I felt a great disturbance in the Force this morning on East 7th Street

And why do people who live on East Seventh Street throw away "Star Wars" posters?

Photo by Derek Berg

This Robyn laid some luxury apartments on East 3rd Street; pet spa included

[316 E. Third St. last night]

To the EVG inbox ...

Miron Properties, a full-service, real-estate brokerage firm ... announces it has been retained by developers David Amirian, Eric Brody and Joseph Klaynberg, along with JSR Capital to lease and manage The Robyn, a modern new construction rental development located at 316 East 3rd Street in the East Village. The leasing office opens next week and renting will begin immediately.

The Robyn, built by Wonder Works Construction, is a 33-unit, 8 story building designed by architect Karl Fischer comprised of 12 studios, 17 1BRs and 4 duplex penthouse 2BRs, with private outdoor terraces, including double height living room space. They range in price from: $2,100 and up for studios, $2,495 and up for 1BRs, and $3,375, and up for the duplex penthouses.

Each apartment features stainless steel appliances, granite kitchens, marble baths, and in-unit washer/dryers. All penthouse residences feature private outdoor space.

The elevator building features a roof deck, storage units, bike storage, pet spa and boasts many new technologies including a new laundry device by Clean Cube and mobile video intercom/security system by Butterfly MX.

“The area is gentrifying and with all that is going on with the neighborhood, we are very excited to bring this on as a new addition,” says David Amirian, developer.

Okey-dokey!

And here is The Robyn website … where you can learn more about, uh, The Robyn … (anyone care to explain that name and its connection to the neighborhood?) …



And this seems to be the only interior shot so far…



So, to recap some recent history here, where a lovely home with gardens stood for nearly 177 years just a few storefronts to the west of Avenue D…

Workers finished demolishing the house in March 2012. The home was last owned by Barden Prisant, a former member of Community Board 3, who now lives in Brooklyn.

According to an article on living in Prospect Park South in the Times dated Oct. 6, 2011, Prisant and his wife "decided to sell their house in the East Village because a tall building was to go up next to their beloved backyard." (The in-progress Alphabet Plaza.)

Preservation groups to try to protect the circa-1835 house here, but the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected a hearing.

[EVG file photo]



The final product will look something like …


[Brody/Amirian]


[The view from East Houston. Hey, Robyn!]

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

33-unit, Karl Fischer-designed building rising at former home of Community Board 3 member

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

Lovely townhouse with bucolic gardens on East Third Street ready for "creative expansion"

316 E. Third St. has been demolished

Reader report: Crab Shack in the works for former Japadog space on St. Mark's Place

[EVG file photo]

After two-plus years at 30 St. Mark's Place, Japadog closed for good this past Feb. 28.

Interior renovations started yesterday on the next venture: Crab Shack, a restaurant specializing in (duh) crab … this info is via neighbor Jordy Trachtenberg, who spoke with one of the owners.

And that's all the info that we have at the moment…

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking: Japadog is closing for good after tonight on St. Mark's Place

Now, for real, final pieces of 6-year-old sidewalk bridge come down on St. Mark's Place

[April 23]

Oh boy were we faked out back on April 23 … when, after six-plus years, workers began taking down the sidewalk bridge outside 32 and 34 St. Mark's Place.

But! A chunk of the bridge/scaffolding remained up outside No. 34.

Until Wednesday night, when crews returned …



And it was a job that stretched into yesterday morning…



And by late afternoon! Sidewalk! Oh sidewalk!



And Khyber Pass!



Oh sidewalk!



According to the DOB, the city issued the permit for the sidewalk bridge in February 2008. As far as anyone can recall, no work had ever been done on the buildings at 32 or 34 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue during this time.

Previously on EV Grieve:
St. Mark's sidewalk shed celebrates fourth anniversary

Happy 5th Birthday to the sidewalk shed of St. Mark's Place!

Miracle on St. Mark's! Sidewalk bridge comes down 6-plus years later!

Reader report: Ramen Kuboya moving away from East 5th Street

Workers have been clearing out the noodle shop here at 536 E. Fifth St. near Avenue B.

Word via @zmack is that Kuboya is on the move west to Cornelia Street. (There isn't a mention of this yet on their website or social media sites. The phone has also been disconnected.)

