EV Grieve

Saturday, November 14, 2015

In case someone approaches you selling diapers today

Not mentioning this for any reason, really.

Photo on East 10th Street near Avenue A yesterday by Michael Sean Edwards.

A new tree to keep the Samuel S. Cox statue company in Tompkins Square Park

[EVG photo from September 2014]

On Sept. 14, 2014, workers removed — for whatever reasons — a red oak adjacent to the Samuel S. Cox statue by the entrance to Tompkins Square Park at East Seventh Street and Avenue A.

Fast forward to this past week… when workers removed a section of the fence… to dig up the stump…

And now, to bring some closure to this fine story… yesterday, workers planted a new tree in the space…

[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

And because people asked who Samuel S. Cox was… and about the statue…

Samuel Sullivan “Sunset” Cox (1824–1889) was born in Zanesville, Ohio, and served his home state as a Democratic Congressional representative from 1857 to 1865 before being unseated. After moving to New York in 1866, Cox served again in Congress for several terms from 1869 until 1889.

Although Cox once publicly declared that his most satisfying contribution to public service was championing the Life Saving Service—founded in the 1840s to patrol the coasts and save imperiled boaters during bad weather, the group was absorbed into the Coast Guard in 1915—this statue is sponsored by U.S. Postal Service workers because of Cox’s support for their quality-of-life issues. Known as the “letter-carriers’ friend,” Cox spearheaded legislation that led to paid benefits and a 40-hour workweek for postal employees. Mail carriers from the 188 cities named on the monument contributed $10,000 for the statue in a campaign that began soon after Cox’s death.

Sculptor Louise Lawson’s statue of Cox, unveiled in 1891, depicts him orating before Congress. Lawson (186?–1899) came from a prominent Ohio family. She and her brother, U.S. Representative W. D. Lawson, both attended Cox’s 1889 funeral at which President Grover Cleveland and General William Sherman served as honorary pallbearers. One might interpret the statue’s somewhat stiff quality as representative of Cox’s steadfast stance on issues for which he advocated.

The statue serves as a backdrop in this photo that Allen Ginsberg took during the fall of 1953…

The caption reads:

Jack Kerouac wandering along East 7th street after visiting Burroughs at our pad, passing statue of Congressman Samuel "Sunset" Cox, "The Letter – Carrier's Friend" in Tompkins Square toward corner of Avenue A, Lower East Side; he's making a Dostoyevsky mad-face or Russian basso be-bop Om, first walking around the neighborhood, then involved with The Subterraneans, pencils & notebook in wool shirt-pockets, Fall 1953, Manhattan.

For 10th birthday, Dunkin' Donuts on 1st Avenue and East 6th Street closes for renovations

The Dunkin' Donuts on the northeast corner of First Avenue and Sixth Street shut down after the business day on Thursday... the plywood and the closed for renovation sign are up... Happy 10th birthday!? (Seems like this DD has been here longer...)

As you can see, they are closing for "less than two weeks." ~~And there's no truth to the rumor that the big DD cup out front will be available for use as a hot tub at parties.~~

Friday, November 13, 2015

A call for zoning protections along the University Place/Broadway corridors

[EVG photo from July 2014]

Via the EVG inbox…

Tomorrow (11/14) at 12:30 pm, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, State Senator Brad Hoylman, and local community leaders and affordable housing advocates will gather at the corner of 12th Street and University Place, across from Bowlmor Lanes, to call upon the Mayor and the city to finally move ahead with proposed zoning protections for this area prohibiting high-rise towers and encouraging the creation of affordable housing.

Demolition has just begun on Bowlmor Lanes, which is to be replaced with a 300 ft. tall luxury condo tower with no affordable housing. GVSHP has proposed a rezoning of the area which would limit the height of new construction and encourage developers to include affordable housing.

For almost a year GVSHP, local elected officials, and community leaders have tried to convince the Mayor and the city to move ahead with the plan. So far, they have refused.

See more information here and here (PDF).

