1983 to 2016: An East Village blizzard then and now photo essay

[1st Avenue near 5th Street from 1983 by Raphael Lasar]

Two Fridays ago, we shared photos that EVG Facebook friend Raphael Lasar took of the Blizzard of 1983 (the Megalopolitan Blizzard). This storm produced some 22 inches of snow on Feb. 11-12 that year.

We posted these photos the day before the blizzard (Jonas, if you'd like) dumped nearly 27 inches here on Jan. 23.

Following this, Cassondra Bazelow, an art director who lives in the neighborhood, went out and took post-blizzard photos at the same locations that Raphael did.

Here then, one location, two blizzards, 33 years apart...


[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]

Previously on EV Grieve:
When the Megalopolitan Blizzard hit the East Village (and NYC) in February 1983

Updated: Ballaro has closed on 2nd Avenue

[Photo from Tuesday night]

The all-day cafe at 77 Second Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street has closed.

Several readers noted that the space was dark all week... and we received confirmation of the closure yesterday.

The low-key Ballaro, which served Italian coffee and pastries during the day, and beer, wine and small plates in the evening hours, opened here in May 2009. The owners also run Cacio e Pepe and Cacio e Vino nearby.

The owners also operated a short-lived bakery on East Fifth Street that, unfortunately, only lasted just four months.

As we first reported last August, the cafe made headlines after drunken Taylor Swift fans apparently terrorized the staff by demanding they play more of the pop star's music on the house stereo. (Not really a Taylor Swift kinda place, you know?)

Ballaro wrote about the incident on Facebook:

One of the women in the group took out her phone and said that she was going to make a viral video so no one would come to Ballaro anymore. Now this, more than anything, upsets me because Ballaro is a gathering place for neighbors, friends, lovers and strangers alike. We have a community that gathers in Ballaro and we all love and support each other and welcome anyone in our restaurant and bar. To possibly lose all that because of someone’s tainted point of view on social media, would be the worst thing.


My mission is to make everyone who enters through the front door feel like they are at home, because sometimes New York hardens even the best of us and we forget the true values in life: community and peace. 


Updated:

The owners passed along this message to us:

We want thank all of our customers and staff for the support and hard work over the past 7 years. With rising cost of operating a small business in NYC and the changes in the neighborhood, we could not longer stay afloat. Feel free to drop by our other restaurant Cacio e Vino across the street from Ballaro. Thank you again to everyone who helped to make Ballaro a place that will truly be missed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Why Taylor Swift fans treated the staff like shit at Ballaro on 2nd Avenue

A look at the new building coming to the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office property

[At the former Peter Stuyvesant PO on East 14th Street]

This week, we've looked at updated renderings for three new residential developments coming to (and near!) Avenue A. There's Douglas Steiner's 82-unit building at 438 E. 12th St. ... Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street ... and Ben Shaoul's 100 Avenue A.

However, there's one new development that we haven't heard much about of late — an 8-story retail-residential building featuring 114 units at 438 E. 14th St., site of the now-demolished former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office just west of Avenue A.

Benenson Capital Partners, whose company has owned the site since the 1940s, is teaming with Mack Real Estate Group on the project. Here's info from the Benenson Capital website:

Benenson and the Mack Real Estate Group have formed a joint venture to develop a mixed-use residential and ground floor retail property in New York City's East Village. The 80/20 property will provide both market and affordable housing units. The property is located less than a block from the L train and within blocks of Union Square, which is one of New York's busiest subway stations. Construction is expected to begin shortly and end in late 2016 or early 2017.

The listing, which features two retail spaces, includes a rendering — the first that we've seen — of the new building... this is on the East 13th Street side looking east toward Avenue A...


[Click to go big]

The residential entrance to the building will be on East 13th Street... while access to the storefronts will be on East 14th Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office slated to be demolished

The former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office will yield to an 8-story residential building

New residential building at former 14th Street PO will feature a quiet lounge, private dining room

'Ramones and the Birth of Punk' coming to the Queens Museum in April

[Image via]

In case you didn't see this yesterday. As The New York Times first reported:

On April 10 the Queens Museum will present “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk,” a retrospective exhibition that will examine the group’s influence on both music and art, as part of a spate of spring programming under the museum’s new director, Laura Raicovich, that focuses on Queens as a Petri dish of global culture.

