Uh-oh — more chicks invading the East Village!

Dan Nguyen spotted the Peeps Mobile on First Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street the other night. From Eye Heart New York. (H/T Neighborhoodr)

Outside the MLB Man Fan Cave

Last evening, I swung by the former Tower Records on Broadway and East Fourth Street to check out the new MLB Fan Cave, in which two contest winners are living in a "Real World"-esque building and getting paid to watch every Major League Baseball game this season... Seeing as today is the first game of the season for many teams, I thought the place might be a little more ready for baseball action ...

Uh, play ball!

Save UNDER St Marks — on Facebook

Following the news that a) 94 St. Mark's Place is for sale and b) the Horse Trade Theater Group, who operate UNDER St. Marks, are hoping to buy the building...

There's now a Facebook page for interested parties titled Save UNDER St. Marks.

Group description:
As you may know, 94 St. Mark's Place is for sale. This building is the home of our beloved UNDER ST. MARK'S THEATER, run by the fine folks at Horse Trade Theater group. Horse Trade is launching a campaign to buy the building and keep the theater and we want to help! Consider this a place to brainstorm and organize!

Find them on Facebook at Save UNDER St. Marks

Previously on EV Grieve:
94 St. Mark's Place on the market, and what will it mean for Under St. Marks?

Today in photos of a large crane on First Avenue

Courtesy of EV Grieve crane correspondent Bobby Williams.

Scoring position: Former Towers Records space now a dude cave for baseball

Major League Baseball has transformed the former Tower Records space on Broadway and East Fourth Street into a "fan cave" for two lucky bastards guys who won a contest. Per the Daily News:

Starting tomorrow, Opening Day, [Michael] O'Hara, 37, will watch virtually every MLB game this season, tweet about them and - Oh, My God! - get paid for it.

Major League Baseball has outfitted the high-tech home run haven with 15 huge HD screens so O'Hara and sidekick Ryan Wagner can catch all the action right through the World Series.

And what does it look like?

"Extreme Makeover" star Paul DiMeo has installed a machine to test pitching speed, a fantasy baseball counter, a memorabilia museum, pool table, bar, a '50s diner, ever-changing photos in electronic frames and a tattoo parlor.

In homage to the downtown neighborhood's creative legacy, artists will conjure up players with portraits in ice, cheese and on Etch-A-Sketch screens, all under an 18-foot tall picture of Willie Mays' famed over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series.

Photo via. H/T Gothamist.

Horse Trade Theater Group launches campaign to buy 94 St. Mark's Place

Following up on our news yesterday that 94 St. Mark's Place is now for sale... the building houses Under St. Marks, which is operated by Horse Trade Theater Group. Horse Trade just released this statement...

Despite the announcement that 94 St. Marks is now for sale, Horse Trade Theater Group has no plans to close UNDER St. Marks anytime soon, and all scheduled resident productions and rental contracts will be honored. Horse Trade also announces that they will be mounting a capital campaign in order to purchase the property themselves.

“Horse Trade Theater Group is poised for a wonderful expansion. We are looking forward to all of the possibilities owning our own space might realize,” said Horse Trade Artistic Director, Heidi Grumelot. Anyone interested in donating to Horse Trade Theater Group or taking part in the capitol campaign should contact office@horsetrade.info.

Under St. Marks is a downtown performance venue with a rich history. An experimental theatre space since the 1970’s, this 45-seat basement theater is now home to a wide variety of performance artists including The BTK Band, Penny’s Open Mic, Revealed Burlesque, Thank You Robot, Adam Wade, Tanya O’Debra, The Management, Little Lord, the Rising Sun Performance Company, No Tea Productions, Wide Eyed Productions, Animal Parts, Subjective Theatre Company, The Pumpkin Pie Show, and the FRIGID New York Festival.

Previously on EV Grieve:
94 St. Mark's Place on the market, and what will it mean for Under St. Marks?

Subway stops at Billy's Antiques again

The subway sign saga at Billy's Antiques & Props on East Houston comes to an end today. Last March, the MTA busted Billy for allegedly selling stolen subway booty. Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges. But! The city never returned his prized props. (BoweryBoogie has a nice recap of all this here.)

However, Billy tells us that he's picking up his signs at the NYC Property Clerks office in Long Island City today at noon. "And then I'm bringing them to Billy's to splash them all over the sidewalk," he says.

