Spider-Man on Avenue C (aka, BOUNCY CASTLE)

Bouncy castle! (And not quite sure why Batman and Superman get such low billing here...) Oh! All this during the Loisaida Festival today on Avenue C today... we'll post more photos tomorrow... this shot is via Peter Parker Bobby Williams.

Week in Grieview

[Photo by Stephen Popkin]

Q-and-A with Lydia Lunch (Tuesday)

Arrest in assault of gay man on Avenue D (Tuesday)

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site (Thursday)

How Edward Arrocha became “Eak the Geek” (Wednesday)

Looking at Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62, which is taking over the former Cabrini Center (Saturday)

Early 1990s photos from the East Village (Friday)

Long-dormant ast 13th Street lot back in action; 6-floor building on the way (Thursday)

David's Show Repair leaving the East Village for the cheaper rents of ... Midtown (Tuesday)

TREEMAN (Monday)

Hearing about the illegal addition at 515 E. Fifth St. (Tuesday)

CB3 says no to The Living Room to Second Street (Wednesday)

Fall out from the cancelled Great GoogaMooga Festival (Sunday)

More about the CBGB Music and Film Festival (Wednesday)

Max Fish closing in late July (Thursday)

... and workers have replaced this on Avenue A and East Ninth Street...

Week in Grieview — Citi Bikes edition

[Friday via EVG reader John]

Early verdict on Citi Bikes — kids love 'em (Friday, 26 comments)

And now, more complaints about Citi Bikes docking stations (Friday, 20 comments)

Trading places: Citi Bikes docking station making the move on East 11th Street (Thursday, 51 comments)

Report: 9th Precinct traffic safety sergeant worries about an increase in accidents with Citi Bikes (Thursday, 17 comments)

Countdown to Citi Bikes bike share in the East Village (Wednesday, 18 comments)

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... and a few people have said that the docking stations are positioned in a potentially dangerous manner; that people will have to pull the bikes from the docks out into the street ... Here's a shot from yesterday on St. Mark's Place ...


[Stephen Popkin]

...looks like enough room, yes?

Second Avenue, before the 'giant fraternity party'

Christopher Gray at The New York Times has a piece on the history of Second Avenue in today's paper ...

Second Avenue opened after the adoption of the grid plan in 1811, and wealthy families put up comfortable brick Greek Revival houses, like the Isaac Hopper house at 110 Second Avenue (above), nearly intact from the 1830s.

[Early 2012]

And you may not notice the beauty of No. 149 ... with the distraction of the kegs and stench of chicken wings from the 13th Step...


[Yesterday]

But, at one time...

Another town house from the 1840s is 149 Second Avenue; it still has its stoop and is comparatively little altered, although there’s a big skylight on the roof that must give some apartment plenty of sun. The 1870 census records the occupants as Edward Jaffray, a socially prominent dry goods importer, his family of five and nine servants.

And what about today's Second Avenue?

There is still some of the old egg-cream-ethnic left on Second Avenue, but now the chief cultural group is 20-something singles, who spill onto the sidewalks like a giant fraternity party, more ebullient than disorderly, even with plenty of beer.

Read the whole article here.

Reminders: The Loisaida Festival is today

The 26th annual on Avenue C, from East Sixth Street to East 12th Street ... The official Festival site is here.

And this morning, everyone is setting up for the day... from the shetland ponies ...



... to the corn ...

Notable events this morning (and last night)

The sun! The sun! Tompkins Square Park. vine.co/v/bVjj7K7nwHB
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) May 26, 2013

And, to provide equal time, the moon from last night...



Photo by Bobby Williams.

Going back in time today on East Ninth Street

A few photos via EVG reader Riad today....



Per Riad: "Still no word on where in time they were headed, but the flux capacitor appeared to be functional."



Indeed.

Go Big blue

Seventh and A today ... via Bobby Williams...

Planting new trees in Tompkins Square Park

Just noting that some of those new trees we spotted in Tompkins Square Park have been planted...

Photo by Bobby Williams. Arrows by EV Arrow.

Rough night at the Alamo?

Spotted this morning on Astor Place via our friends at MoRUS ...







As for the Cube... I recall Scouting New York referring to it this way a few years ago: "(aka The Big Black Cube That Has Never Actually Been Called The Alamo By Anyone Ever Other Than The Artist’s Wife Who Named It)."

Here's Bloom 62, the luxury apartments replacing the Cabrini Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation

[Photo via @zmack]

So, if you were to turn a former nursing home into a luxury apartment building... how would you market that new space? A lot of people have been asking that question since developer Ben Shaoul purchased the building that housed the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street and Avenue B.

Now we know.

Please meet Bloom 62 — "The right place to plant your roots."

A banner ad went up yesterday on the East Fifth Street side of the building. And there's now a website with a few details and renderings about the rentals.



And here we are:

It sounds impossible: a fully-appointed luxury building has sprouted in the beating heart of the East Village. A 24-hour doorman greets you before work in the morning, after returning from a cafe in the evening and when heading out to Tompkins Square Park on the weekends. You'll have every modern convenience, from a gym to a roof deck to in-unit laundry, on the same streets where names like The Ramones, Warhol and Hendrix and [sic] paved the history of this neighborhood for years to come.

Not sure why this sounds impossible. After all, Ben himself created a fully-appointed luxury building not too long ago with the A-Building on East 13th Street. (Maybe Hendrix didn't pave 13th Street with history?)

