The 13th Step to feature 28 flatscreen TVs, 8.5-hour happy hour (and deep-fried hot dogs)

The 13th Step opens on Thursday on Second Avenue, and Thrillist has the scoop on what to expect:

Named after the AA term for hooking up with one’s sponsor, 13S's morphed the former Telephone Bar space into a down-to-business, 28-flatscreen sports spot; the booth-lined main room’s been revamped with a wood-topped bar and a brass ceiling rocking custom amber fixtures, while the the back now features two rooms that share the same spanking-new bar, but’re separated down the middle by a wrought iron gate with swinging doors, which’ll let anyone inside. In spite of eating up most of the kitchen space, the standard bar menu’s studded with adventurous booze-sponges, including bacon, egg, and cheese sliders; cheese/gravy-/bacon-smothered tots; pulled-pork-stuffed burgers; and deep fried dogs, aka rippers, which don’t need jack to tear your heart out. The drink’s fittingly straight ahead as well, with a fully stocked bar backed by 14 drafts, local bottles, and old-school cans of Schaefer, Carling Black Label, and Sly Fox IPA, which coincidentally is also crazy...delicious!

Upping the imbibery's a recurring 8.5 hr happy hour (excepting Sundays), plus daily specials like dollar drafts and half-price bombs...

And the hits just keep on coming...

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Jeremy for the tip.

[Photo via Thrillist]

The East Village is NYC's third hottest nightlife neighborhood! (Woo! High fives!)

As you may know, Zagat has released the results of its 2010/11 New York City Nightlife Survey (or, as NYPress nicely put it: "what we like to call 'Places You Don’t Want to Frequent.'")

The best thing about the survey was the reaction to the survey... Like this from the Observer:

A whopping 40 percent of the "5,719 local night owls" surveyed said that they hit the town less frequently because of the recession. On average, the survey says New Yorkers now spend 1.8 nights out per week as opposed to 2000's 2.3 nights. That's a loss of a half-night per decade, and at this rate there will be no going out at all in a mere 40 years.

Heh.

Anyway, here are a few of the results that likely won't surprise you...

Do you primarily frequent nightspots…?

In your neighborhood: 32%

Outside of your neighborhood: 68%

What is NYC's hottest nightlife neighborhood?

1. Meatpacking District

2. Lower East Side

3. East Village

Oh, thanks!

Here's the full news release.

The problem with private driveways in the East Village

No one pays attention to the "no parking" signs....



Yeah, it's funny until John Legend has your ass towed ... Well, unless this is the LegendMobile.... outside 52E4, the 15 stories of condo on Fourth Street... where the Legend, Moby and others live...




Perhaps a trend...Previously, as seen at 238 E. Fourth St. in front of the Novogratz-designed penthouse home....

And now a photo of a supermodel by the Thompson LES Pool

Victoria's Secret supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio hosted her annual summer party at the Thompson LES pool last week. And...wait...



It's that guy! I see this guy everywhere. Not him necessarily. But someone who looks like that. Always. And... that does it!



[Photo via]

What the Mosaic Man needs to continue rebuilding

Earlier today I mentioned a good sign: The Mosaic Man working on refurbishing some of his work on Second Avenue at Sixth Street...

And he posted this message on his blog today:

60 light poles need rebuilding (2 months each) to complete the 80 lightpoles in the project.....now....donate your pottery, dishes etc. and of coarse save a few BUCKS ... cause without it it's over ... pass the word

Meanwhile, EV Grieve reader Glamma noticed this as well: Jim has uncovered the mosaic on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...

Bedbugs, not beefcake, now greeting Hollister shoppers

Early last year the the iconic-y DKNY ad mural at Broadway and Houston was painted over to make way for what BoweryBoogie described as "the teen-loving mall dwellers Abercrombie & Fitch," who planted their Hollister flagship store here. (Read Curbed's coverage here.)



Anyway, as The Wall Street Journal reported this morning, the store, with the shirtless dude greeters, has closed... due to an infestation of bedbugs. Per the Journal:

Infestations in commercial buildings are typically handled privately and don't need to be reported to the city. A spokeswoman for the city's Department of Health said bedbugs "do not present a health risk or spread disease."

Still, bedbugs aren't something consumers expect to bring home with their new clothes, and an expert on torts law said, hypothetically, consumers who had made recent purchases and then discover bedbugs could have a case.

"Technically it's a breach of warranty of merchantability," said Michael M. Martin, a professor at Fordham University School of Law. "They are defective because they don't meet consumer expectation. The usual remedy for that, first of all you can get price back and, second, you might well be able to recover for the consequential injuries. I'd be willing to take that case."

[Top image via BoweryBoogie]

The Second Avenue bike lanes: What do we think so far?

