Sutra has closed; big sports bar on the way

Sutra Lounge closed for good after last night ... the club at 16 First Ave. went out with a VIP bash...



Sutra, owned by Community Board 3 member Ariel Palitz (who is also a member of CB3's Liquor Authority & Department of Consumer Affairs Licensing committee) put up signs explaining the closure last month or so...





Coming next here between East First Street and East Second Street — a big sports bar from the owners of Murray Hill's Mercury Bar and Tonic East. Expect at least 12 TVs, as BoweryBoogie reported in July, when CB3 approved the new license.

Palitz first put Sutra up for sale in November 2011, as we first reported. She is now rumored to be part of the new quinoa bowls and juice bar and club combo that is the Mars Bar reboot.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Envisioning a new-look First Avenue nightlife scene

Ariel Palitz responds to Daily News article, 'ripe for picking' comment

East 3rd Street mural blinded by the restoration

[March 2011]

The above mural arrived on East Third Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery back in March 2011... on the wall adjacent to the Project Renewal facility.

If you've been over this way in the past week or so, then you likely noticed that workers have been patching up the side of the building where the mural resides...



Now with a rather creepy look...



And by yesterday, that rough patch over the eyes had been smoothed over and painted …



Anyone recall who the artist is?

Last day to take in 'A Murder of Crows'

[Photo by Fenton Lawless]

Today is the last day to check out local musician-artist Paul Kostabi's mural titled "A Murder of Crows" outside Ideal Glass on East Second Street.

The month-long run is ending ... as new work will be going up tomorrow here outside the gallery between the Bowery and Second Avenue...

You can still find Kostabi's work on two roll-down gates along Second Avenue … here … and here.



Previously on EV Grieve:
'A Murder of Crows' on East 2nd Street

Out and About in the East Village

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.



By James Maher

Name: Satie Saurel
Occupation: Musician
Location: Jules Bistro, 65 St. Mark's Place
Date: 2:15 pm on Tuesday, Aug. 5

I’m from France. I was born in San Diego, and I grew up in France — in Nice. My father lives in Chile and is an astrophysicist. Because of that I was born in California, because he was working at Palomar Observatory. My mom, she lives in Nice and she works for the mayor.

I was 4 years old when I left San Diego and I grew up in France till my 20s. I started ballet when I was four because I had one foot that was inside the other, which was a problem when I was walking. So the doctor told my parents, ‘She can wear shoes to rectify the feet or she can try to do ballet.’ My grandmother was so happy because she was a dancer. My father was against dancing. He hated dancing. So they brought me to the first ballet class and I said, ‘Yeah I want to do that!’

Also, at home I always had too much energy, so it was a way to channel it. I always feel like a 5-year old child. I always need an audience to do my shows. They told this to the ballet teacher and the ballet teacher said, ‘You should try the theatre.’ So I started the theatre at 7 and at 9 I did the vocal and ballet.

I’m a singer/songwriter. It’s kind of step-by-step that I arrived to be a singer/songwriter. When I was 9, I went to a theatre musical company. Theatre musical is vocal, theatre and dance — the three together. I toured with them from 9 till 17. Monday morning you’d go to middle school and in the afternoon you’d go to dance classes, vocal classes and theatre classes. I was doing ballet, contemporary, jazz, and tap dance. It was every day, school in the morning and dance in the afternoon. It was super nice. During holidays we went to Tunisia, Italy, around France.

I travel a lot. I love to travel. I love to move. I moved to London, Paris, New York for a year and a half, after I went to Barcelona, Germany, the Bahamas, Montreal and I came back here last year. In London, I was waitressing and taking some dance classes. It was a bad experience for me, then, one day I did the audition for Euro Disney. I moved back to Paris because I got a job as [the character] Maleficent. She is a villain. It was fun. Ha Ha Ha. The children were afraid of you. I loved it. It was so cool. You were with children everyday. You just had fun everyday, life is beautiful, you know? At the same time I was doing a school of musical theatre in Paris and after that I did an audition for the cabaret because I love to dance, to be nude, hey!

After I did the audition for Moulin Rouge I broke my leg, so I stopped dancing. It was permanent. I can dance but I can’t anymore put my legs over my head. So I said, ‘OK, I can’t dance now. What am I going to do in Paris?’

So I moved to New York. It was better for me to record my album in New York. You have really good people here to work with. I came here and I took some classes, did some audition for a theatre musical, but it was always, ‘No French accent.’ I was taking the vocal classes and I met this teacher and she told me to be part of an international choir with her, so I did that. I sang at Carnegie Hall.

