Week in Grieview

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

• Renovation watch: This is what the inside of the former Hells Angels HQ looks like now (Thursday) 

• New bike lanes next for freshly paved Avenue C (Tuesday) 

• Brooklyn Bean Roastery closes on Avenue A (Monday) 

• Wegmans makes it OFFICIAL, will take over the former Kmart space on Astor Place (Thursday)

• A short tribute — sob — to the World Famous Pee Phone™ (Friday) 

• Advocates urging City Comptroller to withhold approval for East River Park reconstruction — with update (Tuesday) 

• Report of a slashing outside 7-Eleven on Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• 787 Coffee debuts on 10th Street (Thursday) • Post debuts in new 3rd Street space (Wednesday)

• Now You're Clean, offering self-service dog washing, opens on 10th Street (Wednesday) 

• An encore presentation for the Pyramid Club on Avenue A? (Wednesday) 

• Karma's newest 2nd Street gallery is open (Tuesday) 

• Mochinut bringing mochi doughnuts and Korean-style hot dogs to 2nd Avenue (Monday) 

• "I see you over there" — the return of a Zoltar and words of wisdom (Wednesday) 

• XOXO 2nd Avenue (Sunday) • At long last, workers remove the sidewalk bridge from 75 1st Ave. (Friday) 

• East Berlin set for 169 Avenue A (Thursday) 

 ... and B&H Dairy unveiled a new line of t-shirts this past week... with a logo modeled after the lunch counter's longtime neon sign... $20 at B&H, 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St Mark's Place...

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The Pee Phone's humanitarian tone

Yesterday at Avenue A and Seventh Street.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Bob Arihood has the latest on the Avenue A groper (Neither More Nor Less)

Hmmm, Peter Pan Donut Shop (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Bea Arthur tag painted over on Third Street (Flaming Pablum)

The Record and Tape Center is closing in Park Slope (Lost City)

NYC's first gourmet cupcake truck (Grub Street)

Broadway ready for pedestrians (Curbed)

Is the pee phone doomed? (Slum Goddess)

First look at Washington Square Park (Washington Square Park)

A hellhole no more: Orchard Street pothole paved over (BoweryBoogie)

Iggy and the Stooges to play "Raw Power" — first time in 36 years (Stupefaction)

Wish you were here: Old postcards to home from NYC (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

About Iggy's career as an insurance spokesperson (Hunter-Gatherer)

Laura Kennedy of the Bush Tetras has a birthday today. Wish her the best (Laura Kennedy Liver Fund)

Do you need that open summons for, say, public urination, cleared from your record?

[NOT LinkNYC but rather the World Famous Pee Phone™]

Then do we have an event for you.

Via the EVG inbox...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., the New York Police Department, the Office of Court Administration, the Legal Aid Society, and Grand Street Settlement announced the second “Clean Slate” event, an upcoming warrant forgiveness opportunity where New Yorkers with open summons warrants for qualifying crimes can have them cleared from their record, without fear of arrest.

The types of summons warrants that can be cleared at this event include:

· Disorderly Conduct

· Public Consumption of Alcohol

· Public Urination

· Littering

· Unlawful Possession of Marijuana

· Others, including some subway offenses

In addition to the outstanding warrant, the underlying summons can also be resolved at this event without fines or other penalties. The presiding judge will issue Adjournments in Contemplation of Dismissal, or ACDs, which require the recipient to avoid new arrests for six months, before the dismissal and sealing of his or her case. Warrants for felony or misdemeanor charges cannot be resolved at Clean Slate, but Legal Aid attorneys will be present to offer free legal advice in an effort to help individuals resolve such cases.

Despite the minor nature of the offenses, people with outstanding warrants can be arrested and placed in jail for 24 hours while they are they are processed through the system.

More than 700 New Yorkers came to the first Clean Slate event in November 2015 in Harlem, at which 409 summons warrants dating back almost 20 years were vacated.

Clean Slate will take place this Saturday, April 30, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Grand Street Settlement on 80 Pitt St., near Rivington Street.

Find a PDF with the Clean Slate FAQs here.

Sidewalk shed partially down on Seventh and A

Since March 10, workers have been repairing the facade on the building at Seventh Street and Avenue A... which meant a sidewalk shed for Yuca Bar and Ray's... Yesterday, workers removed the sidewalk shed on the Seventh Street side...





Still more time for shenanigans on A, though, near Ray's and the World Famous Pee Phone©.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Scaffolding to cover Ray's, Yuca Bar

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

No (for now) to Grimaldis at 352 Bowery (Eater)

At arm's length at the World Famous Pee Phone© (Nadie Se Conoce)

A slice of Old Town life (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Remembering the Cheyenne and the Moondance (The Gog Log)

Naked ice cream boy mannequin in Chinatown (With Leftovers)

Smell like Lady Gaga (BoweryBoogie)

I always like Melanie's photos (East Village Corner…Musings By MELANIE)

Slum Goddess channels... Billy Idol? (Slum Goddess)

New fall menu at 6th Street Kitchen (EV Eats)

Why Grand Street will be torn up for five years (The Lo-Down)

Here's a new website to check out — Why Are You on My Train? Telling subways stories (Why Are You on My Train?)

