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.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from 3rd and B by Stacie Joy) 

• First look at the all-new Superiority Burger, now open on Avenue A (Sunday) 

• RIP Joseph Bellaflores (Wednesday) 

• The 2nd Avenue gas explosion — 8 years later (Monday) 

• More about the return of Bereket to the Lower East Side (Tuesday)

• At the rally to save Theatre 80 (Saturday) 

• You can vote on what neighborhood projects receive capital funding from City Council (Monday) 

• The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black headlines celebration for the East Village Eye (Monday) 

• There she goes again: Tammy Faye Starlite returns as Nico at Joe's Pub (Thursday)

• Thanks to Rihanna, this East Village deli has become a go-to spot for streetwear events (Thursday) 

• Village Works is moving to St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• Tompkins Square Bagels debuts on Union Square (Thursday) 

• Kinka bringing art, food and plants to 7th Street (Wednesday)

• Green days: About the GetLocalEV small business sustainability campaign this April (Friday) 

• Board report: Former Dallas BBQ prepped for renovations (Wednesday) 

• Thursday's parting movie recommendation (Thursday) 

• What's up with Two Hands? (Tuesday) 

• The cheese slice is $1 at the just-opened 99¢ Pizza (Monday)

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Green days: About the GetLocalEV small business sustainability campaign this April

Via the EVG inbox... 

Want to shop sustainably but don't know where to look? Check out the East Village Small Business Sustainability campaign starting April 1! The campaign will feature content on small businesses that are creating positive environmental impacts in our local community. 

Follow the @getlocalev Instagram account to stay up-to-date on information about green markets, upcycled fashion stores, zero waste shops, and more! 

You can check out the Get Local website here... Get Local East Village is an initiative of the East Village Community Coalition.

You can vote on what neighborhood projects receive capital funding from City Council

Participatory Budgeting Vote Week is underway in NYC.

Per the city:

New Yorkers can vote online or in person all week to decide how nearly $30 million in capital funding will be spent in the Fiscal Year 2024 city budget to improve neighborhood schools, parks, libraries, and local infrastructure. 

City Councilmember Carlina Rivera's District 2, which includes the East Village, Gramercy Park, Kips Bay, the Lower East Side and Murray Hill, has $1 million in funds available ... and 11 projects up for a vote.

Per Rivera in a statement:

"The projects on our ballots range from improving safety in public housing, enhancing public parks and green infrastructure, adding new recreation spaces, and upgrading technology in our educational and cultural institutions. Our neighbors as young as 11 years old and older can vote, regardless of citizenship status, which makes PB one of the most inclusive ways to participate in local government. I encourage everyone to vote for their favorite projects."

And the 11 items open for a vote (residents may choose up to five):

• Community Garden Resiliency 

Gardens between Avenue A and Avenue D 

Permeable pavers and water access in community gardens 

• Library Technology Upgrades 

Computers and Laptops for Kips Bay, Epiphany, Ottendorfer and Tompkins Square Public Libraries

• Improvements at Merchant's House Museum 

29 E. Fourth St.

• Girls Locker Room Upgrade — School of the Future 

127 E. 22nd St. 

• Upgrade for the shared library for PS 64, Tompkins Square Middle School and the Earth School  

600 E. Sixth St. 

• Bathroom Renovations — East Side Community School, P.S. 15, P.S. 63  

• Riis Houses Pathway Lighting 

Avenue D and 10th Street 

• LES II Basketball Court Upgrades (photo above via a reader)

750 E. Sixth St. 

• Meltzer Towers Safety Improvements 

94 E. First St. 

• Peter's Field Basketball Courts Reconstruction 

2nd Avenue and 20th Street

• Union Square Park Fences and Landscape Initial Funding

Residents age 11 and older may vote (once!) online here until Sunday, April 2. Or! You can vote in person (once!) at the following locations...

Fire, jump with me

Photos by Stacie Joy

Thursday evening saw the return of a fire-jumping event in an East Village community garden, the first since 2019. 

