Incoming!

Photos by Dave on 7th.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Filming at Vazac's last evening, by Dave on 7th]

Meet 82-year-old St. Mark's Place resident Steve Kraus, publisher of "New York Good News" (DNAinfo)

Many new additions to the EV Grieve animated GIF tribute site (EVGif)

More ramshackle newsstands replaced by robotic Cemusa boxes (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The fallout from the 135 Bowery preservation fiasco (The Lo-Down)

Beer and basketball at Pier 36 (Grub Street)

"Dickensian London" on the LES (Lost City)

A promising-sounding cafe in the works for Orchard Street (BoweryBoogie)

Pulino's is a "critic-proof" eatery (NY Post)

Loving an animated New York City (Runnin' Scared)

NYPD cop's second pepper spray attack vs. Occupy Wall Street protestors (The Daily Kos)

From the Cooper Square Committee on the St. Mark's Bookshop: "We believe that Cooper Union is stonewalling this issue, hoping our community will forget about the bookstore. We need you to send this petition out to all of your friends and family today. Help us reach 50,000 signatures by the middle of October." (Up to 39,000 now, with Michael Moore on the way tonight.)

RIP Robert Loughlin (CBS News)

Reader report: Cops and a BB gun hole at 2A

From an EV Grieve reader:

I was walking home last night around 7 and a cop came barreling down the wrong way on 2nd St. toward A. By the time I got to the corner, there were about 8 cops and they were looking at what appeared to be a small bullet hole in the window of the 2A bar. It was on the side facing 2nd St and toward the middle on the bottom. It might have been a bb gun — hole wasn't that big. Did you hear anything on this?

We did not hear anything about this. Anyone?

[Updated] Looking at the October CB3/SLA committee agenda: Booze for Jane's Sweet Buns, Bobwhite Lunch and Supper Counter for Avenue C

First! The meeting is Monday, Oct. 17 at 6:30 pm at the JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. at the Bowery...

And now, some of the agenda items above Houston (a fairly slim list at 23 applicants in total — might get out by 1 a.m.!)



Applications within Resolution Areas
• U2 Café (JDY Café Inc), 6 St Marks Pl (wb)

I've honestly lost track of the comings-and-goings at the former Mondo Kim's space.

• Yankee Pizza Restaurant Inc, 181 Ave C aka 647 E 11th St (wb)

A scratch from last month. Part of the growing Yankee Deli empire.

• SRI Padmavati Corp, 115 Ave C (op)

This is the former Porch space, which we reported is moving to another part of the city. Rumor is an Indian restaurant is opening here.

• Fonda Avenue B LLC, 40 Ave B (op)

This space previously housed Octavia's Porch. Will be "contemporary Mexican." UPDATED: The Local's Daniel Maurer notes that this is from the same folks behind the Fonda of Park Slope helmed by Roberto Santibañez, formerly the culinary director for the Rosa Mexicano restaurants.

[Photo of Jane by Allen Semanco]

• Jane's Sweet Buns (DeRossi Chelsea LLC), 102 St Marks Pl (wb)

Wine and beer to pair with the dessert, right?

• Bobwhite Lunch and Supper Counter, 94 Ave C (wb)

Interesting... this is the former Singas Pizza... (and before that, Joselito's, who moved to Avenue D.) Anyway, that name sounds awfully precious.

New Liquor License Applications
• Ichibantei LLC, 401 E 13th St (wb)

This is the the eatery that serves a range of Japanese "soul food" just east off First Avenue. A scratch from August.

• Rai Rai Ken (Tokyo Mama Inc), 218 E 10th St (wb)

Looks like the former Teriyaki Boy will become part of Rai Rai Ken's expansion.

• Kotobuki (Kotobuki Manhattan Inc), 54-56 3rd Ave (wb)

Looks like we have a taker for the long-dormant space that previously housed Lan between 10th and 11th Street...

• Shoolbred's, 197 2nd Ave (op)

????????

• Golden Cadillac, 446-448 E 13th St (op)

This is the address for Mug Lounge, which has been for sale.

• To be Determined, 351 E 12th St (op)

Not much to go on. But this is the address for Resto Leon. Which was rumored to be for sale, per Grub Street.

