Monday, October 7, 2013

Going Ape on East Houston and Avenue B



Just pointing out the recent arrival of a Frank Ape original on the East Houston Street side of 6 Avenue B ... not sure who added the kitty below...



Photo by Stacie Joy

What 331 E. Houston St. will look like one day


[July 2013]

Spotted some more information about the future of 331 E. Houston St. over at The Lo-Down this afternoon. (The Lo-Down was first to report on the sale of this long Mystery Lotish land in the summer of 2012.)

Preliminary construction for the 13-story building here at Ridge Street is underway.

And here's what it will look like...


[Via the Commercial Observer]

Per the Commercial Observer:

The owners are working with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development to ensure that their project meets all requirements for the city’s affordable housing program ... Upon completion, 80 percent of the units will be rented at market rate, while the other 20 percent will be based on New York City area incomes.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An L-Shaped footprint ready to make its impression on East Houston Street

An abandoned car in an empty lot that will soon yield a 13-floor residential building

An updated look at tonight's CB3/SLA committee meeting docket


[The former Max Fish at 178 Ludlow]

So! The CB3/SLA licensing committee meets tonight... and there are two sessions — one at at 6:30 and 8:30...

Community Board 3 Office - 59 East 4th Street (btwn 2nd Ave & Bowery)

Here's an updated look at a few of the items on tonight's agenda...

Applications within Saturated Areas

• Brownstone Lounge and Grill, 240 E 4th St (op) (aka 50 Ave B) (Affaire) (6:30pm)

Some nearby residents are concerned about the applicant looking to take over the Affaire space at 50 Avenue B. They met with Brownstone reps last Thursday.

As we understand it, the meeting did nothing to make the residents feel any better about the new venue. Among other concerns, the applicant apparently doesn't have any restaurant experience ... with a business plan that relies upon private party rentals of the basement space. In addition, residents feel as if the food is merely secondary to the space serving as a sports bar (plans call for 8 big-screen TVs) and party venue.

• JMDR 127 Ludlow LLC, 127 Ludlow St (op) (8:30pm)

This is the space held the past 17 years by the Motor City Bar... The application filed ahead of tonight's meeting doesn't provide much information about the new venture... other than the place will include a raw bar and a small DJ booth... the space would look like this, per CB3 documents...



• To be Determined, 178 Ludlow St (op) (6:30pm)

The former Max Fish space is being fitted for an outpost of Sweet Chick, a southern-style restaurant ... BoweryBoogie has more on this here.

• Spiegel (Spiegel Inc), 26 1st Ave (wb) (6:30pm)

Apparently the newish corner deli here at East Second Street will make way for something called Spiegel, an American-Middle Eastern restaurant with hours from 8 a.m. to midnight.

• Maiden Lane (Yardbird LLC), 162 Ave B (alt/wb/extend hours to 2am Sun-Sat) (6:30pm)

Alterations

• The Delancey (ADR Restaurant Inc), 168 Delancey St (op/live music in basement only) (6:30pm)

New Liquor License Applications

• Mee Noodle Shop (Mee Enterprise Inc), 223 1st Ave (wb) (8:30 pm)

Mee is looking to serve beer and wine when they return to First Avenue.

• Artichoke Basille's Pizza (Stanton Restaurant Associates LLC), 108 Stanton St (op) (8:30pm)

As previously reported, the Artichokers are looking to take over El Sombrero here...

• Huertas (Molinero LLC), 107 1st Ave (wb) (8:30pm)

This is the space last held by L'asso EV. According to paperwork on file with CB3, Huertas will be a Spanish-themed restaurant with hours of 11:30 a.m. to midnight Monday-Thursday; to 1 a.m. on Friday-Saturday. The applicants previously owned a restaurant on Long Island.

Old Business-complaint

• The DL/Dinner on Ludlow (93 Ludlow St Inc), 95 Delancey St (op) (6:30pm)

The drama continues. Read about it at DNAinfo ... BoweryBoogie ... and The Lo-Down...

