Week in Grieview

[Photo on Avenue A and St. Mark's by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Landlord Steve Croman off to Rikers (Tuesday)

Mayor and Mendez team up for Town Hall meeting on Oct. 12 (Friday)

Eastville Comedy Club looking to move to former Chase space on Avenue A (Monday)

The return of Hitchcocktober (Wednesday)

Out and About in the East Village (part 2) with Nancy Blum (Wednesday)

Chelsea Thai coming to former Neptune space on 1st Avenue; Filipino fare for Avenue A (Thursday)

Joe & Pat's hiring on 1st Avenue (Monday)

Also coming soon and hiring: Szechuan Mountain House on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

A break-in at Bali Kitchen on 4th Street (Wednesday)

Mount Sinai Union Square opens new urgent care center (Thursday)

Curb work damages Yiddish Theatre Walk of Fame star (Thursday)

Former L'Apicio space being gutted to make way for new Indian restaurant (Tuesday)

Crops for Girls closes on 9th Street (Friday)

Poke N' Roll for 9th Street (Thursday)

Touch-screen kiosks that do not take cash will be the order at Shake Shack's Death Star branch (Tuesday)

Ai Weiwei installation work underway at Cooper Union, Washington Square Park (Wednesday)

Dian Kitchen bringing food from the Yunnan Province to 9th Street (Monday)

8 more solar-powered, rat-proof trash cans arrive in Tompkins Square Park (Saturday)

Sara Kay Gallery debuts on 2nd Street (Monday)

The Planeta Jazz Series continues at 8th Street and Avenue B (Wednesday)

Dusting Balloon Rabbit (Red) in the IBM Watson Building (Wednesday)

Openings: Ummburger, the Fern, Kokus (Friday)

Along came some spiders on 7th Street (Monday)

...and on the front doors at the Black and White Bar on 10th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue, a tribute to Tom Petty, who died this past Monday, created by Dan Krupin...



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A vision for PS122 — 'a really lively building'

[Photo from Friday]

The New York Times today takes a look at five major contemporary dance hubs below 23rd Street, including PS122 on First Avenue at Ninth Street.

PS122, which opened in the former school in 1980, has been presenting performances from other venues since gut renovations — including the addition of an elevator, new stairwells and full ADA compliance — started in February 2013 at the 122 Community Center.

According to the Times, PS122 "is poised to reopen soon."

Here's more from today's article on Jenny Schlenzka, the first female director of PS122, who previously served as a curator of performance at MoMA and MoMA PS1.

The dance and visual art worlds have become increasingly entwined over the past decade. So Ms. Schlenzka’s appointment as executive artistic director of PS122, a haven for dance experimentation since 1980, was not a shock. Her first season, tentatively scheduled to begin early next year, will focus on the history of the East Village and of PS122. She said that until she has keys to the renovated building, a former public school on First Avenue, she couldn’t elaborate further.

Her larger vision, she said, is for “a really lively building” where people come and go all day for performances, talks, rehearsals and exhibitions.

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

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


[The final rendering via Deborah Berke Partners]

Dumpster of the Day

Putting one to good use yesterday on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... photos by Derek Berg

EVG Etc.: The mayor's affordable housing efforts; Jimi Hendrix Way pitched for 8th Street

[2nd Avenue curb work yesterday via Derek Berg]

A look at de Blasio's affordable housing efforts (The New York Times)

East Village Puerto Ricans on the President's response to Hurricane Maria (B+B)

About the late-night Con Ed work on 14th Street (Town & Village)

A long read on the history of the Bowery (Curbed)

Remembering "design guru" Jim Walrod (The New York Times)

A look at the new Wagamama menu on Third Avenue and 11th Street (Gothamist ... previously on EVG)

The Films of Paul Bartel retrospective starts Oct. 13 (Anthology Film Archives)


[Suspicious curb work crop circles on 2nd Avenue via Derek Berg]

Kickboxing chain opening a location at the former G & S Sporting Goods on Essex Street (The Lo-Down)

Jimi Hendrix Way co-naming proposed for part of Eighth Street (NY1)

End of days for the DL on Delancey? (BoweryBoogie)

A David Bowie exhibit is coming to the Brooklyn Museum next year (Gothamist)

Left Bank Books is now online (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

This past week, workers removed the remaining sidewalk bridge and scaffolding on the west side of Avenue C between Seventh Street and Sixth Street in front of the NYCHA-owned building.

