Week in Grieview

[Someone tossed a P from Stomp on St. Mark’s Place]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

AG's office: Steve Croman agrees to pay $8 million to the tenants he harassed (Thursday)

Workers remove the sculpture fence and prep lot at 89 1st Ave. (Wednesday)

Paquito's Restaurant closing after 25 years on 1st Avenue; take out and delivery will remain (Tuesday)

Neighbor: East Village Cheese, closed now for 2 weeks, is starting to smell (Thursday) ... and a co-owner spotted clearing out the space (Friday)

Santa delivers sacks of coal to Madison Realty Capital, Rafael Toledano's lenders (Friday)

Hotel Tortuga, now with morning espresso service on 14th Street (Wednesday)

Partial vacate order and violations for sidewalk-collapse building on 4th Street (Monday)

Presenting Mercury East Presents, which brings together several local music venues (Tuesday)

How many East Village properties do the Kushner Cos. actually own? (Wednesday)

Pinky's Space bringing quick-serve food options to 1st Street (Monday)

Opossum action (Friday ... Wednesday)

GG's closes on Fifth Street (Friday)

The Ainsworth East Village debuts on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday)

Icon's 9th Street townhouse now available for $17 million (Tuesday)

Out East has not been open the last few days (Thursday)

Viking Waffles signage arrives on Avenue C (Monday)

Reader report: Beware the Amazon Fire TV Stick (Monday)

Westside Market opening in the former Met Foods space on 3rd Avenue and 17th Street (Tuesday)

Some Steiner East Village retail speculation (Monday)

... and several readers noted this bike-lock job on 10th Street and Third Avenue...


[Photo via EVG reader Doug]

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This afternoon in squirrel photos

From Tompkins Square Park today, riachung00 shares this photo of a (the?) blond-tailed squirrel...



... one of the elusive members of the Park's wildlife, a group that includes the black crowned night heron and opossum (and I don't know what happened to the oppossum).

Week in Grieview

[1 explanation for the recent cold weather via Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Bea Arthur Residence nearly ready to accept first tenants on 13th Street (Thursday)

After 42 years on St. Mark's Place, the Grassroots Tavern closes on New Year's Eve (Monday)

Permits filed to renovate Webster Hall (Tuesday)

MTA, DOT outline plans for life without the L train (Thursday)

Fire at 80 E. Third St. (Friday)

Sidewalk bridge finally hauled away from the Verizon building on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)

The latest installment of I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Friday)

EVG contributor James Maher has an exhibit at the Manny Cantor Center titled "Storytelling in our Immigrant City" (Monday)

Traffic lights for the East Houston-FDR-East River overpass (Monday)

$1 coffee talk (Thursday)

Another case of stolen packages from an East Village lobby (Wednesday)

243 and 245 E. 2nd St. asking nearly $18 million (Wednesday)

Citi Bike of the week (Thursday)

Honeyhaus is the latest departure on 11th Street (Monday)

Opossum drama in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)

A look at the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree (Sunday)

Checking in on the Moxy hotel project (Tuesday)

Applicants looking to bring live jazz to the former East Village Tavern (Monday)

The "other" hawk (Sunday)

More about Poke N' Roll, coming soon to 9th Street (Tuesday)

Gramercy Kitchen debuts on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday)

Chat 'N Chew looks closer to reopening on Union Square (Wednesday)

Boris and Horton, the dog friendly coffee shop, now hiring on Avenue A (Monday)

House of Fluff pops up on the Bowery (Tuesday)

Construction watch: 606 Broadway and 300 Lafayette (Wednesday)

... and yes, these were seemingly everywhere after Friday evening's snowfall... plenty more where these came from...


[Photo by Steven]


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]

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At the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Festival

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Festival — the 32nd of the event FKA Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade — took place this past Saturday. 

On a perfect fall day, crowds descended onto Tompkins Square Park for the event, co-hosted by Dan Schachner, a former NFL referee who now serves as host of the Puppy Bowl, and Jolie Dudley, co-founder of Must Love Dogs and Comedy. (They are pictured below with event organizer Joseph Borduin in the middle.)

The main stage was in the center of the Park, where EVG contributor Stacie Joy was stationed. There was also a second stage on the ballfields/skate area.

