There is now only one record store left on St. Mark's Place

Jeremiah has the lousy news this morning that Rockit Scientist Records has lost its lease and is closing Feb. 29 on St. Mark's Place... (You can read the details here. Encouraging sign: The owner hopes to relocate.)

Reading this, it occurred to me that there is now just one CD/music shop left on St. Mark's Place — Sounds, which is above the Grassroots at No. 20.

I can't remember every store that has closed on St. Mark's Place in recent years ... Joe's CDs, 13 CDs, Venus Records, Mondo Kim's, Smash ... uh... (A little help, Alex?!)

Didn't seem like too long ago where you could have spent an afternoon on St. Mark's Place rooting through the bins of the record stores here ... then reading the liner notes/CD sleeves of your purchases at the Grassroots or wherever over a beer ... Ah, how old-fashioned.

Anyway, Norman's is still there just around the corner on Cooper Square...

As much as I hate to see record stores close, we are fortunate to have several good choices left in the neighborhood, such as...Kim's ... Good Records NYC ... Turntable Lab ... A-1 Records ... Other Music ... Academy Records ... Gimme Gimme ... Big City Records ... Rainbow Music...

3 new floors ready to rise from the dead funeral home on Second Avenue

Renovations have started at the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel on Second Avenue between 10th Street and Ninth Street. Workers boarded up the front doors last week.

As Off the Grid first reported last summer, there are plans on file to "Remodel the existing three story building and add 3 stories on top."

According to the DOB, city officials have approved those plans on Jan. 10. Here's the DOB language:

REMODEL EXISTING THREE STORY BUILDING AND ADD 3 STORIES ON TOP OF EXISTING BUILDING. SECOND AND THIRD FLOORS TO BE CONVERTED TO RESIDENTIAL ONLY. FIRST FLOOR TO BE USED AS A COMMERCIAL USE.

The architect on this project is Ramy Issac, once dubbed by New York magazine as "The controversial penthouse king of the East Village." Developer Terrence Lowenberg of Icon Realty is behind the project. Icon is currently renovating 147 First Ave.

Check out this history of the Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

Here's what the address looked like in the 1940s, via Vanishing New York...

Will a gut renovation and three-floor addition be enough to wipe out the spirits of the funeral home?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

4 possible spots for Bleecker Bob's in the East Village

On Saturday, we got word that Bleecker Bob's is looking to move this spring from its home since 1982 to somewhere in the East Village... Ski, assistant manager at Bleecker Bob's, told us the parameters:

"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."

There are plenty of empty storefronts here. Given those parameters, here are four spaces to consider; places that made some sense (no former restaurants with equipment to remove or far-flung side streets with little pedestrian traffic...)

St. Mark's between Avenue A and First Avenue ...

St. Mark's between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Avenue A between Fifth Street and Fourth Street...

Ninth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A...

As Ken Mac first reported at Greenwich Village Daily Photo, the current Bleecker Bob's space will become a Starbucks. Alex shared his thoughts here on Flaming Pablum.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[UPDATED] Let's help Bleecker Bob's find space in the East Village

One year ago: Asian Pub closes

[Via BoweryBoogie]

It was one year ago that the Asian Pub closed at 35 Cooper Square, as BoweryBoogie first reported. The loss of another bar serving Jello shots is fairly unremarkable... But the closure set in motion a sequence of events that led to the demolition of the 185-year-old, Federal-style house ... Another ugly chapter in the city's inaction toward local preservation.

[March 2011]

Despite an outpouring of support for 35 Cooper Square, developer Arun Bhatia had the historic structure demolished.

And the lot as seen on Saturday... awaiting its fate as luxury something.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Doom and doomer: More of Cooper Square primed for development

Cooper 35 Asian Pub part of development deal on Cooper Square

Cooper 35 Asian Pub putting up a fight before being torn down

'Another corporation' looking at Joe's

On Saturday, EV Grieve regular AC told us that the gate was open at Joe's, the neighborhood favorite that has been closed since Thanksgiving. AC talked with a man who had come out of the bar. The worker, who was holding a broom, said that Joe had died, and that "another corporation" was looking at the possibility of taking the bar over... Upon hearing this, we zipped over to East Sixth Street, though no one was still around... and the gate was mostly closed...

Owner Joe Vajda died this past Thanksgiving. The bar's status is still unknown. This is the first time that we can recall seeing any activity here in the past few months. Another tipster had noted via email that Identity across the street bought Joe's remaining tapped beer.

Previously.

Liquidation sale under way at Blockbuster on East Houston

In case you missed our post yesterday morning... The Blockbuster on East Houston in the Red Square shops is closing at the end of the month. The stored ended its rental service on Saturday night, and will spend the next month selling off its inventory.

So it's time to snatch up some recent Hollywood blockbusters...

Veselka launches pedicab service

Spotted this past weekend outside the Veselka Mothership on Second Avenue at East Ninth Street. Per Veselka's Facebook page:

Free Pedicab rides from Veselka to Veselka Bowery. If you don't want to wait for a table at the original Veselka, We will give you a free Pedicab ride to our new restaurant "Veselka Bowery" @ 9 East 1st street...... We don't want to see anyone hungry for to long ...... Come check out our new space and Enjoy your brunch!

[Via Veselka]

Fresno Gourmet Deli now with signage on Avenue C

Last Wednesday, we pointed out that a new deli was opening on Avenue C near East Third Street... the signage for the Fresno Gourmet Deli appeared on Friday.

That Turkish fast-food place is now open on East Ninth Street

We pointed this out on East Ninth Street... just west of Avenue A a few weeks ago.

Cigkoftem, a Turkish vegetarian fast-food chain founded in 1993, opened this past weekend... And we have no idea why the photo looks as if we were falling when we took it...

Anyway, they were handing out free samples... Anyone try it?

Previously.

[UPDATED] Happening now: Occupy Wall Street march winding its way through the East Village

We're getting all sorts of reports about an Occupy Wall Street march currently in the East Village — part of #SolidaritySunday ... We have some reader reports... and are currently following @ChristRobbins from Gothamist who is on the scene...

Here are marchers outside the old P.S. 64 on East Ninth Street...

After someone tries scaling the plywood, Robbins reports that the NYPD makes an arrest...

All photos by @ChristRobbins

UPDATED:

@ChristRobbins figures there are 50 cops for 120 people in protest...

UPDATED 10:25

Sources say the remaining protestors are now lying down in Tompkins Square Park...

Via @Newyorkist ...

UPDATED 6 a.m.

Colin Moynihan at The New York Times reports that the NYPD arrested 12 people in total during the march that started in Washington Square Park and made its way to the East Village. The march was held to show support for protestors in Oakland, who were involved in a melee with police Saturday night.

Per the article:

By 10:30 p.m., most of the marchers had moved to Tompkins Square. One man strummed a mandolin. Another tapped on a drum. Several others stretched out on an asphalt pathway, using backpacks as pillows and gazing at the sky as a line of police officers stood at a nearby entrance to the park.

UPDATED 8:01 a.m.

Spotted on Seventh Street near First Avenue...

UPDATED 10:11 a.m.

Gothamist has more on what transpired last night... Christopher Robbins also posted video, including this one shot on Second Avenue at 13th Street...

Occupy Wall Street Arrest at #J29 from Gothamist on Vimeo.

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)"