Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo on Avenue A by Derek Berg) ... 

• Big changes are coming to the iconic skate spot in Tompkins Square Park (Monday) 

• Community groups advocating for low-income housing on these 2 East Village sites (Tuesday) 

• Ella Funt & Club 82 looks to bring food, film and theater to storied 4th Street venue (Monday) 

• The [plant-baked] retail space is closing on 7th Street this Sunday (Friday) 

• The former Uncle Johnny grocery slated for demolition on Avenue D and 5th Street (Wednesday) 

• The great First Avenue Laundry Center is closing for renovations this fall (Thursday) 

• Good Beer has closed (Monday) 

• Crossroads Trading bringing the resale and vintage clothing to Second Avenue (Friday)

• Openings: Monsieur Vo on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• New York State is selling off the contents of Matthew Kenney's restaurant Sestina (Thursday) 

• Pretty much a full reveal at the incoming Empanada Mama (Wednesday)

• Former Tarallucci e Vino space for rent (Thursday) 

• Former Los Tacos space now a 787 Coffee training facility on 7th Street (Wednesday) 

• Longtime bar space at 68 2nd Ave. hits the rental market (Tuesday) 

• 1 guess on what is coming to this empty storefront on Avenue A and 13th Street (Monday) 

• Signage alert: Chomp Chomp Thai Kitchen on 1st Street (Friday) 

• New 6th Street psychic apparently didn't summon psychic powers before taking this space (Thursday)

• A Link5G tower for Avenue A (Tuesday) 

... and speaking of Link5G towers, on Friday, EVG contributor Stacie Joy spotted workers erecting one on Clinton Street between Houston and Stanton... 

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At Tabby Twitch's 'Prime'

Photos and text by Stacie Joy 

Since last summer, an unexpected performance has been taking place in a space better known for watching sports.

Tabby Twitch's live burlesque show "Prime" has found a home in the back room at the Gray Mare, the pub at 61 Second Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street. (The next quarterly show happens on May 2 Thursday, April 4. See the end of the post for info.)

Twitch dubs herself the "friskiest feline in burlesque." Twitch, also known as actor Jane Cortney and a longtime local resident of Ninth Street, produces and performs in "Prime."

She describes it this way: a "racy romp set in an elegant East Village tavern, featuring a ravishing array of burlesque performers at the height of their powers. Not a canter, not a gallop, this show is a sultry yet invigorating trot featuring libidinous libations, the raffle of your dreams and more rhinestones than a room can hold." 

I attended the January show featuring Amanda Poise, Ella Blu, Maria Bartolotta and Queerly Femmetastic.

Here are a few scenes from the evening...

"Prime focuses on performers at the height of their powers because I came to burlesque later in life. I want to show what it means to be 'in your prime,' with all the richness and experience that entails," Cortney said. "Though I highlight burlesque performers, there is a salon feel to the evening. A vocalist performs, and I weave poetry throughout the night. My goal is for the audience to leave my show feeling relaxed and reinvigorated, in their prime regardless of their actual age."

The next "Prime" is this Thursday (April 4) at 8 p.m. now scheduled for May 2. Keep tabs on the shows here.

Noted

Speaking of Time Out's bar guide, here are the five East Village places they selected as "the best for winter":

Blind Pig

Bourgeois Pig

Ella

Grape and Grain

Section 8

Hmm. Reaction?

You may 'Exit Through The Gift Shop' tonight for free in Tompkins Square Park

The Films in Tompkins series continues tonight with "Exit Through the Gift Shop."

Per Wikipedia:

Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film is a film by graffiti artist Banksy that tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art. The film charts Guetta's constant documenting of his every waking moment on film, from a chance encounter with his cousin, the artist Invader, to his introduction to a host of street artists with a focus on Shepard Fairey and Banksy, whose anonymity is preserved by obscuring his face and altering his voice, to Guetta's eventual fame as a street artist himself.

Meant to see this film... never got around to it.

And as we'll cut-n-paste all summer long like the Beach Boys:

Free. Gates Open at 6 p.m. Music Starts ½ Hour before the Start of the Film (sundown)

July 5 — Exit Trough The Gift Shop, Music by Church of Betty

July 12 — Fantastic Mr. Fox, Music by Dandy Wellington And His Band

July 19 — Summer of Sam, Music by The Debonairs and Brendan O’Hara

July 26 — Goldfinger, Music by The Luddites

Aug. 2 — Donnie Darko, Music by The Rad Trads
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 9 — The Big Lebowski, Music by Main Squeeze Orchestra
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 16 — Poltergeist, Music by Timbila

Dates subject to Rain Delays.