--------------------------------------------

Key:

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations |up=upgrades

The Mosaic Man is working on the Tompkins Square Bagels sign

Here at 165 Avenue A, Jim "the Mosaic Man" Power has been working on the new sign for the coming-soon Tompkins Square Bagels... he was there yesterday...

...and here's a look at the sign in progress...

...and a few days before that...

And have you been to Jim's new website? It's right here.

Meanwhile, the shop will also exhibit the work of local artists on a regular (monthly?) basis... first up, V.H. McKenzie and her metro used subway transit card art ... She'll be featuring some neighborhood scenes, such as the TSP Ratstravaganza...

She's also soliciting ideas for local/East Village scenes or icons that she could paint on the cards, so if you have an idea...

Previously.

The Bowery losing its Legend?

Looks like 52E4 — the 15 stories of condo on the Bowery and East Fourth Street — is losing a celebrity tenant.



According to Jennifer Gould Keil at the the Post today, nine-time Grammy Award-winner John Legend's two-bedroom condo is on the market for $2.95 million. (He paid $1.9 million for the place in 2009.) We didn't see the listing posted just yet...

The Post is quick to note that he "still loves the apartment but also loves looking at real estate and could be ready to upgrade."

What's not to love about the surrounding area with the 7-Eleven coming soon to the building's retail space on the Bowery and that godawful-looking hotel in the works for the former Salvation Army residence on the corner of East Third Street?

Anyway, you may remember seeing Legend's apartment via Esquire and the photo shoot with his girlfriend, Chrissy Teigen, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.

Can't wait for the Open House!

So long spaceship windows! Rolling out the barrel at the Cooper Craft and Kitchen

Over on Second Avenue and Fifth Street, work continues on the former Kurve/Rhong Tiam space...

And workers have now replaced the space-aged windows...



...with rather normal-looking windows...

And on the inside? EV Grieve reader Sy on 5th Street got a glimpse. Very barrel-ly!

Meanwhile, Bobby Williams got a look at the front...

As previously reported, the space will be a craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant called Cooper Craft and Kitchen from the team behind Dempsey's and Sláinte. They got a full liquor license approval back in June.

Bonus photo of the former curvy Kurve windows!

Hell in Austin

The Austin Chronicle has a quick recap of Richard Hell's book reading there in Texas Tuesday night:

Funny, ecstatic, historic, depraved, revealing, Hell hit all the bases, beginning with Television’s first rehearsals (“It was like creating the world”), CBGBs’ early days (“sticking a needle in my arm felt adult, more independent than any choice I’d ever made”), Pere Ubu and Rocket From the Tombs drug casualty Peter Laughner (“so pure and so tainted”), cocaine nights (“under cocaine my brain and cock were the same”), and his road to addiction recovery in 1983.

Why the Mosaic Cafe closed

[Dave on 7th]

Yesterday, we reported that Mosaic Cafe had closed on Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street... I asked co-owner Rachel Fuchs what happened. Here's her response, via email:

"Business was going well. Unfortunately, we had to close due to issues with the landlord. We are very upset about the whole situation and love the neighborhood... so hopefully we will be able to relocate in the East Village in the near future."

It takes two

Earlier today in Tompkins Square Park. Photo by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[Second Avenue and Houston, by Bobby Williams]

Looking at the vestibule inside St. Mark's Bookshop (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Overnight at Occupy Wall Street (The New York Observer)

Protests planned about treatment of the Occupy Wall Street protestors (Runnin' Scared)

Looking at the Limelight documentary (Flaming Pablum)

3 views of lower Fifth Avenue through the years (Ephemeral New York)

Looking at the subway stations with cellphone service (The Wall Street Journal)

14th Street Y is going green (NY1)

Steve Albini on NYC: "New York has a couple of characteristics that are undeniable and one of those is that it’s a magnet for assholes who couldn’t get any attention at home and decided that the problem wasn’t that they weren’t interesting but that there were all these squares around them in Dubuque or whatever and they need to go to some big cosmopolitan city like New York where people will appreciate them." (Gothamist)

The WikiLeaks truck is on East Fourth Street this morning

Several readers have pointed out that the WikiLeaks truck is currently parked on East Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue ... these photos are via Dave on 7th...

Earlier in the week, people spotted the truck at the Occupy Wall Street protests...

h/t @HanserHanser

Neighbors leave first Urban Etiquette Sign for UCBeast

Three weeks have passed since the Upright Citizens Brigade opened up their new theater/comedy club at Third Street and Avenue A...

