Community center and supportive housing project underway on East Ninth Street

Yesterday, workers began putting up the sidewalk shed at 710 E. Ninth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... at the Henry Street Settlement Day Care #3 building...

We reported on this project in May 2010.

The project includes a community facility space on the ground floor and in the basement... the upper levels will house 46 units (28 studios and 12 one-bedroom apartments). The housing will serve homeless young adults and young adults aging out of the foster-care system. An additional 12 units will be set aside for young single adults with a child.

The project is a joint venture among Phipps Houses ... University Settlement/The Door ... and Loisaida, Inc. SLCE Architects created the plans...

And proof that not every single new development in the neighbor is for the wealthy...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Community center and supportive housing coming to East Ninth Street

[Photos by Bobby Williams]

How Cooper Union has been giving back

Many East Villagers are unhappy with Cooper Union these days. There's been a lot of talk about what they're taking away from the neighborhood. Like turning Astor Place into an office park. Or perhaps being unsympathetic to the plight of the St. Mark's Bookshop. But let's be fair. Cooper Union has been giving to the neighborhood...

Such as with the free outdoor air conditioning. (We wrote about this here.)

...free outdoor urinal...

...and free place to rest for a moment...

About the sign to the bicyclist who hit the woman on Avenue A and Third Street

Have you seen this sign on Avenue A at Third Street? Probably a good story behind it, huh?

Well, yes there is! And our friend Jen Doll at Runnin' Scared has the details. It concerns Cynthia Wright, an actress who also teaches at NYU. A cyclist clipped her while she was crossing Avenue A. She sustained multiple injuries, though was able to continue on her journey. The police on the scene made some anti-Bloomberg cycling comments. The cyclist apologized. And now that Wright, a cyclist herself, has had some time to rest and think about what happened...

Her hopes in placing the sign are that the guy, who she describes as a "handsome young hipster guy" with dark hair, helmetless, and probably in his 20s, riding a black bike with a thin frame, will see it and contact her. "It's come to me since," she said, "If I were he, I would be willing to help this person by buying her a new pair of pants, help her with having to see the osteopathic physician, and the other work."

So, if you're reading this "handsome young hipster guy," then you may have to buy some pants and what not.

Read the whole post here.

The Porch moving on from Avenue C

Very reliable sources tell Dave on 7th that The Porch, the summery, two-level bar between Eighth Street and Seventh Street, is relocating to another part of the city. We stopped by last night. The place was closed. And no one was answering the phone.

Never been here ourselves. Kind of knew what it was all about. Per the Porch website: "More than a bar or lounge, 'The Porch' is an oasis for the mind, body and spirit. One step inside and you will be transported to a magical world that simultaneously elicits nostalgic memories of swinging on your grandmother’s porch swing while sipping a cool glass of lemonade as a child and of traveling to a distant, mysterious and romantic land."

[Dramatic pause]

Oh, and the source says that an Indian restaurant is taking over the space. At least that's what the rumor is along here.

Veselka Bowery, now with awnings

Look. Awnings! Still looking at an early-mid October opening. Probably.

Holy smoke! Cigar shop slated for 24 Avenue A

RyanAvenueA passes along this tip about one of the newly created storefronts at 24 Avenue A: Cigar shop.

As mentioned Wednesday, the revived Houston Deli & Grocery is taking over the corner space at Second Street...

Oompah alert! So long summer, it's time for Oktoberfest

At Zum Schneider on Avenue C and Seventh Street... Starting tomorrow. Details here. Unfortunately, I accidentally put my Bundhosen in the dryer.

Noted

Bowery and Houston.

New bakery now open on Ninth Street

A reader reports that Zucker, a Mediterranean-style bakery, opened today... The reader says that the place has a "nice, laid-back vibe" with Stumptown coffee and a limited selection of baked goods as they were still filling the cases.