Films In Tompkins is sponsored by Ella, The Blind Barber, Two Boots, Grolsch, GalleryBar, Tower Brokerage and NYC& Company.

More about the End of Avenue A Block Association

[Photo via RyanAvenueA]

Earlier in the week, we noted the arrival of a newly formed (and apocalyptically named) End of Avenue A Block Association.

At the time we thought this was the work of residents. Turns out it is a group of bar/restaurant owners on the block between East Second Street and East Houston.

Jaime Felber, an owner of Boulton & Watt, offered some background via email.

"I approached all the bars on our block to join us, and was happy that Yerba Buena, 2A, the Library and Ella chose to join in," Felber said. "While this was set up by the managers and owners of the bars on our block, we obviously welcome the inclusion of anyone within our community."

There was a small turnout for the meeting. (He said that Boulton & Watt had flyers promoting the meeting up in their windows in recent weeks. He promised to share meeting info with EVG in advance of the next meeting.)

"A few issues regarding sidewalk congestion, noise and consideration of garbage were brought to our attention, and we worked out a basic course of action to hopefully mitigate these problems as best we can."

Felber said that he and one of his Boulton & Watt partners within a few blocks of here.

"So we consider ourselves part of the neighborhood as residents as much as bar operators, and look forward to further conversations." (Residents can use this email for any correspondence with the group.)

Oh, and how about the name — the End of Avenue A Block Association?

"The rather ominous-sounding name we chose for our block association was also pointed out at [the] meeting," Felber said. "Of course we didn't have that intention, but now it's out there, it seems almost a shame to change it."

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly 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: Diane McLean
Occupation: Child Psychiatrist at Lincoln Medical Center
Location: East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue
Time: 10 am on Friday, April 10

I’m from New York, born on the Upper West Side. My father was from Baton Rouge, La., and my mother grew up on a farm in Canada and became a nurse. They met in Montreal and had never lived in New York, but they came, got married and loved the city. My brother and I were born here, grew up here. After college my father became ill and my mother ended up leaving the city.

I wanted to come back after college and build a home here because the city was my home. I had $300 in my pocket. I lived in the living room of my college roommate's apartment with her friends. I got a job. I was able to sublet and share an apartment. That was in January 1979 and by August two friends and I found an apartment. It didn’t have any ceilings. It didn’t have a bathroom. It didn’t have a fridge. It didn’t have a stove — anything. It only had two outlets in the whole apartment. But it had light, windows and high ceilings.

We wrote a contract with the landlord and we committed to building a home. It was my first adult, actually my only adult home. This has been it. We renovated it and created the apartment. The landlord then sold the building to the Hrynenkos. We ended up being in landlord tenant court for nine months because they decided not to put in a stove, fridge, bathroom or wire it for lights. So eventually they had to do that.

I took over the lease in the early 1980s. Love Saves the Day was in the retail space of my building [at 119 Second Avenue at East Seventh Street]. The people who owned it were friends. Tom Birchard and Sally Haddock, who owned Veselka, lived in my building.

When we were working on that apartment, I locked myself out and my two roommates were working late. I couldn’t get in, so I went to Veselka, but I had no money because I was a graduate student. I could only buy coffee and I sat at a table and the hours started to go by. The waitress came by and said, ‘Oh aren’t you going to get anything else’ and she kept coming back and finally I said, ‘You know, I don’t really have money and I’m just waiting for my friends.’ And then she came over and brought a huge plate of food, enough to feed three people and she said, ‘Eat, eat, you have to eat. You’re young, you need strength, you need meat on your bones.’ She fed me. And that for me was our neighborhood. People helped each other out in the East Village.

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Affordability and light and air brought me to the neighborhood. Light and air were a priority for me, so it didn’t matter that the apartment had nothing. There was nothing I could afford anywhere else, and also, everything was open at night. I started a masters in public health at Columbia a month after we started that apartment. I was given the gift of my parents believing in education. I was fortunate to go to an amazing university, Harvard, and then to Columbia, and I always felt I could put that back into use. You use your skills to give people the best and I could do that.

I’ve always done public service. As a New Yorker, I felt I could put my education to use. I was first an epidemiologist. I have a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Columbia and a Masters of Public Health. Epidemiology is a science to understand the causes of disease in people. Why do people get sick and what can we do to prevent it. I committed to trying to understand this.