Per an EVG reader: "I've been living on C for 6 years now and can't remember a day when it wasn't a fixture of the buildings along that stretch of sidewalk."



However, the temporary boilers that arrived after Sandy in 2012 remain in place on Sixth Street...



... and via the EVG inbox... a benefit Sunday for post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rican Relief at the Clemente, 107 Suffolk St. at Rivington on the Lower East Sode. More details here.



... and there's a Benefit for Hurricane Harvey Pets at the Ruff Club, 34 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street, from 1-4 Sunday afternoon. Details here.

8 more solar-powered, rat-proof trash cans arrive in Tompkins Square Park

Workers were out in Tompkins Square Park this morning... delivering and installing more solar-powered, rat-proof trash cans — the Big Belly — in the eastern section of the Park.



They are taking the place of these ...



... which do not provide much protection against hungry critters ... and whose circular design doesn't display art as well as the Big Belly model...



One of the workers said that they were delivering eight of the new trash receptacles to Tompkins Square Park.


[Photo by Steven]


[Photo by Steven]


[Photo by Steven]

The high-tech trash cans are part of Mayor de Blasio's $32 million plan to help reduce the number of rats in several neighborhoods, including the East Village. The first batch of the new Big Bellies arrived in the Park in July.

Meanwhile, a squirrel with a coconut drink this morning in Tompkins Square Park

Photo this morning by Steven

The 'Wolf' of Avenue A

New(ish) month, new flavor of the month with corresponding art on the gate at Mikey Likes It, 199 Avenue A near East 12th Street.

Andre Trenier's 1980s-flavored mural in October pays tribute to one of the greatest films from that era — "Teen Wolf," which topped "Out of Africa" for Best Picture that year as I recall.

Anyway! As always, the mural coincides with the flavor of the month, which is Teen Wolf, a combo of maple ice cream, chocolate covered marshmallows and pumpkin spice Oreos.

And a bonus photo of last month's mural – Tone Lōc ... (the flavor was "Wild Thing") ...

Friday's parting shot

10th Street and Avenue D via Bobby Williams...

Recycling day on 6th Street

Near First Avenue... someone Downsizing?

Previously

Come-to-the-Jesus-Lizard moment

The Jesus Lizard are back, touring for the first time in eight years. They'll be at the Irving Plaza on Dec. 10.

Meanwhile, enjoy "Gladiator" (above!) from 1992.

1st look at the new corporate partners of the birdbaths in Tompkins Square Park

The Robins seems to like the Fruit Loops anyway...



Photos by Steven

Time for the Harvest Festival at the 6th and B Community Garden

Tomorrow marks the 32nd annual Harvest Festival at the 6th and B Community Garden (on the corner of Sixth Street and Avenue B, if this is helpful).

There will be music, BBQ and a raffle during the festivities (2-7 p.m.).

You can find more details on Facebook here. Find a list of the raffle prizes (dinner for two at the Odessa!) here.

Openings: Ummburger, the Fern, Kokus, though just through Sunday

Ummburger opened this week at 99 First Avenue at Sixth Street.

As the name implies, this place sells a variety of burgers as well as salads. Here's a look at their menu from the Ummburger website...


[Click image to go big]

The drinks menu includes what they are calling "Ummazing Chalices," 38-ounce fish bowl cocktails on dry ice, including the Mari Juana, which pairs apple, pineapple, kiwi liquid smoke and vodka. ($25).

