Week in Grieview

[2nd Avenue via Derek Berg]

6 more floors in store for the soon-to-be unrecognizable St. Marks Hotel (Thursday, 34 comments)

Police say this guy has burglarized 10 East Village apartments (Tuesday)

118 E. 1st. St. will yield to a new 9-floor residential building (Wednesday)

Remaining tenants at 504-508 E. 11th St. welcomed home with eviction notices (Friday)

Broken steam pipe wipes out East 12th Street toy shop (Tuesday)

A familiar name is set to become the new owner of d.b.a. (Monday)

RIP Korzo Haus (Monday)

Out and About with Kim Kalesti (Wednesday)

Never-ending construction continues to hurt Punjabi Grocery & Deli (Thursday)

Soup and broth to go at Brodo (aka Hearth) (Monday)

The Marshal seizes Lumé, another restaurant that couldn't make East 8th Street and Avenue C work (Tuesday)

98-100 Avenue A finally demolished (Friday)

A call to action from Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street (Wednesday)

The 14th Street Pizza Bagel Cafe abruptly closes (Monday)

Vegtown opens on East 14th Street (Monday)

Snack Dragon has officially closed (Monday)

A few details on the 23-floor building replacing the soon-to-be demolished Bowlmor Lanes (Wednesday)

Watch David Johansen interview Johnny Thunders outside CBGB circa 1976 (Tuesday)

348 Bowery is for rent (Monday)

95 Avenue A is sinking (Thursday)

Free Robot Butler plug! (Wednesday)

… and Maria's Cafe may have a new home… but they still serve up one of the least-expensive breakfasts around … Avenue C between East Third Street and East Fourth Street …

Looking at NYC's 'fratty heat spots'

An EVG reader passed along a link to a Business Insider piece from Friday.

Per the article:

The data experts at Yelp put together a series of maps that show the frattiest neighborhoods in 10 American cities. Yelp documented how often its users mentioned the word "frat" in reviews, and then plotted those locations on a heat map.

NYC made the top-10 list… and this area in particular is an apparent hot spot as the map shows.

Here is their NYC analysis:

Nearly all of Manhattan's east side, with some areas in the surrounding boroughs, is covered with fratty heat spots likely due to New York's colleges and job opportunities that draw crowds of students and recent grads. The Lower East Side, Murray Hill, Midtown East, and the Upper East Side are popular fratty spots in particular; the bar and nightlife options, paired with slightly cheaper living costs than on the west side, appeal to recent graduates.

The Russ & Daughters documentary makes its broadcast debut on Dec. 2

After making the rounds at some film festivals, "The Sturgeon Queens," the documentary on Russ & Daughters, has a broadcast premiere date.

Via the film's Facebook page:

"The Sturgeon Queens" will air on Thirteen WNET New York Tues, Dec 2, 10 pm. On WLIW Dec. 3, 7:30pm. Rest of the country will have to wait til 2015, but lots of fest and theatrical screenings still coming...

Here's the storyline via IMDB:

Four generations of a Jewish immigrant family create Russ and Daughters, a Lower East Side lox and herring emporium that survives and thrives.

Produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the store, this documentary features an extensive interview with two of the original daughters for whom the store was named, now 100 and 92 years old, and interviews with prominent enthusiasts of the store including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, chef Mario Batali, New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin, and 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer.

Rather than a conventional narrator, the filmmakers bring together six colorful longtime fans of the store, in their 80s and 90s, who sit around a table of fish reading the script in the style of a passover Seder.

Straight to 'Hell'

In case you have 82 minutes to space… here's "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell," a 2007 documentary directed by Henry Corra that originally aired on VH1 … an EVG reader shared it, so we're passing it along…

Per IMDB:

New York City, 1977 - It was a time when the city had fallen into decay, with too few jobs, money, police, schools, and social services. There was a city wide blackout with major looting, a serial killer on the loose, and the Bronx was burning. And yet out of the chaos emerged one of the most creative times any city has ever encountered.