[Photo via Curbed]

Noted

[DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund]

OK. So, let's just go right to Patrick Hedlund's article on DNAinfo:

The Upright Citizens Brigade recently hung red drapes in the windows of its forthcoming venue near East 3rd Street, after the comedy troupe agreed to remove a humorous "Hot Chicks Room" sign due to local residents' complaints that the babe-inspired billboard would draw hordes of rowdy bar-goers.

Now neighbors are taking issues with the theater's rose-colored curtains, claiming they make the venue look like a house of ill repute.

"They look like red velvet, like you would see in a bordello," said Felicia Caggiano, 66, whose window looks out onto the theater and who previously planned to start a petition against the "repulsive" Chicks sign.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Your 'Hot Chicks Room' sign update

[Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade


Breaking: UCB will remove the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign!

Fat Sal's coming to Avenue A

APizzA closed on Avenue A in early February. A tipster notes that the space will become home to the fifth NYC location of Fat Sal's.

So... anyone ever eaten a slice from Fat Sal's?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Why APizzaA closed

123 Third Ave.'s retail opportunity

We've kept tabs on the 123 Third Ave. condo sales... but what about the retail space here at 14th Street at Third Avenue?

All along, we've just assumed that a bank was signed, sealed and delivered for the location. Perhaps not. We just came across the listing.

There are a few details on the space on RKF site, including:

The 2,928-sf retail condominium is fully leased to Capital One and sits at the base of a newly constructed 19-story residential condominium project ... The neighborhood is a vibrant mix of residential, office, educational, and cultural uses, complemented by some of the best dining and retail in New York City. This is a rare opportunity to purchase a new- construction retail condominium fully leased to a credit tenant on a prime corner in Union Square.

That's just plain old Union Square ... and not East Union Square.

(View the whole listing here. And it's a PDF)

Tributes set in stone in Tompkins Square Park

Catching up on an article from The Villager before the new issue comes out tomorrow.

Bonnie Rosenstock wrote about the Make Your Mark in the Park program at Tompkins Square Park. The East Village Parks Conservancy created the program eight years ago to honor residents and help fund the Park’s gardener and elm tree watch.

There are currently 155 pavers around Temperance Fountain, with another 24 set to be placed later this spring. Each stone costs $250.

The article prompted me to look at the various tributes, which I hadn't done in several years ... and I spotted the name of someone I met in the neighborhood about 14 years ago.

Johnston, a writer for Time Out, died of colon cancer on Oct. 26, 2008. You can read more about him here.

Mayhem for muffins? Former Sin Sin space becoming a bakery, probably

The owner of 85 Second Ave. — once home to Sin Sin — said the space will likely be home to a bakery, DNAinfo reports.

"It's not going to be a bar," assured Alex Shkolnik, who owns 85 Second Ave. "It's never going to be something like was there."

Shkolnik claimed this time around he would not work with Sin Sin's owners, who unsuccessfully tried to transfer their liquor license last year to a new group of operators.

Instead, he explained, Shkolnik's son will take over the space and open a restaurant featuring items like baked goods, coffee and juice.

"They're going to do probably a bakery there," he said, noting that it would serve "health food."

Previously on EV Grieve:
'The neighborhood will not rest until you are gone and Sin Sin’s license is revoked'

NYPD hosting meeting between Sin Sin and neighbors tonight

East Village noise wars new battlefront: Sin Sin/Leopard Lounge

Why the president of the East Fifth Street Block Association carries a baseball bat

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

A look at "Bloomberg's New York: Class and Governance in the Luxury City" (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

New bedbug site for NYC (Runnin' Scared)

Cuomo restores senior center funding (The Lo-Down)

Amato Opera still on the market (DNAinfo)

Life without a belt (Nadie Se Conoce)

Payless ShoeSource moving into retail space of fancy 130 Delancey building (BoweryBoogie)

Luke's Lobster opening on Wall Street (Eater)

And two events this week via the Lower East Side History Project:

"Time and Space on the Lower East Side: 1980/2010"
w/ photographer Brian Rose

Tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Mid-Manhattan Library
455 5th Avenue, NY NY 10006 (at 41st Street)
Subway: 7 to 5th Avenue or B, D, F, M to 42nd Street/ Bryant Park
FREE!

