Taking Citi Bikes for a bike ride

Spotted on Avenue D this morning... We've never noticed this more environmentally friendly way to transport bikes from one station to the next... via @artisanmatters

The Olympic Restaurant may close for good as soon as tomorrow

With the star-spangled Essex Crossing retail-residential complex on the way to the Lower East Side, the life expectancy of the Olympic Restaurant at the corner of Delancey and Essex has been relatively short.

In fact, the 34-year-old diner has been on a month-to-month lease for some time, as The Lo-Down pointed out almost two years ago to this day.

And BoweryBoogie reported that demo permits for the single-level structure that also houses the neighboring Jade Fountain liquor store were filed in late May.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the other day for what very well may be a last meal at the Olympic...









The waitress told Stacie that owner Steve Palakas is going to court tomorrow to fight to stay open for another few months. If things don't go his way, then tomorrow is probably the last day for the diner.



The Olympic has been the no-frills kind of place where you can get an egg and cheese on a roll and a glass of frothy lemonade and receive back change from a $5.



As Jeremiah Moss wrote after a recent visit to the Olympic, the restaurant wasn't offered space in Essex Crossing. It doesn't "have a place among the artisan bread and cupcake shops, the Prada and Pastis that fill the architect's renderings of the new shopping mall to come. When it's all done, Delancey will be a very different place."

Retail space housing The Smith and M2M asking $25.5 million on 3rd Avenue

[Image via Massey Knakal]

The Benchmark Real Estate Group picked up the 12-story residential building with retail space on the southeast corner of Third Avenue and East 11th Street late last year for a whopping $57 million.

The developers are currently gut renovating the building, now called Eleventh and Third, upgrading the space to luxury apartments that will fetch more than $10K a month for two bedrooms.

Now the retail space — three separate spaces encompassing 15,000 square feet — is on the market with an asking price of $25.5 million.

Here are details from the Massey Knakal listing:

The plans call for the existing lobby space to be moved further east along 11th Street which will allow the current lobby to be incorporated into the corner retail space upon vacancy, thus increasing the most valuable Third Avenue ground floor retail footage by approximately 1,314 square feet. Upon M2M vacating and the implementation of the proposed strategy, there is potential to instantly double the asset’s net operating income.

Currently, 2 of the spaces are occupied by locally anchored tenants The Smith, a casual and lively American brasserie with three locations in NYC, and M2M, the area’s convenient grocery store. The Smith currently occupies approximately 3,886 SF above grade and pays $496,500 annually equating to approximately $127 psf. M2M currently occupies the corner space which totals approximately 3,266 SF above grade paying approximately $352,315 annually equating to approximately $108 psf.

These leases expire in 2027 and 2017 respectively with no further extension options or renewals for either tenant. The remaining unit, with frontage on East 11th Street, will be delivered vacant at the time of sale.

So M2M or The Smith aren't going anywhere for a few years. But they will have to vacate upon the end of their respective leases. That third storefront is already vacant. NY Copy & Printing moved to East Seventh Street after 22 years on East 11th Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Someone actually paid $57 million for this East Village building

Reimagining this 12-story East Village building, now on the market

NY Copy & Printing forced out of longtime E. 11th St. home, opening second location on E. 7th St.

Rebranded 'Eleventh and Third' will have rentals upwards of $10k

St. Mark's Bookshop closes Monday ahead of move to new home on East 3rd Street

[Photo by Jeremiah Moss via Facebook]

From the St. Mark's Bookshop Facebook page:

On June 23 we close at 10 pm and hope to open a few days later at 136 East 3rd St.

The bookshop has been at 31 Third Ave. and Stuyvesant Street since 1992, and in the neighborhood a total of 37 years.


[EVG file photo]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: St. Mark's Bookshop prepping fundraiser ahead of possible move to Avenue A.

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

Report: St. Mark's Bookshop signs lease for East 3rd Street space

Renovations at the future St. Mark's Bookshop on East 3rd Street

Gutted Cow

[Photo yesterday by EVG reader jcroot]

The Sunburnt Cow closed for good on April 27 after 11 years at 137 Avenue C near East Ninth Street.

Work has started on a building-wide gut renovation, which will see the addition of an extra floor all via architect Ramy Issac.

