Monday, March 13, 2017

Vivi Bubble Tea debuts this week on 3rd Avenue




And in bubble tea news, the Vivi Bubble Tea shop opens Wednesday on the northwest corner of Third Avenue and Ninth Street...



This is one of 30 Vivi locations nationwide, including on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

The space here previously had Organic Avenue has a tenant.

Mono + Mono's 4th Street return



A quick item to note on tonight's CB3-SLA committee meeting... it appears that Mono + Mono (or just Mono Mono now) is making a return to its former home at 116 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

A fire swept through the single-level structure in April 2013. (The restaurant's extensive collection of jazz LPs were reportedly spared.)

At various times through the years, Mono reps said that they would be returning. A flower shop is in the space now. This sign appeared in the shop's window last summer...


[Photo from August]

In any event, the CB3-SLA signage has been up on the storefront this past week...



It's unclear from the materials posted at the CB3 website if the same owners are involved. The paperwork shows that the applicant also operates a restaurant on 32nd Street.

The sample menu on file with the questionnaire shows a variety of tapas, such as the mung bean pancake as well as a variety of rice and noodle dishes. (The sample menu does not list the double-dipped Korean fried chicken, a speciality of the previous incarnation of Mono + Mono.)

The proposed hours are 4 p.m. to midnight daily.

Mono + Mono first opened in August 2010. I never ate here. I know people who liked the ambiance. (This review at Serious Eats said "that the food wasn't taken as seriously as the space.")

CB3's SLA committee meeting is tonight at 6:30 in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. (corner of the Bowery).

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Early-morning fire at 116 E. Fourth St., home of Mono + Mono

(Kind of) An update on Mono + Mono

What is happening with the Mono + Mono space?

Report: Mono + Mono plans fall reopening

Mexican restaurant eyeing the former Babel space on Avenue C

We've taken a look at a few items on tonight's CB3-SLA committee meeting agenda (Ciala ... and the "upscale modern Indian cuisine" at the current L'Apicio space.)

One item of interest is no longer on the agenda. There was an applicant for the combo space at 129-131 Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street...



This was home to Babel Lounge until recently... the Marshal seized the space last month...



The notice form (PDF) on the CB3 website for this applicant shows a "Mexican restaurant with a cocktail bar" vying for the address. The applicant's name is William Aporih, who has been involved with the high-end bars at places such as Abajo and the Jimmy (and Yerba Buena on Avenue A).

In any event, perhaps this item will return on a future CB3 docket. As previously noted, a cancellation is a fairly frequent occurrence ... generally because information or paperwork is not finalized or negotiations with the landlord are not finalized to point where the applicant is ready to appear before the committee.

Babel, not always popular with neighbors, expanded into the former Duke's space in 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Babel expanding on Avenue C

Avenue C 'residents with children' not happy with Babel Lounge

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Sunday's parting shot



Photo this evening on Szold Place by Bobby Williams...

NYC Emergency Management has issued a hazardous travel advisory for Tuesday


Via the EVG inbox this evening...

The New York City Emergency Management Department today issued a hazardous travel advisory for Tuesday, March, 14. The National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard Watch in effect from late Monday night through late Tuesday night. A nor’easter is forecast to bring heavy snow along with strong and potentially damaging winds that will create hazardous travel conditions on Tuesday.

“We’re preparing for a significant storm on Tuesday, and New Yorkers should also prepare for snow and dangerous road conditions,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Besides the snow, it will be cold. We urge you to avoid unnecessary travel and help keep roads clear for Sanitation crews and first responders.”

“Heavy snow will make travel difficult on Tuesday. New Yorkers should avoid driving and use mass transit when possible,” said NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito. “We are working closely with our agency partners to coordinate the City’s preparations for the storm.”

