Scenes from the morning downpour

Photos by Peter Brownscombe...

Noted

[Photo this morning by Lola Sáenz]

Someone decided to spraypaint "Shame on you for selling veal" on the sidewalk outside John's of 12th Street, the 109-year-old Italian restaurant near Second Avenue.

I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant

East Village resident Susan Schiffman has been photographing the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.



Tenant: Daryl, since 1992.

Daryl lives in one of three remaining rent-stabilized apartments in her building. There were a total of nine apartments. The other six have been under renovation for the past year.

The building was bought from the owner, Arthur R. by Icon Realty. Daryl was living in another apartment in the East Village when Arthur R. (she had lived in the building before) called her and told her about an apartment that was available here.

"Everything was always done by hand," Daryl said of her previous landlord. For instance, when she would need to renew her lease, she would meet with Arthur in person to sign it.

Their super has worked in the building for the past 40 years. He is Arthur's nephew.

Daryl showed me the Bible that is on her fireplace. It has been there since she moved in. It belonged to the previous tenant. Daryl opened the Bible, where the name of the previous tenant is written in pencil on the inside cover.











If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.

The Living Stage Summer Festival is this weekend in the Meltzer Tower Garden

The (outdoor) stage is set inside the Meltzer Tower Garden on First Street between First Avenue and Avenue A...



As a reminder, volunteers from the Superhero Clubhouse along with University Settlement are hosting the Living Stage Summer Festival here this weekend.

The details via Facebook:

The Living Stage combines horticulture, theatrical design, and community engagement to create recyclable, biodegradable, biodiverse, and edible performance spaces.

Created by and for the Lower East Side community, The Living Stage Summer Festival features family-friendly activities including a live, original, intergenerational performance, music, gardening information sessions, and tours. There will be opportunities to engage with local nonprofits, businesses, gardeners, artists, and community leaders. Join us!

A free event for the whole family!

Meltzer Tower Garden, 94 E 1st St

Friday, August 4, 5-8 p.m.
Saturday, August 5, 12-5 p.m.
Free Outdoor Performance: Friday 7 p.m., Saturday 4 p.m.

Find more info here ...

Eastern Bloc closes Sunday; Club Cumming coming soon

[Photo from June]

Eastern Bloc is hosting its farewell party this Sunday evening.

As previously reported, after 12 years on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, Eastern Bloc — described on their Twitter account as "The best fucking gay bar in the universe!!!" — will be turning the keys over to actor-author Alan Cumming for Club Cumming...

Thank you all for the last 12 years. Sunday will be our closing night. Come by this week for some final fun. See you in the fall for @clubcumming

A post shared by Easternbloc (@easternblocnyc) on Aug 2, 2017 at 6:52am PDT

Cumming, an East Village resident, is partnering with the owners of Eastern Bloc for the reboot of the space.

A rep for Cumming described the venture this way to Page Six back in the spring: "Alan wants it to be a home for everyone of all ages, all genders, all sexualities, who all enjoy letting go and making some mischief. No judgments, no attitude, no rules, except kindness, acceptance and fun."

Club Cumming is expected to debut this fall.

Let's talk about rats

Members of LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens) are hosting a public meeting tomorrow (Saturday!) afternoon to discuss rats... specifically, Mayor de Blasio's recently announced $32 million plan to help reduce the number of rats in several neighborhoods, including the East Village.

The meeting is at 1 p.m. in the Green Oasis Community Garden, 386 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

2 free concerts in Tompkins Square Park this weekend; David Peel tribute and a Riot Reunion

There are two free shows in Tompkins Square Park this weekend... text via the EVG inbox...



• Saturday, Aug. 5: David Peel Tribute: Commemorate and celebrate the life of musician-political activist David Peel, who died in April. There will be speakers and bands/performers including The Accelerators, Sea Monster with Jism of ISM, GLOB (Gorgeous Ladies Of Blood-wrestling) and other bands and surprise guests to appear.

Peel would have been 75 years old today.

More details here.

• Sunday, Aug. 6: 29th Annual Tompkins Square Riot Reunion: Commemorating the infamous police riot in Tompkins Square Park on the evening of Aug. 6, 1988, featuring speakers, literatire tables by community groups and music by: Iconicide with Jism of ISM, The Nihilistics, Hammerbrain, Sick Shit, Trashy and Leftover Crack.

