Kurve/Rhong Tiam's long, strange trip is apparently over

Oh my what a wacky few years here on Second Avenue and Fifth ... where Kurve became Rhong Tiam East... the potted-plant neglectors here have been "closed for operating" illegally ... battled local taggers... given themselves a Michelin star...

The location is seemingly closed now... Let's start with Friday evening.



I walked by several times later and never saw any private parties inside. Unless it was off-site....




And people were stopping by to eat...



Yesterday, the place looked pretty dismantled...and the phone was not in service.




And all last week, there were offering 25 percent off...



To be honest, I actually called for delivery one night last week. Was curious about their food. However, I was told the special was reserved for people who would eat in the restaurant... not for people who wanted it to go or delivered...

Oh, also on Friday, a photographer and her subject were using the wall for whatever this was...



All Kurve Koverage.

More German-themed plywood for Second Avenue

First, as you will recall, a new restaurant is coming to the space behind the German-themed plywood here on Second Avenue at Second Street...



And now -- the plywood is gone!



No worries, though, German-themed-plywood lovers! Um, yeah, this is actually the Belgian flag... duh. Sorry.

Check out the Crazy Landlord space the next block up on the northeast corner of Third Street...






This will soon be home to the Belgian ale place that wants to be a "sexier Balthazar."

Previously on EV Grieve:
What's behind the German-themed plywood on Second Avenue?

"Crazy Landlord" cleans up his corner: Here comes a "sexier Balthazar"

Former Miracle Grill space on the market

Hmmm... we've been wondering what's going to be happening here on First Avenue near Seventh Street ... Seems as if the Miracle Grill has been closed for (three!) years... apparently there won't be any outdoor space here...considering the garden is now a condo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former Miracle Grill garden not-so-suddenly looks like a condo

Crazy ideas of the week: Turn Ray's into a tiki bar

The East Villager has a Page 1 feature this week on Barry Kushelowitz’s tiki-rich apartment on Seventh Street...


[Photo by J.B. Nicholas]

Here's an excerpt that's rather funny and, probably, a little alarming...:

Does he have any interest in opening up his own tiki-themed establishment? Yes, he says, but real estate in New York is too expensive and the city has become too "sterilized." One idea he has is to use his collection to turn Ray’s Candy Store, on E. Seventh St. and Avenue A, into a tiki bar, with Ray Alvarez, the store's owner, as emcee.

"Ray could come down at night and tell stories," Kushelowitz said. "He's got a million stories."

Motel for First Avenue and Ninth Street looks less likely now

Several readers have passed along this news (thank you!) after signage went up on Friday...We now have a better idea of what's going in here at 147 First Avenue at Ninth Street...




So much for our motel theory! Anyway, whatever comes here promises to drive up the rents for nearby businesses who are already struggling... soon, this whole stretch will be one big Momofuku...

And EV Grieve reader Blue Glass sent along a photo with another angle...




Previously on EV Grieve:
Ninth Street and First Avenue shocker: Motel ... Hello?

Blockbuster: 147 First Ave. set for demolition

German burgers coming to Seventh Street

So!

At the former Mohammed Falafel Star space on Seventh Street near Avenue B... the barn/stockade/dungeon-looking thing...



So we've heard that it may be a burger place... or a Mediterranean eatery... And now! A name!



It will be a German burger joint... Of course, we were rooting for a dungeon...Thanks to EV Grieve reader Peter H. for this photo...

And they call it...

Puppy love on 13th Street near First Avenue. Well, he or she is more of a dog. But that doesn't really seem as endearing.

When dogs poop near diners outside Zum Schneider

Yesterday afternoon, the folks here on Seventh Street outside Zum Schneider were enjoying some food and drinks...



...when along came a young woman with a fairly large dog, who proceded to befoul the sidewalk right near the tables... without as much as slowing down, the woman continued on her way, turning south on Avenue C... the diners at the table on the far left above were fairly horrified/angry... one yelled something like, "Hey, your dog just took a dump. You have to clean that up."

I cannot say whether the woman was simply lazy or poorly mannered... or if this was an act of aggression toward touristy people eating outdoors...

P.S.
I did not photograph any of the evidence or the dog owner in question. You'll have to trust me on this one.

Fight night

First, a reader passes along word of "a ferocious fight at 4 am outside of st. dymphna's" on St. Mark's Place... Anyone hear anything about this?

