Have a nice blizzard

East 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue last night via Grant Shaffer...

'The Hill' is alive with the sound of music

The prolific Ty Segall has yet another a new record out today... going back to his "Twins" record in 2012 for the above track, "The Hill."

And he'll be at Webster Hall on Feb. 27-28.

EV Grieve Etc.: Searching for suspect in elevator mugging; Talking 'Punk' with John Holmstrom

[Photo on East 13th Street by @aureliovoltaire via Instagram]

Police looking for suspect who mugged woman in a residential elevator on East 12th Street and Third Avenue (Town & Village)

More details emerge about Adam Purple's long history of sexually abusing his daughters (The Villager)

Ippudo closed on Fourth Avenue through Jan. 30 for renovations (Eater)

An interview with Punk Magazine founding editor and East Village resident John Holmstrom (The Observer)

Christo watching in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

The first installment in what will be a once-a-calendar tribute to innovative filmmaker Ken Jacobs (Anthology Film Archives) And here's a Jacobs profile today (The Wall Street Journal)

Mugged three times in two weeks in 1986 (Sensitive Skin Magazine)

Sheldon Silver's monthly state pension of $6,602 per month kicks in (The Lo-Down)

Claims of negligence at Norfolk Street development site (BoweryBoogie)

NYC attracts record number of tourists for 6th consecutive year (Crain's)

FYI: Movies before noon at the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue and East 12th Street are $8 (Official site)

Listicle alert! The 50 Most Unacceptable Sentences in "City on Fire" (The Awl)

More about the Treasury Department's efforts "to pierce the veil of anonymity" in Manhattan real-estate transactions (The New Yorker)

And we are not alone: Giant snow penis terrorizes locals in Gothenburg, Sweden (Death & Taxes)

... and East Village resident Jenny Adams is spearheading a coat drive today for The Trinity Mission. Per Jenny: "Bring your gently used coats, scarves, mittens and hats to Boulton & Watt on Houston & Avenue A anytime today."

Citi Bike shutting down tonight at 11 ahead of possible blizzard, non-blizzard

[Photo last week by Derek Berg]

In case you were going to use a Citi Bike to get around tomorrow or to help transport home the pallet of bread from Key Food... here's some FYI via the CB people:

Due to heavy snow in the forecast, we will temporarily close the Citi Bike system starting at 11 tonight, Friday January 22. What does that mean for you? No bikes can be rented after the temporary closure has begun, though bikes that are in use can be returned to any Citi Bike station with an available dock.

The amount of snow and changing weather conditions will determine when it is safe to re-open. Stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as the nifty yellow alert banner on the Citi Bike website for updates and details on reopening the system.

When the Megalopolitan Blizzard hit the East Village (and NYC) in February 1983

Not sure if you heard this, but it might snow this weekend.

Anyway! Seems like a good time to share these photos via EVG Facebook friend Raphael Lasar ... a few shots via a Canon AE1 from the Blizzard of 1983 (the Megalopolitan Blizzard), which produced some 22 inches of snow on Feb. 11-12 ..


[1st Avenue near 5th Street]


[1st Avenue looking north toward 6th Street]


[1st Avenue at Sixth Street]


[1st Avenue at East 3rd Street]


[2nd Avenue between East 6th and East 7th streets]


[Astor Place]


[Astor Place]


[Astor Place and the Alamo]


[St. Mark's Place between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue]

He moved from Bleecker Street to East Fifth Street near Second Avenue in 1965 at age 5 ... and relocated in 1976 to Village View, where his mother still lives.

I asked Lasar if he had any particular memories from this time.

"I could go on at length about a recent college graduate, his ambitions and his new Canon AE1, but I think your readers are more interested in their own memories and musings of the neighborhood," he said. "I can only say what a privilege it was to grow up in such a place at the time I did."

[Updated] Have you stocked up yet for a visit from Jonas?

Speaking of snow... Vinny & O saw a larger-than-usual crowd at Key Food on Avenue A last evening... "it was a lot crazier at the checkouts, creating that usual no-move zone. Everyone was talking in line about Jonas." (BTW, The Weather Channel came up with the name Jonas, so it's not really official.)

We were at Key on Wednesday night for a few non-Jonas supplies, and noted a run on Corn Pops.

