Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Fox 5 ready to go live with the TSP Ratstravaganza!


Dave on 7th is on the scene too!

Previously.

[Updated] WABC discovers the rats in Tompkins Square Park


Welcome to the the TSP Ratstravaganza! NBC has been here already. Where the hell are those slackers from CBS and Fox? (NY1 checked in earlier too.)

Photo taken this afternoon via @biggayicecream.

And later... Bobby Williams caught Michele Charlesworth in action...


And the report...



Previously.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Photo on St. Mark's Place by John Marshall Mantel]

A facelift for Moishe's Bake Shop (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

CB3 endorses two East Village historic districts (The Lo-Down ... The Local East Village ... DNAinfo ...)

Looking at the chances a new Mars Bar would ever get past CB3 (Eater)

Chelsea Hotel closing for renovations (Curbed)

Some great old signs and structures on the west side (Blah Blog Blah)

Looking at the the long-gone National Theatre on East Houston Street (BoweryBoogie)

Stuy Town Nearly Rid of Illegal Hotels (visit the all-new Stuy Town Living)

More red-tailed hawk sightings in NYC (Roger_Paw)

And count BaHa among the many people mourning the loss of the Chow Mein sign on Second Avenue ...

[Courtesy of BaHa]

And if you happen to be in Los Angeles (tonight) or San Francisco (Saturday), then you can catch "Dirty Old Town" with Billy Leroy...

Are you missing a bird?


So, a reader just spotted this bird outside his window on East Second Street apartment (between First Avenue and Second Avenue).

Per the reader: "Bird seemed quite agitated and freaked out, but with the help of a neighbor we were able to get the bird inside and are now trying to find its owner/what to do with it. It does have an identification band on its right leg, but I couldn't quite make out what it said on it."

Anyone?

grieve98@gmail.com

Tompkins Square Park rats now famous in Seattle!


The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has picked the AP story about the TSP Ratstravaganza!

Tompkins Square Park rats now enjoying citywide recognition

Well, both the Post and NBC New York have just checked in with reports about what Bob Arihood has dubbed "the TSP Ratstravaganza."

As The Villager reported last week, concerned parents have formed the Tompkins Square Park & Playgrounds Parents’ Association after lots of rats have been spotted in the recently renovated, $1.5 million playground off Ninth Street and Avenue A.

Here's the Post article. Here's the WNBC clip.

Oh, and I should mention that Park officials can't use poison to kill the rats... they need to protect Tommy/Evie/whateverItsNameIs, the red-tailed hawk.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Parents group upset about number of rats in Tompkins Square Park (32 comments)

Move into 7 Second Ave., next door to 'the imminent carnage'


EV Grieve reader Bayou passes along a link to a co-op studio for sale at 7 Second Ave. (You can read the listing here.) It's a pretty typical listing. Of course, the buildings next door up to First Street, including the former homes of Joe's Locksmith and Mars Bar, will soon be demolished to make way for a 12-story luxury high rise with 65 units.

This isn't noted in the listing.

Asks Bayou, "Wonder if they'll mention the imminent carnage at the open houses."

[Curbed]

The man in the window at 9 Second Ave.

On Saturday, I was walking on Second Avenue when I noticed a man standing in the window upstairs at 9 Second Ave. (aka 7 1/2 Second Ave.). Not a big deal, except I thought that everyone had already moved out in advance of the demolition.


I circled around and took better look... He seemed to be intently staring out the window, perhaps taking in the view one last time...




Heh. Well! Perhaps the mannequin has been there and I just never noticed it... or maybe someone placed it there upon moving out. Maybe give the construction workers pause.

East Village to get a taste of Upstate

Last evening, Goggla noticed the new restaurant on First Avenue called Upstate. And, in a really soft launch, the restaurant appeared to be open last night...



In recent years, the space was home to Permanent Brunch/Permanent Brunch & Burger/Steak Shoppe.

Earlier this month, The Observer noted that owner Shane Covey used to work at the 10-year-old Flatiron seafood restaurant Shaffer City, which closed last September. Upstate will serve oysters, meats, cheeses and craft beer.

Workers paint over the Russo's mural on 11th Street

Last Monday, we pointed out the arrival of a sidewalk shed outside Something Sweet on the corner of First Avenue and East 11th Street...


And, let's awkwardly quote ourselves.... "As long as no one gets any funny ideas about painting over the Russo's mural on the 11th Street side..."

[2nd Russo's image via]

That's right! And this past weekend... checking in on the painting progress.


...and yesterday...


Ugh.


The store was founded in 1904. I don't know how long the mural has been here... Could workers have spared it? Not such a crazy concept. The pigs were actually saved on Second Avenue. Regardless, just one more familiar site in the neighborhood that has disappeared...

Lucy's is closed until Aug. 12 (smiley face)


A reader just asked yesterday morning what was going on with Lucy's on Avenue A. Seemed like the place has been closed the last few days. And no note, like usual.

However! A note appeared yesterday.... Lucy is on holiday again...

Also, this note doesn't quite stack up against previous closed notes...








Exclusive: First look inside Sidewalk's new kitchen


Oh, OK. It's not really an exclusive. Anyone who walked by here on Sixth Street the last few nights probably got a look at Sidewalk's renovated kitchen. Anyway, as we reported a few weeks ago, Sidewalk hopes to reopen by Aug. 5.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Beatbox Kid Lucky on Astor Place today

[Bobby Williams]

[John Marshall Mantel]

East Village post offices spared from possible closure

[Photo via Forgotten NY]

This morning, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe released a "post office study" of nearly 3,700 potential closings in the United States. Despite the massive list, it appears that the Tompkins Square branch on East Third Street between Avenue B and Avenue C has been spared. Its name was not among those that the USPS may shutter to ease the agency's humongous deficit. (The full list is here.) There had been some neighborhood gossip that this small branch may go.

Meanwhile, the other local branches on 14th Street and Fourth Avenue are also not on the closure list.