EVG regular Dave on 7th got a look inside the former Sunburnt Cow yesterday, and didn't find much resembling a bar left...





Previously on EV Grieve:
Renovations in store for 137 Avenue C, home to the Sunburnt Cow

The Sunburnt Cow closes for good at the end of this month

Maiden Lane debuts its sidewalk cafe

The folks at Maiden Lane, the 13-month-old cafe on Avenue B and East 10th Street, let us know that their sidewalk cafe opened on Tuesday ... with eight tables on the East 10th Street side facing Tompkins Square Park.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's what's coming to the former Life Cafe space

The Copper Still signage is up, and an opening is near

As we mentioned last Thursday, Ryan's Irish Pub at 151 Second Ave. closed after 22 years here near East Ninth Street ... to make way for The Copper Still, run by partners who include a former Ryan's manager.

Workers finished up the façade yesterday, as you can see from the above photo. According to the bar's Facebook page, they'll be opening today, if all goes well.

Meanwhile, you can check out the Still's food and drink menus here.

Updated:

They are now open.

DBGB apparently parted with these chairs on the Bowery

Or else they are expanding their sidewalk cafe!

EVG regular Derek Berg spotted these early last evening...

A message from Bobby Flay

A note to NY landlords. Good restaurants are closing all over the city because the rents are impossible to pay. Stop turning NYC into a mall

— Bobby Flay (@bflay) June 18, 2014

H/T Crazy Eddie

Art returns around the Park

Early this evening outside the East Seventh Street/Avenue A entrance to Tompkins Square Park.

Am I the only person who likes these?

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Updated 9:31 p.m.

EVG Facebook friend Michael Paul says that the artist is Yonkers-based Jeffrey Reid.

Today in Google Street View car sightings on 2nd Avenue

Spotted near East Fourth Street by Derek Berg.

Now everyone please be on your best behavior so that the car doesn't inadvertently capture you pulling down your pants or making gestures that might be construed as the middle finger. Anyway, that's so 2007!

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: Tim Floyd Young
Occupation: Retired Housing Assistant and CitySites Tour Guide
Location: Avenue A between 3rd and 4th.
Date: Monday, June 9 at 1:30 pm.

I’m originally from Indiana, from a small little farm town of 300 people. My brother came here, and after college, I came to live with him in the summer of 1968 when it was Hippie Dippy time. After San Francisco, this was the second place to be, and I enjoyed it.

I moved directly to the neighborhood. I was here in 1968 right on St. Mark's Place and 2nd Avenue. The neighborhood was great. I was into music. I don’t know if you heard the old Tom Paxton song, the old folk singer. He had a song called "Talking Vietnam Blues" and supposedly the soldier meets up with the Viet Cong and they sit down and he says, "Oh, it smells like Midnight on St. Mark's." Electric Circus was going on, as was the Fillmore East. We’d go out and people would just line St. Mark's Place. The whole block was filled between 2nd and 3rd. All these kids would just be hanging out.

The Fillmore East… I was thinking about it earlier, the things that have gone. It was great. The building is still there. It was a big old, ruddy Yiddish movie theatre. It had a double balcony. It probably filled up to 1,500. Some of my favorite shows were seeing the Incredible String Band, they put on a great show, and I think I saw the Kinks there once. One of my big memories, I didn’t go to the show, but the Jefferson Airplane were playing four or five shows and somebody build a big model Jefferson Airplane. It was in front of the Fillmore East. So after one of their shows all the fans came out and started carrying it up to 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

I’m retired now but I worked for the Housing Authority for almost 20 years. I was what was called a Housing Assistant, checking people’s income once a year, figuring out what the rent would be and taking repair complaints. You went around and left notes on people’s door, asking them when they were going to pay their rent. Oh, and I was also a CitySites Tour Guide — on the bus!

1968 and 1969 was OK, but by 1970 and 1971 the neighborhood just went down. A lot of people got into drugs and speed and heroin started picking up, and then there was the Back to Earth movement, so a lot of people went out to plant things and be farmers and stuff.

