At the 29th annual Loisaida Festival

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the festival earlier today on Avenue C... and shared a few photos of the vendors, patrons and performers taking part in the annual Memorial Day weekend gathering...

Stupid clouds ruin Manhattanhenge

Not much of a Manhattanhenge this evening... and tomorrow night looks to be a washout...so there's always July 11-12.

Photos on 14th Street at Avenue C outside the Con Ed plant by Peter Brownscombe...

Time again for Manhattanhenge

[Photo from 2009]

As the Times notes:

This beloved event, known as Manhattanhenge, occurs when the setting sun aligns perfectly with the numbered streets that run east and west on Manhattan’s city grid, bathing traffic and skyscrapers in its warm red light.

Manhattanhenge is a two-day event that happens twice a year on opposite sides of the summer solstice. You can catch this year’s displays about 8:12 p.m. this Sunday [tonight!] and Monday [Memorial Day!], and again on July 11 and 12.

Not sure about the prospects for Manhattanhenging tomorrow with the rainy forecast.

The ghost of the Lil Crazy Legs mural arrives on 7th Street

[Photo from November by Derek Berg]

Back in November, artist Ernest Zacharevic created this tribute to Lil Crazy Legs on East Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue (next to Porchetta).

Then, in April, someone buried it under a tag...


[Photo from April]

Now!

Someone did a pretty good job of outlining Lil Crazy Legs ...



As for what this was originally all about ... Zacharevic recreated photojournalist Martha Cooper's shots from the 1970s-80s around the city. Lil Crazy Legs — aka Richard Colón of the Bronx-based Rock Steady Crew from the early 1980s — is on the cover of her photo book "Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979-1984."

Bella's Beauty Supply is closing on Avenue B

The shop with the colorful wigs in the windows closes for good tomorrow here on Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street ... Hair products and wigs are 50 percent off now until closing time.

Bella's opened in October 2011.

There has been some turnover in the businesses along here. The pet shop and deli closed late last year... and Choice Cleaners moved two storefronts to the north at the start of 2016.

Thank you Salim for the photo and tip!

Short films program tonight at the 6th and B Garden

Tonight at 8 at the 6th and B Garden (Avenue B at 6th Street) ... re-scheduled from last Saturday night's rain out ...

Head to the 6 & B website for more details.

Included in the program is a feature on Eddie Boros, the neighborhood character/artist who created the Tower of Toys at the Garden. Boros died in 2007 at age 74. The Tower was removed the next year.

Jennifer Esposito responds to reports that she fled East 10th Street for Denmark

[EVG file photo from 2015]

Page Six reported yesterday that Jennifer Esposito "plans to leave town after her legal drama with her gluten-free Jennifer’s Way baking empire." The destination: Denmark!

The actress, who was diagnosed with celiac disease five years ago, opened Jennifer's Way Bakery on East 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue in 2013. She responded to the report (also picked up by Fox News) on Facebook...


She also posted photos and a video of herself at the bakery yesterday.

As for the lawsuit, here's what Esposito had to say about it via Twitter...

What's even better? case has been DISMISSED entirely! No fleeing & the case dismissed? guess u got my name correct tho @FoxNews @PageSix

— Jennifer Esposito (@JennifersWayJE) May 27, 2016

Sunday in Tompkins Square Park: Memorial Day Punk Show

Via the EVG inbox...

There'll be political speakers, art work by Peter Missing and Jerry Foust and literature tables where folks can get the latest issue of The Shadow and Time Warp Zine.

Performers include:
> 1:00: Carla (No Police State Girl)
> 1:20: Ike's Wasted World
> 1:40: Nico (formerly of Star Fucking Hipsters)
> 2:05 Universal Truth Machine
> 2:35: Skitzopolis
> 3:00: The Wurst
> 3:35: Transgendered Jesus
> 4:05: Sewage
> 4:40: The Omega Men
> 5:20: The UNDEAD

East 3rd Street zen spirit

An EVG reader passes along these photos of a small zen garden that has arrived in this tree pit (along with a new tree several weeks ago) here on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...





Hopefully it can survive the Avenue B weekend brunch crowd...

Claim: This truck hit a bike this morning on the Lower East Side

Via the EVG inbox...