In 1980, photographers Brian Rose and Ed Faustry embarked on an ambitious project to photograph a number of buildings, storefronts and streets of the Lower East Side. Tonight at the Mid-Manhattan Library, Brian Rose will be discussing his fantastic new book, Time and Space on the Lower East Side, which offers dozens of beautiful "then and now" images.

We posted this photo by Brian last year.



On East Fifth Street between C and D. Rose was standing near Fourth Street

"The Bowery: A History of Grit, Graft and Grandeur" Book Party W/ presentations by Eric Ferrara, Rob Hollander & David Mulkins

Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The BRECHT FORUM
451 West Street (West Side Highway at Bank Street)
New York, NY 10014
Subway: L to 14th Street
Sliding scale admission: $6/$10/$15/Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers
Refreshments served.

94 St. Mark's Place on the market, and what will it mean for Under St. Marks?

Here we go. Per the Massey Knakal listing:

The residential rents currently average $1,700/month, which is about 20% below current market levels providing great upside. With the exception of one RS unit, all apartments are FM, making it possible to improve unites [sic] and increase rents in the short term. The theater is on a month to month lease, so this could be a prime investor or user opportunity.

The theater in question is, of course, Under St. Marks, which has operated here as an experimental spot since the 1970s. The space is currently operated by the Horse Trade Theater Group. (We have an email out to them about all this.)

Investment properties (the asking price is $5.75 million) and experimental theater spaces certainly don't seem to go hand-in-hand ... making this potentially bad news down the road for Under St. Marks... and another loss for the neighborhood's creative spirit.

South Brooklyn Pizza asks for signatures, calls CB3 'infamous'

South Brooklyn Pizza is on the April CB3/SLA agenda. They're expanding to open a restaurant next door at 122 First Ave. in the former Ruben's space. (Eater first noted this takeover last September.) They're asking for a beer-and-wine license.

And so the South Brooklyn Pizza folks are collecting signatures of support, as the sign in the window shows... pointing out they are "going in front of the infamous community board three."

One neighbor said that South Brooklyn Pizza will also be looking to open an outdoor space. There was opposition to a liquor license for the new pizza place last June.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Opposition to South Brooklyn Pizza's liquor license

A quick look back at a Mars Bar moment

We noted on Sunday that there's a new mural up outside Mars Bar.

And now a quick look at the previous mural... one of our all-time favorites... the "Mars Bar Moment" by Jane Knox that she started on Feb. 18.

Vandals struck a few weeks later...

...then someone cleaned it up, kind of...

To many more Mars Bar moments.

What celebrity will be having a 'Close Call' in the East Village?

EV Grieve reader Creature sends along this photo from Avenue A and Sixth Street... A film shoot today for "Celebrity Close Call"??

Not familiar with that one... According to Bio.com:

For many celebrities life can be a dream — critical acclaim, a world of adoring fans, and unimaginable wealth. But in a split second everything can disappear. In this riveting one-hour special we'll talk with stars Jane Seymour, Erik Estrada, Leif Garret and Coolio, each forced to face their own mortality in shocking, unexpected twists of fate. These celebrities' true stories should be obituaries, tragic endings to phenomenal lives. Except for one thing: every single one of them lived to tell the tale.

Any thoughts on what celebrity will be using the East Village as a backdrop to his or her near-death experience?

The High Line gets the 'National Geographic' treatment

The April National Geographic is on newsstands today, and the issue includes a feature on the High Line (not to mention snow frogs!)...

Anyway, here's a link to the feature ... where you can find a few more photos like these...

And here are a few passages from the accompanying essay by Paul Goldberger...

Almost a decade after the Giuliani administration tried to tear the High Line down, it has been turned into one of the most innovative and inviting public spaces in New York City and perhaps the entire country.

And!

New York is a city in which good things rarely happen easily and where good designs are often compromised, if they are built at all.

For another take on the new High Line, read Jeremiah Moss's essay at Vanishing New York.

[All photos by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel/National Geographic. Cover credit: National Geographic]

Speaking of wildlife...

EV Grieve Wildlife Correspondent Bobby Williams and others were on the scene yesterday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park...

...as our red-tailed hawk dined on a rat.

FDNY battles apartment blaze at 309 E. Ninth St.

The FDNY was on the scene tonight at 309 E. Ninth St. just east of Second Avenue ... where firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze that started in a fourth-floor apartment...

No word yet on injuries or the extent of the damage. Firefighters had tossed several charred pillows out on the sidewalk.

Here's a photo a little earlier via @Bincerli