The documentary uses groundbreaking animation to help tell the story, and features interviews with those who lived it, including Ed Koch, Geraldo Rivera, Jimmy Breslin, Gloria Gaynor, Afrika Bambaataa, Chris Stein (Blondie), Richard Hell, KRS-One, Grandmaster Caz, DJ Disco Wiz, Legs McNeil, Annie Sprinkle, Al Goldstein, Tommy Ramone, Jellybean Benitez, Lee Quinones, and many more.

NY77 THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL Documentary from guranjeslitice on Vimeo.

Leveling La Vie

Just noting the continued de-evolution of the former club at 64 E. First St.

Workers are in the process of leveling the structure to make way for a 6-floor residential building here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

New York Yimby reported in April that there will be six residential units (likely condos) — "two duplexes, one spanning the cellar and first floor, and another located on the sixth and penthouse levels; each of the other four residences will be full-floor."

La Vie, a club masquerading as a restaurant, finally closed in June 2013 after a protracted battle with the State Liquor Authority.

Despite the angle of this photo, Abetta Boiler and Welding Service next door is still in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] La Vie closed for now on East First Street

New York Supreme Court upholds revocation of La Vie's liquor license

CB3 denies La Vie; owner responds by calling Susan Stetzer a 'racist'

La Vie has closed; neighbors rejoice

Former La Vie space on East First Street will be demolished

Getting rid of the rats at the former LaVie ahead of a new 6-floor residential building

Boarding up the former La Vie

Rummage away today at the El Sol Brillante Jr. Garden

Capital One introduces new curbside banking on 2nd Avenue

Or maybe it is part of their new campaign, "What's in your trash?"

Report: Deal falls through to bring Lucky Cheng's to Ludlow Street

Lucky Cheng's will not be calling the former Living Room space at 154 Ludlow St. their new home after all.

The cabaret, originally on this month's SLA licensing committee docket, was hoping to make the move back downtown permanent. (They had been operating out of the DL on Delancey Street.)

However, as Lisha Arino reported at DNAinfo yesterday, the plans fell through.

Lucky Cheng’s was in the process of acquiring the space when the landlord pulled out at the last minute, [general manager Richard Huguenot] said.

“Basically, I don’t think the landlord wanted us over there,” he said.

Lucky Cheng's is now searching for a space big enough to host its new format, which will include circus acts, burlesque, contortionists, and aerialists along with its signature drag show.

Huguenot said the restaurant wants to remain in the Lower East Side, where it first opened in 1993. The ideal space would be about 4,000 square feet and able to accommodate about 150 people, he said.

Lucky Cheng's closed its Midtown location last summer after the death of owner Hayne Suthon. She moved Lucky Cheng's from First Avenue in 2012.

When a cloud ate the moon last night

Photo by Grant Shaffer

Cuts like a 'Knife'

Manchester-based A Certain Ratio's "Sextette" from 1982 just got the deluxe re-release treatment... here's the shorter version of "Knife Slits Water," showing the band at its downbeat, post-punk best.

And sorry about the lame still video, but the original promo for this song has its embedding feature disabled. Boo!

Meanwhile on the Bowery….

Earlier today… apparently on the way to DBGB….

Photo by Derek Berg

Noted

Don't recall ever seeing a Citi Bike with a white seat … like this one on East Seventh Street at Avenue A that Derek Berg spotted…

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Photo of the Williamsburg Bridge by Bobby Williams]

Victim of East 7th Street burglary discusses the incident (CBS 2)

More about "LES is More: Stories of Growing Up on the Lower East Side" happening tonight (DNAinfo)

Just a few more days to see the work of Richard Hambleton at Dorian Grey Gallery on East 9th Street (Dorian Grey)

At last, a hawk update from Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

Katz's unleashes the "Roast Beast Sandwich" (The Lo-Down)

New FDR overpass at East Houston Street (BoweryBoogie)

Tenement history at 342 E. 11th St. (Off the Grid)

Stories of drastic evolution in NYC neighborhoods includes short essays from Jeremiah Moss and EVG, among many others (Curbed)

Speaking of which: St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral School will go condo (Daily News)

The restaurant reviewer at The New York Times likes Tuome on East 5th Street (The New York Times)

Save Cafe Edison! (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Patti Smith and Jim Carroll at the gate (Flaming Pablum)

Why not?! Photos of a 12-year-old Christopher Walken dressed as a clown (Dangerous Minds)

And tomorrow night ... This local arts performance series is re-igniting again: The Spotlight Speakeasy at the Sanctuary on East Sixth Street from 9-11:30 p.m.

