to the northwest from the roof of the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street circa Feb. 5, 1929.

[From the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York]

There are also a few cool things for sale (T-shirts, books, zines, etc.) at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) at 155 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

The reader was interested in hearing suggestions from other readers… which might be a really bad idea. Kidding! So does anyone have a suggestion that isn't related to Hoboken hoofs/hooves or isn't blatant Yelp-like shilling for a particular store? (It's OK to name a store, as long as you don't seem spammy or public relationsy about it.)

And sadly, because someone will ask, all the items from the 2010 EV Grieve Last-Minute Gift Guide are thankfully sold out…



-------------

We often get reader queries ... asking for help with, say, donating clothes or books ... or finding an East Village-based caterer... If you have a question for the masses, then try the EV Grieve email...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Places to eat that have that old East Village vibe (45 comments)

Reader mailbag: What do I do about my new neighbors who smoke pot all the time? (52 comments)

Reader mailbag: Where is a good place to get a cup of coffee in the East Village before 6 a.m.? (25 comments)