In 1990, two surgeons at Harlem hospital published a paper saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute, people in our community of central Harlem are dying at earlier ages than men and women in Bangladesh, which has fewer resources. Why in the greatest city on Earth, are people dying from preventable illness before they’re 65 in central Harlem? So the CDC funded a network of research centers to understand that. In 1991, I became the first director of research of epidemiology at that center, based in Harlem Hospital, connected to Columbia. We were committed to doing participatory research, involving the community, in figuring out what was happening in the community. People were really dying of preventable illnesses.

At that time, I met doctors at Harlem Hospital who were amazing. They could have worked anywhere and they were committed to doing just that. Not just the research, but providing the best care to people in the community. I got inspired to go back to school and become a doctor. I went back to school at night. I took physics, biology, organic chemistry at night as a second job in addition to this. And I applied to medical school. I was incredibly fortunate that Cornell accepted me. I was their oldest student at 42. It’s a progressive medical school. It’s one of the most diverse in the country across social class, background and education.

Right now, I am incredibly fortunate to be a child psychiatrist, working in the Child Outpatient Clinic of Lincoln Hospital. We serve the South Bronx community, one of the most underserved in the country. We serve children and families. I have great colleagues and we’re a wonderful clinic. We do everything we can.

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I’m a single mother with an 8 year old and two 5 year olds. I’m an alternative family. I’m an older mother, and I’m a single mother by choice. This is a diverse neighborhood, and that’s what I want my kids to know — that you can have every kind of family. Every kind of person lives in our neighborhood. That’s what I want them to in a sense take in by breathing by walking around. Our neighborhood is a little microcosm of New York.

[After the deadly explosion and fire of March 26], my challenge that keeps me from not sleeping is that my family has to find a home. We don’t have a home. Cooper Square Committee is inviting me for an interview, which I am so grateful for. They are the only ones to do that. They might possibly have a studio. I would be grateful for a roof over our head but four people in 375 square feet is very tough. People are looking but there’s nothing out there. So that’s our challenge — to somehow, somewhere find affordable housing where we can commute to the Children’s Workshop School.

I’m absolutely trying to take a positive attitude. I believe in the future and I’m a positive person. But that does not mean that we’re OK. People gave me everything I’m wearing besides my shoes and my jacket — the shirt, the pants, the socks. But I feel good about that. I’m walking around and I can say, ‘Oh yeah, Lori and Rachel gave me that,’ and my kids can get up in the morning and say, ‘I’m putting on Ella’s clothes, I’m putting on Zachary’s clothes.’ We’re wearing people’s care and that’s practically helpful, but now we have to get to the next step. I’m really overwhelmed on how we’re going to get there, and that’s what I don’t know.

I’m hoping we can find that and I’m hoping all of my neighbors can, especially my other neighbors who were rent-stabilized and rent-controlled. Every person was displaced. Every person lost their homes and every person lost everything. But we lost the ability to pay for housing. We lost the ability to create new housing. That is so far not what the city can offer. They can offer us shelter but they’re not offering anything else. And probably they have goodwill and maybe they can’t. You want to think the best.

We’re going back, definitely, for real. I know that corner from every possible angle, in every weather, in every season. I know everything about it. I can walk through every inch of that apartment in my memory; I can walk through every life stage of that apartment. I made it a home for my kids. It was my only home.

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You may find more information on Diane's GoFundMe page here.

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

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a "Barbieheimer"-era photo from the Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue ... Or "Barbenheimer" if you prefer)...

• RIP Big Lee (Tuesday) 

 • When a young red-tailed hawk gets stuck in the airshaft outside your kitchen window (Friday) 

•  The Cube returns to Astor Place — and ready to spin again (Tuesday) ... When the Cube returned to Astor Place late Monday night (Wednesday) 

• At the last night of Ink on A (Sunday) 

• A visit to Ella Funt on 4th Street (Friday) 

• Details about some upcoming shows via the Knitting Factory at Baker Falls on Avenue A (Thursday) 

• Report: Metropolitan Playhouse is closing after 30-plus years of productions (Wednesday) 

• 'Star Wars' parody at the Orpheum is joining the dark side after Sunday (Thursday)

• The Avenue C Laundromat has a new owner (Tuesday) 

• Suki Japanese Kitchen hasn't been open lately on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• Panda Express debuts on 14th Street and 1st Avenue (Monday) 

• The 1st Manhattan outpost of Ayat shapes up on 7th Street and Avenue C (Wednesday) 

• On the CB3-SLA docket: A new home for the Boiler Room; a pizzeria for Avenue B (Monday)

• So what's next for this block of 2nd Avenue? (Monday)

• Avant Garden reopens in new Avenue A home (Tuesday) 

• Target makes it signage official on Union Square (Thursday) 

• Openings: Tacombi on 12th Street (Monday) 

• PSA: The original Russ & Daughters Appetizers is closed for a few weeks for renovations (Thursday) 

• Say high to the latest retail tenant at this 2nd Avenue storefront (Tuesday) 

• Full reveals: 650 E. 6th St. (Thursday) 

... and in concert news... U.K.-based singer-songwriter Declan McKenna played a sold-out show at Webster Hall on Friday night... and the line on 11th Street started early... (photos by Stacie Joy)...

