[Updated] Sketchy pink boxes starting to fit right in!

After less than a week on East Village streets, we noticed that people have welcomed those sketchy pink boxes to the neighborhood…



DNAinfo's Lisha Arino dug into these boxes, so to speak, and spoke to some property owners who said they had NOT given permission for the sketchy pink boxes to be installed on their land.

And the response from the company?

Our Neighborhood Recycling manager Bernard Jones insisted that the company, which has a warehouse in Jersey City, got permission from all property owners to install them.

“We tell them exactly what we’re doing and it’s up to them to say yes or no,” he said.

And what about the clothes, shoes, etc., that people leave in them?

[Jones] added that the company plans to resell donated clothing to other clothing vendors, as well as to companies that use the clothing to make rags. The signage, he said, makes it clear the organization is not a charity.

“It doesn’t say ‘donations.’ It says ‘recycling,’” he said.

The Department of Sanitation could not say whether the Our Neighborhood Recycling bins are illegal, per DNAinfo.

Updated 9:50 a.m.

BoweryBoogie reports that the Department of Sanitation has swung into action against the Sketchy Pink Boxes.

Updated 1:45 p.m.

A reader says that the box along the Verizon building on East 13th Street has been removed...

Previously on EV Grieve:
About those new sketchy pink boxes around the East Village

Then the eerie, after-storm glow

From East Sixth Street and Second Avenue … via EVG reader Vinny

[Updated] Zapped!

Via @greally — Lightning strikes concentrated around the East Village.

And here is one of the strikes captured by James and Karla Murray ...



Updated 10:11 p.m.

Two more strikes via James and Karla...





Updated 7:30 a.m.

And via EVG reader Andrew … using the iPhone's slo-mo cam...

Report: Financial help on the way to stabilize, expand the Citi Bike program

Dana Rubinstein has the scoop at Capital New York.

While the deal is still said to be tentative, this is how it is expected to go down:

REQX Ventures, a company run by individuals affiliated with Equinox and Related Companies (the real estate company that owns Equinox) would buy at least 51-percent of [Alta Bicycle Share, Citi Bike's operator.]

And let's keep cutting-and-pasting:

It would ... help resurrect a system that has lost millions of dollars over the course of its short existence, thanks to bad software, Hurricane Sandy and the sheer scope of running the largest bike-share system in the country, one with more than 100,000 annual members and more than 14 million miles on its odometer.

In New York City, where bike-share users now pay $95 for an annual membership and $9.95 for a day pass, REQX would have the freedom to raise rates without city approval, though the contract might include some sort of percent-per-year cap on the size of those hikes.

Public housing residents and some credit union members would retain access to a discounted rate of $60 per year.

One more piece from the article: The Citi Bike operating costs "exceeded expectations by about $9 million through last September."

There are many more details here.

H/T Gothamist

Locked bike, street sign meet untimely end

Boo. Anyone see what happened here on East 10th Street at First Avenue?



Photos via BagelGuy...

Noted

EVG reader MP spotted this outside Mudspot Café on East Ninth Street this morning.

[Helpful background]

Out and About in the East Village

... will return. Taking the July 4th week off. Slackers!

End of the road: Golden Cadillac closes tomorrow night

Golden Cadillac, the 1970s-themed bar that opened in the former Boca Chica space on First Avenue at East First Street, is closing after service tomorrow, Zagat reports.

The too-concepty bar, which just opened this past November, served snacks like knish fondue and drinks such as the Hot Buttery Nipple.

The same ownership will return with a new concept here in the months ahead, per Zagat.

Any suggestions for new concepts?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Boca Chica apparently won't be reopening on First Avenue; and the return of Golden Cadillac

Last day for First Avenue Pierogi and Deli

[EVG file photo from December 2011]

As we noted back on June 16, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli is closing. Today is the last day.

After 30 years here at 130 First Ave. near St. Mark's Place, proprietor Wieslawa Kurowycky and her family decided to retire.

While a rent hike can't be blamed (the Kurowycky family owns the building), sales have fallen in the past few years, as DNAinfo pointed out.

Otherwise ... per DNAinfo:

Kurowycky said she is looking forward to relaxing and spending time with her family.

“We’ve had a good run and it’s time for us to leave [and] take a break,” she said.

The shop will be missed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 30 years, First Avenue Pierogi and Deli is closing

529 E. 13th St. is on the market

There's a new listing for this walk-up building between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Per Massey Knakal:

The building has 11 residential units of which 3 are Rent Stabilized and 8 are Free Market. The ground floor has 3 apartments. Floors 2 through 5 have 2 apartments per floor all of which are identical in size. The building has a new gas boiler (approximately 2 years old) and most of the Free Market apartments have been renovated recently ... The subject provides an opportunity for an investor to purchase a well maintained apartment building with remaining upside potential in an area that is quickly appreciating in value.

Asking price: $7.8 million.

Finger-painting Bounty ad namechecks the East Village

EVG reader RobbieTheK spotted this ad the other day on the 2 train.

Finger painting playdates in East Village Apartments are tough
Bounty is tougher

So, East Village apartments are small, making them difficult (tough!) to have people over to finger paint? Is that the point? Are we talking children, or like, young adults on a date?

If we are taking children, then it would be tough for me to have a playdate in my EV apartment, mostly because all my friends who decided to become parents moved to Brooklyn/Queens/elsewhere because they couldn't afford the rent here any longer.

Anyway, don't you think there are tougher things to do in and around an East Village apartment that would require paper towels, Bounty or otherwise?

Rooftop ragers in East Village buildings with crumbling staircases are tough
Bounty is tougher

'Charming studio in the heart of the East Village' will eventually have a kitchen

We're just looking around at apartments and came across this listing for a place on East 12th Street ... described as a "Charming studio in the heart of the East Village!!!"

Eventually, sure! Once the kitchen arrives, definitely.



Staging tragedy aside, the listing is upfront about the place "being gut renovated!"



With a promise of new appliances and cabinets on the way, the place will probably be pretty nice for $1,850. Anyway, just be happy that you have a ceiling now.

Tonight's East Village sunset is sponsored by Geico

Photo by Bobby Williams

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Napoleon rides the L train today via Grant Shaffer]

Jade Mountain closes on Delancey, with mega development on the way (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Feeding time for the fledglings (Gog in NYC)

LES arts guide for July (The Lo-Down)

A suitor for Sutra on First Avenue (BoweryBoogie)

More on the first restaurant by The Halal Guys on East 14th Street (DNAinfo)

The latest Cheap Eats guide from New York magazine (Grub Street)

Will Historic Districts stunt affordable housing growth? (Gothamist)

149 Bob Dylan acetates found in a closet at 124 W. Houston St. (Brooklyn Vegan)

Details on the annual Johnny Ramone tribute in Hollywood (Billboard)

Inside the condo converted dress factory at 66 E. 11th St., featuring Vitamin C-filtered showers (Curbed)

... and there's a new mural on the roll-down gate at Lit Lounge on Second Avenue...


[Photo today by Derek Berg]

Dodge City: So long to the art car of East 11th Street

You've likely seen this Dodge over on East 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...



The art car — titled Painting the Dodge, 20 years in the making — is the work of East Village-based artist Hanne "H7L" Lauridsen.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy caught up with H7L outside her studio on East 11th Street Sunday ...



Turns out that the car is off soon to Art Car World, an Arizona-based museum "dedicated entirely to the celebration and preservation of this popular mobile art form."



Happy trails.

Pricing revealed for new condos on East 7th Street

[Photo from February by Dave on 7th]

Pricing is now available for the new classic brick building at 227 E. Seventh St. just west of Avenue C.

People who signed up to receive more information on the building's teaser site got the details yesterday.

We will be offering:

A Garden Unit of 1,631 Sq ft with two bedroom two bath and recreational area with 707 Sq ft private back Yard for $2,000,000

Two Bedroom Two baths floor through unit of 1,067 Sq ft, with two balconies (excluding 2nd floor) starting at $1,450,000

And A Penthouse Two Bedroom Two baths floor through unit, of 1,067 Sq ft, with two balconies and private roof for $1,900,000

Floor plans and pricing should be online soon.

Prices aside, EVG readers were generally appreciative of the building's look and design ... respectfully in scale with its surroundings.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New building at 227 E. Seventh St. — revealed (28 comments)

Teaser site up for new East 7th Street residential building that people don't hate

About those new sketchy pink boxes around the East Village

You probably noticed (well, how could you not?) the arrival of these PINK clothing collection boxes ... conveniently located in our favorite corners of the East Village...











BoweryBoogie noted that the clothing collection boxes, which belong to a Florida-based company called USAgain, also arrived on the Lower East Side.

They've been in Bayside, Queens longer. According to the Times Ledger there:

A woman who answered a call placed to the phone number on the box said Our Neighborhood Recycling ships the clothes overseas but hung up without giving more details. Community leaders said they fear whomever is placing the boxes around the neighborhood is taking the clothes donations and selling them for personal profit.

Anyway, the collection boxes are illegal. You can report them to the city here.

EVG reader Creature first alerted us to the arrival of these boxes on Friday ... after he spotted the lone red one on East Sixth Street near First Avenue ...

Brick by brick, Eleventh and Third's transformation into luxury rentals underway

The 12-story residential building at 200 E. 11th St., which Benchmark Real Estate Group paid $57 million for late last year, is starting to lose the dorm look of its NYU neighbors here along Third Avenue.

The rebranded Eleventh and Third is going through a top-to-bottom renovation, and there are already noticeable differences on the building's exterior.



Meanwhile, inside, two-bedroom rentals will be fetching upwards of $10,000 a month.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Someone actually paid $57 million for this East Village building

Reimagining this 12-story East Village building, now on the market

NY Copy & Printing forced out of longtime E. 11th St. home, opening second location on E. 7th St.

Rebranded 'Eleventh and Third' will have rentals upwards of $10k

Retail space housing The Smith and M2M asking $25.5 million on 3rd Avenue

Opening of the new St. Mark's Bookshop pushed back a week

St. Mark's Bookshop was set to open in its new storefront today... however, as you can see from their tweet yesterday afternoon, there is a slight delay...

We probably won't open at 136 East 3rd Street until next week. Call ahead: 212-260-7853
— St. Mark's Bookshop (@stmarksbookshop) June 30, 2014

They are now officially closed (as of Sunday) at 31 Third Ave. and Stuyvesant Street, their home since since 1992.



... and at 136 E. Third St. ...

At the Adele, the grass is greener on the, oh forget it

We were walking by the Adele, the new 12-story, mixed-used apartment building at East Houston and Avenue D ... and noticed there are now several mini plots of grass on The East Houston/Second Street (south!) side of the complex.

A nice touch, though it seems a little lost here. Or maybe the Adele will have a KanJam league for residents.