I had used cover songs and I thought I could have my own show with my own songs. I started to take piano classes and I started to co-write my own songs with my ex-fiance. When we broke up I started to write my own songs in French, so now I have some French songs and some French-English songs. In April, I found a producer and we’re working on my first music video here. I didn’t work when I was with my ex-fiance, so after we broke up I needed to find a job. I couldn’t afford an apartment here, so I first went to the Bronx and I rented a room, but I did not have a [closet] in my room. I was putting all my clothes and luggage in the French restaurant that I was working at. After one month of doing that I finally had enough money to find an apartment on Allen Street, with no window — nothing. It was horrible. Then I moved to Chelsea. In Chelsea it was kind of a cage for a bunny. Four months ago I moved around here. I love this area.

I found this place, Jules Bistro, that has live jazz. I’ve been working here for one year and I became the manager [during the summer]. Every night we have live music, live jazz with no cover charge from 8:30 to 11:30. Every day you have music. What is good is that you can sing. For the third set, when it’s less busy, I say, ‘Can I sing a song?’ It’s kind of cool because we don’t rehearse, so they need to feel me and my work. What I hate in jazz is the same tempo and they don’t want to change and they hate to follow a musician. So I stop them and we have a laugh. And now that I’m the manager, they can’t say no.

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

Taqueria Lower East Side relocating to St. Mark's Place

Taqueria Lower East Side is one of the restaurant victims looking for new space after Ben Shaoul bought that East Houston and Orchard corner space.

Documents (PDF!) on file ahead of this month's CB3/SLA committee meeting show that the Taqueria folks bought the assets to 79 St. Mark's Place just west of First Avenue.

As BoweryBoogie reported, the committee unanimously approved the application on Monday evening. The restaurant will be known as Taqueria St. Mark's moving forward.

So.

This means that:

• The color-challenged Saints Tavern, which became the unfortunately titled Kamikaze & Co. in June, will be closing.

• The East Village has yet another taco/taqueria option, joining newer arrivals such as Tacos Moreles on East Ninth Street... Sembrado’s Tacos al Pastor on East 13th Street ... Taqueria Diana on Second Avenue ... El Diablito Taqueria on East Third Street... Otto's Tacos on Second Avenue... and a relocated Oaxaca Taqueria on East Seventh Street.

• Taqueria St. Mark's is opening right next door to the well-established, well-liked neighborhood favorite La Palapa. Seems like a strange choice give all the available real estate around here.

Shampoo Avenue B making the move down the block

[EVG file photo from like the winter]

After sitting empty for nearly seven years, 14 Avenue B has a new tenant.

Shampoo Avenue B has signed a lease for the space here between East Houston and East Second Street, as the Commercial Observer reported yesterday.

The salon will be moving from their current home at 42 Avenue B. Owner-operator Joel St. Yves told us that, depending on the construction inside the new storefront, they're hoping to move by the middle of next month.

He said that the new space will double the amount of the chairs in their current home. St. Yves also said they are adding two barbers "for cuts and shaves" to the salon's roster.

There's a long recent history at 14 Avenue B. This had been a popular space for new bar concepts that scared the crap out of the neighbors.

However, CB3 nixed various bar concepts here through the years, including the infamous Italian restaurant "with an occasional D.J." and the brewpub that borrowed the Prime Meats menu. The last actual tenant here was the loathsome Butterfly bar/club/expensive drink dispenser, which closed in 2007.

New shop for 2nd Avenue isn't an optical illusion

After 26 years in the East Village, Black Hound New York closed its retail location at 170 Second Ave. last March.

And as you can see from the above photo, awning signage is up for the new tenant — Eyes on Second. The new store will be selling artisanal eyeballs, carefully foraged from farm to table. We're not sure just yet what services the new optical shop will offer. Soon, though!

H/T EVG reader Steven

Rejected headlines:
'Eye' can't believe it's not a FroYo shop!

58 Third Ave. returns to the market at double the price, and the potential to nearly double the space

We spotted a new listing for 58 Third Ave. between East 10th Street and East 11th Street.

According to the listing at Voda Bauer Real Estate

With almost 24 feet of frontage mid-block, this four story mixed-use walk-up building includes prime retail space on the first floor. Located in the East Village it currently houses a restaurant with a lease expiring in August 2017.

The three Free Market residential/commercial full floors above with basement are perfect for investors and developers. The building currently has 6,308 sq ft, but an additional 4,786 sq ft. may be added. The close proximity to Union Square Park, M, L, 4, 5, N, R and 6 trains, as well as great dining, and shopping all make this building highly desirable ...

Asking price: $10 million.

Public records show that the property was sold for $4.5 million in December 2007 ... the asking price had been $4.99 million at the time...



Hey, the Taco Bell!

The address is currently home to Bodhi Tree, the Thai restaurant.

'Law & Order: SVU' makes triumphant East Village return

OK, don't know about the triumphant part ... but crews will be around as filming for the 16th season continues... the posted flyers show where you may be able to see cast members Ice-T or Mariska Hargitay...

