East Seventh Street, 5:54 p.m., Feb. 18

McSorley's celebrated its 155th (or 147th) anniversary last night. Not the horror show that I expected (police barricades, barfing in the streets, etc). Of course, it was still early. Oh, and for the record: I didn't go in...Just walking by...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

NYU President John Sexton not a supporter of lowering the national drinking age (Washington Square News)

Coping with the collapse (BoingBoing)

Remembering the Hotel Diplomat (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

Karate Boogaloo comes across two car crashes (Stupefaction)

Visiting two NYC classics (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The Mars Bar is the best bar here -- or anywhere...(Slum Goddess)

Sitcom wisdom (BoweryBoogie)

Some love for the St. Mark's Automat (New Yorkier)

King Bloomberg begins his reelection campaign with lots of flash (City Room)

Now and then coffee signs (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

The always compelling shift shots (NYC Taxi Photo)

Happy one-year anniversary to East Village blogger Cat Sitter in the City (Cat Sitter in the City)

The challenges of making the Sex and the City sequel "recession-friendly"

US Weekly has this press release from Access Hollywood:

Sarah Jessica Parker says it's a challenge making the Sex and the City sequel recession-friendly.

"How do we do that well? And how do we do that in a not lazy way? How do we address these economic times in a franchise that has a lot to do with luxury and labels?" Parker tells Billy Bush for Access Hollywood.

"There is a lot that we have to think about because times are very different. So these are nice challenges, these are good challenges," adds Parker -- who once said her character Carrie Bradshaw would end up "in a hospital" if she couldn't afford her trademark $600 Manolo Blahnik shoes.

And what can we expect in the sequel?

"I think we want this one to be a romp," she says. "The last one, we got to tell a really mature sophisticated story that had real heartbreak in it, and this time, I think we want a romp. We want our audience to have a massive romp."

Hmmm....Romp, eh? I think SJP meant to say...."I think we want something like 'Romper Stomper.' We want our audience to have a massive romp."

Yes!



[And I'm late to all this...Esquared had this important SATC news last night -- check out his 40% off photo....Daily Intel also had the goods...)

Whatever happened to the Two Boots Restaurant? Plus: NYCHA puts up two prime storefronts on Avenue A for rent

BoweryBoogie had an update on Two Boots LES (still closed!) yesterday. Meanwhile, I never did get my arms everything that had happened with the former Two Boots Restaurant that became ReBoot at 37 Avenue A near Third Street. It had been open since 1987. There were some family issues, and I had heard that owner Doris Kornish was having problems with the landlord, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). According to the ReBoot Web site:

2008 -- Lease ended in May and was not renewed by NYCHA. No negotiation or explanation was offered by NYCHA. In legal proceedings from May to September, up to four offers were made by ReBoot to renew the lease. NYCHA refused, even after instruction from a New York district judge to move forward with the lease renewal. New York City statutes state that a judge cannot force the renewal, but can strongly advise. Considerable amounts of money and time were squandered by NYCHA, although they constantly complain about being broke. With no willing communication from NYCHA, the restaurant is currently closed with all its equipment inside.

Meanwhile, there are "for rent" signs up...



I'm curious what will happen to the illustrations...I always rather liked them...



Meanwhile, the long-shuttered coffee shop at 41 Avenue A on the corner is also up for grabs. Last summer, Jeremiah reported the good news that the Essex Card Shop would be expanding into that space. Unfortunately, that deal with the NYCHA must have fallen through...there's a "for rent" sign at the old coffee spot now...the Essex Card shop is still in business (thank God).



Thinking about renting the spaces? Here are the details from the NYCHA Web site. Rent at 37 Avenue A is $57.50 per square foot;$86,250 per year -- $7,187.50 per month. And 41 Avenue A: $65.00 per square foot;$101,075 per year -- $8,422.92 per month.