A low pressure system develops off of the Carolina coastline Monday before making its way up the East Coast late Monday night. According to the latest forecast, light snow is expected to begin late Monday night, and will intensify overnight into early Tuesday morning. The heaviest snowfall is expected Tuesday morning through the afternoon, with rates as much as 2 to 4 inches per hour possible. Strong winds are expected to accompany the heavy snowfall, with wind speeds 20 – 30 mph, and gusts 35 – 50 mph, creating hazardous travel conditions. The snowfall is expected to taper off Tuesday evening. A total accumulation of 12 to 18 inches is anticipated, but locally higher amounts are possible. New Yorkers should avoid driving and use mass transit where possible on Tuesday.

And in case you are playing NYC weather trivia...

Blast from the past



The roadway work on Ninth Street at Avenue A uncovered some Belgian blocks from decades past... thanks to Kate Puls for the photo!

Week in Grieview


[Photo in Tompkins Square Park this past week by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Checking in on the 'completion project' at the Anthology Film Archives (Tuesday)

Report: Former NYU student paralyzed in fall from 2nd Avenue building awarded $29 million in suit (Friday)

At the International Women’s Strike march in Washington Square Park (Thursday)

Out and About with Merle Ratner (Wednesday)

MTA bus driver arrested after collision with pedestrian on Avenue D (Tuesday)

Extell's 14th Street developments are all grown up now (Thursday)

The Stone is moving to the New School (Wednesday)

Ciala bringing 'Georgian and European cuisine' to 2nd Avenue (Thursday)

Chef Sujan Sarkar bringing 'upscale modern Indian cuisine' to the Bowery (Monday)

120 E. 10th St. returns to the market (Tuesday)

New vendors for the Bowery Market this spring (Monday)

Sister Jane opens (Thursday)

Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar gives way to Tableside on 6th Street (Monday)

Haile Bistro expected to reopen next week on Avenue B (Thursday)

Report: Mount Sinai's Gilman Hall fetches $87 million for use as student housing (Wednesday)

This looks to be the new residential building coming to 71 4th Ave. (Wednesday)

Jimmy McMillan announces his candidacy for City Council District 2 (Tuesday)

2nd Avenue development makes 1st appearance above the plywood (Monday)

Hole watch 2017: Long-empty lot on 6th and C now waiting for 5-story building (Tuesday)

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Pitts (and company) performing this evening at ABC Beer Co.


[Photo of Pitts by Steven]

Pitts, a longtime East Village resident and poet/spoken word performance artist, is performing at ABC Beer Co. tonight at 7...



ABC Beer Co. is at 96 Avenue C between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

March madness

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Saturday's parting shot



Photo by Bobby Williams...

And don't forget to move your clocks forward an hour tonight...

Report: Video captures beating on Orchard Street early Friday morning


Here's what unfolded via the Post:

The 24-year-old victim was being chased north on Orchard Street by two men who caught up to him between Stanton and Rivington just before 3 a.m. Friday, according to police.

His attackers repeatedly punched and kicked the man before escaping in a black car, cops said.

And from the Daily News:

The brutal beatdown happened so fast that security guards at nearby bars weren't able to break it up in time, said a man who witnessed the aftermath.

"Nobody could help this person. It was over that quickly," said Chad David, 51.

The video shows several people walking by the attack.

Per CBS 2:

The witness and others screamed at the assailants when the violence began.

“And they wouldn’t stop — just going on and on and on, like, and that’s when I was yelling: ‘Stop! Stop! He’s down! Just leave it! Go!’” the witness said.

No one dared to intervene physically.

PIX 11 says the victim is in serious condition.

Media accounts do not provide descriptions of the suspects. Police say they do not know what motivated the attack.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Updated 3/12

CBS 2 spoke with the victim's mother...

Held to the ground and beaten, surveillance video outside 156 Orchard St. shows the 24-year-old victim, William Franco, trying to cover his head while two men kick, stomp, and punch him into the pavement.

His mother lives about a block away from where the attack happened. CBS2’s Jessica Borg spoke exclusively with her Saturday, getting her reaction to the beating.

“Like any mom would be — worried, that’s it,” she said.

