Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a reader-submitted photo from 1st Street) ...

• At long last, workers remove the sidewalk bridge from around Mariana Bracetti Plaza (Tuesday) 

• Little Amal made a big impression on the Lower East Side (Thursday) 

• A look inside the former Gracefully storefront on Avenue A, vacant now for nearly 8 years (Wednesday) 

• A short walk with a tall man (Thursday) 

• New cat owner opens Cosmic Cat Cafe on 2nd Street (Monday) 

• The Juicy Lucy kiosk returns to service on 1st Street (Friday) 

• Davey's Ice Cream officially debuts today in new 9th Street shop (Friday) 

• Solo Pizza has closed on Avenue B (Wednesday) 

• Art gallery Amanita debuts on the Bowery (Thursday) 

• Openings: MayRee on 1st Street (Wednesday)

• A Parish Picnic outside St. Stanislaus on 7th Street (Sunday)

• Buka bringing Nigerian cuisine to 1st Avenue (Monday) 

• La Pizza Italiya taking over the Baker's Pizza space on Avenue A (Monday) 

• City removes tree with Dutch elm disease from Tompkins Square Park (Thursday) 

• Empanada Mama makes it signage-on-the-plywood official on 14th and 1st (Friday) 

• To no surprise, 'emergency work' is necessary at the long-empty 6 Avenue B (Wednesday) 

• 345 Cantina takes over for Tableside on 6th Street (Tuesday) 

• Kenneth Cole reopening Bowery outpost with a 'Temporary' concept (Monday) 

• The P.F. Chang's outpost opens on University Place (Tuesday) 

• Yaki Sushi takes over for Hawkers on 14th Street (Monday) 

... and Ben freshened up the Ink on A storefront (66 Avenue A, and one of our favorite shops) this past week... with new paint and a more uncluttered display of magazines... (photo by Stacie Joy) ...

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Sen. Hoylman honors local businesses for service during the pandemic, including Mikey Likes It

Sen. Brad Hoylman presented three downtown merchants, including Mikey Likes It Ice Cream at 199 Avenue A, with the Empire Award — the New York State Senate's highest award for local businesses.

The 183-year-old C.O Bigelow Chemists on Sixth Avenue near Eighth Street and Madman Espresso on University Place were the other two recipients. 

Hoylman is honoring these three businesses for their distinguished service and community involvement during the pandemic.

"One of the main pillars of my business is giving back to the community and being a positive example to the people who we serve," Michael "Mikey" Cole said in a prepared statement. "I grew up a few blocks from my first shop ... and I always wanted to find a way to reinvest into it and make a positive impact."

During the pandemic, Cole has volunteered to help neighbors in need on the Lower East Side and in Harlem, where his second shop is located.

Hoylman's office is asking for people to nominate other restaurants and small businesses that helped support New Yorkers during the pandemic. If one wants to nominate a business, then they should email hoylman@senate.gov with "Empire Award Nomination" in the subject line.  

EV Grieve Etc.: Peace Pentagon exit; Mariella's Pizza closure

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams]

Details on where tenants of the Peace Pentagon on Lafayette and Bleecker are moving (The New York Times)

Mariella's Pizza on 16th Street and Third Avenue has closed (DNAinfo ... Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Documents from the U.S. Attorney claim that former Assemblyman Sheldon Silver was involved in two extramarital affairs (The Lo-Down)

Drop The Mic Ice Cream Factory opening a pop-up shop inside ChikaLicious Dessert Bar on East 10th Street (amNY)

Red-tailed hawk updates from Tompkins Square Park and Chinatown (Laura Goggin Photography)

Drunken fight at Katz's (DNAinfo)

African and French film in conversation, including "Alphaville" (Anthology Film Archives)

The Nuclear Family exhibition, featuring work by Marguerite Van Cook, James Romberger and ClockWork Cros continues through May 1 (Howl! Happening)

Lower East Side man arrested for having sex with his girlfriend’s pet Maltese (Daily News)

Will LinkNYC's new Wi-Fi system help police watch you? (The Atlantic)

Panel convened by Cuomo recommends creating a permit system for pre-noon sales of alcohol on Sundays (Eater)

Another rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments this year? (Curbed)

A look at "Rock and Rule" from 1983, an animated film with Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Chris Stein and Debbie Harry of Blondie (Dangerous Minds)

The Metrograph Theater enjoying early success on Ludlow Street (IndieWire)

Mickey Leigh's Ramones tour of Queens (The New York Times)

About Rolling Stone's Best Punk Records list (The Observer)

And today, Zachary Zamsky, 18, a student now at Boston University, makes his professional film debut as the lead in David Shane's short film "The Board," which is competing at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows a socially challenged high school kid who tests his ultimate system for making a successful first-time call to his crush.

