A celebration of Mike Hamm's life

Mike Hamm moved here from Austin, Texas, two years ago. He worked at Lancelotti Housewares and Alphabets on Avenue A.

"He loved the East Village — it inspired him," Cara Brininstool told me via email. Mike, like many others, had the dream of moving to New York City and exploring what life had to offer, she said.

The two of them moved here together. She said that they were best friends.

Mike died on Jan. 7. He was 29.

Cara said that he had an undiagnosed condition called arteriovenous malformation that caused a series of brain hemorrhages. He remained in a coma through another hemorrhage and a stroke. Cara said that Mike's family and friends never left his side during the 11-day hospital stay.

"We actually got complaints that we were causing a fire hazard because there were so many friends who had gathered in the waiting room," Cara said.

"Mike was the kind of person who got excited when the music playing in his headphones synced up with the bustle of the city around him," she said. "Turning a corner or breaching the city's surface from the subway at the climax of the song — things like this thrilled him and made him giddy."

Next Friday, Mike's friends and family are gathering at Heathers on East 13th Street to celebrate his life.

As previously noted, the Centre-fuge Public Art Project is dedicated in his memory.

City issues permit for demolition of formerly historic 316 E. Third St.

Well, this was really just a matter of waiting for the permit...

Preservation groups tried to protect 316 E. Third St., a circa-1835 house. Unfortunately, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) rejected a hearing on the matter last fall.

And here are the permits that the city issued yesterday. The way things are going around here, workers probably already tore down the place.

So, the townhouse that formerly belonged to Community Board 3 member Barden Prisant (who moved his family to Prospect Park South) will become a Karl Fischer-designed, 33-unit apartment building, as Curbed first reported last August. (The garden and trees to the east of the house will also be dug up to become part of the new structure.)

Last week, developer David Amirian told the Post that he will offer only studios and one bedroom units here. "The market right now is to build rental. You want to build affordable housing for young people," he said.

One last thing: The DOB has yet to actually approve the plans for the new building.

Previously on EV Grieve:
33-unit, Karl Fischer-designed building rising at former home of Community Board 3 member

Landmarks Preservation Commission rejects hearing for 316 E. Third St., paving way for 7-floor condo

Your chance to live in an old firehouse on East 11th Street

There's an old firehouse converted into residences on East 11th Street just east of Avenue B...

...and two of the floor-through spaces are now on the market...

Interesting space with skylights, roof deck, etc., though you'll be paying for it...

Here is the $7,000-per-month unit...

And the $7,500-per-month unit...

Spotted these two listings at Streeteasy ... Per the listing at Bold New York, looks as if you can snag the whole building for $24,000 monthly ... Apparently Anderson Cooper has made living in old firehouses, uh, hot...

Buy a loft building — with your very own billboard! — on the Bowery

Over on the Bowery near East Fourth Street, this five-story "loft building" is on the market for $6.5 million. Let's see what you get, via Massey Knakal:

[T]his 5 story plus lower level loft building is configured with floor through live-work lofts, ground floor retail, and a lower level bar. The building currently has signage which is leased out to Van Wagner for fifteen years fifteen years with 10% increases every 5 yrs. The retail and lower level are occupied by one tenant doing business under two names: Antik and King’s Cross, which are two of the trendiest Downtown bars and clubs. Their lease is a fraction of market at only $28/SF. Meanwhile, the average loft rents for $33/SF, which is half of market. The building is an excellent opportunity for an investor looking for long term upside in the below market rents.

First, are Antik and King’s Cross really "two of the trendiest Downtown bars and clubs"?

And! Billboard!

We always wanted to own a billboard.

Here's what's advertising up there now...photographed during The Storm of the Saturday®...

That is so true. No one is safe!

• Your kindly old landlord just sold your apartment building to a hotshot developer.
• You saw your new upstairs neighbors move in a drum kit and keyboards

Oh, sorry — we'll stop...