On my commute this morning I watched this truck crush a bicycle going north on Allen at Houston. The young woman riding it jumped clear & looked ok. The truck didn't stop. I chased it down & got the plate. I think the truck said EAN Holdings. Surely someone on here knows the lady who was riding that bike.

‪

The greatest Escape of them all

Director John Carpenter, who also composed the scores for most of his movies ("Halloween" and "They Live," etc.), is revisiting some of his theme songs for a release next month.

Among the themes — "Escape From New York" from 1981. In the above video, Carpenter is joined by his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies.

Now we want to watch the movie. Again...

Lonely cone will work OT this holiday weekend protecting St. Mark's Place from growing sinkhole

Hopefully the M8 drivers will see this...



Photos by Steven

Updated 5-30

The cone has company for Memorial Day...

EV Grieve Etc.: Love for Casa Adela; protected bike lane for Chrystie Street

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

Love for Casa Adela on Avenue C (Off the Grid)

The three candidates vying to lead CB3 (The Lo-Down)

Chrystie Street protected bike lane scheduled for Fall (Streetsblog)

Councilwoman Margaret Chin introduces new legislation that would reform the city's practices concerning deed restrictions (BoweryBoogie)

Survey: Majority of NYC voters think de Blasio does favors for his donors (Politico)

Ben Shaoul applies for a special permit via the Board of Standards and Appeals to build an Equinox at 196 Orchard St. (DNAinfo ... previously)

A look at interior designer Rhea Breck's for-sale 12th-floor co-op at 170 Second Ave. (New York Post)

Keeping cool with Christo (Laura Goggin Photography)

NYC area beach guide (Gothamist)

Remembering the Bleecker Street Cinema, now a Duane Reade (Ephemeral New York)

"The Godfather" plays this weekend at the IFC Center (Official website)

Revisiting Richard Kern's "The Right Side of My Brain," featuring Lydia Lunch and Henry Rollins (Dangerous Minds)

... and remember — the fleet's in town...


[Photo on Astor Place by Derek Berg]

[Updated] Air Shaft Rabbit — saved!

[The other day]

As mentioned the other day, some residents spotted a rabbit loose in the air shaft behind some buildings on East First Street and East Second Street.

Anyway! Good news: Some residents were able to rescue the rabbit ...



... but the rabbit needs a permanent home...



Any takers? Suggestions? Let us know via the EV Grieve email... Naming rights are also available.

Thank you to everyone who offered to take in the bunny, who now has a new home and friend...

The annual Loisaida Festival happens this Sunday on Avenue C

[Poster by Adrian Viajero Roman]

Via the EVG inbox...

This year, the Loisaida Festival returns with a lineup that pays homage to the organization’s original Puerto Rican roots.

The mainstage lineup reflects those roots, bringing together a mix of legendary and rising Puerto Rican stars. These include hip-hop singer DayLuv, songstress Maxine Ashley, Lower East Salsa, and Johnny Colón. Macha Colón y Los Okapi will be joining the stage courtesy of La Marqueta Retoña. The carnival procession and Theater Lab return, providing entertainment for children and their families. Puerto Rican icon and international entertainment phenomenon, Iris Chacon, will host the festivities alongside Marine-combat-vet-turned actor, singer/activist J.W. Cortes (from FOX's "Gotham”).

The Loisaida Festival 2016’s expanded offerings preview a new stage in Loisaida, Inc.’s plans to combine STEAM programming with social services that meet the needs of the local community. Some of the new offerings include a Grassroots Innovation Fair, discussions on how art and digital technologies intersect, an expanded Healthy Living Zone, with free dental screenings for children, and a new Sustainable Innovation Zone, which will include a Bio Bus.

You can find the main stage schedule here.

The Festival hours on Sunday are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Avenue C, from Sixth Street to 12th Street.

There are more events on Saturday, including an exhibition of original artwork from Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez's best-selling debut comic book "Guardians of the Lower East Side." Find more details here.

This marks the festival's 29th year.

The 75-cent coffee at Subway

The other day, while walking by the Subway (sandwich shop) on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, I noticed their homemade sign for 75-cent coffee...