Zamsky, who was born and bred on East Fifth Street, is the son of two former actors and active East Village residents. He has been acting since he was a kid, taking after-school classes at the former Children’s Aid Society on Sullivan Street. He attended the drama studio at the famed LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, graduating last June, and shot the movie over the summer and into the fall.


[Photo courtesy of Stuart Zamsky]

Week in Grieview

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

East Third Street buildings sell for $58 million, $34.5 million over the 2012 price (Tuesday)

Demolition permits filed for former Mobil station on Avenue C; plus new renderings of what's replacing it (Thursday)

Here's the rolled ice cream shop taking over the former Sock Man space on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Woman in critical condition after being struck by cab on University Place (Thursday)

The former Nino's is for rent on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Developer Douglas Steiner presents Steiner East Village (Tuesday)

City clears the homeless out of Tompkins Square Park ahead of the mayor's visit to discuss the homeless (Tuesday)

New York state AG's office investigates Rivington House; city orders full Stop Work Order on the demolition (Wednesday)

Something in the works for the vacant space that housed Irreplaceable Artifacts on Second Avenue (Thursday)

Owner of 99 Favor Taste bringing Korean-style barbecue and Chinese hot pot to St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Condos hit the market at former East 13th Street dumping ground (Friday)

11 stories of condos to join the growing East Houston residential horridor (Wednesday)

Proprietors offer more details about proposed Vietnamese restaurant for St. Mark's Place (Friday)

Cadillac's Castle has closed on East Ninth Street (Thursday)

On the corners of Avenue C: Albert Trummer's incoming Sanatorium; a closed pizzeria (Friday)

Sidewalk bridge at 100 Avenue A looks so naked now without the naked, painted people (Monday)

The Lyric Diner has closed once again in Gramercy Park (Wednesday)

All dogs in Stuy Town must now have a tag and lanyard (Friday)

Nohohon Tea Room opens on St. Mark's Place (Saturday)

Drake, lost and found (Thursday)

Verizon Wireless closes for good on Second Avenue (Thursday)

New sushi restaurant on First Avenue has portion sizes for men and women (Monday)

Eye Beauty Spa opens on East Fourth Street (Monday)

... and always fun to see a snowplow on April 9...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

The plot thickens at reported vegan ice cream shop

Just a mere three weeks ago, a mysterious Stogo sign appeared at the former A. Fontana Shoe Repair at 159 Second Ave. and 10th Street. As we reported in a worldwide exclusive, the beloved shop was becoming a vegan ice cream joint. And now? Another Stogo sign has appeared! This one over the front door.



So much progress at this location the past month! But! We still are searching for answers. Could this be the Stogo as in consultant Malcolm Stogo of the Ice Cream University, whose team lost a heartbreaker Saturday versus Milk and Cookies Community College? We don't really have any idea. But we promise to continue to take this matter very seriously!

Recapping yesterday's local college football scores

Holy Cross 38, Fordham 17

Monmouth 19, Sacred Heart 7

Richmond 34, Hofstra 14

Harvard 42, Columbia 28

Ice Cream University 31, Fudge State 0

Developing!: A sign appears at 159 Second Ave.

A few weeks ago, we passed along word that the former A. Fontana Shoe Repair at 159 Second Ave. and 10th Street was becoming a vegan ice cream joint. Well, the front windows have been papered over for weeks. And then! A sign just appeared, as this photo from our tipster shows:



Stogo? As in consultant Malcolm Stogo of the Ice Cream University?

Whether this place has anything to do with Stogo, we'll share his bio anyway -- because it's delicious! (heh):

For the last 25 years, Malcolm Stogo has been in the forefront in developing today's ice cream concepts leap years ahead of the industry. He is the author of Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts, co-author of Ice Cream Cakes, and author of a new book titled How To Succeed in the Incredible Ice Cream Business. He is President of Malcolm Stogo Associates, an international ice cream consulting firm, as well as founder of Ice Cream University, a seminar series and publishing company on ice cream production, and marketing and publisher of Batch Freezer News and Ice Cream Store News, two quarterly newsletters on everything one needs to know about ice cream production and marketing. In the 1980's, he co-owned Ice Cream Extravaganza (New York), the largest single frozen dessert operation ($1,500,000 in sales). He also invented the chocolate dipped waffle cone now being produced and sold all over the world.

I can't get past Ice Cream University. ICU? Go Defibrillators! (And do they have a football team?)