Backseat drivers will now be forced to sit outside Rhong Tiam/Kurve

On Fifth Street and Second Avenue.

Life Cafe closed, though just for one night

A little earlier this evening, we walked by Life Cafe on 10th Street and Avenue B... and were surprised to find it closed... we always get a little nervous when we see the gates down and spot a note on places such as this... to be honest, we expect the worst...



However, according to the note, the closure is just for maintainance... and Life will be back tomorrow night...

More on that coal mountain mud pile at Chase

More details are coming in regarding that pile that WAS NOT manure (as some folks had been reporting) at the Chase branch on Second Avenue and 10th Street. We're embarrassed that we didn't realize this was the work of Rev. Billy & the Church of Life After Shopping... Per Rev. Billy's site:

On March 21st we built a mountain in the lobby of a Chase branch on 2nd Avenue & 10th Street in Manhattan made from the murdered mud of Coal Mountain in West Virginia. Perched on top we left a letter for the CEO of Chase Jamie Dimon. His bank currently finances 80% of the Mountain-top Removal mining that is killing Appalachia.

Why yes, that is a pile of manure in the Chase branch lobby

[UPDATE: This was the work of Rev. Billy.]

This instant-classic photo has been making the rounds on the blog-and-tumblrsphere... Yesterday, protestors placed a pile of manure dirt in the entrance of the Chase branch on Second Avenue at 10th Street (home of the former Second Avenue Deli...) (Via Marklow)

Per I ought to be Working...

This happened across the street from my apartment. The protest happened yesterday. Chase is one of the biggest investors in mountain top removal mining. The protesters said they would leave a mountaintop in every Chase. They did.

I think it was pretty baller. Also didn’t hurt that the bulk of the protesters were part of a church choir that was singing lovely inspiration tunes.

A violent clash on Seventh Street early Sunday morning

Be sure to read Bob Arihood's account of a brutal brawl that broke out early Sunday morning on Seventh Street and Avenue A that involved nearly 50 people. "This event that we witnessed was violent . People were not just beaten , some were stomped and kicked too," Bob reported. And one police car with two officers was available to respond to all this. (Neither More Nor Less)

Le Souk now a supply closet

Given the long, tumultuous history surrounding Le Souk, it's understandable that some Avenue B residents remain uneasy about the now-shuttered hotspot... it doesn't help that Le Souk still looks like a functioning restaurant at a quick glance.



Though the menu is from the summer 2008... Still, there was that private party on New Year's Eve.



However, take a look inside...




Or maybe this is the latest in nightlife trends: Party as if you're in a supply closet!

Disarmed and dangerous on Avenue B: Pizza statue maimed

Meanwhile, across Avenue B, we recently noticed that the Finest Pizza and Deli guy at the corner of Fourth Street was missing a few things, such as his sign and right thumb...



And Saturday night, an EV Grieve reader passed by only to discover that his right arm was torn off by some vandals...



...and discarded a short distance away...

Cafe Brama becoming pizzeria

On Saturday, workers were inside the former Cafe Brama on Second Avenue near 10th Street. A source there said new owners were opening a pizzeria ... with an anticipted late-May opening.

On Sunday, the clean out continued. And the new owners were selling a few old Cafe Brama items to interested passersby...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Cafe Brama closes

Gemma still tempting us to take all their table settings and run as if we just didn't steal something

Back on Friday, we dedicated a post to how easy it would be to borrow place settings and what not from Gemma at the Bowery Hotel ... only, of course, if we were the type of people to borrow table settings from hotel eateries...

Anyway! We walked by Sunday morning, and found the tables and set up with zero adult supervision...



Also, thanks to our friend Esquared for passing along a City Room link at the Times... J. David Goodman used our post as a jumping off point for a piece on the great responsibility that comes with great weather. As he writes:

While there’s no data in the post to show that cutlery et al. are not routinely pilfered from these tables, the very fact that it’s all laid out there nonchalantly seems to prove, not that New York restaurateurs are reckless, but rather that we pedestrians are just not that larcenous as a group.

You can read the whole piece here.

Noted (Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria edition)

While walking on the Bowery last night at Houston during prime dinner hours, I came across Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria ... and it was (!!!) empty...



Has the magic faded after just one week?

Oh. They're not open for dinner...yet! Until Friday, anyway...



And, according to Foursquare, who's the mayor...?