I'm not sure how new the sign is. But it was new to me. At 75 cents, the coffee was as inexpensive as I've seen it around here. (Ray's sells his for $1; Ink on A offers it for $1.25. I'm sure there are other low prices, but they're not on my radar.)

And does this Subway really serve 75-cent coffee in heart-shaped mugs like on a sign? What does 75-cent coffee at a Subway taste like?

I went inside to find out. I was a little surprised to find five people in line. (It wasn't even prime power lunch time.) Had I noticed the line, I would have left to return another time. However, I was already inside the door. And the smell of the bread had already permeated every fiber of my clothing.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to line up along the counter where the Subwayer was making sandwiches. So I just stood at the register. The worker glanced in my direction every so often, perhaps as a way to say that I was breaking Subway line protocol. And he was busy melting cheese on a Meatball Marinara 12 inch in the toaster.

Anyway, he eventually took my order. I asked for the coffee. He handed me an empty 12-ounce Subway cup for the coffee station ... as well as a container of half-and-half creamers. (Why not keep these by the coffee station? Theft problem?) He seemed a little harried and humorless to quiz about the lack of a heart-shaped mug like on the sign on the window.


[You owe me .75 cents]

As for the coffee, it was lukewarm and tasted stale.

The 2016 Lower East Side Festival of the Arts is this weekend

Now in its 21st year... and, as always, the events take place at the Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

Head over to the Theater's website for a look at the numerous offerings tonight through Sunday.

And here's a highlights reel from last year's festival...



H/T Lola Sáenz

Another luxury building poised for East Houston-Broadway corridor

As you probably know, crews are demolishing the former BP station and adjacent one-level building that housed Puck Fair on East Houston and Lafayette.

Coming to that space one of these days: A building that will encompass 80,000 square feet of "flagship retail and boutique office" ...


[Rendering by Cookfox]

This building at 300 Lafayette will be getting some company.

As The Wall Street Journal noted yesterday, a joint venture of Madison Capital and Vornado Realty Trust have plans for a 6-story mixed-use building on that sliver of space between Broadway and Crosby...



Here's a rendering of the project looking toward the east on Houston near Broadway... (the Landmarks Commission signed off on this design back in 2013)...

A photo posted by S9 Architecture (@s9architecture) on May 14, 2016 at 8:39pm PDT

Per the Journal:

The glass building will have about 11,500 square feet of retail space on the first and second floors with 22,751 square feet of high-end office space on floors three to six. In addition, the building will have an outdoor terrace. The developers hope to complete the building by mid-2018.

While this project had been in the works for years, Madison and Vornado just closed on the $25.8 million purchase of the site from the New York City Economic Development Corp. last Friday. Part of the space had used by the the MTA to park emergency vehicles.

Until late 2014, the space at Broadway housed the Honest Boy fruit stand for years. A mysterious fire took care of what was left of the stand last summer.


[Photo from April 2014 via Vanishing New York]

Noted

[Photo by Shawn Chittle]

Last night on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Getting the Memorial Day Weekend started?

Imagining an Uber and Airbnb merger?

Either way, the police were apparently not too amused, according to Shawn Chittle who took the photo.

Beware of the budding sinkhole that nearly swallowed an M8 on St. Mark's Place

@evgrieve have you seen the bus that opened up the earth on st marks? pic.twitter.com/t631XstZFL

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) May 26, 2016

This happened at Avenue A.

The bus is gone now, @edenbrower reports... but the potential for sinking remains...

[Updated] 1 dead, 3 injured following shooting at the Irving Plaza

Multiple shootings have been reported at a T.I. concert in New York: https://t.co/uwOp7MWz0k pic.twitter.com/VqnGD6HUJs

— Noisey (@NoiseyMusic) May 26, 2016

According to various published reports, one man died and three others were wounded in a shooting at Irving Plaza where rapper T.I. was headlining last night.

A 33-year-old man who was shot in the stomach died at Beth Israel, police sources told NBC 4.

Details from the Daily News:

With the headliner T.I. set to appear, the chaos erupted backstage shortly after 10 p.m., with a fight in a green room above the stage of the Union Square venue, NYPD officials and witnesses told the Daily News.

Hip hop artists Maino and Uncle Murda were performing when the sudden sound of gun shots sent hundreds into a frenzy.

