Gracefully has closed

[Photo via @thebsap]

That's it for the market at 28 Avenue A between East Second Street and East Third Street. Several readers spotted workers removing contents of the store last evening… workers on the scene confirmed that they were shutting down in a few hours.

We first reported the impending closure on Nov. 10. At the time, the closing date was still unknown.

The shelves were getting empty during our last visit on Friday…





We didn't hear any official reason for the closure. One worker claimed that it was because of the New York Sports Club opening soon in the building's upper floors.

There is a Gracefully on First Avenue in Stuy Town … and one remains under construction on East 23rd Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Gracefully is closing on Avenue A

[Updated] 174-176 First Ave. is in contract

174-176 First Ave. arrived on the market in June 2013 with an asking price of $12 million.

Since 1904, No. 176 has been home to DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe. The DeRobertis family owns the building, so it seemed likely that the bakery would remain despite the sale... until a real-estate listing circulated in May showing that the retail spaces in the basement and first floor of No. 176 would be delivered vacant once the buildings sell. (However, workers there have told us several times that they were not closing... and that the building wasn't even for sale.)

According to the listing at Corcoran, the building is now in contract.



Streeteasy notes that the building entered into contract on Oct. 31...



DeRobertis is one of our favorite places around. So we do hope that they will live on with the new owners.

One troubling sign, though — the DeRobertis website is no long active...



Updated: DeRobertis reportedly will close after Dec. 5.

Papaya King will start serving beer next Monday on St. Mark's Place

Via the EVG inbox yesterday...

Starting Monday, November 24, you can have a beer with your meal at 3 St. Marks Pl. 12oz Heineken Light Bottles and 12oz Brooklyn Lager Cans will be available to start, with new items being added each season.

The beer will be available Sunday through Thursday from 11:00AM – 10:00PM and Friday & Saturday from 11:00AM – 11:00PM. You must purchase a food item off the menu to buy and enjoy a beer.

Unlike the other Papaya and Hot Dog copycat restaurants in New York City, Papaya King on St. Marks Pl. is more than a grab and go location. With a giant projection screen along the back wall, old school arcade games in the front, foosball in the back, loud music and a long picnic table down the middle, it is a place to rub elbows with your friends, neighbors, classmates and someone new.

The Papaya King owners were turned down for a beer license back in May 2013. According to CB3 documents, the St. Mark's Block Association and 8 St. Mark's Tenants' Association submitted letters and testimony in opposition to this application.

CB3 again turned down their application in September 2013, citing a failure "to provide substantial community support from area residents." While five people spoke out in support of the license, only one of them actually lived within the CB3 boundaries, according to CB3 documents.

So it looks as if Papaya King made some concessions, cutting back the proposed hours for beer sales. (They originally wanted to sell beer until 4 a.m. Thursday through Sundays.)

Papaya King opened in the East Village in May 2013. Papaya King opened on East 86th Street in 1932.

122 E. Seventh St. is for rent

The storefront here between Avenue A and First Avenue has been on the market since May... however, the for lease sign is up in the window now that the previous tenant, La Belle Crepe, recently closed.

The rent for the 300-square-foot space is upon request.

Did anyone ever try La Belle Crepe? A veteran street-fair vendor ran the place. We honestly never saw any customers inside. Crepes also seem like a tough sell around here.

Today

Photo from Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams...

Report: SantaCon isn't coming to this part of town in 2014

[SantaCon 2013 via EVG reader Steven Sonnenblick]

SantaCon, the annual charity event beloved by all save for a few curmudgeons who don't like to have fun, is apparently bypassing the East Village/Lower East Side this year.

This year's destination on Dec. 13? Bushwick, as Bushwick Daily first reported today.

So far, it looks like bar owners there are psyched, as they should be.

One bartender told Bushwick Daily:

“I’ve worked on SantaCon while bartending in the East Village. It’s the absolute worst thing ever. Worse than Saint Patrick’s Day! I literally can’t believe it’s coming to Bushwick!” he continued. “I can’t think of anyone that would let drunk vomiting Santas into their bars in this hood. I’m guessing they will be aimlessly walking around.”

As you know, most of the Santa-clad revelers are on their best behavior… of course there are always one or two bad apples as you'd expect in any crowd. (Good God! That Armory Show last year!)



Woo!

Anyway, Christmas came early here.

