As EVG regular peter radley noted this afternoon, the daffodils are breaking through the soil in Tompkins Square Park...
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Daffodils make an appearance in Tompkins Square Park
As EVG regular peter radley noted this afternoon, the daffodils are breaking through the soil in Tompkins Square Park...
[Updated] Report: The Red Room to close on East 4th Street
W.M. Akers at Astor Place Riot has the scoop this afternoon that the Red Room, the 32-seat performance space on East Fourth Street, will close in March. The Horse Trade Theater Company runs the space located upstairs from the Kraine Theatre and KGB Bar.
Akers has a comment from Horse Trade rep Emily Owens:
Horse Trade's landlord at 85 East 4th Street has decided to repurpose The Red Room, and it will no longer be a performing arts space. I believe he plans to turn it into some type of B&B. Horse Trade will continue to operate out of The Kraine Theater and UNDER St. Marks, and they're currently searching for a venue to replace The Red Room.
As Akers writes:
The Red Room was a tiny space — the kind that New York doesn't have enough of ... It was ideal for truly out-there theater, a hold-out for the Weird in an East Village that has gotten far too normal.
[Image via]
Updated 4:20 p.m.
Horse Trade just released the following...
After 15 years Horse Trade Theater Group (Heidi Grumelot, Artistic Director, Erez Ziv, Executive Director) is sad to announce that they will no longer be operating out of The Red Room, a 32-seat theater located on the third floor of 85 East 4th Street. The landlord has decided to repurpose the space, and it will no longer be a performing arts venue. Horse Trade will be searching for a new third venue, and in the meantime will continue to operate out of The Kraine Theater at 85 East 4th Street and UNDER St. Marks at 94 St. Marks Place, for the foreseeable future.
We couldn’t let The Red Room go without a proper send off! So the month of March will be full of special events in The Red Room, as we say goodbye to a beloved East Village staple.
Find the March schedule of events at the Red Room here.
EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition
More photos from inside the renovated St. Brigid's (The Villager)
There are a lot of public drinking complaints around here (Gothamist)
Unidentified LES dog walker accused of abuse (BoweryBoogie)
The Little Bodega (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Apartment-for-rent ads circa 1983 (Ephemeral New York)
The latest Keith Haring installation at the New York Historical Society (Behind the Scenes)
Neighbors oppose the reopening of legendary Chumley's (DNAinfo)
... and Billy Leroy let us know that his reality series "Baggage Battles" premiered last night in France on Discovery Fr. (In the U.S., the show got picked up for a third season...)
And Billy is particular proud of this... "I was born in France. My Father is French. I have a French Passport," he said. "So it was a big deal for me."
How about some Crif Dogs with your vintage Burgundy?
One night, over a few B.L.T. Dogs and a magnum of Domaine Leflaive Batard-Montrachet 1986, he starts eyeing the vertical of Henri Jayer ... After a bit of discussion, he decides to go with Vosne Romnee Cros Parantoux 1985, a steal at $5,000. This was the first, and at this point in my life, the only time I've ever had this wine. To say the wine was magical would be an understatement, and Crif Dogs have never tasted the same...
A look at the dwindling number of East Village lots
Tomorrow, the parking lot at 327 E. Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue is closing, as Curbed first noted...
Coming soon: A six-story, two-unit residential building, as we first noted on Aug. 10.
Curbed got the renderings for the new building...
Anyway, this is just the latest former lot (parking or previously vacant) to be gobbled up for new development.
Among some other notable lots-to-apartment buildings that we've been watching:
• 26 Avenue B
• 75 First Ave.
• 535-537 E. 11th St.
• 227 E. Seventh St.
• 277 E. 7th St. (Above)
• 321 E. Third St. (Above)
• 5-9 Avenue D
There are other developments in the works for crater-filled lots that we haven't covered just yet, such as the empty space on Avenue C at East Sixth Street, where plans are in place for a six-story apartment building.
So, yeah.
Now this isn't any kind of eulogy for empty lots, parking or otherwise. Rather, it's a round-up of future developments... and an inventory of remaining open space. (Still, we do like our empty, weed-filled lots.)
Meanwhile, here are some other currently empty lots being used for cars... or nothing in particular... (And we're not suggesting that all of these are on the market... just pointing them out...)
East 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
First Avenue between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street...
East Third Street just east of Avenue C...
East Ninth Street just west of Avenue C...
A favorite: East Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...
East Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...
East Sixth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D...
East Eight Street just west of Avenue D. Plans have been scratched for an 6-story building (for now)...
East 10th Street east of Avenue B....
East 13th Street west of Avenue B... which has been on and off the market for several years (and where there were plans for a new building)...
Well, there are a few others. (What are we missing?) And it's not like you need an empty lot for a new building. For examples, just ask the current tenants at 79-89 Avenue D or 504 - 530 E. 14th St.
Speaking of East Village lots...
Former Mystery Lot update! With an old-fashioned time lapse showing the progress...
Thanks, as always, to EVG regular Katja for these photos... Previously.
Thanks, as always, to EVG regular Katja for these photos... Previously.
What we'd lose if we lost the neighborhood delis
Sarah Goodyear had a thoughtful post on the topic yesterday at The Atlantic Cities titled "Battle Cry for the Bodega."
A few quick excerpts on the positive influence of the bodegas/delis... (she also points out their downsides, such as the less-than-sanitary conditions at some stores... but...)
[T]here’s no denying that the texture of the city would be flattened if the idiosyncratic bodega became an endangered species. Not so much because of what the stores sell as because of the larger role they play in the community.
