Gentle Wash Laundromat has a new owner, sign, on Avenue A (aka, today in laundromat news)

Gentle Wash Laundromat has new ownership now at 97 Avenue A near East Sixth Street ... the new owner retained the former staff ... workers put up the new sign on Saturday... EVG reader Creature noted that the inside was painted and all the Asian nicknacks were removed... (and expect wi-fi service soon.)

Can't personally speak much about the place. There are several one-star Yelp reviews ("Please don't go here unless you want to be treated like an insect and for your laundry to smell like poop") ... and one person referred to the owner as an (ugh) "evil dragon lady."

Regardless, says longtime patron Creature of the former owner: "All I know is she was always nice to me and will be missed. It feels like another institution leaving, but that may just be me."

While I liked the former sign...



... it's nice to see that another laundromat didn't close down for good around the neighborhood. (Like here ... here ... and some day here.)

An apartment that 'has no issues'

A reader who is looking for a new apartment shared this listing for a nice place on East Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C... the reader was both amused, and, later, horrified, by the description...

The previous occupant was a master carpenter/environmentalist and it shows! Every room has AT LEAST ONE WINDOW!

Nice! What else?

Basically the apt has no issues. All the bedrooms are a nice size. It's not on ave D, it's not above a bar, its not near a hospital or on a strange block. It's actually on a well lit, active residential tree lined street.

Per the reader: "'Not on Avenue D'? Just what are they trying to say?"

Also, the apartment has been rented.

Weekend recap: 'Bloom 62' announces itself at the former Cabrini Center

In case you missed our post on Saturday... the luxury apartment building that is replacing the former Cabrini Center on East Fifth Street and Avenue B has a name: Bloom 62 ... "The right place to plant your roots."

A banner ad went up Friday. And there's now a website with this marketing copy:

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.

Reader reaction included:

Woo Generation said...
I don't know what Ramones and those other things are. How close is 13th Step?

Anonymous said...
I know someone who died in there. I could never live there. They look like prison cells with windows and rooms brightened with Photoshop.

Read the rest of the post and reader comments here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's Bloom 62, the luxury apartments replacing the Cabrini Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation

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

Another look at the dba cab accident

[Monday morning, with a dented canopy]

In case you missed this... late Sunday afternoon, a cab backed up into dba on First Avenue... said one witness on the scene, the driver "had a diabetic incident, according to the cops on the scene."

Here a few other photos from the accident, where thankfully no one else was injured... These photos are via Event Photos NYC ... where you can find more shots here.







BoweryBoogie also has a few shots here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cab backs into dba today

Cars and suspended cans this Memorial Day

On Avenue A...





...and along East River Park...





Photos by Bobby Williams...

Citi Bikes now making tired jokes about Williamsburg

The bike share is under way, of course ... and we're spotting more and more of them on the streets (people seem to be enjoying the experience, though we're terrible mind readers) ... Meanwhile, Ray LeMoine points out this Citi Copy® on East Second Street and Avenue B that we never noticed before ...

Updated: A free taste of tacos this afternoon at El Diablito Taqueria

[Via @shawnshahan]

El Diablito Taqueria opened a few weeks on 60 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

If you have been curious to try the place... they tell us they will be handing out samples of their tacos as well as free agua fresca out front today from 4-5:30 p.m. 3-4:30 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
El Diablito Taqueria is now open on East 3rd Street

And we're off: 1st Citi Bikes spotted in the wild; world doesn't end

Have now spotted 4 people riding Citi Bikes in the last 10 minutes. Plus 1 van. twitter.com/evgrieve/statu…
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) May 27, 2013

Anyone with a Citi Bike membership want to share an assessment of your experience with the bikes today? (Anonymous or not.) Via the EV Grieve email ... or in the comments...

Meanwhile, the Post reports today that a Citi Bikes docking station was positioned "a mere 150 feet" from Frank's Bike Shop on Grand Street.

And the shop’s 68-year-old owner, affectionately known as “Dr. Frank,” is worried about his future.

"My biggest question is how did they come about to choose the areas where they put these bikes. Did they study the areas? Did they look at the businesses around them?" asked a flabbergasted Frank Arroyo.

He says his bike rentals comprise one-third of his income.

And did you see Marcellus Hall's New Yorker cover this week? (Read about it here.)


[Via Gothamist]

At the Loisaida Festival

Here are photos from yesterday's 26th annual Loisaida Festival on Avenue C...




[Top 3 photos by Bobby Williams]

-----

And a few Avenue C street scenes via EVG contributor James Maher...




















-----

And here's a video featuring an after-party on the Avenue...

Cab backs into dba today

[Via an EVG reader]

As we understand it today around 5 ... a cab driver somehow backed into dba on First Avenue...


[Via an EVG reader]

...as our friends from dba tell it, the cab driver was taken off in an ambulance with unknown injuries, but amazingly nobody else was injured... all the more amazing when you look at the photos from inside via EVG reader Shawn...