Nino's is back in business; hearts float over the East Village

Nino's on Avenue A and St. Mark's was back open yesterday after a temporary closure by the DOH...(and yes -- the naked Santa is still on the window...)



Meanwhile, a Nino's employee had dozens of heart-shaped helium balloons (Valentine's Day goods gone unused...?). And he simply walked out out Nino's and let them go...



And we watched the balloons go up...



...up...



and up...until we couldn't see them any longer.

However, the impact it could have on the lines for brunch at Prune has yet to be determined

A little something to take your mind off the recession. From the City Room: "A report released on Tuesday concluded that the city’s average annual temperatures could rise by 4 to 7.5 degrees, annual rainfall will increase by 5 to 10 inches and sea rise could rise by 12 to 23 inches, or even 41 to 55 inches if the rate of ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica continues to accelerate."

It's Feb. 18, and we've already exceeded our quota for stories on Subway for 2009

First, sorry! Anyway, we're just admiring the original deals that Blimpie's and Subway have going right now...and, in my estimation, Subway had the deal first.




More important, though. Slum Goddess got a shot of the Subway Sub guy dude handing out fliers on St. Mark's to the new Second Avenue location. (It was part of her "Fancy Embarrassing Brunch" post yesterday.)



As Anonymous said in the comments Monday: "they had a man dressed in a cartoony sub costume handing out flyers. i almost took a pic of him but felt too sorry for the guy."

The last weekly issue of Page Six Magazine: Meet the "Recession Vultures"

The last weekly issue of Page Six Magazine didn't fail to disappoint this week. The winner is the story titled "New York's: Recession Vultures."

Here's the intro:

For the city's movers and shakers, it's suddenly cool to be frugal in the new economy. But for young employed New Yorkers, Manhattan is suddenly a sky's-the-limit playground. Meet the city's recessionistas, who are living large while everyone else is down for the count.

Yes!

"The recession has not affected me at all financially," says Karen Granit, 26, who works as a sales manager for Godiva Chocolates and lives in a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate near Union Square (her roommate, Laura, lost her newspaper editor job last October). "Laura better find a job because she has to pay half the rent," says Karen. "I'm on the lease, so it's my responsibility."

The magazine will now be publishing on a quarterly schedule.

Former Vasmay Lounge space is now the Local 269

So, when did this pop up...? I swear it wasn't here Friday...The Local 269 was open for business last night at Houston and Suffolk on the LES (the bar's address is 269 Houston)...enticing 2-for-1 happy hour sign on the sidewalk...As enticing as this all was, I didn't have time to stop in and check it out...Another day. Or night.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The way we were, Vasmay Lounge edition

The bar at Cedar Tavern is moving to Austin, Texas

Grub Street's Daniel Maurer has the scoop on the fate of the beloved Cedar Tavern on University Place. No surprise. "Longtime owner Mike Diliberto now confirms with us that he won’t be reopening the Cedar. “As much as I know it’s going to be missed,” he says, “I think putting a bar beneath a condominium doesn’t do much for the value.” Oh, and the actual turn-of-the-century bar that we loved to stare at was sold to some nightlife types in Austin, Texas.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

Two Boots LES still closed (BoweryBoogie)

Nino's Pizza on St. Mark's and Avenue A temporarily closed (Slum Goddess)

A visit to the Lexington Candy Shop Luncheonette (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

FIlm Forum unspools Depression-era gems (Esquared)

The rust of Port Morris (Nathan Kensinger Photography)

The deathmobile (Hunter-Gatherer)

Five views of the future. Consensus? Grim and grimmer (The New York Times)

A sociologist’s look at graffiti (City Room)

New data shows that we are still fucked, though not quite as fucked as before (The New York Times)

"The madness of rent stabilization" (New York Post)

ZOMG! Justin Timberlake moving to NYC! (US Weekly) Maybe they'll live in Tribeca?