Artists performing:

YOKKO [Butoh dance]
TAMAR [Western Swing/Jazz]
VARYAMUSIC [Indie Rock]
BROOKLYN NOMADS [Arab Folk]

And FINALLY … an answer to a question that has been nagging at us over at 51 Astor Place…

Reader report: Remaining tenants at 504-508 E. 11th St. welcomed home with eviction notices

In September 2013, we heard a rumor that 504-508 E. 11th St. had a new owner, "a real estate investment cabal" with intentions of clearing out the tenants of the 30-unit building.

Yes, indeed. Here's word on what has been happening there between Avenue A and Avenue B via The 504-508 E. 11th St. Tenant’s Association:

Because the wacky landlord had never issued a single lease, many of the longtime residents accepted pitifully low buyouts and sought greener pastures in less "awesome" neighborhoods. Other tenants just got sick of the harassment and left on their own accord with no financial compensation whatsoever.

However, a few stalwart tenants have chosen to stay and fight the attempts of East Diversified Buildings of Brooklyn and Gotham City International to displace them. The majority of the remaining residents are working families with children attending local elementary schools.

Well, the other shoe finally dropped on Wednesday, with tenants returning home to find court notices taped to their doors, issued by a landlord, "which prays for a final judgement of eviction awarding to the petitioner the possession of premises."

The hearing is set in Civil Court for Friday next week. Will the Evil Overlords of Gotham City succeed in their dastardly attempt to evict longtime East Village residents from their homes and reap the easy riches of an East Village real-estate market spinning wildly out of control? Or will good, or something like it, prevail and the beleaguered working families and longtime residents of 504-508 East 11th St. get to keep their not-so-happy homes? Stay tuned…

As we understand it, there are eight occupied apartments left, with 10 adults and three children among those units.

Demolition finally over at 98-100 Avenue A

Meant to note this earlier in the week… after seemingly 20 years, the demolition of the former theater-turned-grocery has ended on Avenue A between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street … No more pesky building to see!



The smooth lot will some day make way for developer Ben Shaoul's 6-floor residential building with 29 apartments and ground-floor retail here.



… also, someone is keeping score on the side of the building that houses Sidewalk…



Previously

Let's look at a timeless parlor home on East 10th Street

Over on that fine stretch of East 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, a parlor apartment at No. 102 is now on the market as a rental.

Here's the listing via Core:

Originally constructed in 1836 by Peter Stuyvesant, this delightful 1,250-square-foot, 2-bedroom parlor and English basement duplex is bright, serene and well-cared for.

Offering 10-foot ceilings on the parlor floor and 8-foot wood-beamed ceilings below, this home exudes charm and a delightful sense of spaciousness. Wide-plank hardwood floors and four original fireplaces (three decorative and one wood-burning) provide a timeless quality to this tasteful home. The bedrooms are located on the quiet lower floor and are both spacious and warm. The master bedroom features an en-suite bath, washer/dryer and a private entrance to the charming 275-square-foot garden/terrace.

Asking monthly rent: $7,500.

Santa Barbara Deli returns after renovations on Avenue B

After a two-month renovation, the corner market on East 12th Street and Avenue B is back with a new look … including a new floor and ceiling … and new name, having lost the Superette.

We never really shopped here much, so we can't say much about what is new and better about the space… if this is your regular spot, then let us know in the comments…

Noted

@evgrieve Nyc is prepared for the 30% chance of rain in Union Square! pic.twitter.com/KLD4pnDhYM

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) November 7, 2014

Robots continue their East Village takeover

Yesterday, drivers dropped off several Robot Butler boxes around the neighborhood as part of some kind of marketing stunt or promo or whatever. (They were also spotted in San Francisco and Chicago.)

Coincidentally, crews will be filming a USA computer hacking drama pilot called "Mr. Robot" tomorrow.

Derek Berg spotted this sign on East Fourth Street.

6 more floors in store for the soon-to-be unrecognizable St. Marks Hotel

[Via Wikipedia Commons]

The Pappas family, owners of the St. Marks Hotel, have filed plans to build a 10-story mixed-use building on the hotel's lot at 2 St. Mark’s Place and Third Avenue.

