383 Lafayette wrapped ahead of NYU expansion

Workers have erected the sidewalk bridge and plywood around NYU's Academic Support Center (the former Tower video space) at 383 Lafayette St. at East Fourth Street.



As Curbed noted this past summer, NYU plans to expand the building, adding four new floors on the land that previously housed the Plantworks garden center these past 40 years.


[Rendering photo by Evan Bindelglass via Curbed]

Meanwhile, in other NYU expansion news on Lafayette Street, the school paid $157 million for 402-408 Lafayette Street (AKA 708 Broadway) to use as a short-term stand-in for the Coles Sports and Recreation Center. (Crunch used to be on the ground-floor before moving over to 2 Cooper Square.) NYU will use the upper floors for classrooms.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Growing soon in the former Plantworks garden center — an NYU building

Oct. 29

Yay I win! Sure, there isn't any authentication or whatever on this lush beauty spotted on Lafayette near Astor Place.

But we can discuss when I return from the Grand Prize Trip!

The great pretender

There will never be another EV Lambo, plain and simple.

Still, others try.

East Fifth Street and Second Avenue today via Derek Berg.

Abandoned piano remains abandoned on Avenue A

[7 a.m.]

Slum Goddess spotted the piano last night on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place... and people were stopping to hit the keys throughout the night (neighbors loved that!)

Still there this morning... waiting.



Maybe someone calls George?



Bottom 2 photos by Derek Berg

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: Gigi Watson
Occupation: Writer, Artist, Cartoonist, Former Club Worker and Owner
Location: 3rd Street between 1st and A.
Time: 1:30 pm on Friday, Oct. 24.

I’m a native New Yorker. I grew up in Ridgewood, on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, which now they can’t decide whether it’s Brooklyn or Queens. It was basically a German, Italian and Jewish neighborhood. The first thing you asked when you met another kid was what was your nationality.

There were places that we didn’t go. Bed Stuy and Red Hook, these were not places to go. In Red Hook, they used to find a dead body every single day. My train was the L, which used to be a horrible, horrible train. The L train connected with the G train, which was murder central. If someone paid me a million dollars in cash and said, ‘Here, get on the G train’, I’d say, ‘No thank you.’

My first apartment in Manhattan was a sublet on Christopher Street in the West Village. I moved in 1979. I then moved to the East Village in 1982, on 2nd Street between A and B. You had to have two or three jobs at the same time just to survive. That’s being a real New Yorker. My rent was so expensive. If I didn’t have two jobs, there would be no way I could cut that rent.

The first club I worked at was Bonds International Casino on Broadway and 45th Street. I was working behind the scenes in the office with guest lists, counting money. We had Blondie, The Clash, Blue Oyster Cult, Motley Crue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who sucked. We had all kinds of punk rock bands. That’s where I developed a fear of crowds because the owner, John Addison, sold double the amount of tickets. We had 2,500-seat capacity and he sold 5,000 tickets per performance, and everybody showed up and was hammering on the door, ‘We want the show, we want the show.’ That place was fabulous.

[After Bonds] I worked at an after hours, where I worked the door. Cocaine was fantastic in the 1980s. That went right along with being at the front door. ‘Here, thanks a lot for letting me in,’ and I’d get a gram in my hand. That meant thank you. The stars I met — Nick Nolte, Grace Jones, Robin Williams, Paul McCartney. The list goes on and goes. Cause they would want to party late too.

I first worked in the cashier booth in Crisco [Disco], which is a famous haunt. We must have taken in at least between $8,000 and $10,000 on a Saturday night. It was a lucrative place.

After that I worked at Page 6. I was working the VIP room one month. Liza Minnelli was there snorting her brains out. Rick James comes in and puts a pile of coke on the table. All of a sudden you hear, ‘Freeze.’ So Rick James gets up, ‘Oh, I ain’t going to be arrested, I gotta get out of here, how do I get out?’ I said, ‘Mr. James there’s only one way out and that’s the way you came in.’ He walked out without a problem. It was the people that worked there that got busted because they didn’t have a liquor license.

After that I opened up my club, Trash. I was working at the time at Club 82, which was another after hours on 4th, and the manager there, John Matos said said to me, ‘Gi, why don’t you start your own club? How much do you need?’ We went shopping for furniture and I got all the stuff. I wanted neat 1960s furniture that was gaudy and cool looking. I wanted to do all the murals inside the club. I made the VIP room. I painted a big huge spider web so when you walked in, it was spinning. They would look up and sway from side to side. It was a cool place to be.

