Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included... (with the word from 10th and A)... 

• At NYU, 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment' leads to arrests of over 150 people (Tuesday)

• Police searching for suspect in unprovoked daytime stabbing on 7th Street on April 9 (Monday) 

• The untold story of Snack Dragon's attempted East Village comeback (Tuesday) 

• An early-morning fire at 131 Avenue A (Wednesday) ... assessing the fire damage (Wednesday) 

• Violet times: An Earth Day look at the wisteria on Stuyvesant Street (Monday) 

• From the Poetry Window at East Village Books (Saturday) 

• Dan & John's has closed its original East Village location after 9 years (Tuesday) 

• The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival returns to Tompkins Square Park this Aug. 25 (Wednesday) 

• Celebrating the birth of the Pyramid Club at Howl! Arts (Thursday) 

• A benefit concert for East Village musician Jesse Malin (Wednesday)

• About Stylus, a private members-only club coming to the Lower East Side (Friday) 

• Workers removed a dead elm from Tompkins (Thursday) ... and the city has been planting new trees in the neighborhood (Friday) 

• Closing notices: J-Spec Wagyu Dining and Esora Omakase on 5th Street (Wednesday) 

• Openings: Pizza Pazzo on 1st Street (Monday)

• A retail reset at 20 St. Mark's Place (Monday)

• So long to the longtime sidewalk bridge on 12th Street, and hello to SMØR Bakery (Monday) 

• Sushi Fan has not been open lately on St. Mark's Place (Friday)

• Where to see Films on the Green this summer (but not in Tompkins Square Park) (Friday)

• A smoke and vape shop for the former Gaia Italian Café on 3rd Street (Wednesday) 

• A changing of the bar at 16 1st Ave. (Monday) 

... and beware of those dubious rental listings promising various "doorman amenities" (photo on 9th Street by Steven)...

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Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo of Nation of Language on Monday during their sold-out 3-night stand at the Bowery Ballroom)... 

• Planned student protest gets the DOB to take action on closed-off school playground (Monday) 

• Veselka looks to ease back into a 24/7 schedule starting with weekends first (Monday) 

• City unveils 3 refurbished East Village buildings with affording housing opportunities (Tuesday) ... Honoring Puerto Rican freedom fighter Pedro Albizu Campos with a mural on 12th and C (Friday) 

• Restaurants can now apply to participate in NYC's new outdoor dining program (Wednesday) 

• A new signage era for Best Housekeeping on Avenue A (Thursday) 

• The Veselka documentary gets a third week at Village East by Angelika (Friday) 

• This is why Most Holy Redeemer is green around the bells on 3rd Street (Saturday)

• To be: Eddie Izzard's 'Hamlet' coming to the Orpheum Theatre in the East Village (Monday) 

• Look at the former Dallas BBQ now (Friday) 

• The Joyce Theater has rehearsal space to rent to nonprofits and freelance dance artists (Tuesday) 

• Checking out just part of the ongoing New Colossus Festival (Saturday) 

• Asian Taste closing in on a reopening (Friday) 

• A now-and-then look at the former Provident Loan Society on Houston and Essex (Circa Thursday)

• Vacant parking garage gets the plywood treatment on 9th Street (Thursday) 

• Apollo Bagels now with signage on 10th Street (Tuesday) 

• Today in discarded finds of the century on 2nd Street (Friday) 

• Former Mad for Chicken spot for rent on 14th Street (Monday) 

• Closures: Wild Rabbit Coffee on 7th Street (Wednesday)

• Signage alert: Bungalow from restaurateur Jimmy Rizvi on 1st Avenue (Thursday) 

• EVG readers had early access to tickets to see The Damned this May in NYC (Wednesday) 

... and neither here nor there, but this Scotch Tape display has been in a different aisle every time we visit Key Food on Avenue A (which is more than we'll admit)...

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RIP Vinie Burrows

Vinie Burrows, an acclaimed actress and activist who lived in the East Village in Village View along First Avenue, died on Dec. 25. She was 99. 

From her obituary:

Burrows began her Broadway career in the 1950s, starring alongside Ossie Davis in "The Wisteria Trees." She continued to perform on Broadway for several years, appearing in such shows as "The Green Pastures," "The Skin of Our Teeth," and "The Blacks." But Burrows became frustrated with the narrow range of roles available to Black women, and she left Broadway to pursue a solo career in one-woman shows. 