Sober predictions see anywhere from 6 to 18 inches of snow hitting the NYC area — under a "blizzard watch" — starting Saturday morning. This is all subject to change, of course.

Meanwhile, the MTA has announced their possible blizzard emergency plans here.

We'll update throughout the day with any relevant, uh, updates at least until the power goes out.

And if you want some temporary work shoveling snow and helping grow beefy triceps at the same time, the city is hiring.

Updated 4:55 a.m.

The National Weather Service has upgraded the forecast to a blizzard warning. Scary graphics to follow. And exclamation points!!!!!



(Speaking of Whiteout, I always liked that Boss Hog record.)

And I'll be updating more often (probably!) at the @evgrieve Twitter thing.

Report: Plans in the works to convert 650 E. 6th St. to condos

[Image via Google Street View]

There are big plans for this unassuming 4-story building at 650 E. Sixth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Plans were filed this week for a 7-story building on the property that's closer to Avenue C.

Here's New York Yimby, who had the scoop on this development: "The 8,491-square-foot project will include 7,761 square feet of residential space, which means units will average 1,552 square feet apiece, indicative of condominiums."

Public records show that this building changed hands for $2.8 million in August 2013. The new owner is named East Village LLC in the filing.

As NYY noted, the "existing four-story, three-unit building must first be demolished."

Here's what's left of the block of University Place that once housed Bowlmor Lanes

The west side of University Place between East 12th Street and East 13th Street has been cleared of those silly old buildings and businesses, including Bowlmor Lanes.

There are now approved permits with the city for developer Billy Macklowe's 23 stories of condos here. Plans call for more than 50 residences averaging more that 2,000 square feet each. Amenities include basement storage, onsite parking and a fitness center.

Bowlmor Lanes closed in July 2014 after 76 years in business.

In addition, the corner space at 13th Street that housed University Place Gourmet as well as adjacent storefronts, including Bennie Louie Chinese Laundry, were demolished. A 7-story condo with six residences will rise from from this lot. These plans are pending with the city.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Bowlmor Lanes will convert to condos, like everywhere else around here

76-year-old Bowlmor Lanes closes for good today

Bowlmor says goodbye

Bowlmor Lanes replacement: 23-floor residential building

Major changes coming to University Place and East 13th Street

How about some more condos for University Place

Lucy's is back open on Avenue A

Lucy's has been closed these past two (plus) weeks at 135 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street... while she does take several scheduled breaks during the year (usually with an announced return date), the note on the door was different this time, simply saying "closed until further notice."

In any event, an EVG reader walked by this evening and reported that the bar is open...

Updated 1/22



EVG regular Peter Brownscombe stopped by last evening... Lucy did have to return to Poland for family business. She will be back later next week. In the meantime, Marko is here running the place in her absence. All is well, though.

[Updated]: Suspect in custody for East 6th Street slashing

The suspect that police believe randomly slashed a passerby on Saturday afternoon has been taken into custody, according to published reports.

Francis Salud, 28, who is originally from Queens, was arrested at an apartment on East Fourth Street and Second Avenue earlier this morning.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Anthony Christopher-Smith, a social worker from Newark, N.J., was walking on Sixth Street east of Cooper Square to meet a friend when someone came up from behind him, shoved him down and cursed. His face and back were slashed in the process. As previously reported, Smith underwent eight hours of surgery, and needed nearly 150 stitches for the wound from his right ear to his lips. He has partial paralysis on the right side of his face because several nerves were severed.

The Post reports that Salud was out on bail for another slashing incident last fall.

Per WABC 7:

Salud was previously arrested and charged for a slashing that happened October 18 on First Avenue. It involved a dispute in a backyard garden with another man over a cigarette. The victim in that case is 30 years old and needed 73 stitches on the left side of his body.

The NYPD is determining the charges with prosecutors. The Post notes that Salud "is believed to have a psychological history."

Suspect Held In East Village Slashing, Had Been Charged In Similar Incident https://t.co/T4eyKxUqFY

— CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) January 21, 2016

Updated 9:18 p.m.

Back in October, DNAinfo covered the other slashing that Salud was involved in... the fight occurred in a garden behind Bellevue.

Police arrested Salud the next day, and he was charged with first degree assault, according to the complaint.