But that didn’t last very long because all the people who were great to look at had no money. Punk rockers do not have any money. Nobody had fucking money. Nobody had money for rent, forget about anything else.

Then one day a Hells Angel — this big Angel came in and went up to somebody at the bar and said, ‘Hey faggot’ and pushed him on the shoulder. The guy was a really cool looking punk rock guy and he was intimidated. Once the Angels come in, then it’s their club, and then it’s no longer my club or Trash. One brought many. Nobody would go there anymore. They were too afraid to go through the door. So that’s how Trash ended. That was about the time that punk rock itself was sort of waning.

Punk rock to me means anti-establishment. Punks saw that people conformed all over the place. It’s somebody with real talent to be unique and wild and out there. People used to come and sketch what I was wearing. The more beat up it is the better. They now have distressed leather. What fucking distressed? If you keep it on long enough, believe me it’ll become distressed. I always wanted to look different. I don’t want to look like anybody else. I want to look like me.

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

Reactions to the landmarking of Town & Village Synagogue on East 14th Street

[Image via Manhattan Sideways]

Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted to give the Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue at 334 E. 14th St. landmark status.

The LPC excluded from the landmark designation a rear structure here between First Avenue and Second Avenue that had originally been considered as part of the landmark designation.

Here's reaction to the decision... first from Marianna Mott Newirth, president of the Town & Village Synagogue:

Town & Village Synagogue is a community and a building.

We are an active, egalitarian Conservative Jewish congregation serving Lower Manhattan with pride. We recognize the LPC’s designation of our building and honor the work that has been done by both the Bloomberg and the DiBlasio administrations to carefully review and deliberate on our status. Their decision is a testament to our building’s rich immigrant ​history in NYC.
​​
​Our commitment remains: to serve the 400 families who are the core of T&V and to support the greater community of which we are a part. We look to the men and women who championed Landmark designation to continue their loving support of Town & Village Synagogue. May we work together to strengthen this building so that it will be a beacon of spirituality, a center of Jewish learning and a jewel on 14th Street for current and future generations of New Yorkers.

She went on to tell us that that the building was taken off the market early this year. "We are not selling. We are not moving."

And here's a comment via Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation:

"It's wonderful that after nearly half a century, this venerable piece of our city and our neighborhood’s history will finally receive the recognition and protection it deserves and which we fought so hard for.

"We are disappointed that the Landmarks Preservation Commission excluded [the rear structure] from the designation and believe that their doing so was unnecessary. The Commission could have landmarked the entire site and still allowed construction in the rear, but with designation of the entire site they would have ensured that any new construction did not detract from the valuable historic character of this 150 year old religious edifice."

DNAinfo has coverage of the landmarking here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] East 14th St. synagogue on the market for conversion to residential, commercial use

48 years later, East 14th Street synagogue to be considered for landmark designation

[Updated] Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue faces landmark designation today

2 years after Sandy

And the temporary boilers remained parked outside the NYCHA building along East Sixth Street at Avenue C … looking more like a permanent part of the streetscape with every passing day…

Previously on EV Grieve:
Sandy on Avenue C

The inside story of Con Ed and Superstorm Sandy

Rock of ages: Commemorating the Fillmore East on 2nd Avenue

Via the EVG inbox...

Please join the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Two Boots and Apple Bank to unveil a historic plaque marking the site of the Fillmore East, the beloved concert hall that filled the corner of Second Avenue and East Sixth Street with music from 1968-1971. The event will include appearances by guitarist Lenny Kaye and Joshua White, founder of the Joshua Light Show, which splashed the concert hall with psychedelic color.

Despite its brief life, the Fillmore East is remembered with tremendous affection by both the artists who played there and the concertgoers who enjoyed it, as a place of warmth, spirit, innovation and the finest popular music. The great impresario Bill Graham opened the hall as a sibling to his Fillmore West in San Francisco, and brought in performers including The Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, The Byrds, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Joan Baez, Jeff Beck, the Staple Singers, and many more.

The building was a destination for entertainment both before and after the Fillmore East. It opened in 1926 as a Yiddish theater, soon becoming the Loew’s Commodore movie house, followed by the Village Theater. In the 1980s it was the trendsetting gay nightclub The Saint, becoming Emigrant Bank in 1995, and Apple Bank in 2013. While the façade retains much of its original Medieval Revival style, the rear of the building, which housed the auditorium, was demolished and replaced by the Fillmore apartment building in 1997.

The plaque unveiling is tonight at 5. Find more details here.







