Occupy Wall Street at Washington Square Park today

Part of #SolidaritySunday

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Hanging up the skates for the winter?

Ninth Street and Avenue C.

Photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Avenue C.

Week in Grieview

[13th Street and Third Avenue]

7-Eleven coming to St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Looking at the demolition of 9 Second Ave. (Tuesday)

Another look at the theater inside East Village Farms (Wednesday)

CBGB redux? (Wednesday)

RIP Mike Hamm (Friday)

Campaign to be vigilant about the construction at 315 E. 10th St. (Friday)

Marketing the Mystery Lot (Saturday)

Justine Joli helps Ray celebrate No. 79 (Monday)

Last night at the Holiday

The current incarnation of the Holiday Cocktail Lounge closed for business after last night... Matt LES_Miserable sent along a few photos taken in the early evening... We heard that the place was packed for a good part of the night...

And now, the speculation begins as to what is taking over the space...

The Blockbuster on East Houston is closing

Several readers emailed us this weekend with news that the Blockbuster on East Houston (part of the Red Square strip) is closing. Well, we've heard this before as far back as December 2009. BoweryBoogie heard the rumors too.

Plus, the store has been on the block for a year now, via JDF Realty... (And it appears Sleepy's is part any lease deal here...)

"All uses considered" according to the listing.

However, a Blockbuster employee confirmed the closure. The employee said that this Blockbuster has ended its rental service. (Yesterday people could only pick up one-day rentals.) The location will stay open through February for a liquidation sale, the employee said.

On Jan. 12, Dish Network Corp CEO Joe Clayton told Reuters that the company will be closing more U.S. Blockbuster stores across than it had originally planned, and will turn the remaining outlets partly into Dish customer-service points.

Dish bought Blockbuster last May in a bankruptcy auction for about $320 million, per Reuters.

And so, the DVD rental business is just about dead. Two Boots on Avenue A seems to be the only place left in the neighborhood to rent DVDs. Even the Blockbuster kiosk inside Duane Reade on 14th Street near First Avenue is gone.

Mondo Kim's is long gone... Cinema Classics is long gone... Intervideo Electronics on First Avenue will become a Subway (sandwich shop).

Of course, you can check out DVDs from the Ottendorfer and Tompkins Square Park branches of the New York Public Library.

A tribute to Louisa May Alcott on Avenue B

Heidi Klum's shitty week continues

Spotted on Third Avenue and Ninth Street.

Stolen bicycle

Spotted on 14th Street and Third Avenue.

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Today in Tompkins Square Park. Photos by Bobby Williams.

h/t Jim Kerr.

Last call at the Holiday Cocktail Lounge tonight

As we first reported Thursday, the iconic Holiday Cocktail Lounge is closing tonight. The building at 75 St. Mark's Place has been sold, and the people who have been running the bar since Stefan died in February 2009 are out.

And while the place had started creeping into sports bar territory (featuring the Jagerettes!) at times, we'll still really miss the Holiday.

There are all sorts of silly/absurd/funny rumors making the rounds. We'll hold off on those for now.

If you happen to go tonight, then please let us know how it was... (You have photos too?) Perhaps they'll even be another bar brawl out front, as Eater noted Thursday night.

[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

Ken Mac at Greenwich Village Daily Photo first reported on Thursday that Bleecker Bob's would be replaced by a Starbuck's... (Jeremiah followed up on it, and received a lot of comments...)

An EV Grieve reader points us to the Bleecker Bob's Facebook page, where they posted the following yesterday afternoon...

So, they are not closing — just moving. Store spokesperson J.K. Kiptzer, partner of owner Bob Plotnick, told WNYC yesterday that they hope "to find something a little more affordable in the next few months on the Lower East Side." Read more about this possibility at Jeremiah's this morning...

So. Let's help them out. Here's one idea: Avenue A at Fifth Street ... former home of East Village Pharmacy, who moved down the Avenue...

The number on the for rent sign: (212) 473-6349.

Anyone? There is plenty of space available around here...

UPDATED:

We just heard from Ski, assistant manager at Bleecker Bob's.

"The spaces we've checked out so far in the east village are 650-800 square feet at a cost of about $4000 a month. Something like that would be doable."

Watch a red-tailed hawk snatch a rat in Tompkins Square Park

The other day in Tompkins Square Park. Uploaded to YouTube by KiddBowery.

Marketing the Mystery Lot

So you know developers are turning the long-empty Mystery Lot off 14th/13th Streets near Third Avenue into condos... The Real Deal reported yesterday afternoon that the developers "hired Jacqueline Urgo, president of the Marketing Developers, to promote the property, which is slated for groundbreaking this summer."

Jackie! (Jac? JU?) have WE got some marketing ideas for you! Let's talk! [motions with pinky-thumb to ear as if holding a phone].


More on this later. Meanwhile, the future Mystery Lot address is officially 211 E. 13th St. And another tidbit from Real Deal:

The project will feature a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, plus 4,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space on East 14th Street. Amenities include a gym, lounge and roof deck with an outdoor kitchen. Buyers will have a chance to purchase private storage and roof terraces.

And on a clear day, you'll be able to smell bacon.

Reader report: Small fire on St. Mark's Place

Several readers passed along word that firefighters were on the scene late last night on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Looks as if the FDNY was at 20 St. Mark's, high above the Grassroots.

Photo via @IrisBlasi who noted: "Fire on St. Marks. (Seems to be put out; everyone ok)"

Storm clouds on First Avenue

...and at the future home of Starbucks at East Third Street...

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Ughybargy

Fitting song for the week. Squeeze with "Another Nail in My Heart" from 1980.

Neighbors asked to be vigilant about construction at 315 E. 10th St.

As renovations continue at 315 E. 10th St. in the East 10th Street Historic District*, neighbors are being asked to be vigilant about how the work is being done... EVflip sends along photos of these signs spotted on East 10th Street today... (Technically, the sign asks for people to be "vigillent" ... we get it...)

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.

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

In the shadows of old Astor Place

Photo of Jerry Delakas, the newsstand guy of Astor Place, taken last night by James Maher.

Read more about Jerry's plight at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

On a cloudy day, you can see Fourth Avenue (for now)

The now-demolished 51 Astor Place courtesy of EV Grieve reader peter radley.

Coming soon.

Noted

In "The Hunt" column this week at The Times, two third-year NYU law students go through the trials and tribulations of finding off-campus housing...

"Michael said, 'I don’t care if I am in Alphabet City, as long as I have a nice apartment,'" [real-estate agent Julia] Perez said. That was unlike most of her apartment-hunters. "Everyone wants to have a nice apartment on Second Avenue."

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)