Per Jessica Roy at Daily Intelligencer:

East Village bars, which have long fought to ban the daytime bar crawl and will be spared this year's vomit puddles, must have made Santa's Nice List this year.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[On the L via Grant Shaffer]

Essex Crossing update (The Lo-Down)

Some places that people worry will close (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

East Village Alchemy (Dorian Grey Gallery)

Calls for public hearings over expansion plans by the Success Academy charter school (DNAinfo)

Christo's early evening hunt in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

When Five Points was the city's worst slum (Ephemeral New York)

77 Bowery is up for grabs (BoweryBoogie)

There are now red Citi Bikes to promote the "Annie" remake (Gothamist)

On Wednesday night, The Stop Shopping Choir, Middle Church Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir and The Lower Eastside Girls Club Choir will perform a concert to raise funds for activists in Ferguson, Mo. (Middle Collegiate Church)

… and for those of you into yoga … there's a new yoga class over at the Ashtanga Yoga Shala on East Eighth Street at Avenue B… find details about The Bridge Yoga Class here.

Parts of Avenue C and D now with a SkyWatch tower, additional NYPD lights

[Photo via Magic Brian]

Several readers noted the arrival last week of an NYPD patrol tower (SkyWatch) on East Third Street at Avenue C… and additional lights on East Fourth Street at Avenue C…



Their arrival coincides with the report of a shooting on Nov. 7 outside the Mariana Bracetti Plaza public housing development at 251 E. Third St. west of Avenue C. According to CBS New York, the victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries. There hasn't been any further information about this shooting.

Meanwhile, the NYPD also set up a light tower on Avenue D at East Fifth Street last Wednesday…





There are unconfirmed reports of a recent shooting on this corner.

Resident Bill Morris pointed out that the lights appear to be trained on his bedroom… (the lights and generator stay on even after sunrise…)



Morris asked the NYPD if the lights could focus more on the street and less on the building. So far nothing doing. He says a call to the 9th Precinct about the lights generated this suggestion: Call Commissioner Bratton's office.

The changes to 3 Bowery mainstays

Just adding up the changing Bowery landscape along East Third Street and East Second Street…

Workers continue jackhammering away at the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street. The site will one day yield a 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development.



---

The Whitehouse Hostel at 338-340 Bowery closed for good in early September. The building was sold. There are pending plans to build a 9-floor hotel in its place. Otherwise, there's not much activity here. There's still someone sitting behind the front desk … and the Pepsi machine remains in the lobby…



---

On Friday, workers erected the sidewalk bridge outside the former Amato Opera building at 319 Bowery just below East Second Street…



Landlord Steve Croman received DOB approval in September to convert the former theater 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.

And these are just the changes on one block. Curbed documented more of the Bowery's changing landscape back in August.

Noted

An Urban Etiquette Sign from inside an East Third Street building via EVG reader Philip Treviño, who notes the flyer is still fresh and unmarked by a Sharpie. (And not just to copyedit.)

Ben Shaoul's latest gift to the neighborhood: A 10-floor residential building

News broke Friday about the new retail-residential complex coming to the one-level strip on East Houston between Orchard and Ludlow: a 10-floor building with 83 residential units.

In addition, the new building will feature 13,500 square feet of ground-floor retail and nearly 5,000 square feet of community facility space, according to New York Yimby, who first reported on Ben Shaoul's plans now on file with the city.

The address for this Shaoulville will be 196 Orchard St.

As BoweryBoogie (who first learned that Shaoul was behind this project) has been reporting, the businesses along here (Bereket among them) have closed or moved to make way for the development. Pretty much everything you see will be gone — except for Katz's, whose co-owner sold their air rights to Shaoul.

Ismael Leyva is the architect of record.

Yaffa Cafe's former sidewalk cafe is now a garbage dump

Yaffa Cafe officially announced their closure back on Oct. 1 after 30-plus years in business.

We've been curious what will happen to the space at 97 St. Mark's Place just east of First Avenue. We've haven't heard any news about this in recent weeks… the only activity to note is that someone moved the garbage and recycling to the space where Yaffa's sidewalk cafe was…





Yaffa's management decided to call it quits after the city ordered them to discontinue use of their backyard garden … and from the fines stemming from a recent DOH inspection.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Yaffa Cafe is officially gone; back garden dismantled

More about Yaffa Cafe closing

Week in Grieview

[Why did Zoltar move? He loves Paul's! Photo by Derek Berg]

Gracefully is closing on Avenue A (Monday)

Q-and-A with Vanessa McDonnell, director of the John's of 12th Street documentary (Thursday)

East Village Radio is returning (Friday)

Native Bean moving soon on Avenue A (Thursday)

Q-and-A with activist Kelly Cogswell, author of "Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger" (Tuesday)

Pizza Bagel Cafe yielding to a T-Mobil store on East 14th Street and First Avenue (Tuesday)

City's first cat cafe opening on the LES (Thursday)

Out and About with Ben Bahud (Wednesday)

Coming soon to First Avenue: Sweet Generation, "A Bakery for Arts Education" (Monday)

Facebook is here now in Midtown South (Wednesday)

The Marshal seizes Cafe Cambodge on Avenue C (Thursday)

$73 million and Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 is all yours (Friday)