Salud was released after paying $30,000 bond, and is due back in court on Feb. 2, according to court records. A temporary order of protection was issued against Salud for the victim, the records show.

Updated 1/22

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gilbert Hong ordered Salud held without bail. The Daily News reported that Salud wrote about Saturday's slashing in his pocket calendar.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Man's face cut in random slashing on East 6th Street

The Villager looks at landlord Raphael Toledano's criminal past

In compiling nearly a 20-building portfolio in the East Village, 25-year-old landlord Raphael Toledano has been accused of allegedly harassing his tenants, and other misdeeds, according to several published reports and a letter from the Toledano Tenants Coalition.

Now tenants are learning about Toledano's criminal past in an article published this week at The Villager. According to the paper, "he was convicted of aggravated assault and causing bodily injury less than four years ago, and once was charged with trying to swindle a bank out of hundreds of dollars, according to New Jersey court records and police reports."

Specifically:

In a 2012 confrontation that landed two teenagers in the hospital, Toledano allegedly beat the two youths with what police reports alternatively describe as a “crowbar,” “a branch” and “a metal or wood object approximately two and a half feet long.”

And in a separate case three years earlier, Toledano was charged with defrauding TD Bank of $500 in a scheme involving multiple withdrawals from three different banks.

A spokesperson for Toledano and his company, Brookhill Properties, dismissed this disclosure as "character assassination," noting that the incidents "have absolutely nothing to do with Brookhill Properties or the company's conduct as a landlord."

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: Spike Polite
Occupation: Musician, Lead Singer for SEWAGE, Actor, Model
Date: Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Edge, 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue

You can read Part 1 of the interview with Spike Polite from last week here.

In 1991, I was caught up in these riots because [the police] were starting the process of [cleaning out] Tompkins Square Park. They had it in their minds to change the city, but I was just a kid so I didn’t know what was going on. It started because they beat up this guy Rodney for nothing. They didn’t give a crap about none of those people in the Park. It smelled like shit and there were crack vials and broken syringes everywhere and scary people. But you had your little groups. You’d find your people and you'd be safe.

They had been putting a lot more police presence on the Park out of nowhere and then they started harassing people and taking away their 40 ounces that weren't even opened yet. It wasn’t legal. You can only arrest them or ticket them if they crack it open, and then it's an open container. Rodney came out and the cops tried doing that to him and he did like some football move. He got off with it.

So they gave up on Rodney ... They proceeded to quarantine the area. They had been setting up for days. I just went to save my friend. Everything I was doing was just natural. So they had the bonfires and we got all the 40-ounce bottles and some people were making molotovs but they only did one or two. Sanitation came in and took the garbage away so you didn’t have any more 40-ounce bottles to throw. So then we had to go to the grocery store and get our ammunition there, at the SYP [at 100 Avenue A].

That's when I got accused of hitting a big cop in the head with a brick, but I didn’t. I threw a cantaloupe at him and a head of cabbage. They didn’t catch me then and there because he was a big dude and I was just a skinny punk rocker. They caught me because Newsday put a picture of me with my mohawk up and my band’s name spray painted on the back of my leather jacket. Even though I had a bandana on my face, the mohawk was made with glue so I tied it down but it just sprung back up and the hoodie came off. The cops caught me pretty soon after that because I couldn’t get the shit out of my hair, because it was glue. I got five years of probation.

I had been already dealing with that stuff my whole life, with abusive authority and all that, so for me, punk rock was just being natural. My ambition was always to make it with the music, but it wasn't the music that really happened. It was always that I had my punk-rock look and I got an agent and he worked for Eastwood Talent. He sent me out on jobs and I would go working as an actor. I got my [Screen Actors Guild] card and that paid my bills. I was a model for Armani. Then this agent found me walking down the street one day and he set me up. I worked for Deborah Harry's modeling thing at CBGBs, and then I got sent to "Law and Order." Things took off after that. That all started around ’94.

Then the band stuff took off because my manager from Kostabi World picked me up, Paul Kostabi. He started the ball rolling for it. Kostabi is a good guy. Then he hooked us up with Spike Lee. That was ’98. After that I did a thing with MTV. There was a guy on MTV who pretended to have a similar story as me. His name was Jesse Camp. He was an MTV VJ at the time. He would come out and hang out in the Park after the riots were over and after the Park was reopened.