Perhaps the competition from the more-established Minca Ramen next door was too much.

As we understand it, a "contemporary Asian" restaurant is in the works for the 50-seat space. (See this PDF from CB3 for more details.)

536 E. Fifth St. was previously home to (briefly!) Village East Bistro and Le Gamin.

What's happening with Xi’an Famous Foods on St. Mark's Place?

[Wednesday]

A few readers have asked about the status of 81 St. Mark's Place … home to Xi’an Famous Foods. The popular noodle shop closed for renovations back on March 17. Xi’an was expected to be closed an estimated three-four weeks.

Some worried fans noticed the lack of activity here … as well as a growing pile of mail on the floor.

However, workers were back on the scene yesterday …



And here are tweets from Xi’an explaining the delay …

Still waiting on EV! The building is fixing a gas leak & it might take a month for DOB+ConEd approval. If anyone knows people, hit us up!

— Xi'an Famous Foods (@xianfoods) April 25, 2014

@JocelynKowald soon...we are fixing up a tangle with DOB

— Xi'an Famous Foods (@xianfoods) May 28, 2014

City adjusts the bike lane on East 9th Street

[Last week!]

Last week we noted that bike lanes returned to the repaved East 10th Street and East Ninth Street. However, the city seemed to have made some kind of boo-boo on Ninth between First Avenue and Second Avenue, as you can see in the above reader-submitted photo.

However, the city made amends last night, as the DOT was out to adjust the white lines, via these photos by EVG reader Charlie Chen…







This also might put to rest the rumors that this block was intended to be used as an alien landing strip.

When Zoltar moves a little to his right…

In other important news stories today … we noticed this evening that someone moved Zoltar out from his usual perch in front of Gem on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place …



Or maybe he moved himself… get into the sidewalk flow more… (he has seemingly been pushy of late Yeah, yeah — I see you standing there too!) …

Anyway the move exposed an older Gem Spa sign … when they sold "foreign periodicals!"

[Updated] Check out the line to get into Lonnegan's on Avenue B!

[Photo by EVG reader John]

Oh, just another shoot at Vazac's/7B/Horseshoe Bar today … here at East Seventh Street and Avenue B where the CBS show "Unforgettable" is filming… at Lonnegan's!

In recent years, 7B has also been called The Bushwhack (!!!!) for "Smash" …

[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Lehane's Tavern for some show called "Golden Boy" …

… the intersection was also moved for "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" …

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Updated 9:41 p.m.

The NYPD had to dispatch the SWAT team to Lonnegan's a little later when they ran out of $3 cans of Coors Light…


[Photo today by Bobby Williams]

Previously on EV Grieve:
7B in the movies

Manhattanhenge — 1 good reason to visit East 14th Street tonight

Oh! We just learned this via Gothamist:

Tonight is the first of the annual four Manhattanhenge events. Starting just around 8 p.m., the sun will align precisely with the Manhattan street grid, "illuminating both the north and south sides of every cross street of the borough's grid."

So be there tonight around 8:16 for the half sun on the grid; and 8:18 tomorrow for the whole shebang of the sun.

You may also experience this on 23rd, 34th, 42nd and 57th if you really want to.

The above photo is from 2009, when Manhattanhenge was so much better!

And now, another story from the Cadillac with the Tiger in it on East 2nd Street

EVG readers may know that we've long admired the above Cadillac on East Second Street ... the one with the stuffed Tiger in it, yes. So then we are especially thrilled to be presenting four stories from the Cadillac with the Tiger in it in the coming weeks... these are all true East Village stories told from the view of the Cadillac with the Tiger in it.

Another Story from the Cadillac with the Tiger in it (Part 2: Then and Now)

It used to be a lot different around here when I first arrived in the neighborhood. My owner purchased me from a couple in New Jersey for $450. (Back then I had 103,000 miles and the husband was worried I'd break down at any time and leave his wife stranded somewhere. Hell, that was 347,000 miles ago!)

All of the buildings on my block (East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue) were grey and black from grime and soot and covered with graffiti. This was before their facades were sandblasted/pressure washed by the current owners.