John Lurie's new live Internet radio show debuts (Wednesday)

LaVie in rubble (Friday)

zPizza closes on First Avenue (Monday)

A Building condo returns to market WITHOUT THE SLIDE (Tuesday)

Heavenly Market opens on Third Avenue (Friday)

Awwwwwwwww: Christo and Dora make cute in the sunset (Tuesday)

Momofuku-French Louie vets bringing BARA to East First Street (Monday)

Refurbished El Sombrero debuts (Wednesday)

New residential building for former Mobil station lot will be 10 floors with 0 zero affordable units (Wednesday)

57 Second Ave. available for $30 million (Thursday)

Mystery mounds (Friday)

Mile High Run Club is up and running (Monday)

… and we realized that we never noted the arrival of the recently relocated Cloak & Dagger boutique at 334 E. Ninth St. … in the former Archangel Antiques space…

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

The Post today features our blogging friend Jeremiah Moss on its My New York page… his list of favorite NYC places highlights many from the East Village, including Ray's Candy Store and Theatre 80… Check it out here.

Discarded Citi Bike of the day

Abandoned Citi Bikes have been a common sight these past, oh, 17 months… this one atop the temporary boilers on East Sixth Street at Avenue C took a little more effort, though… (unless it fell) …



Photo via @TedRoden

And now a lot of photos of leaves (and a few of the sun)

Just a few scenes of the fine-looking fall from the last few days…

Crime scene tape remains on 3rd Avenue and East 13th Street

Several readers noted the presence of crime-scene tape outside the Brazen Fox on Third Avenue and East 13th Street early this morning.

Per one reader who was on a pre-dawn walk: "the sidewalk was blocked off, at least on the 13th Street side, and there was a patrol car parked there at the corner of 3rd Ave with lights flashing."

We don't have any information about what may have happened.

Droplets of blood remain on the sidewalk.

You will have to do without the Citi Bike valet service until the spring

[Seventh and A via Derek Berg]

Sorry for the lack of notice … but the Citi Bike valet service on East Seventh Street and Avenue A (and East 14th Street and Avenue B???) ended last evening.

Tonight is the final night of Valet service in the East Village and will end at 9pm! See ya in the spring...

— Citi Bike (@CitibikeNYC) November 14, 2014

And what did valet service mean?

Staff will be on hand at the Alphabet City stations to make sure that every bike that arrives will get a dock. So anyone heading to the East Village on a weeknight can be rest assured that they won’t have to search for a docking point at the end of their trip.

Previously

At the South Street Seaport: Ice Rink, tree lighting and another VBar

Just mentioning a few things happening at what's left of the South Street Seaport in case it's of interest...The Seaport Ice Rink returns today, and the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony takes place on Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. You can find more info here.

In other news, VBar, which has a location on St. Mark's Place and First Avenue, is opening a location at the Seaport … at 212 Front St. (former home of, sob, Carmine's).

And what does the future hold down there? Here's a video with details, if you dare…

Easy does it

Here is "Easy Money" from Johnny Marr's second solo album, the recently released "Playland."

And Johnny Marr and Co. are playing a sold-out show tomorrow night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

A godsend? Heavenly Market opens today on 3rd Avenue

The new market opened this morning on Third Avenue at East 11th Street… offering up a fine selection of deli fare… they are open 24 hours … and they deliver… (and they are giving out free muffins today if you buy something)...



Heavenly takes over the space that last housed Fern Cliff Deli.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[A Giuseppi Logan photo shoot in Tompkins Square Park the other day via Derek Berg]

Remembering The East Village Eye (Hyperallergic)

There's a newly restored version of this William Burroughs documentary playing through Nov. 19 (Anthology Film Archives)

The radical history of 110 Second Ave. (Ephemeral New York)

Listen to the demo recordings from The Ramones' debut album (Boing Boing)

Check out the new street photography blog by EV resident Adrianna Grezak (On Second Avenue)

RIP Big Bank Hank (Daily News)

Drunken driver wipes out Cemusa stand on Delancey (BoweryBoogie)

A visit to Makari on Third Avenue (Off the Grid)

Tenants who are fighting Steve Croman (The Villager)

Academy Records' Cory Felerman finds a rare Yoko Ono 45 good for $1,703.99 on First Avenue (The Village Voice)

Christo hanging out in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

Some more Pussy Galore detective work (Flaming Pablum)

Celebrities visit Miss Lily's 7A (Page Six)

Appreciating Cafe Edison's interior (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Rethinking traffic on Canal (The Lo-Down)

Iggy Pop TV interview from a Cleveland TV station circa 1979 (Dangerous Minds)

...and if you need plans tonight that include gambling for a good cause (a fund-raiser for The Neighborhood School on East Third Street), then you in luck... tickets are available at the door...