Back in August, 6sqft got the first look at some preliminary renderings at the 23-floor building that will dwarf its neighbors between East 12th Street and East 13th Street…

[Click on image to go BIG]

Bowlmor Lanes closed in July 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Bowlmor Lanes will convert to condos, like everywhere else around here

76-year-old Bowlmor Lanes closes for good today

Bowlmor says goodbye

Bowlmor Lanes replacement: 23-floor residential building

Here's the Bowlmor Lanes-eating 23-story condo coming to University Place

Guided by 'Voices'

Brooklyn-based trio Sunflower Bean recently announced that their debut open drops in February… ahead of a record release party at the Bowery Ballroom. (Tickets went on sale today.)

Here is the band with "I Hear Voices."

EV Grieve Etc.: Why R. Crumb hates the Observer; a squash court for East River Park?

[Headless commuter exiting the L train via Grant Shaffer]

Man wanted for raping 1 woman, attacking 2 others in a 3-hour spree on the Lower East Side (WPIX)

Why R. Crumb hates the New York Observer (Slum Goddess)

Group hopes to open city's first public squash court in East River Park (BoweryBoogie)

Some history of the Tompkins Square Branch of the NYPL (Off the Grid)

About the Mudd Club rummage sale, which benefits the Bowery Mission (Stupefaction)

Here are the hotel plans for 50 Bowery (The Lo-Down)

The latest from the Sheldon Silver trial (The New York Times)

[Faces on East 4th Street via Derek Berg]

FINALLY! An LES restaurant with a $54 chicken entree on the menu (Gothamist)

Porsena turns 5 on East Seventh Street (The Village Voice)

Hearth on East 12th Street will revamp its menu and interior come this January (The New York Times)

Celebrate some films that meet the approval of avant-garde luminary and downtown NYC legend Jack Smith, who would have been 83 tomorrow (Anthology Film Archives)

Solo Dora action (Gog in NYC)

Downtown NYC photos from Gary Green circa 1976-1986 (Flaming Pablum)

The La MaMa Puppet Series 2015 continues (La MaMa)

Two theater students at NYU ~~subject themselves to be featured in The Hunt~~ look for an apartment in the East Village (The New York Times)

"The Lost Arcade," a new documentary film by Kurt Vincent and Irene Chin, tells the story of the legendary Chinatown Fair (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

"Ian Svenonius is a strange man" (NPR)

New study sheds new light on the connection between gentrification, restaurants and race (The Atlantic)

Target is opening a location in Tribeca next year (Racked)

Diversions: The campaign to bring back "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (NPR)

...and the first of the public meetings begin tomorrow to discuss the Gardens Rising Project... details below...

The East Village is down 2 Chase branches

[Photo montage from like August]

As we noted back in August, the Chase branch on Avenue A at East Second Street and the location on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place would close after business on Nov. 12.

So, uh, being Nov. 13, those branches are now closed...

[Photo by EVG Chase Branch correspondent Steven]

According to Chase, the branch at 130 Second Ave. will consolidate with the location two blocks to the north at No. 156 while the Avenue A outlet will merge with the branch at 106 Delancey.

The Chase at 156 Second Ave. recently renovated the lobby, adding new ATMs and decorative lighting...

[Photos by EVG Chase Branch correspondent Steven]

The asking rent on the Second Avenue Chase space is $72,000 a month, per the Icon Realty listing. The rent is available upon request for the Avenue A storefront.

Feel free to leave your favorite memories of these Chase branches in the comments.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chase space on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place is for rent

The retail space at 20 Avenue A is on the market

2 East Village Chase Bank branches are closing for good on Nov. 12

Ciao for Now extending their hours now into the evenings

[Image via]

Ciao for Now launches their evening service tonight... moving forward, the cafe at 523 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The menu will feature a variety of soups, salads, stews, cheeses and desserts on a rotating basis.

And via the EVG inbox...

Co-owner Amy Miceli says that the decision to add evening hours with home-cooked meals was based on a desire to fill the void left in the community’s changing restaurant landscape.

“We miss Old Devil Moon and Back 40, places to enjoy a quiet drink and a casual, calm meal with friends; not breaking the bank, not crowded out by folks yapping into their cell phones.

Our regulars miss those places too so we are making the food we like to eat, serving it with the wines we like to drink, in an atmosphere we would like to relax in.”