Well, the bike lanes have been up now for long enough on Second Avenue, complete with a line of parking that's meant to add protection to the cyclists ... for me to hear some grumbling... Not really any kind of cyclist vs. pedestrian thing... but more of a safety issue. Trucks and cabs abruptly pulling over into the bike lane... pedestrians standing or walking into the bike lane... oh surely there are other offenses... soon enough, the First Avenue lanes will be a go (not to mention the dedicated bus lanes for the M15 on First Avenue and Second Avenue)...



So what do you think so far?




The makeover includes a line of parking that's meant to add protection to the cyclists...




Previously on EV Grieve:
Green day: Second Avenue getting its bike lanes

Man charged in death of puppy

Awful item in this week's Police Blotter in The Villager:

An East Village man, 30, was walking his new puppy in Tompkins Square Park at E. Seventh St. and Avenue A around 6:15 p.m. Fri., June 18, when a suspect kicked the animal and stomped on its head, police said. The owner took the 4-month-old puppy to an animal hospital where it was declared dead. Witnesses called police who arrested John Lendino, 52, of Brooklyn, and charged him with aggravated animal cruelty. Lendino was freed pending a Sept. 8 court appearance.

A good sign

The Mosaic Man and his apprentice at work early last evening on Second Avenue at Sixth Street.

My plan for Permanent Drunk is now in effect

Grub Street and Eater noted yesterday that the nearly year-long saga of 95 First Ave. -- Permanent Brunch, Permanent Brunch and Burger, and Steak Shop -- may have come to a close. The marshal seized the eatery.

And it was just about one year ago in which we were discussing Permanent Brunch's Bacon Bar and $6 doughnuts...

And given our bad bar name and concept theme of late... I ended that post last July like this (Uh, which I didn't remember...writing the ending to the post. I remember July. It was hot out, right?):

Perhaps after serving brunch for a few months, some new owners can come in with a big dumpster. They fill it with booze. Anyone is welcome to swim in the alcohol -- just as long as you have a reservation. The dumpster can fit up to 60 people. The name: Permanent Drunk.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Will Permanent Brunch be serving booze?

NYC's newsstands and bus shelters to be turned into giant TVs

[I changed the headline after reading Jeremiah's comment...I'm borrowing his TV line. Much better than whatever was there before.]

Expect the city's newsstands to get digital in the near future. According to an article on Lost Remote yesterday, Cemusa and some collaborators "have succeeded in retrofitting a matrix of sunlight readable LCD screens into the traditional poster light boxes of existing newsstands and bus shelters." Eh. The soon-to-launch digital newsstand network, featuring 65-inch landscape screens, will give advertisers "the flexibility to target campaigns based on geography." Which sounds like plenty of fodder for future blog posts.

Before...



Someday, perhaps...



[Photo of NYC newstand, Third Avenue and 32nd Street, via]

2 Cooper shows off its fabulousness

At long last all the information that you'd ever want to know about 2 Cooper Square is now online. The luxury rental at East Fourth Street and Cooper Square comes complete with a rooftop pool and private cinema... and, based on the images on their site, the residents will be equally fabulous and hip and new Bowery-ish... like the dashing hepcat here in the long hair, sideburns, tie and collar undone after a rough day doing something fabulous, unwinding with a little take out while the GF/wife flips through a fashion magazine ... isn't life downtown so romantic?



And here's the model type resident with the perky boobs looking so intent on something while her friend in the background steals all her Paroxetine ...



Anyway, there are floor plans and shots of the rooftop pool and deck and ...





Studios start at $2,950... with the big units going for nearly $10,000. For the new kid of the block, 2 Cooper Square is looking pretty big. Can't wait for the dueling 2 Cooper-52E4 pool parties.


Previously on EV Grieve:
2 Cooper Square looking for some "masculine, attractive, intelligent" Clive Owens types with kids — but, lordy, not kids who actually live with them!

There goes the neighborhood for real: 2 Cooper Square will open with the highest rents ever in the East Village

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Marketing "Loves Comes out of the Butt" brings a "relief from the dull barrage of cell-phone shouters and text-walkers" (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A Lafayette/Fourth Street now and then (Flaming Pablum)

Another possible loss of an LES mechanic's shop (BoweryBoogie)

More trouble outside Washington Irving High School on Irving Place (Gothamist)

Inside the Mob/Rue B connection on Avenue B (The Village Voice)

A secret passage to the old Knickerbocker Hotel (Ephemeral New York)

And I meant to note that William recently moved his 10th Street Liquor from its space on 10th Street to the corner slot here on Avenue C that formerly housed Christine's Deli and Grocery...

'Une Femme est une femme' in Tompkins Square Park Friday night

Or! "A Woman is a Woman" ... Those free French screenings in NYC parks make their way hereabouts Friday evening. "A Woman is a Woman" (1961), starring Jean-Claude Brialy, Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo, is showing for free Friday evening around 8:30 or so...