More details here.

The shows are scheduled from 2-6 p.m. both days.

About Jake, who roamed the East Village these past 11 years

[Photo by Josh Rogosin]

EVG reader thomkat, an East Village resident since 1980, shared this piece about Jake, who roamed the neighborhood for the past 11 years. "He made a lot of friends all over the East Village from Tompkins Square Park to Avenue D, mainly between 10th and 4th streets — and possibly a few enemies."

---

Out the door to work one morning on 7th Street in the fall of 2006, I noticed a young and healthy looking tuxedo cat pawing at the black plastic trash bags next to the curb.

Obviously hungry and lost (?), he willingly accepted my offer of food. After he gobbled that down, I snapped his picture and later posted “Is This Your Cat?” flyers all over the East Village. After two weeks, when no claims had surfaced, he was mine. The vet estimated his age to be a year and a half. He also pronounced, “That cat’s going to dominate you!” That seemed preposterous at the time, but little did I know.

---

At first, Jake was constantly trying to find a way to get outside. We tried a leash – not a good idea. You’ve never seen the likes of such thrashing, clawing and biting. So I let him out into the garden adjoining our building — and over the wall he went and across the street.

Finally, realizing how street savvy he was, I installed a flap door in the bathroom window and built an 8’ wooden plank down into the garden so he had 24/7 access to come and go at will.

And come and go he did, for more than 11 years. With an implanted chip, a red stretch collar with three bells (warning to birds, etc.), a tag engraved with my cell and the explanation “I can jump over the wall and go inside by myself” — and of course, regular visits to the vet (usually the result of cat fights), he survived many a close scrape.

That first summer, he came home with a long cut on this tail. The vet took pains to save it and Jake was confined to the apartment sporting an Elizabethan collar and a heavy cast on his tail for 30 days. But alas, the tail could not be revived so he lost a little over half its length. (My son who lives down on 1st Street called him “Stumpy”).

He truly lived up to the reputation of his namesake — Jake, the handsome and rowdy lady killer from the book I was currently reading, "Lonesome Dove," a cowboy who was always riding off, being chased and getting into trouble.

Jake’s regular hangouts were the many East Village Gardens gardens and parks, Tompkins Square Park being the first. Other favorites were 6BC, the Fireman’s Garden and Green Oasis on 8th Street (where the gardeners squirted him with water for pestering the resident feral cats), La Plaza on 9th Street (where he had a girlfriend named Ruby and also bothered irate gardeners who were fearful for their chickens), the Generation X, 4th Street Garden, and the LES Ecology Garden on 7th Street.

At times he would frequent the same garden for an entire summer as the "resident cat."

---

Jake did not suffer fools – when certain people approached him he would move away. Dogs didn’t faze him; most gave him a wide berth. He seemed to be able to judge them from afar and was always close enough to a parked car or a fenced-in tree pit for a quick escape.

More often he wouldn’t budge and gave them a quick swat if they came too close. Sometimes he would even go after dogs if they were close to his size.

But he could charm most people — he knew how to work the block, lying on our stoop or stretched out in the middle of the sidewalk during rush hours, morning and evening, being greeted and patted by passersby — especially young girls who would sit on the stoop and leisurely pet and fawn over him.

Neighbors would often comment, “I never liked cats, but he’s great,” and “I know the woman who takes care of him over on 9th Street” (when we live on 7th ).

A few times he came home reeking of perfume. Traitor! And he was obviously overweight, fed by well-meaning neighbors or scouting out the regular offerings by the always-dependable feral cat feeders. (I confess to extra treats of low-salt turkey slices from Sunny & Annie’s in addition to his regular diet.)

Most days after work when I reached the corner of 7th and B, three short blasts on a dog whistle would bring him bounding up the street to walk home with me for dinner. And if he still hadn’t come home after the dinner hour, I would go searching for him, making the rounds of his usual haunts with the dog whistle.

One evening after about an hour I gave up and was walking back home on Avenue C and heard his meow. He was trapped on a fire escape on the second floor of a building and must have heard me whistle on 6th Street, then spotted me walking below. No buzzer system, so I waited for someone to open the door, and went up to the front apartment – they had let him in as well as out the window and were so absorbed in TV, had forgotten him. Finally I had to realize that, nocturnal in nature, he would usually stay out all night, still always a concern.