The Duane Reade expansion is underway on Avenue B



Back in August 2012 we heard that the Duane Reade on Avenue B and East Second Street was going to expand... next door into the spaces previously occupied by Zaitzeff ... and the long-dead High Chai Tea Room.

In addition, Duane Reade would add a second level, digging into the basement space where the Dolphin Gym closed in February 2010.

Anyway, the city had previously OK'd the necessary permits ... and workers are prepping the adjacent space for expansion, as you can see in the photo above... Workers have replaced the former storefronts with plywood.

As discussed several times previously, this corner space was previously home to The Gas Station, aka Art Gallery Space 2B. Alex at Flaming Pablum wrote about the space here.

Per the Times:

For 10 years, the Gas Station, with its towering sculpture built from discards ranging from a 1970 Plymouth Valiant to department store mannequins to television sets, has been a symbol of the Lower East Side's Bohemian ways and artistic resolve.

The space was cleared out in 1996...

[Via Flaming Pablum]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Duane Reade expanding on Avenue B

Here is Sara Curry Way



The city officially co-named St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue Sara Curry Way on Saturday. (The above photo is from early Sunday morning, in case you were wondering about the trash.)

There's also a new plaque in her honor outside the Little Missionary's Day Nursery at 93 St. Mark’s Place, which Curry founded in 1896 ...





Per her bio:

In addition to providing child care, Miss Curry fed the poor in the neighborhood and often gave her own clothing or shoes to those without. She organized cooking, sewing and child care classes for the mothers. She organized meetings to help families with their problems, and helped to steer parents towards sobriety and economic responsibility.

Posts here about co-naming streets always bring up questions about how the city decides such things. The Community Board 3 website provides the guidelines. (You can find the PDF here.)

Among the guidelines:

• Street co-naming requests will be heard by the CB 3 Transportation Committee. If the request is approved by the committee, the application will be voted on by the full Board for final approval. If approved, the request will be forwarded to the City Council office for Council approval. Co-naming requests will be placed on the committee agenda twice a year to correspond to the two yearly City Council votes. These dates will be determined as needed by determining the Council hearings.

• Prospective honorees should have a minimum of 15 years community involvement for individuals and should have demonstrated an extraordinary and consistent voluntary commitment and dedication to the community. Individual prospective honorees must be deceased. Exceptions may be made however for individuals who have died under infamous circumstances of crime, accident, disease, social circumstance or if the death itself leads to a greater awareness of the cause of death and a concerted effort to address that problem.

According to DNAinfo, Eileen Johnson, who has led Little Missionary's since 2001, started petitioning for the street renaming in 2010. City Council approved the request in December 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Part of St. Mark's Place will be co-named for Sara Curry tomorrow

Kamakura Coffee Shop now open on East 5th Street



We missed this one... EVG reader John points us to a coffee shop that opened here at 543 E. Fifth St. just west of Avenue B on Sept. 30 ... it's apparently a nice low-key place ... espresso drinks, some vegan baked goods... No tables and chairs, though there is that bench outside...

Pie Face shows its, uh, face on Fourth Avenue


[Bobby Williams]

The sign for the latest NYC location of Pie Face went up on Saturday afternoon at Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street...



The Australian bakery reportedly opens today.

Per DNAinfo:

The 24-hour bakery [offers] a full menu of flaky pies stuffed with fillings like mince meat, Philly cheesesteak and tandoori vegetable.

The space was previously home to Brothers Deli. A tipster originally told us that the Pie Face was opening next door at the former Dryden Gallery ... and that a Juice Generation was opening on the corner. We'll see if we can get this sorted out...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming and going on Fourth Avenue

Southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street is up for grabs

Root & Bone announces itself on E. 3rd St.



As reported last week, "Top Chef" alum Jeff McInnis and current "Top Chef" contestant Janine Boothwas are joining forces to open a restaurant called Root & Bone at the former Mama's Food Shop and Heart N' Soul on East Third Street and Avenue B... the exterior is being prepped for the new venture, which "will celebrate Southern foodways," as Food & Wine put it.



