Today in people dressed as trees in Tompkins Square Park

Oh, I dunno... I'd rather not know what was really happening here... via EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams

Melanie has a great shot of the tree dancing over at East Village Corner.

[Updated] Transformer fire at the ConEd Plant

Several readers have said they see black smoke from somewhere in the East Village ... another reader says there is a huge FDNY presence at the ConEd plant on East 14th Street.

Anyone?

EV Grieve reader Crazy Eddie just sent us some photos...

[Updated]

DNAinfo is on the scene. Per their report:

A transformer fire broke out at a Con Edison substation in the East Village Wednesday afternoon, FDNY and utility officials said.

The fire broke out at the power station on East 14th Street and Avenue D at roughly 2:19 p.m., the FDNY said.

No injuries were immediately reported, fire officials said.

Con Ed workers were also responding to the blaze, a spokesman said.

While no power outages had been reported, some customers may have noticed their lights flicker, reflecting a dip in voltage, according to a Con Ed spokesman.

Anyone's power out?

More wildlife spotted in the East Village

Earlier today on Fourth Avenue near 13th Street. Courtesy of @hula_doll

How you can support the Essex Street Market

During the SPURA debates, BoweryBoogie reports that someone floated the idea of moving the Essex Street Market. As he notes, LES resident Cynthia Lamb is leading the crusade against such plans. Sign the petition to keep the market where it is ... find the petition here.

[Image via]

Humans of New York

Brandon Stanton is on a mission: He wants to find every interesting person in the city, and take their photograph.

And he's on his way. He currently has nearly 1,400 portraits on his website — Humans of New York.

Here's his mission statement:

Humans of New York is a multi-year project to construct a photographic census of the city of New York. The team consists of one man, who walks the streets several hours a day, looking for interesting people, and taking their photograph. Currently, the project is in the gathering phase. The goal is 10,000. Photos are uploaded as they are collected, and arranged by date. When a substantial body of portraits has been gathered, they will be grouped by neighborhood and displayed geographically. Upon completion, an interactive map will show every neighborhood in New York through the faces of its inhabitants.

So far, he has taken plenty of photos in the East Village, including:

The site also includes accompanying stories. Yesterday, he had photos of a traveler on St. Mark's Place named Rancid and her dog Riot. You can find her story here.

I asked Brandon about taking photos in the East Village compared to other parts of the city.

"Anywhere in the East Village is an easy day. The general rule is: 'Anyone who is out to be seen, is willing to be photographed.' Beautiful girls, fashionistas, artists — they love to be seen," he says. "The farther you get from the artistic and high-fashion crowd, the more resistance you run into. In the East Village, I probably get about 90 percent of the portraits I ask for. Somewhere like Bedford-Stuyvesant, that number drops below 50 percent.

"I do tend to value the portraits from rougher neighborhoods more, because they are harder to obtain, and rarer. But whenever I get rundown, its back to the East Village for a breather."

Find more at Humans of New York here.

[All photos by Brandon Stanton. Reprinted with permission]

65 Avenue D on the market — with or without ground-floor church

Massey Knakal has a new listing for 65 Avenue D. According to the listing:

A 19' wide, 4 story, mixed-use building. The building is approximately 3,136 square feet and has approximately 7,364 BSF of air rights remaining. Currently the ground floor and lower level are used as church facility space; the 3rd and 4th floors are floor through apartments which are renovated. The fourth floor is currently rented for $2,626/month until June 2012, but the entire building could potentially be delivered vacant.

Of course! The price: $2.1 million.

No more Junk on St. Mark's Place, so to speak

Back in September, as we first reported, a thrift store-boutique called Junk took over the former De La Vega Museum on St. Mark's Place. (And despite the name, this location had nothing to do with the Junk outlets in Williamsburg.)

In any event, Junk has quickly called it a day... the shop is now empty...

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village vintage stores doomed?

More vintage doom: Beauty Crisis is closing

Other closings:

The song remains the same: Physical Graffiti latest thrift store to shutter

Atomic Passion has closed

Monk Thrift Shop on Avenue B

Atomic Passion on Ninth Street

O Mistress Mine on 11th Street

Andy's Chee-Pees on St. Mark's Place

Fab 208 is moving into a smaller space on Seventh Street

An early review of the new(ish) Avenue A taco cart

On Saturday night, our friends at the Late Adopter pointed out that a new(ish) taco cart had taken up residence on Second Street at Avenue A...

Well, the Late Adopter returned to test it out last night. And the verdict?

"An 'A' for enthusiasm and location but not sure we're on par with the Astoria trucks yet..."

Returning to the scene of last night's seizure/u-turn

A little bit ago I walked by the scene of last night's accident on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.... in which police told Bob Arihood that a man had a seizure while making a u-turn...

[Photo by Bob Arihood]

Several people have noted how much potentially worse this would have been had it happened on the same time on Thursday, Friday or Saturday... and if the Sushi Lounge had been open at he time of the accident...

And we probably don't need an "Out of Order" sign for the pay phone....

Write this way

The Post picked up on our, uh, post from yesterday about the page of a novel appearing on Seventh Street and First Avenue.