The Ramones show, organized with the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, where a second part of the exhibition will open on Sept. 16, will include more than 350 objects, from the band’s archives and those of Arturo Vega, who designed the band’s logo; from artists like Shepard Fairey and Yoshitomo Nara; and from Mad magazine and Punk magazine, to demonstrate, as the museum says, how the Ramones “served as both subject and inspiration for many visual artists, resulting in a large body of works.”

Here's the Museum's official news release on the exhibit.

And via "Too Tough to Die" from 1984 ...

Double Wide

Photo of the Christodora House from Tompkins Square Park today by Grant Shaffer...

Report: Northern Spy closes for good on Feb. 17

After six years on East 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, Northern Spy is calling it a day.

Grub Street has this from co-owner Chris Ronis

We've had a great run and are very proud of what we accomplished in this space in the last six years, but 2015 was a tough year and we did not manage to pull the nose up to restore the flight altitude we once enjoyed. We're hanging it up while we still have the buttons on our pants. The upshot we have about two weeks left before it's lights-out for Northern Spy, with our final service being Wednesday, February 17th.

Eater has more here.

If you want to stop by for a last meal, then don't do it this evening...

Northern Spy will be closed tonight for a private event. We apologize for the inconvenience. See you tomorrow!

A photo posted by Northern Spy (@northernspyfood) on Feb 4, 2016 at 9:59am PST

2nd Avenue bar Ninth Ward is closing for good on Feb. 14; building rumored to be demolished

[EVG photo from 2010]

Ninth Ward, the New Orleans-themed bar at 180 Second Ave., is closing its doors for good after service on Feb. 14.

Here is their official message via Facebook:

Five years ago on Mardi Gras the Ninth Ward bar was born. After five wonderful years we are closing our doors. Please come by in the next two weeks and raise a glass to both Mardi Gras and Ninth ward!!

We will be closing on Sunday, February 14th - Valentine's Day. "It's not you, it's me"

According to a tipster, management informed staff on Tuesday night ... the rumor is the new (as of 2014) owners of the building between East 11th Street and East 12th Street have designs on a gut renovation that will eventually yield condos.

The ownership here is also behind two other Second Avenue bars — Kingston Hall and Shoolbred's. In November, Nic Ratner and Robert Morgan got the OK from CB3 for a beer-wine license to open a cajun-style restaurant in the former 10 Degrees Bistro space on Avenue A.

The Ninth Ward, which serves Abita beer, Sazeracs, absinthe and other cocktails. opened in June 2010. The opening announcement reportedly elicited a strong reaction from Louisiana native Cajun Boy, who tweeted:

A New Orleans-themed bar in NYC called Ninth Ward has opened. Maybe I'll open a NYC-themed bar in New Orleans and call it World Trade Center

The opening was also discussed in New Orleans. Per an item in the newspaper Gambit: "As you might imagine, naming a NYC bar 'Ninth Ward' is fraught with complications, starting with the fact the Ninth Ward has never exactly been known as a hotspot for creative cocktails."

The address was, until 2010, Thai on Two.

Take a look at the inside of Ben Shaoul's condos at 100 Avenue A

Rendering Reveal Week continues... as a new website for Ben Shaoul's condoplex at 100 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street has been unleashed (h/t Curbed!).

As previously reported, the residences at the 6-story 8-story building start at $1.3 million.



Let's enter the lobby...



... and head on up to one of the residences...









Per the 100 Avenue A website:

100 Avenue A has 32 units, ranging from one to three Bedroom residences with four Penthouse units. Whichever you choose, your home will have stunning floor plans, light-filled layouts, and expansive windows for taking in the view outside. When your friends and family come over, they might even ask to move in.

