Saturday, November 7, 2009

Posts that I never got around to posting: The latest (when I took the photo) art on the "crazy landlord" building




Third Street and Second Avenue. Future home of the Belgian Ale House?

Posts that I never got around to posting: Somewhere in Brighton Beach




You know, just something about an ad for hemorrhoids next to a "Deli & Appetizing" sign.

Posts that I never got around to posting: Bicycles vs. fences







Took these in September on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. Am curious what came first, the bicycles or the signs...

Posts that I never got around to posting: Pizza or pasta for dinner?


Videos that I never got around to posting: Things that I find oddly comforting

That hummmmmmm at the ConEd substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

Friday, November 6, 2009

With many apologies



I missed this gem by Alex over at the New York Nobody Sings.

There are plenty of music videos that seem to go out of their way to feature Manhattan. For example, Motley Crue's largely lamentable "Girl Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" finds preternaturally annoying vocalist Vince Neil living in a spacious loft in the meatpacking district (while his band mates are still walking around Hollywood). Sixteen years after said video was filmed, the building that Vince supposedly lived in -- then the headquarters of legitimate meatpacking firm, Western Beef -- was turned into a tony Belgian restaurant called Markt. That restaurant lost its lease in 2007, and the space is now the home of the meatpacking district's own needless branch of The Apple Store.

Fence going up around the old Cooper Union Engineering Building: Demoliton to follow?



Haven't addressed the Cooper Union Engineering Building demo rumor since at least May.

Previously.

Homer getting whitewashed at the Cooper Square Hotel?



Previously.

Outside the Mars Bar: The quick and the dead



Was poking around Flickr for some Mars Bar photos the other day...and came across this classic uploaded Nov. 1. (Reprinted with permission from the photographer.)

Feed me with your dis

Anyway, the East Village is Dead mural continues to attract attention... there seems to be a new addition every time I walk by...and the mural probably already looks different since I took these shots...





Previously.

Le Gamin is now the Village Bistro East

Just yesterday, an EV Grieve reader asked:

I happened to walk by there [Wednesday] and it appears that the renovations are indeed continuing. The Le Gamin sign however, has mysteriously disappeared...

New name? New restaurant? New owners?


Here's what Eater had to report back on Sept. 28:

Just a quick note to assuage the East Villagers in the crowd. A number of readers have written in both here and on EV Grieve to report that Le Gamin on East 5th St. between Aves A and B—the last Le Gamin in Manhattan—has closed. A worker at Black Iron Burger Shop next door reports that no, they are just renovating, extensively. They will reopen with the same name but a different "theme" and a more "modern" look on October 10. Funnily enough, the restaurant closed for renos just one year ago when the original owner...


As the chalkboard sign shows, Le Gamin is now the Village Bistro East. It opened last night.




So... new name. New theme. Same owners.

Previously.

Avenue B's pretzel logic



Always Hungry reports that the long-dormant space at 29 Avenue B near Third Street is now home to the Sigmund Pretzel Shop, owned by two former Bouley staffers. Per Sigmund:

The Salted and Seeded Pretzels (three kinds: Caraway, Sesame and Poppy Pretzels) cost $2.50 each. Flavored pretzels (Jalapeño-Cheddar and Cinnamon Raisin) cost $3.00 each. There will also be pretzel dips: whipped butter, whole-grain mustard, cream cheese, warm three-cheese sauce, horseradish-mayo and Nutella. Pretzels come with one dip; additional dips cost 75¢ each. A half-dozen pretzels of any variety with three dips costs $16.00. A dozen pretzels with six dips costs $30.00.


(via Eater)

P.S.
The Steely Dan reference is to drive Slum Goddess batty. (Battier?)

"Fat Cats" in the neighborhood

Ha. Not what you think...



Along Avenue A at 11th Street. Details about the short film here.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Emergency renovations shutter Paradis To-Go


EV Grieve reader Eric notes that the Paradis To-Go cafe on Fourth Avenue near 12th Street is currently closed for emergency renovations. He also wonders if they're losing business to the new Think Coffee up the Avenue.

[Image via]

Books Through Bars is out of money, so....


From the good people at ABC No Rio:

Books Through Bars Bingo

Books Through Bars is out of money, so we're playing cheap/fun/awesome Bingo to pay for postage and keep sending packages full of books to folks incarcerated in America's broken prison system.

It's free to get in, cheap ($1!) to play, and we'll have beer from the Brooklyn Brewery for sale. Plus you'll be playing for totally rad prizes from places like:

NY Adorned Tattoo Shop, Bluestockings Bookstore, Le Poisson Rouge, St. Marks Bookshop, NYC Hall of Science, the Angelika, IFC Film Center, the Beehive Collective and much more.

Dope beats from DJ No Flag, color commentary from the loudest nun you know — basically, you should be there:

Books Through Bars Bingo
ABC No Rio (156 Rivington St), Friday Nov. 6th at 8pm
.


Read more about the program here.

Construction starts on new Ninth Street senior facility

Work has started on the Dona Petra Santiago Apartments on East Ninth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D. Plans call for an eight-story, 57-unit facility for seniors.



While this is a good thing for the community, a few neighbors weren't pleased to discover that construction starts at 7 a.m.




The residents of one building were told by management that construction wouldn't start until 8 and never on weekends. Work is expected to be done during the winter of 2011.

Mystery camper on Ninth Street has moved

For the longest time I wanted to do a post on that mystery camper that was parked for the last, oh, year or so on Ninth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D. The Biggest Pants posted these photos last May.




I don't spend much time on this block, so I only saw the owner(s) a few times. Two guys hanging out, acting as if they were in a state park.

Here's a Google maps shot of it...



According to an EV Grieve reader: "The guy who owns it takes stuff out of the garbage and inexplicably chains it up to the motorhome and the fence next to it (he has a bathtub, a few shopping carts, chairs, a grill, etc). He never moves the trailer when the street is cleaned, yet he has no tickets."



And the camper was parked across the street from the Police Service Area #4...




I struck up a conversation with who I believe owned the camper late in the summer. I hoped to swing by another day for an interview. When I did return, the camper was gone...



However, many items that look as if they belonged to the camper man are still chained up nearby... The EV Grieve reader believes camper man had to move when the senior facility construction began...

Living in The Penthouse, The Duplex or the Townhome on Irving Place

Haven't been on Irving Place in some time...I had read about the new luxury homes coming to 57 Irving between 17th and 18th...Jeremiah noted the start of the construction on this historic block back in March 2008.

Anyway, here's how 57I is looking now...



... featuring homes named The Penthouse, The Duplex and the Townhome.



Some of the homes are still available (two at the $18 million level). Here's a rundown...

The Townhome
The Townhome at 57 Irving Place is the quintessential urban home. With three full floors, this unique residence features four bedrooms, five full bathrooms, and two powder rooms as well as private street and lobby entrances. Superb conveniences include a private garden, single-car garage, and a full floor of amenities complete with its own thirty-foot saltwater swimming pool, media/entertainment room and fitness spa.

And it looks as if 57I is keeping in line with the bathing-in-front-of-an-open-window trend...

Stromboli Pizza getting an enclosed sidewalk cafe



At St. Mark's and First Avenue....an upgrade over this, I suppose...



Now, perhaps, they'll also renovate the exterior to make it look like the old storefront again...



[Bottom photo via]

The Blarney Stone is still closed



Perhaps they'll reopen in time to capitalize on the Yankees World Series victory parade Friday morning.

Previously.