Plans for a fishmonger and seafood restaurant in the works for Avenue A

In recent years, 171 Avenue A near 11th Street has been home to a series of restaurants, none of which seemed all that remarkable... the space has been dormant the last few years...



However, 171 Avenue A appears on the April 19 CB3/SLA docket. A Keith Masco is listed on the docket for 171 Avenue A. I contacted the only Keith Masco who I could think of -- the one who is president of Radical Records. Same person, it turns out. So I asked him what his plans are.

"I am planning on opening a seafood market/restaurant/high-end cocktail bar in that space... We certainly need a place to buy fish around here."

Seafood market? As in a fishmonger?

"Yeah, yeah -- fishmonger. There will be a display case when you first walk in about 6 feet by 3 feet with approximately 20-25 different types of fresh seafood. Most of it will be kept in the basement and brought up as we run out of things in the case. This way we can do the volume of a bigger store with a fraction of dedicated space."

Meanwhile, Jill recently posted a comprehensive history of 171 Avenue A...

Baoguette continues to keep the Bamn! memories alive

Wow, it has been a little more than one year since Bamn!, the garish automat on St. Mark's Place closed... The location is now a Baoguette ... and we just want to salute Michael Hunynh's gang for keeping the Bamn! spirit alive by never covering up its old sign...




And quickly, yet another salute to the EV eateries who continue to honor those restaurants that came before them...

Such as Hea to Friend House on Third Avenue...



... and Wally's Pacific Catch to Marfa on East Second Street...

East Villagers form non-Yelp-like community on Facebook

There's a newish Facebook group called "I know a great little place in the East Village NYC."

Here's the description:

A group for all things great in the East Village, if you know of a great place to shop, eat or do anything in your spare time, share it with people from your neighborhood. The East Village was formerly known for its sense of community, so share what you love whether popular or obscure.

This is not a forum to slag off places though, only places you enjoy.

This is an attempt at a community that isn't Yelp. A community that is actually driven by sharing and experiencing the hidden gems in the East Village. This is for people to discuss all things East Village for each other.

There are a ton of awesome people running small businesses trying to survive in this expensive NYC environment. Through people exposing these great little gems, we're helping to keep cool places in and awful chains/franchises out.

Dinosaur Jr.? When a studio apartment is considered "gigantosaurus"

The following studio has been on Craigslist the past week...

Just look at this beautiful studio apartment! It has great sunlight, lots of space, and AMAZING Hardwood Floors and Walls. This place will make a great showcase for your art and style. In addition to that, the alcove kitchen contains a dishwasher, and there is a full-sized bathroom.

This very safe low-rise elevator building contains a video intercom system and there are laundry facilities internal to the building. Pets are acceptable in this building as well. Call me right away to see this apartment and others like it!

Which means this one isn't actually available! So, all we know is it's on East Fourth Street and costs $2,100 a month, a gigantosaurus rate if you ask us.

A model day on Avenue A

Following up on that previous post about models invading Key Food on Avenue A... apparently the model crew has been camped out here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street....



...Atlas Productions was working on a photo shoot for Sisley, a clothing line for skinny people and people who want to think they're skinny...



Anyway, quite an itinerary! Aside from posing on the street (where are the photos?!), the models took to Key Food, Odessa and 7B for the shoots...




...and, for some reason, catering was on hand. Probably for the crew.

Breaking: Models invade Key Food, hold melons

From an EV Grieve reader:

major fashion photo shoot right now in the produce aisle at key food on ave. a.
i counted 25 models, photographers, make-up artists, security, etc.
they just walked in and started shooting. looks like key food management had no idea.
saw model holding up 2 melons- is this for american apparel? sheesh!