The new hours are as follows:

Monday: Breakfast/Lunch: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Tuesday - Friday: Breakfast/Lunch 8 a.m. - 5 p.m./Dinner 5 - 10 p.m.
Saturday: Brunch 9 a.m. - 4 p.m./Dinner 5 - 10 p.m.
Sunday Brunch: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

More details on the deal that saw the northeast corner of Avenue A and 12th Street change hands

Back on Monday, an EVG reader told us that 194-196 Avenue A and 503-505 East 12th Street had been sold.

The Commercial Observer provides more details on the deal that saw Dalan Management and real-estate investing firm Avenue Realty Capital buy the portfolio of four mixed-use buildings for $16.8 million.

Per the CO:

“We are excited to control four buildings on a prime corner of Avenue A and 12th Street in the East Village,” Daniel Wrublin, a principal at Dalan, said in a prepared statement. “The properties are in good condition, but we have substantial improvements planned to take them to the next level.”

Yes, "the next level." As the reader, who is also a resident in one of the buildings, told us: "I have a feeling that chances of us getting priced out next year are high. Womp."

El Camion and Double Wide Bar & Southern Kitchen occupy the retail spaces.

No. 196 housed Avenue A Wine & Liquor, which closed back in August. That storefront is for lease with an asking rent of $10,500 a month.

B&H Dairy will now bring the borscht and challah right to your door

[EVG photo from August]

B&H Dairy at 127 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Seventh Street will now bring their borscht, blintzes and tuna melts to your doorstep … with the launch of a delivery service...

As you can see, the hours are 2-10 p.m. weekdays; 3-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The delivery zone is within the confines of Houston to 14th Street … and Fifth Avenue to Avenue D.

And for those of you who don't like ordering by phone, the online delivery service launches next month.

Exit9 turns 20 today on Avenue A

[Exit9 owners Charles Branstool & Christy Davis pic by Stacie Joy]

Exit9, the gift shop at 51 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street is celebrating its 20th anniversary today…

Aside from 20 percent off, here's what to expect, via the store flyer…

1st sign of the incoming CVS at the Death Star

The "Chopping This Winter" isn't the only new signage to note at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star … on the south side of the building, the incoming CVS hoisted its first letters — Grocery!

The CVS letters are also to the right of the Grocery, but are semi-obscured by brown paper…

Let me know if you can't spot the C. I will point it out.

Oh, and do other CVS stores in the city have actual groceries? (I've been in the one on Fulton and Nassau, and while they sell groceries, I wouldn't call it a grocery.)

Anyway! No word on when this location will open. So anyone in the market for the CVS Homeopathic Constipation Relief that the kids like will have to check other stores.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Fall on East 10th Street

Photo today by Grant Shaffer...

FYI — Christmas is coming

Spotted on Second Avenue between East 14th and East 15th streets this morning by William Klayer.

No word if this was related to a Happy Hour.

Your chance to brainstorm ideas to renovate the Tompkins Square Park Playground

Just a heads up for your calendars or Post-it notes… Councilmember Rosie Mendez is hosting a meeting this coming Tuesday evening to discuss ideas for improving the Tompkins Square Park Playground near East Seventh Street and Avenue B … as the above-flyer says, Mendez has allotted some $900,000 to renovate this space… this is the first step in the improvement process…

The meeting is Tuesday night at St. Brigid's on Avenue B (enter the community center space on the East Eighth Street side) from 6:30-8 p.m.

253 E. 7th St. is now a pile of bricks

[Image from 2014 via Massey Knakal]

Over between Avenue C and Avenue D, the former four-story residence at 253 E. Seventh St. is no more...

An LLC with a Grand Street address bought the building in August 2014 for $4.3 million. The new owners have plans (waiting for final city approval) to put up a 6-story building with six residences on this now-empty lot.

Thanks to EVG reader Daniel Root for the demolition photos.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Options for this lovely East 7th Street townhouse include demolition

New building in the works for 253 E. 7th St.

The disappearing 253 E. 7th St.

Chopping soon signage up at the Death Star

Exactly one month ago today we heard about the three new retail clients coming to 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star — Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t Creative Salad Company and Flywheel Sports.