The previous tenant at this address, Mancora, moved across Sixth Street this past summer.

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The Fern is now open at 166 First Ave. near 10th Street. The bar-restuarant is from the same folks who run the Belfry on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Don't know anything else about the place at the moment. The Fern only has a placeholder website at this moment.

This address was previously, in fairly quick succession, North River and The Nite Owl, which closed in September 2015.

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And Kokus, billed as NYC's "first plant-based soft serve with organic cultured coconut cream and lightly sweetened with raw honey," is serving its wares through Sunday at the Bowery Market, 348 Bowery at Great Jones. (They started on Wednesday.)

Mayor and Mendez team up for Town Hall meeting next Thursday (Oct. 12)

Mayor de Blasio's Town Hall Tour 2017 comes to Council District 2 next Thursday (Oct. 12).

The Mayor is hosting the Q-and-A session in collaboration with District 2 City Council Member Rosie Mendez at PS 188, 442 E. Houston St. (at Baruch Drive). The Town Halling starts at 7 p.m.

If you want to attend, then you need to RSVP by 5 p.m. on Tuesday (the 10th). You can RSVP right here.

2 more weekends for Cafe Orlin

[Photo from Sunday]

News began circulating back on Sept. 8 that St. Mark's Place mainstay Cafe Orlin was closing after service on Oct. 15.

A rep for Cafe Orlin confirmed the closure in an email, as I posted on Sept. 8: "Yes — it's sad but true. The owner asked me to say that he's thankful to all who came to the cafe over the years. Cafe Orlin had a great run of 36 plus years, but he's ready for a change."

Grub Street reported that the Cafe Orlin owner is also the building's landlord, "and a new restaurant will open in its place."

I don't know much about the ownership. This is from a Village Voice feature on sister restaurant Cafe Mogador in September 2014:

Owner Rivka Orlin came to New York City from her home in Essaouira, Morocco, at the start of the 1980s, and helped her recently transplanted brother run Cafe Orlin, still in operation just down the street. Shortly after, the siblings heard the space at 101 St. Marks was becoming available, so they opened a second restaurant, using recipes from their mother in the kitchen and naming it after the small town in Essaouira where their Israeli-Moroccan family came from. Mogador is now run by Rivka’s nephew, Gal, and cousin, Ariela.

Anyway, you have two weekends left to visit Cafe Orlin at 41 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue. It first opened in March 1981.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cafe Orlin will close next month after 36 years in business (34 comments)

Crops for Girls closes on 9th Street

[EVG photo from yesterday]

An EVG reader writes in to say that Crops for Girls, the longtime hair salon at 437 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, has closed now. (There has been a for rent sign in the front window of late.)

In a Yelp post from last month, one longtime customer wrote about owner-stylist Michael D’Amico: "Sad to see him leave the biz because there is no one else who can cut consistently like he does."

Here's more on D’Amico from a New York Times piece in 2014:

Since 1992, Michael D’Amico has made a business out of chopping off women’s hair, dealing exclusively in above-the-shoulder styles. Bobs, pageboys, asymmetrical razor cuts — they are his specialty. If the salon had a motto, it might be “No men, no ponytails, no exceptions.”

Mr. D’Amico, 50, was a beauty school student in Manhattan in the 1980s. Women on the streets — this was the heyday of new wave and punk — didn’t look like the girls back in Jersey City, where he grew up. “I would see girls walking around with buzz cuts and other cropped, funky hair,” he recalled. Hoping to avoid a career giving ho-hum trims, he decided to narrow his focus. “There are only so many styles you can do with long hair, and I like the challenge of working with people who are making a big change,” he said.

There isn't any mention of a reason for the closure on the salon's website or Facebook page.

Dorian Grey, the other retail tenant at No. 437, closed in June 2016. The gallery owners were apparently unable to secure a new lease with the landlord, Benchmark Real Estate Group, who bought the building for $6 million in the spring of 2016.