He came around as if he were rejected and downtrodden like us punk rockers and squatters but he was actually rich. You’d feel something not right with him. Anyway, to get street cred, he hired one of us from the best bands at the time and put us in his band on Hollywood Records. We made a video co-starring Rev. Run as the gym teacher and Marky Ramone as the janitor. That was on MTV.

They’re showing this video every hour and I got the highlight of smashing the guitar that busts into pieces on the video and everybody knows that. And yet people were laughing at me when I walked down the street on St. Mark's Place, disrespecting me. I always command respect ... yet there were these people laughing at me. I was like, "Where the fuck are they coming from?"

That’s a thing that I noticed back in the day was that the people who would come here to see us and be with us but they couldn’t be us full time, so they would just be there on the weekends and be down with our scene and then they would act like we were scum the rest of the week. It’s like a nature show.

You need people. You just need a balance, you know? I never really liked people who were too normal, because I’m an entertainer. I have to be different, and I am different. I kind of had a disdain for people who were normal and see them as people who are condescending, but in all reality, you need people to do their thing. I’m not a political person but I understand systems. Rich people are needed but they're needed to run the system for the people, not to have disdain for them.

[In 2000, Polite was found not guilty in the murder of his Brooklyn landlord. However, he was convicted of second-degree robbery for "leaving the scene of the crime as a passenger in the landlord's 1982 Subaru." He was sentenced to four to 15 years in prison. He served 11 years and was released in 2010.]

I’m a New York State resident but I've been stuck in New York City three times. I was stuck here from my parents sending me to the social services system and to foster homes, then I got out and lived in the squats, but then I got in trouble with the riots. And then the music took off and the acting took off, and then I went and got into trouble again. I got off parole on Jan. 7, 2015. It's been a year and two weeks off parole. I've been stuck in New York. Now I’m looking to go back to Berlin and Amsterdam [on tour]. I’m sorry man, I look to escape from New York because I’ve been stuck here. Shit, they make it hard to live here now. You keep struggling and struggling and it gets harder, you know?

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

Closing portraits at The Sock Man

On Saturday evening, the Sock Man closed down on St. Mark's Place for good.

Photographer Nick McManus, a group portrait artist who works on Impossible Project Polaroids for gallery exhibition in New York, shared these photos as owner Marty Rosen and friends said goodbye to its storefront of 33 years...


[Click to go big]

We first reported on Jan. 7 that the shop would be closing. Rosen was apparently facing an unmanageable rent hike from new landlord Raphael Toledano.

Rosen hopes to find another space in the neighborhood. Until then, the Sock Man remains open for business at www.thesockman.com.

Raw food celebrity chef Matthew Kenney bringing vegan pizza to 2nd Avenue

Workers have cleared out Winebar at 65 Second Ave. between East Third Street and East Fourth Street... and the signage is up to note the incoming concept: plant-based pizza and a wine bar from chef Matthew Kenney...



The new place is called 00 + Co., where Kenney will be "crafting the future of food®" ... (per the sign).

Here's an explanation on the name via Latest Vegan News:

[I]t refers to the high quality flour the team will be using in the pizza dough. As far as cheese, 00 + Co will incorporate a variety of nut-based creations. All pizzas will be wood-fired, of course, and the emphasis “will be on pizza with an abundance of vegetables, pestos and other condiments complementary to the spirit of traditional pizza,” Kenney’s team says.

Raymond Azzi, who owned Winebar, is a partner in 00 + Co. The restaurant is on this month's CB3/SLA docket for a beer-wine license.

Slightly off topic, but who misses Viva Herbal Pizzeria?

Here's the 1st season of programming for the Lower East Side's newest movie theater

Metrograph, a two-theater movie house at 7 Ludlow St., near Canal, has unveiled its first season of programming starting in March.

Among the highlights:

Surrender to the Screen: Watching the Moviegoing Experience (March 4-10)
Titles include: "The Long Day Closes" (Terence Davies, 1992), "Vivre sa Vie" (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962), "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003), "Taxi Driver" (Martin Scorsese, 1976), "Matinee" (Joe Dante, 1993), "Desperately Seeking Susan" (Susan Seidelman, 1985), "Variety" (Bette Gordon, 1983), "Demons (Lamberto Bava, 1985) and more.