The locals wasted no time welcoming me to the neighborhood. My Cadillac hood ornament was stolen the first few nights I was here, and shortly afterwards all of my other exterior Cadillac emblems. (Kids at the time would make them into key chains.)



A sex worker broke my rear vent window so she could turn a trick in the back seat. (At least she used a condom, though I would have preferred that they cleaned up better after themselves!) Then a homeless guy slept in the car for several nights and told everyone he was my owner — until my real owner chased him out one morning at 5 with a baseball bat.

I was stolen three times. The first guy didn't get far because he couldn't figure out how to unlock my steering column. The last time was by some kids from the Avenue D projects who took me joyriding for the weekend until they ran out of gas. Fortunately, they left me only a couple of blocks away from where they stole me.

There used to be an officer from the 9th Precinct — Rodriguez is how he signed his citations. He knocked my side mirror off on four separate occasions and then ticketed my owner for not having the required operating equipment on me. What a guy!

One night one of those independent garbage carting trucks from New Jersey that terrorize pedestrians careened down the block at a high speed (heading in the wrong direction on the one way street I should add) and swerved into me and crushed my rear door and quarter panel. My owner caught up with him at the end of the block but the truck ended up having fake license plates and the driver had a fake driver's license, registration and insurance card. And the company with the mob-sounding name that the truck belonged to didn't exist.

Through it all the neighborhood was more car friendly back then. It was much easier to get a parking spot on my block. Joel Rifkin even parked his pick up truck in front of me a couple of times when he was out picking up and murdering streetwalkers from Allen and Forsythe Streets. His bumper sticker read "I'm not deaf, I'm ignoring you!"

There were two small parking lots, five gas stations, three auto parts stores, three tire shops and two car washes within a few blocks of East Second Street. Now all of them are gone except the one on 2nd Ave and East First Street and the Mobil station on Avenue C and East Second Street (although I hear that one's days are numbered).

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

Have things gotten any better in the last few years? Not really. Now it's a different set of jerks. Privileged ones who infiltrate the neighborhood on the weekends and make the East Village their playpen.

Three years ago some trust-fund kid smashed my windshield as a joke. That cost my owner $370. Then a drunk guy smashed in my rear passenger side window. That has proven to be more challenging to replace. An auto glass specialist in Hell's Kitchen told my owner that he could only locate one similar window within 300 miles and it would cost $475 to replace it, so it remains patched up with cardboard and a garbage bag.

Adding insult to injury, during a Friday furniture street-side pick-up night, five frat boys shoved a discarded dining room table underneath me and tore off my exhaust system. This is why I'm so loud now. To replace it would cost my owner $900-1,000.

So much has disappeared on and around my block: Frankie Splitz bar, Mars Bar, Cuando, Little Rickie's and most recently — Mr. Yoo's.

Soon I will, too, but on my own terms. First I'm going to smell the Black Locust trees in the Cemetery one last time.

Previously on EV Grieve:
That Cadillac that we've long admired on East 2nd St. now has a stuffed tiger on the front seat

And now, stories from the Cadillac with the Tiger in it on East 2nd Street

Also! The Cadillac with the Tiger in it now has its on website. Find that here.

NYPD looking for suspect accused of taking $11K from the Immaculate Conception Church

Police say that the man in the video below took $11,000 from Immaculate Conception Church on East 14th Street just east of First Avenue.

Per WABC 7's report:

The Rev. Kevin Nelan, a priest at Church of the Immaculate Conception, said the money was brought to the church for safekeeping. "The money he stole is from our hospital chaplain who lives here, who was holding it for a bishop who is visiting from Nigeria."

The chaplain was not able to deposit the money in the bank Friday, said Nelan, who thinks unfortunately the thief just got lucky. "That that room was open and that that kind of money was there, because normally there would not be that kind of money sitting there," he said.

If you have a tip about this case, then you may call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.

Now what for the Odessa Cafe and Bar?

The Odessa Cafe and Bar closed after service last Aug. 31.

Since then, there have been several suitors for this space at 117 Avenue A between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

In February, the plan called for a bar-restaurant serving Nashville Hot Chicken from a Ravi DeRossi-backed operator. However, as we understand it, the group backed out after failing to receive a 4 a.m. liquor license. More recently, an applicant, believed to have been someone affiliated with Webster Hall, withdrew from the May CB3/SLA committee meeting.

