Crazy like a landlord

That storefront that has been vacant for what seems like years on Second Avenue at East Third Street (northeast corner) has a new "for rent" sign...



...the likes of which we can't recall having ever seen... is this creative real-estate marketing or the work of a prankster? Or both!

Important notice about "partying" in Shaoul buildings on East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street

Spotted on 514-516 E. Sixth St. ... and the building behind on 515 E. Fifth St.






Click to enlarge, of course.

Update: And thanks to Jeremiah for pointing out these are the controversial Shaoul buildings. As The Villager reported in December:

The Board of Standards and Appeals ruled at the end of last month that the Department of Buildings was wrong to issue permits to add two extra floors to two East Village tenements.
The B.S.A. ruled that the additions to the five-story buildings at 515 E. Fifth St. and 514-516 E. Sixth St. violated the state’s 1929 Multiple Dwelling Law in regard to fire safety and elevator requirements.

Timber

The transformation of the former Mo Pitkin's space at 34 Avenue A continues....seems as if the folks behind the new bar, Aces & Eights, are giving it a ....



rustic log cabin/lodge kinda look...



It has come a long way from the vintage feel of Mo's...

Ayyy: It's Mr. C's on Avenue C

In which I date myself by making a "Happy Days" reference. As I mentioned a few weeks back, a brick-oven pizza place is opening soon at 102 Avenue C between Seventh Street and Sixth Street...The sign is up now...Say hello to Mr. C's:




Will Arthur "the Fonz" Fonzarelli approve? And didn't Mr. C run a hardware store?

Automat to Baoguette

As it has been reported, the former BAMN! automat on St. Mark's Place near Second Avenue is becoming the second Vietnamese sandwich shop for Baoguette. Anyway. The signs for the new place are now live.




For further reading:
The Shutter: Felled Bamn! to Become Baoguette? (Eater)
Bánh Mì Boom: The Vietnamese Street Eats Just Keep Coming (Grub Street)

Cafe de Nova space for rent; Avenue B back up to 22 vacant storefronts

Last Thursday I mentioned that La Bonne Bouffe was the third new cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place to open on the south end of Avenue B since January... I failed to mention in that discussion that Cafe de Nova on Avenue B near 11th Street closed up earlier this month... This cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place opened late last spring...



How long will the bagels remain in the window?



So, with this, we're back up to 22 empty storefronts on Avenue B.

I sense that Robin Raj gets a new upstairs tenant

A clairvoyant! Chakra balancing! At 114 Third Ave.

For the complete EV Grieve mini-series on Robin Raj, please click this.

Dollar days on St. Mark's

New York City Daily Photo has the above shot of the various $1 deals on St. Mark's Place. I, too, will pass on the $1 sushi.

Noted

"It has been a rough month for New York City archery, one of the more obscure sports in this sports-obsessed city."

Tales from the rent-is-falling front

“Probably somebody who’s relocating would still be surprised today: ‘This is the size of apartment I get for this price?’ ” said Caroline Bass, an associate broker with Citi Habitats. “But New Yorkers think this is great right now. Maybe you appreciate it more if you spend more time here.” (The New York Times)

Fair warning: Where the pub crawlers will be today

Here's the information on today's rugby pub crawl through the neighborhood:

In conjunction with the Four Leaf Fifteens Rugby Tournament in New York City, the typical after-tournament social has been replaced with a 1000+ participant rugby pub crawl around Lower Manhattan.

The pub crawl begins at 2:30pm after the first teams are knocked out of the tournament at Randall's Island, with over a half dozen bars and restaurants participating. You won’t want to miss the free mechanical bull riding competition around 4:00pm.

The second stop will begin around 6pm and include five new bars with different drink specials, all located a few blocks north on Avenue A. As teams are eliminated from the tournament or their final ends, they will want to hurry down to lower Manhattan to join the other players, ensuring this will make history as the largest rugby pub crawl in US history.

The final stop of the pub crawl, starting around 8:30pm, will include around a dozen more bars and restaurants, all with new drink and food specials, on Avenue’s B and C. All three stops will be within walking distance of each other so there’s no need for cars or taxis.

Pub Crawl details (more to be added)

First Stop: 2:30pm-6:30pm

Location: New York’s Lower East Side

Participating Bars: Mason Dixon, Fat Baby, Bondi Road, Donnybrook’s, Lucky Jack’s

Participating Restaurants: Tuck Shop Aussie Meat Pies, Mason Dixon, Ray’s Pizza

Sample specials: $20 all you can drink for 2 hours; $3 beers, $3 well drinks; 10-20% off food



Second Stop: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Location: Avenue A between Houston and 2nd Street

Participating Bars: Nice Guy Eddie’s, Library Bar, 2A, Double Down Saloon, Kelly’s

Participating Restaurants: Tuck Shop Aussie Meat Pies, Ray’s Pizza

Sample Specials: $2 PBRs, $2 beers; $3 beer and a shot; 2 for 1’s; 10-20% off food



Third Stop: 8:30pm – Midnight

Location: Avenue’s B and C between 2nd Street and 10th Street

Participating Bars: Croxley’s Ales, Mama’s Bar, Rehab, Poco (SB3), 7B, Duke’s, the Porch, Ten Eleven, East Village Tavern, the Royale

Participating Restaurants: Tuck Shop Aussie Meat Pies, Café Rakka, Zaitzeff Kobe Burgers, Bite Me Best

Sample Specials: $3 beers; $4 Jacks; $5 martinis and margaritas; 10-20% off food

Activities planned:

Bull Riding Competition

Tournament trophy presentations

Shoot the Boot bar

St. Baldrick’s head shaving

50/50 Raffle

We’ll have plenty of bracelets to hand out as well – you’ll need to make sure to wear them in order to get these amazing discounts. You'll need to be attending the Four Leaf 15s Rugby Tournament (free for spectators) to get a wrist band.

Uh-oh: PUB CRAWL ALERT: THREAT LEVEL REALLY RED

Lock your doors.

A thousand rugby players invade New York for the Four Leaf Rugby Tournament on Saturday on Randall's Island. Fifty rugby teams from around the country will compete from 8AM to 7PM while spectators eat free food and drink free beer. A free "Try Rugby" clinic will be offered for kids under 14. After the last game, you can join the 1,000+-participant rugby pub crawl through the East Village and Lower East Side.

Details here.

Stay tuned.

Unemployment Olympics coming to Tompkins Square Park

From the Daily News:

A laid-off computer programmer is putting on the Unemployment Olympics next week at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village.

The jobless can take a break from scanning the classifieds and updating their résumés to compete in events like the Fax Machine Toss and the You're Fired Race.

Nick Goddard, 26, came up with the idea when he lost his position last month, and he got a permit to stage the Olympiad at the ballfields at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. "Maybe it will lift everyone's spirits a little," Goddard said yesterday. "Originally, my thought was just to make people laugh."

There will be four events, including Pin the Blame on the Bosses featuring blindfolded competitors - and a stress-relieving piñata.

And there's a Web site.

Looking back (at our future?)

Nice collection of Allan Tannenbaum's photos from 1970s NYC yesterday afternoon over at Gothamist...such as this one of a young woman working on Times Square....