As Patrick Hedlund noted at DNAinfo, Zucker is "the brainchild of Village resident Zohar Zohar, an Israeli native who decided to return to the culinary world after taking nearly a decade off to devote to her family."

We stopped by for a quick photo and will check it out once they are a little more settled in...

Previously.

Last rites for Second Avenue buildings

Firefighters were on the scene this morning outside the condemned buildings at 9-17 Second Avenue... one day to become a 12-story apartment building.

They were marking the building with an X. As a firefighter on the scene put it, the X means "to stay out."

And up Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street... a crew arrived for testing at the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel.

In June, Off the Grid, the blog of the Greenwich Village Preservation Society, reported that the owners have applied to make substantial changes to the 1937 building. Indeed.

On Sept. 9, the city approved plans to "Remodel the existing three story building and add 3 stories on top." The architect is Ramy Issac — "The controversial penthouse king of the East Village." Per the DOB, the ground floor is marked for commercial use. We haven't seen any renderings just yet... (let us know if you have...) Also looking forward to the marketing materials — "your chance to live in luxury above a former funeral home! Featuring kitchens with granite countertops and high-end appliance packages such as Kohler and Bosch!"

Anyway, pay your respects while you can. And check out the history of the Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

A look inside St. Brigid's

Dave on 7th checked in on the progress with the St. Brigid's renovations on Avenue B and Eighth Street... A worker said that the renovations were going "slowly but surely."

He also spoke with one of the stain glass glaziers, who said that the crew was trying to get the windows in by winter so that they could work inside. Unfortunately, none of the original St. Brigid's windows were saved. The worker said that they were getting their stock of salvaged windows from other churches (via the Archdiocese of New York) and then they were filling in with new colored glass.

Bonus night shot via Dave on 7th ...

Please don't feed the rats in Tompkins Square Park

In the last few days, it seemed as if the Tompkins Square Park rat population had been thinning out a bit... We've outlined all the steps park workers are taking to combat the problem.

A reader sent this shot along the other day... with a note "I think the problem is subsiding."

Then yesterday. Walking through the park... just missed someone dropping off the breadwagon right near the playground at Ninth and Avenue A. Within moments, rats started darting out from various holes ... soon there was a frenzy...(though we didn't get good shots of the 8-9 rats on the bread pile...)

LUNGS aims to promote and preserve Lower East Side gardens

LUNGS — Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens — is a new group to, as the flyer shows, "work to promote, protect and preserve gardening and greening on the Lower East Side." First meeting: Saturday afternoon at 1 in the garden at 311 E. Eighth St.

Making the case to 'save' Heathers

We haven't heard much about Heathers — for or against — since the CB3/SLA committee voted not to renew the East 13th Street bar's liquor license on Monday. Members of the 13th Block Association and other residents brought "No renewal for Heathers" signs to the meeting. Residents speaking out against the bar talked about the Heather's crowd smoking pot, urinating in doorways and what not. (The Times highlighted the ongoing noise issues in a lengthy article in January 2007.)

Owner Heather Millstone reminded everyone how surveillance tapes that she provided helped lead to the arrest of former NYPD officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin L. Mata.

According to the State Liquor Authority, the license for Heathers expires on Oct. 31.

As you know, the State Liquor Authority has the final say in these matters. This doesn't mean that Heathers will close. As we mentioned earlier, the CB3/SLA committee voted to deny TenEleven's license renewal in July, though the SLA later approved it.

Meanwhile, Keith Wagstaff, a writer for The L Magazine, checked in yesterday with a post titled "Save Heathers! Beloved E Village Bar Under Attack From NIMBYs." He writes:

This simply shall not stand. Heathers has been in the neighborhood since 2005; it is a bastion for a diverse mix of gay and straight creatives who are looking for a drink in an increasingly frat-like East Village bar scene.

2005? Well, OK. Also...