All photos courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bank branch becomes bank branch at former site of the Fillmore East

The Loew's Commodore Theatre

The Doctor will be in(sane) Friday at Exit 9

Here’s a spooky Halloween missive from the folks at Exit 9:

This Halloween, Exit 9 is going insane! Gore-hungry East Village tricksters (and their parents) can feast their eyes on spine-tingling scenes of medical malpractice. Exit 9 will transform its front windows into a grisly operating theater. See actual surgery performed on unwilling victims! You're going to be sick. Bring your own barf bag and get special treats.

From 6:30 to 8:30 pm, whether they want to or not, pedestrians passing the store (located at 51 Avenue A between 3rd and 4th Streets) will bear witness as a demented doctor loses his patience as he loses his patients.

Photos via EVG contributor Stacie Joy

The Little Laptop Shop ending retail service

Several EVG readers let us know that the Little Laptop Shop at 7 Clinton St. just south of East Houston is shutting down its retail operation and shifting their focus to on-site work for their business customers.

Here's the message on their website:

The repair industry has changed a lot over the last few years and having the storefront no longer makes sense. We want to thank our customers and neighbors for the years of friendship and support. We enjoyed every minute.

We are no longer accepting computers for repair in the shop. The last day the shop will be open is October 31st, 2014. Any in-process repairs will be completed, all service warranties will be honored.

If you have a computer in the shop, it must be picked up by October 31st, 2014. We will not be able to store computers beyond that date.

Mac repair specialists Digital Society closed back in late July.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Where can I get my Mac fixed now?

Mac specialists Digital Society has closed on East 10th Street

Citi Bike is expanding, upping price of annual memberships

[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

Via the Citi Bike blog...

Today, we and the NYC Department of Transportation announced some big changes. Our parent company has new owners, and they have named Jay Walder, a leader with a deep passion for urban transportation, as the new CEO of Alta Bicycle Share.

There is also big news for Citi Bike. Our system will double in size by 2017. New neighborhoods will be added to our system beginning in 2015. By the end of 2017 we will have 6,000 additional bikes and over 375 new stations. The first new stations will be installed in northern Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Long Island City and further into Bedford-Stuyvesant, all neighborhoods originally planned to be part of Citi Bike’s initial deployment. If you would like to suggest a new location for Citi Bike stations, visit the Department of Transportations’s “Suggest A Station” siting portal here.

NYC Bike Share will use this winter season to overhaul the entire fleet of bikes and service docks and kiosks, ensuring that Citi Bike is ready to roll come spring. We will work closely with the team at Alta Bicycle Share to improve our operations and the technology that powers bike share.

Finally, we will be changing Citi Bike’s membership plans. Our Annual Membership rate will change to $149/year. This means a full year of unlimited Citi Bike rides will cost just a bit more than one monthly MetroCard.

At this time, you may still sign up for a new membership or renew an existing subscription at the current $95 rate. We will let you know in the coming days when the rates will increase.

H/T Stephen Popkin

A look at 331 E. Houston St., with a rooftop deck for outdoor showers and 'Live Free or Die Hard'

Here's a look at the new 13-floor residential building with 78 units going up at East Houston and Ridge Street.

It just seems ... massive.


[The view from East 2nd Street]

The website of project architect Stephen B. Jacobs offers a few more details on the building at 331 E. Houston St./163 Ridge St.

The ground floor includes the residential lobby, a lounge, and apartments in the rear of the building which have access to outdoor space. A large skylight brings natural light to the gym in the cellar, and stairs provide access to recreational outdoor space in the rear yard. A mix of studios, one, and two-bedroom apartments make up the bulk of the building. The top floor includes a three-bedroom apartment with a balcony. The rooftop is designed as an amenity space for the building, complete with deck seating, projector screen, bar, and outdoor shower.

The interior design was inspired by the raw nature of materials in the Lower East Side, such as exposed concrete and blackened steel, and includes touches of color such as the graffiti tiled accent wall in the lobby.

His firm's East Village work includes the Copper Building on Avenue B and the Village Green on East 11th Street.

Oh, and here are some renderings ...





... and notice the rooftop theater is inexplicably projecting an ad for "Live Free or Die Hard" (aka "Die Hard 4")



The building will reportedly include 20 percent affordable housing.

The L-shape parcel here sat empty for years, the property of reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb.