Meanwhile, in another fight last night... from the Daily News:

One shot, one slashed in East Village fracas Saturday evening

Two men were injured Saturday night after a brawl in the lobby of an East Village building, sources said.

One man was shot in the hand and another slashed in his face when a fight erupted at the 13th St. building near Fourth Ave. about 11 p.m., sources said.

Today in Shepard Fairey disses

Here on Houston and the Bowery...





Oh, and this was added sometime this weekend...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Keith Haring reappears on Houston and the Bowery

The CW still hiring horny teens to create their ad campaigns

In case you were off to Lucy's tonight...

Hmm...not open tonight....No sign about a holiday, per usual.

Rosario Dawson's mom wants to return to 13th Street

From Page Six today:

The mother of "Sin City" actress Rosario Dawson is trying to move back into the East 13th Street tenement she turned into a "squat" 25 years ago -- but the tenants don't want her as a neighbor.

Isabel Dawson moved out of the building two years ago, having feuded with the other occupants of the "squat." Rosario's father, Greg Dawson, who is separated from Isabel, still lives in the tenement along with her handicapped uncle.

Isabel -- who broke into the abandoned tenement with Greg when they were both 21 (and Rosario was 6) and installed plumbing and electrical wiring -- feels she's entitled to move back in, despite all the bitterness from past squabbles. Residents say they are scared.

And what's with the "quotation marks" around "squat?"

[Photo by Roger Wong/INFGoff.com via the Post]

Angelina Jolie trashed!

Second Avenue and Fourth Street last night...

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village Cathedral stars alongside Angelina Jolie in 'Salt'

Noted

Photo by Red Riotdog via Facebook.

End note

And Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label is releasing a new record from the Notekillers.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

When Campbell Soup wrote to Andy Warhol (Letters of Note, via BoingBoing)

The Grumbler considers the fab (and fake?) abs ads (The Grumbler)

Selling 341-343 Bowery in 1954 (BoweryBoogie)

Tales from Times Square (Stupefaction, and This Ain't the Summer of Love has the NSFW Times Square short film....Rump Humpers?)

More pics from '96-2000 (Flaming Pablum)

Catch Goggla and other artists at the Hester Street Fair (The Gog Log)

A new business has already called dibs on the former Beauty Crisis space on Seventh Street...



And would someone please give me a hand with this? Thanks!

Pretzel logic

So... you remember that little controversy about the pretzel-ad campaign....like the one seen here on First Avenue and First Street...



NYC the Blog had been in touch with the pretzel people who said...

"Based on the feedback received from you and other bloggers, we will be taking the ‘You can never be too thin’ ads down."

The company has also apologized.

So they replaced the ad. And what did they replace it with?



Um.

Thanks to EV Grieve reader K. Knipfing for the photos.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Into thin air: Pretzel maker removing 'too thin' ads

Looking at 120 St. Mark's Place

The news this week that Benjamin Shaoul must remove "four seventh-story cabinlike structures" (as the Times described it) atop 514-516 East Sixth St. prompted us to take a look at another one of his high-profile properties — 120 St. Mark's Place.

There's a long, ugly history here... which has been thoroughly documented by Bob Arihood at Neither More Nor Less through the years. (This link will take you to all the history here... the address, of course, was once home to the Mosiac Man.... and known as The Cave.)

In any event, we looked at the public records on this address via the Department of Buildings... according to the site, there is a "closure/padlock" order for the address...



In addition, according to the DOB, the address doesn't have a Certificate of Occupancy ... not even a temporary certificate of occupancy...



The most recent Certificate of Occupancy, a temporary order, expired in November 2008.



Also, there are complaints about "illegal hotel rooms in residential buildings."



In total, the DOB has 84 complaints listed here since June 2006.

Meanwhile, we took at look at recent rental listings for 120 St. Mark's Place.

In July, a one-bedroom unit on the sixth floor rented for $2,600. Per the description:

VILLAGE DUPLEX WITH EMPIRE STATE VIEWS and Terrace!
UNIQUE EAST VILLAGE GEM! DUPLEX one bedroom PENTHOUSE apartment features NEWLY RENOVATED KITCHEN and Bathroom, OUTDOOR SPACE with EMPIRE STATE BUILDING VIEWS, and washer and dryer in the unit! Act Fast...