Anyway, we're now all filled with nostalgia about the time "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" was casting for a "blood whore" in the East Village. Dreamy!

Previously on EV Grieve:
And now, photos of Ice-T in front of Sunny & Annie's

Another BigBelly for Tompkins Square Park

EVG Trash Can Correspondent Bobby Williams spotted a worker installing one of those solar-powered, digitalized trash compactors today in Tompkins Square Park ... joining, uh, a few others that arrived in the past few years.

Dubbed BigBelly, these suckers can hold five times the amount of garbage as a traditional trash receptacle and can reduce trash collection by 80 percent, as I cut-n-paste from a Villager article from 2011.

Depending on the broker, the BigBelly can also accommodate two bunk beds and one grill.

Is this your cat?

An EVG reader spotted this on East Seventh Street and First Avenue

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Leggy Tyrannosaurus in Tompkins Square Park by Grant Shaffer]

A visit to Hua Mei Bird Garden in Sara D. Roosevelt Park (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Henry Street Settlement announces $20 million renovation (The Lo-Down)

Box Kite Coffee on St Mark's Place opening a 2nd location on the Upper West Side (The Post)

Alvin Langdon Coburn's shadowy NYC street scenes from the 1910s (Ephemeral New York)

More about Exile Professional Gym, now open on Second Avenue (DNAinfo)

Rat selfies and bananas at Ray's (Slum Goddess)

Make your plans for Pickle Day on the LES (BoweryBoogie)

Russ & Daughters opening a café at the Jewish Museum uptown (Grub Street)

Appreciating 841 Broadway at East 13th Street (Off the Grid)

When the Replacements were censored on air (Dangerous Minds)

Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street hits the polls today

Don't forget to vote today ... for somebody ... during primary day throughout New York State. Like Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street, torn tendon and all.

Will this long-empty lot on 1st Avenue yield to affordable housing?

So, according to a tipster, there are preliminary plans in place to clear out this long-emtpy lot at 89 First Ave. between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street.

The other day, there were several workers on site to offer an estimate about removing the trees.

And why? The woman who has owned the lot is apparently handing it over to her nephew, who has plans/aspirations to build a 7-floor residence that will provide affordable housing.

There is nothing on file yet with the city about such plans. So keep this in the rumor stage for now.

And for now enjoy the sculpture fence ...





The lot's owner, Florence Toledano, also owns the 2Bn2C sculpture garden on East Second Street.

Construction watch: 401 E. 8th St.

The new residential building at 397-401 E. Eighth St. at Avenue D is rising quickly...



A nine-story building with 33 units — and a penthouse! — is in the works.

And to chart the progress to date, here's a look at the building in early August...



... and mid-July...



And one day...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile, before we christen Avenue D the next Greenpoint...

Stalled development site on Eighth Street and Avenue D asking $5.2 million

Long-stalled East 8th Street lot coming back as 9-story residential building — with penthouse

Learn about the art history of 404 E. 14th St.

Since the 1960s, 404 E. 14th St. (aka 405 E. 13th St.) has hosted and housed a dynamic community of artists, poets and filmmakers, a long list that includes Claes and Patty Oldenburg, John Chamberlain and Yayoi Kusama.

Tom Burckhardt, who moved into the building in 1995, put together an exhibit last summer featuring the works of 404's many artists through the years.

Tonight at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place, Burckhardt is presenting a slideshow and discussion of the microcosm art scene of 50 years at this one special address. It's free, but you do need to RSVP. (Call 212-475-9585 ext. 35 or email here.)

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is hosting the event. Find more info here. The lecture is 6:30-8 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
404 E. 14th St.: The coolest building that you will find with a McDonald's on the ground floor

Today in photos of a large praying mantis on East 5th Street

EVG contributor Derek Berg spotted this on East Fifth Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square ...



And one more thing for the East Fifth St. Tree Committee to worry about ...

Noted

Fuck you @CitibikeNYC

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 7, 2014

Background here.

1 explanation for that lousy parking job on East 11th Street

EVG reader mdmn spotted this parking job on East 11th Street near Amsterdam Billiards at Fourth Avenue yesterday afternoon.

Just an awful parking effort by someone in a rush to play pool?

The car was parked directly across from the the delivery gates at the Cooper Station Post Office.

Hey, there's a note.



Perhaps the force of the collision forced the car up on the sidewalk?



Other theories welcome, probably.

149 First Ave. landlord told to make building 'safe immediately'

[EVG file photo]

Back in early August, the landlord (Lee Odell, c/o 149 Associates, LLC) sent tenants of 149 First Ave. a "notice of non-renewal and vacate request."

To refresh your memory, according to the letter:

"We have been advised by our engineer that the building has serious deterioration issues and has to be rebuilt and most probably demolished.

As a matter of safety, we have to vacate all the apartments in the building.