Over the last few years Jake became much more domesticated and affectionate, and actually once in a while would rub against my legs (!) – and he loved having his stomach massaged. He would jump up on the bed, lie flat on his stomach like a sphinx with his head down and I would massage under his stomach in time with his breath and extremely loud purring. And late nights we might go for walks, one following the other, taking our time. He also acquired a fascination for car license tags – would sniff one after the other – I always wondered what he learned from those sniffs. And often he would “mark” the tags — embarrassing when the owner was there and fuming.

---

However, 11 years later, in February of this year, Jake began to seem off his game and would go through spells of not being able to keep his food down. After several visits to the vet, he was diagnosed with an inoperable, malignant, abdominal tumor and given only a few weeks to live back in April.

I inquired if there was any way to make him more comfortable and the vet said steroids would help, so he began to receive house calls for steroid shots at home. It worked like magic for over a couple of months. And we tried to make the best of it – he mostly stayed outside, we took lots of walks and he had all the favorite foods and stomach massages he wanted.

But he was definitely slowing down, and last week he slept almost all of the time in our garden, moving and eating very little, to the point that it became obvious he was not at all happy and most certainly in pain. So the vet came and we eased him out of this life at home on Saturday, July 29.

I — and I think some others — will miss him terribly.

Sunny's Florist off until after Labor Day

[Photo from April by Vinny & O]

Sunny's Florist is taking a break... the sign on the small space on Sixth Street at Second Avenue points to a vacation-renovation combo... with a return after Labor Day — specifically Tuesday, Sept. 5.



The shop, operated by Sun "Sunny" Ja Hwang and her son Edward, has been open now for 29 years.

The former Shoolbred's space is for rent on 2nd Avenue

[Photos from early July]

Shoolbred's, the upscale, Scottish-style pub, closed at 197 Second Ave. back in June after nine-plus years in business.

Robert Morgan, one of the bar's owners, blamed the closure on "egregious rents."

The storefront between 12th Street and 13th Street is now on the market.



Per the listing (PDF here):

Coldwell Banker Reliable Commercial Division is pleased to present approximately 1,600 SF of ground floor retail space plus basement space for lease i... Nearby tenants include a mix of medical tenants such as Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital and New York University Langone, national tenants such as IHOP and KFC and numerous neighborhood fixtures such as Momofuku, Milk Bar and Village East Cinema. Suitable uses include, but are not limited to food and bar, professional office and retail.

Asking rent: $18,500 (the lease term is 60 months).

This address was home until 2007 to Jade Mountain, home of the great Chow Mein sign.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Shoolbred's is signing off on Father's Day

The stately 153 Avenue B has a new owner

[EVG file photo]

153 Avenue B between Ninth Street and 10th Street, which had been on and off the market with different brokers the past 18 months, has reportedly been sold.

The five-floor building overlooking Tompkins Square Park, described in the listing as "a rarely available grand and stately townhouse," features five floor-through market rate apartments.

According to The New York Times yesterday, the new owner is "a private investor" going by 153 B L.L.C. (c/o Zwirner Gallery on West 19th Street) in the public listing.

The asking price had been $6.85 million. According to public records, the property sold for $6.625 million. (The building hit the market in May 2016 with a $6.95 million ask.)

The same family had owned it for the past 60 years. They shared some history of the building with the Post earlier this year:

Over the decades, past residents, according to the current owners, have included actress Marisa Tomei, music producer Hal Willner, and musician and composer Charles Mingus.

“On the night that Robert Kennedy was shot, for instance, Mingus rang our bell. I remember seeing this heavy-set man in tears, crying to my mother about how they shot Bobby, too. His longtime lover lived on the fifth floor of our building with her children — she must not have been home at the moment he stopped over."

It's unclear if the new owner plans to keep the market-rate apartments, or convert the property into a single-family home. There haven't been any new work permits filed with the DOB.

Previously on EV Grieve:
153 Avenue B returns to the market

Baron's Dim Sum gives way to Tasty Garden on 6th Street

[Photo from April]

After just a few months in business, Baron's Dim Sum has closed at 518 Sixth St. here between Avenue A and Avenue B. Paper arrived on the front windows a few weeks back... and a new name and concept has arrived in the form of Tasty Garden...