And it's just the latest project in the changing East Houston corridor... including the new 10-story residential building at Suffolk Street ... the 12-story Adele ... and the 9-floor building planned for the former Mobil station lot at Avenue C.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An L-Shaped footprint ready to make its impression on East Houston Street

An abandoned car in an empty lot that will soon yield a 13-floor residential building

On East Houston, work begins on a new 13-floor residential building

What 331 E. Houston St. will look like one day

[Updated] Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue faces landmark designation today

[EVG file photo]

The Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue at 334 E. 14th St. is scheduled for a vote before The Landmarks Preservation Commission on proposed landmark designation today at 9:45 a.m.

Here's background via a press advisory sent out yesterday by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP)...

The synagogue was first built in 1866 as the First German Baptist Church; in 1926 it became the Ukrainian Autocephalic Church of St. Volodymyr; and in 1962 it became the Town & Village Synagogue, reflecting the successive waves of immigration and ethnic change that have swept over the East Village.

Shortly after New York's landmarks law was adopted in 1965, Tifereth Israel was formally heard and considered for landmark designation, but never received a vote. However, it did remain officially "calendared" by the LPC, or formally under consideration for landmark designation, making it perhaps the longest time any building in New York has remained in "landmarks limbo."

At today's meeting (which the public can attend but at which it cannot speak), the LPC could vote to landmark the historic structure, vote not to landmark, vote to landmark part of the structure (a rear section of the synagogue was built somewhat later, which some have proposed excluding from landmark designation), or could defer again on voting.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing about the designation this past March 25.

During that hearing, synagogue members downplayed the importance of the building's architecture, as The East Villager reported.

"Synagogue members stressed that landmarking would raise costs just as a plan is underway to modify the structure to better serve community needs through a daycare center, disabled access and L.G.B.T.Q. services," according to The East Villager.

Updated 1:53 p.m.

The LPC voted to landmark the synagouge, with landmark designation taking immediate effect.

At today's vote, the Commission excluded from the landmark designation a rear structure which had originally been considered as part of the landmark designation. GVSHP and fellow preservation and East Village groups had called for landmark designation of the entire building, including the rear structure.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] East 14th St. synagogue on the market for conversion to residential, commercial use

48 years later, East 14th Street synagogue to be considered for landmark designation

Rent hike forcing Sunrise Cleaners to close on East 3rd Street

Sunrise Cleaners at 60 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue will be closing soon.

An EVG reader and Sunrise customer reports that the landlord (Tomar Equities) offered Susan the owner a 5-year-lease renewal with a 66-percent rent increase. Which is insane and the reality around here.

A listing shows an asking rent of $4,500 for 525 square feet.

Caratoes on 12th and C

EVG reader Robert Galinsky reports that the mural wall on East 12th Street at Avenue C (aka The 12C Canvas for Positivity) has a new addition.

The artist is CaraToes, who's from Belgium-born street artist now living in Hong Kong. She has been in NYC for a month, completing six murals throughout the five boroughs ...

[Updated] Things that you might be able to briefly see streak across the sky this evening

On the East Coast? You might see the #Antares launch to @Space_Station tonight at 6:45pm ET http://t.co/mOT13ggfmS pic.twitter.com/1fTczDdfYY

— NASA (@NASA) October 27, 2014

And despite the rumors, it is NOT a promo for "Interstellar."

Updated
Ah, NASA aborted the launch... "due to a boat downrange in the hazard area."

We'll attempt to launch #Antares tomorrow at 6:22pm ET. Learn more about #Cygnus: http://t.co/6Bo6KBRWnG pic.twitter.com/jDLpmZ9rgN

— NASA (@NASA) October 27, 2014

Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at NASA's Minotaur Rocket streaking across the East Village sky

H/T EVG reader Steven

Report: Attorney General takes down notorious 'tenant relocator'

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has reportedly put a notorious "tenant relocator" out of business.

Through the years, tenants of rent-controlled apartments say that Michel Pimienta has threatened them with eviction or accused them of illegal sub-letting — "anything to get them out so the landlord can start collecting hefty market rate rent in gentrifying neighborhoods," the Daily News reported.

Fielding dozens of complaints from frightened tenants, Schneiderman last week got Pimienta to agree to pay a $40,000 fine and give up his "relocation" efforts.

“This agreement will help ensure that lawful tenants are not harassed or pressured into giving up their homes by an unlicensed and unscrupulous tenant relocater,” Schneiderman said.

The article doesn't mention which landlords hired Pimienta through the years.

He was well-known on the Lower East Side and in the East Village.

As far back as 2005, Pimienta was red-flagged by state regulators after harassing a tenant in the East Village by accusing him of running a brothel.

To settle that complaint, the tenants' landlord agreed to terminate Pimienta.