Meanwhile, on Wednesday night, local EVG faves Hello Mary played a sold-out Bowery Ballroom as the trio continues to tour in support of headliner Blondshell this summer...

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Now and then at the Rainbow Room

The Rainbow Room, where the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie entertained well-dressed crowds on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, is now in its 75th year of operations. The Post made note of what the United States was like when it opened:

When the Rainbow Room first struck up the band in 1934, the Great Depression was in full swing. Bank closings and home foreclosures were rampant and unemployment rates soared. The Giants had won the NFL championship by spoiling a foe’s otherwise perfect season. A Harvard-educated lawyer from the Democratic party had recently wrestled the presidency from the Republican incumbent with a message of hope — and, in doing so, secured House and Senate majorities. And, by no coincidence, strong yet fancy cocktails were all the rage.

Sound familiar?

The club, which is now only open two weekends a month, is awaiting word to see if they will get landmark status from the city.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Why a 31-year veteran of the LES is moving to Iowa (The New York Times)

A class war in Little Italy? (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Subway scenes from yesteryear (Stupefaction)

East River relocates to Houston and Allen? (Runnin' Scared)

Queens neighborhood where Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald and other prominent African-Americans lived now a historic district (Curbed)

Inside the new Italian cafe on East Houston near Norfolk (BoweryBoogie)

F Train woes this a.m. (Gothamist)

The return of Freddy's in Brooklyn (NYPress)

Staten Island Chuck sees early spring, doesn't bite Bloomy (NYPost)

East Village bars and restaurants with 0 violation points from the DOH

The DOH closure of Ray's this week really prompted this post. We often (or, maybe, always) write about the bars or restaurants that the DOH shutters.

So, what about all the places in the neighbor with spotless records? (Well, at least spotless as of their last inspection.) There are a good number of places with O violations points. (Also quite a few with just 2 violation points.)

Here's the list with 0 Violation points:

• Il Bagato and Il Postocanto on East Second Street

• Juicy Lucy on Avenue A

• Matilda on 11th Street

• Drop Off Service on Avenue A

• Yerba Buena on Avenue A (This comes after a bad score led to their closure in February.)

• Beauty Bar on 14th Street

• Something Sweet on First Avenue

• The Continental on Third Avenue

• Dunkin' Donuts on 14th Street

• Ella on Avenue A

• Numero 28 Pizzeria on Second Avenue

• Scarab Lounge on First Avenue

• Pinkberry on St. Mark's Place

• Brio Bar on Astor Place

And the DOH even makes the widget available for bloggers and who not...

Apocalypse now? Here comes the End of Avenue A Block Association

RyanAvenueA spotted the above flyer on his front door last evening… too late to attend the meeting the newly formed (and apocalyptically named) End of Avenue A Block Association had at Boulton & Watt.

At the meeting, reps from Boulton & Watt, The Library, Ella, 2A and Yerba Buena were expected to attend. Curiously enough, reps from bars (Double Down and Kelly's) on the east side of the Avenue were not listed.

The flyer also did not contain any contact information for prospective members or bloggers.

Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' whimsy

The Films in Tompkins series continues tonight with "Fantastic Mr. Fox," including pre-show music by Dandy Wellington And His Band.

Per Wikipedia:

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way into the foxes' home. However, the animals are able to outwit the farmers and live underground.

The film features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray. For director Wes Anderson, it was his first animated film and first film adaptation.

And as we'll cut-n-paste all summer long like Bruce Brown:

Free. Gates Open at 6 p.m. Music Starts ½ Hour before the Start of the Film (sundown)

July 19 — Summer of Sam, Music by The Debonairs and Brendan O’Hara

July 26 — Goldfinger, Music by The Luddites

Aug. 2 — Donnie Darko, Music by The Rad Trads
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 9 — The Big Lebowski, Music by Main Squeeze Orchestra
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 16 — Poltergeist, Music by Timbila

Dates subject to Rain Delays.

Films In Tompkins is sponsored by Ella, The Blind Barber, Two Boots, Grolsch, GalleryBar, Tower Brokerage and NYC& Company.

