East Village Thai back open today

East Village Thai — named one of the best Thai places in NYC by the Daily News in September — closed in late September because of a gas problem...

[Sept. 30]

Now, nearly two months of gas drama later ... East Village Thai here at 32 E. Seventh St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square is reopening today, per the sign on the gate.

Check out their menu here.

Week in Grieview

[Today in Tompkins Square Park... photo by Bobby Williams]

A new bike for Jacqueline (Tuesday)

A 'fearless' break-in attempt (Saturday)

A note about the 'college frat behavior' in an Avenue C apartment building (Tuesday, 55 comments)

Meet Cosmo Yannis (Wednesday)

East 11th Street lot will be home to the Mark Spink Apartments (Monday)

First Christmas tree for Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street (Friday)

Incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A not so popular (Friday)

Remembering the turkey of El Jardín del Paraíso (Thursday)

Rolf's annual holiday wonderland (Wednesday)

The bells of St. Brigid's (Monday ... Friday)

More Christmas tree stand choices for you

Just adding to Friday's post on the arrival of the East Village Christmas tree stands/holiday markets/whatever.

The stands are up and running on East Houston at Essex ...

...and outside Whole Foods Bowery...

So they join the stands on East 14th Street and First Avenue ... outside Rite Aid on First Avenue ... and outside St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery on Second Avenue... Was thinking about doing a price comparison, but, you know, the trees aren't marked. And the sales often seem subjective... with plenty of bargaining.

In recent years, I bought trees at Stuyvesant Grocery and East Village Farms. And they're both closed. Maybe I'll wait for someone to throw his or her tree away...

Time Warner Cable out

Again. Guess I'll go hog a few tables somewhere for free WiFi for the afternoon. Hope that you don't mind!

So what's your Time Warner Internet alternative? Time to change.

Report: Two teens wanted in youth basketball scam

Cops are looking for two teen thieves they say are responsible for several East Village robberies, according to the NYPD Daily Blotter in the Post today.

The suspects, believed to be 14 years old, have been going into local businesses under the guise of raising money for a youth basketball team and then swiping phones and computers, police said.

One teen reportedly distracts the store owner while the other teen grabs the electronics. The two are reportedly responsible for five thefts dating back to July.

Noted

From the EVG Twitter account... pretty empty streets this morning ... this one was on First Avenue between St. Mark's and East Ninth Street... the other was on East Ninth Street just west of Second Avenue...

Saw the NYPD ticket 2 cyclists within minutes this a.m. Running a red light? twitter.com/evgrieve/statu…

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) November 24, 2012

A 'fearless' break-in attempt on East 9th Street

A reader passed along this information ...

I left my building today, 233 East 9th Street, around 2 p.m. to run errands and I bumped into a man on my stoop. He said to me "take a hot shower, then take a cold shower, then take a hot shower." I didn't think anything of it other than he was just a kook — our stoop is always used by eccentric people waiting for the bus — and I went to run my errands.

When I came back about 20 minutes later, he followed me into the vestibule, then attempted to follow me into the lobby. I thought he might be a left-of-center fill-in for my Super over the holiday weekend. I asked him who he was and he said "the landlord."

I knew he wasn't and told him I was going to call the police if he didn't allow me to close the door to keep him out. He started rambling on about how I could obtain American citizenship by going to the consulate and filling out a form. Not wanting to break the door, I went to my apartment and called the Super, the MGMT company and 911. While I did this, he proceeded to drag ALL of the bagged garbage on the curb into our building, leaving it all over the lobby.

Waiting for the police, I saw him from my fire escape running over on 9th then taking a right on Second Ave, heading south. The police arrived shortly after and I gave them the details and a description.

Tonight around 5 p.m., I heard a commotion in the hallway. Police were canvasing the building. The guy got back into the building and was trying to break into apartments. The police didn't find him on their search.