As The Real Deal reported:

According to the building plans, the expanded building would also have retail on the ground floor, in addition to a medical office and other commercial space in the cellar. The hotel would occupy floors two through 10.

And New York Yimby got a look at a rendering.

Brace.



Hjhdjhsjhuu!!!! klsdfsJF;KLSFKJ;K!!!! KLKJASJJIQIOWUIQOWI!

Sorry.

Whoa.

Well, it looks appropriately garish Midtown Southish to blend in with the Death Star across the street and the Cooper Union Spacecraft down the block.

New York Yimby notes that John Pappas also owns the Park Savoy Hotel on West 58th Street... and that the new address will also be known as 71 Cooper Square, a long way from its hot-sheet hotel days of the 1970s and 1980s... and likely its current clientele of the hostel set and European tourists.

It was the Valencia until what, the early 1980s?


[From Blast of Silence, circa 1961]


[Photo by Michael Sean Edwards from 1980]

Never-ending construction continues to hurt Punjabi Grocery & Deli

The plight of Punjabi Grocery & Deli on East First Street near Avenue A/East Houston got some much-needed attention this past summer. The never-ending East Houston Reconstruction Project is killing off the 20-year-old shop's business.

Through the years, cab drivers made up a good chunk of Punjabi's business. The reconstruction, however, has prevented the cabs from being able to stop by for an inexpensive vegetarian meal.

EVG reader Vinny paid a visit yesterday, and shared these photos noting the new configuration of East First Street… (notice you can no long access First Street from Avenue by motor vehicle)





And to show you where Punjabi is buried in here...



Vinny also noted that Punjabi had to raise its prices across the board by 50 cents to $1 ... still, given the size of the portions, it's still an insanely good deal... and arguably the best around...



And as you may recall, Punjabi started an online petition asking the commissioner of the Taxi And Limousine Commission to approve a taxi relief stand at Avenue A and Houston Street. You can find the petition here. (It's up to 3,300-plus signatures.)

The East Houston Reconstruction Project is now scheduled (PDF!) to be completed by mid-2016, according to the latest city estimates.

Here's a look at the new Greenstreets and street configurations at A and Houston...



Previously on EV Grieve:
How you can help Punjabi Grocery & Deli stay in business

Activity at the soon-to-be-condoed former synagogue on East 6th Street

We haven't noticed too much activity lately at the soon-to-be-condoed Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 415 E. Sixth St.

However, yesterday, EVG reader Michael Hirsch spotted workers bringing in a load of rebar for the building between Avenue A and First Avenue...



"We are excited to be fully approved and beginning construction soon," Jody Kriss, principal and co-founder of East River Partners, told us via email.

As previously cut-n-pasted reported, the city approved the condo-conversion plans last December. Workers will renovate the building and add two floors.

The landmarked building was in disrepair and the congregation's population had dwindled. Synagogue leaders signed a 99-year lease with East River Partners worth some $1.2 million. The renovations include a penthouse addition and an elevator. The synagogue will reportedly retain space on the ground floor and basement for their use.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plan to add condos to historic East Sixth Street synagogue back on

Play spot the potential penthouse atop the East Village synagogue

A final look inside the Anshei Meseritz synagogue on East Sixth Street

Stained-glass windows removed ahead of condo conversion at Congregation Mezritch Synagogue

Sarge's Deli celebrates its 50th anniversary today on 3rd Avenue

Just wanted to mention a favorite spot not too far away… Sarge's Deli on Third Avenue between East 36th Street and East 37th Street… the deli is celebrating its 50th anniversary with some all-day specials.

Sarge's reopened in March after a devastating fire put them out of business for 15 months. Amazingly, despite the renovations, the place retains its old deli charm.

95 Avenue A, home of Gin Palace, is apparently sinking

That's the word from owner Ravi DeRossi, who told Eater that the building that houses Cienfuegos, Amor y Amargo and Gin Palace is currently sinking into the ground.

To remedy the situation at 95 Avenue A (at East Sixth Street), Gin Palace will close after service this evening while crews address the structural issues. (The other two bars will somehow remain open.)

