Today in photos of a large crane on Avenue A

Putting in the new sign for the 7-Eleven? (KIDDING! I know, not funny...)

Bike gang overruns East Village

Oops! Check that...

Photos by EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams...

Then from his eyes, Spring fireflies

Siouxsie and the Banshees with "The Killing Jar." 1988.

Mara's Homemade blames their closing, in part, on the East Village bike lanes

Word is getting out this afternoon (via Twitter and Eater, for starters) that Mara's Homemade, the Cajun eatery on East Sixth Street, is closing at the end of April.

Via a letter linked to on Twitter, they mention multiple factors for the closing.

But the reason for closing that might generate the most discussion?

We accepted a short term lease to give us time to re-locate or negotiate a longer term with our current landlord. Since that time, the BP explosion took place, bike lanes were installed on First and Second Avenues which reduced parking and the signs of future property tax increases have occurred.

Report: craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant coming to old Kurve space

Grub Street gets the word on what's coming to the former Kurve-Rhong Tiam space on Second Avenue and Fifth Street: a craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant. And it's from the team behind Dempsey's and Sláinte. And don't call it an Irish pub! "The food will be in the American comfort-food mode with some twisted-up Irish dishes mixed in for good measure," owner Tom O'Byrne told Grub Street.

They're just one of the 40 items on next month's CB3/SLA docket.

Marking the 100th Anniversary Of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

[Photo by EV Grieve reader T]

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 146 garment workers who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths.

Here's a chalk memorial of a young victim from the 1911 fire on St Mark's Place near Avenue A.

CNN has more on the fire here. NY1 said they'd have updates on the anniversary throughout the day.

New signs for 35 Cooper Square

One reader fretted, a sure sign of imminent demolition? No. It's difficult to say what's happening here of late. The city approved the demolition of the historic 35 Cooper Square on Feb. 14. However, the city hasn't issued the permit for demolition... stay tuned...

Spring, eternal

Came across this photo on Facebook... from inside Sophie's ...

It's a springtime poem by the one-and-only Joseph "Count Slima" Williams — owner of the greatest laugh that you'll ever hear. (And you can purchase Slima's poems by inquiring at Sophie's.)

[Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk. More photos at Flickr]

Does the East Village fit the Dockers demographic now?

Sign spotted for a Dockers commercial shoot today on Avenue A at 10th Street.

Pub crawl ban brewing?

Town & Village reports this week that Community Board 6 — which serves the east side, from 14th Street to 59th Street with hot spots like Murray Hill and Stuy Town — will discuss a possible ban on pub crawls. (The meeting is set for next Thursday.)

The article isn't online, though Lux Living scanned in the piece...

(You can read it at Lux Living here.)

One CB6 rep said that pub crawls "may be a lot of fun for the revelers, but they're not a lot of fun for the community." And — duh! — the problem with crawls? They too often lead to heavy crowding ... "with the result of excess noise and vomiting in the streets due to binge drinking."

Perhaps CB3 will consider such a ban? Some bar owners may not like it, but residents would...Meanwhile, please feel free to defend pub crawls.

Epic CB3/SLA docket ready for April: Hello again Superdive (aka 'Not a Bookstore Inc.') and Caffe Buon Gusto!

Been some time since we've such seen an action-packed SLA & DCA Licensing Committee docket... 40 items!



Monday, April 11 at 6:30 pm — JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth Street at the Bowery

Here are a few items of interest! (The whole shooting match is here.)

Applications within Resolution Areas

• U-2 (Saint King J Corp), 6 St Marks Pl (3rd-4th Fl) (wb)

This is the karaoke portion of the former Cafe Hanover space (RIP, Mondo Kim's).

• Not a Bookstore LLC, 200 Ave A (op) (Superdive)

Ah! An inside joke from the Superdivers... a nod to Superdive's Rapture Cafe & Books past! Not funny!

• Casimir, 105 Ave B (op)

Changes in store for the French bistro?

• Ave B Caffe Buon Gusto Inc, 545 E 5th St (aka 76 Ave B) (wb)

Hello again, old friend! Been a long time since we've heard anything about this. Remember last time they were on the docket? To the recap!

Sidewalk Café Applications

• Café Cotto (Pasta Bar Café Corp), 127 Ave C

• Plump Dumpling (Big Dumpling Corp), 174 2nd Ave

• Percy's Tavern (Steelbar 180 Inc), 210 Ave A

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades

• Radley Realty Corp, 325 Bowery (alt/ extend license to sidewalk)

Peels wants a sidewalk cafe. #ShitShow

• To Be Determined, 500 E 11th St (trans/op) (Angels & Kings)

Interesting...

• To Be Determined, 351 E 12th St (trans/op) (Resto Leon)

I actually have never been to Resto Leon.

• 4AB LLC, 235 E 4th St (trans/op) (Tonda)

The Tonda watch continues.

• To Be Determined, 700 E 9th St (trans/op) (Banjo Jim's)

Anyone know anything about this?

