Looking at the East Village Brownstone

So 13 months have passed since we checked in on this under-renovation brownstone at 224 E. 12th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

Last year!

Now!

The building is called The Brownstone.

Per the organization's website:

The Brownstone uses New York City as an experiential classroom to promote personal, communal and social responsibilities for young Jewish participants to develop a code of ethics for living with integrity and purpose as contributing and leading members of society.We collaborate and build partnerships with a wide range of organizations to further Jewish education and identity and to strengthen young Jews’ commitment to Israel.

Our mission is to strengthen Jewish identity and peoplehood, foster community development, and cultivate the next generation of leaders.

The building will include a rooftop terrace, sleeping quarters, library, and classroom and workshop space. No word on a completion date.

Here's a rendering...

Previously on EV Grieve:
12th Street brownstone becoming mini university for Jewish education

Revisiting: East 13th Street and 'Taxi Driver'

[226 E. 13th St. last week]

We've had several thousand posts of late about the Mystery Lot ... as well as on 222 E. 13th St., the long-abandoned building between Third Avenue and Second Avenue that will become the Bea Arthur Residence ... providing housing for up to 18 homeless LGBT youth.

During all that, a few people brought up the pivotal role this stretch of 13th Street played in "Taxi Driver." Well, all that has been well-covered before... but it does seem like a good time to quickly revisit the 1976 film.

Plenty has been written about the locations for the movie, most notably Scouting New York, who meticulously created now and thens for a post in October 2009.

A sampling just from East 13th Street...

Here's Iris and Travis traveling east on the street (The Jefferson Theater is on the left, where the Mystery Lot is now)...

...and Iris and Travis entering 226, where she took her clients ...

Scouting New York has a lot more on the locations here, including now-and-then photos from this neighborhood. Off the Grid has more on the East 13th Street locations here.

And here's Sport and Travis...

Clearing out the Bowery Poetry Club; plus, free knowledge!

We spotted workers clearing out the Bowery Poetry Club yesterday...

...we picked through the contents...looking for some kind of sign... Oh, nuts!

Free knowledge was also available, though there weren't many takers here...

[Via the EVG Twitter account]

The space is undergoing renovations, with an anticipated fall return as something else that will include part of the Bowery Poetry Club... (The Wall Street Journal has more on the Club's future today.)

Per the BPC website: "Poems Are Sill Being Written!"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Duane Park in the Bowery Poetry Club's future?

What is happening with the Bowery Poetry Club?

Bob Holman on the future of the Bowery Poetry Club

Has La Isla closed on East 14th Street? (And we hope not...)

Several readers noted that workers looked to be clearing out the restaurant near Avenue B yesterday... we stopped by later, but no one was around... and the gates were closed...

We also called, though there wasn't any answer or outgoing message... Perhaps they're doing some summertime renovations...

Anyway, it is (or was) always an inexpensive option for large servings of, among other items, rice and beans ... mashed plantains... papas rellenas. I don't recall any meals on the menu being more than $7 or $8 (excluding the combo meals!)...

CB3 OK'd a beer-wine license for them back in September 2010.

A photo of La Isla from 2008... via Eating In Translation...

[Flickr]

h/t @AMDuross

Outside 170 E. Second St.

Just a quick follow-up to our post yesterday about 170-174 E. Second St. hitting the market for $16.5 million... Allen Ginsberg lived in 170 for a few years... I realized that I didn't have a photo of the plaque that notes this... figure I'd better get it for the archives... before a new landlord buys the building, strips it of every shred of character while converting one-bedroom homes into three-bedroom rec rooms and quadrupling the rent...

Heidi and Extra Place open today on, uh, Extra Place

A few weeks back, we pointed out two new restaurants (from the same owner) coming soon on Extra Place... Well, they open today.

So, via the press materials: There's Extra Place at No. 8, a namesake restaurant with 50 seats serving Mediterranean fare, and Heidi at No. 6, a smaller Swiss eatery with 20 seats ... both "offering traditional cuisine of their respective regions made with local, high-quality ingredients."

Hours and stuff: Extra Place will be open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, 12 p.m. to 2 a.m.; brunch Saturday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and dinner 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Heidi will serve dinner Monday through Sunday, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Diner's Journal has more on the two restaurants here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
With new restaurant opening, will Extra Place finally become a dining destination?

Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Meanwhile, Extra Place continues to maintain its proud heritage

DOT removing bike racks from Astor Place

EVG reader 8E sends along this photo from today at Astor Place, noting: "Looks like there'll be fewer bike racks at Astor Place by Friday."

Indeed.

Anyone know what's going on here? A ramp up to the Citi Bike system? Back in April, StreetsBlog noted that Astor Place will be home to a 55-dock station next to the uptown 6 train entrance.

Or. Something related to the Death Star?

Just guessing...

Paving and peace on East 11th Street

The DOT is currently prepping parts of East 10th Street tonight for repaving... signs said they'd be doing all this tonight and tomorrow... from Avenue D westward...

