A LinkNYC kiosk for 2nd Avenue, and several false alarms

The influx of LinkNYC kiosks continues... as one of the [free] Wi-Fi hotspots has been installed on Second Avenue and East 12th Street... the first that we recall seeing in the neighborhood outside the Third Avenue corridor at and above 14th Street.

The city is reportedly expected to have more than 500 kiosks up and running by the end of this month... with a goal of 7,500, each replacing a pre-existing phone booth, over the next eight years.

Meanwhile, given the anticipated arrival of more kiosks, there has been some confusion... none of these are LinkNYC kiosks, just FYI...

Summer lovin'

A moment on St. Mark's Place via Derek Berg

Steiner East Village wooing L train Steinhangers

Developer Douglas Steiner has unveiled an ad campaign at the L train stop on Third Avenue and 14th Street for his residences — aka Steiner East Village ...



The 7-story, 82-unit building at 438 E. 12th St. features homes starting at $1.1 million... with the 4-bedroom penthouse with 1,364 square feet of terraces that's asking $11.25 million. Something nice to think about while pondering which L train shutdown scenario MTA officials will choose...



Meanwhile, forgot to note that the 438-branded astroturf arrived on the corner of Avenue A and 11th Street a few weeks back...

INCOMING

A look downtown earlier this evening via Bobby Williams...

A 'Grey' area

NYC-based punk/blues band Boss Hog have an EP out today — their first new material in 16 years. (Brood X, their fourth full-length album, is due later this year.)

The track here is for the first single, "Wichita Grey."

Eat Prey Love

Christo and Dora's red-tailed hawk family has been quite active in Tompkins Square Park this summer.

After getting the flying down, the three hawk kids are now trying to learn to hunt then prepare their own meals without any parental assistance.

As Goggla notes in her latest hawk dispatch:

Christo had left a rat in a tree just a few feet away and the fledgling began eating it on a branch. They must learn everything, including how to hang onto their food while balancing on a branch. The fledglings haven't quite mastered this and have been dropping their food regularly.

So Christo swooped in and picked up the dropped meal, as these photos from Goggla show...





Per Goggla:

In the end, Christo took the rat to a bigger tree with a wider branch that made it easier for his kid to eat and not drop the food. I admired how Christo performed this task so patiently, keeping a close eye on his kid and making sure it ate enough.

Head on over to her website here for more photos and red-tailed hawk observations.

EV Grieve Etc.: Skateboarders of the East Village; Ludlow Guitars heading to Brooklyn

[Outside St. Dymphna's via Derek Berg]

Ludlow Guitars relocating to Brooklyn after 17 years on the LES (The Lo-Down)

Mayor de Blasio signs into law a City Council bill that places time limits on the public review process associated with creating new New York City landmarks (Curbed)

Last look at Other Music (A.V. Club) while Yoko Ono says goodbye to the store (Rolling Stone)

DA indicts three Lower East Side drug traffickers, including kingpin (Patch)

Documentary in the works on Jerry the Peddler (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Photos: Skateboarders of the East Village (Vogue)

The former horse auction house on East 13th Street (Ephemeral New York)

The ceaselessly experimental cinema of Ken Jacobs (Anthology Film Archives)

Former tenant suing Steve Croman (The Real Deal)

Graphic designer Jose Guizar's take on the windows of NYC (Wired)

What's next for Three Lives Books? (Off the Grid)

Some history of Weegee's New York (BoweryBoogie)

Kellogg's is opening a cereal cafe in Times Square (Gothamist)

...and in case you were headed to the excellent Sunny's Florist on Second Avenue and Sixth Street this weekend for flowers...


[Photo by James Maher]

...Edward and Sunny are on a holiday break...

The late, great Stage slated to become the Kati Roll Company on 2nd Avenue

The owners of the Kati Roll Company have designs on opening their fourth Manhattan location at 128 Second Ave., former home of the Stage, according to preliminary paperwork filed ahead of this month's CB3-SLA committee meeting.

The restaurant serves the namesake Kati roll, made by wrapping warm paratha, a type of Indian flat bread, around a variety of meats, vegetables and cheese. The Kati Roll Company currently has locations on MacDougal Street and in Midtown East and Midtown West. (There's also a branch in London.)

According to the CB3 website, the owners will be seeking a beer-wine license for the Second Avenue space between St. Mark's Place and Seventh Street.