Something for the kids at La Plaza this Halloween

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

The fun starts at 4 p.m. here on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street on Halloween (Oct. 31!) ... find more details here.

[Updated] Curb work damages Yiddish Theatre Walk of Fame star

The sidewalk ramp improvement — under a city contract via the Department of Design and Construction — continues in the neighborhood, with workers on Second Avenue now.

Yesterday, while workers were on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and 10th Street, one of the fragile plaques from the Yiddish Theatre Walk of Fame, was damaged...





This plaque in question was already missing part of its border and looked to have been patched up previously.

This development was particularly upsetting to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who has been working to have this Walk of Fame preserved and relocated. (You can read about their campaign here.)

In 1984, Abe Lebewohl, who owned the Second Avenue Deli in this corner location, installed this Yiddish Walk of Fame to commemorate when the area was a vibrant Yiddish theater community in the early 20th century. In recent years, many of the stars in the double row have become worn down or broken and are mostly illegible. Higher rents forced Second Avenue Deli to vacate the premises in 2006. A Chase branch is here now.

As we understand it, Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer was here yesterday and spoke with the owner of the contracting company. He said that his crew will fix the cracked piece and the remaining work will not have an impact on the other five-pointed gold stars.

"Moving forward, we will continue to work with a variety of stakeholders to ensure the long-term preservation of the Walk," said Harry Bubbins, East Village & Special Projects Director, at the GVSHP.

Updated 6:30 p.m.

The work crew patched up the star on the sidewalk...



Previously

Chelsea Thai coming to former Neptune space on 1st Avenue; Filipino fare for Avenue A

[Photo of 192-194 1st Avenue from June]

Two currently vacant East Village storefronts have new restaurant tenants.

According to a news release via Eastern Consolidated (H/T Real Estate Weekly), Chelsea Thai, which has operated a stall in the Chelsea Market for 19 years, has signed a 10-year-lease at 192-194 First Ave.

The space between 11th Street and 12th Street was previously home to the Neptune. The Polish-American restaurant closed last Dec. 4 after 15 years in business. According to one source, the asking rent doubled for the space.

While the Neptune arrived in 2001, the location had been home to a Polish-American diner, such as KK, for many years.


[Photo of 167 Avenue A from August 2016]

Meanwhile, at 167 Avenue A, Mama Fina's House of Filipino Sisig, an Elmwood Park, N.J.-based restaurant, is opening an outpost here between 10th Street and 11th Street.

The family-owned Filipino restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Elmwood Park, and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. (According to Yelp, they are cash only at their N.J. location.)

Moonstruck Eatery closed at No. 167 in July 2016 after one year of business. And several years earlier, the address was boats 'n hoes hotspot Diablo Royale Este, which closed at the end of August 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Today is the last day in business for the Neptune

Poke N' Roll for 9th Street

Apparently the Great Poke Trend of 2015-2016 continues deeper into 2017.

As this photo via EVG contributor Steven shows, a sign arrived on the front door at the previously vacant 441 E. Ninth St. for Poke N' Roll...



As Eater has noted, restaurants serving the Hawaiian fish dish are a dime a dozen now, though with several standouts. So we'll see where Poke N' Roll will fall on the Poke Meter. Don't know anything else about this operation at the moment, such as if it's related to the Poke N Roll in Glendale, Calif. (Probably not.)

And this is one of the long-empty storefronts along East Ninth Street in the Icon Realty-owned building at Avenue A.

The women's boutique Cloak and Dagger was in this small storefront, before relocating to the next block of Ninth Street several years back.

The building on the northwest corner was eventually free of retail tenants after Icon's takeover. (Icon Realty bought the building at 145 Avenue A for $10.1 million in April 2014, according to public records.)

After sitting empty for 18 months, the spaces got its first new tenant with the flower shop Beetlebug back in February, then GelARTo in July.