An employee told The News that the carnage started as a beef between two rival crews associated with Maino and rapper Troy Ave. The gunman and the victims were all credentialed guests with access to the VIP area, a source said.

There's one report confirming that Crown Heights-based Troy Ave was shot in the leg. There are unconfirmed reports that the man who died was Troy Ave's manager.

Police say they're investigating how the gun(s) got into the venue on Irving Place at East 15th Street with the metal detectors set up.

Updated noon:

DNAinfo has more here... along with this Bratton quote: "The investigation is moving forward very rapidly and we expect to close it quickly," NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Thursday during a radio interview on 710 WOR.

Updated 7 p.m.

Police have arrested Troy Ave in the shooting, via Gothamist. His friend and bodyguard, Ronald "Banga" McPhatter, was also confirmed as the fatality in the shooting.

The NYPD also released this surveillance video... showing a man who police ID'd as Troy Ave firing a gun ...



Updated 5/27

Billboard takes a look at the shooting from an insurance/risk-management perspective. A few excerpts:

"The fact of the matter is that [the] shooting took place in a location where a man had a beef and a gun," says Steve Adelman, VP of the Event Safety Alliance and head of Adelman Law Group. "That's obviously not specific to a genre of music, location of the club or much of anything else. It could have happened anywhere where those two criteria exist, including an elementary school, a movie theater or a military base."

And:

Historically, violence at rap shows often occurs in areas where artists and their entourages enter discreetly, such as backstage, VIP areas, green rooms or at off-site afterparties; this may have been the case at Irving Plaza on Wednesday, since talent and crew frequently use the building's smaller entrance on East 15th Street rather than its front doors. Given these areas are relatively exclusive, security is tight as far as access (one must have the proper laminate or sticker), but lax on metal detectors and pat-downs. From the smallest club to the highest-capacity stadiums and festivals, too often "whatever wants to walk in through the back door walks in through the back door," observes Peter Tempkins, managing director, entertainment, for HUB International, a leading insurance brokerage firm covering the live business.

About that for rent sign outside Cucina di Pesce on East 4th Street

[Photo from last week by Derek Berg]

One day last week, EVG contributor Derek Berg noticed that workers had boarded up part of the sidewalk cafe at Cucina di Pesce at 87 E. Fourth St. near Second Avenue.

Then on Tuesday, a for rent sign arrived at that section of the Italian restaurant. An ominous sign perhaps?



Owner Mehenni Zebentout offered an explanation.

"We just gave up the room next door as it belongs to a different landlord — the 89 E. Fourth St. part," he said via email.

The landlord for the space wanted $8,000 a month for what Zebentout said is a tiny room.

"So we decided to do without it," said Zebentout, who also owns the equally low-key Nomad around the corner on Second Avenue. "We have enough room to accommodate about 74 guests."

As for Cucina di Pesce, who will be opening their garden soon, here's what New York had to say about the restaurant:

Cucina di Pesce is the type of unpretentious, comfortably lived-in Italian restaurant that ruled New York before Mario Batali and his ilk turned the town upside-down. But if Cucina's ambience feels a bit dated, its flavors are absolutely contemporary. This is one of the best places in the city to get good Italian food on a budget.

7th Street building residents leaving flyers noting how long they've been without gas for cooking

[Photo Sunday by Steven]

Some residents at 95 E. Seventh St. have been posting flyers noting how long it has been since they've had gas for cooking in this building between Avenue A and First Avenue... (today marks Day 193)...


[Photo Sunday by Steven]

According to public records, the building sold last September for a little more than $6 million. It had been one of the numerous East Village properties owned by Morton Tabak and Co. (This is one of the 16 East Village buildings that Raphael Toledano purchased last fall.)

A resident told us that Brooklyn-based Halt Management is in charge of the building now.

Per the resident: "Our beautiful, late 19th-century tenement has been abused and destroyed during the seven months of construction with the goal of creating 'luxury units' out of the few vacant spaces." (They've also been without a super, per the resident.) There are several complaints on file with the DOB in recent days, including one from last Thursday noting "the walls are cracking and tenants are fearful for their safety."