The main problems, as a person who has been going to Heathers consistently for years, is a) the bar is on a side street instead of a main avenue b) it's just too damn popular. The East Village bar scene is basically becoming divided into fancy, $13 cocktail places and beer pong douche-a-ramas. ... There are very few bars in the East Village with an artistic bent and affordable drinks, and if Heathers goes, there will be one less reason to leave Brooklyn.

You can read the entire post here.

[Updated] Discovery Wines opens today on Avenue B

Back in the late spring, Discovery Wine moved away from its home on Avenue A ... one of the businesses displaced with the arrival of Union Market... Discovery didn't travel too far — just to the southwest corner of Avenue B and Second Street.

According to the Discovery Wines site, the store will open today. (Updated, per a Discovery tweet — they'll open at 5.)

And this closes the chapter on 16 Avenue B...Previously, two different restaurant-club hybrids had tried to open a club restaurant at 14-16 Avenue B since the corner deli closed a few years ago. (As you may recall, one venture called for a 3,000 square foot Italian restaurant, catering company and lounge "with an occasional D.J.")

The stores displaced by Union Market now have new homes ... in addition to Discovery Wines, the Houston Deli & Grocery is opening on Second and A ... and Joyful Nail on Avenue A...

More on 14-16 Avenue B here.

More on Union Market here.

Tompkins Square Park wildlife, dead or alive

Photos today by Bobby Williams.

If you look directly into the light...

A red-tailed hawk will appear... A little after 6 this evening in Tompkins Square Park via EV Grieve reader Mish...

Another bakery for St. Mark's Place?

Heh. Noticed this out at the curb this morning near First Avenue... Called ConEd about getting the gas turned on. Should have it on in a few months.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Third Avenue at East 10th Street circa 1970, Courtesy LaGurdia & Wagner Archives NYC Housing Authority Collection]

10th Street and Third Avenue through the years (Off the Grid)

From the archives on this block: Klein's Fat Men's Shop (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

No more Edgar Oliver on East 10th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Another worry in Tompkins Square Park: leptospirosis (The Villager)

LES Jewels and Jennifer Blowdryer at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Sunday night (Neither More Nor Less)

A lot more additions to the EV Grieve animated GIF tribute site (EVGif)

Q-and-A with the bellhops of the Bowery Hotel (Runnin' Scared)

East River String Band in Washington Square Park (Slum Goddess)

Suggestions for a tour of Chelsea galleries (The Gog Log)

And the new LES-branded trash cans...

[Photo via @nackman]

More details emerge about attack on East Eighth Street Saturday morning

As reported Saturday morning, several residents said that a man had attacked a woman on East Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.

On Monday, Patrick Hedlund at DNAInfo had more details about the assault, which occurred around 8:20 a.m. Saturday. The man, listed as Neil Essex, "allegedly threw the woman to the ground and began punching her in the face ... The complaint claimed that Essex then removed the woman’s pants and raped her while choking her so viciously that she lost consciousness."

Hedlund had a follow-up story last evening. Police sources said that Essex did not know his victim, "claiming that he pounced on her suddenly on the street in broad daylight."

According to the Post today: "Essex was arrested for allegedly killing his mother in 1984; the status of that case wasn’t immediately available."

One source said that Essex had been staying at a halfway house on East Sixth Street.

No 7-Eleven for former Graceland; and the return of Houston Deli & Grocery

In June 2010, EV Italian eatery guru Frank Prisinzano said during a CB3/SLA committee meeting that the landlord of the former Graceland space on Avenue A and Second Street had four prospective tenants: Frank's fast-food Italian joint, a bank, a 7-Eleven and a bank.

Which caused us to play with PhotoShop.



Anyway, on June 22, 2010, the full Community Board 3 denied Prisinzano's application to open a fast-food style Italian restaurant here.

And the space has sat empty ever since... However, workers have been splitting up the space. There are now three different storefronts.

Anyway, remember that The Houston Deli & Grocery on Avenue A and Houston had to close in the spring to make room for the new fancy Union Market...?