Jean Eustache (March 9-17)
Extended engagements of Eustache's two features "The Mother and the Whore" (1973) and "Mes Petites Amoureuses" (1974), along with "Les Mauvaises Fréquentations" (1963), "Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes" (1967) and more rare imported prints. Presented with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Institut Français. Special thanks to Amélie Garin Davet, Mathieu Fournet, and Françoise Lebrun

Welcome to Metrograph: A-F (March 16 - April 21)
Titles include: "The Age of Innocence" (Martin Scorsese, 1993), "Barry Lyndon" (Stanley Kubrick, 1975), "The Blood of a Poet" (Jean Cocteau, 1932), "Chelsea Girls" (Andy Warhol, 1966, image above), "The Clock" (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), "Comrades: Almost A Love Story" (Peter Chan, 1996), "Deux fois" (Jackie Raynal, 1968), "The Devil Probably" (Robert Bresson, 1977), "Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931), "Equinox Flower" (Yasujiro Ozu, 1958), and more. All films on 35mm or 16mm.

Randomly, the trailer for "The Clock" to break up all this copy...



Old and Improved (Sundays Beginning March 20)
Every Sunday starting March 20, we’re pleased to present a new preservation or restoration. In some cases, these screenings mark the first times these prints have shown to the public. Titles include Dorothy Arzner’s "Craig's Wife" (1936), Garson Kanin’s "My Favorite Wife" (1940), Josef von Sternberg's "Crime and Punishment (1935), Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s "Mysterious Object at Noon" (2000), Djibril Diop Mambéty's "Touki Bouki" (1973), and Joyce Chopra's "Joyce at 34" (1972) plus shorts from New York's Youth Film Distribution Center. All titles on 35mm or 16mm.

Three Wiseman (March 25 - April 14)
Among the greatest and most influential documentary filmmakers who ever lived, Frederick Wiseman is more than just a capturer of reality on screen: he’s a conjurer of unforgettable images and a true artist, chronicling the last half century of American life. Metrograph will show three of his earliest masterpieces — "Titicut Follies" (1967), "High School" (1968), and "Hospital" (1970) — in new 35mm prints. The films were preserved by the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center from original camera negatives in the Zipporah Films Collection.

Indiewire, The Lo-Down and DNAinfo each had sizable previews with the full schedules.

For more on Metrograph and its founder, Alexander Och, head on over to The Lo-Down.

Meanwhile, I'll end with a plug for one of my favorite places in the neighborhood — Anthology Film Archives on Second Avenue and East Second Street.

The Patricia Field storefront is for rent on the Bowery

Back in December, Patricia Field announced that she was closing her boutique at 306 Bowery some time this spring to concentrate on her film and TV work and other various projects.

Field, who has run a shop for 50 years, starting in the West Village in 1966, had been at this location between East Houston and Bleecker (she owns the building) since 2012.

The storefront is now for rent. Here's a sampling of the listing via Thor Equities:

Surrounded by trendy restaurants, boutique hotels and in-demand retailers, 306 Bowery is a unique opportunity on one of New York City's most exciting retail thoroughfares.

In addition to new commercial developments, Bowery is also home to numerous apartment buildings, the New Museum, and residential buildings that have cropped up in the wake of a great amount of development. The Bowery has defined itself a center for the arts, perhaps second only to Chelsea.

There isn't any mention of the asking rent for the space that totals 6,700 square feet and features a separate entrance on Elizabeth Street. And a rendering of the possibilities...

Reader report: A mugging on East 9th Street this evening

The above flyer is hanging at 233 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Per the flyer, a delivery woman was attacked in the building's vestibule this evening around 7. One resident told us that the suspect reeked of urine, "and it filled the building with the smell."

Earlier today, an EVG reader passed along word of a mugging last evening outside a building on East 10th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. There were few details from a resident, who said that a woman entering the building had her mink coat stolen by a man brandishing a 6-inch knife and brass knuckles. (There was a general description of the suspect via the resident: Black male, 5-8, medium build with a youthful appearance "but was probably in his 40s.")

