Terminated Salvation

With the new hotel in the works for 347 Bowery ... (the one Alex thinks looks as if it has a "bad case of acne"), I wanted to quickly document the previous tenant before the fabulous foodies, hotshot hoteliers and squealing scenesters arrive...

The Salvation Army's East Village Residence closed here at East Third Street in August 2008.

Jack Henry Abbott wrote a short story titled "On the Bowery" about his stay here in the summer of 1981. (I wrote about Abbott and 347 Bowery here.) Here's a snippet of Abbott's story:

I noticed a body laying stretched out on the sidewalk against a rundown building. And then another and another and another. The bodies of sleeping derelicts were scattered liberally around the sidewalks and on the stoops on buildings. It took my by surprise. My mind was blank. I finally thought: "What the hell is this?"

As the invaluable Forgotten New York writes about the Bowery and the Salvation Army:

The expressions "on the wagon" and "off the wagon" had their origins on the Bowery where Evangeline Booth (whose father founded the Salvation Army), used to send a horse-drawn wagon onto the throroughfare to pick up drunks and bring them to an Army facility where they could dry out and hopefully put their lives together.

Read more on Forgotten New York's Bowery tour here.

And it's pretty amazing that the tera cotta SA initials have held up through the years...

...much better than the Fallout Shelter sign...

And a look at who this once served...

Original caption: A group of homeless and jobless habitues of the Bowery enjoying their buttermilk, sold at a very small cost at the Salvation Army Buttermilk Bar. The bar was opened as a means of combatting the sale of "smoke" the poison liquor sold so freely and which caused the death of many of the unfortunates along the Bowery.

[Image via]

For further reading:
No salvation (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reactions to new Bowery hotel: 'It would be cheaper and more useful just to blow up the building and leave a 30-foot crater'

Reader: Lack of a goodbye note makes Mercadito Cantina 'a bad neighbor'

Not sure if I want to go here again. Ah, what the hell... So, Mercadito Cantina on Avenue B near 11th Street served its last meal as a restaurant Sunday night... And a commenter, who had chimed in on the epic Mercadito Cantina post from Jan. 17, sent along an e-mail noting that the restaurant hadn't left a goodbye note on the door for neighbors/diners as of Sunday evening or yesterday.

And this, in the estimation of the commenter/reader, "shows that they were a bad neighbor — they didn't even care enough to leave a note for any locals who patronised them."

Well, OK.

However, there is a note on their website:

Meanwhile, what's to come? This tweet may provide some idea...

Previously on EV Grieve:
About Mercadito Cantina closing: 'Open letter to EV Grieve and CB3'

Octavia's Porch now coming to your front door

This past weekend, we spotted delivery menus for the newish Octavia's Porch on Avenue B plastered on various apartments buildings on streets running between Avenue A and Avenue C... This is the "Global Jewish" restaurant co-owned by Nikki Cascone from "Top Chef" season four and her husband... (And if you didn't know she was on "Top Chef," it's on the front of the delivery menu...)

One curious note about the delivery area: Delancey to Eighth Street; the Bowery to Avenue D. So if you're living above Eighth Street and are craving, say, gefilte fish or beef and veal kreplach, then you're out of luck on a delivery.

Crown and out on 11th Street

A reader notes that Crown 2, a boutique on East 11th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, has closed. They were just open for about one year.

Fire scare at Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen

Firefighters were on the scene this afternoon just before 3 at Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen on St. Mark's Place... EV Grieve contributor Bobby Williams happened to be on St. Mark's at the time... There were reports of a basement fire at the bakery, though — thankfully — that didn't turn out to be the case...

6:01 p.m., Houston Street, Jan. 31

A Valentine's Day gift from The New Yorker

Classic. Thanks, New Yorker!

Noted

Via CBS New York.

[Updated] 24/7 security guards now on duty at the Bowery-Houston mural

Apparently those surveillance cameras on the Deitch Wall aren't enough. Billy Leroy at Billy's Antiques sends along word that Goldman Properties have hired 24/7 security guards to watch over the often-bombed mural on Houston and The Bowery.

Updated at 1:45: Billy reports back... turns out Goldman did hire security, though they were only for until the paint on Scharf's work from Saturday night dried...