The Stage, the 35-year-old lunch counter, closed March 30, 2015. Stage owner Roman Diakun had been involved in an ongoing legal/eviction battle with landlord Icon Realty. You can read that background here.

The July CB3-SLA committee meeting is July 11 at 6:30 p.m., in the Thelma Burdick Community Room - 10 Stanton St. at the Bowery.

Checking out the penthouse at THREE99 — 'unlike any apartment ever in the East Village'

[Rendering of 399 E. 8th St.]

At the beginning of June, we wrote about sales at the new 9-story residential building at 399 E. Eighth St. near Avenue D (awkwardly called THREE99OnEIGHTH).

As noted, a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit starts at $685,000 ... a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit asks $960,000... the top home here is the three-bedroom, three-bathroom penthouse at $4.9 million.

And that penthouse arrived on the market this week. Here is the description via Streeteasy:

Enter into your new home through the elevator opening right into your living room. Featuring a light ash finish floors throughout, this Penthouse at THREE99 is all you can ask for. Floor to ceiling window in your living room over looks one of two private terrace. The unobstructed views of the downtown skyline are enough to fill any NYC eye candy appetite.

The open kitchen features smooth and sexy stone counter tops with a classic subway tile back splash. Filled with a Viking Range and vented microwave, is just the beginning of what this exquisite kitchen has to offer. A SubZero fridge freezer combo nicely complements the 100 bottle ZubZero wine rack. Off the kitchen you have two split bedrooms, one featuring a private bath and entry to the South facing terrace work perfect as a guest bedroom. The King sized Master Suite features a North facing terrace with midtown views of the Empire State and Chrysler building. The Glass walled bath is nothing like you have seen before. Featuring hand picked Italian Carrarra marble walls and floors, you are able to relax in your whirlpool/Jacuzzi soaking tub after a long day or just to unwind with a glass of wine.

This Penthouse is unlike any apartment ever in the East Village. Having access to all of the amenities of the building including, Gym, Billiards lounge, Pet Spa, Roof Deck, Bike Storage, Cold Storage, Package receiving room, and a Honeywell Virtual Doorman which is monitored by a live agent who can do everything from guide deliveries to the locked cold storage and package receiving room.

And some photos via broker Citi Habitats (the copy didn't mention the cool Con Ed power plant views):











There's an open house by appointment only on Sunday afternoon.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile, before we christen Avenue D the next Greenpoint...

Stalled development site on Eighth Street and Avenue D asking $5.2 million

Films in Tompkins return this summer with 'Do the Right Thing,' 'True Romance'

The Films in Tompkins series starts next Thursday with a free screening of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (this was on the slate in 2013, but rain canceled the screening) ... and concluding on Aug. 11 with the Leo-Claire version of "Romeo and Juliet."

Live music will precede each film as in previous years.

You can head to the Films in Tompkins Facebook page for more details.

Tompkins Square Park will also host two great French films on July 22 and July 29 as part of the Films on the Green series.

$1 dish sale continues at former King Bee space on 9th Street

As we noted earlier this week, a new restaurant called Thursday Kitchen is opening at 424 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... at the time, the proprietors were selling of some dishes left behind by the former occupant, King Bee.

Anyway! In case you are interested, there are more $1 dishes outside for sale. (This photo is from right before 5 p.m. via EVG $1 Dish Correspondent Steven.)

Report: Pushcart Coffee co-owner elected CB3 chair

Jamie Rogers, the co-owner of Pushcart Coffee, which has locations in Chelsea and Gramercy Park (and formerly in the East Village), was elected to lead CB3 during Tuesday evening's full board meeting.

The Lo-Down has the details:

Rogers succeeds Gigi Li as board chairperson. She wasn’t able to run for a fifth one-year term due to CB3’s term limits.

Rogers defeated Enrique Cruz 34-11 after both candidates delivered brief statements and answered questions submitted by members of the all-volunteer board. Alysha Lewis-Coleman was elected first vice chair, defeating Chinatown activist Karlin Chan 42-5. Herman Hewitt was elected second vice chair, while Meghan Joye (secretary), Christian De Leon (assistant secretary) and David Crane (treasurer) also won positions as executive officers.

It was a reportedly contentious meeting prior to the election. Housing advocates arrived to protest "the board’s handling of a community-based Chinatown rezoning initiative," per The Lo-Down. As DNAinfo reported, CB3 officials "called in police officers to keep the peace."

