A 'Spray and Play' day tomorrow on Avenue C and East 12th Street

There's an all-day mini block party of sorts tomorrow on East 12th Street at Avenue C. As the above flyer notes, three graffiti artists will be on hand to create new murals at the 12C Outdoor Art Gallery.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There'll be some music too.

FYI — NYU Welcome Week is underway

NYU's Welcome Week is now underway with NYU's Welcome Day, where the university, well, welcomes new undergraduate students and their family members.

Around here, students are moving into Palladium Hall on East 14th Street, Founders Hall on East 12th Street and Third North on Third Avenue at East 12th Street.

Anyway, this doesn't really impact any of you, so don't worry about it, OK?






Haha. Kidding!

A few things. If you hate the Earth and have a car are looking to park on, say, East 13th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue…



… or East 10th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue …



You can't. I mean, you can technically, but either you'll get your ass towed or be given a dirty look by someone wearing a violet Welcome Week T-shirt.

Also, the Citibike docking station on East 12th Street just west of Third Avenue is not in service this weekend…



Finally, not that you would be going anyway, but if today is the day you were finally going to suck it up and head to Bath, Bath and Beyond…



Just don't. (And probably ditto for Basics Plus … and Kmart. You should have bought your Halloween candy by now anyway.)

[Sidenote: Whose idea was it to close Fourth Avenue today for a street festival at the same time as thousands of students and their families are moving into the dormitories? This would not have happened under Amanda Burden's watch!]

So now, let us begin.

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Several readers recently noted that there haven't been quite as many street fairs/festivals this summer around here.

Hopefully we can squeeze in 5-6 before Labor Day weekend. Cross one off the list, as a fair/festival is slated today on Fourth Avenue, roughly from East 14th Street down to East Ninth Street.

The avenue was still open to vehicular traffic when we passed through… where a lonesome sausage stand stood…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

It felt like Love

Thirty-one years in, Yo La Tengo has a new release — "Stuff Like That There" — out today via Matador Records.

The new record includes some covers, like of the Cure's "Friday I'm In Love" (above), as well as some new material... and some reworkings of tracks from 1990's "Fakebook."

Other Music on East Fourth Street is hosting a record release party tonight at 8. (Limited capacity!)

At the East Village Vintage Collective

Photos and article by EVG contributor Stacie Joy

The newly opened popup shop, East Village Vintage Collective (545 E. 12th St. between Avenues A and B), is fully operational and full of inexpensive housewares, vintage clothing, books, and gifts.



The shop is run by four people (Maegan Hayward/Red's Vintage Threads; Melanie Ön/Rad Vintage Shop; Claire Marston/Eco in Disguise; and Chaim O'Brien-Blumenthal/Shoestring Records & Books) who met on the vintage and resale market circuit in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

They found that the cost of renting out booths and carrying in/loading out was growing too burdensome, so they decided to pool resources with a rental shop. The four originally planned just to rent out the East 12th Street space for a month (opening date was Aug. 1), but have since decided to stay longer now.

I stopped by to chat with Melanie, who handles the Collective's children's stuff and 1970-80s merchandise.



"We’re all finders and seekers," says Melanie. "The shop came together really nicely."







She sees the place as a "kitschy gift shop where someone could get the perfect gift for a friend, something one of a kind." And noted that "everyone shops here: from NYU kids to neighbors to moms and dads and visitors to the city."



New merchandise is added weekly — if not daily — and guest vendors make their wares available as well.

There is a large space downstairs with room for records, books, knickknacks, dolls and toys. Some local artists also display their work on the downstairs level. Melanie likens this floor to "peeking and shopping in your friends' closets."



Every Monday the shop hosts an 1980s movie night (BYOB and snacks) at 7:30. They put down blow-up mattresses and cover them with the (for sale!) afghan blankets. This week they screened "Heathers." Next week they will screen "Three Amigos." They are also hosting a poetry night on Sept. 10.

