Chico finishes his Ramones mural at Croxley Ales

As we first noted last Saturday, Chico was creating a mural of the Ramones on the gate at Croxley Ales...he wrapped his work earlier this week on Avenue B...

Chico's cab fare

Chico was at work today on a mural for the rolldown gate at Percy's on Avenue A at East 13th Street...

[Bobby Williams]

...and later...

[‏@danielleintheev]

Chico's Healthy Choice gates

Chico is keeping busy... fresh off the former Nice Guy Eddie's plywood project ... today, several readers spotted him at work on the incoming New York Healthy Choice market at Avenue C and East 11th Street....

[By Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C]

[EVG reader David]

The last tenant, the Monk Thrift Shop, closed in December 2010. At the time, neighbors heard that a bank branch would open here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Monk Thrift Shop is closing — but, it remains open for now

Sad news about the liquor store on Houston and Avenue B

I walked by the liquor store at Houston and Avenue B last night... and once again, the place was closed...



...and I noticed that the liquor sign on the side had been removed...



My worse fears were confirmed when I got home and read the latest issue of The Villager... in an item about Chico's new mural here, Scoopy reported that the woman who owned the liquor store died several months ago... and in the space on the roll-down gate, Chico is going to paint a mural of the owner. (And does anyone know her name?)



I have no idea what will happen to this space. I haven't seen the store open in some time, though this isn't really a corrider that I walk with any frequency.... Me being me, I worry about what will become of the space. This is prime corner real estate with million dollar condos right across the street (like this one for $1,825 million).

And I'll miss the owner... the kind of which we don't see much of anymore...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile, right around the corner

WIP: A new sign for Ray's Candy Store

[Photo by John Cline]

Work started today on a new sign for Ray's Candy Story over at 113 Avenue A near Seventh Street...


[Photo by Steven]

Peach and Will expect to have the sign finished tomorrow...


[Photo by Steven]

This version — with a small 's on Ray — replaces the well-weathered facade that Chico created in July 2016. Chico's previous sign here was in part a tribute to neighborhood photographer Bob Arihood, who died in September 2011.


[Photo by Eden]

Is something finally happening to the long-vacant, mysterious 6 Avenue B?

An EV Grieve regular noted that, in the past two days, workers have been hauling junk out of the long-vacant building on the northwest corner of Avenue B and East Houston... Bill the libertarian anarchist took this photo of the work yesterday...

The owner of the liquor store on the corner died in the fall of 2009... and the store has been closed since then... Chico created the tribute to the owner in February 2010.

[February 2012]

Back in February 2010, we heard that the owner's nephew was weighing his options about what to do with the store. As for the rest of the building, it has been vacant as long as many people can remember.

Scoopy had this item at the time:

"The nephew is currently trying to locate the paperwork for the old tenement, the upper floors of which have sat empty for some 20 years. 'Maybe there's some money in the building, a secret hideaway — could be, I didn't say there is,' Chico quipped. As for 'Mom,' he said, 'She used to give everybody credit. She was a hard-working woman. She would lock the gates. She was open till midnight.'"

We understand that this is one of the abandoned buildings owned by the mysterious team of Arthur and Abraham Blasof, now both deceased. Among their rundown properties: 85 Attorney Street, which is slated for some type of unspecified renovation, per BoweryBoogie ... and 43 MacDougal St., which the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation is fighting to protect.

There's nothing in the DOB records showing that anything is imminent with 6 Avenue B. Arthur Blasof is still listed as the owner. Can't imagine that this prime real estate will sit empty for much longer. For now, though, the building will keep making money for someone by hosting the cellular antennas on the roof... and we'll probably never know what's up there...

Chico's B Cup makeover

Chico was in action yesterday on 13th Street and Avenue B...





...creating a new sign for the B Cup...

An update from G's Cheesesteaks, opening May 1 on Avenue B and Houston

Photo and reporting by Stacie Joy

Renovations continue inside the storefront at 6 Avenue B on the NW corner at Houston.

As previously reported, this will be home to an outpost of G's Cheesesteaks. I ran into owner Giacomo Pisano (above) the other day. He said they'll be open on May 1, hopefully sooner if all goes well.

Pisano said he is looking for a local artist who can pay homage to Chico's current artwork on the gate. The liquor store, the last tenant in the retail space here, closed when the owner passed away in 2009 at age 89. Chico created her tribute mural in February 2010. (The building's landlord plans to paint over the well-worn art.)

He also said he'd like to preserve the "liquor" signage and, if possible, bring it inside. 

