Report: Live music ends for now at Elvis Underground

Elvis Guesthouse, which has hosted some pretty good shows since opening back in February, is temporarily suspending its live music program, The Village Voice reports.

The bar, located in a subterranean space at 85 Avenue A between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street, has reportedly been drawing complaints from residents who live in the building.

Elvis Guesthouse co-owners Zachary Mexico and Billy Jones, who operate Baby's All Right in Williamsburg, were also behind the previous occupant here, Arrow Bar, which closed in January.

Per Mexico in the Voice:

"There was a bar there that wasn’t very busy, but then it became a bar that was pretty busy, and people were not used to having people out there and they got upset – that’s it. Anywhere where the real estate value – both of commercial rent and apartment rent – is this high, it’s always going to be difficult. Neighbors complain. And when neighbors complain all kind of other stuff starts happening."

He hopes to come to some resolution with neighbors and the live music by the end of the year.

Back to the Voice:

"Our landlords are not bad people. They’re just trying to protect their tenants. And the tenants aren’t bad people, they just live in a building on a crowded street and don’t like people hanging around smoking and being loud. Everything can be worked out. Everything can always be worked out."

Tonight's concert featuring Wild Moth and Perfect Pussy is still on… and it will be the last for now.

This is a busy stretch of Avenue A, with people waiting for tables at Thai hotspot Somtum Der above Elvis Guesthouse as well as next door at sushi restaurant Takahachi and the live music venue Drom below that.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Comeback special: Arrow Bar owners opening Elvis Guesthouse on Avenue A

Elvis Guesthouse officially ready for occupancy tonight

The former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much gone

[East 13th Street side of the former PO]

Just a quick check-in to see what's left of the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office at 438 E. 14th St. just west of Avenue A...

Well, not much...







As you probably know, there are approved permits for an 8-story retail-residential building — featuring 114 units — on the lot, which includes the former Stuyvesant Stationery shop.

Still waiting to see a rendering from SLCE Architects, whose LES portfolio includes the Blue Tower on Norfolk Street and Avalon Bowery Place.

Week in Grieview

[Tompkins Square Park yesterday morning]

RIP Milton 'Husko' Velez, Jr. (Saturday)

Let's take a look at 347 Bowery, now and in the future (Monday)

Q-and-A with filmmaker Tom DiCillo (Tuesday)

Two East Village Chase branches close (Friday)

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

Your chance to brainstorm ideas to renovate the Tompkins Square Park Playground (Thursday)

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

Out and About with Willie Correa (Wednesday)

The Dunkin' Donuts on First Avenue and East Sixth Street is closed for renovations (Saturday)

Lion Beerstore has opened on Second Avenue (Tuesday)

Ciao for Now extending their hours now into the evenings (Friday)

Now at Ray's Candy Store — popcorn shrimp (Monday)

Petition drive underway to help save the Stuy Town Associated on East 14th Street (Tuesday)

Celebrating 20 years at Exit9 on Avenue A (Saturday)

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

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

253 E. Seventh St. is now just a pile of bricks (Thursday)

Former Organic Avenue space for rent on Third Avenue (Thursday)

Are you in the market for bulletproof plastic? (Tuesday)

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

First sign of the Chop't coming to 51 Astor Place (Thursday) … and the CVS (Friday)

34 1/2 St. Mark's Place is for sale (Monday)

Construction watch: 327 E. Ninth St. (Tuesday)

… and ping-pong is becoming more competitive in Tompkins Square Park…


[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

… AND photo-opp photo of the week … from Thursday on the L train station…

Strategically placed trash bags raise suspicion of hijinks on Avenue A

Photo yesterday by Derek Berg

Supreme Laundromat now open on Avenue B

The laundromat is open for business here at 96 Avenue B between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street, per Dave on 7th…



We're told that the owner, Jenny Yang, also runs the Ten St. Laundromat at 286 E. 10th St. just west of Avenue A.

On Avenue B, the hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday (last wash at 7:30 p.m.!); 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday (last wash at 6:30 p.m.!)

The previous tenant, the Hare Krishnas, moved out back in July 2011

Previously on EV Grieve:
From cleansing souls to cleansing clothes at 96 Avenue B

RIP Milton 'Husko' Velez, Jr.

[Husko, left, with his father. Courtesy of the Velez family]

Photos and text by Stacie Joy

Milton "Husko" Velez, Jr. died this past week of an apparent heart attack. He was 34.

His loved ones created a memorial for Husko outside the building where he resided on East Fourth Street and Avenue C.







Husko had just completed barber school. His dream was to open and run a mobile barber shop for the neighborhood.

He is survived by his wife, Melody Lasalle, and his three children, Zendaya Velez, Saniaa Rentas and Dwight Ely Rentas, his father, Milton Velez, Sr., and his brother, Luis Velez.

His friends say that he would have done anything for anyone ... and he loved kids — his and everyone else's.

At the Exit9 20th anniversary celebration

As previously mentioned/posted, Exit9, the gift shop at 51 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street, celebrated its 20th anniversary yesterday.



Among the activities: a prize wheel.



EVG Prize Wheel Contributor Stacie Joy stopped by to see what people were winning…









And there were temporary tattoos…





All photos by Stacie Joy

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.

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.

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.