And CB3 released its June meetings agenda yesterday — no takers this time around for 117 Avenue A.

According to the listing on the Tower Brokerage & Picken Hospitality website, the asking rent is $22,500, plus a $50,000 fixtures fee. (A tipster also pointed us to a Craigslist ad for the space from a different broker where the asking rent is $19,500.)

Meanwhile, if you've looked inside in recent months, you can see that it is eerily preserved …



Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Former GM from Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs part of team to buy the Odessa Cafe

Reader report: Odessa Cafe and Bar will remain open through Sept. 6

Former Odessa Cafe and Bar will serve comfort food specializing in Nashville Hot Chicken

[Updated] A quick look at Coyote Ugly, now gutted on 1st Avenue

Coyote Ugly closed Tuesday for remodeling … with a grand reopening expected here at 153 First Ave. this coming Wednesday, according to the 21-year-old bar's website.

Well, they're not kidding around with that remodeling. EVG regular William Klayer took the above photo of the interior yesterday — not much left inside. A grand reopening next Wednesday seems optimistic at the moment.

Updated 2:34 p.m.

The Coyote Ugly floor is now outside the front doors. Get that wood while you can!


[Photo by William Klayer]

Harvest time at the 14th Street Y

Via the EVG inbox…

Each week, from June to October, locally grown, organic produce will once again be delivered to CSA members at the 14th Street Y.

CSA membership is open to everyone. Full and half shares are still available, sign-ups will close tomorrow. More info and sign-up here.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership where community members purchase shares of the season’s harvest directly from the farmer. Each week, members receive a box of the week’s freshest produce, delivered straight from the farm to their table.

Last years partnership with Mountain View Farm was a great success. A normal week’s share includes about a dozen different types of produce, depending on season, and averages about $27.

Besides delicious, fresh produce, some benefits of CSA membership include:

* Saving money
* More variety
* Fresher, more flavorful food
* Knowing where food comes from
* Reducing our carbon footprint
* Supporting local family farms

A special thanks to the 14th Street Y and Just food for helping to bring farm-fresh produce to our neighborhood.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Photo of Second Avenue by Derek Berg]

Cooper Union professors and students file suit to block university from charging tuition (The Daily News)

East 7th Street building centerpiece of unprecedented ruling regarding rent-stabilized apartments in co-ops (Habitat)

Sabu, leader of the hacker collective LulzSec who lives on Avenue D, walks (The New Yorker)

Vintage clothing shop from Scotland opening first U.S. location on East 9th Street (The Commercial Observer)

The last night of East Village Radio (The Observer)

The Orchard Hell Building will have a 13th floor pool bar (BoweryBoogie)

Mayor de Blasio bans media from dozens of events (The Associated Press)

Jan Sun Laundry on East 17th Street is closing (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

... and here is information about this year's annual Schoolapalooza event for the Children's Workshop School on East 12th Street ...



The event is Friday night at the Paul Taylor Dance Company Studios, 551 Grand St. ... and will feature Lisa Lisa (of 1980s Cult Jam fame) ... whose sister is school principal Maria Velez-Clarke.

Out and About in the East Village, Part 1

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: Christopher Reisman
Occupation: Police Officer, retired
Location: 9th Precinct, 5th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue
Time: 11 a.m. on Monday, May 5

I’ve lived here since 1969 and I also used to work here. I was a cop. I grew up in the suburbs, in Westchester, and I left school early and wound up in the Army when I was 21 years old. Most of the guys who I was hanging out with there were from New York.

I got out after three years — two years, 11 months and 14 days. I knocked around for a little while and came over to the neighborhood when I was 25. When I was in college I used to come around here for music. I used to listen to a lot of music. You had the Five Spot on 5th Street and then they moved up to St. Marks. You had Port of Call East, East Village Inn, Pee Wee’s, Slug’s.

