EV Grieve

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Avenue A, shortly before 8 a.m., Dec. 25

Merry Christmas from Iggy Pop

Former Avenue B resident Iggy Pop unveiled his 2013 Christmas message on Monday. Suitably strange.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Abominable Snow Monster of East 7th Street

Bumble photo by Bobby Williams

Christmas Day Party at La Plaza Cultural

[EVG La Plaza photo from the fall]

From the EVG inbox… if you are around tomorrow…

Longtime East Ninth Street resident Jimmy is having a Christmas Day Party at La Plaza Cultural Community Garden, noon till nite for everyone who's still in town ...La Plaza Cultural Garden is on East Ninth Street and Avenue C. There will be food and a bonfire. Bring your musical instruments.

The Facebook invite page is here.

Merry Christmas Eve afternoon!

Discarded today on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue… plenty of life left in this one in case you need a tree or a second one…

Photo via Robert Miner

Where you can find some Candlelight Caroling action later today

Stuyvesant Square Park... Second Avenue and East 16th Street... starts at 5 p.m.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Dirty ol' Santa on Rivington Street by OLD MAN FANCY]

Another chance to see "In No Great Hurry," the documentary on street photographer Saul Leiter (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The holiday windows at Frank's Bike Shop on Grand Street (BoweryBoogie)

Holiday sing-along at Sophie's (Slum Goddess)

Soaring red-tailed hawks in Tompkins Square Park (The Gog Log)

The history of the televised Yule Log in NYC (Runnin' Scared)

When Woody Allen was a comic strip (Dangerous Minds)

Strolling on Union Square in 1908 (Ephemeral New York)

A trip to Burp Castle on East Seventh Street (The New Yorker)

Kossar’s Bialys now open Saturdays down on Grand (The Lo-Down)

You can get Xi'an Famous Foods pretty much delivered anywhere in the city now (Grub Street)

The mysterious fallen man on East 29th Street (Flaming Pablum)

Tonight is the 13th annual 'I Hate Christmas Party' at Casey Rubber Stamps

Time again for this annual event at Casey Rubber Stamps, one of our favorite stores around... hosted by the legendary John Casey... perhaps you can expect some holy spirits and Veniero's cheesecake like last year.

Thanks to EVG reader That One Day for the flyer...

Here's a little more on the shop via WNYC...

The walls of his narrow shop — which doubles as his workshop — on 11th Street in Manhattan are lined with myriad stamps ranging from whales to peas-in-a-pod, spider webs, shells, guns, teeth, the Manhattan skyline and even that most fearsome creature: the bed bug. About half his business comes from selling pre-made stamps that range from $3 to $15. The other half is custom designs that customers request or bring in.

Rubber stamping is a simple technology that dates back about 150 years — and to judge from the operation at this tiny store, it really hasn't changed that much.

The shop is at 322 E. 11th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Someone actually paid $57 million for this East Village building

Wow. $57 million for this dorm-looking thing on Third Avenue and East 11th Street? (And you thought that the Yankees overpaid for Beltran!)

Oh, anyway, this 12-story residential thing with retail space hit the market back in April. Now The Wall Street Journal reports that the Benchmark Real Estate Group LLC is the new owner.

Per the Journal:

The mixed-use property has 55 rental apartment units and 10,500 square feet of retail space. The current commercial tenants are the Smith, an American restaurant, Asian market M2M and NY Copy Printing Co.

Benchmark plans to invest money from its $45 million first mortgage to renovate and upgrade the apartment units and increase the retail space by 15% to 20%, said Russell Frahm, head of Mesa West's New York origination team.

The original listing noted that "[a] buyer may wish to expand the residential floor plate above and restore the building above by reskinning glass." And this is the rendering...

Oh boy.

All I want for Christmas is…

The old Blarney Cove sign. Still there on East 14th Street. How do we get this down ahead of the demolition of this block?

Also on the xmas list, world peace, etc.

The Odessa name has been removed from its former sidewalk canopy

Speaking of signs... noticed last week that the name of the "Odessa" had been removed from the sidewalk canopy at the former Odessa Cafe and Bar.

There was talk that the Odessa folks would reopen the space at 117 Avenue A, but that is not going to happen, as we noted last week.

Oh well. Anyway, we always like sidewalk canopies you know.

[August]

Report: Several dogs jolted by stray voltage on East Village streets

[Sunday on East 7th Street]

The Post has more details about the reports of stray voltage on various East Village streets, such as East Seventh and East Second.

In particular, residents were pissed that Con Ed didn't tell residents about the potential danger … simply putting up some cones and yellow tape with a subcontractor sitting nearby in a car. Meanwhile, several dogs were zapped by electrified manhole covers...

Here's the Post with more from East Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D:

It took calls to 311, 911 and, finally, a visit from the NYPD before a Con Ed repair crew arrived ... And while cops were talking to the safety manager, a passing pit bull got jolted.

“The yellow tape is out there to keep people away from the energized objects,” Con Ed spokesman Allan Drury told the Post on Monday.

Con Ed workers discovered the problem early Friday but had limited access to the area because of tightly parked cars, he said.

Repairs were completed on East Seventh Street late Sunday, he said.

Another neighborhood dog, a black standard poodle named Maybelline, was zapped so violently on Sunday that her heart stopped temporarily, said the dog’s owner, Catherine Kord.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Resident shocked about ConEd's nonchalance over stray voltage