Police sources tell CBS2 Franco and the two men had gotten into an altercation at a nearby bar right before that attack. The police sources say Franco claims he never met the attackers before Friday morning.

“He probably don’t know them,” his mother said.

Updated 3/13

DNAinfo reports that the fight started at Pianos. The victim had reportedly been asked to leave the bar.

Per DANinfo:

The spat started inside the bar and music venue at 158 Ludlow St., where the 24-year-old victim and his attackers got into a fight early Friday morning and the victim was booted from the bar, police said.

The victim then waited outside the bar for the suspects to exit, at which point the brawl started up again, the NYPD said.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Friday's parting shot



Third Street near Avenue C today... thanks to @AllBlackCatsAre for the photo...

Someone left (or dragged) a piano to Tompkins Square Park today



At the entrance on Avenue B at Ninth Street... come, sing a song...



Photos by Lola Sáenz

Updated

Scuba Diva came across this scene earlier in the day...




Hanging in the 'Balance'



Depeche Mode have a new record coming out... and a tour, which includes dates at Madison Square Garden this September, to support the release. (Tix went on sale today.) The video here is from 1983 — "Get the Balance Right."

Because it's March 10 and snowing a little



FYI

Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg

Gym rats: Personal info of former David Barton members found on Astor Place

More bad news for members of the now-closed David Barton Gym on Astor Place.

NBC 4 had this report:

Paperwork containing the personal information of clients at a shuttered David Barton Gym ... was found strewn across the heavily-trafficked streets in the area Thursday.

News 4 cameras exclusively captured photocopies of identification cards, passports and visa information that had apparently been submitted with gym waivers for the luxury fitness chain.

It wasn't immediately cleared who tossed all this sensitive information on the curb.

The four David Barton Gym locations in Manhattan, including on Astor Place, shut down without any warning to its members or staff in late December.

Last month, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Club Ventures Investments LLC d/b/a David Barton Gyms.

The Astor Place space will become one of New York Sports Clubs' collection of Elite clubs.

H/T Pinch!

EV Grieve Etc.: Vanishing New York the book; Boss Tweed a goner


[Photo on Astor Place the other day by Derek Berg]

Suspect arrested in assault of four women on the LES (The Lo-Down)

There's a livestream viewing of the ACLU's launch of People Power tomorrow afternoon at Lucky, 168 Avenue (Details here)

An interview with East Village resident Fenton Lawless on his 1976 subway graffiti documentary (Mass Appeal)

Boss Tweed's on Essex appears to have closed (BoweryBoogie)

A look at the politically-charged play by Guillermo Calderón debuting Sunday at the Wild Project on Third Street (BOMB)

About Vanishing New York the book (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The Anthology Film Archives pays homage to queer cinema pioneer Barbara Hammer tomorrow (Official website)

Some history of 105 Second Ave., the former Fillmore East (Off the Grid)

The U.S., Canada and Spain win the honors for having the highest rates of severely cost-burdened renters (Bloomberg)

DNAinfo buys Gothamist (Gothamist... Jezebel)

That time in 1905 when a bar on Bleecker Street downplayed booze and played up soda, hot chocolate and ice cream sodas (Ephemeral New York)

French filmmaker Olivier Assayas's international trilogy at the Metrograph tomorrow (Official site)

The making of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" (Dangerous Minds)

On Sunday, Neighbors to Save Rivington House host an event addressing the lack of health care facilities on the LES (DNAinfo)

Report: Former NYU student paralyzed in fall from 2nd Avenue building awarded $29 million in suit

A former NYU student, who was paralyzed after a fall from a fire escape at 82 Second Ave. in 2008, won a $29 million verdict in court this week.

The Post has the details:

Anastasia “Sasha” Klupchak, who was an honors student and varsity soccer player, is guaranteed the $29 million from the building owner East Village Associates after her lawyer struck an unusual deal with defense counsel on Monday.