And we have our first noise complaint, spotted on the East Third Street side...

In part, "Look around you. There are apartment buildings with people trying to get a few hours sleep. Start being a good neighbor and tell to those people to keep their voices down and stop blocking the sidewalk."

Well, this has quickly turned into a comedy of manners. (Offt!)

Peepshow returns to Avenue C

For the past five or six years, J. Kathleen White has created a set of peephole dioramas ... and she places them along the gate at Avenue C of the Ninth Street Community Garden... Bobby Williams has a look at her 2011 collection that just went up ...

Mosaic Cafe has closed on Avenue C

Dave on 7th passes along the news that Mosaic Cafe has closed on Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street...

They opened last November, and seemed to be a good neighborhood spot ... The sign left for customers says that they might relocate...

The 4th Street Food Co-op temporarily closing for renovations

Here's a message from our friends at The 4th Street Food Co-op:

The 4th Street Food Co-op will be closed from Friday until Sat. Oct 8 (reopen day subject to change) for renovations. We will be replacing our floors and relocating our cooling compressors. More details about the work and re-open dates can be found on our blog.

Please come stock up before Thursday night on dry goods such as bulk rice, oats, nuts, olive oil, and maple syrup, so that we don't have to move as much stuff!

Remembering the Twin Towers on East Fourth Street

The Fourth Arts Block is featuring the work of Lower East Side-based photographer Brian Rose ...

His panorama of various facades of the former Twin Towers is mounted on the ArtUp Scaffolding Bridge at the 70 East 4th Street Cultural Center. And FAB Café is hosting a concurrent exhibition of Rose’s work at 75 E. 4th St. The opening event is tonight from 7-9.

Meanwhile, Rose tells us that he is going forward with publishing "Time and Space on the Lower East Side," working with a small publisher. He just launched a Kickstarter campaign to facilitate funding. The project page is here.

We first wrote about the project in July 2010. You can find that post here. Bonus photo of his from the 1980s...



On the Bowery looking north toward East Fifth Street — now JASA/Cooper Square Senior Housing and the Cooper Square Hotel

Former Octavia's Porch space yielding to a Mexican restaurant at 40 Avenue B

CB3 hasn't even yet distributed the SLA commitee agenda for October ... though we already know of one applicant here at 40 Avenue B. Looks as if the name might be Fonda operating as a contemporary Mexican restaurant. The owners will be aiming for a beer-wine license.

In May, the "Global Jewish" restaurant from "Top Chef" alum Nikki Cascone closed after six months. Chabela's and Russo's have been in and out of here in fairly quick succession in recent years.

'Modern Love' filming at Vazac's today

Filming continues around here today for the pilot episode of "Modern Love," a series for Lifetime. Per Vulture, the show "centers on the science editor at the New York Times (or a modified version thereof) who suddenly becomes the 'Modern Love' editor while his marriage is dissolving and he's raising a 15-year-old daughter."

And today they'll be filming inside Vazac's/7B at Seventh Street and Avenue B ... so you may need to find another place to drink in the afternoon... (And did they ever find that "hip, eclectic type loft or apartment?" for the series?)

Also! Be sure to bring your Eric Stoltz and Ally Sheedy paraphernalia to have signed. These under-appreciated actors are the leads.

Speaking of Ally Sheedy, may we recommend her in "Man's Best Friend" from 1993...

Helen Stratford in Tompkins Square Park today

Helen Stratford by Bobby Williams.

Michael Moore at St. Mark's Bookshop this Thursday night

From the folks at St. Mark's Bookshop...

We’ve arranged a signing for Michael Moore’s new memoir HERE COMES TROUBLE at St. Mark’s Bookshop this Thursday at 7 p.m. It’s all a bit impromptu but we will have a mic on hand.

Today in photos of an abandoned bra hanging from a WALK/DON'T WALK sign on Second Avenue

This morning on Ninth Street and Second Avenue via Bride of 7th.