Cleaning the rabbit ears at 51 Astor Place

Wash day again for the 14-foot-tall, 6,600-pound red rabbit sculpture by Jeff Koons inside the lobby at the IBM Watson Building/51 Astor Place/Death Star... photo via EVG reader 8E.

Report: The Ziegfeld Theatre is closing, will become high-end event space

Venturing up to Midtown for a post...In the past, oh, three years, I figured this would be my last trip to the Ziegfeld Theatre on 54th Street. The grand single-screen theater has seemingly been on Deathwatch for years. But it always managed to survive.

Now the time has come to really say goodbye (if you are the type to say goodbye to movie theaters): Steve Cuozzo at the Post is reporting this afternoon that the space will become "a spectacular high-end event space ... a mecca for society galas and corporate events, to open in fall 2017 after a two-year renovation of the space."

The theater, which opened in 1969, will close in a few more weeks. "The Force Awakens" is currently playing.

A little history:

The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theatre formerly located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 and razed in 1966. The theatre was named for Florenz Ziegfeld, who built the theatre with financial backing from William Randolph Hearst.

The 'new' Zeigfeld Theater, built just a few hundred feet from the original Ziegfeld theater, opened in December 1969 and the movie house was one of the last big palaces built in the United States.

The theater features 1,169 seats, with 863 seats in the front section and 306 seats in the raised balcony section in the rear. The interior is decorated with sumptous red carpeting and abundant gold trim.

EV Grieve Etc.: Man arrested after following 12-year-old girl home; snow forecast hysteria

[Late afternoon yesterday on East 7th Street]

Man arrested after following 12-year-old girl to her East Village apartment, asking if he could hide inside (Daily News)

Deals via Jared Kushner: Puck Building condo price cut from $66 million to only $58.5 million! (Curbed)

Affordable housing for seniors eyed for Elizabeth Street Garden (DNAinfo)

A Cup & Saucer Luncheonette appreciation (The Lo-Down)

55-60 feet of snow expected this weekend, or it might rain (The New York Times)

Orchard Street down another hosiery shop (BoweryBoogie)

Report: Increased resident participation in city planning produces extreme wealth segregation (BoingBoing)

Honoring folk legend Lead Belly on East 10th Street

There's a ceremony this afternoon at 414 E. 10th St. between Avenue C and Avenue D, the former apartment building of Huddie William Ledbetter — better known as blues and folk great Lead Belly.

Via the Facebook invite:

The ceremony will highlight Lead Belly's time in New York, when he played for children in Tompkins Square Park, performed at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, and the Vanguard, was the subject of two New Yorker pieces during his lifetime, and laid the groundwork for the folk revival.

A plaque will be affixed to the building which Lead Belly called home for around a decade in the 1940s, and where he hosted folk greats including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Cisco Houston.

The event will commence at 3 pm (the start time was originally scheduled for 4:30), and will include special guests. Music may follow at a nearby establishment.

Lead Belly, who died on 1949, was born on this date in 1888. There is a Lead Belly Fest at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium on Feb. 4 featuring Buddy Guy, Eric Burdon of The Animals and Marky Ramone, among many other musicians.

The new owner of Nonna's Pizza on Avenue A says hello

[Photo from Saturday]

As we noted on Jan. 7, the current incarnation of Nonna's Pizza has closed on Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 13th Street.

The new owner left a comment on that post yesterday... and we're sharing what he had to say here:

My name is Jordan Baker ... and I purchased the pizzeria from Astro (previous owner) on New Year’s Day. I’ve heard some gossip about the place (mostly untrue) so I wanted to introduce myself.

I’ve lived and worked in the neighborhood for 3 years, first on 10th street, now on Avenue A and 11th. I love Avenue A and the small businesses that comprise it (with the exception of two franchises that have recently opened that are eye-sores) and I want to keep it small-business friendly as long as possible! I had a good relationship with the previous owner, as a customer and a friend, and I’m taking the spot over, partially as a favor to him (for personal reasons), and partially because opening a pizzeria has been a dream of mine as long as I can remember.

I plan to have a soft-opening sometime next week, and I’ll be giving out free pizza and soliciting feedback from anyone who lives in the area. We’re renovating right now, but I’m usually there all day every day, so pop in and say hi! If you have any questions about the restaurant (I’ve heard a lot of gossip — mostly untrue) don’t hesitate to come by and introduce yourself.

