Week in Grieview

Medical Examiner says LES Jewels died from 'blunt injuries of head' (Thursday)

Musician Dev Hynes 'lost everything,' including his dog Cupid, in East 11th Street fire (Tuesday)

2-part Out and About with John's of 12th Street owner Nick Sitnycky (Thursday)

Helping save Jerry's Newsstand (Wednesday)

You won't see the Odessa Cafe and Bar back open (Monday)

Permits filed to demolish the former Salvation Army East Village Residences (Friday)

Silver Spurs closes on Broadway (Thursday)

What's replacing the 9th Street Bakery (Thursday)

Name change at the former Flea Market Cafe (Tuesday)

Another tenant for 51 Astor Place (Thursday)

These two buildings on East Second Street have new landlords (Thursday)

OK, who mounted the koala? (Tuesday)

More about DF Mavens opening next spring on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Friday)

So you want to rent a former 7-Eleven? (Tuesday)

The Jefferson sells out (Friday)

SantaCon postmortem (Monday)

[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Sushi Lounge closed on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place at the end October, as we first reported. And now a potential suitor is lining up to take over the space. A handful of signs appeared yesterday ahead of the January CB3/SLA committee meeting…



The signs point to Empellón, chef Alex Stupak's well-regarded Mexican restaurants.



No word if this will be a third space for Stupak, who runs Empellón Cocina on First Avenue near East Sixth Street and Empellón Taqueria on West Fourth Street … or he is simply moving, say, Empellón Cocina into this more high-profle corner space.

Updated 12-23
Stupak tells Eater that this will be his third restaurant... (so no one is moving) ... and that he hasn't decided on the concept for the space just yet.

Beware of 'stray voltage' here on Avenue A and East 2nd Street

You may have noticed the caution tape up around the manholes and light poles and what not on Avenue A and East Second Street (there are more manholes with caution tape further east on Second Street).



One of the ConEd guards sitting in some sort of town car told an EVG reader the reason for this presence: "stray voltage."

Noted

Spotted along East Third Street.

Dec. 21

Wow. EVG reader Mark White spotted this yesterday on East Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. And we saw it with our own Google Glass eyes and can vouch for its authenticity.

Likely a record for waiting to toss out a tree.

And how did this conversation go down?

Let's go buy a Christmas tree today.

Great, but let's throw out last year's tree first...

Can we at least enjoy the damn trees first before thinking about mulching them?

Finally just bought the damn tree and now you have to think about mulching it.

Signs are up around Tompkins Square Park for the annual MulchFest … happening Jan. 11-12.

Maybe just drag the fucker over to the Park Christmas morning. Why wait!

-----

Also!

The lonley-looking tree left by itself outside St. Mark's Market has apparently been sold!

Yesterday!



Today!



Finally, in other holiday miracles… the Second Avenue Snowman has found a second wind…

Last day for FUNKtional Art Fair at La Plaza Cultural

Today is the last day for FUNKtional Art Fair at La Plaza Cultural...

Repeat from the EVG inbox...

Looking for a relaxed and joyful holiday shopping experience? Visit the East Village's very first FUNKtional Art Fair, a holiday fair of functional art for the funky at heart.

When:Sunday 12pm-9pm, December 22
Where: La Plaza Cultural Community Garden at the southwest corner of 9th St. & Avenue C.
What: A fair that features an amazing selection of seasonal gifts; Christmas wreaths & trees, holiday decorations, clothing, costumes, jewelry, housewares, leather goods, paper goods, custom millinery & children's items.

A portion of the money raised will go to La Plaza Cultural Community Garden

Find more info about the vendors here.

You'll also be able to find work from artists such as Peter Missing and others…



[Photos by Bobby Williams from last weekend at FUNKtional Art Fair…]

There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)

Tompkins Square Park today via Bobby Williams…

Why there'll be electric guitars on East Village streets this afternoon

As part of Make Music Winter .. the Tilted Axes Mobile Electric Guitar Procession will work its way through the East Village this afternoon from 3-5.