• Bianco Dolimiti Honed Marble Bathroom Tile

• Waterworks Polished Nickel Bathroom Fixtures

• Kitchen Design by Effeti

• Sabia White Oak Herringbone Kitchen Floors

• Statuary White Marble Kitchen Countertops

• Calacatta Honed Marble Herringbone Backsplash

• Miele Refrigerator, Oven and Cooktop, Dishwasher, Washer/Dryer in all units

And what else can new residents expect in the building? Back to the website!

100 Avenue A has a private landscaped roof deck.

Things that it’s good for:

• Sunbathing and picnic-ing
• Looking up at the night sky
• Thinking happy thoughts about your apartment below
• Lounging and laughing with friends

Things that it’s not good for:

• Being inside

The building also has another roof garden on the second floor, so you can experience all these benefits twice over

And if you are still breathing, the newly launched site also offers insights into its naked-person marketing motif ...

When we began building 100 Avenue A, we wanted to create a place for people who strive to make their mark on the city. Working with the gifted architect Ramy Issac of Issac and Stern, we believe that we’ve realized that vision. The building stands proudly in the center of the East Village, a neighborhood with a storied past of iconoclasts.

Today, a new generation of residents are reanimating and updating the area’s transgressive traditions with their creativity and vitality. 100 Avenue A is the embodiment of the East Village’s ever-evolving identity. It’s for the brave and the bold: people who want the finest that New York has to offer, and who aren’t afraid to break conventions.

Developer Ben Shaoul bought the former theater-turned market at 100 Avenue A in the spring of 2013 for $15.5 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

New Facebook group is advocating for a Trader Joe's on Avenue A

Workers back demolishing what's left of 98-100 Avenue A

Rest assured, there isn't a fire in the hole at 98-100 Avenue A

Continued dewatering at Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A prompts visit by the FDNY

Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A emerging from the dewatering hole

Life next to 98-100 Avenue A

Condos at Ben Shaoul's 98-100 Avenue A will start at $1.3 million; high-end gym eyed for retail space

The retail space at Ben Shaoul's 100 Avenue A is available for $24.5 million; plus, naked model marketing clarification!

Trying to figure out what is going on at 98-100 Avenue A

Someone threw black paint bombs at the naked women condo ad along 100 Avenue A

332 E. 6th St. is for sale — air rights too

The six-story walk-up located on the south side of East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue is now on the market.

Here's the listing viaCushman & Wakefield:

The building consists of 12 residential units, of which 9 are vacant and 3 are rent-stabilized. There is upside in potentially adding an addition using the 2,950 SF of air rights, increasing the below market rents, and bringing the building to 100% occupancy. The property is located within two blocks of neighborhood hot spots such as Tompkins Square Park, Upstate, The Eddy, and Mayahuel.

In addition, the building is within walking distance to the 2nd Avenue F train stop and the Astor Place 6 train stop. This is a rare opportunity to acquire a prime multi-family asset with substantial upside in the heart of the East Village.

Price: $8 million

Image via Cushman & Wakefield

The Great Cardone and Strongman team up for Earth School fundraiser

Via the EVG inbox...

The Great Cardone & Adam Realman AKA "Strongman" will be teaming up on Friday (tomorrow!) at 6 p.m. in The Earth School Auditorium!

This is a new and VERY exciting first time EVENT!

Cardone will perform his death-defying "Milk Can Stunt" where he escapes from a gigantic milk can filled with water — the most dangerous stunt to date and the first and only man to perform the milk can escape at Coney Island.

Strongman will be performing his ultimate feats of strength by bending steel with his bare hands and performing other classic Strongman stunts.

During the brief intermission you can sample some of the delicious treats made by the family and friends of the children of the Earth School

Food, beverages and popcorn will be sold in the lobby and all of the proceeds go to the much-needed support of our wonderful school.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; showtime is at 6 p.m.
Adults: $10; kids 12 and under are $5. There's no admission fee for kids under the age of 3.