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

When Sonny and Cher played the Waldorf-Astoria (The Bowery Boys)

Spiked egg creams at Julius' (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Television loft rehearsals circa 1974 (Stupefaction)

Nissan's publicity stunt outside Whole Foods (BoweryBoogie)

Fraunces Tavern will open in June (NewYorkology)

The "kissing post" of Ellis Island (Ephemeral New York)

13th Street condo battles (Curbed)

Le Da Nang not so good so far (Fork in the Road)

Recaptioning New Yorker cartoons with "Christ, what an asshole!" (BoingBoing)

And an EV Grieve reader sent along a sign of spring the other day from Fourth Street near the Bowery...




...looks like the work of De La Vega...

Trouble on the F stop on Houston/First Avenue this morning?

From a reader:

What was going on this am at 1st ave and Houston subway station? Tons of cops, ambulances etc. Cop cars were almost blocking Houston, and some people looked pretty shook up.

We haven't heard anything. Anyone?

Update:
Saw this on Twitter: Expected 20min delay to to work extends to 40min. Brought to you buy the IDIOTS fighting on the F train. Happy Hump Day

Where else?

Not sure if "Where else?" is even the Sears slogan anymore.... Anyway, saw several of these Sears price tags attached to various buildings around the neighborhood this morning... Who's responsible? Jokesters/artists/Sears employees. Dunno!

If anyone sees a good placement, like, on, say, the Christodora or an NYU dorm, please let me know!

A few questions for spring

Food and real estate edition

1) When will the escalator renovations at the Zeckendorf Towers be completed on Union Square? (Now entering the third year...)



2) When will the 123 Third Ave. sales center open?



3) What will happen to the southwest corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue?



4) Who will post the first bill on the sidewalk shed on Seventh Avenue and Avenue A?



5) When will Diablo Royale open at 167 Avenue A?



6) Will anything happen with the long empty building that housed the former Angelica's Herbs on First Avenue and Ninth Street?




7) Who will be the new owners of Superdive, and will they keep the same keg-service concept?



8) Who will be the first to introduce the 89-cent slice?



9) When will we see more of Veselka on the Bowery?



10) Will Duane Reade expand into the basement space of the former Dolphin Gym on Avenue B?



11) Will Cabin Down Below do something about its stairs?



12) When will Curbed get the sordid details of the first beserk A Building pool party of the 2010 season? (My guess: June 2)



13) When will the Village Green gym show itself?



14) Will the Cooper Square Hotel keep the noise down this season? ... Or! When will we get the first installment of Notes from the Backside at the Cooper Square Hotel this season? (My guess: April 27)



15) When will the Pita Pan Sports Grill at Second Avenue and Sixth Street open?

Gold Street turning yellow

40 Gold Street in the Financial District used to be home to Ryan's Sports Bar, a decent enough place to grab a drink without too many yahoos....However, the bar was demolished in early 2008 to make way for...




a 14-story, 56-unit apartment building... And finally, there's a little something to see...



As if you had a choice... this not-so-mellow yellow is hard to miss in its current state...




And it's brought to you by the aptly named Lamed Enterprises...



Meanwhile, the folks behind Ryan's have had a really difficult time. They lost this bar... and the other Ryan's the next block over on Cliff Street caught fire last month...

P.S.
One condo owner who lived near Ryan's didn't appreciate the place! From a post I did a few years back titled "Condo owner who likes the finer things didn't appreciate bar with dirty floors or kids" ...

11/11/2007 Posted by jakesloanesq
We are all working on building a better downtown. I bought a 1.5 million dollar condo around the block from this place. I stopped in one weekday during lunch (i was off.) The place had 3 patrons at the bar, all of which looked worse then the other. The decor is lacking, the floors dirty, and the food was just ok. This place may be decent for someone who does not like finer things or if you are under-age.

Last day for the Os Gêmeos mural on Bowery and Houston?

This street mural by Brazilian street artists and identical twins Os Gêmeos went up at the Bowery and Houston last summer... Today is apparently the last day for the mural ... (The Deitch Projects Web site confirms this.) L Magazine (via BoweryBoogie) reported that Shepard Fairey will be the next (and last?) artist to paint the billboard space at this intersection.