Description

white male
5' 10 - 5' -11
early 50s
thin build
longish gray hair
hunter green suede coat
light colored jeans
silver traveling luggage

He is pretty fearless and determined to keep going about his business despite the intervention of me and my neighbors. He's obviously hanging out in the neighborhood and if he's doing this to our building, he may have tried this elsewhere.

[Image via Google]

A moment with Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park

A familiar sight in Tompkins Square Park... the renowned jazz musician will be sitting in on a set with the Matt Lavelle Quintet tomorrow night at 10 at the Stone on Avenue C ... (Details here.)

Also picked up two of his CDs for holiday gifts... he's selling them for $10...

For further reading in the Times from April:
Giuseppi Logan’s Second Chance

Bottoms up for Anna Kournikova on Avenue C

EVG reader Riad spotted this framed poster of retired tennis star/spank men's magazine favorite Anna Kournikova in the trash on Avenue C and East Ninth Street...

Why would someone throw this away?

When the other boot drops

Spotted on East 10th Street between Avenue B and C... photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C.

This is your Captain singing...

Captain Sensible (born Raymond Burns, and co-founder of The Damned) with "Glad it's all Over" circa 1984...

First Christmas tree for Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

And now, a very special holiday post about Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street... via Kita's co-master, Jose Garcia...

Supervising the purchase of her first East Village Christmas/druid tree. Joseph is the young man who sold it to us at St Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery. A very pleasant fellow. And ours was apparently the first tree they've sold this year. They clapped for us and everything. Kita was impressed and is excited for the holidays.

On the next episode: Kita meets Zoltar

Previously on EV Grieve:
The further adventures of Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

The further (often truly) amazing adventures of Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

Noted

From the NYPD Daily Blotter in the Post today:

Detectives are seeking whoever e-mailed a pornographic photo of a child and a man to a Lower East Side woman, sources said.

The 29-year-old woman told investigators that the image came via her Instagram account at 7 p.m. Nov. 12, and that she didn’t know the people in it.

[Updated] Trees arrive to be ornamented

And, as promised, these green things Christmas Trees arrived today at two East Village Green Things Christmas Tree Stands... First Avenue and East 14th Street...

...and outside Rite Aid on First Avenue at East Fifth Street...

And I think the trees have arrived outside St. Mark's Church-on-the-Bowery too on Second Avenue....

Updated:

EVG reader John passed this shot this morning...

-----

And soon, you will also be able to hear the pudding singing in the copper...

The bells of St. Brigid's [VIDEO]

I was hanging around in Tompkins Square Park this morning... and I finally heard the bells coming from St. Brigid's on Avenue B... excuse the rushed quality to the video... dropped everything (50 pounds of bread for the rats, etc.) to record this...



A commenter had this to say on our post the other day:

Well, all you tin-eared tintinabulists....These are not real church bells---rather a clever assemblage of recorded sounds run through well placed speakers...And they aren't coordinated with real time merely an approximation-Can't the priest check his cell-phone to at least be accurate?...The original bell was amazing and it was removed and not reinstalled for reasons that remain a troubling mystery. These recorded sounds are horrible and as fake as Hostess Twinkies. As a neighbor who lives quite close to the church I wish they would stop them completely.

Previously.

Tonight, 'The Last Waltz,' a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Sandy

From the EV Grieve inbox... a free show tonight featuring 30 LES-based musicians at the Rockwood Music Hall on Allen Street...

We'll be donating proceeds to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which is a great local charity that is on the ground actively helping and fixing things in many of the hardest hit communities, including Staten Island, Brooklyn, and the Rockaways. You can even earmark what area you want your donations to go to, when you give.

Here is the event page on Facebook.

Noted

Never noticed this before outside the incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A and East 11th Street... given the reaction of neighbors, this sentiment seems about right...

A quick check on the Verizon wall

Been months since checked in here along East 13th Street at Second Avenue...

Should likely be painted brown again soon... unless Verizon has some other priorities these days...

Previously on EV Grieve:
First tag reappears on the Verizon building

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Verizon is going to blow the budget on brown paint

Silent night...

Keep getting my holidays mixed up... In any event, St. Brigid's tonight...