The Sock Man is returning to St. Mark's Place

We started hearing rumors a few weeks back that the Sock Man was going to take over the vacant retail space (above) at 99 1/2 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Last night, the Sock Man made it official on Facebook...


Owner Marty Rosen had been peddling socks, tights, lingerie and other accessories at 27 St. Mark's Place since 1983. However, as we first reported in January, after a hefty (3X) rent increase via new landlord Raphael Toledano, Rosen decided to close the shop between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Per the Facebook post, Rosen hopes to be back in business by Aug. 1.

The Sock Man will now be neighbors with another longtime local business — East Village Books.

No. 99 1/2 was previously home to the Kings Court Real Estate Management office.

H/T Steven and M.A.!

A visit to former East Village mainstay Love Saves the Day in New Hope, Pa.

Photos and text by Shawn Chittle

Tucked neatly away along the Delaware River not far from where Washington made his famous crossing lies a lovely little town called New Hope, Pa. I took a two-hour car ride (it goes by fast) here and found an old friend: Love Saves The Day, the former vintage store on Second Avenue and Seventh Street made famous, in part, by its appearance in the 1985 film “Desperately Seeking Susan.”

I introduced myself to the the manager, Stasia Kauriga. “We love our East Village fans,” she told me.


[From left: Stasia Kauriga, manager; Adam, music associate; Jill Edge, asst. manager]

She told me about the day when her phone wouldn’t stop ringing with people worried about the store after the deadly Second Avenue explosion in March 2015, which destroyed three buildings including the original Love Saves the Day location at No. 119.

“I had to tell them we actually weren’t at that location anymore.” she said.

The East Village Love Saves the Day closed on Jan. 18, 2009, after 43 years in business. Word was their rent tripled.

However, Love Saves the Day already had a presence in New Hope. "We just moved the Second Avenue inventory here when we couldn’t maintain that location,” Kauriga said.

That news was a surprise to me. I had always thought that the store closing in 2009 was for a move to New Hope. But the New Hope storefront has been around a long time, and it looks at home on the town's Main Street.

As I look around the store, it looks all so familiar, but so much larger.





Then I spot something familiar in the corner: the original Love Saves the Day awning from Second Avenue. It’s peeking out from behind a corner, looking worn and forgotten, but a welcome sight nonetheless.



All my "Star Wars" toys from the 1970s are here, along with Beatles records and collectables, everything KISS, Pee Wee Herman, lunch boxes, and kitsch galore. Frankly, the prices are affordable and I left with a few treasures.



The sense of humor and adventure, all the charm and pure East Village that was the store on Second Avenue is here in abundance, and I do mean abundant. The store has both an upstairs and downstairs.





Love Saves The Day is located at 1 S Main St, New Hope, Pa., and is open Mon-Fri: 11 am - 6 pm, Sat 11 am - 7 pm and Sun 11 am - 6 pm.

-----


[119 2nd Ave. from early 2009]

B4 has closed on East 4th Street

After nearly a three-year run at 235 E Fourth St. near Avenue B, B4 has closed... there is an eviction note via the Marshal posted on the front door...



B4 served "New American comfort food" ... It was a nice-looking restaurant, though it was never able to attract much of a crowd (it was often uncomfortably empty when we passed by in recent months) ... and B4 could seemingly never attract any of that brunch crew who flocks to Third and B every weekend.

B4 was the first restaurant from chef Shawn Jones, who runs a catering and events firm.

No. 235 has been a challenging spot in recent years for restaurants — Piccola Positano, Tonda and E.U. have all come and gone.

Sweetgreen opening on Astor Place

[Photo by Steven]

Work continues at 10 Astor Place between Broadway and Lafayette... where the signage arrived this week for another NYC location of Sweetgreen, the healthy quick-serve restaurant that offers various custom salads and grain bowls, etc.

No word yet on an opening date for this Sweetgreen. The company has plans to expand in NYC with at least four new locations citywide.

Inch by inch, 190 Bowery is losing its graffiti

[Photo from Sunday]

A few weeks back, we read a piece by Bucky Turco in Mass Appeal reporting that the landmarked 190 Bowery would be relieved of its graffiti — with one exception — here at Spring Street.

The first few photos in this post are from Sunday, showing the circa-1898 Germania Bank Building with its art intact...