Burrows' one-woman Off-Broadway show, "Walk Together Children," was critically acclaimed and continued as an international tour after its initial run. She went on to perform other one-woman shows, including "Sister! Sister!" "Dark Fire" and “The Great White Way: The Story of Rose McClendon." 

In 2020, she was honored with an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. Burrows was also an activist who represented the Women's International Democratic Federation at the United Nations.  

As the Amsterdam News reported, Burrows "once noted that her greatest role in life was the one she performed for truth and justice." 

She has been the subject of several tributes in recent days...

Vinie Burrows, an actress who made her mark on Broadway in the 1950s but who grew frustrated by how few choice roles were available for Black women and turned her focus to one-woman shows exploring the legacies of racism and sexism, has died at 99. https://t.co/qakbhiKE74

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 5, 2024

... including this piece in The New Yorker titled The Many Lives of Vinie Burrows. 

Here's a video message from Burrows from April 2020...

   

Burrows is survived by her son and daughter, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

Illegal cannabis dispensary seeing blue this morning

Photos by William Klayer 

A quick note via the EVG tipline... law enforcement officials were spotted inside the Recreational Plus Cannabis Dispensary on the SE corner of First Avenue and 11th Street. 

A Restraining Order is also posted on the front window here at 180 First Ave. (FYI: This building is also for sale.) 

From the street, the shop appears to be empty. (The business' Yelp page notes, "Recreational Plus East Village is temporarily closed. Scheduled to reopen on January 1, 2024.") 

The signage arrived for it back in October... it was later removed, though the shop remained in operation.

This happens to be one block north of Go Green Dispensary, where on Tuesday, local elected officials came together, spoke out against unlicensed cannabis shops in Lower Manhattan, and called on landlords to stop renting to these businesses.

Like Go Green Dispensary, this operation is close to multiple schools (East Side Community School and PS 19 East Village Community School) and the mosque on the NE corner of 11th Street and First Avenue.

Local elected officials call out landlords renting to unlicensed cannabis shops

Image via Harvey Epstein's office 

Local elected officials came together yesterday to speak out against unlicensed cannabis shops in Lower Manhattan and call on landlords to stop renting to these businesses. 

Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, Councilmember Carlina Rivera and Sen. Brian Kavanagh gathered with community members outside Go Green Dispensary on the SE corner of 10th Street and First Avenue. Officials pointed out that this dispensary is close to multiple schools (East Side Community School and PS 19 East Village Community School) and the mosque on 11th Street and First Avenue. 

According to officials, legal cannabis dispensaries — licensed by the New York State Office of Cannabis Management — are prohibited from operating within 500 feet of a school or 200 feet of a religious institution.

As of August, a new city law that holds commercial landlords responsible for renting storefronts to unlicensed cannabis shops is in effect. 

Introduction 1001-B, known as Local Law 107 of 2023, prohibits owners of commercial spaces from knowingly leasing to unlicensed sellers of marijuana or tobacco products, imposing fines of up to $10,000 on landlords for violations. 

During the rally, Epstein announced that he was sending letters to the landlords of 22 shops stating their renters were selling cannabis illegally and advising them of their responsibilities under the law and penalties for failure to comply.

"Unlicensed cannabis shops are a threat to consumers, the legal market, and our entire community,” Epstein said. “As a supporter of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, I believe that the sale of cannabis should be used as an instrument of social justice, allowing individuals who have suffered the impact of criminalization to enter the market legally and receive priority status when applying for their licenses. Unlicensed shops like these perilously undermine that goal while also evading safety requirements and taxes."

Representatives from Housing Works Cannabis Co., NYC's first legal dispensary that opened last December on Broadway at Eighth Street, were also present to talk about the negative impact these businesses have on the legal market.

"Currently operated illegal cannabis businesses are supported by multiple out-of-state and international investors. These investors can afford to pay the fines and renegotiate terms for retail space," said Anthony Feliciano, vice president of the advocacy department at Housing Works. "Additionally, landlords repeatedly allow their commercial storefronts to be re-opened by either the same tenant or a new renter after being seized by the sheriff's department. We need more administrative mechanisms and legislation designed to get the landlord's attention."

