532 East Fifth Street looking blue — and green

When we last looked in on the construction at 532 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B ... it went something like this:



And yesterday, we received a comment on our previous post from July titled The Greenpointing of East Fifth Street continues. The commenter, likely the real-estate agent for 532, wrote (slightly edited):

"We would of loved to save the brownstone that was there. The owners would of as well. As a matter of fact, they wanted to. The foundation had serious issues and wasn't economicly [sic] feasible. So we salvaged all we could. The cornice was restored and hung on a building in Staten Island that's built during the same period. It can be viewed on DOORtoDOORrealty website — 60-62 Vanduzer. Please update your photos from those stark images that are posted on this blog. I know its hard to keep all happy. But we do proceed with the enviroment [sic] in mind."

Fair enough... here our some new shots of the work in progress...

In the end, it will be a six-story, 10-unit building. In fact, there's even a website with more details, such as it's green ...

No prices just yet for these units.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Beaming up on Fifth Street

Demolition on East Fifth Street

On the way: A five-story apartment building for Fifth Street

I woke up dreaming

I'm please to post some streetscenes captured by East Village resident Clotilde Testa. They were all taken around the neighborhood with a 1959 Lubitel 2 camera.

For more on Clo, please visit here.

[Headline inspiration via]

Priciest pad at 123 Third Ave. hits the market; private greenhouse included

Yesterday, the most expensive home in 123 Third Avenue appeared on Streeteasy. The penthouse features 7.5 rooms: 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms — 2,334 square feet in all. And it's yours for $4.5 (plus change!) million.
A few more details via Corcoran:

Apartment Features
• North, South, East and West exposures
• Balcony, Greenhouse, Roof deck, Terrace, Full city view, Full skyline view, Partial river view, Floors - hardwood, Light - excellent, Great closet space, Washer/dryer

And, most important, you're just steps away from the best that East Union Square has to offer... like the Four Loko at Robin Raj!

Where to go on a first date in the East Village

A harmless enough question over at Chowhound (via Eater)

First Date, East Village, Degustation?
I am going on a first date and trying to keep it in the East Village or close. I'm looking at Degustation - I like the fact that it is a very different with cool food, but not in love with ordering a $75 tasting menu (I've read the 5 course really isn't enough food) on a first date as it could look like I'm trying to hard and also make the date feel a bit uncomfortable. Does anyone have any recommendations for a spot either in or close to the East Village that's a good spot for a date? Thanks!

Well? You people live here. Where would you go on a first date? (And the above scenario? Ulk.)

Today's forecast: 80 percent chance of confetti

Yesterday on Second Street near Avenue B. Looks like snow, but it's actually confetti or some important shredded documents...

[Thanks to EV Grieve reader @nsanchis for the photo!]

Today in subtle Super Bowl party ads

At Amsterdam Billiards over on Fourth Avenue and 11th Street.

The trash sculpture of East Fourth Street

Rite Aid looking forward to spring

Because then the druggery on First Avenue and Fifth Street won't have to hear about snowy or icy sidewalks from residents... one of whom sent a note this afternoon describing an icy patch on the Fifth Street side of the shop...

When I arrived later, the walk was clear ...

... though the crew could use a little help with salt distribution...

Watching Verizon lay some cable

From EV Grieve contributor Bobby Williams this afternoon on Avenue B between 10th Street and Ninth Street...

Ice pics of the day (so far!)

A reader sends along these shots from 14th Street near First Avenue...

More fun to look at than walk in... or something...

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Why a 31-year veteran of the LES is moving to Iowa (The New York Times)

A class war in Little Italy? (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Subway scenes from yesteryear (Stupefaction)

East River relocates to Houston and Allen? (Runnin' Scared)

Queens neighborhood where Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald and other prominent African-Americans lived now a historic district (Curbed)

Inside the new Italian cafe on East Houston near Norfolk (BoweryBoogie)

F Train woes this a.m. (Gothamist)

The return of Freddy's in Brooklyn (NYPress)

Staten Island Chuck sees early spring, doesn't bite Bloomy (NYPost)

You likely won't be able to blame NYU for 35 Cooper Square's destruction

The chatter about the future of 35 Cooper Square all leads to one place: DORM.

Well! The NYU Local asked NYU spokesperson John Beckman about the space:

No, we’re not buying the Cooper Square property.

It’s interesting—before our [2031] planning effort, and the strategy for developing the superblocks, this is the kind of opportunity we might have pursued. And if we are ultimately unsuccessful with the plan for the superblocks we are bringing through the City approvals process, this is the kind of nearby property — even though controversial — that we’d be led to consider as an option.

The East Village of Nelson Sullivan

The following post was written by EV Grieve contributor Shawn Chittle:

Long before Twitter, Facebook, cell phones and cell phone cameras — in 1980s New York — there was Nelson Sullivan. He pointed a bulky 8mm video camera with a wide fisheye lens at himself and filmed everything. As the first video "lifecaster" he was years ahead of his time. Not a narcissist by my definition, but someone who wanted to document the culture that he clearly realized was something special. I have a bunch of his stuff. Sadly, he died in 1989 of a heart attack.

This clip below was just released yesterday — destined to become a classic as Avenue A, East 6th and Avenue B are captured in all their grimy glory. In this video, he tries to get a table at (a yellow painted) Sidewalk Cafe, but "all the freaks" have the tables. Instead he improvises and drops in on his friend who lives on East 6th Street and Avenue B. They all head back to find friends and an empty table at Sidewalk where the video fades out.

Waiting for a Table at an East Village Sidewalk cafe



Previously on YouTube. (Find more of Nelson's work on YouTube here.)

A Trip to Avenue A in NYC



You can read more about Nelson and his role documenting his surroundings during the 1980s here. He died of a heart attack on July 4, 1989.

On keeping 'street art safely pristine'

Nice piece in Artinfo about the ongoing drama with the Kenny Scharf mural on Houston and the Bowery. (Read the article here.)

The article, written by Emma Allen, focuses on the surveillance cameras and alleged 24/7 mural guard put in place by the wall's owner, Tony Goldman and his Goldman Properties ... to the article:

"There's no guard there now," countered Tony Goldman's prickly personal assistant, when asked if Goldman Properties had hired someone to protect the work. To which Goldman himself added in an email: "We had a guard there while the paint was drying," after Scharf touched it up. "There were many people in the street and we did not want the new paint damaged. The cameras remain."

And!

"While the guard may be gone, larger questions of whose job it is (if it is anyone's) to keep street art safely pristine persist. Beginning in 2008, the works created for the East Houston space — collaborations between Goldman and galleries around the city, from Deitch Projects to The Hole, to Kasmin — have been executed by artists whose 'street art' sells in galleries and at auction for thousands of dollars. And while it seems logical to try to protect such valuable, and often beautiful, artworks from the destructive impulses of ruffians, the Houston Street wall once in fact was the uncontested terrain of those who made art outside of, and often in opposition to, the art establishment."

And Billy Leroy has the best line, which ends the piece: " ... it's funny, five years ago no one gave a shit about the wall, and now it's become the epicenter of the art world."

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