The downstairs space is available for rentals. The store is especially keen on being a space for the community.

The store plans to evolve and add new merchants and artists and material and hopes to stay for a long time to come. For now, though, the shop will remain open through October.

They also buy vintage books, records and housewares, so feel free to book an appointment to show your stuff. You can keep up with the store on Instagram here.

Store hours:
Monday through Thursday, noon until 9 p.m.
Friday, noon until 10 p.m.
Saturday, 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Sunday, noon until 9 p.m.

Report: Uncle suing nephew broker Raphael Toledano over $100 million East Village deal

[Photo from May by Stacie Joy]

Let's get right to the Daily News with the story:

Aaron Jungreis, one of the top building sales brokers in New York, is suing Raphael Toledano, his nephew, for allegedly agreeing to form a joint venture with his uncle to acquire the buildings, then going behind his back to buy them himself.

Jungreis accuses his nephew of being “motivated solely by greed” and says he mentored him in the real estate business for years and shared his network, only to be cast aside when Toledano felt he could go it alone.

The lawsuit is over a 16-building portfolio in the East Village owned by Morton Tabak & Co. (The sale has not yet hit public records.)

As for that portfolio of buildings, The Real Deal lists them as the following:

• 253 East 10th Street
• 510 East 12th Street
• 228 East 6th Street
• 329 East 12th Street
• 327 East 12th Street
• 334 East 9th Street
• 323-325 East 12th Street
• 95 East 7th Street
• 514 East 12th Street
• 27 St. Mark’s Place
• 231-233 East 5th Street
• 229 East 5th Street
• 223 East 5th Street
• 235 East 5th Street
• 66 East 7th Street.

It has been a busy legal year for Toledano. In May, rent-regulated tenants at 444 E. 13th St. filed a lawsuit against Toledano and his Goldmark Property Management for "deplorable conditions" as well as for alleged ongoing threats and harassment.

On Monday, the Daily News reported that state officials have launched an investigation into Toledano following the accusations of strong-arming tenants into giving up their rent-regulated apartments on East 13th Street.

Meanwhile, in the East Fifth Street buildings that are reportedly part of the sale, a resident claims that Toledano has already been visiting the properties even though the sales haven't been finalized. According to the resident, Toledano will introduce himself as Rafi, Ralph or Raphael.

The East Fifth Street resident also claims to have recently witnessed the following:

Arriving in a convoy of three black SUVs in the morning or evening, [Toledano] has been hanging out on the street, asking tenants if he and his entourage can enter their apartments. Others he shadows to or from their apartment house entrances with accusations that they "should not be living in rent-regulated apartments," that he has had them investigated, all the while referring to specifics on their Facebook pages.

Residents here have been in contact with GOLES and The Urban Justice Center.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Reader report: Large portfolio of East Village buildings ready to change hands

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Superiority Burger adding another night to its schedule starting next week

A photo posted by @superiorityburger on Aug 23, 2015 at 8:09pm PDT

Superiority Burger opened on East Ninth Street back on June 25 to very favorable reviews for its namesake veggie burgers and side dishes such as the burnt broccoli salad.

We checked in with proprietor Brooks Headley, who reported that Superiority will add an extra evening to its schedule starting next Wednesday… So on Sept. 2, Superiority will be open Wednesday through Monday nights. (They were previously closed on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.)

"We will go to seven days very soon," he said. "Lunch and delivery are a little further off. Probably by the time it gets cold outside."

For now, the hours remain 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Superiority Burger is located at 430 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Oysters coming to the former Bourgeois Pig space on East 7th Street

We'll continue to look at some of the applicants on CB3's SLA committee meeting for September.

There's a new applicant looking to take over the former Bourgeois Pig space at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. According to paperwork (here's the PDF) at the CB3 website, Joseph Marazzo, who owns Virgola over on Greenwich Avenue, is opening a second location of his oyster-and-Italian-wine bar here. He is seeking a beer and wine license.