On Tuesday, workers covered a small section of the south-facing wall ... as the buffing process began...



... and more arrived yesterday...



However, one tag will remain on the building: The "NEKST" on the front. Here's Mass Appeal with more:

Sean “NEKST” Griffin, a world renowned and respected writer, passed away unexpectedly in 2012. The prolific artist painted his name in cities all across the United States and is believed to have tagged the high profile Bowery spot sometime in 2007.

Aby Rosen's RFR Realty owns the building, and his crews are renovating the space for new tenants, including a creative fashion entity called Great Bowery.

Rosen bought the landmarked building from photographer Jay Maisel for a reported $55 million in 2014.

Rosen had said that the new tenant would have the final say on if the graffiti remained or got buffed out.

Mass Appeal reached out to creative house Great Bowery, the building’s main tenant to get their take on Rosen’s decision to buff the piece. “We would have much preferred the graffiti stay,” writes COO Melissa Kelly, “however we are really grateful that the landlord agreed to save the culturally significant NEKST piece.”

Previously

Report: East Village man admits to 3 sexual assaults in 2014

In October 2014, police arrested Juan Scott for the attempted rape of a 20-year-old woman in an elevator at 600 E. 14th St. in Stuy Town. Scott was later linked to two other attacks, one on East 11th Street and one on East 13th Street.

He pleaded not guilt in November 2014, according to published reports.

CBS 2 now reports that Scott, 28, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court today to burglary as a sexually motivated felony, as well as two counts of sexual abuse.

Scott is set for sentencing on Sept. 6.

The Villager had previously reported that Scott is a cousin of Rosario Dawson. Her mother and father and other relatives lived at the now under-renovation 544 E. 13th St., where police arrested Scott.

Dips: You may now (officially) swim in city pools today

[EVG file photo, Tompkins Square Pool]

You make now go for a swim or maybe just jump in Hamilton Fish Pool on Pitt and East Houston ... the Dry Dock Pool on Avenue D and East 10th Street ... and the Tompkins Square Pool (mini pool for kids!) ...

As for lap action at Hamilton Fish, here are some details via the Lo-Down:

Lap swims are from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for early birds and 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for night owls in July and at dusk from August through Labor Day. A free t-shirt is up for grabs for participants who swim 25 miles or more over the summer and prizes are awarded to the top three male and female distance swimmers from each pool program.

No other word about laps at the neighborhood pools here ... and here or here.

Most pools are open from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m., with a break for pool cleaning between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Swimsuits are also required (not my rules).

A reminder about breath-holding contests

EVG contributor Steven spotted this new sign outside the pool in Tompkins Square Park.

Pools opened citywide today.

Remember, breath. And wear a swimsuit.

Out and About in the East Village

In this ongoing 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: Colette Pwakah
Occupation: Artist, Adventurer, and Part-Timer. Editor of Time Warp. (Find a PDF of the zine here.)
Location: Tompkins Square Park
Time: 3 pm on Friday, June 10

This is Part 2 of our interview with Colette. Read Part 1 here. We start with the last paragraph from Part 1.

I left the city for maybe four months at a time each semester, and each time I came back to the city, the changes were very significant. It seems like time passes more quickly, here. You might leave for a week and it’s like a month has passed. It kind of freaked me out when I returned from my first semester and saw how the area around Mars Bar had changed in such little time. Astor Place suffered a similar fate. The streets are swarming with zombie-like people. It's like something outta the Twilight Zone.

I did a lot of research into local musicians, artists, and the area's history to help anchor me. My dad does The Shadow, so I get a lot of information about it, but it never really sunk in. I never really immersed myself in that history and in getting in touch with my community until I dropped out of college and needed to find myself.

In my research, I’d explore the city with new eyes. If you go out late at night and there’s no one on the streets, it’s kind of spooky. You can get really lost in that. It makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time almost. Time Warp kind of came out of that. To get lost in the past or that fantasy is what I would call a time warp — this kind of void or disconnection from reality. The only thing that could really get you out of that was punk rock or rock 'n roll music. It gets you energized, fired up, and makes you want to do something. There's a sense of urgency in it. I wanted to do something. I didn’t just want to sit around and be sad anymore.

With Time Warp, I am trying to inspire people to act and actually do something instead of just being sad and resigned to the situation we’re in. We need more people to get organized. We need people to get together and actually make some kind of action on a large scale, whether it’s protest, boycott, graffiti with a real message... Anything is better than just sitting around waiting for our doom.