The area always intrigued me. It has always been unusual. The area was unique in the city for a number of reasons. It had been crushed by urban renewal. There was a very strong neighborhood identification in those days. There were Polish blocks and Italian blocks and Ukrainian Blocks. For the most part, the Jewish families were gone by then. In those days, nobody owned the entire neighborhood. They might have owned their own blocks, but no one group was strong enough to bully the others. If you were going to be a bully you had to stay on your own block. It was almost exclusively blue collar. By the late ‘60s people were starting to be damaged by the war.

As in most communities, the low level criminality was always the cottage industry — selling little pieces of dope or betting on the numbers. Socially, everybody stood down from whatever their position or status was. I remember in Phebe's you’d see cops, actors, firemen, dancers, kids from Chinese youth gangs, and Hells Angels all drinking together, because nobody was in charge. That was the deal.

There were a lot of people involved in the arts because they could afford to live here and work some little job to pay the rent and then practice the rest of the time. It was always to a degree bohemian. It was inexpensive. It was a community that did not for the most part sit and judge you. Everybody had a place as long as you didn’t impose yourself on people.

I knew Hilly Kristal, the guy that owned CBGB. That was an interesting place. It was kind of a sentiment of the times too There were some of us who drank at his other bars — he had a bar on West 9th Street and another bar on West 13th Street, and those were part of the nightlife. We all knew each other and long story short, the night before he opened Hilly’s on the Bowery, typically, he was not ready to open. He still had to put down the floor, which he had neglected to do. So it was me, my roommate who was an electrician, a waiter, and one of his bartenders, and we laid the floor the night before he opened, for a bar tab. This was probably in ‘73 or ’74.

When I joined the cops, I kind of engineered my assignment here, and I wasn’t disappointed. I worked at the 9th Precinct and I first started in May 1969. You had an area where there wasn’t a lot of money and there was certainly very little affluence. For the most part it was not considered a choice assignment. As a matter of fact, very often, cops who couldn’t be punished would be assigned here under the theory of how much harm can they do?

Beginning in the late 1960s, drugs started to erode the social fabric of the neighborhood. I didn’t have any basis for comparison because I hadn’t lived here before, but it became very obvious that this was increasing. There was also a little street culture here, for everybody, in the sense that most people lived in very small apartments, but they lived with their whole families and there was no air conditioning.

Consequently, any opportunity they could get out the apartment was a good thing. So people literally lived on the sidewalks. It was either that or go to a gin mill. It was much, much tougher. Jail was not a unique experience. The sensibilities and sensitivities of incarceration were pretty much evident on the street. If you stepped on somebody’s foot and didn’t sincerely apologize, you’d probably get badly hurt.

We came right during a social change, for us as well, because the department and the city were changing rapidly. The older fellows… we learned from some of the smartest cops in the city, because they had defeated the police department. There were some very creative and intelligent men. Many of them were veterans from the Korean War and several World War II vets. They were all from the city. And then there were the people that you didn’t want to spend any time with.

In those days you worked around the clock. We used to say, if you want to [sleep on the job] it was pretty safe in the daytime, you could go to sleep, because nothing was going to happen. From 10 at night to seven in the morning it was usually pretty busy. They called it the three-platoon system. The first platoon was from midnight to eight, the second was the day shift, and the third platoon was four pm to midnight, and it changed every week. Consequently, you were always sleep deprived.

As time went on you’d probably end up in a job where your hours were a little more regular, but by that time your children were already grown, and your wife was already completely estranged. It was tough that way. There was a very intelligent reform, maybe around the late ‘70s, when they gave cops the opportunity to pick their hours. It also gave them an opportunity to get side jobs, because when you worked around the clock it became very difficult to get a part-time job.

For a cop to get a side job they had to submit a request and identify the employer, get permission and almost always the conditions were impossible, so the cops would take the job on the side and hope they didn’t get caught, cause you had to. I was making a $112 a week, but I was single. If you had a family, you couldn’t do it. Now you had a choice. You either had a part time job or you get cozy with somebody who was going to give you money. In many cases, to some extent it was deliberate by the powers that be. Jimmy Walker had a famous saying when somebody came up to him and said the cops want a raise. He said, ‘Let them get their own raise.’

When I came on the job the police department was very conservative, and part of it still is today. A policeman was fired because he was living in sin with his girlfriend. If you were working here, everybody in the whole world is doing it. The irony was very often that the cops were expected to respect the rights of the individual that they themselves were not entitled.

