A sidewalk shed for the First Avenue Starbucks

Going up right now at East Third Street, reports @robbyohara

Perhaps there will be space then for more of these?

Previously.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[The other day on Avenue A and 11th Street by Shawn Chittle]

More than 500 people turned out for anti-NYU 2031 meeting (The Villager)

There's video of that art theft outside the Woodward Gallery that we wrote about the other day (NY1)

Eating at Umi No Ie on East Third Street (Eater)

Making East Village construction sites look less ugly (DNAinfo)

Retrial set for East 14th Street parking spot punch (New York Post)

A lot of photos of "Smash" being filmed in the East Village the other day (The Daily Mail)

More people are robbing banks now (Runnin' Scared)

Video of NYC kids in the early 1970s (Flaming Pablum)

Thoughts on The Commuters statues in Port Authority (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

It's Mayor Boozberg (BoweryBoogie)

New espresso bar for Broome Street (The Lo-Down)

Little Giant closes on Orchard (Grub Street)

Dolly Parton's life story coming to Broadway (Gothamist)

Little puffy clouds

This morning. Ninth Street and Avenue B.

Turkish vegetarian fast-food chain opening on East Ninth Street

A tipster points us to East Ninth Street... just west of Avenue A, where Cigkoftem is opening... it's a Turkish vegetarian fast-food chain founded in 1993 ... their website doesn't translate all that well ... As far as I can tell this is the chain's first New York outpost.

By the way, this is the space to the left of Itzocan Café. Wasn't it some sort of short-lived coffee shop/falafel place or something previously?

Marshal seizes Furry Land Pet Supplies on Avenue A

EV Grieve reader FlatFoot passes along word that the marshal has seized Furry Land Pet Supplies on Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street...

Per FlatFoot: "Mustafa (Mike) the owner had been a really great neighbor and I bought all of my pet supplies from him. He also took in unwanted kittens and found homes for them. A loss to the neighborhood."

Neighborhood kids always seemed to like the birds out front...

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

[Cinema Treasures]

Here's one that we didn't see coming: A tipster tells us that East Village Farms at 100 Avenue A between Seventh Street and Sixth Street will be closing soon. The florists out front are already in the process of leaving.

Per our tipster, the building's owner is going to start "renovations" as early as February. (Monica, who owns the grocery business with her husband, apparently already has a new location scouted at 48th Street and Eighth Avenue.)

So far, though, there aren't any permits pending with the Department of Buildings. We only just heard about this. So we don't know just yet what the plans are for the future. Suh Yon Pak Associates are listed as the owners.

This is an enormous space, as you can see.

The building served as a theater from 1926 to 1959. Here's what the place looked like in 1949 when it was known as the Hollywood (this is looking north toward Seventh Street) ...

[Via Cinema Treasures]

It has been some type of grocery or another since 1959. Here's the first certificate of occupancy from the city for use as a grocery.

The upstairs of East Village Farms has always been rather mysterious... One Cinema Treasures reader got a look several years ago, and took these photos...





Nostalgia aside... this is a huge loss in the heart of the neighborhood...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

Italian investor buys 73-75 E. Third St. for $15.5 million

Back in late October 2009, we speculated about what home was for sale for nearly $16 million on East Third Street. (Read all about that right here.)

We eventually found the answer: 73-75 E. Third St., directly to the west of the Hells Angels HQ. According to the listing at the time, the 49 units in the buildings were going for $15.7 million...



Yesterday, Massey Knakal announced that the property had been sold "in an all cash transaction valued at $15,500,000."

Here are more details via the news release:

Combined, the two six-story buildings are approximately 22,092 total above grade square feet and have 50 feet of frontage along East 3rd Street. In total, there are 49 one-bedroom apartments, of which, 4 are rent controlled and the remaining 45 units are all free market. All 45 free market units have been renovated to include new hardwood floors, marble tiles in the bathrooms, granite countertops and new appliances including dishwashers in the kitchens and washer/dryer in the units. Most of the units also benefit from exposed brick.

“The purchaser was a foreign national from Italy who had sold a property and used the proceeds in a tax deferred 1031 exchange. New York City commercial real estate continues to be perceived by foreign investors as providing the best opportunity for capital appreciation and multifamily investments are the preferred sector today. It has historically been viewed as a safe haven for both foreign and local investor’s,” said Massey Knakal Vice Chairman and Partner John Ciraulo.

Anywho, no word about the fate of Sanctuary Guest Suites — Bed & Breakfast housed in 73 E. Third St. (There have been a few complaints from nearby residents who claim that this is an illegal hotel. You can read some of the complaints to the city here.)

And this was also the hotel with the guests who enjoyed relaxing on the bench in front of the Hells Angels HQ.