Please do not take longer than 90 days to leave. Thank you."

The only violation on file with the Department of Buildings was a failure to file an annual boiler inspection report from 2012.

Meanwhile, the residents of the building between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street banded together and worked with various housing advocates to fight the evictions.

On Friday, the city issued the following "Notice of Violation and Hearing."


[Click on image to enlarge]

Visiting conditions observed include "Failure to Maintain Building in a Code Compliant Manner."

And the city's remedy for the landlord: "Make safe immediately — repair and maintain."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Landlord tells residents of 149 First Ave. that they need to vacate ahead of demolition

1st Avenue residents meeting tonight to discuss mass eviction notice

New sidewalk bridge temporarily keeps Stage owner from his restaurant

On Saturday afternoon, a crew arrived (unannounced) to erect a sidewalk bridge outside 128 Second Ave.

Unfortunately, this happened while the Stage was open for business. And when owner Roman Diakun (in the blue T-shirt below) had stepped away for a moment.

He had to helplessly watch for some 20 minutes while the crew blocked the door to the restaurant to build the safety structure, as these photos by EVG reader Jonathan Jones show.







As we first reported last fall, the building here just south of St. Mark's Place that houses the Stage was sold to rooftop-rager specialists Icon Realty. The building is currently undergoing a gut renovation. One remaining tenant says there aren't many residents left. It has not been easy here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation: Breakfast at Stage

Troubling talk about 128 Second Ave, and the long-term future of the Stage

CityMD Urgent Care center coming to The Jefferson's retail space on East 14th Street

The Jefferson's retail space at 216 E. 14th St. near Third Avenue had been used to sell "21st Century living in the heart of Olde New York."

The 82-unit building in the North West East Village is all sold out of course… and work permits for storefront show that a CityMD Urgent Care center will be housed here. The quickly expanding CityMD practice has more than 30 locations in NYC and Long Island.

Meanwhile, we wonder what happened to The Jefferson model from the sales center… we were doing a low-budget "Godzilla" shoot and needed some props…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Jefferson retail façade — revealed

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

Welcome to a 'Slow Zone'

We spotted the first of the new "Neighborhood Slow Zone" signs the other morning ... this one on St. Mark's Place just east of First Avenue.

To recap! The Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone is the community-based program that reduces the speed limit within designated zones from 30 mph to 20 mph. (Read the background about all this here.)

The map below shows the designated Slow Zone — First Avenue east to the FDR, and from East Second Street north to East 14th Street.


[Click image to enlarge]

In addition to the 20 mph speed limit (15 mph near schools), a Slow Zone area features speed bumps (21 here) and new striping and signage to slow drivers.

CB3 member Chad Marlow helped put the plan in motion for the East Village early last year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Call for an East Village 'slow zone' (34 comments)

More about the timing of the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone

Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone to take effect in August

GG's announces itself on East 5th Street

The awning is up now at GG's, the new restaurant taking over the Goat Town space at 511 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Goat Town owner Nick Morgenstern closed the bistro in early July after four years. His new chef, Bobby Hellen, "will forage the back garden for ingredients, including anise hyssop for the devout Mets fan’s 1986 Pizza, topped with spicy soppressata and fennel agrodolce," according to New York magazine.

And here's an interior shot...



As for GG's, New York noted — "its name a tribute to a neighborhood local." This former local?

Thanks to EVG reader Sal on Fifth St. for the top photo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Goat Town is closing to make way for a pizzeria

The transformation of Goat Town to GG's on East 5th Street

Week in Grieview

Revisiting the summer of 2014 (Monday)

NYPD looking for this suspect in knifepoint holdup (Wednesday)

The last East Village gas station closes (Wednesday)

Local pols and residents speak out against Kushner (Friday)

First stage of portico repair and restoration complete at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (Thursday)

Maybe Whole Foods isn't so expensive? (Thursday, 36 comments)

The Whitehouse is temporarily closing on the Bowery (Tuesday)

Out and About with the check-cashing guy (Wednesday)

Subway on First Avenue closes (Friday)

A revamped Perbacco reopens (Thursday)

Here's your new Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin-Robbins combo on East 14th Street (Tuesday)

RIP The Crack™ (Thursday)

Just looking for a friend (Wednesday)

Santa Barbara Deli Superette closes for renovations (Friday)

The Albino Bowler doesn't make the moving-day cut (Tuesday)

Katz's sells its air rights (Sunday)

The 44th annual East 10th Street Block Fair is today

Between Second Avenue and Third Avenue … and likely not a bag of $10 tube socks in sight...

'Spring Sales Event' continues this September at Synergy Fitness Clubs

As the sign here on East 14th Street near Second Avenue says, "Hurry Sale Ends Soon."

The view downtown this morning

Looking south from the East Village around 9 via Bobby Williams...