The Earth School is located at 600 E. Sixth St. at Avenue B (auditorium entrance is on Avenue B at East Fifth Street)

With CleaNYC, Mayor de Blasio declares war on litter, graffiti

[Random 1st Avenue photo from last month]

Mayor de Blasio today announced the formation of CleaNYC, "a holistic effort to keep communities clean in all five boroughs."

Per ABC 7:

The effort will include stepped up Graffiti-Free NYC efforts, sidewalk power washing in commercial corridors, the expansion of Sunday and holiday litter basket collection service, and high shoulder/ramp cleanup.

Graffiti-Free NYC will remove graffiti from private and public structures, power wash sidewalks and remove stains from street furniture. The new Graffiti-Free NYC trucks will be equipped with power inverters, allowing the equipment to run without using the engines or gas-powered generators.

Per DNAinfo:

"This is so important for the lives of everyday New Yorkers for whom their neighborhood is the center of their life," de Blasio said. "It's so important for our small businesses, it's important of our economy. And the people of this city deserve nothing less than the cleanest city we can make it."

Under the plan, announced a day ahead of the mayor's State of the City address, the Department of Sanitation will increase litter basket pickups on Sundays and holidays by 40 percent in heavily trafficked areas starting April 1 by adding 20 more trucks.

Per a city news release announcing the initiative, CleaNYC will cost $4.2 million in expense funds in Fiscal Year 2017, and $2.5 million in capital funds.

[Updated] Mumbles has closed on 3rd Avenue

[Photo via]

Stepping away from the East Village for a moment... Mumbles, the bar-restaurant on Third Avenue at East 17th Street, has closed after 22 years in business.

The owners left a note on the door about the closure...

It is with great regret that Mumbles will be closing its doors. We have appreciated all of the loyal patronage, and have always felt to be a welcomed fixture in the community. For the last 22 years we have totally enjoyed all of the great relationships that we have established in the neighborhood. There are many reasons for the decision to sell, and it wasn’t made without great thought and sadness. We thank you all for the great memories and friendships that were established here.

Updated 10 p.m.

La Follia will be moving into this space from Third Avenue and East 19th Street ... According to the Italian restaurant's website: "We will be serving our same delicious menu plus artisanal wood fired Pizza and our great regional Italian wines." So what will be going into La Follia's prime corner space?

Also, I didn't realize that Town & Village had already covered this closing. Here's a belated link to Sabina Mollot's article. T&V spoke with owner David Feldman:

“I decided to sell and there’s a multitude of reasons,” said Feldman. “Business hasn’t exactly been great. It’s the end of a neighborhood staple and people are going to be upset, but just because it’s a little cold out or it’s raining, you’ve still got to support your neighborhood businesses.”

Business had been “a challenge” for the past five years, he said, with family-oriented businesses like his being pushed out as the Gramercy neighborhood got younger.

“The young influx — we got some, but I don’t know if it’s past its time. All of the young people want trendy places.”

H/T BagelGuy

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: Niall Grant
Occupation: Owner, Tuck Shop
Location: 1st Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue
Time: 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb 1

I’m from the center of Dublin. I was 22 when I came to New York in 1993. I was kind of messing around after dropping out of high school and then I came home one day and my mother was smiling strangely at me. There was a big envelope from the U.S. government on the counter. I had won the Green Card Lottery. My brother, who was here at the time, entered me and it was one of those where you were allowed to send as many entries as you’d like. I sent about 40, but it happened to be the one that my brother sent off because he got my middle name wrong.

Back then a lot of people won the Green Card Lottery. We all wanted to get out of Ireland. I was always going to get out, whether it was London or Australia. A lot of my close friends did as well. I’ve had friends here who I’ve known since age 7. We all came here and lived together and went into different fields. It certainly made it easier.

My brother was living in Williamsburg at the time. So I lived with him for a couple of months, and then I came to the East Village. It was still nice and affordable back then. The bars and the music scene and the restaurants drew me here — everything. It was full of great fun.