For further reading on EV Grieve:
The Hells Angels kindly request that hotel guests please refrain from sitting on their bench

Continuing to speculate about what 10-room, $15-million home is for sale on East Third Street

We now know what building is for sale for $15 million on East Third Street (hint: buy an alleged illegal hotel and live next to the Hells Angels!)

Local blogger immortalized in chicken cutlets, cheese, onions

So. Several readers have pointed out new menu items at the recently opened Tompkins Square Bagels on Avenue A...

Thanks to owner Christopher Pugliese, who was kind enough to create this in our name.

And how come Chittle gets the bacon on his sandwich?

Where 11-17 Second Avenue used to be

We'll see this through to the end... no matter how depressing...

The take down of 9 (71/2) Second Ave. is happening now...

Read Jeremiah's history of 9 (71/2) Second Ave. here.

Photos yesterday by Bobby Williams.

Parents accidentally throw out children with Christmas tree

Oh, hold your booing until the end of the post!

Just a reminder about the MulchFest tomorrow and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. in Tompkins Square Park.

I'll be live blogging the whole time from the MulchFest... follow along at Twitter #WoodChippersAreActuallyReallyLoud.

Photo taken Wednesday by Bobby Williams.

A Bowery skyline

At the Bowery and Houston a little while ago... photo by Bobby Williams.

Noted

Seventh Street near First Avenue ... photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Avenue C

It's Japadog

Which opened today at 3. We heard that there weren't any lines either... Did you try it?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cue the long lines: Japadog opening first New York City location on St. Mark's Place

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Superdive will never die, probably

As we pointed out yesterday, 200 Avenue A was on the State Liquor Authority's full board meeting agenda. Well, we should have caught this one...

A group calling themselves Hospitality LLC with a concept for an "art gallery with a full-service restaurant" concept has appeared before and been rejected by the CB3/SLA committee three times. The group then decided to go directly to the State Liquor Authority for its license.

However, as you can see, the SLA hearing had 200 Avenue A on the agenda under Rapture Bookstore LLC — the trade name for Superdive.

According to someone in attendance, the Hospitality LLC reps were not at the hearing. It was Allan of Superdive and his lawyer present to argue the legality of their denied license renewal last year.

As we understand it, district manager Susan Stetzer was prepared for Team Superdive's appearance. SLA Chair Dennis Rosen tabled their hearing so he could meet with all the interested parties later this month. There's some question about the legality of denying a renewal for Superdive.

At this point, it's unclear whether Superdive wants to reopen as, well, Superdive, or whether the management wants to be part of whatever new venture opens here.

We sent an email to Allan at Superdive seeking comment.

Previously.

Yet another Subway opening in the East Village

So, you remember that computer repair shop-plasma TV installers-DVD rental place on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street? Yeah, Intervideo Electronics. They closed in June.

When the "for rent" signs went up during the summer, we were filled with The Dread... and it turns out that this was all for good reason.

Last night, a tipster told us something that no one wants to hear: A Subway (sandwich shop) is opening here at 108 First Ave. Workers on the scene confirmed it to the tipster.

And a look at DOB documents doubly confirms it...

How many more times will we see this: Cluttered little mom-and-pop shop closes; chain store opens.

So now, the east side of the street will stack up like this:
Saifee Hardware
Ricky's
Whatever takes over for the shuttered Polonia
Subway
McDonald's
The best newish bar in the neighborhood
Dunkin' Donuts

Speaking of retail diversity: CB3 makes pitch for businesses other than bars

[Subway on Avenue B]

Community Board 3 has been working on a letter to send off to property owners and real-estate types with the aim of helping persuade local landlords to rent "to a diverse mix of commercial renters, not just to nightlife businesses, banks and chain stores."

The letter has been making the round in various inboxes... The Lo-Down posted the whole thing on Tuesday. Here's most of the letter from CB3 Chair Dominic Pisciotta:

Residents and business owners in CB 3 are working together to ensure the economic vitality of our neighborhood. We believe it is important to involve property owners in this planning as well. Among our chief concerns are maintaining economic diversity and serving local retail needs. Our community has a high demand for more daytime retail business such as grocers, butchers, shoe stores, stationery stores and other businesses that serve our local residents. Research and public input have indicated that our current condition of too many bars and eating/drinking businesses works against promoting a diverse economy.

We want to ensure that you as property owners are aware of these community needs and priorities and that you relay them to your prospective commercial tenants. It is important for new prospective businesses to understand community priorities and plans before finalizing leases and investing money. In this effort, we welcome your participation in our planning and outreach. Please consider the following factors before signing a lease with your next retail tenant:

• Business owners who live and participate in the neighborhood are considered more community‐ friendly than absentee owners.