Tatyana Boutique is closing on the Bowery

The upscale fashion brand that sells retro dresses, shoes and accessories is closing its outpost in the Avalon Bowery Place complex at East First Street.



The store is expected to wrap it up next Monday... or possibly a few days after that, according to an email to customers that an EVG reader forwarded to us.

The Las Vegas-based chain (it launched at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino) with a dozen locations in the United States (and one in Toronto) started its life on the Bowery in late 2012 as Bettie Page Clothing. (A lawsuit took care of the licensing rights.)

This marks the third high-end store in several blocks here on the Bowery to close... Patricia Fields recently announced that she is closing her Bowery storefront, telling the Times that at age 74, she is "no longer interested in devoting the time necessary to operating this place." In addition, Environment Furniture is shutting down its retail space two blocks to the north on the Bowery.

A sign of hope for St. Mark's Bookshop

[Image via Facebook]

There's a positive development to note in the ongoing saga of St. Mark's Bookshop. Most recently, there were published reports that the rent-challenged shop at 136 E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue was facing eviction by its landlord — the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)

Now according to Publishers Weekly (via a post on the St. Mark's Bookshop Facebook page), an investor stepped forward to help the shop that has been in business in the neighborhood for 39 years.

Per Publishers Weekly:

An investor responded to the bookstore’s latest financial appeal on GoFundMe. He will take over the store’s lease and pay the back rent of $62,000, if the store raises enough money to stock the store. “He believes, as I do,” wrote co-owner Bob Contant on Monday, “that if we fill the store with books, our business will increase and we’ll be able to pay our way.”

In addition, the NYCHA has agreed to settle. However, as Publishers Weekly noted, the bookshop still has a long way to go. As of last night, they had raised just under $22,000 of their original $150,000 goal. It was not noted just yet how much money is necessary to stock the store.

Previous on EV Grieve:
Report: Latest woe for St. Mark's Bookshop — possible eviction

Ghost signage uncovered at the now-closed Loisaida Ave. Deli on Avenue C

[Image via]

The deli on Avenue C at East Fourth Street was open for business yesterday ... but closed today... and @artisanmatters passes along the ghost signage that workers uncovered ... a few years back when it was the Los Muchachos Supermarket ...



Not sure the status at the moment of the Loisaida Ave. Deli ... perhaps a renovation?

Reward offered for information about the slashing on East 6th Street Saturday

The NYPD has posted posters near the scene of the assault on Saturday afternoon on East Sixth Street near Taras Shevchenko Place (between Cooper Square and Second Avenue).

The current reward is $2,500.

The NYPD also released part of a surveillance video...



Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Updated 1/21

The police have made an arrest in the case.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Man's face cut in random slashing on East 6th Street

Police release photos of suspect in East 6th Street slashing

Report: Wi-Fi kiosks on 3rd Avenue ready for Internet action and smartphone charging

Several of the payphone-replacing Wi-Fi kiosks offering free gigabit Internet along Third Avenue are now fully operational, The Verge reports.

The network is still officially in beta, and the group anticipates some changes as the network expands, but the current version is significantly faster than many commercially available connections. A Verge test found both upload and download speeds faster than 300 Mbps.

And!

Connecting to the network takes users to a login screen, where they are asked to provide their email. LinkNYC officials say emails are collected for informational purposes only and will not be sold or shared, in accordance with the system's privacy policy.

The location on Third Avenue and East 15th Street was the city's first. There's another Wi-Fi hub on Third Avenue and East 14th Street.

Watch the Occultation of Aldebaran tonight from 2nd Avenue

East Village astronomy aficionado Felton Davis sends along the following...

High drama in the skies tonight, as Orion's long pursuit of the Pleiades is interrupted by Aldebaran disappearing behind the 10-day-old waxing Moon. Orion has been chasing the "Seven Sisters" across the winter heavens since antiquity, and will not catch them for another 30 million years. Of course by that time, both the hunter and the sisters will be 30 million years older, and the urgency of the chase somewhat dimmed.