Previously on EV Grieve:
On East 9th Street Dusty Buttons is closing after 125% rent hike: 'Saying goodbye will hurt like hell'

Tenants and local elected officials speak out against Icon Realty

Mount Sinai Union Square opens new urgent care center

[Eye room at Mount Sinai Downtown Union Square urgent care]

As you know, the Mount Sinai Health System is in the midst of its years-long project to rebuild Mount Sinai Beth Israel, transitioning to a network of smaller facilities throughout lower Manhattan.

One of those smaller facilities opened yesterday. Here's part of a media advisory via the EVG inbox yesterday...

Mount Sinai Health System today announced the opening, at the newly renovated Mount Sinai Union Square, of a state-of-the-art, full-service urgent care center, including pediatric care, which will feature daytime, evening, and weekend hours.

The renovation of the facility and creation of the urgent care center are part of Mount Sinai’s transformation of services south of 34th Street, which will include a new Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital with a highly advanced Emergency Department, expanded and renovated ambulatory and outpatient services, more than 35 operating and procedure rooms, and an extensive network of physician practices with more than 600 doctors.

The newly expanded and enhanced Mount Sinai Union Square now features modern procedure rooms and upgraded technology. Some of the upgrades include a fully integrated electronic health record system, secure in-room video conferencing for consultations with specialists and other medical consultants, and a secure online portal called “MyChart” through which patients can access their medical records.

For conditions that require an emergency room visit or hospital stay, patients will continue to be able to get care at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and its full-service emergency room, including award-winning cardiac and stroke services, which will remain open throughout this transformation.

The new Urgent Care Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 am – 8 pm, and 9 am – 5 pm on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.

Find more details on the facility here.

Mount Sinai's plans include opening an expanded facility, featuring a 70-bed hospital, on 14th Street and Second Avenue while closing its campus on First Avenue and 16th Street.

The Planeta Jazz Series continues at 8th Street and Avenue B

Planeta, the community arts and performance venue that debuted back in January in the basement space at 295 E. Eighth St., continues to host a variety of events.

Tomorrow (Thursday!) night, the Planeta Jazz Series continues with the Ruben Fox Quartet:

Ruben Fox, originally from London, is a student at The Juilliard School and already a very popular musician in New York. He's played with Wynton Marsalis at the Barbican Hall in London and as part of the Young Stars of Jazz Series in Marciac, France in 2016. Playing with Ruben is Ben Wolfe on bass, Evan Sherman on drums, and Gabe Schnider on guitar.

Head over to Facebook for more details on the series.

The suggested donation at the door is $15. The organizers say all the money goes directly to the musicians. The show starts at 8 p.m. No. 295 is on the corner of Avenue B.

Image of a previous show at Planeta via Facebook

Dust bunny

EVG reader Jeanne Krier came across two workers last evening dusting and polishing "Balloon Rabbit (Red)," the 14-foot, 6,600-pound sculpture by Jeff Koons that adorns the lobby of the IBM Watson Building at 51 Astor Place...



The mirror-polished stainless steel (with transparent color coating) wrabbit is reportedly the property of the building's developer, Edward J. Minskoff.

It's probably worth a lot. In November 2013, Koons's "Balloon Dog (Orange)" sold for $58.4 million, the most expensive piece ever by a living artist. The previous red rabbit owner was publishing magnate Peter Brant, who's setting up shop at 421 E. Sixth St.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile at the IBM Watson building, the Jeff Koons rabbit sculpture has arrived for the lobby

A break-in at Bali Kitchen

The folks at Bali Kitchen at 128 E. Fourth St. arrived at the restaurant between First Avenue and Second Avenue this morning... only to discover that someone had broken in...



A Bali rep said that the thief took the cash register and $350 in cash as well as the owner's reading glasses. It appeared as if someone also tried, without success, to smash into Tac N Roll next door.

The NYPD is investigating.

"Hope this won’t happen again to other restaurants," the rep said.

Bali opened on Sept. 12.