Digging into the archives

In the last few days, Jill at Blah Blog Blah has posted many photos from her 1980s archives of the East Village/LES, such as the one above of the northwest corner of Second Street and Avenue A. You can find her photos here and here and here. But not here. Meanwhile, Alex has also dug into his thankfully-never-ending archives at Flaming Pablum.

Cindy Adams has the lowdown on the toilets (and other things) at the new Yankee Stadium

It's difficult to say which is more wretchedly excessive...

The column today by Cindy Adams in which she secretly tours the new Yankee Stadium....

Or!

The new stadium's amenities...

It's up to you, brave soul, to decide.

Architectural Digest bedrooms aren't as classy as the players' locker room. Stainless steel rods just to hang their socks. Individual wooden closets. And let it be known my behind sat in Derek Jeter's space even before his.

Their can is blue granite. Four urinals, five commodes, enough shower space for 16 naked Yankees with their bats and balls.

Alongside's a hydrotherapy blue- and white-tiled area with whirlpools and a Swimex thing wherein the current moves but you don't and it's as if you've swum 15 laps. Plus a trainers room for massages, rubdowns, X-rays, specialists, first aid and God knows. Plus a doctor's office. Signs signifying each room are in Yankee pinstripes. Plus, to duck the dreaded press, a hidden super-private dressing room with giant wall mirror and 12 luxury closets. Plus a wall-to-wall mirrored gym (no equipment in it yet) so elegant it looks like a dance studio. Thoughts of Hideki Matsui at a ballet barre ran through my head.

The players' 30,000 square feet just for themselves includes a dining suite. Two rooms. One with the handmade Yankee logo rug has couches for lounging, sipping, noshing and TVing. The other, with chafing dishes plus wherewithal to prep individual menus, is a catering hall. I mean, talk of catering!

And!

Now, for the fans. Honoring The Bronx's Grand Concourse grandeur, a giant, wide, 31,000-square-foot Great Hall. Said Valerie Peltier, managing director of the project and daughter of developer Tishman-Speyer's Jerry Speyer: "It's where you'll meet and greet, buy your programs and peanuts and goodies." Wheelchair accessible, there are 1,300 doors, 10 ticket kiosks, 16 elevators, 30 stairways, escalators, ramps, concession stands, 1,100 flat high-def TVs everywhere, including in the ladies' gorgeous johns. I tell you the truth - it was a real pleasure to go.

By the way, according to Cindy, the dugouts are heated and air conditioned. Not at the same time, though. (Sorry...too much Cindy.)

[Image via NYY Stadium Insider]

Happy 155th birthday, McSorley's (or not)

According to the caption that accompanied the Associated Press archival photo seen below:

Regulars and tourists raise mugs of ale to toast a century of good food and grog and no women at McSorley's Old Ale House, a landmark bar in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan, New York, Feb. 17, 1954. Although the present owner is a woman, she cannot cross the threshold because of the "no women" rule. (AP Photo/John Rooney)

I recently reread parts of Joseph Mitchell's "McSorley's Wonderful Saloon" from 1943. (It appeared in The New Yorker as well as in the 1992 compilation "Up in the Old Hotel" and the 2001 compilation "McSorley's Wonderful Saloon.")

McSorley's was discussed in a obituary for Mitchell in the Times from May 1996:

Mr. Mitchell had discovered McSorley's Old Ale House shortly after he joined The New Yorker. The saloon opened in 1854 and, as the oldest continuously run institution of its kind in New York, immediately endeared itself to Mr. Mitchell. He loathed most forms of progress and technology and so did the succession of people who drank in McSorley's.

"It is equipped with electricity," he wrote of it, "but the bar is stubbornly illuminated with a pair of gas lamps, which flicker fitfully and throw shadows on the low, cobwebby ceiling each time someone opens the street door. There is no cash register. Coins are dropped in soup bowls -- one for nickels, one for dimes, one for quarters, and one for halves -- and bills are kept in a rosewood cashbox."

And what of the service?