Say goodBao to Tahini on Third Avenue and St. Mark's

[Image via Google Street Maps thing]

So Eater had the scoop yesterday that Michael "Bao" Huynh is taking over the Tahini joint here ... and opening an "Old School Style Philly" cheesesteak place called — Mikey's Cheese Steak. He'll serve a Korean version, Mexican version and Italian version of the sandwich. He already owns Baoguette down St. Mark's Place next to the incoming 7-Eleven.

No word yet if he'll remove the "falafel" and "shawarma" painted on the front of the building.

André Balazs on his 'more quiet' Standard

Over at Grub Street today, Mara Siegler chats with hotelier André Balazs, who talks a bit about his latest property — the Cooper Square Hotel The Standard East Village. To the soundbites!

"It’s a more residential, more quiet — more introspective, if you will — Standard."

And!

"There will not be a nightclub, and the chef — we’re talking to a bunch of people now and it will be a very dramatic redesign of the space, but it won’t be a nightclub."

Meanwhile, on Union Square...

Photos by Matt LES_Miserable.

The Holiday Cocktail Lounge is closing Saturday night

[Ben Rosenzweig/Grub Street]

We feared the worst when 75 St. Mark's Place went on the market last fall. Aside from several apartments, the building is home to the beloved Holiday Cocktail Lounge, whose future seemed shaky ever since its owner, Stefan Lutak, died two years ago.

Meanwhile, the Holiday is on next month's CB3/SLA agenda under new license applications. Suspicious, given that they already have a license.

Well. Turns out the building in in contract...

A well-place tipster notes that the Holiday as we know it will close after Saturday night. "Locks will be changed immediately."

We understand that another bar will take its place. What happens to the current appearance is unknown.

Per the tipster: "Another EV historical institution gone."

Indeed.

And now, a walk-off passage from an article by former East Village resident Mike Hudson in the Niagra Falls Reporter a few years back:

[L]ike many Manhattan dives the Holiday Lounge had its writers.

For years Allen Ginsberg had a large apartment in a building almost directly across the street, and he and other Beat writers like Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso and Herbert Huncke spent considerable time with the bookies, dope dealers, working girls and alcoholics for whom the Holiday was a second home.

[adm on Flickr via JVNY]

For further reading:
Holiday Cocktail Lounge (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

[UPDATED] But of course! Bleecker Bob's is becoming a Starbucks

[Ken Mac]

Hey! Let's just keep the bad news coming!

Spotted this at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York first... Our friend Ken Mac at Greenwich Village Daily Photo has the scoop that venerable Bleecker Bob's Records is closing and will become a — Subway? Dunkin' Donuts??? No — Starbucks!

The manager of Cafe Reggio confirmed the atrocity to Ken, noting: "Starbucks will take 30% of our business. All the NYU kids want their mocha frappuccino."

UPDATED Jan. 30, 7:05 p.m.
Starbucks says that they are not taking over the space.

[Updated] Reader report: Renovations begin in earnest at 315 E. 10th St.

[Last week outside 315 E. 10th St., photo by Bobby Williams]

After beating the clock and getting the OK to add a rooftop addition to 315 E. 10th St. in the East 10th Street Historic District*, workers quickly dismantled the building's chimney, as nearby resident Jose Garcia noted.

And this is only the beginning as workers continue to convert the circa-1847 building from nonprofit to residential use.

Jose shared this with us last night:

so today was the first really bad day. up until now they've just been demolishing the chimneys. today they started drilling into the walls between the two buildings. now there is dust and concrete chipping off into our living rooms as the walls they are drilling (through?) are just a thin wall of very old bricks. this is going to be a long, long winter. when they start to seriously add another floor i predict our entire building will fall down.

Speaking of walls ... these came into the Garcia apartment during renovations this morning around 8...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bid to protect the integrity of 315 E. 10th St.

Landmarks Preservation Commission expedites hearing on East 10th Street Historic District

Workers quickly start dismantling roof of historic 315 E. 10th St.

Bob Arihood briefly appears in the February Harper's

The February issue of Harper's includes an article titled "Some Assembly Required" by Brooklyn-based writer Nathan Schneider. The piece examines the rise of Occupy Wall Street.