I had been working in restaurants since pretty much dropping out of high school. I just started working in restaurants because I needed to pay the rent. I worked at Elephant & Castle in Greenwich Village, which is still there. From there, I went to another part of that restaurant family, which was Keens Steakhouse. I spent about eight years working there in the 1990s. It was very lucrative and lots of fun. You finished work at 11 at night and started at 11 a.m. the next day. Then I opened a bar and a nightclub with my roommates on East Third Street ... before opening up this place in 2005.

I used to have an Australian business partner and we worked very well together. We started the business on a handshake and ended on a handshake three or four years ago. After Sandy, he didn’t want to bother taking the business out of debt again and he wanted to move to California. That’s where the Australian side came from. My side was that I’m Irish but I didn’t want to open an Irish bar. I wanted to do something different. The pies are international. We have a Thai chicken pie, which you might not get in Ireland, but you would get in Australia. And in Ireland and England there’s a meat pie culture.

I love this street. After 11 years here, I know everybody’s face. There are still a lot of the same old faces. All these guys hang out in front of the place. Some have been here for maybe 30 years. You see people grow up. It’s great to be part of a community like that. It’s nice seeing the whole family grow up upstairs. The street hasn’t changed that much, although it has gotten more quiet since we moved in. There’s less nightlife but we’re doing more lunch business and we’re focused on that more.

We’ve also had a place in Chelsea Market for about five years. We’re planning to expand that soon. We’re hoping to sign a new deal with Chelsea Market next week and then we’ll knock that out pretty quickly because the rent is massive. We’re going to have to turn it around quickly and start making money. We’re about to open in a big space across from us, which will allow us to have a second kitchen, which will produce vegetables for here and there. Here we’re bursting at the seams. We can’t do anything more.

I married a girl from the Lower East Side. We met in a bar on Orchard Street eight years ago and had a son a few years later. She’s a New York Times bestselling chef, Doris Choi. She’s taking over part of the vegetable menu and is going to put her influences on it. She’s very healthy. So we’ll have the good and the bad of my pies and her veggie, raw foods. So that’s what we’re going to do in Chelsea and we’re bringing that over here too.

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

Douglas Steiner's church-replacing condos emerge from the pit; plus new renderings

The very first section of developer Douglas Steiner's incoming residential building along Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street is now visible (as of yesterday) above the plywood as the condofication of the former Mary Help of Christians property enters the next phase...



...and via the handy blogger portals on Avenue A...



Meanwhile yesterday, The Real Deal learned that condos in the 82-unit building will start at $1.1 million for a 1-bedroom home. In total, Steiner hopes for "a sellout of nearly $215 million" for the project, which will be a record for the neighborhood.

Here's more from TRD:

Steiner’s property will comprise one- to four-bedroom apartments and several penthouses as well as 16,000 square feet of amenities, including a 50-foot-long pool, a spa, a gym, a library, a playroom, parking and a landscaped courtyard and rooftop gardens. Paris Forino is doing the interiors.

“It’s an epic project, years in the making, said Douglas Elliman’s Fredrik Eklund, who is heading up sales with partner John Gomes.

Speaking of years in the making, neighbors will have another 18 months of construction to enjoy until the building is complete, TRD reported.

Eklund also released new renderings of the project, which was originally going to include 158 rental units, with 22 of them designated as affordable under the Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Inclusionary Housing Program. However, in a swticheroo first announced last February, Steiner's reps told CB3 members that the building would instead be market-rate condos.

A PRIVATE RETREAT IN THE EAST VILLAGE. Excited to announce Steiner today, our new 82-unit development with one to four bedroom condominiums and penthouses enhanced by over 16,000 square feet of amenities including a 24-hour lobby concierge, 50' long pool, spa, gym, library, playroom, parking, and lush courtyard and rooftop gardens, all ensconced in New York's most eclectic, intriguing, and authentic neighborhood. This $215M sell-out at 438 East 12th Street is brought to you by the developer of Steiner Studios. Designed by Paris Forino. Priced from $1.1 million. And sold by EklundGomes. ⚡️ www.438east12th.com

A photo posted by Fredrik Eklund (@fredrikeklundny) on Feb 2, 2016 at 10:52am PST

And a better look... here's the view looking at the northwest corner of Avenue A and 11th Street...