Here's more about it:

Composer and producer Patrick Grant creates and leads a procession with dozens of electric guitarists through the East Village, with a special stop at The Alamo, the iconic Astor Place sculpture commonly referred to as The Cube. In 2014, The Alamo will be moved from its current location to another part of the plaza. To observe this occurrence, Grant introduces new repertoire that evokes the iconic guitar music that has scored sub-genre Wild West cinema. The event will be a moving, polyphonic sound cloud layered in compelling, electric rhythms to honor the season’s axial tilt.

Here's a video from last year's Tilted Axes procession…

Oh, won't someone please buy this lonely Christmas tree?

At the St. Mark's Market, one lone tree remains for sale. It would look nice in any home! I'd buy it, but I already have 11 in the apartment…



Meanwhile! So there's one tree left here… Elsewhere! Forests of trees remain for sale!







And, well, please shield the eyes of the children now.

The troubled Frosty the Snowman inflatable on Second Avenue near East Houston is… just… Maybe it's the heat? (Let's remain positive.)


[I'll be back again some day. Thumpity, thump, thump]

First discarded Christmas tree of the season (aka FREE TREE)

Hurry now. Fourth Avenue between East 12th Street and East 13th Street. Still smells sorta piney.

Safe 'Harbor'?

Touché Amoré with "Harbor" … the band's record, "Is Survived By," made No. 2 on Andrew Sacher's Top 20 Albums of 2013 over at Brooklyn Vegan…

Take these old MTA benches off of LaMaMa's hands — or they'll be chainsawed!

An EVG reader passed along this Craigslist post…

We payed full price, $650 each — you can have them for free, you just have to pick them up. We will even help load them into your truck. They weigh ~500# each. We used them in a show and the show will be done. You MUST pick them up Sunday night or early Monday morning at LaMama theater. Otherwise they will be chainsawed...

FYI: they are 10' plus long, so you would need a box truck, not a cargo van.

Seriously, haven't you always wanted one of these in your back yard? Or you artist loft?

Today in red-tailed hawks eating a rat on a fire escape

EVG regular William Klayer caught the action on East 12th Street just east of First Avenue… Oh, that stare!

What has happened to East Village Shoe Repair?

That's the question the Confidential columnists at the Daily News are asking today. The sliver of a shoe-repair shop on St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue rather abruptly closed before Thanksgiving, as we first noted here.

And there is some fallout from this closure. To Confidential:

Model Francesca Vuillemin is one of several lower Manhattan tastemakers who recently popped into East Village Shoe Repair to pick up shoes. Hers were pairs by Balenciaga and Miu Miu that she’d left for repairs. She estimates the kicks were worth $700.

Vuillemin had been told by the store’s proprietors many times since September that the repairs were behind schedule and had been asked to come back another time.

An EVG reader heard from proprietor Boris Zuborev that they would reopen in the David's Shoe Repair storefront on East Seventh Street. (The for rent sign is off that space.) We haven't heard anything else about this.

The Daily News tried to contact Boris, but "two calls to a number registered to [him] resulted in a pair of angry hangups."

In which we turn 6! 6! 6!

[One day on Second Avenue]

The EV Grieve website/blog turns 6 tomorrow. Thought I'd mention it now, though.

The whole thing started because of this. (Ultimately a false alarm! Thanks Page Six!)

Anyway, on previous anniversaries, I talked about the secret formula for blogging (No. 4) and my dubious past as TV Grieve (No. 5).

Today, I'm here to talk about the future. Starting today, I'm launching a Kickstarter campaign without a business plan to raise $750,000 to create Grieve.You.Me, a new site powered by a proprietary algorithm that also generates positive Yelp reviews and...