This will be the fourth location for the cheesesteak brand, which also has a food truck business. (On that note, he said he'd like to use a truck for free food distribution to the community.)

Pisano, whose family has been in the restaurant business for several generations, founded G's in Staten Island in 2015 at age 20. 

The residential portion of the building — now going as The B — is currently renting.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Here's a look at the renovated interior of the long-vacant 6 Avenue B

• Because you've always wanted to know what the inside of the long-empty 6 Avenue B looks like 

• Let's take another look at the eerie remains of the long-abandoned 6 Avenue B 

• Time passages: Check out the interior of the long-empty Mom's Liquor Store on Avenue B

An updated facade at Ray's

Chico started work at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A, yesterday... not sure of the status given the late afternoon/early evening rain...

Back in October 2011, Chico created a tribute awning here in memory of the late Bob Arihood.

The previous hand-painted sign was quite weathered ...


[Photo via Forgotten NY]

Chico at C-town

Bobby Williams spotted Chico this afternoon brightening up the exterior of C-Town on Avenue C...

Paws for effect

The deathwatch continues on Avenue A near 12th Street ... at the site of Chico's former spay/neuter mural... The outline for the NBA video game ad going up here is slightly visible... at the bottom of the mural, there's a lone reminder of the cats and dogs who once roamed this wall...



...a single set of paws...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Chico's Avenue A mural neutered

Related:
Our friend over at Cat Sitter in the City has more thoughts on the mural... and a few better shots of how it looked...

Does this 'Alphabet City' mural on Avenue C represent the community?

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

If you've been over on the southwest corner of Avenue C and East Sixth Street in the last week or so, then you've likely seen the new mural in progress on the (rather mysterious) RCN Cable building.

The mural, called "Alphabet City," is the work of Brooklyn-based artists The Yok and Sheryo who work for the Jersey City-based arts group Green Villain.


[Photo last week by Magic Brian]

All this has arrived with controversy, according to The Villager:

Is RCN whitewashing Loisaida culture and history? Celebrated street artist Antonio "Chico" Garcia and the community group Loisaida Inc. are crying foul after the company nixed their plan to create a mural celebrating L.E.S. “heroes” on the RCN cable building on Avenue C.

Apparently RCN officials are still pissed at Chico for his unauthorized Obama-McCain murals back in 2008. (RCN finally had them painted over in 2010.)


[EVG photo from 2008]

Elizabeth Colon, a founder of Loisaida Inc., told The Villager, "Is that what they think the community is, ‘A, B, C, D’? When we were talking about representing 50 or 60 years of Lower East Side history?"

You can read the rest of The Villager piece here.

And here was how the RCN wall was looking back in the summer…



Previously on EV Grieve:
RCN Cable discovers 'illegal graffiti' two years later

Chico's tribute to Muhammad Ali on Avenue B

Between Second Street and Houston.

The last tribute mural that we recall longtime LES graffiti artist Antonio "Chico" Garcia creating was for Robin Williams on East 13th Street in August 2014.

Chico's Avenue A mural neutered

Over the weekend, Chico's "spay/neuter" mural on Avenue A near 11th Street...



...got painted over...






One of the painters said they were putting up an ad for an NBA video game...

Previously on EV Grieve:
What's going on with the playground at Mary Help of Christians?

Chico paints William and Kate

As I exclusively reported, a couple named Kate and William were married recently. And Chico was back in town to honor their union on Houston at Avenue B....

Photos by Bobby Williams.

About those "Chico sightings"

"After announcing three months ago that he would be leaving the Lower East Side to move to Florida, 'Chico sightings' in the neighborhood made some wonder if he was going to go. He said he’ll be leaving for Florida next week." (The Villager)

Previously on EV Grieve.

Mikey's Pet Shop mural neutered

Given the closure of Mikey's Pet Shop on Seventh Street near Avenue A last fall... it was inevitable that the Chico mural would one day vanish....

Before:


... which happened yesterday....



It's the second Chico mural to be painted over this week....

Chico's plywood reservations

Chico's Kiss mural might be going away outside the former Nice Guy Eddie's...

... but it appears he will be painting the plywood during renovations of the new restaurant opening here on Avenue A and East First Street...

Chico creates a mural in memory of Robin Williams on East 13th Street

[Photo by Michael Paul via Facebook]

Longtime LES graffiti artist Antonio "Chico" Garcia finished this up yesterday at B Cup Café on East 13th Street and Avenue B.

And here's a shot of the finished mural last night at 9:30 via EVG Facebook friend Kathleen O'Regan...