... and Avenue A looking west on 12th Street...



Renderings by Williams New York

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

Residences rising from the former Mary Help of Christians lot will now be market-rate condos

Ongoing construction at condoplex on Avenue A enters the swimming pool phase

Report: Developer Douglas Steiner lands $130 million loan for EV condo construction

A look at the residences coming to Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street

[Photo yesterday by Bayou]

Meanwhile, one block over from Douglas Steiner's new condo project... the broker bunting now adorns the sidewalk bridge at the incoming condos dubbed Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street (No. 436 and 442) between Avenue A and First Avenue.

There is now a teaser site up and running with some renderings of the residences that await.

First, the previously released rendering of the two new buildings....


[Rendering via Instagram]

And now the interiors... starting with the lobby... the rest of the renderings might be self-explanatory...











As previously noted, each building has 6 floor-through homes, all with private outdoor space. Pricing will start at $2.3 million; $3.4 million for the penthouses via broker Ryan Serhant. The penthouses at each building will have their own private garages and roof decks.

Images via Amirian Group and Bridgeton Holdings

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tracking the coming changes to East 13th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue

A look at the new luxury condos coming soon to East 13th Street

Temporary art and future condos on East 13th Street

Demo time for East 13th Street garages that will yield to luxury condos

The former Poppy's Gourmet Corner is for rent

[Image via LoopNet]

On Sunday, Poppy's Gourmet Corner on Avenue A at East 12th Street closed for good, as we first reported. Owner Mike Attal told Poppy's regular Shawn Chittle that a rent increase made it too challenging to stay in business.

The 625-square-foot space is now on the market. The rent is negotiable.

Per the listing:

This is a great corner in the heart of the East Village. The space is vented for food use and hookups are in place along with some basement. Landlord is targeting a term of up to about 3.5 years (through Sept 2019), but for the right concept, credit and terms ownership will consider longer leases. Great opportunity to come in and get up and running quickly in a great neighborhood with a ton of retail, restaurants and residential including new development on 11th and Avenue A and 2 blocks from Peter Cooper Village / StuyTown. All uses will be considered and looking to do an as is deal.

Don't recall seeing many, if any, listings in which the landlord targets "a term of up to about 3.5 years."

The new tenant will be neighbors with Douglas Steiner's incoming luxury condominium building.

Reader report: NYPD makes real arrest while 'Law & Order' is filming nearby on Avenue A

As noted earlier today, crews for "Law & Order: SVU" are filming along Avenue A today... roughly from East Fourth Street to St. Mark's Place...

Meanwhile, a reader noted that the NYPD — with at least 12 officers on the scene — arrested two men in a car during the middle of all this ... on Avenue A between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street...



As the reader noted: "Weirdly, 'SVU' is filming as well but this seems like a real arrest — no cameras."

An early spring in Tompkins Square Park

As the shadow hand reaches for the last bit of snow... Photo today by Grant Shaffer...

The Subway (sandwich shop) has closed on 4th Avenue and East 12th Street

That's all for the Subway here on the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and 12th Street. The space had been on the market this past month. (The asking rent is $20,000 a month, per the listing.) Workers started gutting the interior yesterday.

This now marks the sixth Subway sandwich shop to close in the immediate area in the past three-plus years, joining the one on the Bowery … East 14th Street … First Avenue … Second Avenue… and Third Avenue.

Subway fans still have the locations at 250 E. Houston St., 223 Avenue B and 108 First Ave. to choose from, among several others close by.

Blythe Anne’s (the former Lula’s Sweet Apothecary) has closed on East 6th Street

Another dairy-free dessert option is gone in the neighborhood. Yesterday, Bill the Libertarian Anarchist came across owner Blythe Anne Boyd cleaning out Blythe Anne's, her vegan ice cream shop on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Boyd and her husband Derek Hackett, who opened Lula’s Sweet Apothecary together in 2008, were reportedly involved in an ugly divorce several years ago. The shop was closed for several months for a "reorganization" in 2013... Boyd eventually rebranded the space in 2014.