"It is a drowsy place; the bartenders never make a needless move, the customers nurse their mugs of ale, and the three clocks on the walls have not been in agreement for many years. "

Who went to such a place?

"The backbone of the clientele is a rapidly thinning group of crusty old men, predominantly Irish, who have been drinking there since they were youths and now have a proprietary feeling about the place. Some of them have tiny pensions, and are alone in the world; they sleep in Bowery hotels and spend practically all their waking hours in McSorley's."

But maybe we're celebrating a birthday without good reason. As New York magazine noted in 2005, NYC historian Richard McDermott used public records to prove McSorley's really opened in 1862. Confused!

P.S.
Oh, didn't realize that King Bloomberg made this proclamation...

Off the wall

I'm always rather surprised to see the side of the building free of ads here along this stretch of Third Avenue near 12th Street...Been empty for at least a week since "The Pink Panther Part Duh" banner came down...




This is always prime ad space too. A short history of the wall from 2008...







Previously on EV Grieve:
Where are all the ads?

The Tompkins Square Park Christmas tree lights come down on President's Day

The Christmas tree in Tompkins Square Park was last illuminated on Friday, Feb. 6. However, the strands of lights remained on the tree...Until yesterday, when a City crew came in and removed them.

Stomp and go

For a moment the other night, I thought perhaps Stomp had ended it's 178-year run at the Orpheum on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Place...



Nope -- just a little work being done on the marquee.

Noted

From the Post:

As season two of Bravo's guilty pleasure launches [tonight], housewife Jill Zarin warns, "You're gonna see some [expensive] toys come out, unfortunately. We filmed the show before the recession happened."

The recession that has put millions of New Yorkers out of work threatens to make New York's real housewives appear even more self-indulgent and childishly pampered than last season. Back then, they were merely cougars of conspicuous consumption, spending perversely amusing bundles on themselves. This season, when housewife Alex McCord and husband (some say honorary housewife) Simon van Kampen drop $8,000 on clothing at a Hamptons boutique, their extravagance will likely strike viewers as prodigal in the extreme.

Van Kampen, manager of Murray Hill's Hotel Chandler, hopes the economy doesn't turn off viewers to the cast's wasteful spending habits. "This is escapist television for a lot of people," he says. "I don't think there'll be much negative reaction. Honestly, I think there is less conspicuous consumption in season two."

"A Personality in the East Village"

I'm interested in seeing Edgar Oliver's one-man show, “East 10th Street: Self Portrait With Empty House.” It's playing at the Axis Theater, 1 Sheridan Square, in the West Village. Here are some passages from Ben Brantley's review in the Times today:

Mr. Oliver is a poet, playwright, performance artist and actor. But above all, he is a Personality, with a capital P, a type celebrated in England as an Eccentric and in middle America as a Character. It’s not easy being a Personality in the East Village, where the willfully weird abound (or did once, anyway) and where Mr. Oliver has lived since the late 1970s. It requires an exaggerated consistency of character and style, which should seep from every pore.

In “East 10th Street,” which runs through Feb. 28 in a judiciously austere production directed by Randy Sharp, Mr. Oliver uses this sensibility to evoke his years as a tenant in an S.R.O. boarding house on Tompkins Square Park, into which he moved, fresh from Paris, in 1977, when he was 21, paying $16 a week for rent.

“East 10th Street,” which was staged in November, has developed a cult following. It’s easy to see why. Mr. Oliver depicts and embodies a bohemian, low-rent New York that scarcely exists anymore. It’s hard to imagine anyone like him, with a similar set of stories, coming out of the gentrified East Village of the early 21st century.

Let mw know if you've seen it...

Ryan's Irish Pub (temporarily) closed

Was surprised to find the always reliable Ryan's Irish Pub on Second Avenue near Ninth Street closed the other day...




However, a source told me this is just temporary, and that they're doing a little "remodeling." Still, you'd think the Ryan's folks, who also own Bull McCabe's and the Thirsty Scholar, would put a sign on the door telling what's going on now...