Ahhh. OK, a sincere thank you to everyone who has been part of any of EVG these past six years… from taking the time to read the site… sharing the posts… commenting, complaining, commiserating, passing along tips, laughing, crying… you know. Your involvement and camaraderie makes it all worthwhile. (And a large thank you to everyone who contributes to the blog on a regular basis, including Bobby Williams, who sends me great photos every day, and James Maher, who presents a compelling portrait of our neighbors every week in Out and About in the East Village.)

Thank you.

As for the real future, I'm looking forward to continuing on… hope that you are too.


[East 5th Street between Avenue A and B]

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

[EVG file photo]

The new owners of 347 Bowery filed permits yesterday to begin the interior demolition of the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence, according to documents at the Department of Buildings.

The permits show "interior demolition of non-load bearing partitions of existing vacant 3 story building including cellar," listed at a cost of more than $234,000. Frank J. Quatela is listed as the architect of record.

A little recent history.

The Salvation Army's East Village Residence closed here at the Bowery and East Third Street in August 2008. (Find some history of the space here.)

In January 2011, the Post reported that the France-based Louzon Group had bought the building for $7.6 million and were planning on opening the — for real — ugliest fucking hotel ever.

But, those plans, thank God, fell through.

The Lo-Down reported in July that "Glauco Lolli-Ghetti, the principal at Urban Muse, a privately held real estate firm that 'acquires, develops, repositions, operates and brands' both commercial and residential real estate," bought the space in a $16.3 $19 million deal.

No word on what those plans are just yet. But you can count on it being something, you know, pretty nice.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reactions to new Bowery hotel: 'It would be cheaper and more useful just to blow up the building and leave a 30-foot crater'

Why do the French hate us?

Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Report: The Jefferson is all sold out

The Jefferson, the new 82-unit condo at the site of the former (sob) Mystery Lot in the North West East Village, is 100 percent in contract, The Real Deal reported.

Prices at the building, officially 211 E. 13th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, ranged from $795,000 for a 536-square-foot studio to more than $3.5 million for the penthouse.

Here is Jacqueline Urgo, who helped lead the sale for the Marketing Directors:

“The product was planned perfectly for the marketplace, including an exterior that fit in contextually with the neighborhood,” Urgo said via email. “While other developers were building family-sized residences, we planned smaller homes for this marketplace, a decision that was validated by the strong velocity of sales. Our buyers were predominately primary residents, many of whom were already committed to the East Village neighborhood and wanted to move up to this level of luxury and lifestyle.”

Plus, as the Jefferson ads showed, everything works! Unlike that craphole you live in…


[Sick burn, Jefferson!]

Previously on EV Grieve:
City approves new building for Mystery Lot

The last days of the Mystery Lot

Before it was the Mystery Lot

The Mystery Lot developers using famous dead comedians to sell condos at The Jefferson

The Jefferson reveals what '21st Century living in the heart of Olde New York' costs

East Village grifter alert: Beware the man with the sob story who offers you a wedding ring as collateral

An East Village resident shares the following with us...

There is a scam artist working the area around Tompkins Square Park. A white guy in his early 40s, baldish, about 5-8, stout — dressed and looking like a perfectly average working-class type.

The first time he came up to me near my building about two months ago, pleading for help, saying he and his kids were trapped in a van that ran out of gas and he needed something like 18 or 28 dollars, I don't remember exactly.

I never do this, but that time I believed the guy, especially since he looked so desperate and even offered his wedding ring, some chain, phone and what not as a security deposit till he paid me back. I turned down his generous proposal, gave him $20 and was happy to just go home after a long day at work. Actually, I even felt good about helping the guy out.

But then yesterday, on the same block, just a couple of feet from my building, the same guy catches up with me and starts telling me the same story all over again.

I was furious, but being pregnant I didn't feel prepared to take the risk of getting into a big arguement with the guy or taking his picture. So I just interrupted him and said he had pulled his trick on me two months ago and left.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village grifter alert: Beware the broken vodka-bottle scam!

