Images and stories 2017, Part 2

Here's a sampling of the stories and photos from the past year... July through December (find part 1 here) ... thanks to everyone who contributed during 2017!

July

Woo, it's 100 degrees out! Photo by Derek Berg...



The great sinkhole of Tompkins Square Park...



Noted on First Avenue...



The Polish G. I. Delicatessen closes on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street...



DOUBLE RAINBOW... photo by James and Karla Murray...



I know what you did last summer ... spotted at Avenue A and Ninth Street entrance to Tompkins Square Park...



When you're late for the BBQ and can't find a cab, July 4 on Seventh and Avenue C ...



At the wake for Cher, the willow of La Plaza... photo by Steven...

August

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



Solar eclipse... photos by Frank Franca...





The Confederate flag controversy on Avenue D and Eighth Street...



Summer storm ... photo via EJ...



The Village Voice announces that its ending its print edition...



A Starbucks for St. Mark's Place and Avenue A...



Tagging — then cleaning — the cube ... via Derek Berg...



Webster Hall closes...



Someone returns a book to the Tompkins Square branch 38 years after it was due back...



Sea Monster performing in Tompkins Square Park during the David Peel memorial ... photo by Steven...

September

Every recap needs a mannequin photo...



Workers remove Cher from La Plaza... via Steven...



Noted in Tompkins Square Park... photo by Bobby Williams...



Higher ed on Sixth Street ... via Goggla...



Hurricane Maria relief efforts continue at the Second Street firehouse...

October

Cafe Orlin wraps up 36 years on St. Mark's Place...



Jimmy Webb opens I Need More on Orchard Street ... photo by Walter Wlodarczyk...



HiFi ends its 15-year run on Avenue A... via Dan Efram...



RIP Flatbush... photo by Steven...



A crowd descends at the Halloween Dog Parade in Tompkins Square Park... via Steven...



... and at the Dog Parade ... by Stacie Joy...



Remembering Tom Petty at the Black & White Bar on 10th Street...



So many adventures... photo by Derek Berg ...

November

A fall sunrise from St. Mark's Place...



Publisher abruptly shuts down Gothamist and DNAinfo...



Friends and loved ones place flowers on Cooper Square where Elizabeth Lee was reportedly gunned down by a onetime boyfriend who had been stalking her...



The latest iteration of the International Bar closes, merges with its sister saloon, the Coal Yard, one block to the south on First Avenue...



Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building ...

December

The beloved washer-dryer combo of 10th and B...



The Grassroots Tavern will close after 42 years on St. Mark's Place...



Pre-Supermoon via Goggla ...



... and a holiday scene in Tompkins Square Park...

Right here, 'Right Now'

The Creatures with "Right Now" from 1983. 💖 Siouxsie Sioux

Thank you for 35 years of reheating leftovers and other microwaving activities

Someone discarded their microwave on 12th Street and Avenue A last evening... but not before leaving a note of appreciation on the appliance... "Broken. 35 yrs of service. RIP."



Thanks for @PerJennifer for the photos!

Images and stories 2017, Part 1

Here's a sampling of the stories and photos from the past year... January through June... thanks to everyone who contributed during 2017!

January

A snow shot above Avenue A via jdx ...



Ray celebrates No. 84 ... via Stacie Joy...



A presidential piñata on Fourth Avenue ... via Derek Berg...



At the Women's March on NYC ... by Derek Berg

February

A Monday morning ... via Bobby Williams...



M2M closes on 3rd Avenue ...



Valentine's night at Sunny's ... via @EdenBrower



At the rally for the former PS 64 at City Hall ... via Peter Brownscombe ...



No roundup is complete without an abandoned mannequin photo... via Steven...

March

Snowfall on Avenue A ... via Grant Shaffer...



After 40-plus years of serving vegetarian cuisine in the East Village, Angelica Kitchen announces its closure...



The snow car of Fourth Avenue via Derek Berg



Fire jumping at La Plaza ... via Ryan John Lee...

April

Cyclist Kelly Hurley dies after being struck by a box truck making an illegal turn on First Avenue at Ninth Street...



