As the Church of the Nativity closes for good tonight, take a look at the original structure

As previously reported, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York is closing the Church of the Nativity at 44 Second Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street.

The final mass is tonight at 7.



On this occasion, volunteers posted a photo of the the original Church of the Nativity building. Via Facebook yesterday:

The first church, located at 48 Second Avenue, was built in 1832 as the Second Avenue Presbyterian Church. In 1842 it was sold to the newly formed Nativity Parish. This building was demolished in 1970 after a fire. It was rebuilt by hardworking parishioners — hence the new, smaller church built with cinder blocks now located at 44 Second Avenue.

The Church of the Nativity is merging with Most Holy Redeemer on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. In total, as amNY reported: "New York City's 112 parishes will be consolidated into just 55 new parishes due to 'changing demographics' and a shortage of priests available to say mass."

Reminders: The 3rd annual MoRUS film festival starts tomorrow

As we've been reporting, the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) has partnered with community and activist groups to present I [heart] NRCHY: Subversion & The City, which runs tomorrow through Aug. 8.

Visit the MoRUS website here for more details on the screenings, which take place each night at 8.

Last day for Alex Shoe Repair on 2nd Avenue

Back in February we reported that Icon Realty was the new owner of 57 Second Ave., the 10-story building between East Third Street and East Fourth Street.

This meant that the two retail tenants — Alex Shoe Repair and Allied Hardware, who were both on a month-to-month lease — would not be around much longer.

Well, today is the last day for Alex Shoe Repair.

Earlier this week, the Lo-Down published an interview with the shop's proprietor:

Born and raised in Uzbekistan in a Jewish family with four brothers and five sisters, Amnun “Alex” Kariyev immigrated to Chicago where he worked in a cable manufacturing company. Looking to run a business of his own, he went to school at night to learn the art of shoe repair.

Alex came to New York City and in 1986 set up shop on Second Avenue. When he started out, the rent was only $1,000, which might seem very low for the nicely proportioned 1,000 square foot space. But back then, Alex recalls, all of lower Second Avenue below 4th Street was “a no man’s land.”

And…

He bears no grudge against Icon Realty, who have given him his final month in the location free of charge. Having lived through the brand of Communism imposed by the former USSR, Alex says he believes in capitalism and that — at the price Icon paid for the property — they have the right to make money.

Alex was paying $4,000 a month in rent. The new asking rent is $14,000.

This Alex is now sending his customers to the unrelated Alex Shoe Repair at 71 First Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
57 Second Ave. hits the market for $30 million

Reader report: Icon Realty new owner of 57 Second Ave.

CVS has teamed up with Watson, IBM’s supercomputer

[Doctored file photo]

Earlier this month, news broke that CVS would be the first retail tenant at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star.

Apparently CVS and IBM's Watson have bigger plans. The Washington Post had the news yesterday:

IBM is teaming with CVS Health to harness the power of the Watson supercomputing brain to transform how the care of patients with chronic conditions is managed.

[T]he companies will work to develop a system that would be able to provide better personalization of care, prevent the use of unneeded and costly interventions, and even predict health declines for a wide range of conditions including heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Troyen A. Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Health, said in an interview that no specific product or timeline has been worked out, but that the first stage would be to jointly develop intelligent algorithms and test them to see if they helped improve patient outcomes. He said he was hopeful “realistic interventions” could be identified in one to two years.

In addition, CVS stores, using Watson's POWER7 processors and IBM's DeepQA technology, will be able to reduce the one-hour photo service to .001 seconds.

Previously on EV Grieve:
BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star! (42 comments)

1st sign of the incoming CVS at 51 Astor Place

In the rain on Astor Place

Photo this afternoon by Grant Shaffer

Reports: Prep school teacher arrested for having sex with 16-year-old girl in bathroom at Lit Lounge

According to multiple published reports, police arrested a teacher and coach at Leman Manhattan Preparatory School for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old girl inside the bathroom at Lit Lounge on Second Avenue last month.

David Azurmendi, 34, was charged with third-degree rape, according to WABC-7.

Here are more details via the Daily News:

Tipped off by the school principal, cops cornered Azurmendi at his home in Summit, N.J. They slapped the cuffs on him after he admitted to investigators at the Manhattan Specials Victims unit he had sex with the girl, sources said.

Azurmendi was hit with the potentially career-crushing charge just as he was supposed to start a new gig at The Greenwood School, an expensive private boarding school for boys in Putney, Vt., the sources added.

His last day at Leman in the Financial District was on June 19, the same day he allegedly hooked up with the 16-year-old girl. The two met at Leman, where he taught for the past three years, the Post reported.

On July 9, ClubPlanet.com reported that Lit was closing in the months ahead after 14 years to relocate to Bushwick. One of the owners blamed "the new East Village crowd and the flight of the creative types to creative Brooklyn" as a reason for the closure.