Lucy's is back open, Hallelujah

Lucy's, one of our favorite bars, had been closed of late on Avenue A … likely on another customary break ... before Thanksgiving, we spotted a sign saying that the bar would be reopen on Dec. 6. But, as far as we know, that never happened… and the bar remained closed… including last weekend. (Who could blame her.) A reader spotted a sign on Dec. 13 saying closed, and instructing people to go next door to Doc Holliday's.

Still not open as of Wednesday. There was understandable concern.

Lucy's was closed last night. No "Be back in a week" sign. Please someone tell me this isn't the end (cc: @evgrieve)

— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) December 19, 2013

However, last night, Lucy was back… and it was really nice.

More details on DF Mavens, opening next spring on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place

As we first reported back on Oct. 17, that prime northwest corner space on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place has a new tenant — a retail outpost of DF Mavens...

And yesterday, the DFM folks sent along the official news release about this outpost...

Situated on a prime block at the corner of Second Avenue, DF Mavens’ flagship store will open in the spring of 2014 and showcase the brand’s award-winning line of dairy-free ice creams. The store will feature a wide range of vegan snack and beverages, including a full line of baked goods, fresh juices and coffee.

“We’re very excited to open our first dedicated storefront and plant our flag in the vibrant East Village food scene,” states Malcolm Stogo, a world-renowned ice cream consultant and founder of DF Mavens. “Our new retail outpost will allow us to bring delicious, dairy-free ice cream to a greater segment of New Yorkers who want vegan-friendly dessert options in time for the warm weather.”

DF Mavens also announces that four of its pint-sized non-dairy ice creams are now being carried in Whole Foods Markets at Union Square, Columbus Circle, Bowery and Tribeca. These flavors include: Shot of Java, New Orleans Salted Praline, Del Lago Chocolate and Key Lime Pie.

DF Mavens pint-sized offerings include 9 flavors that feature the highest quality ingredients and are categorized by soy-based, coconut-based or sugar-free varieties. Designed to taste as good as any cream-based formula, each flavor is handcrafted by Stogo himself, who has consulted on brands like Haagen Dazs, Stonyfield’s Frozen Yogurt and Colombo.

As you may recall, Stogo, the vegan ice cream shop on East 10th Street just west of Second Avenue, closed for business in November 2012.

Stogo opened in December 2008 at the site of the beloved A. Fontana Shoe Repair, forced out after 45 years due to a big rent hike.

This is what a play in an East Village laundromat looks like

[Anton van Dalen]

Last night, Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose took place at the Gentle Wash Laundromat at 97 Avenue A… just sharing a few photos from the evening… Longtime East Village resident Emily Rubin, who serves as the producer, said that she was quite pleased with the turnout…

Rubin, who moved here in 1980, said that the "reason for starting the events in the laundromats was partly because I missed those days of guerilla- style art and performances."


[Anton van Dalen]



Above, from left to right: Lizzie Olesker, director, Pinky Weitzman, composer/musician, Connie Winston, performer and Rosemary Fine, performer.



Rubin plans on more laundromat performances in the future… Look for more info here.

After 34 years, Silver Spurs is closing on Broadway

Ugh. The always-reliable Silver Spurs diner on Broadway near East Ninth Street is closing, as their farewell sign above points out. Their lease has expired, and Sunday is their last day in business.

A new bank branch will look pretty nice in this spot, huh?

And we're running out of diners around here… with the loss of University Diner … and, a few years back, Bon Vivant...

Thanks to @elivalley for the photo.

St. John's makes plan to move Manhattan campus to 51 Astor Place official

Just a few days after 51 Astor Place developer Edward Minskoff boasted that he'd have the whole 12-story building leased by the end of next month... comes word from St. John’s University, who announced today that it has leased 71,000 square feet of space for its Manhattan campus. (This move was first rumored in July.)