New Liquor License Applications

• Trim Castle Corp, 87 2nd Ave (op)

The former Kurve-Rhong Tiam space.

• South Brooklyn Pizza (122 First Pizza Inc), 122 1st Ave (wb)

• Agave Azul (228 Rest Corp), 228 1st Ave (op)

This is the Mexican cantina that I reported was coming to the former David's Bagels space.

• The Other WineBar, 412 E 9th St (wb)

• To Be Determined, 107 1st Ave (wb)

The former Bonjoo space..

You may find some additional comments about all this at The Low-Down, Eater and Grub Street.

On Second Avenue, La Da Nang is suddenly Zabb Elee

Rebecca Marx first pointed this out yesterday at Fork in the Road... The owners of Le Da Nang, which opened last March, have turned the space into Zabb Elee...

... the second outpost of their Northeastern Thai restaurant... (the other is in Jackson Heights). Hmm. And I rather liked Le Da Nang the few times that I either picked something up to go or had food delivered.

Previously on EV Grieve:
La Da Nang sign up

March 24

Avenue B and Sixth Street. (Your move, Brooklyn.)

[Updated]

And just like that... One More Folded Sunset comes across a fire hazard tree in Brooklyn today....

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

East Village photog survived beating, interrogations in Egypt (The Villager)

Looking at Elizabeth Taylor's New York City (City Room)

More on the the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (The Gog Log)

An interesting corner in Chinatown (Lost City)

Girls Prep charter school OK'd for 12th Street move (DNAinfo)

The TSP ping-pong table after its first snowfall (Nadie Se Conoce)

Elsewhere in the Park (East Village Corner)

Thundersleet! (Runnin' Scared)

March 29 — Brian Rose on "Time and Space on the Lower East Side" book (Brian Rose)

Last leg of a Times Square tour (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Inside Obscura on East 10th Street (The Local East Village)

The Delancey Ministers (BoweryBoogie)

Eataly's Huge Rooftop Beer Garden Coming Soon (Eater)

Eden & John's East River String Band namechecked on Page 6 (Page Six, via Slum Goddess)

And one more Supermoon! ... From Stephen Popkin via Third Avenue...

Elusive pigeon lady captured on film, sort of

We've discussed the elusive pigeon lady hereabouts before... she lays down huge bags of bread crumbs on Avenue A near Ninth Street for the rats pigeons. Begin the Pigeocalypse!

Anyway, a reader has sent along this photo moments after one of her the pigeon lady's morning dumps, so to speak...

The bread crumb trail is getting hotter...



Previously.

This weather is all becoming terribly confusing

Outside Duke's on Avenue C.

Mural fiber

In recent weeks, you've likely seen two murals going up on East Village buildings...

On East Third Street between the Bowery and Second Street...

...and Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...

[Photo by Sara Louise Tucker]

Here's what's going on...

This is part of a nonprofit event titled Artists Work and painted by Overall Murals. Via email, I spoke with Angel Saemai, a partner of Overall Murals.

The Third Street mural is based on an illustration by French artist Jules Julien while the Eighth Street mural is an original work by Spanish illustrator Gary Fernandez.

"The goal of these installations is mainly to bring cool contemporary artworks and enlarge them into mural form — making them accessible to all people and for their and the neighborhood's enjoyment (hopefully!)," she said.

Saemai said they only choose blank walls so not to paint over any existing artwork. So far, she said that feedback from East Village residents has been positive — "both for adding some color and life to the area as well as for the artworks themselves."

And you can watch a time-lapse video of the painting here at Hugo & Marie.

"We hope to make this an annual thing and make murals for different neighborhoods," she said.

[Photo via Overall Murals]

Keep on truckin': Van Leeuwen opening dessert shop on Seventh Street

A reader sent along a link to a post on The Feast from last Friday reporting that popular food truckers Van Leeuwen will be opening their third cafe in the city — this one "at Second Avenue near 7th Street."

Per The Feast:

"[T]his first Manhattan branch will focus on locally-made ice cream, Intelligentsia coffee, and house-made pastries, but will be much larger.

"Expect the space to resemble the newest shop, which the young owners designed themselves with reclaimed wood and custom wallpaper."

So, this explains what will be going in here...

As we noted last month, workers at the former City Copies on Seventh Street just east of Second Avenue would be home to "coffee and ice cream."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming soon to Seventh Street: coffee and ice cream

NYC 1983

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Crazy Eddie for sending this link along... Andrew Sullivan posted this yesterday at the Atlantic (via The Daily What)... a stop-action tour of NYC circa 1983... (and look — no cellphones!)



Here's the description:

A five minute film by Rick Liss.
A portrait of New York City circa early 1980s.
Which was an extremely fertile time creatively in New York City. This is a record of the city at that time.
Music principally by Laurie Anderson

[Oops! I didn't realize that Alex had this over at Flaming Pablum on March 15!]

Uh-oh: Someone didn't get the memo about the sign coming down