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a sunrise-on-Seventh-Street shot from Thursday)... 

• 19-year-old worker killed by father in a construction accident on First Avenue (Friday) 

• Demoliton of the fire-damaged Middle Church façade starts on Monday (Thursday) 

• The unhoused residents living on 9th Street and First Avenue (Friday) 

• Community members speak out against a tactical gear pop-up shop on 9th Street (Monday) 

• Q&A with Colin Simpson, aka reggae artist Ras Redemption (Thursday) 

• CB3 committee to hear presentation on the proposed 'City of Yes for Economic Opportunity' text amendment (Tuesday) 

• Revisiting 305 E. 11th St. and 310 E. 12th St. (Thursday) 

• Five Guys coming to 12th and 2nd (Tuesday) 

• East Village resident pleads guilty to running a 'sophisticated ghost gun factory' (Friday) 

• This East Village lot is now home to this 60-foot-long photograph of a car cemetery in Ukraine (Tuesday) 

• ICYMI: Flaco is backo on the Upper East Side (Wednesday) 

• Openings: Red Onion on 10th Street (Wednesday) 

• Signage alert: Crêpe Master on 7th Street (Monday)

• Cookie Walk is now side-of-church-signage official (Tuesday) 

• Bench mark: A throwback to 1939 arrives on the Tompkins Square Park multipurpose courts (Monday)

• Ugh, SantaCon is on the way (Tuesday) 

• Everything's gone Green (Wednesday) 

... and for anyone keeping track, it appears the Whole Foods Market® Bowery was first to the market with (live) Christmas trees this year...

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Everything's gone Green

We are behind in noting all (and there are a lot) the recent comings and goings with smoke shops, like which ones closed, which ones closed and reopened, and which ones closed and reopened under a new name.

The smoke shop opened up next to Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A near Seventh Street nearly a month ago, though the signage for Green World only just arrived.

The sidewalk board (pic from Oct. 31, before the new signage but with festive balloonage) shows items for sale including flowers, edibles and pre-rolls...

The business was, until May, known as East Village New Deli ... then they returned in June without the deli counter... only to close again and reopen as another exotic snack shop/weed shop. 

East Village cultural landmark Nuyorican Poets Café now closed for a 3-year renovation

Photos by Stacie Joy

After celebrating its 50th anniversary this past month, the Nuyorican Poets Café has closed for a long-awaited $24 million, three-year renovation project. 

This so-called "Nuyoricanstruction" phase will usher the organization into into the next 50 years, leadership says.

Here's more about the extensive renovation at the iconic space on Third Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, as reported by The City:

There will be new elevators, a new first-floor performance space, a green room and changing area in the basement, and more offices and performance spaces on the second, third, and fourth floors, according to a spokesperson for the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, which is partially funding the renovation along with the City Council and borough president's office. The electrical and mechanical systems will also be completely overhauled. 

And...

The space at 236 East 3rd Street was an abandoned tenement building, built more than 100 years ago, when it was purchased in 1971 by the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. The Poets Café founders bought it in 1981 after starting off in an East Village living room eight years earlier. 

The Café owns the building, but has had a restrictive covenant on its deed since 2013, which is a requirement for all city-funded capital projects on private property.

Through the years, the Café has been a venue for for underrepresented artists through weekly Latin jazz, slam poetry, theatrical performances and open mic events.

The staff is planning on staging pop-ups and collaborating with other New York institutions during the three-year renovation. You can check Instagram or the Café website for updates.

Puerto Rican writer and poet Miguel Algarín founded Nuyorican in 1973 as a living room salon on Sixth Street along with Lucky CienFuegos, Bimbo Rivas, Pedro Pietri and Miguel Piñero. Algarín died in December 2020 at age 79.

RIP Maryanne Byington

Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens (LUNGS) shared the following information about longtime East Village resident Maryanne Byington... 

Maryanne left us Friday, Oct. 13, after a long battle with a pulmonary illness. 

Maryanne was a resident of East Eighth Street since 1982 and an integral part of Green Oasis and Gilbert's Sculpture Garden. She was one of the founders of LUNGS and served as Vice President from 2011 to 2020. 