EV Grieve reader Josh saw one of the fellows inside the corner space at the old Graceland. Per Josh: "The really nice guy who ran the corner market on Houston and A ... is opening up on the corner of 2nd and A at the old Graceland space. Says by the end of the month. Glad to see he'll be back in the neighborhood."

Not sure if they'll actually still be called Houston Deli & Grocery seeing as they're a block to the north... Still, we'll take it.

And no word yet on the tenants of the other two storefronts...

Today's sign of the apocalypse: IHOP will have a bouncer

As you're painfully aware, IHOP opened yesterday on East 14th Street. And, according to the Post today:

IHOP is so convinced its new East Village location is going to be an after-hours hipster hot spot that it has hired a bouncer.

An off-duty cop will stand guard outside the East 14th franchise each night from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. in order to keep the bar crowd at bay, manager Michael Carlos said, explaining, “When people have a few drinks, they can get rowdy.”

Hipster hot spot? Uh-huh.

Anyway, let's give it up to Niall Gibbons for this quote:

“IHOP is bland and belongs in Times Square — it doesn’t make sense in the East Village. The neighborhood has lots of character, but the character fades when something like this comes along.”

Rumors: Ground floor at 147 First Avenue will include the Bean AND a bar

As we first reported, The Bean is opening an outpost at the former home of Anjelica's Herbs on First Avenue and Ninth Street...

And, now, that persistent rumor: The ground floor will also house a bar. Per an EVG reader:

"I heard from someone who talked to the workmen that a BAR is going to take half the former herb store on the ground floor. The Bean will have half, and a bar will have the other half. I dunno, seems like very small spaces for two establishments. And dear God, ANOTHER bar???"

Yes! The always reliable construction worker! Sure, it's possible. But we've been wrong here before... remember the motel? Or the full demolition? (Hey, we're one out of three so far!)

Meanwhile! Looks like the painting is continuing... and we see some charcoal gray creeping up...

The upper floors are still set for luxury apartments... still looking like what a reader described as something that blew in from the Hamptons...

RIP Ball Park Lanes

Every so often we venture away from the neighborhood... yesterday, we were reminded that we never ran this post after seeing the news of a planned high-end hotel near Yankee Stadium...

On a recent trip to Yankee Stadium, I was sorry to find that the Ball Park Lanes was sealed up and for sale... In June 2010, Gothamist reported that the 51-year-old bowling alley was closing for renovations. Despite an ongoing landlord dispute, they expected to be back open by the end of last year's baseball season.

So I thought that I'd find them up and running this season... but when I went to my first game late in the summer, I stopped by for a pre-game beer at the bowling alley's snack bar.

[JVNY]

Apparently the landlord had won.

The bowling alley was directly across the street from the old Yankee Stadium ... Jeremiah put Ball Park Lanes on his endangered list before the arrival of the new stadium. (Read his post here.)

Massey Knakal is listing the space. It's going for $4.3 million.

Hard to say what will come here... there is a lot of potential, as plans show. Great for community space and affordable housing — if that's what ultimately comes here.

Not so good for baseball history buffs...

[The southern wall outside Ball Park Lanes]

[Location of the former Yankee Stadium]

Previously on EV Grieve:
With high rises and new shops in the works, it's time to take a look at the area around Yankee Stadium

At the new Yankee Stadium

Meanwhile, across 161st Street...

The East Village pep talk diaries

Last Tuesday, we posted an email from a longtime East Village resident who was losing faith in the neighborhood. We asked for people to submit comments on the things that they like about the East Village. So far we're at 62 comments. Like this one:

Anonymous said...
I also highly recommend early-morning Sunday walks! Far east 14th, with storekeepers hosing the sidewalks. It's very peaceful. More to love:

St. Mark's Church in the Bowery

Chico murals and Jim the Mosaic Man

Trash & Vaudeville

East Village Books (St. Marks b/t 1st/A)

We'll periodically post some of the comments. Read all the comments here.