This year's edition, produced by More Gardens, took place at El Jardin del Paraiso on Fifth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Here's some background:

More Gardens' Chaharshanbeh Suri NYC is a festival rooted in community, sharing, equity, and reverence for the earth through ritual fire jumping, art, music, food, and culture that began in the lands of West and Central Asia.

This fire celebration nourishes our spirits, strengthens our connection to each other, and affirms our belonging by embracing our diverse nationalities, languages, faiths, class, genders, races, and sexual identities. We make gathering joyful through art, music, food, culture, and intergenerational sharing. We hold each other to tend the flames of love, justice, solidarity, and goodness across the planet and right here in the community green spaces of NYC.

The fire team included Joules Magus ... with representatives from the FDNY present for safety. 

An estimated 200 people took part in the jumping ceremony. EVG contributor Stacie Joy was on hand for part of the festivities ...

Jorit Agoch brings photorealistic murals of Malcolm X and KRS-One to the East Village

Jorit Agoch, the Italian street artist, has created two of his hyper-realistic murals in the neighborhood. 

Above, Malcolm X in First Street Green Art Park. 

And below, a work in progress of KRS-One on Second Street at First Avenue (via East Village Walls) ...

And a photo of the artist by Stacie Joy...

Per Wide Open Walls: 

Jorit has started to mark his portraits with two red lines or scars on the cheek that refer to ancient African rituals, like scarification. This ritual indicates the passing from childhood to adult age. Jorit is firmly convinced that the differences of race, gender, religion and social class do not mean anything with respect to the characteristics that are similar in all human beings, and give us our shared humanity. 

H/T Steven for the initial KRS-One mural pic

[Updated] Employee from Ray's Pizza in critical condition after an early morning hit and run

A 53 y/o employee from Ray’s Pizza in the East Village is in critical condition after being struck by a vehicle at the corner of Third and St Marks Place. His coworkers say he went outside after his shift and was hit. Police are now investigating this as a hit and run @PIX11News

— Kiran Dhillon (@KiranDhillonTV) November 27, 2022

Updated 11/29

The employee, Lucas Jimenez-Aburto, has died from his injuries sustained in the hit and run, amNY reported.

Cops say Jimenez-Aburto was crossing 3rd Avenue against the signal when he was struck by a motorist traveling northbound with a green light, but well above the speed limit. The driver fled the scene, and police have not positively identified the perpetrator or their vehicle.

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We don't know anything more than what was already been reported.

According to the Daily News: 

A hit-and-run driver struck and critically injured a man leaving work in the East Village early Sunday. Police found the 53-year-old victim unconscious about 5:45 a.m. on St. Mark's Place near Third Ave. with head injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle, police said.

PIX 11 reported the man worked at Ray's Pizza & Bagel Cafe on the SE corner of the block. Police do not yet have a description of the vehicle involved, per ABC 7.

The entry onto St. Mark's Place has been compressed with the new building construction on the NE corner.

ICYMI: The new athletic fields at Pier 42

On Oct. 8, the city quietly debuted the new sports area at Pier 42 — aka Pier 42 Upland Park and Pier — along the East River. 

Construction on the much-discussed $46-million project started in March 2021. Per the East River Alliance: "It’s the first step in the long-awaited transformation of a former banana warehouse/parking lot into waterfront recreation and green space for the LES community." 

As The Lo-Down previously reported, the local planning process began in 2012 after funding was allocated from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. 

Delays were reportedly due in part to the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, which has currently seen the closure and demolition of all East River Park amenities below Houston Street. 

Part two of the Pier 42 project, which will include a playground and comfort station, is expected next summer. (You can find more city background here.) 

The new space includes soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball courts and picnic tables... here's a look...

While the area was pleasant enough on a crisp fall afternoon with Bridges and Brooklyn views, some residents may wonder what the tree-less, shade-less area will be like on a hot summer day (no sign of drink fountains yet either — BYOW). Some comments on an East River Park Action Instagram post compared the space to a prison yard.

For now, the new complex is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can access the amenities at Montgomery Street/South Street at the entrance to Pier 36 (former home of the Immersive Van Gogh!) ... and follow the walkway toward the north, which doesn't seem promising at first...

... and where it is from the East Village (via Google!)...