And Bob Arihood makes a brief appearance early on in the article, where Schneider describes the scene last Aug. 13 during a General Assembly meeting in Tompkins Square Park. As you may recall, some of the attendees requested a ban on photographs... and how Bob explained "the nature of public space."

[Bob Arihood]

Bob wrote about the episode here at Neither More Nor Less. The post attracted many comments.

And the Harper's piece reminded me that Bob died just as Occupy was really just getting started.

The Harper's article is online, though you must be a subscriber to access it.

Thanks to Pluto for letting me know about the article.

Here's a look inside the new Nevada Smith's on Third Avenue

Work continues at 100 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street... The address, which once belonged to the Lyric Theatre in 1910 (and much later the men's XXX Jewel then the Bijou and eventually the mainstream Cinema Village Third Avenue), has been under renovation for years. ... looks like an additional five floors.

Some day, the address will also be the new home to Nevada Smith's, which vacated its previous location one block to the south last November ... Nevada Smith's is on the February CB3/SLA docket for a liquor license here.

Anyway, a worker left a door open at 100 Third Ave. and...

Well, looks as if there's a lot left to do on the ground-floor space where, presumably, Nevada Smith's will live...

Per the DOB, the building was zoned commercial ... and it was re-categorized as "F-1B - Assembly (Churches, Concert Halls)." I suppose this is a type of worship.

Anyway, for now, Nevada Smith's is moonlighting at Webster Hall.

Previously on EV Grieve:
100 Third Ave. looks to be Nevada Smith's new home

Those persistent rumors about 74-76 Third Avenue and the future of Nevada Smith's

The East Village will lose a parking lot and gain an apartment building

100 Third Avenue's lonely add-on

Workers spotted at previously dormant 100 Third Ave.

Report: Millennium Film Workshop faces eviction on East Fourth Street

Steven Thrasher checked in late last night at Runnin' Scared with some troubling news: Millennium Film Workshop is being evicted from its longtime home on East Fourth Street after falling being on rent.

Board member Jay Hudson told Thrasher that the legendary film collective has had its funding drastically cut by the New York State Council for the Arts in recent times. However, you can't blame some heartless condo-eyeing developer for this eviction. According to Hudson, La Mama is the landlord.

Per the article:

The two were not always landlord and tenant. Hudson says that La Mama and Millenium moved into 74 and 66 East 4th Street, respectively, at the same time, with La Mama founder Ellen Stewart and longtime Millennium leader Howard Guttenplan at the helm of each organization. Originally owned by the city, Hudson says, in 2005, La Mama "paid a dollar" and became the owner of both buildings (and Millenium's landlord).

For a long time, Hudson says, "There was a standing relationship between Ellen and Howard. I think that kept La Mama from making a move on Millenium."

Stewart died last year.

You can read the rest of the story here. And it's to be continued as La Mama has yet to give its side of the story.

On the February CB3/SLA agenda: the former 6th Street Kitchen and (gulp) the Holiday

Time again. Time and time again.

February's funfair (aka, the SLA & DCA Licensing Committee) is Monday the 13 at 6:30 pm — JASA/Green Residence, 200 East 5th Street at Bowery.

As always, we take a look a few of the items on the agenda... You can find the whole slate here at the CB3 site.

Corporate Change

• Ugly Kitchen, 103 1st Ave (op)

Didn't they just open in August?

• La Vie (Le Cave LLC), 64 E 1st St (op)

Applications within Resolution Areas

• To be Determined, 6 St Marks Pl (wb)

• JB Sushi (Marco's 88 Inc), 15 St Marks Pl (up/op)

• Lebrini's Pizzeria (Lebrini's Pizzeria Corp), 31 Ave C (wb)

When did Moon Pie close here at East Third St.?

• Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery Inc, 215 Ave A (b)

They used to sell beer, but apparently they didn't have the proper licensing. Long live Zaragoza!

