"A model tenement house" 101 years later on Avenue B

I came across this page from the "Apartment Houses of the Metropolis" at the NYPL archives... it's dated 1909... It shows "a model tenement house" at 224-226 Avenue B... where rents go for $20 to $25 per month...



You can see the address here today... 101 years later, not much has seemingly changed outside ... save the storefronts, one of which has been home to Mona's....

222 Avenue B is ready for you

Fast-forward to Avenue B today... We've been watching the workers renovate 222 Avenue B for months now ... the building was sold back in 2008 for $2.4 million... Anyway, the new-look building is ready for move-in as of — today! ... two-bedroom apartments have hit the market, and we finally get to see what has been going on inside here...



Per the listings at 9300 Realty:

These are gorgeous two bedrooms with exposed brick with a private roof deck & balcony, a granite kitchen that has stainless steel appliances (including a dishwasher), washer/dryer, and marble bath. Units have individual climate control, video intercom, storage lofts and more!

The price: $3,695.





Not a big fan of those doors to nowhere... is that really considered a balcony?



And I hope this front door is merely temporary...

Looking at the new Avenue D greenstreet

Yesterday, we looked at the new greenstreet coming to First Street off Avenue A and East Houston Street ... all part of the three-year East Houston Street construction job expected to last through the summer of 2013... A greenstreet is also planned at Avenue D... so you will no longer be able to hit Second Street going 60 MPH off Houston...




This intersection will likely look a whole lot different in three years or so... especially if that new development in the planning stages actually happens...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Avenue D's future

Coming soon to East Houston: Construction, hell, rodent control stations

Long-threatened East Houston reconstruction starting this month

Another bikini bar on the endangered list?

The other day, the Times took a look at the lonely stretch of EV Grieve favorite Nassau Street in the Financial District... specifically, the article focuses on the Nassau Bar, as the headline suggests: "On Nassau Street, the Present Closes In on a Bikini-Clad Past." As reporter Michael Wilson aptly notes, the whole street — long torn up by construction — seems to be frozen in time.



And inside the Nassau Bar?

"...beginning at 11 a.m., six days a week with Sundays off, women in bikinis sling shots and $3 cans of Miller Lite the same way they did in the city’s bad old days. “The only thing we change around here is the light bulbs,” said Robert Capone, 44, a manager at Nassau Bar.


[Photo of Tiffany at Nassau Bar via A Guy Walks into 365 Bars...]

There's talk of a luxury hotel at 5 Beekman Street... and, of course, the Beekman Tower around the corner...where studio rentals will start at $3,000. The article notes the post-Sept. 11 retail slump on Nassau Street... and suggests that people who move into gleaming new homes wouldn't want to visit a bikini bar. To the article:

If the new neighbors would seem to leave the bar in the cross hairs of gentrification, its owner, Michael Reagan, 41, of Staten Island, is unfazed. What’s not to love about a bikini bar?

“I’m always interested in getting people’s second impression of the place,” he said. “You’ll have a guy walk in with his girlfriend and they look all uptight, but they already ordered and they don’t want to leave. And then an hour or two later, they’re saying, ‘Oh, this isn’t at all what I thought it would be.’ ” He added: “Once people get over the initial hurdle of the basic uniform of the bartender, it appeals to everybody.”

Mr. Reagan bought Nassau Bar about three years ago and did not change a thing. Not even Mario Cosimano, the 47-year-old porter who works 12 hours a day. Mr. Reagan says the bar’s current lease expires in 2018. Asked if he imagined a buyer coming along in the meantime to turn his dive bar into a bistro — Le Nassau? — with words like “artisanal” on the menu, he said simply, “No.”

Read Marty's visit to the Nassau Bar here. [Photo above via A Guy Walks into 365 Bars...]

Recent NYC bikini bar casualties:

Hook and Ladder II ...

Deno's Party House ...

Deno's Bikini Bar ...

Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge ...

East 10th Street storefront lassos Cowgirl Cupcakes

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Leesy for this shot of Cowgirl Cupcakes coming to East 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. No word on an opening date... And I do like the art on the roll-down gate. Maybe it's the image makeover that the often-maligned cupcake needed?

A stroll through Christmas Village

Or Second Avenue between Fifth Street and Fourth Sixth Street...

And on the seventh day...

Kenny Scharf's work is done on the Deitch Wall, a day early even, as Gothamist noted. In all, it took him 100 hours spread out over six days...

What East First Street will look like after the Houston construction project

Earlier today, we talked about the construction on East First Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...and how that might impact the cab-heavy business at Punjabi Grocery & Deli.

I was unaware of the extent of the infrastructure changes planned on East Houston from the Bowery to FDR ... So many thanks to a reader for sending along the plans... I'm still sorting through them... but the area on East First between A and First Avenue will see significant changes... see the plans for yourself....




Vehicles will no longer be able to enter First Street right off Houston at Avenue A (a dangerous intersection, if you ask me...) mostly because they'll be a greenstreet ... There's a similar greenstreet planed for Avenue D...

Work is expected to be completed by the summer of 2013.

Bye bye First Street entryway!



Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming soon to East Houston: Construction, hell, rodent control stations

Long-threatened East Houston reconstruction starting this month

SHOCKERS: Local college students prefer drugs to sex (at least in 1967)

The Washington Square Journal from Nov. 30, 1967, includes a SHOCKING expose about the habits of local college students... You can click on the piece to read it a little better.... The article reports on the findings of Dr. Sylvia Hertz, a psychologist-sociologist, who polled students on college campuses in the metropolitan area and discovered that "campus drugs have outglamourized and outchallenged sex on today’s college campus since sex is easily attainable, available and taken for granted, and has lost its yesterday spirit of adventure and conquest."



And an archival photo that accompanied the article here.



I swear that I saw this woman in the same position outside the Village Pourhouse the other evening, though she was wearing University of Florida sweats.

Not much left at the fire-damaged corner of 14th Street and Avenue A

Back in May, the stores here on 14th Street at Avenue A were wiped out by a fire.



Workers have been on the scene removing the fire-damged debris...



Which doesn't leave much else.




One of the workers said they were just there to take away what's left. He wasn't aware of what might happen here in the future...



Conspiracies/thoughts/ideas/gossip are welcome.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Conspiracies: What next for 14th Street and Avenue A?

Renovations in order for Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-A-Place?

Outside Punjabi Grocery & Deli: Where are the cabs?

The East Houston construction project continues... apparently there's work to do on along East First Street too... the path between Avenue A and First Avenue has been a mess...




Something noticeable missing here: Cabs. Punjabi Grocery & Deli is, of course, a favorite stop for cab drivers to get tea and some affordable vegetarian food... not to mention use the restroom...



I'm not sure how long First Street will be a mess... I'm wondering what kind of impact this will have on Punjabi's business...




I was ready to duck inside the other day, and saw a healthy crowd inside ... enough to deter me from going in... the cab drivers seemingly just have to park a little further away for now...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming soon to East Houston: Construction, hell, rodent control stations

Long-threatened East Houston reconstruction starting this month

On December's CB3/SLA docket: More taquerias! The Belgian Ale House! Something big on the Bowery!

On Monday, the CB3/SLA Licensing Committee gets together for its monthly bloodletting meeting. As Eater pointed out yesterday, "There's nothing too ground breaking here." True! Still, several interesting items. Here's the whole agenda:

Renewal with Complaint History
1. Apotheke (Apotheke LLC), 9 Doyers St (see also # 6)
2. Nurse Bettie, 106 Norfolk St (op)
3. Webster Hall, 125 E 11th St (op)

Applications within Resolution Areas
4. Hachi Enterprises Inc, 185 Orchard St (op)
5. Mini Thai Café (Tony Restaurant Group), 105 Ave A (wb)

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades
6. Apotheke (Apotheke LLC), 9 Doyers St (trans/op)
7. Northern Spy Food Co, 511 E 12th St (up/op)
8. Via Della Pace (48 E 7th St Associates Inc), 48 E 7th St (alt/op/extend license to outside tables within building line)
9. Hea Hea Bar Restaurant (Friend Tri New York Inc), 145 E 13th St (alt/change of method of operation)
10. Inhabit Lounge (Samond Inc) 39 Eldridge St (trans/up/op)
11. To Be Determined, 432 E 13th St (trans/op) (Bistrouge)
12. 93 Art LLC, 93 2nd Ave (trans/op) (Fuse)

The Lit Lounge folks went before the CB3/SLA back in March to obtain a license transfer to launch a new venture in the space. ... in the process, Lit heard it from neighbors... since then, they've made efforts to be a better neighbor, as outlined here.

13. To Be Determined, 74 Orchard St (trans/op) (Bunny Chow)
14. 133 Essex Restaurant LLC, 133 Essex St (trans/op) (Mason Dixon)
15. Shoolbred's (211 Ave A Restaurant Inc), 197 2nd Ave (alt/op/extend license to sidewalk cafe)
16. Cooper Square Hotel (25 CSH Operating LLC), 25 Cooper Square (trans/op)

New Liquor License Applications
17. Sabor a Mexico Taqueria (Jarlene Corp), 160 1st Ave (wb)
18. Ashton Thai Place Inc, 244 E 13th St (wb)

What's going on here? This is Zabb City's address.

19. To Be Determined, 241 Bowery (op)

Ah! This is the space below the Sunshine Hotel that I noted last month... it's a HUGE space with 5,000 square feet... (BoweryBoogie has been keepings on the eatery opening next door.)

20. Belgium Ale House (Belgium NYC Corp), 54 2nd Ave (wb)

Hey! The Belgian Ale House at the Crazy Landlord building!

21. Taqueria East Village (Berraza Foods Inc), 104 2nd Ave (op)

This is the former Matsukado space... so the EV may be getting another taqueria?

Cuppa Cuppa closes on East Fourth Street; FAB Cafe opening soon

Cuppa Cuppa, the coffee and tea shop on East Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, has closed...



And the signs on the door tells what's happening next...

And now, a Scottish terrier sitting on a toilet

An EV Grieve reader sends along this flyer spotted on Rivington and Ridge on the Lower East Side... As the reader wrote: " I was struck by the simple eloquence of its message…and who doesn’t like a Scottie on a toilet seat?" True!