..which is also going to offer a variety of dumplings as well as spicy wontons, per the signage. (Not sure if Baron's just switched up names or if new operators took over. The phone numbers are different.)

No. 518 has been home to a number of quickly-closing businesses in recent years ...including a psychic... and an organic dry cleaner/cafe.

Former Avenue A dental center is 'great location for restaurant'

The Family Dental Center at 15 Avenue A moved down to a new location on Essex Street...



And the space here between First Street and Second Street is on the rental market.

Per the rather jumbled listing:

Fully Set Up Dental Office - Can be used as Office or Retail confirming use - busy Avenue A location surrounded by all retail - Great Location for Restaurant - Busy Block

East Village Prime Location - Avenue A - Long Established Dental Office - Can be also used as full Retail or Medical Office. Cut up as a full office with 12 Separate rooms and areas - Full Basement also full of equipment

Everything can be taken out for a clean open space with no partition walls.

Asking rent for the 1,600 square feet: $12,500.

What do you think of a restaurant for this space? Someplace that served small bites? With the right word-of-mouth it could work, as long as there was a plaque out front about the former dental office.

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo on Second Avenue at Seventh Street by Derek Berg...

Today in warnings about bed bugs

Derek Berg spotted this on the curb along Seventh Street... a couch ensemble with the warning "Bed Bugs Do Not Touch" ... probably could have used larger paper or smaller letters so the touch isn't so squished...



Anyway, this was before today's noon-time downour, so maybe the bed bugs floated away or drowned.

Tompkins Square Park sinkhole no longer sinking

Workers have made the broken-pipe repairs here at the Eighth Street/Avenue B entrance to the Park, and are filling in the hole, as the above photo by EVG Sinkhole Correspondent Steven shows.

And from yesterday...



And a flashback to June 18, when it all began [sob]...

5 years of Out and About in the East Village

[2012]

On Aug. 1, 2012, we introduced a new weekly feature by East Village-based photographer James Maher called Out and About in The East Village. The ongoing feature takes a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.

Anyway, here we are five years (and a day) later. The first subject worked for Mama's Food Shop on Third Street at Avenue B. (Before our interview was published, Mama's announced its closure. That seems like a lot longer than five years ago.) Other Year One alum included Derek Berg, today a valued EVG contributor.

Many thanks to James for continuing to provide us with these features. And thank you to everyone who has shared their stories. You can find them all at the links below...

Recaps by year:

• 2012 here

• 2013 here

• 2014 here

• 2015 here

• 2016 here

• 2017 here

The Great Jones Cafe will reopen starting tonight

The Great Jones Café will live on. The restaurant posted on its website and Facebook page last evening that they will reopen tonight at 5 after a one-week break.

Early last week, members of the waitstaff told diners that the 34-year-old Cajun favorite on Great Jones near the Bowery was closing for good. The story changed later on Wednesday, on what was said to be their last day. An employee told the Daily News that the Great Jones would close for a week of clean-up, and decide then whether or not to reopen. The employee said a permanent closure was a possibility, "but nothing has been decided yet." Another employee that night told DNAnfo that they could be closed for up to a year.

Perhaps the robust turnout last Wednesday evening helped the Cafe make a decision.

Updated noon:

Gothamist spoke to Great Jones owner Jim Moffett.

Some excerpts of the interview.

What happened is I got pretty badly hurt a week ago Saturday and went to the hospital. [Editor's note: Moffett said he was hospitalized for a "severe injury" but declined to elaborate.] In my absence we were forced to close for a short period of time but it was never my intention that the news should get out that we're closing period. It was a temporary closing until I got out of the hospital — which I did yesterday.

And...

We have some time left on the lease, not a lot of time. We've always been on a relatively short lease, I don't know why. This landlord, and the previous landlord, it's always been three to five year leases. I'd rather not get into the exact details, however, despite the fact that I owe the landlord some back rent—I'll be up front about that—he has told me that he wants us to stay as long as possible. There are no indications from him that he wants us out; quite to the contrary. We have a good relationship, he's a good guy. I don't foresee any trouble on that front.

Meanwhile, as Grub Street noted today, "Maybe it was the response [to the closing] that ensured the reopening."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Great Jones Café is now closed, permanently or not

Here's the sidewalk bridge-free corner of 9th Street and 1st Avenue — and the 122 Community Center

[Photos by Steven]

The northeast corner of First Avenue and Ninth Street is finally free of the sidewalk bridge. Workers finished removing it yesterday.