• San Matteo Panuozzeria E Birra (San Matteo Panuozzeria Inc), 121 St Marks Pl (b)

That new panuozzo place opening in the old crepe place near Avenue A.

• Nublu, 151 Ave C (op)

• To be Determined, 116 Ave C (op)

Hmm, this is Kafana, the fine Serbian spot near Seventh Street.

• BK's, 115 Ave C (op)

The former Porch, which has been a scratch on previous agendas.

• Yuca Bar & Restaurant Inc, 111 Ave A (up/op)

• Yong Fa Restaurant Inc, 507 E 6th St (wb)

This is the former 6th Street Kitchen space, which never reopened after that awful fire in Janaury 2011. The space had been for rent. One neighborhood told us they heard it would be "an Asian fusion" restaurant.

[EV Grieve reader Jamie]

Alterations

• Fat Buddha (Lo Eng Inc), 212 Ave A (op)

New Liquor License Applications
• Holiday Lounge, 75 St Marks Pl (op)

Gulp. Been nervous about the beloved Holiday since Stefan died in 2009 ... As I noted last fall, the building housing the bar is for sale. Not sure at this second why they would be going for a new license as opposed to a renewal...

According to the State Liquor Authority, the bar's license is active through February 2013.

We hate that funny feeling...

• To be Determined, 197 1st Ave aka 351 E 12th St (wb)

This is the address of Resto Leon ...

• Izagara Gourmet Inc, 128 1st Ave (wb)

This is the former Kebab Grill that turned into the Mediterranean Grill last month.

• Porsena (Service Bar LLC), 21 E 7th St (up/op)

• Sahara Citi, 137 E 13th St (wb)

Currently a vacant storefront near Tom Cruise's house.

• Nevada Smiths (92 Nuns Walk Inc), 100 3rd Ave (op)

• Sao Mai Vietnamese Cuisine Inc, 203 1st Ave (wb)

• Porcellino (Rar Royal New York Corp), 308 E 6th St (op)

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

Airing out the Coop

Yesterday afternoon outside the Cooper Union Expensive Building. Photo by Bobby Williams.

Zi Pep starting weekend brunch service on Saturday

From the EV Grieve inbox...from the folks at Zi Pep on East Ninth Street...

Zi Pep will be starting brunch service Saturday. It will run both Saturday and Sunday.

We will also be doing a Valentine’s Day dinner for $49 per person.

And the brunch menu...

Grifting the night away

It seems of late that more people are trying to stop me on the street than in the past few years ... asking for money because, say, their car broke down and they need to go visit their mother in the hospital, etc. Same schemes, just greater frequency. And the same fellow keeps asking me for directions to Sloan-Kettering (twice in the same day, once on Avenue A and once on Avenue B 30 minutes later).

A reader just noted this on East Second Street between A and B.

Some guy approached me with a story that he was trying to get home but left his wallet in a cab.

It was a typical enough, but something was odd about it, so when I got home I mentioned it to my husband as a "something funny happened to me on my way home from work."

Seems as though he was ALSO approached about 45 min prior on the opposite side of the street by a woman claiming she needed help because she left her purse in a cab.

Wondering how many other people they approached...

Something to crow about

At the New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street today... photos by Bobby Williams

And please — no counting crows jokes, OK?

Earlier today on Avenue A

At 11th Street. Photos by Shawn Chittle.

Here's the perfect space for the new CBGB

So as Gothamist reported this morning, there's some sort of movement to bring back CBGB.

Let's jut gloss over whether this is even a good idea... If the new CBGB people need a space, here's an option: 313 Bowery, once home to the CBGB Gallery... right next door to CBGB, of course.

The space has been on the market for months. (See the listing here.)

The Morrison Hotel Gallery checked out of 313 Bowery at the end of September. Recently, the space became home to Riff, which sells the rock-and-boa inspired clothing line called Andrew Charles, created in part by Steven Tyler. Apparently, though, that store is only here on a temporary basis.

The lower level can be leased separately, where that secret club was for a bit.

Can you come home again?