Just go out and do things; be positive. Don't give up. The city hasn’t been entirely lost. Do anything you think will help — use your imagination. Get angry, create your own zine, start a band, post up flyers. For example, I saw a photo of a flyer posted in Chinatown explaining to people that AirBnB is destroying their neighborhood. A lot of people don’t get that what they're doing is contributing to the ruin of the places they visit or move to and that they can either be part of the problem or part of the solution.

John Holmstrom was our first interviewee. In the interview, he encouraged us by saying things like, “The world is coming to an end and you’re going to grow up with this stuff! You guys should be angry! You guys should be doing something to wake people up!” When he said that I was like, 'fuck yeah!'... It really inspired me.

Jeremiah Moss also has a piece titled Get Angry that we included in the zine. It pretty much summed up what I had been feeling. Expect more issues of Time Warp in the future... we've got a lot of ideas a brewin'. We’ve also been putting on free punk/variety shows in Tompkins Square Park with a handful of collaborators, including The Shadow. The shows are happening all throughout the summer and early fall. (Find a list of shows below.)

The city is an ecosystem. While studying biology and whatnot, I noticed that the city itself has distinct parts that it relies on to function. You’ve got small businesses that serve the community and invasive chains that are difficult to compete with. You've also got people that contribute in the various niches they fill. People need a habitat that can support them, too... If people are too occupied with merely staying afloat, they can't do much else. When we lose parts of our city ecosystem, it suffers and risks collapse.

New York is being made to suit the invasive class. They’re trying to make it into Disney World. They’re turning it into an entertainment zone. The New York City I love is vulgar, filthy, and full of unique people. They’re trying to turn it into this family friendly, sterile, clean, G-rated place. New York City is not an entertainment zone. New York City is not Disneyland. I mean, children grew up here and we turned out fine. We don’t need to have everything clean and censored. It’s not meant to be that way and these people are coming in and trying to change it. If you move here and want to be a part of it, that’s good. If you move in and you want to change the place or you don’t want to be a part of it, then what are you doing here? You’re just part of the problem.

A lot of these people are coming in here and isolating themselves. They don’t want to be part of the community. They want to impose their preferences on the people here. A lot of these invaders don’t like poor people. They don’t even like the people that they’re moving near. Why come here if you don’t like poor people, you don’t like working class people, you don’t like people who look different from you and act different from you?

You don’t have to be born here to become a New Yorker but you have to be part of the community. Just because you come in here and you paid millions for your apartment or you come in here and you’re rich, doesn’t mean you’re any better than people less fortunate than you. The so-called 'vagrants' have seen more shit, dealt with more shit. They're more respectable than yuppies or hipsters that just come in here thinking they own the place and should be respected, despite their lack of respect for other people.

What I love most about the city is the people. The people are what make the city special. They give the city its energy. People always talk about the city's unique aura or its energy. That’s what everyone usually notices when they come here, and that’s what everyone seems to love about it, but it’s the people that make that energy, and when you drive the people out, all that will remain is a sterile shell of its former self.

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

Upcoming shows in Tompkins Square Park:

Dr. Know Benefit Show — July 23:
Maximum Penalty, Antidote, Cro-Mags, Token Entry, and Breakdown

TSP Riot 28th Anniversary — Aug. 6:
Iconicide, Psycho Sin, Coffin Daggers, and Simon Chardet plus more TBA

TSP Riot 28th Anniversary — Aug. 7:
Hammerbrain, Nihilistics, ISM, Killer Instinct plus more TBA

Take Back NYC and FUCK WORLD TRADE !! - Sept. 11:
The Crack Rock Steady 7, All Torn Up!, The Flux Machine and more extra special guests, TBA...

235 2nd Ave. being pitched for bar-restaurant usage

There are retail possibilities being pitched for the ground floor and basement at 235 Second Ave. just north of 14th Street...



Here is one possibility via a rendering at ABS Partners (PDF here)...


[Via ABS]

The awnings show an establishment called Brag Haus!

Per this listing: "Ideal for a proven restaurant group to secure a long-term lease with over 3,550 total SF." The asking rent is avaibale upon request. Not sure what currently exists in this ground-floor space.

While this listing is for No. 235, there's another rendering showing the whole corner looking like...