The gut renovation — including the addition of an elevator, new stairwells and full ADA compliance — started in February 2013 at the 122 Community Center.

The Department of Cultural Affairs owns the building, and Deborah Berke Partners designed the overhaul of the former public school to better house four arts groups and one community-service organization.

I'm not sure now when everyone, such as PS122, are expected to return to the building. PS122 has been presenting performances from other venues the past four years; its temporary offices are in Greenpoint. (PS122 opened in the space in 1980.)

Eventually, this is what the final product will look like...


[Deborah Berke Partners]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Come along on a tour of the under-renovation 122 Community Center on 1st Avenue

Sales underway for Rite Aid-adjacent condoplex on 1st Avenue

Sales began yesterday for 75 First Ave., the current foundation in the ground next to the Rite Aid at Fifth Street.

One day, it will be an 8-floor, 22-unit building like the rendering above.

Here's the official blurbage about the address:

Introducing 75 First Avenue, the brain-child of Italian design impresario and Peter Marino protégé Stefano Pasqualetti, and Starchitect Thomas O’Hara. The glass façade of this luxury condominium rises and cantilevers over the heart of the East Village. Amenities include a full-time doorman, a landscaped rooftop deck with panoramic city views, a fitness center, bicycle storage, and a private lounge with a yellow travertine fireplace, pool table, and wet bar for parties and events. 75 First Avenue is located only a few blocks from SoHo, the Lower East Side and the Bowery, and surrounded by an eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, cafes, theaters, shops, and grocery stores. Nearby subway lines include the F and 6.

There are currently five units for sale via Nest Seekers International ... from $995,000 to $2.25 million.

Here are some renderings via Nest Seekers...







Plans here have evolved through the past 10 years here with various developers and architects.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Developer: A shorter building in the works now for 75 First Avenue

High-rise for 75 First Avenue back in play

Long-stalled First Avenue site now has a brand-new rendering

Report: Long-dormant 1st Avenue development site changes hands

Plywood report and the future of 75 1st Ave. (Spoiler: condos)

244-46 E. 7th St. has a new owner

Slate Property Group is reportedly the new owner of 244-46 E. Seventh St., a 24-unit building between Avenue C and Avenue D.

According to The Real Deal, Slate paid $11.9 million for the property, previously owned by East Noho Corp. It last changed hands in 1975 for an undisclosed price.

Per TRD: "Ten of the units ... are rent regulated, down from 14 in 2010."

Slate made headlines in 2015 for buying the Rivington House for condo conversion while the deed restriction was still in place.

Today in Citi Bike, noosa yoghurt combo freebies

Via the EVG inbox... received multiple times...

Citi Bike will be free to all in New York City on August 2 [ed note: today!], thanks to an innovative partnership between noosa yoghurt, a thick and velvety combination of tart and sweet unlike any other yoghurt brand, and Citi Bike.

Riders can beat the summer heat and power up in between rides at noosa yoghurt sampling events and breakfast bars located throughout Manhattan.

The free ride day is the marquee event in a summer-long partnership between noosa yoghurt and Citi Bike. noosa installed its branding at 40 Citi Bike stations throughout the system in June, which will remain through September 3 to bring its delicious, farm fresh yoghurt from the Colorado mountains to the streets of New York City.

New Yorkers and visitors who want to take advantage of the free ride day can sign up through the Citi Bike app, where they will receive a free code to use at any dock in the service area for a half-hour at a time. The noosa Free Day Pass in the app will expire at 11:59 pm on August 2nd.

Tuesday's parting shot

EVG reader Dave Adler spotted this special romantic seating in East River Park this evening...

Noted

Via DNAInfo...

Tenants of 10 Stanton St. say they have been shocked to witness unwanted peep shows when they look out their windows at the back of Ian Schrager’s Public Hotel, claiming that the hotel's guests have been getting frisky in plain sight.

“People are seeing people having sex — they don’t even close their blinds,” said Debbie Gonzalez of the 10 Stanton Tenants Association at a recent association meeting. “There are 44 apartments in that back, and these people are subjected to noise, nudity, smoking — it’s ridiculous.”

The Public (Pubic?) Hotel opened in June on Chrystie Street just below Houston.