Maryanne was a trophy-winning professional ballroom dancer. She was Emeritus Dean of High Heels at Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, where she offered students expert instruction in the arts of dressing up, making up, going out, and acting like a lady. Maryanne said, " Do you enjoy wearing high heels? Sometimes, the technique of rumba will create just the right walk for the right situation." 

Maryanne loved to dance and dress in Oscar de la Renta's most colorful Latin-influenced festive party gowns. She also loved to sit in her garden, watch children carve pumpkins, and listen to the birds sing. She was partial to shrimp cocktails, grilled cheese sandwiches and chilled Negronis served in a pretty cocktail glass. 

Maryanne's graciousness, sense of humor and beautiful smile are already greatly missed.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a reader-submitted photo from Avenue B and Fourth Street)...

• Here's how you can contribute to the East Village Community Cookbook (Tuesday) 

• Barnyard Cheese Shop will return with Barnyard Express on Avenue B (Wednesday) 

• 9th Street parking garage being offered for redevelopment (Monday) 

• Report: City temporarily halts demolition of 6-building parcel on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday) 

• The owners of Whim Golf on Avenue A are hoping to donate their putting green to a community garden, school or outdoor residential space (Thursday)

• Listing for 7th Street triplex reimagined "with Barbie’s (and Ken’s) signature style in mind" (Tuesday) 

• Stuyvesant Street storefronts return to view (Thursday) 

• Openings: Seasoned Vegan Real Quick on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• This is the last weekend for the East Village outpost of Pink Olive (Friday) 

• HBD Joe Strummer (Monday) 

• Reader report: K'ook has closed on 6th Street (Thursday)

• The LES Shake Shack debuts (Monday) 

• J Crew on the Bowery remains closed due to "technical difficulties" (Thursday) 

• The former Local 92 space is for rent (Thursday) ... as is the former Raíz Modern Mexican space on 1st Avenue (Monday) 

• This shop may not be long for this (Bong) world (Monday)

• Snack Stop shutters on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

... and some rolldown gate drama yesterday on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue... at the kiosks selling hats, sunglasses, etc. (top pic by Derek Berg) ...

... and Steven...

The gate was eventually repaired ... and the sales were able to continue...

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Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo on Avenue Barbie last night by Stacie Joy) ... 

• Why the lights were off 3 nights in a row in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday) ... Early this morning in Tompkins Square Dark (Friday) 

• These are longtime food writer Robert Sietsema's 10 favorite East Village meals (Wednesday) 

• Pink Olive is closing its East Village outpost (Wednesday) 

• A fundraiser for La Plaza Cultural, and a new era for Pinc Louds (Thursday) 

• The Whiskey Ward set to close next month on Essex Street (Thursday) 

• The Tompkins Square Library branch now has a late August reopening date (Wednesday) 

• Get a little of the old Essex Card Shop at the new Essex Card Shop (Friday) 

• At the O'Flaherty's Café, come for the art, stay for the chicken fingers (Thursday) ... At the opening night of the O'Flaherty's Café (Saturday) 

• Last week for Huertas (Monday)

• Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe coming to this prime East Village corner space (Monday) 

• Please do not urinate on the former Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• The Wren is temporarily closed for renovations on the Bowery (Tuesday) 

• Cooper Union's Foundation Building (almost) returns to full view (Tuesday)

• Openings: Memphis Seoul on 1st Avenue (Friday) 

• Today in photos of a dead rat, bottle of tequila and pizza box on St. Mark's Place (Saturday)

• First sign of El Primo Red Tacos on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Motel No Tell announces itself on Avenue A (Monday) 

• Raíz Modern Mexican is closed for now on 1st Avenue (Monday)

.... and the 50th-anniversary of hip-hop took place on Friday... this mural by William Power and phetus88 has been up in First Street Green Art Park in recent months...     

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A visit to Ella Funt on 4th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Ella Funt debuted in late May at 78-80 E. Fourth St., just west of Second Avenue.

The stylish restaurant takes its name from drag artist Ella Funt, back when the legendary Club 82 was the place to be seen in the basement of this address. (One of the performers from that era has been involved with planning the new cabaret — more on that in a moment.) 

On a recent evening, I met co-owner Harry Nicolaou, whose family operates the classic Cinema Village on 12th Street between University and Fifth Avenue...

The staff was prepping for this evening's dinner service...