Out and About in the East Village (part 2)

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 or Lower East Side.



By James Maher

Name: Nancy Blum
Occupation: Artist
Location: Tompkins Square Park
Time: 4 pm on Sept. 24

Read part 1 with Blum right here. Picking up with the last paragraph from last week's interview.

So I’ve been really lucky, but you have to take risks in life. I was really destitute for many years. You had to live by your wits, but I wasn’t the only one. It’s a very hard life. I paid my rent. You could do it then, you could get it together. You could come up with the $300 for rent. I feel very sorry for young people today – you have to work your fucking ass off.

If you want to be a creative person and live in an expensive city, you have to reduce your existence to the minimum. That’s it, just the minimum, pizza and beer. I spent four years living off of getting cans out of the garbage ... until the Chinese ladies started beating me too it. Those are vicious women. I couldn’t compete with them, but that’s being an artist in New York. That’s just the way it is.

Misery loves company and so my friends were artists. My brother-in-law and I used to go to the Odessa and you’d get free coffee refills. We’d get together $1.50 and we could share a breakfast and sit there for two hours and drink coffee. So that’s what it was like and that’s what the old timers miss about the East Village – it was fucking fabulous. We shared everything. It was so beautifully funky, and we were all in the same boat. It was very street. It was more street, that’s the word I use, but it was also much more dangerous, and there were a lot of junkies.

When I moved into my gangster landlord building, because he was a gangster. He would only take cash. Fred was his name, but I loved him. All the tenants paid cash, and I said, ‘Fred no can do. I’m not moving in here without a lease, and I’m giving you a check,’ and he said OK! First of the month, I could hear him knocking. Everyone knew to be home by six. And he would start at the top and work his way down. I would hear the door open, the cash would stick out, and the door would close. And then of course the IRS got involved.

He was a creative landlord, and I remember when I was very sick, he didn’t raise my rent for five years because he felt sorry for me. He was fabulous. His wife gave me clothes. He let me owe him eight months rent because I couldn’t work. And I was paying a low rent to begin with. So that’s the old East Village.

This is my home, I love the East Village. The older I get, the more I love the East Village. There’s no place like New York. I have nothing bad to say about this neighborhood, except it is getting expensive and that’s a shame. Ninth Street, my block, just gets better and better and better. We have the most beautiful trees – I steward two of the trees, I plant bulbs.

I’m retired now besides my art – an artist never retires. Right now I’m doing collage. It’s sort of hard to explain, and I’ve been doing it for about 17 years. Fortunately, I don’t have to sell my artwork to live, so I like to keep it. I don’t like to sell it, I like to look at it. I make it, fuck, I like to look at it.

I go around mostly at night, because I’m kind of embarrassed, but I pick up trash. I do it about an hour every day. I get exercise and I clean up the neighborhood. There’s too much litter. I’ve always done this. Whenever I’ve had a little money, I’ve volunteered.

Me and my girlfriends, we’re mostly retired. We hate how the world's going — we’re old hippies. They’re from Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Florida — a string of high school friends, and over the years we found that we had so much in common and we were doing a lot of rescues. So I decided to go into rescue. Me and my girlfriend, Kathy Rothschild, we just got together a bunch of people and raised enough money to get a plane to lift 300 animals off of St. Martin since the hurricane.

I’ve been volunteering since 1995. I worked in soup kitchens. I used to volunteer at the Boys' Club, which was really fabulous. I learned more from those boys than they ever learned from me. They had very difficult lives, a lot of them. This was during the AIDS epidemic and some of their parents were incarcerated, some had died from AIDS. We would walk them home. It just tore my heart out. You name it, I’ve done it — anything that can benefit my neighborhood.

I’m passionate about the East Village, and I find that I have neighbors who feel the same way. This is my advice to anybody who lives in New York. I know it sounds trite, I know it sounds cliché, but if you want to feel great, volunteer. Clean up the park, help the Boys' Club, foster pets — do something.

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