The early ‘70s was at a time where the police department as a whole was very passive. If you were in uniform and arrested a man for narcotics, the cop would be investigated automatically. If you had too many of these they assumed you were a crook. The official orders would be, if you see narcotics, do not take action. So the public sees me walking by a drug dealer and thinks I’m corrupt. Out of an effort to be genuinely pristine, the job inadvertently created a mass corruption image. So Tompkins Square Park was the result of this type of a free zone, which was really sad for the people that had no other place to be. It was pretty much no blood, no foul.

For the most part, I always worked at night. I worked what was called the public morals, which was called the vice squad. I was assigned to the career criminal apprehension unit. I did that for three years and then went into detective work. I was what they called an active cop. I made a lot of arrests.

We would get what you’d call a kite from a precinct commander, ‘there’s a bookie and he’s working out of candy store x’. We’d go in and place bets and so on. When we started here we didn’t have radios. When you worked the foot post you worked by yourself and it was very instructive because you had to learn how to cope with whatever was going on by yourself without any help. It was only your reputation or how you presented yourself initially that enabled you to do anything at all so you stayed alive.

Burglaries were certainly prevalent. We used to wonder whether there were more than five television sets in the entire precinct, because they would be stolen and resold everyday, which was particularly savage because it was almost always poor people being robbed. The poor people were at the mercy of the vestiges of the middle class and the upper class. Polite solutions were imposed on situations that just didn’t work.

Everybody has watched television, and so everybody knows about crime and how that works and how institutional corruption works, but they don’t have a clue. It’s not their fault. They’ve been educated to think that they know. So this also created problems for us, not the least of which was that none of us have a 26-minute solution to a problem. It’s much more dull and much more unsatisfactory.

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

In Part 2, Christopher Reisman talks about the murder of his partner in 1975.

A Feast/Google Glass post mortem

Last Friday, we posted about a patron at Feast who was asked to remove her Google Glass headset before dining at the restaurant on April 20. Apparently guests had voiced their privacy concerns when another Glass Explorer dined there a few weeks earlier. In that situation, the Glass wearer quickly consented to remove the Glass.

The diner on April 20, NYC resident Katy Kasmai, the organizer of a Google Glass user group, refused to do so, and left the restaurant.

She wrote about the incident on Google +. Shortly afterwards, 13 one-star reviews of Feast appeared on Google from people who commented on Kasmai's post. The negative reviews were not based on the restaurant's food, but rather the no-Glass policy.

The story quickly became what Adam Chandler described at The Wire as "a flashpoint in the Google Glass battle" … and there was plenty of back-and-forth between the so-called Glassholes and those who, well, are not.

The incident received ample coverage in the tech press, including Mashable, CNet, ValleyWag and Daring Fireball, among others.

Now for a little EVG navel-gazing — the post because the fourth-most viewed in the blog's 7-year history. Still going to take quite a push to top the posts related to topless women.

And what about for Feast? Last Friday morning, there were 28 Google reviews, good for a 3.1 out of 5 rating. As of last evening, there were 529 Google reviews, which pushed the rating up to 4.5.

Here is part of one new 5-star review:

Any restaurant that stands up to the Google Glass bullies deserves 1,000 stars. I sincerely hope Feast reads this review and sues every reviewer who unfairly left them one star reviews because Google Glassholes retaliated after being asked to remove their Google Glasses so diners could dine in peace. I can't wait to go back to this great place. Google Glassholes are obnoxious c**** (rhymes with "runts") and I hope if there is a hell, they all rot in it for all eternity.

And what is the reaction from Feast? We reached out to management for comment.

"We're totally blown away," a restaurant rep told us. "We knew the story had some elements that people would be passionate about, but not to this extent. We've even gotten emails from people all over the world supporting us. Not to mention the Google reviews. I mean, it's sort of all a joke now, but I'm glad it happened because the whole online rating system for restaurants is flawed and this sort of proves our point, which was one of the original points we wanted to make, but it pretty much turned into a privacy war. Don't get us wrong though, we are incredibly humbled by the fact that 500-plus people would spend their time leaving a review for us."