Called a “high low settlement” the parties agreed that if the jury came back with a verdict that was less than $13 million, the defense would pay $13 million; but if they arrived at a figure over $29 million, the landlord would cough up $29 million.

The pre-verdict deal means the award cannot be appealed.

Klupchak, 22 at the time in 2008, was visiting a friend at 82 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. She and her friend went out on the fire escape to smoke around midnight. When attempting to re-enter the apartment, "she fell through an unguarded opening in the fire escape platform." The 12-foot fall left her paralyzed from the waist down.

The landlord at the time, East Village Associates, was found liable "because a 1949 law prohibited the type of fire escape on the building." One of the six jurors found that Klupchak​ ​"was at least partially responsible for her injuries." She had been drinking on the evening of her fall, and the landlord's attorney said "that she treated the fire escape like a balcony instead of an emergency escape route."

Her attorney, Thomas Moore, noted that there was no provision in the lease that said tenants couldn’t hang out on the fire escape. He also got the landlord, Bernard McElhone of East Village Associates, to admit under cross examination that “tens of thousands of New Yorkers regularly” hang out on the structures.

Klupchak, who went on to pursue a Ph.D. in film studies at Emory, now teaches at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta.

As for the building, Icon Realty bought the property from East Village Associates in January 2013 for $3.1 million. Icon flipped the building in late 2015 to a South Carolina-based investor for $10.9 million.


Google Street View image from 2008

Thursday, March 9, 2017

The shadow pigeons of Avenue A



Video today by Grant Shaffer...

Previously

At the International Women’s Strike march in Washington Square Park



There were activities across the city yesterday related to the International Women's Strike ... more than 1,000 people (per media estimates) gathered in Washington Square Park late in the afternoon for a rally and march to Zuccotti Park ...

Per coverage at Gothamist:

Thousands of women and their allies gathered in Washington Square Park late Wednesday afternoon to demand equality and justice for all women, particularly those who are most at risk to the Trump agenda — immigrant women were joined by trans women, queer women, sex workers, nurses, and labor and Black Lives Matter organizers.

The rally, which capped off the Day Without A Woman strike, demanded justice for all, regardless of economic status. At one point the crowd closest to the Washington Square Arch chanted, "Feminism for the masses, not just the ruling classes!"

EVG contributor Derek Berg was at the start of the march, and shared these photos...















Extell's 14th Street developments are all grown up now

Let's check in on Extell's two, seven-story residential buildings going in on 14th Street from Avenue A to Avenue B... starting with a look on Avenue A toward the southeast corner...



... and from the entryway to Stuy Town...





...and looking at the end of No. 500 toward Avenue A...



... and two shots of No. 524, the smaller of the two buildings...





...and a view from the 13th Street side...



Together, the buildings will yield 150 residential units (of those, 32 will reportedly be below-market rate). The buildings will include outdoor space for tenants, such as: "gardens, ornamental grasses, a full bocce court, pergola covered dining with an open air grill kitchen, and framed hedge walls," per marketing materials.

There will also be 56,610-square feet of retail space. As previously reported, Target is leasing 27,306 square feet in No. 500's corner space for a small-format store expected to open in the summer of 2018.


[Fast-forward to the summer of 2018]

There's still a persistent rumor that a Trader Joe's will take the remaining retail space at No. 500.

The excavating started on the property in June 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units

Target offers details about its flexible-format store opening summer 2018 on 14th and A

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street


[2011]



Ciala bringing 'Georgian and European cuisine' to 2nd Avenue



A new restaurant-cafe called Ciala is in the works for 77 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

According to the application on file (PDF) at the CB3 website ahead of Monday's SLA committee meeting, Ciala will serve "Georgian and European cuisine." (Ciala is seeking a beer-wine license.)

The layout shows 17 tables with a total of 49 seats ... and a five-seat service bar. The applicant, listed as David Kurtanidze, is proposing hours of 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, including for the outdoor seating.