Yesterday on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Kenny Scharf restores his mural

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Inside the ruin of Coney Island's Playland Arcade (Nathan Kensinger Photography)

More Village East history (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The 5th anniversary of McHale's closing (Lost City)

Reviews of Stuy Town on Yelp (Lux Living)

John Lydon brands Jay-Z a 'nonsense parody' (NME)

More winter misery on the way — woo! (Weather Channel)

And the San Loco truck on Avenue A before this most recent storm...

Report: Asian Pub closed at 35 Cooper Square

BoweryBoogie has the scoop (and the photos above). The space has been cleared out, he reports. They lost their lease. You can still try to save the historic building here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Doom and doomer: More of Cooper Square primed for development

Cooper 35 Asian Pub part of development deal on Cooper Square

Cooper 35 Asian Pub putting up a fight before being torn down

Those vacant spaces next to the Mars Bar

Over the weekend, we spotted a worker poking around the empty spaces adjacent to the Mars Bar ...

We've never seen these spaces open... and was very curious to take a peak inside... and what did we find?

Protest outside the Continental Saturday night

On Saturday night, a group organized by The ANSWER Coalition demonstrated outside the Continental on Third Avenue for what they say are discriminatory acts by the bar’s bouncers.

Bar owner Trigger Smith has denied the allegations, telling the Local East Village on Jan. 21 that patrons were not being turned away because of the color of their skin but because the bar has a policy against admitting patrons who do not adhere to its unwritten dress code. “There’s not a prejudiced bone in my body,” he said.

According to the Facebook group called Boycott Continental Bar in NYC, "the ANSWER Coalition has collected testimony from more than 30 people who claim to have been met with racism or bigotry at the Continental Bar. When the Continental managers were asked by ANSWER Coalition organizers to address these complaints, they refused. Now the New York City Commission on Human Rights is investigating the charges." (Read more on that investigation here.)

While Smith told the Local EV that he would not speak with members of the Answer Coalition, he is cooperating with the Commission's investigation. Smith said that he expected more demonstrations and more investigations because he plans to continue his unwritten dress code of “no baggy, saggy jeans.”

Photo from Saturday night by Vivienne Gucwa via her Flickr page. Reprinted with permission.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Another picket planned outside the Continental

Patrons accuse the Continental of discrimination

A birthday celebration tonight at Ray's

As Bob Arihood reports, there will be some entertainment tonight at Ray's ... as he celebrates his 78th birthday... festivities start around 10:30 or so... Perhaps you can stop buy earlier to buy a drink or sandwich or fries... we know that Ray could use the business... tough times again here...

[Photo of "Creme Burlee" via Neither More Nor Less ... where you can find more shots from last year]

Today in wishful thinking

Second Avenue and 10th Street. Spotted Saturday morning outside the deli's former home on Second Avenue.

Flashback via The Daily News:

[Hughes/News via]

Windows working at future Union Square Hyatt

Over at the future home of the Union Square Hyatt on Fourth Avenue at 13th Street, workers have unveiled one of the hotel's lesser-touted amenities... fresh air for the rooms!

Open windows will come in handy for dumping water on any noisy guests enjoying those private terraces on the second floor...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Noticeable progress at the future Union Square Hyatt

A larger liquor store for Second Avenue

Two weeks back we noted that the new deli/grocery that took over half of the Dunkin Donuts space on Second Avenue had closed...

The folks who own the liquor store next door also own this space... and they are expanding into this space, according to several sources...

[Updated] You can still help save 35 Cooper Square

Sign the petition to save 35 Cooper Square here. There are nearly 1,100 signatures. Check out some of the comments, like this one: "There is no reason whatsoever for the razing of this historic building for the sake of slapping up yet another tired, useless, architectural abomination in the form of another hotel or NYU dorm. No one who lives in the East Village wants to see this important building destroyed."

Here's a recap from Friday afternoon's rally.

Updated: BoweryBoogie reports the Asian Pub has closed.

[Photo by EV Grieve reader Lisa]

Why the FDNY was on First Avenue this afternoon

In case you were wondering why the FDNY was all over First Avenue this afternoon around 2:30 between 9th Street and 10th Street.... EV Grieve contributor Bobby Williams was on the scene... where there was a minor kitchen mishap...

East 10th Street: Now with a little less shade

During the Great Thunder Blizzard of 2011 snowstorm the other night... part of this tree on East 10th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue came crashing down ... there were no reported injuries...

[Via SoulSeller]

This morning, the block was, er, blocked off while tree crews took to cleaning up the remains...