Update on the former Life Cafe space in Bushwick

News release from the EV Grieve inbox...

Darin Rubell, co-owner of downtown Manhattan watering holes GalleryBar and Ella, and partners Mark Trzupek (former manager of Life Café 983) and chef David Rotter (Norwood), have taken over the cafe from Kathy Kirkpatrick.

Although Rubell and company plan on changing the name to just 983 (a play on the café’s address which is 983 Flushing Avenue) refreshing the food and bar menus and some cosmetic changes, they plan to retain the overall character of the space which is affectionately known as “Bushwick’s Living Room.”

The closing of Life Café 983 is the end of an era, as the influential Life brand will no longer have a presence in New York City. The original East Village location at East 10th Street and Avenue B, where playwright Jonathan Larson wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning “Rent,” closed in 2011. Rubell, who hoped to also take over the East Village space and is opening new restaurant with Rotter this fall, sees the Bushwick location as an opportunity to continue to serve the needs of this exciting neighborhood.

Boulton and Watt is open on Avenue A

Boulton & Watt, the new bar-restaurant concept from the people behind Ella and the Blind Barber, officially opened this week at the former Nice Guy Eddie's space.

BlackBook described the space this way:

[T]he prime spot has a steampunk twist with salvaged windows, an antique steam engine used to power the restaurants fan system, and a spattering of repurposed furniture.

[Via Facebook]

And the food? Chef David Rotter said it was "a revised take on rustic American comfort food." Zagat points out that Rotter "pays homage to [the industrial revolution] with twists on throwback dishes such as Scotch egg with béarnaise; and short rib and bone marrow toast in bordelaise. There’s also a 'pickling station' featuring an array of fruits and veggies, including figs, pineapple, radish, Brussels sprouts and beets."

We've heard from people that the food is good, though "pickling station" might make parody fodder for a TV show that has a poster near the restaurant...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rumors about the new name for the former Nice Guy Eddie's space

Last night at Nice Guy Eddie's

Tompkins Square Park hosts the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival on Sunday

[Photo of Ron Miles in the Park last year by Stacie Joy]

Info on the 23rd annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival via the EVG inbox...

City Parks Foundation is proud to announce the 2016 Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. The festival is New York City's annual salute to the legendary saxophonist, featuring contemporaries of Charlie Parker as well as young jazz musicians that continue to shape and drive the art form.

In a world of modern music — not just jazz — few figures loom as large or cast as long a shadow as saxophonist Charlie Parker, best known as "Bird" (short for "Yardbird") to generations of musicians. He was born in 1920 and almost 60 years since his death in 1955, he is universally celebrated for single-handedly inventing bebop and bringing jazz into the modern era.

The festival is particularly significant this year given the upcoming centennial of the musical dawning of the term “jazz,” as well as what would have been the 100th birthdays of late jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Ella Fitzgerald.

On Sunday in Tompkins Square Park, audiences will be introduced to DeJohnette - Moran - Holland, the first-time collaboration of influential jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette, innovative pianist Jason Moran, and prolific double bassist Dave Holland.

Listeners will be delighted by performances from award-winning jazz vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Allan Harris and acclaimed saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who will perform his newest album accompanied by his group.

The complete Charlie Parker Jazz Festival schedule can be found on the City Parks Foundation website here.

The Festival is 3-7 p.m. here on Sunday. The Festival is in Marcus Garvey Park tonight and tomorrow afternoon.

Parker, who died in 1955 at age 34, lived at 151 Avenue B from 1950-54.

Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: 'Donnie Darko,' pizza

The Films in Tompkins series continues tonight with the time-traveling weirdorama of "Donnie Darko," plus pre-movie music by The Rad Trads. And! A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event. Which means free pizza.

As for the movie, which I recall seeing at the Pioneer Theater adjacent to Two Boots during the two years or so that it played there ... here's the trailer for the tragicomedy....



And a bonus song from the soundtrack... Tears for Fears circa 1985...



And as we've cutted-n-pasted (heh) all summer long:

Free. Gates Open at 6 p.m. Music Starts ½ Hour before the Start of the Film (sundown)

Aug. 9 — The Big Lebowski, Music by Main Squeeze Orchestra
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 16 — Poltergeist, Music by Timbila

Aug. 23 — (rescheduled from July 26) Goldfinger, Music by The Luddites

Dates subject to Rain Delays.

Films In Tompkins is sponsored by Ella, The Blind Barber, Two Boots, Grolsch, GalleryBar, Tower Brokerage and NYC& Company.