The Tompkins Square Park Art Bar... photo by Daniel...



Good Friday on Third Street ... via Stacie Joy...



A spring scene in Tompkins Square Park... via Bobby Williams...

May

Love and shrooms for Gregg Allman outside the former Fillmore East on Second Avenue ...



At the DanceFest in Tompkins Square Park ... via Stacie Joy...



News arrives that the Sunshine Cinema on East Houston will close in January ...



Feeding time in Tompkins Square Park with Dora and her latest red-tailed hawk offspring... photo by Bobby Williams



Report of an early-morning fire at 328 E. 14th St., home of Artichoke Basille’s Pizza ...



The Sean Spicer lawn ornament in Tompkins Square Park... via Steven...



East Village tenants pay landlord Raphael Toledano a visit at his Upper West Side home...

June

At the 2017 Drag March... via Stacie Joy...



A two-alarm fire on Broadway at Eighth Street as seen from Astor Place... photo by Grant Shaffer...



San Loco closes on Second Avenue...



Ranger Rob brings a new red-tailed hawk to Tompkins Square Park ... via Goggla ...



Lenin returns.... via Steven...



McDonald's on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place closes after 20 years ... via MP...



A morning scene at Houston and Avenue A... via Aaron...



Summer rain in Tompkins Square Park... via Bobby Williams...

Year-end closures: The Grassroots, Paquito's, Noho Star and Republic

[20 St. Mark's Place the other morning]

The Grassroots Tavern
The 42-year-old bar at 20 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue is closing after service on New Year's Eve. The owner of the bar was also the owner of the building and apparently sold the business without getting a favorable rent, according to some insiders. A "rent increase" is the official reason for the closure. The owner of the Ginger Man on 36th Street is taking over the space in 2018.



Paquito's
The 25-year-old Mexican restaurant at 143 First Ave. near Ninth Street shuts down tomorrow. However, Paquito's will maintain a to-go counter and delivery service in the space next door to the restaurant. The owners didn't provide a reason for the closure.

Noho Star (and the Temple Bar)
Both establishments on Lafayette Street will close after service on Sunday, as Jeremiah Moss first reported. There weren't any official reasons given for the closures of Noho Star (opened 1985) or the Temple Bar (1989).

Republic
The 20-year-old noodle shop is closing this weekend on Union Square. A steep rent increase is reportedly behind this shutter. As Eater noted about Republic and soon-to-close Blue Water Grill, "these restaurants contribute to the neighborhood increasing in value, which in turn causes landlords to raise rents to unsustainable highs once a lease is up."

Thursday's parting (moon) shot

Photo tonight via Grant Shaffer...

Noted

Free Christmas Tree Therapy on Lafayette at Houston. Get it before it's mulched. Photo today by Derek Berg.

The opossum of Tompkins Square Park — now on video

[Photo from Dec. 20 by Cheyenne]

Here's your weekly report on Nicodemus Punch Sugarpop, the opossum who recently (and mysteriously!) showed up in Tompkins Square Park.

Goggla has some photos and videos of the opossum, interacting with some squirrels, a rat and Christo, the red-tailed hawk. Head on over here for all the opossum action.

Meanwhile, here's one of the videos showing some dining action...

So mulch for your tree: TreeCycling to happen Jan. 6-7

If you are one of those people who don't like to wait until October to toss your Christmas tree, then this info is for you.

The city is holding its annual MulchFest/TreeCycle on Jan. 6 and 7 (2018!) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tompkins Square Park is once again serving as a chipping location. Workers will chip your tree, and give you your very own bag of mulch for your protein pancakes.

The drop-off pen should be up in the Park for early discarding. Find more details here.

Residential conversion underway at 180 2nd Ave.; the Ninth Ward expected to return

Gut renovations continue at 180 Second Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street...



According to the previously approved work permits on file with the city, workers are converting the building to residential use and adding two floors in the process. Permits show that there will be one residential unit on each floor. (Condos?)