The first of the incoming trio's signage has arrived on the Fourth Avenue/Astor Place side at Ninth Street this week… Chop't! Per the window dressing, the quick-serve salad place will be "Chopping this Winter." (Wonder if they do firewood too?)

These new tenants will join what's looking like the World's Largest CVS here in MiSo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
3 retail spaces available at 51 Astor Place (22 comments)

You can finally shop at 51 Astor Place!

3 new retail tenants for 51 Astor Place: Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports

Sidewalk bridge comes down as condo conversion continues at former East 6th Street synagogue

Workers have removed the sidewalk bridge from outside the former Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 415 E. Sixth St., EVG reader Michael Hirsch reports.

The under-renovation space, which includes an additional level, will house three condos... with pricing starting at $2.95 million…

The slogan for the residences here between Avenue A and First Avenue: "History reimagined … For modern living."

To date, the teaser website just has contact info about the condos. No sign of interior renderings or other details just yet.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plan to add condos to historic East Sixth Street synagogue back on

Play spot the potential penthouse atop the East Village synagogue

A final look inside the Anshei Meseritz synagogue on East Sixth Street

Stained-glass windows removed ahead of condo conversion at Congregation Mezritch Synagogue

Condos at former East 6th Street synagogue will start at just under $3 million

Former Organic Avenue space for rent on 3rd Avenue

The for rent sign is up now at the former Organic Avenue space on Third Avenue at East Ninth Street.

According to the listing (PDF!) at Walker Malloy, the asking monthly rent is $17,500 for the 1,020-square-foot space (no basement).

And what was Organic Avenue paying? A past-due notice on the door in late October showed the monthly rent to be $13,583.33.

As for OA, the entire juice-bar chain abruptly shut down on Oct. 15.

So the fact that this space is on the market shoots down any theories of the rumored-to-be-expanding Duane Reade on the East 10th Street corner taking over the entire west side of Third Avenue along here. Three storefronts remain empty next to that Duane Reade.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

How you can score free pizza AND rodent repellent tomorrow at the 1st Avenue L stop

Via the EVG inbox®…

WHAT: New Yorker's are used to seeing rodents in the subway but commuters may see a few that are too big to ignore on their commute to work tomorrow morning.

WHO: The event is being sponsored by earthkind®, a North Dakota-based pest prevention company and the makers of the award-winning Stay Away® Rodent repellent that’s proven to keep rodents out of indoor areas, safely and naturally.

WHERE: Giant mice will be greeting commuters at the E. 86th Street and W. 72nd Street subway stations before heading down to Pizza Rat’s home base at the First Avenue L station for an authentic NYC lunch of, you guessed it, pizza! Free samples of Stay Away Rodent® will be given to the first 5000 riders who greet the mice and give them a warm, NYC welcome!

WHEN: Thursday, November 12th from 7:30 am to 1:30 pm

WHY: The earthkind® mice are on a mission to teach New Yorkers how to keep “pizza rat” and other uninvited guests ~~[ED NOTE: Family members?]~~ out of NYC hi-rises, brownstones and homes without using poisons.

The mystery of the missing section of Tompkins Square Park fencing... SOLVED (probably)

[Photo Monday by Bobby Williams]

In an important post from Monday, we noted that someone removed part of the fence along East Seventh Street near Avenue A at Tompkins Square Park. Given that there wasn't anyone around to ask what was going on, we could only assume that the Samuel S. Cox statue was being moved to the top of 100 Avenue A as a way to compete with Red Square.

Well, as a reader noted in the comments, the fence removal was more likely done to aid the removal of the tree stump near the statue...

... and this morning, workers removed said stump.

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Case closed! (Though can anyone confirm if the Cox statue is actually still there?)

The Marshal seizes the former Red & Gold Boil on St. Mark's Place

Back in early October, the rather unfortunately named Red & Gold Boil (sounds like a topic for a WebMD search) closed after 13 months in business at 30 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

The sign on the door from management made it seem as if the place may reopen with a new concept. (We look forward to serving you again, etc...)

The notice of eviction that recently arrived has now been joined by a note from the Marshal, announcing that the landlord has legal possession of the space...