As an example, she cites a friend, a single mom raising a 10-year-old son. They live across the street from a bodega ...
... where a group of regulars spends the whole day either out front (if the weather is good) or by the cash register. Sometimes they drink a bit much, it’s true. But they are a living example of the "eyes on the street" that Jane Jacobs loved to talk about. My friend’s son feels safe walking home from school because he knows those folks are watching out for him, always calling out to him by name as he passes by.
If that bodega became a 7-Eleven, it’s hard to imagine that the inspectors from corporate headquarters would want those guys in the picture. That would be their loss. And everyone else’s.
Read the whole piece here.
Also, we'll have more info later on Saturday's Bodega Walk with the No 7-Eleven Committee...
[File photo/Bobby Williams]
Your chance to live in this historic home above the Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place
There's a new listing for a home at 20 St. Mark's Place, above one of our favorite places, the Grassroots Tavern ... (and above Sounds) ... and we always forget just how nice the residences are here...
Per the Douglas Elliman listing:
2 beds, 2 baths unit occupying entire second floor.
Apartment features North-South exposures with garden views and partial city views, 12 foot ceilings, formal dining and a grand living space with wide plank hardwood floors throughout, oak moldings, three fireplaces.
Price: $2.1 million. Here are a few photos...
In case you don't know this building's history ... No. 20 is The Daniel LeRoy House, built in 1832 and landmarked in 1969 ... and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The historical marker out front reads:
This mansion was once part of the row that lined the entire brickfront. With its arched Federal-Barqoue doorway, grand proportions and original wrought iron handrailings at the stoop, it is now a rare survivor of a type, which because of its great cost, was never common. The row, one of the few ever built in this style in New York, was constructed in 1832, by Thomas E. Davis, a speculative builder. No. 20 was purchased by Daniel Leroy, brother-in-law of Hamilton Fish and son-in-law of Nicholas Fish, whose nearby home at 21 Stuyvesant Street is also a landmark.
Something to think about over your next $2 happy hour pint...
Report: Bowery Poetry Club planning March return
More from the article:
Along with a shortened name, Bowery Poetry will also refine its focus — starting with its unofficial grand opening event on March 18.
"We will be more poetry centric and project driven," said Holman, who has scheduled a huge concert, poetry slam and dance for March 18 in celebration of two endangered foreign languages — Breton, a Celtic tongue, and Garifuna, from Central America.
As Solomon previously reported, Tribeca burlesque club Duane Park is merging with Bowery Poetry... here's how the two will split up the time — 308 Bowery will operate as a burlesque venue Tuesday through Saturday. Bowery Poetry will operate Saturday afternoons, Sunday and Monday.
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
Clearing out the Bowery Poetry Club; plus, free knowledge!
Tonight: Lower East Side Unity Rally against gun violence
From the EV Grieve inbox...
Tonight at 5:30, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer will lead Lower East Side residents in a solidarity march against gun violence. There have been at least five major shootings in the Lower East Side since July of 2012 – and the most recent on January 4th resulted in the death of Raphael Ward, a local high school student.
Who: Manhattan Borough President Stringer, Arlene Delgado, the mother of Raphael Ward, other elected officials, LES community members, youths who have experienced violence, residents of Community Board 3, friends and family of victims.
When: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 5:30pm
Where: Assemble at Avenue D at East 6th Street, marching to Columbia Street and Delancey Street
Last night for Second on Second
As we first reported on Jan. 7, Second on Second, the 10-year-old karaoke bar at 27 Second Ave., is closing this month.
The farewell party is tonight... (which we have already noted)...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Second on Second sets farewell party
Claim: Second on Second closing this month on Second Avenue
The farewell party is tonight... (which we have already noted)...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Second on Second sets farewell party
Claim: Second on Second closing this month on Second Avenue
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
RIP Butch Morris
There's a small memorial outside 219 E. Seventh St., where Butch Morris lived. As you may have heard, Morris — the innovative jazz musician and conductor — died yesterday after a reported battle with lung cancer. He was 65.
The New York Times talks about his collective improvisation, which he called "conduction." Per Ben Ratliff's feature obituary today:
He introduced this concept in 1985 and at first met resistance from musicians who were not willing to learn the vocabulary and respond to the signals; he was often in a position of asking artists to reorient themselves to his imagination and make something new out of familiar materials. But he demanded to be taken seriously, and he was. After 10 years he had made enough recordings to release “Testament,” a well-received 10-disc set of his work. After 20, he had become an internationally admired creative force, presenting conductions at concert halls worldwide and maintaining regular workshops and performances at the East Village spaces Nublu, Lucky Cheng’s and the Stone.
Dave on 7th, who took the photos, recalls having drinks with Morris on several occasions.
"Very sweet and exactly as you'd want a guy like him to be."
There are tributes at The New Yorker ... NPR and The New York Times ...
Ray's 80th birthday celebration — now in video!
Now! Thanks to Slum Goddess, there is video... a lot of video... so head right over here to watch Miss Bunny Buxom, Jo “Boobs” Weldon, Miss Little Motown and Gal Friday... (
And happy birthday, Ray. Nice to see such a big smile from him.
A note to Con Ed from a small East Village restaurant
Our friends at The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space passed along this photo from today outside Matilda ... The Tuscan-Mexican restaurant on East 11th Street at Avenue C was one of the many businesses in the neighborhood to suffer extensive damage from the Sandy surge... (Find a video reminder here of 11th and C from Oct. 29.)
The Con Ed form letter points out that they are "not responsible for property damage or other losses," etc.
To which the folks at Matilda respond, "Shame on you Con Edison, after what you charge us small businesses!!!"
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