Anyway! The listed amenities include 24-hour doorman, gym and exercise facility with weight room, secured landscaped courtyard entrance, deck with showers, Weber grills and teak sun-deck, and yoga room with music system.

There's no pricing for the apartments just yet.

The nonprofit, 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The center opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 employees. The facility closed last June.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

Q-and-A with Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare

Straphangers feeling the effects of the MTA reducing sign and tape budgets

Oh, and no L train service between Lorimer and Eighth Avenue until Tuesday morning at 5. Really.

Heading on out of the city...?

The Jesus and March Chain with "Head On" from 1989.

That's it for us this Memorial Day Weekend. See you back on Tuesday. We're headed out to help the staff open the beach house for the summer. (To be honest, the estate manager is new this year and he needs direction.)

And... No. None of that is true! Who would want to leave this weekend? It should be a thing of beauty! We'll have the posts to prove it all weekend long! (Maybe!) And follow along on Twitter via #Woo and #Owww and #WatchOutForTheHeavyBlueThings.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Bike Week continues... photo by Derek Berg]

Rev Jen on getting fired from the Tenement Museum (BoweryBoogie)

Man accused in East Village assault will not face hate crime charges (NY1)

Jeremiah Moss explores Edward Hopper's New York inspirations (The New Yorker ... find more at Vanishing New York)

Facebook relocating to 770 Broadway? (The Observer)

Some photographs from Slum Goddess (Slum Goddess)

When 12 St. Mark's Place was the German-American Shooting Society Clubhouse (Ephemeral New York)

Cooper Union students perform leaked transcript of trustee meeting (Runnin' Scared)

Spider-Man shoots hoops in Chinatown (The Lo-Down)

Interview with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols from 1977 (Dangerous Minds)

And the folks at Devorado, the vintage boutique on East Ninth Street, note that some shoplifters left the store with nearly $1,000 of goods on May 17 ... they made flyers ...



... and released this video of the alleged theft in action...

And now, more complaints about Citi Bikes docking stations

EVG reader Mark White spotted a resident hanging these clips on the docking station on East 13th Street at Avenue A this morning...



... it's a photocopied article from the Post about workers removing a bike station on West 13th Street...

As for the resident with the flyers... Per Mark: "She was very upset and very concerned for safety, and let's just say she wasn't too pleased with Bloomberg. She want down the block taping them to buildings. Told me to call 311."

Now's a good time to repost the following from CB3 regarding complaints about Citi Bikes:

Bike Share will launch May 27. Issues that must be dealt with immediately, such as a blocked driveway or loading zone, should be emailed to the community board office (info@cb3manhattan.org) and we will work with DOT to have these sites inspected immediately.

There are other concerns regarding placement of installations or size of installations, or the number of installations in close proximity to each other. We are asking people to wait until bike share is in operation for a month to see what works and what doesn’t. What installations are not being used to capacity? What installations do not accommodate the number of bikes needed?

The Community Board 3 Transportation Committee will meet on Tuesday, July 16 to hear concerns. DOT will attend the meeting to note these concerns and address or inspect and follow up. Please check the CB 3 website for the meeting location or sign up to receive monthly agendas (join cb 3’s mail list on website).

Anyway, at least it wasn't dog poop.

Early verdict on Citi Bikes: Kids love 'em!

Students from (the middle school housed at?) PS 19 have discovered the Citi Bikes, which arrived on East 11th Street near First Avenue.

Look at those happy faces!

Video via MoRUS.

They're heeere

At least on East 11th Street near First Avenue ... where workers moved this docking station 17 blocks across First Avenue yesterday ... did you spot any others?

A quick trip back to the East Village of the early 1990s

I just added New York in the 1990's Photo Archives to that jumbled mess of a blogroll over on the right-hand side of this page.

A little background: As a student here in the early-to-mid 1990s, Grégoire Alessandrini was always carrying a camera around with him... and he has been uploading the photos from that time to his blog. (Alex has featured his work at Flaming Pablum while Curbed has also highlighted his photos of Times Square and the Meatpacking District.)

I wanted to point out a few of his photos from the East Village, where he lived on Avenue A and East 12th Street. He lives in Paris these days (Vélib, the bike-share program, works very well there, he says) ... Regarding the photos: "I really do miss these times."



St. Mark's Place

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East 14th Street

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100 Avenue A

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Eddie's Tower of Toys on East Sixth Street

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The Bowery at Bond

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Wigstock, Tompkins Square Park

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You can spend your holiday weekend now rooting through his photo archives here.

Here's the sign for Dojo, David Bouhadana's new sushi restaurant on First Avenue

The new sign is up now at 110 First Avenue, former home of the dearly departed Polonia, the homey Polish diner that closed in December 2011.

The new space is Dojo, a sushi restaurant by David Bouhadana (the "twentysomething sushi wunderkind" per Grub Street) that is expected to open this spring.

Crain's reported in January that Bouhadana signed a 15-year lease for the space.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the former Polonia space, soon to be home to David Bouhadana's sushi restaurant Dojo

The Loisaida Festival is Sunday

This is the 26th year for the festival ... on Avenue C from East Sixth Street to East 12th Street... rain or shine!

The Lo-Down has the entertainment schedule here. The official Festival site is here.

Find some previous EVG coverage of the Festival here.