Also, if you need a dog prison... saw this in the trash the other day..."Your dog's home for life"?

Night Owl Cafe lives again at Sophie's — but just for today

Crews are on East Fifth Street today to film scenes for "Greetings from Tim Buckley." ("Gossip Girl" star Penn Badgley is Jeff Buckley in this film.)

The Jeff Buckley-Tim Buckley biopic is using Sophie's as a backdrop (both inside and outside the bar). Dave on 7th was on the scene this morning...

Sophie's is subbing for the Greenwich Village 1960s mainstay Night Owl Cafe, where Tim Buckley played his first NYC gig in 1966 (and the Lovin' Spoonful came to fame). Read more about the club here. This address on West Third Street has been home to Bleecker Bob's since 1983.

...and a new rival for the Pee Phone?

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Second business coming to Extra Place? (Grub Street)

Death of a newsstand (BoweryBoogie)

Nusraty Afghan Imports celebrates its Grand Re-Opening today (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

New fancy Tequila bar for EV? (Eater)

Looking at Lift newyork (East Village Podcasts)

Highlights from yesterday’s Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting (Washington Square Park)

Have you looked at Melanie's photos? (Melanie)

Highlights from the Chelsea Hotel Film Festival (Living with Legends)

Listen to Jesus; random clothes at the Pee Phone (Slum Goddess)

And finally.....via Buzzfeed:



"Only GaGa would have the balls to make the 'don't look at me' hand gesture while walking around wearing a wig shaped like a cone. Never change, GaGa!"

9:04 a.m., Avenue A, Dec. 4

At the World Famous Pee Phone©.

Weekend at Ray's

On Friday night, Lilly O'Donnell and Haley Moss Dillon, who helped organize a Save Ray's fundraiser via PayPal, presented Ray with a check for $1,000, the total collected to date. I asked Lilly how Ray responded to the check. "He was a little taken aback, but very sweet and thankful, as always! He smiled more than he has in the last week or so."

On Saturday night, Black Ops Bob and the Slacktivists held a protest/fundraiser/street party in front of Ray's...




As Slum Goddess wrote:

People stood across from Ray's with signs and candles and chanted at people to buy stuff to help Ray. I wasn't sure if this would scare people away and hinder business, but business was really good for Ray and Ray was very happy about all the support and love shown.

For more photos from the evening:

Neither More Nor Less

East Village Corner -- Musings by Melanie

Then, Sunday by the Pee Phone on Seventh Street and Avenue A...



Other Ray's-related activities:

Sidewalk Cafe, 94 Avenue A at Sixth Street, will be hosting a benefit show on Saturday, Feb. 6 for Ray's Candy Store. More details to follow. If you want to play or help out in any way, then please get in touch with Leah at:

boyslikebarbies@gmail.com

There's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

The disappearing pay phones along Avenue A

In the last week or so, workers have hauled off the open-air pay phones on the northwest side of Avenue A at Fourth Street (above) ... the west side Avenue A at Third Street...

... and the west side of Avenue A at Second Street...

The one on the east side of A at Third Street is also gone. However, the pay phones remain on the south side of Fourth at A... 

... and the south side of A at Fifth...

So you still have a place to take a _____ or put down your bottle of ______ or roll a _____.

Thankfully, for now anyway, the World Famous Pee Phone™ is still on duty on Avenue A at Seventh Street.  

Anyway, all this was expected... in late February 2020, Gothamist reported that the Department of Information, Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) was going to uproot nearly 3,000 pay phones around NYC that are maintained by CityBridge. A few non-CityBridge phones are likely to remain. And expect to see some new LinkNYC kiosks in some of these spaces.

Eat Pray Love Ray's

It kind of rhymes, Eat Pray Love Ray's...



At the World Famous Pee Phone©.

Alice in Knockerland

While I know the world famous Pee Phone has a caretaker on Avenue A at Seventh Street....Who was responsible for this? One day last week someone gave The White Queen additional cleavage...



...the next day a reduction took place...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

A mystery home on Charles Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

More fun under the Avenue A sidewalk shed (Neither More Nor Less)

Thurston Moore's school of white noise (Flaming Pablum)

Remembering Wendy O. Williams (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

What taxi date can tell us about NYC (Streetsblog)

Barf — a Subway to open on Delancey and Allen (BoweryBoogie)

Check out the Film Forum's newspaper movie series (Nonetheless)

Cooper Union's outdoor urinal (EV Heave — warning, page contains barf photos too)

We love John Penley's photo blog (JPenleyPix)

... and NYC Taxi Photo

... and Greenwich Village Daily Photo

Pee phone now charging (East Village Corner ... Musings by Melanie)

Checking out the new Thai place on Clinton Street (With Leftovers)

An EV Grieve reader sent along these shots from lower Fifth Avenue... where it seems as if the animals...