I moved over to Avenue A and St. Mark's place by then. Generally I didn’t go past Avenue B. It was a little rough. My rent-stabilized apartment and a girlfriend kept me here through the 1970s. I remember one night, I went to what used to be St. Marks Cinema on the corner of St. Mark's and 2nd Avenue to see "Night of the Living Dead" and, you know, got out at about 2 in the morning and there were very few people walking down St. Mark's Place. Everyone’s looking like a ghoul. Then I get over to Avenue A and off in the distance, somewhere on 12th or 11th Street between Avenue B and C, there was just a massive fire. A building was getting burned down. A lot of those buildings got burned down.

I eventually joined The 6th & B Garden Community Garden. I’m still a member of that but I’m not as active as I used to be. In the late 1970s there was a federal program to take over abandoned lots. They gave one to the city called Operation GreenThumb. Unfortunately at first, they were under HPD so there was always the threat they were going to take over the garden spots and give them to developers.

So we always had a protection committee. People would go to the Community Board meetings. Our garden always had entertainment, with a little stage, and each month we’d have a number of events. That has continued.

In the 1980s it sort of came back. I remember Wigstock. I remember the riot in Tompkins Square Park. There was a big homeless encampment there, and supposedly there was a tent for prostitutes. The thing was, I felt when the homeless encampment was there… I felt safer in the Park than I had previously. But at the same time I really think the city could have given them some space, because at that time they had all these bare, empty lots.

About a month ago, [a young woman] got mugged on 6th Street or 7th Street and she said, 'Oh, this has always been a safe neighborhood!' Us old timers just started chuckling.

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

Adinah's Farm is closing on Avenue C

The corner market here on Avenue C and East Second Street is slated to close in the coming weeks. The "for lease" signs arrived yesterday.

Employees told EVG reader Andrew Ketler, who shared the above photo, that they'll be folding back into Gracefully on Avenue A.

According to the listing at Buchbinder & Warren, the asking rent is $17,500. The availability date is July 1.



And nice Photoshopped BMW gang!

A good sign for the Royal Tailor Shop on East 11th Street

[Photo by Shawn Chittle]

Last we heard, Gino DiGirolamo had planned to move his Royal Tailor Shop from East 14th Street to 434 E. 11th St., though he hadn't actually signed the lease just yet.

However, things must now be in order for the new shop here between Avenue A and First Avenue: Gino's sign arrived on the scene yesterday.

Gino has been working as a tailor the past 50 years. It looked like a rent hike at his previous space would force him into retirement. Thankfully, with some help, he was able to secure this new location.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 50 years in business, Gino DiGirolamo is closing the Royal Tailor shop

Report: Rent hike forced Gino to retire and close his Royal Tailor shop

Gino's short-lived retirement

Eleventh and Third indulges in some nonsensical branding

Some marketing messages have arrived on the sidewalk shed surrounding the recently rebranded Eleventh and Third, the former Soviet-era student housing $57-million building going under a gut renovation on Third Avenue and East 11th Street.

The messages are likely meant to be, well, playful, with lines like "Speak up! But know when to shut up" and "GET BUSY. Doing Nothing" and "Relax into chaos" and "Rent your space. Own your life."

[Crickets]

It doesn't get much better on the Third Avenue side, where we're told that "It's OK to Indulge" ... with some ideas on things to indulge in, such as coffee, sex, sugar, youth, wine. Crazy, man!



There's a teaser website up for the building if you want to get a head start on the indulging.



There isn't any mention of prices. However! The Real Deal previously reported that rent for the units will range from $3,500 for a studio to $6,000 for a one-bedroom to as much as $10,000 for a two-bedroom.

Feel free to indulge or something.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Someone actually paid $57 million for this East Village building

Reimagining this 12-story East Village building, now on the market

NY Copy & Printing forced out of longtime E. 11th St. home, opening second location on E. 7th St.

Rebranded 'Eleventh and Third' will have rentals upwards of $10k

Barcade clears 1st hurdle for opening on St. Mark's Place

As previously reported, the owners of Barcade are looking to open an outpost of the bar-retro video game venue at 6 St. Mark's Place.

CB3's SLA committee gave their OK for a beer-wine license during Monday night's meeting, though only after the owners agreed not to pursue full liquor and close at 2 a.m. instead of 4 a.m., DNAinfo's Lisha Arino reported yesterday.

"We have a romantic view of [St. Mark's Place]," co-owner Paul Kermizian said. "We're happy to be here."