According to StreetEasy, agents rented a three-bedroom unit here for $4,500 in July 2009. This apartment was described as:

LIVE IN A BRAND NEW THREE BEDROOM DIRECTLY ON SAINT MARKS. Apartment Features: Washer/Dryer Stainless Steel Appliances Marble BathroomNew Fixtures Balcony and Terrace Spacious Bedrooms CALL NOW TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! THIS IS A GREAT DEAL AND DEFINITELY WILL NOT LAST LONG!

Finally, if you're new to this story, here's a little more background. As Bob Arihood noted, in exchange for renting two-and-a-half floors in the building to a community facility (a nonprofit, or doctor's office or religious organization), the DOB reportedly would give the OK to the landlord to create an addition that would be larger than normally allowed at this location.

In the last few years, the groundfloor business has been leased to a tattoo/piercing salon.



For more background:
St. Marks Squatters Getting the Boot (Curbed)

Rent Wars: Boy Emperor Gets In On East Village Harassment (Curbed)

Boy Developer Ben Shaoul Wants to Live Forever (The Observer)

Cave collective collects buyouts as Buildings tries to stop cave-in (The Villager)

Stop-work still in effect at former artists’ squat (The Villager)

Two old-school newsstands that are still holding on

Yesterday, Jeremiah noted the demise of another old-style newsstand near Union Square...

Which reminds me of the recent photos that I took...

Broadway near Astor Place...



... and 23rd Street and Park Avenue South...




Appreciate them while you can ... soon they, too, will be described as "dull, blank box, another ticky-tacky nothing."

Jeremiah has more on vanishing newsstands here.

First casualty in the FiDi bikini bar wars

Back in February, we inexplicably wrote a post about the revamped Hook & Ladder II in the Financial District...



...featuring the "Hook and Ladder II bikini bartenders," one of whom in the ad looked a lot like Mariah Carey in a firefighter's uniform ...



Anyway! I'm not sure when this happened, but the Hook and Ladder II is now closed. And their phone has been "temporarily disconnected." Let's just say that the place hasn't been open the last three weeks.

They were maybe foolish to take on the nearby Nassau Bar, where the bartenders look like extras from a Russ Meyer's movie....


[Not actual Nassau Street bartenders!]

Anyway, for some reason, I will now share this story.

So.

Shortly after HALII's grand reopening, I walked in. To see just how cheesy it would be. Never been in the place before. I walked up the stairs, and spotted an empty bar with some dude in front of the taps. A terrible mistake had been made. I quickly turned around to leave.

Wait! he said.

I must have looked like some sadass middle management type in need of an after-work jolly. Maybe I am! He called out a woman's name.

Mary? Stephanie? Linda? Something fairly common, and not like a bikini bar stage name. Cinnamon. Diamond. Isis. Illusion.

Let's call her Mary. Mary peeks around the corner of the back room. The fellow makes a motion for her to come behind the bar. In a very bashful manner, she gingerly walked her way to the bar, zipping up a baggy hoodie to cover her bikini. The scene struck me like a sister whose older brother was making her do something she really didn't want to do, like tend bar in a bikini.

This was her first day on the job. No kidding? She was nice. She smiled. She had braces. She was probably 24. And she had never tended bar before. The fellow explained that they were out of ice, so any mixed drinks would have to be served warm. I ordered a bottle of beer. I watched as he explained the finer points of bartending, such as how to make a gin and tonic.

A few entertaining minutes later, we all got to talking. The fellow and Mary were old friends. We discussed the news of the day. Sports. Movies. Her favorite all-time movie was "The Dark Knight."

So it went. About 15 minutes later, I left. I wished them all the best. They said to be sure to come back and bring all my friends. I promised that I would, though I don't really have any friends who would ever come here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
In the Financial District, Mariah Carey helps usher in the start of the bikini bar war

Al Diwan ready to yield to "Gaelic gastro pub" on Avenue A

Looks like Al Diwan on Avenue A and 13th Street has closed up... In June, the Al Diwan folks received permission to transfer their license... as we reported, this space will become home to Percy's Tavern, a "Gaelic gastro pub." You can read all about that here. Percy's owner, Larry Watson, has lived in the East Village for 25 years, arriving here in 1986 to work as a building super on 11th Street and Second Avenue...

Bedbugs from the big chair

Yesterday, on the Bowery and East Fourth Street.

14th Street near Avenue A, 7:07 p.m., Aug. 5

Dallas gets a Beauty Bar

The Beauty Bar mini-chain continues to expand... coming soon to Dallas. Aside from the original 14th Street location, the new addition brings the total to 11... The commenters there in Dallas don't seem too thrilled by the prospects, either...