Here's part of the official news release of the move:

Situated in an area that is home to more than 50,000 college students, the new location will house St. John’s School of Risk Management, a key division of the University’s Peter J. Tobin College of Business and a global leader in risk and insurance education and training.

The School of Risk Management contains the Kathryn & Shelby Cullom Davis Library, which comprises the world’s largest collection of risk and insurance literature, policies, and related documents, and serves as a center for study and research for students of risk management, insurance, and actuarial science around the world.

The location will also be home to The Language Connection, St. John’s intensive English language institute, and to continuing professional education and other academic programs.

St. John’s plans to open 51 Astor Place for the 2014 fall semester. The new site will replace the school’s Manhattan campus in Tribeca, which the University sold for $223 million back in July 2013.

Anyway new incoming students, try the tuna melt across the street at Archie & Sons. Good stuff!

Report: LES Jewels died from 'blunt injuries of head'

[Photo from 2007 by Bob Arihood]

On Sept. 14, Joel Pakela, aka neighborhood fixture LES Jewels, was found unconscious on Avenue A at East Ninth Street. He died a short time later at Beth Israel. Rumors quickly circulated that he died from a drug overdose. Later, though, there were claims that he had been kicked in the head during an assault.

Today, The Villager reports on the official cause of death, according to the medical examiner's office:

According to Julie Bolcer, an M.E. spokesperson, the finding of the autopsy and toxicology investigation was that Pakela’s cause of death was “blunt injuries of head.” However, she said, “The manner of death is undetermined.”

Asked for more details — such as how many and what kind of head injuries Pakela had, and whether he got them from being assaulted or, say, falling down on the sidewalk — Bolcer said she would check. However, she subsequently called back to say she had no further information. Asked if alcohol or drugs contributed in any way to his death, Bolcer simply repeated the M.E.’s conclusion, that the cause of death was “blunt injuries of head.”

Jewels was 43.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP LES Jewels (80 comments)

Memorials for LES Jewels in the East Village

Out and About in the East Village, Part 2

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.


[Nick Sitnycky with longtime John's employee Pedro]

By James Maher

Name: Nick Sitnycky
Occupation: Owner, John’s of 12th Street
Location: 12th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave
Time: 1 pm on Monday, Dec. 16

Yesterday, Sitnycky talked about growing up on Avenue B and the early days of John's of 12th Street...

So 1972 comes around. I was a little young, 27, and I had just gotten married. One of my best friends, whose family owned Angelo’s on Mulberry Street, goes, ‘Nicky you want to buy a restaurant?’ So I go, ‘No, no, no.’ Then he tells me it’s John’s. Danny, who was John’s son, was retiring. I had also met my partner Mike, or Big Mike as they called him, Mikey two names, a few years before in ’69. So in ’72, I go to him, ‘Mike you want to buy a restaurant with me?’

Big Mike was a big guy from the South Bronx and I was a skinnier guy from the Lower East Side. I still call it the Lower East Side. When we started off in the restaurant we didn’t have any experience. Danny helped us and stayed on for a couple of months.

It was a matter of hard work. We both had other jobs. I was with Xerox corporation for almost 20 years while I had the restaurant. I was multitasking all the time. I started in sales, surprise-surprise, and then I was promoted to management and then I did international operations. And Mike was a salesman, selling in the garment district. So we were both in sales and marketing and [the restaurant business] is about people. We understood that money goes where it’s treated best from the minute someone walks in. The one thing we knew was how to be hospitable and friendly from the minute someone walked in.

When we started, Mike learned the kitchen inside and out so would never have an issue. He had a knack for the kitchen. And sure enough, a couple years later our chef broke his leg and Mike was in the kitchen for months. I started taking care of the front more, although Mike was an impresario up front — he was all over the place. We just mixed and matched and worked and worked. We worked as dishwashers, as busboys, we did everything.