Barcade owners will next need to secure an arcade license for their 30 classic arcade games here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

[Updated] Someone added these to the entrances to Tompkins Square Park last night

At least to the entrances at East Seventh Street and Avenue A ... and East Eighth Street and Avenue B ...



Photos via Derek Berg

Updated 6/18

EVG reader Vinny spotted this on First Avenue and East Sixth Street...

Rent freeze?

"For the first time in its 46-year history, the Rent Guidelines Board may enact a rent freeze for stabilized apartments." (Curbed, The Daily News)

Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone to take effect in August

[Click image to enlarge]

The Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone is on its way.

Department of Transportation reps provided Community Board 3 (CB3) committee members with an update last Thursday night about the incoming (officially named) Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone, the community-based program that reduces the speed limit within designated zones from 30 mph to 20 mph. (Read the background about all this here.)

For starters, the zone is expected to go into effect in August, according to CB3 member Chad Marlow, who helped put the plan in motion for the East Village early last year.

The above map shows the designated Slow Zone — First Avenue east to the FDR, and from East Second Street north to East 14th Street.

In addition to the 20 mph speed limit, a Slow Zone area receives speed humps (21 for East Village) and new striping and signage to slow drivers. (You can find a PDF of the DOT's presentation here.)

This is a particularly personal issue for Marlow. In 1995, a drunken driver struck Marlow's father on Harlem River Drive, an accident that left him with quadriplegia and a severe brain injury. His father died 13 years after the accident.

"I actually almost started crying when I got the DOT plan printout," Marlow told us. "This is a very emotional issue for me. I feel great and grateful."

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

More about the timing of the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone

Thoughts on the age-old question: Is the East Village ruined?

Santa Monica, Calif.-based writer-artist-journalist Jennifer Sharpe recently revisited the East Village, where she lived in the 1990s, for the first time in seven years.

In an essay published Saturday at The 2 Star Traveler titled Is The East Village Ruined?, Sharpe writes about how she had been monitoring the neighborhood from afar.

I'd become luridly fascinated by a series of before and after photos, taken only seven years apart, highlighting some of the bigger losses. Like the way the Hebrew lettered charm of the 2nd Avenue Deli sign has been replaced by a flat Chase Manhattan Bank facade.

Sharpe says that she was prepped ahead of her arrival.

As the trip approached, I was issued warnings by friends who'd visited more recently, "Just realize, our East Village is gone," and "the whole city is pretty much a theme park for rich people now."

And then she was finally here.

Aside from the new bike lanes, nothing looked or felt much different. A few doors past the restaurant Veselka, I noticed the familiar sight of Ukranian letters on that long burgundy awning of the bar, Sly Fox. How had that place survived? And that awful Dallas BBQ restaurant with the turkey burger that once made a friend puke was still on the corner. For God's sake, how could STOMP! still be playing at the Orpheum?

I ducked into my old hardware store for some bungee cords, instinctively heading up the right aisle. The store's familiar glare of fluorescents off linoleum floors made me feel like a pause button on my former life had been released. By my LA tear-down standards, the East Village seemed cryogenically preserved. What was everyone being so melodramatic about? Exactly how little change did they expect from a living city?

She does discuss the reminders of Bloomberg's city and the crazy escalating rents.

But for the time being, Alphabet City seems to be in a golden moment. I wish the complaining locals who say the East Village is ruined would shut up long enough to appreciate what they've got while they still have it.

Read the whole essay here.

Icon Realty's new Avenue A 'frat house' is attracting attention

Back in January, an apparently brotastic 6-bedroom apartment at the newly renovated 205 Avenue A was billed as an "East Village frat house" in ads.

Apparently the building with roof deck and backyard is living up to its billing.

Residents who live near the party palace between East 12th Street and East 13th Street say they have been enduring various daytime/nighttime parties since April.

Says one neighbor: "Rooftop parties have included a DJ with sound system and the backyard patio has a large outdoor screen for movies and sports. The backyard is part of a typical configuration whereby many buildings overlook their shared backyard areas which creates a kind of echoey canyon where even the smallest noises are amplified."

To date, residents say building owner Icon Realty has been unresponsive to emails and phone calls regarding the noise complaints.