Homeless model lived for 6 years on an East Village rooftop

Mark Reay, 56, is the the subject of "Homme Less," a documentary due out at the IFC Center on Aug. 7.

Despite some steady modeling gigs, his "income just about covered my gym membership, locker rental, cellphone, health insurance and food." The Post shares some of his story today:

Given my slick, manicured, 6-foot-3 image and seemingly glamorous job as a model, actor and photographer, people will find it hard to believe that I lived without a home for six long years in New York City. Only my closest friends knew the truth.

Sure I lived in the East Village, but not in an apartment. I slept in the open air, battling the elements inside a sleeping bag on the rooftop of a friend’s building. From August 2008 to July 2014, my only shelter was a tarp.

And...

There was a small space on the roof with railings around it, overlooked by no one. I had to hang onto a fence and walk out onto a ledge to access it, but it was my own 8-foot-by-3½-foot triangle of safety and privacy. With a tarp pulled over me and a plastic juice bottle to pee in during the night, I could get a pretty good sleep.

These days he lives with his mother in Northwestern New Jersey.

Here's a look at his film...

Report: 28% of East Village apartments serve as illegal hotel rooms on Airbnb

The East Village is the most popular neighborhood for Airbnb rentals, with 28 percent of the neighborhood's rental units converted into illegal hotel rooms, according to the analysis by affordable housing advocates the New York Communities for Change and Real Affordability For All.

In covering the study, the Daily News reported that the 20 most popular Airbnb neighborhoods — in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City — have lost 10 percent of their available housing units to Airbnb.

The study also found that the average rental was available for 247 days a year, and rented 109 nights a year, dispelling the notion that Airbnb users are just tenants looking to rent out their apartments when they happen to be out of town.

And Airbnb's reaction to the study? Per the Daily News:

Airbnb blasted it as “lies, fuzzy math and faulty stats.”

“The notion that 1 in 4 apartments in the East Village is rented via Airbnb is not just ludicrous, it is also not supported by a single piece of data,” said a spokesperson.

You may download a PDF of the study here via the New York Communities for Change site.

Meanwhile, last month, Gothamist wrote about a programmer who created Inside Airbnb, which "extracts every publicly available bit of information about Airbnb rental listings across New York City."



The data show how many of the listings are for an entire home (red) versus a room in an apartment (green) as well as how many are controlled by the same host, among other things.

Updated: (Canceled) Tonight in Tompkins Square Park: 'Chinatown' (Plus food fair)

Tonight's free movie is "Chinatown," Roman Polanski's 1974 classic that likely doesn't need any introducing. (According to the organizers, James Franco selected this film for tonight.)



Also tonight! There's a food fair before the film feature five East Village restaurants — Caracas Arepa Bar, Luke’s Lobster, GG’s, Boulton & Watt and Ducks Eatery. According to DNAinfo, who first reported on this, the food vendors will be open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and located adjacent to the park on Avenue A.

Meanwhile, there's live music (from Youth and Vanity) at 7:30 p.m., and the movie starts at sundown. You can head to the Films in Tompkins Facebook page for any updates, especially since rain is in the forecast this evening.

Updated:

The organizers decided to reschedule "Dog Day Afternoon," which was cancelled due to the threat of rain on July 9, next week... Aug. 6.

Updated 3 p.m.

The weather forecast has KO'd tonight's food fair and screening.

Signage spotting: Sea Beauty Spa on Avenue B

[EVG photo from 2013]

As we noted last month, a nail salon was taking over the Amor Bakery space at 224 Avenue B near East 14th Street.

And now the signage has arrived for Sea Beauty Spa ...



There's a web address for the salon on the awning, but the site is still under construction. So for now we don't know the various services they will offer, and if they will serve acai bowls.

A small fire broke out at Amor on April 22, 2013, and the family-run bakery was never able to reopen.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: Fire reported at 224 Avenue B

Amor Bakery will not reopen on Avenue B

Nail salon in the works for former Amor Baker space on Avenue B

The importance of being earnest in room-for-rent ads on Craigslist

[Image via]

Spotted on Craigslist:

$750 Large Room East Village (East Village)

Spacious Room — fit for Oscar Wilde.

Sleigh bed, new mattress.

$750. Six months minimum, first/last mos. to move in.

Wilde's real-life home in London sounds a little roomier than this.

Reader report: Super Mario statue swiped from 6th Street

Apparently someone made off this evening with the Super Mario statue outside VideoGamesNewYork at 202 E. Sixth St. at Cooper Square...

Car drives away with #Mario #coopersq at the #cooper bldg... you know the statue, you've probably got a pic. #whereismario #nyc #eastvillage

— brianna daley okada (@briannadaley) July 30, 2015

We don't know too much else about this at the moment. The statue was last seen wearing a long-sleeved red shirt and royal blue overalls and a red hat with an "M" in the middle. He is known for his jumping and stomping powers.

[Image via the VideoGamesNewYork website]