But he didn't go away.

"We're surprised at how brazen this guy is," said Brandon Kielbasa, tenant organizer with the nonprofit Cooper Square Committee.

The article notes that the AG's case against another tenant relocator, Steve Croman heavy Anthony Falconite, is pending.

Photo of Michel Pimienta via the Daily News

FREE TO A GOOD HOME

A reader let us know that ... this green thing is sitting outside Theatre 80 at 80 St. Mark's Place ... and it is free right now — 11:14 a.m. ... looks like it could hold up to four roommates, so there may be some income potential.

Signs of life at East Village Radio, but what does it mean?

There's been some activity around East Village Radio, which signed off after 11 years on May 23.

First, someone changed the station's Facebook profile picture on Friday… and the EVR website now has this message…



… and on Saturday, we noticed a worker making some sort of repair at the tiny storefront studio at 19 First Ave.



We don't know what, if anything, these three things might mean… we reached out to the EVR folks to see what's what.

As we first reported, EVR CEO Frank Prisinzano said that he could no longer afford the increasing licensing costs for the Internet radio station … and made the difficult decision to shut down operations.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: East Village Radio is signing off after 11 years; final day of broadcasting is May 23 (53 comments)

Something new to take home on Avenue A

An EVG reader noted that the sign went up Saturday for the new restaurant taking over the former San Loco space at 151 Avenue A — TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken.

Word here is "chicken, green beens, roasted potatoes, etc. to go. … nothing like we have ever had before. Very fresh."

The San Loco closed here between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street back in February. The CB3/SLA Liquor Licensing Committee voted to deny high-profile restaurateurs Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield a license to open a bar cafe here in May.

No word on an opening date for TakeMeHome just yet.

First sign of Rosie's Mexican, coming soon to 2nd Avenue

Signs are up now for Rosie's Mexican, the incoming restaurant from Vicki Freeman, Marc Meyer and Chris Paraskevaides, who own Cookshop, Hundred Acres and Five Points …



According to a fall preview at Zagat, the restaurant on the corner of Second Avenue and East Second Street will be "based on Meyer's travels to Mexico. Expect market-driven dishes cooked on a comal flattop grill as well as stews, homemade tortillas and more."

The Greek-themed Boukiés closed in March after a two-year run.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Boukiés has 'permanently closed' on Second Avenue

For sale: Everything must go at the former Boukiés space on 2nd Avenue

NYC's 1st bar for pregnant women goes belly up on Avenue A

The month-long reign of this unfunny marketing campaign on Avenue A and East Fifth Street is over… so long to Gestations — "NYC's first bar for pregnant women"…





The ads for whatever the app was came down on Friday. The whole campaign seemingly came to a halt on Oct. 6, the last day that someone posted to the Gestations Facebook page…



Last we heard the long-empty storefront would soon be home to a veterinarian's office.

Previously on EV Grieve:
No, 'NYC's first bar for pregnant women' isn't opening on Avenue A

People behind Gestations still pretending to be opening a bar for pregnant women on Avenue A

Amateur building inspector offering input outside 137 Avenue C

As we've pointed out, there's a building-wide gut renovation underway at 137 Avenue C … somehow, they're going to throw an extra floor atop the building that seems to lean a bit…



Meanwhile, someone has written this on the plywood …



… and does this read "this will fall" or "this will fail"? Well, either way — we get the idea…



If this is helpful…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Renovations in store for 137 Avenue C, home to the Sunburnt Cow

The Sunburnt Cow closes for good at the end of this month

137 Avenue C, hollow on the inside

Work permits arrive at the former Amato Opera on the Bowery

There's now activity at the Amato Opera building at 319 Bowery … the work permits have been posted… (the city issued them on Thursday)…



Landlord Steve Croman finally received DOB approval last month to convert the former theater between East First Street and East Second Street into a commercial and residential building. Documents show that there will be one residence on each floor above the retail space.

Amato Opera ended its long run on May 31, 2009. Anthony Amato, the company's founder, died in December 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Life after the Amato Opera

Costume drama on the Bowery as the Amato Opera empties out

Ruin of the Bowery nearly complete: Last season for the Amato Opera

Amato Opera looks to be getting an encore as city OKs residential use

The birds

Late this afternoon atop East 10th Street and Avenue D via Bobby Williams...

Humans nature

We're sorry that we missed the last free concert in Tompkins Square Park for the year... we wanted to see Dawn of Humans (and all the bands!) ... so we borrowed these Dawn of Humans photos from Slum Goddess via Facebook...