Little sea bass by the sea

Photo and text by East Village resident Edward Arrocha via Facebook

Fisher women on the East River... she and her husband were the nicest people... He Irish-American, She originally from uptown... they loved fishing and telling fising tales... she pulled little sea bass one after another and gently threw them back...

Reader report: Solas patrons turn sidewalk shed into after-hours hot spot

A few weeks ago, we received word that a woman was taken away in an ambulance from outside Solas, the bar/lounge on East 9th Street.

A reader now notes that some Solasgoers have turned the scaffolding at the nearby parking garage into an impromptu after-hours hot spot. Says the reader:

“When the Solas crowd outside congregates, the bouncer comes out and tells them to move along. They'll then form small groups on the stoops of the neighboring buildings and businesses.

Now they have descended upon the sidewalk shed next door where they continue to scream, fight with each other, block the traffic by getting in and out of taxis, and generally live up to every negative stereotype of the drunken 20-somethings who take over the East Village on the weekends. The group of about 50 people [pictured above] didn't leave the area until 5AM.”

Looking at the boring September CB3/SLA docket

Community Board 3 released its monthly meetings docket yesterday. Not too many blockbusters. Or any. Which is just fine. Many of the items are for bars-restaurants south of Houston... and a few familiar names are back on the agenda... we'll hopefully know more as CB3 releases the applications for the, uh, applicants.

And the SLA & DCA Licensing Committee meets on Sept. 10 at the usual place — JASA/Green Residence, 200 East 5th Street at Bowery.

Renewal with Complaint History
• Nublu, 62 Ave C (wb)

• L'azzo Pizza, 107 1st Ave (wb)

Applications within Resolution Areas

[EVG reader Kat]

• Vella Market Inc, 56-58 Ave B (wb)

This is the organic market that is taking over the former Kate's Joint space at East Fourth Street.

• 106 on the LES LLC, 106 Rivington St (op)

• Gallery Bar (MMS Group LLC), 120 Orchard St (op)

• Subject (PMMR LLC), 188 Suffolk St (op)

• Caffe Buon Gusto (Ave B Caffe Buon Gusto Inc), 545 E 5th St (aka 76 Ave B) (wb)

They've been featuring a bring your own bottle policy since opening...

Alterations
• Nom Wah Tea Parlor (Nom Wah Dim Sum Parlor Inc), 13 Doyers St (alt/wb/change of hours)

• The Bowery Diner (241 Bowery Corp), 241 Bowery (alt/op/extend hours)

New Liquor License Applications

• Lobster Joint (LJ East Houston LLC), 201 E Houston St (op)

It appears that the former Lina Frey space will be home to an outpost of the Williamsburg-based Lobster Joint.

• To be Determined, 266 Broome St (op)

• To be Determined (Silkstone), 22 Orchard St (wb)

• Jujomukti Tea Lounge (Jujomukti Inc), 211 E 4th St (wb)

• Hummus Place (Edo Food LLC), 109 St Marks Pl (op)

• Mario San Inc, 36 Ludlow St (wb)

• Congee Village Inc, 100 Allen St (op)

• To be Determined, 224 E 10th St (wb)

Was originally on the August agenda. This was the address for Merciel, the boutique that sold wedding dresses... they recently closed, and something booze-related hopes to take its place.

• Paulaner Brauhaus Restaurant LLC, 265-267 Bowery (op)

• Feast (Two Guize LLC), 102 3rd Ave (op)

Also a holdover from August: The New York Central Framing Annex has moved around the corner to East 12th Street... and a restaurant-bar is in the works for the old space...

• Nevada Smith (92 Nunswalk Inc), 100 3rd Ave (op)

• Souvlaki Gr LES (Uber Caffe LLC), 116 Stanton St (op)

• To be Determined, 127 4th Ave (op)

Current home of Forum, which often seems to need a new front door after the weekend.

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)
• The Cock (Red Rooster 29 LLC), 29 2nd Ave (op)

Rumors about the new name for the former Nice Guy Eddie's space

Renovations continue at the former Nice Guy Eddie's space on Avenue A at East Houston... currently home to Chico's KISS plywood. As previously disclosed, Darin Rubell, co-owner of GalleryBar and Ella, is one of the partners opening a new restaurant here.

According to the rumor mill, the space will be a gastropub called Boulton & Watt, named for the U.K.-based business partners who made many critical improvements to the steam engine in the late 1700s.

Reader report: EarthMatters closing next month

177 Ludlow hit the market for $6.25 million last September, as BoweryBoogie first noted. The 5-story, 15-unit building has been home to EarthMatters Organic Market and Restaurant since 2001.

Last month, The Lo-Down reported that 177 Ludlow was in contract.

The future looked bleak for the organic food market, especially with the listing that appeared for the ground-floor space the market occupies (asking rent is $25,000 a month).

Indeed.

EVG regular samo heard that, now that the building has been sold, the store is closing for good on Sept. 20. Management apparently told employees last evening.