The restaurant opened in August 2014 as the Red & Gold Crab Shack... somewhere along the line the boil replace the crab shack.

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

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

Here is your Red & Gold Crab Shack! signage on St. Mark's Place

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: Willie Correa
Occupation: Artist, Sound Engineer
Location: East 3rd Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A
Time: 2:45 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9

I basically had a long history here, but I’ll just give you a quick rundown. I got to the Lower East Side very young — in 1954. I was 2 years old. I grew up and I’ve seen the neighborhood transition. Imagine Avenue C back in the late 1950s. It was still a lot of Jewish stores and stuff like that.

There was a mixture always of different ethnicities. There were the Ukrainians, the Jews, the Italians. My older brother lived kind of through a "West Side Story" thing. He got stabbed. He was going out with an Italian girl. Just like the movie; just like the play. I’ve seen all that. It still has that mixture, but the gentrification has taken it to an extreme.

I was one of the founding directors of the Nuyorican Poets Café, but I’m no longer on the board or stuff like that. I got involved because I’m an artist. [The different arts] at the time all kind of ping ponged off each other. They vibrated off each other and went in their own directions, but it was a mix. I was a sound engineer. That’s why Miguel got me into the café because we needed to hear the poets. Back then in 1974 the audio systems were very poor until I started for them. We started doing broadcasts on WBAI live.

I found the building on East Third Street for them. The structure actually belonged to La MaMa, and [founder Ellen Stewart] basically turned it over to us because we didn’t have enough room at the time.

The neighborhood was going down the tubes. It was a small little bar and we needed the to accommodate all of the interests. So we went back into the neighborhood, took the building, but it took us a long time to come back to the level where we were on Sixth Street, because the neighborhood was diving. It was drug infested. We got a little grant to renovate the building through the city. It was terrible. They messed up the building.

Now I’m working with Taller Boricua in the Barrio, but I still live in the neighborhood. I do their content management. They’ve been around for 40 years and I actually connected with them through the Nuyorican. It’s in the Julia De Burgos Cultural Center on 106th Street. I’m also shooting their work now. They’ve got 40 years of original prints, which nobody can afford, so we’re doing a whole series to make affordable versions.

I’ll tell you one thing — you know the new building that they’re putting up on Avenue A? The Wall Street kids need a place to live and stuff like that, which is cool, but I go by yesterday and you see the sign they’ve got now? It’s this female and she looks like a beached whale. Give me a break. How low can you go? I’m not a woman but it’s low, man.

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

Report: 311 calls about homeless people are on the rise in the East Village/Lower East Side

Catching up to this story from DNAinfo on Monday… in which reporter Lisha Arino went through public records to find that 311 calls "about the presence of homeless people, homeless encampments and panhandling have spiked in the past year."

Per the article:

More than 300 complaints relating to homeless people were recorded this year through October in the 10009 and 10002 zip codes — which covers the bulk of the East Village and Lower East Side — a jump from the 171 calls recorded last year overall…

The increase in calls continues its upwards trend. Records show that there were only 83 calls logged in 2010.

However, as DNAinfo points out, the "numbers don’t necessarily mean the neighborhoods’ street homeless population has increased." The mayor's office says that "the number of complaints was proportional to the increase of citizens using the 311 app."

In addition, Manhattan Outreach Consortium director Cesar Vanegas said that he has not seen a significant increase in street homelessness recently.

Read the full article here.

What it will cost to live above the ruins of La Vie in the Bowery District

At the end of October, the teaser site went up for the condos a-rising on 64 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (An area which the developers have dubbed — hey ho! — "The Bowery District.")

Yesterday, pricing and model-home pics (H/T Curbed!) arrived for the residences that sit on the former neighborhood scourge La Vie. And you will be paying a pretty premium to live on the former hookah hotspot. Prices for the two homes now available hover just below and above the $3.3 million mark.

And some blurbage:

An exclusive boutique collection of six full-floor residences with private outdoor terraces in the Bowery District. The Bowery epitomizes both the colorful history and perpetually changing landscape that is New York. 64 East reflects the heritage of this iconic thoroughfare in a forward-thinking, modern design.

And some photos…