Blythe Anne's ice cream was also available for sale at Sustainable NYC, which closed for good back in August on Avenue A.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Divorce could force closure of Lula’s Apothecary on East Sixth Street

A new sign at Lula's Sweet Apothecary, which remains closed on East 6th Street

Image via

Bago hasn't been open recently on 1st Avenue

Nick Solares at Eater yesterday pointed out that Bago, the quick-serve Filipino restaurant on First Avenue between East 13th Street and East 14th Street, hasn't been open for the past few weeks.

Bago's Twitter account has been dormant since last summer... and on Facebook, the last update is from Jan. 4: "Our account has been hacked. We are noticing false posts. Please pardon the inconvenience for now. From all of us at Bago, have a lovely rest of evening and have a great New Year once again!" Seamless also notes that Bago is closed.

The restaurant opened last June in the former Hibachi Dumpling Express space (and a 2 Bros. before that).

Bago, which received a nice write-up in the Times back in November, is/was run by a daughter of Elvira Cinco, the proprietor of Elvie's Turo-Turo for nearly 12 years.

Avenue A on high alert for Ice-T sightings

That one of shows in the "Law & Order" family is filming around here was never really all that newsworthy... given how often they'd film around here through the years.

However, I am noting the fact that "Law & Order: SVU" is filming along Avenue A and Tompkins Square Park... mostly because I had no idea that NBC was still creating new episodes. (I thought the show only existed to help the USA Network fill 14 hours of programming a day.) But "SVU" is in its 17th season. So keep an eye out for cast members Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T today.

Now! Flashback to September 2011 when "SVU" filmed a scene at Sunny & Annie's on Avenue B...

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

And NBC has picked up the show for season No. 18, as Ice-T learned yesterday...

Did SVU officially get renewed for season 18??! Wow. Looks like I’m the last to know. That’s great news. I still gotta JOB.

— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) February 1, 2016

NY Village Deli reopens in new 1st Avenue home

[A few weeks ago]

As we noted a few weeks ago, the NY Village Deli closed its doors at 39 First Ave. after 25 years...ahead of a move a few storefronts to the north. (According to a store regular, the landlord of NY Village Deli raised the rent to an amount higher than the store owners could pay and stay in business.)

The new location recently opened at No. 45...



Meanwhile, the former NY Village Deli space is on the market. According to the listing, the asking rent is $18,000 a month.

If you are looking for Smoke & Beer on Avenue A, then this store is for you

Do you remember back in December, when we reported that the former nail salon on Avenue A between East 13th Street and East 14th Street was going to become a smoke shop?

Well, anyway, that smoke shop is now open... Correction! Make that Smoke & Beer shop...



As you can see on the marquee, the shop sells E-cigarette, Cigar, Tobacco, Craft Beer, Cigarette and Lotto.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Smoke shop, the new nail salon, opening in former nail salon on Avenue A

Police looking for suspect in a string of area armed robberies

The NYPD has released an image from surveillance video of a suspect wanted in connection with five armed robberies in the West Village and the East Village dating back to Dec. 13.

According to published reports, the man has followed his victims into their apartment buildings... once in an elevator on East 12th Street and Third Avenue. Then per DNAinfo:

He followed a 28-year-old man into an apartment building at 381 East 10th St. about 5:25 p.m. on Jan. 19, threatened him with a knife and demanded his messenger bag, police said, but the victim refused to hand over the bag and the suspect ran off.

The media reports on the robberies did not include a physical description of the suspect.

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.

The return of the 'White Negro' tag

EVG reader Ronnie shared this photo from earlier today on East Fifth Street at Avenue B.

We don't recall seeing this tag since the spring of 2009, when it started showing up on walls around the neighborhood.


[EVG photo on Avenue A from 2009]