As for the ground-floor retail space, the Ninth Ward was the previous tenant. That New Orleans-themed bar closed in February 2016. Earlier this year, co-owner Robert Morgan told me via email that the Ninth Ward would be returning to this space after the gut renovations.

"We recently opened a updated version of Ninth Ward in London and it’s doing fantastic across the pond. We’ll be bringing that incarnation of Ninth Ward back to 180 Second Ave.," he said in June. In the meantime, the Ninth Ward's wooden beams and original bar are "resting peacefully in a barn in Massachusetts."

The Chicago-based Polish National Alliance was the previous owner of No. 180. The building housed the Józef Pilsudski Institute of America, which is the largest Polish-American research institution specializing in the recent history of Poland and Central Eastern Europe. (They found a new home in Greenpoint.) An LLC bought the building for $6.75 million in June 2014, per public records.

Previously on EV Grieve:
2nd Avenue bar Ninth Ward is closing for good on Feb. 14; building rumored to be demolished


[No. 180 from August]

Report: 9th Street resident battling with Kushner Cos. to clean up black mold infestation

The Daily News has an update on Uta Winkler's ongoing legal fight with Kushner Cos. to clean up a black mold infestation in her Ninth Street apartment. (DNAinfo previously reported on her legal battle in December 2016.)

Winkler, a rent-stabilized tenant, said in court papers that her kitchen was destroyed several days before Thanksgiving in 2013 by construction workers renovating an unoccupied unit above her apartment.

To the News:

During the past year she has been locked in a legal fight in Manhattan housing court to get [Jared] Kushner’s real estate firm, Kushner Cos., to remediate the mold.

Even though an inspector she hired detected the spores in March, Winkler said she had to go to court several times before Kushner Cos. agreed to conduct its own mold test in the fall.

It took more court dates to get Kushner to agree to pick a remediator who will actually get rid of the mold — which has been shown to cause respiratory problems and to inflame allergies.

It’s still unclear when the remediator will actually make the fix, Winkler said.

“It’s harassment to get me out,” she said. Kushner Cos. did not respond to requests for comment.

Winkler had to endure more mayhem when she came home in late 2013 to find that a construction worker carrying dirty water and debris on the floor above hers had crashed through her bedroom ceiling, landing on her bed, court document said.

The fall destroyed her bed and other furniture, but Kushner's management firm, Westminster, refused to reimburse her for the damage or even return her calls, court papers said.

Without a response, Winkler withheld her monthly rent, which reportedly prompted Kushner to sue her for the unpaid rent in 2015 in Manhattan Housing Court. DNAinfo previously reported that the company also sued tenants in two other units, include new market-rate residents, in the building for also withholding rent because of the disruptions from construction. (Those two other tenants then each filed counter-suits against Kushner.)

Winkler's "suffering with Kushner" reportedly started shortly after Kushner bought the five-building parcel on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue in 2013.

The Kushner Cos. now own some 30-plus apartment buildings in the East Village

Per the News:

Tenants in several of these buildings have accused Kushner Cos. in court records of trying to drive them out through harassment, construction and dilapidated conditions.

State records also show that, in the past five years, the agency that oversees rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments has penalized Kushner Cos. in at least 11 instances over diminished services or poor conditions at one of its buildings in the city.

In those cases, the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal has ordered the monthly rent reduced for one or multiple rent-regulated units in the building until the problems were fixed.

Now even the lawyers Kushner worked with are taking the company to court. Several weeks ago, the News reported that Cornicello, Tendler & Baumel-Cornicello, a law firm that represented Kushner Cos. in dozens of eviction and housing court cases, is now suing Kushner for unpaid bills totaling more than $100,000.

As for Winkler: "For four years, they’re dragging me around, wasting money. I’m paying my lawyer constantly. It just makes no sense and it is so obnoxious."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Jared Kushner's East Village tenants wish he'd resolve issues closer to home

Today in epic poems discarded on 2nd Avenue

Derek Berg spotted a copy of "Hermann and Dorothea" up for grabs on Second Avenue... hard to read the inscription, dated 1883, because of the lack of emojis...