• Businesses should have diverse price points for our diverse community.

• Businesses open during the day and that attract daytime street traffic are a current priority.

• Businesses that offer a product or service other than eating and drinking are a current priority.

Some areas in our neighborhood have been overwhelmed with bars and restaurants. Our community does not have the infrastructure to be an entertainment zone. CB3 recommendations to approve liquor licenses will reflect this. It is important and fair for potential businesses to be aware of these priorities and areas.

Let's hope that it does some good... in just the last week, we've seen two small restaurants close (Polonia and Itzocan Café) and two small businesses shutter (Vampire Freaks and the Autumn Skateboard Shop). ... and the arrival of yet another Subway...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Of the 147 storefronts on Avenue A, 70 of them are bars, restaurants or vacant

Japadog opens today at 3; no lines forming (yet)

[All is quiet last night outside Japadog on St. Mark's Place]

Grub Street called it — that Japadog would open Jan. 5 — today! — at 30 St. Mark's Place. Indeed, as the sign out front says, the dogstars* will open this afternoon at 3.

When we reported this fact, we joked that the lines would start forming on Jan. 2. Several people said that we were stupid. "You're stupid," wrote one person in an email to us.

Anyway! Japadog President Noriki Tamura left this message on Facebook on Dec. 25... in part: "[T]his is only the beginning of Japadog's legacy of becoming the world’s best hotdog store. Japadog's mission of making the world happy though hotdog still goes on, and we will like to devote all our time to make Japadog a better place. We thank everybody again for making everything possible."

And if you go, let us know how it is. And if you go and there's a line, please take a photo for us. We'll reimburse you with the handful of Tums in our desk drawer.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cue the long lines: Japadog opening first New York City location on St. Mark's Place

* Say, whatever happened to Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar anyway? (Actually, please don't answer.)

An appreciation: Coffee (or espresso!) at DeRobertis

Since April 20, 1904 here on First Avenue just south of 11th Street... I can always do without CNN on in the background... but I'll take it...

Visit the DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe website here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Watching football at DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe

Bobblehead Bop

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Together, legendary guitarist Johnny Ramone, and legendary punk-rock bassist Dee Dee Ramone created a wall of sound that defined the driving force of the Ramones. For the first time ever in their history making legacy, Johnny and Dee Dee have been rendered as bobblehead figures, or as FUNKO calls them, Wacky Wobblers.

Both of these stylized 6-inch tall figures come decked in traditional Ramones leather jackets, and armed with their weapons of choice, (guitar and bass respectively). They're detailed right down to Johnny's infamous frown, Dee Dee's enigmatic glare, and the matching shoulder chains that bookended them on stage while changing the face of rock 'n' roll.

Info here.

Discarded Christmas tree catches fire, lights up car on Seventh Street

@JSMeudt sends along these photos from Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue... where a discarded Christmas tree on the curb apparently caught on fire last night and, well...

You can see what's left of the tree above...

There's a little more about this — as well as other tree fire safety tips — at the Strollerderby blog.

[Updated] An 'Absolute' theft at the Woodward Gallery

Our friend Curt Hoppe let us know about an apparent theft last night at the Woodward Gallery on Eldridge Street between Broome and Delancey...

Per the gallery's Facebook page:

ATTENTION Stolen Artwork!! REWARD being offered for information leading to the return of artwork from our Project Space last night. (MOODY "Absolute Addict", acrylic on wood panel, 68 x 44 inches)

Updated:
We spoke with someone from Woodward ... turns out the piece was part of an Outdoor Project Space. Someone removed the artwork with a drill. Per the Woodward folks: "We have the area monitored with camera surveillance. We have filed a report with the NYPD, provided video evidence of the theft and now have detectives on the case. Someone was very silly in thinking they would not be caught."

Why the East Village should fear NYU 2031

The battle over NYU 2031 heats up starting tonight ... The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031, Greenwich Village Block Associations, the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and more than a dozen community groups from the area are sponsoring a Town Hall tonight on the NYU expansion plan.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at the AIA Center for Architecture, 536 Laguardia Place (Bleecker/West 3rd Street).

Anyway, as NYU is moving ahead with certifications and approvals for its NYU 2031 expansion plan, Community Board 2 is holding five public hearings on NYU 2031-related topics on Jan. 9, 10, 12, 17 and 18. (Find out more details on these meetings here; The Villager has an article on all this here.)

NYU is seeking zoning approvals for two superblocks south of Washington Square Park that will create four new buildings in order to add more academic space. You can read about NYU's plans via its NYU 2031 site here.

GVSHP released these renderings that offer comparative views of NYU's proposed new buildings in relation to the existing structures between West Third Street and Houston Street.