The previous tenant here, Ballaro, which served Italian coffee and pastries during the day, and beer, wine and small plates in the evening hours, closed after seven years in February 2016. (Ballaro made headlines after drunken Taylor Swift fans apparently terrorized the staff by demanding they play more of the pop star's music on the house stereo in August 2015.)

The CB3-SLA meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. (corner of the Bowery).

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Sister Jane officially opens Friday on 13th Street



An EVG reader shared this photo from yesterday... showing workers putting up the signage for Sister Jane East Side Tavern on 13th Street west of First Avenue...

And just in time for a soft opening last evening ... before a grand opening tomorrow.

Later, EVG reader Samantha S. sent along a photo from inside...



Per Samantha: "Love it so far — the owner is so nice and the menu looks fantastic! Solid beer and wine selection. No cocktail menu (yet). Should be a good spot!"

Michael Stewart, a co-owner of Tavern on Jane at 31 Eighth Ave., is also behind this venture, a neighborhood bar/restaurant, in the former Redhead space.

Previously

Haile Bistro expected to reopen next week on Avenue B



We recently noted that Haile Bistro, the Ethiopian restaurant on Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street, had been closed of late without any explanation.

Now, though, there are "closed for renovations" signs posted on the front windows ... noting a reopening on March 14...



A comment on the previous post from a former owner states that another family member will now be running Haile, which opened in 2013.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Noted



Several readers passed along photos of these posters that went up overnight, such as here on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...



The poster has quotes from audio recorded in 2005 and released last fall by The Washington Post, where Trump is heard talking to Billy Bush from "Access Hollywood."

No word at the moment about who plastered the neighborhood with these Thanks to the commenter — these are via Marilyn Minter ... coinciding with International Women's Day.

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: Merle Ratner
Occupation: Labor Rights Organizer at the International Commission for Labor Rights
Location: Avenue A Between 3rd Street and 4th Street
Date: Thursday, March 2 at 3 p.m.

I’m from the Bronx. I lived here in the early 1980s ... I moved back here about 30-something years ago because I wanted to live in a multiracial, working-class neighborhood.

It was not gentrified like it is now. There were a lot more working-class and poor people, and not as many restaurants. There were also not so many vacant stores. Every store was filled — there were more mom-and-pop places. I liked Bernstein’s on Essex. It was a kosher deli with Chinese waiters. They had the best pastrami. It was an interesting place.

Then and now it has been a politically active area – anti-gentrification struggles later, always anti-war struggles, anti-racism struggles, and LGBT struggles. It’s a traditionally immigrant area, from here down to the whole Lower East Side. It’s where my grandparents came when they came from Odessa in the early part of the 20th Century.

It’s a very diverse community culturally and politically – it’s very progressive. I went to the rally against Trump here in Tompkins Square Park, and every time there’s a demonstration in Washington or New York there’s a huge contingent from this area that go. So I like to be among working-class people, although that’s changing a little bit. But the projects are here. They’re not going anywhere. We’re going to fight to keep them here. It’s a neighborhood where I feel comfortable.

There’s also a long tradition with the labor movement. A lot of labor activists have been active here and still stay here, and Trump is trying to kill the labor movement. That’s a particular struggle, for unions and labor rights. I think that if we don’t organize as workers and fight, not only for labor union rights but for a different society, an alternative to capitalism, we’re all going to go down.

I work for the International Commission for Labor Rights, but I’m also on the board at the Laundry Workers Center, which organizes low-wage immigrant laundry and food service workers, and has a big struggle with B&H Photo Video, which is trying to move a lot of the jobs of the Union-organized shop to New Jersey. So that’s an important struggle.

My family has a history — my grandmother, when she came from Odessa, was the first woman business agent at the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, and my mother was a member of Local 1707 Day Care Workers. I have a picture in my house of my grandmother, it must have been in the 1920s, with a long skirt with a bustle, the very traditional thing that women wore, holding a picket sign with her friend that said, ‘Don’t be a scab.’

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