... and the mural-in-progress is via @ArtByJW ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Note outside Heart N' Soul explains that the chef had a 'nervous breakdown'

Mama's Food Shop closes after 15 years; 'the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished'

Rumors: 'Top Chef' alum Jeff McInnis will help revamp former Mama's Food Shop space

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Today in photos of hawks eating squirrels along East 7th Street







Photos by Bobby Williams

Updated:

Goggla has more photos here.

One fall day



Photo this afternoon on Avenue A and East 7th Street by @Creature_NYC

Week in Grieview


[Yesterday on St. Mark's Place via Bobby Williams]

El Sombrero will stay open until early December (Monday)

What it might be like living inside the cube on Astor Place (Wednesday)

Found photos in the East Village (Friday)

Buy a synagogue (Tuesday)

Former Diablo Royale Este space on A will become a Greek restaurant (Thursday)

Rite Aid closing on East 14th Street (Monday)

Out and About with Sally Young (Wednesday)

Looking at the murals at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut (Thursday)

Is Mighty Quinn's the best new restaurant in NYC? (Tuesday)

Jerry's Artarama coming to 4th Avenue (Wednesday)

A new 13-story building for 331 E. Houston St. (Monday)

Alphabet Scoop has returned (Sunday)

Progress report on 31-33 Second Ave. (Tuesday)

The Lyric Diner returns (Thursday)

The Halal Guys are opening their first restaurant here (Tuesday)

How to see the inside of CBGB again (Friday)

What's coming to the former Mama's space (Tuesday)

Louis C.K. filmed here (Wednesday)

2nd annual Tompkins Square Iron chef is today


Via the EVG inbox...

2nd Annual Tompkins Square Iron Chef Cook Off returns to the East Village
The Tompkins Square Greenmarket will be hosting a Iron Chef-style cook-off between 2 legends of the locavore restaurant scene. Chefs must tackle a basket of market mystery ingredients and prepare a dish for a panel of judges. Will it be Jimmy Carbone from Jimmy's No. 43 representing the EV or Jacob Bensley from Miller's Near & Far of the LES? Chefs start at 12. Judging at 1. There will also be a limited number of samples available to the public.

There is a 'No 7-Eleven' rally this afternoon

Via the EVG inbox from the No 7-Eleven blog...

The bikes are coming in nicely this fall in Tompkins Square Park

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Banksy's mobile garden draws a crowd on St. Mark's Place



Banksy's NYC tour continued this evening with his mobile garden making an appearance on St. Mark's Place between Third Avenue and Second Avenue... EVG regular jdx happened by ... the truck was hereabouts for roughly an hour, rambling on around 9 p.m., per jdx ...

Updated

Gothamist has more photos here.

Someone put a fake window on the Hare Krishna Tree in Tompkins Square Park



Really?

Photo by Bobby Williams

Don't fuck with 'Serendipity'



Looks as if someone tried to uproot "Serendipity," the life-sized sculpture of Christopher Gamble's silhouette in Tompkins Square Park. The silhouette is in honor of Gamble, who was homeless for nearly 28 years. Fanny Allié's creation will be in the Park through November.

Dressing it up is one thing... but this?

Photo by Bobby Williams.

A celebration of the 13 Portals tonight

[Portal 0 by jdx from December]

Since last December we've been following the 13 Portals, the interactive street art project created by Nicolina, Pérola Bonfanti and the Free Art Society ... On Saturdays this past summer, the artists have unveiled 13 site-specific, hand-painted murals ... along the way, we've been treated to some pretty colorful portal ceremonies...

And it comes to a conclusion tonight with the final (maybe!) 13th Portal. (Each unveiling provided people with the chance to acquire a key to tonight's event where the puzzle will be solved.) Nicolina passed along details about the celebration at ABC Sanctuary, 638 E. 6th St. between Avenue B and Avenue C...

The last and final Portal is this Saturday October 5!
THE PORTAL THIRTEEN.