Per the description:

One of Jean-Luc Godard’s first movies, and undoubtedly one of his most playful, "A Woman is a Woman" is a tender tribute to childishness and to American musicals — but with a distinct New Wave flair!

To the trailer! (Oh, it's French, so there's some gratuitous nudity!)



And look for "Love Songs" on July 9.

Some future new bars to maybe not like

I haven't even written about all the action from the last CB3/SLA meeting... and the CB3/SLA released the docket for the July meeting... and this one has a few summer blockbusters... (Eater and Fork in the Road noted a few of these last Friday afternoon...)

The big one: The historic Amato Opera on the Bowery is destined to become a bar.



Of course! I recently noted the new for rent sign on the building, which said that food was OK here... So, the owners of V Bar, a West Village beer-and-wine cafe, are taking the challenge... which might be why someone removed the commemorative plaque that was placed above the Amato Opera doorway last June.

[Update: Thanks to EV Grieve Mimi reader for pointing out there's a V Bar on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place too, at the former Tribe space. Same owners at the West Village location.]

Also! There are takers for the Butcher Bar space on East Fifth Street and Lilly Coogan's on First Avenue...

A few more highlights....

Sidewalk Cafe Applications
-- The Penny Farthing, 103 3rd Ave
-- The 13th Step, 149 2nd Ave

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades
-- Mama Bar LLC, 34 Ave B (alt/op/expand to basement space)

New Liquor License Applications
-- Justified LLC, 102 1st Ave (op) (Lilly Coogan's)
-- Teany (Teany Cafe LLC), 90 Rivington St (rw)
-- Tin Lizard LLC, 511 E 5th St (rw) (Butcher Bay)
-- La Isla (MJDD Enterprises Inc), 542 E 14th St (rw)
-- Vbar Amato (Vbar2 LLC), 319 Bowery (op)

The meeting is July 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the JASA/Green Residence - 200 E. Fifth St. at the Bowery. Bring a date!

Drink your hangover away at DTs and rock!

On the post here Monday titled, Whatever happened to simple bar names... and concepts?, several of you left some suggestions for other potential future bar names/concepts hereabouts to sit alongside the real new bars coming like the 13th Step and SRO:

-- Shit Faced (Curt Hoppe)

-- I'm opening up a bar called "Generation O" -- a themed bar with huge shopping bags plastered on the wall and stiletto heels hanging from the ceiling, where the patrons can only view the bar drinks and menu through their ipads, itouch, and iphone, and the orders must either be tweeted or texted to the bartenders and waitresses... (Esquared)

-- Tornado of Death (Glamma)

-- I was thinking of opening a Bowery bar called "the needle exchange". People can only come in if they're are wearing something from Mugatu's Derelicte collection. See you all there. Free condoms for all! (Vazco)

-- Maybe going with the suburbanization concept, a bar called Lawnboy. It's covered in plastic grass, comes with ride-on mower rides, sprinklers for running through, badminton. And the drink special? The Mulch. Kind of like a Mudslide, but with chunks of artisanal chocolate bark floating in it. (Jeremiah Moss)

-- I used to joke about opening a bar called Urban Asshole...now the idea doesn't seem so funny. (Goggla)

-- I must confess I am very close to opening a mini-chain of my own theme bars. The first one will be called "DTs" as an homage to delirium tremens. The second will have Indian tapas and beers. The servers will all wear dark sunglasses at all times. I'll have as many Indian liquors as possible and my mixologists are working on perfecting some exclusive drinks. Fogcutter, Blindsider, Carbide Cocktail, HK (for Helen Keller) are all in the running. I'm going to call it "Bhopal". This place will STEAM! Trust me. (Upstate Johnny G)

-- Wouldn't the ultimate ironic downtown bar name be something like "Douchebag's" and how long before that comes to pass. (Anonynmous)

Meanwhile, please don't blame me when, say, a place called The Needle Exchange shows up on the CB3/SLA docket this fall...

[Image via]

Noted

Spotted on Avenue A...



The addition makes it...

Black Market back from fishing trip

The gates were down all weekend at Black Market on Avenue A near Seventh Street... Perhaps not enough bold-face names for them to bother to open?

Early last evening, though, the gates were up...revealing a "gone fishing" sign... with a note saying they'd reopen last night...



Good to their sign...they were open again last night...



Previously on EV Grieve:
So Bono, Michael Stipe, Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Spike Jonze and the Olsen twins walk into a bar on Avenue A...

Locked up

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Steve for this shot of an interesting-looking lock spotted on Second Street...

Tom & Jerry's makeshift boundary

Last month I pointed out a sign spotted outside Tom & Jerry's on Elizabeth Street...



Now the bar has set up a makeshift boundary to keep people away from the front of the door and the adjacent apartment entrance...