Thanksgiving for Sandy Survivors

Volunteers are at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery preparing for the free Thanksgiving meal for people displaced by Superstorm Sandy... 1-4 today...

Per @AMDuross on Twitter — 11am lots of people from EV and other neighborhoods rolling in with donations. Smells amazing.

Holiday tree stands ready for action

Picking up from the earlier post today... holiday tree stands are up and ready at two other neighbor spots... First Avenue and East 14th Street...

...and Second Avenue at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery... looking forward to the arrival of the Holiday Hovel here... (cooler than the Creepy Camper...)

Our tree sources say that the, uh, trees will arrive tomorrow at the First Avenue/14th Street location...

Previously.

On Thanksgiving, remembering the turkey of El Jardín del Paraíso

There is a bit of a mystery surrounding the demise of the turkey who lived in El Jardín del Paraíso on East Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D ... as previously noted, flyers about the turkey's death (from "neglect") were placed by someone in adjacent residential buildings ...

EVG reader Emily Iason took these photos on Oct. 30 ... the day after Superstorm Sandy... looking well...

Meanwhile, other feathered residents are OK there... per these photos by Bobby Williams last week...

It has begun (aka breaking): Christmas tree stand going up outside Rite Aid

The annual passage (or something): Workers began assembling the Christmas holiday tree stand outside Rite Aid on First Avenue and East Fifth Street last, per EVG Twitter friend @JorgeO ... No word just yet on when the trees will arrive ... Meanwhile, inside Rite Aid, the 12-ounce canisters of Original Gourmet Butter Cookies are on sale (with wellness+ card) for $1.69 through Saturday.

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving, when all through Tompkins Square Park...

Not sure that's how it goes. Photos from late afternoon via Bobby Williams...

Stogo is closing on East 10th Street

Stogo, the Vegan ice cream shop on East 10th Street just west of Second Avenue, is closing on Sunday.

Sad News All: Sunday will be our last day open. :( Hope to see all of you until then!

— stogo ice cream (@stogonyc) November 20, 2012

The shop first announced the move yesterday via Twitter. DNAinfo's Serena Solomon following up today, reporting:

With the business battling high rent all year, eight days without income during the post-hurricane blackout and the winter a bad time for sales, Stogo's owners made the call to close.

"We were talking about closing, but [Hurricane Sandy] put a nail in the coffin," said the source, who works at the store on East 10th Street between Second and Third Avenue.

"We were going to try and fundraise to move, but then Sandy happened and I didn't want to ask people to help move our shop when people were homeless and had lost everything," the source added.

Stogo opened in December 2008 at the site of the beloved A. Fontana Shoe Repair, forced out after 45 years due to a big rent hike.

[Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

Stogo's co-owner is Rob Sedgwick, the brother of actress Kyra.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East Fifth Street yesterday via Bobby Williams]

Plans revealed for the former Billy's Antiques space (BoweryBoogie)

NYPD officers convicted of official misconduct in the rape of an East Village woman will start serving their sentences next month (The Daily News)

35 years later: Tommy Ramone on Rocket To Russia (The Huffington Post)

More on the LES Pathmark closure (The Lo-Down)

A feature on LES cobblers (DNAinfo)

Eater is compiling a list of NYC food-related Sandy fundraisers for local and national charities (Eater)

A lonely South Street Seaport (The Gog Log)

Charles Dickens tours NYC in 1842 (Ephemeral New York)

Good news for a barber in Chelsea (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

And when we last saw East Village Fruit & Vegetable on Avenue B at East 14th Street, the winds from Sandy were ready to rip off the store's awning... DJ Xerox of copycat passes along a photo of the store's new look...

Rolf's annual Con Ed winter wonderland

Hey, it's that time of year when the holiday lights go up at Rolf's ... and we make some jokey Con Ed reference.

Anyway! Here are a few photos of the 2012 lights and Victorian-era tchochkes from last night at the German eatery on Third Avenue at 22nd Street...

