Relaunch of the Organic Soul Café Saturday features the Harlem Jazz Machine

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Lower East Side community hub, Sixth Street Community Center, will host an event on Saturday June 1st featuring dinner at the center’s Organic Soul Café and a jazz show by NYC-based Harlem Jazz Machine. Dinner begins at 7 p.m. with the band performance starting at 9 p.m. and going until 1 a.m.

The evening will mark the re-launch of the Organic Soul Café, the ground floor café at Sixth Street, which opened in 2009 and has been hosting weekly four course dinners at an affordable price since then. The menu will consist of, as always, “soulfully prepared vegan, raw and fresh fish dishes" with affordable prices, from $7 to $20.

Sixth Street is pleased to welcome the Harlem Jazz Machine for this evening. Revenue from the evening will support programs at Sixth Street Community Center, including its campaign against genetically modified foods and crops.

Earlier in the day, beginning at 12 p.m., Sixth Street is teaming up with ABC Sanctuary, a not-for-profit collective of artists and yogis that resides on the building’s 3rd floor, for free classes and activities, including reiki, yoga (for kids and seniors), tarot readings, zumba, art, chair massages and much more!

For 36 years, the Sixth Street Community Center has been committed to empowering the Loisada community and celebrating its extraordinary diversity. The Center is located at 638 East 6th Street between Avenues B and C in an old synagogue.

RSVP requested: By email or phone at 212-677.1863 Find more info here.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Photo from Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

Richard Hell: "CBGB was a dump, but for the Met to reduce its essence to a toilet is obnoxious" (The New York Times)

Former Village Voice critic Robert Sietsema joins Eater (Eater)

Michael Musto busy too (Page Six)

Christine Quinn calls on developer to remove the fence at the Children’s Magical Garden (The Villager)

Rev Jen on departing the Tenement Museum (BoweryBoogie)

Selling glass-mosaic lamps on East Sixth Street (The New York Times)

A little Red Square-Lenin history (Ephemeral New York)

Kickstarter campaign for the documentary on Streit’s Matzo coming to a close (The Lo-Down)

Alex likes "Blank City" (Flaming Pablum)

Utah House ghost signage (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Nude painting because of Citi Bikes in Soho's Petrosino Park (Gothamist)

... and tonight at the Pyramid... Lydia Lunch hosts "an evening of spoken word in the raw" titled Don't Hide the Madness. It's a benefit for Howl! Emergency Life Project.



Our Q-and-A with Lydia is here.

The CBGB movie has a distributor, release date

XLrator Media will be distributing the CBGB biopic in the United States, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie, which stars Alan Rickman as Hilly Kristal, will be released during the CBGB Musical Festival this October.

Said Barry Gordon, XLrator Media CEO, in a statement: "CBGB is the rare film that will resonate with teens, millennials and legacy fans alike. The whole family can jump in the mosh pit together for this one!"

Other titles from XLrator Media include: "Dragon Wasps" and "Age of the Dragons," billed as "a re-imagining of Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick in which Captain Ahab searches for the White Dragon that slaughtered his family and left him scarred when he was young."

Bloomberg's Cooper Union commencement address includes, oddly enough, jab at the Coal Yard

Mayor Bloomberg delivered the commencement address at the Cooper Union's 154th Graduation Ceremony yesterday.

During the 18-minute speech, Bloomberg showed that his staff did some research, localizing several references, including: "But it is true also that all of you survived thousands and thousands of slices of Two Bros pizza. I will make a point to stop and have a piece of pizza at Two Bros. I hope it’s really thin. That's the way I like it."

Uh-huh.

Also!

Later, at the 10-minute mark, the Mayor discussed the importance of giving back... and he referenced one of our favorite bars around – the Coal Yard on First Avenue.

"I started working on Wall Street. My first job was working in the cage counting securities in my underwear because it was not air-conditioned in the summer. My first year's bonus was forgiveness of the loan they gave me so that I could afford to go to work there, because they paid a lot less than other firms that had offered me a job.

"But you can always give something. And so I gave $5. That $5 would be about $37, which I'm guessing is probably less than what you’d spend in a night at The Coal Yard.

"Actually, if you spend more than $37 at The Coal Yard, the next morning you'll probably wish you had donated the money."

The joke received some chuckles from the crowd. Points for trying?

As for the big issue at hand with Cooper Union ... students have been occupying President Jamshed Bharucha's office since May 8 to protest the school's plan to charge tuition starting next fall. The New York Times has a recap of the address, and notes that some students were disappointed (but not surprised) "with what they saw as Mr. Bloomberg's evasion of the free education issue."

And you can find the entire address here.

Is the end nearing for Odessa Cafe and Bar on Avenue A?

We've been hearing rumors since last summer that the Odessa Cafe and Bar's days were numbered at 117 Avenue A. Now the following item appears on the just-released CB3-SLA committee docket for June:

• 117 Ave A Food & Drink LLC, 117 Ave A (op)

There's no other information about the applicants at this point. There is, however, a newish landlord for the building. According to city documents, 117 Avenue A was sold last summer for just north of $3 million. The LLC for the buyer shares the same address as the notorious 9300 Realty (owned by Croman Realty).

And this is what we heard via Shawn Chittle last July: "There are two years left on the Odessa lease, but the hammer may fall sooner than that. Odessa owners are retired and a buyout is possible."

[Michael Sean Edwards]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Alder applies for a sidewalk cafe on Second Avenue

[Late March via @davidsokol]

Also on the June CB3/SLA docket: a sidewalk cafe license for Alder, the popular new restaurant from noted LES chef Wylie Dufresne. The restaurant opened on Second Avenue near East 10th Street in late March. CB3 approved the liquor license for Alder last August.

We'll have more on the rest of the CB3/SLA docket later.

Renovations begin at incoming Han Dynasty on Third Avenue

The plywood is up now at the long-empty space at 90 Third Ave., most recently home to Montein Thai between East 12th Street and East 13th Street. Eater had the scoop on what's coming soon here: "Philadelphia-based Sichuan master Han Chiang is bringing his hit restaurant Han Dynasty to New York City."

Per Eater: "Chiang has earned a whole lot of praise for his fiery Sichuan cooking in Philadelphia"

(And, oddly enough, only two doors away from 99 Miles to Philly.)

CB3 just gave its approval this month for a beer and wine license for Han Dyansty.

Closing night party: Motor City Bar is burning...

Here's more information about Motor City Bar's closing-night party that we mentioned back on April 30...



From the EV Grieve inbox...

The once vibrantly creative and bohemian Lower East Side is a thing of the past, with the final nail in the coffin coming next month, when Motor City Bar closes its doors for the last time. The bar is open over the next few weeks, so make sure you stop by for a few cocktails in the meantime.

On Sunday, June 23rd, come and celebrate 17 years of sex, drugs and rock n roll with some of the best people you'd ever care to meet. Come and give a long kiss goodbye to the amazing owners, bartenders, dancers, DJs, Detroit memorabilia, and those infamous bathrooms!

A big thank you to all those who have lived, loved, laughed, cried, danced, yelled, fallen down, met future partners, found jobs, been inspired, or just generally had a great time in this wonderful establishment these past two decades. To say it will be sorely missed would be an understatement. RIP.

Note: The bar will remain open until midnight on the 30th of June, when the keys are finally handed over.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Motor City Bar is closing on Ludlow Street

Motor City Bar to remain open through June

Bid deadline approaches on that building you can skin on East 11th Street

Back on April 11, we noted that 200 E. 11th St. at Third Avenue was now on the market. It is a rather dormy-looking building... but there is potential! As the Massey Knakal listing noted:

"[A] buyer may wish to expand the residential floor plate above and restore the building above by reskinning glass."

Like this.



And why revisit all this again? Because the bidding deadline on the building is today at 5. Plus, we just wanted to repost the photo of the rendering.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reimagining this 12-story East Village building, now on the market

Retail space at historic 330 Bowery now on the market

Back in February, workers wrapped the historic cast-iron building at 330 Bowery (at Bond) for exterior repairs ... meanwhile, the 5-year-old tenant here, Rogan, closed up its boutique in April, as BoweryBoogie reported.

Now that prime retail space is on the market...



No pricing info at RKF for the 1,020-square-foot space. The new retailer will have plenty of new neighbors... Intermix just opened next door at the former Steve's on the Bowery...



On the southwest corner of Bowery and Bond, a new storefront is expected at the former WaMu branch... and the first East Coast Patagonia Surf Store is opening across the street at the former CBGB Gallery one of these days...

New York State doesn't ♥ Everyman Espresso's logo

[Cheap-ass EVG Photoshopping]

In which we will learn about section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 USC 1125(a).

It's all about the "I [coffee cup] N Y" logo that Everyman Espresso on East 13th Street has been using these past few years.

The New York Times has the story.

Then, last month, came the letter from agents for the state’s Department of Economic Development.

It said, "Everyman Espresso’s unauthorized and confusingly similar use of the I ♥ NY® logo" violated federal trademark law and implied "a misleading designation of source, origin, endorsement, sponsorship or approval by the New York State Department of Economic Development of your merchandise."

So the Everyman owners ditched everything with the logo.

That wasn't enough for the state, whose attorney is requesting "an accounting of all gross revenues generated during the period when the I ♥ NY® Trademark was used" to establish Everyman Espresso's penalty.

The reaction from Everyman co-owner Sam Penix: "Basically, it's extortion. It's also ironic because we are being threatened by the entity that has vowed to grow our New York business."

Read the whole article here.

All is well at the World Famous Pee Phone™

Avenue A at East Seventh Street today. Photo by Bobby Williams.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Miracle on Avenue A™: World Famous Pee Phone™ has a phone again

Out of order: World Famous Pee Phone™, others, face a future without quarters, whiskey

When 20-ton cranes topple over along the East River

EVG reader Luke Dohner Av. C happened by this scene this morning along the East River at East 31st Street... the crane tipped over while repairing a bulkead near the Water Club restaurant...



The Daily News has a report on the 20-ton crane accident:

Workers said the crane, which was on a work barge, got stuck on a support beam when it suddenly crashed forward, sending its back wheels in the air. The scene slowed traffic along the FDR, while some passersby, including one pedaling a rented CitiBike, stopped to gawk and snap photos.

There were no reported injuries. And had this been the Post, the editors would have blamed the accident on the Citi Bike.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East Fifth Street]

Pino's Prime Meats on Sullivan Street in jeopardy (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Twin brothers reportedly assaulted near Sutra on First Avenue (BoweryBoogie)

Appreciating Sounds on St. Mark's Place (Flaming Pablum)

Appreciating "Do You Remember Rock ’N’ Roll Radio?" (The AV Club)

Full CB3 board rejects Soho House liquor application on Ludlow Street (The Lo-Down)

Was Adam Horovitz's former Spring Street home illegally demolished? (Curbed)

Get your East River String Band T-shirts with art by Robert Crumb (Slum Goddess)

More scenes from the Loisaida Festival (Gog in NYC)

Evicted chickens summering at the M'Finda Kalunga Community Garden (DNAinfo)