Everyone is invited!
10:00pm - late
$13 -or- $7 in costume
Open bar from 10-11pm

We begin with the Electric Angel Theremin Convergence of Celestial Supernatural Frequencies...

from there we bring you:

The NY Zimbabwe Imbira Connection
A special performance by Angel Eyedealism
Kiss Slash Crooked Smile
Dynasty Electric
Nick Demopoulos
Monkey and the Elephant
DJ 2Melo
DJ Joro Boro
Original Sounds by PJoe

***PLUS***
Interactive Light Sound Installations by Justin Case
Visuals by Rachel Lubeck
+ Elements of Surprise~

Check out the Facebook event page here for more details. Check out the 13 Portals website here. Read more about Nicolina here.

The Nugget Spot debuts tonight on East 14th St.



The Nugget Spot has its official grand opening at 230 E. 14th St. tonight at 6...

Here's a description of their food via Facebook:

It's not just chicken and it's not just breadcrumbs. We make signature nuggets from different meats and vegetables, coated with innovative breading.


[Via Facebook]

Let us know if you try them...

Annual Harvest Festival at the 6th & B Garden today


Via the EVG inbox... at the 6th & B Garden...

Friday, October 4, 2013

Today's late-afternoon cloud coverage



Photo by Bobby Williams

Tonight I think I'll walk alone...



New Order with a live performance of "Temptation" at BBC Radio 1 studios, 1984.

Noted



No subtweeting here in Midtown South!

Found photos in the East Village from the early 1990s



When Roy Lee lived in the East Village in the early 1990s, he'd always pick up and save discarded photos that he'd find on the streets. All these years later, he finally got around to scanning them ... he shared them on Facebook, where we spotted them...

"If anyone actually recognizes anyone, that would be fun, but I don't expect it," he said.

And does anyone know if any manufacturer still makes that snazzy zebra-tiger print in the bottom photo?























Today in mutant plants of the East Village



EVG reader Zenon Marko shares these photos... with some background. And questions!

This mutant tree plant grew at astounding speed from a minuscule sprout to its current 3-meter height in the back common yard of our East Village residence. What is this exotic species? A Brazilian transplant? A prop bred for the rain forest scene in the film remake of "The Illustrated Man"? An experimental hybrid grown for the sequel of "Avatar" or a new "Doctor Who" episode? A Triffid? Consider this: the plant is growing from a hole in the concrete wall, with no apparent soil or water for nutrients.





Anyone?

Part of St. Mark's Place will be co-named for Sara Curry tomorrow



Tomorrow, the city is co-naming St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Avenue A Sara Curry Way.

Curry started the Little Missionary's Day Nursery in 1896, which is still in operation today. (The Nursery is also seemingly and amazingly one of the few businesses along this portion of St. Mark's Place without a liquor license.)

Here's more about Curry via the Little Missionary's Day Nursery website:

[She] dedicated her life to providing childcare to the working parents of the Lower East Side. Since she worked so hard to help the community, and she was short in size, many called her the “Little Missionary,” hence the name of the school. At the turn of the century, children often roamed the streets of the Lower East Side while their parents worked long days in factories.

Sara Curry organized a program in her own apartment on Avenue C, and provided children with reading lessons as well as healthy food in a safe, clean environment. In 1901 the building at 93 St. Marks Place was purchased with the help of generous benefactors. On any given day, 200 children were cared for in this wonderful building, still a haven for children to this day.



Sara Curry was famous in her time, and was featured in many publications including Harpers Weekly and Fifty Years on the East Side, by Rev. John Robertson Henry. Through her tireless efforts she made numerous friends in the business community and was able to enlist the support of several very wealthy families.

In addition to providing child care, Miss Curry fed the poor in the neighborhood and often gave her own clothing or shoes to those without. She organized cooking, sewing and child care classes for the mothers. She organized meetings to help families with their problems, and helped to steer parents towards sobriety and economic responsibility. A summer house in Rye, donated by benefactors, was for many years a haven for children to escape from the sweltering heat of the city.

Miss Curry died in 1940.

"Her life was devoted to other people," Eileen Johnson, who has led Little Missionary's since 2001, told Serena Solomon at DNAinfo. "I just think she is a really great role model."

Tomorrow's co-naming ceremonies include a street fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.