And they have the doll with the Brian Jones haircut...

Previously on EV Grieve:
'Tis the season for keeping ConEd in business: The holiday lights are up at Rolf's

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.

By James Maher

Name: Cosmo Yannis
Occupation: Cartoon Artist
Location: 2nd Street, Between 1st and 2nd Ave
Time: 2:35 pm on Monday, November 19

I’m an artist. I’m a bona-fide starving artist. I do cartoons right now. It’s mostly underground, kind of counter-culture stuff. I’ve been at it for 20 years. I make contributions to different publication, like The Shadow, and sometimes the High Times, just for different causes and to free the weed. What’s crazy is that you can go into a bar and get drunk off your ass, but you can’t have a little puff. It’s changing. It’s the will of the people. The worst thing that weed will do for you is make you raid your refrigerator.

I don’t drink; I don’t smoke cigarettes. I just do weed now and then. I do most of my cooking at home; I’m basically an organic kid. I shop organic and I do green juicing every day. I go to the gym every day. I’m not totally a vegetarian. I’ll eat a chicken now and then; I’ll eat an egg now and then. But I don’t eat meat.

The only reason I moved down here was because it was so cheap. Back when I moved to Orchard Street it was like the twilight zone. All the stores were gated. Women were afraid to walk down Orchard Street, from Houston on down. I used to walk by bars and women would ask if I could escort them to Houston. It was that bad.

I had a couple of Japanese friends who came visiting once and when they found out they were on the Lower East Side, one of them put their hand on their heart, because the Japanese embassy told them not to go down here. They told them to stay away. It was just scary here because you’d walk down the street and everything was closed. You’d wonder, ‘what the hell am I doing here.’ When I first moved in there was a drug dealer on every corner and they would be saying things like, ‘Christmas Trees, Santa Claus.’ Reindeer, that was the codeword for Heroin. At night I’d hear a few gunshots and wonder what the hell I was doing here. But it was cheap.

Now, forget about it – across the street from my building you’ve got a 23-story building going up. They stopped it right now, there seems to be a big dispute. We’ve got all these bars opening up and all these loudmouth people in the middle of the night. And the cigarette smokers right outside my window. Bloomberg put them out on the street, right outside of my bedroom window. When I hit the lotto, man, I’m gonna hire about 400 cigarette smokers and have a big party in front of his house.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

A woody start for The Third Man on Avenue C

The plywood came down around the former Lava Gina space the other day on Avenue C between East Seventh Street and East Eighth Street... Dave on 7th passed along this photo from yesterday...

Coming soon: A new cocktail lounge from the Edi & the Wolf people down the next block... The lounge will be called The Third Man, named after the 1949 film-noir classic starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton.

Per Eater: "The Third Man's food program will focus on Austrian-style small plates ... it'll be a fairly small, 15 seat affair. The décor is inspired by Vienna's Loos Bar, complete with 'floating' steel bar hanging from the ceiling."

Management is really earning its money now

A front door somewhere along East 11th Street.

At the New Amsterdam Lantern Walk

In Tompkins Square Park this early evening...

The Lantern Walk is a tradition of German origin that marks the midpoint between the fall equinox and winter solstice and offers a celebration of the light that glows ever brighter within us, even as the days of the year grow dark and cold.

Photos by Bobby Williams. Find more info about the Walk here.

[Updated] Report: Skateboarder dies after collision with truck at Union Square

A 24-year-old skateboarder died today after he swerved into the path of a truck at Union Square, according to a report via the Daily News.

Per the report, he was riding with traffic along Broadway when "he suddenly turned in front of the moving delivery truck" at East 17th Street.

BoweryBoogie has more details here, including a rather graphic photo.

Updated 3:26 p.m.

Gothamist has more details here.

51 Astor Place getting the window treatment

A lot of glass action here at 51 Astor Place...

[Bobby Williams]

[BW]

[BW]

... and a photo from this morning to see the progress via EVG regular peter radley...

Previously on EV Grieve:
51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower