Rendering reveal for new building going up adjacent to the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall

[EVG photo from Saturday]

As we first reported back on Saturday, workers erected a sidewalk bridge along the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall … obscuring the artwork in the process.

Approved plans call for a two-story structure to rise from the empty lot adjacent to the wall at 76 E. Houston St. and Elizabeth Street, which previously housed Billy's Antiques.

Renderings arrived on the sidewalk bridge Tuesday …





And from the looks of things, the mural wall will remain intact.



Meanwhile, through a handy blogging portal, you can still catch a glimpse of veteran Bronx graffiti artist Cope2's mural.



This does make it tough for wedding photos, unfortunately. Plan accordingly!


[EVG photo from June 21]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Deal off to bring Crif Dogs to the former Billy's Antiques space

The Houston/Bowery Mural Wall has been boarded up

A drive by Mousey's Bar on Avenue C in 1976

George Cohen shares another photo with us.

I took this from the taxi I was driving. I saw Mousey's Bar, a little island in a pile of rubble, i.e. Avenue C and 13th St. in 1976.

As I raised my camera to my eye, this guy comes to the door, sees me and grabs his crotch.

That was the shot.

Indeed.

Today, Campos Plaza stands at this location.

As for Mousey's ... according to Jimmy Peanuts, Mousey's had the best stickball team of any bar in the neighborhood.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile on St. Mark's Place in 1968…. (22 comments)

East 8th Street townhouse back on the market, now seeking $4.5 million

[Image via Leslie J. Garfield]

The townhouse at 356 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D is back on the market. Last time around, the house, not yet vacant, wanted $3.75 million. But times have changes. And so has the price and occupancy.

Per the listing at Leslie J. Garfield:

536 East 8th Street is a vacant townhouse situated between Avenue C and Avenue D. With an allowed FAR of 4.0, the building offers prospective purchasers the chance to develop the property to approximately 7,200 square feet.

The property is currently configured as a garden duplex with two floor-through units above measuring approximately 3,000 square feet. With a rapidly growing condominium and home sales market in the East Village/Alphabet City, the opportunity to develop either high-end apartments or a luxury home for use or resale is strong. Incredibly low taxes on the property make the opportunity for development additionally appealing.

Urban gardener

Perhaps you've seen this man from the East Sixth Street overpass ... tending a plot of lettuce, herbs and other things alongside East River Park and the FDR...

[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