As for Katy Kasmai, the spurned Google Glass wearer who sparked this debate…

Completely appreciate concerns over @googleglass. Best way to understand it is to try it, and @feastnyc has kindly invited the opportunity.
— Katy Kasmai (@KatyKasmai) May 25, 2014

Absolutely did not encourage people to post fake reviews and asking folks to please not do so. @sarahpriceless @benparr @NickStarr @feastnyc
— Katy Kasmai (@KatyKasmai) May 25, 2014

The Feast rep confirmed that the two sides did reach out … with an offer of a Google Glass tutorial for the taking.

"Things got out of hand really fast and we just wanted to get a handle on things before we set anything up," the Feast rep said. "As we have said before, our decision is fully based on customers and we never harbored any ill will toward Katy.

"Our decision to meet Katy is based off the fact that we do try to give everyone the best possible experience and if this is something that is important to her and will maybe have us understand Glass more, then we're for it. However, it's our customers who matter to us, and if the overwhelming majority are uncomfortable with Glass, then our policy stands. It's pretty interesting how passionate the pro-Glass and anti-Glass sides are. The arguments and comments have strayed so far from something so simple as a policy at a private establishment. We require people to be clothed when they come in, although that's never been an issue — nobody's ever argued about it. We asked Katy to take her Glass off, just a policy. Not discrimination."

Previously on EV Grieve:
A Google Glass Feast (77 comments)

Plywood arrives at East 3rd Street lot, site of incoming 6-floor apartment building

Workers have put up plywood outside the fence at 321 E. Third St. between Avenue C and Avenue D … where there are approved plans for a 6-story, 30-unit apartment complex …



Perhaps some work is imminent at this long-vacant lot, which has been home to an encampment of casitas as well as an annex for the Orchard Alley Community Garden. Queens-based Venetian Management LLC is listed as the owner on DOB records. Gerald J. Caliendo is listed at the architect of record.

Directly across the street at 316-318 is the construction of the Karl Fischer-designed, 33-unit apartment building.

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

[Updated] 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe looks to be closing once the building is sold

[EVG file photo]

Last June, we spotted a listing for 174-176 First Ave. At the time, the sale didn't mention anything about the status of longtime (since 1904) home of the great DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe at No. 176.

However, several EVG tipsters have forwarded updated real-estate listings … showing that the retail spaces in the basement and first floor of No. 176 will be delivered vacant once the buildings sell … (this may be news to the bakery, who say that they are not closing)



This listing, via a tipster, shows the current rent going for $4,000 a month for the bakery, with a projected monthly increase to $19,583.

DeRobertis has their in-house bakery in the basement.

The asking price is $12 million. (And at least one listing mentions that 4,162 square feet of air rights are available.)

City records show that the DeRobertis family has owned the buildings for 30-plus years.

Here's some history of the bakery via the DeRobertis website …

There are not many Pasticceria and Caffe's that can actually claim four continuous generations of friendly, family service. Our family tradition has survived through all types of conditions such as World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the fabulous Fifties, the Vietnam War, the recession of the 70's, the boom of the 80's ... With hard work, a determination to provide the finest pastries, cakes and desserts and your patronage, we will continue into the 21st Century.

Read more about the history of DeRobertis on their website.

So this appears to be the family's decision to retire — they weren't pushed out. Regardless, go enjoy this East Village treasure while you still can.

[EVG file photo]

Updated: A DeRobertis family member said that closure was only "a rumor."

Previously on EV Grieve:
174-176 First Ave., home of DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe, is for sale

Coyote Ugly is closed for remodeling; 'rebirth' on the way

We spotted workers gutting the Coyote Ugly space at 153 First Ave. yesterday … (at one point the crew dragged out the actual bar — oh and we missed that photo op! Think of all that Lynyrd Skynyrd the bar has endured!).

Anyway, here's the deal via the Coyote Ugly website:

Tue, May 27 — Tue, Jun 3 Closed for Remodeling
Wed, Jun 5 — Grand Reopening 5:00 PM

Please come back to the future with us at our grand reopening and let us shower you with the power of love in our new and improved bar! We can't wait to celebrate our rebirth with you!

Coyote Ugly opened here between East 9th Street and East 10th Street on Jan. 27, 1993.

RIP old bar… #woo