... workers seem to be randomly tossing down barrels to block off various streets and Avenues and bike lanes ...

...a little later...

[Bobby Williams]

And last Thursday and Friday, crews worked on East 11th Street... and it kinda seemed festive... (maybe not for the workers on a hot and humid night)...

A few shots from the weekend...

[Shawn Chittle]

[EVG reader Allison]

... and on another section of East 11th Street...

Kenny from 11th St. reported that some neighbors decided to help out — because you never know when those extra chopsticks will come in handy to decorate the street ...

...and perhaps some repaving-related damage to this tree?

[Shawn Chittle]

Or is this our very own Virgin Mary Tree?

A disagreement on Cooper Square

Just a brief moment from the afternoon on Cooper Square, where a disagreement of sorts broke out between the driver of a delivery truck and a cyclist...

Bobby Williams, who took the photos, figures there would have been a fistfight had the NYPD traffic officers not intervened...

And all those involved then went on their way.

170-174 E. 2nd St. hits market for $16.5 million; Allen Ginsberg among the former tenants

Massey Knakal added the listing today:

The subject properties are two well-managed adjacent mixed-use buildings located on the North side of East 2nd Street, between Avenues A & B. 170-172 East 2nd Street has 3 retail stores and 34 residential units; 27 Free market, 6 Rent Stabilized and 1 Rent Controlled. 174 East 2nd Street has 1 retail store and 9 residential units; 8 Free Market and 1 Rent Stabilized. The buildings share a boiler that burns #2 oil from a 4,000 gallon tank. The electrical systems/wiring were upgraded in 2008 and tenants pay their own electricity.

And No. 174 has nearly 3,600 square feet of air rights available. Total price: $16.5 million.

Anyway, you may have seen the plaque out front of No. 170 showing that Allen Ginsberg lived in apartment 16 from August 1958-March 1961 ... this was one of the many places he lived in the East Village until his death in 1997

In a Habitats feature from August 2000, The New York Times ran a feature on the apartment where Ginsberg wrote "Kaddish" — "a mournful elegy for his mother, Naomi, that is considered one of his best works."

(New York Songlines also noted that Ginsberg edited "Naked Lunch" while living here... as well as "where Ginsberg and Timothy Leary began planning the psychedelic revolution.")

As the Times said of this block, "Not long ago, this was major drug territory, and landlords had to defend their turf assiduously; now it is being infiltrated by students from New York University."

The Times reported that two NYU students were living in the two-bedroom apartment, paying $2,000 a month in rent.

To the article:

When the plaque went up on the East Village building saying that it was where Allen Ginsberg once lived, the two young men who now occupy the poet's old apartment had only this to say:

Who was he?

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

Recap of the successful St. Mark's Bookshop cash mob (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Chinatown Working Group is in favor of the East Bowery Preservation Plan (BoweryBoogie)

LaMama paints its roof (The Lo-Down)

Comparing NYU's old and revised expansion plans (Curbed)

Bicyclists may have to go to a safety class for receiving a ticket (The New York Times)

Through the years at Fifth Avenue and East 14th Street (Ephemeral New York)

The Bandit spotted on East Fifth Street (The Gog Log)

Forbidden Planet moving down Broadway (Flaming Pablum ... Gothamist ... EV Grieve)

Last of the older businesses on West Bleecker is closing (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

And a photo showing the progress of One World Trade Center... taken Saturday by Bobby Williams...

Incoming construction at the Mystery Lot: A 'nightmare' or 'nightmarish'

As noted yesterday morning, workers brought in equipment to start the big dig for the 82-unit, eight-story development here at the Mystery Lot...

We looked at the site last evening... Workers put up barriers on the north side of East 13th Street, putting an end to any parking along here for the foreseeable future...

We exchanged emails with a few residents who live facing the lot... and they each used either "nightmare" or "nightmarish" to describe the impending construction...

Meanwhile, EVG reader Katja shared photos from the beginning and end of the first day of construction...

Mars Bar underpass now with security cameras

A few weeks back, we noted the rather desolate walkway set up to navigate the construction site on the southwest corner of East First Street and Second Avenue... where the 12-story apartment building is (quickly) rising ...

EVG reader AC walked through the other day... and noted that someone has now mounted several security cameras throughout the walkway...

So far, the cameras haven't deterred anyone from adding some writing on the walls...

Checking in on the First Avenue bus bulb

Over on First Avenue between First Street and Second Street ... the MTA is building sidewalk extensions (bus bulbs!) for the M15 and the Select Bus Service.

A quick update.

May!

Now!

The sign says something about completion during the fourth quarter of this year...

And what is a bus bulb?

As Streetsblog puts it: "Bus bulbs — sidewalk extensions into the street at bus stops — keep bus shelters and ticket machines out of the way of pedestrian traffic. And by allowing buses to load passengers without having to pull to the curb and back into traffic, they also make for faster rides."