The Gin Palace Facebook page estimates they will be closed for two months.

Live at the Fillmore East, a commemorative plaque

Last Wednesday the former home of the Fillmore East, which helped launch some of the biggest names in music at Second Avenue and East Sixth Street from 1968-1971, received a commemorative plaque marking its place in history… and we just realized that we never posted the photo of the plaque. So…



And here is the whole ceremony, if you care to watch…



You can read more about the Fillmore East at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who, along with Two Boots, made the plaque possible.

And find a listing of every band who played the Fillmore East here.

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

The Loew's Commodore Theatre

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

Express Tailor Repair living up to its name

Bill Cashman noticed this scene last night at the 55 Express Tailor Repair on Clinton between Stanton and Rivington... presumably a shirtless man sitting and waiting for his shirt to be expressed tailored...

Today's hawk

With a few pigeon feathers in his/her mouth in Tompkins Square Park...

Photo by Bobby Williams

[Updated] Rise of the robots on Avenue A

Someone has ordered a robot butler here on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place...



So many jokes, so few blog posts.

Photos via Derek Berg

Updated 12:27

Hmm, how many Robot Butlers arrived here today?

James and Karla Murray spotted this on East 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Zoltar in the morning

Isn't that cozy?

Word is that since Zoltar got moved to the left of Gem Spa on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, his business is off ... and he has more free time. Hence he's spending time out of the booth and in the reclining chair.

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: Kim Kalesti
Occupation: Singer, Composer, Poet
Location: Avenue A, between 3rd and 4th
Time: 2 pm on Monday, Nov. 3

I was born in Pueblo, Colo., in the Rocky Mountains, and then I left when I was in high school. I came to New York in the early 1980s when I was in my early 20s. A friend visited me in another state and he was from New York and we ended up living together, getting married and having children together. My apartment was $70. I’m in the same apartment for 31 years.

I’m a composer, I’m a singer. I also write poems, do video poetry and write shows.

I was a professional when I was 5. My mother tells a story. She said we were in the park on a family picnic and there was a big band playing at the bandshell. I just came up to my mother and said, ‘I’m going to go sing with the band.’ She thought it was kind of funny. Then 10 minutes later I was onstage.

I came here and I had the pleasure of being blessed to sing with and to be influenced by all the great American composers and musicians in the jazz idiom. Earlier in my career, in the 1980s, I was singing with the greatest jazz musicians in the world … I was on the same stage with Joe Williams, Betty Carter, sang for Eartha Kitt, Abbey Lincoln, all of the majors who were around in those days. Lush Life was a club on Bleecker and Thompson Street on the corner. Everybody was around at that time. They were all the elderly masters of their generation. They were the creators of the music.

There were a lot more artists and a lot more creativity because it was affordable and so you would have these hubs of different types of artists. We were all working together, not separately. There were musicians and poets, performing artists and sculptors. You would gather and, because it wasn’t that expensive, you had a lot of time to be creative. You influenced each other. It was a wonderful time. It was dangerous here but at the same time it provided a hub of creativity. A lot of new ideas were born. People were writing their novels and opening up places and nurturing talent. There was just a lot going on in every genre of music and arts.

Now it’s kind of marketed like we’re supposed to be separate. That’s why I don’t really like to tell people what I do, because I don’t like to be pegged into one art form. Creativity expresses itself in a lot of different ways. I just recently recorded some choral work. I wrote some choral music and now I’m expanding my horizons. True artists, we’re a work in progress. There are artists who do make money. If you were never driven or had the opportunity — as they say, be in the right place at the right time, which they call luck — then artists have to devise a way to have their freedoms, and I’ve done that. We don’t shop, we don’t have credit cards, we don’t own things. That’s my system. I don’t own anything. I see the abundance and I live off the excessiveness of others and there are a lot of extra things.

I’ve been working on a project for nine years now. It’s called "Chemistry, the Living Museum." It’s based off my life experiences and my philosophy of living. I’m very connected with nature. I’m going to be performing this project soon. It has a whole choir, it has a band, dancers, aromatherapy and all kinds of things. Right now I’m putting together the group because the group not only has to play well but it also has to be in the right spiritual place.

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