Beetle House officially opens tonight

[Photo by Derek Berg]

After a week or so in previews, Beetle House officially opens tonight at 308 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

As we've noted, Beetle House features "an atmosphere and menu inspired by the works of Tim Burton." (You can find the food and drinks menu at their website.)

DNAinfo's Allegra Hobbs had a preview piece on Monday. (Bedford + Bowery posted a preview here.)

Co-owner Zach Neil claims that the Beetlejuice impersonator spotted hanging outside the place wasn't affiliated with Beetle House. "He showed up at the bar one night, and he just kept showing up," Neil said.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tim Burton-themed bar opening in former Confessional space on East 6th Street

Tim Burton-themed bar Beetle House now in sneak previews on East 6th Street (37 comments)

Plants and baked goods for sale this weekend at the 6th & B Community Garden

Via the EVG inbox...

The 6th & B Community Garden Plant & Bake Sale Fundraiser

Sixth Street and Avenue B (entrance on Avenue B between Fifth and Sixth)

Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Plant and Bake Sale supports the Garden's Events Committee's community programs, which include crafts, horticultural/science workshops, culinary events, films, multicultural festivals, and musical and theatrical performances from around the world.

Tiny Empire's short run ends on Lafayette Street

Brooklyn-based juicery Tiny Empire opened a location down on Lafayette Street at Spring last August... by November, the DOH had shut down the location over some zoning issue with the downstairs bathroom, as BoweryBoogie noted.

By the end of January, a "temporarily closed" for "emergency maintenance/construction" signage arrived.

And Tiny Empire never reopened. On Wednesday, the Marshal paid a visit... and the landlord took legal possession of the space...



Previously

Found puppy

Found puppy near E 11th & Szold Pl. Any info, please call 212-979-7297. #woof #lostdog #FOUNDdog @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/zfQWQmX9q2

— Paws & Relax (@pawsandrelaxnyc) May 6, 2016

3 cheers (AGAIN) for Christo and Dora

[Photo today by Bobby Williams]

Goggla and Urban Hawks have visual confirmation that red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora have three nestlings (hawklets!) in Tompkins Square Park.

As Goggla noted, this is the third time in as many years that this hawk pair has had three kids. (Nine is enough?)

For all your Christo and Dora groupies, here's a video via Urban Hawks...

Beloved Chinook RV still transporting precious holiday tree cargo

[Back in March via Andréa Stella]

Back in March, we noted the above holiday-tree-carrying Chinook RV here along East 14th Street near Avenue A.

Fast-forward to today, when a special EVG correspondent spotted the Chinook on the road (Avenue B and Third Street) ... still with the [much deader] tree on top...



Per the EVG special correspondent: "Note that the tree is tied on firmly with red cord — as if it’s really important or something?"

Is that a question?

This morning on 7th Street and Avenue A

Photos by Derek Berg

Reader report: Life next to 377 E. 10th St.

Gut renovations are ongoing at the now-vacant 377 E. 10th St., a former squat between Avenue B and Avenue C.



This address is one of the buildings that the city sold to tenants for a $1 via a deal brokered by the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) in 2002. Under the terms of the deal, the tenants were to bring the buildings up to code.

However, as The Villager reported back in the fall, the conversions of No. 377 as well as 544 E. 13th St. were stalled.

Let's go to The Villager for more details on the renovations of the two buildings:

According to the city, the renovations will last two years, after which the former squatters will be allowed to return and buy their units at a low, insider’s price.

Meanwhile, a private developer, BFC Partners, led by principal Donald Capoccia, will rehab the two buildings as affordable housing, in return for which BFC will get development rights in the form of an “inclusionary housing” bonus — or F.A.R. (floor area ratio) — usable to build market-rate housing elsewhere nearby.

The city is temporarily offering the former squatters units in Stuyvesant Town, for which they would pay a discounted rent — not to exceed 30 percent of 30 percent of area median income. The developer will cover the balance of the rent.

As for the gut renovation, a resident who lives next door describes it as a living hell.

Here's part of an email from the resident, who has also witnessed the workers urinating on the sidewalk:

Every morning 7 days a week at 7 am there are the main characters: The Ball Peen Hammer Dude panging on random shit, The Dude with a Giant Vibrator who's just vibrating the shit out of every building around us, The Door Knocker who is knocking on the old ass doors that are still in there for some reason, The Guy banging metal trash-can lids from the 1980s... They're also Peeping Toms. Creeeeeeepy!!

I could go on for hours, because I've already reported these assholes to 311 numerous times to no avail. They have disturbed us on not only Saturdays, but FRIGGING Sundays! They need to stop. The building looks worse than it did before.

And here are some photos...









Back in 2008, I posted a photo of the building from the 1980s... the undated photo is by amg2000 via Flickr...

Here's Centre-fuge Cycle 20 on East 1st Street

[Art by Claw Money]

Despite the crap weather of late, the six artists taking part in Cycle 20 of the Centre-fuge Public Art Project were able to wrap up work this week ... at the rotating outdoor gallery/construction trailer here along East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The artists are Claw Money, Himbad, K-NOR, Resa, Balu and Adam Dare.


[Art by Himbad]


[Art by K-NOR]


[Art by Resa]


[Art by Balu]


[Art by Adam Dare]

This work will be up through late July.

Find more info about Centre-fuge here.

MetroPCS has closed on East 14th Street

That's all for this MetroPCS outpost on East 14th Street at First Avenue... the landlord has taken possession of the premises, as these photos via EVG regular dwg show...



This location seemed to be a good spot for a stick up... as it was robbed twice that we can recall in early 2012...

As for MetroPCS, you won't have to travel far to find another one. According to the The Center for an Urban Future, MetroPCS is the third largest chain store in NYC with 323 outposts in 2015, trailing only Dunkin' Donuts (568) and Subway (444).

Report: Menswear boutique and cocktail den in the works for East Houston

We've been curious about what's coming to the former Bowery Coffee space at 87 E. Houston just west of the Bowery.

We've seen movers hauling boxes into the space. BoweryBoogie got the scoop on the new tenant: VK Nagrani, a menswear boutique and cocktail den.

Apparently menswear designer Vivek Nagrani had been operating out of a former gallery on the Upper East Side. That space is closed now in anticipation of opening here on June 1.

Here's BB with more on the concept:

We are creating an experiential men’s boutique featuring luxury men’s clothing, custom clothing, bespoke jeans, hand made shoes and organic men’s grooming products (hangover recovery kits, post flight rejuvenation kits). Everything is made by artisan workshops in Italy, Peru and here in New York. The space is more theatre than traditional retail.

Nagrani will appear before CB2 (not CB3) for a liquor license at some point in the future.

Bowery Coffee closed after three-plus years in January 2015.

Florence and the Machine time at Village East Cinema

The Village East Cinema on Second Avenue at East 12th Street is prepping for tonight's U.S. theatrical premiere of "The Odyssey," a 47-minute film that strings together video clips released in 2015 of songs from Florence and the Machine's latest album, "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful," per Rolling Stone.

Here's more from the film's director, Vincent Haycock:

"Like the layers of Dante's purgatory, each song or chapter represents a battle that Florence traversed ... that embodied each song or story," he said.

And here's a clip of Florence...



As for the one-night-only screening at 7, it's by invite. And the after party will NOT be held across the street at DumplingGO.

Thanks to EVG regular Daniel for the photo and info!