The resident says that the management company has provided them with hot plates, and that, in total, they've received $150 in rent abatements.


[Reader submitted photo]

Updated noon

An EVG reader shared this photo... festive balloons with the No Gas message...

Rat baiting signs, but not signs of progress at 6th Street and Avenue C

Given the recent arrival of rat-baiting signs on the long-dormant northeast corner of Sixth Street and Avenue C... an EVG reader wondered if this meant plans were moving forward with something.



Well, there has been some activity since the last time we checked in here. The city disapproved updated plans for a five-story building here in February. These updated plans show 9 residences in the floors above space for retail and a community facility, per DOB records. Plans for a six-story building were initially filed in 2012.

So for now, the hole remains the same...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Hole watch 2016: Still no sign of a new building on Avenue C and East 6th Street

Commercial awning arrives for Alphabet City Deli & Grill on Avenue C

Workers have been renovating the former Loisaida Ave. Deli on Avenue C and Fourth Street. The corner market closed back in January, with some pretty cool ghost signage coming into view.

Yesterday, workers brought in the new awning... for Alphabet City Deli & Grill...



The sign notes the shop will sell ice cream, fresh smoothies, hot & cold sandwiches, hookah accessories, cigars, etc.

While there isn't any mention of selling pancakes, the new sign shows a stack of them (and behind bars? Or a grill?)...



Thanks to @artisanmatters for the photo!

Lab 321 rolls out its ice cream signage on St. Mark's Place

[Photo by Steven]

Workers yesterday hoisted the Lab 321 letters on St. Mark's Place, where the rolled ice cream purveyors are setting up shop here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Lab 321 will be the third shop to open this year in the East Village serving the traditional Thai street food ... there's Roll It Up on Seventh Street and Pink Bear on East 14th Street.

The previous tenant at 27 St. Mark's Place, The Sock Man, closed in January after a reported rent hike via new landlord Raphael Toledano.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's the rolled ice cream shop taking over the former Sock Man space on St. Mark's Place

[Updated] There is a rabbit on the loose

Via the EVG inbox...

There's a rabbit loose in the air shaft between 1st & 2nd streets between Avenue A and First Avenue. While I am willing to entertain the idea that this is a new species of rabbit, indigenous only to East Village airshafts, this bunny seems too tame, lost and lonely to have lived in the wild for more than a few days."

So, did anyone lose a rabbit?

Updated 5/27
The rabbit has been rescued! But he or she needs a home. Details here.

LGBT craft sale this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park

[Photo by Steven]

These homemade signs arrived in the Park this morning... the sale is from 3:30 to 4:40 outside the Dog Run...

Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel is closing in 4 years; smaller facility planned for 14th and 2nd

The rumors turned out to be true: Mount Sinai Beth Israel is closing its facility on First Avenue at East 16th Street.

Here's NY1 with the scoop:

"What we are dealing with is an infrastructure that is old, a facility that isn't efficient and it lives in the most competitive environment on planet earth in health care," said Mount Sinai Beth Israel CEO Dr. Kenneth Davis.

The hospital essentially has been on life support for years, losing $250 million since 2012. Now its owner, Mount Sinai Health System, is pulling the plug and announcing plans to close it in four years.

Hospital officials say the closure of the facility is the only option financially. With how treatment is changing Mount Sinai Beth Israel is in an evolve or die situation.

Davis said that only 60 percent of the hospital's 856 beds are used on a daily basis.

Mount Sinai Health System reportedly plans to replace the existing facility by opening a smaller hospital on 14th Street and Second Avenue "with a full-service emergency department and 70 inpatient beds."

According to NY1, Mount Sinai will also expand its Ambulatory Care Center in Union Square.

Meanwhile, Crain's is reporting that hospital officials have placed Gilman Hall, an apartment building it uses to house medical residents, up for sale.

Per Crain's:

The 24-story property, at the corner of East 17th Street and First Avenue, could fetch as much as $80 million.

Citing several anonymous nurses, The Villager reported on May 13 that the hospital would be closing. A Mount Sinai spokesperson would neither confirm or deny the report at that time.

Updated 5 p.m.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the 16th Street facility/property could fetch up to $600 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel 'will cut its inpatient capacity' (33 comments)