Unfortunately, due to diminishing traffic as a result of COVID, Halloween Adventure is tragically facing the reality that we will have to close.While the store has always been open all year, Halloween is always the critical season that funds the rest of our year. The effects of COVID on Halloween 2020 caused us to lose over $2 million in sales. Due to this harsh reality, we are facing closure and are selling off all goods at 75% off.At this rate we will not even be able to celebrate Halloween 2021 with the East Village and our last Halloween will have been one that had severely muted celebrations because of COVID.Nothing would mean more to us than to have at least one more full, true Halloween celebration with the community. After seeing the outpouring of support over the past two weeks across social media and in the store, we have realized there could be a light at the end of this dark tunnel.If we could make back this month even half of the $2 million in Halloween sales that we lost, we could stay open through Halloween and have that last great adventure with the community. This last week in the store has already gotten us nearly 20% of the way there!If you cannot come to our store in person, we would greatly appreciate if you could support us by purchasing a gift card for the store. Every gift card helps us make it that much closer to our goal and our dream to celebrate that final Halloween with the East Village!We truly appreciate all the support we have received from our fans over the years and how you have shared our store with your friends and families.
With great sadness but with no regrets, Bryan and I decided that the time came for Big Gay Ice Cream to close our East Village location.125 East Seventh Street is where Big Gay Ice Cream became more than just our overblown hobby. Big Gay Ice Cream Truck a grew into a legitimate hit and in 2011 we decided that it was supposed to be what we did with our lives.We signed the lease, quit our day jobs, and built ourselves a perfectly imperfect hole-in-the-wall soft serve joint. I would work a late night in the ice cream truck, staying out long enough to be able to afford a prep sink the next day so in a way every Big Gay Ice Cream Truck customer helped build that place.For a decade the shop hummed along and put tens of thousands of Salty Pimps in the hands of folks from Tierra Del Fuego to Lapland. It made many people, including us, very happy.We always knew that if we ever opened a shop it would be in the East Village. It had to be. In its heyday that section of East Seventh was one of the hottest food blocks in the city — even The New York Times singled it out. We wanted to be right there with Caracas, Luke’s Lobster, Porchetta, Butter Lane and Pylos. Damn, that block had energy and we loved it.The batteries have gone a bit dim on that street. The empty storefronts (kept vacant by landlords working tax breaks) that plague the city have settled in. It ain’t what it was.We decided that even if the shop managed to make it through “the COVID thing” it would never truly recover. We need to be able to jam customers in during the summer to make enough money to get us through the off season. That won’t work anymore. Knowing that the usual fall semester student rush won’t be coming this year we have decided to call it.Thank you all for making wonderful memories at our first shop and thank you to the East Village for having us. We’re going to “keep on keeping on” at our other locations and hope to open another East Village or Lower East Side location before too long.Goodbye East Seventh. So long and thanks for all the calories.
"Phony Express is what happens when artists, writers and musicians, who'd normally be making shows live at La MaMa and in our neighborhood watering holes, decide to use our own devices. We've formed an anonymous band inspired by EV Grieve — anonymous, so that listeners may focus on the music itself, not what they find online about the persons performing it; local, sparked by our neighborhood's unique legacy, free and fun ... Our plan is to collaborate by phone, making music quickly (Phony Express) and upload to Phony Express's YouTube channel."
Among the many COVID-19 safety protocols for pool halls: They must operate at only 50 percent capacity, masks at all times, six foot social distance markers, no food or alcohol, deep cleaning as well as temperature checks, contact tracing and hand sanitizing stations.While bowling alleys were allowed to reopen this past summer in the city, pool halls were left off the list.
Open Letter to Electeds - CB3 Leadership by E.V. Grieve on Scribd
The facade is clad in a Danish handmade brick and includes a full width mural along a sidewall that links the building in character with its East Village neighbors where street art abounds. The five residential units, from a small studio up to a dramatic three bedroom with office and double height duplex on the top floors, incorporate a simple and timeless palette of materials throughout.
Since we can't be together for Ray's Annual Birthday Celebration this year, we're making a virtual video hug for Ray and would love for you to be a part of it! Please click the link below to record your birthday wish (it's easiest to just use your phone) and we'll play them all for Ray!We'll collect hugs through Sunday, Jan. 31, so please add yours before then! LET'S SET THE GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FOR BIGGEST VIDEO HUG EVER!P.S. Don't tell Ray…it's a surprise!