Reader report: Flying bullets last night on 13th Street and Avenue B

We received several reports from readers — via email and Twitter — of gunfire last night near 13th Street and Avenue B. A reader shares this report:

At 9 p.m. or so, 6 shots were fired somewhere around 13th and B. I was on a roof in the area. We walked to the edge and didn't see anything. And no one running around. So I sat back down. Two minutes later, 6 more shots are fired. One bullet flew over my head within I would say 10 feet of me. Unmistakable sound of a bullet whizzing past my head. We bolted back into the apartment. Called 911. There were a lot of reports of shootings. The cops came and said they had no information. Seemed frustrated that we didn't see anything. Based on how close the bullet came to us and the fact we were on the 9th floor of a building I am not sure it was a street-level shooting. Very scary.

Anyone else have any further information?

Lower East Side second in the city with 19 stalled developments; plus, Scott Stringer's plan for them

[Stalled site on Eighth Street and Avenue D]

From the EV Grieve inbox ...

Challenging New York to "turn sore spots into bright spots," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer released a new report [yesterday morning], "Arrested Development: Breathing New Life into Stalled Construction Sites," which calls for a campaign to revitalize these sites — and their surrounding neighborhoods — with imaginative temporary uses.

The Borough President’s surveyed all 129 stalled construction sites in Manhattan and found that 37% had problems with litter; 60% had fencing that was in disrepair or vandalized, and half of the sites had sidewalk obstructions. New York may be living with these eyesores for several years, the study found, because even if the economy turned around today there would be a considerable lag time before construction resumed and was finally completed on all 646 of these stalled sites citywide.

His report calls for the city to to pass legislation that permits property owners and government to create temporary public spaces on private property. "New York should also streamline the approval process for private uses — such as farmers markets, cafes, and performing arts spaces — and pass legislation guaranteeing that such temporary uses will not remove previous approvals for the site."

Interesting ... though could this open the door for more douchebaggery? Stringer cited the Timeshare Backyard on Ludlow Street as a good example of this temporary usage. We only ever heard complaints (noise ... water) about this place, where, among other things, you could pay to spray a woman wearing a white T-shirt with a hose for entertainment.

But. Given the right idea... How about putting up a screen (or paint a wall) and have a weekly movie night...? Nothing mainstream. Find someone to curate the series. Show some John Cassavetes or something. You get the idea.

In any event, according to the report, Community District 3 — which includes the Lower East Side, Chinatown and the East Village — had the second-most number of stalled sites in the city with 19. (District 1, which includes Tribeca and Lower Manhattan, had the most with 20.)

Several of the stalled projects in this neighborhood are being, uh, unstalled, such as 75 First Avenue and 427 E. 12th St.

It's a comprehensive report, which you can find here...

Arrested Development: Breathing New Life Into Stalled Construction Sites

A Cooper Union memo about St. Mark's Bookshop

An anonymous reader left this comment yesterday:

Internal Memo from today.....
To: The Cooper Union Community
From: The Office of Public Affairs
Monday, September 26, 2011

Last week the Board of Trustees discussed the ongoing matter regarding St. Mark’s Bookshop, which we understand many in the Cooper community have been following. We are sharing with you the outcome of that meeting before we inform those outside of The Cooper Union who have expressed interest in the resolution of St. Mark’s request. The Board of The Cooper Union is giving serious consideration to the matter regarding St. Mark's Bookshop. After discussion at its recent meeting, the Board decided to have the situation thoroughly examined by its Finance and Business Affairs committee. The Board believes that the request deserves the committee's analysis, the outcome of which will be announced at the end of October.

This is in line with what the St. Mark's owners told Jeremiah Moss last Friday.

Large warehouse wanted

So we spotted this on the plywood along Third Avenue between 13th Street and 12th Street Saturday...

Intrigued, we emailed the address listed...

Turns out the people behind Unicorn Meat NYC — "an underground, art based nightlife production group" are looking for permanent space. Per the Unicorn Meat website:

We will fill the walls and ceilings with LED art and 3D projection. It is our belief that people controlling the underground nightlife scenes in NYC are simply not doing what they could be doing with warehouse space. It's our dream and passion to bring you an eclectic and electronic based space that will blow you away and take you to another place.

In the email, Unicorn's Alex Kay wrote, "We get large multi-thousand person crowds and need to be able to put them somewhere we can run. Venues in NYC are difficult to work with so we are starting our own."

Also:

"We put some of the signs up in ... Williamsburg and they disappeared. Why? I believe they were taken down by brokers who don't want us going around them. The one in the city stayed up."

Actually, as of Sunday, someone had removed this poster too. Or maybe someone wanted a closer look at the American Pole Fitness Championship crotch.