In the meantime, the Moon passes through Taurus tonight and will occult Aldebaran — the 14th brightest star after the Sun — at about 9:30 p.m. Join me in front of The Bean at 2nd Avenue and East 3rd Street, at 9 p.m., to witness the occultation.

Police release photos of suspect in East 6th Street slashing

Police have released photos of the suspect wanted for slashing a man's face late Saturday afternoon on Sixth Street just east of Cooper Square.


[EVG photo from Sunday]

The NYPD said that the suspect is an Asian male between 20-30 years old, 5-3 and 150 pounds. He was said to be wearing a dark-colored coat and a dark-colored skull cap. He did not take anything from the victim.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Anthony Christopher-Smith, a social worker from Newark, N.J., was walking east on Sixth Street to meet a friend for a meal when someone came up from behind him, shoved him down and cursed. Per the Post: "The attacker cut his face and back with a knife while screaming, 'Fuck you! Fuck you!'"

According to published reports, Smith underwent eight hours of surgery, and needed nearly 150 stitches for the wound from his right ear to his lips. He has partial paralysis on the right side of his face because several nerves were severed. Doctors told reporters that Smith should make a full recovery and he'll be able to smile again in about six to nine months after physical therapy.

He was released from Bellevue last night. Smith said this about the suspect to NBC 4:

"I hope somebody gets him. He needs to be either in the psych ward or at Rikers, or somewhere, but you know, there's someone who's clearly deranged on the streets and I hope they get him."

CBS 2 has more with Smith here.

Update 5:33 p.m.

There's now a reward for information in this case. Details here.

The NYPD also released part of a surveillance video...



Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Updated 1/21

The police have made an arrest in the case.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Man's face cut in random slashing on East 6th Street

Where the empty storefronts are

[Photo from Jan. 8]

As we noted last week, Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street is awfully quiet at the moment. For now, just two of seven businesses are open on the block.

This situation will likely change soon enough. Lucy's will return. (The sign on the door says closed until further notice. She usually does take several breaks during the year, though those generally occur in late July-early August and late November-early December.)

The former 10 Degrees Bistro space will become a cajun-style restaurant via the team behind Shoolbred's and Ninth Ward. And the for rent signs have been removed from the former Sustainable NYC storefront. One EVG reader saw the folks from Top A Nails next door in here. (That could have just been a coincidence.)

Anyway, seems like a good time to look at a few other blocks with multiple empty storefronts... such as East 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... Danny's Cycles closed this location (due to a rent increase, according to some longtime customers) ... next door, the space has been Vegtown Juice, Chubby Mary's and Led Zeppole in the past three-plus years...



---

The west side of Third Avenue between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street has seen a lot of turnover in the past year, including the departures of East Village Cheese and Excel Art and Framing Store (both found new locations) and Organic Avenue. Five spaces are vacant (two of them are for rent).

There have been rumors that the Duane Reade at East 10th Street will eventually expand into at least two of the empty storefronts (and there are now approved work permits for the renovation on file with the city)...



---

... and directly across Third Avenue — the retail strip in the base of NYU's Alumni Hall between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street has many vacancies: Four of six storefronts are empty ... Citi Habitats moved out in June 2014 ... Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery closed in July 2014 ... the Subway sandwich shop closed early last October ... followed by Saint's Alp Teahouse ...



---

... the north side of St. Mark's Place has been hard hit... starting with the (temporary for now) closure of Nino's on the corner... then four of the next five storefronts are empty. The former Hop Devil Grill, Ton-Up Cafe, the Belgian Room and Luca Bar.



There is one incoming tenant — Sweethaus Cupcake Cafe is apparently opening at the old Luca Bar space at No. 119.

---

Staying on St. Mark's Place... we've previously noted how long (since late 2011) 37 St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue has sat empty. Four retail spots are available...


[Photo from October]

---

...and another long-empty block to note: Avenue B between East Fourth Street and East Third Street... these four storefronts have been unoccupied for years now, including the old Max restaurant at No. 51, now entering its fourth year of vacancy ... and No. 47, the former Le Souk, has been mostly barren for nearly seven years.

There have been a number of brokers trying to rent these spaces. For now, there aren't any for rent signs on the retail properties...



Previously on EV Grieve:
There are more than 20 empty storefronts along Avenue B (2008)

There are 21 empty storefronts along Avenue A (2010)