So, the residents say they were left with little choice but to seek other alternatives to the problem. That means the 9th Precinct, Community Board 3 and the offices of Councilmember Rosie Mendez and State Sen. Brad Hoylman … all are said to be aware of the ongoing noise problems coming from the building's residents (and their guests).

205 Avenue A is expected to be among the topics of discussion during tonight's Ninth Precinct Community Council meeting. (The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the 9th Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.)

And this is not the first time residents have had noise complaints about Icon Realty's newly created dorms.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Your 6-bedroom dream 'frat house' awaits you in the East Village

How's life by 326-328 E. Fourth St. these days?

Your chance to eat like it's 1954 at Veselka

Veselka is celebrating its 60th anniversary … in doing do, the restaurant at 144 Second Ave. (at East Ninth Street) is turning prices on some items back to 1954.

This will be available for 54 minutes on a day and time that the restaurant will announce on the Veselka Twitter or Facebook accounts.

Here's the available menu for those 1954 prices…



H/T Eater

Abraço Espresso opening a new shop on East 7th Street

[Photo Sunday by EVG reader Russ]

Abraço Espresso partners Jamie McCormick and Elizabeth Quijada are opening a satellite shop a few storefronts away in the former Velvet Cigar Lounge space at 80 E. Seventh St.

Abraçolina, which opens tomorrow, will sell bags of coffee beans, jars of olive oil and bottles of mineral water, among other items.

There's room for your own gym in this East 9th Street loft

[Image via Douglas Elliman]

There's a new listing for 735 E. Ninth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Per Douglas Elliman:

Rare to the market, this quintessential downtown artist loft in an historic East Village building is now available! This magnificent 3,300-square-foot loft is a celebration of light and spaciousness with soaring 12' ceilings, double exposures, abundant oversized windows, and striking original architectural details such as cast iron beams and original wooden columns, and century-old maple flooring.

There's actually no mention of the gym in the listing, so the current owner must be taking it along.

So maybe you'll have to drag your ass over to the incoming New York Sports Club on Avenue A. (Reminder: The Citi Bike stationary workout is free!) Or bring your own gym to the building, which the ad notes "is now filled with resident artists."

Price: $3.3 million.

How much would you pay for this 3-level home with balcony on Avenue B?

Photo by Dave on 7th.

Small tree meets 'terrible end' on 3rd Avenue

An EVG reader noted this earlier today on Third Avenue at East 12th Street:

Did you see the tree in front of Funkiberry/Han Dynasty met some terrible end? I saw it very early this morning ... .within the last hour it got cleaned up. Now the little tree is over by the trash can.

Anyone know what happened here? (Specifically about the tree...)

Here's a Google Street View of the tree from last September...

High noon, Portugal vs. Germany

The scene at Zum Schneider, Avenue C and East Seventh Street.

Photos by Dave on 7th.

Did you lose your dog?

From an EVG Facebook friend:

This sweet dog was found wandering Avenue A this morning, and the owners of the Macaron Parlour on St. Mark's Place have been caring for her until they find her owner.

The store's number is: 212.387.9169

Updated 8:04 p.m.
Dog and owner have been reunited… apparently the dog had gotten loose from a neighbor on St. Mark's Place…

After 30 years, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli is closing

We're sad to report that one of our favorite places, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli, is closing — the owners have decided to retire.

Their last day at 130 First Ave. just south of St. Mark's Place is July 2.

And there isn't any evil, rent-hike happy landlord to blame: Proprietor Wieslawa Kurowycky's family also owns the building. After 30 years it's just time to retire. So you'll still see the family around…

Meanwhile, you have a few weeks left to stock up on inexpensive (and delicious) pierogies, blintzes, soups, potato pancakes, etc.

Familiar business opening in The Adele's retail space on Avenue D and East Houston Street

Just last week we learned that the new 12-story, mixed-used apartment building at East Houston and Avenue D will be known as The Adele.

And now, signs are up announcing The Adele's retail tenant…



Actually a Duane Reade will be needed on Avenue D… given that the Rite Aid between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street will likely close in the coming months to make way for another 12-story, mixed-used apartment building. Perhaps that retail space will yield a Duane Reade too.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Adele joins The Robyn in pop star-friendly East Village corridor

Report: New 12-story, mixed-use building in the works for Avenue D