Per the paper:

At the bottom of the page, the reader is directed to St. Marks Place between First and Second avenues to find Page 8.
The Post found Page 8 put up on a lamppost at the location as advertised, although it was unable to locate Pages 1 through 6.

Anyone care to look for pages 1-6?

Police: Seizure causes smash-up at St. Marks Place and Avenue A

A frightening scene last night on St. Mark's Place and Avenue A. This car hit the wall of the Sushi Lounge after taking out the pay phone on St. Mark's Place. Police on the scene told Bob Arihood, who took the top photo, that the driver had a seizure while making a U-turn. At this time we don't have any further information on the driver, who worked nearby, or of any injuries.

[Courtesy of EV Grieve reader Chase]

For your ugly East Village building consideration

Back in November, a reader suggested that 147 First Avenue was the ugliest building in the East Village... I don't agree ... In any event, the post prompted some e-mails from readers suggesting other ugly buildings... I had forgotten about it, to be honest... until yesterday's item on the new office building coming to 51 Astor Place... which isn't as ugly as much as out of place... [Pauses] OK, it's ugly.

Anyway! A few more candidates ... there are plenty of others... but for now....



(Regarding this one below on First Avenue... it's more the color scheme than anything...)



I'm happy to take other suggestions. And no fair saying everything built in the last, oh, 8 years on the Bowery.

Putting together the pieces of Grace Farrell's last days

We've been following the story of Grace Farrell, the woman who was found dead under the scaffolding at St. Brigid's on Feb. 20. Reports of her death in the media haven't quite been in sync what people have been talking about in the neighborhood. Bob Arihood has more details on Grace at Nadie Se Conoce, including the last night of her life... in which she quietly walked out of Cowboy Stanley's apartment without either the coats that she owned. Read Bob's post here.

Report: The East Village Union Market will be huge, have a beef-aging facility

As I first reported on Feb. 4, Union Market is taking over the northeast corner of Avenue A and Houston ... Yesterday, Racked reported the following:

We hear that the Houston location will be Union Market's largest endeavor, taking up 6,000 square feet of space and, similar to the Court Street outpost, offering an eco-friendly build, a beef aging facility and personal shopping services.

Previously.

Today in East Village wildlife shots

From EV Grieve Wildlife Correspondent Bobby Williams... At El Jardin del Paraiso community garden on East Fourth Street between Avenue C and D...

Previously.

Screw Los Angeles: Looking to rekindle NYC's rude side

A few weeks back, Travel + Leisure's annual Favorite Cities poll named Los Angeles as the least friendly city in the country... narrowly edging New York.

All this spawned a new Tumblr — RudeNYC. According to the site:

We need to use this website as our central point for evidence that NYC is the rudest place in America so we can send it to Travel + Leisure Magazine to secure the title belt in 2012.

The site is a collection of reader-submitted "rude happenings" witnessed throughout NYC. Like!

Woman is crocheting, taking up 2 seats on the 8:30am downtown 6 train on a Monday - train is packed and someone accidentally bumps into her bag of yarn on the ground she looks up and yells “What the fuck is wrong with you!”

I was curious about the site, and tracked down the blog's author. Turns out he is a graduate student at NYU. While it started as a class project, the author, who works in the city, will continue it after the semester ends.

"I think NYC residents being rude is one of the best things about living here — there is always something to laugh about, especially when I'm commuting to work each day," he said.

You can also find them Rude NYC here on Twitter. Perhaps an antidote to the Niceness Trend we've seen of late ...

Grieve TV, 9:27 p.m., Feb. 28

Today's sign of the apocalypse: Your future gateway to the East Village!

From The Wall Street Journal today:

Edward Minskoff, a member of one of New York's storied real-estate families, is hoping to begin construction in July on what would be the city's first large "speculative" new office building since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Mr. Minskoff says he will begin construction without any pre-leasing on a Maki and Associates-designed, 430,000-square-foot tower on a site overlooking Astor Place that he acquired in late 2007. Just outside the trendy East Village, it's an unorthodox location for an office building. Most of the city's modern office space is in Midtown and the Financial District.

But in a recent interview, Mr. Minskoff predicted that the building would attract high-tech companies, investment banks, insurance and advertising firms. "It's an area that a lot of young people want to work in," he said. He plans to charge about $65 a square foot per year, a modest amount for new space.

The Journal piece came via Curbed, who note: "Though Astor Place seems like an odd location for a new office building, AOL and J. Crew already call the gateway to the East Village home." True. Construction is slated for July, with an 2013 opening date. May want to enjoy that Film Academy coffee while you can.

[Photo via Curbed]

Report: City makes Hells Angels remove bench bar

From an "exclusive" in the Post today. The City forced the Hells Angels to remove the bar from its bench outside its East Third Street HQ. Per the Post:

The city cracked down on the club after The Post recently publicized its efforts to keep pedestrians off its pew, said the Angels' lawyer, Ron Kuby.

Only members had been given keys to unlock the bar so they could sit down.

Department of Transportation officials noted that the bench was on city property and the organization would now need a permit for it, Kuby said.