No word on the plans for the building. As BoweryBoogie wrote, "the stout property is being pitched as a perfect opportunity for either a hotel or condo conversion. Two options this battered part of the neighborhood certainly does not need."

[Photo via the EarthMatters website]

Squirrel, nuts

Two photos of the red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park courtesy of EVG regular peter radley....

...and another angle via Bobby Williams, who notes that the squirrel got away...

[Updated] Meatball Factory becoming Bait & Hook

Workers are at East 14th Street and Second Avenue right now... putting up the canopies for what's taking over for the former Meatball Factory... it's called Bait & Hook, and a resident in the building says that it will be a seafood restaurant... which is likely better than a seafood factory...

Not sure at this moment if it's from the same owners ... or a new group of restauranteurs ...

Previously.

Updated:

Here's another view via @apartmentjeanie ... management is calling the new eatery a seafood shack...

And now, a 4-armed robot with a mohawk plays the drums to 'Blitzkrieg Bop'

In case you haven't seen this one making the rounds... via CBS News.

Ruination of the northwest corner of First Avenue and East 13th Street nearly complete

[Image via @NatashaDillon]

We've heard from several alarmed readers that the Starbucks signage is up at 219 First Ave. at East 13th Street, as we first noted in April.

By the way, does anyone have photos of the former tenant here, the Mee Noodle Shop, a favorite spot for Allen Ginsburg...?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Today in rumors of another Starbucks opening in the East Village

219 First Avenue ready for a chain store, probably

Starbucks confirmed for 219 First Ave., former home to Allen Ginsberg's favorite Chinese restaurant

What it costs to live in newly renovated apartments above a Starbucks in the East Village

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Tompkins Square Park yesterday. Bobby Williams]

On Broadway, part of poet Frank O'Hara's former home is becoming a fro-yo joint (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Revisiting the Sin Club on East Third Street (Flaming Pablum)

Q-and-A with CB3 member Ariel Palitz: 'I have nothing but love and compassion for my neighborhood...' (The Lo-Down)

Security watches while a vicious fight breaks out in Union Square (Gothamist)

What to eat at Masak on East 13th Street (Fork in the Road)

Read about NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan to overtake the Village (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

A great old clock near Astor Place (Ephemeral New York)

There will be a bar called Brews & Dogs on Allen Street (BoweryBoogie)

Perhaps a last visit to Colony Records (Tripping With Marty)

Random: Documentary on the Dude on whom 'the Dude' was based (BoingBoing)

...and a photo via EVG reader Ted Roden on Seventh Street and Avenue C... showing an addition to the stupid Cole Haan ad campaign...

At the Church of the Rummage Sales

Arguably one of the most intriguing churches in the neighborhood sits on East Fourth Street near Avenue D. It's currently the San Isidoro y San Leandro Western Orthodox Catholic Church of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite.

I don't know much about the building. I've poked around here and there on the Internet for more details. From a post at Slavs of New York:

Few specifics are available about the building’s history, but it was built in 1895 as the first home of the Roman Catholic St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish. When that parish moved uptown to Yorkville, the building became the Russian — Greek Orthodox Chapel of the Holy Trinity serving the Russian and Greek embassies. Later, it became the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, which eventually moved to East 97th Sreet.

Today, the building is part of the Western Orthodox Benedictine Friars of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite, though it still bears the royal seal of the Russian Czars on its façade.

Anyway, it's one of those places that I worry about, as I like to do. There was a small fire at the church in February 2011. (A previous post about the church is here.)

There are no longer any services at the church, which mainly seems to be used for rummage sales. I've bought a few books and records here. A book and record will go for about 60 cents. (I overheard the priest say that they were raising money to start up services again. They will need to sell a lot of books and records... and they will also gladly accept donated clothes and stuff.)

Given all the new construction in the immediate area (here and here and here), you have to wonder how long the church can hold out before a developer comes along.

Which is why a photographer with better skills than mine should go document 117 years of history.

Let's look at the new rendering for the former Amato Opera building on the Bowery

On the Bowery, the Amato Opera building has sat vacant since the company closed on May 31, 2009. In January 2009, Anthony Amato, the company’s 88-year-old founder, announced that he had sold the building that the Opera has called home since 1964. (He and his wife Sally, who died 12 years ago, started Amato in 1948.)

Through these years, we've pointed out the various for rent signs that have adorned the building. We even pointed out the most recent rendering people (scalies!) that the broker was using...

Very realistic — particularly the texting zombie walking right into traffic on the Bowery.

But that dose of realism wasn't really working. We need to see... the future! Not to mention some hot rendering ass.

Seems about right.

For further reading:
Amato Opera (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Life after the Amato Opera

Costume drama on the Bowery as the Amato Opera empties out

Ruin of the Bowery nearly complete: Last season for the Amato Opera

Go inside the Amato Opera here.