...are lining up for the bistro truck...



Walid menswear is going out of business on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... always liked that Walid sign...




We also received several e-mails about gunshots last evening...

"A little after 6 we were walking on Avenue A in front of Benny's when we heard a loud POP. Someone in front of us ducked a little bit. There was some nervous laughter. Someone eating outside of Benny's said, "Was that a gun" to his friends. It turned out someone popped a tire on their bike."

Also:

"I was on Stanton and Attorney last night when I heard two gunshots coming from about a block east. I couldn't see what was going on out the window, but I saw people looking that way, and then the undercover cops and a patrol car headed that way. Anyway, I was curious to find out if you heard anything about it."

And Malcolm McClaren has died at age 64. He managed the New York Dolls and Sex Pistols, among many other things...

City changes way it will treat people drinking or urinating (or both) in public

[Pee Phone™ photo from 2014]

Well, we somehow missed this announcement on Tuesday... via the DA's office...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., New York City Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton, and Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced a new initiative to change how individuals who commit low-level offenses are processed in Manhattan.

Beginning on Monday, March 7, 2016, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will no longer prosecute most violations or infractions, and the NYPD will no longer arrest individuals who commit these offenses – such as littering, public consumption of alcohol, or taking up two seats on the subway – unless there is a demonstrated public safety reason to do so.

This initiative will enable the NYPD to devote its resources to investigating serious crimes, while further reducing the backlog of cases in Criminal Court. The issuance of summonses instead of arrests is expected to result in the diversion of approximately 10,000 arrests that would be prosecuted in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Public urination is also on the list of low-level offenses, per published reports.

Will the city's new policy make you more likely to urinate in public?

Yes

Yes, and when is SantaCon?

No

If you don't like urinating in public, then move to _____

Beer store!

personality test

A few details about the Tompkins Square Park igloo

[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

Here's more info about this price piece of real estate located in the middle of Tompkins Square Park…

Via reliable sources on Twitter…

@evgrieve Its okay this apartment is available for $6000/mo plus utilities. sNOw deposit necessary. pic.twitter.com/O09RKJAHzO

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) February 22, 2015

And!

@evgrieve look what's in the igloo! It's the new pee phone! pic.twitter.com/J1ZCy2JBJ5

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) February 22, 2015

No word yet what the going rate will be for a summer sublet…

Week in Grieview

[East 13th Street yesterday morning]

Former P.S. 64 on the market... again (Thursday)

The end of the line for the World Famous Pee Phone? (Monday)

Tenants joining forces at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St. (Tuesday)

City fixes Avenue C Sinkhole, Jr. (Thursday)

The bloodcurdling late-night screams continue (Wednesday)

DOH temporarily shutters Japadog (Monday)

Work permits on file for the Mystery Lot (Thursday)

Nino's for sale (Friday)

Spring began (Tuesday)

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live tenants (Thursday)

Another makeshift shelter arrives alongside the Liz Christy Garden (Tuesday)

And there was a lot of debate about saving Kate's Joint ... Three posts and 74 comments. Read them all here.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[By East Village-based photographer James Maher. Find his work here]

What could drive Yonah Schimmel out of business after 101 years on East Houston (The Lo-Down)

A map showing all of Ben Shaoul's East Village properties (Occupy East 4th Street)

The history of Blimpie Base (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The World Famous Pee Phone on Avenue A hasn't worked since August (East Village Corner)

Inside Five Napkin Burger on 14th and Third (Eater)

At Otto's Shrunken Head (Tripping With Marty)

The BBC preps a series on 19th-Century Five Points (BoweryBoogie)

More change on 12th and Broadway (Flaming Pablum)

Manhattanhenge dates for 2012 (Gothamist)

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Union Square yesterday via blue glass]

A chat with the Tompkins Square Park Rat Lady (Runnin' Scared)

WPIX brings up the rear in TSP rat coverage (WPIX)

World Famous Pee Phone is out of order (East Village Corner)

Sturdy diner replaced by joint with a $65 prix fixe menu (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Elvis on A (Neither More Nor Less)

The historic Art Deco meatpacking building to be demo'd for shitty glass tower (Off the Grid)

Anyone wanna challenge Daniel Squadron? Anyone? Anyone? (The Lo-Down)

Marty visits the Coal Yard (Marty After Dark)

Die Hard 5 will likely happen. Woo? (BoweryBoogie)

A Cure photo mystery (Flaming Pablum)

If the white breeches fit ...: Chris Christie maybe called Bloomy "Napoleon" (Gothamist)

And in case you haven't seen the new commercial filmed at Billy's Antiques that has been making the rounds...

Noted

World Famous Pee Phone™ imposter on Third Avenue.