A DOT spokesman said the two sides are trying to work out a solution to keep the bench.

Previously

See what happens when the Mulberry Street Bar puts in an Internet jukebox

We've been reading plenty of late about what's happening in Little Italy... such as the dwindling numbers of Italian-Americans living there ... and the fight to cut back the annual San Gennaro Feast ...

So anyone mourning the continued erosion of Little Italy may not care for this one...

The great old Mulberry Street Bar (aka Tony's) in Little Italy is admittedly pretty touristy at times ... all the Soprano's stuff inside and outside of the bar doesn't help. Still. Despite some modern touches (flat-screen TVs!) since Tony sold the place and moved to Florida, the bar retains much of its charm... like a working phone booth ...

And now the bar just added another modern amenity: an Internet jukebox ...

The old one was well-stocked with Frank Sinatra and Mario Lanza, etc. The other evening, some fun-loving tourists made their presence felt during the otherwise sleepy early evening hour by loading up the jukebox with Michael Jackson and the Bee Gees. And they danced...

... and danced...

A few old-timers standing at the bar looked blankly into their beers.

After failing to land a club restaurant, landlord lobbies for a nail salon

Wow.

So, we've written plenty about 14-16 Avenue B at East Second Street ... where plans for a big club restaurant were shot down by CB3 (and, perhaps, for good reasons — one venture called for a 3,000 square foot Italian restaurant, catering company and lounge "with an occasional D.J.") ... first last February ... and later in September.

Anyway! Perhaps the landlord has given up the nightclub restaurant dream... check out the new listing for 16 Avenue B....

Look at what it's "perfect" for now... a nail salon!

Of course, it could also be a bar disguised as a nail shop... works nicely with barber shops...

Orologio says goodbye on Avenue A

After yesterday's Sunday brunch, Orologio said goodbye to the neighborhood....

[Courtesy of Shawn Chittle]

[Courtesy of @StarkOnline]

Previously.

P.S.
Melanie also has a nice shot of the sign on East Village Corner.

Page 7

Page 7 of a novel that seems to be plastered around the neighborhood....

[Courtesy @Ewingweber]

'Sex and the City 2' continues to shame New York

The Razzies were held last night... honoring the worst movies of the past year (this wasn't the thing on ABC?)... and some old friends received accolades, per The Daily Mail ... "Sex and the City 2" received Worst Sequel and and all four of its stars — Jessica Cattrall, Sarah Kim Parker, Kristin Cynthia and Davis Nixon — collectively took the worst actress category. No word yet if this means that the SATC bus tours will be discounted.

[Via Runnin' Scared]

The CoopLambo gets around

Spotted today on Seventh Street near Avenue B. Previously.

[Courtesy of Bobby Williams]

Signs of spring on Avenue A

Via Shawn Chittle.

And are they carrying a white coffin? If so, then that's tacky before Memorial Day!

Week in Grieview

We learned more about Grace Farrell (Tuesday)

CB3 passed new liquor license legislation (Thursday)

Coyote Ugly reopened (Wednesday)

We talked about "Hot Chicks" (Monday)

We learned that the recession is over! (Wednesday)

We continued to worry about the Mars Bar (Friday)

There was a candlelight vigil at 35 Cooper Square (Tuesday) where the developer now apparently has all the necessary permits to destroy (Friday)

We saw the new Material Girl ads shot at Lit Lounge and Mars Bar (Thursday)

We looked at the March CB3/SLA docket, which includes a music venue for the former Aces and Eights(?) (Wednesday)

We watched the EV(ie) Hawk eat a rat (Thursday)

We mourned for Orologio, or at least some people did (Friday)

[Updated] East Village passenger reportedly steals and wrecks cab

Quite a story making the rounds from around 4 a.m. Here's Gothamist:

According to police, a cab driver got into an argument with the passenger in the East Village. Somehow, the passenger managed to get out of the car, kicked the driver out and start driving. The passenger then crashed into a light pole on Union Square West, and suffered minor injuries. He has since been arrested.

Theories?

[Updated 3:29 p.m. The Daily News has more. Per the paper:

Michael Findley, 31, of Pasadena, was treated at Bellevue Hospital for minor injuries - and then booked on six criminal counts.

Police said a cabbie picked up Findley at Delancey St. and the Bowery on the Lower East Side about 3 a.m. At one point, the cab stopped, and Findley got out.

Findley then yanked the driver from the taxi, punched him and drove away with the vehicle, police said.

Findley was charged with robbery, grand larceny auto, and driving while intoxicated, among other counts, police said. He was due to be arraigned later Sunday.

A cab ride up First Avenue in 1971

This video is marked "NYC Taxi Ride up 2nd Ave circa 1971" though it's actually First Avenue... a nice stroll through the East Village... see what you can recognize....

'The Fabulous Personalities of 1980s New York'

Earlier in the month we posted some short videos by downtown filmmaker Nelson Sullivan... Here's another one titled "The Fabulous Personalities of 1980s New York."

Breaking: New taco cart set up on Avenue A and Second Street

I don't recall seeing this before...? Or have I just missed it...? (Thanks to the Late Adopter for the shot)