Sunday, July 27, 2014

1st Avenue ceiling fan



Photo this afternoon via Grant Shaffer.

Week in Grieview


[St. Mark's Place near 3rd Avenue on July 26]

Remembering Michael Brody (Monday)

Dr. Dave is fighting eviction on East Second Street (Thursday)

Celebrating 25 years at Paul's Da Burger Joint (Monday)

Google employee accused of raping woman in East 12th Street apartment (Tuesday)

First signs of the Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone (Friday)

Out and About with Lauren Edmond (Wednesday)

Work starts on Mars Bar 2.0 (Monday)

Rice burgers coming to East Ninth Street (Thursday)

About the Between the Seas Festival (Tuesday)

Veselka turns back the clock (Wednesday)

The return of I Coppi (Wednesday)

Time-lapse video of the baby hawks (Wednesday)

A reboot for Oyama (Tuesday)

At the Blarney Cove Cove (Monday)

Covering the mural wall on the Bowery and East Houston (Thursday)

Deeper discounts now at Kim's, closing soon (Wednesday)

A look at the new Max Fish signage (Tuesday)

The quick-rising new luxury buildings on Lafayette (Tuesday)

"You were walking through the east village with broccoli casually tucked in your backpack" (Wednesday)

Coffee shops with WiFi (Friday)

Birdbath Bakery still closed (Monday)

Here is your Red & Gold Crab Shack! signage (Monday)

French bistro taking over Apartment 13 space (Thursday)

#Couchon3rd now on 2nd Avenue



At East 12th Street. The sign on the sleeper sofa reads #Couchon3rd and #Noton3rd

Previously, #Couchon3rd — with a different couch — was camped out in front of the incoming Westside Market

Repost: When we almost lost St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery to a fire


The following post first appeared here on July 27, 2012…

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[Photo via]

On July 27, 1978, a fire nearly destroyed the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, long a focal point of the community. At the time of the blaze, workers were nearly done with a $500,000 restoration of the historic church on Second Avenue and East 10th Street.

According to an account by Tom Sotor in the East Side Express:

The fire began when a workman's welding instrument ignited a section of the timber cornice, and from there the blaze spread rapidly. "Smoke was pouring out of the hell tower when we arrived," recalls one of the first firefighters on the scene. "I said to myself, 'This ceiling's going to go.' And sure as hell, there was a partial collapse." The rear section of the 50-foot high peaked roof collapsed a half-hour after the fire began.

The 75 firefighters involved with the three-alarm blaze Were faced with many other problems as well. A six-foot iron fence that surrounded the church and a graveyard on one side prevented the companies from utilizing anything but portable equipment. Consequently, a tower ladder had to be employed to spray the front and rear, while the sides of the church remained practically unassailable.

There was also danger of the 150-foot steeple collapsing. "We kept an eye on the steeple'supports," explains John J. Moffatt, the commander in charge of the fire. "If it fell, we would have had a lot of injuries."

There weren't any reported injuries... though the fire caused major damage to the church, including the loss of the roof and nine of the 23 stained-glass windows.

[Via East Side Express]

The Citizens to Save St Mark's was founded to raise funds for its reconstruction ... supervised by architect Harold Edelman. The restoration was completed in 1986, with new stained-glass windows designed by Edelman, who personally supervised the entire project, according to his obit in the Times from 1999.

And a little snippet of the history via the Church website:

The St. Mark’s Church and its yards are just a few reminders of the once vast “bouwerie,” or Dutch plantation, which Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Amsterdam purchased in 1651 from the Dutch West India Company. When Stuyvesant died in 1672, his body was interred in a vault under the family chapel he’d had built in 1660. In 1793, Stuyvesant’s great-grandson, Petrus Stuyvesant, donated the chapel property to the Episcopal Church with the stipulation that a new chapel be erected and on April 25, 1795, the cornerstone of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery was laid.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Tonight's sunset



Via EVG reader Christine... from near East 5th Street and Avenue D...

Today's selfie of the day



East Ninth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Photo via Bobby Williams

Check out Sunny and Annie's new floor



And enjoy the new-floor shine while ordering a delicious sandwich.

Photo via Goggla.

Sunny and Annie's, 94 Avenue B at East Sixth Street.

Report: State Attorney General launches Steve Croman investigation


From the Daily News today:

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched a probe into the potentially illegal tactics used by landlord Steven Croman, 47, to force rent-stabilized tenants out of their valuable apartments, a source said.

The AG is investigating potential violations of city and state laws, including numerous infractions related to tenant harassment by Croman, the source said.

The article includes a story from Cordelia and Graham Winton, who live in a building on East Eighth Street that Croman/9300 Realty bought last year.

They declined Croman's buyout offer, and remain living in their $1,250 apartment while neighbors above and below them pay $6,000.

When they returned from a vacation last Saturday, they discovered that someone cranked up the steam heat in their building while they were away.

The heat was so extreme, wine bottles had uncorked, spewing their contents on the floor. A glass cabinet shattered, wood shelves warped and collapsed, the plastic spray arm in the sink melted, an outlet popped out of the wall and the ceiling and walls bubbled.

You can read the article here for the rest of this.

Yesterday, the Daily News reported that Schneiderman slapped a cease-and-desist order on one of Croman's employees, ex-cop Anthony Falconite, who "tenants say has engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation to force them out."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Watch a lot of people speak out against Steve Croman and 9300 Realty

Despite plea, landlord doubling rent on East Village family with cancer-stricken 2 year old

[Photo of Steve and Harriet Croman by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for DuJour]

Above 1st Avenue, 7:43 a.m., July 26



Via @evgrieve

A new weekly flea market outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery


[File photo via Momos/Wikipedia]

From the EVG inbox…

Starting today, Karma Kleaners will be showcasing a limited selection of jewelry, accessories and gift items at the brand new (Saturday) weekly Flea Market run by Metro Festival Productions (who also run the St. Anthony Market in Soho).

If this new venue proves successful Karma Kleaners will expand our merchandising to include crystals, sage kleansing lits, and possibly even some shoes and vintage items.

This Flea Market features several vendors who you may recognize as veterans of the Flea Market circuit in New York City. Come out & show that DOWNTOWN, New York City can still support local artists, small businesses, and a Flea Market!

The market is open 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Today on East 6th Street: The 2nd annual Refresh Block Party



Via the EVG inbox…

The second annual Refresh Block Party is a celebration of friendship, beauty and diversity in our neighborhood. We’ll have free food, DJs, bounce houses, free hair cuts, bike registration with the NYPD, and more. Featuring Tedsmooth, DJ Tra$e, Mike Sessions, Soni, Nick Lo, and Beyond Rest.

The event is put on as part of a collaborative work, united as OurNeighborhood.Is. The work began as a neighborhood-based recovery effort in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Together we opened what the mayor’s office called, “the largest relief site in Manhattan,” serving over 20,000 people in six days. Last year we celebrated this and other works together at the first Refresh Block Party.



The Refresh Block Party is today from 3-7 p.m. on East Sixth Street between Avenue D and the FDR.

Photos of the 2013 Block Party via OurNeighborhood.Is

Friday, July 25, 2014

The Heat is on



Here is "The Heat" from Jungle, the buzzy UK-based soul collective whose debut record was released on July 14. NME calls it "the pop-art album of the summer."