Marcus Jahmal painted the mural along the western wall in the dining room...

The most popular entree has been the whole fish (here was Dorado, but subject to change) with green-curry reduction and greens ...

... another in-demand dish has been the raviolo with spinach and ricotta, garlic scapes and confit egg yolk ...

The well-appointed space filled up quickly with an upbeat crowd...

Management appreciates the space's history and is creating a cabaret-theater in the basement that pays homage to the original Club 82. (We hope to have images of the space and info on the plans later in the summer as it's still under construction downstairs.)

The cabaret will be a nice addition to this Fourth Street corridor, which includes La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, the Duo Multicultural Arts Center, the Kraine Theater and the New York Theatre Workshop. 

And from my personal collection... a postcard from the original Club 82...

Ella Funt is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Find more info here. And if you're on Instagram, you can follow their account here.

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Given that the owners are so keen on the history of the address... here's a little more about it...

In the early 1970s, Club 82 became a rock club featuring the New York Dolls, Teenage Lust, Suicide and Another Pretty Face.

The subsequent iterations of the space included a movie theater and an all-male strip club. Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones tried to make a go of it as a music club again in 1990 with Woody's. The basement space reopened as the Bijou Cinema around 1992, per Cinema Treasures, operating in different capacities until 2018. 

Stillwater Bar & Grill was a ground-floor tenant, shutting down in the spring of 2019 after 15 years in service.

On 7th Street, the Clyde Romero Memorial Garden celebrates a longtime garden activist

Photo by Dave on 7th

The Lower East Side Ecology Center Garden on Seventh Street has been rededicated in honor of its late co-founder.

Moving forward, the green space on Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C will be known as the Clyde Romero Memorial Garden.

Romero, a longtime East Village resident, was co-founder of the LES Ecology Center. He died in January 2022 at age 84. 

During a ceremony this past Thursday, Romero was celebrated "as an artist, community and environmental activist, a dear friend to many." 

On St. Mark's Place, Funzi's Pizzeria is a throwback modeled after grandmother's house

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Funzi's Pizzeria, now in soft-open mode at 36 St. Mark's Place, aspires to be an East Village throwback here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Hospitality vet Kevin Cox is behind the venture, which he calls "a passion project."

You've likely seen him hanging out in a lawn chair on the Funzi's patio in recent months...

Cox refers to this outdoor space as St. Mark's TV, "where you can watch real New Yorkers of all shapes, sizes, ages, fashions, etc. And there are no commercials. All while eating fantastic pizza."

Funzi's is named after Cox's youngest of three sons... seen here during a recent visit...

Cox calls the place "an ode to the East Village in the 1970s and 1980s," the design is inspired by everything he loves, especially a family member. "This is my grandmother's house — I tried to rebuild it," he said.

Other Funzi inspirations include artists, thrifting, weird inside jokes, and fine attention to detail. 

That detail is evidenced in the signage, hand-painted by artist Joe Lotto, the custom woodwork and stucco by Giovanni Martini, and chain-stitched uniforms by Jose Ballena.

Cox boasted that the Funzi's team "has arguably the best culinary prowess of any NYC pizzeria." Head chef James Jaworski previously worked at Nolita hotspot Pasquale Jones, then Brooklyn-based L'Industrie and Baby Luc's. He is joined by Chefs Aminu Tedla and Alberto Estévez — also vets from Pasquale Jones. 

"We are all happy that we were able to get the band back together to launch Funzi's," Cox said.

Cox hired some of his front-of-house after meeting them on the Funzi's patio... a few days after they purportedly crashed the Met Gala...

As for the pizza, the soft opening best-seller has been the burrata tomato/Rosso pie, with a crisp thin crust, herbaceous sauce, and "no slice flop."

Also available is a chicory pie with dandelion greens, cream, housemade pesto, and bacon lardons with a lemon squeeze finish. Cox and Jaworski refer to this as a green pie.

There is a vegan pie available, but no gluten-free options just yet.

For dessert, there's an ice box cake, whose flavors include a housemade lemon curd with coconut whipped cream and crushed wafers and a banana pudding flavor with a crème anglaise. 

During this soft opening, hours are in-flux... usually opening at 5 p.m., earlier on weekends...

If you're on Instagram, you can find Funzi's here.