"NYU is asking for an unprecedented package of city approvals to undo long-standing neighborhood zoning protections, remove open space preservation requirements, lift urban renewal deed restrictions and take public land used as parks," Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told us via email. "This would allow them to add 2.5 million square feet of space — the equivalent of the Empire State Building — to the blocks south of Washington Square Park."

We asked Berman why this should be of concern to East Village residents.

"NYU's ever-growing presence in the Village has long had a disproportionate impact on the East Village; it's where NYU students go to live off campus, to party on weekends (and weeknights) and grab some fast food. The type of growth NYU is projecting, even if it were only limited to the blocks south of Washington Square, would still greatly accelerate the transformation of the East Village we've seen in recent years.

"But there is no reason to believe that NYU's growth will be limited to these blocks if they get the approvals they seek. Nothing in the requested approvals limits NYU's ability to acquire property, build, or demolish anywhere else, and as long as they are growing in the Central Village, they will likely seek other locations nearby for additional facilities, just as they have for the past several decades.

The way Berman sees it, the impact of the precedents set by these approvals is much more likely to be felt in the East Village.

"If NYU convinces the City that the zoning protections, open space requirements and urban renewal deed restrictions under which these superblocks were developed are ripe for the undoing ... then it is neighborhoods like the East Village and Lower East Side which present the most opportunities for the kind of overbuilding and overdevelopment which could follow from that profound change in city planning and philosophy," he said.

Fish and meat market, restaurant in the works for First Avenue

There are big plans in the works for the former Revitali Hookah Lounge‎ at 125 First Ave. between St. Mark's and Seventh Street... Ray LeMoine, an owner of the late Bowery Beef inside the Bowery Poetry Club, is one of the proprietors behind a fish market/retail shop/restaurant in the works for this storefront.

We asked LeMoine via email the other day to explain a little about the concept. Fish monger and retail shop by day, restaurant by night?

Not exactly. We have a hallway entrance that would make a fine small market. We love Commodities up the block, but they mainly do greens and health food. There's no seafood market in the East Village, save our enemies at Whole Foods. The company has a dock behind my dad's house in Gloucester, MA. Both the Whole Foods on Houston and 14th have signs on the wall saying they sell a lot of fish from Gloucester. They don't. We will. And meat too.

Anyway, the market will lead to a kitchen and dining area with seating for 60 or so. The final concept is still fluid. Our new partner is Mitch Zukor, a local gent who always came into Bowery Beef. Talking to him, we learned his younger brother was hardcore punk legend Jay Anarchy of the NYHC Youth Crew.

Food-wise, assume a lot of the market's products will hit the menu. We're talking to some young chefs. It will be a chef-driven menu serving three meals. Lunch, we'll serve the beef again at $5, plus other deli-style items. Dinner, we have some ideas, but the chef will create the menu. Front of house, we have ex-Blue Ribbon and Blue Hill folks. Assume we're entering our blue period, but no more Blue Bottle coffee.

We have a cultural component too, like we did with Beef at Bowery Poetry Club. I can't say the whos and whats yet.

Here's what the place looks like inside these days...

LeMoine and his partners, Mike Herman and Mitch Zukor, are having an open house tonight and Thursday from 6-8 for anyone in the neighborhood with ideas and concerns.

They will appear before the CB3/SLA committee for a liquor license on Jan. 9.

[All photos by Kathy Grayon]

And that's it for what used to be the Mars Bar

A look inside the demo site at 11-17 Second Ave. yesterday morning showed that just a crumbling section of the Mars Bar's north wall remained... workers were busy bringing down that portion ... By now, we're assuming that it is all gone...

And here are a few shots from Bobby Williams taken yesterday... 9 (71/2) Second Ave. is next for extinction...

Read Jeremiah's history of 9 (71/2) Second Ave. here.

Former Superdive space on today's SLA agenda

An Avenue A tipster tells us that the folks hoping to open a bar-gallery space at 200 Avenue A (the former Superdive, of course) is on today's agenda for the State Liquor Authority's full board meeting...

The people behind the "art gallery with a full-service restaurant" concept — who have appeared before and been rejected by the CB3/SLA committee three times — decided to go directly to the State Liquor Authority for its license.

The group, calling themselves Hospitality LLC, appeared before the CB3/SLA committee in November 2010 with the idea of a restaurant/lounge "that involves all the senses," including the now-legenedary smell machine. They came back in April, and were told to do more community outreach. The didn't have any better luck in May given the strong opposition from neighbors.

In case you are wondering... the board meeting starts at 10 a.m. at:

Harlem Center Tower Office Building
317 Lenox Avenue
New York, NY 10027
Entrance to the Main Lobby is located on Lenox Avenue near 126th Street.