As for the hundreds of entrants... standouts included topical costumes, such as the spotted lanternfly and the FBI/Mar-a-Lago presidential papers ... and plenty of pop-cultural outfits (the "Star Wars" franchise is always popular) ... and the Midtown Uniform tribute with Brad and Chad and the bodega kitty, complete with a moveable shop.  Oh, and there was also an opossum.  (You can find a list of the winners here. You can vote for the Best in Show at this link.)

And now just a few of the many contestants...

The Dog Parade/Festival occurred in East River Park in 2018, 2019 and 2021. (That venue is no longer available.) The 2020 pandemic version was mostly virtual, with a small in-person/dog event at Lucky on Avenue B.

Holiday week recap

[Sledding in Tompkins Square Park Saturday via Derek Berg]

A few stories from last week...

• Out and About in the East Village 2017 recap and news about 2018 (Wednesday)

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

• Pizza Rollio bringing its skinny slices to 9th Street (Tuesday)

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

• Neapolitan Express pulling into 29 2nd Ave. (Wednesday)

• The opossum of Tompkins Square Park — now on video (Thursday)

• The EVG 2017 recap (Friday ... Saturday)

• Remembering a few of our friends and neighbors who died in 2017 (Sunday)

• Classic Man Barber Lounge coming to 9th Street (Wednesday)

• Free scarves along the East River Promenade (Dec. 25)

• Crunch time at the Kellogg's NYC Café on Union Square (Wednesday)

• Malcriada morphing into Bar Taco on Avenue C (Tuesday)

• Report: The SBS15 has the worst on-time arrival in the MTA fleet (Tuesday)

• Thank you for 35 years of reheating leftovers and other microwaving activities (Friday)

• Former Wall 88 space for rent on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday)

• Window watch at 32 E. 1st St. (Tuesday)

Critters on the loose in Manhattan! (NOT on the menu at Serge today: Possum)

While walking to a dumb lunch appointment today up in Midtown ... I saw five police cars parked along Madison Avenue in the 30s. Several police officers and passers-by were staring at the trellis next to the door at the French eatery Serge.



A makeshift barrier was set up outside the restaurant, which was not yet open.



Uh, so why are we all standing here looking at the trellis? A building maintenance man and bicycle messenger said in unison, "Possum!" Well, sure enough, a possum was hovering in the corner....looking pretty menacing...



So we all stood around like a bunch of dopes while the police officers figured out the best method of humanely trapping the possum. That left people time to theorize. "How do you think he got here?" Well, said one man, "I've seen possum in the Bronx." Another man chimed in, "I bet he took the subway!"

Yeah, OK....the police eventually got a little cranky with so many people — now maybe 40 strong? — milling about.

Back up, people!



We did. People new to the crowd said things like, "What is it, a gas leak?" Tourists took photos.



A few minutes later, an officer approached the possum with an apple-picker-looking thing. The possum was placed inside a plastic trash can and carted off... We didn't hear where the possum was being taken. People stood around for a few more moments, seemingly disappointed to see the free entertainment come to a conclusion.

[Oops...Thanks to the e-mailer...it's an opossum in the Western Hemisphere...Apologies...]

Week in Grieview

[Caught in the rain on Avenue A via Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Q&A with the authors of the "Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City" (Thursday)

Printed Matter will have a bookstore inside the Swiss Institute's new 2nd Avenue home (Tuesday)

Funny business: Comedy club replacing comedy club on 4th Street (Monday)

The latest I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Friday)

At Dual Specialty Store (Thursday)

Don't be surprised to see a human take your order (and cash) at the Astor Place Shake Shack (Monday)

Tinkersphere leaves 5th Street for the Lower East Side (Friday)

An injured opossum on Avenue B (Monday)

The former East Village Cheese space has a new tenant on 7th Street (Friday)

Bareburger making its Orchard Street debut (Thursday)

Moxy East Village arrives at the lobby level (Monday)

Pink Bear Ice Cream and Steam Rice Roll has apparently closed on 14th Street (Tuesday)

Cafe Zaiya has closed on Cooper Square (Wednesday)

About the bar-restaurant proposed for 2 St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

2 years later, 136 2nd Ave. ready for its restaurant (Wednesday)

Hot Box looking ready to debut on 2nd Avenue (Monday)

Report: Ravi DeRossi bringing Fire & Water to 7th Street (Tuesday)

... and something for the birds on St. Mark's Place... photo by EVG reader Hansley Yunez...



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