Another interior shot of the former Telephone Bar

Last Monday we posted a photo that we quickly took of the former Telephone Bar's gut renovation on Second Avenue... Since then, an EV Grieve reader got inside for a much better photo of the work being done...



Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village to somehow get frattier: What's coming to the former Telephone Bar

Ringing in the 13th Step: Old Telephone Bar will lose its Telephones

From yarn to meat on 14th Street

The Knit New York shop on 14th Street near Second Avenue closed last April...



...and the space finally has a new tenant...

Batman and other things about superheroes

Sadly, Batman the cat is missing around Avenue B...



Speaking of superheroes...on Saturday afternoon, we had the first-ever Superhero Olympics in the neighborhood... we regret not taking any photos... we saw at least one woman in a Super(wo)man costume... and a few other caped crusaders... yet another group of people who think it's perfectly cool and fun to run through the neighborhood, forcing everyone to be part of their fratty tomfoolery...





You can read more about it here.

Third Avenue, 10:13 a.m., March 21

A spring solstice celebration today at La Plaza Cultural

Today -- all day -- at La Plaza Cultural on Ninth Street and Avenue C...in honor of the spring solstice. Read more about what's happening here.

26 years later, it's apparently cool to like Huey Lewis and the News

Trends piece in the Post!

On a night in the East Village last month, the near-empty burger joint Black Iron was gearing up for the dinner rush. “You know,” a bearded bartender remarked to his fellow servers, “I need to start the night properly.”

He cut the music and cued up a new album: “Huey Lewis & The News: Greatest Hits.” Excitement rippled through the room. There was even some whooping. For the next half hour, all conversation revolved around Huey’s guitar prowess. Apparently, it’s very hip to be square right now.

In fact, this spring, the cheesy ’80s are back in full force, with power ballads, film remakes and pink lipstick leading the way.

[Rolling Stone cover via Rolling Stone]

StuyTown Blockbuster is closing

Thanks to the tipster for pointing out that the Blockbuster on First Avenue at 19th Street is closing...




Which leaves the Houston (also rumored to be closing) and Eighth Avenue locations to do you Blockbustering... (and the one on Broadway and 10th Street closed then?)



Or maybe you can just you the Blockbuster machine at Duane Reade on 14th Street near First Avenue...

Things to do on a nice spring day: Buy something from an independent bookstore

An EV Grieve reader sends along the following e-mail...

St Mark's Bookshop is my favorite bookstore. They've been a gathering place for authors and readers on the cutting edge of literature, politics, art, and cultural theory for over 32 years now. And they're facing a daunting retail economy at the moment. I'm challenging my friends to SUPPORT ST MARK'S BOOKSHOP *TODAY* by buying a book (or 2, or 5) Today, if you are so moved.

Stop by the store on 3rd Avenue, call them up at 212-260-7853, or check out St Mark's Web site:

A FEW BOOK SUGGESTIONS:

JUST KIDS, by Patti Smith, a memoir about her young days with Robert Mapplethorpe, *SIGNED*, $27 (they're actually now out of signed copies...)

LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, a novel of New York in the 1970s by Colum McCann, $15

"STORE FRONT: The Disappearing Face of New York" A beautiful and heartbreaking book of photography by James T. Murray, Karla L. Murray, $65

A new book of poetry, BORIS BY THE SEA, by Ugly Duckling Presse editor, Matvei Yankelevich, SIGNED, $14

THE OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE, a memoir of a journey from surviving a heartbreaking Jamaican childhood to discovering her voice, by Brooklyn performance artist and Def Jam poet, Staceyann Chin.

THIS IS BERLIN NOT NEW YORK, a DVD about 10 underground New York artists traveling to Berlin to make art and friends. $16

Thank you for that e-mail... of course, there are many fine independent book shops around...such as East Village books...



And Bluestockings on Allen Street...Here's a list of independent book sellers in NYC. And this is a favorite topic of Jeremiah's Vanishing New York. He has written extensively about the loss of stores, particularly in the West Village. Here's a post on the new location of Left Bank Books.

Seizure be damned! Mary Ann's back open

Yesterday morning, we snapped some photos of the fresh "seized" stickers on Mary Ann's at Second Avenue and Fifth Street... EV Grieve reader Peter e-mailed to say the Mexican eatery was still closed as of the afternoon...but returning to the corner last night after 9...



"They were open and completely full up. I guess they paid
their bills!"

Sniff and the tears