This whole staff, this whole organization has tenure. We have tenure here. Our chef is almost here for 40 years now. Our waiters will be here 10 years, 20 years. Pedro’s been with me 25 years. You want to hear about an American dream story? Pedro came here as a migrant worker picking blueberries when he was 15. He was from Mexico city. He became so proficient and was such a good guy that the farmers got him a green card. He stayed there and then came to New York. We sucked him in here when he was 18 and he’s been with us ever since. Now he’s married and has two children, both in charter school. He’s an American Citizen. Talk about living the American dream.

We pursued preservation, just as Danny did. He went over all of the things from the linen to the candles. It’s a real, historic art gallery. This [below me] is 1890s, tile-by-tile hand-laid Belgian mosaic tiles. I get a little ridiculous sometimes. These walls were brought in from Ferrara, Italy, three-by-five foot slabs of one inch thick marble inlaid in terrazzo. The paintings are painted on canvas. There are city-states of Italy, there are various coats of arms, there are scenes. We preserved and maintained them. We’re like curators. We figure we’re the third generation.

This is my whole life. I have a lot of love for this place so I get emotional. We weren’t really planning on selling even though we had some very strong pursuers, big companies. We wanted to make sure that we passed it along to someone like Brett [Rasinski] who was going to be the 4th generation. Brett’s been a regular customer of ours for almost six and a half years. This is a continuation, not a transition. These are the routines, these are the hours, this is our menu. He’s a real preservationist.

I’m going to be doing with Brett what Danny did with us. He wants me to spend a lot of time with him here and it’s an open amount of time. Unfortunately, when we decided on doing this in May of this year, when Brett came back to us with an offer that we accepted, three days later my partner Mike found out he had cancer. From the end of May to July 13th, he was gone.

This is John’s. John’s is what is disappearing in New York, not only in this area. John’s is part of New York City, so we’re very careful to keep things the same. These traditions are very important. There’s a history; there’s a legacy.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
About the new ownership for 105-year-old East Village institution John's of 12th Street

Out and About in the East Village

Replacement for 87-year-old 9th St. Bakery revealed

[May 2012]

The 9th Street Bakery closed back in June, as we first reported. Owners Oleg and Tetyana Kucherenko said that they couldn't afford the 38 percent rent hike that the landlord requested with a new lease.

At that time we heard that a juice/smoothie place was taking over the space. Sure enough, here ya go. We spotted the workers putting up the signage last evening...




It's a beQu — for Beyond Quality. The company sells it juices at various health-food stores and what not. Apparently there was a storefront in Cobble Hill that is now closed.

Pretty tough competition for this kind of product right around here — there are two locations of Juice Press close by on East 10th Street ... not to mention Liquiteria on Second Avenue and East 10th Street ... and Organic Avenue on Third Avenue and East Ninth Street... and Commodities on First Avenue near East 10th Street...

In any event, we wouldn't mind one of these from the Bakery right about now...


[File photo by Derek Berg]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: 9th St. Bakery is closing after 87 years

Tomorrow night at MoRUS: Eric Drooker and the anarcho-folk punk of Dr. Stza Crack

Another cool event tomorrow evening courtesy of the Museum of Reclaim Urban Space (MoRUS) at 155 Avenue… via the EVG inbox…

Eric Drooker, native NY street artist, will be giving a musical slide lecture about growing up in Lower Manhattan.

Also performing will be anarcho-punk veteran from Drooker's childhood neighborhood, Dr. Stza Crack, playing the songs of Leftöver Crack, Choking Victim and Star Fucking Hipsters amongst others. Lauren Oakes on vocals, guitar & harmonica will be accompanying him!

Eric Drooker is a painter, graphic novelist, and third-generation New Yorker, born on East End Avenue. While his graphics and street posters are a familiar site in the global street art movement, his paintings are familiar in the mainstream as well, and have appeared on dozens of covers of The New Yorker.

Find more details on the Facebook event page… or the all-new MoRUS website…