The questionnaire on file at CB3 shows daily hours of 11 a.m. to midnight ... with room for eight tables (seating 29) and a bar for 17 patrons. The paperwork includes a sample menu for Virgola...





Marazzo told DNAinfo that the East Village location will have the same vibe as the original — "with a dimly lit, black interior similar to the Greenwich Avenue bar and a new steel bar."

"It’s dark and sexy, more of an aphrodisiac style of an oyster bar," he said.

Virgola will have some oyster competition here, as Desnuda is across the street ... not to mention Good Night Sonny, which recently opened on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

The Bourgeois Pig closed for good in late January, moving to a new location on MacDougal Street. As Eater reported back in November, a rent increase was behind the 10-year-old bar's East Village departure.

The SLA meeting is at the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Sad planters will greet arriving students today

Marymount Manhattan College brand-new student residence at 200 E. Sixth St. officially opens today here on Cooper Square.

According to the school, the Cooper Square Residence Hall will accommodate 272 students in total. This year, 199 MMC students will be moving in ... while the additional 73 spots have been contracted out to Cooper Union.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Marymount Manhattan College's Cooper Square dorm opens on Aug. 28

Updating: Fire reported on the rooftop at Kiehl's on 3rd Avenue

MAN ALL HANDS 109 3RD AVE, MIXED OCCUPANCY FIRE ON THE ROOF,

— FDNY (@FDNY) August 27, 2015

The address is Third Avenue at East 13th Street. In the building that houses Kiehl's. The rooftop features the cottage-style penthouse.


[EVG file photo]

Fire on 13th & 3rd. NYFD handling it. Hope no one is hurt. pic.twitter.com/MMblm6oU40

— Connor Scalleat (@connorscalleat) August 27, 2015

Here's a photo from 4 p.m. via William Klayer...



Updated 4:07

That nice EV penthouse on 13th St. & 3rd Ave. that was just sold is on fire! @evgrieve #eastvillage #fdny pic.twitter.com/5walmtAa44

— urban myths, legends (@urbanmyths) August 27, 2015

4:09





4:33

Via EVG reader Justin, who is at the scene: "Hard to know for sure, but it the FDNY seemed to have it under control quite well. Dozens of firefighters on the ground standing by, a couple on the ladder/bucket, and maybe only 10 on the roof. Seemed like routine work for them. It's mostly out now; no flames visible anymore."

And here's a photo via Justin from just after 4...



4:40

MAN ALL HANDS 203 E 13TH ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON THE ROOF, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) August 27, 2015

4:41

Looks like the flames are out at the @Kiehl's building and #fdny is working on hot spots. cc @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/NgEmBQerV1

— Barry Loudis (@barryloudis) August 27, 2015

5:39

The FDNY told CBS 2 that there weren't any injuries. There's no word yet on the cause of the fire.

The penthouse cottage was in contract, according to Curbed. The asking price had been $4.4 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Live in tranquil cottages overlooking … 3rd Avenue (but still)

Noon

Photo today by Bobby Williams

Report: The Birdman of 1st Avenue is retiring, will close his shop next month

[Photo by Jessie Auritt]

Back in March 2014, we first heard that one of the neighborhood's more intriguing shopkeepers, a man known as the Birdman who works amid the stacks of used CDs, videos and cassettes at Rainbow Music, will be closing his store at 130 First Ave. in the coming months.

The Birdman told a reader that he had lost his lease here just south of St. Mark's Place. However, he has remained open for business.

Now, though, the Birdman says it's time to close up his shop, as Gothasmist is reporting this morning.

"I'm not being forced to retire, but I want to retire."

He plans to close at the end of September. So you have some time left to go test his ability to recall every obscure item in the wonderfully cluttered store. I'm going to see about that "License to Drive" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.


[Photo in March 2014 by EVG reader Chris F.]

A few years back Jessie Auritt made a 10-minute short about the Birdman... which you can watch right here...

You can read our Q-and-A with Auritt here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Birdman of the East Village